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johnparker007

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Is it just me? Or is this thread blurring the lines between Desert Island Fruits and the Gentlemen's Pixel Club? Failure to work aside, this project is outright incredible! First UK fruit machines, now Foreign fruit machine, then 80s Arcade games?! What's next? Rhythm Games? (Pop 'n' Music) Fighting Games? (Street Fighter) Racing Games? (Outrun) Medal Games? (Dragon Treasure III) If SEGA notices this project and it's potential I'm sure the future will be very bright!

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6 hours ago, bionic_beast said:

Is it just me? Or is this thread blurring the lines between Desert Island Fruits and the Gentlemen's Pixel Club? Failure to work aside, this project is outright incredible! First UK fruit machines, now Foreign fruit machine, then 80s Arcade games?! What's next? Rhythm Games? (Pop 'n' Music) Fighting Games? (Street Fighter) Racing Games? (Outrun) Medal Games? (Dragon Treasure III) If SEGA notices this project and it's potential I'm sure the future will be very bright!

Yeah we're just on a bit of diversion, for however long it takes to get some video games fully working with acceptable performance (that part is pretty much there)... And then there'll be various associated work so then ultimately these will be in the arcade and playable (at least on keyboard initially, GameControllers later) - just trying to get the scrolling improved a little more :)  


"Failure to work aside"

I think it was you and @Ryan Hughes who both had the issue with the black screen at startup due to not being able to write a file...  @bionic_beast and I did try to arrange a TeamViewer session, but got thwarted by the fact he's in Australia and there is a time difference... if either of you guys wants to DM me arrange a TeamViewer session, I can investigate further to maybe be able to figure out a fix :) 

[ 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
[ 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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2 hours ago, Spidy21982 said:

@johnparker007 here comes the jpm mk2

greetings spidy

mk2.jpg

jpm mk2.zip 6.23 MB · 1 download

Oh my god @Spidy21982 that looks great!  Loving the silver metal trim - another top notch model for the arcade, great work my friend :D 

And just to reassure - while I'm a little side-tracked on the first task of the year, getting MAME working in the Arcade for a while (may take a month or so before we have the next patch with Goliath cabinet with playable games)... I will be switching back to making more fruit machines afterwards.  Keep 'em coming, and thanks very much for your continued hard work on these excellent models! :)  

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[ Community Drive ] The drive: http://tinyurl.com/yckze665
[ Fruit Machine Database ] Initial google sheets (WIP): https://tinyurl.com/2c5znxzz
[ 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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3 hours ago, johnparker007 said:

Oh my god @Spidy21982 that looks great!  Loving the silver metal trim - another top notch model for the arcade, great work my friend :D 

And just to reassure - while I'm a little side-tracked on the first task of the year, getting MAME working in the Arcade for a while (may take a month or so before we have the next patch with Goliath cabinet with playable games)... I will be switching back to making more fruit machines afterwards.  Keep 'em coming, and thanks very much for your continued hard work on these excellent models! :)  

Yea i hope the proportions are something correct. Had no straight side pic and no full front pic.... Great news about the mame stuff .

Its getting more and more cool👍

Greetings spidy

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1 hour ago, Spidy21982 said:

Yea i hope the proportions are something correct. Had no straight side pic and no full front pic.... Great news about the mame stuff .

Its getting more and more cool👍

Greetings spidy

I'll potentially (hard to tell until I start working on it) do some minor tweaks when I am working on bringing it in from your source model, by comparing to photo/video, then using our existing cabinets as reference, along with deriving length/width/heights from videos via comparing to known (that's what I've been doing so far)... I think it gets us close enough, everything is looking roughly correct scales/proportions in the Arcade so far :) 

Have a good weekend! :) 

Edited by johnparker007

[ 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
[ 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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Mini-tech update:

More tweaks and using an Arcade game that runs at exactly 60Hz (to sync with the commonly used 60Hz refresh of TVs/monitors)... the scrolling is now smooth enough (apart from occasional desync issue) :)  

I need to see if I can figure out a way to get that CPU usage down a bit ( so there's CPU left for the Arcade, and so it runs on more modest PCs), hopefully I can pull of a trick or two.  This is spread over the cores via burst, so I may look at that later once it's actually integrated.

Star Force running attract mode, it has nice constant scrolling so easy to verify the vsync is now working perfectly for most of the time:

 

Edited by johnparker007
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[ Community Drive ] The drive: http://tinyurl.com/yckze665
[ Fruit Machine Database ] Initial google sheets (WIP): https://tinyurl.com/2c5znxzz
[ 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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Research continues... as I'm unsure if I can reduce the CPU usage of the approach so far.  Only workaround will be to only display the live screen when the user's camera is looking at the cab (and maybe a little either side).  Then can turn off practically all of the arcade... not sure if that'd be great in VR though.

So another approach is scraping the window (like I do with MFME)... I'm seeing some desync that I'm not sure is fixable, but it's not terrible... there will be input issues to work out with this approach, it'll definitely have a little more input lag than the above approach.  But this uses hardly any CPU.  Unreal (completely different game engine) is much more suited to this task in a performant way, but that's basically out of the question!

Here's the scraping smoothness using Star Force attract again:


Nothing's ever easy lol :) 
 

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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
[ 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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Yet more ways found to skin this cat :)   Low CPU/GPU, low input lag, sync ok, but added a bit of audio latency.  Next need to get MAME core working with this, which may be tricky...

 

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[ Community Drive ] The drive: http://tinyurl.com/yckze665
[ Fruit Machine Database ] Initial google sheets (WIP): https://tinyurl.com/2c5znxzz
[ 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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And another way - I think I've cracked it now... this will allow an adjustable slider, so powerful PCs get smoothest scrolling... slower PCs slightly less smooth scrolling.  But this is via libretro, and set up so good audio latency, and good input lag... looking optimistic now for smooth scrolling in the Arcade! :D  

This video is on a 'medium' setting, so using a some CPU but not a crazy amount like before, and only very occasional micro-stutter:

And now it's gone 2:30am, must sleep - couldn't stop working on it though! :) 

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
[ 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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Well I've done a bit more since waking up, gotta stop now and get on with real life stuff - here is a new screen curvature effect, this one doesn't mangle the pixels, unlike the early test I did back on the Mortal Kombat videos (where columns/rows of pixels were being lost).

(note it's an extremely curved screem here, as I'm just showing off the new effect, it'll be toned down when I use it in Arcade Sim).

This is better than the shader as this also allows the curve to be visible from the side.  With a shader, the curvature is painted on a flat plane, so viewed from extreme side angles (like if you're watching someone else play stood to their side in multiplayer), the old version would look wrong.  So a win/win :) 

This is the same settings from 2:30 this morning using the new system, so CPU is between 16%ish to 21%ish (visible in the bottom left where I have the task manager showing this test as the top row).  Input lag is undetectable, feels very responsive, audio latency seems very minor.  And the stutter is in 'micro-stutter' territory, which I'm ok to compromise at - I'm happy this is the way forward now... no more experimental techniques! ;) 
 

 
A good example of the now non-mangled pixels with the new curvature effect can be seen in this frame here - every blue/grey alternating pixel in the checkerboard interior fill pattern is visible and correct:
image.png.766a5e714d3d582009b604f36080a396.png

(slightly fuzzy down to video compression, I grabbed this from the video recording - is cleaner when running live on your PC)

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
[ 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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Astonishing work!

11 hours ago, johnparker007 said:

and good input lag

Hmm, now you mention that, I'm getting very noticeable input lag in Arcade Simulator in general.  I hit the worst possible Bigshot the other day. 🤦🏻‍♂️
 

Tbh I thought that maybe this is to be expected with emulators running within unity, but now I'm thinking it might just be me.  I'm using a 4 year old iMac with a half decent GPU for the time but a 5k screen - It runs at a nice smooth frame rate, it's just the latency.  If low lag is achievable I should probably try changing the resolution for starters!

 

On 14/01/2022 at 10:35, Spidy21982 said:

Beautiful.  I played soooo much of this fruit bitd.

 

On 13/01/2022 at 13:55, johnparker007 said:

the 'Zipstick' came out, things got a lot better! :) 

Great stick.  I happen to have one of those sitting on a shelf right behind me.

065AFD21-09F2-45F6-B9EA-56A3D624B6C8.thumb.jpeg.d26bce8dc801a82afb161e55f8e8c483.jpeg

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18 minutes ago, pubjoe said:

Astonishing work!

Hmm, now you mention that, I'm getting very noticeable input lag in Arcade Simulator in general.  I hit the worst possible Bigshot the other day. 🤦🏻‍♂️
 

Tbh I thought that maybe this is to be expected with emulators running within unity, but now I'm thinking it might just be me.  I'm using a 4 year old iMac with a half decent GPU for the time but a 5k screen - It runs at a nice smooth frame rate, it's just the latency.  If low lag is achievable I should probably try changing the resolution for starters!

 

Beautiful.  I played soooo much of this fruit bitd.

 

Great stick.  I happen to have one of those sitting on a shelf right behind me.

065AFD21-09F2-45F6-B9EA-56A3D624B6C8.thumb.jpeg.d26bce8dc801a82afb161e55f8e8c483.jpeg

Yes there is something I need to do that will improve MFME input lag - you can manually try this for yourself, I think it should help.

So before you play a machine with 'skiilshots' etc - try disabling the 'V-Sync' setting in the Settings menu. 

"5k screen" - if the screen is doing some form of post processing upscaling, rather than rendering a native resolution 5k desktop that will add a little input lag... also if the monitor has any other post processing that will add lag (motion smoothing etc).

If you have a wireless keyboard - that would add some, in comparison to a wired USB (also if keyboard is plugged into hub, plugging keyboard direct into computer USB may help a little, if the hub is a cheapo one).

Another thing that will slightly compensate for lag is to disable 'Bulb ramp/decay setting'... so then a bulb will instantly be full on, rather than the filament slowly glowing up over a few frames.

A problem is how I have to work with MFME as the source code is lost, so I scrape the window, which makes me 1-2 60ths of a second behind.  This will be resolved when MAME FME support is added back in at some future point for a limited selection of older tech machines initially.

So - try all of those tips above, and hopefully your experience will be somewhat improved :) 

Haha I also have a retro shelf or two around the house - nice collection of nostalgia you have! :) 

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[ Community Drive ] The drive: http://tinyurl.com/yckze665
[ Fruit Machine Database ] Initial google sheets (WIP): https://tinyurl.com/2c5znxzz
[ 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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Thanks a lot for the tips.  I tried some of them which I think made an improvement but it's clearly a long way off from MFME standard.  Even a fast Choose a Trail or Random Stop with Cancel button is hard to react to.

The desktop is native 5k.  I will lower this when I get a go on my computer (Lad's hogging it atm 😒).  It will mean that monitor scaling is performed instead of 5k native but it's worth a try.

1 hour ago, johnparker007 said:

Haha I also have a retro shelf or two around the house - nice collection of nostalgia you have! :) 

Thank you.  I'd better not get started. 😬 I currently have an illness.  That shelf is just one pimple.

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I'd originally planned to just have a 'disable vsync when playing mfme' setting... But I probably need something that automatically changes everything to 'input lag reduction' profile... Will need more planning, for now those tips above are all I got! 

A fast 'choose a trail' should definitely be hittable I think with those settings above, so something else may be amiss... Though the mfme scraping does add some unavoidable lag.

Keep collecting the nostalgia! :)

 

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[ Community Drive ] The drive: http://tinyurl.com/yckze665
[ Fruit Machine Database ] Initial google sheets (WIP): https://tinyurl.com/2c5znxzz
[ 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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3 minutes ago, Spidy21982 said:

@johnparker007 here comes the jpm mk3 🙂

greetings spidy

mk3.jpg

mk3.zip 8.75 MB · 0 downloads

That looks absolutely fantastic man, a nice complement to your previous model :) on a bus right now, will be downloading in the next day or so when I'm back on AS dev - as always, thanks so very much for all of these cabinet models!  They will really take the Arcade Simulator to the next level :)

 

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[ Community Drive ] The drive: http://tinyurl.com/yckze665
[ Fruit Machine Database ] Initial google sheets (WIP): https://tinyurl.com/2c5znxzz
[ 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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PS I will ultimately use those various coin slot 3d models @Spidy21982they're looking really good... For now they are stripped out to keep the library growing with the existing 2d process, but it will be developed later - great work as always man :D

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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
[ 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 15/01/2022 at 15:17, johnparker007 said:

'Bulb ramp/decay setting'... so then a bulb will instantly be full on, rather than the filament slowly glowing up over a few frames.

Thank you.  I lowered resolution, checked settings and realised that I had left this on.  I turned it off and it was noticeably more responsive...  and still was after I tried popping the resolution back up.

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On 12/01/2022 at 17:41, johnparker007 said:

Rams will be server hosted (so if you go on a machine after it's been hammered, it won't be ready)... lots of core functionality to do first though, but there are plans for all this stuff :) 

Will you be selling hopper keys? :)

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7 minutes ago, pubjoe said:

Will you be selling hopper keys? :)

 

21 minutes ago, pubjoe said:

Thank you.  I lowered resolution, checked settings and realised that I had left this on.  I turned it off and it was noticeably more responsive...  and still was after I tried popping the resolution back up.

Glad to hear it helped! 

Lol not sure what ya mean re hopper keys..? :)

[ 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
[ 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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hi &johnparker007 just found a little issue when playing andy capp i got 2 nudges for blue 777 and was on number 12 so had jackpot went lower give me a 7 the machine froze for about 2 seconds then suddenly went to the feature board got number 3 and said 'oh no' lol dead wacky woman come from nowere all the way from jackpot and killed me lol

 

thanks

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1 hour ago, johnparker007 said:

Lol not sure what ya mean re hopper keys..? :)

Aka refill keys.  Check how full a machine is.  Good way to get chucked out of an arcade.

Not sure how useful these were after about year 2000 tbh.

It's a tongue-in-cheek question, but also it might genuinely be quite a fun and appropriate incentive to reward VIP donators / server contributors by unlocking the feature.  If it's even possible. 🤷🏻‍♂️

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1 hour ago, pubjoe said:

Aka refill keys.  Check how full a machine is.  Good way to get chucked out of an arcade.

Not sure how useful these were after about year 2000 tbh.

It's a tongue-in-cheek question, but also it might genuinely be quite a fun and appropriate incentive to reward VIP donators / server contributors by unlocking the feature.  If it's even possible. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Donations/contributions only pay towards the project costs, he’s not benefiting financially from his work.  

J

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