MAMEWAH Q: Execute program before Mamewah loads Mame game

[brian23]

I have a spare one of these at work: http://www.signal-tech.com/prod_view.cfm?sku=TCL418R-FD. It is normally used for displaying fees, but can display text. It only fits 8 characters statically, but if you exceed 8 characters then it will scroll the text. I currently use Mamewah for my frontend. Is it possible to execute a program before Mame loads and pass the game name as ASCII to my program on the command line, i.e. ShellExecute().

thanks

[unclet]

I am pretty certain MameWah allows you execute commands before Mame starts the selected game.   Look in your INI file associated with the emulator and you should find a line which states "pre_emulator_app_commandlines".   This line can list commands which should be executed before starting the emulator.

If I remember correctly, MameWah indicates the rom name with [name] and the emulator name with [emuname] but I am not sure if MameWah has knowledge about the actual Mame "game name" ..... which is what you most likely would like to display instead of the Rom name.

I am sure someone here will be able to help you figure this out ..... does not seem to hard.  I have just not worked with MameWah for a couple of years now.

[Minwah]

I am pretty certain MameWah allows you execute commands before Mame starts the selected game.   Look in your INI file associated with the emulator and you should find a line which states "pre_emulator_app_commandlines".   This line can list commands which should be executed before starting the emulator.

If I remember correctly, MameWah indicates the rom name with [name] and the emulator name with [emuname] but I am not sure if MameWah has knowledge about the actual Mame "game name" ..... which is what you most likely would like to display instead of the Rom name.

Yes thats correct, and Mamewah can send the game description.  You would need something like this:

pre_emulator_app_commandlines c:\display.exe [description]

[roger]

Is there also a way to execute a program when the platform is switched in MAMEWah? Specifically, I want to display the name of the current emulator upon switching the platform, e.g. if I switch from MAME to VICE, I would want to show "VICE" on my external display. MAMEWah already works well for sending game information to the display when a game is launched, but when no game is running, I would like the emulator name to be displayed.

[Minwah]

Is there also a way to execute a program when the platform is switched in MAMEWah? Specifically, I want to display the name of the current emulator upon switching the platform, e.g. if I switch from MAME to VICE, I would want to show "VICE" on my external display. MAMEWah already works well for sending game information to the display when a game is launched, but when no game is running, I would like the emulator name to be displayed.

Hmm not currently possible. Although some people use a seperate app to monitor the Mamewah (invisible) window caption - this contains info in the following format:

MAMEWAH - Emulator Title: Game Description (Romname)

This could be done but I have no idea about the software to monitor this info - I'm sure someone on here must know...

[roger]

Although some people use a seperate app to monitor the Mamewah (invisible) window caption - this contains info in the following format:

MAMEWAH - Emulator Title: Game Description (Romname)

This could be done but I have no idea about the software to monitor this info - I'm sure someone on here must know...

Thanks for responding. I will look into that.

Hmm not currently possible.

Is there a chance that it might me possible in the near future (cough, cough, feature request, cough)?
It would be great if there were directives like "emu_enter_commandlines" and "emu_leave_commandlines" in the emuname.ini configurations. MAMEWah can already play sounds when the platform is switched. Being able to perform other actions at these events would be a great addition.

[roger]

Is there also a way to execute a program when the platform is switched in MAMEWah? Specifically, I want to display the name of the current emulator upon switching the platform, e.g. if I switch from MAME to VICE, I would want to show "VICE" on my external display. MAMEWah already works well for sending game information to the display when a game is launched, but when no game is running, I would like the emulator name to be displayed.

Hmm not currently possible. Although some people use a seperate app to monitor the Mamewah (invisible) window caption - this contains info in the following format:

MAMEWAH - Emulator Title: Game Description (Romname)

This could be done but I have no idea about the software to monitor this info - I'm sure someone on here must know...

Some information on how to monitor MAMEWah's window caption can be found here:
http://www.mameworld.info/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=178475&page=0&view=expanded&sb=5&o=&fpart=1&vc=1&new=#Post178475