The NEW Build Your Own Arcade Controls
Main => Software Forum => Topic started by: Netcat on August 13, 2005, 07:52:40 pm
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Arcade OS supports serial devices but is hardcoded to 8N1
Is anyone here capable of modifyin the source code (Which is readily available) to modify serial settings to 7E1 (which is necessary for Betabrite 1040)
If you can help please please let me know.
Kindest Regards.
Tony@780tech.com
http://www.780tech.com/betabrite
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NetCat, excellent job with with Alpha protocol stuff. I actually tried to run your "betagen" program, but no luck. I'm running win 2k. It kept complaining about the LCD directory already existing, even though it didn't. But, I tried the files you put on your site and they worked like a charm. And, I'm not sure about your betabrite, but mine supports the standard 9600/8/n/1. Probably doesn't matter much since we're only sending text, but possibly useful in the future.
Anyway, I'm willling to port your stuff to c. I'll poke through your code tomorrow during lunch.
Again, great job on the Alpha protocol. I've been meaning to do this for like a year, but I just never could get myself to read through the protocol document.
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I understand my sign cannot be changed but I would be interested in knowing by what means you change yours to 8n1??
Software or hardware
You flater me.
Altough I agree I did a good job with the protocol stuff I must confess I cheated. I really dont understand the protocol, I am however hardheaded & resourcefull at capturing output and sending to files, I am also decent at Qbasic so therefore I developen an app taht would open output files scan thru the characters and figure out the ASCII values.
regards.
tony
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Didn't require anything special from me. Just set COM1 to 9600/8/n/1. What model do you have? Mine is a 213c. I'll check my manual if it'll help you at all.
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I have that same model. It's ggrrrrrrrreeeeeeeaaaaattttt!
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I believe it is a 1040
comes set to 4800 7e1
TO the best of my knowledge it cannot be changed thriu software and it has no dip switches or jumopers
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Hi,
Nice one for putting together some info on the betabrites.
I've used your info and the source of your quickbasic program to release a new beta of LCDgen. You can get it here:
http://www.silverfoxy.plus.com/LCDGen.html
There is now a (hopefully) working option for Betabrite in the LCD drop down list. One for dynamic, one for static. I've used the same ASCII set you used in your program so it should work - again I can't test it, so let me know if it helps.
I know a lot of the betabrite boards store text in ram and then can display it in various ways - not sure if you guys want this for the game controls etc... Also at the moment I'm not checking for length - I don't know how many characters BBrites display in one go, or if they auto-scroll etc... The more I know the more options I can add to the program, if you like....
At least let me know I've got the basic bit right....
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Silver, your betabrite version of lcdgen works just fine. However, your installer is still a big buggy. Keeps saying needed files are not present, would you like to reboot? Luckily, you've helped me before, so I could just run the newest executable without performing a base install.
One thing though, the controls are not being shown on the led screen. I did point lcdgen to a valid controls.xml file. Maybe I did something wrong, but I double checked all of the checkboxes.
Oh by the way, I configured lcdgen to produce "dynamic" text.
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Just tried static too. Names work just fine, but no dice on the controls.
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Hi,
Installer - man I've been meaning to lose that completely. Think I will just stick the VB6 runtime files and a link to the msxml installer up there. I've tried about 50 times to create a good installer with VB6 enterprise, but it only ever seems to work on the system its created on....
lost my thread in my previous post - meant to mention that I was not included any control info until I knew the basic bit worked - which it does :)
I can get it to include control data - but whats the best method - just tag it on after the name? Will BB scroll this automatically? How do they treat 'return's' (Ascii 13 or 10)? If you guys let me know what works well I can stick it in....
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Silver YOU RULE!!
I agree however the installer doesnt quite work.
Also
In my humble opinion, adding controller info to the LED sign really clutters it, can we have an option or checkbox that allows (name and description) or (Name, description controller info)
Thanks Dude.
You're the best
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One more thing.
I am sure we are going to be getting this running with ArcadeOS and not Just MameWah.
my next step with my program weas to enable it to generate either
A. The mameWah 5000+ Files
OR
B. the One ArcadeOS file > LIST.LCD
Any chance I could persuade you to make LCDGen compatible with MAmeWah AND ArcadeOS?
I'd really really appreciate it, plus it save me a boatload of programming
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Hi,
Installer - man I've been meaning to lose that completely. Think I will just stick the VB6 runtime files and a link to the msxml installer up there. I've tried about 50 times to create a good installer with VB6 enterprise, but it only ever seems to work on the system its created on....
lost my thread in my previous post - meant to mention that I was not included any control info until I knew the basic bit worked - which it does :)
I can get it to include control data - but whats the best method - just tag it on after the name? Will BB scroll this automatically? How do they treat 'return's' (Ascii 13 or 10)? If you guys let me know what works well I can stick it in....
Silver -- just did some testing. The betabrite does not read the character \r (ascii 13) correctly, but it does recognize \n (ascii 10). Also, really long words are automatically scrolled along the sign. Multiple words are tokenized by spaces and displayed appropriately.
My vote is for support of controls info in the sign. I know your program already supports this, but just wanted to let you know people want it. I believe you already have a radio button to enable/disable, so I think we're all happy, eh netcat? :)
Hope this helps, and also I hope it helps negate some of my previous laziness :'(. If there's more testing you need done -- I'm your man.
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I agree however the installer doesnt quite work.
Ok I've made one final attempt at a new install package. If this fails, I'll scrap it.
In my humble opinion, adding controller info to the LED sign really clutters it, can we have an option or checkbox that allows (name and description) or (Name, description controller info)
I wondered if it would... Also thought it might be distracting to have stuff scrolling all the time - but then it is an 'Arcade at home'....
By name and description I presume you mean game name + clone info? That's already taken care of (and the tick boxes for "remove clone info" should already work in the current beta).
my next step with my program weas to enable it to generate ...
B. the One ArcadeOS file > LIST.LCD
This should not be very hard to add - I'm currently not familiar with how ArcadeOS stores/expects to find the LCD info. Is it documented somewhere?
Silver -- just did some testing. The betabrite does not read the character \r (ascii 13) correctly, but it does recognize \n (ascii 10).
Excellent thanks...
My vote is for support of controls info in the sign. I know your program already supports this, but just wanted to let you know people want it.
No problem - is it best to have it all in one line seperated by spaces or does it display better if the controls are seperated by ascii(10)'s?
I should probably go read the BBrite protocol and see what kind of display trickery it can do here.....
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Netcat - interested to know where you got the headers and enders you used in your qbasic program from.... you appear to use several "extended" asci characters (ie above ascii decimal 127) which technically fall outside the control codes of the alpha protocol (v1 of which betabrite uses). They can be used to display special characters, but you use them right at the start which would normally be where the betabrite would look for 5 NUL characters to lock up the baud rate...
Not too bothered as it obviously works as is, but just looking at the control codes for adding different display/wipe effects...
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When I hit go after selecting my paths in LCD Gen 097.1 beta, I get an error screen that says:Run-time error '429':
ActiveX component can't create object
Then it shuts down. Any help?
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So, if the installer for 97.1 doesn't work, and I need the support from .96 if I don't have it, and .96 isn't available, what do I do? Be patient?! :)
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My vote is for support of controls info in the sign. I know your program already supports this, but just wanted to let you know people want it.
No problem - is it best to have it all in one line seperated by spaces or does it display better if the controls are seperated by ascii(10)'s?
I should probably go read the BBrite protocol and see what kind of display trickery it can do here.....
It's probably best to separate the controls by '\n'. Otherwise, the control data would probably scroll by a little to quickly.
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So, if the installer for 97.1 doesn't work, and I need the support from .96 if I don't have it, and .96 isn't available, what do I do? Be patient?! :)
damn sorry should not have shifted 0.96 - although not sure that worked.
Goto Mamewah's website, download and install the "system files" for it.
Then google for 'MsXml' and install the package with that name from MS. I think I used MsXml4.0 SP2 but there should be a 5.0 or something that will work fine. I can't update the website till later....
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Thank you sir. I'll put my best man on it!
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OK forgive me here, but i do have a question. What exactly will this program do? I have been working for some time to create a scrolling marquee that when a game is selected will automatically scroll the title and manufacturer of that game. Is this what you are trying to do? Please forgive me as my way of programming is quite different then most, i go for the "KISS" method, Keep It Simple Stupid.
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Documentation on FOrmat supported by Arcadeos LIST.LCD
please reference file AOS_MAN.TXT than comes included with ArcadeOS
Thanks
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OK forgive me here, but i do have a question. What exactly will this program do? I have been working for some time to create a scrolling marquee that when a game is selected will automatically scroll the title and manufacturer of that game. Is this what you are trying to do? Please forgive me as my way of programming is quite different then most, i go for the "KISS" method, Keep It Simple Stupid.
Basically all my program (LCDgen) does it create a load of text files named romname.lcd which contain the game name and control info for the game (so 1942, Button1: Fire, Button2: Bomb etc....). It uses the ControlsDat project for all the control info, only creates files for the roms you own, and tries to squeeze the info so that it fits on a small LCD. It also adds control characters (often hidden ASCII text) that send instructions to the LCD, such as clear the screen, scroll the game name if its too long (if the LCD supports this) change the font etc....
These lcd files are supported by Mamewah, which will send it out to a com port of your choice so that it displays the info of the game you choose to play on your LCD. You can use almost any other FE by using a batch file which copys the right text file out to the com port as well on game launch.
It originally only supported PJRC LCD's, althougth it also supports a BPP440 and now ongoing BetaBrite scrolling marquee support. Its very easy for me to add new LCD's/scrolling things so long as the control characters are documented. At the moment I have not used anything with USB/parallel port connections, but thats simply because I have not come across any.
Do you have a scrolling marquee? At the moment it does not show manufacturer info but its an easy change to make.
If this becomes popular a lot of FE's might start doing this on there own - they all do a lot of the hard work anyway which is gathering all the info about all the games together. I know Mala does it, but it appears it supports 1 usb lcd controller at the mo - I don't know much about it.
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Silver, God love ya.
My beta brite software was sending messages that I had typed to the sign. Once I ran this program, the name of the game took the texts' spot, but had the effects. Pretty neat! I think I will put a bunch of blank lines in the beta brite software with effects and have it so it carries through onto the text. When will the controls part be ready? I'm in love with this. I would like the info to scroll while I play if possible. Also, is there anyway to do an attract mode? What about other emu's? Just wondering
mccoy178
For the rest of the world looking at this:
I have a beta brite 213c I bought from sams club that is in the marquee of my cab:
www.ohiostate.photosite.com
This was the easiest thing yet to set up on my cab. I spent all weekend with the J5viewer, and this took all of 5 minutes. Silver has the gift.
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It's probably best to separate the controls by '\n'. Otherwise, the control data would probably scroll by a little to quickly.
Ok - just 'cos I'm lazy (and the alpha protocol is a 15meg pdf text file!) what does the \n do?
Once I get some control info going for Betabrite owners it would be good if people could have a play with various effects (if you know how) to see what looks best as I'll be doing this blind....
all this makes me want to get my hands on a betabrite myself......
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Okay,
two things:
1) Even after I exit the game, the name keeps showing up in the marquee. When a new game is selected, the name changes. Even after I exit mamewah, the name continues to show every so often.
2) Leaving spaces and adding effects in the beta brite software worked! Looks neat as the game appears a different way everytime. I don't want to talk about it! ( I see how much nicer your software is!)
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Thanks for all your Hard work Sylver.
I havent checked your latest version of LCDGen however For the Record my STATIC output Prefix is flawed.
According to the BASIC Prog I stole the code from the first 20 characters should be CHR$(0) which are for autosensing
The code I provided originally workes ONLY when a message had already been sent SUCCESFULLY to the sign previously (Therefore Autosensing ALREADY took place)
Apologies for the misunderstanding.
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Ok - just 'cos I'm lazy (and the alpha protocol is a 15meg pdf text file!) what does the \n do?
Once I get some control info going for Betabrite owners it would be good if people could have a play with various effects (if you know how) to see what looks best as I'll be doing this blind....
all this makes me want to get my hands on a betabrite myself......
The \n will make the betabrite display the data in two chunks.
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Okay,
two things:
1) Even after I exit the game, the name keeps showing up in the marquee. When a new game is selected, the name changes. Even after I exit mamewah, the name continues to show every so often.
2) Leaving spaces and adding effects in the beta brite software worked! Looks neat as the game appears a different way everytime. I don't want to talk about it! ( I see how much nicer your software is!)
Mamewah has an option in one of it's ini's for a "default" display - one that is shown while browsing the menus. With a basic LCD (which is the info which I provided to Minwah when he kindly added LCD support) this is easy - just stick some text in the ini and it will Display ("Welcome to Mamwah. Choose Game" or whatever). You would need to add the control characters for this to work right with a betabrite I think. Its probably easiest to add another lcd file (default.lcd) or whatever - as I imagine its a very easy job for Minwah to add. I will email and ask him.
re: your second point. I can add spaces/effects easily enough to my software. I also note that Betabrite protocol has a "random" control to make each text appear in a different manner....
I havent checked your latest version of LCDGen however For the Record my STATIC output Prefix is flawed.
According to the BASIC Prog I stole the code from the first 20 characters should be CHR$(0) which are for autosensing
Ah good I'm glad you confirmed that I was getting very confused why it was working with what you provided as according to the protocol it really shouldn't. Anyway, It's only the first 5 characters accorded to the protocol. I will try and base the next release off the protocol to see if that works ok.
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The \n will make the betabrite display the data in two chunks. One before the \n, and one after. For example, if the data was "Road Blastersssssssssssssssssss", and the data had a \n between the two words, it would display "Road" in the middle of the sign, then the word "Blasterssssss" would appear at the right of the sign, and scroll left until the entire word has been displayed.
Without the \n, the sign would display "Road Blasters" all at once, and then refresh the sign with updated colors (or whatever) and the same text.
ok. Well I can get it to add \n when the text is over a certain length (and this can be optional). How many characters long are these betabrites?
Silver, I can provide you with mpgs of the sign in action during different configurations.
Could be cool for others to see (and me!). I'll stick'em on my website if you like....
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Ok, new version is out. (0.97.2). Quite a lots changed so I expect there are some bugs.
I've rewritten the Betabrite stuff based on the alpha protocol - it should mean that there is no need for dynamic/static selecting. It will also kick out control info (8-way joystick) and button info to betabrites. These are all seperated by "\n" which I have to say does not seem to crop up in the alpha protocol, but seeing as its been reported here to work I've tried it.
I've also added a drop down list of all the betabrite fancy display modes I could find. I'm sure some of these will not work with some models - let me know how it goes. It defaults to the various/random option. The previous hardcoded one was the 2nd one in the list - just holding still.
I've also added an option for ArcadeOS support. This option is only available when using Betabrites, and is untested. It makes a right looking List.LCD file with all the info but arcadeOS does not allow unprintable ascii characters within the List.LCD file and has its own substitutions which I've used, but not tested at all. It will currently only ouput the "random" type display for text.
I've also made a couple of self-extracting archives for the VB6 runtime files and another for the MsXML files needed to run. HOPEFULLY they will work now I'm not relying on the self-packaging installer. Although I'm practically expecting this one to fail....
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I tried the new version, and it shot "oooooooooooooooo" scrolling on the sign no matter what game. A continuous line of those.
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Silver, I'll test tonight.
I tried the new version, and it shot "oooooooooooooooo" scrolling on the sign no matter what game. A continuous line of those.
Could you explain a bit? What settings did you use? It's possible that thiis isn't a problem, and you just picked that one game called "oooooooooooooooo" :)
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I tried the new version, and it shot "oooooooooooooooo" scrolling on the sign no matter what game. A continuous line of those.
Confirmed bug, fix on the way.
Edit: Fixed, new version up without all the "ooooo"
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Allright, here's is where I'm at:
1) Controls now show up
2) A Double name game does not show up together(i.e. golden tee 2k shows up as; (golden) (tee 2k\ntrackball) (\n1:???\n2:???\n) - EDIT: where the smileys are, is where the 3?'s are supposed to be.
3) As I showed above, that \n is behind everything.
4) Off the lcd part for a sec, it seems as though not very many games are getting their button controls read. Is it just an uncomplete controls.dat or something?
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mccoy,
Let me know if i'm getting this right:
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Answers:
1) I do have a 213c
2) I couldn't tell you on that one
I don't know why they are there, but they are. I bought this sign in the first quarter of this year. So, I would presume the firmware is fairly new.
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When you first boot up the sign, the firmware version should flash briefly on the sign.
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It says: 1036400ie
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Ok bit of confusion about the whole "\n" thing.
Is it actually showing up in the sign? Would make sense as far as the protocol concerned, as it does not mention \n anywhere.
\n as one character? Not sure I follow - by definition \n is two ascii characters backslash and n. (ascii decimal 92 and 110)
unless you mean ^N which is one of the unprinatble control characters (ascii 14) and ^N is just a representation (its just 1 character).
Anyway - I have to say I'm very happy stuff is displaying. I can remove/change the /n really easily. although not till tomorrow..... ;D
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There are only three things I can see:
1) A two name title does not stay together. The second part of the name is attached to the controls.
2) Yes, "\n" is showing up on everything. I take it that was used for spacing?
3) The issue with mamewah when you exit the game. The display continues to display the last game even after mamewah is exited.
Other than that, no probs.
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Ok bit of confusion about the whole "\n" thing.
Is it actually showing up in the sign? Would make sense as far as the protocol concerned, as it does not mention \n anywhere.
\n as one character? Not sure I follow - by definition \n is two ascii characters backslash and n. (ascii decimal 92 and 110)
unless you mean ^N which is one of the unprinatble control characters (ascii 14) and ^N is just a representation (its just 1 character).
Anyway - I have to say I'm very happy stuff is displaying. I can remove/change the /n really easily. although not till tomorrow..... ;D
Silver '\n' is how the character for newline is denoted in software (especially C/C++/Java).
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Silver -- I have those mpgs we were talking about.
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One more thing...if you need to edit these files directly I would suggest something like emacs. After manually editing in emacs, the .lcds still work with the betabrite.
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Ok new fix up that should sort out the whole \n thing. Misunderstanding mainly my fault....
Amusingly enough the ArcadeOS output would/should have worked fine as that automatically changes \n to "newline". (AOS is coded in C I belive). Sadly I've not got much beyond printing Hello World in C.... :(
Silver -- I have those mpgs we were talking about. I don't have the sign setup in my cab just now, so they're just videos of the sign on the floor :(
Cool - feel free to email them to me and I'll stick them up on my site....
1) A two name title does not stay together. The second part of the name is attached to the controls.
3) The issue with mamewah when you exit the game. The display continues to display the last game even after mamewah is exited.
1) Ok this must be the Betabrite automatically spacing out the game name (I'll check my code though). I'm sure there is a way round this I'll take a look.
3)Should not be too hard to fix - I'll look into it.
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The name only separated with the second .exe from your site. If that helps anything.
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Hmmm ok then it could be something to do with me re-writing the header making it behave differently....
Just to be sure, if you set the display option to "Message Remains Stationary" in the drop down list, does it still split the game name?
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4) Off the lcd part for a sec, it seems as though not very many games are getting their button controls read. Is it just an uncomplete controls.dat or something?
Sorry missed this before.
Yes the controls.Dat project does not cover all games. It covers a lot - around 2500 of the more popular titles (including clones). Leaves around 1/3 of mame games unsupported, and there is another 15% or so that are unplayable anyway.
Would it be preferable to have an option to not add control info if it is not available?
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Update on Mamewah:
The most recent beta of Mamewah allows you to use an external file to display LCD text. This should allow you to display anything you like while choosing a game.
Place a file called emuname.lcd in your lcd dir, e.g. mame.lcd. This will be displayed when in mamewah (ie after you exit a game).
I've attached a sample that should work on betabrites. Rename mame.txt to mame.lcd. Note you can edit any normal game.lcd file but remember to use an editor that won't mess up the control characters...
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Would it be preferable to have an option to not add control info if it is not available?
Yes.
And I'll email the mpegs to you. I don't think I'll be able to do it tonight though. Tomorrow is the best bet.
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New issue. With the find the Howard made, (-ftr 1), beta brite is not picking up the games. Also, the game is still stuck to the type of joystick with no space. I haven't tried mamewah's beta yet, but will very soon.
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New issue. With the find the Howard made, (-ftr 1), beta brite is not picking up the games. Also, the game is still stuck to the type of joystick with no space. I haven't tried mamewah's beta yet, but will very soon.
You lost me here - betabrite not picking up the games? how are you sending it to the LCD? From Mamewah? It stops working when you add -ftr 1 to the mame command line? Can you add -ftr 1 to the mame.ini?
I'll look into the other problem
Have you used the latest beta 0.97.22? It produces the 'joystick' info on a seperate line in the file - so it should be coming up seperately on the betabrite.
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You lost me here - betabrite not picking up the games? how are you sending it to the LCD?
I'm using the lcd files to send everything. Same as usual.
It stops working when you add -ftr 1 to the mame command line?
Yes.
Can you add -ftr 1 to the mame.ini?
Yes.
Have you used the latest beta 0.97.22? It produces the 'joystick' info on a seperate line in the file - so it should be coming up seperately on the betabrite.
I am, but the second part of a name is connected to the joystick without any spaces. That thread about the ftr 1 is here:
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=41771.msg381724#msg381724
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Could you post a lcd file - say sf2.lcd (renamed to sf2.txt so you can post it here).
The -ftr 1 issue sounds confusing. Mamewah is responsible for the LCD stuff, it has nothing to do with mame, so either there is a bug in Mamewah that does not copy out the text when ftr is present (very odd). When you say ftr is in mame.ini, does mamewah have its own mame.ini? (been a while since I used it!)
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Here it is:
?00AA oStreet Fighter II - The World Warrior
8-way Joystick
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Now I just played one of the SF and the name came up, so I am not sure what is going on. And yes, mamewah does have its own mame.ini
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Well as you can see the controler is placed on a different line than the name - thats what the "/n" character discussed earlier is doing. - which is why I was surprised you were getting the controller next to the game name....
If there are any games that are doing it for you let me know and post the file here so I can investigate.
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Every game is doing the title thing.
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Glad the showing up issue has resolved.
Slightly confused re: the controller tag following on the name tag - is this happening with every game? Did you say it was ok with sf?
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It is happening on every game. That first beta you made with the controls worked properly except for the \n. Everyone since then has had the name split up with the type of control directly attached to the last word in the title. i.e. tetris grand masters8way joystick.
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Ok thanks for testing and getting back. I'll throw together a new version tonight...
It seems that the betabrite sign is splitting names at every space, and ignoring the 'newline' character, which I'm guessing is not Ideal. I'll look for a way round this....
I have no idea how my 1st beta worked as that had the spaces, and "/n". Hmmm.
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Heres a quick test exe. This will probably not fix the gaps between the game titles but hopefully will seperate all the controls off - let me know if it works!
rename from .txt to .exe
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I'm having trouble locating the mamewah beta you mentioned Silver. Do you know where it is posted? If you don't know off the top of your head, I'll PM minwah about it.
Thanks.
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Pkurby, check out the mamewah boards at mameworld.net. That is where minwah has it.
Silver, the titles are fixed now. Is it possible to add an option that if the controls are unknown, they won't be shown? That would be sweet as it seems most of the games I play are not.
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Ok, glad the titles are fixed. I've kept the fix in the new version:
I've added an option to only display controls if they are in controlsDat. (ie so if they showed ??? before they are now not shown at all). Currently I've also removed all neo-geo games when you tick this option as they all just show "A,B,C,D" anyway. (99% of neogeo games have ingame descriptions of the controls). If this is an issue with anyone let me know....
Grab it here: http://www.silverfoxy.plus.com/LCD/lcd97.3.exe, let me know what I've missed etc.... ;)
PS: Netcat (If your still following this thread!) - anychance you could change the title of the thread to include "and Mamewah" at the end? Based on a email I've had it seems someone missed the thread as they were mamewah only but had a betabrite....
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Silver,
Everything is working great. I don't have the balls to tackle mameway 1.62 right now. I tried it a little last night and I'm gonna wait a few days to see the hows it goes it. Thanks again for all the hard work. I love it.
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No problem...
and I know what you mean about the new mamewah - seems to be loads of config stuff to do!
If things are working good it would be cool to see some pics at some stage....
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I have undertaken attaching my CPU to the cabinet. So, it could be a minute before I'm ready. I do have a couple picks, including my main one, displaying the sign in action @
www.ohiostate.photosite.com
(http://www.ohiostate.photosite.com/~photos/tn/581_1024.ts1124320000000.jpg)
Is there any hope sending the text for mamewah's layout screen with 1.61? I know chances are slim, I thought I would ask!
Silver is the man!!! ;D
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Wow that does look real nice!
I take it from the pic the game titles are not split up any more - excellent!
Mamwah 1.61 - well lets have a stab at it:
In the Mamewah/ini/mame.ini file in there should be a couple of lines:
lcd_display_file_path *your lcd path here*
lcd_fe_text
After lcd_fe_text try adding:
?00AA oSelect Game
Note that may not post well at all, or not be copyable, so I've also placed it in an attached txt file. Copy and paste from that into the mamewah mame.ini - you may find notepad does not do it right, and you find that mamewah will choke.
EDIT: I've done some reading up on the protocol, and it looks like there's a way that is more likely to work. We can change the above nasty characters to something that notepad and mamewah should like fine. Try copy and pasting this instead:
]!?00]"AASelect Games]$
The drawbacks are 1) apparantly you must set the baud rate to 9600 for this, as without the weird characters the sign can't detect the baud rate. I'm not convinced thats true - especially if you've already sent 1 message beforehand - so give it a shot on any baud. 2) There's no option to control how this text is displayed (flashing snowing effect or whatever) but that should not be an issue as those options will still work for all the games....
hope it works. (Man, I have GOT to get me one of these signs - just not seeing any available over in the UK...)
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I'll give it a shot tonight and report back. Thanks for the work. Give Ebay a shout for the sign. Model #213c. Fits perfect in my 27" wide cab.
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Silver,
Is it possible to have this for other emulators? What about Video Pinball? Just asking.
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Ok new version up again - 98.1. Get it here:
http://www.silverfoxy.plus.com/LCDGen.html
This one lets you do all the 'show only buttons with info' stuff for non-betabrite displays, it also allows you to use the flashy betabrite display options in the ArcadeOS ouput.
It also adds an option for non-mame emus. Seeing as I don't know any emus that have listinfo/controlsDAT info available, this currently works off the filename. Although looking at the Visual Pinball tables the files are all fully named (unlike mames 8 characters only).
So for the file: 'aztec (williams) (1976).zip'
you will get a file: 'aztec (williams) (1976).lcd'
which will display 'aztec'
if you have the remove clone info selected. Leaving clone info in will display 'aztec (williams) (1976)'.
I've not looked into frontend support for this yet, though I see no reason why it won't work.
This addition is probably broken atm for ArcadeOS output....
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When making lcd's for other emu's, do I just list the rom folder as the mame path, and place them in my mame lcd folder? A little insight would be great.
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Good News
d ba and :-\
The program worked for everything. Genesis, NES, SNintendo, N64, VPinball, Daphne, MAME, and Gameboy Advance. That is the great news.
Another piece of good news, then the bad. I was able to use "]!?00]"AANintendo - Select Game]$, and it worked like a champ. Very, very nice!!!
Now, this isn't as bad as killing my puppy, but its close............
1. The zinc list did not display the nice game names, just the abbreviated ones. I guess I need to know if I need an xml for those or what.
2. When I added this to my mamewah mame.ini, ]!?00]"AAM.A.M.E. - Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator - Select Game]$ , the betabrite worked, but it totally screwed something up. When I started a game, I got a black screen and at the bottom I could see the line of the windows start bar minimalized. When I moved the mouse to the bottom, the start bar came up, I could select the mame tab with the mouse as if back in windows, and the game popped up and ran like normal and exited like normal. Mame worked properly from command line, so it is something inside mamewah. But nothing changed except that lcd text?! ??? So, again, the problem arrises when I attempt to start a mame game in mamewah, the rest is fine. Any ideas? :'(
I have made three videos. It is sort of funny because the first is me excited to see it working, the second is me starting a game and noticing resolution is not right. The third is me demonstrating the black screen problem, but the resolution issue is not there. You can see the windows start bar at the bottom of the black screen in the third video.
Video 1: http://media.putfile.com/sprograminaction
Video 2: http://media.putfile.com/Betabriteerror1
Video 3: http://media.putfile.com/Betabriteerror2
Edit: I restarted my computer and the problem was solved. I don't have an explanation for what happened. One last question for tonight. Can I get the betabrite to change with each emulator? As it is now, I have to select a game first in the next emulator to get the switch. Kind of a bummer. BTW, this far exceeds my expectations.
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I have a Alpha 4120C sign...
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The program worked for everything. Genesis, NES, SNintendo, N64, VPinball, Daphne, MAME, and Gameboy Advance. That is the great news.
Excellent! Luckily I think most of these roms are named by there full names...
1. The zinc list did not display the nice game names, just the abbreviated ones. I guess I need to know if I need an xml for those or what.
Hmm yes zinc uses the mame roms naming convention. On the plus side, this means you could just go to the mame lcd folder, select all the games in zinc (lukily not loads if I recall?) and copy those files straight into your zinc lcd..folder....
...ooh wait(!) - I think all the games in zinc are in mame, and named the same, SOOO in theory all you need to do is use the mame listinfo/controlsDAT (probably just listinfo thinking about it), point the roms dir to your ZINC roms dir - leave the 'Non-Mame' checkbox UNCHECKED (ie pretend its mame) and it should create the correct names based on the mame info. (This only works for zinc beacause I believe they have 100% copied the mame naming). Give it a shot..
Glad your weird problem got solved. And glad the workaround '[$' stuff works.
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I have a Alpha 4120C sign... is there anything I can do with this? Anything I can do with both lines? Maybe the name of the game on the first line, and other info on the second?
Hi, I believe you are in luck - the betabrites are actually based on the Alpha protocol language and I can see a 4120 as being listed in the protocol documents.
Give it a try - I think you will find it will work straight off.
regarding the 2 lines - yes. There are options I think to let info be displayed. I think I've left it at default in the current command codes - so you may find info gets spread automatically.
As I can't test any of this (I don't have a sign) you'll have to give it a shot and feedback the problems (likely!) and I'll have a stab at getting it sorted...
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Ok Quick one: New Release, 0.98.2.
http://www.silverfoxy.plus.com/LCDGen.html
This adds a "Fill lines" command to all the BetaBrite ouput so that if you have more than 1 line, all available lines should be used to display. This should not effect 1-line signs at all.
@Chazz
This may not be quite what you are after, as I suspect it will cycle through all the info using your 2 lines. I presume from what you said you wanted the game name on the top line to stay there and the other info cycle on the bottom line?
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@Chazz
This may not be quite what you are after, as I suspect it will cycle through all the info using your 2 lines. I presume from what you said you wanted the game name on the top line to stay there and the other info cycle on the bottom line?
Hiya Silver,
That's pretty much what I was looking into, having the title of the game only on the top line while all the other info is scrolled on the second line.
Thanks for all the great work!
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Silver, what do you think about this issue:
Can I get the betabrite to change with each emulator? As it is now, I have to select a game first in the next emulator to get the switch.
When I launch mamewah, the emulator running has its message sent, but not when I switch emulators.
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I have another question... how do I connect the sign from the RS232 port to a COM port? Is there a cable I can either buy or build?
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Silver, what do you think about this issue:
Can I get the betabrite to change with each emulator? As it is now, I have to select a game first in the next emulator to get the switch.
When I launch mamewah, the emulator running has its message sent, but not when I switch emulators.
I'm guessing that this is because Mamwah has not been setup to send out the message on an emu change. I will email Minwah and ask about this.
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I have another question... how do I connect the sign from the RS232 port to a COM port? Is there a cable I can either buy or build?
rs232 is basically a protocol - it is used by the com port to send serial data. (Our messages in this case).
What type of connector is on your sign? Some signs have there own com port, or its not hard to make one/get one made...
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Silver, what did minwah say?
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He can't actually remember how its setup up at the moment, but he has promised to take a look when he relesases his next beta (it will be v1.62b2).
We'll have to try that one I think.
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I've got my sign all set up now and I can send messages using the AlphaNet software it came with, but I can't send any messages in DOS or Mamewah. Anyone have any tips on what I could be missing?
Thanks a million!!
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There settings in the ini files in mamewah where you can specify the directory of all your LCD files, as well as the com port settings you are using.
Check earlier in this post/other post I think it was mentioned.
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Has anyone had the opportunity to see if the betabrites are working properly in the new mamewah 1.62? I have set up the program to an extent, but I keep waiting out the betas as there are new ones often. I just wanted to make sure that the sign is changing when the emulator was changed. Thanks fellas.
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This is how I have my COM1 set in DOS:
Status for device COM1:
-----------------------
Baud: 9600
Parity: None
Data Bits: 8
Stop Bits: 1
Timeout: OFF
XON/XOFF: OFF
CTS handshaking: OFF
DSR handshaking: OFF
DSR sensitivity: OFF
DTR circuit: ON
RTS circuit: ON
I've added these lines to my MAMEWAH.INI file
lcd_com_port 1
lcd_settings 9600,n,8,1
And these lines in my MAME.INI file in the INI folder in MAMEWAH:
lcd_display_file_path d:\neogeo\mameplus\lcd
lcd_fe_text GAME OVER
am I on the right track?
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Looks promising. If you mean "pure" dos rather than a dos box, then I'm not sure exactly what you need - for example I know that in XP it is possible to just wire up the 'send' wire on the com port and it will still send it. I suspect that in DOS the rs232 connector would have to be fully wired, but I'm not completely sure.
The lcd_fe_text may not work as you have it, as you will probably have to send 'control characters' along with the text for the sign to understand. This can be done - there is a post somewhere in here or the other thread about someone having success with this. Newer versions of Mamewah (the current beta's) have changed so that the lcd_fe_text can be kept in a seperate file like all the others (this is useful as it can be tricky to include control characters inside mamewah's ini file. However, as mentioned, it can be done for betabrites)
If you open a dosbox, can you copy a text file (or lcd file from my program) to the sign? eg "copy test.lcd com1:".
I presume you are using the right settings as the alpha software works.
Make sure you can get it working just by copying a text file to the com port before you try with mamewah (where there is more to go wrong!)
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SUCCESS!!!
Title works perfect! Controls work perfect! Looks amazing! Thanks for all the hard work Silver!
(pics coming soon!)
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excellent glad to hear it - dis you have a 2 line display? does it use both?
I seem to recall changing the defaults to use all the lines (as it should not be an issue if its only 1 line) but can't quite remember....
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Both lines on the sign work. If the title is too large for one line it's split into two lines which looks very nice. If the title fits on one line, then the title is on the top line, and the first line of the controls is on the second line, then the following controls show up using both lines.
I'll have some pics tonight (I hope) that will show what it looks like.
I'd still be interested in having the title of the game only on the first line while all other info scrolls vertically on the second line.
So what's in the future for this project? Anything we can do with the History.dat file? Sometimes there's some interesting trivia and info in there.
Thanks again!
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Ah good....
Well I'm happy to keep tweaking things as people request - also it looks like theres a strong possibility I may get my hands on a betabrite in the next couple of months... which will really help for adding/sorting out any issues with signs like yours.
I've got a couple of requests I'll be working on when I get time:
Add support for Crystalfontz LCD (in progress)
Adding ArcadeOS support to non-betabrite displays.
Adding option to NOT display the game name (only makes sense when you see the pics of the guy with a betabrite AND an LCD on his cab - very cool)
Adding support to control different lines independantly.
My main issue at the moment is time, and the fact that as this program was originally a quick and dirty app for my little old LCD, and I'm not the worlds best programer, the code is pretty messsy - its' half branched for each display, and half not. Works ok, but then gets really confusing when I try to tie in things like ArcadeOS output... that'll teach me...)
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ok I need help i cannot get my beta brite 1040 to work with MAMEWAH. I used silvers directions to get all the files setup and they are all good, i have a full LCD file now. I have used the MAMEWAH config tool to setup mamewah, and have my com port setup like this: 9600, even,4,1
I changed my MAMEWAH ini config file path to my LCD directory, and NOTHING...It is really frustrating me here!
Also silver, i have not forgotton you, i will get your sign out to you ASAP.
Thanks,
Ken
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I've also run into another problem.
I had my two line Alpha sign running perfectly, but I'd rather use this sign for another project I'm working on, and use my ProLite sign with Mamewah to display the game title since I only need one line to do that.
The sign works perfectly with the TruLite software, but nothing is working with Mamewah.
Is there some settings I should be using with the LCD Gen program to make it work with this sign?
Any suggestions would be great!
Thanks!!!
~ Chazz
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Hey Chazz, can you email me a copy of your MAMEWAH.ini file and your mame.ini file for teh sign you had working? maybe your INI config will get my sign working?? I really do not know what else to do. It should be working and all i get is the beta brite "default"startup thing. PLEASE someone help me here as I REALLY WANT to get this working as it is my LAST thing to complete my project!
Thanks,
Ken
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Hi Ken,
Here's my Mamewah settings
This is in my Mamewah.ini file:
lcd_com_port 1
lcd_settings 9600,n,8,1
This is in my mame.ini file in the ini folder in Mamewah:
lcd_display_file_path d:\neogeo\mameplus\lcd
I'll be around the computer most of the evening, so let me know if there's anything I can do to help get you going.
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Chazz - the Prolite sign is not a betabrite and uses a different protocol, hence the lcd files for a betabrite won't work with it.
I can take a quick look to see if the protocol is available and easy to addt...
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Thanks for taking a look into this for me Silver.
http://wls.wwco.com/ledsigns/prolite/
This site has a ton of info on the ProLite that might be of some help. (including some cheesy graphics I did for the ProLite signs).
Thanks again Silver!!
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Ok, I am beyond frustrated with this thing already. My INI matches yours and i still get nothing on my sign. My LCD directory is full of LCD files, my sign is hooked up and nothing!! PLEASE SOMEONE HELP ME!! I am ready to throw this thing off a freaking bridge!!!! Man all i want is a scrolling Marquee and NOOOOOOO...it's gotta fight me tooth an nail!! Chazz thanks for the help, if you figure anything else out let me know!!
Thanks everyone in advance,
Ken
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Hi Ken,
Have you checked your COM1 port settings? It should look something like this:
Status for device COM1:
-----------------------
Baud: 9600
Parity: None
Data Bits: 8
Stop Bits: 1
Timeout: OFF
XON/XOFF: OFF
CTS handshaking: OFF
DSR handshaking: OFF
DSR sensitivity: OFF
DTR circuit: ON
RTS circuit: ON
-
hey Chazz, how did you get that status of your com port?
-
Ken,
Go into DOS and type:
mode com1:9600,n,8,1
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ok Chazz, i checked out the status of my com1 port, amd got teh exact thing you got. I still have no idea what the heck is wrong.
-
Ken,
Here is my mame.ini inside of mamewah:
### 000_mame.ini (mamewah v1.61) ###
emulator_title M.A.M.E.
### List Generation Settings ###
rom_path C:\mame\roms
rom_extension zip
dat_file
nms_file
catver_ini_file C:\Mamewah 1.61b\catver\catver.ini
list_generation_method rom_folder_vs_listxml
### Execution Settings ###
emulator_executable C:\mame\mame.exe
commandline_format "[rompath]\[name].[romext]"{dosbox}{nosafelaunch}
alt_commandline_format_1 [name]{autodosbox}{nosafelaunch}
alt_commandline_format_2 [name]{autodosbox}{nosafelaunch}
game_specific_config_path
### Artwork Locations ###
artwork_1_image_path C:\mame\Snap
artwork_2_image_path C:\mame\marquees
artwork_3_image_path C:\mame\titles
artwork_4_image_path C:\mame\cpanel
artwork_5_image_path
artwork_6_image_path
artwork_7_image_path
artwork_8_image_path
artwork_9_image_path
artwork_10_image_path
movie_preview_path C:\mame\movies
movie_artwork_no 1
### Screen-Saver Settings ###
enable_music_in_screensaver 1
saver_type launch_scr
movie_path C:\Mamewah 1.61b\ssmovie
movie_fullscreen 1
quit_delay 30
wrapper_executable
wrapper_commandline_format [name]
scr_file C:\Mamewah 1.61b\ssmovie\ms_pacman.scr
### External Application Settings ###
ipc_file_or_path
app_1_executable c:\j5viewer\j5.bat
app_1_commandline_format [name]
app_2_executable
app_2_commandline_format
app_3_executable
app_3_commandline_format
auto_launch_apps 0
### Additional Settings ###
music_path
lcd_display_file_path C:\mame\Betabrite\lcdpath
lcd_fe_text ]!?00]"AAArcade Games Select Game]$ Mame
### Settings used by MAMEWAH ###
current_list 1
Here is my mamewah.ini:
### mamewah.ini (mamewah v1.61) ###
### (Global) Screen-Saver Options ###
delay 300
slide_duration 3
### Audio Options ###
enable_sounds 1
sound_volume 100
music_path
enable_music 1
music_volume 100
### Movie Options ###
intro_movie_file
exit_movie_file
keep_movie_preview_aspect game_aspect
delay_before_movie_preview 2
music_movie_mix merge
movie_volume 100
### Misc Options ###
layout Current
ctrlr
wrap_list 0
remember_current_game 1
keep_image_aspect 0
refresh_images 0
correct_orientations horizontal
safe_mode 0
show_cursor 0
keyboard_led_states -,-,-
winipac_file
mamewah_ipc_file
lcd_com_port 1
lcd_settings 9600,n,8,1
exit_action choice
app_to_run_on_exit
### Settings used by MAMEWAH ###
current_emulator 005_playstation
locked 0
last_ipc
I hope this helps
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Ok, I think i have found the problem, I edit the mame.ini file in mamewah to reflect teh lcd path and text, i save it. then i run mamewah, and still nothing happens, when i exit out of mamewah, i got right to teh INI folder in mamewah and look at the mame.ini file, and it DOES NOT have teh lcd path and text in it. Now my question is why? How do i get the mame.ini file IN mamewah to save the changes for teh lcd i put it in? eveything else is on teh money, i have the com setting in my mamewah.ini and they saved no problem, I just need to figure out how to get the changes for the lcd to save in the mame.ini file in mamewah. Any ideas here guys? I think this is it, and if i can get over thiis hump. i think i am done, i have got everything working great, and i love it, this is the last and final piece to this puzzle! Please help me figure this out!
Thanks again,
Ken
-
umm, what does 'teh' mean?
-
Ok, I think i have found the problem, I edit the mame.ini file in mamewah to reflect teh lcd path and text, i save it. then i run mamewah, and still nothing happens, when i exit out of mamewah, i got right to teh INI folder in mamewah and look at the mame.ini file, and it DOES NOT have teh lcd path and text in it.
The ini files are only text files. Open the file in notepad, make the changes, save and close. If it won't save the file must be read-only, but in which case you would get a message to say so.
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it will not save it, and it is not read only. I checked via the properties thingy. I have edited it many times and everytime i REOPEN it, it reverts back to NOT having the LCD file path and the LCD text thing. I am stumped here, I have EVERYTHING working great now, i just need this one little thing!
Chazz...Teh...The...just a very late and tired typest!
-
it will not save it, and it is not read only. I checked via the properties thingy. I have edited it many times and everytime i REOPEN it, it reverts back to NOT having the LCD file path and the LCD text thing. I am stumped here, I have EVERYTHING working great now, i just need this one little thing!
I can't think of any reason for text files not to save. Make sure you've restarted your pc and also try a different text editor.
As a last resort I suppose you could transfer the file to another pc and see if that works.
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ok, now this is really goofy, I just edited it again but NOT the lcd thread, just some other changes, i saved it and those changes WERE saved, it seems it is JUST the LCD file and text lines that will not save! Man this is weird!
-
Make sure mamewah is not running while you edit it....?
-
Hi Silver,
Did you get a chance to check out any of the info from that site on the ProLite sign? Is this do-able? Anything I can do to help?
(not trying to be a impatient pest, just a curious pest ;D)
I'm on vacation next week so this would give me something to do.
Thanks a billion!
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Ok, i solved teh saving the INI file by using teh "Save as" command, so all my INI are the way they should be, however i still cannot get teh beta brite to work. Anymore ideas?
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I would try to send a signal to the betabrite through another program. I believe it was netcat who first mentioned this on here. If you search, you should be able where he linked to a home made page that you could see what he used to test it.
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Hey Ken,
Are you sure of your COM settings for the sign? On my Alpha sign it's 9600,n,8,1 but on my ProLite it's 300,n,8,1. I think Netcat mentioned his sign was 4800,e,7,1
Do you know what model number your sign is? Do you have any other software that you use the sign with? Do they have settings for the COM port there?
Have you tried sending one of the LCD files to the sign in DOS? I think the command is COPY file.LCD > COM1
This might confirm that you have the settings in Mamewah wrong.
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Hey guys,
Just wanted to thank everyone for all their help getting my signs set up. Here's a few pics of what I've been doing with them.
(http://ca.geocities.com/lithiumdesign@rogers.com/neogeo/ng1.jpg)
(http://ca.geocities.com/lithiumdesign@rogers.com/neogeo/ng2.jpg)
(http://ca.geocities.com/lithiumdesign@rogers.com/neogeo/ng3.jpg)
(http://ca.geocities.com/lithiumdesign@rogers.com/neogeo/ng4.jpg)
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Wow! That is freaking awesome! Great job man! Aces!
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Here's a page with all the graphics I've done for the bottom sign.. The top sign uses the lcd files and shows the name of the game.
http://ca.geocities.com/lithiumdesign@rogers.com/lcdart/lcdart.htm (http://ca.geocities.com/lithiumdesign@rogers.com/lcdart/lcdart.htm)
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wow that looks awesome! Does the art automatically change on the bottom sign?
-
Yup, the still images automatically change and scrolls through all the images, but I can only load one animated image at a time.