Coinops 4 - How to disable Locks (run Arcade only)

[+ T +]

I don't visit the CoinOPS forum at all but as far as I can gather from the posts here and elsewhere, the people that use CoinOPS aren't bothered about the "locks" and people like myself that don't use it couldn't care less if it's locked or not so it's unlikely you'll see anyone putting any real time and effort into getting round these restrictions. It is unfortunate that there are users like yourselves caught in the middle that would like to use CoinOPS but are prevented from doing so by this nonsense.

 

Speaking purely hypothetically, I'd say one could probably get around the locks by producing dummy 0byte files for the required console ROMs and videos then filter the game list to show arcade games only as mentioned above. A simple batch file would do the trick, it would only take you a few minutes, and you could even then distribute it as an "arcade only" build; but then you'd just have to contend with more convoluted locks in CoinOPS 14 (or whatever release it's on now) so one would question the point of the whole thing.

 

My advice is to just use FBL + MAMEoX or CoinOPS 3 and save yourself the headaches.

[RatherAnnoyed]

Guys, nothing new is being added anyway. There is literally no reason to even bother with 4. Notice how often all the "updates" involve "bug fixes, too many to mention"? Yeah. Why all the bug fixes in something that was tested end to end and working perfectly before, huh?

 

Remember how we were always told to just go check the difference between the gamelists if we wanted to merely know the answer to the (you'd think) rather simple question of what new arcade games had been added?

 

Yeah, I did that one time. I found that a grand total of all of 12 "new" games had been added (can't remember off the top of my head which versions it was between, but I checked between at least two "revisions", both of which claimed the addition of... well, a lot more than just 12). And half of them were the same game, just different revisions of the rom.

 

Oh, and they were all utter, utter shite, and not even worth the half meg they took up in space.

 

(Just adding this bit too, there are often claimes of "speeding up" or "improving performance" on existing games in the collection... never seen any evidence of this. Oh, what a shock, we don't get any details on that either.)

 

What's "new" that's worth worrying about? Everything that got added to FBL recently. What'll be "new" that'll be worth worrying about in the future? Anything that gets added to FBL.

 

My advice is to just stick 3 Sunset, xraine, and wherever we get up to with FBL on your box. As long as you got the usual console emus on there (Snes, Megadrive, PCE), you won't be missing out.

 

Edit: heh, +T+ beat me to it by a few seconds...

Edited May 31, 2012 by RatherAnnoyed

[+ T +]

I think it's a good point. The fact is that most people are interested in CoinOPS because it's a continuation of the MAMEoX project and many are hoping that either new MAME games will be added or performance improved on existing ones. What these people don't realise is that MAME is already pretty much as good as it can be on the Xbox; that's why you won't see any anything new from the MAME core in CoinOPS regardless of how many releases it has. It's not BP's fault; it's hardware that's the limitation, but it's ridiculous to pretend that CoinOPS is so much better than the alternatives because that simply isn't the case.

[RatherAnnoyed]

Remember now!

 

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex... It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.

Albert Einstein"

 

lulz. Too funny.

[fandangos]

Since this thread is about unlocking the CoinOps and not don't caring about the Coin Ops, it would be awesome if someone could upload the batch file.

I know how to do it but I have no idea how to make it automatic. I would have to paste and copy every single game name in the script.

 

So if anyone can create the batch file it would be awesome for everybody.

 

EDIT: command to create empty zip files on DOS is echo. 2>file.zip.

So we have the game list, we have the command now we need a way to automatically add echo. 2> before the game name and .zip after

Edited May 31, 2012 by fandangos

[fandangos]

Ok, made it.

 

This is the script:

 

 

@echo off

for /f "tokens=*" %%l in (x.txt) do @type nul>> "%%l.zip"

 

You will need an x.txt file with all the game list.

That's it. It will create all the files for you with 0 bytes.

 

=)))

Edited May 31, 2012 by fandangos

[fandangos]

Here's the script and the file list, if you want more files just add more at the x.txt file

 

http://www.multiupload.nl/1I2AKFMLM9

 

Enjoy your CoinOps back.

[fandangos]

Just an update, I'm with 8000+ fake games now and it still send me back to the menu.

 

I guess BP messed up with some part of his "code".

Well, that was my last shot, it didn't work so I'm out no more CoinOps for me.

[+ T +]

I remember reading somewhere that you need the videos too, so try changing zip to xmv and running the script again to create some fake video files.

[fandangos]

I deleted CoinOps. I just don't care anymore.

 

CoinOps is just a mess. Look at the folder structure, the illogical roms placement, the absurd locks.

The only thing that this thing has is Mameox+final burn in a single station. (btw, this could be easily implemented in final burn legends - A starts the game with FB core and start starts the game with mameox core).

 

The discussion I had with BP was just beyond a human being with a preserved thinking could have. I believe everyone knows by now but I'll post more or less what happened.

 

Everyone can't change the games in CoinOps because BP had a fight with someone in a forum that I don't even know.

According to his posts he's trying to prove he's a better coder/man/teenager improving "locks" in CoinOps because someone removed those locks before he did.

 

So bottom line, I'll give it a bold: You can't play Fatal Fury if you delete Sonic the Hedgehog because BritneysPAIR had a fight with his friend.

 

Does it make any sense?

 

I've visited asylums all my life for personal reasons and I can assure you, I had more logical discussions with clinical insane people them this and I can almost say that this guy is completely insane to avoid saying completely stupid.

[+ T +]

There's nothing I can really add to that. Personally, I gave up on CoinOPS a long time ago; I found the UI to be messy and confusing, the releases almost impossible to follow, the experience offered by the added "cores" to be extremely limited compared to the newer alternatives, and that's before I even start on the ethics of the project (which I won't).

 

The developer who has the sourcecode will always be able to create more complex ways to lock the software to the point where it will eventually be impossible for an end-user to circumvent them. But I really don't see why any developer would actually waste their time coding stuff like this. I guess some people just have too much time on their hands.