Is there such a thing as an easy front end?

[SFJake]

None of the main ones the wiki offers are of any value to me. AtomicFE doesn't work. HyperSpin looked confusing to set up but frankly I discarded that one for its look, I want something simple and slick, that one is horrible looking, way too much flash. Can't figure out MaLa, too much pain. Mamewah, does not work. Will not pay for front ends.

All I really wanted is something really simple looking that just works and allows you to browse through various emulators or even PC games, and just start them. Setting up command lines and such was expected, but having no clue how to even set up menus and having a lot of other painful things come around was not what I expected. This is just for children to choose and play stuff harmlessly. I don't want to work 20 hours just to set up something like that, it shouldn't be that complicated.

They all seem to sell their simplicity to select games. Is there anything that is simple to -make that happens-? That works on Windows 7 64 bit as well. As you know most of those seem already too old and just don't work. AtomicFE looked like it had presets that would work well, but getting the thing to work here seems impossible.

I've honestly had a much easier time at getting this as I want it by making folders in Windows and shortcuts to emulators manually than using any front ends so far. Which is the problem.

[gamepimp]

I use GameEx for my cab. There are a lot of options that can be configured depending on how complicated ur setup is. But there's great support at the GameEx forum that can guide u in the right direction.

[SFJake]

Isn't GameEx 25$?

Oh, I see its free for most of its features. That might do it, I'll try it. The wiki should mention that in the listing. I never bothered clicking it since it said 25$.

[Howard_Casto]

I'll answer your question honestly.  No, there isn't an easy front-end.  The only way to increase ease of use is to decrease the amount of features and user configurable options.  By the time one is made truely easy, it's so basic that nobody wants to use it.  See mameui, it has an "easy" built in menu. 

[Dawgz Rule]

I found GameEx to be very easy to set up.  Also, well worth the $25.  Great support commmunity.

[nitz]

Yeah, basically what Howard said.

However, IMO Mala is the easiest to use. If you don't mind using the default layout, can live without stuff like snaps, vids, and custom gamelists, Mala should be pretty easy to set up.

Point it to mame.exe, your rom folder, and mame.xml (it will create this if you haven't got it already).

There's a setting somewhere to show only the roms you have. You'll probably want to use that.

You're done! Use up and down to navigate the list and 1 to launch games.

You probably won't find anything simpler than that unless you want to use MameUI or Mame's built in gamelist feature.

 

[edekoning]

Why not have a look at mGalaxy www.mgalaxy.com/. Its a nice looking, super simple FE. You can't customize anything, but I guess that's what you are looking for.



Its still being actively developed, as a 4.0 was just released this week. All you have to do is:
-download and run installer
-run mgalaxy_runway
-select mame, or whatever console/emulator you want to use
-specifiy application executable
-specify roms location
-specify snaps (screenshots)
-repeat for other consoles/emulators
-save + quit
-run mgalaxy
-play games

The site also has a nice tutorial video that shows how you select / filter / search / start games, and how the favorite system works. Its still based on v3.0, but none of those basics have changed.

[relay01]

SFJake,
You may want to consider participating in the trial I'm running as I aim to do just that. Create a easy to setup frontend.

Refer to this thread:
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,130062.0.html

[1500points]

it doesn't get any easier than mgalaxy for something free.  i had some trouble getting it to recognize some games I was playing in mame 145 though.

[Gray_Area]

I've met some......ah.......

[mike boss]

I think I'm very much a novice and I'd say MaLa is awesome and easy.
Custom layouts (that I do) add POP (IMHO) and I think it works and looks good.
A++++ for MaLa all the way.