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Front End

It's video-game-mania time! )

I finally got around on finishing the new EmuCon Playground EX version 1.7. Megatons of new stuff as this front-end for console and handheld emulators got a face lift and an update... 70% rewritten from scratch.

Attention: You must do a clean install on this version and re-create all the games lists. You "cannot" upgrade from a previous build, not even from the v1.7 beta build I made available a few months ago.

 

The first good news is that now virtually any emulator can be used as long as it can load/run games from the command line, including "MESS".

 

ROM filenames do not require specific extensions now. If an emulator can open a file without extension, the filename will be supported by the front-end.

 

The second big change here is the addition on a new file, located in the root of the front-end called "emulator_parameters.ini". Within this file, emulator filenames and their supported command lines. One parameter for ROMs (cartridges), one parameter for image files (.iso; .bin; etc) and one parameter for real discs (PlayStation, PC Engine, etc).

In the "Emulator Setup" screen, when selecting an emulator filename, if the file info is present in this new .ini file, the parameters will be automatically loaded. If they do not exist and you type new parameters, they will be saved in this new .ini file. You do not need to update the file manually.

 

The third one, is the "Disc Games Editor" feature. All disc based games (CD / DVD / LD / etc) will be saved on a new file "\games\DiscGames.ec" to make our life easier.

 

Last big update... title snapshots and game snapshots. You can set a different folder for title snaps and and another folder for game snaps. Also, screenshots filenames now must be the same as the game title, without any special suffix.

e.g.: if a game title is "Super Mario World", both title and game snapshots must be "Super Mario World.png". Only unzipped images are supported.

 

I know, I know... this build is not perfect, but it's way better than the previous release from months ago. I hope you all like the new EmuCon.

 

version 1.7 changelog (August 28, 2007)

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.changed: Complete new set of game icons and filter icons

 

.changed: Core rewrite, partially based on Emu Loader. Lots of optimizations everywhere

 

.changed: Screenshots are split in 2 categories: "Title Snapshots" and "Game Snapshots", and each one have its own folder

 

.changed: Screenshot file format is changed. They must be the same as the game description

 

.changed: Removed the ROM / image extension checks. Now all files are supported, except the ones with the following extension: ".txt; .nfo; .htm; .html; .pdf"

 

.changed: Games list files have 2 new data: media type and number of discs

You do not need to update your current files if you don't want to, but all your games will be set as cartridges and zero discs count

 

.removed: Tool bar button "mouse"

 

.removed: Feature "Add PlayStation CD Games"... now obsolete

 

.removed: SuperScope for SuperNES system since Snes9x v1.502 now load the correct device on startup and other SuperNES emulators do not have a command line parameter to activate mouse

 

.improved: Frontend's directory tree has been re-organized

 

.added: Disc images auto-detection

When creating a games list, all files with the following extensions will be set as disc

images: .iso; .ngr; .mdf; .bin; .raw; .nrg; .img; .gcm; .cdi

... and only for the following systems:

- PC Engine

- Atari Jaguar

- Sega 32X

- Sega CD

- PlayStation

- Nintendo GameCube

- Dreamcast

 

.added: Two new fields to the columns and games list files:

- Media type: games can be of different types now... here are they:

1. Cartridge

2. Disc Image

3. Laserdisc (LD)

4. CD-ROM

5. GD-ROM

6. DVD-ROM

7. Mini DVD-ROM

 

- # of Discs: used for real discs only... how many discs a game use

 

Notes:

- Disc images are detected automatically

- Media type from 3 to 7 are for real discs only, not used by disc images

 

.added: New resamplers for preview images

 

.added: Each emulator have default parameters defined by you for cartridges, disc images and real discs (see new file "\emulator_parameters.ini"). Virtually any emulator that loads games from the command line can be used

 

Use "\emulator_parameters.ini" to define default parameters for each emulator. See "docs\ec-emulator_parameters.txt" for more info on how to update/add more emulators to this file

 

NOTES:

-> every time you select a different emulator binary (Emulator Setup screen), the ROM/ISO/DISC parameters are read automatically if available in the .ini file

 

-> please keep the .ini file clean and use only original filenames of emulators

 

-> New parameters are saved in the new .ini file

 

.added: New setting for emulators: "Load From Disc (LD / CD / GD / MiniDVD / DVD)"

Use this to set the default parameter when running disc games

Note that this command depend on each emulator, it's not a general setting

 

.added: New view mode: "System" -> group all games by system

 

.added: Tool bar buttons have 2 sizes now, large (48x48) and small (32x32)

 

.added: Games list icon sizes:

- Very Large (48x48)

- Large (32x32)

- Standard (24x24)

- Small (16x16)

 

.added: GUI customizations:

- Games list background color, sorted column color

- Games list font. Each system can have a different font

- Games list background image

- Other visual improvements

 

.added: New feature: "Disc Games Editor" ("Games" main menu")

This feature support multiple systems: "PC Engine", "Atari Jaguar", "Sega 32X",

"Sega CD", "PlayStation", "GameCube", "Dreamcast"

Before adding new games to the list, make sure to select the proper system in the drop-down button first

 

NOTES:

- games will be added in a new file: "\games\DiscGames.ec"!

- do not add disc games in regular games list files (\games\systemname.ec")

 

.added: Option: "Total Games Per System" (main menu "View")

By enablind this setting, the total games for each system will be displayed in the "Size" column ("System" view mode)

Changelog / Download

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Front End

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v1.02

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Improvements

- Added support for the new Ultimarc PacDrive LED driver.

- New option added to remove brackets and parentheses from game names on the fly.

- MalaAttractMode: Support for Ultimarc PacDrive added.

- New game collection options dialog with more options.

- MalaGamelist: New game list properties dialog. Edit Author, Comment and write protect flag of game lists.

- New option to reorder the layout after quitting the emulator. This should fix cluttered layouts after game quit in same cases.

- Exception handling of bad video files in screensaver to avoid error messages/dialogs in screensaver.

- More tweaks for better video handling.

- New messages added to the plugin SDK:

MALAMSG_SETLED

MALAMSG_ALLLEDON

MALAMSG_ALLLEDOFF

MALAMSG_RESETLEDSTATE

 

Bugfixes

- All issues from RC9beta2 (focus problems, no keyboard control, ...)

- Cannot write the file names.tmp while refreshing a gamelist in some cases.

- Stucked 'Shift' key when switching the layout.

- When using a start video the video from the layout is running in the background.

- Execution of LNK files does not work.

Changelog / Download