a no front-end front-end.

[Hoopz]

Is there a way you can have your list on your phone?  From the screenshot I saw, it looks (somewhat) like Romlister where it showed # of buttons, players (if I recall correctly), and probably other info that's from Mame.  Is there a benefit to eliminating the paper list altogether and having everything via the browser?  I don't know how the lists are arranged but I try and eliminate all paper when possible.

The "Application" (if you can consider it a whole) has two parts.  The part that runs and switches games is written and ready and running;  the full-featured front-end selection UI is nearly ready.  I'm probably not going to finish the full-featured UI selection one, even though it's about 98% complete.  I need to implement only a way to point it at a certain cabinet, and send an HTTP request to that cabinet.  Everything else is done.

The part that switches the games and all that has its own optional web UI.  In there you can list games, yes, and I do.  On my Nintendo cabinet that little app shows a small list with only Nintendo games that can play on that cabinet (all the Donkey Kong arcade games.)  I click the link for Donkey Kong Jr. and mame will immediately gracefully kill any running mame instance(s) and launch Donkey Kong Jr.

What's the next step?  Thoughts on making this an app v. a browser?  Sideload it via Android (or whatever they call it on iOS)?  I'm using a Galaxy Nexus and even on my home network, I find that (most) apps run faster and more smoothly than waiting on a browser to render a page. 

Next step?  I'm pretty much done; it's met my needs quite nicely and I've debugged it enough that it runs for days on automated testing.  I wrote a small script that switches games on my desktop machine and I let it run for 2 days while I worked on the Nintendo cab.  The whole thing could be made into an app, but honestly that feels like overkill given that the page is very light and no device I've tested with takes longer than an eyeblink to render.  If you add more games, that won't necessarily be true, though.  The full-featured front-end was imagined partly for this reason. 

Will it be scalable to larger phones/tablets? I can see someone running a cheap 7" tablet instead of a touchscreen monitor and clicking an icon for sports games, shooters or maze games then a list coming up.

It's HTML; it will run on anything with a web browser.  The pages can be customized to your liking.  If it were to be made into an app, the app could generate the HTML pages itself and only rely on the Node.js application to actually launch the games.

Would you post the program or executable when possible please?  I'd like to take a look at it. 

[sandheaver]

I think he is saying he could set up MaLa to show marquees rather than a list of games. It would be on the main screen and not on the Marquee.

And from my understanding, you could set up mala to show games in the exact same way you could with a piece of paper or a phone. You can set up Mala tree to group an organize your games any which way you want them to. I've had mine set up alphabetically, by genre, by control scheme, favorites, by year, you name it.

Oh, yeah, I know that MaLa can do that, in the round-about way that use of the monitor can make it happen.  In fact, I played with MaLa and HyperSpin and a few other FEs before I decided to write my own.  During the time I was writing my own, I decided that there was no FE I could find nor create that looked good to me.  No amount of customization could bring them anywhere approaching presentable, in my very picky opinion.

I'm not debating what front-ends can do, just my desire not to use them at all.

[yotsuya]

No amount of customization could bring them anywhere approaching presentable, in my very picky opinion.

 

[Malenko]

If you want this to be a contest of who can pee the farthest, yes, I'll lose. 

I think you misunderstood.  I was implying that I am much less of a pirate than you are.

My "give a ---fudgesicle---" is broken when it come to the size of my epeen.

[sandheaver]

If you want this to be a contest of who can pee the farthest, yes, I'll lose. 

I think you misunderstood.  I was implying that I am much less of a pirate than you are.

I did misunderstand. 

I, however, don't emulate games I don't own physical copies of.  My decision to do that has cost me a great deal of money, as I'm sure you can understand.

[Vigo]

You don't emulate any games you don't physically own? I was thinking different from comments like this:

But, again, there isn't enough room in my entire town to have one cabinet for each game.  Even purists must succumb to reality.  I need a machine that emulates.

and this:

I have paper "menus" (for lack of a better term) for that.  Yes, it does lead to great conversations.

But there is no reason whatsoever to show all 25 (or however many there are) clones of Street Fighter II, for example.  If they want to see the full list, I have a web application at home for that, but the menu booklet has met every need, so far.

How many machines / PCBs you got? Do you really have like 25ish different Street Fighter variants lying around??

[sandheaver]

How many machines / PCBs you got? Do you really have like 25ish different Street Fighter variants lying around??

Nowhere near enough.

Sorry for the vague answer, but I'm a private person. 

[Malenko]

Few people need much of a front end for the actual PCBs they own I only have 20ish, but I have quite a few ports and compilations for numerous systems so I justify it in my head, mostly because the PCBs are out of reach for me or just not available.



Sadly, I also have MK9 on 360 and the collectors edition controller.
Again, not a pissing match, I know there are guys on this forums that have more cabs than I have cabs and PCBs and CRTs combined!

Nowhere near enough.

To cover all the games you're pirating? While I do not doubt your ability to program, I do doubt your sincerity that you don't emulate games you don't own if you have a "big book-o-games" you're getting bounded. SO your either lying about what you emulate or you're lying abou thte amount of storage space you have in your house.

Vigo, I'm less private than her, I have 7 machines (Killer Instinct, Mortal Kombat II, MsPacMan, Galaga, Pole Position, Generic Dynamo that was a factory SF3). PCBs uhhh going from memory ........ Street Fighter 2:WW, Kung Fu, BreakThru, NBA Jam, NBA Jam TE (all revisions), MK1 (rev 5.0), MKII (all revisions), Umk3 (1.0, 1.1, and Juggernaut hack), WWF Wrestlemania, Killer Instinct, Killer Instinct 2, Ms Pacman (with and without speed hack), Pacman (with and without speed hack), Galaga, 60 in 1, some horseshoes game that I use as a JAMMA tester, a broken 15 in 1. Im sure there are more but Im drawing a blank, one of the caveats of getting old.

[sandheaver]

Nowhere near enough.

To cover all the games you're pirating? While I do not doubt your ability to program, I do doubt your sincerity that you don't emulate games you don't own if you have a "big book-o-games" you're getting bounded. SO your either lying about what you emulate or you're lying abou thte amount of storage space you have in your house.

I have a big book-o-games, but the number of games is not that high.  80 PCBs or so?  Probably 30 more if you want to count Neo-Geo and CPS2 cartridges.  Some are spares or parts boards I got cheaply.  I have flyers, trivia, and artwork in that big book-o-games that I've collected over the years.  One game takes 4 pages or so.  Marquee graphics, side art, flyers, etc.  Little bits of trivia such as world record scores where available, notable bugs & cheats, etc.  Not a lot of games, but a lot of information.  The menu card would not have covered 1 side of a 8.5" x 11" piece of paper had I not made the font a lot bigger.

I don't emulate games I don't own, as a rule.  There are very few exceptions to the rule, none of which are permanent.  I'll play a game I don't own when I decide whether or not I'm going to purchase it, for example.

[Malenko]

Here is where giving info always leads to more questions.....


If it weren't such a terrible game, would you play Primal Rage 2? It was never released so its unpossible to get a PCB of it. Maybe "Guts n' Glory" is a better example, or maybe even Cyber Tank. Never released but in MAME.

[sandheaver]

If it weren't such a terrible game, would you play Primal Rage 2? It was never released so its unpossible to get a PCB of it. Maybe "Guts n' Glory" is a better example, or maybe even Cyber Tank. Never released but in MAME.

I didn't know that.  I came at this hobby from a weird angle so I don't know a lot of information like that.  I'm sure you guessed as much.  How were they dumped if they were not released?  Those would be situations where I really wouldn't feel too bad about emulation only, but the game would have to be good for me to consider keeping it in rotation.

[Endprodukt]

Very rare prototype dump.

[DaveMMR]

I don't emulate games I don't own, as a rule.  There are very few exceptions to the rule, none of which are permanent.  I'll play a game I don't own when I decide whether or not I'm going to purchase it, for example.

You do know that whether you own the PCB or not, the original company is not getting any money either way. It's not like you're downloading newly released games instead of going to the store and paying money. The exception, oddly, is when you CAN buy an emulated game (or, ported, in some cases with those console collections) with proceeds going to the company (Capcom did this, as did Atari - whomever they were owned by at the time anyhow.)

I'm not trying to encourage you to embrace emulation. It just slightly sounded like it was a moral high road decision by your wording, one that might be moot. And for the record, I have the same stance with console emulation. But it's more of a sickness I have that I don't enjoy an old NES/VCS/etc. game unless it's on original hardware. Couldn't explain why.

Anyway, my point: It seems to me that hunting down and spending a decent amount of money on a PCB of Arcade Game X just so you can allow yourself to play the emulated version to be very time/money wasting. If you're going that far, I don't know why you wouldn't just get a JAMMA harness and one of those six-board switchers or something (so you can have it all in one cabinet) instead? If you have that self-imposed limitation on what games you can play, why would you not just play the originals you already have?

[sandheaver]

I don't emulate games I don't own, as a rule.  There are very few exceptions to the rule, none of which are permanent.  I'll play a game I don't own when I decide whether or not I'm going to purchase it, for example.

You do know that whether you own the PCB or not, the original company is not getting any money either way. It's not like you're downloading newly released games instead of going to the store and paying money. The exception, oddly, is when you CAN buy an emulated game (or, ported, in some cases with those console collections) with proceeds going to the company (Capcom did this, as did Atari - whomever they were owned by at the time anyhow.)

I'm not trying to encourage you to embrace emulation. It just slightly sounded like it was a moral high road decision by your wording, one that might be moot. And for the record, I have the same stance with console emulation. But it's more of a sickness I have that I don't enjoy an old NES/VCS/etc. game unless it's on original hardware. Couldn't explain why.

Anyway, my point: It seems to me that hunting down and spending a decent amount of money on a PCB of Arcade Game X just so you can allow yourself to play the emulated version to be very time/money wasting. If you're going that far, I don't know why you wouldn't just get a JAMMA harness and one of those six-board switchers or something (so you can have it all in one cabinet) instead? If you have that self-imposed limitation on what games you can play, why would you not just play the originals you already have?

I do play the originals I have, that's why I bought them.

There is a lot of myth in this country about copyright.  It is straight-up illegal to emulate games you A) do not own a legally obtained copy of, and that B) you did not rip yourself.  Ask a copyright lawyer if you do not believe me.  That's what I did.  This is why I have kept all the PCBs I've ever owned.  I bought them to play them, I kept them to emulate them.  I borrow ripping equipment from a friend and I rip the ROM chips myself.  I don't live in Sweden; I can't just emulate whatever the hell I want and be legal.

Why do I care so much about being legal?  I just do.

[Malenko]

Why do I care so much about being legal?  I just do.

Well, do you play these?

http://www.mamedev.org/roms/

I actually like Robby Roto

[Hoopz]

I think this is an interesting idea and serves it's purpose for the OP.  My concern and why I don't think it's a viable option for me is because what happens to the desktop in between games?  If a user is changing the games via a phone/tablet/other connected device, is the player watching anything or just waiting? 

With a themed cabinet, I can see looking at a blank screen, screenshot, or desktop wallpaper of your favorite football team (San Dimas football rules!).  But that doesn't thrill me by any stretch.  I'd rather not look at Windows or the OS of choice.  That's one of the key functions of a front end as it hides the OS and creates the illusion of a more arcadeish experience IMOP (you reading CheffoJeffo?).  Even MameUI is a FE albeit a very Windowsy FE that makes little attempt to hide the OS, but that's not it's purpose. 

No, no arcade game that I ever played had a menu where I could select a game, but it's a tradeoff (upgrade?) from all of the choices that are available to me.

My two cents.  YMMV.   I look new and different ideas but I also understand what's good for me isn't what everybody likes.

 

[Le Chuck]

No, no arcade game that I ever played had a menu where I could select a game, but it's a tradeoff (upgrade?) from all of the choices that are available to me.

Playchoice ten and MVS multi carts in the wild. Racing games have menus for which track you want. Only ones I can think of.

[Vigo]

I'm also interested as to how it is set up to look between a game switch.

[Hoopz]

No, no arcade game that I ever played had a menu where I could select a game, but it's a tradeoff (upgrade?) from all of the choices that are available to me.

Playchoice ten and MVS multi carts in the wild. Racing games have menus for which track you want. Only ones I can think of.

I sucked at Playchoice and avoided those.  Thanks for bringing up those repressed memories of suckage.  Big meanie.

[Le Chuck]

No, no arcade game that I ever played had a menu where I could select a game, but it's a tradeoff (upgrade?) from all of the choices that are available to me.

Playchoice ten and MVS multi carts in the wild. Racing games have menus for which track you want. Only ones I can think of.

I sucked at Playchoice and avoided those.  Thanks for bringing up those repressed memories of suckage.  Big meanie.

That damn timer taunted me. I'm with you.

[Vigo]

Are you saying you weren't putting down your quarters to play the next game of Fester's Quest? 

[yotsuya]

Are you saying you weren't putting down your quarters to play the next game of Fester's Quest? 

 

[yotsuya]

No, no arcade game that I ever played had a menu where I could select a game, but it's a tradeoff (upgrade?) from all of the choices that are available to me.

Playchoice ten and MVS multi carts in the wild. Racing games have menus for which track you want. Only ones I can think of.

Don't forget the Namco games that let you choose 1 out of 6 games. I, Robot had a menu where you could choose what type of game you wanted to play.

[mcseforsale]

I believe that every arcade machine must contain at *LEAST* one 80's cliche.



This^^  while the game is changing.   

what about just a .jpeg or other type of file that defaults.

AJ

I'm also interested as to how it is set up to look between a game switch.

[yotsuya]

I believe that every arcade machine must contain at *LEAST* one 80's cliche.



This^^  while the game is changing.   

Totally agree. To the max, even.

[Gray_Area]

Wow, this has gotten a lot more, and a lot less, interesting.

Dear, you can make the distance, you just need more practicin.

Chucky baby. That graem is one of my favorites. That nose spew is, like, totally necessary.

[HaRuMaN]

Wow, this has gotten a lot more, and a lot less, interesting.

Dear, you can make the distance, you just need more practicin.

Chucky baby. That graem is one of my favorites. That nose spew is, like, totally necessary.

[sandheaver]

I think this is an interesting idea and serves it's purpose for the OP.  My concern and why I don't think it's a viable option for me is because what happens to the desktop in between games?  If a user is changing the games via a phone/tablet/other connected device, is the player watching anything or just waiting? 

With a themed cabinet, I can see looking at a blank screen, screenshot, or desktop wallpaper of your favorite football team (San Dimas football rules!).  But that doesn't thrill me by any stretch.  I'd rather not look at Windows or the OS of choice.  That's one of the key functions of a front end as it hides the OS and creates the illusion of a more arcadeish experience IMOP (you reading CheffoJeffo?).  Even MameUI is a FE albeit a very Windowsy FE that makes little attempt to hide the OS, but that's not it's purpose. 

No, no arcade game that I ever played had a menu where I could select a game, but it's a tradeoff (upgrade?) from all of the choices that are available to me.

My two cents.  YMMV.   I look new and different ideas but I also understand what's good for me isn't what everybody likes.

 

Currently the screen goes black between games, (Windows desktop set to black with the taskbar minimized and all desktop icons hidden,) but it takes less than a second for MAME to go away and the new game to launch.  Programmatically there is zero delay between them but process destruction time and MAME loading time do add up a slight bit. 

I can definitely add a delay, and I must admit I'm quite fond of the "winners don't do drugs" screen.  Perhaps I should add a delay in just so that can be appreciated for a moment.

In that light, how do you take an HLSL screenshot?  Nevermind.  ALT+F12.

[DaveMMR]

There is a lot of myth in this country about copyright.  It is straight-up illegal to emulate games you A) do not own a legally obtained copy of, and that B) you did not rip yourself.  Ask a copyright lawyer if you do not believe me.  That's what I did.  This is why I have kept all the PCBs I've ever owned.  I bought them to play them, I kept them to emulate them.  I borrow ripping equipment from a friend and I rip the ROM chips myself.  I don't live in Sweden; I can't just emulate whatever the hell I want and be legal.

Why do I care so much about being legal?  I just do.

Be careful canonizing thyself lest ye be scrutinized harshly. 

But in all seriousness it's not really a discussion about the legalities/morality of downloading ROMs I'm after.

Given the following:
a) You own original PCB's
b) You have a strong desire for authenticity
c) You have a strong dislike for any appearance of emulation on your cabinet

With all that, what I have trouble understanding is why you're even bothering creating your own ROMs, using MAME and writing a whole application in that case. Especially since you do not emulate unowned games anyhow. Because I can totally understand you're appreciation for the actual arcade experience, but I think you're taking a jet plane to go around the corner, so to speak.   Slap some PCBs in a JAMMA switcher, turn it on, *boom*, you're done. No messy front-end to muck it up, no complicated cell phone app, and no worries about any emulation accuracy issues.

I'm not trying to pee on your work or anything. I think the idea does hold a bit of merit for specific needs (locking kids out of a game, disabling game switching, etc.) But if it's to preserve the arcade integrity, the best way is still the simplest IMO.

At any rate good job getting it off the ground. It's still more than I'm able to do.

[BadMouth]

not bad for mspaint....

[sandheaver]

Slap some PCBs in a JAMMA switcher, turn it on, *boom*, you're done. No messy front-end to muck it up, no complicated cell phone app, and no worries about any emulation accuracy issues.

Yeah, I know, but there's still the 1 cabinet in which I want to play more than a JAMMA switcher can get me.  There's also mounting all those boards; if they're Neo-Geo or CPS2 I'm sure the JAMMA slots are too close together to accommodate that.

I'm not trying to pee on your work or anything. I think the idea does hold a bit of merit for specific needs (locking kids out of a game, disabling game switching, etc.) But if it's to preserve the arcade integrity, the best way is still the simplest IMO.

It's not a bad approach, but I'm really sure I'll grow beyond what a JAMMA switcher can do very quickly, if I haven't already.

At any rate good job getting it off the ground. It's still more than I'm able to do.

Learning to program is not hard.  If you've achieved any success at life at all (able to hold a job and do any kind of problem solving) then you can be a programmer.  You need only the ability to see the solution to any given problem as a series of small solutions to small problems, in the proper order.  The rest of it is a HIGHLY rewarding task of telling the computer what to do and then watching the computer do it.  You give the computer an instruction and the computer does it.  It really is amazing. 

The feeling one gets when one achieves success in a development endeavor provides a natural high, a rush so overwhelming that honestly I can't describe it.  The learning curve, though, can be the exact opposite, if you're not patient.  This usually weeds out the angriest of souls fairly early on.

If you can be a programmer, you can do anything.  You can plow through any problem within the computer or without.

You can be a programmer.  You may not want to, but you can.  Anyone can.

And I'll admit, the stuff I've written at home and most of the stuff I write at work is nothing to really be proud of, small utilities and automation bits, but I know that when I need to do something more substantial, that I have the skills to do it.

[sandheaver]

not bad for mspaint....

Here's a 4k resolution one I made.  Suitable for desktop backgrounds, maybe.

HLSL scanlines without pincushion.

same, but full HD this time, and with pincushion.  Looks good.

[yotsuya]

not bad for mspaint....

Here's a 4k resolution one I made.  Suitable for desktop backgrounds, maybe.

HLSL scanlines without pincushion.

same, but full HD this time, and with pincushion.  Looks good.

Nice, but why are they widescreen?

Edit: I'm assuming these are for a MAME cab.

[sandheaver]

Nice, but why are they widescreen?

Edit: I'm assuming these are for a MAME cab.

These are for my desktop PC.  I'll turn them into 4:3 if I put them on a cabinet.

[yotsuya]

Honestly, they look really good. You should make them 4:3 and post them anyway. 

[Vigo]

not bad for mspaint....

e

  I love it!

My new desktop background 

[sandheaver]

Honestly, they look really good. You should make them 4:3 and post them anyway. 

http://imgur.com/a/TxVj3

[Vigo]

Honestly, they look really good. You should make them 4:3 and post them anyway. 

http://imgur.com/a/TxVj3

Nice effects ! 

[sandheaver]

Nice effects ! 

Thanks.  I should have fiddled with the convergence just a little to get a bit more realistic.

[yotsuya]

You might want to post them without scanlines, for those that might use them in conjunction with a scanline generator.

Great job!