headkaze

Please don't feel bad about that, I really appreciate your contribution (I have two U360's that I will be installing some time soon) so I will be using your plugin myself. The author of the library must have noticed your post about your plugin on BYOAC and mentioned it broke the licence. I said to him I would ask you to honor the licence, he didn't kick up a huge fuss about it, but I thought it was the right thing for me to do by making a post asking you. It's not about giving you grief honestly and noone would have noticed if the author of the library didn't see your post on BYOAC. There is also a benefit to this too, if you happen to drop development of the plugin it can still be continued and added upon. When I get my U360's I might even make an addition that everyone can benefit from. BTW If you need any help with anything C# related please don't hessitate to PM me, I'm always happy to help out. Again thanks for your plugin and contribution to the GameEx community AFAIK some GPL licences only require you to post changes to the source of the code under GPL. If you don't make any changes (to say a library in dll form) then your not required to include your source code that uses the compiled version of the library. But it depends on the version of GPL. Can anyone here clarify that?

You have a few double mappings for X-Arcade A. Your mapping keys as follows F1 D1 -> None Joy Up NumPad8 -> Up Joy Down NumPad2 -> Down Joy Left NumPad4 -> Left Joy Right NumPad6 -> Right Button 1 LControlKey -> LControlKey Button 2 LMenu -> NumPad2 Button 3 Space -> Space Space Bar LShiftKey -> LShiftKey 3 Z -> Z 4 X -> X 1 C -> D1 2 D5 -> D2 Left Alt D3 -> LMenu Pressing D3 will map to LMenu which then maps to NumPad2. Pressing LMenu will map to NumPad2 which then maps to Down. Both are examples of double mapping a key. Still I'm not sure why the down arrow is using NumPad 5. Are you using the latest version of WinUAE Loader (1.41)? I would try deleting your WinUAELoader.ini and set your ROM paths again and leave the defaults. Test the defaults first before you try remapping. BTW I wouldn't put the mouse into Port 0. WinUAE Loader automatically plugs in the mouse in Port 0 for games that use the mouse. So your better off having joysticks in Port 0 and Port 1 for two player games and let the wrapper plug in the mouse if the game needs it.

Can you post your WinUAELoader.ini file. Be careful not to double map input. If you map a key to a key that is already mapped to something it may cause this problem. The defaults have been carefully selected not to conflict with each other.

Absolutley, GameEx works with any arcade input device, whether that be X-Arcade, keyboard, IPAC's, KeyWiz, joystick, mouse, trackball, U360, MCE Remote etc. etc.

Pressing ALT should definately not cause the problem your experiencing. My guess is you have another button stuck down as ALT plus certain keys can do all sorts of things (Eg. Alt-Tab). I would check your wiring and also find a KeyCode program (like the one in GameEx's utilities section) and see if there is some key playing silly buggers.

I would say zipwrapper.exe -zip <path_to_zip> -ext <extension> -search <fn=filename/fd=filedate> -cmd <command_line_args> You wouldn't need to use the "Also Launch". All you need is to have a variable in zipwrapper. So here's an example. zipwrapper.exe -zip "C:\Emulators\Future Pinball\My Table.zip" -ext fpt -search fd -cmd "Future Pinball.exe" /open "<ROM>" /play /exit Notice the <ROM> that is the zipwrapper built in variable and you simply do a replace of <ROM> with the *.fpt file it finds in the archive. The way PleasureExtractor guesses the newest version of the fpt (since there are often a bunch of versions in the one archive) is using alphabetical sorting of the filenames. But you could have some extra command line options to specify the method of search (Eg. By filename, file date etc.) Not sure why you wouldn't have "dont overwrite existing files". The temp folder should be the users real temp folder, and there should be no files left in there after it's finished. That's Path.GetTempPath() in .NET. Run it from the user's temp folder then delete it later. It should be extracted into a folder and keep the existing file structure in the zip. Path.Combine() is what you would use when you get back the array of files from the extracted Zip file. Screw the menu, just have a few different methods of finding the best one. A menu is pretty easy to do anyway using .NET and GDI+ (System.Graphics namespace) Yep for this you would use System.Diagnostics.Process namespace. Very easy to launch a program then wait for it to finish (Process.Exited event). Again using the <ROM> variable to replace the command line with the appropriate game (sRunCommand = sCommandLine.Replace("<ROM>", sFoundROM)). That's not too hard to do in .NET (nothing is too hard for .NET hehe). This is how I would do it. When you extract a zip file to the user's temp folder, the class I've written returns an array of all the full paths to each file in the extracted folder. Next you go through each file and get the date/time stamp for each file (File.GetLastWriteTime()). Then when it's finished check each time/date stamp and any files changed or added, zip them up into a little archive and store them in a special sub folder (Eg. SaveState) in the wrapper's Application.Startup folder (ie. Path.Combine(Application.Startup, "SaveState")) using the same name as the original zip file. Next time it extracts the zip it will check this folder for a matching zip, if found it will extract this zip over the top of the one extracted to the user's temp folder thus restoring any hiscores or custom settings. From Path.GetTempPath(). Sounds like you have a pretty good understanding of how it should work. I know how you would do it in C#/VB.NET. I'm happy to help you with this sounds like it would be a fun challenge. Definately doable in .NET Let me know if you need any help. I've asked a few people on these forums to get into .NET and I'm happy to help people learn. Maybe we should keep the discussion of it open in this thread and post all the source code as we go so people can learn how to make a wrapper in .NET?

Nothing I know of that does all these things you've said. I think it's a good idea actually. Your better off using Visual Studio IMHO. Obviously PleasureExtractor does similar things like extract files and rename stuff, so some of the basic code to do what you need I already have. Just need to tweak it and write a bunch of extra stuff. I do code primarily in C# but if it's easier for you to code in VB.NET I can still help out there. AFAIK Hide Desktop is just a black window that pops up but I'm not 100% sure. That would explain why some software won't show with it turned on. I think as long as you BringWindowToTop() of Z order it should display over the Hide Desktop window. Anyway, if need be you can add a "Black Window" in the wrapper to hide the desktop yourself. Not sure why Tom doesn't have a timeout where the black window will disappear after a set amount of time. That would solve Hide Desktop not working for some games. Either way it can be solved in the wrapper easily enough. Not really as I use PleasureExtractor and just have everything already extracted. I have the original set on my other PC that updates the set then I just copy across the new files when there is an update. I would just say "buy a new HDD" But I'm happy to help you out with it though. I have a Zip library and example source in C# and VB.NET if you interested in going that way. Trust me on this, coding this in .NET will be a hell of a lot easier than coding it in vbs.

You know I think I might be wrong about KI and Tekken. I do know one of the Tekken's is terribly slow on my P4 3Ghz. But first 2 or so should run okay on a lower spec machine I think. KI might run on a lower spec machine I'm not sure. Anyone have it running on anything lower than a P4 3Ghz at decent FPS and a recent version of Mame? I was having a look at some old benchmarks but that might be because they're older versions of Mame. Taking a look at Pacman fps in MAME versions shows newer versions of Mame actually require a faster CPU for that game.

You need around a P4 3Ghz to run KI and Tekken at 100% AFAIK. Some games like blitz2k, blitz99 and carnevil actually need a Dual Core + Mame64 + 64-bit OS to run at any decent speed. Some of the seattle games even require an overclock of a Dual Core to 4 Ghz. Although quad cores don't really have any kind of benefit in Mame yet. Running GTA III is not really a good benchmark as it's natively written for the x86, that game will run okay on a low to medium spec machine and has hardware accellerated 3d graphics. You need a much higher spec machine for some games in Mame because they are emulated and software rendered. Video cards don't help Mame out that much. Future of Mame is definately going 64-bit with multi-core processors. It seems the 45 nm Dual Cores like the E8400/E8500 overclocked to 4Ghz+ running 64-bit Mame on a 64-bit OS seem to be the most affordable and best system to run Mame at the moment. You can check out some of the benchmarking going on here

Take a look in Accessability options in Control Panel and make sure StickyKeys is switched off. If that is turned on holding down ALT will show it's screen.

GameEx has a bunch of database's for other emulators. They contain GoodName, Name, Category, Date, Developer, NumPlayers and Description. Category, Date, Developer and NumPlayers can be used to sort games.

Sorry I've been meaning to "tend" to this thread and forgot about it. Not sure why settings are not saving for you and I can't imagine remote desktop being the cause. When it doesn't save perhaps check the PluginLCD.log file for any errors. "State" determines if the control is lit or not lit and "Always Active" forces it to be lit. "Always Active" is for profiles like "GameEx" so you can set things like admin buttons (Exit/Pause etc.) to always stay lit. In the "Mame" profile you might have Start and Coin buttons set to "Always Active" as another example.

FYI You can go to explorer right click on the virtual drive and click properties. There is a tab called "AutoPlay". There you can set everything to "Take no action".

Check out BootLogo here where I've already included a simple Mame logo with animation bar.

Hehe you got me. Before I knew what that site was! Thanks for the heads up

If you include everything in the archive found here which is the library I believe you used along with a folder containing your source code then I'm sure it should be fine.

I wrote a reply to the other now closed Kaillera thread but I hit some damn button and lost it before I posted. Doncha hate that? The Kaillera build of Mame AFAIK did release it's source code, but the problem was the actual Kaillera server and client dll source was not released along with it. I'm not sure if the author of Kaillera was even involved in that Mame derivitive, but they needed to use some sort of system for the communication over the Net. Obviously they couldn't find one open source and decided to go ahead and release it anyway. Shame really. I think the Mame developers are against people breaking their license, not the fact of people using the Kaillera build to play some Mame games online. But I have to say it probably would annoy them if we were promoting the build by running our own server and inviting people from here. It's a shame because I thought it was a good idea and I think Brian is trying to pump a bit of fun into this forum. And I certainly wouldn't class the type of people that come here in the same vein online Mame might attract otherwise.

Okay I was close Tempest, this time I took your files and did some testing. Removing the following lines from default.cfg fixed the Left and Up labels not showing for Cetipede. <port type="P1_TRACKBALL_X"> <newseq type="standard"> MOUSECODE_1_XAXIS </newseq> <newseq type="decrement"> NONE </newseq> <newseq type="increment"> NONE </newseq> </port> <port type="P1_TRACKBALL_Y"> <newseq type="standard"> MOUSECODE_1_YAXIS </newseq> <newseq type="decrement"> NONE </newseq> <newseq type="increment"> NONE </newseq> </port> If you take a look at these entries in Data\std.ini you will see what is happening. std.ini is the file that defines all the default key mappings in Mame. If you reconfigure one the defaults are ignored. P1_TRACKBALL_X "MOUSECODE_1_LEFT|JOYCODE_1_LEFT|KEYCODE_LEFT|JOYCODE_1_LEFT_LEFT_SWITCH" P1_TRACKBALL_X_EXT "MOUSECODE_1_RIGHT|JOYCODE_1_RIGHT|KEYCODE_RIGHT|JOYCODE_1_RIGHT_RIGHT_SWITCH" P1_TRACKBALL_Y "MOUSECODE_1_UP|JOYCODE_1_UP|KEYCODE_UP|JOYCODE_1_UP_UP_SWITCH" P1_TRACKBALL_Y_EXT "MOUSECODE_1_DOWN|JOYCODE_1_DOWN|KEYCODE_DOWN|JOYCODE_1_DOWN_DOWN_SWITCH" Unfortunately CPWizard isn't as smart as Mame is about mapping things. Mame has a very complex input mapping system that I don't even fully understand. ControlsDat splits trackball codes up adding _EXT so they can be separated for Left/Right and Up/Down. So they are actually made up codes. Since you redefine P1_TRACKBALL_X and P1_TRACKBALL_Y it loses those two defaults mapped to MOUSECODE_1_LEFT and MOUSECODE_1_UP. That is why Left and Up doesn't show in Centipede. Not sure if you need those entries in default.cfg for your trackball to work in Mame but that is what is causing the problem here.

Didn't know u_rebelscum was the author of Analog+. He knows quite a lot about Mame's input system and gave me a few pointers when I first started writing CPWizard. Still I think development of Analog+ stopped for a reason, and he's probably had a few people ask for updates before. Still he is friendly and helpful so might have a solution to your problem anyway.

Depends on how many changes they made as to how hard it is to create a new diff for the latest version of Mame. First problem is the version difference 0.90u1 and 0.124. There are many changes there already, including the massive change to the Raw Input System in 0.107. If they are using Direct Input that could be a problem because AFAIK that code was either disabled or removed. Although I do remember some switch to turn it on DIRECTINPUT=1 or something. Not sure if that would still have an effect. Now if you have a look there is already a diff file on that page next to the source download. Take a look at the size of the diff. It's about 10 times larger than the hiscore diff patches. So to be honest, considering the large jump in version and the size of the changes it would be a big job to update it to the latest version and possibly large enough to be alot of work going up a single version. The reason these Mame derivitives die out is because they are hard work to maintain. And I'm sure that every so often vanilla Mame would have a large enough update to make the job big enough for the derivitive to die. The reason hiscore diff is still going strong is it only changes a few things in the source and is quite easy to update. I remember updating a diff file that was made for Mame 0111u3 to add multiple soundcard support. I updated it to 0121 and it was about the same amount of changes as the hiscore diff and took me about an hour to update. So yeah doesn't look very promising. If you do want to give it a try, download the diff and it shows you the changes and which source files and location they change. So you will have to compare those changes with the old source code and the new and figure out how it needs to be translated to the new source.

Ahhh okay I thought you meant VNC too. The only thing I can think of is that your PC is loading GameEx before VMC has the chance to shut down exclusive mode of DirectX. That would mean GameEx can't start up because it's still locked by VMC. Maybe there is an option to change the delay time between closing down VMC and starting up GameEx. Can you post a screenshot of the error?

GameEx will run fine through Remote Desktop but it is a bit chuggy.

Yep I added Instant Sheller to the BYOAC wiki a while ago. There is a whole article about hiding Windows and it didn't even mention Instant Sheller! So I've been doing a bit of work on the Wiki to get it up to speed on some of the stuff Tom and this community have been contributing to the arcade scene. I created my own boot screen using Photoshop to reduce the colors. I think the main issue is if you want to have your own animation bar you have to use a special part of the palette for it to animate. When I reduce the colors in Photoshop I use the diffusion algorithm so there is some shading available for the picture. But like i said the real problem is the animated bar.

Have you tried the paging key (default "C")? When you hold it down while scrolling up or down it will scroll a page at a time.

Are you selecting a config to import?