Set games for free play and disable MAME menu?

[Dannymh]

Hi,

I was wondering whether there was a way to set all games that support it to globally support free play via a switch or command line?
I also wanted to disable the menu that you can pop up in games, far too often people activate this menu whilst playing games and I wanted to get rid of it or make it too difficult to show up....any ideas?

[NOP]

nope on the free play thing.

not all games support free play, and the settings for it are typically done via a dip switch, and it's never the same setting for all the games, so i don't think it would be possible to ever globally set them all with one command line option.  i tried to do this too, but ended up adding a physical button for credits on the outside of the machine.

as for the popup menu, i assume the one available via the TAB key.  From within that menu, you can change the keys required for all of MAME's settings.  Just change it from TAB to something significantly more difficult to get to, like TAB+FIRE+DOWN+COIN1 or something odd.

[u_rebelscum]

I was wondering whether there was a way to set all games that support it to globally support free play via a switch or command line?

No, but it's possible to hack the source to set free play to default on, and recompile.  According to NOP's ROMLister, there are 1145 parents with "Free Play" in (probably) the dipswitch (mame 0.136).

It's a pretty easy hack, but over a thousand games each a little different can be time consuming.  If you want more info on what to do, I can give an example, but I don't want to go into it if noone is interested.

(IIRC, there was a deviant of mame that had this hack, but it's been a while since I heard of it and I can't rememer anthing else about it.)

[Dannymh]

Excellent replies guys thank you.

For the coin I have a service switch on the inside of my cab rigged to coin, I will just break this out and put it on the outside somewhere to save having to open and close the door. I have a 38inch LAI cab so there is plenty of room on it, I need to rethink it all anyway as I am going to rewire the Jamma that the previous owner had snipped and throw in a JPAC too, so I can rethink button config then too.

As for the TAB cheers thats what I needed I will set it to some god awful combo to prevent it's popping up.

Cheers guys

Dan

[Space Fractal]

You could also in the MAME settings, remap the coin button to the same button as the player start button?

[Dannymh]

thats also a good option, It would record both at once then?

[Space Fractal]

I do known it did actually works in a older mame, you do might need to press the key twice (one to insert and one to start).

You could of course test, since I have never used this my self, but I known a least one did this trick to avoid wire a credits button for around a year ago.

[Thargok]

That is an interesting option.

[u_rebelscum]

Careful, it does depend on the game, though.  Some games, like most games by Atari Games in the mid 80s to early 90s, have an action button double as a start button.  Look at gauntlet, toobin, and 720; the magic, fire, and kick (one player) / jump (two player), respectively, action buttons are also start.  So if you map your coin to the same as the start button, the coin will also be activated by playing the game.

Most other games don't dual purpose buttons, so should be okay.

[Space Fractal]

Then these problem games could been set as freemode when possible, but this still would bring number of games very much down.

You can clearly see it when that happens (if it happens):
The credits count each time you press the action button, so these might require game only remap, so I guess the menu should been bringable in the start.

Please Note, I have not tested this my self, but one did and it worked on these games he played most.

[Dannymh]

all good points, I think ust wiring an additional button will have to do. I need to put my trackball in anyway so drilling another hole wont kill me


I wonder though whether I could run a macro or hotkey that automatically presses the credit button say 10 times once the game is loaded.

[Space Fractal]

that can been a problem because MAME use raw keys, and you need to compile you own version to DirectInput version before it world works.

In some games also, there is a slight startup sequence, where the games does not take any input before the game actuelly started up.

If you wire a new credit buttton, there is also not a problem anymore. its that most of us do.

[headkaze]

It's a pretty easy hack, but over a thousand games each a little different can be time consuming.  If you want more info on what to do, I can give an example, but I don't want to go into it if noone is interested.

Check out my bezel_0129u2.zip patch. It shows how you can add a message system for sending MAME data. In this one it's to pause MAME but perhaps it could be modified to set dip switches? If so it would be a nice addition to the main source so you could have an external app to control things like this. I would personally like to see the Mame Output System expanded to include more things like this.

[Popcorrin]

Advancemame has an option to globally set all dipswitches to freeplay.  It also has a scripting option that allowed you to do a number of things.  I had a script that would insert a credit or credits when a start button was pressed and then start a game. 
Unfortunately advancemame is no longer updated.

[u_rebelscum]

It's a pretty easy hack, but over a thousand games each a little different can be time consuming.  If you want more info on what to do, I can give an example, but I don't want to go into it if noone is interested.

Check out my bezel_0129u2.zip patch. It shows how you can add a message system for sending MAME data. In this one it's to pause MAME but perhaps it could be modified to set dip switches? If so it would be a nice addition to the main source so you could have an external app to control things like this. I would personally like to see the Mame Output System expanded to include more things like this.

Hmm, I wonder what the AdvancedMame did it?  Maybe something like this?  How did it know which dip to switch, and to what?

Hmm...

...

Ehh, I copped out and did it the stupid brute way: hack the 891 lines of code to change their default dips to free play.  See attached diff for the changes.  Note that I did practically no testing: just checked if it compiled and if one game worked (works with magdrop3).

Diff from mame 0.136, -p1 in stead of -p0 with patch.exe.

[mustafab1]

As for the TAB cheers thats what I needed I will set it to some god awful combo to prevent it's popping up.

How to change this? Which ini file do you need to change or do I have to search the menu? I also want to disable the game quit menu when you press player 1 and then player 2 button.

[u_rebelscum]

As for the TAB cheers thats what I needed I will set it to some god awful combo to prevent it's popping up.

How to change this? Which ini file do you need to change or do I have to search the menu? I also want to disable the game quit menu when you press player 1 and then player 2 button.

Start mame, press tab, select "Input (general)", select "User Interface".  All the User Interface controls can be changed.

"Config Menu" is what tab usually is mapped to.
"UI Cancel" is usually esc.

Another thing you will have to look at is what encoder you are using, and if it's "shifting" when you press those buttons and sending a different (esc) one.  If so, you'll have to remap the encoder (if possible, depending on model) instead of mame, or a combination of remapping both.

[mustafab1]

As for the TAB cheers thats what I needed I will set it to some god awful combo to prevent it's popping up.

How to change this? Which ini file do you need to change or do I have to search the menu? I also want to disable the game quit menu when you press player 1 and then player 2 button.

Start mame, press tab, select "Input (general)", select "User Interface".  All the User Interface controls can be changed.

"Config Menu" is what tab usually is mapped to.
"UI Cancel" is usually esc.

Another thing you will have to look at is what encoder you are using, and if it's "shifting" when you press those buttons and sending a different (esc) one.  If so, you'll have to remap the encoder (if possible, depending on model) instead of mame, or a combination of remapping both.

Thanks man! I didn't know that. I'll try it out when I get home!
It is really anoyinh when the player 1 buttons is pressed and then the second player presses the player 2 button.
This seems to have the same function as <ESC> which gives the escape menu.

[Smack]

In my old cab that I had, I snuck a switch behind the lighted 25c coin return button so you could press it in to trigger a Coin1 / Coin2.

That way I avoided an extra button on the outside.

[Dannymh]

In my old cab that I had, I snuck a switch behind the lighted 25c coin return button so you could press it in to trigger a Coin1 / Coin2.

That way I avoided an extra button on the outside.

Now that is a top idea

[speedklz]

I did the same thing, put the switches behind the coin return triggers. works liek a charm and is pretty cool.