MaLa 2.0+ - New Feature ideas

[loadman]

As you will see in the other post, MaLa 2.0 Beta 1 is being tested by a small group for now.
This is mainly to improve stability, so there's a strong foundation to add new features.

As for potential new features, here are some ideas:

Already planned
These are happening regardless:

Coming in 2.0 Final

• The companion tools, rebuilt for 2.0 - GameList, Tree, Layout, AttractMode and PluginTester ship alongside MaLa.
• Launch buttons for those tools in the settings screens - right where you configure the matching feature, e.g. the Layout editor button next to the layout settings.
• Missing artwork and video report - MaLa checks your game list against the artwork your layout uses and writes the gaps to a file, ready for a bulk downloader such as ADB-Tools.
• Links to recommended companion tools - on malafe.net and inside MaLa, such as looking a game up on Arcade Database.

Potentially Coming in 2.1

• Second-screen marquee support - a dedicated LCD marquee panel above the main screen, showing artwork for the selected game.
• Multiple languages - MaLa's menus and settings in other languages, starting with German, French and Spanish, and open to community translations.

Some potential ideas that will keep me busy for a while - feedback welcome

These are features I'm considering. Nothing here is promised, and there's no set order yet.

If any of these would make a difference on your cabinet, or you think something is missing, reply and let me know.

Game lists and launching

• Run without MAME - use MaLa with only other emulators and/or the Jukebox, no MAME install needed.
• Portable game lists - lists keep working when a drive letter changes (USB drive, cloned build, moved install).
• Show the game name, ROM name, or both in the game list.
• Fall back to a clone when the parent ROM is missing (or vice versa), instead of failing to launch.
• Print or export the game list to text or CSV.
• Multiple emulators in one game list - e.g. MAME, Model 2 and Naomi games side by side.
• Multiple MAME versions side by side.
• Auto-quit idle games - return to MaLa after a game has been left idle for a set time. Would you want the game to quit, MaLa to quit, or both?
• Playlists.
• Play counts shared across layouts.

Layouts and display

• More game info in layouts - source file, driver status, ROM path and more, updating as you move through the list.
• History.dat display fixes.
• Hi-score display in layouts (HiToText).
• Animation in layouts, including animated starting screens.
• Transparency in layouts - layers over video, transparent game-list pictures.
• Background video in layouts.
• Auto-scaling layouts for different screen resolutions.
• Word wrap in layout text.
• Cocktail and rotation improvements.
• Windowed mode.
• Horizontal or sideways game lists.
• Music spectrum analyser - bars moving to the background music.

Controls and navigation

• Button combos and multiple keys per action, including a combo to quit.
• Wrap-around scrolling in the game list.
• Tree shortcuts - skip the game-list selection screen, hide the main emulator list.
• Small button conveniences - both Start buttons launch, a button to show flyers.

Starting a game

• Hide the "starting game" window.
• Show the game's snap or image in the starting window.

Hardware and configuration

• USB character LCD support (Matrix Orbital, Crystalfontz).
• Modern MAME config controls - video, filters, HLSL/BGFX.
• Support fot Strem Deck Control - Admin, coin adding etc

Thanks,

[Zebidee]

Game lists and launching

• Run without MAME - use MaLa with only other emulators and/or the Jukebox, no MAME install needed.

I vaguely remember trying out old Mala, many years ago. I liked it a lot, most people liked it. I want to give new Mala another go.

I might be mistaken about this, but: the reason I recall for not using old Mala was because the games lists forced the title text "GAMES LIST" to also appear. This annoyed me because I also wanted to have music playlists available from the menu, and to have "GAMES LIST" at the top of a list of music playlists would have looked dumb.

So my single, uncomplicated request of is: that the new Mala does not force you to have "Games List" appear above the games lists. Instead, it could be a text string variable instead, so I could replace it with something like "Music" or "Albums", or just something else instead. Even just to have the option of the "GAMES LIST" text *not* appearing would be better than nothing.

Again, I could be completely mistaken about this, apologies if that is the case.

EDIT: I thought about volunteering as a beta tester, but honestly I don't have the time so I didn't want to waste yours. But really looking forward to the new Mala   

[arquillos]

As you will see in the other post, MaLa 2.0 Beta 1 is being tested by a small group for now.
This is mainly to improve stability, so there's a strong foundation to add new features.

As for potential new features, here are some ideas:

Impressive! 

[loadman]

So my single, uncomplicated request of is: that the new Mala does not force you to have "Games List" appear above the games lists. Instead, it could be a text string variable instead, so I could replace it with something like "Music" or "Albums", or just something else instead. Even just to have the option of the "GAMES LIST" text *not* appearing would be better than nothing.

Sounds easy to implement.

When you next try MaLa send me a screenshot of what you are describing and I will add what you want/need.

[arquillos]

May I suggest some kind of integration or support with: https://github.com/mausimus/ShaderGlass?

[loadman]

May I suggest some kind of integration or support with: https://github.com/mausimus/ShaderGlass?

I will put it on the list :-)

[DaOld Man]

Is it possible to hide certain game lists that are not child friendly?
I have grandkids that visit every now and then.
To be able to hide certain lists when they are trying to find their favorite game would be nice, in my situation anyway.

[loadman]

Is it possible to hide certain game lists that are not child friendly?
I have grandkids that visit every now and then.
To be able to hide certain lists when they are trying to find their favorite game would be nice, in my situation anyway.

Sounds like a fair request.

How would you want the hidden list(s) revealed — a button combination on the panel, or something like a key on a separate keyboard you keep out of reach? (Kids tend to find button combos quickly.)

And should the lists go back to hidden every time MaLa starts, or stay revealed until you hide them again?

[DaOld Man]

Sounds like a fair request.

How would you want the hidden list(s) revealed — a button combination on the panel, or something like a key on a separate keyboard you keep out of reach? (Kids tend to find button combos quickly.)

And should the lists go back to hidden every time MaLa starts, or stay revealed until you hide them again?

Well, of course there are many ways to do it.
Maybe give each list the option to hide until unhidden, in options/configuration.
I guess my suggestion to unhide would be a 1 to 3 button press. (User to select what button(s))
Example: 1 + 2 + 3 would unhide the hidden lists.
In my scenario, the button press could be just one button, which would be assigned to a input im not using on my CP.
Then I could hide the button behind coin door or somewhere.

I know this would be a pretty hard request, because if more than one button press is required, timers would have to be involved.
It would be a lot simpler, I think, to have only one button (keyboard encoder input) assigned as the key.
Maybe press button again or quit mala to re-hide the lists?

[loadman]

Sounds like a fair request.

How would you want the hidden list(s) revealed — a button combination on the panel, or something like a key on a separate keyboard you keep out of reach? (Kids tend to find button combos quickly.)

And should the lists go back to hidden every time MaLa starts, or stay revealed until you hide them again?

Well, of course there are many ways to do it.
Maybe give each list the option to hide until unhidden, in options/configuration.
I guess my suggestion to unhide would be a 1 to 3 button press. (User to select what button(s))
Example: 1 + 2 + 3 would unhide the hidden lists.
In my scenario, the button press could be just one button, which would be assigned to a input im not using on my CP.
Then I could hide the button behind coin door or somewhere.

I know this would be a pretty hard request, because if more than one button press is required, timers would have to be involved.
It would be a lot simpler, I think, to have only one button (keyboard encoder input) assigned as the key.
Maybe press button again or quit mala to re-hide the lists?

The single-button idea is the one I'd lean towards. It fits the cabinet: wire a spare encoder input somewhere out of sight or alike

Roughly what I'm thinking:
it's a "keep it out of the way" feature, not a lock. Anyone with a keyboard and a bit of knowledge can get round it. For grandkids at the cabinet, though, that should be plenty.

It's going on the list for after the beta.

[Zebidee]

The single-button idea is the one I'd lean towards. It fits the cabinet: wire a spare encoder input somewhere out of sight or alike

Roughly what I'm thinking:
it's a "keep it out of the way" feature, not a lock. Anyone with a keyboard and a bit of knowledge can get round it. For grandkids at the cabinet, though, that should be plenty.

It's going on the list for after the beta.

This is the way to do it.

If using an IPAC or similar encoder, you can set it up such that the button is impossible to press unless you press the SHIFT button (I like to call it ADMIN) first to make the alternate keyset available. I always put this ADMIN button somewhere out of the way, discrete but not hidden. Make it a black button on black background and people will forget it is there almost as soon as you tell them.

[DaOld Man]

I can re-name the MLG file to spmething like MLGBK
Example, I have a list called "Adult Games". I found adult games.mlg in the Mala folder.
I changed the name to adult games.mlgbk, and when I run Mala the adult games list (In Mame layout), is gone.
Change name back to adult games.mlg and the list is there.

This is a good way to hide lists, but you have to go out of Mala and do it from the windoz.
Be nice to be able to do it without exiting Mala, maybe in the options section, but not urgent.

[loadman]

I can re-name the MLG file to spmething like MLGBK
Example, I have a list called "Adult Games". I found adult games.mlg in the Mala folder.
I changed the name to adult games.mlgbk, and when I run Mala the adult games list (In Mame layout), is gone.
Change name back to adult games.mlg and the list is there.
This is a good way to hide lists, but you have to go out of Mala and do it from the windoz.
Be nice to be able to do it without exiting Mala, maybe in the options section, but not urgent.

Nice find - renaming the .mlg is a good way to do it for now, and it works with the beta as it is.

A couple of things to keep an eye on though:

- Hiding the list doesn't hide the games. Everything in "Adult Games" is still sitting in All Games, so you'll want to hide All Games as well (there's already an option for that per emulator), or the grandkids will find them in about five minutes flat.
- If the hidden list was the one you had selected when MaLa closed, flick to another list before you quit. If you forget, let me know what MaLa does on the next start - I haven't checked that one yet.

Rough plan for doing it properly once 2.0 is out the door:

- Each game list gets a "Hidden" tick in Options. No renaming files - MaLa just doesn't show them.
- One button of your choosing brings the hidden lists back, and a second press hides them again. Could be a spare input on the panel, or tucked away behind the coin door on the encoder's shift layer like Zebidee said.
- Every time MaLa starts, they're hidden again, so a crash or a power cut can't leave them on show.
- They stay out of attract mode and the screensaver while they're hidden too.

It's more "keep it out of the way" than a proper lock - anyone with a keyboard who knows where to look can undo it - but for keeping the grandkids where they should be, it'll do the trick.

2.0 is locked down to fixes only now, so this one comes after. Your renamed files will keep working fine in the meantime.

Cheers

[Zebidee]

Rough plan for doing it properly once 2.0 is out the door:
- Each game list gets a "Hidden" tick in Options. No renaming files - MaLa just doesn't show them.

[...]

It's more "keep it out of the way" than a proper lock - anyone with a keyboard who knows where to look can undo it - but for keeping the grandkids where they should be, it'll do the trick.

This is the way to do it.

If kids really really want to find your "naughty bits" then they will. They are, in many cases, very creative and intelligent and it's not like they can't find much worse in a heartbeat on the internet.

Attract-Mode (the FE) has a boolean option to either display a given list or not. This is the simplest way to hide lists you want to have, but don't want everyone to see. You can change this behaviour (on a list-by-list basis) while in-menu by pressing <TAB> to access settings, which requires you to first press the "ADMIN"/"SHIFT" button (+right joystick).

I use that for the arcade cab in our guest house - not to hide naughty bits, but to give guests a smaller, curated choice. Because too many lists and too many choices can be overwhelming. Like when you go to the supermarket for baked beans and are faced with six meters of shelving packed with endless varieties.

[DaOld Man]

Thanks Loadman, I think that would work great, for me anyway.
And thanks for the hint about the All Games. I didnt think of that.