slotsmagic

I always forget to check that file, but to be honest the idea of a quick save has always terrified me. The more steps required to save something the better

When I'm working on a layout I typically save to a different file throughout the process, and that way if I do something really stupid that breaks something I can reload a previous version. I'm assuming auto-save just saves over the existing FML and GAM file? If it does I'll use it for quick fixes but definitely not during design work. You are braver than me!

I had no idea about that! Definitely useful

WIP stands for Work In Progress and while I'm not absolutely sure what purpose it has within MFME, I tick it while a layout is in the development stage, and then clear it when it's done. I sometimes forget to clear it. I'm not totally sure but hope this method would work? Open a layout in MFME, click 'Configuration' at the top, and this screen should appear. Click the checkbox where it says WIP (I've pointed to it with a green arrow) and the little cross should disappear. Then you'll need to close the Config window, and click Design at the top of MFME. Hover over 'Layout / Game', and click Save Layout. If you save over the existing layout I think it should work. Might be worth doing Save Game once you've done layout incase the WIP flag is held in the game file. I'd hope that would sort it but haven't had a chance to test yet. Good luck

I think I was about 10, so still at primary school and obviously plenty of free time when I first got it Zelda BOTW is actually a good case in point for me. I started Zelda with Link to the Past (absolutely in my top 3 games of all time), then got Links Awakening on the Gameboy (definitely in my top 10 of all time). I really enjoyed some of the other 2D overhead Zelda titles. I didn't own an N64 so never got to play Ocarina of Time or Majora's Mask as I'd moved on to PlayStation and PC gaming at that point. When I got my switch I grabbed Breath of the Wild... and sold it after about 3 hours of gameplay. For me, Zelda was about fairly linear 2D gameplay, and I just couldn't get on with BOTW. Didn't feel like a Zelda to me, felt like a massive open world and overly complex. Might have been different if I'd got an N64 instead of a Playstation all those years ago. @wearecityI forgot to mention above, if you struggled at the end of a Metroid game there's a few possibilities : 1) You possibly didn't collect enough energy tanks (effectively hit points), so since you are at the end I wouldn't feel too bad about checking a guide for energy tank locations. 2) You might be using the wrong strategy for a boss fight. Most bosses have particular patterns and sometimes there's only one or two sure fire ways to get through them without taking excessive damage. One reason I love emulation is the use of save-states. You can argue it's cheating but rather then losing to a boss and having to keep working your way back to them from a save point, you can save just before the battle is starting. If you want to push the limit of what is and isn't cheating, you can save state throughout the battle - normally after you make some successful attacks and take no damage in the process - but this can be risky.

The GBA ones are really good. It was probably Zero Mission you played, which is a remaster (of sorts) of the NES one, with a brilliant addition to the end which takes it more in a survival direction. They do hold your hand more than the SNES one, but they are great and for me, a decent 3-4 hour session to complete. I used to love massive RPGs which took hours and hours just never seem to complete them these days, so something you can power through in an afternoon is ideal

Dug out my old 3DS a few days ago (modded obviously) and played both of the Metroid titles for the Gameboy Advance through it (Fusion and Zero Mission). Both excellent games, brought back a lot of nostalgia for Super Metroid, which the parents got me for Christmas... I don't know, 1995 or thereabouts! Anyway, stuck a SNES emulator on the 3DS and fired up Super Metroid. Decided for my first playthrough (just started a couple of days back) that I'd see how much I remembered from my youth and not use a walkthrough it similar. Turns out I'd forgotten a huge amount of it! Really enjoying it though, it really encourages you to explore every nook and cranny. I've accidentally sequence broken in a few places and got upgrades / items early, and yet still found myself getting lost and not remembering how to progress. I've played the NES version too and it's good, albeit it a complete nightmare, bit like NES Zelda. I don't think there's any hand-holding in either of them and they would be a pretty brutal introduction to either series. I see there is a new 2D-ish Metroid for the Switch (called Metroid Dread) but as I age I find I'm better off sticking to what I know, I struggle to get into more modern games with more complex controls. I'm only 36!!!

Availability of ROMs is very important, but even with ROMs they need to be supported by the emulator. The most recent hardware that MFME supports is Bell Fruit Scorpion 5, the most recent pub machines will run Scorpion 6 or Heber Pluto 6 (both are unemulated). We must be nearing the end (if we haven't already) of what recent machines can be emulated.

Don't forget this era of MPU5 will probably have 2 test buttons - one on the MPU5 and one mounted under the reel shelf. You need to hold one and press the other to enter test mode - wasn't sure if you were aware based on your post Trying to remember how I do it, I think I set the standard test button number (should be standard as it's on the MPU5 itself) with a keyboard shortcut and then click the other buttons?

I'm sure I used to know it, but can't remember it now - which is annoying as hell!! I know it's not the 'roll top' (that's the one with the coin mech on top), maybe it's just the Barcrest rear-opening flat top?! I'll have to do some research as I'm convinced it does have a proper name but my memory is completely knackered these days [edit] I'm wondering if a machine manual might be the right way to go? I don't think I have any here but an MPU4 manual might have the cab name on [another edit] Also, resources from rebuild companies (BWB, MDM e.t.c.) might state which cabinets their kits work in? Possibly on flyers, failing that it might be another thing that would appear in manuals

I'd be gobsmacked if any of those 'chase trail' games were emulatable. I don't know for sure but weren't they all 2018 onwards? Surely they weren't still doing Scorpion 5 rehashes at that point - I can only imagine they would be Scorp 6 (I'd expect the Bell Fruit Robin Hood version to be that, definitely) or Pluto 6.

Well it looks to me like an Aristocrat pull-handle machine, it's got 4 reels, and the top looks like it might read 'QUAD REEL' which I think is what Aristocrat called their 4 reel product line. Not sure what the actual machine is called though, and I'm going to assume it's before the days of microprocessor controlled machines. I very much doubt it would work in the emulator, although I never looked into the ins-and-outs of the Electromechanical side MFME - but even then you'd need schematics and stuff, and that's assuming it operates using relays e.t.c. and isn't basically just clockwork

As said above there's no reason it can't be done. Something that I kept forgetting is that when I was trying to get my late father into MFME, he struggled with his vision. Going through something similar with mum now (macular degeneration, and thanks to the current hospital backlog, she's currently been waiting 4 months for a 4 weekly appt for eye injection). There's absolutely no reason why layouts can't be tweaked like that, it would make things easier to people who possibly have vision issues. If you don't mind me asking, is that the reason you are doing this? Vision issues? I only ask as despite feeling old (36) and having terrible vision (thankfully corrected with lenses and specs) I don't struggle with any layouts on my devices really, including my teeny laptop / tablet combo. Sure others will chime in with suggestions

Something similar happened to me before, I assumed I was pretty safe because my Facebook was private, but obviously it just takes someone on the inside with an axe to grind and all hell breaks loose. Hopefully it worked out well for your brother in the end. Excellent to hear that some of the old content will be back in some form, it was often part of my late-night 'winding down' viewing.

I thought It's Amazing was the first but am probably wrong! In any case I'd say it looks pretty close

Unfortunately the author of MFME is no longer with us, but he deserves all the credit really! As for DX layouts, I've not done many but it's really down to quality of the source materials, although there are some absolute magicians on here who will... well... perform magic on even terrible source material Don't forget though - before you get a DX, you need a 'classic' layout - this sorts out all the correct lamps, buttons, reel positions, e.t.c. so they deserve credit too As for Barcrest Pac Man, the Pac-Man Power Up machine is definitely MPU6 (not emulated), as I owned that but sold it a long while back. There was another one, which was a Deal Or No Deal type machine (had a 'mirrored' reel, with values hidden on it, and the game had maze-like look about it). I think it was a clone of It's Amazing. That might have an MPU5 ROMset but I've not seen it yet. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable could chime in

Ticket machines (especially the fruit machines) are bonkers. Probably different now but I think our tickets came in books of 1000, could have been 500 even. You could get called over, put a book in, a few minutes later it'll pay a jackpot - stick another book in. Few minutes later all the tickets get fed into a ticket eater and shredded?! Can see the new single, coded ticket payout (or ticket balance being transferred onto smart card) being a decent system, but given cost of installation it'll probably result in the price of prizes going up (or quality going down, if that's even possible!). I'm inclined to agree, but then I'm sure many of us have had gambling problems in the past (I know I have!!!). Where would you draw the line? I love the old 2p Roll A Win (playing, not maintaining the damn things), but the ticket fruits, especially multiplayer with high jackpots, are a different matter. I'm assuming they are a pretty volatile proposal (they must be to pay the top prizes) and won't offer good value for money and might (in the case of people like myself with a self-destructive gambling habit) result in unhealthy gambling habits.

Probably about 5000 tickets at today's rates! I'm actually intrigued by this how. I don't think I've ever had a ticket (fruit) machine jackpot. I know when I buggered off recently for some fresh air I saw some weird ticket machines in the arcades - one of them had a ticket Kerching! (JPM), Poundstretcher (Concept / Electrocoin) and Adders and Ladders (Empire) - so it's possible there's quite a range of hardware that these machines run on. Still not convinced they would run in MFME (I'd assume a payout error), but I'd definitely like to see some running so if any ROMs do turn up and nobody else is interested I'd love to try them.

We had some in the arcade years ago (like 15 years or so), they tended to be MPU4 or MPU5 based back then - but times will have moved on. I'll see if I can find any ROMs but I wouldn't get your hopes up - the ticket payout is really very similar to a coin payout in terms of how it works (using an optical sensor to count tickets being paid out, the same as coins pass through an optical sensor on the way out of a hopper) - but not identical, there will be different timings and things at play, so it may just give a payout error.

If you do get it working then don't be afraid to share the file The only slot machine I played on my phone back in 2007 was Barcrest Hi 5 - also available on the T7 cabinet. I put it on my Sony Ericsson candy bar phone, stuck it on 50p play, and a couple of quid in it dropped in £250. Couldn't argue with that! I think it was Barcrest's own casino at the time - was it called Kerching? That rings a bell. One thing I would say - probably pretty obvious - is that if the machine you have needs to connect to a server for game results / authentication it'll probably not work any more. Good luck though

Clones are as you say - basically the same game platform but with different artwork. Good examples would be the recently released King Kebab and Austin Powers DX layouts - exactly the same game, same reel positions, same features - just a different sound and artwork package. Sometimes I use the term clone when a machine is 90% of the same, I probably shouldn't but quite often manufacturers will make a very small change to a machine. A clone isn't really a knock-off, although there are examples where other manufacturers do significantly copy another manufacturer's work. Conversions and Rebuilds are similar - although in my opinion conversion would often be supplied in kit form to an operator, whereas a rebuild would be where a manufacturer directly sources the cabinets / hardware and 'converts' the machines in-house, supplying a ready-to-use rebuilt machine. An example of a modern company that does this would be Concept Games - they'll provide a factory rebuilt machine, that had an Electrocoin cabinet as a base, but will also supply a kit if you want to upgrade an older machine yourself. On a lo-tech machine such as an Electrocoin it would be a much simpler job to install a kit - just 3 reel bands, and a few panes of glass. Maybe a few bulbs depending on the machine. As for re-glass, I agree, that's how I'd interpret it.

I'm intrigued too. I've seen MAB stuff on the normal big old Electrocoin boards before (I think they were a kit upgrade, just like Chuzzy), but I think I may have also seen some on MPU4 - might be imagining that though! Wouldn't be surprised if they didn't run, but hope someone who knows or has tried gets back.