Flack

http://www.robohara.com/software/ffe-alpha03.zip Two changes. One, I removed the ActiveX control and went with the .BAS INI read/write modules. Two, the INI modules I used don't allow for a space around the "=" in the INI file so I removed those from the INI files. I tried it on my laptop (which I didn't compile it on!) and it works. I also discovered that nnnesterj is a pretty bad choice for a command line based NES emulator. For starters, ALT brings up the pull down screen, and I haven't figured out a way to get it to launch full screen.

I've never believed in platform loyalty -- I've said many times, my Dreamcast, PS2, Gamecube and Xbox live together happily on my gaming shelf. Complaining about PC controls is kind of silly when for $10 they sell PS2 to USB adapters (problem solved). The "my PC isn't fast enough" is a valid argument. That's one of the things I agreed with so far -- at least you don't have to upgrade your computer constantly (then again, that's only if you are playing the cutting edge games). There are thousands upon thousands of PC games out there, many of them abandonware, freeware, or shareware. Probably tens of thousands. If you rule them out because you don't like playing on a keyboard, you're really missing out.

Awesome, I will try it out tomorrow morning. I reloaded my laptop about a month ago and haven't reloaded VB on it yet.

Yikes. Well I just tried it here on my home computer and got the same thing. D'oh. Looks like that activex control for reading from INI files didn't get included when compiling. Looks like more work is needed tomorrow! Sorry about that.

Right now everything is simply form picture/image objects, so having the form load an external jpg or whatever would be really simple. I probably won't end up adding stuff like custom buttons and whatnot, there are already a ton of frontends that offer that already, and the point of this one is to be simple to use.

Cool, let me know what you think! I was messing around earlier today with the idea of skins and it looks like it would be simple to allow them (or at least custom backgrounds).

Link: http://www.robohara.com/software/ffe-alpha02.zip Had a slow afternoon and ended up with more free time than I figured I would. Here's FFE (Flack's Front End, definitely not its final name) Alpha 02 (01 was even uglier and less functional than this one). Below is the readme.txt (also included in the zip file). The zip file is 800k, but the program itself is only about 30k. The zip file includes z26.exe and nnnesterj.exe and a couple of roms and screenshots for each just to show you how it's configured (if I ever release it it won't have that stuff included, of course). Take a look at it and let me know what you think. Obviously the GUI isn't finished yet but it does work. --- (readme.txt) Flack's FrontEnd - Alpha 0.2 Written by Rob "Flack" O'Hara Alpha 0.2 Compiled 3/29/2005 using VB6 Flack's FrontEnd (FFE) is a Front End for use with emulators. FFE has three major goals: 01. Only default MAME keys for navigation (for use in MAME cabinets) 02. Be extremely simple to set up. 03. Be extremely configurable FFE can be unzipped into any folder. Once unzipped, you should have the following structure Root (contains FFE.exe) config (contains system.jpg pictures and system.ini files) emulators (contains your emulators) roms (contains your roms) screenshots (contains your screenshots) Emulators are sorted by folders. To add an emulator to FFE, you will need the following things: A folder under emulators with the name of the system. A folder under roms with the name of the system A folder under screenshots with the name of the system An ini file under config named with the name of the system. A .jpg file under config named with the name of the system. The reason FFE is so easy to configure is because everything works off of original emulator's folder name. Example: Adding NES emulator to FFE. Open the folder "Emulators" Create a folder for your emulator. (Example: EmulatorsNES) Copy the emulator into that directory. Open the folder "Roms" Create a folder with the name name (Example: RomsNES) Copy your ROMS into that folder. Open the folder "Screenshots" Create a folder with the same name (Example: ScreenshotsNES) Copy your screenshots into that folder. (Screenshots must have the same name as the rom file and must be a .jpg at the moment) Open the folder Config Copy the !default.ini file and rename it the name of your original folder (Example: NES.INI) edit the exe, pre, and post entries in the INI file. Save and close the INI file. If you have pictures of the systems themselves (ie: picture of an NES) Copy NES.jpg into the config folder When you launch a game, FFE builds the command line as follows: emulator + pre + romname + post emulator = the exe file for your emulator (comes from that folder's INI file) pre = any switches run before the rom in the command line (comes from that folder's INI file) romname = the filename selected in the listbox post = any switches run after the rom in the command line (comes from that folder's INI file) Currently only universal pre/post switches are supported. The next version will also support game specific pre/post switches. To Do List: Work on GUI Make GUI Resizable (?) Make GUI Rotatable (?) Make GUI not look like crap (!) Implement game specific switches. Implement "friendly" game names.

Well, all this talk about the perfect front end has started me working on mine again. I just downloaded an ActiveX control to allow simpler reading from an INI file, which should make configuring it a little easier. That was one of my main problems before -- I ended up with a bunch of different configuration files instead of just one. Maybe by the end of the week I'll have something you guys can look at and critique. My goal isn't necessarily to make the best front end of all time. My goals are to A, make one that extremely simple to set up and use, and B, to make something that works with basically any kind of program, down to the level of supporting every kind of emulator and even PC games.

I've got an old 486/100 that I keep around for just that reason. I used to have an original SB16 in it but I think I finally threw my old AWE32 in there (still Creative Labs, 100% compatible). Recently, I've done more and more of my classic gaming through Dosbox.

You know what would be really cool? If you made your marquee hinged with a shallow light behind it, so the whole thing would flip up and you could store your favorite carts right there.

I guess what you could do is put the responsibility on the end user (which isn't very user friendly, but eh). It's super simple to turn a comma delimited text file into an array, which could then be used to display the friendly name and associate that with the actual name for loading purposes. The actual name would also be used for lining up with screenshots, marquees, etc. I just think if I downloaded a front end and the first thing it told me to was manually generate a list of all my ROMs and give them friendly names, it would be followed by "click - drag to recycle bun - unclick". I'm sure if nothing else I could create a simple front end to generate a list from the MAME tool or Stella, but the problem quickly becomes trying to write an app that would generate that list for EVERY emulator, which would be a daunting task.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...ssPageName=WDVW It's mine, it's located in OKC. It works good and the monitor looks good other than a little burn in (monitor is bright and doesn't need a capkit or anything). For anyone looking to restore a classic, it's in a vintage Robotron cabinet and has a Joust glass bezel. No shipping, but I'm willing to deliver up to about 200 miles for a buck a mile. I'm pretty flexible.

My lists were all built on the fly when the program launched. The first page of the front end is where you chose which emulator. What I did was, in VB I got a list of the folders under the emulator directory. The actual folder name is what showed up in the list box. Then, if you chose Atari 2600 for example, then when you chose Atari 2600 it would load all the 2600 roms from that directory (the atari 2600 rom directory) into another listbox. So say for example you have a listbox with 100 roms in it and the first one is Pitfall. Whatever game is highlighted, you just take that listbox entry and put the name into a variable called something like vGameName (make the list box drop the file extensions so the first part of the file name shows, and that's also your variable now). So now you have a variable called "Pitfall". From there, you can append extensions like: app.path & "/2600/screenshots" & vGameName & ".jpg" So in other words if in the directory is Pitfall.a26, the listbox shows "Pitfall", and when you highlight it your vGameName becomes "Pitfall" and as long as in your screenshot directory you have a Pitfall.jpg, then it will show it. When you go to the next game (Pac-Man.a26), then vGameName changes to Pac-Man and your screen shot changes, etc. The biggest problem with this system is that the program doesn't recognize "friendly" names. In other words, if your ROM for Pole Position II is called "plpstn2.a26" then unfortunately that's how it's going to show up in your list. So if you download all 600 or whatever Atari 2600 ROMs and stick them in your directory, and they all have 8.3 filenames that look abbreviated and whatnot, that's the way the program will display them. To be honest, fixing all the Atari ROM names wasn't my problem, it was the 4,000 MAME roms that was going to become the daunting task. Then I had another idea which I never really implemented, but what you could easily do is make a .txt file that relates all your abbreviated file names to a display friendly name. ptfl, Pitfall plpstn2, Pole Position 2 advntr, Adventure etc. Again, the system isn't the inhibitor, the manual entry is. My guess is there's some sort of tool that you could run against a MAME set to cull all the full names out of them, not sure. Most of the other ones though, I think you would be on your own, renaming 3,000+ NES ROMs, for example. One of the main reasons I dropped the project was because although creating it would be simple, it was the long term maintenance that seemed like a nightmare. For example, if you for some reason got a completely new MAME ROM set, you would have to reset up those text files all over again. The one thing I DID like about it was it all made sense to me (of course it did; I wrote it!) and I think it was super, SUPER easy to set up. If there's any interest I may have to dig out the old code and throw it out there and see what you guys think. Oh, and to answer your other question, no DirectX was involved. Another reason why I started this whole project was because I wanted something for a vertical cabinet, and I never could figure out how to (easily) rotate text in VB6.

Is that what that was for? I always put my nachos and Coke there ... and then ate them.

I too have messed with making my own front end. It's pretty simple to do, mine was in VB and did all the simple things like display screen shots and what not. Mine worked off of the file names and worked pretty well. For example, for Atari 2600 games I had a 2600 folder. Under that folder I had different directories, like screen shots, cover art, etc. The key is that the files would all have the same file name (except for the extension). So like if you had Pitfall.a26, then under screenshots you would have Pitfall.jpg, under cover art you would have Pitfall.jpg, etc. I even went as far as to have individual configurations (stored under Pitfall.txt), etc. I also had a generic 2600pre.txt and a 2600post.txt, for command line switches that would be passed to every single game (for example, in MAME if you want to rotate all your games, etc). In the end it all worked, but it wasn't very scalable. If you want to go and find cover art for 10 Atari 2600 games it works okay, but when you're trying to find them for all the games, plus all the games from OTHER systems, it gets to be so time consuming that you never have a chance to actually play your games! The other major problems I had was (due to my general lack of VB programming skills) you pretty much had to run one set resolution (I think I made it to work right under 800x600). I had the screen shots showing up on the front of a TV which worked out great, but in other resolutions it was all messed up. I eventually dropped the project just because it felt like I was reinventing the wheel. Mine didn't really do much of anything that anyone else's didn't. I may pick it back up again sometime and release it just for giggles. I've written several VB apps for people for specific projects. For example, my dad was always complaining that he wanted to be able to cut/paste directory listings, so I wrote a simple little program that did that (there are others out there but none with his name and face on them ).

Too many projects, not enough time, baby on the way. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...ssPageName=WDVW

I don't think this (the NGC boot disc) is going to affect the industry much at all. The people who have been waiting to play backups have finally got their wish, but the majority of the money that the Gamecube was going to make has already been made. Everytime I go to GameXchange, there are $4.99 GC titles. Maybe I'm getting old, but if mini-dvd's are $2 each and you have to figure in the cost of game rentals (for ripping, if you're not downloading) and a BBA to dump them with ... you're going to have to dump a lot of games to make it worth your while. Anyone who says the PSO exploit was anything more than a proof of concept either didn't try it, or was the world's most desperate pirate. Performance (at least when I tried it was) was awful, to the point of unplayable. Sure, bust-a-move worked okay, but anything else I tried stuttered once per second made me want to choke Mario. For pirates/hackers, the PS2 won the sprint and the Xbox is winning the marathon. The GC is like the guy who will finish the race so late that everybody in the stands has already gone home. Back in the cartridge days, I always had the feeling that we were doing something really new and exciting (with console copiers). With CD's, something got lost. :/ Anyone who came to OKGE last year got to see some of my SNES, Genesis, and N64 console copiers. Anyone who said they are difficult to use hasn't messed with one much ... they are (as Darth Vader once said) "all too easy".

I haven't found anything anywhere so far that states that Freeloader boots backups. Where did you get that info from?

Garage sale season is upon us. I checked the newspaper today and see a huge list of garage sales, so I decided to call my buddy up and hit as many as we could. The FIRST one on our list says, "Unbelievable Sale -- you have to see it to believe it!" It goes on to talk about lots of toys, etc. We decided it would be worth checking out. Holy crap!!! When we got there, it was a house that had been converted almost into a store. Every room had shelves on every wall and most of them had shelves in the middle of the rooms as well. There was so much stuff there and so many people there that quite often we would get stuck in a room for a few minutes at a time until we could weasle our way through the crowds. BOY are we glad we went! Here are some pictures I took of some of the stuff we found today! This is a shot of the room to the left of the living room. The tubs in front of us were filled with action figures for .50. The white shelves held sports cards. The shelves to my left were packed with TMNT, Star Wars, and Star Trek toys. Looking for collectable glasses? Chipmunks, Looney Tunes, Smurfs, Star Wars ... this place had them all for a buck each. The next room over had even more action figures, both boxed and loose. Here are a bunch of Star Trek, Spawn, and X-Men figures. The back room of the house had lots of seasonal items, including lots of Halloween and Christmas items. The whole right half of the room was filled with Garfield and M&M collectables. This blurry mess shows just some of the TMNT, Coca Cola, and Looney Tunes collectables that were in the house. The back wall of the room had more Halloween collectables, including Tales of the Crypt toys and Scooby Doo figurines. Yeah. Those are boxed Atari 2600 and NES games, some still sealed. They were a dollar each, so I picked up the entire box and walked out with them. There was also a second box of games next to this one. I bought it too. NES decks, with power supplies and RF adapters. $5 each. This is the pile as it began to grow in the back of my car. My friend who went with me collects 80's items for his house, so I let him keep the Pac-Man games, the Gremlins game, the plush Smurfette and the boxed New Kids on the Block stuff. Here's the second box of games I found. Also a dollar each. There were a lot of loose and Genesis ones down in the bottom of this one as well. On the way out the back porch, we discovered even more glasses. If you ever wanted Care Bear, McDonald's, Burger King, Muppet, or Coca Cola glasses, this was the place. My friend and I each found two Pac-Man glass mugs. I also found a few Chuck E. Cheese mugs. Stuffed animal, anyone? .25 cents each. I found a couple of Chuck E. Cheese dolls for my arcade. For some reason there were about 20 different Alf dolls. We also dug through the Thermoses and I got a Sonic the Hedgehog, a Pac-Man, and a Last Starfighter. In the distance were a bunch of lunch boxes, but not any matching ones. On our way back through the house -- more Star Trek toys. There were toys in every room of the house. And when I say every room, I mean EVERY room. Here are shelves of action figures and a bathtub full of stuffed animals. Ho ho, what do we have here? I snagged controllers and zappers (grey) for those NES decks for a buck each out of this tub. There were a couple of 4 way NES adapters and a lot of 3rd party controllers that I left behind. Here's a parting shot of all the loot we managed to grab between the two of us. Last Starfighter Thermos, Pac-Man mugs, Showbiz Pizza mug, Sonic the Hedgehog Thermos, two Chuck E. Cheese mugs. NES Punch-Out book ends, The Best of the Super Mario Bros book (hardback), Super Mario himself and MegaMan. I wouldn't be me if I didn't pick up something for somebody else. Here are Star Trek Magic Cling Window Scenes, and two Black Hole jigsaw puzzles I picked up for Phosphor Dot Fossils. Enjoy! It'sa me -- talking Mario and Luigi! Anyone have any info on these? Star Wars books and C3P0. Star Trek playsets, book, and "How to Host a Mystery". My son Mason helps carry in the new Cracker Jack clock -- mint in box! Maxlords said he was looking for Aliens figures -- here's a complete set! More Star Wars goodies!!! Action figures, miniatures, and a candy dispenser! I don't even know what this Wizard of Oz thing is but it looked cool. These came from a different sale, but they were still in the car. Space Ace (DVD), two boxes of DSDD diskettes (always handy with old computers), and some loose Genesis games. Six McDonald's glasses and another Pac-Man one! Star Wars board game and a white Sega Saturn brand controller. Here is a list of the games I scored. Atari 2600 Air-Sea Battle (CIB) R1 Amidar (NIB) R2 Basketball (CIB) R1 Barnstorming (CIB) R1 Bermuda Triangle (CIB) R2 Bowling (CIB) R1 Coco Nuts (CIB) R3 Commando Raid (CIB) R3 Combat (CIB) R1 Dark cavern (CIB) R2 Frogger (CIB) R1 Frogs and Flies (CIB) R1 Night Driver (CIB) R1 Oink! (loose) R3 Pac-Man (CIB) R1 Sky Skipper (CIB) R2 Space Attack (CIB) R2 Space War (CIB) R2 Stampede (CIB) R1 Video Olympics (CIB) R1 Atari 5200 Kangaroo (CIB) R1 Pac-Man (CIB) R1 Super Breakout (loose) R1 NES Gremlins 2 (CIB) R3 M.C Kids (CIB) R3 Rampage (CIB) R2 Star Trek 25th Anniversary (CIB) R3 Super Pitfall (CIB) R3 Win, Lose, or Draw (CIB) R3 SNES California Games II (Game, Box) R3 PGA Tour Golf (CIB) R1 Suzuka 8 Hours (CIB) R4 Game Genie (2x, 1 purple and 1 yellow, both loose w/manual) R? Genesis American Gladiators (CIB) R3 Greatest Heavyweights (CIB) R3 Lakers versus Celtics (loose) R1 Mortal Kombat (CIB) R1 Mortal Kombat II (CIB) R1 NFL '95 (CIB) R1 Gameboy Top Rank Tennis (Loose) R3 32x Primal Rage (CIB) R5 Plus two complete NES decks with 2 controllers and gray zappers for $8/each.

The C64 was named that because: 1) It had 1/4 of 64 colors. 2) It would run for 64 minutes before overheating. 3) The average disk had 64 games on it. 4) It was 64 times better than an Apple II. (Grasping at straws ...)

I have a Toshiba projecter permanently installed in my game room/movie room. It's small, light, very bright (1600 lumens, you can play with the lights on, no problem), and puts out an awesome picture. I've got all my game consoles running through a switchbox which leads to the projector and my surround sound system. I read the review of the one in this thread and it sounds like a piece of crap. I paid a little over $1,000 for my Toshiba but I've seen them down in the $850-$900 range. It sounds to me like this cheap one is simply cheap, and would end up being money wasted in the long run. If you really want a projector, save up a little more and buy a decent one. And for the record, I've *never* been able to take a decent picture of my screen. I've tried in a dark room, in a light room, with a flash, without a flash ... all I can ever get is a washed out picture. If I were buying a projector, there's no way I'd trust a picture of one -- I'd have to see it operate in real life before I plunked down any cash.

It's not much better down south, although a few of them also have overpriced last gen stuff as well. Lots of PSX and N64 games for $7-$8, with loose SNES and Genesis games going for around $5 each.

I will have my mock interview with Atari Charles posted tomorrow to answer everyone's questions. I personally think mock interviews should be used when the subject isn't able to be interviewed, either because he/she is either dead or not real. A mock interview with Pac-Man? Great. A mock interview with Jack Tramiel? Why not just interview Jack Tramiel?

If you liked Archon be sure to check out Archon Ultra. I picked up my copy a few years ago when bargain bins were all the rage -- by now I'm sure it's made it to all the big Abandonware sites. If I remember correctly my original came on two floppy disks, so it can't be that big of a download. Basically, Archon Ultra is just a VGA reworking of the original. It looks nicer, sounds nicer, and supports online play (if by online you mean dialup and/or null modem connections, hah).

"Shoot the hostage." - Keanu Reeves, Speed.