Completed Feature Requests (Moved)

[emphatic]

Before the split of the "image" and "info" fields in the theme editor, the alignment of the "image" contents was centered. Now it's to the left instead. This is only noticable when moving from a horizontal game to a vertical one. I guess I'm the only one noticing, but it looked better before. Pretty please, with sugar on top etc.

Another thing, would it be possible to move the initial focus of the selector bar from the "info" field (i.e. the list menu) to the main list? So that when GameEx loads, I (or whoever is going to select a game) don't have to move the selector bar to the right? I know, I'm THAT lazy. No seriously, it would be like when hotmail started moving the cursor automatically to the "e-mail" box for you. No wonder people are getting fatter by the minute.

Emph

[Rockhead]

Hi there. Requesting a "View Controls" option in emulators, like it exists for mame. Any hope of that happening?

Thanks.

[emphatic]

There was once a great program that created a universal bezel for vertical games, surrounding the visual game area on a horizontal screen like this:

When mame reached version 0.77, the author (unknown to me, otherwise I'd be nagging him about this instead of writing up this nice feature for GameEx) decided to quit development.

How about the option (much like create snaps) "Create bezel for vertical games" with the choice of "Mame logo" or "GameEx logo"? And for donators "browse for custom logo"?

Emph

I came across the original app on the Retroblast site here:

http://www.retroblast.com/files/UniVert_79.zip

Description:

"Here's something neat: UniVert, a “universal” bezel macro by Marcus Tiller for vertical games that “fills in” the unused sides of the screen with the MAME logo. It uses a batch file that duplicates the border artwork for all vertical MAME games (current as of MAME version .79) The file uses relatively high-resolution artwork (640x480), which makes the border images even nicer looking." Note: This requires PKZIP. You need to google for it.

Emph

[ironjazz]

hi.. i just registered gameex and i really love this app! Thanks!

Here's my initial list of feature requests, and sorry if these are already covered.. as i'm still catching up on the documentations and the forum.

Multilanguage Support for filenames (Chinese/Japanese etc) for videos, jukeboxes, pictures etc.

Jukebox

-> Ability to view

--> Albums by Artists

--> Albums by Genre

--> Artists by Genre

etc... kinda like how the Library function works within WMP

Pictures

-> Using joystick to move forward/backward while viewing a single photo

I think if i view a photo, i have to go back before i can choose the next photo.

[Theo]

hi tom

how about a feature that enables you to search for games

so for example you type mario in the search box and get a list like

mario brothers

mario kart mario kart 64

super mario brothers

mario 2

mario golf

mario tennis

and so on:

i think this would be a cool feature as my mates

asked me have you any mario games

???

thanx gerble1000

was thinking exactly the same... would like to know how many versions cross platform of games i have... so i can pick the best on each emulator and delete the others.

[ironjazz]

another request... is there a easy way to verify the version number?

The versioning of the gameex.exe is showing 0.0.0.0.

[headkaze]

- Play random game. When you use this feature it goes and runs the game right away and when you exit back it will go to the game info page. I was hoping you could make it go to the game info page when you first choose random game so you can actually decide if you want to play it or not. Perhaps another feature like "choose another random game" if you don't like the game selected.

- Snap then video. Sometimes the Mame videos take a while to load and if you want a quick view of the game you have to wait. I was hoping you could change it so that it will load and display the snap first, then if it has a video load and display that over the top.

[hansolo77]

I would like to see an option to manually edit the menu system. I have a lot of emulators and such. Right now I go into the Emulators menu to access them, which is the way I like. But to get to the MAME games, you have to go in off the main menu rather than through Emulators. I would much rather have all my GAMES in one menu off the main. If a user could create their own menu structure, everybody could make it they way THEY wanted. This is how I would make mine:

1) Favorites

2) Random Game

3) Last Played

4) Emulators (or just call it GAMES)

- MAME

- PC

- NES

- SNES

->etc

5) HTPC (tv, movies, music)

+ TV

- Live

- Recorded

- Scheduled

+ Movies

- Trailers

- Videos

- DVD's

- Online Videos

+ Music

- CD's

- Individual Tracks

- Radio

- Online Music

6) Settings

- Theme Picker

- Configurator

- Control Settings

- Menu Settings

7) Close GameEx

- Close

- Reboot

- Logoff

- Turn Off

[Hobo]

If you can't do the whole menu edit thing, could you at least add an option to make the contents of the multimedia menu show on the start screen?

BTW, Great job on the recent updates, loads of cool stuff there.

[emphatic]

Here's a theme configuration request:

I've made a theme that's about done, but if I change the font size, it looks all screwed up. Why is that?

Since I've defined in the theme editor how big the gamelist is, why does the size of that field change just because I use bigger fonts?

It would be very cool if you could make just one theme that dynamically changes necessary settings (background image source/size) and game list size etc. This way, people could concentrate on having fun while creating themes.

Emph

[shbon]

One killer additional feature for me would be the ability to rotate the GameEx interface using a hot-key. Something a bit like AdvanceMenu which rotates 90 degrees each time you press pad 0. Very useful for multi-sided cocktail cabs!! Any chance?

Shaun

[gerble1000]

Hi Tom

i got a good future request

When ingame for example playing SuperMario world you can press a keycombo and menu pops up.

in the menu u can have things like exit emulator/save state/load state and so on. no one wants to stand up to save a game.

also in that menu maybe u can put the history of the game/manuel or even cheats for the game

here is a screenshot of some othere fronted that has this future

Picture 1

picture 2

Also in Media Portal the plugin My Programs has this thing when u put ur roms it gets all the info about the games by its self from this site www.allgame.com and then saves it to your pc in the database

anyways keep up the good work Tom

wow excellent idea

i love it

because i have 2 buttons on my cab for load and save

and the problem is that not all the emulators have load and save as the same buttons

so i have to strip the exe change it and rebuild it,and this is time consuming.

but if tom could implement this feature it would be cool.

a+++++++

[Tom Speirs]

One killer additional feature for me would be the ability to rotate the GameEx interface using a hot-key. Something a bit like AdvanceMenu which rotates 90 degrees each time you press pad 0. Very useful for multi-sided cocktail cabs!! Any chance?

Shaun

Good one Shaun.

Hi Tom.

GREAT work with gameex, the changes that have been made over last 6 months are nothing short of amazing.

I have an idea for a feature request.

Is it possible to have an option when you choose a game; to have it launch while keeping the current music that is playing running? and then next to it have another option to launch the game and stop the current music?

i mean to have these two options on top of the already obvious "play game", so perhaps 3 options "play game" "play game with jukebox" and "play game stop jukebox" or something like that anyway.

this would be swell as i sometimes have ppl over for a drink and run my jukebox software, but people cannot play games without interrupting the music.

Cheers mate

Hi, there's an already an option for all emulators and MAME to have it continue playing the juebox in the config, but not to let you choose in the front end.

Hi Tom

i got a good future request

When ingame for example playing SuperMario world you can press a keycombo and menu pops up.

in the menu u can have things like exit emulator/save state/load state and so on. no one wants to stand up to save a game.

also in that menu maybe u can put the history of the game/manuel or even cheats for the game

here is a screenshot of some othere fronted that has this future

Picture 1

picture 2

Also in Media Portal the plugin My Programs has this thing when u put ur roms it gets all the info about the games by its self from this site www.allgame.com and then saves it to your pc in the database

anyways keep up the good work Tom

Looks very cool EMKO, not sure how easy it is to implement, as it relies on specific support for certain emulators. as I said looks very cool though. I will have a think about it.

[Tom Speirs]

In the game list view , list options:

By Year

By Manufactorer

By System

By MAME version (so you can see "what's new")

Etc

In Favourites:

Recently added games

Also, it would be nice if these options could be customized either in Enable/Disable or Display options.

And Tom, could you set the installer NOT to overwrite the mame.png in the Bezel folder when upgrading?

Some of us use custom bezels and I have mine write protected now.

Emph

The latter is done for the next release. Whoops!

[TalkingBull]

Tom,

Is there a way to map a hotkey to tell us the version of GameEx? I LOVE the autoupdate but I wouldn't mind a quick way to confirm it was able to get online. I have a WiFi in mt cab and the signal isn't the best it could be... and it is only in there for the updates.

[hansolo77]

Hey Tom..

Is there anyway to configure GameEx to store all your emulator's rom's into a text/ini file? I think the MAME part does this, which really helps as far as keeping the loading times down. But if you could somehow enable a feature to do this for all the other emulators, that would be great. You wouldn't have to get spiffy with the names either.. just something like emu1.txt, emu2.txt, emu3.txt.....emu25.txt. I think that would help out a lot.

Keep up the great work!

[draginit]

i would like to be able, if possible, to set a timer from the time a game sits idle or unplayed and to have it jump right into the screen saver, and when the next time i walk up to the machine it comes out of the screen saver directly back to the main list

-in other words if i choose a game, play for a half n hour and walk away, instead of it staying on that game it will jump into the screen saver after the set time, and the next person to push any button will be taken directly to the entire list of games.

-i guess it could decrease the chance of any burn-in the screens, i tend to leave my machine on 24 hours a day without thought.

sound reasonable?

[Burchman82]

i think a cool feature to support that online multiplayer mame. Kaillera i think its called. That would rock hard!

[JamminJ]

Here's the problem i have:

I have over 40,000 mp3's and using the jukebox takes way over 5 minutes to display(and about 350MB of my RAM). I wouldn't mind that happening once(which winamp does), but everytime I click on jukebox makes it unusable practically. I do know that I use winamp as my main player, and it can start up with my complete list in about 10 seconds. To get around this temporarily I have just included 1 folder of my music.

So I guess my feature request would be:

1) A faster loading of the songs in 'jukebox'. I think winamp goes fast because it only scans for the songs that are in view on the list.(maybe 20 songs at a time)

2) the ability to have the "Arcade Ambiance" turn off when jukebox is playing

3) To be able to include more than 1 directory in "Audio Settings/Audio Files(if not Media Player)

Thanks for a great program that I'm glad to have regged!

Jerry

[amos_82]

Hi Tom;

just a quick request;

Do you thinks it would be possible to have an option to change the colour of the 'now playing' text on the toolbar? I'd love to have the to have a completely black toolbar; so only the text & equalizer are visible, the only problem is the 'now playing text is black, so it doesnt show up on dark backgrounds.

People could maybe use Headkaze's colourcode.exe to enter the desired colour into the config app.

Thanks

amos

[emphatic]

I don't know if this has been requested earlier, but possibility to use multiple gameex.ini files as a command line option.

Say that you have a cabinet with rotatable screen, just save two different .ini's, one for your vertical and one for your horizontal. Make two shortcuts, one with "gameex.exe -ini vertical.ini" and one with "gameex.exe -ini horizontal.ini".

Or for other uses, use one shortcut just for htpc only use and one for gaming only. I'm sure people can come up with a lot of cool stuff.

Emph

[night]

I have a Major Request :

move all the "Custombackground=" from the GameEx.ini into the theme.ini so it isnt nesserary to setup all the

custombackgrounds up each time you switch from one theme to another...

I guess this request would envolve Headkaze as well

[amos_82]

I have a Major Request :

move all the "Custombackground=" from the GameEx.ini into the theme.ini so it isnt nesserary to setup all the

custombackgrounds up each time you switch from one theme to another...

I guess this request would envolve Headkaze as well

I think thats a good one too.

Also I've got another request. Would it be possible to have an option for registered users to export their favourite games to the 'more programs' section of MCE? Ive got all my favourites setup to launch from there already, but it took forever to setup properly. I think it would make a nice feature.

Thanks

a82

[Smiff]

ive been watching kids using gameex, and navigating the game lists is just too hard and error prone.*

people nearly always end up moving right onto the gameex icons for "return to start page" and "exit" (and they do not know what these do). (i have to shout at them not to press anything). as it stands, the only thing they can see how to use is the up and down arrows on the bottom right. stuff like "hold button 3 and press right to jump letters" is just too damn hard for normal people to understand/remember. its never going to work.

i don't know exactly how to fix this. its quite major. some ideas:

1) restrict movement in the lists to one dimension - up and down. maybe require something like a quick double or triple press, or hold for period of time, to move out of the game list left or right. the basic point is that it needs to be harder to slip out of the game list than moving within it.

2) put favourites for each system at top of list? favourites as its own item on the homepage is not being used, because people are already being pushed into thinking in terms of systems(consoles) from when they first see gameex.

3) maybe put a list of letters across the top so people who like using mouse can click "d" for games beginning with d .. people seem to like the mouse, even though we know its slower, they like it! perhaps there are other ways to improve mouse navigation like modulated scrolling speed or (Revolutionary!) scroll bar!

4) allow substring searches. this is a big feature i know. so if they want "super bomberman 2" for snes, they go to SNES and type "bomb" and its narrowed the list as they type... a common search feature in many apps. maybe even have this global across all game lists.

5) maybe put something on the exit button so pressing once does not exit, nor pressing several times on the same button. e.g.: press once, a prompt comes up saying press something else to exit.

those are the first 3 things i can think of, will try to add more later.

other ideas? some of these are not stupid kids either. its just awkward and i know can be made better.

this is not a criticism theres nothing buggy about gameex, its just a human-machine thing.

* hell, if im drunk or silly its too precise for me either.

[gerble1000]

ive been watching kids using gameex, and navigating the game lists is just too hard and error prone.*

people nearly always end up moving right onto the gameex icons for "return to start page" and "exit" (and they do not know what these do). (i have to shout at them not to press anything). as it stands, the only thing they can see how to use is the up and down arrows on the bottom right. stuff like "hold button 3 and press right to jump letters" is just too damn hard for normal people to understand/remember. its never going to work.

i don't know exactly how to fix this. its quite major. some ideas:

1) restrict movement in the lists to one dimension - up and down. maybe require something like a quick double or triple press, or hold for period of time, to move out of the game list left or right. the basic point is that it needs to be harder to slip out of the game list than moving within it.

2) put favourites for each system at top of list? favourites as its own item on the homepage is not being used, because people are already being pushed into thinking in terms of systems(consoles) from when they first see gameex.

3) maybe put a list of letters across the top so people who like using mouse can click "d" for games beginning with d .. people seem to like the mouse, even though we know its slower, they like it! perhaps there are other ways to improve mouse navigation like modulated scrolling speed or (Revolutionary!) scroll bar!

4) allow substring searches. this is a big feature i know. so if they want "super bomberman 2" for snes, they go to SNES and type "bomb" and its narrowed the list as they type... a common search feature in many apps. maybe even have this global across all game lists.

5) maybe put something on the exit button so pressing once does not exit, nor pressing several times on the same button. e.g.: press once, a prompt comes up saying press something else to exit.

those are the first 3 things i can think of, will try to add more later.

other ideas? some of these are not stupid kids either. its just awkward and i know can be made better.

this is not a criticism theres nothing buggy about gameex, its just a human-machine thing.

* hell, if im drunk or silly its too precise for me either.

i am allways prssing home and exit when i play my machine drunk,

but i do see your point,kids play my machine and some cant get the hang of it.

its only the part where you press left or right axidently and then they start pressing buttons because its not going up or down??

thanx gerble1000