CoinDrop v1.3 Released - Now you can insert coins from your front-end!

[dax]

I think this is a great idea.   

There are definitely non-commercial uses for this.

For example, I like the idea because for me and my family, I can regulate game use.  If I make the cab accept coins and have everybody put money in the machine to play, I save up money for some sort of OUTDOOR activity, and it keeps people from playing too long.  Part of the fun of playing a real arcade machine is that you never traditionally had limitless time to play it, so playing it was special, and something like this recreates that kind of feel IMO.

[SirPoonga]

For example, I like the idea because for me and my family, I can regulate game use.  If I make the cab accept coins and have everybody put money in the machine to play, I save up money for some sort of OUTDOOR activity, and it keeps people from playing too long.  Part of the fun of playing a real arcade machine is that you never traditionally had limitless time to play it, so playing it was special, and something like this recreates that kind of feel IMO.

You can't do that by handing out some tokens or coins? 

[Necro]

I really don't get why people have such a hard time accepting some people might be interested in a program like this.  If you don't like it, don't use it.  No one's forcing you to use it

Live and let live.

[headkaze]

Im having trouble getting it to work. I have it loaded and hear the coin drop noise when I press 5 or 6. So I select the game I want and mame loads. When the game starts no credits appear. Pressing 1 or 2 player does not do anything. Am I doing something wrong?

Please post your machine specs, version of Mame etc. Anyone else having this problem?

BTW I have removed the download, so if you missed it, too bad. Hopefully only some homebrewer's here have a copy. If you want a copy and can prove to me that you are a genuine homebrewer, then I will give you a url and password (PM me your project page). Hopefully this solves the issue somewhat.

The reason I have done this is mainly because of the comments by Haze. I have to respect the wishes of the Mame developers and that's that. I will continue the development and try to fix any bugs etc. so post any problems you have here.

[dax]

I have a quarter coin door in my machine.  I use it kind of like a piggy bank -- that's why I wouldn't use tokens, which I never liked in the first place.  The whole notion of machines that accept tokens is stupid and annoying IMO. It ranks right up there with "mail-in rebates" as being a sleazy marketing tactic to pilfer peoples' money by counting on them being lazy and adding more, unnecessary steps to the transaction.

Are there really some of the software developers here?

I think it's sad that you've made the program unavailable.  I see nothing wrong with it.  It's just like Bittorrrent or Napster; you can use it for good or you can use it for evil.  If people violate the licensing terms, they deserve to get censured, but not when there are legit uses for such products.

I have a bone to pick on this whole "not for commercial use" thing because I see violations of this all the time.  For example, you can't download MAME32 without signing up for some annoying pay-for-download site -- someone there is most definitely making money off MAME.  What's the deal with that?  The first thing that needs to change is that guy has to dump the commercial scheme he has in place where he's profiting from MAME32.  And if he isn't, then filedepot or whoever they are definitely.  But it's unquestionably a commercial endeavor that is exploiting MAME to make money.  Am I the only one who doesn't like it?

Has anybody checked to see if commercial software like "Williams Arcade Classics", "Nameco Museum" and the plethora of other vintage arcade game releases contain MAME code?  I'd bet every single one of them does.  And if so, who would be designated to take action and what kind of action could be taken?

I'm not taking sides except noting that this whole deal seems to be a sticky situation.

[brophog]

"Williams Arcade Classics", "Nameco Museum" and the plethora of other vintage arcade game releases contain MAME code?  I'd bet every single one of them does.

Why would they? They've been making remakes of those games for consoles and PC's long before MAME was ever thought of.

[markrvp]

For example, you can't download MAME32 without signing up for some annoying pay-for-download site -- someone there is most definitely making money off MAME.

[Roughy]

JohnIV should get into touch with me; might be able to work something out a little different since I host...

[SirPoonga]

I think it's sad that you've made the program unavailable.  I see nothing wrong with it.  It's just like Bittorrrent or Napster; you can use it for good or you can use it for evil.  If people violate the licensing terms, they deserve to get censured, but not when there are legit uses for such products.

You see, bit torrent is different.  There are tons of legit uses.  Companies and the government are using bit torrent for legit reasons.
This program has no legit use outside of what a home user will use it for.  Also, it really isn't needed.  Like I said earlier, you can just add a credit when you select a new game.

Has anybody checked to see if commercial software like "Williams Arcade Classics", "Nameco Museum" and the plethora of other vintage arcade game releases contain MAME code?  I'd bet every single one of them does.  And if so, who would be designated to take action and what kind of action could be taken?

They are either remakes or use their own emulation.  Why is it whenever people  see an arcade game on a pc they think there MUST be mame code with it?  Does it ever occur to people that mame isn't the only arcade emulator and since it is a commercial product the company didn't hire someone to make an emulator?
Here's a good example.
http://www.microsoft.com/games/arcade/
This came out before atari was even in mame.  I have it on floppy somewhere.  I was curious once if it had mame code.  I read the read me and it does mention emulation, but obviously it couldn't be mame.
Even when the 1999 Hasboro Atari collection hit the market mame was just adding Atari stuff (and not even .36 final yet).

[dax]

For example, you can't download MAME32 without signing up for some annoying pay-for-download site -- someone there is most definitely making money off MAME.  What's the deal with that?  The first thing that needs to change is that guy has to dump the commercial scheme he has in place where he's profiting from MAME32.  And if he isn't, then filedepot or whoever they are definitely.  But it's unquestionably a commercial endeavor that is exploiting MAME to make money.  Am I the only one who doesn't like it?

You are incorrect.  You have to pay for the ZERO WAIT TIME downloads.  If you have enough patience to wait a minute or so you get to download it for free.

JohnIV uses that site because they will host the download files for free, i.e. he doesn't have to pay for hosting.  Since he isn't making any money off of Mame32, how can you be so arrogant as to demand that he pay for his own domain/server so that you can more conveniently download a free product?

There are alternatives to getting in bed with a corporation that charges for download bandwidth.  If you don't know that, then you haven't been around much.

It's a marketing scheme to make money for somebody using the MAME files.  There are a hundred sites that would host the files for FREE without engaging the user in some sort of commercial solicitation.  That is a COMMERCIAL ENDEAVOR.  Period.

That this guy needs to team up with a commercial operator trying to solicit subscriptions is just lame.  That's totally not necessary.  He's either making money, or he has a deal with those guys to help their business using the software, or he's naive and hasn't spent ten minutes looking around for other places that would freely host the files without the annoyware.

You can rationalize however you want, but that hosting company is profiting off MAME.  End of story.  They are requiring every single person who downloads the software to "sign up".  This mailing list is worth money, and of course they try to convince the people to upgrade to the pay services.  That's called a commercial operation, and MAME draws people to that site. 

You can argue about it, like you can argue that charging someone $25 for a copy of the ROMs on DVD is not actually charging for the ROMs per se, and merely the costs involved, but we both know the ROMs are the value which drives the transaction, and if someone operates this as a way to make money, it's a commercial operation, plain and simple.  That's the way it is.  I'm sorry the guy is a friend of yours, but if you all are going to be high and mighty about not exploiting MAME for comercial purposes, don't be hypocritical and look the other way half the time.

[dax]

I think it's sad that you've made the program unavailable.  I see nothing wrong with it.  It's just like Bittorrrent or Napster; you can use it for good or you can use it for evil.  If people violate the licensing terms, they deserve to get censured, but not when there are legit uses for such products.

You see, bit torrent is different.  There are tons of legit uses.  Companies and the government are using bit torrent for legit reasons.
This program has no legit use outside of what a home user will use it for.  Also, it really isn't needed.  Like I said earlier, you can just add a credit when you select a new game.

I don't want to be argumentative, but... I think the software would be useful and I have no aspiration to exploit it commercially, unless you consider me using my MAME cabinet as a piggy bank and rationing my play with available quarters to be some sort of commercial operation.  I don't think so.  Therefore there's at least one application of the software in a non-commercial environment so it IS legit.

Has anybody checked to see if commercial software like "Williams Arcade Classics", "Nameco Museum" and the plethora of other vintage arcade game releases contain MAME code?  I'd bet every single one of them does.  And if so, who would be designated to take action and what kind of action could be taken?

They are either remakes or use their own emulation.  Why is it whenever people  see an arcade game on a pc they think there MUST be mame code with it?  Does it ever occur to people that mame isn't the only arcade emulator and since it is a commercial product the company didn't hire someone to make an emulator?
Here's a good example.
http://www.microsoft.com/games/arcade/
This came out before atari was even in mame.  I have it on floppy somewhere.  I was curious once if it had mame code.  I read the read me and it does mention emulation, but obviously it couldn't be mame.
Even when the 1999 Hasboro Atari collection hit the market mame was just adding Atari stuff (and not even .36 final yet).

I actually have an original copy of that MS game.  However, I don't recall whether or not MAME was around then or not..

I'm just saying... MAME is an incredible body of work.  Anyone who would be in that business and who would want to develop a commercial emulator would be very tempted to look at the MAME code and probably at the least, learn from it.  I am a software publisher (I received "Editor's Choice" from PC Magazine in 1991 for a program I wrote, so I'm not just a casual coder).  I do not pirate other peoples' code for my own projects, and on the rare occasion where I use third-party code, I get explicit permission to do so, but I come across "commercial" apps almost every day that are ripped off from derivative code of dubious sources, so I know this is rampant in the industry.  I'm just saying, I wouldn't be surprised if some of the emu code that's commercially running can be traced back to some of these OS projects - I wouldn't be surprised a bit... too much advancement has been made, and I don't think many of these big corporations are as reputable and ethical as they once used to be.  Call me cynical, but I'm also a realist.  YMMV.

I just think that it's kind of a double standard to assume the commercial emu code that is released is not exploitive of MAME, and then chastize indy developers who release complimentary code that does not violate the licensing terms, conversely assuming that since the product CAN have the potential to be exploited, it must have no legit purpose.  This doesn't seem consistent to me.

[SirPoonga]

I think it's sad that you've made the program unavailable.  I see nothing wrong with it.  It's just like Bittorrrent or Napster; you can use it for good or you can use it for evil.  If people violate the licensing terms, they deserve to get censured, but not when there are legit uses for such products.

You see, bit torrent is different.  There are tons of legit uses.  Companies and the government are using bit torrent for legit reasons.
This program has no legit use outside of what a home user will use it for.  Also, it really isn't needed.  Like I said earlier, you can just add a credit when you select a new game.

I don't want to be argumentative, but... I think the software would be useful and I have no aspiration to exploit it commercially, unless you consider me using my MAME cabinet as a piggy bank and rationing my play with available quarters to be some sort of commercial operation.  I don't think so.  Therefore there's at least one application of the software in a non-commercial environment so it IS legit.

I'm not saying putting quarters into your arcade is commercial.  I'm saying since it doesn't cost you aynthing to push a button for a credit how is a program like this useful?  Couldn't you just add more credits when you switch to a new game?

[dax]

I think it's sad that you've made the program unavailable.  I see nothing wrong with it.  It's just like Bittorrrent or Napster; you can use it for good or you can use it for evil.  If people violate the licensing terms, they deserve to get censured, but not when there are legit uses for such products.

You see, bit torrent is different.  There are tons of legit uses.  Companies and the government are using bit torrent for legit reasons.
This program has no legit use outside of what a home user will use it for.  Also, it really isn't needed.  Like I said earlier, you can just add a credit when you select a new game.

I don't want to be argumentative, but... I think the software would be useful and I have no aspiration to exploit it commercially, unless you consider me using my MAME cabinet as a piggy bank and rationing my play with available quarters to be some sort of commercial operation.  I don't think so.  Therefore there's at least one application of the software in a non-commercial environment so it IS legit.

I'm not saying putting quarters into your arcade is commercial.  I'm saying since it doesn't cost you aynthing to push a button for a credit how is a program like this useful?  Couldn't you just add more credits when you switch to a new game?

The problem is.. if you are using quarters then you have to make sure you put the coins in at the right time or else they don't work.  Maybe this software isn't completely fool-proof because it doesn't transfer unused credits back out if you exit a particular game, but I think that would be a neat feature.  Granted, most people wouldn't see a use for it, but I like the idea of regulating my game usage with real money, and it also serves as an incentive to maintain a piggy bank of spare change that, for example, you could use to upgrade your cab or something.

Seriously, I look at my MAME cab as basically a piggy bank with an incentive system.  If I want to play, I cough up cash (most of the time. ha ha)  If people come over, I open the cabinet up, but right now I don't have an easy way to rack up credits without having the coin door open and I'd like to generally leave it closed -- eventually I'll put a credit switch somewhere but I don't have that now, but even if I did, I'd have a toggle inside the cab to turn it on or off, because I like the idea of forcing myself and my family to cough up quarters to play, so they don't necessarily sit there all night playing endlessly with nothing to show for it but blisters.  (And we all know how that is!) 

[Crazy Cooter]

...some of these OS projects

MAME is not open source.

code that does not violate the licensing terms

The MAMEdevs have said they do not want to see this kind of app.

There are a hundred sites that would host the files for FREE without engaging the user in some sort of commercial solicitation.

MAME32 is available all over the place for "free" download if you do not want to go through fileplanet (I personally hate fileplanet for reasons similar to yours).

If you don't like it, don't use it.  No one's forcing you to use it

Same could be said about MAME.

Napsters downfall was because the "bad" far outweighed the "good".  I would like to have this program as well, but the "bad" FAR outweighs the "good".  It lends zero to the goal of the MAME project (I know some disagree with the legitimacy of said goal), and gives more reason AND makes it easier to make a con-cabinet.

I just don't see the sense in offering software where you might get sued for coding it (ala napster).

[SirPoonga]

The problem is.. if you are using quarters then you have to make sure you put the coins in at the right time or else they don't work.

Then you learn quickly when the right time is.  Just like you learn quickly that you need to put the oil plug back in the car BEFORE you put oil in it   After a couple of times it will not be a problem.

...some of these OS projects

MAME is not open source.

Actually it is.  Here's the source code for you
http://mamedev.com/source.html

[Grasshopper]

Anyway, I've never really bought into the idea that MAME is solely a "documentation project". Obviously that's part of it but I find it hard to believe that the MAMEDEVS don't also want to play the games. I think they stress the documentation side of MAME to try and give themselves some legal cover in the unlikely event they get sued at some point.

This is a narrow minded idea.  Just because it can play games doesn't mean that is its main purpose.  There's plenty of software examples of this where the main purpose of the software is not the popular use.
If mame was about playing games it would be more like the kawaks, nebula, zinc, modeller, viva nonno, etc.. emulators.  It would take advantage of computer's hardware.  Mame emulates EVERYTHING, including the graphics engine the arcade game used.  Go ahead, take zinc and play a game like strider 2 on a PIII 500, now play it in mame.  Unplayable in mame at that speed.  You can do the same with neogeo games.  Try playing a neogeo game in mame on a PIII 500, barely get full frame rate.  Now run kawaks or neoragex.  There are many other examples where they could make it much more player friendly.

People with opinions like yours usually don't realize there are other arcade emulators out there that are much better for playing the games.  It's because of this that retrocade stopped.  Since mame is so popular now people didn't want to contribute to retrocade.  But retrocade can run the games it supported better than mame (it didn't need a big computer to play them).

Anyway, here's comments that Haze (http://haze.mameworld.info/) has made on this board.  Haze controlled the mame project for the last couple of years.  He still develops but I think Aaron Giles is now who determines new releases.
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=36710.msg337849#msg337849
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=37734.msg337151#msg337151
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=37734.msg338799#msg338799
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=37779.msg340653#msg340653
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=38190.msg346650#msg346650
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=38854.msg352453#msg352453

The reason that MAME is slower than other emulators is simply because the Mamedevs have focused on accuracy and portability (both things I approve of incidentally). But that doesn't mean that MAME is solely a documentation project. It would have been perfectly possible for the Mamedevs to "document" the games hardware without creating a fully functional emulator. There are many many ways they could have crippled MAME in order to make it unsuitable for use in a commercial environment. For example they could, as someone else here suggested, have set all games to always run on freeplay.

All emulators are documentation projects, even the ones optimised for current hardware. But ultimately the whole raison d'etre of any emulator is to enable the games to continue to be played. Calling MAME a "documentation project" doesn't change its legal or moral status in any way whatsoever.

I've read all of Haze's comments you linked to and I fully understand and respect his position. If he was the only person involved with MAME then his comments might, just might, be justification for headcaze to withdraw his program. But it's not that black and white. What about the other developers who have chosen not to comment? Maybe they're not even in a position to speak freely anymore after having "negotiated" with Foley. What about the many people who have dumped ROMs, reported bugs etc? Don't they have a stake in the project?

Even if most of the people involved with MAME feel the same way as Haze, it's still not a black and white issue because it's possible that headcaze's program could used with other emulators. Who knows, maybe it could even be used with some of the legal game compilations that are available. What I find particularly intriguing is the possibility that, with a little modification, the program could be used to add coin drop functionality to modern games or emulators that don't currently have that facility such as console emulators. So this is not just a MAME issue. Don't get me wrong, I'm very grateful for what the Mamedevs have done for this hobby and their views should be accorded a lot of weight because of that. But they don't own the entire retro-gaming scene and they certainly shouldn't be in a position to veto programs written by other people.

According to the logic of some people here, perhaps we shouldn't have front ends at all because they are not absolutely necessary. And even without coin drop functionality they still make life easier for pirates.

At the end of the day everyone is entitled to their opinions and I can see both sides of this argument. But what disappoints me is seeing certain people here (who almost certainly have a shed-load of illegally acquired roms on their hard drive) taking a holier than thou attitude and passing judgement on others. Headcaze has gone to the time and trouble of writing a program that potentially makes our hobby more pleasurable. Even those people who feel strongly about the piracy issue should recognise this.

[dax]

...some of these OS projects

MAME is not open source.

Huh?

code that does not violate the licensing terms

The MAMEdevs have said they do not want to see this kind of app.

That's kind of ambiguous.  In the same spirit, let it be known that I am saying I do not want to see war, poverty or famine on this planet.

Show me where it says in the license that someone can't run another piece of software on the same computer where MAME is running.  Then and only then would your argument have any relevancy.

From what I gather, this program basically sits resident and messes with the keyboard buffer.  If the MAME developers don't like it, they have about as much right to stop it as I do calling President Bush and demanding that he step down for being a crappy president.  Come to think of it, I believe I have more right to perform the latter than I would, if I were a MAME developer, to have any authority to stop the use of this add-on program.

There are a hundred sites that would host the files for FREE without engaging the user in some sort of commercial solicitation.

MAME32 is available all over the place for "free" download if you do not want to go through fileplanet (I personally hate fileplanet for reasons similar to yours).

We agree on something at least.

Anyway, the "official download site" of this type of project is important.  It shouldn't be in bed with some sleazebag bandwidth vending machine like fileplanet.  It looks bad for MAME to even be associated with operations like that.

Napsters downfall was because the "bad" far outweighed the "good".  I would like to have this program as well, but the "bad" FAR outweighs the "good".  It lends zero to the goal of the MAME project (I know some disagree with the legitimacy of said goal), and gives more reason AND makes it easier to make a con-cabinet.

I just don't see the sense in offering software where you might get sued for coding it (ala napster).

Are you kidding?  MAME could get shut down for almost the exact same reasons as Napster got shut down.  The program exists almost exclusively to facilitate copyright infringement.  Period.  The only reason MAME still exists is because:  a) It's not that well known in mainstream, b) the program is not appearing to make a dent in the revenue of any influential corporation.  However, it is just a matter of time...   All we need is for CNN to run some story on how MAME is infringing upon xBox or Playstation profits and there will be some sort of lobbyist-motivated congressional hearing or other media circus and the whole deal with go *poof* like Napster.

Let's not be so idealistic that we don't see the forest through the trees here.

[Roughy]

So, to summarize:

Some people find CoinDrop to be a good, useful program for their own personal usage.

Some people find CoinDrop to be not so good because of the potential for Commercial (mis)Use.

Cool.

Someone point me to the next poo-flinging contest, please. :-)

[dax]

You forgot:

Some people have double standards, some don't.

Some people seem to think that using unlicensed roms is perfectly ok, but get all uppity at the idea someone might use the software for commercial purposes, which is just as much a violation of the copyright.

Where I come from, that's called hypocritical.

[markrvp]

Dax = Subzero.

[DrewKaree]

You forgot:

Some people have double standards, some don't.

You forgot people who can't take a simple wrap-up of the idea and let it drop without adding their two cents because they got their panties caught in the Sit-n-Spin and didn't realize it until too late.

You've attached your ideas to many things and have all but stated that there are people lying about their reasons for doing/creating/working on something because that's how you see it.  Are we supposed to use the same logic towards you and come to the conclusion you want this program to profit from others' hard work and "to facilitate copyright infringement."?

Don't talk about being "idyllic" and then turn around and claim you want to use this for your kids.  Talk about forests and hypocrisy and all that other tree crap.  Do you even realize when you contradict yourself?

[GGKoul]

Dax = Subzero.  Or is it BlueOakleys?

Floyd10?

[Crazy Cooter]

...some of these OS projects

MAME is not open source.

Actually it is.  Here's the source code for you
http://mamedev.com/source.html

"Source Available" vs. "Open Source".

http://www.opensource.org/docs/definition.php

MAME isn't Open Source.

[SirPoonga]

"Source Available" vs. "Open Source".

http://www.opensource.org/docs/definition.php

MAME isn't Open Source.

Tomato, tomayto.

I can quote definitions to that support what I said
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/O/open_source.html

[DrewKaree]

SirP = subzero
CC = blueoakleyz

Cage match!

[Roughy]

You forgot:

Some people have double standards, some don't.

Some people seem to think that using unlicensed roms is perfectly ok, but get all uppity at the idea someone might use the software for commercial purposes, which is just as much a violation of the copyright.

Where I come from, that's called hypocritical.

No, I didn't forget any of that.  I very clearly avoided that, yet you felt it very necessary to bring it up--and why?

Why are so many people taking this thread and applying their beliefs--instead of opinions or insights for the author--and turning it into some sort of oddball territorial pissing contest?

Let it go; he pulled down the program and some of us have it, some of us don't.  If there needs to be a moral / ethical debate, start a thread somewhere; I just don't see why it's important to perpetuate whateve has been going on here lately.

[dax]

And you guys call me argumentative?

Whatever.  I see there's another double standard.   You can express your opinion but new people can't?  And I guess you think that anyone who disagrees is just the same guy using different screen names?  Sheesh.

I'm sorry, but I don't see anything wrong with pointing out what I think is a double standard.  Am I entitled to an opinion here?

It's further ironic that most of the people here are enjoying the fruits of independent developers who have donated their time to make this project better, and some here, while sucking at that teat, discourage others from adding to the project.  And this is a great example... this guy pulls down his software.  It has less to do with the specific software and more to do with the irrationality of discouraging development.  The same arguments one could make for this program could be made for any other element that's part of MAME.  It just seems crazy and ridiculous.

This reminds me of a project I was involved with relating to a company called Akai.  They had a few indy developers working on enhancements to some hardware that expanded the capabilities, and the executives maintained this online forum that was dominated by a few heavy posters who bullied the new people and destroyed the forum and discouraged the developers from donating their time and resources to the project.  Eventually the hardware floundered because there wasn't enough support.  But because some of these bullies were good buddies with the Akai people, they weren't told to tune things down and the company lost in the end.   Sad.  I wouldn't discourage anyone who wants to donate time and energy towards making any aspect of MAME more functional.

[headkaze]

Maybe this software isn't completely fool-proof because it doesn't transfer unused credits back out if you exit a particular game, but I think that would be a neat feature.

Version 1.1 allows you to carry over credits. Instead of automatically dropping all the coins in at once you now press the start buttons to drop a coin & start. Perhaps you have the first version.

[markrvp]

It's further ironic that most of the people here are enjoying the fruits of independent developers who have donated their time to make this project better, and some here, while sucking at that teat, discourage others from adding to the project.

[dax]

What are you adding to the project?  All I've seen from you so far is that you're upset because you had to wait a little while for your FREE MAME program.  Oh, and you're upset that even though you got it for FREE, a webhost might have made a couple of cents for facilitating your FREE download.

Please don't mischaracterize things.  I think I made a valid point.  If you disagree, you can disagree, but nobody, least of all you, has shown my point to be invalid.  You can cloud the issue by getting into personal attacks, but that says more about you than it does me.

I also never claimed that ArcadeOS was a windows program.  Again, you're stretching to go out of your way to make me look bad - I'm sorry if you've taken some kind of virtual hit to your virtual pride or something, but it's irrelevant.  I actually do have ArcadeOS running from Windows 98 now without any problems.  I don't know if you're aware, but Windows can run DOS applications.  Have you heard about that?

I participate plenty.  In fact I have provided code (via the Apache Project) that this web site uses to serve you guys, among many others.

If I can help anybody else with my knowledge I'm only too happy to oblige. 

I can see obviously there's a hierarchy of old-school posters here who have their feathers ruffled.  If I'm not welcome, I'll gladly go elsewhere.  You don't have to say it twice.  I didn't mean to bust in on a private club here.

[D5A1AC]

I'm also experiencing the problem where the program causes the coin insert sound to play when I press 5 but nothing happens in mame (I tried it in robotron) when I hit 1, unless I hit 5 while I am in mame.

EDIT: I'm using fastmame 0.98, and although I doubt it is really important my specs are: Nvidia A7N8X-E Deluxe motherboard, AMD Athlon XP3200+ cpu, radeon 9800 pro, 2X256 hyundai ddr400 ram, an 80GB barracuda as well as a 120GB, and then some optical drives which obviously wouldnt conflict with your program.

[DrewKaree]

I don't want to be argumentative, but...

THERE IS NO "BUT".  YOU EITHER DO OR YOU DON'T WANT TO BE.  CLEARLY YOU DO WANT TO BE.  TAKE A LOOK AT WHO'S SAYING THIS.  IT'S YOU, GENIUS!

Again, DO YOU EVEN REALIZE HOW MUCH YOU CONTRADICT YOURSELF?

And you guys call me argumentative?

No, YOU CALL YOURSELF ARGUMENTATIVE! 

There's no way to point it out to you other than to show you your own words, since you don't believe factual points brought up by members here and refuse to acknowledge it when it's demonstrated to you.

The martyr role doesn't fit you well when your words continue to be used against you.  See if Pepto Bismol can stop the diarrhea of the keyboard.

[markrvp]

I can see obviously there's a hierarchy of old-school posters here who have their feathers ruffled.

[SirPoonga]

And I guess you think that anyone who disagrees is just the same guy using different screen names?

Since you are new you didn't get the joke

I'm sorry, but I don't see anything wrong with pointing out what I think is a double standard.  Am I entitled to an opinion here?

Nothing wrong with it.  But you have to remember many people have legal cabinets.  Mame may have led you here but you will realize there's more to an arcade cabinet than mame.  I think that's why many people here think everyone must be running illegal cabinets as most people started out with mame.

There's shareware, freeware, ports, remakes, compilations, legal emulation like epsxe with real psx discs.  Mame only makes up a small part of what you can do with a cabinet.  I think many people don't realize that there's a PC in their cabinet, meaning they can do alot of stuff other than mame.  That's why there are many frontends that can handle more than just mame.

In fact mame didn't lead me to a home cabinet, though it did lead me to this forum.  My first experience with home arcade was in high school seeing a person put a nes into a cabinet in Nintendo Power.  Then in college the guys across the street put a nes, snes, andd genesis into a cabinet.  That's what started me looking for an arcade cabinet, which eventually led to mame, which eventually led to this site.  Emulation is only a small part of my cabinet, which is legal emulation.  I got in on starroms when they had a bunch of atari games.  But I also play many ports, remakes, compilations, epsxe with real psx discs, shareware, and freeware.  In fact that why I have a voodoo3 in my cabinet, many of these older ports and remakes had 3dfx acceleration, like nfl blitz.  So you see why I don't think something like this software is useful.

It has less to do with the specific software and more to do with the irrationality of discouraging development. 

I didn't discourage it, look, I even said he could keep it up but said it was going to be frowned upon. 



I do have a question about the program.  If you continue to develop it are you going to handle the credit requirement difference in some games or just assume 1 coin 1 = 1 credit?  Plus there are many older games that didn't have coin and start, just coin, the game started once you put the coin in or hit button 1.  I assume you would stick with 1 coin 1 credit as that should cover 80% of the playable games?


Ok, now the bickering is getting to the point where I will have to prune the thread.  Please stop.  We have the right to our own opinions.  Many people are going to clash, but don;t put someone down if yours is different.

[headkaze]

Thanks SirPoonga a thread prune may be in order Unfortunately this thread has become a bit of a stomping ground. But back to the matter at hand...

I'm also experiencing the problem where the program causes the coin insert sound to play when I press 5 but nothing happens in mame (I tried it in robotron) when I hit 1, unless I hit 5 while I am in mame.

Perhaps CoinDrop is not finding Mame... it searches for the "MAME:" part of a window when Mame launches. I have no experience with fastmame, perhaps it uses a different way to name it's window. As I have only tested this with Mame32 and Mame32fx (I'm assuming it works with standard Mame if that uses DirectInput too). Can anyone confirm that it is actually working for them? I havn't had any feedback saying it's actually working. Until I get a bit more of a feel for what may be happening or going wrong, I don't know how to go about debugging this. The actual coin insert part of the program works separately (the part where it detects a coin drop key press and makes a sound), so it seems the problem may lie in the DirectInput injection code. You could also test to see if it can auto-skip the disclaimer screens. But if it can't find a window named "MAME:*" then it won't find Mame. If you can run your version of Mame, then Alt-TAB out to the desktop, check if the name of the process on the taskbar is called "MAME: *name_of_rom*", and get back to me.

I do have a question about the program.

[Grasshopper]

Unfortunately I can't get it working either. The coin drop sound works when I press '5' outside MAME but when MAME is running you only hear the game specific coin drop sound when '5' is pressed and any coins entered outside MAME are not remembered i.e. normal MAME behaviour.

I'm using MAME32 on XP and the window name is:

MAME: Ghouls'n Ghosts (world) [ghouls]

It occurs to me that perhaps your program has to be run on startup to work properly. I just clicked on the icon. Is that a possible source of the problem?

[D5A1AC]

Headkaze, I checked the mame window and it is titled "MAME: rom". None of the press Ok screens are automatically skipped 

[SirPeale]

File appears to be gone now, was it taken down?

[headkaze]

Hmm, I'll have to check out these problems soon. I've been working hard on my cab recently and havn't had time to do more testing. I'll get back to you.

File appears to be gone now, was it taken down?

Yes, it's been removed. Check one of my previous posts for explaination why.

[SOAPboy]

Im having trouble getting it to work. I have it loaded and hear the coin drop noise when I press 5 or 6. So I select the game I want and mame loads. When the game starts no credits appear. Pressing 1 or 2 player does not do anything. Am I doing something wrong?

Please post your machine specs, version of Mame etc. Anyone else having this problem?

BTW I have removed the download, so if you missed it, too bad. Hopefully only some homebrewer's here have a copy. If you want a copy and can prove to me that you are a genuine homebrewer, then I will give you a url and password (PM me your project page). Hopefully this solves the issue somewhat.

The reason I have done this is mainly because of the comments by Haze. I have to respect the wishes of the Mame developers and that's that. I will continue the development and try to fix any bugs etc. so post any problems you have here.

Its a shame that people cant just say "thanks" instead of "OMGWTF THATS BAD"

Id love something like this, would make my machine feel more "real" instead of like some PC inside a cabinet..

Oh well, crybabies ruined it..