MerlinArcade

Yeah thanks, I was just installing it now. So if I want to work with Retroarch, I don't need Stella because Retroarch is an emulator right?

I bought Atari Vault on steam and the games files that was installed on my steam folder in Windows contains only .bin files. Of course MAME doesn't recognize them and I have yet to find a way to make these games work. Some have said to just rename the .bin extension to .rom or .zip but nothing works. There doesn't seem to be a .bin to .rom converter so how the heck steam plays those .bin files? Thanks Merlin

Yeah, the bug seems to come from LB in the top right drop menu. If you change the selection (ex: from Boxes to Clear Logos) that platform may also change in BB. So change the selection open BB and see how it changes.

I have seen a couple tutorials on Daphne here but since we get many updates on LB, I was wondering if we still need to create a batch file and add special command lines to associate launchbox with Dragon's Lair zip file (dlair.zip) and it's emulator (DaphneLoader.exe)? It took me quite some time and many youtube tutorials to finally get Dragon's Lair to work but adding Dragon's Lair zip file (dlair.zip) and pointing to the Daphne emulator wasn't enough for launchbox to make it load from LB. I still need to load separately DaphneLoader and click start. Any suggestions? Thanks Merlin

Hi Maddoc Got a question for you. I did something but I don't know what exactly and somehow the Arcade platform game page has changed and display the screenshot image at 2 places including the top left that was reserved for the box cover. Now what's interesting is that it's not a hardcoded glitch because when I leave the Arcade platform and enter another one like Atari2600 then in the game page I can see the box cover as shown here. Now you may say that it's because I don't have the cover for Arkanoid or any other Arcade platform games but I do have those and I saw them fine until I fuc*ed something and now I see 2 screenshot images but again, only in the Arcade Platform. So what's the problem here? How can the same gameview xml page display 2 different displays? Merlin

Sure just point the right thread and I will post in it. This being said, I just know basic programming stuff so only you know which functions are activated when we go in LB's Tools menu and then click on "Scan for added Roms" so whatever program is loaded there would be the one that the cron job activates each day if we turn this "Auto Update Roms" feature. The cron job would be the easy part. The hard part will be to have some sort of checkbox when we load our first ROMs something that says "Remember this setup for all the future Roms added to this folder". The 1st rom would have to go through the ROM import process as we know it but once this is done for let's say "Centipede" and that we have associated this ROM with the Arcade Platform and the MAME emulator, then all the other ROMs added in this ROM dir will be updated automatically and associated with the Arcade Platform and the MAME emulator. Follow me?

Think of what I posted above. Hyperpsin is a nightmare to configure but your LB is super easy. This auto update feature would make it even more user friendly. If you can somehow save in a DB which ROM dir and which platform and which emulator is associated with each game then all you have to do is add a cron job to the mix to load the scan option every day or at startup. LB will know that if I dump a new ROM in this folder then LB will associate it with this platform (ex: Arcade) and this emulator (ex: MAME) so no need to go through the import procedure every time. You set it ONCE and then LB will know from then on that all the ROMs you add in this folder should have the same setup as the first ROMs that you did at the beginning. No more setup to do, it would be like "freakin Front End Heaven". People would only have to worry about which folder to dump their ROMs and LB and MAME will do the automatic update. Wow! Of course those who don't like this feature could always turn it off but I think people would grow on it. Anyway you are the pro here and it's your software. It was Just a suggestion.

First of all I don't sell ROMs nor MAME, I sell Arcade Cabinets. Second, as for MAME, I ask them personally on their forum if I can install MAME "FOR FREE" in my cabinets and this is what they replied... http://forum.mamedev.org/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=175 Third, I contacted Jason by PM right after buying his LB because I believe his front end is the best and the simplest to use and configure especially for my future clients who are in their late 40s and early 50s and are not all computer experts like us here therefore my demand to ask Jason for this feature in a future upgrade. Fourth, why don't you mind your own business and keep your opinions to yourself as to the business I have with Jason and my clients. Sorry Jason for posting the request in the wrong forum. I'm fairly new here so don't know exactly where to ask for things. Merlin

To be honest, it's not for me but for future clients who will buy my arcade cabinet. The simpler I can make their life the better it will be. Software should not be done from and for nerds but to the average guy too. MAME figured it out, it scan for new games on its own and you don't have to setup or configure any settings everytime you load a new ROM file, it does that automatically for you. For nerds like you and I, settings is a piece of cake but for the average joe, if LB would do all this scanning on its own it would be a blessing because when I hear about Hyperspin, one thing that keeps coming back is the configuration nightmare and this one of the reason I went with LB so if you can have this feature that I talked about where LB would come with basic settings that you need to do first when you install it like telling which platform folder contains which games and which emulator run the games from this platform then that's it, the auto scan will do the rest from then on and that will simplify things SOOOOOOO MUCH because LB will become invisible and THAT will be a MAJOR feature for LB because it will be seen as the opposite of Hyperspin going from super complicated to doing almost nothing at all. You dump your ROMs in the right dir and VOILA, case close LB and MAME takes care of the rest for you.

In a PC it's easy but in an arcade cabinet, it's a whole new game. You have to hook up a mouse and keyboard using a USB port on the side of the cabinet and then do your ROM dumping so if it would stop there it would be nice but now you have to open up LB and set it up. Anyway, it's just 1 checkbox regarding whether or not you want the scan to run on automatic and another dropdown menu to select how often do you want the automatic scan to be run (at startup, each day, each week, each month, etc...). Stuff that a programmer like Jason can add in 5 minutes with 1 hand between 2 toasts during his breakfast tomorrow.

Yeah I know the tools>>scan option exist but it's not automatic. You still have to open up LB and go there. I would like it that it does it WITHOUT opening LB or BB just like MAME does. Like I said above, I add a new ROM in my ROM dir and when I open MAME, it's already there in the game list and ready to play. So with this option checked, I wouldn't have to open up neither mame, LB nor BB to update the Game DB and just focus on adding or removing ROM files. I would install centiped.zip in the ROM>> Arcade ROMS folder and VOILA... it's done. If I open up MAME I will see Centipede in the game list, next, If I open up LB I will see Centipede in the game list with all the metadata downloaded automatically and when I open up BB, when I go in the Arcade platform, I will see Centipede in the game list ready to be played. I can always go back in LB for fine tuning if I want to but the ROMs metadata and emulator should be associated with the directory where you added that new ROM. For that option to work, in LB, you would need to associate ONCE: - A directory for each platform so that LB/BB knows where to place that new game in. - The emulator that is associated with that platform directory. When LB and BB know in which platform dir that new game has been added, it will know which platform to place this new game in BB and will also know which emulator it will need to use to play it. No more setting up, you just add and remove your ROM files and MAME, LB and BB does all the automatic updates for you totally seamlessly.

Does it have an option that we can select that will make LB and BB auto update the ROMs dir like MAME does? With MAME, you just add a ROM to the ROM dir and when you open MAME, you can see that game in the Available list so no need to open up and setup MAME when you add or remove a ROM in your collection. It would be nice that LB and BB does the same thing. Updating the Game DB each day/week or at startup and when it updates the DB and see a new ROM file, it automatically download metadata and all so that we can see it right away in LB and BB and make it available to play. I mean if people have set it up like me and have 1 ROM dir per platform (Arcade, Atari2600, ColecoVision, etc) then LB already knows which platform this new added ROM will be loaded in LB/BB because I will have uploaded it inside the Arcade ROM dir and LB and BB will also know that for this platform, the MAME emulator is the one that should be associated with that new ROM. Basically, I would just plug in your USB thumb drive to my arcade cabinet, use the Tankstick trackball to copy the new ROM files into the right ROM directories and that's all, no need to plug in a keyboard or open up LB or MAME, they would auto update themselves.

Thanks jayjay but I just forgot about what DOS76 is talking here. Having a button that can shutdown everything if you press on it by mistake while playing a game could be a real pain in the a**. I'll think about it and see if I reconsider.

Anyway it's not that bad, it's just a shutdown in 2 steps instead of 1 so if it's not possible I will live :-D If anybody knows how to add an option to the Keyboard Mappings then please post it here.

I've tried linking more than 1 keyboard keys to 1 tankstick button but it didn't work. I could only reprogram the tankstick 1 letter for 1 button. If you found a way to associate 2 or even 3 keys to just 1 button, please let me know because holding ctrl, atl and delete while you press 1 button just doesn't work.