Looking for front end FAQ

[Ed ONeill]

I just finished my first  mame project and I have some questions about front ends and wanted to do some reading before posting dumb or repeated questions questions.

so is there a FAQ on front ends out there ?

Thanks
Ed

[SirPeale]

Hm...not that I'm aware of.  Any specific questions?

[Ed ONeill]

I have many ...I am so confused  

I tried finding out answers to my questions but I can't seem to find them.

Here is my situation:
I just built my laptop mame and I am not sure if I need a front end or not. The laptop will not only be used for mame but for other things as well.

So here are a few questions
 
1. Is a front end just like mame 32 but nicer looking?
2. How do I know if I need a front end ?
3. Are front ends only for use with arcadeos?

Signed
Ed

[EndTwist]

Those questions want to make me twitch  

Anyways,

1. There are many such as MAMEWAH, Kymaera, VertiWAH, and a number of others.
2. If you are using DOS mame (which is what you NEED to use with a frontend) then you need a frontend. Also if you want to run games from a sorted list using a joystick or some such item.
3. ArcadeOS is NOT an operating system. It is JUST a frontend. I should shoot the author for calling it an OS...AGH!

[screaming]

1. Is a front end just like mame 32 but nicer looking?

  Generally yes, but harder to install and configure.

  However, most of the popular front ends will have the ability to list more than one emulator. For example, MAME32 can only list MAME-compatible games whereas MAMEWAH, Dragon Kind, and Kymera can list games from MAME, Project64 (Nintendo 64 emulator), ZSNES (Super Nintendo emulator), etc.

2. How do I know if I need a front end ?

  If you want to navigate your game list and launch games using a reduced set of keys (i.e. a control panel with a joystick and a couple buttons) and/or want to have a nice, customizable interface then a front end is what you would want to look into.  Otherwise, stick with MAME32 for MAME games and the other emulators for their games.

  Most of the time when people build arcades that have a bunch of games in them, they want other people to be able to play them as easily and with as few questions as possible.  A front end allows you (the arcade owner/builder) to make a nice easy interface for people to use to navigate the game list without giving them the option of going into the menus and fudging things up.

  Just think about all the time you spent trying to figure out MAME32, what all the menus options do, what you need to do to configure the roms and making sure all the options are set correctly for your games.. Most people don't want to explain all that every time someone just wants to use their arcade machine to play a game.

3. Are front ends only for use with arcadeos?

  Despite the 'OS' moniker in 'ArcadeOS', it's really just a front end like MAMEWAH, Dragon King, Kymaera, Game Launcher, etc. The fun part is messing around with all of them to figure out which one you like the best!

  I don't know much about the features of ArcadeOS and how they differ from the other front ends out there, other than it works great with an arcade monitor (I'm using a TV).

  Any front end you come across will have these features in common:

- List games
- Hide whichever operating system you're using.
- Limit the ability for your players to get in and mess around with the operating system.
- Launch games using a customizable keycode (meaning, you can launch a game by pressing a button on your control panel once).
- Display some sort of graphic relating to the game. Game Launcher will show you the title shots and screen shots, while MAMEWAH, Dragon King and Kymaera will allow you to customize what gets shown and where on the screen it's placed: Marquees, screenshots, cabinet pictures, control panel pictures, whatever.

  Some front ends have different/more options than other front ends. Dragon King has "support" for the more cutting edge features but it's a little harder to set up, while MAMEWAH is a little easier to set up and manage but its features lag a little behind Dragon King.  Kymaera is relatively new, but is very promising.  3D Arcade is pretty new too and takes a very unique approach to "listing" the games.. I definitely recommend checking that out at least, especially if you only have a relative few games on there.

  I hope this helps, and maybe this could be the start of a "Front End FAQ" thread?

  On the ArcadeControls website there is a software section with a bunch of links to a lot of the front ends out there.

-Steve

[Ed ONeill]

End Twist ......sorry to make you twich , but I just finished building my first project and I couldn't find any simple explanations like screaming wrote.

steve...Thanks....So according to what you said in your answwer to question 2 I beleive there is no need to use a frontend on this project.

I however have one more question

Is there a front end out there that will display what buttons are used for each game you select?

I thought I heard someone mention that there was such a beast, at the Funspot getogether.

Thanks
Ed

 

[screaming]

Is there a front end out there that will display what buttons are used for each game you select?

I thought I heard someone mention that there was such a beast, at the Funspot getogether.

  There is a 'controls.dat' project underway who's goal is to collect all the game control information for all the MAME games and compile it into a computer-parsable format.  This will allow various viewers and front ends to display a 'mapping' from the original MAME game control panel layout to your own personal control panel layout.

  Currently, the project is a little more than 1/10th complete, but definitely has enough games to get you started with the Johnny 5 viewer.

   As far as I'm aware, MAMEWAH, Dragon King, and Kamaera are the only front ends that have this somewhat integrated, even though it's currently a pretty cludgy implementation in all these front ends (instead of just showing the controls when you highlight a game, you have to press a special button, or configure it so it automatically launches the johnny 5 viewer before the actual game launches).

-Steve

[Tiger-Heli]

Is there a front end out there that will display what buttons are used for each game you select?

I thought I heard someone mention that there was such a beast, at the Funspot getogether.

 There is a 'controls.dat' project underway who's goal is to collect all the game control information for all the MAME games and compile it into a computer-parsable format.  This will allow various viewers and front ends to display a 'mapping' from the original MAME game control panel layout to your own personal control panel layout.

  Currently, the project is a little more than 1/10th complete, but definitely has enough games to get you started with the Johnny 5 viewer.

   As far as I'm aware, MAMEWAH, Dragon King, and Kamaera are the only front ends that have this somewhat integrated, even though it's currently a pretty cludgy implementation in all these front ends (instead of just showing the controls when you highlight a game, you have to press a special button, or configure it so it automatically launches the johnny 5 viewer before the actual game launches).

Johnny5 is a VERY cool program, but it takes quite a while to set it up properly.  You need a background image of your CP and then you have to move all the labels to line up with your buttons on your image.

As long as we're talking about Johnny5, I've been unable to get it to work under Win98SE, and haven't got it completely right under Win2K.

Does anyone have it working under either of these OS's?

[Howard_Casto]

End Twist ......sorry to make you twich , but I just finished building my first project and I couldn't find any simple explanations like screaming wrote.

The questions make me twitch too but for a different reason.  You call your project "finished" and yet you haven't even started looking at anything beyond mame32 yet.  

For the entire general public let me clue you guys in.  The software is 60-80% of your project.  Woodworking and getting the basic cabinet put togther can be done in a week, but it takes several weeks or even months to get the fe and emulators configured just right and properly skinned so that they match the theme of your cabinet.  

Imo software should be tested first.  For one it's free so you don't waste money when you make mistakes. Secondly when you "test" your mame setup you actually learn a lot of things that effect the hardware.  People who have been running mame on a hardcore level for months generally don't make some of the stupider mistakes like adding "o" and "k" keys to press ok and having 10 buttons per player on a 4 player rig.  Lastly, if you hardware isn't properly planned around the software, it might limit your selection.  Let's say for example you found out that you could interface this one video card to an arcade monitor using arcadeos.  Well if you test out ahead of time you'll find that aos isn't good for anything other than mame for the most part, so there goes your plans to run zinc and windows for that matter, as it only runs well in dos.  

I'm not ranting towards you personally, it's just people who think of the software as an afterthought are looking for trouble.  It's like building a hotrod without having an engine for measurments for the cavity or even knowing what engine you are going to use.  It is possible to work that way but it's also possible to fit a round peg in a square hole if you have a big enough hammer..... I wouldn't reccomend it though.  

[Ed ONeill]

Howard_Casto ... I understand that your rants aren't totally towards me and please don't take offense to what I have to say and please remember we were all newbies once.

The questions make me twitch too but for a different reason.  You call your project "finished" and yet you haven't even started looking at anything beyond mame32 yet.

Sorry I didn't explain my situation good enough or maybe I shouldn't have called it finished .

My laptop arcade is up and runing is more like it. There are pics and descriptions on the projects announcement forum (MAME on the MOVE)

I however am not one of those people who can wait ...I need things done now so that is why I built this cheap inexpensive project to learn as I go. There are people here that have played mame on their computers without building a cp for years. I Just started with mame in Jan and couldn't play the games on my keyboard any longer  

For the entire general public let me clue you guys in.  The software is 60-80% of your project.  Woodworking and getting the basic cabinet put togther can be done in a week, but it takes several weeks or even months to get the fe and emulators configured just right and properly skinned so that they match the theme of your cabinet.  

 Imo software should be tested first.  For one it's free so you don't waste money when you make mistakes. Secondly when you "test" your mame setup you actually learn a lot of things that effect the hardware.  People who have been running mame on a hardcore level for months generally don't make some of the stupider mistakes like adding "o" and "k" keys to press ok and having 10 buttons per player on a 4 player rig.  Lastly, if you hardware isn't properly planned around the software, it might limit your selection.  Let's say for example you found out that you could interface this one video card to an arcade monitor using arcadeos.  Well if you test out ahead of time you'll find that aos isn't good for anything other than mame for the most part, so there goes your plans to run zinc and windows for that matter, as it only runs well in dos

I agree this is  true but ...my situation is diffrent  This is not a permanent MAME machine.It's simply a portable housing with controls for playing MAME. I can take the laptop out and bring my laptop anywhere.

 I did ask the questions to find out if I needed one or not and apparently a front end is probably not for  this particular project.

BTW I still haven't done the cp overlay yet or figured out if I am adding anymore controls...so the software isn't the only reason it's  not officially finished.

thanks for listening
Ed

[papaschtroumpf]

The software is 60-80% of your project.  Woodworking and getting the basic cabinet put togther can be done in a week, but it takes several weeks or even months to get the fe and emulators configured just right and properly skinned so that they match the theme of your cabinet.  

You are so right! I think you're never "finished", there are always more emulators to add, more interfaces to tweak, more cool apps coming out (in: Johnny 5, err 6 ), and so on...
What makes it compelling is that most of it can be done for "free" since a lot of software out there is generously made available for free, so you just say "well, I've spent xxx dollars on the cabinet, might as well make it worth it by adding ...<fill in the blank: jukebox, casino games, PC-Games, Vectrex games, add in an aquarium screensaver ...>

Then you go "well, those dowloaded skins are pretty cool, but what if I made my own set?" and you start hanging around the artwork forum and the photoshop tutorial sites, ....

Well, and then you start thinking "it's too much in one cab, maybe I should make several themed dedicated cabs...."

(OK, enough talking about me )