ePSXe - can I disable in-game menu functions?

[Frostillicus]

OK, ePSXe is pretty cool.  And PSX games are dirt cheap at EBGAMES.  If you buy 2 used you get a used for free.  Rip the ISOs and re-sell them back(hey a few bucks is a few bucks ).

Here's my issue-  when I have my IPAC4 set to mame defaults and play any ePSXe game, the LALT (player1button2) brings up the ol' menu for "restore, minimize, close, etc etc" and freezes the game.  Is there ANY way to disable this feature in ePSXe?  I am running fullscreen but still get this menu.   Resolution is nice and low (arcadeVGA).  The gamepad remapping screen says my LALT key as LMENU.  hmm.

I currently have remapped the controls and reprogrammed the Ipac just to avoid this, but then some other console emulators don't run right (like the Z26 Mame-default build by PMF).  And I have to change everything else.  

Thanks for any insights....

[Sprucemoose]

I have the same problem and had to remap that button and remap all my emulators.  If there is a work around I would love to hear it.

[Chazz]

What's the easiest way to run epsxe from Lazarus?  Also is there a command line to run from CD?

Thanks!

[Xochi]

I have the same problem and had to remap that button and remap all my emulators.  If there is a work around I would love to hear it.

I thought the I-PAC could load a custom config from the command line? If that's the case, you could wrap ePSXe with a script that sets the I-PAC for ePSXe, loads ePSXe, and then on exit, reloads MAME keys. Everything but ePSXe could then stick with the MAME layout. This is how I'm planning on doing it.

[RetroBorg]

Frosty,

I don't know whether you can disable that feature in ePSXe or not but it seems to me that Xochi has got the right idea, there's info on the IPAC site on this.

http://www.ultimarc.com/winipac.html

You just need to make a simple batch file.

[Sprucemoose]

Thanks for the info.  This should work fine.  The only concern I have is that the programming of the buttons will take the first time.  Sometimes when I program the IPAC the first time, one or more of the buttons still need to be reprogrammed.  It could be a issue on my transfer speed set in Winipac.  

I'll try this and post my findings.

[Frostillicus]

I thought of doing automatic reprogramming of the ipac, I suppose I could try it out - I just assumed it would take a long time to reprogram since the graphic util takes forever to program it.  So I was trying to avoid it. *sigh* I guess I was just looking for an easy ePSXe solution.... thanks for the help

I'll post results next week (I'm nowhere near my cab now.... )

EDIT:  I was thinking about this a bit more, and how would you go about programming the ipac on the fly when you launch an epsxe game from a frontend?  usually it executes a simple command line and sends the rom name...or a wrapper and the rom name.  Would you have to use a batch file to program the ipac and then launch epsxe?  how would you pass on the rom name then?
 

[IIOIOOIOO]

Batch files take parameters. Don't recall the syntax off the top of my head, but it's VERY simple. It's like %1 %2 or some such. I used to use LOTs of bat files back in the days when you spent 90% of your productive time in DOS and 10% in windows.

[Howard_Casto]

You guys are skirting around the problem, which I've brought up several times.....  alt keys should not be used in your setup, period, end of story.  Not all games support them (mainly because it's a bad idea to do so).  And alt plus ctrl or enter ect causes windows to go crazy.  

Remove alt and adjust everything accordingly.  It's a lot of work, but you'll be better off in the long run.  

On an O.T. side-note.....  For those of you who wonder "Well then why do the mame devs use that layout?"

Well when mame was first being developed doom and early fps shooters were all the rage.  They copied that default layout. They also copied the menu system keys for the record.  The thing is those games ran in dos mode, so you could get away with using the alt key (no windows to confuse).  Unfortunately this ill-concieved tradition still lives.  

You can stop the madness, friends don't let friends use special keys in their layout.  Only you can prevent badly planned key setups.    

[Frostillicus]

I actually have the letter Y  mapped to what would otherwise be LALT.  The only problem is that some custom builds of other emulators (like z26)  use ALT as the main or 2nd button because it is 'standard mame default'.  Some are not configurable...  

[Howard_Casto]

my bad, i misread....

Then the only solution is to not use those emus. I know I abandoned modeler as soon as the games were added to mame.  z26 is very mame-like in it's compile steps, so you should be able to make your own build.  Custom builds are evil in that they are hacked to use new keys rather than putting in an option to change them.