johnparker007

Good spot I redownloaded VirtualBox on this PC recently because of the mfme2mme work - I was trying to get to the latest possible copy of the code. I got to like 95% of the useful code anyway, so it all worked out - and thanks for the offer of the forum backups bud, much appreciated

lol sorry @Reg - bearded man incoming, from the latest download set!

Had some time taken up working on stuff for the MAME guys (I've managed to lose some mfme2mame work that I did from 5 years ago, was trying to piece that back together!)... but also had chance to fix a couple more converter bugs and get four more machines in. Minor issues here and there, I've realised the buttons not working issue on one machine was just as I'd forgot to do something - anyway, building the collection of machines up a bit more Going to keep on this path for now, of just converting Eclipse cab machines that look like they will work with what I currently have in (I haven't implemented 'band reels' yet for instance, so skipping all those for now). Then in a bit, I'll move over to doing some performance/RAM optimisations... then back to converting again. Certainly be good to get at least 50 different machines running, to start seeing where the bottlenecks are that I need to solve.

All the old skool techs definitely planned for further down the line, once I've got the conversion process a bit more sorted (and some placeholder cab models to put them in)

Thanks for all the positive feedback guys haha and in my defence on these skill stops, there is a valid excuse, in fact two! I'm doing this dev in bed in the evening (as is the way) with a large TV at the end of the bed. I don't have the TV in 'game mode' as the picture doesn't look as good, so there's loads of input lag due to the TV processing the image. Also I'm using a wireless keyboard with built-in touchpad, so that adds even more input lag - so when I press, it's always like half a second behind I've been trying to press 'too early', and that sometimes hits them. But these are only videos to show tech progress to be fair

Been busy working on the converter issues this week, as it's very buggy at present and most layouts don't convert properly for various reasons. So with recent fixes, here's four new machines to fill out the room a bit more ...they have minor graphical issues still to fix in the converter, but totally playable

I've just had a look, and I think perhaps posts lock after 24 hours or something, to stop people editing the threads and breaking the continuity. Could be good though I've no costs at present (apart from cash already spent), but there will be costs further down the line I'm sure... Perhaps an admin could help here?

Hi The temporary 'snap view', is for desktop users. I'll be getting everything working for desktop first (including something better than this jarring snap view!) - then add in VR camera control/navigation later. I did a little VR dev for Samsung Gear VR headset a couple of years back for a work project, it's not too painful. So proper VR (with reel peeking by leaning forward to look etc) is on the roadmap, but lower priority than desktop. Also, I don't even own a VR headset so would need to buy or at the very least borrow one in order to develop it... And yes, so sad about Chris But the scene continues on, and his excellent emulator is what I am using to drive these machines

I've done a (very basic) version of the feature to auto-position the player and set the camera up when playing machine. Currently it just instantly 'snaps' to the viewing position, and then snaps back to the original position you were in before you started playing. It's pretty ugly But it's perfectly functional for now. To do the proper system I have in mind (with various fancy modes), requires a time-consuming rewrite of the controller/camera code, which I'm not looking to get bogged down in at this stage. So this is as done as this gets for the moment

Currently using max for cabinet, my own system for converting 2d layout => 3d machine and Unity Engine for rendering. The Epoch doesn't look too far away from an Eclipse... initially I'll probably just work on using the Eclipse as a base to build similar cabinets

Been plugging away, and got the first pass of clickable buttons / custom mouse cursors / locked camera during gameplay done Coin slots are a bodge for now (it's just clicking through to the original layout 2d coin slot underneath)... I'll probably also do a hand with the finger pressing down for when you have a button held down by the mouse later... It's definitely more fun playing the features, now I can click the other buttons! EDIT: I just skipped through the video to check it recorded correctly - at some points the mouse pointer appears to flicker and blink off. This doesn't actually happen, it's just the video recording software glitching out

At a later point, I will be sorting out more cabinet models - then I can build other, older machine etc - currently I'm just sticking with ones that fit into my Eclipse model, as it's the only decent cabinet model I have to hand...

A little off topic, but pleased to see more progress on MAME FM dev, using my mfme2mame classic layout conversions

I've finished the first pass of the seven segment displays Needs at least another full day's work to sort out the various rendering issues and make look generally better: - slant, perhaps build in / several set slant levels - add converter stage to detect horizontal adjacent groups and align/fix up their positions/scales - capture new higher resolution segments to use - make segments pure white, and use shader to change colour as required (Wok and Roll should have yellow segment display for example) - (later) support for lamp-driven segment displays - general fettling Happy to have them in and working at least, another commonly used component knocked off the list Here's a vid of me running the machines that now have segment displays:

Keep up the ROM hacking Looking forward to future geekends man

Thanks mate - good to know Ah wow, I remember that! I remember you had a chip writer, and then we somehow ended up getting into how a ROM might know it's been tampered with... good times - I also remember you doing some pretty impressive ROM hacking, to change stakes, jackpots and maybe even program flow - all the awesome stuff

Ah so MFME doesn't do these video techs then? Well - just like back in the DOND days when we made the layout in MFME, to play in MAME... it would be possible to do the same approach here Though would have to be further down the line, as I'll need to do time consuming work to sort out getting a 'data layout' into MAME and some other things. So you'd make a MFME DX layout of the front of the machine with a screen component - I'd have a data layout in MAME that is running the ROM, to give me the display graphics and the button lamps/sound/input handling etc. Then it could be in the 3d arcade working, via the standard 2d 'panel warping' stuff I do for the fruits Very low priority from my side though as it'd take me away from the core 3d arcade work - but there's no reason why that wouldn't work - something for the future I do remember you had one (two?) of these in your front lounge at one point! I was very impressed

Rendering fine-tuning for stuff like that is not set up until quite a bit later, when I've got everything working on a logical level - so the reels are just the unlit raw textures for now. Sorting all that out will be a bit of a learning curve, there are various 'render pipelines' to consider, I'll be implemented LOD'd shaders - 3d rendering these days is all bloomin' crazy So I'm just getting a functional first/second pass in here for now - which will cover reel lamps, general control of the arcade illumination and balancing out lighting of the unlit glasses. Then later can come the proper scalable stuff - so the better graphics cards will get the extra shiny graphics, the weaker graphics cards/onboard graphics will get less fancy graphics, but still at a good enough framerate to enjoy (hopefully!)

I've been having a think, and come to the conclusion I will actually focus on the standalone version first, rather than having the online mode as the 'base project'. Currently it is already hooked up to a multiplayer server, even in all the test videos - I'd planned to build for online as standard, and the standalone mode as an extra. I've realised it's going to be much better to get the system optimised, bug-fixed, and running well on a range of PCs... without all the extra added headaches/complications of the online server(s), streaming and all that entails (there will be at least 2 servers for it to work). Good news for guys like @Reg who I know is more interested in the offline version at this stage! While there'll be an initial hump to refactor stuff to work the other way round (offline is default, online is an extra mode) - it will actually simplify development over the long term, which is a good thing (for my sanity!) As there's a lot of new (perhaps never been done before) tech to develop for the online stuff... So, the new plan is to do the standalone PC version first. Once that's stable and we're relatively happy it does the main core features we want, that will be a solid foundation to build the online mode on top of. This also means it'll be sooner that I'll get to the stage of providing vaguely stable alpha builds for people to play with

Thanks man I think for standalone mode, randomised machine floor plans can be a thing (along with duplicate machines each with own RAM) - for online multiplayer mode, they must be fixed, as everyone needs to be seeing the exact same arcade, or things will go very wrong! But online mode can also have duplicate copies of machines (for a row of Bar X machines or whatever), and bots will probably silently play machines server-side when they are not in use via my/MFME autoplay system, to get those RAMs happy.

Aye - it was in much better shape after being re-converted without a power cut in the middle! Thanks man

Just wanna say thanks folks for these donations to the project - it's really very kind, and is super appreciated. I'm honestly quite touched Done a few little bits tonight, thought I'd record a video when I had a quick test at the end First pass of alpha displays done (fixed scaling bugs, slightly smaller but more 'correct' now), started tinkering with some lighting (colored trim around cabs and couple of other elements), and fixed a couple of bugs that were causing the character/camera to slightly oscillate and slowly drift over time - it was making the entire screen slightly fuzzy when stood still. Saw a couple of machine having issues loading/capturing MFME when started up, will have to get to the bottom of that bug. Next big job - seven segment displays, and maybe a bit more on the lighting...

Yeah it would be - I lived in Brum for 5 years during my hectic youth! Set up the account at a branch in Birmingham Pallasades shopping center - I think it's all been knocked down and totally rebuilt now

There's been talk of donations - so I've set up a quick system here - so everyone can see/make donations, and also see the purchases made: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pVJB5VBvI1eTtB1-7DKGJ67j6RSHk-dBaM9irmZShBI/edit#gid=0 Thanks to anyone who wants to chip in! I'll post updates if/when new project purchases need to be made (new sports car etc )... not sure what they'll be yet, but there's usually something now and then with these projects.