Messages

1

General / Re: How to find pre-generated Game Lists

« on: December 17, 2023, 12:59:26 AM »

Use the "tagging" feature or a "filter" option to show exactly what you want.

Tagging builds a list of games you define. You specifically add games to the "tag" list.

Filtering builds a list based on criteria you define. You create a filter rule that give you the results you want.

2

General / Re: Issue starting a game, The game starts in the background

« on: October 13, 2023, 09:51:09 PM »

Try Configure-->Emulator--(your_emulator_name)-->Non-Blocking Mode Wait = 10.

If this works you can play with the 10 number and reduce it as low as possible before the problem returns. BTW - 10 equals the number of seconds AttractMode will wait before putting focus on the emulator when launching a game so be patient when testing.

3

General / Re: Daphne help

« on: July 29, 2023, 12:10:24 AM »

http://forum.attractmode.org/index.php?topic=503.msg26659;topicseen#msg26659

4

General / Re: Help needed with filters

« on: May 16, 2023, 11:39:54 PM »

catver.ini is only needed for genre information. You need to make sure that you call "mame.exe -listxml" when generating your romlists. This is what will get most of the game information.

Example of mame.cfg

Code: [Select]

# Generated by Attract-Mode v2.6.1
#
executable           \path\to\mame\mame64.exe
args                 [name]
rompath              \path\to\mame\roms
romext               .zip
system               Arcade
info_source          listxml
import_extras       \path\to\mame\catver.ini;\path\to\mame\nplayers.ini

or

Code: [Select]

# Generated by Attract-Mode v2.6.1
#
executable           \path\to\mame\mame64.exe
args                 [name]
rompath              \path\to\mame\roms
romext               .zip
system               Arcade
info_source          thegamesdb.net
import_extras        \path\to\mame\mame.xml;\path\to\mame\catver.ini;\path\to\mame\nplayers.ini

http://forum.attractmode.org/index.php?topic=2091.msg14323#msg14323

5

General / Re: Help needed with filters

« on: May 16, 2023, 01:42:02 PM »

Code: [Select]

                rule                 Rotation equals 0|180
https://github.com/mickelson/attract/wiki/Example-filters

6

General / Re: Groovemame + Attract Mode

« on: May 01, 2023, 08:57:26 PM »

The log only shows mame.exe being run without a game being launched/selected.

You mention mame works but groovymame doesn't with attractmode. Does groovymame work properly when used without attractmode? Can you launch a groovymame game from the command line?

7

General / Re: Groovemame + Attract Mode

« on: May 01, 2023, 01:23:33 AM »

Have you ever had a working attractmode? If so, what has changed?

Things to consider:
1. your attractmode .cfg file for the emulator is misconfigured
2. your MAME emulator mame.ini file doesn't have the correct "rompath"
3. your video driver isn't up-to-date or isn't correct

Look at the last_run.log for errors/details or run attract-console.exe to view errors in real time.

8

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)

9

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.

10

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.

11

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

12

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.

13

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).

14

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.

15

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.