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Visual Pinball Plugin 1.0.2 What is it? If you use Visual Pinball/PinMAME, I don't have to tell you what a bummer it is when you fire up the rig for some hot Street Fighter pinball action and your guests stare at the table editor like deer in the headlights. Maybe it was a pain in the ass for you to set up too? I know it was for me! After I finally figured out how to load the tables, I couldn't exit them without a mouse. Yeah, I hear ya saying "well gee Adultery, there's an AutoIT loader for that". Sure there is, but I'd rather not get complicated with it. I just wanna set it up and play pinball. Enter the plugin. Basically you set up a couple things and let the plugin handle your "light work" for ya. Launch the table, a nice, pretty, and customizable form comes up and covers up the table editor, then goes away so you can play your game. Simple as that. I juiced it up some too... You can press [ESC] to get out of the emulator quickly and get back to picking new games to play! I won't get too technical on ya, but basically when you press [ESC], GetAsyncKeyState picks it up and sends the "Q" that quits to the editor. Then before ya know it, the process is stopped automagically and you're all set! No need for mapping anything! Well, except your play keys! LOL! I even took it a step farther and built in a nice pinball-ish LED font. Yay for fashion!!! That's it! Nothing to it, right? How do I use it? Three minutes or less and you're all set. Select your Visual Pinball emulator from the drop down list. Browse to the Visual Pinball EXE. Set your snap path that you'd like to show on the "cover" screen. (Yes! Animated GIFs are supported too!) Set a default snap for that rare occasion you don't have a snap to show off. Choose the background image you'd like to use. Select the color you want the text to be. Click "SAVE" or "PREVIEW" Go play, hassle free! Wow that's super easy! What if I find a bug? Report it here! Any questions? Ask away. Feel free to offer suggestions on how I can make it better. If some cool thing occurs to me or is suggested I'll happily post a beta here for you to try. I spent all day yesterday and all night last night testing and tweaking this (it's almost 10 AM and I've had it for the night). It's working perfectly now. Goodnight my friends! Download it here: Beta Version: There is currently no beta available for this plugin. NOTES: Special thanks to Tempest for his Visual Pinball wrapper... It served me well over the years. This plugin is sort of a tribute to that. I also want to recommend howardc's Visual Pinball Launcher. It really is sweet! If you haven't tried it... You should! Update 1.0.1 ensures compatibility with his awesome work.

Function Logger - 1.1.0 - What is it? It's a Plugin Development tool that does some logging of plugin data. If you need to know what event is triggered when, this tool is your friend! You can log everything, only events, only menu changes, and only inputs with a check in the appropriate box. Select the option to log GameData if you're tracking the GameExInfo variables, and select the UI Timer option to log GameEx timer ticks. I've been using this plugin for a while so I can learn my way around GameEx's PlugIn system, and I added an interface for the end user so you don't have to struggle to learn the ins and outs like I did my first time. How do I use it? Configure it, and enable it in the PlugIn Manager. By default (in its unconfigured state) it logs all activity and game data. What if I find a bug? Report it here! Any questions? Ask away. Feel free to offer suggestions on how I can make it better. Download it here: Download @ The GameEx Community Download Portal NOTES: I'm still working on enumerating the MenuChange event. If you use this and you get an "Unknown Menu!" popup in GameEx when you select an item, it would be helpful to me if you could post the menu number and the menu that was up on the screen at the time it was displayed so I can add it in to the MenuNumber enum in the plugin system. If you miss the popup, you can also find it in the log.

Thought I'd try and make it easier for would-be coders to "jump in" and get coding! It's not anything special, but if anyone needs it, here's a snap-in template for GameEx plugin creation. This ZIP file includes everything you need to get started, including: GameEx Plugin class, which is fully documented/updated for your coding pleasure. A log writing class (which is a modified version of Ben Baker's logging class... Thanks Ben!)An INI reading/writing class (which is a modified version of Ludvik Jerabek's INI class)A blank configuration formTo use it, all you need to do is put the uncompressed ZIP file in your Visual Studio 2010 Templates/Project Templates folder, start a new project, and select it from the list. All the settings have been set already (Strict:On, Target:x86, Framework:2.0). So... Get coding!!!!! Download it here.

It's done (for now). My grandmother just passed away two days ago, and my life is going to be nuts for the next couple weeks, so I wanted to finish this out and get it uploaded. I may release an update pack with new sounds, but I haven't decided yet... I kinda like the ones I use now so I didn't change them. I did have a thought about using some sounds from DK (thanks Drac!), but my mind isn't made up. If I do add or change anything, I'll release an update pack that you can unzip right to the theme's folder. I'm sure my cab will have new emus added to it, and I promise to put out the emubaks if and when that happens. You know me, I like giving back. As always, the emulator template PSD is in there for you to make your own, as is the PSD for creating your own controller layout for both Xbox and Xbox 360 pads (of course, you can always customize them to your liking. These are just the two default layouts I included). I didn't put my finished ones in, but if anyone wants them just say the word and I'll upload them. I haven't been able to see the AutoUpdate1.png in action since GameEx hasn't updated since I did it, but assuming that the progress bar overlays the middle it should be fine. I better give Tom a shout out for adding this customization. It really made my day! Now for the theme specs... It's hard coded at 1680x1050. You'll have to make adjustments to the theme.ini (and possibly some image scaling for a few elements) if you prefer a different resolution. All the images are nice and crisp AFAIK. If you find one that needs trimming, I'd be happy to fix it in an update. I also put some time in on the media bar, but if new tweaks come out I've got some optimization ideas for that too. This theme uses weather and the RSS Feed scroll, but I turned popup descriptions off. Again, you'll have to adjust the theme.ini if you want to use that feature. I think that covers it. My brain is all over the place lately. I have some sample snaps below, and I may decide to upload a YouTube video if I can figure out why FRAPS is killing GameEx. I tried not to make it too personal to my cab... I hope I succeeded! Questions or comments? Feel free to leave 'em. Enjoy! UPDATED PAGES: 12.29.12 12.07.13 THEME DOWNLOAD Download it from here! (94.5 MB) You can also download it directly from GameEx by clicking here. CONTROLLER IMAGES You can download the controller images I already made to go with this theme from here. (25.5 MB) There are 17 so far, and I am in the process of filling out the collection (I'm really only missing a handful). I'll post an update when I get them all done, or if I add more systems. PS: I want to thank Drac, Tom, HK, and Freq for all their help in making this theme (and my rig) come together. Glad you guys got the eye out for us! UPDATED 10/20/11: Added WiiWare EmubakFixed theme bug where weather, date/time, and about lines 1 & 2 not showingFixed the PSDs accordinglyIncluded the background image to use for your own custom emubaksAdjusted the AutoUpdate1.png to better accommodate the GameEx progress barFixed the popup description box not showing properly when enabled (note: this is still disabled by default in the theme.ini)UPDATED 10/24/11: Added controller images

Current version: 1.0.8 As the name says, it's a program for creating and editing MAP files. Some of the features include: Quickly and easily grab your files and make working (and attractive) MAP lists for your games.Parses lots of files really quickly!Options to remove bracketed text, replace patterns, left and right crop, capitalize titles.File naming options for the most frequently used DAT naming conventions! Naming conventions include:No-IntroADVANsCEneGood NameTOSECIntegrates GameEx's List Coloring options.Enable colorization in the right-click menu (This feature is disabled by default)Import your own region colorization themesEasily create your own colorization schemes in Notepad using an included XML as a template!Share your themes for others to download and add to their own setups!Map File Maker uses the Software Updater Framework to search for program updates!Stay ahead with the latest program version!Enable or disable automatic update checking in the right click menu (This feature is disabled by default)Includes an option to check now for updates for users who would rather not use automatic updating.Comprehensive editing tools to make your MAP creation experience moar awesome!Easily add and remove rows to your MAP file.Hide and show columns that you want to see. Your selection is saved for next time too!Clear columns with a single click!New MAP File Builder option!Build clean ROM sets based off your MAP file.Fast and easy file parsing/movingGenerates MISS and HAVE lists after process completesMAP/DAT importing options!Import existing MAP files with just a click!Integrated support for clrMAMEpro DAT files! Any questions or comments? Feel free to ask 'em. I also like feature requests. Download it here: draclabs.hfc-essentials.com :REQUIREMENTS: Windows XP or greater.NET Framework 4.0:THANKS/SHOUTS: Major props to Tempest for his Map File Magician, which was the inspiration for this simple program. If you're looking for something that's thick with great features, I highly recommend it. Tom @ GameEx for a great front end. If you're reading any of this, how bout some flag code blocks? The code's already in there waiting! Circo @ EmuMovies for hosting all my apps and having the best collection of artwork anywhere. The awesomeness of EmuMovies can't be over-stated! :CHANGELOG:

+10 for this!!! Let me add something, Draco: standard rules for eBook publishing do exist, and they are the same as for the "real" books. The fact is that you have even pages always to the left and odd pages always to the right. So title page or not, if you have a non-standard alignment with pages, you'll have your document messed up. In addition, I would add that most of the ebooks software I tried (even Adobe Reader) take this aspect into consideration when visualising the book in two-page mode. Adding an option for this, though, would be the ideal solution!!!

My guess is that the Title page is being presented as Page 1 (in real world, would be Page 0). What may be problematic for a resolution is that there isn't a set standard for eBook publishing. A fix to place the title or cover page of the eBook displayed and aligned right may resolve for some or most but may create a similar result to what you are experiencing in others that do not have a proper Title page or cover. I think that a proper fix would be to program this for a selectable option in the Setup Wizard under HTPC/Multimedia Settings > eBook Settings to "align right" the first or cover page.

Hope you guys like this one. When you select your games the cart labels will change to the game being played as well. [EDIT] Image removed!

Last.FM Data Machine v1.1.2 Working on session authentication now, so you can hook your account into the Data Machine (if you have one that is). There's some cool stuff you can do if you have a Last.FM account for sure. Download the latest version here: draclabs.hfc-essentials.net - zip file - rar file