Looking for Beta Testers for new Windows Front End

[chowny]

I'm am finished all the basic coding duties on ArcadEPIC, my new Windows Multi-Emulator Front end.

I basically wasn't quite happy with MameWAH so I decided to code a front end to suit me (therefore its a bit similar to MameWAH...credit where credit is due!)

It is perfect for running in a Cabinet, but works on windows too

[Fuzzguitar]

Sounds interesting, I'm a Mamewah man all the way though I'm very keen to see Mamu's excellent icons on my cab too. I can try to test it for you if you don't mind that I'm probably not the greatest here with software.

[PacManFan]

Just curious,

What language did you use to program in? C,C++, VB, or something else? Do you plan to support multiple emulators?

-PMF

[chowny]

Ah, what the hell. Get it at

http://www.chowns.net/ArcadEPIC.zip

Anybody who wants to download it and try it out is welcome, but keep in mind this is the FIRST EVER public beta version of this, and is probably riddled with bugs.

Download it.

Unzip it to its own directory.

Run the "Configurator.EXE"
It'll automatically detect and setup Daphne and MAME.
If you use weird directory structures, check them in the configurator before proceeding.

If you're using mame, run the "MAMEListBuilder.EXE" next.

Then you should be good to go.

(You might want to take the time to make a layout or two)

Requires DirectX7 or later.

Email me with problems, questions at
 
 sdchown@yahoo.com

Regards
 Stephen

[chowny]

Just curious,

What language did you use to program in? C,C++, VB, or something else? Do you plan to support multiple emulators?

-PMF

Its written in Delphi. It already supports multiple emulators. It'll detect and set up Mame (MAME, ADVMAME or MAME32) and Daphne. Other emulators can be added manually (much like MameWah)

There is no limit on how many emulators you can have.

Regards
 Stephen

[jbeersm]

I will download it and give it a try this weekend.  I have been looking for a good FE and have not found one I like yet.

Will let you know.

Thanks

[AlanS17]

Screenshots?

[chowny]

I'm not artistic enough to make my own skins, so I adapted some from MameWAH.  





I will dig out my digital camera later and take a picture of it running on my cabinet arcade monitor.

Regards
 Stephen

[lokki]

I'm not artistic enough to make my own skins, so I adapted some from MameWAH.  

I will dig out my digital camera later and take a picture of it running on my cabinet arcade monitor.

Regards
 Stephen

Does it use the same layouts as Mamewah?

[chowny]

I'm not artistic enough to make my own skins, so I adapted some from MameWAH.  

I will dig out my digital camera later and take a picture of it running on my cabinet arcade monitor.

Regards
 Stephen

Does it use the same layouts as Mamewah?

No. The way skins were handled in MameWAH was one of the things I didn't like. If you use a 1024x768 skin for example in ArcadEPIC, you can change resolution on the fly in the front end and everything will be scaled to fit.

Towards this end, my layout designer uses relative, and not absolute co-ordinates.

I just used the JPG background image and set up a new layout. It only takes a moment.

Regards
 Stephen

[chowny]

As I said earlier, here is a photo (albeit not a very good one) of it running on my cabinet's arcade monitor.



Regards
 Stephen

[Fuzzguitar]

Great work, those icons look fantastic! Now to get over to Mamu's site for an update I think...

[Dariusz]

Chowny

In you front-end, are you able to mulltiple emulators in the same list. ie in the same list have the following games:

PowerDrift (FinalBurn)
Dragon's Lair (Daphane)
Elevator Action (Mame)

Dariusz

[Dariusz]

Oh, another item I'm looking for in a front-end which may be your supports? is the ability in the same list have different emulators (like in my earlier post) but also have the ability to change the GUI artwork (skins) when different emulators are chosen at the same time.

Dariusz

[jamesoft]

Great Front-End

Just one problem so far

JukeBox looks like this.....

[chowny]

Chowny

In you front-end, are you able to mulltiple emulators in the same list. ie in the same list have the following games:

PowerDrift (FinalBurn)
Dragon's Lair (Daphane)
Elevator Action (Mame)

Dariusz

Doesn't support this at the moment, and its not a difficult thing to add in a future version. BUT, if you're talking about it changing skins as you scroll up and down the list...well...although this is possible of course, it'd slow down your scrolling speed.

In the meantime, its different emulators with their own lists.

I'll be making a list of people's requests for future development.

Regards
 Stephen

[chowny]

Great Front-End

Just one problem so far

JukeBox looks like this.....

Oops. Probably just a configuration issue. My error reporting is not as good in the jukebox side of the code to be honest.

Looks like you don't have a background image set. I provided a sample Jukebox background image. Its called wood1024768.jpg or something like that.

Make sure you go into the Jukebox settings on the Configurator and check that you have a MP3 directory set, and a background image set. Then fiddle with the settings to your preferance.

The other thing that'd help of course is some documentation, which of course I am busy with at the moment.

The MP3 jukebox expects you to have a folder for mp3s, with lots of sub folders for each CD or whatever.

In each CD folder, you'd have your MP3s and a jpg of the CD cover. It looks for a jpg with "front" in the filename. Then for a jpg with "cover" in the filename (ie. cover.jpg). And then for ANY jpg it can find.


So you'd have something like this :

c:\mp3s
c:\mp3s\2112\cover.jpg
c:\mp3s\2112\Overture.mp3
c:\mp3s\2112\Temples of Syrinx.mp3
c:\mp3s\Electric\front_cover.jpg
c:\mp3s\Electric\Love Removal Machine.mp3
c:\mp3s\Electric\Born to be Wild.mp3

etc etc

I hope this is clear. Once it is setup it works great.

Any feedback is more than WELCOME! I need your comments to make this front end the best I can.

Regards
 Stephen

[chowny]

Now added a video screensaver feature than can play any video in the frontend that you could play in Windows Media Player (I've not uploaded this yet, as it would mean that you would need DX9 installed)

But it'll be in an update real soon (code already tested on my machine). I'm now also adding a built in video jukebox and possibly video snapshots.

I'd love to hear some feedback from anybody who tried my Frontend over the weekend too...

Regards
 Stephen

[Zero_Hour]

Nice work. Still haven't settled on a front end for my project, but this is in the running.

Is there any flexibility to the mp3 filestructure?

my current structure is like this:

d:\musicdir\artistname\albumname\song.mp3

I'm guessing this is why I get some album covers showing up, but no tracks to choose from.

My other question is concerning the layout designer.

I can show and place the different elements on the layout, I can choose backgrounds, but I can't seem to change the aspects of the different elements. the boxes are there, but are greyed out, so that the values can't be changed. Am I missing something obvious? Long weekend, so that's quite likely.

I'll be interested to play with the next release.

[chowny]

Nice work. Still haven't settled on a front end for my project, but this is in the running.

Is there any flexibility to the mp3 filestructure?

my current structure is like this:

d:\musicdir\artistname\albumname\song.mp3

I'm guessing this is why I get some album covers showing up, but no tracks to choose from.

My other question is concerning the layout designer.

I can show and place the different elements on the layout, I can choose backgrounds, but I can't seem to change the aspects of the different elements. the boxes are there, but are greyed out, so that the values can't be changed. Am I missing something obvious? Long weekend, so that's quite likely.

I'll be interested to play with the next release.

Firstly, there is nothing wrong with your MP3 structure. As long as you've got one main directory with your CDs in subdirectories off it, the Jukebox will recurse into them and find the tracks. I am a bit concerned that there are NO track lists though. Email me if you like on sdchown@yahoo.com and we can try and figure it out.

Secondly, it reeaally would help if I finished my manual I guess. To adjust your layout select a box by clicking on it. Its name will appear at the bottom of the screen telling you you've selected it. You can drag selected boxes around with the mouse, or resize them by moving to the bottom right corner until the mouse cursor changes to a resize cursor. And then dragging them to a new size.

For more precise adjustments, click on them and move them with the arrow keys. Holding down SHIFT and pressing the arrow keys will adjust its size.

Thats all for now.

Regards
 Stephen

[chowny]

With regards to your above problem, is it possible your music is WMA files and not MP3 files. Just noticed I was only supporting MP3. BUT I QUICKLY changed this and uploaded again.

Movie support is also in there now, so the program now requires DX9.

Oh and I threw in a load of bugfixes, free of charge.

Regards
 Stephen

[daywane]

With regards to your above problem, is it possible your music is WMA files and not MP3 files. Just noticed I was only supporting MP3. BUT I QUICKLY changed this and uploaded again.

Movie support is also in there now, so the program now requires DX9.

Oh and I threw in a load of bugfixes, free of charge.

Regards
 Stephen

I will try it out. plays Movies also!