Chadmando's Super Pause Menu (64bit windows)

[WesleySwipes]

26 minutes ago, Chadmando said:

It can be named anything as long as it has an image extension. It will choose the first image it finds in the folder.

Controller images in the game folder will take priority over the platform folder.

The image in the platform folder would be used for all the games of the specific platform

The pause menu will make a new controller game folder for every game launched, you don't have to use it you just want to use a generic platform one.

The game folder name is the games title with special characters replaced with underscores.

 

So in this case you would just put flagrall.jpg into _96 Flag Rally folder.

So for a Mame set, I would need to have 4000+ images created for each game since they all have different controls, then manually move the files into each folder.

 

Oof, that's gunna be rough.

[Chadmando]

2 hours ago, WesleySwipes said:

So for a Mame set, I would need to have 4000+ images created for each game since they all have different controls, then manually move the files into each folder.

 

Oof, that's gunna be rough.

Yeah I could see that being a pain. Do you have a preference for another image structure? I could look into implementing a secondary one.

[WesleySwipes]

41 minutes ago, Chadmando said:

Yeah I could see that being a pain. Do you have a preference for another image structure? I could look into implementing a secondary one.

There was/is another game pause plugin (don't recall what it was right now, not near my cabinet) that would look for either the rom name or the Launchbox game ID. But it keeps crashing I am guessing to Launchbox being updated so many times since it's release.

You plugin is so much better with all the customization, and I really dig the idea of adding game manuals to my build.

Here is how the the other one looked for files:

Using " '96 Flag Rally " as the example again: It would look for "155478.jpg" the Launchbox DB ID or for "flagrall.jpg" the name of the ROM

[Chadmando]

34 minutes ago, WesleySwipes said:

There was/is another game pause plugin (don't recall what it was right now, not near my cabinet) that would look for either the rom name or the Launchbox game ID. But it keeps crashing I am guessing to Launchbox being updated so many times since it's release.

You plugin is so much better with all the customization, and I really dig the idea of adding game manuals to my build.

Here is how the the other one looked for files:

Using " '96 Flag Rally " as the example again: It would look for "155478.jpg" the Launchbox DB ID or for "flagrall.jpg" the name of the ROM

It might take me a while to get to this, but I'll see what I can do in one my upcoming updates.

[WesleySwipes]

11 minutes ago, Chadmando said:

It might take me a while to get to this, but I'll see what I can do in one my upcoming updates.

Would be awesome!

[jophran]

Sorry for jumping into this conversation. In my opinion the problem I see is the need to have a folder for each game, I think the best aproach would be to have one folder where we can drop all the images, including a default one that could be named _default.jpg or something like that. That way we could just drop all the images,and even if the game was never launched before the image would be picked up. I use different methods for renamlng images, videos and docs in in bulk, and I prefer that to having to drag and drop files individually to folders.

 

[gamesmame]

Master @Chadmando you can in future put in your wonderful and incredible SPM the option in menu there to open with bezel? 😁 

one option in menu Like: Bezel Y/N (ON/OFF) that opens an emulator with bezel (as Rocketlauncher does optionally it has this option in it)

Edited April 1, 2025 by gamesmame

[Chadmando]

13 hours ago, jophran said:

Sorry for jumping into this conversation. In my opinion the problem I see is the need to have a folder for each game, I think the best aproach would be to have one folder where we can drop all the images, including a default one that could be named _default.jpg or something like that. That way we could just drop all the images,and even if the game was never launched before the image would be picked up. I use different methods for renamlng images, videos and docs in in bulk, and I prefer that to having to drag and drop files individually to folders.

 

Thank you, I'll make sure to implement something for this with my next update.

 

5 hours ago, gamesmame said:

Master @Chadmando you can in future put in your wonderful and incredible SPM the option in menu there to open with bezel? 😁 

one option in menu Like: Bezel Y/N (ON/OFF) that opens an emulator with bezel (as Rocketlauncher does optionally it has this option in it)

I could look into this, I'm not too sure if I want to pursue it much though. I really intended the pause menu add-on to be pause menu oriented, it would take quite a bit of work to implement this due to how my program targets the emulator window.

Edited April 1, 2025 by Chadmando

[gamesmame]

19 minutes ago, Chadmando said:

Thank you, I'll make sure to implement something for this with my next update.

I could look into this, I'm not too sure if I want to pursue it much though. I really intended the pause menu add-on to be pause menu oriented, it would take quite a bit of work to implement this due to how my program targets the emulator window.

Yes yes, it's just an idea for the future if you can wonderfull if it's not great too, we thank you for your commitment that is wonderful, waiting for news as videos and the exchange of records and diskets ... 😃 

[gamesmame]

@Chadmando you ok man? please talk with us... have some news about menu item like save state or load state menus, like to called "Swap Disc". then would like to have a sub menu where i can choose between "Insert Disc 2" "Insert Disc 3", etc...  its AMAZING, will be very usefully, some times we need change Diskets/Cds/bin/cassete/etc... and front ends dont have support this 😦 and your SPM will be the salvator ^^

[gamesmame]

some news man? thanks..

[damageinc86]

On 3/31/2025 at 10:04 PM, jophran said:

Sorry for jumping into this conversation. In my opinion the problem I see is the need to have a folder for each game, I think the best aproach would be to have one folder where we can drop all the images, including a default one that could be named _default.jpg or something like that. That way we could just drop all the images,and even if the game was never launched before the image would be picked up. I use different methods for renamlng images, videos and docs in in bulk, and I prefer that to having to drag and drop files individually to folders.

 

I ran into this problem with rocketlauncher per-game fades(start up images), because it needs them to be in a folder of the game name.  So I exported my images from CTC, used fuzzyrename to get them to be named the same as my rom names, then used a program called "folderit", that will scan a folder and put each file it scans into a folder of the same name.  That could be useful here.  It was a bit tedious.  But it actually ended up not being that bad overall.

Then I ditched the entire thing and went with the Launchbox plugin "custom startup images" instead haha.  

[jophran]

13 minutes ago, damageinc86 said:

I ran into this problem with rocketlauncher per-game fades(start up images), because it needs them to be in a folder of the game name.  So I exported my images from CTC, used fuzzyrename to get them to be named the same as my rom names, then used a program called "folderit", that will scan a folder and put each file it scans into a folder of the same name.  That could be useful here.  It was a bit tedious.  But it actually ended up not being that bad overall.

Then I ditched the entire thing and went with the Launchbox plugin "custom startup images" instead haha.  

Thank you!, good idea, I'll try to do it that way. 

[atarisoul]

Hello @Chadmando

Thank you so much for SPM. I have managed to get it working with BigpEmu, Dolphin, RPCS3 and Retroarch and it really enhances the front end 😁

However, I have an issue with Retroarch and Atari ST core HatariB.dll (also hatari_libretro.dll) with SPM 4.2.0

SPM works perfectly with other Retroarch cores but I notice in task manager that with the HatariB core LB loads SPM and then as the core adjusts the game window, SPM disappears from task manager. Almost like SPM thinks Retroarch has closed so it shuts down.

I have created a new Retroarch emulator in LB specifically for HatariB. I am then running an AHK "running script" to re-run SPM shortly after the core has completely loaded. When I hit the pause key SPM now loads, however I cannot work out what parameters SPM needs to link the game to the menu. All I get is the default SPM screen not linked to any game.

Could you help please? 

Thanks in advance

 

[Chadmando]

2 hours ago, atarisoul said:

Hello @Chadmando

Thank you so much for SPM. I have managed to get it working with BigpEmu, Dolphin, RPCS3 and Retroarch and it really enhances the front end 😁

However, I have an issue with Retroarch and Atari ST core HatariB.dll (also hatari_libretro.dll) with SPM 4.2.0

SPM works perfectly with other Retroarch cores but I notice in task manager that with the HatariB core LB loads SPM and then as the core adjusts the game window, SPM disappears from task manager. Almost like SPM thinks Retroarch has closed so it shuts down.

I have created a new Retroarch emulator in LB specifically for HatariB. I am then running an AHK "running script" to re-run SPM shortly after the core has completely loaded. When I hit the pause key SPM now loads, however I cannot work out what parameters SPM needs to link the game to the menu. All I get is the default SPM screen not linked to any game.

Could you help please? 

Thanks in advance

 

Hello, Sorry to hear about that' sounds like unusual behaviour I'll take a look at it this weekend.

Offhand, It sounds like your problem is having a ahk relaunch the pause menu. 

When the spm .dll launches spm .exe through launchbox it runs it with arguments that passes all the information needed to work. (game information, emulator executable to latch on to, etc. ) If another program launches spm with no paramaters while launchbox/bigbox is running it has no idea what emulator you want to use it on, so it would just time out.

I created a special hook for .bat files with daphne where spm will see a .bat is running and waits a bit for the emulator .exe to run, maybe I can add something similar here? I can also give you the list of paramaters if you want to try your own workaround.

Edited Wednesday at 12:04 PM by Chadmando

[atarisoul]

Hello @Chadmando

Thanks for your quick reply. No need to apologise, its a great plugin 😁

Yes I am aware of your bat file workaround. 

I hope the following helps with your testing.....

When I use. for example, retroarch to run Atari 2600 stella core, I can see in task manager LB launching SPM and it remains running until I exit a game.....as expected

When I use Atari ST HatariB core, SPM launches as expected. The core does resolution / frequency adjusting before the game loads. During this period SPM shuts down and disappears from task manager.  So I decided that I could use AHK to re-run SPM in the "running script"  section with all relevent game parameters. This is where I was stuck as I cannot seem to get the parameters passed to SPM correctly and thats why I get the non game linked SPM screen. I've spent a couple of days trying ☹️ and thats why I posted.

I presume your code uses AHK to detect if the game window has closed and therefore shut down SPM?

With this HatariB (Hatari) core, if I use the LB startup/shutdown screens with a minimum screen time that is too short (5 seconds default) I get the shutdown screen appear while HatariB adjusts the screen and before the game appears. I cured this by extending the minimum screen time to 8 seconds and it now works as expected.

I think this is the same problem with SPM, its not waiting long enough for the game window to fully load.

Thanks in advance for your time and effort, really appreciated.

😁😁😁

 

[Chadmando]

21 hours ago, atarisoul said:

The core does resolution / frequency adjusting before the game loads. During this period SPM shuts down and disappears from task manager. 

Edit:

I was able to mimic the issue by applying some crt filters, etc, I am seeing what I can do about it.

If none of those are the case you could also try this setting in the super pause menu settings for retroarch to delay a potential timeout:

The list of possible arguments (as of v2.4.0):

1. Current Directory
2. Emulator Executable Path
3. Platform Name
4. Game Title
5. Background Image Path
6. Clear Logo Image Path
7. Box Front Image Path
8. Manual Path
9. Video Path
10. Screenshot Image Path
11. Release Date
12. Community Star Rating
13. Release Year
14. Publisher
15. Platform Clear Logo Folder Path
16. Platform Music Folder Path
17. 3D Cartridge Image Path
18. Cartridge Front Image Path
19. Cartridge Back Image Path
20. 3D Box Image Path
21. Box Back Image Path
22. Game Root Folder Path
23. Emulator Command Line Arguments

Example of command: "Super Pause Menu.exe" "1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|10|11|12|13|14|15|16|17|18|19|20|21|22|23" "" "ROMPATH"

Argument 1: The 23 pipe delimited metadata fields. Use - for any missing values eg, "Super Pause Menu.exe" "-|-|-|-|-|-|-....."

Argument 2: "" Empty placeholder string

Argument 3: The direct path to the target ROM

If all else fails I may be able to add a quick patch for your specific use case if it's some sort of custom launcher you made.

Edited yesterday at 01:07 PM by Chadmando

[atarisoul]

Hello @Chadmando

Yes I have the delay start as you mention at 10 seconds. If I have it right, this doesn't work because it is telling SPM to wait for this delay but SPM has already closed?

Thanks for the params list, now I understand how SPM works, I thought it was SPM pulling the metadata from LB by platform and romname, but you are passing the path and some metadata, e.g. publisher and SPM then pulls the images etc 👍

I am using Duimon screen reflection shaders,,,,looks so good

I have pin-pointed the issue down to the screen frequency changing, with UK at 50Hz <---> US at 60Hz. If it changes SPM closes. 

I discovered this while I was testing my AHK running script when I thought...I couldn't have got this right first attempt its working!......removed my script and your SPM works and can be seen in task manager and task bar.  

Thanks Once again

😁

 

Edited 21 hours ago by atarisoul

[Chadmando]

6 hours ago, atarisoul said:

I discovered this while I was testing my AHK running script when I thought...I couldn't have got this right first attempt its working!......removed my script and your SPM works and can be seen in task manager and task bar.  

Thanks Once again

Awesome! Glad to hear. Thanks for bringing it to my attention. I'll see if I can fix this issue in my next update. What appears to have happened is that in between resolution changes the target emulator window closes and opens again, so SPM thinks the game just closed, despite the emulator still running.