Reg
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Posts posted by Reg
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Sometimes by trial and error by playing in test mode and forcing the reels, general CANCEL + HOLD buttons then pressing start to see if a win comes in. If not, you nudge the reel again and try the next step.
In the case of the mahine I did, we used the BACTA menu within test mode that told us.
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I am pleased to finally upload a guide I've been working on for a little while to try to bring layout designing to those that have never done this before.
For anyone that is slightly interested, please take a look at the download section for the PDF.
I will update this as time goes by.
Have fun and go and build those layouts...
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15 minutes ago, uptown47 said:
Or are you saying that no game would need all of them, it's just the positioning that's important. So you wanted the 'real world' positioning to reflect the 'virtual' positioning on the game?
Spot on.
I as this was a keyboard only, I wanted to position as much as possible to reflect the top glass - doing the positions that I've done here for me works.
If you like "Club" machines, you may want to reconsider how many you have on the bottom.
Before you set your plans in stone - take a look on eBay and just count the bottom row of buttons on machines. If you do search of "newest listed" right now, you'll see that most of the machines have 8 - 9 buttons.
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Ahhh !
Right, you are looking at this all wrong.
So - the keyboard mapping is what I have hardcoded the keys to on the keyboard as this is needed with the I-Pac which controls the keyboard inputs.
Using the matrix I have above, I then know what key means what on the physical keyboard so I update the physical layout with the right keys to match the position I want the button on the keyboard ot be. I would then configure the PAC-DRIVE.
So choosing a random layout, I would use these keys for it.
This would mean that only the following keys would be used on the keyboard...
The key to doing it this way was I had optimiumn positioning for 99% of games what I choose to use the keyboard with it.
The letters on the keys are essentially pointless, they are my mapping to the buttons. I need to adjust layouts and put the lamp numbers in the PAC-DRIVER for what I want to use.
I see where you were coming from, but you were thinking too deep I think with regards to what you were seeing. It'l simply a logical keyboard mapping to external device showing what buttons do what.
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Thank you !
The next one will use real fruit machine buttons - however if I wasn't sick as a dog as I type this, I'd be having too much fun using this one.
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Does anyone have a picture of this please ?
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Time moved on from this one, it was a test run for Orac from Blake's 7...
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Slowing coming together...
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A little progress on what will be the final one. Buttons not wired, just dropped in holes.
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So it's good timing the thread has reached this point - I have been doing some work on how many buttons and optimium layout for them.
I believe this would cover every game....
...ignore the colours, the top left is Refill and the top Right is credits.
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15 hours ago, spa said:
Reg, let me know if you various parts from fruits. I really can't be arsed with the hassle of selling fruits these days. I normally smash them up! I have tons of bit and bobs
Same for you No1Stony.
Thank you very much - will do.
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38 minutes ago, No1Stoney said:
Surely you could just get a basic sensor that when a coin passes it, it breaks the connection between the 2 points? But one that is reverse polarity (or something that can change that) so that a conneciton is MADE when a coin pases rather than breaking the connection. You could wire that directly to the IPAC surely? There are "full" sensors on the hoppers I use that work exactly like that, they sit at the top of the bowl to tell the machine when the hoppers have physically filled the hopper, so maybe worth trying something similar?
I totally get why you would do it bit by bit. I am thinking whether to start again with my cab, making changes to it based on what I've learned throughout this process.
Yes, this in conjunction with the link I found I can make this happen. Thank you.
Just won one of these off eBay as well so at least now I have the presentation for it.
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The I-Pac 2 is for the inputs to MFME.
The Pacdrive is for MFME on some techs to allow you to send the lights to the buttons on the Pacdrive board.
So on Viva, I have the following setup...
...this tells MFME to send a lamp output when lamp 41 lights to Output 1 on the Pacdrive. That is connected to the right button which is Start.
Equally, lamp 24 goes to output 9 on the Pacdrive that is connected to cancel.
Using the combination of the I-Pac 2 which controls the inputs to MFME and teh Pacdrive that controls outputs from MFME, the circle completes and the buttons are fully functional.
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It's the Pacdrive to light the leds in the buttons. If you take the download on the post, it's the excact one that I link to.
Also seach and you shall fined, I think I have my coin mech solution.
http://www.retrobuiltgames.com/porta-pi-arcade-help/add-coin-acceptor/
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Those look excellent.
For me, I plan on building the MFME keyboard first and then move onto the cabinet as a seperate project.
I am not 100% sure about button labels at the moment. I've got some "better" buttons on the way for this and assuming they're the right size I can get the measurements done for the MFME keyboard.
The plan is to use this company here to make the case. I'll give them the measurements for it and should be good to go. Going to have this made in plastic.
One thing I have been thinking of in the back up my mind, I don't want to do the full hopper thing yet until I get the cabinet underway. However I would like to be able to insert a coin into a slot in the top and have it slide down and out the front. The purpose is to simulate inserting coins to play. Just silly, but what I would like to do.
Is there anything I can get to have cause the coin to register an input as it passes through the hole that I can send the the signal to the I-Pac 2 controller with ?
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This weekend I built an keyboard for MFME. This is a prototype version to ensure that the core was working.
The instructions are here...
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How were you doing it before, "Magic Wand" in an external program and then importing ?
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Just now, BruceGeorge said:
Now that is interesting so what happens if doing that don't work do you have to mask each lamp one by one ?
Yes, that would have to be a manual fix.
But the power of MFME and that tool does so much for you I hope it'll be ok.
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Hi Bruce,
I am well, hope your good too.
That was fixed in MFME, but might not always be possible due to how layouts are done.
Go into DX Lamp Creator and click on Re Mask Images that does it in the case of your layout shown here.
Give it a shot on yours and you'll see it working.
Cheers.
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Note that this tip follows on from the one linked below, but needs mentioning as it has an effect on the game if you use a mouse. It is also good practice to get this right on the buttons ( as well as all the other lamps ).
I have taken a recent look at a layout from @BruceGeorge after a problem with clicking with the mouse on the Start button. The problem was that the button would not always function on clicking when using a mouse.
Taking a look at the layout in design mode, it has shown the reason is simply - too much transparency has been used. Here is the button in question...
...it should not have all that grey in between the features and this also goes for all lamps.
Transparency within lamps causes two problems.
- Adjusting the brightness of the background and re-lamping does not work correctly.
- MFME will not click if using the mouse on the transparent areas of a button.
The fix is easy, ensure that your lamps are correctly masked for all lamps and buttons. The above example should have really been looking like this...
...this is not going to be fixed on layouts that have been released so if you are suffering from this problem, ensure that you tick the Click All box as shown here.
...this means that the areas shown in red which are broken due to the over use of transparency will work fine.
This should only be used as a fix for current layouts, not a fix to avoid doing things correctly in the future.
Remember this applies to all lamps and if you do not, the following does not work correctly.
- Adjusting the brightness of the background and re-lamping does not work correctly.
- MFME will not click if using the mouse on the transparent areas of a button.
This is something that will be looked at in future reviews just to keep you on your toes!
However in some cases it might be possible to use the power of MFME to fix this for some legacy layouts. On a backup to make sure you don't alter your original if you are not happy, go into DX Lamp Creator and click on Re Mask Images...
...the broken Start button now looks like this.
...MFME can save you some of the time, but please use best practices by ensuring it's right on release.
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I can see what you are saying, it does seem close, it's an insane observation but my god, you are right !
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...ha!
Very good.
I am on the lookout now - I assume you mean the original Electrocoin, not the BFM version ?
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I don't have an Electrocoin Hi-Tech roms !
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Spot on, with the addition of I also changed the brightness of the "on lamps" using the second window.
The mask for the lamps using a "slightly off yellow" colour add the icing to the cake in this instance. No graphical work was done "behind the scenes" on this one, it was all with the tool described and masks.
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MFME for New Designers
in The Laboratory
Posted
Awesome mate ! Just awesome...
...firstly and most importantly, thank you for working through the guide - this is great it really is. This is how all designers started out with what you have now done. This is the foundation stone of building layouts going forward. You take what you've done, make the odd changes here and there and you are flying.
Again, @wearecity great work and thank you for being the first to rise to the challenge and do this.
Great work.