[RESOLVED] Attempting to get Teknoparrot to work...

[tabascoman77]

Hi all,

First, I tried to follow @DJ Infinity and his guide for TeknoParrot on a separate thread (https://forums.gameex.com/forums/topic/28451-resolved-tekno-parrot/) but that doesn't seem to work.

Here's my config and perhaps DJ could assist me further if nobody else knows. My Setup Wizard config is attached as is my INI for PBX and the log. Strangely, the log only seems to record the first time I tried to run TP and failed. It doesn't record any changes from five minutes ago.

So, basically, what's happening is the following:

1) I launch the game I want to play ("Batman" in this case) from PBX.
2) Immediately, all the sound on my PC goes silent...more on that later.
3) The game loading screen comes up and stops at the "Loading I/O board" portion.
4) The loading screen kicks out and error telling me that the I/O board can't be found and the game can't be started. I know the emulator and game work because launching it direct from Teknoparrot loads the game in seconds and I can play it just fine (full speed, too...insane).
5) I try to hit escape to get out of TP and exit back to PBX. This doesn't work. PBX sits in a crash loop and I have to force it to stop so I can get back to the Windows desktop.
6) I have to force quit Teknoparrot and anything associated with it.
7) I have to turn my sound up because, for some reason, the entire process completely mutes my audio down to "0".
8)) I have to run my "Mouse" settings and make the mouse cursor viewable again because the crash makes my cursor shrink down to microscopic.

That's the gist of it.

log.txt PinballX.ini

[Draco1962]

You are aware that he set this up within GameEx, right?

That said you may need to try changing to "[tablepath]\ [tablefile]" from "[ROMPATH]\[ROMFILE]" in your parameters. 

Expect PinballX to behave a little differently.

[tabascoman77]

10 minutes ago, Draco1962 said:

You are aware that he set this up within GameEx, right?

 

Nope. And now I feel like an idiot for not knowing. There's gotta be a way to run it in PBX, right? I would think...this program can pretty much do anything.

[Draco1962]

Not an idiot, just a little lost but that's ok.

And you may be able to but there are differences in how the data is stored and you would be a pioneer for the emulator you are trying to get running within it!

[tabascoman77]

Would not be the first time I was lost! Let me see if I can get it running...I don't know how long you wanna keep this open until I do...

[tabascoman77]

Ok...

So, I'm ALMOST there.

I actually got the sucker to load last night with a self-created .bat file for "Batman" (fitting).

The issue is...well, there are a few things.

I have to run the BAT file either before or after the launch of TeknoParrot.

The Game List Manager won't allow the loading of the BAT file, obviously, and will kick back to PBX like "Hahaha, you dumb****, you thought THAT would work?"

If I tell the GLM to use the rom's EXE file (without the BAT), it won't load the game and will crash PBX.

If I use the rom's EXE and attempt to use the BAT BEFORE launching that, the game will work -- but with a couple caveats:

1. PBX won't shut off in the background and I will hear my ambient music playlist file that I've set PBX to play on startup. This clashes with the game's audio, obviously.
2. When I shut off the game...it will load the rom's EXE and CRASH BOOM FLAMES.

If I tell GLM to use the app EXE (TeknoparrotUi.exe), BUT launch the BAT first, it works -- but same story with clashing audio, PLUS I have to deal with a launch of the EXE afterward, which I have to quit.

I just wish there was a way to launch the game from the BAT with no other apps attempting to launch afterward AND have PBX go silent in the background while I play.

I KNOW I'm missing something here. I'm this close...

Anyone got any kung-fu they'd like to share?

[Mike_da_Spike]

I'm not an arcade wizard and I'm even less as an Arcade newbee (my Arcade cabinet still needs to be configured completly).

I checked on github for Tekno parrot and didn't understand what it should do.

So not much help for you

But reading the post of @DJ Infinity, it looks like it should be a simple setup :

Quote

 

make sure you have your games setup in tekno parrot 1st. working path is wherever you have it installed. rompath is the UserProfiles folder.

extension is *.xml

commandline is TeknoParrotUi.exe --profile="[ROMPATH]\[ROMFILE]" 

Isn't this the same setup in PBX ?

(And if some can explain the purpose/ benefits/use of Techno parrot, i can maybe test/check it as well )

 

 

[tabascoman77]

3 hours ago, Mike_da_Spike said:

I'm not an arcade wizard and I'm even less as an Arcade newbee (my Arcade cabinet still needs to be configured completly).

I checked on github for Tekno parrot and didn't understand what it should do.

So not much help for you

But reading the post of @DJ Infinity, it looks like it should be a simple setup :

Isn't this the same setup in PBX ?

(And if some can explain the purpose/ benefits/use of Techno parrot, i can maybe test/check it as well )

 

 

The DJ setup was for GameEX, not PBX. I tried that command line to no avail.

TeknoParrot is an emulator like any other. It's designed to play the newer, PC-based arcade games. The issue is that the newer PC-based games don't actually use roms, they use exe files. And, as I said, PBX can't properly run the EXE file without crashing TP.

[tabascoman77]

@Draco1962

NOTE: The solution below has a caveat: once you exit the game in PBX, Teknoparrot remains open because escaping the game in PBX doesn't actually quit the app. Because it's still open, TP will attempt to launch the game again. The workaround is to cut out of PBX entirely, shut off TP, then launch back into PBX. I'm looking for a fix for this. I'm wondering if there's a script that would quit the program entirely. Anyhow...see below.

Here's the settings that worked for me:

NAME: TeknoParrot
ENABLED: Yes
SYSTEM TYPE: Custom - EXE Files
WORKING PATH: C:\Teknoparrot (or wherever you put the TP folder)
TABLE PATH: C:\Teknoparrot\UserProfiles (or wherever you put the UserProfiles folder)
EXECUTABLE: You can leave this blank
PARAMETERS: --profile="Batman.xml" (or the UserProfile XML for whatever game you're attempting to launch)

In the PBX Game List Manager:

GAME: C:\Teknoparrot\TeknoParrotUi.exe (or wherever that EXE is on your computer)
DESCRIPTION: (Name of Game - in my case, "Batman")

Not perfect, but it works. Another system (mostly) slayed.

[Draco1962]

I am thinking there are possibilities that may involve using an AHK script or a batch to kill Technoparrot. 

[tabascoman77]

4 minutes ago, Draco1962 said:

I am thinking there are possibilities that may involve using an AHK script or a batch to kill Technoparrot. 

I am not versed in creating BAT files or AHK scripts. I just so happened to look up a regular command line BAT file example and got lucky. Any idea on how I might proceed?

[tabascoman77]

Disregard. Issue resolved. Two things were happening because I was so tired from last night's testing, I forgot to tweak things:

1) I had several crashed instances of the Batman rom sitting in my Task Manager. I quit all of those. This is not really what was causing the issue -- but it was causing PBX to act up and not work properly (like the issue of the music playing over various roms).

2) This was the issue: I had the launch BAT file sitting in the "Launch After" section set to "enabled" still. This was the reason the application wasn't quitting. It would launch a second instance of TP and launch the game. I disabled the After Launch BAT. Everything works. Teknoparrot now quits on the Escape Key. No multiple instances of launch.

There is no extra BAT file needed. Just run that "profile" code from the command line and it works.

To review...

Here's the settings that worked for me:

NAME: TeknoParrot
ENABLED: Yes
SYSTEM TYPE: Custom - EXE Files
WORKING PATH: C:\Teknoparrot (or wherever you put the TP folder)
TABLE PATH: C:\Teknoparrot\UserProfiles (or wherever you put the UserProfiles folder)
EXECUTABLE: TeknoParrotUi.exe
PARAMETERS: --profile="Batman.xml" (or the UserProfile XML for whatever game you're attempting to launch)

In the PBX Game List Manager:

GAME: C:\Teknoparrot\TeknoParrotUi.exe (or wherever that EXE is on your computer)
DESCRIPTION: (Name of Game - in my case, "Batman")

Issue resolved. We're all good, @Draco1962!

I guess I'm the TP Pioneer you were requesting!

[Draco1962]

@tabascoman77yes you are and thank you very much for sharing your solution to your situation! I am sure it will help others!

[Mike_da_Spike]

Should work like this as well :

(table Path is the path of the XML file's. 
 

within GLM:

Or DBM :