No Spinner/direct to Mame Arcade

[LouSir]

First I'm very sorry if this has been asked, I looked through the posts and could not see it.  That said I have made a cocktail table.  I LOVE launchbox and BigBox.  However there is an issue that I want to know how to fix.  When I start bigbox up it has a spinner on the left side that says "Arcade" over and over.  I only have one system (Mame) because what I'm trying to make is a arcade box with the original games but no others.  

 

Question 1.  So is there a way to turn off the spinner and go directly to the only system I have.  I want to bypass it (as its not needed) and go to game choice.  

Question 2.  On my main mame screen in BigBox I just want to show the clear logo names, not the box or info or any of that.  Just row after row of the game names in the clear graphic.  How is this accomplished?  I have gone through bigbox and can't see how to do it.  I did do it in Launcbox but that is not the system I want to start up on my arcade machine.

Question 3. (and I doubt there is an answer to this one).  When I start a game it shows the rom/game info screen first.  You then have to hit a key for the game to load.  Is there an option to stop this in bigbox?  I did put the text for mame in the manage emulators but it didn't seem to change a thing.  I'm not smart enough to compile a new version of mame and I didn't see any step by steps on the web.

Ok those are my problems.  Please don't yell too loud at me as I am a newbie to the work of mame and front ends.  Its fun but also a little frustrating when you can't figure something out.  Thanks for any help you can give me to any of the 3 problems I have.

Dr. LewSir

 

 

[Retro808]

9 hours ago, LouSir said:

Question 1.  So is there a way to turn off the spinner and go directly to the only system I have.  I want to bypass it (as its not needed) and go to game choice.  

 

In BigBox settings, Go to >Options then Views. In Views you need to change the option for “Default Startup view” to “All Games”.

9 hours ago, LouSir said:

Question 2.  On my main mame screen in BigBox I just want to show the clear logo names, not the box or info or any of that.  Just row after row of the game names in the clear graphic.  How is this accomplished?  I have gone through bigbox and can't see how to do it.  I did do it in Launcbox but that is not the system I want to start up on my arcade machine.

 

As long as the theme was coded for a wall view you may be able accomplish this, but would need tweaks. If the theme has a wall view you would change the Games List View to the wall view (do this in the >Options>Views menu. That view will show boxes though. So before making the change you would have to go into LaunchBox and in Tools>Image Priorities change Box - Front (may need to do it for 3D Box Front) priority to have the option for Clear Logo checked and move it to the top of the list. I have never tried this but that should work. You may need to also go into the Image Cache and refresh the image cache.

9 hours ago, LouSir said:

Question 3. (and I doubt there is an answer to this one).  When I start a game it shows the rom/game info screen first.  You then have to hit a key for the game to load.  Is there an option to stop this in bigbox?  I did put the text for mame in the manage emulators but it didn't seem to change a thing.  I'm not smart enough to compile a new version of mame and I didn't see any step by steps on the web.

 

In >Options>General check the box for "Skip Game Details".

[LouSir]

Man thanks for the response.  I will try out all your suggestions.  I had already tried your #3 suggestion and it didn't work all the way.  My problem is not only the rom information but also the rom warning.  In a game like Q-Bert it has a sound problem with a message that read "there are known problems with this game..."  The option you game me did eliminate the  the game info but this warning still pops up.  In reading posts from all over most of them say to re-compile mame but that is way out of my league.  I was hoping for a simple solution to this.  Anyway thank you very much for your quick response.  I'm excited to try them out.  I really don't want a spinner that list my one system over and over.   Thank  you from a true LewSir!

[LouSir]

So option one does not seem to work.  It does immediately take me to the games list but only after showing the spinner and me having to go in and hit show all games.  It then takes me to the correct place BUT if I have to restart bigbox then I'm right back at the spinner.  Launch box shows it correctly everytime.  Problems is it has that menu at the top and I don't want that for my arcade console I made.  I just want the clr game names showing.  I've included an image of Launhbox doing it right.  

I'm working on you solution for question 2.  I am in the games themes but don't know which of them has this wall view.  So I've just started downloaning random themes and seeing if I can find this 'wall view' but honestly I'm not sure where I should be looking for it.

I've already told you about question 3.

 

Sorry for being such a pain.   I hate it when I read manuals and still don't understand how to accomplish what I want.  

[Kiinkyfoxx]

Question 1 

Read the thread below and this is a work around for it, but you will need to adapt the ahk

Most likely something like

SetKeyDelay , 200,     ;you might need to change this delay depending on your computer
#SingleInstance Force
Sleep, 1000        ;a little wait so platforms ready
Send {Enter}        ;load the game selection screen
ExitApp

 

Question 2

Pass

Question 3

If it is the Mame Warning bit then read the below thread as well

You can add the line to Mame.ini and whilst it doesn't stop it forever it does reduce how often it shows, if my understanding of it is correct, seems to have helped here.

Cheers

 

[Retro808]

5 hours ago, LouSir said:

So option one does not seem to work.  It does immediately take me to the games list but only after showing the spinner and me having to go in and hit show all games.  It then takes me to the correct place BUT if I have to restart bigbox then I'm right back at the spinner.  Launch box shows it correctly everytime.  Problems is it has that menu at the top and I don't want that for my arcade console I made.  I just want the clr game names showing.  I've included an image of Launhbox doing it right. 

Just tested and work fine for me. Snap of the setting and when I boot into BigBox it goes right into the Game Wheel and that wheel lists all my games.

5 hours ago, LouSir said:

I'm working on you solution for question 2.  I am in the games themes but don't know which of them has this wall view.  So I've just started downloaning random themes and seeing if I can find this 'wall view' but honestly I'm not sure where I should be looking for it.

I would just do the Default theme. I tested what I mentioned and it works. See pic below. It is not perfect. Spacing is off since the view is more designed for spacing box images. The setting I changed for image priorities was the one for 3D Box Front. In that one check the box for Clear Logo and use the move button to move Clear Logo to the top of the list.

5 hours ago, LouSir said:

I've already told you about question 3.

That's a Mame issue. Like KlinkyFoxx posted, the best thing here is to use a NoNag versio of mame that someone compiled.

 

[LouSir]

Ok, so I feel really really dumb but I'm going to give examples of what I'm clicking.

My first photo is of the "big box options".

Next I click on "show games list title".

I then go back to the main window and "arcade" spinner.

What the heck am I doing wrong?

[Kiinkyfoxx]

If you take a look at your default start up view and look at Retro808 default start up view image, you will see the difference. 

Yours = platforms

Retro808 = all games

So go into options and change platforms to all games and then you don't open to the platform selection wheel, but the game selection wheel. Which I think solves question 1 for you. 

Good luck. 

Edited November 14, 2020 by Kiinkyfoxx

[Retro808]

No worries @LouSir ask away. Pics always help. Yeah you did not do what I said at all. Like @Kiinkyfoxx mentioned you need to change the “Default Startup View” from “Platforms” to “All Games”. 

[LouSir]

Thank you SOOOOO much.  I never would have known or seen that.  You're a game saver!  (not exactly life saver but certainly my games.)

LewSir

[LouSir]

Success.  Almost exactly as I want it before I sink this into my Cocktail cabinet I made.  

Two more items, easy ones for you pro's , that I would like to have.

 

The first is I would like an alaphabet along the left side (a-z) so they don't need to scroll through countless games to get to qix.

The second is I would like it "locked out" so  people can't get into the bigbox interface and change the look and feel as its perfect.  Second part of that is when I do this how would I ever get back in, does it use a password or something.

Thanks again for all your help.  Maybe another will gain knowledge off my posts.

 

LewSir

[Retro808]

In BigBox settings there a security option. You set up a pincode. 
 

As far as alpha thing goes there typically is a alpha search option. Depending on the if you move either up, down, left, or right it will bring it up. To be honest though I never use a wall view so not sure how it shows in that view type.