82 replies to this topic

[Guitar]

Does anyone know if any of the Electrocoin machines will EVER be emulated?

LABYRINTH, PYRAMID, SPHYNX?

 

Nice memories of a miss spent youth.

 

100% definitely yes, eventually.

it would be good if the sound changed when the machine is full and the money goes down the back?

 

If someone gets the sounds I'll do the code for it. Several times over the years I have appealed for people to get sounds of their machines and have had very few responses, mostly from Ross who supplied the sounds in Amber, who to be fair I may not have credited (I should do something about that).

[Geddy]

 

It was yeah. The skin has to be designed using the existing layout, so basically you would need the source art, then modify the graphics to use yours. That's how it works at the moment, and, I think is how it will work when the skinning packing tool is done.

 

There's about 100 images to do IIRC. Some of them need to be done in various states too, so lit, glowed, shaded etc. Each button has about 4 variants, one omni, one drop shadow, one off and then one black and white. I'll warn you now - skinning the entire emu would take about a week. I've put in four days and I haven't done the font map yet (15 images or so IIRC).

 

It reads PNGs, so you need to output them as png then the packing tool will create the skin file

 

But that is my whole point, it does not NEED doing, it has no bearing on the emulation and is purely cosmetic.  A simple grey box style GUI that is functional would IMO be far preferable.  

 

Also to add the current 'skin' is barely readable at times with the bad combination of reds/oranges and a poor font choice.

 

I'm not sure why we have to complicate things when often the simplest solution is the best and least time consuming.

Edited by Geddy, 12 May 2014 - 03:40 PM.

[Geddy]

Caaaaaaching  coin_drop.wav   112.07KB   8 downloads  coin_drop_1.wav   92.07KB   6 downloads

[Guitar]

My suggestion would be to get rid of the garish and totally (IMO) unneeded GUI, to be fair it's awful.  I know it won't happen I know it will stop like that (or get worse) because DC is involved and he does all the gfx stuff.

 

Sorry but to me all is needed is a simple grey box game manager list type affair which I'm also sure will be less CPU hungry.  We do not need the emulator to LOOK like one specific tech or ONE specific game.  The GUI is really a functional beast to get to you to the action, it's not a side show or main event.  Please can we get rid of it or have an option to get rid of it in favour of a nice and simple grey box type game manager.

 

Well the GUI is needed, in full screen mode you cant see any of the normal menus or vb style boxes, so a DirectX drawn GUI is essential.

 

As for being CPU hungry, the GUI uses bugger all, its rendering maybe 100 polygons at most, whereas the emulation requires north of 700 with blending effects and all sorts so CPU usage is not a factor. If a PC has trouble rendering the GUI its time to upgrade from Win'98 (support groups are available for those afraid of change )

 

So far only 2 people have offered to do a skin for it. Fuzion offered, but said he had limited time, which is fine, I'm not going to put anyone down for having limited time. The other person was DC who basically badgered me into changing it.

 

From my point of view doing the GUI it already had took me two weeks to draw and code, and is frankly a pain in the arse to do. So changing it wasn't something I wanted to do really. I'm sure you've all seen the "manage arcade" and "View Statistics" options on the main screen that do bugger all. Well I got that far with the GUI and wanted to do something else, and the motivation to finish those screens hasn't appeared yet.

 

I knew when DC offered to do the new one that it would piss some people off, so I will be creating a skinning tool which will allow everyone to make their own skins as they see fit.

 

But the key here is that while several people have said they don't like the current GUI, only 2 have offered to do anything about it. To be fair, when Fuzion offered I kinda said "thanks but no thanks", not because I didn't like the design, but because I had only just finished putting two weeks work into upgrading the GUI, and I hated doing it. Made even worse by the fact that everyone hated it at the end.

 

I tried to turn down DC's offer a few times, but he badgered me into doing it, and at the end of the day if he (or anyone) is prepared to put in the effort and time, why would I discourage that. So you're getting a new skin and the tools to make your own if you don't like that one.

 

If Fuzion would still like to produce a skin, I'll make sure it gets done.

 

Aside from that, the emulator needs a nice GUI anyway, I don't want it to look like its made for windows 95, all modern games have menu screens withh effects, I see no reason why Amber should be any different. I'm trying to show that Amber is the future of FME, I don't want it to look like MFME.

[niallquinn]

Need to do something, it's already a pain in the arse scrolling down to the 54th layout.  Just wait until there's a few thousand conversions!

 

File, open load, quit.  Edit. Tools. Help.  About, standard MS would suffice, preferably with just plain black/grey so it doesn't give me the effects of a bad trip.

 

 

NQ.

[Guitar]

 

Also to add the current 'skin' is barely readable at times with the bad combination of reds/oranges and a poor font choice.

 

I'm not sure why we have to complicate things when often the simplest solution is the best and least time consuming.

 

Well the reds and oranges were trying to keep with the theme of Amber (ie the colour). You've all seen the quality of the layouts I produced for MFME, so if you leave me to do the GUI, don't expect it to look good. That being said it looks lovely on my £800 monitor .

 

If you want an emulator built on being the simplest solution and the least time consuming solutions, go play MFME. Half the games won't work, but it is simple.

 

Emulation is complex, time consuming, and definitely not simple. I'd like the quality of the front end to be representative of the quality of the emulation behind it.

 

Anymore complaining and the next skin will be hard-coded yellow and pink.

[Deathclaw]

 

But that is my whole point, it does not NEED doing, it has no bearing on the emulation and is purely cosmetic.  A simple grey box style GUI that is functional would IMO be far preferable.  

 

Also to add the current 'skin' is barely readable at times with the bad combination of reds/oranges and a poor font choice.

 

I'm not sure why we have to complicate things when often the simplest solution is the best and least time consuming.

 

No you're right there, it doesn't need doing. It's not going to change the emulator in any way. However, it is an option. Can you see Wizzy allowing people to change his emu?

 

Yes I agree, the current skin is pretty naff. Kinda reminds me of the wild west at times, what with the font and all. But that's exactly why Nick is making it interchangeable. Personally I quite like the "Well if you don't like it do something about it" attitude he takes. f*** me, the day Chris ever said that to any one (and gave them the means to do it) hell would freeze over.

 

The font as it is is unreadable yes, that's why I am using an mpu3 alpha for the mpu3 edition as it is an alpha and thus on a (almost) black background so it is far more readable.

 

It's not an easy excercise to skin the emu but hey, as I said, option will be there.

[Geddy]

So far only 2 people have offered to do a skin for it. Fuzion offered, but said he had limited time, which is fine, I'm not going to put anyone down for having limited time. The other person was DC who basically badgered me into changing it.

 

I knew when DC offered to do the new one that it would piss some people off, so I will be creating a skinning tool which will allow everyone to make their own skins as they see fit.

 

But the key here is that while several people have said they don't like the current GUI, only 2 have offered to do anything about it. To be fair, when Fuzion offered I kinda said "thanks but no thanks", not because I didn't like the design, but because I had only just finished putting two weeks work into upgrading the GUI, and I hated doing it. Made even worse by the fact that everyone hated it at the end.

 

I tried to turn down DC's offer a few times, but he badgered me into doing it, and at the end of the day if he (or anyone) is prepared to put in the effort and time, why would I discourage that. So you're getting a new skin and the tools to make your own if you don't like that one.

 

Aside from that, the emulator needs a nice GUI anyway, I don't want it to look like its made for windows 95, all modern games have menu screens withh effects, I see no reason why Amber should be any different. I'm trying to show that Amber is the future of FME, I don't want it to look like MFME.

 

The thread topic is 'Project Amber Ideas Thread' which I presumed (rightly or wrongly) was for 'us' the members to give ideas to what we would like to see in YOUR emulator.  I did not realise if we wanted something different we had to put the leg work in.  I mean I want full S4 support, sorry none can do unless you do it all yourself and I'll drop it in...

 

Am I also correct in assuming since you mention it twice if we get on your case ala DC then you will hop to it?

 

I'm not against the current skin or the new blue mpu3 one because of DC's involvement I'm against them because they look horrible, are not needed and not 100% functional.  It has nothing to do with DC's work.  However DC working on gfx in an emulator is taking on a whole familiar situation.... I take it we are going there again?

 

The emulator does NOT need a nice GUI, it needs a functional easy to use user friendly GUI, one that does not make your eyes bleed when trying to work out the game names because of poor fonts or colours.  Have a look at Windows 8, Mac Mavericks or any other modern OS etc.  They are clean, simple and easy on the eye.  I mean as far as WIn 8 goes you could argue it is less 'nicey' than XP by a long way, look at the Windows logo for starters.

 

At the end of the day it is your baby and I'm grateful for your efforts and time however a few people liked my post stating about the GUI and I'm sure if you polled it people would rather have functional and simple vs garish and not so functional.

 

I'm sorry to say but from where I'm sitting (and a great deal of others) this GUI is just an excuse for DC to get his 'claws' into it and use it for boasting rights.  He loves messing about in PS etc and he is trying to show off his 'skills' to get some 'I did that points.'  He wants to be involved in another Emulator project and this is the only way he can do so.

[Deathclaw]

 

I'm sorry to say but from where I'm sitting (and a great deal of others) this GUI is just an excuse for DC to get his 'claws' into it and use it for boasting rights.  He loves messing about in PS etc and he is trying to show off his 'skills' to get some 'I did that points.'  He wants to be involved in another Emulator project and this is the only way he can do so.

 

Then why don't you and the great deal of others make a front end for it and release it? that way you can put me on ignore, and my skin, and pretend I don't even exist.

 

Once the skin packing tool is ready there will be nothing to stop you or any one else making it look exactly as they wish.

[Guitar]

 

The thread topic is 'Project Amber Ideas Thread' which I presumed (rightly or wrongly) was for 'us' the members to give ideas to what we would like to see in YOUR emulator.  I did not realise if we wanted something different we had to put the leg work in.  I mean I want full S4 support, sorry none can do unless you do it all yourself and I'll drop it in...

 

I'm not saying you have to do it, my point is that I had the GUI on the backburner until I can be arsed to change it. But some people stepped up to the plate to do it themselves.

 

I've been writing the emu 8+ years now just to get back to almost where CW left off, I have things I would rather be doing than writing the emulator but if I don't who will?

 

You don't have to put any leg work in, but those that do will find themselves getting the stuff they want a lot quicker.

 

The emulation stuff I can do, but artwork has never been my strong point which is why I always give out my machine resources to layout designers rather than just releasing layouts myself.

[banditboy2006]

what about a mmfe type layout editor instead of going around menu after menu

[Guitar]

what about a mmfe type layout editor instead of going around menu after menu

 

Care to expand on what you mean? The editor in Amber isn't menu based.

[banditboy2006]

so a layout can be made with just with loading the roms in and to set the prize and stake  as the last step on there to click on if you wont to set the background and so isn't really used.

 

as the background has to be done on the editor anyway

 

 

its step 9 on the guide whats no really needed as the stuff has to be added after anyway as it crashes amber

Edited by banditboy2006, 12 May 2014 - 06:06 PM.

[fuzion]

It's probably not something Guitar can quickly work on.  He has BWB vids to crack you know

 

J

I agree though I'm not a massive fan of the gui but it does work.

 

J

[Guitar]

so a layout can be made with just with loading the roms in and to set the prize and stake  as the last step on there to click on if you wont to set the background and so isn't really used.

 

as the background has to be done on the editor anyway

 

 

its step 9 on the guide whats no really needed as the stuff has to be added after anyway as it crashes amber

 

Ok i see what you mean now. Yes I will change that.

[Geddy]

 

Then why don't you and the great deal of others make a front end for it and release it? that way you can put me on ignore, and my skin, and pretend I don't even exist.

 

Once the skin packing tool is ready there will be nothing to stop you or any one else making it look exactly as they wish.

 

I made this point before.  This is an ideas thread not a 'make it and I'll throw it in' thread.  You are missing the point of what I'm trying to say.

 

I understand there is going to be a tool, however my point is what we have is horrendous and not needed.  Sadly all the hard work you are doing with X lamp this and Y lamp that is not needed either.  I'm not sure why you are 'wasting' time over it.  I'll stick my neck out here and say there is an ulterior motive here. 

[fuzion]

Didn't DC help guitar out at the very beginning also? 

 

J

[Guitar]

Didn't DC help guitar out at the very beginning also? 

 

J

 

He did, the 7 segs and Alpha in amber were drawn by him. Or at least set 1 was, sets 2,3,4 were done by me and are much simpler for when layouts get squashed to smaller resolutions.

[Guitar]

 

I made this point before.  This is an ideas thread not a 'make it and I'll throw it in' thread.  You are missing the point of what I'm trying to say.

 

I understand there is going to be a tool, however my point is what we have is horrendous and not needed.  Sadly all the hard work you are doing with X lamp this and Y lamp that is not needed either.  I'm not sure why you are 'wasting' time over it.  I'll stick my neck out here and say there is an ulterior motive here. 

 

Well it is an FME community, it would be nice if people were prepared to put some effort in occasionally. I accept that as the coder I'm going to be doing the lions share of the work, but creating some artwork, or helping with layouts, or whatever is always appreciated.

 

I can only do so much myself. If you really want to see Scorp4 support, then help me get through all the stuff on the way to Scorp4 and you'll get it a lot sooner.

 

The GUI is ESSENTIAL for full screen, there is no way to have full screen without an on screen DirectX drawn GUI. That's not me being a pain in the arse to you, its a cold hard fact of the way the emulator was designed and coded.

 

We had a simple GUI before, that black and orange thing that was in there, and it looked hideous.

[banditboy2006]

scorpion 4 isn't really needed its the classic techs what are fun

 

mpu4 video bwb video have some mint gems

 

as I ever play enough scorpion 4 or 5 game I will cry I am starting to hate them

Edited by banditboy2006, 12 May 2014 - 07:30 PM.