My own frontend

[Felsir]

I'm currently working on my own frontend. There are quite some frontends out there but (AFAIK) none featured the things I wanted in my FE.

Features in my frontend:

• Have an animated titlepage (blinking "press 1P or 2P to start", cut-scene's etc.) To make the menu look like the title sequence of a game. My cab is titled "Caught in the Timezone", the front-end title sequence looks like a Timezone game. This also acts as a screensaver: one minute idle time in the menu and it's back to the title sequence.
• Have the controls for each game displayed. The control panel is graphically shown on the bottom of the menu. The controls used in the hilighted game are visible with a short text under each button/joy/trackball.
• Games are sorted in categories (joystick left-right switches between categories, up-down selects games in that category). Categories have a selected/deselected graphic. Also emulators can have their own graphic.
• Games have the following attributes: title, description, emulator, executable+parameters, controls, screenshot/titlegraphic.
• Simulated scanlines
• XML configuration

The current version is a test version, some things are currently hard-coded. The menu is build using dotNet, to run it, you'd need the dotNet framework.

I do not yet have it available as download since it's a work-in-progress. If there is interest I will make it better configurable.

The testscreenshot shows the menu, title graphic and the full control panel (scanlines were "on" in the screenshot so it's a little darker). The control panel only shows the buttons that have text assigned to it. To see what my real control panel looks like see this thread: http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=10;action=display;threadid=17204;

Questions, hints, tips, remarks and suggestions are welcome!

[Felsir]

Another shot to demonstrate the working of the control panel. Note that the data in the shot is 'dummy' data  

[PacManFan]

Sounds good, There is always more room for quality FE's . When will a download be available? FYI, every feature except the "simulated" scanlines is available in Kymaera already. I think Dragon King and Mamewah support most of them already. Kymaera uses XML configuration files for everything.

I would love to see the .Net source for you FE.

-PMF

[Howard_Casto]

I'm currently working on my own frontend. There are quite some frontends out there but (AFAIK) none featured the things I wanted in my FE.

Features in my frontend:

• Have an animated titlepage (blinking "press 1P or 2P to start", cut-scene's etc.) To make the menu look like the title sequence of a game. My cab is titled "Caught in the Timezone", the front-end title sequence looks like a Timezone game. This also acts as a screensaver: one minute idle time in the menu and it's back to the title sequence.
• Have the controls for each game displayed. The control panel is graphically shown on the bottom of the menu. The controls used in the hilighted game are visible with a short text under each button/joy/trackball.
• Games are sorted in categories (joystick left-right switches between categories, up-down selects games in that category). Categories have a selected/deselected graphic. Also emulators can have their own graphic.
• Games have the following attributes: title, description, emulator, executable+parameters, controls, screenshot/titlegraphic.
• Simulated scanlines
• XML configuration

The current version is a test version, some things are currently hard-coded. The menu is build using dotNet, to run it, you'd need the dotNet framework.

I do not yet have it available as download since it's a work-in-progress. If there is interest I will make it better configurable.

I think it's great that you wanted to make a front-end... but I think your reasons aren't valid.  The major 4 fes can do everything you said that you wanted in a fe. (Except for maybe xml configs, but that doesn't matter) The moral of this story is research, research, research.    

Looks nice though, good luck with it!

[SirPoonga]

• Have the controls for each game displayed. The control panel is graphically shown on the bottom of the menu. The controls used in the hilighted game are visible with a short text under each button/joy/trackball.

How are you doing this?

[Felsir]

@PacManFan: I'm going to take a look at Kymaera. I'm curious about the level of configurability.

I think it's great that you wanted to make a front-end... but I think your reasons aren't valid.  The major 4 fes can do everything you said that you wanted in a fe. (Except for maybe xml configs, but that doesn't matter) The moral of this story is research, research, research.    

Looks nice though, good luck with it!

I did some research, never installed another FE but I browsed their features list (where available) and studied screenshots and I haven't found the control-panel feature in the same way I made it. It might be in somewhere in one of the available FEs so you're right I could have done better research.

@SirPoonga:
I have a discription for each control in each configured game. If there is a discription available for a button, joystick or trackball the graphic is shown with the description underneath it.
It doesn't hilight the controls physically on the CP, it's just graphics onscreen.

[SirPoonga]

I have a discription for each control in each configured game. If there is a discription available for a button, joystick or trackball the graphic is shown with the description underneath it.
It doesn't hilight the controls physically on the CP, it's just graphics onscreen.

I mean, where are you getting your information from?

[Felsir]

I enter the description for the controls in my configuration XML for each game.
For example controls in the Metal Slug config:

Code: [Select]

   <controls>
      <joy1>Move</joy1>
      <button1>Shoot</button1>
      <button2>Jump</button2>
      <button3>Granade</button3>
   </controls>


[)p(]

I enter the description for the controls in my configuration XML for each game.
For example controls in the Metal Slug config:
[code]

[SirPoonga]

Actually, that is what I wanted to know peter

Ok Felsir.
More questions for you since you seem to have made your own XML file with the controls info.
Did you do ALL the games?
Where did you find the control info?  Just mame and klov?


If you don't know about it the controls.dat project is doing that for you
http://fe.donkeyfly.com  click on controls.dat project link at top of page.

[Felsir]

Ahh, I wasn't aware of controls.dat! Thanks for the info!