Kymaera WIP

[PacManFan]

I've been working hard on Kymaera lately, and I finally have some progress to show.

Kymaera now supports DOS, Windows, and Linux.
For those of you who don't know, Kymaera is a universal Arcade Cabinet front end. Kymaer is fully skinnable, support re-mappable keys, movie previews, mp3's, wav files, multiple rom directories, game catagory lists, and much more.

Here are a few pictures of various skins.

[PacManFan]

Another of the more generic skin with z26 running

[PacManFan]

Here's another with movie preview playing.

I'll post a few more later with the vertical layouts.

-PMF out

[slycrel]

  Hey, I noticed you have a sourceforge page for this, but it has no CVS files or other files that I can find.  Is this going to change soon?

[PacManFan]

Yes,
I'm going to be moving away from www.pacmanfan.com very soon, and going straight to sourceforge as an open source project. I'm hoping to encourage a few other developers to join in so I can shorten the release cycle.

I've put a lot of time and effort into coding some really great features, and I'm more than happy to share them with everyone.

It's been a few months since I've released version 1.23, and now that I've made major changes, I'm jumping ahead 1 full version to version 2.

I'm hoping that Kymaera will be the new standard in cross-platform FE's, much the same way ArcadeOS and GameLauncher are.
As far as I know, Kymaera is the first cross-platform skinnable FE.

-PMF

[PacManFan]

To clarify,
The new 2.0 version is not posted yet. I plan to release a new version in the next week.

-PMF

[Jakobud]

How do you switch game lists?  Do you still have to use a hotkey like every other frontend?  I'm still waiting for someone to come out with a frontend where you can run the entire thing using the joystick and a single button (except for exiting the FE).

[ErikRuud]

I run Kymera from my Joysticks only.

You just need to remap the function keys in Kymera.

I have mine setup so that:

Player 1 Joystick Up/Down  scrolls through the current list.

Player 1 Joystick Left/Right changes lists

Player 2 Joystick Up/Down  pages through the current list.

Player 2 Joystick Left/Right changes lists

I do not use the categories under each emulator, I just setup each category as a seperate emulator. That way I can scroll through every thing using just one stick.

[PacManFan]

Kymaera has a fully mappable input system where you can assign any input (keyboard,mouse,joystick) to any FE function. Kymaera also supports using a combination of keys. For example, I use the P1B1 + P1B2 keys together to add a game to my gamelist, so I don't accidently add a game to my list.

The input system can use for example B1 OR B2 to trigger a system input, or it can use B1 AND B2.
Using this system, you can use a button like a shift function, so to answer your question, Yes, you can run the entire FE using 1 button and a Joystick. Use the button as a shift button, and have the Joystick doing double duty to navigate the game list, catagories, emulators,  and launching the game. Like this:

    ^
<-  - >   O
    v      

up = move to the previous game in game list
down = next game in game list
left = page up in gamelist
right = page down in game list

B1 + up = next catagory
B1 + down = exit FE
B1 + left = next emulator
B1 + right = add to favorites

B1 = launch game

You could even have an "add game to favorites list" button and an exit button.

If you wanted to get really fancy, you could do things line this:

up + left + b1 = Exit FE

So you could move the joystick to the upper left and press B1 to exit the FE.

-PMF

[Minwah]

How do you switch game lists?  Do you still have to use a hotkey like every other frontend?  I'm still waiting for someone to come out with a frontend where you can run the entire thing using the joystick and a single button (except for exiting the FE).

MW can also run using just 1 button, using the same method of 'shift' functions PMF described.

PMF: Looks good, I think the cross-platform-ness of it is *great*.

[PacManFan]

Thanks Minwah, coming from you that's very high praise. I'd like to say that MameWah has been quite an inspiration. Do you remember when you sent me that load/save layout code?

I'm finally getting around to writing an importer / exporter for MameWah layouts, so in other words, MameWah layouts and Kymaera skins will be interchangable. I'm still working out the details of your file format, but it shouldn't be too difficult.

If you'd like, I can share my .skn file format with you as well.

This is one of the last features I'll be putting in before I make a release.

-PMF

[BobbyG66]

Can Kymaera create a list of games that use different emulators?

What I am looking for is to have one game list called "Golf" for example.
I want to have all of my golf games in that list. The golf games would be mostly mame, but I also have some PC golf games.

Is that possible?

Thanks
BobbyG66

[PacManFan]

Yes, it can.
Kymaera supports game lists with games from different emulators.

To set this up, You need to set up a gamelist for each emulator, and then you tell the game list to use a particular emulator, and save it.

Then, you can move through all your game lists and emulators in Kymaera, and when you see a game you like, you can add it to your favorites list.

OR

You can use the game list creation screen in KymaeraConfig to load up an emulators game list, and copy the games you want to another list and save it

This way, you can have a game list of just "Pacman", with games on it from Mame, Atari, NES, etc... and Kymaera will launch them all correctly, and display the art for them correctly too.

-PMF

[Minwah]

Thanks Minwah, coming from you that's very high praise. I'd like to say that MameWah has been quite an inspiration. Do you remember when you sent me that load/save layout code?

I'm finally getting around to writing an importer / exporter for MameWah layouts, so in other words, MameWah layouts and Kymaera skins will be interchangable. I'm still working out the details of your file format, but it shouldn't be too difficult.

If you'd like, I can share my .skn file format with you as well.

This is one of the last features I'll be putting in before I make a release.

Cool, I apologise again for my somewhat lazy way of storing the layouts - it works tho

I don't need your .skn format details atm, as I don't plan doing anything for a while!  Also, I will be re-writing my own layout format at some point (also not for a while)...

[BobbyG66]

Yes, it can.
Kymaera supports game lists with games from different emulators.

To set this up, You need to set up a gamelist for each emulator, and then you tell the game list to use a particular emulator, and save it.

Then, you can move through all your game lists and emulators in Kymaera, and when you see a game you like, you can add it to your favorites list.

OR

You can use the game list creation screen in KymaeraConfig to load up an emulators game list, and copy the games you want to another list and save it

This way, you can have a game list of just "Pacman", with games on it from Mame, Atari, NES, etc... and Kymaera will launch them all correctly, and display the art for them correctly too.

-PMF

Thanks, I will give that a try.

I just downloaded the latest. My initial thoughts are that this kinda looks like a combo of Mamewah and Mamewah setup (Dave Butler) all in one.

This should meet all my needs.
Thanks
BobbyG66

[ErikRuud]

The key configuration and the gamelist management are the two main reasons I like Kymaera!

Dare I ask?  Are the grid controls in the gamelists fixed?

[PacManFan]

Yes, the gridlist click problem is gone.
For those of you who hadn't used Kymaera before, there was problem when you clicked on the data grid, somethimes it did not respond, sometimes it did.

I think one of the best new features is that Kymaera now handles vertical skins differently. In versions 1.23 and previous, it rendered the FE image into a bitmap, and then rotated and blitted in one pass to the screen. While this worked, it was very slow on most machines <2ghz.

The new way to handle vertical layouts is requiring the user to rotate all of thier art to the correct orientation with an included batch rotation utilty program, and drawing only rotated text to the screen. This method runs at the same speed as a normal horizontal skin.

I've got a vertical skin running on a PII 233 in my cocktail cabinet, and it's very quick (25-30fps)

[BobbyG66]

The key configuration and the gamelist management are the two main reasons I like Kymaera!

Dare I ask?  Are the grid controls in the gamelists fixed?

How come your web page says you use Gamelauncher?
BUSTED! Just kidding

[ErikRuud]

Because I haven't updated that page in a long time.

I still think GameLauncher is a great frontend, especially for DOS.

When I upgraded my MAME PC and started running under Windows, GameLauncher started crashing on me.

Then Kymaera came along and solved all my problems.

PMF, The grid problem was actually pretty consistent, clicking only worked in the first few rows and in the last few. I did figure out some work arounds for the grid problems by clicking in the first or last entry in the list, you could then use the cursor keys to select stuff.

[GadgetGeek]

What libraries are going to be required for the linux version?  Also, will it only run from X, or will it also run from a straight console with frambuffer and/or svgalib support?  
Thanks

[PacManFan]

The Linux version is a "static linked" version, so no additional libraries will be required. I'm using Allegro as the display interface, so it will work in a console, from X, and it can optionally use the framebuffer with svgalib.

As far as other libraries it uses (statically linked), lets see if I can remember:

allegro
libpng
loadpng
jpegalleg
fblend
libmp3
libogg
zlib
alfont
libcda
gifalleg


I'm not a Linux expert. I'm still having some issues with the Linux port. I can get it to run in windowed mode in X currently, but there are issues with the keyboard inputs. You also have to run Kymaera as root.

The DOS and Windows versions work great. If you want to help determine the best configuration for Linux with me, that would be great. I've only been using Linux for about 2 months (just to port Kymaera).


-PMF

[GadgetGeek]

If you want to help determine the best configuration for Linux with me, that would be great. I've only been using Linux for about 2 months (just to port Kymaera).


-PMF

my linux experience is minimal as well or I'd take you up on your offer to help.  I'm waiting for the real world to settle down so I can get a bit more time to play.  I'm just excited that we will have another linux FE option.  And to have the option for it to not run under X means it can run on older, less powerful machines.
Thanks

[Buddabing]

I've been working hard on Kymaera lately, and I finally have some progress to show.

Kymaera now supports DOS, Windows, and Linux.
For those of you who don't know, Kymaera is a universal Arcade Cabinet front end. Kymaer is fully skinnable, support re-mappable keys, movie previews, mp3's, wav files, multiple rom directories, game catagory lists, and much more.

Here are a few pictures of various skins.

Awesome!

On Windows, if I ALT-TAB out to the desktop, everything is fine until I resume the FE (click on its minimized button in the taskbar), then the screen goes blank except for "KYMAERA" in large letters across the screen.

[screaming]

LET'S SEE! LET'S SEE!

[PacManFan]

Be patient, I'm working on the last feature before this next release, The Mamewah layout importer. This will allows you to import Mamewah layout files directly and convert them to Kymaera skins.

The code all works, I'm just testing now.

-PMF

[screaming]

Be patient, I'm working on the last feature before this next release, The Mamewah layout importer. This will allows you to import Mamewah layout files directly and convert them to Kymaera skins.

The code all works, I'm just testing now.

-PMF

  Sorry, I got a little excited.  

-Steve

[chowny]

I've been working hard on Kymaera lately, and I finally have some progress to show.

Kymaera now supports DOS, Windows, and Linux.
For those of you who don't know, Kymaera is a universal Arcade Cabinet front end. Kymaer is fully skinnable, support re-mappable keys, movie previews, mp3's, wav files, multiple rom directories, game catagory lists, and much more.

Here are a few pictures of various skins.

Awesome!

On Windows, if I ALT-TAB out to the desktop, everything is fine until I resume the FE (click on its minimized button in the taskbar), then the screen goes blank except for "KYMAERA" in large letters across the screen.

LOL! Buddabing is a champion of ALT-TAB! You hounds me about this same thing on ArcadEPIC!

Later
 Stephen (ArcadEPIC author)
 http://www.mameworld.net/arcadepic

[PacManFan]

You can alt-tab all you want now. Kymaera will correctly minimize and restore focus.

-PMF

[Thenasty]

is this version goind to support pure dos ? I like to give it a try when it supports it.

[PacManFan]

Yes, as stated before, there is a DOS, Linux and Windows version. I'll be releasing a version shortly, time has been short for me, I've got a job, school, wife and kids to attend to, so when I find a few hours here and there, I get to work. The last thing I have to do is some more testing on my arcade cabinet instead of my desktop, and build the setup programs.

-PMF

[Thenasty]

I forgot to ask, will this run in Arcade Monitor (15khz) ?

[PacManFan]

I forgot to ask, will this run in Arcade Monitor (15khz) ?

Not yet, but it's on my to-do list for DOS and Linux