New Front End - Angry Bee

[TalkingOctopus]

I built a MAME front end inspired by GameLauncher for my arcades.  I named the front end after my favorite arcade game, DoDonPachi, which supposedly translates to Angry Bee Boss in English.  My front end needed to support low resolutions, to run on modest hardware, and to provide game video playback.  The game preview video plays behind the front end text.


The main game list.


The details screen.


The text search screen.

The game preview video is playing in each of these screen shots.

Feature List

• Game preview video playback
• Tracks most played, recent played and longest played games
• Input text searches to filter game lists
• Rate games 1 to 5 stars
• Filter by genre, orientation, players, controls, year or developer
• Game screenshot previews (when no video is available)
• Background MP3 soundtrack
• Supports any monitor resolution and orientation
• Screensaver launches random game after 5 idle minutes
• catver.ini for category support
• nplayers.ini for detailed player information
• Favorites list
• Create custom lists
• Everything, including setup uses arcade controls
• Supports really old versions of MAME

Requirements

• Windows XP or Vista
• .NET 3.5 SP1 http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=ab99342f-5d1a-413d-8319-81da479ab0d7&displaylang=en
• Windows Media Player 10 or higher for video support

Windows Update should include both .NET 3.5 SP1 and Windows Media Player 10 as optional updates.

Download
Angry Bee (230 KB)
http://home.comcast.net/~stevebecker103/AngryBee.zip

Optional Requirements

• EmuMovies game preview videos http://www.emumovies.com/systems/mame/mame.html
• NIVO's MAME screenshots http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=46026.0

Installation
1. Unzip Angry Bee to its final destination
2. Run AngryBee.exe
3. Setup MAME in the Settings Menu

Setup uses arcade controls.  I hope setup is easy and straightforward, but if you give it a try, let me know how it actually goes.  I've been using Angry Bee for about a year on my arcades.  It's taken me a long time to finish it up for a release.  Anyway, I plan to release the source code once I'm finished working on it.

Please let me know if you have any questions or feedback!

[headkaze]

Nice work! Can I ask you what graphics API are you using for rendering?

[TalkingOctopus]

Nice work! Can I ask you what graphics API are you using for rendering?

It uses Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF).  A few benefits include vector graphic support, and the ability to render video on just about any surface at any translucency.

[headkaze]

It uses Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF).  A few benefits include vector graphic support, and the ability to render video on just about any surface at any translucency.

Interesting. This is the first FE to use WPF I'll have to check it out 

[Space Fractal]

Smart simple graphics and nice render of the font to been clear as possible even there is a snapshot in the background.

[TalkingOctopus]

It uses Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF).  A few benefits include vector graphic support, and the ability to render video on just about any surface at any translucency.

Interesting. This is the first FE to use WPF I'll have to check it out 

XNA might be even better suited for a front end than WPF, but it wasn't really viable when I started this.  Also, the distrubution of XNA executables on the PC side is still unclear, at least it was with XNA 2.  XNA 3 just released this week.

Smart simple graphics and nice render of the font to been clear as possible even there is a snapshot in the background.

Thanks.  It's actaully a video from emumovies in the background.

[Todd H]

Cool. Another front end to play with.

[NOP]

what's the formatting of the gamelist file?  (can you send me an example?)
I'd like to add support for this (and all FE's) into ROMLister

[Hoopz]

Very cool.  I've added your FE to the stickied Poll of favorite front ends.

 

[2600]

This looks very nice and simple.  I was playing around with doing my own FE in WPF as well.  The advantages I found over doing it in XNA are the requirements and the benefits of XNA didn't really benefit what I planned to do.

I look forward to seeing your source when the time comes to help jump start me.  Thanks for the release.

[Dazz]

Nice and simple looking FE.

What video format are you using?  Are those .avi or are you taking advantage of the .flv sets that Circo is putting out now?

[Space Fractal]

I see he using windows media player, so I guess he use AVI files which is fine for this type of frontend. Video rotations is really possible (rended like it was a 3d texture) with AVI files in Dark Basic which I have seen some examples, but I guess it not needed here.

But even its video or snapshots its both would look nice and would work very fine without vidoes.

Any plans for system emulator other than mame or other arcade emulators?

[TalkingOctopus]

what's the formatting of the gamelist file?  (can you send me an example?)
I'd like to add support for this (and all FE's) into ROMLister

Great!  The game lists are stored in a binary object file, using .NET serialization.  They definately are not human readable, and might be difficult for other programs to parse.  Let me check things out and get back to you.

This looks very nice and simple.  I was playing around with doing my own FE in WPF as well.  The advantages I found over doing it in XNA are the requirements and the benefits of XNA didn't really benefit what I planned to do.

I look forward to seeing your source when the time comes to help jump start me.  Thanks for the release.

I'm not very familiar with XNA.  However, I really enjoy working with WPF.  It's very flexible and powerful, much better than anything Microsoft has previously released.

Nice and simple looking FE.

What video format are you using?  Are those .avi or are you taking advantage of the .flv sets that Circo is putting out now?

I use the XVID .avi movies. However, the .flv sets should play without issue provided you install the right codec for Windows Media Player.

I see he using windows media player, so I guess he use AVI files which is fine for this type of frontend. Video rotations is really possible (rended like it was a 3d texture) with AVI files in Dark Basic which I have seen some examples, but I guess it not needed here.

But even its video or snapshots its both would look nice and would work very fine without vidoes.

It actually doesn't use media player directly.  I believe WPF goes a level below, and uses Microsoft Media Foundation in Vista and DirectShow in XP.  Video rotation is possible in WPF.  You can also apply video as a texture to any 3D surface. 

Any plans for system emulator other than mame or other arcade emulators?

Yes.  I only use MAME on my arcades, but I seem to be in the minority.  I plan to add generic emulator support.

[tspeirs]

Is it based on this: http://www.avaloncab.info/ ?

Anyway looks very nice. Wont run on Vista 32bit RTM for me. I get the start page come up then get a hard error after pressing a key.

[TalkingOctopus]

Is it based on this: http://www.avaloncab.info/ ?

No, it's not based on avaloncab.   

Anyway looks very nice. Wont run on Vista 32bit RTM for me. I get the start page come up then get a hard error after pressing a key.

Argh... That's bad news.  Sorry!  A few questions:

1) Are you sure you have .NET 3.5 SP1?

2) What is the path of AngryBee.exe?

3) Is User Account Control (UAC) on?  If so, try running the front end as administrator.  The front end tries to create some files and may be getting an access denied error.  If this is the problem, I need to fix this.

[Space Fractal]

I ran this on a external drive with Vista 64 bit with UAC disabled (which I never liked) and it started fine. I think I meet all 3 requirements.

Can you pincode/passcode the exit menu which would been a nice feature?

[tspeirs]

Sorry, my bad. Working now.

I have to say very good job. This is deffinitly one of the better front ends available. Very polished, and nicely designed and implemented. I especially like the in built configuration. I think this front end will become very popular. I hope your prepared for that I tried to bring gamelauncher up to date myself with the gamelauncher mode in GameEx, but this does a better job  as far as MAME only.  I was also inspired by Gamelauncher

Only slight thing I noticed was the aspect of the snaps and videos on my widescreen setup was slightly off, but otherwise worked flawlessy.

[TalkingOctopus]

Sorry, my bad. Working now.

What did you do differently? What was wrong?

I have to say very good job. This is deffinitly one of the better front ends available. Very polished, and nicely designed and implemented. I especially like the in built configuration. I think this front end will become very popular. I hope your prepared for that I tried to bring gamelauncher up to date myself with the gamelauncher mode in GameEx, but this does a better job  as far as MAME only.  I was also inspired by Gamelauncher

Thanks!

Only slight thing I noticed was the aspect of the snaps and videos on my widescreen setup was slightly off, but otherwise worked flawlessy.

What resolution?  It should preserve the aspect ratio of your snapshots in videos.  They will not fill the entire screen on a widescreen resolution.  Instead they align right.  Here's what it looks like on my 1920x1200 monitor:

I ran this on a external drive with Vista 64 bit with UAC disabled (which I never liked) and it started fine. I think I meet all 3 requirements.

Thanks for giving it a try.

Can you pincode/passcode the exit menu which would been a nice feature?

I'm not sure I understand this feature.  Does this feature require you to enter to enter a series of random keystrokes in order to exit?  What are the benefits?  I'm guessing so you can't exit by accident and people who don't know the code cannot shut down the machine.

[tspeirs]

In regard to aspect, I guess its just how you like it, but its not how I did it.

I just didnt install 3.5 sp1. Like I said my bad

[Space Fractal]

I'm not sure I understand this feature.  Does this feature require you to enter to enter a series of random keystrokes in order to exit?  What are the benefits?  I'm guessing so you can't exit by accident and people who don't know the code cannot shut down the machine.

Yes.


I give this a deeper try when I got rom collection installed again.

Please add this FE to the wiki as well:
http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/Front-Ends

Otherwice I do that sooner or later.

[Ummon]

I woulda thought at least .net 3.0 would come with SP3. Anyways, after catching up there, I started Angry Bee up and it's super easy for sure. (Incidentally, I tried out that AvalonCab first, and I didn't get hardly anywhere easily so I gave up.) It's mainly just P1 stick and P1 game start (or '1') out of the box.

I have some small points of contention:

- when entering a game with mame32, the game loading box shows up; when entering a game with vanilla mame, the mouse arrow appears though as an hour glass.

- when exiting a game, the volume for the background music goes straight to max. It's a little abrupt.

- Not hot on the yellow font, nor the line up top regardless of color.


Suggestions:

- game lists: I use mame32 to try out new games and move them around in special custom lists. An import feature for the ini and it's structure (ie: lists and sub-lists) would be a great. (very desired)

- color pallete selection for text (not critical)

- more screensaver features - ie: variable time limit, different media, etc.


However, as is it is quite fine as a basic Mame FE goes. I dare say the first of it's kind, or at least in my experience.

[TalkingOctopus]

Please add this FE to the wiki as well:
http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/Front-Ends

I will add it to the wiki eventually. 

- when entering a game with mame32, the game loading box shows up; when entering a game with vanilla mame, the mouse arrow appears though as an hour glass.

I have never tried it with mame32 before.  I will give it a try and potentially fix this problem.  However, I don't see the mouse arrow with vanilla mame.  Which flavor and version of mame are you using?

- when exiting a game, the volume for the background music goes straight to max. It's a little abrupt.

I will add a volume fade in.

- Not hot on the yellow font, nor the line up top regardless of color.

I hope to add a text color option.  You might be right about the line.  I'll try to come up with a better design. 

Thanks a lot for the feedback!

[Space Fractal]

I think the design itself is good, but a colorize the font is propenty the feature he need, so the color font can been in any color if this is possible?

[lachlankeown]

Hello I am the author of AvalonCab. Pretty cool that someone else has built a WPF MAME frontend! Never really got mine to a very "user-friendly out of the box" state, as someone above found out  .

Is this open source? As I would be keen to have a look inside to "compare notes".

Good luck with your project.

Regards,

Lachlan

[TalkingOctopus]

I think the design itself is good, but a colorize the font is propenty the feature he need, so the color font can been in any color if this is possible?

I'm going to add a text color setting.  I debated adding it to this release, but ultimately left it for the next.

Hello I am the author of AvalonCab. Pretty cool that someone else has built a WPF MAME frontend! Never really got mine to a very "user-friendly out of the box" state, as someone above found out  .

Is this open source? As I would be keen to have a look inside to "compare notes".

Good luck with your project.

Regards,

Lachlan

I hope to make the source code available when I decide to stop working on it.

[Ummon]

Okay, I found out some things. If using mame32 before the video re-write, the game loading box appears as well as the mouse as an hourglass. If I use vanilla mame or mame32/UI after the re-write (I tried a couple version including .128 of both), only the hourglass shows. What I think is happening is there's a gap of time between the game list displaying and the game loading, so there's a quick, though incomplete, shot of the desktop.

[EVEGames]

T.O.,
Congratulations on the new FE!
I had to click on your WWW link to make sure you are the same TalkingOctopus (how many could there be, right?  ) as one of my all-time favorite arcade-related home pages.  I've gotten so much out of your site, going YEARS back, especially the FE-friendly emulators on your Files page.  What a great convenience these were/are for a cab owner.  You and the ScreenshotArchive site account for a good percentage of the content on my MAME machine, and I wanted to say Thank You, and again congrats on the newest FE on the block!  It looks great!

[TalkingOctopus]

Okay, I found out some things. If using mame32 before the video re-write, the game loading box appears as well as the mouse as an hourglass. If I use vanilla mame or mame32/UI after the re-write (I tried a couple version including .128 of both), only the hourglass shows. What I think is happening is there's a gap of time between the game list displaying and the game loading, so there's a quick, though incomplete, shot of the desktop.

Thanks for the information.  It sounds like I can make the transition to MAME smoother.

Insert Quote 
T.O.,
Congratulations on the new FE!
I had to click on your WWW link to make sure you are the same TalkingOctopus (how many could there be, right?  ) as one of my all-time favorite arcade-related home pages.  I've gotten so much out of your site, going YEARS back, especially the FE-friendly emulators on your Files page.  What a great convenience these were/are for a cab owner.  You and the ScreenshotArchive site account for a good percentage of the content on my MAME machine, and I wanted to say Thank You, and again congrats on the newest FE on the block!  It looks great!

Thanks!  I created the SNES snapshots, which I believe might have been the first set of console snapshots for front ends.  However, the credit really should go to Stuzza who created the screenshot archives and the volunteers that created the rest of the snapshot sets.  Things have certainly come a long way.  It seems like building your own arcade controls is easier than ever.  So many great resources exist.

[Mauzy]

Ive been using this for a couple weeks, and I must say this is the only FE that Ive actually been able to set up! AWESOME!

I do have one problem though, how do I make the background on the game selection page change to the snaps of the selected game? I have the snap folder settings set to the MAME snap folder. Its set up something along the lines of:
D:\MAME\snap\game name folder\0000 (<<actual snapshot)

Is this the correct setup?

Nope it wasn't. How do I change the mame snap saving filepath? It has to be
D:\MAME\snap\game name SNAP

[TalkingOctopus]

Ive been using this for a couple weeks, and I must say this is the only FE that Ive actually been able to set up! AWESOME!

I do have one problem though, how do I make the background on the game selection page change to the snaps of the selected game? I have the snap folder settings set to the MAME snap folder. Its set up something along the lines of:
D:\MAME\snap\game name folder\0000 (<<actual snapshot)

Is this the correct setup?

Nope it wasn't. How do I change the mame snap saving filepath? It has to be
D:\MAME\snap\game name SNAP

From the Main Menu of the front end, go to Settings --> MAME --> Snapshot Folder.  Select the folder that contains your MAME screens.  Here's what my settings look like:



If you're still having trouble, I recommend trying NIVO's screens.  Download them here: 

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=46026.0

[Mauzy]

Oooh... NIVO's screens are what I need. My problem was where MAME is saving the snaps when I would hit F12 in game. I would have to go to the snap folder, find the game folder, go in the folder and cut the snap, rename it then move it back one folder by putting it in the snap folder.

Angry Bee reads snaps from
"D:\MAME\snap" then looks for the game name.

MAME saves them as
"D:\MAME\snap\GAMENAME\" then names them in sequential order from 0000

The way MAME saves them makes it to where you'd have to go back, rename them, then put them in the snap directory.

Obviously, with NIVO's screens, I won't have this problem.

[KDOG]

Nice and  simple. You cover all the basics needs

[Ummon]

Oooh... NIVO's screens are what I need. My problem was where MAME is saving the snaps when I would hit F12 in game. I would have to go to the snap folder, find the game folder, go in the folder and cut the snap, rename it then move it back one folder by putting it in the snap folder.

Angry Bee reads snaps from
"D:\MAME\snap" then looks for the game name.

MAME saves them as
"D:\MAME\snap\GAMENAME\" then names them in sequential order from 0000

The way MAME saves them makes it to where you'd have to go back, rename them, then put them in the snap directory.

Obviously, with NIVO's screens, I won't have this problem.

Yes, a few versions ago, Mame changed to this format, of which I think is a good idea. I never use snaps for FEs, anyway.

[TalkingOctopus]

Oooh... NIVO's screens are what I need. My problem was where MAME is saving the snaps when I would hit F12 in game. I would have to go to the snap folder, find the game folder, go in the folder and cut the snap, rename it then move it back one folder by putting it in the snap folder.

Angry Bee reads snaps from
"D:\MAME\snap" then looks for the game name.

MAME saves them as
"D:\MAME\snap\GAMENAME\" then names them in sequential order from 0000

The way MAME saves them makes it to where you'd have to go back, rename them, then put them in the snap directory.

Obviously, with NIVO's screens, I won't have this problem.

Yes, a few versions ago, Mame changed to this format, of which I think is a good idea. I never use snaps for FEs, anyway.

Do you know if most front ends support this format as well?  It would be easy to add, but is there really any reason to?

[Mauzy]

I wouldn't think it would be necessary to change seeing as there are packs of screens out there. No one really needs to make their own through MAME anymore

[Ummon]

I'd say no, because people still make their own, and particularly for game comps they're useful. In fact, the current condition is perhaps optimal, because the FE looks in the snap directory, but Mame sub-folders snaps made in-situ, so if one needs to find them, it's easy especially as folders generally precede files in Windows viewing.

[IG-88]

Hey Octo,

Have you been doing any work on this FE lately? I gave it a try and really like it. I do have a question or 2  tho. When running vertically oriented games the bottom 1/4 of the screen is cut off. Is there a setting I'm missing or something? Funny thing is all games don't do this.

[TalkingOctopus]

Hey Octo,

Have you been doing any work on this FE lately? I gave it a try and really like it. I do have a question or 2  tho. When running vertically oriented games the bottom 1/4 of the screen is cut off. Is there a setting I'm missing or something? Funny thing is all games don't do this.

Hey IG-88,

I have been working on it over the past year.  I hope to have an update along with a website soon.

It sounds like mame might be running some vertical games at a funny resolution.  What is your setup? TV or monitor, what version of MAME, PC ect..?

The front end just passes the rom name to the command line emulator like this:

mame.exe pacman.zip

You could try running mame this way to see if the problem is with your emulator or my front end.

Thanks!

T.O.

[raungst]

I've been looking around for something just like this! Hyperspin and Mala don't look quite right at very low resolutions. Have you been able to add more generic support for other emulators? This looks really neat.

[creatine28]

Awesome FE!    Very simple to set up and works great !  I've already loaded it on my cab and plan to use it on my next mame project!

Just have a few questions

1)  Can the scroll speed be adjusted?  Not sure if its just my system, but when scrolling through the game list, it scrolls slow, then gets faster, then super fast, which it goes past my game choice sometimes.

2)  Is there a way to use the Mouse(Trackball) to scroll through the game list?  ( Mamewah has this feature and its pretty handy)

3)  Is there any way to save a menu set up, such as if I want the FE to load directly to a specific game list?




Thanks,

Steve