Default Mame Bezels

[Moleburt]

I'm back with probably another simple question...being stuck at home is giving me lots of time to fine tune my cabinet. I want to add default bezels for the horizontal and vertical games in mame that don't have a bezel from using the bezel project, I've been looking online and can't find anything that really has answered how to do it. Any help is appreciated!

[spycat]

Check this out.

https://www.mameworld.info/mrdo/mame_artwork_generic.php
 

[Headrush69]

2 hours ago, Moleburt said:

I'm back with probably another simple question...being stuck at home is giving me lots of time to fine tune my cabinet. I want to add default bezels for the horizontal and vertical games in mame that don't have a bezel from using the bezel project, I've been looking online and can't find anything that really has answered how to do it. Any help is appreciated!

Also don't forget to check out progettos for official artwork as well.

I use the Bezel Project too, but some of the official artwork has dynamic artwork/lamps for games like Gorf, Seawolf I/II, Lunar Lander, and many more that really add that extra touch to some games.

[Moleburt]

@spycat I followed that guide and it's still not working. I download the two ini files he has linked, placed them in my root mame folder, named the artwork I wanted to use "genhorizontal" and "genvertical" and placed them in the "artwork" folder and they aren't loading, not sure what I'm missing.

@Headrush69 I'm not sure what I would need to get from progettos, would I download the 3 main art packs and then download the subsequent update packs? Also, what are lamps in mame?

[spycat]

The actual artwork zips should be named as

horizont.zip

vertical.zip

 

[spycat]

I don't use Mr Do myself, prefer to use my own approach which works fine for me with both Arcade games and Software Systems.
 
MAME's fallback artwork feature allows any Arcade game or Software System that doesn't have an artwork zip to use a common (fallback) artwork zip. Two separate zips can be set, horizont.zip for horizontal (4:3 aspect) games and vertical.zip for vertical (3:4 aspect) games.

Making Fallback Artwork:
First create two separate artwork zips for horizontal (4:3) and vertical (3:4) games.
Each of these zips should contain a suitable lay file and a matching bezel.
Name the zips as
horizont.zip
vertical.zip
and drop them into your artwork folder. 
Next create two empty ini files named
horizont.ini
vertical.ini 
Add the line
fallback_artwork horizont
to the horizont.ini
and add the line
fallback_artwork vertical
to the vertical.ini
and drop both ini files into MAME's ini folder 
Now, any Arcade game or Software System that doesn't have it's own artwork zip will use fallback artwork.
 

[Headrush69]

1 hour ago, Moleburt said:

@Headrush69 I'm not sure what I would need to get from progettos, would I download the 3 main art packs and then download the subsequent update packs? Also, what are lamps in mame?

Progretto's is just another site for MAME artwork, including bezels. You can use a mix from both sites. 

If you look at the end of that long paragraph on the link to Progetto's I posted above, there is a link in the last word to where you can see and download individual game artwork. It goes in the MAME artwork folder the same as the Bezel Project bezels. So if you're missing artwork from one, you can check the other if you don't just want a default bezel.

I all honesty I may be mixing up Progetto's and Mr. Do's Artwork. Grabbed artwork from so many places, not sure which is from where now.

The lamps I was referring to are just elements of the artwork that Mame can interact with or change during gameplay. (Only some games support them)

For example, if you look at the Gorf bezel and see the yellow squares that say things like "Space Cadet", they will highlight in game as your rank changes.

A game like Seawolf that doesn't show torpedo loading lights just doesn't feel the same to me, but it's all personal preference.

Another example is some of the racing games will show a visual shifter onscreen for games like Pole Position so you can see whether in low or high gear.

It's more for older games, but some games like Atari Football without Lamp support is impossible since you can't see the plays you're selecting.

Bottom line is there is no 1 perfect spot for all artwork and a lot depends on personal preference. I like to avoid default bezels when possible and sometimes I've resorted to combining elements from both. (A little more leg work.)

For example, I prefer the bezel for Star Castle from Bezel Project, but then you don't get the coloured ring overlays. So I added them from Mr. Do's to the Bezel Project bezel... best of both worlds.

 

 

 

[Moleburt]

@spycat That fixed my issue, I didn't have everything I needed in the zip, now I have it working. Thanks for the help!

@Headrush69 I checked out a few of the games with lamps like you suggested, I like the lamp effects, my biggest issue (because I have a little ocd) is I don't like bezels that don't take up my entire screen, Having big black bars on both sides, so I may have to slowly find the artowork I like and combine different elements like you did. Thanks for all the info!

[Headrush69]

8 minutes ago, Moleburt said:

I don't like bezels that don't take up my entire screen, Having big black bars on both sides, so I may have to slowly find the artowork I like and combine different elements like you did. Thanks for all the info!

Me either. There are some great bezel packs out there that recreate that cabinet/arcade look, but I prefer good looking bezels that maximize the play area as well. (There are some exceptions in special cases though  )

[ci2own]

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!

[sundogak]

17 minutes ago, ci2own said:

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!

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)

 

[ci2own]

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

 

 

[Headrush69]

2 hours ago, ci2own said:

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 😅

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)

[ci2own]

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.

[Headrush69]

I’ll double check when I get home. I tested last night but using apple2e system and it worked.

You should also had the -v option to get verbose output which might have some clues as what files MAME is trying to read.

[spycat]

@ci2own

There's no need to include the override stuff in your command line parameters.
If you have an artwork pegasus.zip then MAME should automatically use it.
If no artwork (bezel) shows then there's either something amiss with your artwork pegasus.zip or your MAME ini is unaware of it's location.
By the way Software Systems (such as Aamber Pegasus) will only use an artwork zip named after the system's romset. Unlike the Arcade games, artwork zips named after individual games are not recognised.

I still have some Arcade games as well as some Software Systems for which I haven't yet made an artwork zip and for those I use fallback artwork.
See the link below.
https://www.mameworld.info/mrdo/mame_artwork_generic.php

One other thing, when you launch your game, ScrollLock and TAB into MAME's Video Options and see if your pegasus artwork is there as an option but is not highlighted. If so select it and see if your bezel shows.

 

Edited October 6, 2021 by spycat

[Headrush69]

2 hours ago, spycat said:

@ci2own

There's no need to include the override stuff in your command line parameters.
If you have an artwork pegasus.zip then MAME should automatically use it.
If no artwork (bezel) shows then there's either something amiss with your artwork pegasus.zip or your MAME ini is unaware of it's location.
By the way Software Systems (such as Aamber Pegasus) will only use an artwork zip named after the system's romset. Unlike the Arcade games, artwork zips named after individual games are not recognised.

Yes, the only reason he is using the override option is to force use of a game specific artwork instead of the system artwork.

He/she posted some verbose output in another thread and it indeed looks like it is reading the pegasus.zip artwork file correctly. It's not the artwork as using an exact copy as a game override does work.

Something isn't right and not making sense with the info we have.

As a test, running any Apple2 game with MAME, I get the apple2e.zip system artwork. If I use an override, (doesn't matter which, tron for example), it loads the apple2 floppy with the arcade tron artwork. I'm sure the system shouldn't matter as the artwork system is abstracted from emulation parts.

Building on what spycat said, by chance do you have zoom to screen area on?

Edited October 7, 2021 by Headrush69

[ci2own]

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.

 

 

 

 

 

pegasus.zip

[Headrush69]

Instead of naming the layout file name based on the rom, can you try it using default.lay instead? (just a test)

OK I think I found the issue. The override feature does work, but only if it's another artwork that MAME knows, and hence why it worked for me and not you.

MAME, doesn't know the rom tank, so that override will not work. I just testing using a random one, galaga, and it worked OK.

There are a couple "workarounds" I can think of. Set up a directory folder with a folder for every pegasus rom you have. Inside each folder have a pegasus.zip artwork with the appropriate files for each game. For you command line options, use the -artpath option to set the correct folder to use. Exact technique will depend on whether you pass roms directly or use software lists.

Other option that is probably easier, is just create a small AHK program that runs before MAME and copies the game specific artwork over the default pegasus artwork.

Edited October 11, 2021 by Headrush69

[JoeViking245]

2 hours ago, Headrush69 said:

The override feature does work

It seems like artwork for non-arcade machines works just like how you do per-game configs [for softlist's]. 

For my tests I added (actually changed) the folder to "artpath" in pegasus.ini. (By now you all probably have a pegasus.ini file. )

Then added that folder under artwork:  D:\MAME\artwork\pegasus\

Next, in there I put 3 folders and a zip file. (1942 folder actually had 25pacman artwork, tank folder had some game-n-watch artwork, pegasus had airwolf and 1942blah was actually 1942)

And then ran:

• mame.exe pegasus -rom1 tank -override_artwork 1942
• mame.exe pegasus -rom1 tank -override_artwork tank
• mame.exe pegasus -rom1 tank -override_artwork 1942blah
• mame.exe pegasus -rom1 tank -override_artwork notTank

All 4 tests worked as expected (well hoped, I should say. ).  MAME loaded the first 3 respective override_artwork folders/zip as it was told to. The last one ("notTank") didn't exist as a zip file or folder, so MAME loaded the default "pegasus" [folder].

But unlike arcade machines, even though we set the artpath, we still have to tell it which one to load (aka override) just like for per-game configs.

For the MAME emulator in LB, set the Default Command-Line Parameters like so:

pegasus -override_artwork %romfile% -rom1 %romfile%

This all works ASSUMING that in your MAME settings, you remove quotes and the file extension and path, and that your artwork folders (or zip files) are the same name as the pegasus roms (just like it's done for arcade machines).

For the file names inside the folders or zips, I don't think it matters.  As long as there's one called "default.lay".  Then it's only in the default.lay file that it looks for the other files by name in that particular folder/zip.  Again, as long as the folder or zip itself is named the same as the rom.