MameWah- Not Showing Artwork?

[eyal8r]

Hey guys-
I got MameWah up and running now. Everything seems to be working fine, except, it's not showing the artwork in the right side panel. It shows the banner, when there is one, but not any screenshots or artwork. I've tripled checked the settings in the config- it's all there. Am I missing something?  Or, is this where the movies go, if I had some?
Thanks

[buks]

Sounds like you've refernced the artwork in the wrong order.

check the mame.ini file and you will see something like this :

### Artwork Locations ###
artwork_1_image_path                      c:\mame\snap
artwork_2_image_path                      c:\mame\marquees
artwork_3_image_path                      c:\mame\cpanel

Try swapping them around to see if they work.

alternatively, the problem may be that you have all your snaps in a zip file - I had to unzip mine to get mamewah to see them (not sure if this is a common problem or not).

Hope that helps.

[eyal8r]

What do you mean switch them around?  Just keep the text the same, but, change lines?  I don't think I have a snap directory- what is that?

Also- I do think that all the images are zipped up. Is there a way to do a mass unzip for all of them, or am I stuck doing them all individually?  That sucks...
Thanks!

[buks]

What I mean by swap them around is change the 2nd column from say :

artwork_1_image_path                      c:\mame\snap
artwork_2_image_path                      c:\mame\marquees
artwork_3_image_path                      c:\mame\cpanel

to

artwork_1_image_path                      c:\mame\cpanel
artwork_2_image_path                      c:\mame\snap
artwork_3_image_path                      c:\mame\marquees

But I'm not sure if thats your problem.

When I said unzip the images, I meant if they are all zipped into one big zip file - I got mine as something like snap.zip which contained 1000's of image files. how many zip files do you have ? If you open one in winzip what does it contain (just so I know what we are talking about !) ?

the sanp directory is for Snapshots (or screen grabs) but it doesn't necesserily have to be called "snap".

If you are using the default mamewah layouts then I think Artwork #1 should be snaps (or screens or whatever you call it). I did my own mamewah skin and Artwork #1 is Marquees, Artwork # 2 is snaps and Artwork # 3 is for Cpanels. But this confused me for a while too !

It may be useful for you to say where you got the artwork stuff form - if you purchased a full mame rom set then you should have got all the snaps, marquees, cpanels etc.

[eyal8r]

I did buy the full Rom dvd sets. I'm going to check again and see what it is- hang on...

ok- yup- I got it working now.  Is there a place for multiple MameWah skins/templates already made up?  I'm not exactly happy with the ones that I downloaded in the Config...
Thanks bud!

[buks]

Yep - but kdog beat me to it (see your other post)! I think some of the skins on that archive were designed using previous versions of mamewah so I'm not sure if they work on the latest version (maybe they do - just not sure).

You could give the layout designer a go though - its not as hard as it looks !

Glad you got the screenshots working - next thing to try is the mame attract vids  -they look awesome in mamewah !

I can't for the life of me remember where I got them from - some torrent site I think (not pirate bay though). It was a 1.7Gb archive. On the other hand, theres always the vids that cdbrown is offering at the very top of the software forum.

good luck !

[eyal8r]

Im working on downloading those now.  What's the difference between the 2 sets?

Also- what about screen savers, intro/outro movies/sounds? And, sounds for when your in the MameWah enviornment?  Where do I go for that stuff, and what do you use?
Thanks

[mccoy178]

When you say that all your files are zipped, if it is a standard set of sceenshots, carts, etc., then it should have came in one zipped file.

[buks]

The sets that cdbrown is producing are all done using the correct aspect ratio plus they are cropped to just show the gameplay from the attract vids, rather than intor movies etc. The set I got was just direct dumps of the attract vids. Its up to you which to get really - I may have a look at one of cdbrowns sets and see if I prefer it or not.

Screen savers - I use the "built in" mamewah screensaver which shows a random snap from the list you are currently on. So if you have filtered driving games into a list, the screensdaver only shows driving game screenshots. Blows them up full screen too.

Into/Outro movies - not looked at these. I presume that you mean an into movie when you start mamewah rather than each game ? I would find that they get in the way to be honest, although if you can pres ESC to skip them then I may look into this.

Sound - I did originally have some "Ambient Arcade Sounds" playing but I eventually got fed up of them. I then tried some remixes of arcade music but once again I got fed up so now I've got no sound at all in the menus ! I suspect spot sounds (like when you enter a menu, close a window, select a game etc) would get really annoying but its up to you how to set up your cab !

Hope this helps.....

Buks

[eyal8r]

Sweet- thanks guys- you all just rock!
Maybe I'll just throw some MP3s in there or something...  Thanks for the time in writing the replies!

[buks]

Just make sure its really cheesy 80's music to get that retro feel !

Good luck with the project - you built a cab yet ?

[eyal8r]

oh yeah, cab is built and look great!  It's been about a year, and I moved and it got pretty beat up in the move. So now, I'm putting final touches on it, and fine tuning the thing.  GREAT suggestion on the 80's music!  That just rocks!  Let me ask you this- say I download 20 different songs. I want it to randomly play those songs while Im in the MameWah interface- can it do this, and, what file format do they need to be in?

Thanks bud...

[buks]

mp3's worked for me but I assume other formats will probably work. Not sure about the random play though....

Just booting up the cab .......

Okay, no idea if it plays randomly or not - its been a while since I had music playing in the menus. Just enter the path where all your mp3's are in the mamewah.ini file (look for music_path). Not sure if you can have sub folders or not but give it a go and see if it does what you want !

[eyal8r]

Cool.  Also-

MameWah menus are acting weird. For example- I go to search for a game.  I type in the name of a game- but then I can't do anything from there. There's no 'enter' button or command- it just sits there. It wont take any commands off the keyboard either. So I then have to hit the PLayer 2 button to back out the letters I typed in and back out of the screen completely.

Also- when just browsing the game lists- I can't just start typing in from the keyboard the name of a game. It does weird stuff- like I'll hit the R' button, but it takes me to the 'M's' and just jumps around in the Ms.  Something's weird. Any ideas?
Thanks again...

[buks]

okay, as you "type" the letter in in the "Find Game" option, the list will go to whatever you type eg Space Invaders. Once you've typed in enough letters to be on or near the game in the list, you press Player 2 to exit out (deleting each letter in turn before exiting back to the list). So you should be on the game you want.

I put "type" in quotes because I'm assuming you know you scroll each letter with the joystick/spinner/cursor keys then press Player 1 to choose the letter.

As for browsing the game lists - you cant search using the keyboard ! Thats because some keys are used by the controls. Up and Down on the joystick scrolls each game but Left and Right go to the previous/next letter in the alphabet.

I hope you relaise I broke off from playing a League in Pro Evo Soccer 5 to check mamewah !

[eyal8r]

hehe- thanks, I appreciate it.  Seems that when I was just using straight mame with no FE, I could type using the keyboard the name of the game and find it right there. Who knows, I'll just deal with it this way.
Thanks!