Recommend a frontend besides Hyperspin/Rocketlauncher?

[Hutt]

Although I love the look of Hyperspin I can't seem to stop having issues with it.... especially when interacting with LEDBlinky.
I'm very certain all my settings are correct... I've been in the RL/HS forums. Talked to Andy from Ultimarc and arzoo from LEDBlinky and can't get all my issues resolved.

So at the very least I need to try another FE just to make sure I don't have a hardware issue.

I have never used anything but HS...

So what would be the top recommendations that are compatible with LEDBlinky?
My Primary emulator will be MAME followed by Commodore 64.... with a side of Daphne/Astrocade/SNES/PC Games

[HaRuMaN]

I've only really used MALA before... but in my experience, it did play nice with LEDBlinky. 

[Malenko]

I've only really used MALA before... but in my experience, it did play nice with LEDBlinky.

^

[haynor666]

Have You tried F.E.E.L or MAMEWAH ?

[Hutt]

I've only really used MALA before... but in my experience, it did play nice with LEDBlinky.

I was actually going to download that before I posted this.
Is this the official website? http://www.malafe.net/

When I went there to download I got this red screen from Firefox
"This web page at www.malafe.net has been reported to contain unwanted software and has been blocked based on your security preferences."

Now I know I had to tell Norton to leave Hyperspin alone for always claiming it was a virus but this is the first time I have ever seen this alert from FF.

Have You tried F.E.E.L or MAMEWAH ?

Never heard of F.E.E.L. and never tried MAMEWAH... I don't think LEDBlinky supports either?
I have all lighted buttons and everything so I have to be able to control all of that.


One other thing I would like to be able to do that I was able to do in HS...
This is Commodore 64 related. Many of the games in that system besides the joystick and fire button also used the keyboard.
Now there are some games that will simply need a full keyboard and no way around that.
But many of my favorites one use a a few.
My control layout is controlled with an Ipac 64 so the buttons are assigned.
In HS using AHK files for each C64 game I was able to reassign buttons to fit my needs.
So for example a game like Spelunker that needs the spacebar, F, and D keys...
I would simply reassign a couple of the player one buttons to fit my needs.
alt::F
ctrl:: D

Or whatever I would need.... will I be able to do stuff like this with Mala and other frontends?

[tomstewdevine]

Atomic FE, old, but works, and it's really easy.

[BadMouth]

I've only really used MALA before... but in my experience, it did play nice with LEDBlinky.

I was actually going to download that before I posted this.
Is this the official website? http://www.malafe.net/

That's the official site.  I've never figured out why it sets off the alarms on some AV.
If you go through with it, don't bother with the last official build (1.74 IIRC), get the beta 1.84
The old one doesn't work with 7zip roms and is compatible with fewer video formats.

There is nothing about Mala that would prevent the key remapping from working, but it is not a feature of the front end.
You'd just make an autohotkey script for each game and then treat the ahk scripts as if they are your roms.

IIRC, there is a quirk where Mala won't work if pointed at the regular ahk script. 
You have to compile it to an exe or point Mala at a shortcut to it.

I use the shortcut method a lot because it doesn't matter whether it's pointing to an ahk script, exe, batch file, whatever.
Just put .lnk (that's LNK lowercase) as the extension type and Mala will pick them up like they are roms.

[Hutt]

That's the official site.  I've never figured out why it sets off the alarms on some AV.
If you go through with it, don't bother with the last official build (1.74 IIRC), get the beta 1.84
The old one doesn't work with 7zip roms and is compatible with fewer video formats.

There is nothing about Mala that would prevent the key remapping from working, but it is not a feature of the front end.
You'd just make an autohotkey script for each game and then treat the ahk scripts as if they are your roms.

IIRC, there is a quirk where Mala won't work if pointed at the regular ahk script. 
You have to compile it to an exe or point Mala at a shortcut to it.

I use the shortcut method a lot because it doesn't matter whether it's pointing to an ahk script, exe, batch file, whatever.
Just put .lnk (that's LNK lowercase) as the extension type and Mala will pick them up like they are roms.

I'm thinking maybe because it links to a new page with a automatic download... I dunno...
Anyway thanks for the heads up on 1.84 beta because I got the older one first.

I'll give it shot tonight.

Thanks.

[Duhjoker]

I started with mala then some one suggested HS & RL. I soent more than a week on that wild goose chase and around every corner was something else i had to download. I ended up with a virus from ine the mirror sites they used and had to format my computer. Probably would have bern worth it but getting the controls to work wasnt happening, especially with out more downloads and just didnt have the options it promised.

Mala on the other hand is simple to set up, i use mala tree for my main menu and i have different layout for each emu and it looks very proffesional. The best part is that you dont have to download more crap to get it to work and the controls work with out another app being added. Just Open up each emu configure your controls then add it the other emu tab add your snaps files, then take 5 minutes to create your mala. Takes about an hour or less.

So simple!!!!

[Hutt]

Going to mess with this soon...

Will I be able to pause all my emulators in Mala?

[Duhjoker]

If your emulator can do it mala can you just have to set up your controller configs and set controls for mala. Once you start the emu the controls you set within that emus app will take over.

I just added 2 buttons to my 6 button system and this gave me extra choices for setting menu control within both mala and my emus.

[Duhjoker]

If you dont like the layouts on the mala home page go ahead and download a couple any way. The layout editor that comes with mala is easy to use and capable of using almost any background you can find in google pics. Just remember to save after your done.

Also i couldnt find a way to use the built in jukebox with the mala tree but if look up mala juke box app youll find a couple that are compatible with mala. Just create a layout for it using the apps backdrops and add it to your "other emu config"

Mala tree link
http://newwiki.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?title=Mala_Tree

[Link fixed to point to the new wiki.  Please do not link to the old wiki. -- Scott]

[Hutt]

Mala doesn't like my mame.xml file for my game list. I have one with only about 150 games because in reality even that is more than anyone will actually play.
But the HS xml file is totally different than the mame generated one. Is there a way to use my old one?

[BadMouth]

Mala doesn't like my mame.xml file for my game list. I have one with only about 150 games because in reality even that is more than anyone will actually play.
But the HS xml file is totally different than the mame generated one. Is there a way to use my old one?

You might be able to come up with something using romlister.

If you only have the 150 roms though, I'd just delete mame.xml, let Mala generate a new full one and then set Mala to only display games with roms present.

[yotsuya]

AtomicFE 4 lyf

[m.andrade1]

Hello Guys
I recomend http://attractmode.org/
Itīs super light, easy configure, friend interface.

Thanks
Marcos

[Duhjoker]

When setting up mame in mala you have to point the path out to mame.  When you do this it will ask you if you want to make a new .xml. Choose yes. Then point the roms path to the roms for your games. Now make a mala tree for it. Open it up and manually delete any unwanted game on tje list by right clicking while in mala the choose delete game from list. Alternatively you can tell mame to only show only games you have roms for.

[Hutt]

Ok, sorry for the delay here... I have to admit its hard for me to pull away from HS... Even if these other frontends are more stable and easier to use I simply like the way HS looks much better. As far as aesthetics go I personally don't think any of the others even come close. I've probably put about 10 hours in this since yesterday... and I think I've resolved my issues...
As of right now multiple boot ups and shut downs with none of the problems I've been having for years.

I'm going to do more testing and tweaking and if it all proves good then I will post details and maybe it will save others the frustrations I've had with it.

Be back soon....

[Duhjoker]

So you went back to HS? Or do you mean your still working with mala.


   You msy not have the fancy wheels with mala but with the mala tree and the layout editor you can create any layout your imagination can dream of. You can even make them for each individual game instead of screen shots or marquis' and videos too.

I personally like maka better. The only real problem i have is having to use the mouse to back out of any game but the juke box and mame. But im looking to fix that.

[yotsuya]

Ok, sorry for the delay here... I have to admit its hard for me to pull away from HS... Even if these other frontends are more stable and easier to use I simply like the way HS looks much better. As far as aesthetics go I personally don't think any of the others even come close. I've probably put about 10 hours in this since yesterday... and I think I've resolved my issues...
As of right now multiple boot ups and shut downs with none of the problems I've been having for years.

I'm going to do more testing and tweaking and if it all proves good then I will post details and maybe it will save others the frustrations I've had with it.

Be back soon....

I hear you. For all the criticism it gets, in the end Hyperspin looks great, is very simple, and does what I want it to do - image wheel and screenshot. The end.

[Hutt]

So you went back to HS? Or do you mean your still working with mala.


   You msy not have the fancy wheels with mala but with the mala tree and the layout editor you can create any layout your imagination can dream of. You can even make them for each individual game instead of screen shots or marquis' and videos too.

I personally like maka better. The only real problem i have is having to use the mouse to back out of any game but the juke box and mame. But im looking to fix that.

Yeah, with the time I have invested in this I'd really like to get it going.
And as of right now I have all my major issues sorted... main thing left now is to get LEDBlinky working properly with C64 roms. MAME is pretty much a no brainer as all that work is ready to go.
So I'm going to mess with it the rest of the weekend and hopefully be nearly done... Really didn't feel like having to start all over learning new software....

[Hutt]

Ok, sorry for the delay here... I have to admit its hard for me to pull away from HS... Even if these other frontends are more stable and easier to use I simply like the way HS looks much better. As far as aesthetics go I personally don't think any of the others even come close. I've probably put about 10 hours in this since yesterday... and I think I've resolved my issues...
As of right now multiple boot ups and shut downs with none of the problems I've been having for years.

I'm going to do more testing and tweaking and if it all proves good then I will post details and maybe it will save others the frustrations I've had with it.

Be back soon....

I hear you. For all the criticism it gets, in the end Hyperspin looks great, is very simple, and does what I want it to do - image wheel and screenshot. The end.

Yeah, well it is overly complicated but now that I have some issues resolved I'm not even sure that HS was totally at fault.
Once I get this 100% I'll post all of the details.

[Fursphere]

Before you use any front end, do these things:

1) Learn how to command line launch your emulators w/ games.  Know exactly what the program needs to run correctly.
2) Get all of your controls working. 
3) Resolve any computer related issue (like drivers and such.

Only after you know for a fact that your emulator is doing exactly what you expect it to do should you considering adding a front end.  Then start all over with the front end..  what does it expect?  What's it doing?  Images?  Video files?  etc?   
 

[DesertBlade]

What was your issues with LedBlinky and hyperspin?  I just redid my Hyperspin setup and plan to do the LedBlinky soon, my previous build worked pretty good (until Windows took a dump)

[Hutt]

What was your issues with LedBlinky and hyperspin?  I just redid my Hyperspin setup and plan to do the LedBlinky soon, my previous build worked pretty good (until Windows took a dump)

Well various problems included LEDBlinky not shutting down when exiting HS so light show would continue.
Getting stuck in HS... not being able to select games/emulators or exiting from wheels.
MAME not always shutting down...for example I would exit a game and the wheel would come up but mame would still be running it in the background.
These thing wouldn't always happen... they were intermittent.

One thing I noticed while troubleshooting was that windows was constantly acting like ctrl or alt was stuck.
Researched that online and this is an issue that can occur for various reasons but none of the solutions were working including various windows re-installs... this problem was also intermittent.

So, long story short... well first my control panel is four player so there are lots of inputs.
I used somewhat standard keyboard commands for the player buttons including ctrl and alt keys.

I decided to eliminate these from the controls setup completely... still using shift but ctrl and alt are gone.

Since I did this all my troubles disappeared.
Once I did that I had to change the default keys for my emulators like MAME and Commodore 64 but that only takes a minute.
Also had to reassign in the LEDBlinky settings but once again, no big deal....

So right now at least MAME wise that cabinet works perfect.
The one positive thing about this whole experience is that while troubleshooting all of this I've learned a lot about how all these program interact with each other like HS/RL/HyperHQ/LedBlinky....

Right now I'm going through the tedious process of setting up the Commodore 64....  Time consuming because the C64 uses lots of keyboard buttons for many games.... So in an effort to use these games nicely on a cabinet and without a keyboard as much as possible I have to create AHK files for each game and reassign buttons on my layout to match the C64 commands... at the same time I want the controls to light so I have to program each game in LEDBlinky.
Fortunately I only have about 50 games I want to set up....takes more time to go through the game manuals and find out all the necessary controls than it does to set them up.

[fischb]

I also could never get LEDBlinky to work with HS.

It works beautifully with MALA.  And pretty easy.

[Phreakwars]

AtomicFE.

Old, but real easy to work with.