ultrastyle v2.2 Released

[ultrastyle]

http://www.mameworld.net/ultrastyle

Whats new..

Changed:
- some aesthetic changes in ultraconfig
- removed pause when ultrastyle loads, used to wait for intro music to end
- changes were made to the game info code (as well as the clock) to make sure they
look more permanent
- Marquee default colors have been brightened again for easier text viewing
- wheel moves to next marquee using up and down a little faster
Fixed:
- Choosing a game with a playing video would play the video sound while the game loads
- AutoPlay code has been re-written to be in-line with game code for v2.0+
- added error checking code to verify that MP3 Directory actually has files in it
Added:
- optional clock in lower left hand corner
- checkboxes in ultraconfig to show/hide clock or controller info from interface
- ultraconfig now has presets for 4 commercial control panels
(HotRod Classic, HotRod SE, SlikStik Classic, and X-Arcade)
- controller information now optionally displays below screenshot cube
- NPlayers.ini support (optional)

Enjoy,
Chris

[Buddabing]

This really should work out of the box....

I'm getting a "parameter must be positive" dialog box pop up when I start MyRomInfo.exe.

Also, the "use listxml" option is grayed out, and I'm using MAME v0.86.

So I can't configure, and can't run.

Regards,
Buddabing

[koolmoecraig]

Runs perfect right out of the box for me. You must be doing something wrong. Follow the steps in Ultraconfig EXACTLY.

Ultrastyle is the most idiot proof front end out there.

Nice job again Chris.

[mahuti]

Are you calling Buddabing an idiot?

 

[Buddabing]

This really should work out of the box....

I'm getting a "parameter must be positive" dialog box pop up when I start MyRomInfo.exe.

Also, the "use listxml" option is grayed out, and I'm using MAME v0.86.

So I can't configure, and can't run.

Regards,
Buddabing

I got it to work on one machine, and I get the error on another. Perhaps there's a problem when the frontend is on a different drive than MAME.

Mini-LI is zero length. li.txt seems fine.

[Druin]

One thing I have noticed is when I exit Ultrastyle, a bunch of other open windows end up stuck on top and so I have to minimize them to cancel that mode for some reason.

Such as....if I have Winamp and MSN windows open, then run ultrastyle, then quit and try to go into I.E., that will be running behind MSN and Winamp and I have to manually move them to get IE in the foreground.

[ultrastyle]

Budda,
 delete Mini-LI.txt and run MyRomInfo again, this will try and re-create Mini-LI.txt and if it works, then it will use that to create MyRomInfo.txt. Once this file is created correctly, it's what ultrastyle uses to make the wheel. Li.txt and Mini-LI.txt are not referenced from the main .exe. the reason ultrastyle doesn't work out of the box is because the first setup setps are to gather info on your specific ROMs, and to do so using your version of MAME/M32. I would love to just send a complete list of ROMs, and work with that, but then I'd have to update it when MAME is updated. I am changing my parser to work with the both the -ListXML and -ListInfo versions of the game info which will eliminate the XML2INFO issues...

[Buddabing]

Budda,
 delete Mini-LI.txt and run MyRomInfo again, this will try and re-create Mini-LI.txt and if it works, then it will use that to create MyRomInfo.txt. Once this file is created correctly, it's what ultrastyle uses to make the wheel. Li.txt and Mini-LI.txt are not referenced from the main .exe. the reason ultrastyle doesn't work out of the box is because the first setup setps are to gather info on your specific ROMs, and to do so using your version of MAME/M32. I would love to just send a complete list of ROMs, and work with that, but then I'd have to update it when MAME is updated. I am changing my parser to work with the both the -ListXML and -ListInfo versions of the game info which will eliminate the XML2INFO issues...

Okay, that fixed it.

One thing I noticed was that many of the games had chopped off text on the sides, Pac-Man & Chomp Chomp was one example. I'm guess you reduce the font size of the text until it fits in the label, with a lower limit.

The ListXML/Listinfo is a big pain, which is why I dont support the listinfo versions of MAME in my applications.

Your interface is original and unique. I also like that your config utility is separate from the actual front end. I think that having everything adjustable from the frontend adds unnecessary complexity to the program.

Thanks for the help, and nice work!
Regards,
Buddabing

[ultrastyle]

Budda,
 I have finished the -listinfo/-listxml parser, and it seems to work great (I'm sure i'll find out in the next 2 weeks) Overall I think only 3 people have written to me about the -listxml issue, so it's not so bad now. I agree that I need to shrink the font a bit, I haven't put that on my to do list yet. But you should have the marquee for that game anyhow!

Chris

[danny_galaga]

ok, im starting to feel brave enough to try a front end to tidy up mame32. and ultrastyle looks great and sounds like its easier to set up than some of the others. when i click on ultraconfig however i get this:

the application failed to initialize properly (0xc0000135). Click on OK to terminate the application

have i missed something obvious? go easy on me, i'm hopeless at this stuff

[danny_galaga]

ok, ok so i cant read too good  

chris's FAQ says to download the dotnet thingo. error message gone!!
lets see what else i can stuf up...

[danny_galaga]

i cant believe it!! it works!! woohoo!! i can see it will take a bit of time to sort it out fully (like getting it to filter out non-working games etc), but thats ok since its basically running. there's nothing less rewarding to me than spending hours on something that may or may not work. you guys will make a 'puter nerd outa me yet  

[danny_galaga]

ok, i've pulled enough hair outa my head now!! i'm posing this question here rather than on the ultrastyle forums because it's to do with nplayers as it relates to this. ok, so in the nplayers folder in ultrastyle it says:

"Go to http://nplayers.arcadebelgium.be and download Nplayers.ini.
place the ini file in this directory, and your all set.

Thanks to Nomax for creating the NPlayers.ini!"

cool, but what i actually get when i've done that is an ini file that says 'multiplayer'. is this right? i tend to read things literally and try and follow it to the word. anyway, i put the 'multiplayer' ini in the nplayer folder. shouldn't it work now? i was expecting it to list number of players under the 'cube'. this is one of the features that caught my eye in a screenshot somewhere. i have a cocktail cab and it's damn handy to know quickly if two people can play both sides or not.

oh, initially i had mame32 v78 on my xp pc and i thought that might be causing probs so i deleted that and put in mame32 v88. i also at the same time deleted ultrastyle and started again there. was harder the second time (?). and now the game pad isn't working properly but thats a different issue unrelated to ultrastyle...