Messages

16

General / Re: Lack of hardware acceleration on PC holds this frontend back

« on: July 14, 2017, 11:27:19 AM »

I've run attractmode on both linux and windows 7 on a p4 with a radeon 7500 vga video card with zero issues.

We are going to need more info about your setup.
What OS
what CPU
What video card.

I actually didn't think this was an unknown issue, seeing as how a quick Google search can find plenty of other people bringing up the problem, with the typical recommend "solution" being to personally downgrade one's videos, especially if they are over 30fps.  For what it's worth:

Windows 7 64-bit, i7 980x, Nvidia GTX 1070.  I access these files over USB2, but I've tried running everything off a local drive and get the same results, so that's definitely not it.

Here, a quick link to one of the videos I use: https://mega.nz/#F!CgwzQJ5S!xysgH9Uydl0QJ9fXtqXriw  (main menu video.rar).  Try it for yourself (on PC).  Watch it in AttractMode until you get to the part with the Link/King cartoon with the dialogue.  On my system, in a media player, this part is in perfect sync, while in AttractMode it is by that point a full two seconds out of sync (video is ahead of the audio, due to dropped frames).  If that's the same with you, then you now know what I'm talking about.  If it's not, then maybe there is some hope after all.  Some setting I've overlooked.  The topic of hardware acceleration has been brought up many times here, but there is a lack of information.  Currently it is assumed that the option is simply not available on the PC iteration, and its presence as an "option" is an overlooked redundancy.  When I watch the CPU usage, one core gets 100% of the responsibility of processing these videos, and it gets capped out.  That would certainly do it.

I'll add that probably most video packs out there are only 29.97 or 30fps, and certainly those play in AttractMode without issue because of the dramatic reduction in required CPU power.  So if you discover that the above video gives you sync issues you weren't expecting, then at least you know the probable reason why.

17

General / Lack of hardware acceleration on PC holds this frontend back

« on: July 14, 2017, 02:09:27 AM »

That's really the main thing that's missing.  Not a single one of my videos, which are all 60fps, plays at their full framerate, which in turn causes them to lose sync with their audio.  And the logo wheel also doesn't scroll at 60fps (or even half of that, really -- the loading of images makes it chug too much).  HyperSpin is a dated kludge that has its own issues but it has no problems with smooth graphics and video playback, despite its considerable age.

I really feel like this is something AttractMode should see as a focus.

18

General / Re: Reason why RetroArch crashes only from AttractMode?

« on: July 10, 2017, 01:48:52 AM »

I have tinkered with this a bit more.  I tried forcing AttractMode to run a bat file:

/Emulators/RetroArch/retroarch.exe -L /RetroArch/cores/mame_libretro.dll /MAME/roms/blkdrgonb.zip

This still caused a crash.  But the logs were indicating that RetroArch was being prevented from finding the file (unlike when attempted outside of AttractMode).  So I tried dumping the bat file directly into the /MAME/roms directory and changing it to:

/Emulators/RetroArch/retroarch.exe -L /RetroArch/cores/mame_libretro.dll blkdrgonb.zip

This time, while it did indeed crash again, it actually began loading MAME.  It crapped out when it was unable to find the individual rom files stored in the zip directory.  So, at the most fundamental I've been able to investigate, AttractMode is somehow preventing RetroArch from doing the tasks it needs to do in order to recognize the rom as valid -- uniquely, only for MAME arcade and not for MAME-originated platforms like ColecoVision.  I am baffled.

Has anyone gotten MAME working through RetroArch and AttractMode?  I strongly suspect not.  Another fellow did ask about this ( http://forum.attractmode.org/index.php?topic=1703.0 ), but the permutations offered in the final post all give the same (crash) result.

19

General / Reason why RetroArch crashes only from AttractMode?

« on: July 10, 2017, 01:07:55 AM »

I've been as thorough as I can manage on this one.  If I launch a MAME game from the command line like so:

retroarch.exe -L \path\to\cores\mame_libretro.dll \MAME\roms\blkdrgon.zip

It works without a hitch.  However, if I do the same exact thing from within AttractMode, RetroArch crashes uneventfully and without anything in the log to suggest something went wrong (implying RetroArch is functioning like it does outside of AttractMode and not generating the error itself).  The odd thing is that I can use the same RA core (mame_libretro.dll) to run other platforms, such as ColecoVision.  Here is the command from my ColecoVision config:

args                 -L /RetroArch/cores/mame_libretro.dll "coleco -cart1 \"[romfilename]\" -rp /MAME/roms"

and here is the command from my MAME config:

args                 -L /RetroArch/cores/mame_libretro.dll "[romfilename]"

Copy-pasted.  As you can see, there's no reason why this should be happening.

Summary: MAME-arcade-via-RA works outside of AttractMode, MAME-colecovision-via-RA works inside AttractMode, but MAME-arcade-via-RA doesn't work inside AttractMode.

20

General / Forcing PageUp/PageDn to work the way one would expect?

« on: July 07, 2017, 03:55:44 PM »

Topic.  These keys don't do anything by default.  I more or less expected them to navigate the wheel in chunks (either large swathes or by letter of the alphabet or something similar).  If it can't be made to work this way by default, then I suppose what I'm after here is a bit of script I can plug into the themes I'm using to force them to make it happen.    Navigation without something like this is pretty painful over USB2.  Even after I took great pains to ensure that screenshots will load before videos, I'm still waiting too long for the visuals to stop chugging.  And the search function is not a "seek" function.

21

Themes / Re: Theme like Cosmo's, only text in the wheel rather than logos?

« on: July 05, 2017, 02:46:24 PM »

This wouldn't be too difficult to change.

It all depends on whether or not you know what syntax the app is looking for.  I don't.  Here's the relevant bit in the wheel part of the theme:

Code: [Select]

base.constructor( ::fe.add_artwork( my_config["orbit_art"] ) );

I've tried changing it to things like

Code: [Select]

base.constructor( ::fe.add_text( "[Title]" ) );

which I borrowed from the part of the script that displays the title at the bottom.  This results in an invisible wheel.  Something's missing.

22

Themes / Theme like Cosmo's, only text in the wheel rather than logos?

« on: July 04, 2017, 04:04:09 PM »

Hoping someone's seen, heard of, created, or can create a theme that is basically the same as Cosmo's Robospin themes, only in place of the wheel you get the name of the game in text.  Closest thing I have come so far is Game Station HD, but I find I prefer the sort of display that visibly showcases the physical platform itself, with the video playing on a TV or on the platform's screen.  Problem with that is there often simply isn't wheel art conveniently laying around for literally thousands of game titles, so it's simply a better option in those cases to stick with text only.

23

General / Re: Confusion over Command Arguments

« on: June 27, 2017, 06:05:33 AM »

@Asterra
creating a .fs-uae each game should do it.

Precisely.  But how?

The process for creating a .fs-uae for an individual game is not as simple as mass duplicating a text file.  In addition to the filename of the game's archive (let's call it: A_Racing_Game_2000.zip), I also need to know one or two other things:

• The Amiga model the game should run on, as specified by info downloaded from the online database.  (Could possibly get away with using 100% A1200.)
• Extra arguments.  This always means "PRECACHE" but many games include other things on top of that.  This is also dictated by downloaded info.
  
• The specific name of the slave file associated with the game, also specified by downloaded info.  Let's call it: ARacingGame2000.slave

These three items are ascertained from within FS-UAE's GUI; when you create a custom config with the GUI, these important pieces of info carry over.  This data is not available externally, as it is secreted away in a .sqlite file, rather than a potentially more convenient text file.  The main barrier here is that the name of the slave file is pretty much never identical to the name of the game or of its archive.  It truly must be gleaned from somewhere else.  Guess wrong and it just won't work.

24

General / Re: Confusion over Command Arguments

« on: June 26, 2017, 08:06:50 AM »

Okay, here is that cfg.  Keep in mind it is in a state of flux, since I had been trying everything I could to force things to function.

Code: [Select]

# Generated by Attract-Mode v2.2.1
#
executable           /HyperSpin/Emulators/Commodore Amiga/FS-UAE/Launcher.exe
args                 "[romfilename]"
workdir              /HyperSpin/Emulators/Commodore Amiga/FS-UAE/FS-UAE_UUIDs
rompath              /HyperSpin/Emulators/Commodore Amiga/FS-UAE/FS-UAE_UUIDs
romext               <DIR>
system               Amiga
artwork    flyer           /attractmode/emulators/amiga/boxart
artwork    marquee         
artwork    snap            /attractmode/emulators/Amiga/videos;/attractmode/emulators/Amiga/snap
artwork    wheel           /attractmode/emulators/amiga/wheel

It is worth repeating that if there is some method to generate individual .fs-uae config files for every game in my library, that would just about solve this whole thing.  (I would have to rename all the video/snap/etc. assets, but that is at least doable in theory.)  Even if there turns out to be a way to correctly launch FS-UAE with a UUID, I still have the problem that doing so does not cause it to use my custom config files when one exists.  Everything I've read says this is supposed to work, but for me it doesn't.

25

General / Re: Confusion over Command Arguments

« on: June 26, 2017, 07:01:58 AM »

Code: [Select]

args                 -m "[rompath][name]\[name].smc"


I gave this a try, including many permutations of said.  Does AttractMode generate a log at all?  I'd be interested in seeing just exactly what command line these args result in.  In this case, for example, if I have a path like: "some_driving_game/qwer1234asdfzvxc", then wouldn't the above arg give me "some_driving_gameSome Driving Game\Some Driving Game" ?  It hurts that I don't know what args are available or what they correspond to.

please post your AM settings of your amiga emulator system.

I would, but I don't know where AttractMode hides that data.

with fs-uae, i'm using directly .adf-files instead UUID.

That was my original plan.  But I went with WHDLoad packages because 1) there didn't seem to be a good package out there that was regular ADFs, 2) all of the wheel/etc. assets are already named specifically after the WHDLoad package, and renaming all of that would be a day-long process even with matchmaking software, 3) many games come as multiple discs, and apparently the WHDLoad system eliminates the need to fiddle with that issue, and 4) games definitely load faster as WHDLoad, even if you include the 5-second-long opening GUI.

-start and configure fs-uae.exe (path to kick.rom and so on; create one global default.uae or .uae-file each game)

That last suggestion is an interesting one.  If I knew how to generate a .fs-uae config for every single game, I would definitely do that, because I already know Launcher.exe can use those to launch games without any rompath issues.  And better still, anything specified in the config file actually takes effect.

26

General / Confusion over Command Arguments

« on: June 26, 2017, 05:11:15 AM »

Trying to set up Amiga emulation via FS-UAE.  Turns out the process everyone seems to have decided works best is to point FS-UAE at "UUIDs" which correspond to the games in one's library.

To that end, I used an app which generated a bunch of directories named after my games, inside each of which is an empty file whose filename is the exact text which comprises the game's UUID.  The idea is that I take advantage of AttractMode's ability to use directory names for the names of "roms", and simply point the emulator at whatever's inside said directory.  So, for example, the rom directory structure looks like this:

/roms/some_driving_game/asdf1234qwerzxcv

and what AttractMode should be doing is this:

Code: [Select]

Launcher.exe asdf1234qwerzxcv

But of course what AttractMode is actually doing is this:

Code: [Select]

Launcher.exe "roms/some_driving_game/asdf1234qwerzxcv"

This does me no good because FS-UAE is not looking for a file; it's looking for that mess of text that is the filename, by itself.  When it gets anything it can't process, it just opens the GUI.  No dice.

Solutions?  Some magic I can finagle via Command Arguments?

27

Scripting / Re: Adding artwork: Forcing it to fade in? Or out?

« on: June 22, 2017, 07:21:13 PM »

Last problem I have here is that this process of having the screenshot fade out doesn't seem to be able to work 100% of the time, because ToNewSelection only covers every game that displays after the first one, and StartLayout only covers the first game that displays.  Since the script in a layout only executes once, there is no way to tell AttractMode to use StartLayout the first time and ToNewSelection every time thereafter.  (Or, perhaps more to the point, there is no "when" option that covers both cases.)

28

Scripting / Re: Adding artwork: Forcing it to fade in? Or out?

« on: June 22, 2017, 06:31:34 PM »

Okay, I worked out a solution.  What I've done is set it up so the video is loaded first, and it does not animate; it simply plays in the background.  Since the video gets played immediately regardless, it really doesn't matter.  The screenshot loads after it, and its alpha animates from 0 to 255 over 1 second, after a 1 second delay.

Now, this works the first time I select a new game.  There after, however, what happens is the screenshot does not appear until its alpha value is being animated, after 1 second.  The conclusion here is that 1) yes, the animation module overrides the defined, non-animated alpha value, and 2) the animation module currently remembers its last setting, at least for a given artwork, so for example if you had something fade to alpha 0, and start a new animation on the same artwork, any delay you put in will still be at alpha 0 for that duration.

My clunky solution, which works, is to do two animations in a row on the screenshot.  The first one is an alpha "transition" from 255 to 255 over a time of 1 ms (0 ms does not work).  The second is the intended fade.

So really the only thing missing here is a way to legitimately delay the appearance of a given artwork, so that videos won't be loaded or played until the delay is truly expired.

Edit: Actually, the ability to delay the loading of elements in general would be very welcome.  I use the Nevato theme (modded) for Mame, with the background set to display the flyer.  Over USB 2.0, those flyers take long enough to load that it has an impact on how fast I can navigate the menu.  It would be great if I could tell AttractMode to wait a moment before loading the background, so the load time doesn't clog everything.  As far as I know, however, all you can do currently is what is provided by the animation module, and things still get loaded in immediately even if it is used.

29

Scripting / Re: Adding artwork: Forcing it to fade in? Or out?

« on: June 22, 2017, 05:45:10 PM »

it's best to wait for liquid8 when he revises the animation mod. should be good.

Something to look forward to.  But in the meantime, I am confident that my current predicament can be solved if I can figure out how to use the alpha property, as mentioned here:

http://attractmode.org/docs/Layouts.html#Image

I have seen skew_x, skew_y, pinch, rotation etc. used in themes successfully.  I imagine alpha works as intended also, but I simply do not have a handle on what input I am expected to plug in.  The guide in the above link only mentions value, but AttractMode chokes on that, so it seems to want something more.

Edit: Actually I suppose the efficacy of this solution would depend on whether or not the animation module's alpha settings override the initial alpha value...
Edit2: It seems that simply vid.alpha = 0 will pass muster, although it currently does not seem to have any effect whatsoever.  More testing ensues.

30

Scripting / Re: Adding artwork: Forcing it to fade in? Or out?

« on: June 22, 2017, 05:11:16 PM »

here ya go try this,,,

Thanks.  Quite instructive.

Been tinkering with it for a little while.  My next hurdle seems to be this: The delay property doesn't delay the displaying of the element.  This presents two challenges.  First, the video is audibly playing in the background while the screenshot has priority, and that footage is lost to the viewer.  Second, the delay invariably means that there is an unusual conflict between the two elements.  For example, if the video element is called after the screenshot, then the screenshot is not even visible until it begins its fade animation, after the delay.

Obvious solution is to work in an initial alpha setting.  I just don't know the syntax.  It's evidently not simply: vid.alpha = Setting(0)   And I don't have enough examples to pore over in order to glean a better sense, or direct illustration, of how to use it.