Messages

1

Themes / Re: [WIP]AnimA Theme with overview

« on: September 13, 2020, 04:53:19 AM »

Hi volks,

can anybody please tell me how to activate the genre logos to show up for each game in this theme?

Like "action", "adventure", "fighting", "platformer", "puzzle", "maze", "paddle", "rhythm", "pinball", "racing", "rpg", "shooter", "sports", "strategy"...

They are listed in the romlist but won't show up.  They are there in the theme folder, but i found nothing in the display options to make them show up...

Thank you.

2

General / "copying" a complete system out of one frontend to another frontend... issues

« on: August 21, 2020, 04:48:57 AM »

Hey volks :-)
I am using the Vintage Collection frontend from HarrisonHacks as my main "system" and i am fine with it. As other systems like "CP78", "Motion Blue" etc have more/other systems integrated, i would like to "transform" them into my Vintage Collection. Goal is to combine them and get an "all-in-one"-System. As "CP78" uses rocketlauncher for (almost?) all emulators, i run into some difficulties trying to import a system into my vintage collection and get it to work flawlessly...
I copied the "emulator".cfg, the romlist, the menu-art in attract-folder, made a display entry in attract.cfg, copied the whole "rom" folder including menu-art into my vintage collection/Games-folder, changed all paths to the right direction and, if needed, the new emulator to Vintage Collection/Systems-folder. But it seems, i am "always" missing some rocketlaucher and/or emu "configs"...

Could you please guide me on what rocketlauncher-files to copy and/or modify for one system to achive that? Am i missing something else?

thank you so much :-)

3

Scripting / Re: Modify / add more game information at the bottom bar?

« on: January 20, 2020, 07:30:46 AM »

Thank you both so much for the really fast and detailled informations... fantastic!

I will try later on and pretty sure coming back to you :-) :-)

4

Scripting / Modify / add more game information at the bottom bar?

« on: January 20, 2020, 05:18:48 AM »

Hey folks :-)

I am using the vintage collection original theme and really like to stay with it. But it provides not as much detailled game information on the "bottom bar" like others often do, like the "motion blue" frontend for example. Please see attached pictures, 1. is the one i use and like to modify, second is the example.

Can you give me a hint or a detailled howto on how to achieve that? Which file/s to modify in which way?

These additional game informations also have to be added to the gamlist first to show up, i think...

thanks in advance :-)

5

General / Re: Booting into AM from startup on Windows 7 definitive method?

« on: March 18, 2019, 04:59:58 AM »

Running another program as a shell is always a problem, as you don't have access anymore to all standard windows functions, which are running on explorer shell only, by default. network access for example... To me the better way is putting it in autostart, so you have still access to all standard functions. You can also get rid of the windows logo on startup, have a black login screen, setup automatically login with your username & password etc, but it will not be completely seamless startup.

So you have to decide, if you want seamless start, or having everything functional in the background as usual. You cannot have both 100% at the same time.

When using attract mode as a shell, you can create a simple batch file, which automatically launches explorer.exe everytime you leave attract mode, so you don't see that black screen any longer and you don't have to always hit "strg + alt +del" and type in "explorer.exe" anymore... much more comfortable. Searching the web you should easily find how to.

6

General / "Filtering" mame in general...

« on: March 18, 2019, 04:28:40 AM »

Hi volks :-)

As i think i don't really get the proper usage of filtering at all, can somebody please give a complete workaround how he's using it?
I've already seen that mickelson example page, everybody is referring to, and i see what these examples should do...

I had already copied the catver.ini, nplayer, favorites and everything else to the root of my mame directory before and created the romlist, so everything should be good to go.

But simply adding one of these examples to the mame display in attract.cfg, i see no difference at all? No matter which example i tried, there's nothing filtered. Even after restarting attract mode...
Am i missing a step i don't know?

I've also seen, there are some filters already set for each and every display (by default?). Do i have to leave them as they are - or to delete them?
   global_filter       
      rule                 FileIsAvailable equals 1
   filter               All
   filter               Favourites
      rule                 Favourite equals 1

What are you ending up with using filters in general? Having 12 or more mame displays for each filtering you set? Or can i "filter" in JUST ONE mame display (containing all) by choosing the filters i set up? Do you create a display for each and every category, or what's the proper usage of "categorizing" in attract mode?

btw. I choosed a different language than english in the attract mode gui. copying the ENGLISH exaples to the attract.cfg (= "not_equals"), they are also translated to my language in the attract mode display config... Seems to be translated right, but are they still working, or is that a problem?

As you may guess, first i want to get rid off all that clones, not working, crap etc... roms, and then have a nice categorisation.

So you see, i need more help than linking to an example page ;-))

best regards

7

General / Re: Portable mode or relative paths

« on: March 01, 2019, 02:33:59 AM »

Hello everybody :-)

Working fine with relative paths...

EXCEPT all configs, where the arguments line is pointing to the attract.exe. Can't get that to work with relative paths.

It's scraping all games and artwork well, it's even starting the Emulators and the games, BUT it freezes all emulators immediately...

Seems the emulators just can't handle these paths, as they are obviously set correct for attract mode to work fine.

Example:

Code: [Select]

# Generated by Attract-Mode v2.3.0
#
executable           ..\RocketLauncher\RocketLauncher.exe
args                 -s "[emulator]" -r "[name]" -p AttractMode -f "H:\Vintage Collection\Attract\attract.exe"
rompath              ..\Games\virtualboy
romext               .7z;.zip;.vb;.VB;.ZIP;.7Z
system               Nintendo Virtual Boy
info_source          listxml
exit_hotkey          Joy0 Button8
artwork    boxart          ..\Games\virtualboy\boxart
artwork    cartart         ..\Games\virtualboy\cartart
artwork    flyer           ..\Games\virtualboy\boxart
artwork    marquee         ..\Games\virtualboy\marquee
artwork    snap            ..\Games\virtualboy\snap
artwork    wheel           ..\Games\virtualboy\wheel

ONLY THIS is working. Doesn't matter how much "..\" i am replacing the "H:\Vintage Collection" with in the "args" line... it doesn't work.
Already tried just "attract.exe", failed also...

The folder structure is:

H:\Vintage Collection\Attract\attract.exe
H:\Vintage Collection\Systems\(Emus in seperate folders)
H:\Vintage Collection\Games\(Roms in seperate folders)
H:\Vintage Collection\RocketLauncher\RocketLauncher.exe
Windows 10 x64 Enterprise.

Any idea?

8

General / Each & every "PC Games.cfg" immediately freezes AM while creating romlist 0% ...

« on: February 22, 2019, 06:49:21 AM »

Hi :-)

I literally tried every PC Games.cfg (with my system paths) i could find around attractmode.org & google, but each and every one freezes AM immediately at "creating romlist 0%"

If you ask me to post my config, i can post every single config i found, They're all ending up in the same result...

So i would bet this isn't a config issue at all, it's a windows 10 "rights management" or "file owner" problem or something like this sh.. (sorry)
I'm quiet shure i already did it right several times, but something else in the background is blocking it anyway...

My structure is as following:

Windows Game Installation goes to: H:\PC Games
Attract Mode path: H:\Vintage Collection\Attract\attract.exe
Game Roms (*.lnk & *.bat) for AM path: H:\Vintage Collection\Games\PC Games\roms

There's no 3rd party antivirus or firewall installed yet, that may could block something, just Windows Defender.

Any guess?

[UPDATE]
Tried AGAIN the other day, worked fine immediately without any problems at all...
Really don't have a clue what went wrong before AND don't want to think about it again ever! 

9

Themes / Re: How can I update an older version of attract mode?

« on: February 19, 2019, 05:18:59 AM »

Hello volks 

Excuse me replying on an older post, i learned it's better to reply than asking the same question again...

As i am new to this, i am a little confused on how to update an older version of attract mode without losing anything of my configurations and files so far. I am using the Vintage Collection by harrisonhacks with Windows 10 x64 Enterprise, located at "H:\Vintage Collection" containing the following folders: Attract, Games, RocketLauncher, Systems, Temp and Utilities.

Theres no Raspberry Pie, RetroPie, Hyperspin, Linux or anything else, just Attract Mode, installed in the Attract folder.

Can somebody please guide me on this?

[UPDATE]
- made a backup
- simply copied ALL over
- works fine.
Great.