PacDrive FE integration

[Minwah]

Has anyone made an app that generates files for each game, which hold info about which button lights etc to turn on based on the games' controls?

I started an app to do this but I lost track at the point of parsing all the Mame cfg/ctrlr files. If someone has already done this I would like to use the same format if there are no objections.

I was thinking of making a very small app which would read one of the above files, set the light states, and quit. Something that could be launched from any FE, and would primarily be just to show what buttons to use, rather than for fancy attract type animation. Again I am not sure if this has already been done, or if this would be much use to anyone so comments appreciated...

[arzoo]

So would your app parse all the mame control files and generate a static list of controls and then map them to the user defined ports on the LED controller? That seems like 75% of the code in any of the available LED software - I don't see the benefit. Can you elaborate on your goal here, thanks!

[Minwah]

So would your app parse all the mame control files

Not if someone has has already written an app to do this! Yes I am being a bit lazy but if a file format already exists then it seems silly to create another which does the same thing. This is the main thing I am curious about really.

There needs to be another file with what output on the PacDrive relates to which input (ie keycode). I have already done this but again, if a format already exists it might be sensible to use that instead.

All my app would do is read the above files, and switch on the relevant output(s). That is all. I am not trying to create anything new, but something which can be launched from any FE, or any other program for that matter. To my knowledge, there are only a few FE's which can drive the PacDrive, so this would be something used only by people who do not use these FE's, or people who maybe want to control the PacDrive from other apps/batch files etc.

any of the available LED software

I haven't seen an app such as I describe above. Does one exist??

[arzoo]

I haven't seen an app such as I describe above. Does one exist??

LEDBlinky

Blinky supports the PAC-Drive and it runs as a stand-alone app - it can be launched from the command line or a batch file. Any FE that can launch an app prior to starting the emulator and pass the ROM as a parameter can use LEDBLinky. 

I will say that it has a lot of (optional) features beyond just lighting the game controls - so if you really want a simple small app, it may not be what you're looking for.

[Minwah]

LEDBlinky

Blinky supports the PAC-Drive and it runs as a stand-alone app - it can be launched from the command line or a batch file. Any FE that can launch an app prior to starting the emulator and pass the ROM as a parameter can use LEDBLinky. 

That sounds just the ticket - thanks! I have seen this mentioned before but probably waaaay back (think it didn't used to support the PacDrive?).  Cheers, I will give it a try...

[youki]

Hi Minwah,

If it can help you too.  I had few time ago made a PacDriveDriver for AtomicFE on the shape on the simple Exe , that runs and exit.  You can use it with MameWah too.

You can get it here :
PacDrive Driver

How to use :

PacDriveDriver  -AllOn
PacDriverDriver -AllOff

But you can also specify a path to a file like

PacDriveDriver -fc:\test\pacdrivefile\pacman.led

Where in the pacman.led (a text file) you can have for instance :
00,01101101010101011
01,11111111111111111
02,10000000010000010

The first 2 digits is the PacDrive ID  (0 to 15)  (in case you have multiple
Device)

The 16 other digits  are  only 0 or 1  represents the led States.

You can also add some WAIT <millisecond>  like :

01,01101101010101011
WAIT 100
02,11111111111111111
WAIT 500
03,10000000010000010

But LedBlinky is far more powerfull! 

[headkaze]

Noone bothered to mention the PacDrive SDK available from the bottom of the official page here. It includes example source in VB6 too.

But I agree LEDBlinky is still the way to go

[loadman]

Noone bothered to mention the PacDrive SDK available from the bottom of the official page

I thinking about mentioning it.  I may end up using that SDK for the Plug-in I am going to write for my Jukebox using the JPS system.

[Minwah]

Thanks for the replies

I have tried the SDK, and I got the switching on/off of outputs done a long time ago. It's more the Mame side of things I haven't got round to. I think Blinky will do what I'm after, and a lot more from what I've read!