CPMaker wish list

[papaschtroumpf]

After playing with CPMaker over the weekend, here are some of the features that I think would make it great.


1) Allow use even if -nobezel is on
2) Display with the proper aspect ratio
3) Support all controls including joysticks, player start, trackball, ...
4) "No controls available" notification (load a different picture?)
5) better control over label font (discussed towards the bottom of this page: http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=3;action=display;threadid=26534;start=0)


Maybe not all of them are possible, and others can probably be implemented as "workarounds".
For example if Howard's Johnny5 turns out to do a better job at generating the picture, then maybe using johnny5/irfanview/CPMaker-display-only may produce better results than CPMaker only, at the expense of extra overhead when launching the game and no dimming support (unless Howard plans on implementing that in Johnny5).
Because of that I see 1 & 2 as the most important (and chances are, they're also the hardest), although I really like the "all-in-one" aspect of this app.



Edit: also having the ability to display some of the other controls.dat fields, such as "misc information" wuld be nice  

[Buddabing]

After playing with CPMaker over the weekend, here are some of the features that I think would make it great.


1) Allow use even if -nobezel is on
2) Display with the proper aspect ratio
3) Support all controls including joysticks, player start, trackball, ...
4) "No controls available" notification (load a different picture?)
5) better control over label font (discussed towards the bottom of this page: http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=3;action=display;threadid=26534;start=0)


Maybe not all of them are possible, and others can probably be implemented as "workarounds".
For example if Howard's Johnny5 turns out to do a better job at generating the picture, then maybe using johnny5/irfanview/CPMaker-display-only may produce better results than CPMaker only, at the expense of extra overhead when launching the game and no dimming support (unless Howard plans on implementing that in Johnny5).
Because of that I see 1 & 2 as the most important (and chances are, they're also the hardest), although I really like the "all-in-one" aspect of this app.



Edit: also having the ability to display some of the other controls.dat fields, such as "misc information" wuld be nice  

I'm experimenting with the internal display functions. Maybe something can be done for #1 and #2, and maybe not.

#3 will eventually get done. at least for normal joysticks. Flight sticks, trackballs, and spinners are more difficult.

#4 should be easy to implement. I can either read a label from your layout file or display a separate images. Easiest would just be to implement the display of the misc details label.

What method to implement a solution to #5 is still under debate. But it will definitely happen.

[2600]

Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but aren't 1 & 2 really moot compared to 3.

1. It would be nice if it was it's own artwork layer, but being the bezel layer doesn't really matter that much.  If you don't want to use the bezel remove the artwork.
2.  I'm assuming you are talking about vertical cames here, if not explain.  If so, this can easily be solved now.  Use a bezel on the sides and it will display full screen.  You can even set it not to display in the art file and it will work.  It is a hit on the CPU though.

3. This I assume is really the goal.  Not so much how it's worded above, but accurately label all controls usign mame's heiarchy.  Isn't this what it is all about?  Good luck in adding the other labels.  

[papaschtroumpf]

The reason to turn the bezel off is to get the game to look larger, removing the artwork won't make the game larger, itjust makes the pace around it black.

yes I was talking about vertical games, and same issue as before I don't want the bezel in something like 1942

The reason why I prioritized 1 and 2 before everything else is that CPMaker is the only way to get display in game (when paused), whereas there are other options to generate the picture, which can then be displayed by CPMaker. I would of course just rather use CPMaker for it all, especially because at this time it's the only one doing dimming of unused controls.

[2600]

1. Your screen is still small even when you aren't using the bezel, but just have the bezel layer enabled?  That's a configuration issue.  Just set the resolution ini files up for the games.  I haven't used it but Minwah has a tool that makes this automagic.

2.  For this all I'm saying is to use a black bezel on the sides.  It's already black on the sides now.  I can explain in detail how to do it if you want just let me know.

[papaschtroumpf]

on 1: I'm not sure what you mean by "not using a bezel". If I use -nobezel it takes the full screen, but then CPMaker won't display. If I'm missing the artwork from the artwork directory, then yes, I still havea blank space all around.

on 2: Now I understand what you mean, and I'm not sure how to do that so yes, I'd love to leran how.

Thanks

[2600]

1. Setting up your resolution in your ini's will fix this and is better anyways.

2. I'll give you some easy steps, you set it up and let me know how it goes or if there are any problems.  For simplicity we'll do one game and see how that goes.
A. Goto Retroblast.com and download the Universal Mame bezel.
B. Extract the unibezel.zip.
C. Copy it and Rename it to 1942.zip. Also, rename the unibezel.art file inside the zip to 1942.art.  So inside the 1942.zip file you have 1942.art, mame.png, and mask.png.
D. Copy this to the mame artwork directory
E. Now run 1942 from mame.  Besides the mame stuff on the side does that fix your problem?  If it does, just open up the mame.png file in the 1942.zip file in some editor and make it all black, zip it up again and try it out.  If it doesn't, could you describe your problem a little more.

Edit: Actually another way instead of making the mame.png all black edit the 1942.art file with notepad or whatever and make visible = 0.  

[papaschtroumpf]

Ok, it may be  few days before I get to it, but I'll let you know how it goes. Sounds pretty straightforward,