help launching pc games

[fantoboy]

Some of my pc games such as Melty Blood go to a config screen before launching the game.  What would be the best way for the front end (Mala) to send a button press (enter) right in the beginning to skip this? A wrapper?

[unclet]

I am assuming entering "enter" will close your configuration screen and allow the game to start ..... so I believe the easiest way would be to have MALA reconfigure your keyboard encoder for each PC game when it is selected and have your Player1 start button (for example) to be mapped to "enter".   This way, when the game is selected in MALA, the configuration screen will be seen and the player can push the start button to begin.

If you do not want to see the configuration screen at all when the game starts, then a wrapper might be needed, although I believe a wrapper would only be able to automatically send the "enter" keypress for you after the game starts, so you might see the flash of the configuration screen anyway unless the wrapper can execute the application in the background until the configuration screen has been closed.

[gonzo90017]

You can try using autohotkey, Autoit, or closemul http://lustar.free.fr/clusters/closemul/

[fantoboy]

closemul looks like it can do what I need!

I'm not understanding it though.
DO I just edit the ini file?
Here is what I see in the ini:

Code: [Select]

[Parameters]
Exit Key 1=ESC
Exit Key 2=
Extract=
Extracted Ext 1=
Extracted Ext 2=
Pre Command=
Post Command=
Mount Program=
Mount Device=
Mount Parameters=
Registry File=
Automation=
Automation Steps=
Automation Delay=
Program=
Program 2=
Param Before File=
Param After File=
File=
Snap 1 Search=
Snap 2 Search=
Snap Extension=
Snap Source Folder=
Snap 1 Dest Folder=
Snap 2 Dest Folder=
Quit Management=
Quit TimeOut=
Disable Quotes=
so I put the program under Program= like:

Code: [Select]

Program=G:\3darcade\emulators\PC_games\doujin\MBACWIN\mbacPC.exe
now i dont see auto=, autosteps=, and autodelay= as stated in the readme:

- Keyboard Automation (Automatically load games for emulators that don't support command line)

  For the automation to be active you must use the auto= parameter to set the "Window Title" of your Program.

  You can define a list of keyboard commands to be executed right after the Program is launched, in the .ini or by using
  autosteps="command1,command2" (autosteps="ALT+F, O, FILE, ENTER, F2")

  You can optionally set a time to wait between commands with autodelay= (defaults to 50 milliseconds).

  The list must be comma separated, with or without spaces.
  You can use Special Commands, Prefixes+Keywords, Keywords, or plain text.

  Prefixes: SHIFT+ CTRL+ ALT+ WIN+ (e.g. ALT+F, ALT+TAB, SHIFT+TAB... WIN+ usually requires a lower case letter: WIN+e)

do I use automation=, Automation Steps=, and Automation Delay=?

they dont seem to be working for me.  Even if i type in what is stated in the read me.  It does launch the game, but doesnt press enter.

edit:
or do I just make a batch file?  I tried- doesnt seem to work for me either

Code: [Select]

closemul.exe auto=  G:\3darcade\emulators\PC_games\doujin\MBACWIN\mbacPC.exe autosteps= "ENTER,ENTER" autodelay=1000


[gonzo90017]

Yes, you need to edit the ini file. Run your game in a window and write down the title.
The Exit key must be in ASCII code Esc =27

Exit key=27
Automation:game title here
Automation steps:ENTER
Automation Delay:enter the time it takes from when you launch the game till you need to press enter. (1000 =1 sec)
Program:mbacPC.exe (if that's the name of your game's exe)

[fantoboy]

strangely that worked for half of my games.
thanks!


so if I just want to set ESC as the exit button, I just do:

Code: [Select]

Exit key=27
Program:(the name of your game's exe)??

[SGT]

strangely that worked for half of my games.

Do the games that still don't work have spaces in the title of the window that you won't to close automatically?  If so you may have to put quotes around the name (see the example below).  Also, the window title for the window you want to automate is not necessary the name of the application.  For example I had to use...

Automation="MiniGolf Launcher"

...even though the program name is Minigolf.  I used the task manager to get the window title though I'm not sure if you can always use that.  What is the best way to get the window title for the current form, anyone?

You may also have to increase the time delay for those programs that do not work.

[fantoboy]

Yes, some do have spaces.  The quotes didnt work.  I found the name through task manager too.
"Glove On Fight" is one giving me trouble.

"Destruction Desire" doesn't even load through closemul.

[SGT]

Have you checked to see if its case-sensitive?

[fantoboy]

Yes, the case of what I typed matches on both counts.

[SGT]

I have never experienced closemul not working.  Do you have closemul.exe and closemul.ini in the same folder as the program that it should execute? The only time I have had trouble was when they were in two separate folders.

 Also, for "Destruction Desire", you might trying passing the program name through the commandline instead of through the ini to see if it at least starts the program up.  For "Glove on Fight", list your closemul.ini and the name of the executable.

[fantoboy]

gof.exe

Code: [Select]

[Parameters]
Exit Key 1=
Exit Key 2=
Extract=
Extracted Ext 1=
Extracted Ext 2=
Pre Command=
Post Command=
Mount Program=
Mount Device=
Mount Parameters=
Registry File=
Automation="Glove On Fight"
Automation Steps=ENTER
Automation Delay=1000
Program=gof.exe
Program 2=
Param Before File=
Param After File=
File=
Snap 1 Search=
Snap 2 Search=
Snap Extension=
Snap Source Folder=
Snap 1 Dest Folder=
Snap 2 Dest Folder=
Quit Management=
Quit TimeOut=
Disable Quotes=
dd.exe starts from a batch file.  The ini is in the same folder.  I even tried replacing the closemul.exe and ini with a fresh set of files.

[SGT]

Have you tried increasing the delay from like 1 second (1000 ms) to something much greater like 5 seconds (5000 ms)?  If that doesn't work, closemul must not be recognizing the windows title.  I don't know if the name of the window is always the same as what the task manager reports.  Need somebody like Howard Casto or headkaze to chime in on how to get the proper name of an open form/window.

[SGT]

Also, is there any chance that window title has an extra space on the end that you need to allow for? 

[SGT]

You might try running the following ahk script.  AHK is a small download and only takes a second to install it.  This script lists the titles of all open windows.  Its probably the same as the task manager, I'm guessing.

Code: [Select]

WinGet windows, List
Loop %windows%
{
   id := windows%A_Index%
   WinGetTitle wt, ahk_id %id%
   r .= wt . "`n"
}
MsgBox %r%
Download AutoHotKey here:
http://www.autohotkey.com/download/

[fantoboy]

how can I copy and paste that?

[gonzo90017]

 Sorry I should've posted this earlier. Didn't think it was necessary

First you need to find out the exact title of the window
For this you need to install Autoit http://www.autoitscript.com/autoit3/downloads.php
Now run your pc game in a window
Go to Start>Programs>Autoit v3>Autoit Window Info
Now click on the games title and Press Ctrl+Alt+F
Double click on the Title in the Autoit Window info to send it to the clipboard now minimize it
and open closemul.ini

Automation: paste title here
Automation steps:ENTER
Automation Delay: enter the time it takes from when you launch the game till you need to press enter. (1000 =1 sec)
Program:mbacPC.exe (if that's the name of your game's exe)

[SGT]

how can I copy and paste that?

Just create an empty text document with notepad.  Copy and paste the code from my post into it.  Then rename it to have an ahk extension instead of a txt extension.  Provided you have already installed autohotkey, just double-click the ahk file that you created and a window should pop up and tell you the names of all open windows.

EDIT:  Are you sure that the ENTER key gets you past the original config screen for the game you're having trouble with?

EDIT #2: Good one Gonzo.  Much easier to use an existing program to get window titles than to have to create your own.

[fantoboy]

Autoit window info did the job.  I was able to copy and paste the title into the ini file and got it working! thanks!

Still have the problem with Destruction Desire not launching through closemul.
Seem to be having issues with Super Cosplay Wars Ultra as well.
I believe both of these games were made through the same program too.  Fighter Maker I think it is called.

Looks like the game actually launches for a sec, then the window closes

[SGT]

Autoit window info did the job.  I was able to copy and paste the title into the ini file and got it working! thanks!

Just for my own curiousity, did the title match what you were seeing in the task manager?

[fantoboy]

no, It was "Glove on Fight" in the task manager.
"Glove on Fight 起動メニュー" was the real name, which did appear on the top of the window of the game.  I was just unable to copy and paste off there.

[gonzo90017]

Here's another one that should help you get the game's title. http://gonzo90017.files-upload.com/411314/kill.zip.html Just install it and then click on List.

[fantoboy]

I've got the names right, they just dont wanna work.
Just trying to add esc as the exit for these 2 games.

[gonzo90017]

Have you tried this?

If a particular emulator doesn't seem to respond to your quit hotkey, you can try an alternative method with "quit=5".
  Emulators known to require the alternative method: Nestopia 1.27, Caprice32 3.6.1.
  At last, if you want to use the alternative method + your combination of keys + "ESC", use "quit=6", and "quit=7" for
  the alternative method + your combination of keys = "ESC".

  Usually, you will probably want to use quit=3 as default and quit=2 for emulators that don't offer to set an exit key.

[fantoboy]

the problem is I only need to do this with 2 of my pc games- so i cant set it for the entire "emulator" in mala