Jump to content
IGNORED

CoinOPS Games List Editor


TheDevil'sCompass

Recommended Posts

If you're a fan of CoinOPS you know it's got one major downside; it's not easy to add unsupported, hacks, prototype or homebrew games to it. You can either name your game to one that is supported and deal with it being listed under the wrong name or you can use my CoinOPS Games List Editor.


I wrote the CoinOPS Games List Editor so I could play some of the Atari 2600 homebrews featured on AtariAge on my Xbox. I've been using it for several months and it works as intended. I feel the program is now at a state that others can use it safely. The CoinOPS Games List Editor accomplishes its magic by editing the MAMEoX.xbe file shipped with CoinOPS. The program replaces a supported game chosen by the user with a desired game.


Attached are the instructions for the CoinOPS Games List Editor. I encourage anyone running CoinOPS to take a look at the instructions to determine if this program could be of use to you.



Since this program edits another program I wasn't sure whether it was okay to post it in the forum.


ANTIVIRUS NOTE:

Because of the functions the CoinOPS Games List Editor performs it is quite possible that you will receive an antivirus warning. There are no virus, spyware or malware components in this program.


MD5 Checksum:

CoinOPSGamesListEditorV1.6.zip – B081819013F13992F10CA548232F969F


CoinOPSGamesListEditor.exe – 025BC5B266C11A65CA52E49FF96FA424



I've setup a basic website where you can download the program:

CoinOPSGamesListEditor-Instructions.pdf

Edited by TheDevil'sCompass
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I see a few people have checked out the instructions. Hopefully this program can be of use to some of you. Please ask away if there are any questions. I'm happy to explain anything that doesn't make sense or go into more detail on a particular area.

 

I found a copy of CoinOPS 7 Lite so I decided to go ahead and build the index files for it. This has made me rethink my zip file and I decided to break out all of the index files.

 

Unfortunately I can't edit my previous post so the MD5 Checksum in the previous post for the zip file is no longer valid. This new file has already been uploaded to the website below.

 

CoinOPSGamesListEditorV1.6.zip
MD5 Checksum: A12AE9839C8854901A8399482BEB4F73
If you now go to the Downloads page on the website you'll now see zip files for the following:
CoinOPS7Lite-Indices.zip
MD5 Checksum: 85AA2F417BA175DAD9FE13E6FECFFD20
CoinOPS7Massive-Indices.zip
MD5 Checksum: 154424BE646D597662E60BE359A2F321
CoinOPS7Standalone-Indices.zip
MD5 Checksum: B75935803A81B979CA2D5EB3355CE8D7
CoinOPS8Gold-Indices.zip
MD5 Checksum: 027FDB848215944BA6F361400F33A0E4
CoinOPS8StandaloneR1-Indices.zip
MD5 Checksum: 9B8E79657FCEF51109250BD47EB33359
CoinOPS8StandaloneR2-Indices.zip
MD5 Checksum: 55E3EA1D240AA2E89DF95D14DCE2D145

 

Everything has been uploaded here: thedevilscompass.weebly.com

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

I've updated the CoinOPS Games List Editor to take care of a few bugs in the build indices routines. I've also done some more testing and can verify that the CoinOPS Games List Editor will work with CoinOPS versions 3-8.

 

The latest version of the CoinOPS Games List Editor can be downloaded from thedevilscompass.weebly.com

New index files for CoinOPS v3-6 and CoinOPS 8 RC4 have also been uploaded to the website.

 

v1.62

  • Fixed check "- Supported Games Lookup For Naming.txt" file for ROM names and stop reading if it encounters a * or / as well as endline.
  • Fixed check for "- Supported Games Lookup For Naming.txt" or similar filename such as "- Supported Games Lookup For Naming of Roms.txt".
  • Fixed exception handling for UI cancel on build indices process.

v1.61

  • Fixed a small bug in the index routine that prevented files with foreign characters to be found.
  • Added a reference label for the CoinOPS version on the Replace Game form.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm def gonna check this out, I did post some questions in a different thread that I will repost here for the benefit of others

 

I'm not as interested in hacks or whatever as I am in just being able to add games easily

 

How does the app work exactly? Does it run in the Xbox or a PC ? I suppose it creates all the necessary files and names them correctly ? Do you have to have the rom in question present at the time you run the app ? Does it have a batch processor so if you wanted to add a library of games to it you can ? Like say I wanted to add all the SNES games to it or something ?

 

Does it place the files in the correct directories for you or spit out a text file that tells you where to put everything ?

Edited by Mark Wolfe
Link to comment
Share on other sites

How does the app work exactly?

Each version & release of CoinOPS stores the list of games that it supports in the MAMEoX.xbe file. The first time you launch CoinOPS this information is extracted from MAMEoX.xbe to create three files DRIVERS.list, ROMS.list and ROMS.metadata in the \CoinOPS\Co8save\ folder. From that point on anytime you add ROMs and scan for new games CoinOPS references these three files to see if the game is supported. If the game is found then it is added to the games list. The CoinOPS Games List Editor uses an index file specific to your version & release of CoinOPS to edit the MAMEoX.xbe and replace the donor ROM text with your desired ROM text (filename, description and system). It's a 1-1 relationship so everything must match up character length wise. You then ftp your newly edited MAMEoX.xbe back to your Xbox and delete the three files mentioned before. Copy your ROM files & videos into the appropriate folders then boot your Xbox. CoinOPS will startup as if it was the first time and will build the three files mentioned adding your new games in the process.

 

Does it run in the Xbox or a PC ?

On your PC. It's a Windows program.

 

I suppose it creates all the necessary files and names them correctly ?

The only CoinOPS file that the CoinOPS Games List Editor touches is the MAMEoX.xbe file. It does maintain an index file, SortedCoinOPSGamesListDetails.txt, so that the next time you run the program it is aware of the changes that have already been made to the MAMEoX.xbe file. A backup is made of MAMEoX.xbe at the time of edit in case anything goes wrong.

 

Do you have to have the rom in question present at the time you run the app ?

No. It works the same way the supported list of games currently does in CoinOPS. You can use the CoinOPS Games List Editor to add in several games then once you have the ROMs simply scan your games and they will be added to the listing. You do have to go through the initial startup of CoinOPS once with your edited MAMEoX.xbe or your new games will not be found.

 

Does it have a batch processor so if you wanted to add a library of games to it you can ? Like say I wanted to add all the SNES games to it or something ?

No. But I may add that in a future release. I can see where this would be a handy feature. It would have to be fairly automated to make it worth while. For example the current implementation of the program allows the user to replace "SPE_FootballManager" while retaining the rest of the Spectrum ROMs. To do a batch process I think the user would have to mark an entire system as fair game for the CoinOPS Games List Editor. There's nothing wrong with that approach. I've essentially done that with my own install since I have no Spectrum ROMs loaded.

 

Does it place the files in the correct directories for you or spit out a text file that tells you where to put everything ?

No, but it wouldn't be too difficult to have the program spit out a text file detailing the ROM filename and where to put everything. Currently the folder information can be obtained by looking at the "- Readme and FAQ.txt" located in the CoinOPS\- READ ME !!!! CoinOPS 8\ folder. I think this would be a good addition and will work on adding it to the next release.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the detailed answers. It sounds really cool.

 

I'm a little confused as to why the list of supported coinops games would be in the mameox xbe when it supports so many other systems ... Coinops is more akin to MESS than it is MAME but I can't say as I understand how it all fits together. I know it calls on specific emulators to do what it does and acts as a front end . I wish it had some automated functionality and was easier to customize the games it plays

 

I've looked up how to add more games, but am daunted by the renaming process and where to place the rom and associated files to make it appear in the menu and also have the right video, marquee, et al.

 

I think an app that would automate that process would be invaluable, especially if it renamed roms or at least spit out a text file telling you where it goes and what acompanying files it needs and where they go. It would be super helpful to use it for adding a full library for a given emulator if it would batch process a folder of roms

 

Good work on it man, I'm def gonna try it out as soon as I get a PC set up to work with it. My main computers are all Macs except my arcade cabinet PC but it's hard to use that for anything other than games because it's attached to an arcade monitor and the resolution is bad for regular apps

Edited by Mark Wolfe
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My basic argument for wanting it to update more than just the game list is that using coinops to play a game you add to it is all well and good but it's not the full coinops experience if it does not have all the associated files so you see a preview vid, and it has a graphic for the marquee etc. without that you may as well just fire up the individual emulator

 

I don't understand why it does not just automatically support the same games as the Xbox version of MAME . That seems silly

 

Is anyone currently working on MAMEdOX? I think the last update I saw posted was around 2014 or earlier ... same for Final Burn

Coinops seems to have taken over where mamedox left off

Edited by Mark Wolfe
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm a little confused as to why the list of supported coinops games would be in the mameox xbe when it supports so many other systems ... Coinops is more akin to MESS than it is MAME but I can't say as I understand how it all fits together. I know it calls on specific emulators to do what it does and acts as a front end . I wish it had some automated functionality and was easier to customize the games it plays

Good question. It's the developers of CoinOPS way of controlling what games you can play. Why did they choose the MAMEoX.xbe file to hide this list? Your guess is as good as mine. Personally I'm not a fan of this restriction so that's why I wrote the CoinOPS Games List Editor! :) Everything I've learned about CoinOPS I did through hacking my own installation. I believe the menu system (the bulk of CoinOPS) is a stripped down version of XBMC. I found a few files which referenced it internally. The idea behind CoinOPS is you grab a package (Lite, Standalone, Massive, etc.) install it and you're done. Sounds great and it sorta works in practice until you get the itch to install a new game.

 

I've looked up how to add more games, but am daunted by the renaming process and where to place the rom and associated files to make it appear in the menu and also have the right video, marquee, et al.

Are you starting from a Standalone build? That's the most flexible build of CoinOPS and also the most difficult to setup. I haven't found any good information on setting up a Standalone build from scratch. ROMs for consoles aren't too difficult to setup, but there are exceptions (i.e. multi-CD games). And as you've discovered if the ROMs and videos aren't placed in the correct folders they won't be found by CoinOPS. Games like Mortal Kombat, Doom, Heretic, etc. are their own little nightmare and aren't touched by my program.

 

There are a few game packs floating around that have all the ROMs and videos named correctly. Most of the ones I've come across are fairly complete. These packs are still missing some ROMs for every system though. PM me if you need help locating some of these.

 

 

I think an app that would automate that process would be invaluable, especially if it renamed roms or at least spit out a text file telling you where it goes and what acompanying files it needs and where they go.

The next version of the CoinOPS Games List Editor will spit out a text file with all the details. It's a good idea and won't be too difficult to do.

 

In its current state the program can't rename any ROMs for you. This is because the intent is to swap in a ROM that isn't officially supported. There's no list of unsupported ROMs so it has no idea what to rename it to or even which file on your PC is the ROM in question. However, the CoinOPS Games List Editor does ensure that you follow the proper naming scheme set by CoinOPS. The ROM itself can be named anything you like, for example "AAAA". Once you select the system, for example "Atari 2600", the CoinOPS Games List Editor will automatically prepend the correct preface to the ROM filename. In this example, "A26_AAAA" would appear as the filename and would be written to the MAMEoX.xbe file. It would then be up to you to rename your ROM to "A26_AAAA" as well as your video and FTP them to the correct folders on your Xbox.

 

 

Good work on it man, I'm def gonna try it out as soon as I get a PC set up to work with it. My main computers are all Macs except my arcade cabinet PC but it's hard to use that for anything other than games because it's attached to an arcade monitor and the resolution is bad for regular apps

Thanks! I hope you find it useful. I'm open to any ideas to make the program useful to others. This has been my private little utility for months so I'm a little too close to it and always appreciate a fresh perspective.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My basic argument for wanting it to update more than just the game list is that using coinops to play a game you add to it is all well and good but it's not the full coinops experience if it does not have all the associated files so you see a preview vid, and it has a graphic for the marquee etc. without that you may as well just fire up the individual emulator

I couldn't agree more. I love CoinOPS for what it does. It's a flashy menu that launches a bunch of emulators. It's a much nicer experience when all of the games have videos. I've just been manually doing all of that. I think the new log that the CoinOPS Games List Editor will soon spit out will help quite a bit.

 

I don't understand why it does not just automatically support the same games as the Xbox version of MAME . That seems silly

Ah...therein lies the rub. The term "support" when used with CoinOPS doesn't actually mean that the included emulators can only run certain games. It supposedly means that the CoinOPS group has tested and/or configured all the games that are in the "- Supported Games Lookup For Naming.txt" file. This isn't entirely true because 1. There are games that are supported that are unplayable. and 2. There are typo mistakes in the MAMEoX.xbe file(s) (depending on version/release of CoinOPS) that prevent some games from even being listed and therefore inaccessible to the user.

 

Bottom line is the included emulators support a lot more games than CoinOPS does. So if you can get CoinOPS to recognize your game (using my program), you're halfway there. You'll still need to test the game to make sure it works, but I've found far more ROMs that work than don't.

 

Is anyone currently working on MAMEdOX? I think the last update I saw posted was around 2014 or earlier ... same for Final Burn

Coinops seems to have taken over where mamedox left off

Beyond the CoinOPS group, I don't believe so. The most current version, CoinOPS 8, is also supposed to be the last version for the Xbox.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...