JoeViking245

August 31, 2022

8 minutes ago, drw4013 said:

could be the same original issue with these games

You may could just try {Shift}. Also, try pressing all your buttons, including joystick 'buttons'. Just in case. Could you reassign the insert coin (in the emulator) to something that's not a "modifier key"? Usually it's "5" for player one and "6" for player 2.

August 30, 2022

1 hour ago, drw4013 said:
After reviewing the auothotkey docs, something close to this?
Joy7::         
Send {rshift}
Return
Except this doesn't work (7 the Select button # for me) and not sure on the formatting of the right shift key...

Try this:

1Joy7::
Send, {RShift}

Basically just added a "1" in front of the controller.

The , (comma) after "Send" and the upper/lower case letters for "RShift" are more for "proper syntax". The "Return" at the end isn't required because it is implied. Unless this code is in the middle of a bunch of other code.

Depending on which emulator you're using, you may need to 'exaggerate' the key press:

SetKeyDelay, 0, 50

1Joy7::
Send, {RShift}

Which is the same as

1Joy7::
Send, {RShift down}
Sleep 50
Send, {RShift up}

August 30, 2022

4 hours ago, Retrofrogg said:

I don't seem able to add videos to playlists - I can add them in the edit playlist window, but when I click OK, the video doesn't appear where it should. It's still there if I go back into the edit window. I can add videos to platforms no problem.

For the time being, try putting the video for the Playlist inside the /LaunchBox/Videos/Playlists/ folder and make sure the name of the file is the same as the Playlist. Use either the Playlists Unique Name or Nested Name that you have assigned to it.

August 28, 2022

1 hour ago, Warped Polygon said:

I hate using the cmd remapping tool in Supermodel. Updating the ini directly is my preferred way to remap my controls.

I'm the same way. Thanks for the detailed post! Adding to my notes.

One thing I have different is for Star Wars Trilogy. My brain works differently for moving left and right (no comments from the peanut gallery please. lol) so I inverted the InputAnalogJoyX

; Analog joystick (Star Wars Trilogy)

;InputAnalogJoyX = "JOY_XAXIS,MOUSE_XAXIS"   ; analog, full X axis
InputAnalogJoyX = "JOY_XAXIS_INV,MOUSE_XAXIS"   ; analog, full X axis

Another change I have is for Light guns (Lost World). I made these changes a l o n g time ago and don't really play the 3 games affected but do recall it helped with Lost World.

; Light guns (Lost World)

; Add these 2 inputs
; Originally listed under "Analog guns". Mouse and joy conflict (so removed mouse)
InputAnalogGunX = "JOY1_XAXIS"    ; analog, full X axis
InputAnalogGunY = "JOY1_YAXIS"    ; analog, full Y axis


; Analog guns (Ocean Hunter, LA Machineguns)

; Comment out the following 2 lines
;InputAnalogGunX = "MOUSE_XAXIS,JOY1_XAXIS"    ; analog, full X axis
;InputAnalogGunY = "MOUSE_YAXIS,JOY1_YAXIS"    ; analog, full Y axis

August 25, 2022

1 hour ago, megashub said:

Do you happen to remember where you found this?

I found this particular script in the folder where I saved it after I was done creating it.

1 hour ago, megashub said:

If the script you're referring to handles the pulling of MAME's game-specific controls configs into variables I can reference, that would cut out a lot of the work.

lol Don't take this wrong but, dream on. I'm not saying I have that and won't share. I'm saying that would be a PITA to incorporate. Anyway, somewhere 'out there', there is/was a controls.dat (or controls.xml?) that listed button_1 = "Run", button_2="Jump" and so on, for quite a few arcade machines. But it was created a long time ago, but in a galaxy not so far away. And as far as I know, hasn't been updated since a long time ago.

There is more recently "mame-portnames" on GitHub. It was last updated 4 years ago. (And yes. I did say more recently) It has the same info but in individual json files for each game. Either of these can be parsed to gather games-specific controls for reference.

The script I was referring to just shows an existing image. It doesn't "create" them. (CPWizard created them for me) It was written quite a while ago, is kind of cheesy and somewhat primitive. But was really cool when I wrote it. lol Oh, and it messes up LB's Pause Screen. But that didn't matter to me.

Fow what it's worth, here's that emulator script.

Spoiler

;*****************************************************************************************
;       Display an image file full screen corresponding to the selected MAME ROM.
;   
;       Image name and ROM name must be the same.  
;           dkong.zip  and  dkong.png  will work
;           dkong.zip  and  dkong_01.png  will not
;*****************************************************************************************

#SingleInstance force

;*****************************************************************************************
;       Adjust the following only:
;       MAME directory
;       The MAME executable file
;       ROMS directory
;       Images directory
;       Duration to show image in seconds.  1000 = 1 sec (Optional)
;*****************************************************************************************

SetWorkingDir, F:\Emulators\MAME
MAMERun = mame.exe -keyboardprovider dinput
RomDir = G:\Roms\MAME NonMerged
ImageDir = F:\LaunchBox\Images\Arcade\Arcade - Controls Information
ShowForSec = 7000

;*****************************************************************************************
;       Save it. Run it. Play.
;*****************************************************************************************

Process, Exist, %MAMERun% ; check to see if MAME is running
If (ErrorLevel = 0) ; If it is not running
    {
        IfExist, %ImageDir%\%1%.png
        {
            Gui, -Caption +ToolWindow
            Gui, Margin, 0, 0
            Gui, Color, Black
            Gui, Add, Picture, w%A_ScreenWidth% h-1, %ImageDir%\%1%.png
            Gui, show, x0 y0 w%A_ScreenWidth% h%A_ScreenHeight%, NA
            
            ;**** Optional****
            ;sleep, %ShowForSec%

            ;*** Wait for cab button 1, 2 or 3 press, or joystick movement
            Input, SingleKey, L1, {LControl}{LAlt}{LShift}{Left}{Right}{Up}{Down}
            
            Gui, Destroy
            Run, %MAMERun% "%RomDir%\%1%", , Hide
        }
        Else
        {
            Run, %MAMERun% "%RomDir%\%1%", , Hide
        }
    }
Exitapp

August 25, 2022

In order to help troubleshoot issues with MAME, please provide the following information:

Do the games work when starting them directly through MAME?
- Start mame.exe, select a game and press Enter.
  - Does it run?
  - Or do you get error messages?
    - If so, what game are you trying to run and what exactly is the error? [provide a screenshot if possible])
What version is your MAME emulator? (example “0.246”)
Are the ROMs you are using match your version of MAME? (example “0.246”)
What version of LaunchBox are you using?

Screenshots

Go to Tools, Manage, Emulators, select the emulator you’re using for MAME and provide a screenshot of the following sections
- Details
- Associated Platforms

Select one of your Arcade (MAME) games and click Edit (or press Ctrl+E). Provide a screenshot of the following sections
- Metadata
- Launching
- Emulation

August 25, 2022

In short, not enough interest.

It's been on the Community Poll a couple times in the past but never received enough votes to have it integrated into LaunchBox.

August 24, 2022

33 minutes ago, Joe35car said:

It only wants to import only one game (Marchen Maze)

Of the 25 games that are in MAME's software list "megaduck", "Marchen Maze" happens to be the only one that also has an arcade machine with the same name. That's why it imports and none of the rest do. So basically, you got lucky with the one. As you've found, LaunchBox only imports MAME's arcade machines and not any their software lists.

It's my understanding the plugin Neil mentioned will do what you're wanting.

August 24, 2022

9 hours ago, Error 404 said:

as an example, i still get two "1942" games.

Clones are revisions or modifications of the Parent games' ROM set (the physical files of the originally released game). Though the PlayChoice-10 cart version (the one on the left) is part of the 194x Series, it doesn't use any of the original files.

So it's not technically a "Clone". You could almost call it a 'Port' of the game. Play the PC-10 Arcade version (released 1987). Then go play the NES Port of the game (released 1985). You might notice some visual similarities between the 2. Now play the original Arcade Machine (released 1984) and see 'how it was meant to be'.

August 23, 2022

I believe it searches the metadata ("Notes") as well.

August 23, 2022

10 minutes ago, stigzler said:

isn't this just standard mapping for all games - not game specific mappings?

I don't recall. I kind of made (modified actually) a pause theme of my own to show the game specific controller image. But just for Arcade. The control panel images are stored in \Images\Arcade\Arcade - Controls Information\. And I bind them using Source="{Binding SelectedGame.ArcadeControlsInformationImagePath}"

For all other Platforms I do have a 'standard mapping' image. But I don't really use those anywhere. But I do know that you can create (if it doesn't exist) an \Arcade - Controls Information\ folder under any platforms image folder (i.e. \Images\Nintendo GameCube\Arcade - Controls Information\) and bind the image the same way.

August 20, 2022

50 minutes ago, Intex said:

JOY 1 UP Joy 2 UP

Pretty sure that's saying you need to press them both up to move P1 Up.

vs. "JOY 1 UP or Joy 2 UP"

August 19, 2022

"Favorite" you see in LaunchBox

isn't the same as a Playlist you create. Unless you actually created a Playlist.

If you want to see your Favorites in BigBox, you can either create a Playlist (in LaunchBox) and set the filter to auto populate based on Favorite = True.

Then in BigBox, set to view Playlists.

Or

In BigBox, enter into a Platform, get into the navigation bar (sorry. not sure what it's technically called. But on my test PC I press the Left or right arrow key) and select the Filter Icon.

Once selected, add the filter and apply

August 17, 2022

54 minutes ago, sgordon777 said:

Mame has both checked

M1 has neither checked

Thought so. Glad it's sorted for you.

August 17, 2022

7 minutes ago, sgordon777 said:

I copied mame.exe m1.exe, and am now able to treat it like other emualors, without it trying to "name" the image I'm using.

I have this wokring both for atari2600, and for apple2gs

I'm curious. Between your MAME and M1 emulator settings, does one of them have these 2 boxes checked, and the other doesn't?

August 17, 2022

3 minutes ago, sgordon777 said:

mame apple2e -floppydisk1 {path_to_my_disk_image_binary} # works perfectly fine

If this works perfectly, then MAME is recognizing it. Can you show a literal example? As in the full path and file name plus extension.

For Apple IIe floppies, MAME supports extensions: mfi, dfi, dsk, do, po, rti, edd, woz, nib For cassettes it's .wav

Honestly, you're creating more work than necessary by not having an actual MAME softlist ROM set. You know. .zip files.

But according to your "works perfectly file" statement, you CAN make it work with what you have. You NEED to have the afore mention check boxes un-checked in the emulator settings so that it will pass "{path_to_my_disk_image_binary}" at the end of the command line.

15 minutes ago, sgordon777 said:

Is there simply no way to have LB start mame as a system and not try to interpret the image it's loading?

Do you mean like, double click a game, and have LB simply just open MAME. And then you navigate to Apple IIe, and then select a game from there? aka: have the LaunchBox frontend open the MAME frontend. You can always Right-Click a game and select Open MAME (assuming it's the default emulator for that Platform)

21 minutes ago, sgordon777 said:

What if I renamed mame.exe to something else?

An emulators executable name is simply a name, by any other name.

August 17, 2022

Scratch that new emulator idea above. Just ran some tests..

As stated in your other post about this, put all your Atari 2600 .bin files into the folder "R:\atari2600\a2600\"

R:\atari2600\a2600\adventure.bin
R:\atari2600\a2600\pitfall.bin

You don't need to add a2600 to the rompath. Since your command line says to 'go into Atari 2600 mode', MAME knows to look for a subfolder called a2600 within your rompath's you have listed.

Don't need to change any of your existing MAME setting in LaunchBox. Just add the subfolder, move the .bin files into it, start LB and play Pitfall (and Adventure).

August 17, 2022

7 hours ago, sgordon777 said:

However, when I click on a game, say pitfall, it seems like MAME is being started but returns immediately without loading the cart.

I can run all the atari2600 games form MAME commaline, ala:

mame a2600 -cart r:\atari2600\PITFALL.BIN

Since your a2600 games are not in MAME's traditional zip format, you need to tell MAME the full path to the bin. Just like your command line above, that worked.

Since you are also using MAME for Arcade machines, most likely your MAME emulator settings in LaunchBox have these 2 boxes checked.

So, with your Default Custom Command-Line Parameters you have set for "Atari 2600", LB will send the command

mame a2600 -cart -skip_gameingo -nowindow pitfall

With this, MAME will go into Atari 2600 Cart mode (for lack of better phrasing), bypass the game info window, start fullscreen, and look inside your rompath folder(s) for pitfall.zip.

Since (at least for your a2600 roms) you don't have MAME's softlist romset (the ones that are in zip format), I recommend you create a new emulator in LaunchBox.

Use the same executable ( ) but give it a different name (of course) like MAME_with_quotes or whatever. You can have the same Default Command-Line Parameters (it doesn't matter anyway), but un-check both those boxes. Then in the Associated Platforms section, Add Atari 2600 and its Default Custonm Command-Line Parameters ( a2600 -cart -skip_gameingo -nowindow ). This will now send

mame a2600 -cart -skip_gameingo -nowindow "R:\atari2600\pitfall.bin"

August 17, 2022

Looks like you didn't grab the MAME 0.246 Software List ROMs set. Because it should have had a folder called a2600. And in that folder should have been a bunch of zip files. Including adventur.zip.

Are all the a2600 roms unzipped? If you have still the original zips, put them in this folder:

R:\atari2600\a2600\ So Adventure will be like so... R:\atari2600\a2600\adventur.zip You don't need to add "a2600" to the rompath. THEN try your command "mame a2600 adventur"

If you don't have the zips (for some odd reason), instead of the above folder structure, simply try the command "mame a2600 adventure.bin". Not sure if that'll work. If it doesn't, try the full path. "mame a2600 R:\atari2600\adventure.bin" That I know will work. But it's MUCH easier to have the zips in their original folder (a2600 in this case).

August 16, 2022

33 minutes ago, DarkanParx said:

before I was launching an .exe and afterwards I used the steam id.

Appears I've covered this before. 😊

This reiterates what I stated above, but also links to a viable 'work-around' when using the Steam ID to launch a game.

August 16, 2022

49 minutes ago, sgordon777 said:

What level do I have to unzip these?

Never!

49 minutes ago, sgordon777 said:

Where (relative to my /rom folder) do I have to put the files?

You can put them anywhere you want. But for ease of explaining and to get you up-and-running, place the contents of your downloaded torrent folder into your ../MAME/roms/ folder.

The Full Set (MAME 0.246 ROMs) contains a ton of zip files. Place all the zip files into /roms/. (if you have the Non-Merged set, there'll be about 39,886 zip files) Should look something like:

The softlist Set (MAME 0.246 Software List ROMs) contains a bunch of folders. Place all the folders into /roms/. (if you have the Split set, there'll be about 605 folders) Should look something like:

49 minutes ago, sgordon777 said:

they're not in the .246 full sets *I* have.

If you have the Full Sets, they are. If not, then they are an incomplete 'full set'. What set type do you have? Merged, Non-Merged or Split. If you got the ones I mentioned and they came from pleasuredome's github site, then the files are there. If when downloading, you unchecked a bunch of the files (to possibly speed things along), that could cause an issue.

What specifically are you attempting to run (console/computer and game_rom) and what file(s) is it saying you're missing? Knowing that can help point you to where it's supposed to be, within you Full Sets.

August 16, 2022

7 minutes ago, DarkanParx said:

Any idea what could be the problem?

Nothing (in this case) should have changed since the latest update. When you launch a Steam game, it actually starts the Steam Launcher which then launches the actual game. LaunchBox 'sees' the Launcher as "the game". Then after the Launcher starts the game, it closes (and the game continues). Now that the Launcher (aka "the game") is closed, LB executes the Run After Main Application app.

Or at least it's supposed to execute the Run After... at that point. From the sounds of it, it's not even doing that (if it's still running when you do actually quit the game).

This all assumes you're [actual] game is being launched using the Steam ID (vs. pointing to a 'game_name.exe')

August 16, 2022

If you are intent on using MAME for emulating Consoles and Computers [which is fine...] (i.e. Atari 5200 and Apple IIe) vs. other emulators as recommended above, ALL the files needed to do so are available in:

MAME 0.246 ROMs (merged) [or MAME 0.246 ROMs (non-merged)]
MAME 0.246 Software List ROMs (merged) [or MAME 0.246 Software List ROMs (split)]

And of course you will need the MAME 0.246 executable. Note: mame64.exe is now simply mame.exe If you have these 2 Full Sets, there's no need for the two you show. (Hint: scroll down just a little further on that site to see the Full Sets)

When you manually collect the required files from over the internet and old collections, you run the risk of obtaining mismatched files or incomplete zip files. That is, you might end up with 1 file for MAME v0.179, another for v0.201 and one for 0.246. Or possibly the zip file is from a split set for a clone, missing needed files that are in the parent zip. The point here is, get the 2 Full Sets for the same version and be done looking for files.

Once you have those 2 Full Sets, it's a matter of putting them in a good folder location in which MAME can find and setting the proper command-line parameters. Then of course the most important part, playing games.

August 16, 2022

MAME hasn't really changed much except you don't have to use mess.exe for software lists. You do need to still make sure your romset, be it softlists or the regular arcade machines set, and the MAME emulator are the same version.

The softlist sets only contain the 'game' ROMs. You still need the appropriate BIOS and support files that can are found in the arcade fullset. If you have both of these and your folders are setup correctly, if you're getting "file missing" errors, then most likely you have mismatched romsets and executable.

Apple's not the easiest softlist to be starting with, but here's a really good writeup that should help get you going. It's for the IIGS. But hey, close enough.

I believe this should also help with your issue of using 1 emulator with various platforms requiring various command-line parameters.

August 14, 2022

The command line you used (and that worked) when troubleshooting, that pointed to a .zip (vs the contents of a zip) is what gave it away.

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