[PLUGIN] GameEx Hi-Score Snapper

[Draco1962]

Might need to fix a grammatical error -

HiScore reult=

My guess is that it should say result instead of reult.

[Adultery]

Fixed.

@Dazz: In case ya missed it, please download the beta from that link and try again. I have a feeling that I know what's happening here.

I added more logging to confirm my suspicions.

[DazzleHP]

I downloaded from same link a few posts back however there doesn't seem to be any extra logging, after Cyvern:

29/09/2013 22:44:21 : Hi-Score Snapper (Version: 1.0.0b)29/09/2013 22:44:21 : 13.18 INITIALIZED OK!: GameEx29/09/2013 22:44:21 : INIT PLUGIN: Initialization completed!29/09/2013 22:44:22 : MAME version: 0.14829/09/2013 22:44:22 : MAME check complete!29/09/2013 22:44:22 : Starting HiScore check!29/09/2013 22:44:23 : HiScore check complete!29/09/2013 22:44:39 : Checking for HiScore...29/09/2013 22:44:39 : HiScore reult=False

-EDIT- i see the spelling mistake is still there, let me try again...

[Adultery]

My bad. Download it again, I forgot to click the "overwrite" button on the FTP.

[DazzleHP]

ok we have something :

29/09/2013 22:53:46 : Hi-Score Snapper (Version: 1.0.0b)29/09/2013 22:53:46 : 13.18 INITIALIZED OK!: GameEx29/09/2013 22:53:46 : INIT PLUGIN: Initialization completed!29/09/2013 22:53:47 : MAME version: 0.14829/09/2013 22:53:47 : MAME check complete!29/09/2013 22:53:47 : Starting HiScore check!29/09/2013 22:53:47 : HiScore check complete!29/09/2013 22:54:04 : Checking for HiScore...29/09/2013 22:54:04 : Reloading Hi-Score...29/09/2013 22:54:04 : Could not load the Hi-Score XML! Please check your permissions!29/09/2013 22:54:04 : HiScore reult=False

If you need to know, I'm on XP and have admin rights, although for obvious reasons i'm not logged in as the actual root admin account.

[Adultery]

Is there any way you can try running it as administrator and confirm that it's a permissions problem?

Wait, NM, I see you have admin rights already.

Can you disable your AV software and run it?

[Adultery]

I might have a workaround for situations like this. Let me know how your AV test turns out and if it doesn't help, I'll add in a workaround for you.

[Adultery]

Just uploaded a new beta for you to try, which should allow you to take the snap if there's a problem loading the hi-score XML.

[DazzleHP]

Ok i'll try it Just for your info, i logged in as root and explicitly gave my user account full control of HiScore.xml, no joy. Tried with AV disabled, no joy. Logged back in as root account and ran GameEx, no joy. BRB after trying new vers!

EDIT: Same result however the build version is the same as last time : 1.0.5020.27419

[Adultery]

Oh man, my fault! I'm an idiot!

Please go get it again.

[DazzleHP]

Still says version 1.0.5020.27419 - i refreshed and redownload 3 times

[Adultery]

Failed transfer.

Try it now.

[DazzleHP]

YES! we have lift off I won't be able to trim my screenies anymore though - my screen grabs @ 1920x1080, before i was scaling them down then trimming the edges, it may not be a bad thing though as it covers less game screen that way! Check it:

[Adultery]

Awesome! Glad it works now!

Many thanks for the testing Dazz!

I'm gonna code something that uses a more graceful workaround for the next release, but this will work fine for you in the mean time.

Again, thanks for your help.

[DazzleHP]

Many thanks for the testing Dazz!

No no no - thank YOU for all the awesome plugins! Especially the bits you are doing for the HiScore Comp.

[Adultery]

Hey! If you don't mind some additional testing, would you try the new version I uploaded? I am using a new method of getting ROM names that doesn't involve the Hi-Score DB, but instead a list of ROM names I added as a text file to the Database Manager's output.

It's important that the snapshot plugin is only enabled for games in the competition. Otherwise there wouldn't be any check against clones and hacks when the snap is submitted.

The new method is working fine in my machine but since yours is XP I'm interested in the results on your end.

The snap size is based on your screen resolution but that's no big deal since the snapshot is in a compressed format anyways. If it bothers people I might add a setting so people can specify their own output sizes but I don't see that as a real benefit.

The new version also has a mode for snaps when vanilla mame is not used. The snapshot class I wrote for this takes the snap by using the window handle, but if a different build is used it instead takes a snap of the whole screen. Users who play in full screen won't see any difference at all between them but users who play a different version in windowed mode will not reap the benefits of the window specific snaps.

Thanks again for your help.

[Adultery]

I should also mention that I plan on using my snapshot class for a plugin that makes it possible to add missing title and in-game snaps on the fly for all games across all emulators while GameEx is running. This venture has proved to be a pretty successful one so expect to see that come in the future.

I'd be lost if I ever ran out of ideas for plugins. My hope is that Tom doesn't have a limit to how many can be run at one time or I may just hit that limit someday. Lol!

Thank you again to everyone who supports the hi-score competition. It's a pretty awesome thing GimmeClassics and hansolo77 have going here and I'm proud to be a part of it. It pleases me that I can donate my time and effort to make this unique feature even better.

Kudos!

[DazzleHP]

Sorry this took a while, i had to go to bed after it started working as it was getting late. Timezones always get in the way of this sort of thing eh

The new version works fine though! Attached a screenie using your latest build (v1.0.5020.40851)

The snap size is based on your screen resolution but that's no big deal since the snapshot is in a compressed format anyways. If it bothers people I might add a setting so people can specify their own output sizes but I don't see that as a real benefit.

That's absolutely fine - it takes me literally 5 seconds to load GIMP and scale it down The only reason i do this is because i realise some people may be using lower resolutions than 1080p and not really because of file size.

1944 using new version:

-EDIT- I tried 1943 ( a non-HiScore game) to see if your plugin was disabled, but it still worked - apologies if you hadn't gotten round to implimenting the new way of checking yet.

Works in 1943:

[Adultery]

Can you put up your log for me?

I'm probably going to have the plugin write the rom name on the snap of the override is engaged. In your case it would help identify the rom file, making the results even more genuine.

Can I get a couple other users to test also? It's working swimmingly for me the way it is.

[DazzleHP]

Log after Cyvern:

30/09/2013 14:20:09 : Hi-Score Snapper (Version: 1.0.1)30/09/2013 14:20:09 : 13.18 INITIALIZED OK!: GameEx30/09/2013 14:20:09 : INIT PLUGIN: Initialization completed!30/09/2013 14:20:10 : MAME version: 0.14830/09/2013 14:20:10 : MAME check complete!30/09/2013 14:20:10 : Starting HiScore list download!30/09/2013 14:20:10 : ERROR: Could not download Games List!30/09/2013 14:20:10 : ERROR: Games List was not found! Please add this file for proper usage of this plugin!30/09/2013 14:20:31 : Checking for HiScore...30/09/2013 14:20:31 : ERROR: No games in array! Forcing override!30/09/2013 14:20:31 : HiScore result=True30/09/2013 14:20:31 : Starting snap monitor...30/09/2013 14:20:56 : Stopping snap monitor...

After Aero Fighters (non-hiscore game) screenshot of it working attatched:

30/09/2013 14:23:48 : Hi-Score Snapper (Version: 1.0.1)30/09/2013 14:23:48 : 13.18 INITIALIZED OK!: GameEx30/09/2013 14:23:48 : INIT PLUGIN: Initialization completed!30/09/2013 14:23:49 : MAME version: 0.14830/09/2013 14:23:49 : MAME check complete!30/09/2013 14:23:49 : Starting HiScore list download!30/09/2013 14:23:49 : ERROR: Could not download Games List!30/09/2013 14:23:49 : ERROR: Games List was not found! Please add this file for proper usage of this plugin!30/09/2013 14:24:32 : Checking for HiScore...30/09/2013 14:24:32 : ERROR: No games in array! Forcing override!30/09/2013 14:24:32 : HiScore result=True30/09/2013 14:24:32 : Starting snap monitor...30/09/2013 14:24:51 : Stopping snap monitor...

I have gameslist.temp.txt in the snapper directory, here is the contents:

centiped;dkong;galaga;mario;nitrobal;tapper;1944;bublbobl;btime;mrdo;dkong3;wb3;arkanoid;cyvern;qbert

Working in areofighters:

[Adultery]

Can you remove the .temp so it says gameslist.txt and try yet again? Let me know if it works then?

If it can't rename the file itself there's still some crazy file permissions error on your machine that's not allowing changes to that file.

It might still not do it but I can make changes after if it doesn't.

[DazzleHP]

OK that seemed to work! I manually renamed it as you said, i loaded Batsugun and it didn't let me take a snap! This is strange though, because i'm being 100% truthful here - until this i've never once had permissions issues, i have admin rights. Maybe the w7/8 permissions from your machine are somehow carrying over to mine?? Here the new log after Batsugun:

30/09/2013 14:46:55 : Hi-Score Snapper (Version: 1.0.1)30/09/2013 14:46:55 : 13.18 INITIALIZED OK!: GameEx30/09/2013 14:46:55 : INIT PLUGIN: Initialization completed!30/09/2013 14:46:55 : MAME version: 0.14830/09/2013 14:46:55 : MAME check complete!30/09/2013 14:46:55 : Starting HiScore list download!30/09/2013 14:46:56 : HiScore list download complete!30/09/2013 14:47:12 : Checking for HiScore...30/09/2013 14:47:12 : Looking at centiped30/09/2013 14:47:12 : Looking at dkong30/09/2013 14:47:12 : Looking at galaga30/09/2013 14:47:12 : Looking at mario30/09/2013 14:47:12 : Looking at nitrobal30/09/2013 14:47:12 : Looking at tapper30/09/2013 14:47:12 : Looking at 194430/09/2013 14:47:12 : Looking at bublbobl30/09/2013 14:47:12 : Looking at btime30/09/2013 14:47:12 : Looking at mrdo30/09/2013 14:47:12 : Looking at dkong330/09/2013 14:47:12 : Looking at wb330/09/2013 14:47:12 : Looking at arkanoid30/09/2013 14:47:12 : Looking at cyvern30/09/2013 14:47:12 : Looking at qbert30/09/2013 14:47:12 : HiScore result=False

Here is log after Galaga, and it DID let me take a snap! (attached):

30/09/2013 14:52:05 : Hi-Score Snapper (Version: 1.0.1)30/09/2013 14:52:05 : 13.18 INITIALIZED OK!: GameEx30/09/2013 14:52:05 : INIT PLUGIN: Initialization completed!30/09/2013 14:52:06 : MAME version: 0.14830/09/2013 14:52:06 : MAME check complete!30/09/2013 14:52:06 : Starting HiScore list download!30/09/2013 14:52:06 : HiScore list download complete!30/09/2013 14:52:49 : Checking for HiScore...30/09/2013 14:52:49 : Looking at centiped30/09/2013 14:52:49 : Looking at dkong30/09/2013 14:52:49 : Looking at galaga30/09/2013 14:52:49 : Found galaga settings!30/09/2013 14:52:49 : HiScore result=True30/09/2013 14:52:49 : Starting snap monitor...30/09/2013 14:53:14 : Stopping snap monitor...

[Adultery]

I'm really not sure why it's picking and choosing files it allows operations on, seeing as you can save changes to the settings.xml file and it's in the same folder.

The issue you'll have is that it won't be updating so I'll have to keep pressing on until I find a suitable solution.

Edit: never mind, there was a problem in the code where it was crashing if the gameslist.txt wasn't present. I'll fix that and you should be fine now.

Thanks again for your help buddy!

[DazzleHP]

It is strange indeed - even when logged in as the root admin account it wouldn't read HiScore.xml. Something weird is happening to the permissions between your PC and mine.

[Adultery]

And even then it's only affecting you, I have this running on two different machines as well as an xp pro vm.

Regardless you can delete hiscore.xml as its not used anymore. The new gameslist.txt is going to be downloaded for everyone making it a much faster and easier file to grab and use.