johnparker007

Still messing with fonts - definitely some issues, but I think sticking with the SDF Text Mesh Pro renderer is the way to go, as it allows for some 'text effects' too:

RIP Chris, FME scene legend

Still having various issues, but finally have at least some of the OS runtime fonts displaying

Making a bit more progress with this whole importing MFME Windows fonts to use the OS fonts in Oasis. As it's properly open source, I can't simply include the Windows fonts themselves, I have to pull them from the end user's (of the Layout Editor) Windows Fonts directory at runtime. The names aren't an exact match either, but I think I can get around most of this by some search/replace and manually text lookup tables. The new strategy is reading the Registry, to get the font name -> font filename mapping, once I've converted the MFME font name to be usable (e.g: 'Oblique' == 'Italics' etc). Since MFME importing seems like it would only really happen on Windows PCs, I'll not worry too much that the fonts may be missing on Mac/Linux at this stage, as later we can have an option on those platforms to install any missing fonts, if someone did want to continue work on an MFME classic, and visa versa, if someone built a classic on Linux, using a font that Windows doesn't have... that or I'll perhaps be able to save out the fonts used at runtime as part of the Layout Editor Project itself (as then I wouldn't be distributing the fonts with Oasis installer itself, so that would be ok I think). I think once a machine is built to be playable in the machine player/arcade sim, perhaps these text strings get converted to images, so then that built (classic) machine will be playable on any platform including android etc... as then the font won't be needed, it'll just be a graphic of the text in the original font... maybe, not 100% on this, or doing some form of the end user autosaving fonts with the layout/built layout. All a bit more complicated that I initially thought, but definitely can see a route through

Back on this now, just quick update on the current task being looked at So we have the 'MFME' fonts working, that are installed with MFME... now it is the 'OS' fonts, which are proving to be a little trickier to correctly map. I've had some success though, so I think it should be doable It's not a pixel perfect rendition, as Oasis is using a different system for font rendering (signed distance fields), gives Vector art style upscaling (so fonts don't pixelate when zoomed in), but does mean the sizes and text wrapping can be very slightly out. This is the current test layout I'm working on, the idea is to be able to import this and see the same fonts/style/sizes/wrapping (for the most part on the wrapping) in Oasis from the MFME source layout:

I don't mind at all, nice to see this new use case of it!

That looks like some kind of hybrid Arcade Sim <> MFME mash up going there with the MFME background image! I remember that old carpet I was using in Arcade Sim before the neon style one from Mr Ps...

Nice vid @Reg I spent a lot of time on this bad boy back on my original (modded) Xbox. Used to play on a good-sized 4:3 CRT over RGB SCART, and also was lucky enough to have a 720p projector, so used to play it (16:9 stretched) on that over component RGB. It was quite the trip playing that big, dare I say, visually better than the arcade cabinet experience! I always wondered if the Easter Island heads around 11 mins into your video were a shout out to Konami (who featured the heads in most of their games in the Gradius series)... though maybe it was just a coincidence since they look cool in their own right. I read an interview somewhere with the console devs on this (Sumo Digital), as they are just down the road from my place - we've worked with them on a couple of projects over the years to help with mobile porting etc. So in the interview, they were saying how the Sega Japan team were pretty freaked out when they said they were planning to implement 'reverse' mode courses as a new console feature, where you drive around the original arcade levels, but backwards. The problem was, since Sega had really optimised for the arcade hardware of the time, all the 3d models of things you drive past, didn't have any of the back faces that you never see modelled, to help achieve those silky smooth solid 60FPS arcade framerates... so on the reverse courses, some of the models you drive past are were originally created by Sega Japan, and then 'finished' in Sheffield where they drew in and textured the previously hidden back faces, so the courses could be driven in either direction

No one is working on sc4/5/6 (or MAME-side FME dev in general) right now. I am planning some work in MAME in the not-too-far off future (maybe around 6 months-1 year) after I've got Oasis to a certain level (an FME project that uses MAME for its 'emulation backend'). The work will definitely include some work on hoppers/note acceptors/coin mechs, to accompany implementing ccTalk emulation. That will get a lot of sc4 out of Door Open only mode. sc5/6 needs DES implementing. There's an initial very basic (skeleton) sc6 driver in MAME but it doesn't do anything you can actually see right now E.g: While MAME is very far behind MFME at present, it's the only open source platform we have to realistically progress the scene, so that's where anyone who can do this kind of work has been pooling their efforts. Here's an (already out of date) vid of Oasis Layout Editor running (in Unity Engine dev mode, but it compiles to a standard desktop app) an sc4 machine thru MAME in Door Open mode: FME dev is still being chipped away at here and there, it's just that these big projects just take a lot of time and motivation alongside demanding day jobs

Generally FME dev is much more for the love than the money (except of course for donations that you can put directly towards project costs themselves). There's a couple of guys on here (@spa and @pete_w) who I'm fairly sure would be willing to hook you up with getting Fruit Bar hosted on the Dif servers in some way (for free), so you don't have to pay hosting costs on top of the graft you've put in so far developing your MFME/MAME frontend, which is much appreciated

The trick is to slowly chip away at it and keep improving it until everyone wants to use it If you want it to go more 'mainstream' in FME, maybe focus on making it a general Launcher that everyone (i.e. desktop users) wants, rather than cab-focused... it has promise for a great way to launch MFME layouts, good luck with your project

Now you have these 3d cabinets, you might want to establish some kind of ground plane to render around, so the machines meet their reflections on the floor as expected, so it would eliminate those gaps: Plus then have the bases of the machines meet all the way to the back with their reflections: Just a graphical adjustment, but since moving from 2d to 3d, things have gone slightly out of kilter

Not a lot from my end, was under the weather for quite a while, but I'm back to chipping away at 'Oasis' again which is a sequel to the original Arcade Sim, that also includes extracting MFME layouts and a Layout Editor (among other things planned)... early doors though All open source this time around, github here: https://github.com/johnparker007/Oasis Hope you get back into it all - maybe you could put your FruitBar code on github, so others can contribute, and maybe make it the de facto MFME launcher

Hiya @appstrader nice to see you back on the scene!

Sampling - it was all about having the Technosound Turbo, and then I think Aegis Audiomaster for editing the samples. I went A500 then later A1200. I now have rebought both for my retro computer collection (though I do need to fix my A1200, I fried something, prob a CIA chip, with a dodgy PSU). A500 had a 68000 CPU at 7Mhz, but the A1200 had a 68020 CPU at 14Mhz. The A1200 also got significantly faster when you installed a RAM expansion (due to the bonkers-ness of those old architectures). I had a 4MB expansion back in the day and a 40MB hard drive, I now have a modern built 8GB expansion and something like a 2GB Compact Flash IDE drive). Also now outputting RGB over SCART, compared to the old days where I was outputting Composite (still better than grotty RF through the big TV modulator that plugged in the back, but no rival to the supreme quality of RGB SCART). Great machines for their time

Oh yeah, you're right - it was Jungle tracks he was knocking out! I think I'd moved onto OctaMED by then, but he was more comfortable with the Noisetracker UI

Haha yes he'd get quite absorbed in those tracks - it was more a drum and bass vibe from him from what I remember, using NoiseTracker, and maybe OctaMED! Oh yeah, he was doing things in I think Lightwave, which was kinda the 3DS Max (and now I guess Blender / Maya) of the Amiga days - impressive stuff for the time!

They will work in Oasis which is the new software which is being (slowly) built. You will be able to build the layouts in MFME and convert them to Oasis with the Mfme Tools component of the Oasis suite, or, build them directly in the Oasis Layout Editor. All this stuff will take a long time to build so please bear with me

Hmm it doesn't seem to be in the legacy collection under Bell Fruit, strange - as if it's a clone of the one pictured above that is Bell Fruit... if anyone has the Hot Dogs EM layout, please share

That would be interesting to see! At some point, for the new Oasis project I also plan to provide a scripting language (much like how Visual Pinball uses Visual Basic). This will allow for people to build fruit machines with their own logic, it would be nice to be able to base it on real logic code from back in the day - theoretically 1:1 (ish) ports from real machines would be possible if someone can be bothered to port the ASM to whatever the scripting language ends up being This doesn't surprise me! This is the way

No, there is an insane amount of work before the Oasis project will be at the stage of the previous Arcade Sim. Hoever when it is, it will allow users to build the 3d cabinets themselves, extract/import/build MFME layouts into 3d cabinets, design custom arcade layouts, run on other targets like android phones, iphones, games consoles like Xbox One... all kinds of very new things that are currently impossible It's a different beast! But we are looking at easily 1-2 years of work to get to that point, potentially (probably) even more, depending on whether I have to work on emulation after we have the community project to build internal MAME layouts with labelled reels etc. TLDR: It's a couple of years before this will be in a form where you can play in whole 3d arcades, though playing individual 3d machines will probably come sooner.

@MikeyPosh there might be some hope... when you say it is a 'clone' of Hot Dogs, and then @Ploggy said that Chris did 3 layouts using his EM simulation system, one of which is Hot Dogs. So if it really is a clone in that the internals are the same, then the hard part of the layout is already done, as someone could take Chris's Hot Dogs layout, and then replace/remap the artwork/lamps/reel bands to the Pussy Cat machine. All depends on how close of a clone it really is of the Hot Dogs machine!

Mini update, still working on stuff to do with the 'classic' layouts in Oasis Layout Editor - here's an exmaple of some 'non MFME fonts' being rendered: So this stage of the work is about rendering fonts other than the fonts that 'come with' MFME, Lithograph etc. Running into a few complications but making progress For instance building a font with different styles such as Bold Oblique vs Bold Italics, or a font where the Italics are baked in, it's turned out to be a little more complex that I originally thought, but I do have further strategies to work on that front. I do also have a plan to 'sharpen up' these fonts, as they are currently looking a bit blurrier than their MFME counterparts, I did already do a successful manual test of this, for instance here the letters are sharper than the word TRAIL in the above image: So should be able to get something good going with this technique to match/improve the sharpness over the MFME counterpart. Also in tandem to that, have been looking into how to go about representing (and improving) the MFME 'Shapes' system. This is a bigger task, as am also looking to consider the importing of SVG (so vector art can be created in Inkscape, Illustrator etc). Here's and example of the test project where I'm doing the R&D: So the plan is that this will allow for a decent 1:1 representation of the various MFME lamp shapes, but also new shapes, and with the SVG import feature, someone could for instance make something like the Bell Fruit bell, as an SVG, and that would be represented within the layout (without a source images in bmp/png/jpg/etc).

Works in MAME but missing sound roms. Appears to soft lock (a couple of blocks of light flashing), after playing enough credits to get either Nudges or a Feature board (I am unfamiliar with the game). This is likely due to the fruit machine's program awaiting a signal from the emulated sound chip that a sample has finished playing. This may be fixed either by sourcing the original sound roms, making some substitute sound roms from another game, if after that the issue still persists, then the issue will be fixed by implementing the correct feature in the sound chip emulation (to provide the 'sample finished playing' signal or 'sample is playing' status). When fully working in Mame, and Oasis project is at that level (1+ years!) the layout can be converted from BFEmulator -> MFME... then hopefully improved with high res artwork etc... then extracted and imported to Oasis Layout editor, and built to be played in the Machine Player app or Arcade Sim v2 (though it can be played now in the Layout Editor, but that's not really the nicest way to play). So one day it will be playable

A lot of FME dev in MAME is stalled for the mo (including MPU5), due to lack of skilled emu devs with the time/motivation to work on these old fruities. I'm busy with Oasis, but if it gets to the point and where we have quality internal layouts built for MAME for all platforms, and still no interest, I may devote 6-12 months, and sort out a lot of the more basic config type issues initially, along with more of the hardware security stuff for sc4/5/6/mpu5 (ccTalk then DES). Also, some reel controllers need reverse engineering, and sound chip emulation is missing stuff, that will also bring more machines to working. Also some issues with alpha displays... there's a lot to go at! I'm somewhat optimistic that if I put in a big amount of donkey work grinding through these things, Haze may look at some more of the more complex stuff again. Once we have the layouts built into MAME.exe with labelled reels, this is all a lot more interesting to work on, otherwise, even when it works, it's just a boring grid of flashing lights that you can't really 'play' in a fun sense of the word! Ideally others will get involved again once we have the full set of layouts done, so playtesting and machine operation can easily be done in MAME There is also some working MPU5 emulation with source code in an old leaked MFME. This isn't directly portable to MAME, but I'm sure some things could be learned that would help with developing the driver further. Also, using the debugger in MAME and the debugger in MFME, to compare behaviours for issues where we really don't understand what the issue is... but there's a lot of lower hanging fruit first to be honest. Machines were released in other countries on UK developed platforms (like Bellfruit Scorpion, Barcrest MPU and others), Spain, Germany, Netherlands to name a few.