Author Topic: Q: About Howards Screensaver (Read 2298 times)

Demon-Seed · « **on:** February 16, 2003, 12:03:16 pm »

Hey,
I am running Lazarus and it runs great!! Just curious about a screensaver? and how easy it is to install the screen saver?

SirPoonga · « **Reply #1 on:** February 16, 2003, 03:52:18 pm »

Homebrew · « **Reply #2 on:** February 16, 2003, 07:56:18 pm »

Guess i'm the only one having problems. I followed the installation instructions, but when i try to preview, i get an error messge. The error is

Run- time error "5":
Invalid procedure call or argument

Any ideas?

-Kevin

Birdtales · « **Reply #3 on:** February 16, 2003, 08:13:48 pm »

Quote from: Homebrew on February 16, 2003, 07:56:18 pm

Run- time error "5":
Invalid procedure call or argument

Same here

Dr. J · « **Reply #4 on:** February 16, 2003, 09:17:47 pm »

When you type in the path to your roms try it both with and without the / on the end. When you edit it you have to click add, and delete the other one. This worked for me, but I forget which way I did it and I'm not at home to check.

BTW, is there a way to get the screen saver to kick in if a game is running but no one is playing. It works for me from a frontend, but it would be cool if it worked when a game is abandoned in attract mode.
Another idea is to have an option where it only runs for so many minutes and then exits itself back to the frontend. That would create a cycle of showing off both the games and the frontend.

SirPoonga · « **Reply #5 on:** February 17, 2003, 12:56:10 am »

oh yeah, the /. HC thought he fixed that, maybe not.

Dr. J to answer your question. There is an option in the screensaver setting, the Reset Timer options. Turn that to yes. Then when you play a game FROM THE SCREENSAVER and decide to stop the screensaver will kick back in.

Homebrew · « **Reply #6 on:** February 17, 2003, 11:43:45 am »

Adding the slash at the end fixed it for me. Quick note though. Its a \ and not a / you have to add at the end. Thanx guys.

-Kevin

Dr. J · « **Reply #7 on:** February 17, 2003, 01:45:29 pm »

Quote from: Homebrew on February 17, 2003, 11:43:45 am

Its a \

Oh yeah...

SirPoonga:
Will that only work if you start the game from the screen saver, but not if you selected the game in a frontend? Thx

SirPoonga · « **Reply #8 on:** February 17, 2003, 06:12:29 pm »

right, only from the screensaver. The fe would have to start the game from the screensaver. Hey HC, idea!!!

)p( · « **Reply #9 on:** February 18, 2003, 02:09:18 am »

Quote from: Dr. J on February 16, 2003, 09:17:47 pm

Another idea is to have an option where it only runs for so many minutes and then exits itself back to the frontend. That would create a cycle of showing off both the games and the frontend.

that allready works using the - wait x seconds option of the wrapper
it is how i use it with my fe. The fe must have an option to launch a random game when idle after x options also for this to work.
(i put a beta up of my fe that does this and minwah mentioned he was adding trhis to his fe also...more will follow i think

)

In this setup you don't uses the screensaver just the the wrapper that does the real work...ie cmd-launch2.exe

peter

Minwah · « **Reply #10 on:** February 18, 2003, 04:54:12 am »

Yeah I am going to have a go at this. Just had a birthday tho (ie drink) and I've just got my ArcadeVGA so I haven't had chance yet - hopefully soon

jerryjanis · « **Reply #11 on:** February 19, 2003, 03:15:38 am »

Here's an idea - set up the screen saver to run Mame replaying high score games from http://marp.retrogames.com.

Howard_Casto · « **Reply #12 on:** February 19, 2003, 09:28:27 am »

Well for that you really wouldn't need mame, just an avi screensaver.

Carsten Carlos · « **Reply #13 on:** February 19, 2003, 10:14:42 am »

Say, is it possible to write a (maybe rather big) list of roms available to play to the screensavers .ini, and next time it will choose randomly on of those without restarting windows?

My problem is, I want it to show only horizontal/vertical games depending on my actual monitor-rotation. (Later also depending on which controlpanel is currently in)

As I'll try and write a frontend of my own and I've to make a list for suitable games there anyway, this would be the easiest solution for me!

)p( · « **Reply #14 on:** February 19, 2003, 10:25:04 am »

Quote from: Carsten Carlos on February 19, 2003, 10:14:42 am

As I'll try and write a frontend of my own and I've to make a list for suitable games there anyway, this would be the easiest solution for me!

most fe's parse mame's listinfo data...one of the helpful items in it is the orientation of a game. So the fe knows the orientation of each game...no need to make a seperate list.

by the way why not use a small exe with one of the existing fe's that is launched just before a game to rotate the display according to the orientation of the game...would save you a lot of work.

peter

Carsten Carlos · « **Reply #15 on:** February 19, 2003, 12:35:11 pm »

Quote

by the way why not use a small exe with one of the existing fe's that is launched just before a game to rotate the display according to the orientation of the game...would save you a lot of work.

I though about that - would be easy as my interfacing only needs one bit set to switch either to horizontal or vertical.

But 2nd on my wishlist is that the FE shows only games suitable for the current panel. Of course, I'd need an option to show all games available (so you can see what you can get with an other panel), so maybe for this I just could define different categories.

Don't know if any FE out there supports on the fly orientation-changing, but this wouldn't be the hardest thing, I guess.

Is your "old" FE-version (with shooting the galaxians, the one with the 3D-cabinets is very cool but to modern for my cab I think) able to do this?

I didn't wanted to type the list myself in, I meant that I'd build it up internally in the program itself. Though with controls I wouldn't rely on that, e.g. it says that all NeoGeo-games need 4 buttons just because they are there. Here some handwork is needed to make it perfect.

)p( · « **Reply #16 on:** February 19, 2003, 01:59:51 pm »

Quote from: Carsten Carlos on February 19, 2003, 12:35:11 pm

Is your "old" FE-version (with shooting the galaxians, the one with the 3D-cabinets is very cool but to modern for my cab I think) able to do this?

to do what exactly? on the fly rotation yes. if you want it to rotate depending on the orientation of the last game launched no, but that could be easily added I would only need to add a flag for it to the launcher object...

peter

Carsten Carlos · « **Reply #17 on:** February 20, 2003, 07:50:07 am »

Ok, here some detail how I though it should work:

-(monitor is now in horizontal)
-choosing vertical game in FE
-executing my small exe or visualbasic-routine to rotate (in fact I only set a flag at an usb-interface, the rest is electronic)
-starting the game
-after getting back to the FE, the FE should show up in vertical layout

I'd love to give your galaxians-FE a try, as it is by far the neatest idea ever seen.

You did program it in flash or something like that? Unfortunately I can only add codes to visualbasic-programs (even this I'd do only with permission)

)p( · « **Reply #18 on:** February 20, 2003, 08:25:27 am »

Quote from: Carsten Carlos on February 20, 2003, 07:50:07 am

Ok, here some detail how I though it should work:

-(monitor is now in horizontal)
-choosing vertical game in FE
-executing my small exe or visualbasic-routine to rotate (in fact I only set a flag at an usb-interface, the rest is electronic)
-starting the game
-after getting back to the FE, the FE should show up in vertical layout

I'd love to give your galaxians-FE a try, as it is by far the neatest idea ever seen. You did program it in flash or something like that? Unfortunately I can only add codes to visualbasic-programs (even this I'd do only with permission)

looks like i only would have to add the auto rotation when you come back from a game.
code for launching an exe before the game is in the fe but not enabled at the moment.

gamelauncher can also be rotated and launch a bat file before the game so that may also be an option. and maybe emutron will add similar functionality as it allready supports rotation...

peter

Carsten Carlos · « **Reply #19 on:** February 21, 2003, 02:54:24 am »

Yep, I had a look at gamelauncher, too, though it doesn't seem to rotate itself after coming back from a game, too.

If you don't mind I'll mail you with that stuff later, when my electronics are so complete that I'll switch to the software-stuff!

)p( · « **Reply #20 on:** February 21, 2003, 03:03:57 am »

Quote from: Carsten Carlos on February 21, 2003, 02:54:24 am

Yep, I had a look at gamelauncher, too, though it doesn't seem to rotate itself after coming back from a game, too.

If you don't mind I'll mail you with that stuff later, when my electronics are so complete that I'll switch to the software-stuff!

okiedokie

peter


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