Attract-Mode retaining focus on launch of emulator

[boon_nz]

Hi,

I have got MAME setup beautifully in Attract-mode and I really don't understand why it's not more popular than it is!

I've started setting up additional emulators (M2 and Demul) and while attract-mode is still great, I need to now account for some of less desirable features of those emulators.

1) when I launch the game it jumps out to the desktop while the emulator is started before eventually starting the game in fullscreen. What i'd like to achieve is a seamless transition like I see for Mame.

Is there any way to achieve this? I was thinking if attract mode could keep focus for X number of seconds before transitioning....

2) The mouse cursor shows smack bang in the middle of the screen on Demul. In googling it, I see people use an autohotkey script to mask this. How do I tie this in with attract mode and launching of the emulator?

Thanks for your time!

[hermine.potter]

As a mentalist I'll tell you, that you're on windows system, aren't you?

1) AM works correct: An emulator-system starts > AM minimizes/gives focus to emulator.
So check emulator settings for better fullscreen focus or try another emulator.

2) There are different ways (depends on script implementation and emulator system):
-script starts with os > script checks which emulator starts > move mouse > script loops
-emulator starts > emulator supports external command execution > emulator starts external script > move mouse
-you put it in a batch-file together (mousemove.exe and starting emulator with specific game) and starts this batch-file in AM as a common game entry in gamelist
-and so on

If you mean this thread, it's completly wrong:
-it's an autoit script
-correct syntax is this:
Sleep (5000)
MouseMove (999, 999, 0)

So check this thread

[DietCoke]

This is happening to me as well with Mame, and I've already tried different versions. 

From a strict definition, yes, AM works correctly.  But this doesn't seem to be an isolated problem and with Windows being the largest user base (I'm assuming) I would hope that a workaround could be made within the app.  I'm not running into this issue with any other front-end.  While I prefer AM over others, this is a serious annoyance.

[liquid8d]

Yes, some emulators may display the desktop when launching - this is something that some frontends attempt to mask and gain focus of the window once it's loaded so there is room for improvement there. What "other frontends" are you using that work for those emulators?

Unfortunately, I haven't played around with them enough since I don't have a cab setup yet and tend to ignore the desktop displaying. Perhaps though changing AM to Fill Screen (if you aren't using that already) might help.

You can also look into "wrappers" which attempt to launch the emulator for you, usually to help do things like hide the desktop, launch fullscreen, or exit the emulator cleanly - try here

Hiding Windows is like a form of art It depends on how much you want to hack or just apply workarounds for most of the annoyances, see here

A script like above or external program can help hide the mouse - try here

[DietCoke]

I haven't experienced the issue with GameEx, MGalaxy or Hyperspin.  I've already tried updating graphics drivers, reinstalling from scratch, reinstalling the OS and setting the screen to Fullscreen (that's the only way I use it).

I'm not saying that AM is bad - far from it - I just wish it could keep track of window focus better

[xbs]

Have you tried instant sheller? Works great for hiding xp.http://www.gameex.com/instant-sheller-and-shelling-guide/

[hermine.potter]

As an alternative:
-set background to black
-hide task bar
-disable all icons

If you start a system, you see a black and blank background

[boon_nz]

Good to see there has been additional replies (that I missed).

I'm back to try and sort this out. Hermine, the porblem with just making windows look less windows like, is that the emulator (M2, demul) still has a window.

I'll look into the other options provided to work around it. Simplistically, I was hoping there may be an option to have:

Launch ROM -> AM take back / retain focus for X seconds (setup in emulator config) -> switch to emulator

[omegaman]

Boon-

What hermine suggested is "SOP" for dealing with these situations when they popup. There might be another solution that involves a 3d party app called rocketlauncher. It supports AM and many other frontends as well. The beauty of rocketlauncher is that it supports almost every emulator created with scripted modules that mask complexities from the user.  It is bascially an extention to the frontend. Here is a list of things it can do direct from their website:

RocketLauncher is:

To make it easier for new users to launch emulators and games/applications. You never compile any of RocketLauncher's modules. This is important to remember. They are not meant to be run as stand-alone scripts.

Only require setting up rom paths and emulators across multiple Front Ends once. You are free to try many front ends or keep multiple installed and switch between them, but launch everything the same setup! Because RocketLauncher handles launching, you do not need to have, whatever front end you use, handle this. This also frees the Front End devs to concentrate on their product, rather than worrying about launching emulators which is a very tedious process considering emulators are constantly updated and often requires changes to launch them.

Add many features to emulators that the original devs did not give access to. For example, per-game configurations, bezels, global pause, media access to a game's assets from within the game itself. The list goes on and on.

A community based on making highly customized solutions to handling emulators.

RocketLauncher is modular. This means that each system has a different mini script that users can download on a per emulator basis. A new user can simply download the module for the emu and that's it. New modules will be found by using RocketLauncherUI's update feature.

RocketLauncher has a GUI counterpart called RocketLauncherUI. This makes editing RocketLauncher settings super easy and fast.

RocketLauncher uses Plugins to know how to read database and media data from your Front End.

RocketLauncher is a command line program that Front Ends call to launch emulators for cleaner launching and exiting. RocketLauncherUI can be used as a Front End on its own to test and launch your games and applications from.

[boon_nz]

Hi Omegaman,

Awesome, thanks, I'll check it out. I actually setup up hyperspin + rocketlauncher (which was horrendously complicated) prior to deciding that attract mode was more for me.

I'll check out hyperlauncher in conjunction with attract mode!

Thanks
 

[omegaman]

That's probably why the AM user base keeps growing. It's easy to configure, lightweight, flexible and very powerful. After, using AM for the first time, I was hooked. All the other front-ends where just an after thought. 

[RustyCardores]

I get the same issue with OSX ... it would be nice if AM retained focus until after the emu had launched, but for me... I have an MAME machine built out of a beer keg, so how fussy can I be? lol

My virtual pinball cab on the other hand would drive me insane if PinballX showed the Win10 desktop before each table.... but that's my pride and joy and no beer kegs were involved with that build.

[verion]

It is working ok in OS X - check if you have a hot corner (bottom-right) defined for something
AM is hiding cursor in this corner and this triggers hot corner action.

[RustyCardores]

No hot corners set.  I have changed the desktop to black and only see the menu bar and dock pop up for a second, so no big deal.

[akafox]

I have used instasheller on a WinXP machine works good...how ever it's for XP...I have not used any other windows past that. As for Linux I have a brief flash of the desktop as well..how ever one of the desktop managers I use has no bar and no background...so you really don't notice anything at all.

....If I recall there was a skin/theme that did hide the desktop well on linux (and winXP) using AM at one time..but I don't remember which one it was at the moment...when I started the game it showed "loading..." and then mame started.

Also check your desktop settings....if your desktop display is different than mame's (or emulator) display...then you will see a flash of the desktop because the graphics card has to resize the desktop..or screen.  I have my monitor set to 800x600 and then every emulator that i test is set to that resolution...makes for a clean start. (You can set any resolution your monitor/emulator can handle..just remember most of these games could only do 640x480 tops..puckman (pacman) was only 244x255!). You can try another type of mame also like advance mame.