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slotsmagic

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Everything posted by slotsmagic

  1. So I sorted out my machine trades today, and one I received in exchange is a Month Python's Flying Circus, which I owned years ago and wish I'd never sold it on Does need a fair bit of cosmetic work, starting with the button panel, which had at some point in it's previous life been painted navy blue?! Currently using all my sandpaper and wet and dry paper to get through that, then the original pink, hopefully back to bare metal, before seeing if I need to treat the rust, and then priming and repainting in a similar pink. Obviously will be cleaning the sticky 20 year old beer out of the buttons while I'm at it. Spent a bit of time on it, and have managed to give myself a blister. Really need to remember where my sanding blocks are to stop that from happening Aah, found my 60 grit aluminium paper and sanding blocks. Made short work of it, used a bit of an old bottle of rust treatment on the whole lot (probably the most toxic stuff in the world, something dad would have bought years ago!), sanded down with finer paper and now doing a few coats of primer, before doing several coats of pink tomorrow. Should look much better when done
  2. That's almost what I did when I tried to crowbar off some skirting board earlier in the year. Who knew that a crowbar would go straight through plasterboard?! I have that with Slotscat, it's an awful lot of very fine fur on a persian. I contacted a local groomer for a lion cut and got the impression she thought it was barbaric. On a routine vet visit he recommended Furminator grooming tools, you can get enough floof off with the 'undercoat deshedding tool' to make a new cat. Did joke about turning some of it into yarn and knitting another cat, but apparently that's just weird. Wouldn't swap him though, great temperament. Only got him as a his previous owner hated him as he bossed her ragdoll about and she used to mistreat him, was never interested in cats 'til then but soon learned why people like them. (edit) you added the MAME photo while I was typing the above. That looks awesome!
  3. Lord Teddington is 3 years old now, he's a very placid cat apart from a few minutes a day when he goes utterly bonkers. Generally he's happy to just curl up and watch what I'm doing, unless he's in the room when I'm eating in which case he's a pain the arse. Other than that he's awesome! Interesting about the MAME stuff, I've got a spare monitor and Raspberry Pi and am tempted to buy a flat-pack cabinet, buttons e.t.c. as a project. An MFME cabinet will come at some point, probably when one of my machines dies. Normally I just let Mr Smashy (a.k.a. the sledgehammer) deal with them and take the wood to the tip, but really do fancy an MFME cab.
  4. I've sold one machine and swapped another, both buyers coming tomorrow morning, so I'll give the machines a last play, clean and bulb check later. Good news is one I'm swapping for (all being well with tomorrows plans) is one of my all time favorites. Probably not a 'classic' machine but I plan to scan the reels in and get some photos for a nice 4K DX at some point as the existing layouts are old and flyer based. Otherwise I'm taking mum to see my sister shortly, and spending some quality time with Slotscat a.k.a. Lord Teddington the ridiculously floofy Persian cat. That means he'll probably be asleep on the desk while I play some retro games
  5. I hope it works for you, keep us up to date. If I've led you astray I'll gladly do something to make it up to you!
  6. I'm normally into higher end computer setups, so take what I say with a pinch of salt! I've also no real experience of running FME on lower end hardware. For me though I'd be looking more at minimum of something like a Radeon R5 340X, so you get 2GB VRAM. Few on eBay for £24.99 inc P&P, might get one cheaper elsewhere. The GTX520 you've shown above really is scraping the barrel and I doubt you'd notice much if any difference over your current setup. Note that the 340X on eBay are half-height brackets, and only have DVI and DP output. Quick look at relative performance graph, using the 340X as a baseline (so 100% performance), shows the GT520 achieving 30% of it's performance. Therefore theoretically a 3x faster card for £24.99. https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/radeon-r5-340x-oem.c2820 This sort of card shouldn't draw too much power, but I'd still hope you had a 350W PSU as a minimum. Pretty sure you'd get away with less but dedicated GPUs are the most power hungry component you could add to a PC.
  7. Version 1.0.2

    111 downloads

    Well, here's something else to keep you entertained for about 15 minutes of Lockdown 2, before you remember that the older machines were better and leave this gathering dust in your download folder. Wouldn't blame you at all for doing that Anyway it's a modern-ish Bell Fruit Games 'Reel 2 Video' machine. As you'll have seen in the WIP thread I've had to bodge the feature entry trails, I honestly couldn't think of a way of getting them to work otherwise but would be open to revisit this layout if a better, working option is found. Also, if any issues are found and things need correcting, please let me know and I'll upload a fixed version. Seems fine to me but I'm sure something will have slipped through the net! Here's the attached notes from the layout :
  8. The renderer is looking rather nice, definitely a thread to keep my eye on Used to love the club version of Happy Hour, did very well on it. Yet another machine that over long term play in a local member's club I managed to profit on (the other being DOND Red Mist Club). I'm pretty sure the clubber version isn't going to be supported by the final MFME release, but can always live in hope
  9. slotsmagic

    20201022_183617.jpg

    The only Red Bar ROMs that run are the Concept ones, which play a different game but with the same symbols. There's not reason a layout couldn't be made using these graphics and those ROMs, but it would be better to have multiple pictures with s much of the machine artwork in the image as possible. I wouldn't use this image for artwork, although could use the artwork because too much of the machine is missing (buttons, corners of artwork, top of logo, area with 7-seg displays) but having a picture could be used towards making artwork from scratch.
  10. Version 1.1

    130 downloads

    Here's another layout for anyone who likes poker machines, couldn't see this one released either. Very simple gameplay, should be pretty simple to work out. Keyboard shortcuts are in the attached notes NOTE ACCEPTOR NOW WORKING AS OF VERSION 1.1, NOTE BANK 7-SEG DISPLAY ADDED. Happy dealing everyone!
  11. Version 1.1

    143 downloads

    Here is a layout I have made for Hi Roller, a £500 jackpot poker style game by Bell Fruit Games. I used to play this a fair bit, it's rather like Random Spinner and similar Section 16 (then updated to B3) games, in that it's got a 'wheel' feature. Unlike those slot machine games, where the wheel is triggered by 3 symbols on a winline, on this machine it is 'randomly' triggered by any losing hand of poker. It is multi-stake, from 50p play up to £5 play, and the percentage payout also scales from 90% for the lowest stake, up to 98% for the highest stake. Now, I did have the layout fully working but have somehow managed to stop the note acceptor from working, I will release an updated layout if I can manage to get it going again. I've tried all the obvious things I can think of but am totally stumped. Credit to anyone who finds out what I've done wrong! Layout notes are quoted below. Cheers
  12. I wonder if there's a link between the fact I used to love playing various fruit machine simulators (including the Codemasters ones on my various Speccys) while growing up that led to my gambling issues in later life? Didn't help that dad was in the military and even managed the club machines in the mess With regards to old magazines, we had subs for YS and Crash!, pretty sure I'll have the final issue(s) of them somewhere, probably in a box with a bazillion cover tapes. Did find my old '1st' Speccy recently which is a weird huge machine, apparently a 16K unit upgraded to 48K? Dad was an engineer so no doubt upgraded it himself, based on the case wouldn't be surprised if he made that too. My last Speccy was the 128K +2A 'James Bond' back, had a lot of fun going back through all my games on that and listening to the awesome soundtrack updates you got on the 128K machines. Haven't been brave enough to plug it in, from memory of the day it died though, it just gave mixed up coloured squares when turned on, so I'd not be surprised if it was a RAM / ROM / CPU issue. Many happy memories of the days where a child could actually buy proper video games with pocket money on the high street.
  13. Thanks for all that Reg. Something I didn't want to mention at the time but looks like it's all in hand - what to do with any machines / parts that might have been there. I'm assuming based on the above that someone within the community is helping with that which is nice - should mean that machines / parts are passed on for their correct value to people who would use them and / or collect them, rather than someone taking the lot for way under value and flipping them. At least I hope that's the case. As for the source code, to be quite honest I'd be happy if someone did have it, and just removed the donate button and perhaps added a small memorial notice. While it would be 'nice' for the scene to have some continuation of MFME, I'd be happy for it to be left as-is, since it was his project. Others would be more than welcome (as they have in the past - JPeMu, Project Amber, BFMulator e.t.c.) to make their own projects to handle specific things? Speaking of Paypal - having been through the death of my dad a couple of years back, could the family not just contact Paypal and explain the situation and have the account closed to stop Paypal from working? I know when sorting out my dad's affairs that some businesses were very easy to deal with, just wanting a scan of a death certificate, whereas others did want probate e.t.c. - but I'm assuming the Paypal account would have such a small balance that just an email to start the ball rolling would be good.
  14. These are single player ROMs by Empire, from the £35 jackpot era. The previous machines were by Vivid in the £25 jackpot era, and I'm pretty sure they only game as a sit down with plasma video top game, or normal game board. Gameplay seems to be pretty similar, but 1 thing I did notice is that I had a 'let em spin' a minute ago, on the £35 version, with feature symbols on the winline. I expected it to give 3 symbols on the winline for an invincible mode, but it just gave 3 symbols in view instead. Glad you are enjoying it That's odd... just tried it on mine and it worked fine on both £5 and £35 versions. To be honest I hadn't actually tried this in full-screen yet, normally I would play that way but forgot about it when putting this together. I'll try on my other PC and see if it's different as it's a different resolution Enjoy
  15. Version 1.0.0

    188 downloads

    Here's a couple of layouts I've put together for Adders 'N' Ladder by Empire Games. It's a pretty simple game and hopefully simple enough to play Thanks to @infection for the £35 board photo, and user Chris217 on YouTube for his video of the £5 versions being played. Thanks to @andy-1as well who provided me with the ROMs running in a blank MFME layout, and also obvious thanks are obvious when it comes to @Wizard. I know these layouts don't really do justice to your emulator but hopefully they'll put a smile on someone's face, until something better comes along (or I get my arse in gear!). Beginning to wish I'd done a traditional classic layout as there's so many reflections and issues on the board parts that the £35 for example could pretty much do with being redrawn. That might be a project for another day, but for now please enjoy these cosmetically challenged versions. Any errors please let me know! [quote]Empire Games 'Adders 'N' Ladders' - on Barcrest MPU5. Set on £5 Jackpot, 20p Play and 86% Payout. Layout designed by SlotsMagic using MFME v20.1 ** Keyboard Shortcuts ** Insert £1 = 0 Start = Spacebar Hold 1 = 1 Hold 2 = 2 Hold 3 = 3 Cancel / Collect = ' Exchange = E Auto Nudge = A ** Notes ** This layout was put together to give something hopefully playable, and I'm sure better version(s) will appear in the future It is based on the more basic of the Adders 'N' Ladders machines, which doesn't have the feature symbols located above the reels. It should play absolutely fine. ** Thanks To ** Chris Wren a.k.a. Wizard (1965-2020) for MFME itself! 'Chris217' for the video on YouTube which I screengrabbed the board game from! andy-1 for the ROMs running and base layout! Everyone at DesertIslandFruits.com for support and feedback! Layout is only for release over at DesertIslandFruits.com - it is not for resale or to be hosted elsewhere.[/quote]
  16. Chris, Thanks for not only for the most amazing bit of software and your ridiculous knowledge, but for bringing a like-minded bunch of people together. It's been an interesting 20 or so years and I'm sure you'll be keeping an eye on all of us to see what happens next. I only hope you knew in life how much people admired you, and if not, you will see it now. Rest in peace. SM
  17. This might sound really odd... But are there any pictures of Chris in the public domain, from meets or similar? Seems such a shame not being able to put the name to the face. I do get the impression he was a private individual and certainly don't want to upset anyone, but it would just be nice, that's all.
  18. I'll admit (maybe I'm not alone in this) that I was in somewhat of a state of denial over this - mistaken identity maybe? Obviously that's not the case though. Probably just my idiotic optimism. As for what I'll be doing tomorrow, I'm going to have a proper MFME session. Then, at 3pm I'm going to sit back for a couple of minutes silence / quiet reflection, and give thanks to him for what he gave us all, and wish him well in whatever comes next. Probably have a cry too, which I'm not ashamed to admit I'm doing at the moment sat outside just writing this.
  19. Just been sat here in complete disbelief at the news for about the last 45 minutes, staring at the screen and not knowing what to do or say. Thanks for what you did Chris, no matter what politics and disagreements happened over the years. MFME (and before that MPU34, and before that the old 'fruit' emulator?) are some of the very few apps I've had on every PC I've used without fail, normally soon after putting Windows on. 55 isn't much of an age and I wish I knew more about Chris. Does he have a wife? Kids? Is there anything we as a community could do for them if so? It's probably too late now, what with the funeral just a couple of days away, Covid e.t.c. but just feel so helpless and wish I could do something.
  20. Version 1.0.0

    44 downloads

    Here's a classic I made over about 5 hours, albeit spread over a huge amount of time. Started off with lots of enthusiasm for it and then kept forgetting about it! I believe it's all working as it should. If you find any errors do please let me know. I've used the MFME font for the heart and fish symbols - if they do not appear as hearts and fish (see attached screenshot!) then please download and install the MFME font found here : Layout notes included with the download :
  21. I can see where you are coming from, but I'd be shocked if they are making any real money from it. Any that they are making will probably barely cover the costs of their production so as above, if it leads to more people seeking it out, and I'd say it's fair enough. Now, if they were directing people to 'buy' the games, that would be another matter
  22. Many thanks, missed the Kickstarter last time! Got a Vega through Indiegogo (crap!), forgot to back the Vega+ (dodged a bullet there!!). Kept meaning to pack this but ultimately forgot. Decided to hunt around after people started receiving but refused the prices they were going for, so hopefully these are sensibly priced and I remember this time
  23. ... how did I miss that?! Also the layout looks a bit washed out on this monitor. It looked fine upstairs, so either I've done something wrong while archiving, uploading and downloading the layout on this other PC, or it was always a bit washed out looking and just didn't look it on my other monitor. I'll almost certainly be revisiting this at some point, I'll also gladly scan the flyer and upload to anyone who wants a high-quality one so they can do a better job!
  24. Version 1.0.0

    135 downloads

    Well here's a DX of Red X, there are some points to note here which I will look to sort out on future layouts! 1) I have used a lot of blended lamps. I hope it runs well for you, it runs fine for me. If you PC does struggle with it, let me know! 2) I really needn't have made the layout at 2160px tall, especially when my base art was a grainy flyer! 3) If you open the doors you will need to enter EDIT mode and go to the right of the layout graphics, where you will find a button called 'LOCK', and a checkbox under it. To clear the DOOR LOCKED alarm you can just click the 'LOCK' button. If that doesn't clear it, you'll need to check the checkbox under it. With those bits out of the way - I hope this is a fully functional DX for you. It works fine for me! It's not perfect but I think it's about the best I can manage at the moment. Hopefully better resources appear at some point RED-X_DX.zip
  25. I've got the flyer here, quite fancy a go at doing a £15 layout myself? Flyer isn't great but is on the original £15 which is a positive I guess
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