OASIS (working title)

[Ginge]

What’s going on with them big reels , I won’t need my glasses anymore .

[johnparker007]

2 hours ago, Ginge said:

What’s going on with them big reels , I won’t need my glasses anymore .

Just WIP stuff at the mo  

[johnparker007]

More prettying up of the MFME Import window in the Layout Editor - more correct reel scaling, and reel overlay images:

Technically not necessary to make this stuff look that accurate, as this is just to store imported MFME layout so when a layout artist (or someone working on converting layouts to 3d machines) saves a Layout Editor 'project file', this can be stored along with the actual 3d Oasis views of the full panels and individual panels.

That said, it's bothersome if it looks scruffy, it should kinda resemble the imported MFME layout!   So I'll prob also do reel lamps, and maybe even the odd 'fake perspective' vertical 2d reel scaling effect that MFME does (so symbols at top/bottom be squished vertically to approximate a 3d effect)... just so things look vaguely correct, for this Import preview view  

Edited May 7, 2024 by johnparker007

[johnparker007]

I moved to a different layout (MPU4 Nickelodeon) to get some more standard reels to check work so far before thinking about some generic basic reel lamps for the MFME Import Preview window... revealed various other things to do/issues:


Segment displays not working - this is an emulation issue to fix in MAME (just down to config I think)

Reels show too many symbols - this is a problem with the scaling work I did using the Andy Capp reels, so I have more to do there to derive approximately similar scales to the reels shown in MFME

Lamps scrambled - I do have a fix for this, the MFME layout is actually the one that is wrong   So the 8x Chr lamp values are set wrong, and then the lamps were adjusted by trial and error until they worked.  As we are now using the correct MAME lamp values for emulation, the MFME lamps appear scrambled.  Fortunately I already wrote a 'MFME lamp number fixer' function in my earlier work in Arcade Sim, so I'll have to port that across and then the imported MFME layout will get its lamp numbers remapped to the correct ones

No blended lamps - I just haven't done those yet, but I will add to the list of things to make the MFME Import Preview more accurate


So yeah, tried a new machine just to check reels and revealed a pile of issues haha  

 

[spa]

These regular updates are great mate, thanks for keeping us posted

[johnparker007]

Did a little more tonight, now have the vertical reel scaling calculation figured I think (close as it needs to be for this Import Preview anyway):




Also got a new 'MFME' menu in, starting to move MFME stuff to that - so this will be for the MPU4 lamp correcting function (to fix wrong lamp numbers in MFME layouts where they've been mapped to match wrong characteriser lamp column value)... think this will be the next task, so I can get Nickelodeon lamps correct:

[Ze Frog]

8 minutes ago, johnparker007 said:

Did a little more tonight, now have the vertical reel scaling calculation figured I think (close as it needs to be for this Import Preview anyway):




Also got a new 'MFME' menu in, starting to move MFME stuff to that - so this will be for the MPU4 lamp correcting function (to fix wrong lamp numbers in MFME layouts where they've been mapped to match wrong characteriser lamp column value)... think this will be the next task, so I can get Nickelodeon lamps correct:

So much of what you manage to do is really beyond me, but it's incredible to witness, great stuff.

[spa]

I don't recall there being a made cab for the lo tech barcrest? It's been a while mind, but can't remember seeing one made in the other thread. 

[johnparker007]

9 hours ago, spa said:

I don't recall there being a made cab for the lo tech barcrest? It's been a while mind, but can't remember seeing one made in the other thread. 

Not yet, but I'll be able to adapt one from this cabinet, as it has the similar metal trim:


All the cabinet stuff is being redone anyway, so there's a bunch of work there either way.  Since we're going full open source, the leading open source 3d modelling package is Blender (https://www.blender.org/).

So before, I was building cabs from scratch in 3DS Max, or using @Spidy21982's models from Cinema4D, and importing them to 3DS Max for further adjustments, and then from 3DS Max importing to Unity.

So now that 'final' 3d modelling package in the pipeline will be Blender, and the idea is that anyone will able to create the Oasis 3d cabinets, by using most likely .glTF format to export from Blender.

So in the original ArcadeSim workflow for the cabinet above, it was:

Cinema4d -> .obj -> 3DS Max -> .fbx -> Unity Editor import -> Arcade Sim

The new workflow would look something more like:

Cinema4d -> .obj -> Blender -> .glTF -> Oasis MachineEditor -> Oasis LayoutEditor -> Oasis ArcadeSimulator

(though of course others may choose to develop their models direct in Blender skipping the C4d->.obj step, or in some other priliminary package like Maya, 3DS Max etc). 

The new workflow will be able to be fully completed by people other than me   As that is the plan for everything ultimately, so I'm no longer needed to develop new machines/arcades for use.

It will be quite a long time before I'm at that stage though, depending on personal health and also how much time I divert into improving the emulation in MAME...

Edited May 10, 2024 by johnparker007

[johnparker007]

Have been chipping away at developing the UI system... this will replace what has been seen in the 'Inspector' window so far, with a new more versatile approach (as I need that now I'm starting to add more menus/windows.

So here is the MPU4 Lamp Remapper, which was needed for layouts such as Nickelodeon, where both the 8x Chr lamp column values plus the lamps are wrong in the MFME layout, but in such away that it still looks correct in MFME:


More info on this above and in another thread, but in MAME we now have the correct 8x lamp column values for most/all of the MPU4 machines that use that type of Chr protection, and so the lamp numbers of the MFME layouts need to be corrected to the real ones in order for MAME to drive the correct lamps, as seen in Nickelodeon.

The Source values are the ones used in the MFME layout, the Target values are the correct ones from the MAME MPU4 driver game values.  Then the code can use those to remap the lamps, and as seen in this new vid below, upon clicking Remap Lamps button, the lamps are remapped, and then are non-scrambled   

Had this lamp scrambling code already from earlier work, but this new UI system stuff has been taking a long time to get to a point where I could build a basic menu panel!

The Populate Values from MFME Layout / MAME Drive don't actually work yet, I had to look up and enter both source/target lamp column values manually for this test... so I guess that's one of the next things on the list... though I'll probably doing some more menus (and cleaning up that rightmost 8 field that is too short).

The new UI system means these menus can be docked/undocked, and will horizontally scale where they are a list of various values/settings, as is often the case in a Layout Editor such as this:

Floating undocked:


Docked on the bottom as the sole tab:


Docked on the side as part of a 2 tab dock:


Horizontally stretched:

Horizontally squashed:

 

Edited May 30, 2024 by johnparker007

[johnparker007]

A little bit of work on the MPU4 lamp remapping stuff - have added a feature so the LayoutEditor can pull the (correct) 8x MPU4 lamp column values from the MAME source code.  Here these 8x values were auto-populated when I clicked the 'Populate Target Values From MAME Driver' button:


It currently gets the MAME ROM name from a semi-hardcoded setting at present - soon it will get it from the new 'Project Settings' window:


There'll also be a feature implemented later, so that upon importing an MFME extracted layout, the MAME ROM name can be automatically looked up (by hash matching with the ROMs used in the MFME layout).

[johnparker007]

Just a heads up, I've been busy so time is precious   Work on Oasis has been continuing on an almost daily basis, mainly on the Layout Editor system, however, as time/energy is limited, I've not been posting updates compared to the past and on Arcade Sim projects.

If you want to see the live updates to the code, you can watch the commit list on github (as this is a fullly open source project):
https://github.com/johnparker007/Oasis/commits/main/

Also, we have a new coder @oldfruitlover, who is (initially) looking into some super important base areas, such as file formats and the MAME Layout Builder system, so props and welcome to him  

I think for now, the lack of updates from me will continue, but that link above will give you an live snapshot of what's being worked on with Oasis.  I know it's not as 'fresh' as the Arcade Sim updates were, but the key thing is for the work to continue at pace, so I hope you understand the prioritising github commits over forum updates  

Edited July 13, 2024 by johnparker007

[spa]

Glad you have someone to help! 

[johnparker007]

Update since it's been a while   Been working on stuff to do with classic style layouts, since the Oasis LayoutEditor will have a MAME Exporter in it, to create pure text layouts to go in MAME codebase... first signs of life, I can see some text!  

[johnparker007]

Bit more text  

[spa]

Looking good! I do have a look at you github every couple of days and see lots going on, but don't have a clue what lol!

 

[johnparker007]

12 minutes ago, spa said:

Looking good! I do have a look at you github every couple of days and see lots going on, but don't have a clue what lol!

 

There's a lot more technical stuff at the mo, but when I get new interesting screengrabs I'll pop 'em up here   

[johnparker007]

Another interesting milestone, got a scorp 4 classic just about running (Door open mode). Bunch of issues, but nice to see a new platform doing something  

 

[Altharic]

Is that in mame or mfme?

[johnparker007]

4 hours ago, Altharic said:

Is that in mame or mfme?

That is mame  

[Altharic]

I am convinced all those s4 in mame just need layouts making for them some have them but the meters etc are not set up correctly

[johnparker007]

28 minutes ago, Altharic said:

I am convinced all those s4 in mame just need layouts making for them some have them but the meters etc are not set up correctly

Oh for sure, this will all get sorted out alongside developing Oasis, there'll be a ton of MAME driver fixes and config to do (plus they will all be getting internal text-only layouts built from the Oasis Layout Editor, from imported the existing MFME Classic layouts).

One thing we need to code for a lot of the Scorp4s is the ccTalk system, it was done before in a very basic test version for one machine (DOND) and worked correctly, but the code was lost... and then we could run them properly instead of in Door Open mode.  A lot of work to do, but all doable  

Also I've noticed multiple platforms have some incomplete aspects of sound emulation, which is commonly relied on, and can result in slowdowns, pauses, or even full softlocks.  So the fruit machine program as waiting for the sound chip to either provide a 'sample is currently not playing' state, or maybe it is even some kind of interrupt 'sample has finished playing'.  That will fix up a bunch of issues I believe, that are quite specific to how fruit machines were programmed back in the day.

Edited August 4, 2024 by johnparker007

[Altharic]

Maygay m1a is one such example machine runs then goes to tits when it seems to try to alarm it does get past the contact maygay error tho

[johnparker007]

Bit of progress getting built in fonts to match original classic layout, next will sort out OS fonts:

[johnparker007]

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).