New Frontend (Coming Soon)

[Dazz]

Hey Guys,

After testing this front end for the past couple days... All I can say is WOW.  The wait will definitely be worth it.  The team is putting a lot of work into the front end and the speed and capabilities of this front end are amazing.  No more static images and screenshots. 

My graphic skills suck, but I've been able to pump out a couple themes.

[Games001]

Any word as to when this FE might be made ready enough for the average joe here in BYOAC to test out?

It looks excellent thus far.  Keep on the job folks.

[RetroBorg]

Screens look great Dazz, I can't wait to try out hyperspin.

[t0ucan]

Bump, hows this going? Im building my first cabinet as we speak and after watching the preview to this software the interface blows the others out of the water.

[joebells]

It's coming along nicely(I'm a beta tester) small bug fixes here and there, themes being cranked out. No idea personally when it'll be released to a bigger audience. But I say hold out as it is real and it does work like the movie shows.

[Dazz]

Honestly I think it works better then the video shows...  That video is of an early version.  I think BadBoyBill is going to release a new video shortly after we crank out a couple more skins. 

[nipsmg]

I have to agree, it really is a beautiful frontend.

The major issue now is the lack of completed skins/themes.  Besides that, I've been using it pretty heavily and trying to break it, and have been having increasingly more trouble finding bugs.  They've been being fixed at an incredible rate, BBB is doing an EXCELLENT job.

-- Be patient.  It'll be worth the wait once it's completed.

[massive88]

I have to agree, it really is a beautiful frontend.

The major issue now is the lack of completed skins/themes.  Besides that, I've been using it pretty heavily and trying to break it, and have been having increasingly more trouble finding bugs.  They've been being fixed at an incredible rate, BBB is doing an EXCELLENT job.

-- Be patient.  It'll be worth the wait once it's completed.

Yeah I agree.  And it works on 64bit XP!  Yay!

[The Evil Collector]

Just curious but what kinda monster machine is this thing gonna take to run? Any ideas from you beta testers of what the minimum hardware specs are going to be?

[billpa]

Im running it on a P4 2.4 ghz with 1g of RAM...and it runs just fine.

[Dariusz]

Curious,

Does this new FE when released, does it allow:

Easy configuration for emu's like mame, zinc, daphne, model2.
Allow for one faverot games list which can consists of games from all types of emus, and is easy to do (configure).

Dariusz

[Dazz]

Curious,

Does this new FE when released, does it allow:

Easy configuration for emu's like mame, zinc, daphne, model2.
Allow for one faverot games list which can consists of games from all types of emus, and is easy to do (configure).

Dariusz

The backend/config utility is still being developed, but it should have an easy to configure system.  More than likely the first release will not have the config backend and will be .xml driven like it currently is in beta.  However, all of the configs for the emulators and command lines should be ready to go.

I believe that the favorites list with multi system is still being talked about at this time.  Not much info on it has been released yet.

[Spiderstyle]

The backend/config utility is still being developed, but it should have an easy to configure system.  More than likely the first release will not have the config backend and will be .xml driven like it currently is in beta.  However, all of the configs for the emulators and command lines should be ready to go.

I believe that the favorites list with multi system is still being talked about at this time.  Not much info on it has been released yet.

Hey Dazz.. Not sure when Bill is going to release HyperSpin publicly, but I'm really hoping to get the backend ready before that time (or at least a beta of the backend)..

To answer Dariusz question: Yes, there will be easy configuration.. :-) Actually, I'm building the backend with this goal in mind: "Each and every aspect of the HyperSpin frontend MUST be able to be configured through the backend."..

This means all settings and all gamelists (even generation, filtering and editing) can be done through the backend..

The only thing it will not do is actual theme creation as that's a completely different ballgame.. (p.s., talking about theme creation, you guys are doing an AMAZING job on those theme's.. There are some real gems there.. Great work!)..

wkr,
Spidey

[joebells]

Yeah there are some cool themes being created

[Organic Jerk]

Im running it on a P4 2.4 ghz with 1g of RAM...and it runs just fine.

Minimum.... That's kinda steep for alot of people on this board.

[Dariusz]

Thanks guys for the information.

I'm look forward to trying the FE out once its released.

One other aspect I'm looking for in a FE is the ability to update the emu which is already configured in the FE easily (ie. Mame 123 to mame 124). Especially if an faverot game list is configured from multiple emulators.

If themes cannot be created at this stage, can I request from the development team an 'game launcher' style theme, but with an animated background?

Thanks

Dariusz

[Goz]

Im running it on a P4 2.4 ghz with 1g of RAM...and it runs just fine.

Minimum.... That's kinda steep for alot of people on this board.

So far the lowest spec processor I've tested it with is a P4 1.5Ghz and I saw no signs of performance issues in theory it should be usable on PIII systems

[billpa]

Im running it on a P4 2.4 ghz with 1g of RAM...and it runs just fine.

Minimum.... That's kinda steep for alot of people on this board.

I did not say that was the minimum. Just what was working for me.

[joebells]

Thanks guys for the information.

I'm look forward to trying the FE out once its released.

One other aspect I'm looking for in a FE is the ability to update the emu which is already configured in the FE easily (ie. Mame 123 to mame 124). Especially if an faverot game list is configured from multiple emulators.

If themes cannot be created at this stage, can I request from the development team an 'game launcher' style theme, but with an animated background?

Thanks

Dariusz

There's not really an overall theme like you are thinking. On the first screen you come to are all the systems, They all already have unique themes for each one, then you select a system and it loads all the games you have for that system and as you scroll the wheel themes for each game animate in. Like for super mario bros for the nes a goomba and mario animate in, the background animates in, and the video animates in. Ideally each game has its own unique theme. That of course isn't going to happen,or at least not for a good while, so for each system, possibly genre and such also, you can define some default artwork and animations. Like you can set the mame logo as default artwork 1 for mame and a location and animation style and then any game that doesnt have a custom theme will show that mame logo.

Also a gamelauncher theme wouldn't work because its wheel based only, BadBoyBill has said he won't have any option for lists or anything like that, Just the wheel.

[Dazz]

If themes cannot be created at this stage, can I request from the development team an 'game launcher' style theme, but with an animated background?

Actually themes can be created at this stage...  However, themes in this front end are unlike themes that I have seen in other front ends.  You can have a default theme like other front ends; which all basically consists of a background, title image and a video.  But where this front end really shines is that each individual game can have its own theme.  

Theming is actually quite easy at this point.  Right now themes consist of a couple artwork items, a background, and an xml file that has the position and animation attributes given to the images.

Honestly I had high hopes of this front end from seeing the first video... Now that I've actually played with and have created themes for this front end I have even higher hopes for the end product.  Even at this point in development, I would say that this front end is more polished then others that have been out for many years.  BadBoyBill has done an incredible job thus far and I am really looking forward to the future.

[AllisterFiend]

Im running it on a P4 2.4 ghz with 1g of RAM...and it runs just fine.

Minimum.... That's kinda steep for alot of people on this board.

I for one, welcome the newer more powerful frontends.

If you want a frontend that runs on an older machine, you have numerous choices out there.

If you want a "next gen" frontend, then you might want to consider an upgrade.

[joebells]

yeah I was going to edit my post to mention creating your own theme

If you are going to create your own theme create it for 1024x768. Thats what your background image should be and thats what you should lay your other items out around. It scales to whatever resolution you run.

[Dazz]

Im running it on a P4 2.4 ghz with 1g of RAM...and it runs just fine.

Minimum.... That's kinda steep for alot of people on this board.

I for one, welcome the newer more powerful frontends.

If you want a frontend that runs on an older machine, you have numerous choices out there.

If you want a "next gen" frontend, then you might want to consider an upgrade.

I agree 100% and I think that is what BadBoyBill stated somewhere in this thread as well.
 
My computer in my cabinet is an AMD X2 4200+ with 2gb of RAM and a 7800GT.   One can easily pickup a 2+ ghz machine fairly cheap now days.

[XtraSmiley]

yeah I was going to edit my post to mention creating your own theme

If you are going to create your own theme create it for 1024x768. Thats what your background image should be and thats what you should lay your other items out around. It scales to whatever resolution you run.

And this will still display fine on people using AVGAs and Multisync monitors?  I would think it would have no problems in 800x600, but you never know...

[Onji]

I have no idea how i missed this. I have been waiting for a frontend like this for years. Man it is amazing! THANK YOU for taking the time to do this.

[t0ucan]

Bump, cant wait till release. I can see this becoming one of the most used Frontends 

[Dariusz]

V.6 was released the other day the hyper forum says. I cannot locate the download, so I gather it a private release , atleast it look like its progressing well.

http://hyperspin-fe.com/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=26&func=view&id=1161&catid=3

[iano]

I wish someone would lock this thread - i'm sick hearing about it . A public release announcement (when it's finished) would be nice.

 

[Organic Jerk]

I for one, welcome the newer more powerful frontends.

If you want a frontend that runs on an older machine, you have numerous choices out there.

If you want a "next gen" frontend, then you might want to consider an upgrade.

True enough... Progress is progress...


I just hope that it's at least optimized for what it is and so it doesn't eat needlessly...  But so far from what I've heard it seems to the be quite the gem..

[scrapple]

Ok, I just saw this for the first time, and Im in love with it..
I just got my 4 player cp completed, and Im ready to throw a front end on my system! I have my $20 in paypal ready to register-donate and/or become a beta tester (whatever it takes baby)...

[albrigsr]

This FE has made me have a renewed interest in FEs, however, I am now getting disappointed with the lack of postings re: progress.  Does anyone have an update?  Is testing ongoing?  Expected release date?  Thanks!

[Havok]

Somebody call the whaaammbulance. This is a part time endeavor. Be patient - the guy has other things to do in his life. Don't like the lack of updates, how about submitting some code to help him out?

[RetroBorg]

This FE has made me have a renewed interest in FEs, however, I am now getting disappointed with the lack of postings re: progress.  Does anyone have an update?  Is testing ongoing?  Expected release date?  Thanks!

You can always join the HyperSpin forum and get the latest updates.

http://hyperspin-fe.com/index.php?option=com_fireboard&Itemid=26

[JinxedSoul]

Make sure you check out hyper-spin forum the themes look amazing.

[Dazz]

Development is ongoing and so is testing, the basic front end is very stable and works great.  There are a few minor annoyances that I hope change, but even with those annoyances the FE is great.

One of the things holding back the release is how themes are going to be tracked/updated.  That is under discussion now, but I think Bill knows the direction he is going to go with it now.  The theme creating application is coming along very nicely and is one of the major milestones.  This will allow people to easily create the much needed themes that are the lifeblood of this front end.  I believe that we will be testing the theme program soon.  Once we have tested it and crushed game stopping bugs, I think Bill will be doing a open beta release shortly after.  Just be patient, of course come over and join in our community on the HyperSpin forums.

[Dariusz]

Dass, Being a beta tester, does Hyperspin now support a favorite games list (from selecting from a master list)?

[scrapple]

I am beta testing Hyperspin, and you guys are going to love this front end. Very stable, and the theme creation is pretty easy, but the new skin tool will make pumping out themes for all emulated games pretty fast. All of the themes ive tested are pretty sick....
I just got Silverjuke jukebox support running in it as well, so jukebox software is also a go.

[brian_hoffman]

No there is no favorites list ability yet. But alot has been done. All the emus on the main page have working configs.. All you should have to do is point to the emu paths in the INI. What we are waiting on now is the theme editor to be complete. The theme tracking system to be in place and some small odds and ends... I know you guys are ready to check it out.  It should be availabe in the next few weeks.. (That is unless something else pops up)  I know Billy wants to include alot artwork (or at least have it availabe) for the more popular systems. It is because of this that things are taking a while.. Lets face it.. The artwork really makes this FE.

About the system specs... Its uses flash heavily so 900mhz and up  ... However most people cant emulate mame games at 900mhz decently anymore.  It is pretty fast navigation and coming in and out of emulators.

So lets be patient... I really want to see this released also... I can imagine once it is out people will want to make themes.. Thats why we're discussing the best way to organize/manage them..

Take care guys
Brian Hoffman

[Dazz]

Hey Guys,

Just wanted to give you all a heads up...  There are just a couple items that are hanging up a public/open beta of HyperSpin.  At this point in development Bill has been focusing on the development of HyperTheme, our Theme Creation application.  This application is a graphical interface that will allow you to easily create and package themes for use in HyperSpin.  Since HyperSpin is based heavily on themes and graphics, this is a much needed part of the front end and will hopefully spark interest in people looking to create themes.   

If you haven't checked out the site in a while please do so.  We have just launched a new forum system that will host our community and also our HyperSpin downloads.   We have added several fun community features that we hope will encourage a fun/interesting community.  In order for HyperSpin to really work we need to encourage theme and graphic designers to pitch in and help create game themes.  Come by and check out the new themes that are being posted in our Graphics & Themes forum.

[NOP]

Hi,

can you PM/email me some details as to how your game lists are stored and what format they're in?  I'm the developer of ROMLister and I'd like to add support for your FE as a list output type in my application.

I'm currently getting my hands dirty in the next release of it, and thought this might be a good time to investigate what file formatting you're using.

http://www.waste.org/~winkles/ROMLister