johnparker007
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Posts posted by johnparker007
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4 hours ago, highlander317 said:
Hi John
Had this installed on the old pc, and loved it. Sadly installed on the new pc, all loads up, but when selecting fruit machines it just hangs with no progress. Video games open with sound, what am I doing wrong?
Cheers in advance
LB
You will need to install MFME v20 on the new PC, and then update it. Then run Arcade Sim and the fruit machines should hopefully work
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16 hours ago, Spike888 said:
Hi all recently been playing the sim and I must say it’s really good
just want to know how you go about playing the arcade style games I.e pacman etc ! I can’t seem to figure out the buttons or do I need a controller connected to the pc? Any help would be much appreciated 
It's a provisional input system, it will be replaced later with a better one that'll be configurable for 'non-standard' pads etc.
Standard pads like PS4/Xbox should currently just work I think... there are also 'zx spectrum' style keys set up; QA for up/down, OP for left/right, Space/M/N/B for the fire buttons.-
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30 minutes ago, MR007 said:
Hi I have noticed on at least a couple of the DONDs, one being Crazy Chair, when you are on the DOND feature you can see what is in your box as the window displays the value and isn't obscured.
Tremendous simulator by the way, very much appreciate the work that has and continues to go into the to it.
It's a known issue and is already on the bug tracking sheet, glad you're enjoying the sim
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On 23/12/2022 at 09:51, BigE said:
I've got to say @johnparker007for what began as a hobby for you, this is one inspirational piece of software.
Absolutely sensational!!!
Donation on its way!!!Thanks, glad you're enjoying it so far!
And also thanks for any donation you make, they're always very welcome, there is a public sheet here with details of donation methods, and tracking all the money in/out of the project: https://tinyurl.com/yzvgl4xo
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Finally can work on the reels again
So now have added a little more to the reel data save file I'm building per layout, along with some automated reel background color detection:
A demo shot of that working above, so the very light grey reels have been auto-mapped pure white, and the blue dice reel has auto-mapped to an average of the blue pixels from the corners. All values can be quickly overridden in the edge cases where needed.
So where the reel background appears:
Black to dark grey -> Make pure black
Dark grey to white -> Make pure white
otherwise, use raw average sampled color-
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I was missing one of the settings from the guide, but otherwise, after rebooting it does indeed look good, in that checking Windows Update status, and it looks like it can't connect
So Perforce is working correctly, and hopefully the server PC is now 'frozen' in terms of Windows Updates, so Microsoft shouldn't be able to push something out that breaks it, fingers crossed:
This computer is purely for running Perforce server, and acting as a low end rig to test bare minimum specs for running Arcade Sim. Other than that it does absolutely nothing else at this stage So not really worried about missing security patches, since it's rarely even switched on, except to commit codelines to Perforce.
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After 'resetting' the PC, seemed to be pretty much a clean install of Windows 10, Perforce server can again be logged into (for now)...
Now to try lock down the infernal Windows updates that seem to have recently broken everything; paused Updates for 7 days, and going to try @Altharic's Group Policy settings idea to hopefully stop it updating ever again and breaking the server
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5 minutes ago, Altharic said:
Can you not use group policy to disable updates?
Thanks, if the PC reset I started last night means the Perforce server is now working once I reinstall everything I'll give these steps a shot, to try lock down the config!
https://businesshelp.avast.com/Content/Products/AfB_Management_Consoles/PatchManagement/RecommendedWindowsUpdateConfiguration.htm
Back in the day, you could simply click 'disable Updates' and that would disable Updates... simpler times... -
9 hours ago, Zippy said:
Wonder if switching to Linux would be a better option even if it is one?
I need to keep all the PCs in the house on Windows really, for various reasons. Just that Windows is a nightmare now, since they push out mandatory security/feature updates that break stuff, as I suspect is what is happening here.
In the old days you could disable the updates, and maintain a stable system, now you're just at the mercy of Microsoft (as we saw recently with a Windows update that temporarily stopped some games running on MFME)... -
Ok will try full server PC 'reset' first, then reinstall the Perforce server on it. That might work, but I suspect it'll break again down the line, if windows installs the same updates (if that is in fact what this weird issue even is):
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Ugh well this is just a never-ending nightmare. Finally got some time, so tried to use the Perforce server that needed to be fixed, and ultimately started working again after uninstalling a Windows update on the server, described above.
Started up server and dev machine again can't log into it:
FFS. I can't do any more work until this server works. Windows is a nightmare
(have tried uninstalling updates (some immediately resinstall on next startup). Disabled firewall + realtime virus protection on client and server machines. Both machines can ping each other. Uninstalled server+client Perforce software multiple times. Can log into perforce server from the server itself (i.e. localhost), just not from the dev PC where the actual work is done. This is just such a ballache, as I don't really know what else to do - even if I reinstall everything I don't see how it'll help once Windows reinstalls the updates.
Sigh, so I can't do any work, again.
I'm thinking at this stage, I just download a copy of Windows 11 from the high seas, and do a clean install of that on the server machine, then reinstall Perforce server on that new OS. I guess I can do that tomorrow since the Perforce server is sat next to my work PC, so it can install in the background. Maybe it'll happen again one day, but I can't face simply reinstalling Windows 10 again, as once it gets caught up with the updates I think I'll be back to square one.-
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On 08/12/2022 at 08:06, Reg said:
@johnparker007 what a great recommendation, thank you !
Nice
Game made by Retrosouls / Denis Grachev, he's a whizz with the multicolour techniques on the Speccy!
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8 minutes ago, agemame said:
Yeah, still trying to tweak the sound - for some reason MAME had MPU4 as stereo sound cabinets, then tied all the channels together so you had two mono speakers. I'm switching it to proper mono, cleaning up the sampled sound and finally turning the alarm noise on (which is about two lines of code, but just fell on the floor for a decade because reasons).
John also pointed out the unit tests were all MOD2, so shuffled that around too since we had one trying to connect to sound hardware that doesn't exist. Nothing that MFME didn't handle yet, but all this stuff pays off.
Thanks for all the work, it's a long way off right now, but am looking at implementing a lot of MAME-driven MPU4 fruit cabs in Arcade Sim when the time comes (after the internal MAME reference layouts are done on all platforms) - all this MAME FME dev is very welcome
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On 01/12/2022 at 22:21, Altharic said:
Not been too well myself just sporadically checking in noticed this on the pull requests on mame seems to be a bgt uk machine?
Barmy Army seems to be a barcrest machine
bgt.cpp: Remove skeleton driver and fold sets into neptunp2.cpp
Do you think these Cirsa machines shouldn't be moved to the Neptune driver? If you have some good knowledge that the change is wrong, I can get in touch with the relevant devs to fix
If it's just general buzz about MAME FME dev, apologies - and there is more MPU4 related improvements on the way from others...
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44 minutes ago, spa said:
Oh yes! Been there and done that way too many times.
Sometimes it really is one step forward, two steps back! ...frustrating as hell, but so long as it's a part of the overall plan, it's still progress. So easy to get disproportionately stressed with those stages
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18 hours ago, spa said:
Awesome mate, great to hear
Thanks man, this problem was super stressing me out! Gonna try work on that in general, with big projects you've got to accept that you're occasionally in what clearly feels like a backpedalling phase, but it's all part of moving forward in the overall process
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Obviously I just carried on trying toget it working... and finally it is working again. So it was a Windows Update that broke it, and no amount of uninstalling/reinstalling/reconfiguring of the Perforce stuff would make it work.
Bloody Microsoft and their updates that just trash software!
This seems to have been the cause of all the problems:
And now my Windows Updates list looks like this (partly posting as a backup for myself, I'll need to try block that Update from reinstalling)
So all this means I can now log into this again
So I can carry on with the actual work, what a nightmare lol
Now I've got to feel like a bad person, and make up lies about why I'm returning the router to Amazon - I'd convinced myself it was to do with internal IP address forwarding, as that Windows Update happened the same week as the new BT Smart Hub router...-
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Ugh, well got the new router, got it up and running with a few PCs, and it didn't make any difference
I've now spotted that I don't have Perforce service running on the server, assumed Helix was enough but apparently not when compared to dev PC
Fed up with this now - it stopped working after BT guy swapped out the router, and I must have spent over 6 hours trying to get it working again. Hate networking stuff, going to have to take a break for a few days - I just want to get back to the actual work, but I can't, so everything's on hold.-
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Well I've spent all day on and off trying to get the Perforce server PC working again (that I used to store the Arcade Sim code revisions, and other Arcade Sim support projects etc).
It was all working fine until around a month ago, when the BT engineer came and installed fibre. Now I am on a 'Smart Hub 2'... and I can no longer log into the server from the dev PC
After many hours, I've tried every option in that crappy Smart Hub 2! and I cannot get it working again.. I've winged it without it for a month, but the next code is a lot of changes, and I just need to get this server stuff working again, before I can really continue with any more work.
So I've decided the best course of action is to get a replacement router that can jack directly into the fibre optic cable from the wall - so the the BT Smart Hub 2 will be completely out of the picture... if that doesn't work I am really stumped! But I've run out of things to try lol, and just replacing it seems to make sense if it just instantly fixes this seemingly unfixable issue
After some research, as I really don't want a fancy one, but I absolutely do need the Perforce server to work so that I can continue development - I think this one looks like a reasonable choice, not too expensive at £75. If I plug it in, and then Perforce is simple working again, then it was the right choice, and if not, I will be a little naughty and return it to Amazon for a refund.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-Next-Gen-Gigabit-Wireless-1201Mbps/dp/B089YXY2YH
Reeeally hope this sorts it out
I could run the Perforce server truly 'locally' (and used to), but this leads to critical problems - if the dev PC crashes for some reason (and I do abuse it writing Arcade Sim on it, I've filled up the 32GB RAM and crashed Windows plenty of times) - then after the crash, the Perforce repository can be corrupted. This has happened to me multiple times, for a serious project it's best to have a dedicated PC just for the Perforce server.
Not very exciting, but all part of the process I guess!
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2 hours ago, Altharic said:
This is focused on Dual Shock controllers I believe, so other controllers probably wouldn't work:
For cases where the gamepad presents itself differently than the official one to the system (most DS4 replicas) then DS4Windows will not recognize them. DS4W detects controller by their Vendor and Product Identification (VID/PID), so if a controller's VID/PID is not already on DS4W code then it will just be ignored
So I would still recommend trying Joy2Key first, as I remember using it before for something and it worked as expected (configuring any USB controller inputs to simulated keypresses). -
Shout out to @Zippy who has provided a bunch of overall cabinet dimensions for cabinet models planned for the future - thanks very much man!
Added to the CabinetsV2 sheet in the Fruit Machine Database (link in sig), and will be used to tune overall proportions of 3d models so everything looks 'right' relative to each other.-
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4 hours ago, Wildstyle said:
Hi @johnparker007is there a way i can use my joystick (usb fightstick) on the games yet?,as it would be awesome on games like moon cresta kung fu master pheonix ect, im left handed and cant use the O.P keys on the keyboard as left and right ideally id'e use z.x for left and right and arrows for up/down. im ok with the bandits there lovely. maybe i
can re map them with joy prog. thank you kindly for your amaising arcade simulater ive just started to use it properly/regular. Cheers.
Hiya
There is a full overhaul of the controls/inputs systems, but this will likely not be for a 12-18 months.
I know that's not great! But I am currently working on fruit machine emulation side of things for prob 3+ more months yet. This will ultimately allow for more advanced fruit machine experience features such as:
- instant startups on things like Scorpion 5 DES machines (which currently take like 90-180 seconds to start depending on how fast the PC is)
- in/out money tracking via meters (if the user exits the machine while the meters are still counting up, the emulation will continue accelerated in background until the meters have stopped firing, so you can exit straight after all bank display is zero, without having to wait for meters)
- more advanced approach to save states, which will be for driving multiplayer arcades
- other stuff
In the short term, I think yes, something like this (I haven't tried this but should hopefully work):
https://joytokey.net/en/
I think there's a free version, so you could give it a shot - and then you'd set up your USB fightstick so (I believe the keys are):
Up -> Q
Down -> A
Left -> O
Right -> P
Fire1 -> Space
Fire2 -> M
Fire3 -> N
Fire4 -> B
1 Player Start -> 1
Insert Coin -> 0 (zero)
Hope that helps, and apologies in advance if this doesn't work! But it kinda looks like it should - perhaps download it and just try setting up a single input like UP first, to see if it works, then if so, fill out all the other buttons - good luck
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Been chipping away at more R&D work - so for some layouts (Alphabet included), a simple count of the number of pixels is enough to auto-identify the base symbols... as Alphabet, the symbols 'leak out' of the symbol onto the reel background. So here we can see the base symbols on the left, symbols with overlays on the right:
Won't work for others though, but I've at least one more technique to develop that should work on most of those (total image histogram 'diversity'). More trying stuff out required there...
Also, I've set up a structure to start breaking the stages of the process per layout into 'save points'. Very early testing with this, so now this identifies the group index for each reel, and also guesses the reel symbols type on that reel (Standard / Numbers / Custom)... which will then be used to inform other auto-processes from the previous research plus some more to do.
On Alphabet it's initially incorrectly guessed the 'Custom' reel as a 'Number' reel, this is fine and expected though, no biggie:
Adders & Ladders, it has them correctly identified as Numbers / Standard:
For ordered 1-12/1-16 'numbers' type reels, there is another technique planned, so that for reels that are in ascending/descending order, it should be able to guess and pre-label e.g 8,9,10,11,12,1,2,3 etc... This will be initially relying on the width pattern of the numbers, so 10/11/12 are generally pretty wide, and then 1 is much less wide, usually the least wide... so from that it should be possible to derive a lot of number reels I'm hoping (regardless of ascending/descending order, and where the loop point is)
The idea is that I'll build up the stages of data, where I can override the initial guesses / change estimation algorithms, then save those settings and results including overrides, per layout. It will then feed into an exact match database, so symbols reused in other layouts can be 100% confidence identified as they are encountered.-
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14 hours ago, woodsy said:
@johnparker007 please forgive my clueless but genuine offer of this idea, it may very well be nonsense aas i don't know how you do it!!
but have you thought/is it possible to use the maths to equate the number of blank pixels attibuted to a symbol and maybe having a > or < ratio to calculate and collate the symbols by size?
again this is maybe nonsensical and already been thought and gone, i just had a moment of hmm what if etc..
That was actually one of the things I was to try next - which I did, unfortunately it didn't work out as planned, due to the 'mask' not really having enough information, but it may still do some of that 'blank pixel comparison' stuff yet, this is all experimental as always!
However, with some tweaking, and following the histogram comparison with a qualifying difference comparison (simple RGB distance, no lateral shifting for this test), I did manage to get this automatic result of grouping the dreaded grainy Alphabet reel symbols
I've a load more work yet - but to automatically derive the above groups, well let's just say I'm considering a trip to the offy for a couple of beers! I didn't think it could be this well on such uneven source symbols... I'm happy with the stray melon, this thing is just to reduce the work involved, a bit of human tweaking/inputting will be ok
Maybe Sun pm when I next get some time... I think I need to clean up all this grotty test grouping code, into something a bit more scalable.
Next steps, whether grouping a layout by the old way or this new way... is to automatically determine with a very high (doesn't have to be perfect) degree of accuracy which symbol(s) from each group is/are the 'unadorned' symbols (without 1, 2, 3 overlays etc).
(Just notice the far left fruit reel is one that I edited, swapping the top Cherry with a Melon further down, when I was verifying a bug somewhere else... it would work the same without the edit)-
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Development Updates
in Arcade Simulator
Posted
Haha no other exclusive forums going on
No work being done at the moment as I'm ill. Not even getting my day job done at the moment, so just need to get properly better first before any further MAME/ArcadeSim coding could resume.