Messages

1

General / Re: Attract Mode 2.5.1 experimental build available for Windows

« on: November 13, 2018, 12:32:35 PM »

I will test if you are trying to fix focus/blackscreen problems. 

Currently I'm on  2.0.0.cr2 as it's the only version I've found that works on my arcade cabinet. Most versions of AM work fine on my desktop.

cabinet:  Win7 64bit SP1 aerotheme (necessary) Intel HD2000 integrated graphics.
desktop: Win7 64bit SP1 aerotheme (necessary) NVIDIA GeForce GT 710

I just tried 2.5.0 and your 2.5.1exp with fresh mame0203b 64bit binary.

They both exhibit this bad behaviour:

After loading AM, selecting a game (frogger) gives Blackscreen.
Game is not running in background. Alt+Tab, windows Key, Alt+F4, ESC all seem to do nothing,
I have to Ctrl+Alt+Del and select Task Manager.
I can then see the various windows tabs in the task bar, and can select Mame.   
When I Esc out of the game, the TaskManager is in front of AM, but I can click onto AM
from there everything works fine from then on.

If I do an exit to desktop and then restart AM, I'm back to square1: I get the blackscreen when select a game.

But if it's working on your desktop but not on your cabinet then it's not AM that is the problem, nor is it the version.  It is your computer (particularly the one in your cabinet).  FYI, Mame works perfectly fine with no black screen on v2.5.0 for me.  The only time I had problems is when I started playing with batch files.

2

General / Re: Focus problem using batch for pcsx2

« on: November 10, 2018, 09:28:38 AM »

Another update:

I've done some N64 RetroArch batches and they work fine with AM.  It only seems to be my Sega CD batch that doesn't work.  Upon further testing I think the problem is the directory naming convention (look at the rompath in particular).

Currently my directory looks like this:

Code: [Select]

executable           cmd
args                 /c "[romfilename]"
rompath              E:\Emulation Data\Sega Genesis & CD\batch
romext               .bat
system               Sega CD
If I change it to this it works (I'm also moving the actual batch folder in explorer to match of course):

Code: [Select]

executable           cmd
args                 /c "[romfilename]"
rompath              E:\Emulation Data\Sega_CD\batch
romext               .bat
system               Sega CD
So in conclusion, the problem is either the "&", the "CD", or both, probably preceded by a space.  I've tried putting the whole path in quotation which didn't really do anything.  I am now completely stumped as to reasoning why this wouldn't work.  Also another odd thing about all this is that the original rompath with the spaces, "&", and "CD" was working just fine in the rompath field before I started switching over to batches.  Weird.  Of course, the easy solution is to just rename the folder to say "SegaCD" or "Sega_CD", which i'm totally doing.  But it would be nice to understand exactly where and why it's throwing off the code.

EDIT: The problem is the "&".  I've tried "SegaCD CD", "SegaCD &" , "Sega_&".   Anytime there's an "&" it seems to not work.  Still not sure why it doesn't work for batches while "&" is totally fine to use in the rompath any other time.

3

General / Re: Bear with me and this bug report please (AM not launching emulator).

« on: November 09, 2018, 09:35:42 PM »

@xod:  Along with MameUI, another thing you could do is try one of RetroArch's really old Mame cores.  Any of their Mame cores with a date (for example: Mame 2010 core) would mean it's the older variant.  Not exactly sure which one 0.78 romset would fall under though for use, or if you'd have to download a new set.  But the older cores would be perfect for you because they would optimized for weaker hardware setups.

Yes, that's what I had in mind. 0.78 = 2003, does RA have that ?

Yup they do.

4

General / Re: Bear with me and this bug report please (AM not launching emulator).

« on: November 09, 2018, 06:49:09 PM »

"[romfilename]" --fullscreen --nogui --cfgpath="Path\to\Game Configs\[name]"

Wow i feel stupid for not thinking of that.   Haha (at least I did eventually manage to get the batch files to work)

@xod:  Along with MameUI, another thing you could do is try one of RetroArch's really old Mame cores.  Any of their Mame cores with a date (for example: Mame 2010 core) would mean it's the older variant.  Not exactly sure which one 0.78 romset would fall under though for use, or if you'd have to download a new set.  But the older cores would be perfect for you because they would optimized for weaker hardware setups.

5

General / Re: Focus problem using batch for pcsx2

« on: November 09, 2018, 08:18:09 AM »

Update: I fixed the pcsx2 problem.  The issue was the "start" in the batch code.  Once I removed it, AM now properly gives focus to PCSX2.

So i went from this:

Code: [Select]

@echo off

cd /D "E:\pcsx2\"
start pcsx2.exe "E:\Sony Playstation 2\isos\Amplitude (USA)\Amplitude (USA).iso" --nogui --fullscreen --fullboot
to this:

Code: [Select]

@echo off

cd /D "E:\pcsx2\"
pcsx2.exe "E:\Sony Playstation 2\isos\Amplitude (USA)\Amplitude (USA).iso" --nogui --fullscreen --fullboot
And that magically did the trick!

Still can't figure out why RA is not working though.  Again, it doesn't even boot at all.

6

General / Re: Bear with me and this bug report please (AM not launching emulator).

« on: November 09, 2018, 07:23:31 AM »

I have read others using bat scripts as bridges. What is the actual reason for that though ?

Not sure really.  I'm personally trying to get batches to work because PCSX2 doesn't have a great per game config system built-in to the emulator itself in the same way say, Dolphin does.  The way PCSX2 handles it, is to have a folder with separate ini files and then launch the game via command prompt with the directory to the ini as part of the argument.   That is the only reason i'm trying to use batch scripts--to setup individual games with their own specific arguments.  Now i know there's other various ways to go about doing it for example creating lnk files or using the "custom argument" field that's built-in AM itself (press Esc+down) but I like working with batch files.  (btw there's also a limitation in lnk shortcuts where the "target" field has a maximum character limit which becomes problematic to some code/game combinations, especially games with long names.)

7

General / Re: Focus problem using batch for pcsx2

« on: November 09, 2018, 07:13:03 AM »

Note that the batch itself works perfectly fine when you double click it outside of AM.

Same thing is observed by me launching AM -> MAME 0.78, vs launching MAME 0.78 directly (without AM). Runs fine without AM, but with AM I have to either have any random application('s window) set to "always on top", or have terminated Explorer.exe (the shell), or run AM in windowed mode. Just for the purpose of gathering knowledge, have you tried having some application window "always on top" (while NOT minimizing that window) ? Try Task Manager and click menu item Options -> Always On Top. Then without minimizing that Task Manager window, launch AM and a game/bat, will it work then ? If yes, then we at least know that you are likely suffering the same probelm as me. To further verify, you should download Process Monitor. It's available for download at microsoft: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/procmon

If you download Process Monitor, I can help you to create a filter (not related to AM filters) for pcsx2.exe, and see how long/short that process runs. There is far more info provided by Process Monitor, but as I'm new and haven't learned much, I will go no further. And I write "help" because Process Monitor filters can be confusing for the beginner, but simple once you grasp them. If you're interested let me know.

FYI, I just tried the task manager with Always on Top enabled but it didn't work for me.  PCSX2 still runs in the background with AM in focus instead.

8

General / Re: Focus problem using batch for pcsx2

« on: November 08, 2018, 12:18:41 PM »

I have another problem.  I tried creating batch files for Retroarch using a Sega CD game and tested it in AM to see if the same thing would happen (focus lost in the background) however, with the Retroarch batch, the game doesn't even boot at all.  Using Attract-console, I see that it launches the batch once selected but nothing ever transpires from it.  Note that the batch itself works perfectly fine when you double click it outside of AM.

Codes are as follow:

Code: [Select]

executable           cmd
args                 /c "[romfilename]"
rompath              E:\Emulation Data\Sega Genesis & CD\links
romext               .bat
system               Sega CD

Code: [Select]

@echo off

cd /D "E:\Running Emus\RetroArch\"
start retroarch.exe -L "E:\Running Emus\RetroArch\cores\genesis_plus_gx_libretro.dll" "E:\Emulation Data\Sega Genesis & CD\Sega CD isos\Snatcher (USA)\Snatcher (USA).cue"
I've also tried an alternative batch method which resulted in the same thing.

Code: [Select]

@echo off

start "" "E:\Running Emus\RetroArch\retroarch.exe" -L "E:\Running Emus\RetroArch\cores\genesis_plus_gx_libretro.dll" "E:\Emulation Data\Sega Genesis & CD\Sega CD isos\Snatcher (USA)\Snatcher (USA).cue"

9

General / Re: Bear with me and this bug report please (AM not launching emulator).

« on: November 08, 2018, 10:30:17 AM »

Hehe, I'm getting tired of all this. 

Totally feel the same way at the moment because I'm having the same problem with running pcsx2 via batch files.  lol

10

General / Re: Focus problem using batch for pcsx2

« on: November 08, 2018, 09:22:37 AM »

What happens, if you set the resfix plugin to your emulator-display?
start AM > press TAB key > Plug-ins > ResFix > Enabled : Yes > Specific Emulators : name_of_your_emulator_display

Just tried it.  It didn't help.  PCSX2 is still running in the background.

11

General / Focus problem using batch for pcsx2

« on: November 08, 2018, 12:33:58 AM »

So normally I've been running my pcsx2 games with the standard args in the cfg.  Like this for example:

Code: [Select]

executable           E:\pcsx2\pcsx2.exe
args                 "[romfilename]" --nogui --fullscreen --fullboot
rompath              E:\Sony Playstation 2\isos\Amplitude (USA)
ext                  .iso

Recently I decided to try batch files instead, so I switched over to this:

Code: [Select]

executable           cmd
args                 /c "[romfilename]"
rompath              E:\Sony Playstation 2\batchfiles
romext               .bat

The problem i'm having with the batch method, is every time I start a game in AM, it will boot but will be playing in the background with AM in focus instead.   I'm not sure what i'm doing wrong, or even how to fix this.  Here is a sample of a batch file for a game:

Code: [Select]

@echo off

d:
cd /D "E:\pcsx2\"
start pcsx2.exe "E:\Sony Playstation 2\isos\Amplitude (USA)\Amplitude (USA).iso" --nogui --fullscreen --fullboot
Anyone have a clue on how to fix this?

12

General / Re: Joy2Key with Attractmode

« on: November 07, 2018, 09:04:48 PM »

or in AM:

Code: [Select]

executable           cmd
args                 /c start "" "C:\path_to_emulator\your_emulator.exe" & start "" "path_to_joy2key\joy2key.exe"

Hey hermine, i'm assuming if you did this particular argument, AM will close both the emulator and joy2key once you exit the game?  (Perhaps if you assign and use a hotkey like ESC, it will close both programs together simultaneously?)  If so, that's pretty neat and will come in handy.

13

General / Re: Bear with me and this bug report please (AM not launching emulator).

« on: November 07, 2018, 08:54:22 PM »

I find it very weird that your argument is "[romfilename]".  It should just be "[name]".  If i change mine to "[romfilename]", mine doesn't work.  With that said however, you said you got it to work eventually so...*shrug*.  Next time you get a black screen, try Alt+Tab and see if it gives focus to Mame.  As far as Mame versions go, yes the newer versions are both larger in size and more demanding because of the increase in accuracy + the merging of multisystems aka merging of Mame+Mess (which happened in v0.162).

14

General / Re: Bear with me and this bug report please (AM not launching emulator).

« on: November 07, 2018, 09:46:35 AM »

I'm assuming you've done the basics?  Like re-installing AM from scratch?  I would do that.  Then setup Mame with the default arguments that AM provides then test it again.  This way you can rule out the code, or any lingering funky AM settings as the cause.  If that doesn't work,  then try downloading a different version of Mame--preferably the most recent (0.78 seems ancient and it's recommended to use something more recent because the jump and advances in emulation fixes are massive and well worth it).  Just grab a single test rom from somewhere and try it out.  This way you can rule out the version of Mame as the cause.  If it still doesn't work, then test it out on a different computer so you can rule out if it's your rig or not.

Oh and one other thing.  Make sure in your mame.ini that's found in your Mame executable folder, that for "rompath", you have all your directories to your Mame roms listed.

15

Themes / Re: Frostbite (New Listless Update)

« on: November 04, 2018, 07:02:24 PM »

i just switch this...im thinking it give some more def to the overlay.m4

or am i crazy...try it and let me know...

Code: [Select]

/*
local transparent_vid = fe.add_image("overlay.mp4", 0, 0, flw, flh );
transparent_vid.preserve_aspect_ratio = false
transparent_vid.alpha = 45
transparent_vid.trigger = Transition.EndNavigation;
*/

local smoke = fe.add_image ( "overlay.mp4", 0, 0, flw, flh );
smoke.blend_mode= BlendMode.Screen
smoke.alpha = 255;
 

Believe it or not, I couldn't find a good looping half rising smoke video so i'm using one where it's actually hearts that are rising.  The alpha being 255 means you can make out the hearts more clearly.  When I put it at 45, it kinda made it more of an illusion that it was "smoke".  OTOH, the screen blend removes the darkening from the black background of the video, so it's more in line to how I wanted the theme to look in terms of brightness.  Thanks for that!  I am now using the screen blend mode with 55 alpha, though you could probably use a higher value and still make it look smoke-like!