Frontend List

[SirPoonga]

Want your FE to show up on byoac.com? 
Then post name of frontend, link, short description and/or list of features.
If a new version comes out edit your post here and create a news submission .

No user replies allowed, the goal of this thread is to create a comprehensive list of frontends for the above linked page.  So just replies from the frontend developers with info about the frontend.

If anyone knows of any FE that the developer isn't active here let me know.

[youki]

So , I Start :

Atomic Front End :  http://www.atomicfe.com

- Functions under Windows XP , Windows 2000 (+directx7 or >), Windows 98 (+directX 7 ou >).

- Supports all versions of MAME , as well as all emulators that authorise to launch in command line

- Can run PC games or other Native PC applications

- Supports all resolutions specific to ArcadeVGA , as well as the resolutions of all other cards.

- Supports the vertical screens and Coktail cabinet

- Completely configurable at the graphic level (can display Snap, Flyer, Cab, Marquee..etc..etc)

- Customisable and animated layout!

- Build'in JukeBox

- Build'in VIDEO JukeBox VIDEO

- Fonctions of organisation and of sort of roms MAME based on the files CatList.ini, Genre.ini,Hardware.ini..etc.. or Manual.

- Allows using several emulators simultaneously.

(For example, if you

[swindus]

MaLa - MAME (and more) Launcher

http://mala.arcadezentrum.com
http://www.mala.de.tt

Current version: v1.0 RC2

MaLa is a multi emulator frontend designed for all 32bit windows operating systems. It supports the windows command line version of mame with xml rom info and others like Winvice, Kega Fusion, FCE Ultra - NES, VisualBoy Advance and Zinc to name a few.

MaLa features include:

    - Rotatable in any direction (0, 90, 180, 270) on the fly for horizontal and vertical screens
    - Controllable by arcade controllers with memorized controller settings for all your control panels
    - Controller detection: rotate and load gamelist depending on the controls that were touched (cocktail tables)
    - On the programming of keyboard encoders
    - Mouse support for trackballs, spinner and dials
    - Virtual shift key, full control with less controls
    - Keyboard hook and hotkeys (no need for wrappers or specialized emu versions)
    - LCD* Support: Displays various information (games, gamelists, mp3) on LC Displays up to 4x40 characters
    - LED* Support: Light up your buttons with up to 64 leds controlled by game information
    - LED* Attract mode for your cab
    - Comprehensive game list filter options and memorized filter sets
    - Start game on mala start (selected, random or last played game)
    - Edit game names in gamelists
    - No ini file editing

*) with additional MaLa Hardware

[tspeirs]

GameEx
http://gameex.net
http://tomspeirs.com/gameex

GameEx is a graphical DirectX based front-end for MAME, Zinc, Daphne, PC Games, and all command line based emulators, along with being a good HTPC solution when gaming is a priority or important. The original goal was for it to be used on Windows XP Media Center and also Arcade Cabinets . It will run on any version of Windows 98SE, ME, 2000, and XP. You don't need Windows Media Center to run GameEx.

It has support for Ultimarcs J-PAC and ArcadeVGA, LCD\VFD Displays, the MCE remote control, Gamepads, full Mouse control, Widescreen displays, volume control, Music playlists (ogg, mp3, wma, m4a), has a fully functional Jukebox including visualisations, Video Player, Internet Radio tuner (asx, pl, m3u, wma), Picture and Slide show viewer, News Reader (RSS 1 & 2), and should work with HotRod and X-Arcade, SlikStik/IPAC controllers. It has support for playing MAME and other emulator game videos (avi, mpg, mng) for the selected game while navigating the lists. GameEx also features a multi process based attract mode, that keeps launching different games. It supports multiple languages, and themes including the ability to have animated backgrounds using avi or mpeg files. The application is highly configurable via the use of an included configuration tool with help  and explanations for most settings, although GameEx can also be up and running within a few minutes.

With Version 4 GameEx now features a DVD Player (complete menu and chapter navigation) with support for FFDSHOW, and an all formats Video Player. These features have an on screen display, have support for various aspect ratios, and can be controlled with a Gamepad, Arcade controls, remote control and keyboard (you can navigate a DVD's menu and chapters with all devices) The Video module can also play DVR-MS using FFDSHOW (on Windows XP). Videos and DVD's can also show at ArcadeVGA resolutions on an Arcade Monitor at the correct aspect ratios. NOTE: DVD Software, Codecs/FFDSHOW required. Snap shots can also be taken for all of your videos/movies, and this is now stable with version 4 and above.

GameEx can also be used as a standalone DVD player via a command line option (-DVD)

It was primarily written to provide a MAME front end for Windows XP Media Center edition, integrating with the application, the remote control, and having a similar look and feel. In addition it was developed for Arcade cabinets, and has good support for Ultimarc's ArcadeVGA card, automatically launching games at the ideal resolution. As new versions are released GameEx is also becoming a good HTPC solution in its own right, especially for arcade cabinets, and MAME machines.

GameEx supports all recent official versions of DOS MAME, Windows MAME, MAME32, MAMEPlus, MAME32Plus, MAME32FX, AdvanceMAME DOS, and AdvanceMAME Windows. In addition the latest versions of Daphne and Zinc are supported. Zinc can be used seamlessly for launching games based on Playstation hardware instead of MAME. The Playstation based games appear as normal in the list and can be navigated by Year, Category, and Manufacturer, but when launched, Zinc can be used instead of MAME. It can also run PC games and just about all other command line emulators or applications.

A filtered list of Multiplayer Simultaneous play games can also be listed via the use of nplayers.ini.

Game information and selectable recommended games are shown when navigating the front end via the use of history.dat and mameinfo.dat. Category information is also provided thanks to catver.ini. A dynamic control panel viewer is also incorporated which utilises controls.ini. GameEx also utilises controls.ini to integrate with control panel switching hardware and software such as the GP-49.

The way the GameEx user interface is designed, it should also work very well with Touch Screen displays

[Tiger-Heli]

EmuLoader - (not my front-end, but the one I use ).

http://www.mameworld.net/emuloader/ (latest Version 4.7).

EmuLoader is written and maintained by Ciro Alfredo Consentino.  Unfortunately, Ciro is retiring from Emulation, so 4.7 is probably the last version of this frontend, unless MAME significantly changes enough that the current version gets broken.  Fortunately, 4.7 is the best of a long list of great versions of this FE.

EL has almost too many features to list, and I don't use all of them, so I'll hit the high points.

First, let me put in a disclaimer for some of our forum members - EL has been aptly described by other forum members as "MAME32 on STEROIDS!!!".  Meaning it is a very Windowsy frontend.  It also doesn't officially support resolutions less than 800x600, although I have run it at 640x480 with few problems.  It does not have configurable keys, so if you don't have a mouse/trackball handy, and don't have an enter key and up/down arrow keys on your panel, you will have a tough time with it.  The latest version does not support DOS MAME, and it is a Windows app, so can't run in pure DOS or Linux.

It does work very well for the way I use it - on a desktop PC with a HotRod-Style control panel.  And it offers native support for the HotRod, X-Arcade, SlikStik, and Devastator II Control Panels.

It also features:

Support for MAME, Daphne, Zinc, AgeMAME (MAGE), and PinMAME (but not Visual Pinball, except maybe through http://www.mameworld.net/tigerheli/pinloader/ but that's very out-of-date).

Games list with all features from MAME's -listinfo command and added support for catver, nplayers, and hi-score.dat files.  List can be sorted on any category, categories can be hidden or shown in any order.

Games List has five views, including a tree view which shows clones under the parent game.

Ability to filter list on Parent/Clone, System, Available/Not Available or a combination of settings.

Ability to change background color and font of gameslist and color of Master, Clone, and Non-Working Games.

Ability to use a custom command line to launch games.

Ability to add games to a Favorites List for each user.

Ability to Parental Lock objectionable games.

Support for 14 image types per game (ten images per type), Image types can have any name, so typically, you might display Title Screens, Snapshots, Cabinets, Marquees, Control Panels, Flyers, Instruction Cards, PCB's, Control Panel Layouts, and five other categories. Each image type can have a different background color.  Transparency is supported.  PNG, GIF and JPG files are supported.  Images can be scaled and several filtering (smoothing) effects are selectable.

Support for sound clips from each game, in either an intro or a continuous loop.

New version adds support for launching batch files instead of launching MAME directly (for launching Johnny5).  Each game can have a different batch file if desired.

Random Game Preview feature plays a short sample of each game directly through MAME.

Probably lots of other things that I'm leaving out. . .   

[bluez34me]

I have just finished building a Flash-based front end for MAME. You can find it at mame.danzbb.com. There's information there about how this works, along with Flash-projector versions (.exe files) that you can run in Windows.

It comes in two flavors:

• Dynamic--this one allows you to configure the front end using an XML config file.
• Static--this version I made for myself. If you own a copy of Macromedia's Flash, you can edit this version of the front end yourself.

I hope this helps someone out there. Either people looking for a simple front end to run on a cabinet, or those interested in building their own front end using Flash.

Dan

[PacManFan]

Kymaera's come back out of hibernation. The latest download is at:

home.comcast.net/~shernandez1337/distrib.zip

For those of you who don't know, Kymaera is a Multi-emulator front end for Windows, Dos and Linux.

It has a ton of features, some are:

Full Screen
fully skinnable
supports mpg,avi,wmv movies
supports mp3 and ogg playlists
hierarchical menu system
smooth scrolling support
supports multiple emulators
easy to use setup utility
Supports 15khz arcade modes in DOS

There are a ton of other features, these are just a few.

-PacManFan

[Regor]

Just wanted to let everyone know version 0.01 of my first front end is available at ArcadeFE.com

I will be starting my rewrite of the application in the next few weeks and would like as much good/bad input as I can.

Some features I want to include in the next rewrite:
* 640x480, 800x600 support
* All emulator support
* Video or screenshot before launching game
* MP3 playlist support
* Build List utility will become an all in one isntaead of including FE settings as a propritary utility.

Please remember this is a BETA of the first release, so it is not suggested to run this as your primary FE. If you do not find any bugs or I do not receive e-mails with suggestion I will be forced to add bugs and bad features (just kidding). 

On another note I hope to get my ArcadeVGA and 27" arcade tube soon so I can start desiging GUI's that are optimized for a true arcade feel.

[liquid8]

it's been bothering me that this is stickied from last year and hasnt' been updated, and no one has mentioned that a list has been compiled on the wiki, so...

http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/Front-Ends

I assume that anything new from here on out will be there, for those that are looking.

liquid8