[APP] Hyper Bezel II

[Krakerman]

Do you guys think this is possible to config this to work in GameEx?

Check it out here.

[Draco1962]

Can we do it? Maybe. The question to really ask is will we? I dunno. IF I wanted my system to look like HyperSpin, I would be running HyperSpin. This is not a diss of HS, just a fact.

[Krakerman]

I don't think I was asking to make GameEx look like Hyperspin! That is what my Gameroom theme has done . What I was asking is for a feature or being able to implement a way to use custom bezels for Horiz/vert MAME games for the ones that don't have them already! That is what that I was asking. It just so happens someone over on the Hyperspin site had implemented this for that frontend and thought maybe someone here might think it could be done either using the Hyper Bezel II within GameEx or creating something like it thats all.

[Draco1962]

Sounds like a feature request then! But if you read the description he says it may work as a "Launch Before" application so you may want to give it a try to see if it will work with your setup.

[Krakerman]

Well first I thought I would ask those who are more knowledgable in this field if it could be done without having to create a request since that could take a long time to happen if ever. So that is why I posted it here to see if someone could look at it and see if they can implement it without having to do all that. If I can figure it out I will do it myself and let you all know what I come up with but until then if anyone can look at it and see what they do with it.

I think this would be a very useful and awesome feature for MAME users using GameEx don't you agree?

[u-man]

i can only repeat myself.... i did Tempest exactly ask for that feature for his Randomizer-PlugIn..... he did this and send me a new version of Randomizer for test-purpose.

.... and here the story turns bad. i had really much work to do and put this beside. As i finished my work, i could not find his .zip-file again. i have backupped it somewhere and i am not able to find it anymore..... i am really, really sorry for this .

Krakerman you should ask Tempest for this, as i am shure he had done this job correctly and indeed this would be a very nice feature. we could even start a Bezel-competetion .

[Krakerman]

I figured it out and got it working ....... I will post what I did soon as I want to create a snapshot to show you!

[Krakerman]

Here is a snapshot of it working!

[Draco1962]

Would be cool to have something like this publicly available. Looks like chillinwater put a lot of work into it so no need to re-invent the wheel (Pun intended? Maybe.. maybe not!).

[Krakerman]

He did a heckuvajob! All I did was found a way to do this outside Hyperspin however it only works with Hyperspin installed/setup as it uses that to figure where you have your MAME folders at. But when I select the game and pass it to Hyper Bezel it creates the game bezel and puts it in MAME's artwork folder for me. It makes it so automated that you don't have to manually create them it does it for you and you can design your own bezel easily in your favorite paint program then use them.

Can you see why now I asked for this. We can learn a few things from the good folks over at Hyperspin.

[Draco1962]

TBH I don't think you have to have HyperSpin installed for it to work with GameEx per his notes. The fact that you do made it a bit easier for you to install and run with it, but it should be standalone. Would love to "kick the tires" with it, but since it isn't available in the downloads for the casual forum member, then will have to wait and see if someone else comes up with an alternative.

[Krakerman]

I sent him a PM too see if I can share it with the GameEx community.

[Krakerman]

Here is an updated bezel of Galaga 88 with the Gameroom theme!

[u-man]

I checked my post again and below are parts of the conversation, also attached the new Randomizer Plug-In and how to use it (found again ). Krakerman, I think that is the thing you are looking for. I did not test it, but it sounds good.

explanation:

there are existing original artwork-bezels for many MAME games... 819 to be exact .
but there are still many games with no artwork-bezels, due to the lack of no artwork at all or no good quality picts.
if you use bezels, you can only use EITHER the original ones OR the GameEx ones BUT NOT both.

my hope is, that with your plugin and some magic it would be possible to use a bezel based on the kind of game.

if it is a original game and you have the artwork-bezel then GameEx
should use this and if you have a original game but no artwork-bezel
then your plugin would use a random self created bezel (i.e. the default
one in GameEx).

Sent 09 November 2012 - 01:28 PM

I haven't tested this, so please be patient if it needs tweaking.

Usage: Randomizer.exe "1" "[Rom]"


The
[Rom] parameter is needed to check for the existence of a particular
file. In your case you will be checking to see if there is an existing
bezel for a game before randomizing. If a bezel is found the randomzer
exits without doing anything. Let me know if it does not work correctly.

Attached Files

• Randomizer.7z 291.5K

Sent 09 November 2012 - 02:50 PM

oh how nice is that....

yeah i will check it, when i got home.

thank you very much for this.....

Sent 10 November 2012 - 07:19 PM

sorry to say that, but i have no clue, how to use the parameter
do i need to put this in the command line field for MAME in GameEx?

thx anyway....

Sent 10 November 2012 - 11:21 PM

I am assuming that you have not used the Randomizer before?

From the Randomizer topic:

Quote

Enter Randomizer.exe "1" in the run before/after section in your GameEx setup. The "1" means that you want to use the information from the [Randomize1] section in the random.ini file.

You can randomize more than one file by using multiple section numbers like this: Randomizer.exe "1|2|5"

In the Setup wizard goto Advanced Mame Settings (2) and enter Randomizer.exe "1" "[ROM]" in the 'Run On Launch'

[Tempest]

I don't remember working on that.

If you guys have any issues, I will make sure and get it working for you.

[chillinwater]

Hyper Bezel II is available to all who are willing to use it.

I only put it on HS ftp because there were alot of support (bezel) template files and .lays to go with it.

And it was to be and still is updated frequently especially during the intial release.

Zipping it up may have givin the wrong idea that it was all my work which the bezels were not.

Also now that I think about it @krackerman, I think your right, its working for you in GameEx because by coincidence you have the path to mame\artwork the same in both HS and gameEx.

If thats the case and a user didnt have Hyperspin setup up I dont think it will work.

If theres any interest I can add better support for it or a GameEx only version.

[edit]

Also if there's any interest, I can move the app to EmuMovies ftp so its available to everyone.

I only want to update one location though so it would only be available there if I moved it.

But lets see what Tempest has in store...maybe his "randomisor" works better and I dont want to re-invent the wheel

(Definately, dont want to step on your toes...I still love me some MarQuee Magician and your other apps!!!)

I actually use randomisor in HS to change my default themes and videos.

[Draco1962]

@chillinwater - If the path is the only issue then it should work - having that as an editable option would be optimum regardless of the FE being used. The only thing that would preclude that is if there are some other HS dependencies which I did not garner from your initial post.

EDIT: It would be neat to see more FE neutral applications available and I am sure that there is an abundance of programming talent in both camps that could make something happen.

[chillinwater]

The only dependency is HS\settings\mame.ini

as it reads the path to mame and the exe name (for a planned future update)

the exe name is irrelevant to using it in GameEx for now.

I can add an editable option for path to mame (or derivatives) and remove the path to HS as it would be then be redundant.

This would add usability across all Fe's I believe.

Still waiting for Tempest to chime in, dont need two wheels (no pun intended)

[chillinwater]

In the interim...
Without installing HyperSpin,
a user could simply create an almost empty folder structure like this...

c:\hyperspin\settings\mame.ini

and this would be required in the mame.ini (the only file in the empty folder structure)
exe=optional

[mame.ini]

[exe info]path=j:\HyperSpin\Emulators\Mame\137\exe=mame.exe

Just make sure the mame path matches what you already have setup in GameEx

[Tempest]

I'm not sure what you are looking for from me. If you want to post it at Emumovies as an app that can be used with all FE's, that would be great. As you know, that's what I did with my stuff. IMHO Emumovies is neutral ground to which anybody into emulation should have access.

I'm happy to see you offering to do this, I always figured you were more or less 'FE neutral'.

[chillinwater]

I have my preferences but Im more or less neutral...I just like playin!!! lol

I was waiting for you cuz if randomiser did the same thing in GameEx using GameEx's built in bezel display,

I wouldnt see a need to fix what aint broke.

HyperSpin just didnt have a bezel feature.

So in the next couple days I'll tweak GameEx compatibility in HyperBezel II and migrate the HS FTP folder to Emumovies FTP.

(keeping it all in one tidy spot)

The more people on board with creating bezels and .lays the better IMHO otherwise the app will just stagnate!

[Tempest]

So our guys have permission to use the existing bezels, and to contribute as well? That would be awesome!

[Draco1962]

As you can tell we have a good group that loves to create so I am sure it will be met with much enthusiasm. Besides Mr. Do's online bezel maker, are you aware of the existence of any templates that could be used in PhotoShop for the creation? Also, will the 16:9 bezels work for HD setups? Would be cool to have collections in both HD 16:9 and Standard Def 4:3.

[chillinwater]

Yes of course use away, make bezels make .lays!!!

yes..

yes..

Some templates are on ftp just waiting to be used for all aspects 4x3, 16x9, 16x10.

You can also use existing bezels and paste new artwork over them to make new bezels.

4x3 has the most to choose from.

I made the 4x3 horizontal .lay using MrDo's .lay creator.

The 4x3 vertical .lay is also from MrDo which was the original .lay you used when compiling mame to support "generic" vertical bezels.

The other .lays for "widescreen" I believe "roadrunner" created and I modified slightly for the element names.

The "settings II.ini" file on HS ftp currently has everything pre-configured to use any of your aspects that you want.

Default is 4x3 for both horizontal and vertical but if you want to use widescreen just make a change to the index in the settings II.ini

There is a pic of the wrong .lay file and bezel used for widescreen diplays. easy to fix by editing the settings for proper .lay and bezels. http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/forum/showthread.php?23879-New-App!-Hyper-Bezel-II&p=228301&viewfull=1#post228301

Its all explained on the first page of my post. New App!...Hyper Bezel II

[chillinwater]

FTP transfer to Emumovies in progress....

final destination when complete....

upload here\chillinwater\Hyper Bezel II

Its going reeeaaallll slow!!!!

"krakerman"

Thanks got it working using:

Launch Before: "C:\Hyperspin\Hyper Bezel II\Hyper Bezel II.exe" MAME [Rom]
Launch After: "C:\Hyperspin\Hyper Bezel II\Hyper Bezel II.exe" MAME [Rom] kill

HyperBezel II has NOT been updated to universal FE support.

So in the interim, if you dont have and dont want Hyperspin installed, use (post 19 below) for reference to a temp work around

http://www.gameex.info/forums/topic/12567-hyper-bezel-ii/#entry101225