Escape emulators

[southpaw13]

Hello, besides the emulators set up for MameWah (to exit when you hit escape), are there any good Nintendo and Sega Master System emulators that do the same thing?  I have had lots of luck with RockNESX but it goes back to the GUI when you hit escape.  Same thing with Dega.  I had v-sync issues with the two set up for MameWah...  Which emulators are set up for command line only?

Thanks---

[stuzza]

FCEUltra (the modified one here) or VirtuaNES are the two best for NES in a cabinet.  You can modify VirtuaNES to exit with Escape by changing a certain value (this was shown in earlier posts)

As for Sega Master System, I'm still yet to come across a version which will exit with escape. You can however disable the gui from loading up by changing this line in the mekaw.cfg file to be as follows:

-----< GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE CONFIGURATION >------------------------------
start_in_gui = 0

Hopefully the author of Mekaw will make one available one day.

[Jakobud]

Take a look at Stuzza's website.  He has several custom compiled emulators that are made to work with our frontends.

[SpamMe]

There are wrappers on Howard's site that I gather take care of this very problem.

[TalkingOctopus]

Go here to get some emulators modified to exit using the escape key:

http://members.lycos.co.uk/stuzza12/downloads.htm

To find out their config settings w/ Mamewah go here:

http://members.lycos.co.uk/stuzza12/mwhelp.htm

[jdsony]

If you get a front end for ZSNES and disable the gui for ZSNES it quit's when you press escape, works most excellent. The frontend I've used is ZFE but it probably wouldn't work for an arcade monitor because it would be very hard to read. I'm going to have to check out Mamewah because I'm not sure what it's like.

[simcab]

Forget Meka for SMS emulation that thing cannot be worked good enough for a cabinet setup, do like I did:  MESS.

Very easy to configure (like MAME). and to execute a SMS game it is as simple as:

mess.exe sms -cart file.zip

[stuzza]

Ok guys, Zapper has recently brought to my attention how to get Mekaw to exit with escape and work fine on a cabinet.  There is now a new version of the mekawconfigurator available which enables you to set the escape key as exit!! yay!

I'll set one up at home with all the defaul keys and settings and make it available on my site within the next few hours.

Well done Zapper for working this one out.

[TalkingOctopus]

Ok guys, Zapper has recently brought to my attention how to get Mekaw to exit with escape and work fine on a cabinet.  There is now a new version of the mekawconfigurator available which enables you to set the escape key as exit!! yay!

I'll set one up at home with all the defaul keys and settings and make it available on my site within the next few hours.

Well done Zapper for working this one out.

That is good news!!

Let us know when it is available.

[jdsony]

Actually A question sort of related to this. There is no simple way of getting mame to use a key other than escape to exit the game is there? Sometimes I like to take my MAME on the go and play 2 player games with controller's and sometimes I don't bring my keyboard to save space.

[Tiger-Heli]

Actually A question sort of related to this. There is no simple way of getting mame to use a key other than escape to exit the game is there? Sometimes I like to take my MAME on the go and play 2 player games with controller's and sometimes I don't bring my keyboard to save space.

Sure, just map "UI Cancel" to something other than Escape, either through the tab menu or through controller.ini files

[Tiger-Heli]

There are wrappers on Howard's site that I gather take care of this very problem.

Related question, for EMU's that aren't listed on Stuzza's site that want to exit back to the GUI and/or want Alt+something to exit, can I use Howard's generic wrapper outside of Dragon King to exit the emu?

[Howard_Casto]

Yup... the improved genric command line wrapper should kill just about anything.  And as it takes the place of the real exe, any front end that sends command line data can use it.  

[Tiger-Heli]

Yup... the improved genric command line wrapper should kill just about anything.  And as it takes the place of the real exe, any front end that sends command line data can use it.  

I'm a little confused on the wrappers (and maybe this should be handled through a PM), but take Project 64 and EmuLoader.  I know there's a patched version of P64 on Stuzza's site, but it doesn't work with all games and I don't want to have to wait for him to update a file to use it.

I can launch a game from the command line or a frontend using:

C:\project64\project64.exe "C:\project64\roms\Hydro Thunder (U) [!].zip"

or by saving this line in a batch file.

(I need a separate command line or batch file for each game, but that's okay).  The problem is I still need to send Alt+F4 to exit.

The problem is I'm not sure how to set this up in the wrappers?  Would I need a separate wrapper for each game rom?  Do I re-name the wrapper to match the rom name?  Is this the best solution for this, or would I be better with a key re-mapper?  Is there a key re-mapper that can send Alt+F4 when Esc is pressed?

Thanks in advance.

[Howard_Casto]

you put the wrapper and it's lconfig.ini in the emulators folder.....

your new command line will be:

C:\project64\cmd-launch5.exe "C:\project64\roms\Hydro Thunder (U) [!].zip"


in the lconfig.ini you set a few settings... the most important one being the emulator, which you will set to project64.exe

the translation data between the cmdlist brackets can be deleted as they won't be used (not the brackets themselves though)


your done

btw all of this is in the online documentation

[arcadecab]

Tiger-Heli,

I have wondered the same thing--is there a simple key re-map program that would allow the alt+F4 to be reassigned to the escape button.  It seems like a fairly simple concept, so I hope there is something very simple like that out there.  I will have to tackle Howard's wrapper at some point as well, but thought maybe just a simple function to map alt+F4 to escape would do the job just as well. Anyone out there have any ideas/thoughts.

[Tiger-Heli]

Tiger-Heli,

I have wondered the same thing--is there a simple key re-map program that would allow the alt+F4 to be reassigned to the escape button.  It seems like a fairly simple concept, so I hope there is something very simple like that out there.  I will have to tackle Howard's wrapper at some point as well, but thought maybe just a simple function to map alt+F4 to escape would do the job just as well. Anyone out there have any ideas/thoughts.

If anyone else wants to pursue this I did a google search on key-remapper (should try key remapper also) and came up with this program).

http://www.dev-labs.com/kr/

Using the macro program, I defined a macro for Alt+F4 and then assigned it to the Esc key, but it didn't seem to work (but I can't access the registry on the computer I was testing on - no admin rights).

I also found this program http://webpages.charter.net/krumsick/KeyTweak%20Manual.htm#_Toc58638271 but it's only for Win2K and XP, and I run 98SE for MAME.

If anyone wants to investigate, ideally, what we need is a program that will allow you to assign Alt (or Ctrl) + function keys to the Escape key, and be loadable from a batch file, so I can load the alternate keyset, load the EMU, exit the emu, load the standard keyboard set, and exit the batch file.

[Howard_Casto]

I hate to promote my own product, but key remapping is not only dangerous (it can totally hose up your registry, mess up your location settings, ect) , but won't work at all for certain apps (anything that uses directinput, for example)  

Use my wrappers, they are actually a simplier solution then what you are all proposing and they will work much more often.  

[Tiger-Heli]

you put the wrapper and it's lconfig.ini in the emulators folder.....

your new command line will be:

C:\project64\cmd-launch5.exe "C:\project64\roms\Hydro Thunder (U) [!].zip"


in the lconfig.ini you set a few settings... the most important one being the emulator, which you will set to project64.exe

the translation data between the cmdlist brackets can be deleted as they won't be used (not the brackets themselves though)


your done

btw all of this is in the online documentation

Thanks Howard, I actually skipped over the above post when I was writing about key-remappers.

It's clear enough now, but the online documentation doesn't cover this example, for instance, doesn't say that the cmdline wrapper will work in this case, even though Project64 uses Keypresses.  Seems like a very good solution, though.

but I have a quick suggestion . . .

It seems like there should be two more .ini file options -

Desired Esc Key =Esc
Exe's Esc Key=Alt+F4

Since these aren't listed, I assume the wrapper just waits until you press Escape and then issues an "End task" to the program that is running.

Maybe the second command isn't needed, and the first one would only really be useful say to someone with a small encoder that didn't have Esc available, or . . . well, ok, I can't think who it would be useful for, but someone might want a key other than Esc (but settable) to exit the .exe.

[Howard_Casto]

You must have not read the docs well enough.... you can define any key as the exit key with the -keyx command line switch.  

You don't have to worry about how the game exits, the wrapper analyzies the best way to exit the game and tries various methods until it's gone.  That can be anything from "pressing" alt-f4 to terminating the process thread depending upon how stubborn the game is.  

It works in project64 just fine, I've used it before.  I honestly don't know why you guys are so scared of these things... your willing to hack the registry to remap keys but not edit a simple 5 line cfg file?

[Tiger-Heli]

You must have not read the docs well enough.... you can define any key as the exit key with the -keyx command line switch.  

I must not be looking at the same docs you are!!!

While I've got you here, though, I have another question.  I'm looking at using a control panel with Microsoft Train Simulator.  The game uses ESC to exit, but uses Shift+H, for example to dim the headlight.  Is there any way to use one of the wrappers (maybe the keypress one) to say "Send Shift+H when I press X"

Thanks in advance.

[arcadecab]

Howard,

Sorry for being a noob, but I have tried to work my way through the wrapper mentioned above.  My first problem is the vb codes used in the .ini.  The .ini mentions to check the vb documentation or use the keycode finder program (included).  I did not find the keycode finder program with the download.  Basically, I dont have any idea what numbers correspond to specific keys on the keyboard to input into the program.  That is my first problem.  
Secondly, I can reason my way through the .lconfig file fairly well and somewhat understand what to do.  It doesnt, however, mention the exiting of a game and entering the keycode for it (ie Alt. F4 to escape for instance) to get the escape button to serve as the exit of the game to the frontend.  Is this done automatically or is there a specific place that I have to declare this?
Basically, I am running my Atari Lynx emulator (Handy) from this location c:\emulators\Atari Lynx\handy.exe and have my roms at c:\emulators\Atari Lynx\roms (the roms are Good Tools named).  I am also using MAMEwah as my frontend, and want to launch the game to full screen from the gamelist and exit the game through escape back to MAMEwah.  Can you give some further examples of how exactly I would do this within the lconfig file??
The help would be greatly appreciated!  Sorry for the inexperience, but need some guidance on this so that I can use it for other emulators done the road.
Thanks.

[Howard_Casto]

Read above, you don't tell it how to exit, it can figure that out for itself.  

Also by default the escape key is the key that will kill the emu so you don't have to bother with keycodes.  


fullscreen is another issue.  If the emulator your using doesn't have an option to start in fullscreen then the wrapper isn't going to help with that.  All the wrappers do is translate command line options and exit the emu. (That should answer your question as well tiger-heli)

The reason I don't do keypress translations is because the only reliable way to do it is to hook windows entire input scheme or to hack the registry, both of which I've found to be dangerous.  

[Tiger-Heli]

fullscreen is another issue.  If the emulator your using doesn't have an option to start in fullscreen then the wrapper isn't going to help with that.  All the wrappers do is translate command line options and exit the emu. (That should answer your question as well tiger-heli)

Yep, I'm covered.  SOL for what I want to do with Train Sim, but covered.

HC, I thought I read somewhere that there was an option with the wrappers to wait a specified time and then launch full screen.  (I seem to read the stuff I don't care about and miss the stuff I want to know.)

[Howard_Casto]

Nope, not sure where you got that from.  

[Tiger-Heli]

Nope, not sure where you got that from.  

I think I got it from here:

"The misc entry is for pressing keys at a certain point in the game for various reasons. The default lconfig.ini is setup for final burn. Final burn doesn't save the "fullscreen" option and thus it has to be activated upon each run. Unfortunately you can't set it until after the game is started. So I used the misc option to wait a few seconds and then tab through the menu and turn fullscreen on. Please note that the wait time is in milliseconds."

Quoted from http://www.oscarcontrols.com/lazarus/wrappers.html
 

[Howard_Casto]

That's the wrong wrapper.... unless I'm mistaken the atari emulator in question accepts command lines, in whch case he needs the generic command line wrapper.  

[arcadecab]

Howard,

Thanks.  I downloaded the generic commandline wrapper 5.0 from the site and tried it.  I am unable to get the roms to load however.  Any specific suggestions on what I need to put where in the config file to get this to work.  I now understand that I dont have to set the escape as the exit, but I need to find how to get the roms to load.  I have set the emulator executable in MAMEwah to point to the cmd-launch5.exe file and named the emulator in the config (ie exe=handy.exe)
Not sure what else to do to the config file at this point.
Thanks.

[Howard_Casto]

nothing... have mamewah pass the rest of the comand line arguments you use for that fe as it normally would, just to cmd-launch5.exe

[Minwah]

Howard,

Thanks.  I downloaded the generic commandline wrapper 5.0 from the site and tried it.  I am unable to get the roms to load however.  Any specific suggestions on what I need to put where in the config file to get this to work.  I now understand that I dont have to set the escape as the exit, but I need to find how to get the roms to load.  I have set the emulator executable in MAMEwah to point to the cmd-launch5.exe file and named the emulator in the config (ie exe=handy.exe)
Not sure what else to do to the config file at this point.
Thanks.

I think I have touched on this before, but you really need to figure out how to run the emulator from a commandline first.  ie does it require the rom path/extension, does it accept long filenames etc.  Figuring this stuff out should always be your first step (we are not neccessarily familiar with all emulators ourselves).

Then you can configure MAMEWAH in a way that it runs the emulator OK  (You've probably got this far)...  The next step is to substitute the exe for Howard's wrapper, and edit the wrappers lconfig.ini - there are comments in there which direct you - but again you need to know the above info to configure it correctly.

Hope that helps

[Howard_Casto]

What he said


Btw... because people asked for it.... command line wrapper version 6.0 will soon be out.  

Ironically the main new thing it adds is the ability to turn OFF the kill app on exit option.  this is specifically for zinc, which seems to pitch a royal fit with my radeon card when you forcefully close it during certain sequences.  

Look for it before the new year along with a new dk release.  

[Minwah]

What he said


Btw... because people asked for it.... command line wrapper version 6.0 will soon be out.  

Ironically the main new thing it adds is the ability to turn OFF the kill app on exit option.  this is specifically for zinc, which seems to pitch a royal fit with my radeon card when you forcefully close it during certain sequences.  

Look for it before the new year along with a new dk release.  

I don't use ZiNc much but I seem to remember having some problems at times when quitting using your wrapper.  Nice work, I'll give your new wrapper a try when it's out