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ci2own

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Posts posted by ci2own

    Apogee BK-01

    in Troubleshooting

    Posted

    Just in case someone needs it. In the actual version of mame 0.246 this would be the instructions after system loads:

    1) Type I  (The letter between U and O in a spanish keyboard)

    2) Press Intro

    3) Play the tape via MAME Menu

    4) Wait until ends loading, and press Intro.

    5) Type G and press Intro again.

     

    • Like 1

    Help cleaning a game box

    in Game Media

    Posted

    Hi all! I wonder if someone could clean this N-Gage game box, so i can place covers to create the complete 3D set.

    If possible, clean the spin (with standard black box color). I don't have spines to place there.

    And keep the complete plastic of the game box and make it transparent to place the cover behind.

    763838272_N-GageBox2.thumb.png.e01c8df17057063b4c4091d5427fa6ca.png

     

    Thanks in advance!

    I attach the original image to edit it.

    spirits-repro-front-tn.thumb.jpg.fb8b8d0bce7f8e2da32d40c4ce0c0394.jpg

    Images not showing right size when vertical and horizontal boxes on the pack.

    in Game Media

    Posted

    Hi! Not sure where to post this.

    My 2D boxes for N64 have the same dimensions, but different orientation (depending if USA, Europe or Japan).

    USA, Europe are 830x600. (Horizontal)

    Japan             are 600x830. (Vertical)

     

    The thing is they doesn't keep the aspect ratio they should. Horizontal ones looks smaller than vertical ones, and should have same size. Is there a way to solve this?

     

    1912971488_Capturadepantalla2022-06-29182950.thumb.png.2512d722263c970000f6b3fd944dde08.png

    Autoboot Command / Script for MAME SWL (Computer Systems)

    in Emulation

    Posted

    1 hour ago, JoeViking245 said:

    In a word, no.  But hey, learning is half the fun. :) 

    A lot of times it's doing what you did... search and more research.  Many times you get lucky and it's not a tricky system.  And sometimes it's there in front of you and it's overlooked.  Take for example atom_flop.xml, lines 8, 10, 11 and 12 in the hash xml file. ;) 

     

     

    WTF! You're (always) right! Sometimes the answer is to open the eyes... 😅

    I didn't noticed those very important lines. 

     

    • Haha 1

    Autoboot Command / Script for MAME SWL (Computer Systems)

    in Emulation

    Posted

    Here again with some questions regarding Software Lists.

    First of all i've been searching a lot and couldn't find any info about how to run some games/programs that needs a command after OS loads. For example Acorn Atom (Disk Images). For example with Atomic Joe Blade game.

    Hash file usage says this:     <info name="usage" value="Load with *RUN&quot;JOE&quot;"/>

    I understand it means i need to type      *RUN"JOE"           and press enter, but after this command it appears "PLAY TAPE". So i went to MAME Menu, Tape and play, but didn't work. 

    I found this site with help on all MAME Software List Systems/Games/Programs:

    https://mame.spludlow.co.uk/SoftwareLists.aspx

    You can search for a System/Game/Program and you can find how to use each one. But it says the same to load this game. Still doesn't work. 

    usage Load with *RUN"JOE"

     

    624215973_Capturadepantalla2021-10-15alas16_11_35.thumb.png.d633eeb97a83d01279c215ea998346e6.png

     

    I could make load "Jet Set Willy" game, which is in the same software list (Acorn Atom Disk Images) by typing (I saw it in a youtube video):

    *DOS

    *DIR

    *CAT

    *RUN"JSWRUN"

     

    But this doesn't seem to work on all games. It gets stuck after *DIR on other games.

    710131604_Sinttulo.thumb.png.158360d67496a4cfd40c3db053e4d02e.png

     

     

    Is there a way or a place to know this special commands for tricky systems?

     

     

     

     

    Default Mame Bezels

    in Emulation

    Posted

    1 hour ago, spycat said:

    @ci2own

    Regarding the deprecated elements warnings:
    As of MAME 0.225 lay file background element instances such as for bezels are considered deprecated and that's what's triggering the warnings. Things will still work ok with MAME 0.225 to the latest 0.236 but possibly not forever.
    If you want to fix rather than just hide the warnings then you will need to update your lays.
    I've done it manually for my fallback lays as well as my multi view lays for some of my Software Systems and the warnings have gone. Still more to do, as well as my 100 or so Arcade games lays.

    I had a quick look at your posted lay.
    Under the view name sections you need to replace all instances of
    <bezel element=
    and
    </bezel>

    with
    <element ref=
    and
    </element>

    Do make a backup of your lay should you need to revert!
     

    That worked!

    Here is the modified bezel, just in case someone wants to use it.

    Thank you very much! :)

    MAME Default Bezel for Computers.zip

    Autoboot Command / Script for MAME SWL (Computer Systems)

    in Emulation

    Posted

    1 hour ago, JoeViking245 said:

    It doesn't help that you picked one of the slightly tricky ones.  Fortunately there are only 10 roms in the MAME set (abc80_flop) and only 9 of those are supported. And you happened to have found one of the two that are also included in the abc80_cass rom set.  The other rom is ABCDemo.

    Since these are both in floppies and cassette, you need to specify the media flag.  And as you discovered, you need to Run "stacker" instead of abcstack.  For this and ABCDemo, you'll just need to edit the game(s) and on the Emulation tab, check the box Use Custom Command-Line Parameters and put in: 

    abc80 -autoboot_delay "3" -autoboot_command "run\"stacker\"\n" -flop1 %romfile%

or

abc80 -autoboot_delay "3" -autoboot_command "run\"a.b\"\n" -flop1 %romfile%

    (2nd option being for ABC Demo)

    Most of the systems are fairly straight forward.  Some have little nuances [like this].  And some can be a real p.i.t.a..  There is no "cookie cutter" way for all the systems to be understood. But there is never "no way" to understand them.

    Yeah! That worked perfect!

    The truth is i'm adding in alphabetic sort, so this system was one of the first ones. Hope the next ones are much easier ;)

    Thanks again for all your help!

    • Like 1

    Autoboot Command / Script for MAME SWL (Computer Systems)

    in Emulation

    Posted

    1 hour ago, JoeViking245 said:

    (moving the topic)

    Regarding running abc80 requiring the game's rom name to be in the autoboot_command line

    "..any way.."  You might be able to write a lua script that can do it.  But that's WAY beyond me. 

    You could also get stupid-crazy and create an AHK script (or even a C# program) to 'act as your emulator' that will read the game rom that LB passes, then automatically modifies abc80.ini to insert the rom name.

    OR..... set the Default Command-Line in the emulator settings to something like 

    abc80 -autoboot_delay "3" -autoboot_command "load%romfile%\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nrun\n" %romfile%

    I know the hash file 'usage' says to use "run",  but above is what I had in my notes and it 'just seems to work'. ;) 

    (so this last one ("OR") was an afterthought, but left the previous 2 "..any way.." here for 'options'. :D)

    Edit:

    simplified (working [and more-correct]) command-line 

    abc80 -autoboot_delay "3" -autoboot_command "run\"%romfile%\"\n" %romfile%

     

    First of all, thanks for your response.

    I tried the last command line in LB for abc80 system, and it works for some games. Others gives an error (ERR 21) after typing run"romname". So it seems this command doesn't work for all games/programs in the same system.

    i'm trying to understand how to use the "usage" line in hash file, but i'm not able. For example:

    ABCStacker gives error 21 after using your command line ( abc80 -autoboot_delay "3" -autoboot_command "run\"%romfile%\"\n" %romfile%) which runs -->  run"abcstack"

    The hash file "usage" line says to use run"stacker" but it doesn't work either.

    Captura4.thumb.PNG.9ed7b187bb6a5c4bf69981054c0d27e6.PNG

    Captura3.thumb.PNG.80426a7b7cbe8a5dc5b03bc2c2db7475.PNG

    So no way to understand how this and other systems from MAME Software Lists works. :(

     

     

    Default Mame Bezels

    in Emulation

    Posted

    1 hour ago, JoeViking245 said:

     

    I knew autoboot command, but i want to avoid to write a different autobot command for each game on some systems that needs a specific load line per game.

    What i wanna mean, is: The same as MAME knows the media to use, so now you don't need to tell if is a -flop, -flop1, cass, etc. MAME also knows the command to load each game after system loads. I wonder if is there any way for MAME to make it load auto just executing the game. (Always using same command line)

    If a system always need the same command to load all games, autoboot is a good option, but if each game needs a specific command to load it, it's a mess. Specially if this system have hundreds of games. 

    Default Mame Bezels

    in Emulation

    Posted

    Finally i made per system bezels work.

    It seems the .lay file inside systemname.zip can be systemname.lay or default.lay

    For example for system pegasus:

    artwork name should be pegasus.zip

    and .lay file inside pegasus.zip should named pegasus.lay, or default.lay.

    What don't work is per game bezel. It only works if use -override_artwork gamename

     

    I also get this warnings because it seems MAME changed the way it uses the bezels. Does someone know how to adapt the .lay to avoid this warnings?

    Captura2.thumb.PNG.1f8176159619e907db758d2fd5df88f6.PNG

     

    This is the working Default Bezels file with default.lay inside. I also changed the bezel order to show the Sony Trinitron First.

    Just rename it to your systemname.zip.

    MAME Default Bezel for Computers.zip

    Default Mame Bezels

    in Emulation

    Posted

    7 hours ago, sundogak said:

    @JoeViking245Great explanation!  I don't typically do bezel setups on software lists and few I do are at the Machine level (i.e., Atari 2600 bezel, so a2600.zip works fine).  But gave it a whirl to see.  If I launch a CMD window within the MAME directory and launch these as you noted in your post they all work as expected with override (renamed a random artwork zip to "tank.zip"). 

    mame pegasus tank -override_artwork 1942
mame pegasus tank -override_artwork tank

    First one launches the 1942 arcade bezel and second did whatever I renamed to "tank.zip".  Unfortunately, MAME doesn't look beyond the Machine name for artwork without forcing with override.  

     

    Side Note (related but off topic of bezels):

      Hide contents

    you don't need the media flag (-cart) since the HASH file will pickup what media type is required based on the name. Only time you HAVE to use a media flag is if want to force that media type for whatever reason or in case of things like Atari 2600 where the cassettes must be loaded with a cartridge so becomes: 

    mame a2600 scharger -cass commumut

    But particularly for multi-floppies it is easier to not use the -flop command like in the first example so you get a Disk 1 and Disk 2 loaded automatically (no messing with -flop1 and -flop2).  If you specifically put a flag then it only loads what you tell it. Basically, with SL if let the HASH file figure things out it makes LB command setups easier.   

    mame apple2e ultima4
mame apple2e -flop1 ultima4

    1020628730_MameScreenshot2021_10.11-20_58_35_46.thumb.png.797159daa94813560eda4bd2ba18503a.png vs 2111289420_MameScreenshot2021_10.11-20_59_08_84.thumb.png.4e65ee3532fdedc0d908bdb6e3b1b2ff.png

     

    Regarding your offtopic:  On some systems, you need to load the game after the OS System loads. This happens for example in Acorn Atom (Disk Images), ABC80, and others. Shouldn't mame auto-load the game? MAME also knows this info:

    if i exec mame64.exe abc80 -lsoft i get info about how to run each abc80 game. As an example:

    abc80.txt

    For the game hiresinv it says:

    <software name="hiresinv">
                <description>Hires Invasion</description>
                <year>2017</year>
                <publisher>Genesis Project</publisher>
                <info name="usage" value="RUN&quot;HIRESINV&quot;"/>
                <part name="flop1" interface="floppy_5_25">
                    <dataarea name="flop" size="163840">
                        <rom name="hiresinv.dsk" size="163840" crc="b811b980" sha1="805b4369085120662769f5a3d11b0e66ffbbfb76"/>
                    </dataarea>
                </part>
            </software>

     

    Is there a way to make mame auto-load the games?

     

    Default Mame Bezels

    in Emulation

    Posted

    Thanks for all your responses!

    I did a small test and renamed a 1942.zip working artwork bezel to pegasus.zip (without renaming the 1942.lay file inside) and started a pegasus game and it worked without -override_artwork option. So i did a few more tests:

    A) renamed the generic bezel i created to pegasus.zip and started a pegasus game and it didn't work (the .lay file inside was named tank.lay). When i changed tank.lay to pegasus.lay it worked.

    B) renamed working pegasus.zip on step A) to tank.zip, (so there's no pegasus.zip artwork) and it didn't load when loading tank game. Even when the .lay file has the same name as the game (tank.lay). 

    It seems per game bezel doesn't work, and per system bezel does. Don't know the reason.

    I attach the generic bezel i created named pegasus.zip just in case someone wants to test it. (i didn't created the images, i just put it together and did the .lay file. Don't know who to credit for the images).

    I only get this warnings because it seems new mame version changed the way it uses the .lay files.

     

    Captura.thumb.PNG.6133d5f2e8fc6b558778afb46d54ca67.PNG

     

     

     

     

    pegasus.zip

    Default Mame Bezels

    in Emulation

    Posted

    17 hours ago, Headrush69 said:

    That's normal behavior. When using a system like that, it would read the system artwork if it existed. So in this case a pegasus.zip artwork file.

    So use the -override_artwork option and if it doesn't exist for that specific rom it will fall back to the system one. (pegasus.zip artwork)

    I guess what happens to me is not a normal behaviour:

    I have a tank.zip and a pegasus.zip (with the same content as in tank.zip) in MAME artwork folder. If i use this command:    

    mame64.exe pegasus -rompath "Path_of_the_roms_and_bios" -rom1 tank        ---->   it starts without any bezel.

    mame64.exe pegasus -rompath "Path_of_the_roms_and_bios" -rom1 tank -override_artwork pegasus.   ----> it starts without any bezel.

    mame64.exe pegasus -rompath "Path_of_the_roms_and_bios" -rom1 tank -override_artwork tank          ----> it loads tank.zip bezel.

     

    there must be a problem somewhere.

    Default Mame Bezels

    in Emulation

    Posted

    3 hours ago, sundogak said:

    If for regular MAME, you would name the artwork/bezel zip the same as the machine/romset name.  So in the case of Aamber Pegasus that would be pegasus.zip  

    Aamber Pegasus - MAME machine (arcadeitalia.net)

     

    Thanks! I see what you mean.

    At the moment my mame doesn't laod any Bezel, even if is named the same exact name as the rom. The only way is to override with it's own name 😅

    An example:

    If i run:    mame64.exe pegasus -rompath "D:\Games\Aamber Pegasus" -rom1 tank                      it starts without any bezel (i have a tank.zip inside artwork forlder)

    if i run:    mame64.exe pegasus -rompath "D:\Games\Aamber Pegasus" -rom1 tank -override_artwork tank          it loads the tank.zip bezel

     

     

    Default Mame Bezels

    in Emulation

    Posted

    Does someone know how should i name a bezel file to make it the default for a MAME Software List System?

    For example, i want to use a default bezel for Aamber Pegasus games?

    Thanks in advance!

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