Author Topic: Which Frontend to use? (Read 6035 times)

Cero21 · « **on:** January 11, 2008, 08:20:58 pm »

Hi,

I'm new to all of this and am totally overwhelmed by what frontend to use. Short of downloading all of them and taking all of them for a testdrive which frontend do you use and why? Which is the most popular one right now?

polaris · « **Reply #1 on:** January 11, 2008, 08:27:11 pm »

have a look in the software forum at which ones are most discussed in there and pick one of those, you'll get lots of helping setting it up then.

headkaze · « **Reply #2 on:** January 11, 2008, 09:47:17 pm »

Quote from: polaris on January 11, 2008, 08:27:11 pm

have a look in the software forum at which ones are most discussed in there and pick one of those, you'll get lots of helping setting it up then.

Some FE's have their own forums too so you can often get better support by posting there.

Xb0x3r · « **Reply #3 on:** January 11, 2008, 10:19:39 pm »

Personally, I use GameEx, it looks a lot like Windows Media Center and is fairly easy to set up. They have their own forums.

headkaze · « **Reply #4 on:** January 11, 2008, 10:49:21 pm »

Quote from: Xb0x3r on January 11, 2008, 10:19:39 pm

Personally, I use GameEx, it looks a lot like Windows Media Center and is fairly easy to set up. They have their own forums.

The default theme for GameEx looks like Windows Media Center but you can download others at the theme site. I don't like the MCE look on my cab so I made my own Theme to match the graphics on my cab.

Other FE's to try can be found on the BYOAC Wiki

Cero21 · « **Reply #5 on:** January 12, 2008, 03:24:42 am »

I tried maximus arcade and wasn't really happy with it. Next up, gamex.

I also tried mala for like 5 min, the games list it generated was huge and hard to navigate...

loadman · « **Reply #6 on:** January 12, 2008, 04:40:00 am »

Quote from: Cero21 on January 12, 2008, 03:24:42 am

I tried maximus arcade and wasn't really happy with it. Next up, gamex.

I also tried mala for like 5 min, the games list it generated was huge and hard to navigate...

That's why you use filters and game-list sorters

http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/Mala_Creation

emerica · « **Reply #7 on:** January 12, 2008, 06:26:27 am »

It all de

Quote from: Cero21 on January 11, 2008, 08:20:58 pm

Hi,

which frontend do you use and why?

I've been using gamex for awhile now and find its features are great even though I don't use most of them. I like how it easy it is to setup and forums over at the website are filled with answer to many of the questions that you might have.

Headkaze is right about the themes. There are many possibilities for themes and not all of them look like windows media center. I use the gamelauncher theme and it does not look like windows in anyway. Also on the gameex website is the instant sheller program which will help to remove the look of windows by changing the boot screen and booting straight into gameex.

On a side note...I also like mala. I found it easy to use and the skins look good too. As loadman says you need to set filters and the like for sorting games and such.

Choosing a frontend can be a difficult decision for anyone getting into this hobby and trying them out can be a headache at times. Good luck in your search.

DaOld Man · « **Reply #8 on:** January 12, 2008, 06:53:49 am »

When I began to put together my first arcade, I looked at many frontends that were available then (2 years ago).
I decided to go with Glaunch.
I like Game Launcher. (GLaunch)
I like the way it looks, and it's pretty easy to set up, once you get to know what it needs.
I like the way it is just a simple menu program and is very easy to use with the arcade controls.
I even wrote a program to use for it to build favorite lists. (Only works in Windows and with Mame.)
But GLaunch is not supported anymore by its author.
Since I am now building a rotating monitor for my first arcade, I am looking at Mala for it. But I might put together a rotating program to use with GLaunch. (Old habits die hard.)

Turnarcades · « **Reply #9 on:** January 12, 2008, 09:20:25 am »

Mamewah.

pmc · « **Reply #10 on:** January 12, 2008, 10:09:57 am »

Quote from: Cero21 on January 11, 2008, 08:20:58 pm

Short of downloading all of them and taking all of them for a testdrive which

Actually, that's not a bad idea.

I left Mamewah for MaLa due to the ease of configuration -- the best thing I did was download it to check it out. It's worth it to download and try out a couple of candidates.

I always wanted to configure multiple front-ends so that I could switch to whatever I was in the mood for. But I never did that...

-pmc

LeedsFan · « **Reply #11 on:** January 12, 2008, 10:45:08 am »

Quote from: pmc on January 12, 2008, 10:09:57 am

Quote from: Cero21 on January 11, 2008, 08:20:58 pm

I left Mamewah for MaLa due to the ease of configuration -- the best thing I did was download it to check it out. It's worth it to download and try out a couple of candidates.

Mamewah is an excellent front end nut I gotta admit that Mala is better for a new person to get to grips with. Personally I wanted to be able to reuse my old Mamewah skin and have the U360 plugin to change maps behind the scenes. Mala suited me perfectly so this is the FE I use now.

DaveMMR · « **Reply #12 on:** January 12, 2008, 01:44:59 pm »

Asking us which frontend you should use is kind of like asking us what your favorite food should be. It's hard to really nail down what fit your wants and needs best. You basically need to pick a few based on the feature lists (check the wiki entry) and do some test runs.

If you have specific hardware needs (U360s, LEDs, etc.), you can narrow your list down a bit (Mala, GameEx). Otherwise, they're all pretty good. Even without specifics, I would recommend taking a look into Mala and GameEx as well as Mamewah.

Green Giant · « **Reply #13 on:** January 13, 2008, 05:21:54 am »

Mala was my choice because of hardware support, but basically there are the big three.

Mala, GameEx, and AtomicFE.

Look at those the most, they are under constant development and the most up to date.

Lilwolf · « **Reply #14 on:** January 13, 2008, 08:45:23 am »

Most of them can handle a single mame.exe pretty easy, so its nice to download a few and see for sure.

But now, lots have the same themes/skins also. So thats becoming less necessary.

But since you are going to look at it every day, I would start looking at the theme pages (if your not artistic) and go from there. Many have very similar feature sets, they all have a bit of configuration needed to do anything weird.

I just recently moved from Mamewah to Mala just for a theme.

Cakemeister · « **Reply #15 on:** January 13, 2008, 04:27:40 pm »

DaveMMR · « **Reply #16 on:** January 13, 2008, 05:29:53 pm »

That's a nice rendition of Nucleus' "Jam on It", Cakemeister.

loadman · « **Reply #17 on:** January 13, 2008, 05:37:35 pm »

Quote from: DaveMMR on January 13, 2008, 05:29:53 pm

That's a nice rendition of Nucleus' "Jam on It", Cakemeister.

Yeah, I've seen his work before but not for some time. A classic.

Cakemeister · « **Reply #18 on:** January 13, 2008, 06:53:59 pm »

How about this one?

W W I I I I I K K I I I I I
W W I K K I
W W W I K K I
W W W W I K K I
W W W W I K K I
W W W W I K K I
W W I I I I I K K I I I I I

loadman · « **Reply #19 on:** January 13, 2008, 07:08:23 pm »

Quote from: Cakemeister on January 13, 2008, 06:53:59 pm

How about this one?

W W I I I I I K K I I I I I
W W I K K I
W W W I K K I
W W W W I K K I
W W W W I K K I
W W W W I K K I
W W I I I I I K K I I I I I

How about some fusion of ASCII and animated .gif. ? Kinda old School / New School

headkaze · « **Reply #20 on:** January 13, 2008, 08:19:06 pm »

How about this one?

loadman · « **Reply #21 on:** January 13, 2008, 09:48:57 pm »

Quote from: headkaze on January 13, 2008, 08:19:06 pm

How about this one?

Terrible. Where is the link to the Wiki?

SGT · « **Reply #22 on:** January 13, 2008, 10:09:35 pm »

If you guys don't behave, I'm going to PM S/F that you're getting off topic.

Havok · « **Reply #23 on:** January 14, 2008, 12:44:44 am »

Quote from: Cakemeister on January 13, 2008, 06:53:59 pm

How about this one?

W W I I I I I K K I I I I I
W W I K K I
W W W I K K I
W W W W I K K I
W W W W I K K I
W W W W I K K I
W W I I I I I K K I I I I I

So how long did that take to do?

Cakemeister · « **Reply #24 on:** January 14, 2008, 12:50:56 am »

Just a couple of minutes in Notepad. It took longer to do the wiki-bomb because messages can only be 25000 characters long.

puerrican85 · « **Reply #25 on:** January 14, 2008, 10:31:28 am »

Quote from: Cero21 on January 12, 2008, 03:24:42 am

I tried maximus arcade and wasn't really happy with it. Next up, gamex.

I'm surprised you didn't like it $:-\$ I love it, been using it on my 4 player arcade, and using it for the cocktail arcade I built for my father as well. Once it's set up it runs great with great support for pc games, and other emus as well, and I like how it displays the screenshots and video for the games when listed. I guess everyone has their own taste.

Gameex is a good choice though to me I only found it useful when combined with Media Center as it was a more practical way to play games on a media center pc without having to pull out the keyboard and mouse to start up.

torcer · « **Reply #26 on:** January 14, 2008, 10:43:13 am »

MALA, you will NOT be disappointed. It's fun as hell to customize too.

Cakemeister · « **Reply #27 on:** January 14, 2008, 01:52:45 pm »

Please feel free to cut and paste this message.

R R R E E E E E A D D D D T T T T T H H E E E E E W W I I I I I K K I I I I I !
R R E A A D D T H H E W W I K K I !
R R E A A D D T H H E W W I K K I !
R R R E E E E E A A A D D T H H H H H E E E E W W W I K K I !
R R E A A D D T H H E W W W W I K K I !
R R E A A D D T H H E W W W W I K K I
R R EeE E E A A D D D D T H H E E E E E W W I I I I I K K I I I I I !

puerrican85 · « **Reply #28 on:** January 14, 2008, 04:03:50 pm »

I don't see how asking people on the board about there personal experiences with Front Ends should have him refer to the wiki, nor does the wiki state that he can't ask a question about what some of the users on the board use.

Also the page you link on frontends you are attaching comes out comepletely blank.

Either way Cero21, I actually took a look at Mala and it may be the best front end to try out, I may actually try it on my own machine I use Arcade Maximus on to see how it looks, Mala has a lot more layout choices compared to M.A.

Cero21 · « **Reply #29 on:** January 14, 2008, 05:42:52 pm »

Thanks everyone for the advice.

I tried out both Mala and GameEx and I think I'm going to go with GameEx for the time being. Mala sounds like a good option as well which I might look into further when I have some time. It seems you need to do quite a bit of configuring to get it how you like it.

I really didn't appreciate the wiki bombs as I was looking more for your preferences and not just a list of FEs available. Plus, I before posting I did read the wiki and it didn't help to choose. Again, it was just more a list with no qualitative properties.

DaveMMR · « **Reply #30 on:** January 14, 2008, 07:15:25 pm »

I don't think the "wiki bombing" was intended to be offensive or rude - it was just a fun way of directing you there. A lot of people who ask questions don't know about it off the bat and, really, the list of front-ends is as great or better in assisting you in choosing a FE as people listing their preferences. To boil it down and be repetitive at the same time: All FE's more or less accomplish the same goal (a graphical menu system to run emulators and hide the windows/command line interface), but each one's features/look/capabilities appeal to different people's wants and needs. I like Mala, but you may want something else if you're not running the hardware I am. That's where the list comes in.

Please, take no offense.

EDIT: Tiny errors

loadman · « **Reply #31 on:** January 15, 2008, 07:30:12 pm »

Quote from: DaveMMR on January 14, 2008, 07:15:25 pm

Please, take no offense.

Ditto

roorooroo · « **Reply #32 on:** January 22, 2008, 08:06:20 am »

I'm going to try a few more FE's before making my mind up too..up to now it's a toss up between Maximus Arcade, Mala, and AtomicFE...i'm planning on running quite a few emus in my cab and those are the best i have seen up to now.

Havok · « **Reply #33 on:** January 22, 2008, 01:44:39 pm »

Quote from: Cakemeister on January 14, 2008, 01:52:45 pm

Please feel free to cut and paste this message.

R R R E E E E E A D D D D T T T T T H H E E E E E W W I I I I I K K I I I I I !
R R E A A D D T H H E W W I K K I !
R R E A A D D T H H E W W I K K I !
R R R E E E E E A A A D D T H H H H H E E E E W W W I K K I !
R R E A A D D T H H E W W W W I K K I !
R R E A A D D T H H E W W W W I K K I
R R EeE E E A A D D D D T H H E E E E E W W I I I I I K K I I I I I !

Awesome!

headkaze · « **Reply #34 on:** January 22, 2008, 02:08:28 pm »

Can you feel the love?

ripsnort · « **Reply #35 on:** January 22, 2008, 02:39:04 pm »

You really should take a look at 3d arcade not many pepole seem to mention it. unlike it says on wiki it will run any emulator not just command line based, it is totally changable with as many menus as you can want. And the the best thing is you can download it already configured all you have to do is insert the roms in the right files add a few background picks and your done . I have about 10 different emulators running from 3d arcade, it also has a 3d option in which you can navigate through arcades walk up to the machines and play them through mame, it also runs pc games aswell.

Check it out

http://echo.messageboard.nl/2243/viewtopic.php?t=1895

headkaze · « **Reply #36 on:** January 22, 2008, 08:00:29 pm »

3d arcade still kicks arse

Popcorrin · « **Reply #37 on:** January 22, 2008, 10:20:08 pm »

Yea, I love 3d arcade. The only thing I wished it had was ledwiz or pacdrive support. )p( was going to add it to his scripting engine but he is pretty busy with real life and doesn't have much time to tinker with the frontend anymore.

Headkaze, would it be impossible to adapt your ledwiz plugin for gameex to another frontend?

headkaze · « **Reply #38 on:** January 23, 2008, 03:18:27 am »

Quote from: Popcorrin on January 22, 2008, 10:20:08 pm

Yea, I love 3d arcade. The only thing I wished it had was ledwiz or pacdrive support. )p( was going to add it to his scripting engine but he is pretty busy with real life and doesn't have much time to tinker with the frontend anymore.

Headkaze, would it be impossible to adapt your ledwiz plugin for gameex to another frontend?

I was thinking of adding LEDWiz/PACDrive support to CPWizard a while ago which works with any front end but I'm not 100% sure I'll still do that. The main problem is having buttons light up when you scroll through games. There still needs to be communication between the FE and my program.

ripsnort · « **Reply #39 on:** January 23, 2008, 01:42:22 pm »

if led wiz can be added to 3d arcade then thats it, game over for the rest of the frontends, 3d arcade just rocks.


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