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View MAME High scores in Game Details - A plugin for LaunchBox/BigBox 4.1

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View MAME High scores in Game Details - A plugin for LaunchBox/BigBox

Use this plugin to see a games top 3 high scores in the Game Details.

 

Features

  • Shows high scores for most games in your Arcade platform in the Game Details.

After playing a MAME Arcade game that saves its' high scores [and is supported by the included hi2txt program], this adds a Custom Field called "Hi-Scores" to the game.  It will store 1st, 2nd and 3rd place and appear in the Game Details when the game is selected.

 

What's needed

  • (3) files that are included in the downloaded zip file (the plugin)
  • One file that is included in the Version 3.0 downloaded zip file
  • MAME configured to save high scores
  • Saved high score files (These are automatically generated by MAME [once configured to save them] in the "hi" and/or “nvram” subfolders of your MAME emulator)

 

What it won't do

  • Show high scores for games using emulators other than MAME.
  • MAME does not save high scores for all arcade machines, so not all games are supported by this plugin.

 

Contributors

@jayjay and @JoeViking245

 

A HUGE Special Thanks goes to GreatStone’s utility “hi2txt”.  This utility converts MAME’s high score files into a readable format which ultimately makes this plugin possible!!

http://greatstone.free.fr/hi2txt/index.html


Installation and setup instructions:

Step 1: Installing the Plugin

Step 2: Making sure MAME is set up to save high scores

 

Installing the Plugin:

  • Download the plugin, LB-BB_Hi_Scores_v1.0.zip, from the LaunchBox download section
  • After you’ve downloaded the zip file, be sure to unblock it in Windows by right clicking it, selecting Properties, and clicking Unblock

1856374065_Unblockdll.jpg.7b0ee1ffaf633990520cc3d8decaf82d.jpg

  • Open the zip file and extract/copy the "Hi_Scores" folder into ..\LaunchBox\Plugins

           e.g  D:\LaunchBox\Plugins\

If you have previously installed “MAME Hi-Score Display - A plugin for BigBox”, you will only to copy the “HiScoreCustomField.dll” file into that same folder.  Otherwise all 3 files are required(Only one file is required with version 3.0) The 2 plugins will not conflict with each other.

 

Setting up MAME to save high scores:

Using a recent official MAME release –

  • By default, plugins are enabled in MAME.  You can verify this by looking at the “mame.ini” file located in the root MAME install folder.
  • Open “mame.ini” and scroll down to (or press Control + F and search for) “Scripting Options”.   “plugins” should be set to 1.  If it’s 0 (zero), change it to 1.

581518570_mame1.jpg.25745172cdf45c35efe90b8a6f6f2bc6.jpg

  • Next, open “plugin.ini” also located in MAME’s root directory and change “hiscore” to 1.

1358223493_mame2.jpg.e877703fbfe0e32ef4b45f082a69624d.jpg

 

If you have an older release of MAME, you may need to do the following steps.

  • Go to this website: http://www.mameworld.info/highscore/download.htm and download a copy of the file hiscore.dat that corresponds to your version of MAME.
  • The file (hiscoredat.zip) will need to be unzipped. Place the file hiscore.dat in your MAME/Plugins folder
  • Open up your MAME.ini file in a text editor. In newer versions, this file will be in the same directory as the MAME.exe
  • Press control + F and search for “Scripting Options”
  • Next to the word Plugins, type “1” no quotes
  • Next to the word Plugin, type “hiscore” no quotes

It will look like this:782718388_mame3.jpg.82aeb30e430f23ed52f8e6e601577c89.jpg

 

How to use:

  • Start LaunchBox or BigBox
  • Go into the "Arcade" Platform
  • Select a game, run it, then close it
  • Now select a different game, then go back (poor man’s version to refresh the Game Details)
  • If the game has saved high scores, they will now appear in that game’s Detail pane

Depending on the BigBox theme you use, the amount of data shown in the Game Details may be limited.  So you might need to go into Options, Game Details and deselect some of the Details.

Be sure that “Custom Fields” is checked.


What's New in Version 4.1   See changelog

Released

v4.1  -  Fixed issue accessing MAMEs hiscore and hi subfolders.

  • Like 6
  • Thanks 3
  • Unusual Gem 1

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Hello, that's a great plug-in.  I try to look (and install) everything that can provide some visibility of high score.  That's super great.

I will certainly try it.  

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9 hours ago, neil9000 said:

WE have native Hi score support these days, that you can toggle to show in the game details bar.

That is true, and I've used that feature consistently since it's release, but I also used this plugin to show local scores.

Even with the latest update (4.1) it isn't showing up in the game details. 😞

Edited by Anonymous MOS
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Hi There, just started using Launchbox, I am trying to enable game saves in MAME so I can keep my "local" highscore in the game.  Currently using LB 13.3 and MAME 0.229.  I have searched my root directories and can't find a mame.ini file.  Do I need the premium version to install plug ins?  As a side note, I don't see where I can sign up for an account, is this also only available in the premium addition?  Thanks!

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2 hours ago, T489 said:

keep my "local" highscore in the game.

To enable saving local high scores in stand-alone MAME, an alternate method (and possibly less susceptible to human error) than mentioned above is to set it up directly in MAME.  In LaunchBox, right on an Arcade game and select Open MAME.

Once opened, double-click on General Settings.  On the General Settings menu, double-click on Plugins.  If MAME 0.229 has the older menu items, once MAME is opened, Plugins will be a menu option below Configure Options

On the Plugins menu, select Hiscore support and press the left or right arrow key to turn it on (or off).

Press Escape once to close the Plugins menu. [If showing the 'older' menu(s), double-click Configure Options] then double-click Save Settings.  Press Escape to close the General Settings menu and again to close MAME.

 

 

3 hours ago, T489 said:

Do I need the premium version to install plug ins?

No.

 

 

3 hours ago, T489 said:

As a side note, I don't see where I can sign up for an account, is this also only available in the premium addition?

A premium license is not required for setting up accounts.  For the Forums, you obviously already have one.  To connect to the LaunchBox Games Database, in LaunchBox click Tools, Cloud, Connect to the LaunchBox Games Database.  This will be a separate account than the forums and a "Register for an Account" link will appear.  To Request a Feature (top of this page under Help & Support), You will need to create a (free) BitBucket account.  Hopefully one of those 3 was 'an account' you were referring to. ;) 

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Thank you so much!  I've spent a couple of hours trying to figure out how to keep the Highscore, much appreciated!

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tried getting this to work on bigbox coinop theme but it doesnt work is it possible any 1 here has found a solution ? 

 

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3 hours ago, Ev0Duck said:

tried getting this to work on bigbox coinop theme but it doesnt work is it possible any 1 here has found a solution ? 

The CoinOp (BigBox) Theme doesn't show very many game details. Including Custom Fileds, which are necessary to be made visible for this plugin.

It appears the ('new') Default Theme doesn't expose Custom Fileds either.  To view the high scores using this plugin (in BigBox), you can use the "Old Default" Theme, "CriticalZoneV2" Theme or any other Theme that shows the Custom Fields in the Game Details.

 

Plan "B" is to use the other MAME Hi-Score plugin which is for BigBox only and can run alongside this plugin.  Tested successfully with the CoinOp Theme.

 

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