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johnparker007

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On 29/10/2022 at 07:55, johnparker007 said:

BTW if you still happen to have any Nokia SDKs and such laying around somewhere then it would be cool if they ended up on archive.org if not already there, don't want that stuff to be lost to time :) 

I have a couple of old backups of the Gyrox source and perhaps biz emails on CDRW in the attic... It was a very long time ago, but I suspect I don't have any SDK downloads on there - hopefully they haven't been lost to time...

Compared to the other phone manufacturers in the early years, Nokia were a thing of beauty; they used to have a very active dev forum, whereas with say Sharp, they (at the time) used to have a top J2ME handset (in Europe) the GX10, but no documentation... and if you did  a System.gc() at the wrong time/place, it would simply reset the entire handset 😂 there were a bunch of gotchas like that at the time you could only really learn through testing, or if you were very lucky, an internet forum post.

It was a real wild west, depending on who had written the KVM, there was a pretty small crew of KVM writers back in the day, it was crazy.  I remember SonyEriccson started off super terrible, it was infamously bad to try support..... then something happened (almost certainly a new freelance KVM coder, as they along with other manufacturers were slowly realizing that J2ME performance was a selling point, like megapixels, and just had a capex cost), and they went from the worst to rivalling/beating Nokia devices for J2ME performance.  Motorola had a similar journey; they had crazily bad 'runtime stack management', so the memory fragmentation from the J2ME 'heap'  memory would build up fast, so you could build a graphically rich game (but multiload) that'd run ok for one gameplay loop, but then it would die being unable to allocate memory (flat memory model worked, but didn't suit multiloads)... this was on the famous V3 aka RAZR, very sexy slim flip-phone, it was a very nice looking device compared to the clunkers of the day, I think the 'solution' in the end for those Motos was just to have very limited GFX RAM usage via hardly any gfx, so you'd delay the heap recycle limit crash for as long as possible, it was all so insanely mercurial back then lol, almost like the ZX Spectrum days (I was too young to be involved at the time, but have a 'fair' understanding now, though I realised it's a very limited number of people playing Speccy stuff these days, so I switched back to FME for hobby dev).

Typing this, I remember there were certain handsets recognised as 'reference' devices in the fledgling industry(obvs it/s worth many billions now, I didn't manage to cash in on the growth unfortunately lol), e.g: Nokia 3510i, Nokia 7210, Sharp GX10, SonyEricsson K800i, (these were very good for the time), Sharp GX20+, Motorola V3, Samsung D600... quite a few more, on a per manufacturer basis - so you'd make your game work on the ref devices, then pass over builds per handset family, and the content aggregators (that us indie devs released through, to get onto the WAP portals), would take those builds and have a compatibility list, of 'like' devices similarly/same screen resolution/KVM/softkey code.  I should write this up somewhere, as I've seen hardly any mention of this in the modern day of the net, so it could end up lost - where I work now (Distinctive Games) after some N64 dalliances, went on to do some solid games initially in the monochrome J2ME era (before my time in the industry)... I spent (I think I can now say,. NDAs must've expired) a lot of time devving iterations of FIFA J"ME working with EA (yes that EA, the evil microtransaction guys now lol) - a great learning curve though; there were very specific optimisation strategies developed that only work for certain KVMs (which was another wild west, the majority of gaming handsets planet-wide ran J2ME KVMs written in the relevant assembler (it wasn't all nice AMR 7 back in those days!) by a very small (4-5) handful of people.

Man, I'm hungover, but that is a lot of text lol - I've got more tales like this, it was a smallish 'scene' globally... I failed to get rich out of it unfortunately, but definitely happy to have been involved (even earning probably at best min wages via my own game company!), having been too unknowledgeable to be involved with the earlier eras.  But JP, I hear you cry, surely you made bank doing the original R-Type port for Irem via Elite (yes that Elite); nope, got pretty much robbed by Steve Wilcox, the original MD of Elite, a lot of people did around then and even back in the Speccy days; Elite's model was to pay devs far less than their dues after the source/binary was delivered, then threaten to sue on some aspect of abstract code delivery law upon request of payment. Sad but true...

This is a really long post :) ...but one more thought is that I have kept a box of old handsets from when I ran Gyrox (prob 30-40 devices).... the chips are probably very complex to extract (compared to say the TMS1000 doorbell) but I will continue to hold onto that box, and be happy to give them up for ripping once hobbyist chip extraction is at that level.

I really need to keep more up to date with this thread, an awesome read there JP, thanks for taking the time to post it :) 

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Fruit machine emulation content from the artist previously known as Degsy Degworth and the odd new thing here and there too - https://www.youtube.com/c/DegsyDegworth

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On 26/11/2022 at 12:16, johnparker007 said:

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 :) 

AH yes i mentioned joy2key as like yourself have used it before, il let you know if it works as im sure it will, thanks for listing the keys as it will save me some time. :)

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I can confirm that that my joystick works all the buttons are mapped nicely, its a joy playing the old games 

with a joystick and 8 buttons just like in the arcades, it even walks around with the stick. im using the 

universal arcade stick f500 Elite fightstick if anyone is interested. well worth the money you dont need a fancy £300 one.

cheers @johnparker007

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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

image.thumb.png.9d2fe00fc890d5c778e7cb1dc2048c21.png

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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[ Arcade Simulator ] Pre-alpha installer: http://arcadesimulator.net  |  Known Issues: https://tinyurl.com/yz4uom2e  |  Donation info: https://tinyurl.com/yzvgl4xo
[ Community Drive ] The drive: http://tinyurl.com/yckze665
[ Fruit Machine Database ] Initial google sheets (WIP): https://tinyurl.com/2c5znxzz
[ Fruit Machine ROM  Archive ] The archive: https://tinyurl.com/3jhzbueb

[ MFME Launch ] Source code: https://github.com/johnparker007/MFMELaunch
[ Oasis ] Source code: https://github.com/johnparker007/Oasis
[ Sound ROM Editor ] Source code: https://github.com/johnparker007/SoundRomEditor

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40 minutes ago, johnparker007 said:

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

image.thumb.png.9d2fe00fc890d5c778e7cb1dc2048c21.png

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.

A break sounds good, you've been on it from the getgo.

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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:
image.thumb.png.1137f6d08fc196e01fd6ad06862231bc.png

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)
image.png.f90d3ccd2d6a20a9d44d19c4dfb6e697.png

So all this means I can now log into this again :) 
image.thumb.png.c5b1da0b300e4e6e06832709680559f2.png

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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[ Arcade Simulator ] Pre-alpha installer: http://arcadesimulator.net  |  Known Issues: https://tinyurl.com/yz4uom2e  |  Donation info: https://tinyurl.com/yzvgl4xo
[ Community Drive ] The drive: http://tinyurl.com/yckze665
[ Fruit Machine Database ] Initial google sheets (WIP): https://tinyurl.com/2c5znxzz
[ Fruit Machine ROM  Archive ] The archive: https://tinyurl.com/3jhzbueb

[ MFME Launch ] Source code: https://github.com/johnparker007/MFMELaunch
[ Oasis ] Source code: https://github.com/johnparker007/Oasis
[ Sound ROM Editor ] Source code: https://github.com/johnparker007/SoundRomEditor

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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 :)

Edited by johnparker007
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[ Arcade Simulator ] Pre-alpha installer: http://arcadesimulator.net  |  Known Issues: https://tinyurl.com/yz4uom2e  |  Donation info: https://tinyurl.com/yzvgl4xo
[ Community Drive ] The drive: http://tinyurl.com/yckze665
[ Fruit Machine Database ] Initial google sheets (WIP): https://tinyurl.com/2c5znxzz
[ Fruit Machine ROM  Archive ] The archive: https://tinyurl.com/3jhzbueb

[ MFME Launch ] Source code: https://github.com/johnparker007/MFMELaunch
[ Oasis ] Source code: https://github.com/johnparker007/Oasis
[ Sound ROM Editor ] Source code: https://github.com/johnparker007/SoundRomEditor

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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 :)

[ Arcade Simulator ] Pre-alpha installer: http://arcadesimulator.net  |  Known Issues: https://tinyurl.com/yz4uom2e  |  Donation info: https://tinyurl.com/yzvgl4xo
[ Community Drive ] The drive: http://tinyurl.com/yckze665
[ Fruit Machine Database ] Initial google sheets (WIP): https://tinyurl.com/2c5znxzz
[ Fruit Machine ROM  Archive ] The archive: https://tinyurl.com/3jhzbueb

[ MFME Launch ] Source code: https://github.com/johnparker007/MFMELaunch
[ Oasis ] Source code: https://github.com/johnparker007/Oasis
[ Sound ROM Editor ] Source code: https://github.com/johnparker007/SoundRomEditor

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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... ;) 

Edited by johnparker007
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[ Arcade Simulator ] Pre-alpha installer: http://arcadesimulator.net  |  Known Issues: https://tinyurl.com/yz4uom2e  |  Donation info: https://tinyurl.com/yzvgl4xo
[ Community Drive ] The drive: http://tinyurl.com/yckze665
[ Fruit Machine Database ] Initial google sheets (WIP): https://tinyurl.com/2c5znxzz
[ Fruit Machine ROM  Archive ] The archive: https://tinyurl.com/3jhzbueb

[ MFME Launch ] Source code: https://github.com/johnparker007/MFMELaunch
[ Oasis ] Source code: https://github.com/johnparker007/Oasis
[ Sound ROM Editor ] Source code: https://github.com/johnparker007/SoundRomEditor

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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.

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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 :) 

[ Arcade Simulator ] Pre-alpha installer: http://arcadesimulator.net  |  Known Issues: https://tinyurl.com/yz4uom2e  |  Donation info: https://tinyurl.com/yzvgl4xo
[ Community Drive ] The drive: http://tinyurl.com/yckze665
[ Fruit Machine Database ] Initial google sheets (WIP): https://tinyurl.com/2c5znxzz
[ Fruit Machine ROM  Archive ] The archive: https://tinyurl.com/3jhzbueb

[ MFME Launch ] Source code: https://github.com/johnparker007/MFMELaunch
[ Oasis ] Source code: https://github.com/johnparker007/Oasis
[ Sound ROM Editor ] Source code: https://github.com/johnparker007/SoundRomEditor

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On 02/12/2022 at 07:21, 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

Sorry missed this post - BGT did a machine with the same name in that horrendous 'piano keys' cabinet. I played it once in 2005 and it had a tenner for the board. Only ever saw the one unit. Super Suits was more common.

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  • 2 weeks later...

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:

image.png.4f93f2ba18b52f7ae0862d250d26f5d2.png

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.

Edited by johnparker007
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[ Arcade Simulator ] Pre-alpha installer: http://arcadesimulator.net  |  Known Issues: https://tinyurl.com/yz4uom2e  |  Donation info: https://tinyurl.com/yzvgl4xo
[ Community Drive ] The drive: http://tinyurl.com/yckze665
[ Fruit Machine Database ] Initial google sheets (WIP): https://tinyurl.com/2c5znxzz
[ Fruit Machine ROM  Archive ] The archive: https://tinyurl.com/3jhzbueb

[ MFME Launch ] Source code: https://github.com/johnparker007/MFMELaunch
[ Oasis ] Source code: https://github.com/johnparker007/Oasis
[ Sound ROM Editor ] Source code: https://github.com/johnparker007/SoundRomEditor

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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):
image.png.f8ca0405d753a826c759842a055c1ea7.png

[ Arcade Simulator ] Pre-alpha installer: http://arcadesimulator.net  |  Known Issues: https://tinyurl.com/yz4uom2e  |  Donation info: https://tinyurl.com/yzvgl4xo
[ Community Drive ] The drive: http://tinyurl.com/yckze665
[ Fruit Machine Database ] Initial google sheets (WIP): https://tinyurl.com/2c5znxzz
[ Fruit Machine ROM  Archive ] The archive: https://tinyurl.com/3jhzbueb

[ MFME Launch ] Source code: https://github.com/johnparker007/MFMELaunch
[ Oasis ] Source code: https://github.com/johnparker007/Oasis
[ Sound ROM Editor ] Source code: https://github.com/johnparker007/SoundRomEditor

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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)...

[ Arcade Simulator ] Pre-alpha installer: http://arcadesimulator.net  |  Known Issues: https://tinyurl.com/yz4uom2e  |  Donation info: https://tinyurl.com/yzvgl4xo
[ Community Drive ] The drive: http://tinyurl.com/yckze665
[ Fruit Machine Database ] Initial google sheets (WIP): https://tinyurl.com/2c5znxzz
[ Fruit Machine ROM  Archive ] The archive: https://tinyurl.com/3jhzbueb

[ MFME Launch ] Source code: https://github.com/johnparker007/MFMELaunch
[ Oasis ] Source code: https://github.com/johnparker007/Oasis
[ Sound ROM Editor ] Source code: https://github.com/johnparker007/SoundRomEditor

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5 minutes ago, Altharic said:

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...

[ Arcade Simulator ] Pre-alpha installer: http://arcadesimulator.net  |  Known Issues: https://tinyurl.com/yz4uom2e  |  Donation info: https://tinyurl.com/yzvgl4xo
[ Community Drive ] The drive: http://tinyurl.com/yckze665
[ Fruit Machine Database ] Initial google sheets (WIP): https://tinyurl.com/2c5znxzz
[ Fruit Machine ROM  Archive ] The archive: https://tinyurl.com/3jhzbueb

[ MFME Launch ] Source code: https://github.com/johnparker007/MFMELaunch
[ Oasis ] Source code: https://github.com/johnparker007/Oasis
[ Sound ROM Editor ] Source code: https://github.com/johnparker007/SoundRomEditor

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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)...
image.thumb.png.372f1418929d97484abf420135091489.png

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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[ Arcade Simulator ] Pre-alpha installer: http://arcadesimulator.net  |  Known Issues: https://tinyurl.com/yz4uom2e  |  Donation info: https://tinyurl.com/yzvgl4xo
[ Community Drive ] The drive: http://tinyurl.com/yckze665
[ Fruit Machine Database ] Initial google sheets (WIP): https://tinyurl.com/2c5znxzz
[ Fruit Machine ROM  Archive ] The archive: https://tinyurl.com/3jhzbueb

[ MFME Launch ] Source code: https://github.com/johnparker007/MFMELaunch
[ Oasis ] Source code: https://github.com/johnparker007/Oasis
[ Sound ROM Editor ] Source code: https://github.com/johnparker007/SoundRomEditor

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