[PLUGIN] Xpadder Plugin

[Adultery]

If you would be willing to do that, lots of people would benefit from it, since gb support had been requested on more than one occasion.

It would be greatly appreciated.

[DazzleHP]

If you would be willing to do that, lots of people would benefit from it, since gb support had been requested on more than one occasion.

It would be greatly appreciated.

I just sent you a PM that i started an hour ago, i had to leave quick so saved it and sent just now. Its just a quick n dirty guide which is why i PM'ed it.

@Macguvyer a userfriendly guide would be a great addition to the forum! As i'm sure you are aware Gamebase, as awesome as it is, isn't as straight forward as it possibly should be, and lack of documentation doesn't help.

[nullPointer]

Slightly OT, but there was a user who uploaded a guide for GamebaseST a while back. Seems like a pretty solid guide, although I am very much like Adultery in that I've never attempted to set up Gamebase myself.

[DazzleHP]

Slightly OT, but there was a user who uploaded a guide for GamebaseST a while back. Seems like a pretty solid guide, although I am very much like Adultery in that I've never attempted to set up Gamebase myself.

That is pretty much how you install each gamebase A pretty darn good guide i must say! Nice one null and myonions for making it!

[Macguvyer]

Fantastic find guys, thanks for pointing it out. Adultery, let us know if you need any more clarification.

It can take a bit of time to get it all sorted but it is certainly a thing of beauty once she's set up. I'm summarizing the major steps below with far less explanatory detail than the excellent walkthrough, but perhaps it is useful as a summary.

So you're installing a few items

1) the Gamebase "front end" software itself which is at http://www.bu22.com/ . You don't actually see this front end while you are using GameEx, but you do need to run it a few times beforehand to get everything set up.

2) the specific Gamebase databases. The Commodore 64 version is at http://gb64.com/downloads.php

3) the specific ROMs that match your database.

4) the screenshots and other extras (also at http://gb64.com/downloads.php).

5) the emulator that you'll be using with Gamebase. For the 64 that would be VICE or CCS64. I'm using VICE since I'm pretty familiar with it

You install & start up Gamebase and if you have put the data files in the right place I believe it actually auto-detects whichever gamebase database you have also installed. If you have installed more than one (I have Amiga, Vic20 and C64), you can simply click on the icon representing which database you want to use when you use Gamebase. Keep in mind we have not done anything in Gameex yet. We want to get things working in Gamebase first. And of course make sure your paths are set correctly so it can find everything. (explained well in the walk-through) Then you can select "verify available files" in Gamebase and you will find out very quickly if it can match up the correct ROMs to the data in the gamebase database.

Note: I may be explaining the next part incorrectly so feel free to jump in if anyone wants to explain more accurately. The part that was a bit tricky for me was the scripts which is how you ensure that your emulators are set up correctly. The good news is that for the most part the work has been done on the scripts already which are included with the database file. The main script you ajdust is the GEMUS script which you can edit through the GEMUS menu in Gamebase. First you need to "link" the different emulators to Gamebase by either using the emulator setup wizard, or via "manage emulators". Once the emulator(s) are correctly brought into the Gamebase, you can adjust the GEMUS script settings by clicking on the list of emulators installed which if you did this correctly, are at the top of the GEMUS tab. I am saying emulators plural because I installed more than one kind of C64 emulator for Gamebase64 but I would need to change the Gamebase database to the Amiga one to see the WinUAE settings. (You can quickly switch gamebases by selecting one from the Gamebase menu)

So in the Commodore 64 Gamebase I did install first winVICE and then CCS64. The emulator in the first position will be the default one to start up with your ROMs. I am sure there is a way to adjust individual ROMs to specific emulators (Say you believe that M.U.L.E works better in CCS64, I'm guessing that you can tell Gamebase that you want to use your 2nd emulator, but I'll be honest, I'm not sure and in either case I don't know how to do it)

To adjust some of these scripts, the main one is the GEMUS script for each emulator. You simply select the emulator you want to adjust in your GEMUS menu and a window opens up called "Emulator Properties". This is quite a powerful window and you can customize the way the emulator works by the GEMUS script and also specific script files. I'll let someone else comment on why there is a need to have a separate script files as well as a GEMUS script, but I focused on the GEMUS script only, and chances are the default one that got installed with the database will work fine, although if you're like me and you're trying to troubleshoot gamepads working correctly, or correct fullscreen behaviour, etc, you may have to do some tweaking. Is is important that the GEMUS script matches the version of the emulator that you are installing since they are tweaking these scripts constantly. For the verison of VICE that I have installed which I believe is the latest (V2.4), I am using a GEMUS script which is clearly labelled to work with VIce 2.4 and it has a date of April 2013 which feels nice and current.

There are a lot of command line adjustments that you can make in the GEMUS script to adjust the way the emulator behaves. I wish there was a bit more clarity on what needs to be fooled around with to adress common issues, but in my experience it involved a lot of searching at different locations such as the Gamebase64 forums or GameEx etc.

One other command line or script adjustment that I needed to play around with was the GEMUS "key=value" which can be selected by hitting F2 or it's under the Edit tab. I'll let someone else explain how all these scripts in Gamebase are different but I did find there were a few items in the key=value script that I also needed to tweak in order to get things like a USB pad working correctly in VICE. If you want to go really deep into the GEMUS scrips you can read up below, but changes are you won't need to change much, if anything.

http://www.gb64.com/oldsite/gemus.htm

Once you have the emulator functioning correctly in Gamebase, only then do you work with Gameex and it's ridiculously simple to get it to import the database into Gameex, as is explained in the walkthrough.

I hope some of this was helpful even though I realize some of this was poorly explained or pure guesswork, but I did get it to work which was incredibly satisfying. And once you have it set up with all of the art and other details such as game authors and box covers etc, it's really slick.

For comparison I also installed VICE directly in GameEx but I quickly realized how much more advantages exist in doing it via Gamebase instead. It's way slicker via Gamebase, with more details such as box art, screen caps, etc but more importantly the database has customized settings that are per game which allow the games to be emulated in an ideal, speciifc manner. Pretty impressive work from all parties to have this integrate so smoothly with GameEx.

If I have skipped important info or incorrectly summarzied anything, please feel free to jump in!

Good luck.

Macguyver

Edited August 28, 2013 by Macguvyer

[Adultery]

Version 1.1.1 Released!

• Added basic support for Steam and GameBase
• Added feature to allow editing of your profiles within the configuration
• Fixed a bug where a game list was being populated incorrectly for Steam and GameBase games
• GameBase support is currently in BETA.
  • Until I can snag someone to test this, I can't confirm it's functioning, but it *should* work for a universal profile
  • Steam and GameBase will eventually get per-game support, for now this feature is disabled pending testing
  • If you would like to volunteer for Steam or GameBase testing, please PM me. I don't use GameBase so it's gonna be tough for me to get it running on a per-game basis.

Just to note a couple points up there:

I would really appreciate some help testing GameBase support. This is an early implimentation, so it may not function properly (if at all). Since I don't currently have this set up and running, I can't configure the plugin for it and test it. It should work just fine, but I'll need some serious help to get the per-game settings going.

Also, since I can't upload attachments to the forum at work, you will need to download v1.1.1 from either DracLabs or the new Plugin Downloader Utility.

Thanks as always for your support!

[naborneo]

I could of sworn that Xpadder use to quit after I was done using the emulator that was using xpadder.

It no longer does, now I have to manually leave gameex quit xpadder and then go back in to keep using gameex, did I miss something? It does quit if I quit game ex. I'm using 1.1.1

thanks for any help.

[Adultery]

Can you do me a favor and please post your xpadder plugin log? It's in the GameEx > Plugins > Xpadder folder.

[naborneo]

Can you do me a favor and please post your xpadder plugin log? It's in the GameEx > Plugins > Xpadder folder.

11/10/2013 10:57:14 PM : Xpadder Plugin (Version: 1.1.1)11/10/2013 10:57:14 PM : GameEx 13.18 loaded successfully!11/10/2013 10:57:14 PM : GAMEEX: Xpadder settings were enabled for GameEx Interface!11/10/2013 10:57:43 PM : GAMEEX: Xpadder settings were enabled for Sega Dreamcast!11/10/2013 11:13:16 PM : GAMEEX: Xpadder settings were enabled for GameEx Interface!11/10/2013 11:13:37 PM : GAMEEX: Xpadder was terminated successfully!11/10/2013 11:13:37 PM : GAMEEX: Closing GameEx and cleaning up!

I fixed it temporarily by making a 'blank' xpadder profile to load in the GameEX interface.

Here's the original though:

11/10/2013 11:18:11 PM : Xpadder Plugin (Version: 1.1.1)11/10/2013 11:18:11 PM : GameEx 13.18 loaded successfully!11/10/2013 11:18:45 PM : GAMEEX: Xpadder settings were enabled for Sega Dreamcast!11/10/2013 11:19:30 PM : GAMEEX: Xpadder was terminated successfully!11/10/2013 11:19:30 PM : GAMEEX: Closing GameEx and cleaning up!

[Adultery]

So you don't have a profile assigned for GameEx interface at all then?

I'll look into it, but that's unusual... I don't think I did anything to make it launch a profile for the interface that wasn't there. :'(

[Adultery]

Oh wait now I see what's going on here... I need to roll back the plugin version on this to 1.40 because the big is related to that. Please just use the blank profile until I fix this, but I'm probably not gonna be able to get to this until tomorrow.

Thanks for the report. :-)

[Adultery]

Quick update to 1.1.2:

• Fixed a bug where Xpadder was not being terminated if no profile was found.


• The plugin will now check for the process and close it if it is not needed for that game or emulator.

[naborneo]

Thanks for the fix!

[Adultery]

Absolutely!

I can assume that means it's working now? It may have not been working for some time... it was an oversight that probably stretches back several versions to when I rewrote the xpadder class.

[naborneo]

Absolutely!

I can assume that means it's working now? It may have not been working for some time... it was an oversight that probably stretches back several versions to when I rewrote the xpadder class.

Yes, tested and working. I only use xpadder for dreamcast and daphine and it's been awhile since I played one of those.

[Adultery]

Thanks to nullPointer, I added per-game support for Steam. The update will be out soon.

[Draco1962]

Awesome update! Thanks!

[Adultery]

Thank nullPointer. He made this possible.

[nullPointer]

I just provided some test files. Adultery provided the Magic. Great job with this man, I can't wait to take it for a spin!

[Adultery]

Big update here!

Version 1.1.3 Enhancements:

• Added options to set per-game profiles for the following emulators:
  • Daphne
  • MAME (Yes, they're the actual game names, not file names!!)
  • Steam
• Cosmetic changes to make things look a little nicer, including ToolTips that were missing before (among other things)
• Quite a few performance enhancements to make things run smooth and fast
• Fixed a couple bugs in the XML class and a few in the configuration settings
• Tweaked the back-end quite a bit to enhance performance when GameEx is running

I still wanna get GameBase going, but I need someone with a handful of games to help me out! All I need is a few support files and I can do my own testing. Please?

HUGE PROPS TO THE AMAZING nullPointer, who made this release possible (specifically the Steam support!!).
You are awesome buddy! Have a beer on Tom or Drac!!!

Thanks for using this!

[Tempest]

Really great update Adultery!

[Adultery]

Thanks my man! :-)

[nullPointer]

Awesome update Adultery! I'm glad I was able to contribute in some small way, but seriously you've done some amazing work with this plugin. Great job!

[Adultery]

Nah it was your loose wallet over at Valve that made it possible. Without getting a look at duplicates and Steam's seemingly random ID changes, I wouldn't have been able to plug it in without having bugs down the line.

Seriously, you were a massive help, and I truly appreciate it. :-)

[Draco1962]

I don't have Gamebase installed for any systems (yet) but there is a pretty decent tutorial here if you are so inclined.