MaLa FE. Under new management.

[loadman]

~~~  Insert clearing of Throat sample here-      

Fellow Arcade Enthusiasts,
 
For better or worse, MaLa (the Mame and more Front End) has entered a new phase of development as I am now the holder of the MaLa source code.
 
This basically means that any future releases for the foreseeable future will be released by me. If you didn't know I have been a MaLa enthusiast (or freak) for the last 3 years, based in Australia.

There will also be a new website. This new website will host new MaLa releases and submissions from MaLa users such as Layout and Plug-ins etc. The new website will be on-line soon, 'Space Fractal' is working on that with me right now.

    If you really don’t care about MaLa don’t bother reading beyond this point  ;-)

_______________________________________________________________________________
 
    I am very thankful to the author SWINDUS not only for the many hours of his free time he has spent so far developing one of the most popular FE's today, but being generous enough to hand over the code rather that let it fade away prematurely like we have seen in recent years with other FE's and Jukebox software development. Swindus work and life commitments have held him back on MaLa development for some time, but I hope he can rejoin the project in some capacity in the future as he is incredible talent in my view.
 
    The short term future of MaLa releases will be focused on minor bug fixes (you know what they are    ) and enhancing the already versatile Plug-In interface. The plug-in interface will continue to allow other talented software developers to get involved in the project. After that is in place I will look at other enhancements such as better mame 64 bit(Fixed already) and vista support, but layout 'Bling bling' probably won't a priority as there are already other FE choices both current and near release that cater to that.     Instead I will probably focus on continuing  MaLa's current philosophy of being simple to use yet very versatile and powerful.   
 
    I am a relatively inexperienced coder with limited time to spend on this project, so no doubt I will be relying on external development advice. What I lack in development skills I think I make up for in management skills ( I guess that makes me MaLa Manager?) . To this end I will be open to using development from others in the form of donated code snippets, advice or complete DLL's that MaLa can reference. If you are a developer please advise me if you want to get involved in the future of MaLa.via a PM or e-mail.
 
I will also be relying heavily on the existing MaLa users such as the German MaLa forum members and the very good members of BYOAC forum to continue to support new users with issues and general queries , as this will allow more time I can spend developing MaLa rather than spend too much time answering forum posts. Persons assisting in this way will have any future enhancement requests prioritized by me (if possible).
 
    While I have your attention I would like to thank other developers (including FE authors) in recent times joining in the spirit of this hobby and working together for varied solutions. As we should now all realize there isn't a 'Best FE' for all users.  The Best FE for any user is the one that best suits there personal taste and needs.
 
I will let you know when the new website is ready.

Thanks in advance for your continued support.
 
Loadman AKA Simon.
 
Now stop reading this boring Forum post and go and play a frikken Game!!!!  :-)

[Havok]

Good luck, you'll need it!



 

[BobbyG66]

Loadman,

Thanks for taking this on.
It's a great program! I made the switch a while ago and am lovin' MALA.
Like you said, easy to set up, but powerful options.

Kudos to SWINDUS for giving birth to a great piece of software.
Long live MALA!!! 

[Space Fractal]

I switched meself to MALA, due to the Ultimarch 369 Joystick plug-in  , it work very good. Hence a user Plugin "forced" me to due that  .

I took apart to coding a new homepage. The content should been finished soon, which have some spelling, missing some text and so on.

Either I and Loadman might update the homepage over the time.

And kodus to SWINDUS to send the source to loadman as properly the most MALA fanboy out here (he-he).
[just kidding]

[Bloodwyn]

You will do a GREAT job.

I look forward to seeing whats next for Mala!

Bloodwyn

[Brian Zellinger]

Heh, I already thought you were the original developer.

[joebells]

I know you said its not in your cards currently to work on theme stuff but I think if true alpha png transparency could be added it would be stellar. I don't use it currently as anything I try to come up with needs shadows over transparent parts, or at least rounded transparent parts and mala makes it look horrible when it makes a part transparent.

Has swindus asked for it to remain closed source? Or could the source be opened up now ensuring its never able to be completely abandoned should you have something happen or just get very busy?

[Cakemeister]

What joebells said, are you planning for it to be open source?

Good luck loadman.

[AllisterFiend]

I know you said its not in your cards currently to work on theme stuff but I think if true alpha png transparency could be added it would be stellar. I don't use it currently as anything I try to come up with needs shadows over transparent parts, or at least rounded transparent parts and mala makes it look horrible when it makes a part transparent.

Has swindus asked for it to remain closed source? Or could the source be opened up now ensuring its never able to be completely abandoned should you have something happen or just get very busy?

Just figured I'd join in and also say that the reason I have never switched over to MALA was due to the fact that the alpha transparency was never added.

Good luck loadman!

[Space Fractal]

If MALA use GDI, transparency wont been happens. It need to change its graphics system to example GDI+ before it can support it.

I think MALA should use This GDI+ instead, which transparency png's should been supported. But that might been down priority, due to other things that is more important. Like bug fixing and so on.

It seen this is the most asked feature, even I do think themes works like fine for me.

[solderguy1]

Congrats and condolences Loadman.

One thing I'd like to see is a single page collecting every single Mala layout (or at least graphical links).  Of course, a separate section of Mamewah ones would be nice too.  I've spent lots of time searching message boards, they're scattered everywhere.

[TOK]

Thanks for taking over the project.

I'm using MaLa on 3 machines right now, so actually just some refinements rather than an overhaul would be fine with me. I'm probably somewhat in the minority in that I don't care about video and transparency. I just want something that uses minimal overhead, and handles things like rotation and custom resolutions well (which MaLa already does). Really, my only issue is that I sometimes get unexplainable errors from time to time when booting... The "MaLa has encountered an error and must close" thing.

Good luck with it, and thanks for the support you've already offered. 

[arzoo]

Let me know if you need any help!

[Space Fractal]

Congrats and condolences Loadman.

One thing I'd like to see is a single page collecting every single Mala layout (or at least graphical links).  Of course, a separate section of Mamewah ones would be nice too.  I've spent lots of time searching message boards, they're scattered everywhere.

This is due that way I have created the php code (I did coded the new webpage for him, since I got that PM before officiel annonce, and dedicated to help). When the page is expanded with more more themes, user cabs, a single page is not very good.

Think about if you have collected 20-25 of them or more? That why I did that. Later I do look if I can make some tooltip to the link to include a tumpnails, but not sure I can get that to work.

I might add a "Show All" or something like that later as a alternative.

I dosent think collection of a competer FE skins is good. But instead he might linking to the mamewah skin page, but it not MALA job. Let see what loadman think.

[unclet]

I would like to see a total rewrite of the code if possible.  I have ideas for 5 new intricate features which would be nice to have implemented in the next couple of weeks if possible. 




Just kidding of course ......  good luck, and thanks for taking this on ....   

[loadman]

I know you said its not in your cards currently to work on theme stuff but I think if true alpha png transparency could be added it would be stellar. I don't use it currently as anything I try to come up with needs shadows over transparent parts, or at least rounded transparent parts and mala makes it look horrible when it makes a part transparent.

Has swindus asked for it to remain closed source? Or could the source be opened up now ensuring its never able to be completely abandoned should you have something happen or just get very busy?

OK. I Thought this would be raised at some point 

The main code will remain closed.  Even if I could open it you would have to deal with a German Delphi IDE and work out how to install all the 3rd party Delphi IDE components that have been set-up for MaLa. Swindus tried to direct me how to do it remotely    but in the end was easier for him to send me a drive. I am just very thankful he didn't hold onto the code.   .  The IDE (Delphi 5) and errors are still in German (which is not ideal for bug fixing for me) but Swindus said he would not give up on trying to get it to work on a English IDE (Probably Delphi 7). Crossing my fingers that he can do it.  Then error messages that pop up when debugging or when MaLa crashed for users would be in English to give me a better chance of working out the cause.  I just mention this so to encourage Patience with MaLa development for a while.

anyway......

 BUT !!!   I have an idea of having most of future expansion done via a Plug-ins which could be open source (in any language that can create a real dll like Delphi, C++, Pure Basic). EG Possibly the Plug-in module could be expanded to handle layout display? And use GDI+ and support alpha channel...  I dunno yet, these are just ideas at this point. My main concept at this point is I manage the main MaLa code so others can develop....

One thing I'd like to see is a single page collecting every single Mala layout (or at least graphical links).  Of course, a separate section of Mamewah ones would be nice too.  I've spent lots of time searching message boards, they're scattered everywhere.

Well, ALL the MaLa one's will definitely be there. This is being worked on now. But I won't host MameWah ones unless someone can get me permission form the authors.

Thanks for the positive feedback everyone!!

[squirrellydw]

sweet, good luck, can't wait till the bugs are worked out.  Any chance of making a plugin for the u360 so you can use any controller to scroll through the games?

[loadman]

sweet, good luck, can't wait till the bugs are worked out.  Any chance of making a plugin for the u360 so you can use any controller to scroll through the games?

  I don't think I'll be making any more plug-in's for some time. I have enough on my plate now.  The idea is I expand the plug-in interface so others can develop for MaLa  So to that end I will help.

Have you asked FatFingers?

[squirrellydw]

Hey FF what do you think, can it be done??

[SGT]

A big thanks to Loadman for this undertaking.  This new expanded plugin interface sounds like a great idea.   Now if we could only get him speaking German.  I say we should take up a collection and send the man to Deutschland for the summer. 

[headkaze]

You got my support loadman! I think the first thing you should do is fix that keyhook bug that screws with Mame64. Let me know if you need any help!

EDIT: Making progress already MaLa now works in Mame 64; just delete MaLaKeyHook.dll from the MaLa folder

[swindus]

Just want to write some words too. Thanks a lot for a nice time being the developer of an arcade frontend. Was not always fun but I learned a lot, so thank you. Also a big thanks to all the plugin developers and layout creators! Now its time for me to let it go and work on other things.

I know Loadman and all the other devs here will do a good job and there will be some nice addition to the current MaLa version in the future. And it will be fun for me to use the new versions on my cab! Can I do some feature requests please? ;-)

Have a good one!

[headkaze]

You've done a great service to the arcade community swindus and I'm glad you've passed on MaLa development to loadman instead of just dropping it. Hope to see you around anyway I know how life can make it hard to sometimes.

[Space Fractal]

it should been possible which OS users use, so MaLaKeyHook.dll only read under Win 98 (which this dll was made for)? That dell should only need under Win 98.

Swindus, I hope you still upload your cabs, when the homepage is open.

I trought delphi was combatible with all language, and just switch to the new components used (like English Delphi 5)? Seen it a bigger problem. but hope you got to work with english version of the IDE.

The only problem I found in MALA, is it only support around 12 joystick buttons under navigation. Hope that one can been fixed. By now I use a Joy2Key application to override that problem.

[headkaze]

it should been possible which OS users use, so MaLaKeyHook.dll only read under Win 98 (which this dll was made for)? That dell should only need under Win 98.

Swindus, I hope you still upload your cabs, when the homepage is open.

I trought delphi was combatible with all language, and just switch to the new components used (like English Delphi 5)? Seen it a bigger problem. but hope you got to work with english version of the IDE.

The only problem I found in MALA, is it only support around 12 joystick buttons under navigation. Hope that one can been fixed. By now I use a Joy2Key application to override that problem.

That's another way to go loadman, you could use GetVersionEx() API to check the version of Windows and load the dll only if it's 98.

Should be simple to add support for 32 buttons on joysticks. Swindus is probably only polling the first 12 so changing it to 32 will probably be all you need.

[loadman]

That's another way to go loadman, you could use GetVersionEx() API to check the version of Windows and load the dll only if it's 98.

Great Idea  :-)

Should be simple to add support for 32 buttons on joysticks. Swindus is probably only polling the first 12 so changing it to 32 will probably be all you need.

Possibly  I seem to recall that Swindus said that it was a windows restriction holding it back to 12 buttons (as it used it's API) but I could be wrong. It's on the list 

[headkaze]

Possibly  I seem to recall that Swindus said that it was a windows restriction holding it back to 12 buttons (as it used it's API) but I could be wrong. It's on the list 

It should be using DirectInput for joystick polling and that supports lots of buttons (256 from memory). If it's not using DirectInput it should. I don't know how to read joystick buttons without it.

[swindus]

Should be simple to add support for 32 buttons on joysticks. Swindus is probably only polling the first 12 so changing it to 32 will probably be all you need.

Thats it. WINAPI supports 32 buttons.

[swindus]

it should been possible which OS users use, so MaLaKeyHook.dll only read under Win 98 (which this dll was made for)? That dell should only need under Win 98.

Swindus, I hope you still upload your cabs, when the homepage is open.

MaLaKeyHook.dll is for the emulator exit hook but can be replaced by HotKeys on XP or newer systems. The HotKey stuff does not work with fullscreen DirectX apps (emus) on Win98 systems.

Sure, will upload my cabs to the new site!

[loadman]

MaLaKeyHook.dll is for the emulator exit hook but can be replaced by HotKeys on XP or newer systems. The HotKey stuff does not work with fullscreen DirectX apps (emus) on Win98 systems.

Great, Well here is a link I found to determine windows version. This should do the job to determine if I should use Keyhook or not on MaLa start.

http://www.swissdelphicenter.ch/torry/showcode.php?id=316

Thats it. WINAPI supports 32 buttons.

Ahh..... I will attack this code, In the section headed:

Code: [Select]

procedure TfrmMain.CallbackJoy(Buttons: Word;
          ActionX, ActionY, ActionX2, ActionY2, ActionXP, ActionYP : Integer;
          AJoystick: Integer);

[headkaze]

Great, Well here is a link I found to determine windows version. This should do the job to determine if I should use Keyhook or not on MaLa start.

http://www.swissdelphicenter.ch/torry/showcode.php?id=316

Yep, that code's using the GetVersionEx() API

You could simplify it alot to just check if it's 98 before using LoadLibrary on MaLaKeyHook.dll.

Eg.

Code: [Select]

var osVerInfo: TOSVersionInfo;
osVerInfo.dwOSVersionInfoSize := SizeOf(TOSVersionInfo);

if GetVersionEx(osVerInfo) then
begin
if (osVerInfo.dwPlatformId = VER_PLATFORM_WIN32_WINDOWS) { 98 or ME }
{ Load the MaLaKeyHook.dll }
end if
end;
end;

[SGT]

Just want to write some words too. Thanks a lot for a nice time being the developer of an arcade frontend. Was not always fun but I learned a lot, so thank you. Also a big thanks to all the plugin developers and layout creators! Now its time for me to let it go and work on other things.

I know Loadman and all the other devs here will do a good job and there will be some nice addition to the current MaLa version in the future. And it will be fun for me to use the new versions on my cab! Can I do some feature requests please? ;-)

Have a good one!

Swindus, You have done the community a great service with what I can only imagine is absolutely tons of work.  Thank you very much for Mala.

[Space Fractal]

look like these "bugs" can been fixed first, when you got it all running. Hoping transparency png can been added, but this is not a high priority for me.

I through WinApi only supported 16 buttons (which I did have that limit in BlitzPlus and see that limit too in various older applications as well)? No matter, seen it can been fixed too. But by now I just working out using joy2key application.

[loadman]

Swindus, You have done the community a great service with what I can only imagine is absolutely tons of work.  Thank you very much for Mala.

well... I printed out some code here at work. Small text and double sided it still took a while to print on a high speed laser printer and I think it used many trees to make the paper required

[rooter]

I noticed that you said there was a better 64bit version of Mala.  Has it been released?  I have been using version 1.04 for a while now and I am having issues with it.

Thanks.

[edge]

Swindus - your decision to hand over your baby to Loadman is commendable.     Instead of Mala falling behind and becoming obsolete, you have given it a new life.  Thank you! 

Loadman - best of luck, buddy.     You have always been the most vocal and helpful Mala follower.  I would love to help out again once things slow down around here.

[shock_]

Thank you swindus!  Thank you loadman!

[headkaze]

look like these "bugs" can been fixed first, when you got it all running. Hoping transparency png can been added, but this is not a high priority for me.

The problem with alpha transparancy is it slows down the whole FE too much otherwise swindus would have kept support for it in there. The best thing to do would be to port the whole video engine to Direct3D but without a 3rd party library that can be quite a chore. Maybe once loadman gets a bit more familiar with the code he might consider something like that, but I can say Direct3D and OpenGL are not API's that can be learnt overnight. Something like SDL might be worth taking a look into.

[loadman]

I noticed that you said there was a better 64bit version of Mala.  Has it been released?  I have been using version 1.04 for a while now and I am having issues with it.
Thanks.

No you misread the posts.  Support for mame64 not a new mala 

[youki]

Good luck LoadMan! 

Just started and already a tons of requests! 

Welcome to the wonder world of FE Coder!

Front End User are like women... they always want more!   

 

[loadman]

Good luck LoadMan! 

Just started and already a tons of requests! 

Welcome to the wonder world of FE Coder!

Front End User are like women... they always want more!   

 

[Ummon]

Front End User are like women... they always want more!   

Just depends on what they want more of.

Can I do some feature requests please? ;-)

Well, in the gamelists, an 'available' list I think would be much better than the 'all' games list. I mean, who cares how many mame has. I want to know how many I have.

[loadman]

Well, in the gamelists, an 'available' list I think would be much better than the 'all' games list. I mean, who cares how many mame has. I want to know how many I have.

You effectively can do that already. Just hit the options button on the mame config tab.

See Pic

[Ummon]

Ah, thank you.

[TheShanMan]

loadman, from a plugin developer's perspective (not that I've done extensive plugin work or anything), I think the biggest limitation in the plugin interface right now is no means of providing a configuration UI. I would like to see a function added to the plugin interface which, when implemented, would cause a "configure" button to appear on the plugin page when that plugin is selected. It would pass the parent window's HWND (probably MaLa's options window) so the plugin's configuration dialog could be properly parented.

What do you think?

[loadman]

loadman, from a plugin developer's perspective (not that I've done extensive plugin work or anything), I think the biggest limitation in the plugin interface right now is no means of providing a configuration UI. I would like to see a function added to the plugin interface which, when implemented, would cause a "configure" button to appear on the plugin page when that plugin is selected. It would pass the parent window's HWND (probably MaLa's options window) so the plugin's configuration dialog could be properly parented.

What do you think?

I have done this already. It will be in the next release.  :-)

Using this method keeps your Plug-in folder tidy too not having to have a seperate exe to just do configuration for each plug-in.

[TheShanMan]

I have done this already. It will be in the next release.  :-)

Great!

Using this method keeps your Plug-in folder tidy too not having to have a seperate exe to just do configuration for each plug-in.

Exactly!

[fatfingers]

sweet, good luck, can't wait till the bugs are worked out.  Any chance of making a plugin for the u360 so you can use any controller to scroll through the games?

Wow, I actually work for a week and all of this happens?   

Congrats loadman, and sorry for my delay!

I'm not quite sure what you mean here....I scroll through my gamelists with my U360s.

[lettuce]

quick question, i have just updated my MAME set from .117 to .125, the roms are all still in the same folder, do i have to do anything with Mala, to get any new roms displayed??

[fatfingers]

I'm preetty sure you would have to refresh the roms list.

[squirrellydw]

sweet, good luck, can't wait till the bugs are worked out.  Any chance of making a plugin for the u360 so you can use any controller to scroll through the games?

Wow, I actually work for a week and all of this happens?  

Congrats loadman, and sorry for my delay!

I'm not quite sure what you mean here....I scroll through my gamelists with my U360s.

Well I use to be able to use two of them but then I upgraded mala and now I can only use one.  I would like to be able to use any 4 that I have or better yet choose what ones I could use.

[fatfingers]

sweet, good luck, can't wait till the bugs are worked out.  Any chance of making a plugin for the u360 so you can use any controller to scroll through the games?

Wow, I actually work for a week and all of this happens?   

Congrats loadman, and sorry for my delay!

I'm not quite sure what you mean here....I scroll through my gamelists with my U360s.

Well I use to be able to use two of them but then I upgraded mala and now I can only use one.  I would like to be able to use any 4 that I have or better yet choose what ones I could use.

Perhaps you should start a new thread on this so we don't completely derail this one?

[squirrellydw]

done, thanks

[jasonbar]

Swindus, thanks for creating a great FE.

Loadman, thanks for adopting it--I know it's in good hands--you've already helped me out tons w/ my MaLa & MAME setup.

As a self-professed software/config flunky, I was able to get a pretty slick FE using MaLa, so if I can make something that looks that sweet, that's an endorsement that MaLa's a great product!  :]

-Jason

[lettuce]

I'm preetty sure you would have to refresh the roms list.

Is that done within the actaul F.E or in the option menu, i cant remember

[SGT]

I'm preetty sure you would have to refresh the roms list.

Is that done within the actaul F.E or in the option menu, i cant remember

Right Click and choose "Refresh Main Game List"

[loadman]

The new website is now on-line.

MaLaFE.net

Many thanks to Space Fractal for all his hard work setting up the php scripts to make the website management easier    This allows me more time to concentrate on MaLa code improvements.

The Layout/ Plug-in and Cabinet sections has a upload links. So click and uplink away please everyone     and then we will put it on the site quickly. 

I know there are many layouts and plug-ins that are not posted on the site yet. If possible it would be ideal if the author actually did the uploading 

Once again I want to thank all for your support not only to me but the support given to other MaLa users queries posted here in this forum. The less time I have to spend time answering users questions the more time I can spend improving the MaLa code, so thank you. 

Have fun   

[headkaze]

Are you gonna setup an English forum for MaLa?

[loadman]

Are you gonna setup an English forum for MaLa?

I would like to at some point. At the moment the Webhost wants more $$$ for mySQL so that a forum would work.  I am on a basic hosting plan at the moment.

So the answer is yes..  Just not straight away 

[Space Fractal]

Mightbeen a request for a MALA support forum until then or a least a subforum for Software?

[saint]

Are you gonna setup an English forum for MaLa?

I would like to at some point. At the moment the Webhost wants more $$$ for mySQL so that a forum would work.  I am on a basic hosting plan at the moment.

So the answer is yes..  Just not straight away 

If you would like a dedicated MaLa forum here just ask

[Space Fractal]

I just found a very good forum that dosent require MySql at all! So it's not a issue.

You can't just use SMF, since it use MySql, but myUPB can do very near the same, just without database.

So let me or Saint known, what you do want. You can also get a forum on your domain, even without mysql.

[loadman]

If you would like a dedicated MaLa forum here just ask

Kind offer.    I will think about that, however I would not want to annoy any other FE authors thinking you were favouring MaLa or something. Maybe I'm being silly

I just found a very good forum that doesn't require MySql at all! So it's not a issue.
You can't just use SMF, since it use MySql, but myUPB can do very near the same, just without database.
So let me or Saint known, what you do want. You can also get a forum on your domain, even without mysql.

Thanks, I will think about those options.
I may leave it for now as I need to spend more time getting to know the MaLa code to make a new release. But I think MaLa having it's own English Forum sounds good in theory.

[lettuce]

Having a slight problem with the current version, im using movie snaps instead of screen snaps. And whenever i stop on a game in the list, i cannot move on to another game down the list until the video has started to play. Is there a way around this when using movies instead of screen snaps?, i have tried the delay option within the Mala options but doesnt seem to effect the slight pause i get

[TheShanMan]

Loadman, can we please get "definables" for other emulators? I want to show 4 images (marquee, snap, control panel, and cabinet) which apparently can't be done for "other emulators", only for mame.

[loadman]

Having a slight problem with the current version, im using movie snaps instead of screen snaps. And whenever i stop on a game in the list, i cannot move on to another game down the list until the video has started to play. Is there a way around this when using movies instead of screen snaps?, i have tried the delay option within the Mala options but doesn't seem to effect the slight pause i get

Hmm I will look into that

Loadman, can we please get "definables" for other emulators? I want to show 4 images (marquee, snap, control panel, and cabinet) which apparently can't be done for "other emulators", only for mame.

Sounds straight forward. I assume it was never implemented as there was not much space left on the config tab 

[lettuce]

How do u set up Mala so when you select a game it first displays a snap shot then a few seconds later starts to play a movie clip of the game?

[TheShanMan]

Your layout just needs to have the video area directly on top of the snap area, then define both in the options dialog and set video to have a delay before showing.

[lettuce]

Ok cheers, ill give it a go

[OnezerO]

Loadman, you have been a tremendous help to me and everyone.  Thank you for taking on the responsibility of managing the future of MaLa development.

Now my request...

With your help I started using the MaLa override LED files to light up some of the controls for my ROMS with my MaLa hardware. Everything is working fine except that when I run a game MaLa ignores the override LED files when keeping the controls lit during game play.  I know I can turn the buttons off during game play but I was hoping that I could keep them on.  I do realize that there are not many MaLa hardware users out there, but if the effort to get this corrected is a minimal one I would really appreciate it.

Thanks and good luck.

[loadman]

Loadman, you have been a tremendous help to me and everyone.  Thank you for taking on the responsibility of managing the future of MaLa development.

Now my request...

With your help I started using the MaLa override LED files to light up some of the controls for my ROMS with my MaLa hardware. Everything is working fine except that when I run a game MaLa ignores the override LED files when keeping the controls lit during game play.  I know I can turn the buttons off during game play but I was hoping that I could keep them on.  I do realize that there are not many MaLa hardware users out there, but if the effort to get this corrected is a minimal one I would really appreciate it.

Thanks and good luck.

Sounds straight forward 

[nukedawg]

With all the great front end's available to the arcade community they have made our cabinets much more usable and alot easier to manage. I selected Mala for my front end and I have to say that I have been very happy with all the progress! Thank you Swindus! You rock! And thanks to Loadman for continuing with this awesome FE! And thanks to the plugin authors as well! Thanks Fatfingers! (only one I use for now) 

Your layout just needs to have the video area directly on top of the snap area, then define both in the options dialog and set video to have a delay before showing.

One thing I noticed in MalaLayout  was under Objects > Z-Order.  Not sure if this applies to this or not.....

But not to get off track...

...thanks again Loadman for continuing the project 

[jasonbar]

Hey Loadman-

Quick MaLa question.  Is there a way (or will there be?) to have MaLa play a sound when navigating through a game list?

That is, I'm going to be using a spinner to scroll through my game list & would like an audio feedback for each time it goes to the next item in the list.  Naturally, I'm envisioning the teeny *pik!* noise that Tempest makes when you go from one lane to the next, which is simple, non-intrusive, & helps give feedback when scrolling (plus, it's cool!).

Thanks,
-Jason

[TheShanMan]

Ooh. I like that "pik" sound idea! Do you already have a sound file for it? Would you mind posting it?

Seems to me that stuff can be configured in the options dialog but I've never done any of that so I'm not sure.

[shock_]

Quick MaLa question.  Is there a way (or will there be?) to have MaLa play a sound when navigating through a game list?

That's already in there.
Options » sounds and music tab » Enable audio » Event Sounds » Game list / menu movement

Browse to your WAV file and you're away!

[jasonbar]

Excellent!  (Thanks, my MAME PC is in limbo now & I can't power it up & use it & configure it until I finish some more wiring...)

Nooowwww, who's got WAV file of the tempst *pik!*?  Searches aren't getting me anywhere...     (then we can quit this tangent & not derail the thread any further...)

Thanks,
-Jason

[NOP]

if there's an emumovies of tempest, you could pull the audio out of the avi file and trim it down to just that sound.  I'm pretty good at audio manipulation, and I think I'd like to put this into my mala setup too!

I'd be happy to do it, but I've only just donated to emumovies and don't have the ftp access yet.  If no one else digs it up in 48 hours, I'll likely have it, or send me a link to tempest.avi from emumovies and let me snag it.

[NOP]

here ya go!

http://www.waste.org/~winkles/pik.wav (6k)

I ripped it from emumovies, then bumped the volume up about 2.5db to make it louder.  it could easily go more.

-jeff!

[loadman]

Also don't forget about the standard set found here:

http://malafe.net/files/download/soundset01.7z

Anyways probably be best of sound ideas be made in a seperate thread so this one can be just used for MaLa Management issues/queries etc..   

[NOP]

Having a slight problem with the current version, im using movie snaps instead of screen snaps. And whenever i stop on a game in the list, i cannot move on to another game down the list until the video has started to play.

I have this same problem - I just switched to using emumovies instead of snaps for my game list, and some of them tend to take a long time to get going, and you can't quickly scroll through a list.

My 2nd issue is that it seems the "controller mapping" feature, which detects which player is in control of a game list, seems to be eating the 1st keypress or joystick move after coming back from a game, even though the list doesn't need to rotate or flip.

my setup:

vertical, cocktail machine, arcade monitor
2 U360s, one on each side, attached via USB
All P1 and P2 buttons mapped separately, routed through an IPac.

The problem is, that for either player, when scrolling through the list with the joystick, the player has to press the start button TWICE to get a game to start.
Upon return from the game, you have to move the joystick twice again to start scrolling through the list again.  It's like controller mapping option is eating the first keypress or joystick move before the list responds again. I'd think it's the bit of code that decides whether or not to flip/rotate a list based on what just happened to the controls.

If I turn off controller mapping, then it works fine (1 keypress to start, 1 joystick move to scroll the list) except that I don't get the orientation to flip when P2 takes control.

Does it work like this for anyone else?

I asked this question here:
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=80301.0
but didn't get any responses, so sorry to dredge it back up again.  It's by no means a show stopper, just a little on the irritating side and I think (hope) pretty easy to fix.

thanks!!

[cabecita]

Hello Loadman
 
This is Cabecita, I'm from spain and my english is not very good.
 
I'm traslating from english to spanish the software MaLa with Lingobit Localizer and I have finished it.
 
Could be possible to put this traslation on malafe.net for spanish speaker?
 
Thanks for your help
Best Regards

[loadman]

Hello Loadman
 
This is Cabecita, I'm from spain and my english is not very good.
 
I'm traslating from english to spanish the software MaLa with Lingobit Localizer and I have finished it.
 
Could be possible to put this traslation on malafe.net for spanish speaker?
 
Thanks for your help
Best Regards

Sure.

Tell me what you need. 

[cabecita]

Hello Loadman,

I attach the MaLa files
MaLa 1.0.4.5 RC9 Spanish is available from: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=GAL3E6V0
Plugins MaLa translated: LEDBlinky 3.50, EmuWave, LEDWizv2, MatureAlarm, SerialDisplay, Speech and UltrastickMap are available from: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=WT1CC9UL

The project MaLa Spanish available in marcianitos forum:  http://www.marcianitos.org/foro/showthread.php?t=14279

Can you test it?

For next revisions MaLa, could be possible to put a module for translations?

Thanks for your help
Best Regards

[loadman]

Hello Loadman,

I attach the MaLa files
MaLa 1.0.4.5 RC9 Spanish is available from: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=GAL3E6V0
Plugins MaLa translated: LEDBlinky 3.50, EmuWave, LEDWizv2, MatureAlarm, SerialDisplay, Speech and UltrastickMap are available from: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=WT1CC9UL

The project MaLa Spanish available in marcianitos forum:  http://www.marcianitos.org/foro/showthread.php?t=14279

Can you test it?

For next revisions MaLa, could be possible to put a module for translations?

Thanks for your help
Best Regards

Happy to host the files you translated.  Will do soon 

I don't know how to make a language module on Delphi 5 (German edition).? I am finding that hard enough (I don't speak German)     But maybe one day 

Ideally I would like to support German, French & Spanish, It should be easy if I get MaLa to compile on Delphi 2007 as it has good multi-language support.

[IDDQD]

Not sure where this question should go, but I figure this is as good a place as any:

I know MaLa can launch other emulators, but can I create a game list for PC games (as I've been reading about good arcade-friendly games, and want to include some) and launch them just like MAME ROMs? I'm pretty sure it can, I just don't know exactly how.

[Space Fractal]

I pretty sure you can create shortcuts in a folder and use LNK as a rom extension. This should launch these game.

For the translated plugins, something I can do on the homepage? Like possible to add a another download? PM me.

[OnezerO]

I know MaLa can launch other emulators, but can I create a game list for PC games (as I've been reading about good arcade-friendly games, and want to include some) and launch them just like MAME ROMs? I'm pretty sure it can, I just don't know exactly how.

I have sucesfully added the PC version of HOD3 to MaLa.  I first created a new Emulator and then added the game there.  I'm at work right now, but PM me if you want more details.  I know to get this to work it involved creating a simple batch file or something, but that is just the nature of the specific game I am running.  Currently I only have just this one game in my "PC Games" menu as I was just testing this option.  I will be adding more later on.

You mentioned in your post that you had been reading up on "good arcade-friendly games".  Can you provide your source so that I can see a listing of these games and possible information on where I can obtain a copies.  Thanks.

[jasonbar]

I've been amassing lists of cab-friendly games--here are 3 good sources:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=7479.40

http://www.retroremakes.com/wordpress/

http://shmup-dev.com/op2k72/Results.html


-Jason

[IDDQD]

I've been amassing lists of cab-friendly games--here are 3 good sources:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=7479.40

http://www.retroremakes.com/wordpress/

http://shmup-dev.com/op2k72/Results.html


-Jason

Yep, this basically covers it

[Ummon]

I pretty sure you can create shortcuts in a folder and use LNK as a rom extension. This should launch these game.

This is exactly what I've done.

[loadman]

Are you gonna setup an English forum for MaLa?

I would like to at some point. At the moment the Webhost wants more $$$ for mySQL so that a forum would work.  I am on a basic hosting plan at the moment.

So the answer is yes..  Just not straight away 

If you would like a dedicated MaLa forum here just ask

In case you didn't notice this has now been done.  Thanks Saint. 

[Space Fractal]

and why not to make a sticky thread for MaLA to get directed to the correct place?

Congra Loadman.

The only "missing" is move all MaLa threads I think? Most of them is help.

[loadman]

The only "missing" is move all MaLa threads I think? Most of them is help.

I am busy moving them all (I have been given the power for a limited time).

 I have it back to 2006 now I think...

[Space Fractal]

I diddent know there was SO many threads about Mala. I mostly just asked for the newer one, but send you found them all or near them all.

I kinda how many threads there is for Mamewah, which could have it own support board as well? It mightbeen of course they started thier applications very early days.....

[headkaze]

I diddent know there was SO many threads about Mala. I mostly just asked for the newer one, but send you found them all or near them all.

I kinda how many threads there is for Mamewah, which could have it own support board as well? It mightbeen of course they started thier applications very early days.....

MameWah has it's support board the mameworld forums.

[snowdogg187]

This fe looks great, I may try to install it. I have been wanting to do a nice update to the mame cab.

Thanks for everyone's work on this!

[jlfreund]

[Copied from another thread because original post was wrong location]

Loadman, I'm very glad to hear that you're taking over Mala and will keep it alive.  But I'm concerned that it may not be maintainable without releasing the source.

MaLa is a big, complex piece of software, and I'm not sure how much experience or time you have to commit, but typically software of this size either requires a dedicated expert or a community of talent.

The best way to maintain it is to follow the same process every other big open source project uses: put the source on sourceforge, make the code and instructions to build available to all, but restrict contributions to a team of trusted "experts" who can either submit directly, or may review and approve of submissions from untrusted sources.  This model has all the benefits of opening the code to a world of potential contributors without any risk of introducing bugs or losing control of the roadmap to untrusted sources.

And since MaLa is free, and the code is dedicated to the benefit of the community there should be no downside to releasing it to the public.

-Jason

[loadman]

[Copied from another thread because original post was wrong location]

Loadman, I'm very glad to hear that you're taking over Mala and will keep it alive.  But I'm concerned that it may not be maintainable without releasing the source.

MaLa is a big, complex piece of software, and I'm not sure how much experience or time you have to commit, but typically software of this size either requires a dedicated expert or a community of talent.

The best way to maintain it is to follow the same process every other big open source project uses: put the source on sourceforge, make the code and instructions to build available to all, but restrict contributions to a team of trusted "experts" who can either submit directly, or may review and approve of submissions from untrusted sources.  This model has all the benefits of opening the code to a world of potential contributors without any risk of introducing bugs or losing control of the roadmap to untrusted sources.

And since MaLa is free, and the code is dedicated to the benefit of the community there should be no downside to releasing it to the public.

-Jason

I hear you and understand your concerns.  I am very open to suggestions. Your right, MaLa code is big and my skills and time is limited.

 Even if I wanted to right now the source code was given under the condition it not be made public (I becauseassume is it contains so many home made clever libraries/functions ) .

And aside from that there is a number of 3rd party Delphi plug-ins that need to be found and installed to make it work for the version of IDE you have. As it is to make it work I'm using a old IDE of Delphi v5 German edition (I don't speak German) in a vitual xp enviroment just to be able to compile it, so it is no simple matter anyway.

As I said in my first post in this thread... I am just so grateful that the code was passed on at all to rather than have stopped completeley

....also I plan on expanding the Plug-in interface, possibly that interface libary can be open source DLL..  In C++ even....  I dunno    yet

My plan is to eventually get MaLa to compile on the latest Delphi 2007 when I work my way around 3rd Party component nightmare.  At that point it will make life easier for me (hence more development) and the system error messages will be in English not German.

So not the answer you wanted, but I sure you will be able to contribute in some form to MaLa in the future if you wish 

[jlfreund]

Thanks for the reply.  My guess is that the main motivation he trusted the code to you is that he is worried that by releasing the code, it will become polluted with bugs, bad ideas, and lose the vision and focus that has made it so powerful, flexible, and elegant.  He trusts you to share his vision and knows you have the ability to at least make small changes and keep the website going.

But I really doubt the reason for not releasing the code has anything to do with protecting valuable IP -- ie algorithms that can be patented or secrets that could not be easily replicated from scratch.  Altogether, it's a large, complex program, but if you look at any one piece, I'm sure it's composed of very simple functions.

Maybe he didn't consider the compromise approach I suggested.  If you still have a channel open to him, can you ask if he would be willing to give you sole authority to commit changes to the project or bless other "experts" with that authority, but open the code on Source Forge (minus any commercial components), so that anyone can download and modify it? 

I think that's the only way to really ensure this thing will survive.  The proprietary components need to be replaced with open software so that it's not just limping along and accumulating bugs until they are beyond your ability to fix it.

Jason

[loadman]

Well from my point of view I don't want to ask any more of SWINDUS right now as he has has done so much for me already.   I don't feel I could ask that. At this point anyway

I understand the logic of your argument and your motives sound good for MaLa, Having talented coders submit buf fixes and enhancements sounds great in theory   .

Technically. Regardless of wether it was allowed by Swindus and desired by me to be open source or not, there is a lot of work I have to do to get it to compile away from this Delphi 5 German version with 3rd party components to a point I can use it on another development machine/ environmen, so I can work on another IDE and/or others could work on it, so it ain't going to happen any time soon.   

You are more than welcome to PM him about this matter . I'm quite sure he gets them, whether he has the time or motovation to respond to them might be another matter.

Hang in there. please don't harp on this with me right now. Let the dust settle for me before I consider suggesting any sweeping changes. 

[jlfreund]

Thanks again for the quick reply.  I will PM Swindus and let you know if I find out anything.

My main problem now is that I just got a treadmill in my garage next to the arcade machine.  All I need to make my life complete is to fix the Mala jukebox and hook it up to a PC remote control so my wife and I can operate the Juke without having to fiddle with the controls or leave the Mala FE.

If this were open source, I could just go ahead and fix it without having to complain to anyone

Jason

[Space Fractal]

Get a real jukebox software, and run that, like it was a PC games. I guess a dedicated jukebox software is better than MaLa can do.

MaLa was actuelly never intended to act like a real jukebox, hence Loadman have that as a low priotity (He actuelly use Uncle'T Jukebox). Mala Was orignaly run MAME games (hence the name = MAla LAuncher).

The best thing is like I run in the other thread, is change the Jukebox to been singles based and just play song when selected, which just show the files without any using any tags. I cant see MaLa would been good with Album based, due that way skins have been designed.

I think that could been fix couble of problems to keep that part simple and not thinking to have this full feature Jukebox.... Or expand the plugin system, that can been used (like possible to create gamelists from plugins).

[jlfreund]

Can I launch UncleT's or another Jukebox from Mala using the arcade controls, and then exit from the jukebox back to Mala using arcade controls?  That's the key -- I want to be able to get from one emulator to the next, to the jukebox, and back all using the same seamless interface without having to use the mouse or flip to windows, etc.

[Space Fractal]

Yep. Look in Arcadecontrol's wiki and search for Joystick based jukebox software.... I have created two of them, Arcade Music Box and MultiJuke. There is others too.

But let see what Loadman does. I do respect he want to do some others things first.

I guess this jukebox section should have it own thread, since it a bit outside this thread. Sorry If I hijacked.

[headkaze]

Can I launch UncleT's or another Jukebox from Mala using the arcade controls, and then exit from the jukebox back to Mala using arcade controls?  That's the key -- I want to be able to get from one emulator to the next, to the jukebox, and back all using the same seamless interface without having to use the mouse or flip to windows, etc.

Of course you can do that, check the Jukebox forum, the authors of Juke software understand the need to have everything controlled by arcade controls so they can be seamlessly integrated into a cab running a FE. So yes, most Juke software you will find can be configured to use any controls.

EDIT: Space Fractal beat me to it hehe

[jlfreund]

Sorry to get off on a Jukebox track, but I'm going to loop this back to MaLa...

I tried some other Jukeboxes, and see how they can be launched from and return back to MaLa, using remappable arcade controls the whole way.  But unfortunately, I didn't like any of them so far.  The main thing is that they don't seem to let me navigate my tree of music as I have it setup. 

They all seem to present the songs either alphabetically (doesn't work for my 3000 songs) or grouped by artist or album (not much better when the meta data is very irregular and spotty at best, and there are still hundreds of items per list). 

Coincidentally, MaLa seems to be on path to do exactly what I wanted -- give it a root directory, and it will allow you to navigate your tree of music with arcade controls, even providing space for album covers and popups to display other meta data.  Better yet, it doesn't require you to launch a foreign app (incurring 10second delay each time) or break the look and feel of having a unified FE.

Obviously Jukebox would be highest on my priority list as it's very close to being done, doing exactly what I want, but currently it's the only major feature I can find that is pretty much completely busted.

Jason

[headkaze]

Take a look at MusicBrainz it can scan your mp3 collection and fill in metadata tags automatically. Works quite well.

[loadman]

I would send you a sample of the JukeBox bit of Delphi Code if you want to look at that. I'm sure Swindus would not mind as that is very basic anyway but the Jukebox stuff is currently imbeded into the main code.

I might try and seperate it if you want to look at it.

[jlfreund]

Hi, I appreciate the offer, but I probably couldn't do much without seeing all the assets (UI resources and auxillary code that calls in and out of the jukebox stuff).  Also, I don't know Delphi 

I sent Swindus a PM, so I'll let you know if I hear anything.

Thanks,
Jason

[OnezerO]

I tried some other Jukeboxes, and see how they can be launched from and return back to MaLa, using remappable arcade controls the whole way.  But unfortunately, I didn't like any of them so far.  The main thing is that they don't seem to let me navigate my tree of music as I have it setup. 

When I started to design my MAME cabinet it was going to be for games only then after I realized how much work was involved I decided to go ahead and make it a MAME/Jukebox cabinet.  I wanted something that would be completely controlled with arcade controls without the use of a mouse or keyboard.  After a lot of searching and testing I found the perfect solution.  Silverjuke.  This is a simple, powerful and elegant jukebox software program.

I have been able to design my cabinet around MALA & Silverjuke.  With the help of a few simple AHK scripts I can navigate between MALA and Silverjuke and if a game is actually running I can navigate between Silverjuke and the game all with the push of a single button.  I have one admin button dedicated just for this task.

Loadman, had previously asked me for some pics of my pc and controls installation which I have still yet to post due to a lack of a camera and I feel bad for taking so long since Loadman is always quick to provide assistance.  I am extremely close to completing my cabinet 100% (two more weeks tops).  Once I do I will post all of the details in the new project announcements.  When I do I will make a short post here to let you know.

If you are interested feel free to request my AHK scripts or pics of my install. Good luck with your project.

[Space Fractal]

A Least MultiJuke should work with pretty any file mask structor. You do need to have that 100%, since some songs hence might been missing, if you use Album or Singles Library. Otherwice you could use Explorer Library which should work just like a Explorer do....

There exists tagging software, like MusicIP to fill most of the missing tags, and then use the tags to make sure you have the correctly FileMask (Like mp3/Artist/Albums/Tracknr - Title.mp3 or such), or just like Artist - Title.mp3 (singles without albums).

If SilverJuke works correctly with joystick controllers, the Wiki is need to been updated.

[OnezerO]

In my setup Silverjuke works great with a simple 4-way joystick.  I have dedicated admin buttons to navigate my music collection left and right thru albums and up and down thru songs.  I also have the same keys mapped to a 4 way joystick to perform the same functions.

Silverjuke allows you to reassign any key to most functions.  I am just using the basic functions and a few advanced functions with Silverjuke all controlled from my admin control panel and/or my game control panel.  The functions I choose to use in my cabinet with Silverjuke is left/right thur albums, up/down thru songs, ctrl-left/right to skip thru the alphabet for choosing artists, an AHK script to pop up a playlist, and a view function to change the music selection screen between three different views.

Silverjuke even allows you to use coin triggers for credits if you want to.  It's a really great program.  I have been surprised not to have seen it mentioned in this forum more often.  The trick I use to make it function seemlesly with MALA is my AHK script for switching between MALA and Silverjuke.

You can check out their website at: wwww.silverjuke.net

[loadman]

Technically. Regardless of wether it was allowed by Swindus and desired by me to be open source or not, there is a lot of work I have to do to get it to compile away from this Delphi 5 German version with 3rd party components to a point I can use it on another development machine/ environmen, so I can work on another IDE and/or others could work on it, so it ain't going to happen any time soon.   

I had some success with this on the weekend, well most of the MaLa tools anyway...

I did the easy ones first. MaLa Gamelist editor, MaLa Tree Editor and the MaLa - Mamewah layout converter. 

Just MaLa Layout Editor, MaLa Attract and MaLa itself to go now      Ahh they use Graphics!!!   

[loadman]

Hello,

A progress update:

I did manage to port  MaLa to Delphi 2007 but because I could not get the Source of all the 3rd party components it is very broken, so isn't even worth alfa releasing it right now.

  So I will treat the Delphi 2007 version as the next major release with diffrent graphics, video and sound engine. So that will be the long term goal.

So short term I have decided that I have wasted enough time on that for now so will now focus on squashing a few mor little bugs and adding some enhacements.   

[TheShanMan]

Well that's a bummer, but I appreciate your hard work! Look forward to whatever you end up releasing, whether minor or major!

[Space Fractal]

I think your next major realease should use v2.0 (like I did for MultiJuke -> MultiFE) when you need to change the graphics engine as well videos.

I still think you halle ready have one sound engine: EmuWave Plugin

In MultiFE I did seperated Soundengine to own bmx file, so I could upgrade easy with new bass versions or if I want to change to fmod (as I actually use in Linux version) or such without changing the rest of the code (etc like a wrapper).

It look like Swindus didden't do that for componets used, but instead use the functions directly to most important components?

[TheShanMan]

Reading Space Fractal's post, I just wanted to say that I used fmod for my Ambience App, and would recommend it. It's free for non-commercial apps (not free for commercial apps), and it is a widely used sound engine.

[Space Fractal]

Mala allready use a older version of bass (I believe around version 2.1). But there is not really need to update that, if it works with the current IDE, because there is some different with the newest version and the current version (again why I doesn't call bass directly from the player code). There is Delphi examples in bass 2.4 as well and some features was changed again, but nothing big if it used in a wrapper like senario.

I do guess it might been better to use a plug-in to separate the sound code from the rest of Mala and easier to code, so it dosent have double code.

[loadman]

Yeah, well I think I may try fmod for sound. It looks pretty easy :-)

The EmuWave plug-in was meant to be extension of MaLa's sound option. Eg random Wav's.Space are you suggesting that I remove all sound from MaLa? I don't see how as there is the Jukebox to cater for etc. Or are you just saying in the code I should keep all sound to a seperate library/ pas file in the code?

[headkaze]

Why move to FMod? BASS is just as good an audio library and since it's already using BASS I would just stick with it. GameEx uses BASS for it's jukebox and so does Space Fractal. The only time BASS is not so great is for commercial software where the license can get a bit expensive. For free software it's great.

Go to the official BASS website and it has example code in Delphi. So I would probably do what Space suggested and update to the latest version first.

[loadman]

  The old bass version mala uses is a bit buggy, and as space points out there have been some major changes to the latest version so I can't just drop it in, so I if I had to do that work I was considering changing to another sound engine as it would not be that much more work.

I will ponder some more

[headkaze]

In most cases it will just be changes to the dll function names and parameters. I would say alot less work to update to use the newer version of BASS than to use a completely different library.

The thing is if FMod had advantages over BASS then I would say it would probably be worth changing to it but I don't think there is. BASS is a commercial quality sound engine and arguably the best one around.

[Space Fractal]

ahh ok, I guess it not need to been priotity highest first, I didden't realize the jukebox feature in Mala (never tested that feature), property because there is other dedicated jukebox software to use (not just my software of course).

SO I guess the jukebox part should still use either BASS or FMOD and all soundFX part to the plugin (your choice of course). I use FMOD for Linux versionen and BASS for Windows version.

There are many things changed from bass 2.1 to bass 2.4, and if Swindus used coded over all his source, that can been a bit harder, which is why I created some wrapper functions and then send to the player. In that way it easier change the code....

Eitherwice other components can been priority first and then to the last the jukebox section.

[TheShanMan]

Just to be clear, I'm not suggesting switching. I know nothing about BASS - I was just putting in a plug for fmod because I had a good experience with it.

But while we're on the topic of the jukebox feature, would it be worth considering dropping it from MaLa? Maybe there are plenty of people who would complain vehemently (I have never used it so I don't know how good it is), but it would seem to me that dedicated jukebox software is probably generally better than what MaLa provides. So why reinvent the wheel again when doing the major rewrite? Just something to consider. Maybe it's worth asking people in a dedicated thread how strongly they feel about the jukebox feature?

[loadman]

Well I know the MaLa jukebox is basic, but is wanted by some users who don't want a 'full on' jukebox. I know this as I have received posts asking for minor fixes.

But possibly it could get moved to a Plug-in in the future....

[loadman]

loadman, from a plugin developer's perspective (not that I've done extensive plugin work or anything), I think the biggest limitation in the plugin interface right now is no means of providing a configuration UI. I would like to see a function added to the plugin interface which, when implemented, would cause a "configure" button to appear on the plugin page when that plugin is selected. It would pass the parent window's HWND (probably MaLa's options window) so the plugin's configuration dialog could be properly parented.

What do you think?

This has been done and will be in the next release

[TheShanMan]

Cool! Thanks!

[loadman]

I finally got MaLa to compile of a English IDE    That will make life so much easier for me. 

Anyway, many more things on my list to do but I thought it was about time for a release.

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=84515.msg884959#msg884959