Messages

1

General / Re: Edit Emulator Menu

« on: February 15, 2023, 12:09:16 AM »

To troubleshoot your issue try these things

1. look at the last_run.log in the \attractmode folder for errors
2. run the attract-console.exe from the root/administrator command line to see what errors appear
3. switch your attractmode layout to "basic"
4. make sure you have the latest, correct driver for your video card (or graphics chip on CPU)
5. try different video resolutions in OS. (common ones that have less resolution)

2

General / Re: Gamesdb.net and ROM lists

« on: January 16, 2023, 11:39:19 PM »

A current version of AM. AM has been updated to work with thegamedb.net changes.

3

General / Re: Possible to load specific rom automatically when attract mode is launched?

« on: January 10, 2023, 12:18:25 AM »

Changing this setting will cause AM to automatically run the last played game when launched.
Settings-->General-->Start Up Mode = Launch Last Game

With this setting you can simply play your desired launch game before exiting AM each time and it will run the next time you launch AM.

The attract.am contains the information of the last played game. So you could run AM and play the game you want to run on launch and then exit AM and change the attract.am file to "read only". This should give you what you want but might have side effects, you'll have to try and see.

Another approach might be to create a batch file that launches your desired game without AM from the command line and then runs AM when you exit the game. There's also the option to run a script on AM launch or exit that will modify the attract.am file to contain the correct game to run when launched.

4

Scripting / Re: layout and "main" variables with AM

« on: December 30, 2022, 08:35:53 PM »

https://github.com/mickelson/attract/blob/v2.6.1/Layouts.md

https://github.com/mickelson/attract/blob/v2.6.1/Readme.md

5

General / Re: Best way to generate custom lists for a display?

« on: December 18, 2022, 12:58:00 AM »

It looks like your rule should work. Be certain the rom names are correctly spelled. You could try changing your rule from "Name equals" to "Name contains" and see if it helps.

If this doesn't help I would recommend tags over additional romlists. AM needs to read every romlist when it loads so additional romlists will cause a delay to load duplicate information. This isn't really an issue on a fast PC but can make a big difference on something slow like a Raspberry Pi. Tags can be done using the GUI while additional romlist would need to manually be done outside of the GUI.

You might check out this thread to give you other ideas http://forum.attractmode.org/index.php?topic=1165.msg8455#msg8455.

6

General / Re: How to compile AM with mmal in raspberry pi OS

« on: October 19, 2022, 01:23:22 AM »

I 'll tell you I only ran Raspbian on the Pi for AM, I'm not sure what OS you're using. I'll also mention that the "make -j4" switch often produced errors for no reason I could see, it was hit or miss. When I ran "make" without the "-j4" switch it was successful every time. "make -j4" was much faster but also failed a lot, which is useless. This is why the Pi FAQ didn't even mention the "-j4" switch (not to mention that the earlier Pis were only single core).

7

General / Re: How to compile AM with mmal in raspberry pi OS

« on: October 18, 2022, 10:13:15 PM »

I haven't compiled AM on the Pi for a long time. The steps worked when I wrote the FAQ and I updated them at least twice then since, once was due to a change in ffmpeg and another due to a change in the AM code. Years ago this was a hot topic but these days people want things fast and easy so most people just download premade images, which IMO aren't the best.

It was fun to figure out back then to help some friends build cheap cabinets but I have always used a full PC in mine so I haven't kept up with it over the years. Try sending a message to Floob, he was really into the Pi back then and I think he still is, he made this post earlier in the year http://forum.attractmode.org/index.php?topic=705.msg29435#msg29435.

If you do find an answer, let me know so I can update the FAQ for others.

8

General / Re: How to compile AM with mmal in raspberry pi OS

« on: October 17, 2022, 10:03:15 PM »

Steps are in the Pi FAQ http://forum.attractmode.org/index.php?topic=1249.msg9046#msg9046.

9

General / Re: Linux Dosbox Scraping

« on: October 15, 2022, 11:54:13 PM »

You should give "Non-blocking Mode Wait" the least amount of seconds that solves your issue otherwise you're just adding more wait time for the game to load.

If you're happy with your setup that's great. If not here are couple of other post I found.
http://forum.attractmode.org/index.php?topic=2966.msg21248#msg21248
http://forum.attractmode.org/index.php?topic=3583.msg25031#msg25031

10

General / Re: Dosbox scraping

« on: October 13, 2022, 11:33:49 PM »

I don't use DosBox but here are a few ideas.

1. Keep the original romname inside the .bat but rename the .bat file to the full name. This will scrape on the full game name and pass the short game name to DoxBox.
2. Use quotes in your DosBox emulator configuration file. Something like "[romfilename]" in the arg field. This will help AttractMode but I'm not sure about DosBox.
3. Like I said, I don't use DosBox but I did use DOS for years. The original DOS was limited to 8+3 characters in file names. Consider this in your troubleshooting.
4. Scrape/download your artwork from somewhere else and rename if needed. Emumovies.com might be an option. They let you download 200 MB a day for free without a paid membership.
5. Make sure you're using the latest version of DosBox.
6. Use shortcuts (.lnk files) that point to the .bat files. This will allow your .bat files to match you romname files but scrape based on the shortcut (.lnk) files.

Good luck. Let us know what you come up with.

 

11

General / Re: AM 2.6.2 high cpu usage on windows 11

« on: September 29, 2022, 11:24:37 PM »

1. Try using the "Basic" AttractMode layout/theme to troubleshoot and see if your problem goes away. If it does, there and issue with the layout/theme.

2. Check your AttractMode video decoder setting to see if you're using hardware or software decoding. Try each setting to see if it fixes your issue.
Configure-->General-->Video Decoder

3. Check your OS video/display adapter driver, it has a chipset even though it's "on board". Make sure it's correct for your computer and the latest version available from the manufacturer. Depending on how your OS was installed you could be using a Microsoft standard/basic driver that works fine for most things but not everything.

12

General / Re: Wich version of MAME roms pack for AM?

« on: August 26, 2022, 12:51:03 AM »

It depends on your hardware.

If a full newer PC, then the latest version (0.246).

If a Raspberry Pi maybe, MAME 2000 (0.37b5) or MAME 2003 (0.78).

The important thing is that you get the ROM version for the MAME version you are using. Otherwise some games won't work.

13

General / Re: How to list a collection of game

« on: August 10, 2022, 12:05:45 AM »

You can create a "Display" called Zelda. Then manually create/modify your Zelda.txt romlist by cutting and pasting the lines out of your systems romlist files that contain Zelda games.

Or you can use the master romlist concept http://forum.attractmode.org/index.php?topic=1165.msg8455#msg8455

14

Scripting / Re: Display description with background

« on: August 09, 2022, 11:53:30 PM »

http://forum.attractmode.org/index.php?topic=1745.msg12292#msg12292

15

Scripting / Re: Help needed for my layouts: Scraping and displaying additional game info?

« on: August 09, 2022, 01:48:11 AM »

Your post has been split because you replied to a seven year old topic.

First you need to make sure your romlists contain the details you want to show.

Second you need to make sure your layout.nut will show the details of the romlist.