[APP] SnapShot Magician 1.2

[Tempest]

SnapShot Magician 1.2 release notes:

1. Pressing 'R' (Retry) will restart the emulator with the same game. If you want to change the key to use, you can add 'RetryKey=R' to your ini file, or just delete the ini file, and a new one will be created.

2. Bugs fixed.

SnapShot Magician 1.1 release notes:

1. If a game crashes in an emulator, Pressing 'S' (Skip) will add the game to the excluded files list for that emulator in your GameEx.ini. Also, the emulator is exited cleanly, and SnapShot Magician will continue with the next game.

2. Added the ability to use custom scripts with SnapShot Magician. In this download, you will find a folder named 'Includes'. In that folder I have a script that I used named 'VpinMame.ahk' that I used to close the window that asks if I have the right to play the game, and some windows that asked for game settings. You can view this file as an example of what might be done to help automate the snaps process.

You can write your own scripts, that will automatically be run after the game is run, but before the snap/video is taken. The script that is included must be in the SnapShot Magician folder, and must be named 'SpecialOptions.ahk'. I have included such a file to show the usage. You can (and will want to) delete the SpecialOptions.ahk file that I provided, it does not need to be used, but can be used to provide more flexibility.

If you want to use one of the files in the 'Includes' folder, Copy it to the SnapShot Magician directory, and rename it to SpecialOptions.ahk.

3. Other minor improvements.

SnapShot Magician 1.0 release notes:

ScreenShot Magician can be used to create videos, and screenshots for any emulator that you have setup in GameEx. ScreenShot Magician also can create reports so that you can easily see which images are missing for your roms.

Before you can use Snapshot Magician with Fraps, you will need to set the 'Folder to save movies in' to: Snapshot Magician\Videos Temp, and the 'Folder to save snapshots in' to: Snapshot Magician\Snap Temp.


When you run ScreenShot Magician, you will see something like this:



It is very easy to see the emulators that you have enabled in GameEx, and the number of roms, videos, and screenshots.
If you want a detailed onscreen report for an emulator, highlight the emulator, and click 'View Report'. A second window will appear:



You can then click on 'Save Report' to save the report that you are viewing, or click on 'Save All Reports' to save a report for each emulator. All reports are saved to the ScreenShot Magician\Reports folder.


A brief description of options available in ScreenShot Magician:

1. Put a tick in the box if you want to 'Create Videos'
2. Put a tick in the box if you want to 'Create Snaphots' (You can do both videos, and snapshots, at the same time)
If you put a tick in the box to 'Create Snaphots', the next two options are available:
3. 'Use Fraps' or 'Use Irfanview'
You can use either program to create snapshots, but not all emulators are compatible with Fraps.
4. Put a tick in the box to 'AutoMate It!' If you select this option, ScreenShot Magician will automatically create Video / Snapshot, waiting the same amount of time (Start Delay) that you waited to take the first Video / Snapshot.
5. Put a tick in the box to 'Use Pixel Search'. If you enable this option, ScreenShot Magician will wait first for the Start Delay, and then for the area under the mouse pointer to change color, before taking the SnapShot, Video. The mouse pointer location is set when you first press the 'Start Key', so wherever the mouse is when you start the 'AutoMate It!' process is the area that is monitored
6. If your emulator is setup to use merged sets, then the next three options will become available. You can decide which region will be used for the Video / Snapshot.
7. Use the up / down arrows to Select the 'Number of Windows' that an emulator will open before taking a Video / Snapshot. This is used for emulators like Future Pinball that load multiple windows before the table is shown.

Options available in ScreenShot.ini:

[General]StartKey=PrintScreenSkipKey=SRetryKey=RVideoKey={F9}SnapKey={F10}RecordTime=5000Debug=0

Make sure that the 'VideoKey', and 'SnapKey' match the 'capture hotkeys' in Fraps

Click 'Ok' to start the emulator, and press the 'Start Key' (PrtSc by default)To start the process.
Snaps will be saved in ScreenShot Magician\Snaps, and Videos will be saved in ScreenShot Magician\Videos
You will have to move them to the appropriate folders, after verifying the contents. This should be done after every emulator is completed.

Regarding ScreenShot Magician, and the GameEx.ini:
ScreenShot Magician uses the 'Title Path' from the GameEx.ini as the folder to check for missing Snapshots.
ScreenShot Magician uses the 'Snap Path' from the GameEx.ini as the folder to check for missing Videos.
ScreenShot Magician is compatible with 'Roms in Folders'
ScreenShot Magician is compatible with 'Send Keys', and 'Wait Before Key'
ScreenShot Magician will run programs in 'Also Launch'
ScreenShot Magician will run programs in 'Launch Before / Launch After'
ScreenShot Magician will skip roms in 'Excluded Files'
ScreenShot Magician is compatible with 'GamesIn7Zips'

DownLoad Fraps
Download IrfanView

I highly recommend that you check these sites for first, before using SnapShot Magician:
http://www.emumovies.com/
http://www.gamescanner.org/
http://www.localarca...screenshots.htm
http://www.localarcade.com/arcade_art/

One final note: the terms Snapshot Magician, and ScreenShot Magician are synonymous.

Snap Shot Magician v1.2.7z

[Lawrence]

I will personally attest to this program kicking ass.

The latest version has worked with everything I threw at it.

[darktouch]

look cool but to much staff for my head, i prefer download all the images and video.but look aweson i just wish that some day i learn to do all this things

[Lawrence]

Even if you prefer to download ready to go stuff, it's nice for programs like this to exist -- so other people can make snap sets for you to download.

[celly]

This looks really helpful, thanks! I'll give it a whirl. I don't have video snaps yet, might have to add that to my "to do" list.

[Tempest]

I highly recommend that you check these sites first, before using SnapShot Magician:

http://www.emumovies.com/

http://www.gamescanner.org/

http://www.localarcade.com/screenshotarchive/screenshots.htm

http://www.localarcade.com/arcade_art/

Not that you can't use Snaphot Magician to create whole sets, but lately there have been quite a few posts on missing snaps / videos.

Also, it would be nice if someone were to use Snapshot Magician to complete a set from one of the sites above, if they would then try to contact the site, and let them know that you have some missing snaps/videos. At the very least, post the missing snaps here, so that others may benefit.

If anybody has links to other sites for images, please post those as well.

Last, but not least, I forgot to thank Lawrence for his time with beta testing, and for his ideas to improve ScreenShot Magician.

Thanks Lawrence!

[RedDog]

How would you set this up for Irfanview to manually take snapshots? I just want to fill in the blanks in my collection. I tried and did not have any success.

[Tempest]

How would you set this up for Irfanview to manually take snapshots? I just want to fill in the blanks in my collection. I tried and did not have any success.

Run SnapShot Magician.

Select an emulator, the option 'Create Snapshots', and then 'Use Irfanview'

Uncheck 'Automate It!'

Click 'OK'

Snapshot Magician will ask you to browse to your i_view32.exe.

After that, each game that is missing a snap should run in your emulator. when you get to the point that you want to take a snap, press 'Prtsc'. (That is how the printscreen key is labeled on my computer)

The emulator should exit, and restart with the next game.

The images are saved in Snapshot Magician\Snaps.

You can use {Ctrl}Q to exit Snapsot Magician at any time.

If you still have problems, set Debug=1 in your Snapshot.ini, and see if that gives any useful information.

[Stu1983]

Good work Tempest, I've had a program like this on my todo list for a very long time but like everything else fun it just keeps getting moved further down the list by real life todo's

Thanks for your great work

Stu

[Tempest]

Thanks Stu!

[Tempest]

I thought I would try using this program that Tempest was so kind to create. I made snaps for Future Pinball, making images for the table, and backglass images. This is what it looks like in my game list.

I will be working with Tempest as I continue to make snaps for various systems, and I'm sure some improvents will be made to SnapShot Magician.

[Tempest]

SnapShot Magician 1.1 released!

1. If a game crashes in an emulator, Pressing 'S' (Skip) will add the game to the excluded files list for that emulator in your GameEx.ini. Also, the emulator is exited cleanly, and SnapShot Magician will continue with the next game.

2. Added the ability to use custom scripts with SnapShot Magician. In this download, you will find a folder named 'Includes'. In that folder I have a script named 'VpinMame.ahk' that I used to close the window that asks if I have the right to play the game, and some windows that asked for game settings. You can view this file as an example of what might be done to help automate the snaps process.

You can write your own scripts that will automatically be run after the game is started, but before the snap/video is taken. The script that is included must be in the SnapShot Magician folder, and must be named 'SpecialOptions.ahk'. I have included such a file to show the usage. You can (and will want to) delete the SpecialOptions.ahk file that I provided, it does not need to be used, but can be used to provide more flexibility.

If you want to use one of the files in the 'Includes' folder, Copy it to the SnapShot Magician directory, and rename it to SpecialOptions.ahk.

You should be able to use AutoScriptWriter to create custom scripts for an emulator.

3. Other minor improvements.

Edit: It looks like the titles 'SnapShot Magician', and 'ScreenShot Magician' are synonymous.

BTW: I had 28 downloads on V1.1.

I didn't realize that many people were using this.

[Tempest]

Version 1.2 released.

1. Pressing 'R' (Retry) will restart the emulator with the same game. If you want to change the key to use, you can add 'RetryKey=R' to your ini file, or just delete the ini file, and a new one will be created.

2. Bugs fixed.

Also, as a tutorial, these are the steps that I took to create snaps for Future Pinball, and Visual Pinball.

1. Run ScreenShot Magician

2. Highlight an emulator in the list

3. Put a tick in the box to create snaps

4. Put a tick in the box to use Irfanview

5. Make sure Automate it! is checked

6. Uncheck Use Pixel Search

7. Click OK

8. Wait for the first game to load.

9. Wait an additional 5-10 seconds just to be sure that there is enough time for successive games to load

10. Press {Print Screen}

11. Go to bed, Wake up, check all snaps in ScreenShot Magician\Snaps for content.

12. Delete any snaps with error messages showing, pics of desktop, etc.

13. Move good snaps to emulator\snaps folder. (ScreenShot Magician\Snaps is now empty)

14. Run ScreenShot Magician - Choose same options except AutoMate it!

15. The first game that you don't have a snap for will run, close any information windows, etc that pop-up, and press {Print Screen} to take a snap.

16. If a game crashes, press 'S' to close the emulator, start the next game, and add the ROM to the excluded files list.

17. Continue until all snaps are done!

SnapShot Magician will skip any snaps/videos in your emulators snaps/videos folders. It also keeps track of any games that you skipped by pressing the 's' key. because of this, you do not have to do all of your snaps/videos in one session. Just be sure to move the snaps/videos from the Snapshot Magician Snaps/videos folders to your emulator snap/videos folders before starting the next session.

You can quit at any time by pressing {ctrl}Q

I was able to take about 1200 snaps for Visual Pinball using the Automate it! option. Some of the Visual pinball games had windows that popped up to select options, check the legality of me running the game, etc., so I only had to do a few hundred by hand. I do realize that for most systems, this will probably not be possible, especially if you are trying to get a title snap.

[wahoo]

Thanks for creating this utility. It looks pretty cool. I ran into a few issues when I started to use it.

It seems like it recognizes .PNG files as videos instead of snaps when determining which ones already exist. Update: this is only happening on one emulator so far that I can see, the rest are working.

It doesn't seem to recognize .MP4 files as video files. Update: this is happening for the same emulator as above and seems to be working correctly on others

For multiple entries in the emulator section, there is blank under the #roms column. This doesn't seem to have anything to do with file extension as far as I can tell. Most are zips in my case. There are emulators that have ROMs in zips that do have a number uner the #ROMs column. Update: this seems to be the main issue, for some emulator configs it is not detecting either the existing rom, snap or the video files correctly

Once again thanks for creating the utility. Just wanted to mention these items for your next version perhaps.

[sic]

Hi,

Was going to try this nice app to take some videosnaps of my Amiga WHDload collection, but it wont work. Seems like Winuae blocks the "StartKey" for SnapShot Magician 1.2 as it wont start the recording, but If I press the configured "VideoKey" it starts recording in Fraps.

Anyone had any luck taking videosnaps in winuae?

Thanks

/Sic

[Tempest]

The keys are configurable from the Screenshot.ini file. I hope that helps.

[sic]

Thanks for the answer Tempest.

I tried many different keys in the ini but it doesnt seem to take any of them. So I suspect that Winuae has higher prio than SS Magician on the keyinput, since Fraps takes input. Maybe there is someway to start recording after ~20s instead with a configfile?

[sic]

The keys are configurable from the Screenshot.ini file. I hope that helps.

Since it didnt help , do you have more suggestions?

Thanks

[Tempest]

Try replacing your existing snapshot magician with this one.

Snap Shot Magician v1.3.exe.zip

[sic]

Try replacing your existing snapshot magician with this one.

Snap Shot Magician v1.3.exe.zip

Thanks hou so much Tempest, it seems to work now . Hope I can see the finished results tonight or tomorrow.

[Tempest]

Awesome!

[sic]

Your app worked great , thanks!. Fraps and winuae not that good . ~150 videos of 544 succeded. Will try to split them up in smaller batches when running the capturing in the future and see if that is more stable.

[Tempest]

Run a few games that didn't work properly, and see if any error messages pop up. Let me know what you find out.

[sic]

Tried it again, and it seems like it is Fraps that dies after some recording.. Is it possible to have a "kill process" on Fraps after each recording, so it always starts fresh with WinUAE?

[Tempest]

Try this.

Snap Shot Magician v1.4.exe.zip