Arcadeflow theme v 17.1 [Release] Updated 22 March 2024

[yxiie]

What if I will delete .db1 and .db2 files when generating new .txt? Would that force regeneration up to date .db1 and .db2 files?

[zpaolo11x]

What if I will delete .db1 and .db2 files when generating new .txt? Would that force regeneration up to date .db1 and .db2 files?

Yes, sure. Brute force but still effective

[yxiie]

Then it suits me, no need to add anything
Btw, great improvements since version 6.0 - love how much faster it became after initial load.

However I have tried to load my largest romlsit for Flash Games that has 25k items and Arcadeflow failed to load - displayed the empty list. Here is the crash info:

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*** Initializing display: 'Adobe Flash'
 - Loaded master romlist 'Adobe Flash' in 406 ms (24667 entries kept, 0 discarded)
 - Constructed 2 filters in 1 ms (49334 comparisons)
 - Loaded layout: G:\SuperConsole\AttactPlus\layouts/Arcade Flow 5.4/ (layout.nut)
Writing config to: G:\SuperConsole\AttactPlus\attract.cfg

*** Initializing display: 'Adobe Flash'
 - Loaded master romlist 'Adobe Flash' in 352 ms (24667 entries kept, 0 discarded)
 - Constructed 2 filters in 1 ms (49334 comparisons)


WARNING: some options in attract.cfg clash with Arcadeflow

 - Loaded layout: G:\SuperConsole\AttactPlus\layouts/Arcadeflow-13.8/ (layout.nut)

AN ERROR HAS OCCURED [the index 'Memory Game' does not exist]

CALLSTACK
*FUNCTION [z_listboot()] G:\SuperConsole\AttactPlus\layouts/Arcadeflow-13.8/layout.nut line [6367]
*FUNCTION [on_transition()] G:\SuperConsole\AttactPlus\layouts/Arcadeflow-13.8/layout.nut line [14826]

LOCALS
[z_list] TABLE
[meta_edited] TABLE
[meta_original] TABLE
[all_meta_edited] TABLE
[all_meta_original] TABLE
[metadata] TABLE
[AF] TABLE
[system_data] TABLE
[i] 20040
[currentsystem] "adobe flash"
[ifeindex] 20031
[this] TABLE
[prf] TABLE
[z_list] TABLE
[focusindex] TABLE
[tilez] ARRAY
[transdata] ARRAY
[flowT] TABLE
[snd] TABLE
[vidposbg] 0
[vidstarter] 10000
[bgs] TABLE
[vidbgfade] ARRAY
[AF] TABLE
[multifilterglyph] INSTANCE
[searchdata] INSTANCE
[search] TABLE
[z_var] 0
[var] 0
[logotitle] NULL
[boxtitle] NULL
[attract] TABLE
[displayname] INSTANCE
[displaystore] 14
[prfzero] TABLE
[DISPLAYTABLE] TABLE
[zmenu_surface_container] INSTANCE
[zmenu_sh] TABLE
[noshader] INSTANCE
[zmenu] TABLE
[tiles] TABLE
[corrector] 0
[column] TABLE
[UI] TABLE
[letterobj] INSTANCE
[mon2] TABLE
[dat] TABLE
[surfacePos] 0
[centercorr] TABLE
[impulse2] TABLE
[ttime] 0
[var0] 0
[ttype] 6
[this] TABLE
Script Error in transition function: on_transition - the index 'Memory Game' does not exist
 ! Unexpectedly lost focus to: explorer.exe (4240)

AN ERROR HAS OCCURED [the index '0' does not exist]

CALLSTACK
*FUNCTION [attractupdatesnap()] G:\SuperConsole\AttactPlus\layouts/Arcadeflow-13.8/layout.nut line [12869]
*FUNCTION [tick()] G:\SuperConsole\AttactPlus\layouts/Arcadeflow-13.8/layout.nut line [15395]

LOCALS
[z_list] TABLE
[attractitem] TABLE
[AF] TABLE
[system_data] TABLE
[attract] TABLE
[randload] 0
[this] TABLE
[prf] TABLE
[huecycle] TABLE
[snap_glow] ARRAY
[focusindex] TABLE
[tilez] ARRAY
[snd] TABLE
[AF] TABLE
[dispatchernum] 0
[z_list] TABLE
[dispatcher] ARRAY
[kb] TABLE
[timescale] TABLE
[pixelpic] INSTANCE
[spdT] TABLE
[delayvid] 9933
[vidstarter] 10000
[fadevid] 9894
[count] TABLE
[overlay] TABLE
[zmenu] TABLE
[attract] TABLE
[disp] TABLE
[bgs] TABLE
[attractitem] TABLE
[flowT] TABLE
[squarizer] true
[letterobj] INSTANCE
[letterobjsurf] TABLE
[fl] TABLE
[displayname] INSTANCE
[displaynamesurf] TABLE
[tilesTableUpdate] ARRAY
[noshader] INSTANCE
[tilesTableZoom] ARRAY
[UI] TABLE
[aspectratioMorph] ARRAY
[var] 0
[gr_vidszTableFade] ARRAY
[dat] TABLE
[mon2] TABLE
[impulse2] TABLE
[srfposhistory] ARRAY
[filtersw] ARRAY
[tiles] TABLE
[surfacePosOffset] 2044
[tilesTablePos] TABLE
[globalposnew] -1547
[surfacePos] 0
[vidposbg] 0
[vidbgfade] ARRAY
[corrector] 0
[vidpos] ARRAY
[vidindex] ARRAY
[overmenu] INSTANCE
[overmenuwidth] 763.2
[frost] TABLE
[keyboard_surface] INSTANCE
[themeT] TABLE
[frostpic] TABLE
[zmenu_sh] TABLE
[prfmenu] TABLE
[zmenu_surface_container] INSTANCE
[hist_screensurf] INSTANCE
[hist_glow_pic] INSTANCE
[hist] TABLE
[hist_screenT] TABLE
[historypadding] 38.2
[shadowsurf_rt] INSTANCE
[histglow] TABLE
[shadow] TABLE
[hist_over] TABLE
[hist_titletxt_bot] INSTANCE
[hist_title] INSTANCE
[hist_titleT] TABLE
[hist_titletxt_bd] INSTANCE
[hist_titletxt] INSTANCE
[hist_title_top] INSTANCE
[aflogo] INSTANCE
[user_fg] NULL
[hist_screen] INSTANCE
[shadowsurf_1] INSTANCE
[shadowsurf_2] INSTANCE
[hist_text_surf] INSTANCE
[history_surface] INSTANCE
[tick_time] 132625
[this] TABLE
Script Error in tick function: tick - the index '0' does not exist

I have opened "Adobe Flash" romlist which had Arcadeflow 5.7 assigned for it initially, and loaded it up fine, then I switched it to Arcadeflow-13.8 in attract mode displays options and got this crash

[zpaolo11x]

I have opened "Adobe Flash" romlist which had Arcadeflow 5.7 assigned for it initially, and loaded it up fine, then I switched it to Arcadeflow-13.8 in attract mode displays options and got this crash

Strange error, related to the "screensaver" in Arcadeflow. Not sure what's going on here, maybe it's still the missing snaps artwork? Try disabling AF screensaver (which is, ironically, called "attract mode" in AF options ). And if you can pack romlist and .cfg I'll look into it

[yxiie]

I have disabled screensaver but it didn't help. The error happens right after the progress bar with "arcadeflow" text fully fills in.
The romlist and cfg I have posted earlier in attachment to this message: http://forum.attractmode.org/index.php?topic=2068.msg29741#msg29741
Snap artwork is there, but maybe it's filename encoding issue? That romlist has some hieroglyphs in game names.

[zpaolo11x]

Snap artwork is there, but maybe it's filename encoding issue? That romlist has some hieroglyphs in game names.

Yes, the issue is with a game named

Code: [Select]

'Elephants Never Forget!' Memory Game whose title is

Code: [Select]

"Elephants Never Forget!" Memory Game. Let me see how I can fix it, because I don't want you to change the rom name, so I need to find a way to parse it correctly...

[zpaolo11x]

Snap artwork is there, but maybe it's filename encoding issue? That romlist has some hieroglyphs in game names.

This almost drove me crazy at a certain point, but the issue is somewhere in the interaction between AM and AF. The offending item is the Elephants Never Forget rom, where the "title" entry is

Code: [Select]

"Elephants Never Forget!" Memory Game The " in the game title messes the AM romlist, not sure if and how it worked on old AF versions.

The only workaround I could find is remove at least one " from the romlist entry. Sorry for not having a better solution. I was the issue was in the rom name with ' but it doesn't seem to be the case. General rule is  you should never put " in a romlist txt file.

[yxiie]

Makes sense. I have replaced " with ' in the romlist and it started to work. Thanks for the clarification!
Will fix my tools that generate romlists to replace " chars there

[yxiie]

I have another question.
I have over 200 romlists in attract mode - they are configured to use Arcade Flow 6.0
I am trying to switch them to latest version by replacing "Arcade Flow 6.0" with "Arcadeflow-13.8" in attract.cfg, however when I do it the romlist hangs the attract mode when I try to open it.
When I switch layout in the config all is file. Is there any other data that needs to be copied/edited for this to work? I don't want to manually change layout for all 200 romlists. I assume latest version of Arcade Flow stores some extra data somewhere.

[zpaolo11x]

I have over 200 romlists in attract mode - they are configured to use Arcade Flow 6.0
I am trying to switch them to latest version by replacing "Arcade Flow 6.0" with "Arcadeflow-13.8" in attract.cfg, however when I do it the romlist hangs the attract mode when I try to open it.

That's what I do for tests, simply replace the name of the layout in all the entries in attract.cfg. Maybe it hangs because of some issue with the database once you enable the new version? you get error messages? Or maybe it seems to be hanging but is in fact just taking a lot of time to generate dbs? Try changing the layout name of just a couple of displays.

[yxiie]

No error messages, just "attract mode not responding". All the .db1/.db2 files are present in the romlist dir so I don't think it generates them.
Even when I change only 1 romlist layout in attract.cfg it still hangs when opening that romlist
The console says:

*** Initializing display: 'Sega SG-1000'
 - Loaded master romlist 'Sega SG-1000' in 17 ms (43 entries kept, 0 discarded)
 - Constructed 2 filters in 0 ms (86 comparisons)

And that's it. I have been waiting for 10 minutes and nothing - still in hung state.

[zpaolo11x]

No error messages, just "attract mode not responding". All the .db1/.db2 files are present in the romlist dir so I don't think it generates them.
Even when I change only 1 romlist layout in attract.cfg it still hangs when opening that romlist
The console says:

*** Initializing display: 'Sega SG-1000'
 - Loaded master romlist 'Sega SG-1000' in 17 ms (43 entries kept, 0 discarded)
 - Constructed 2 filters in 0 ms (86 comparisons)

And that's it. I have been waiting for 10 minutes and nothing - still in hung state.

Hmmm at this point I should take a look at your attract.cfg and the pref_layoutoptions file from Arcadeflow folder…

[yxiie]

Please see attached

[yxiie]

Is there a place to download old versions? Github page only shows 13.2 as the lowest and your website links are dead.

[zpaolo11x]

Is there a place to download old versions? Github page only shows 13.2 as the lowest and your website links are dead.

First things first, there was a bug in the Arcadeflow website, now you can go here https://zpaolo11x.github.io/Arcadeflow/history.html and download old versions from the old repository.

Then I'm looking into your attract.cfg, the first thing you need to change is:

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startup_mode         displays_menu
Arcadeflow should not be used with display menu startup mode, you should change this value to "default". You can run the displays menu at start changing options in Arcadeflow.

You also have this set:

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menu_layout          Arcade Flow 5.7but for the same reason stated above, you should not set AF as menu layout, just leave this field empty.

Maybe this changes are enough to fix the issue... another thing I notice from your attract.cfg is that you have a lot of "collection" romlist like "last played", "console" etc. With the new database system AF is a bit picky for collection romlists: let's say you have a collection romlist that has games from multiple emulators. Everything will work fine only if there are also single romlist for each emulator. So if you have a "console" collection romlist with all games from SNES and Genesis, and you have SNES.cfg and Genesis.cfg, AF will be happy only if you have also the romlists SNES.txt and Genesis.txt. I know it's complicated, but working around this is even more complicated

Consider that AF already categorizes systems (console, computer ecc) automatically, and you can even enable "all games collections" in AF options menu. These are auto-updating collections for all games, latest played, favourite and system categories. The difference between AM collections and AF collections is that AF collections are "live": if you add a tag to a game in the SNES display, you'll see the same game starred in the "All Console Games" collection, or in the "Last Played" collection etc.