[PLUGIN] GameEx Hi-Score Snapper

[Adultery]

Until I figure out how to take screenshots of full screen d3d apps (which I'm working on), unfortunately not, sorry.

[MNMax21]

No worries. I only get high scores once in a blue moon, so I only need the plug in occasionally. Haha

I'll survive with it on and off when needed.

[Adultery]

Updated to 1.0.3!

Added MAME Mode for taking snaps internally!

• Set the default directory your MAME internal snaps are saved to
• Set an option to send the F12 key to MAME to take a snapshot (Direct Input may be required, I'm not sure yet without some testing)
• Snap size is set to your preference instead of the game's original resolution
• Snap is overlaid with information and watermark and moved to the snap directory you specify
• This works in whatever renderer you choose (yes, D3D is now supported!)
• You can now use any build of MAME instead of just Vanilla MAME

As I stated above, you can now use any build of MAME, MAMEui32, HBMAME, MAMEFX, or whatever you have set up in GameEx.

Grab it from here.

[DazzleHP]

Updated to 1.0.3!

Added MAME Mode for taking snaps internally!

• Set the default directory your MAME internal snaps are saved to
• Set an option to send the F12 key to MAME to take a snapshot (Direct Input may be required, I'm not sure yet without some testing)
• Snap size is set to your preference instead of the game's original resolution
• Snap is overlaid with information and watermark and moved to the snap directory you specify
• This works in whatever renderer you choose (yes, D3D is now supported!)
• You can now use any build of MAME instead of just Vanilla MAME

As I stated above, you can now use any build of MAME, MAMEui32, HBMAME, MAMEFX, or whatever you have set up in GameEx.

Grab it from here.

WOW! I did a system wipe yesterday and was gonna get this running again today only to see this! Good timing Awesome update man and and and D3D capture! WOOP! Does this mean in theory it should be easy to incorporate non MAME support now? I'm thinking of future Arena comps

[Adultery]

Still not at that level yet. Sorry.

I was working on this during class yesterday taking a break from a massive shool project which im on a super tight schedule for, and all the PHP code is making me nautious.

I have a ton going on and i needed a breather.

Theres a dbm update coming out too that will add more than one gotm for each game, online updating, tool tips, and a possible PM system for you mods. More on that later.

[GimmeClassics]

Oh goody !! This is going to be awesome

...Adultery, showing his magic skills again !

And thanks for this snapper update

[DazzleHP]

WOAH man slow down lol Can't wait to see this new DBM update! I don't like you to feel any pressure from here though and hope you don't.

Because of new page:

Updated to 1.0.3!

Added MAME Mode for taking snaps internally!

• Set the default directory your MAME internal snaps are saved to
• Set an option to send the F12 key to MAME to take a snapshot (Direct Input may be required, I'm not sure yet without some testing)
• Snap size is set to your preference instead of the game's original resolution
• Snap is overlaid with information and watermark and moved to the snap directory you specify
• This works in whatever renderer you choose (yes, D3D is now supported!)
• You can now use any build of MAME instead of just Vanilla MAME

As I stated above, you can now use any build of MAME, MAMEui32, HBMAME, MAMEFX, or whatever you have set up in GameEx.

Grab it from here.

[Adultery]

Don't worry. I don't.

The PM script is already part of something else I did for school. I just need to do some minor tweaks and patch it in (which i'm already doing), and the updater script exists in a few of my standalone apps.

Its just a side project to break up the long days of staring at Dreamweaver and SQL Server, not to mention Windoze Server and Exchange Server. I miss having the free time to work on my hobby.

[DazzleHP]

Well MAME mode is working on my end! I prefer it on DDRAW coz it captures my whole screen whereas MAME mode is capturing only the game screen, then stretching it to the resolution i set. You could argue that if i set it to 640x480 then it would look fine - but then vert games will still stretch

D3D (MAME Mode)

DDRAW

Maybe you could add an option to use the games resolution when in D3D? Sorry man i don't wanna make even more work for you! Just a suggestion

No complaints though! I was always ok with ddraw anyway

[Adultery]

The problem with that is the text doesnt work on the overlay. A lot of those games run at freakishly low resolutions.

[Adultery]

Just curious. Did you try sending F12 option? If yes then did you have Direct Input in mame? I would be curious to know if it works with raw input. I'm using a keyboard hook api and i want to see how low level the hook runs.

[DazzleHP]

Did i have Send Snap Key checked? Yes, and yes i do have a Direct Input self compile so that probably doesn't help you Here comes the bad news - I went to see if it worked with Send Snap Key both on and off and it's not working since!!! I just get the annoying "uh oh" worms voice in both situations now! Only ddraw works. Why does this always frikkin happen to me?! :cry:

It can't be file permissions like before coz i'm on w7 pro now, not XP and it worked an hour ago! LOL Dude i'm sorry i seem to always cause you trouble

[Adultery]

Hmm... I'm not sure...

Looks like I need to do more testing. Did you change any MAME options in the ini?

[DazzleHP]

In Settings.xml? Not manually no but i did check it to see my settings are being saved and they definitely are.

[Adultery]

No I meant in your MAME.ini.

I probably need to add some logging for that process since it's new.

[DazzleHP]

Oh! Not since i compiled it a few weeks back. That's what i find strange - it worked for that one session and it hasn't since. I keep changing settings combinations and it just refuses to work again (apart from in ddraw mode) I've always been okay with ddraw right from the start but i'm willing to help you do some bug squishing. It might have to be tomorrow though coz we got a party starting in an hour and everyone gets wasted in our family I might be back later though if i can see straight

[Adultery]

I'll try and reproduce that bug here too if you set me up with your settings.xml

[DazzleHP]

I'll try and reproduce that bug here too if you set me up with your settings.xml

NP

Settings.xml

[Adultery]

Update coming soon that adds an anti-cheat measure to force users to be honest, and fixes some issues with D3D capture (this will now pause MAME on the screen you press the button on, take the snap, and unpause the game). This will also do some extra work to keep the snap naming how I need it when the plugin is enabled to avoid people's custom snap paths if they have them set in MAME. Thanks of course to Ben for his help with sending the PAUSE command to the MAME window.

[GimmeClassics]

Update coming soon that adds an anti-cheat measure to force users to be honest, and fixes some issues with D3D capture (this will now pause MAME on the screen you press the button on, take the snap, and unpause the game). This will also do some extra work to keep the snap naming how I need it when the plugin is enabled to avoid people's custom snap paths if they have them set in MAME. Thanks of course to Ben for his help with sending the PAUSE command to the MAME window.

This will be an amazing update Adding the anti-cheat measure is making this plug-in of even more value to our hi-score competition.

...in regard to our Arena Forum: could you perhaps tell something about the future support of other systems when using the hi-score snapper ? Any progress on this ?

Nice work Adultery !!

[MNMax21]

Do you guys think there will ever be an ability to have the high score file in gameex be web hosted or something. What I mean, would be to have the file mame file high score part be in the "cloud" and people would route their saved high scores to that file within the gameex setup wizard? I feel like that could probably just create a large security issue within your computer, but the gameex online thing might be an in for it, as it sounds like you'll be able to remote access your cab to update gameex wizard stuff via the online tool.

I am thinking though, that If it ever was fully updated right within gameex, I would imagine a subcategory with a screen grab for each game or something? Similar to the game ex high score emulator deal, but each game would just have a screen grab of the high score list for that game within the community....

Your thoughts?

p.s.- I need to start playing for high scores again! Lately, I have been using my free time to play Titanfall on Xbox One. It's pretty awesome.

[Adultery]

It wouldn't have to be a security issue if it were handled properly... I might even do it on my server and generate a link that you could copy and paste into your post. If I were to get around to it that is...

I always have a ton of projects going all at once, but don't rule out the possibility.

[MNMax21]

I guess I am pretty sure your (personal) high scores for each game just save into the high score folder for that game. I remember going in and clearing my Mario file, because I had originally been using the wrong dip switch settings. I then cleared out my old invalid scores and started over (No worries, this was on the deprecated post for Mario! haha). I guess I was just thinking that file could be hosted on a server and then each person would update to that file. I guess it would be about the same as google drive or dropbox. It would just be a matter of having MAME recognize that linked file as the high score file database for each game. I am not a programmer, so this whole thing is beyond me, haha.

If anything, it would be cool to somehow have an emulator sub category with just screen shots of the current leaderboard for that specific game. Basically, I'd assume it would be just telling your computer to open that file, similar to a bezel.

(This is pretty much handled with the RSS feed though!)

Who knows. This is all pretty awesome anyways. It would be pretty sweet to just have an option for people to join the competition by just saying yes or no in the wizard, similar to if you want karaoke or not.

Thanks for all the work you've done Adultery! It's all been amazing so far. I hope school is going well.

[Adultery]

Didn't HK make a plugin that uses a centralized .hi file already? Might be worth giving that a shot. It might be what you're after.

[Adultery]

Updated to 1.0.4!

• Now sends "P" Key to MAME to pause emulator before taking snapshot (Direct Input required)
• Added transparency to overlay so there are no more issues seeing the score
• Added "No Cheat" mode which forcefully disables cheating in MAME when the PlugIn is runnung
• Fixed a bug in Internal MAME Snap Mode
• Added an option to preserve snap size (Experimental)
• Added an option to force DD in Internal MAME Mode
• Added a Global Snap Mode to enable snapper in any game (for those without an Internet connection)
• Added an option for logging the MAME Command-Line (Useful for debugging)
• Tune-up in Hi-Score Snapshot Engine, which adds a new overlay font among other things
• Increased support for other MAME builds

Get it from the usual place. or use the DracLabs PlugIn Downloader software.