Help me choose a front end

[Hutt]

Hello,
I have been out of the scene for quite some time.
The last mame version I have is .67 and the last time I probably really used it was abound somewhere in the .30's

Anyway, there was a lot less front ends back then and I always used mame32 anyway.
However, I think I might go the frontend route and would like some recommendations so I don't have to test 75 of them.

I will be putting together a cab in couple months and this is what I will want to include.

Mame of course.
CCS64 emulator for Commodore 64
Mess for Astrocade
Some PC games like You Don't Know Jack
Although I will also have a dedicated jukebox as well it may take a little more time to get that far so I may want a front end that can play mp3's in the background if possible with seperate volume control for the music and game.
That's basically the bulk of it...something that can handle this that is also easily customizable with some sort of screen save maybe....

It's been a few years since I built any cab or controllers (although there have been many :-) ...I have sold them all.

So if someone can give me some input on some of the better FE's that would fit my needs it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Andy

[youki]

Hi,

Almost all modern Front end could fit for you. 

You can try mine : www.AtomicFe.com

I think it is one of the most flexible. in the sense where i kept it as generic as possible.
It is why i avoid to put specific configuration for emulators. 

My philosophy is you set up your emulators options as you want without using the FE, (there is enough others good tools to do that) , and then you use the FE to launch game, create game list,  doing nice menu , etc..etc..

Another point for my FE , it is less computer ressource consuming than others ones. (like GameEX for instance, which Requires .NET , Direct X9 etc..

And i give a really reactive support! and try to solve all problems.

After My FE does some thing that others does not and reciprocaly.

But seeing your needs, i think it could be a good choice for you.



 

[Buddabing]

If you want to go DOS then your frontend choices are much more limited. There's Kymaera, ArcadeOS, and GameLauncher, maybe a few others.

[rescue161]

I like Game Launcher.  I like the fact that you don't see any Windows features when it's running.  It also has a good bit of options for being such a simple FE.

[Hutt]

If you want to go DOS then your frontend choices are much more limited. There's Kymaera, ArcadeOS, and GameLauncher, maybe a few others.

Maybe I miswrote that....I have been away for awhile!!  It does not have to be that way. I just want whatever is going to work the best for my needs.
That's 2 recommendations for Game Launcher so far....
What about Atomic that youki mentioned?

[aumameman]

If you want lightgun support for games like Area 51 or Maximum force in the near future, DOS is not the answer. There are two FE's I like, if you go with DOS stick with good old Arcadeos, very reliable and stable or if your going for windows MAMEWAH all the way. Im not sure but MAMEWAH may work with dos too???

Oh by the way the lightguns I speak of is a USB lightgun by a company called Act-labs. I think they can be purchased through mameworld.net store.

[Minwah]

Im not sure but MAMEWAH may work with dos too???

No sorry, Windows only.

[youki]

Oups..sorry, i didn't noticed you are looking for a DOS Front End.  Atomic don't work under DOS. Sorry. 

[youki]

heu...just a question ... Why DOS?

[gonzobrian]

Go with windows and Atomic FE.  It is very easy to set up and youki is the most helpful person on the planet!!
gonzobrian

[jcrouse]

I believe what you are looking for is the Windows 32bit commandline version of Mame. It will be the top download on the downloads page at www.mame.net. It is esentially Mame32 without the GUI and requires Windows to run.

That being said, Personally I use MameWAH, however AtomicFE, UltraStyle and Mala are also very nice front ends.

Good Luck,
John

[JOHN WALSH]

mala works great thats my recomendation!

[Hutt]

Ok...I edited my original post and took out the dos part....I don't know what I was thinking about when I wrote that 

Anyway, like aumameman mentioned I will also want light gun support...did'nt think of that at first.

I will tryout Mamewah and Atomic....any others?

Thanks for all the replies!!

-Andy

[jcrouse]

As I mentioned above, look at UltraStyle and Mala also.

John

[Wamadeus]

Hello.

Personally, I had a hard time choosing the front-end when I modified my cabinet in Windows and I then stopped my choice on AtomicFE.

Very easy to configure, it is possible to start the games emulated by Daphne and avoids the presence of 2 front-end.

Moreover, it has a utility to create it's own layouts.

Very satisfied.

[RedMistPete]

AtimicFE! 
Its easy to use and has many handy features:
*One big ROM list or Separate lists for different emulators    or jukeboxes (music/video etc) with same or different menu layouts and graphics.
*Automatically configures emulators and media players.
*Has static or animated menus can be graphically configured however you want it (redesig from scratch).
*Can use your own sound samples for game select etc.
Simple to set-up or can go more indepth if required (extremely versitile).
*Awesome support from the author (answers any quiries about AtomicFE and is knowledgable about emulating in general).
*Completely hides the Windows environment and can be password protected to prevent windows access.
*Has option to shutdown PC after quiting frontend.
*Has a credit manager to allow credit=play-from-menu and can transfer credits to other games automatically

I tried many other frontends and found none better than AtomicFE.

[JOHN WALSH]

AtimicFE heard of it but havent tried it.Going to now though sounds good! im sold...

[Wade]

AtimicFE!