Development Updates

[johnparker007]

52 minutes ago, slasher said:

Looks proper sexy that does! Are you able to zoom in further than you have in the videos with the mouse scroll wheel or similar?

I have considered a feature like that - at the moment it's essentially always in 'walking around' control mode.  The plan is to add an 'playing machine' control mode. 

So when you are walking around, you look at a machine, press enter/zero, and it will engage the machine.  It'll automatically move you into a preset ideal viewing spot in front of the machine.  Now walking controls won't function (you are locked in place). 

In this 'playing machine' mode, the mouse pointer will appear, allowing for clicking on buttons on the machine (with left mouse click).   Hovering over a button will change mouse pointer to a finger (similar to MFME).  Holding right mouse button down will change mouse pointer to an 'eye' icon with arrows - while right mouse is held down, moving the mouse will control the freelook camera, same as the 'walking around' mode.  Another option might be to have camera move if user moves mouse pointer to edge of screen... not sure yet, will see what feels most intuitive.  Plan was to do some form of zoom in/out with the mouse scroll wheel.

Of course it'll be more worth zooming if/when I can work out how to do streaming AI upscaled textures (8-16k per glass panel), there were some demos of this tech investigation I did on another thread on this forum  Long way off before I can work on that AI upscale streaming stuff though, still tons of basic functionality to do...

Edited January 12, 2021 by johnparker007

[johnparker007]

Quick update  Dot matrix alpha displays very nearly done now (just a minor scaling touch up left to do).  Had a bloomin' power cut part way through fast re-converting the batch - which made Monopoly Road To Riches come out looking a bit weird so I left it in for fun. 

Here's 5 working anyway, sourced from MFME DotAlphas and MFME MatrixAlphas... starting the Seven Segment displays next  

 

[slasher]

I'm sure if you set up a go fund me for your electric bill we can chip in mate.

Looking great as usual 

[Zippy]

7 minutes ago, slasher said:

I'm sure if you set up a go fund me for your electric bill we can chip in mate.

Looking great as usual 

Like what we did with Tony and I couldn't agree more after all look where this is taking us. Should be set up here and be called Pesos for Parker, I'd sling a few quid over in a heartbeat.

Edited January 13, 2021 by Big J

[Tommy c]

Great progress, nice one.

[johnparker007]

9 hours ago, Big J said:

Like what we did with Tony and I couldn't agree more after all look where this is taking us. Should be set up here and be called Pesos for Parker, I'd sling a few quid over in a heartbeat.

I'd not want any funds for myself personally, but some funds to help with the mainly FME-specific costs could be useful  
I could set up a separate Paypal account or something, as I already use that... I bought the Eclipse cabinet 3d model, and some other bits.  If I can't get a good voluntary 3d artist on board to help with making the 3d cabinet model templates, I may pay one to make the required cabinet starter templates that I can then tweak in 3ds Max to make all the cabinet variants we need (as it'll cost me a lot of time to learn Max to the level to build good template models myself). Plus potentially other costs to do with running Amazon / Photon servers to make all the online magic work...

I'll stick it on the Todo list and sort something out - is GoFundMe the preferred platform for this sort of thing?

Cheers for the offer of financial help with the costs folks, it's appreciated  
  

Edited January 14, 2021 by johnparker007

[slasher]

I was poking fun at your power cut but yes definitely set something up for resources. Shouldn't have to come out of your own pocket.

Go fund me probably take a massive cut, might be best just sharing a PayPal address

[johnparker007]

19 minutes ago, slasher said:

I was poking fun at your power cut but yes definitely set something up for resources. Shouldn't have to come out of your own pocket.

Go fund me probably take a massive cut, might be best just sharing a PayPal address

Lol yeah it wasn't me running out of electric tokens, though I have used those many years ago, and it was a right pain if they ran out at night when the shop was closed!  They're doing some works and managed to knock out about 200 houses for a few hours - put a sudden stop to my FME work  

Cool - I'll update my Todo list and get a dedicated Paypal account set up, like you say, no point in wasting money on fees  

[johnparker007]

May be taking a couple of days away from this, as two very talented MAME devs (Haze and Agemame) are now looking at FME - so I will be helping out with MFME2MAME/other tech stuff on that project where I can.

Here's one of their WIP videos getting a 'new' (to MAME) tech working:
 

 

 

Edited January 14, 2021 by johnparker007

[dad]

Haze was very active on the FME forums a few years ago, then for some unknown reason he dissapeared into the wilderness.

I stll keep tabs on what he's up to though, and I saw he was looking at FME again.

[johnparker007]

11 minutes ago, dad said:

Haze was very active on the FME forums a few years ago, then for some unknown reason he dissapeared into the wilderness.

I stll keep tabs on what he's up to though, and I saw he was looking at FME again.

He's a busy man in the emulation scene - I know he's been working on a lot of cheap handhelds recently, he just loves emulating random hardware platforms!  

[Amusements]

32 minutes ago, johnparker007 said:

He's a busy man in the emulation scene - I know he's been working on a lot of cheap handhelds recently, he just loves emulating random hardware platforms!  

Does that mean something like MPU1 or even Summit Coin could be possible to emulate in the future?

[johnparker007]

24 minutes ago, Amusements said:

Does that mean something like MPU1 or even Summit Coin could be possible to emulate in the future?

I'm not sure offhand, if it's electronic hardware it will be possible - though I think these guys are just focussing on getting existing techs booting for the mo (not taking into account config stuff).

Just checked, the old mfme2mame converted classic layout of the above machine in action in MAME:

 

[Mort]

I do love what you are doing here John with the 3d arcade, but I have to say that for many of us in this scene Haze caused a shitstorm which ultimately left, in my own opinion, us all in the dumps for some time.

Haze came on the scene, all the ROMs collected by this scene over the years he grabbed and sorted and put into Mame, and then he disappeared. Along the way there was arguments about MFME using components of MAME for some CPU cores which ultimately resulted in MFME being pulled and no new versions of anything for years.

I have to say I was impressed with Haze in the beginning and it looked like a new lease of life for FME at that time, but it promised so much and delivered nothing but a dead scene in my view.

If it was not for MFME being released again after some time we would never have moved on forward again. I maybe the ignorant and uninformed here but FME in MAME has been looked at for years but without someone who actually cares and has passion about the machines and is willing to build upon the emulation provided by MAME with regard to graphics, design tools, interface elements then it will never progress.

Sorry to sound negative, and I hope it works out for you as you do seem to be genuinely interested in FME and actually have produced something in the 3d arcade which is very special indeed.

Edited January 14, 2021 by Mort

[johnparker007]

Fair enough man   I try to stay out of any scene politics (whatever the scene; ZX Spectrum, Amiga... they all have the hero coders and the villains!).

I will keep working on the 3d arcade, and provide support where I can to James and David with their current work on improving MAME's compatibility.

[slasher]

Despite history, I don't think we should be alienating ourselves from the MAME scene either, so if we can help then despite histories, we probably should do.

[Zippy]

7 hours ago, slasher said:

Go fund me probably take a massive cut, might be best just sharing a PayPal address

That is just long, rather do it the quick, easy and free way.

Send your bank deets @johnparker007 and I'll chuck something over, at least get a bottle for yourself to keep you motivated and warm on these fucking cold nights.

[johnparker007]

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.

[Zippy]

5 minutes ago, johnparker007 said:

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.

Can't quite see it but on a search is that Halifax Birmingham?

[johnparker007]

42 minutes ago, Big J said:

Can't quite see it but on a search is that Halifax Birmingham?

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  

[Reg]

14 hours ago, johnparker007 said:

I'd not want any funds for myself personally, but some funds to help with the mainly FME-specific costs could be useful

I dug deep for ya !

Good luck.  Promise on myside upheld.

[johnparker007]

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...

[Tommy c]

Good to see you replaced the glass which was missing on the last vid, bet that cost a few bob to fix  Awesome vid again.

[johnparker007]

7 hours ago, Tommy c said:

Good to see you replaced the glass which was missing on the last vid, bet that cost a few bob to fix  Awesome vid again.

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

[Amusements]

Wow! That's really coming along nicely:)

I can just imagine rows of 80s machines flashing away.

I was just thinking, if this can randomise what MFME layout goes where, we could have multiple copies of our favorite games, and never know if what we are playing is due or not. That would add some extra spice.