Inertia - a new 3D front-end for MAME

[middy]

All,

When I created my MAME cabinet a few years ago, I wanted something different for my front-end. I wanted something that was simple to use, functional, elegant. I also wanted it to have fluid 3D animations as the game selections transitioned from one game to the next.

To that end, I created my own front-end from scratch (I work in the game industry and have specialized in 3D graphics development for most of my life.)

I haven't been following the MAME community in quite some time, so it's possible that Inertia doesn't compare to the new hotness available today. Either way, I was thinking about releasing this publicly for anybody to use (free, of course.) If I did this, I would also release the full source code on GitHub so that others might fork it and carry on development.

To release this, I would have to do some organization and write up documentation. But before I spend time to do that, I thought I'd ask if this is something that anybody is even interested in.

Video of the front-end in action:



Details:

It's currently running and looks great on my cabinet, which is using a traditional 19" CRT, but is customizable (via XML file) to run on just about anything.

It was written in C# and uses D3D, so it's limited to Windows. If I release it, I will also release source code so other developers can fork it and build on it further if they desire.

Each game has up to 5 panels of information that you can use for just about anything. I use them for (1) Screenshots (2) Original cabinet image (3) Original CP image (4) Scoring info (5) How to play info. Scoring and Play info are text panels that can be scrolled by the user. The graphics at the top (Game Selection instructional graphic) and bottom (text for buttons to press to start game, get credits, etc.) are in a customizable overlay image that you can create and just drop in a replacement.

Adding games is trivial - just drop ROMs in a folder and the system automatically finds them each time you boot up the software. To add screenshots or info files, just drop them in the appropriate folder with the same base filename as the ROM and they will be linked to that game. No messing around with XML files to get a game installed.

Thoughts?

[markc74]

One thought. Awesome!

I'd been thinking of writing a 3d front-end for a while but never get the time. Would love to give yours a go when/if you want to share it!

[Karpro]

That looks cool. How high end would the hardware need to be to run it?

[Le Chuck]

I would never let guests know that button layouts could be altered upon request. Good for you for signing up for that kind of assache (unless Paul is the dog then rofl)

[middy]

I have the old ArcadeVGA, which was (unless I'm mistaken) an ATI HD4000. It gets a little sluggish if I run it with that card at full PC res, but on my cabinet, I run 640x480, which performs very well, very fluid.

[yotsuya]

Nice! You've got some great bones there as far as a good looking 3D front end. If I were going to use it, I would love to have it with just the cabinets, no frames, and none of the other extra information or control panels. I think surfing through by cabinet would be an awesome way to do it. the other stuff I think in the long run probably wouldn't get used as much. But I do have to say, I think it looks really cool.

[bulbousbeard]

Looks nice and fluid. Even though you did a great job on the animations, I would tweak them to be a bit less chaotic when you're going through the games quickly. There's so much movement, and it's so fast, I think it'd be hard to pick out anything that you want to stop on.

[middy]

Here you go!

https://github.com/nettlep/Inertia

I've not tested this in any environment than my own, so I'll be curious if anybody finds that it works for them (especially if it works with newer versions of MAME than 0.133).

You can download the initial release (even though the link on the release page on GitHub reads "Source Code (zip)") - that file will contain the runtime release as well (you can delete the Source folder.)

If you like this, please spread the word. This is the only MAME forum I'm posting this.

[yotsuya]

Grabbed it to play with. Thanks for sharing!!! 

[Loafmeister]

I'm in the middle of reviewing how I want my mame and other emulators setup on the new cab I recently acquired, so great timing!  I'll take a look at this tonight, thanks for sharing!

[Hoopz]

OP - Great job so far.  I added it to the FE poll thread.  Make sure you vote for your own work please.   

[middy]

FYI:

I forgot how powerful the animation system is, so it won't be easy to figure out just by playing with it, so I'm documenting it now.

(this will be in the README.md file right on the front page of the GitHub link.)

[Maladjusted]

I tried to get this to work, but I get error messages,
If you could send me a working standalone copy of this on a flash drive, I would be very happy, and I would paypal you for your trouble. I have been struggling with finding a working front end for weeks now, many thanks..

[TeamTEOR]

I am getting errors too. I have a funny feeling it is due to not having the keys mapped the same way that he does. Did I miss how to configure the controls?

[middy]

What kind of error are you seeing? What's the exact error message?

Be aware that Inertia requires .NET, but most modern boxes should have that installed.