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Sorry to hear your stepping back mate,you have been a valuable part of mfme and emulation all together from all the time I've been in this scene. You have helped and provided info to me over the years that I will be grateful for always. I hope you dont disappear altogether. I've taken a step away as it feels strange to me still atm. We all deal with stuff in different ways. Mine is normally bury my head in the sand,but that's my coping mechanism to shitty news like we've had over this last couple.of months. I will be back uploading layouts at some point. I would've never thought an emulation scene would have such an impact on my life and how I feel. But that just goes to show how many GOOD people are here and make fme what it is. All the very best from me mate,thanks for everything.

I'm not sure what the file format would be yet, for the 3D layouts - probably text format Unity scriptable objects for various data, along with textures/materials. But they could easily be packaged along with original source MFME layout (or visa versa) - I've honestly not thought that far ahead. Still in the exploration stage of how what can be done, but would be totally open to what works best for the scene Thanks for the offer of forum area - I'll just keep popping updates in here for now while it's just a tech demo I'm tinkering with, but if it gets past some of the other hurdles that need figuring out and starts to get to a usable platform, that'd be great

I know - it's a shame the timing I only got back into this stuff as I signed up here to pay my respects in the Wizard's Rest thread, then started thinking abut FME again. End goal wise - I don't think it could be fully automated, it would be more that there would be a 'layout format' like MFME has, so layout artists could make new ones from scratch, or convert 2D MFME ones (like I have done here). I still have some fundamental stuff to research/code, in order to have the 3D view full screen, and MFME hidden behind but still receiving input, though I have a rough strategy for that which should hopefully work. The rendering is indeed driven by MFME (it could also be driven by MAME, though that has far lower compatibility compared to Chris's amazing emulator). I'm still playing to be honest ...here's another take on the camera - with the machine in an environment that can be navigated

Thought I would share a story! As I had said in the memorial thread Chris had helped me out no end with trouble shooting many many mpu boards for me, within those emails he had mentioned he has an Ace sidewinder, my ears pricked up as I had not seen one since the 80's in an arcade I had worked in as a teenager. Anyway he said he had accidentaly necked the tube (means cracked the tv screen small end) Sidewinder is a video fruit for those not familiar. And is it was an odd size 16 inch Hantarex rather than the normal 19 inch one's he could not find a replacement! Well seeing this chance to help him for a change, so I set about searching for one posting on the many forums I use for my arcade obsession. I was delighted when I tracked one down in Italy of all places, the guy that replied was a guru on CRT tubes and knew what old TV's comtaind what tubes. So he had one tested and working, Chris was over the moon! The seller was spot on and packed the tube inside an old TV in a huge box with sponge etc, the cost was little shipping not so, as sidewinder was a memory for me also I paid some of the shipping which Chris protested about. This was in 2015 and I was delighted to help him out in a small way after all the help he had given to me and contiinued to give beyond that, Might be a bit of a boring read for others but I remember him sending me pics when he had the screen up and running in the machine, he had thought he would never find another, I'm like a dog with a bone with my OCD when I want something lol. And later he was telling me he was building an MFME machine in a JPM Vogue cabinet, I think that was 2018? I had a couple of bits he needed a 10p and £1 hopper and some coin entry bits, I was never going to be able to give him any tech help lol. I wonder how far he got with that project? Anyway sorry for ranting on! Just some of my memories Thanks Ronnie

This is a very brief tale that I think will bring a smile to peoples faces... ...there was once a day that I walked up to the door where Chris lived and knocked on the door. He opened the door and his face was an absolute cross between shock / horror and what is happening. There I was standing on on his door step, car parked at the edge of the road where he lived with a very large suitcase next to me that look like it belonged in an airport depature lounge. Painted across his face was a WTF look that was priceless. We were friends, but that did not mean he needed a house guest ! So what happened to this point... ...years ago, @Gary collected a whole lot of resources for machines. This included glasses and reel bands. Gary and I were talking on ICQ that day ( that shows how long ago it was ) and he says he was getting rid of them. I said that I wanted them and could I collect and the answer was yes, the problem was they were in Leeds. I popped up that day. Gary did not tell me quite how many he had, there were crates and crates of these from all kinds of machines, even non-UK ones. Back home, the missus was not pleased that I had all of these, the loft was always constantly full of crap and rubbish and this was just more clutter for her to be annoyed about. Over the weeks and months I used to send some of them over to Chris taking photos and passing them over until the day I stopped... ...this was the day that I walked up to the door where Chris lived and knocked on the door. What had happened inbetween, was aside from all the relevant banter that I had with him - I had asked to give him the bands. I truely thought that he was paying attention when he said yes as I told him it would be at some point over the next two weeks. He had clearly forgotten this and when I did turn up - it was WTF ! That was just such a silly priceless moment that will be with me forever. I then spent the evening with him messing about on his machines and got to see the garage again which I always loved doing every time I was there.

This is cool as. It's like looking over someones shoulder giving them advice, like a dick.

Can see this almost launching into a virtual pub/arcade As soon as I saw you walking around the 3D environment and up to the machine the capabilities seem pretty much endless (atleast within the confines of fruit machine emulation). Great work again

Wow, this is great. This would be awesome in VR. I see you are using Unity which I think has VR support built in!. I already play in full size in VR, but a flat VR desktop window. This is the next evolution.

Greediness paid off that time, nice bit of gambling there.

@Chopaholic will watch that new video later today. Worth sharing a little history on this feature if anyone is interested. You would not believe the work I had to put in to get Chris to add this - this was firmly due to me going on and on and on and a game called Club Coronation Street. Over a period of about a month there was many - many - many nights of nagging. At about the same time we were looking at Club Coronation Street and I had down a really shitty ( unlreased DX ) of it. This was the Monopoly one. My vision was I wanted machines to feel play and random when you started, a system where you could control key presses via MFME and program them to do what you wanted. I also had come to understand some machines needed buckets of money into settle as well and I simply did not have the time to do this overnight but my PC could for me so my plays would be a little more realistic. Chris was never for this to start off with. What tipped the balance I recall was he wanted to get the machine jackpot ready on the cash pots and playing it was becoming a tedious nightmare because of every couple of spins, Vera would pop up wanting you to nudge and it was just taking an age. You could not believe how slow these nudges were making gameplay, then it clicked with Chris that this did have a use ! The first version of this didn't have the %'age options for the buttons and the menu was about half the size it was. This isn't the first version, but an earlier version of the menu before I asked for Save / Load to be added. When MFME came out with this I was so excited for the possiblities that it brought along. What I also liked was if the machine was busy doing something it would still work through the menu so at times, even correct key presses would be skipped if a sample was playing or anything like that. That gave even more randomness.

Hi @Chopaholic and thank you so much for sharing this. I've only watched the most recent video, as I fear the first video you made may make me too emotional today. Everything you said was absolutely spot on. Cannot thank @Reg enough for bringing the light to our family with the letter he sent to the funeral directors about Chris and his legacy. I don't have much more to say, other than words of thanks to all of you who are taking the time to honour my uncles memory. I have been keeping up to date with each new message in Wizards Rest and I imagine I will for some time to come. Thank you also to he who made that beautiful guitar track. My PC unfortunately won't let me download it even though I downloaded an RAR converter.. Clearly technical genius isn't genetic Thanks again, and I will keep reading all that you post about my dear uncle. Amy.

This area is the final resting place for the two threads, one for the Saddest Day and the other for the Virtual Wake. I also thought that as Chris's family are known to this site now - I should ensure the posts are easy to find of which they are now and will continue to be over time. This area is viewable by Guests to the site as well so no need for them to sign up. The original plan was I was going to shut the Virtual Wake thread and the Saddest Day threads, this is now not going to happen as people are still posting to them and they should be allowed without making a new thread. On the subject of the two, the Virtual Wake one - please keep clear of banter and comments - it's direct dedication to our friend Chris and ideally the photo and a message and that is it. You also have the ability to post to this area as well - if you have a story or something you would like to say about Chris, then this is the place - you can start a new thread. Thank you.

I fear soon I am going to be asking @tspeirs for more enteries... Only 14 left to fill...