Development Updates

[niallquinn]

Typical, walked in, "you're barred", out I came.  Didn't even get a cup of coffee with the powered milk in the bottom, and the scalding hot coffee on top of it, a chance on the Bingo to win £1 in tokens, or the meat paste sandwiches brought out at lunchtime with the curled up corners.  Or to listen to countless tales of the usual bollocks by people, with a commerical DAB radio in the background.

Pah.

I'll try again later, when there's no staff about, wearing a groucho style moustache, eyebrows and glasses to fool them - and it would have back in the day.

 

Edited September 9, 2021 by niallquinn

[johnparker007]

7 hours ago, niallquinn said:

Typical, walked in, "you're barred", out I came.  Didn't even get a cup of coffee with the powered milk in the bottom, and the scalding hot coffee on top of it, a chance on the Bingo to win £1 in tokens, or the meat paste sandwiches brought out at lunchtime with the curled up corners.  Or to listen to countless tales of the usual bollocks by people, with a commerical DAB radio in the background.

Pah.

I'll try again later, when there's no staff about, wearing a groucho style moustache, eyebrows and glasses to fool them - and it would have back in the day.

 

A colourful tale indeed @niallquinn!  

Ok, so if you're saying that last night it wouldn't load up properly... it can happen if either the arcadesimulator.net server or the desertislandfruits.com server is having a wobble.

Down the line I do plan to do further work to mitigate this, so it does a 'sanity' check on the two servers, before launching into the full patch update startup procedure... so if either is not responding to a simple test download of a tiny test text file, then it'll pop up a message:

"xxxxxxxx.com server isn't responding as expected, continue in offline mode?"

Which will allow the user to load Arcade Sim as if their computer is completely offline (which already works, if you have absolutely no internet connection it should load every time).


I've just given it a try this morning and it's loading up ok for me so please do let me know if you are still having problems loading up  

[Chopaholic]

Thanks John more wonderful work on this project  Video from me on this, sorry it's a bit of two things in one but my head's a bit all over the place at the moment.

Thanks once again for the time and effort you put into this.

 

[Andyrmac476]

@johnparker007

I just wanted to thank you for all of the work you have put into this project and the amazing result you have produced. I am sure along with so many others i am having hours of fun exploring this concept. 

Thanks again. 

[johnparker007]

21 hours ago, Chopaholic said:

Thanks John more wonderful work on this project  Video from me on this, sorry it's a bit of two things in one but my head's a bit all over the place at the moment.

Thanks once again for the time and effort you put into this.

 

I have just watched your video, my thoughts are with you, Mrs Degsy, your friend, and all touched by this recent loss x

Thank you for another lovely video about Arcade Simulator, and noticing various features I'm putting in to try improve it Feel free to reach out for any questions about features/future plans/etc for the project, as this thread has gotten kinda long, there's a lot to wade through, and some earlier info will already be out of date as I find new improvements.

Edited September 11, 2021 by johnparker007

[Chopaholic]

Thanks John I was wanting to find a straightforward 'good news item' as it were to put something positive and uplifting into the video whilst also explaining why there'd been nothing new on the channel for 11 days, but also not stretch myself too much in terms of doing a method or an online slots session or something like that (which really isn't in me at the moment), so I hope you don't mind me featuring the update to Arcade Simulator in the video as an entirely positive development in the context of what's a very sad time with us here at the moment.

I will parse this thread and get as much information as I can out of it, and then I will reach out to you for some specifics and some more personal input from yourself if that's OK, to try and do my little bit to give your work the credit it deserves.

I still feel really sad about the loss of Chris, I have three instances of MFME running on my PC at this moment in time (currently the DAD Star Wars collection as all three of them run side by side on a 4K monitor), just because I like to see fruit machine emulation 'in action' and I still find it magical every single day, and seeing the work you've done with Arcade Simulator is incredible, whilst also acknowledging the brilliance of Chris and what he did with MFME.

If you walked way from this today I would simply thank you for all you have already done, but I would also be thrilled to see what you can achieve in the future.

[serene02]

@Chopaholic Just echoing what JP said.  Sorry to hear of your friends loss Al.  I kind of felt weird liking the video.  Take care bud.

J

[johnparker007]

1 hour ago, Chopaholic said:

Thanks John I was wanting to find a straightforward 'good news item' as it were to put something positive and uplifting into the video whilst also explaining why there'd been nothing new on the channel for 11 days, but also not stretch myself too much in terms of doing a method or an online slots session or something like that (which really isn't in me at the moment), so I hope you don't mind me featuring the update to Arcade Simulator in the video as an entirely positive development in the context of what's a very sad time with us here at the moment.

I will parse this thread and get as much information as I can out of it, and then I will reach out to you for some specifics and some more personal input from yourself if that's OK, to try and do my little bit to give your work the credit it deserves.

I still feel really sad about the loss of Chris, I have three instances of MFME running on my PC at this moment in time (currently the DAD Star Wars collection as all three of them run side by side on a 4K monitor), just because I like to see fruit machine emulation 'in action' and I still find it magical every single day, and seeing the work you've done with Arcade Simulator is incredible, whilst also acknowledging the brilliance of Chris and what he did with MFME.

If you walked way from this today I would simply thank you for all you have already done, but I would also be thrilled to see what you can achieve in the future.

Echoing what I commented on your youtube channel, you take all the time you need to get through this, we're all here with you man... and any questions, feel free to reach out  

[jono3000]

saw a video on this but doesnt run on my laptop saying i dont have the right things

[serene02]

I’d argue that AS will only run well on a gaming laptop.  It’s all about the GPU, if your laptop doesn’t have a discrete GPU then AS will either not run at all or suffer from poor frame rates.

J

 

[serene02]

32 minutes ago, jono3000 said:

saw a video on this but doesnt run on my laptop saying i dont have the right things

Spec details would be handy but AS scans for the required hardware to run, it sounds like you are running a low end laptop unfortunately.

J

[dad]

Runs fine on my 4 year old system.....Running Windows 11 Home Edition...

Dell Inspiron 5577 Laptop
    
Processor. Intel Core i5 7th Gen 7300HQ.
Memory. RAM. 8GB.
Graphics Processor. Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050.

Can't wait to fill my own arcade up with some lo-tech goodies   Incidentally, not sure if I mentioned to@johnparker007that he's free to add any of my layouts if he wants.

[serene02]

I’d class that as a gaming laptop to be fair  Strong CPU combined with the GTX 1050 is more than capable for 1080 gaming.

J

[Chopaholic]

Yes as per the video I did a couple of weeks ago, the key factor seems to be having a proper discrete GPU, even a relatively old one will do the job. Mrs Chopley's old PC which got repurposed as a media centre/MAME/Pinball Arcade PC for the big telly has a 2GB GTX960 in it, which was only a midrange card even in its day, and that pushes AS around perfectly at 1080p.

Once you get into the realm of integrated graphics (which a lot of laptops/all-in-ones have), AS will either run poorly, or not at all depending on the feature set it supports. (As I found out in the video trying it on a modern laptop that uses Intel integrated graphics.)

The good news is AS doesn't need much horsepower to run well, but you will want to be getting out of the realm of integrated graphics.

So in DAD's example above, a GTX1050 is plenty good enough for the task.

[johnparker007]

3 hours ago, jono3000 said:

saw a video on this but doesnt run on my laptop saying i dont have the right things

Sorry to hear that bud - unfortunately it is just as the guys above have said, your integrated graphics hardware isn't up to the task, there is no workaround/fix for this.
 

2 hours ago, dad said:

Runs fine on my 4 year old system.....Running Windows 11 Home Edition...

Dell Inspiron 5577 Laptop
    
Processor. Intel Core i5 7th Gen 7300HQ.
Memory. RAM. 8GB.
Graphics Processor. Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050.

Can't wait to fill my own arcade up with some lo-tech goodies   Incidentally, not sure if I mentioned to@johnparker007that he's free to add any of my layouts if he wants.

Glad to hear it's working well on your set up - the Arcade Editor feature will be getting worked on, and available further down the line, along with other fruit machines in other cabinets  

Many thanks for permission to use your layouts, much appreciated  

[woodsy]

Yeah it’s a big BOO for integrated cheap laptop owners like myself!! What I’d really benefit from is some eBay examples of what I want for the low low price of Around 100-150 quid ideally as I’m literally skint!

[serene02]

41 minutes ago, woodsy said:

Yeah it’s a big BOO for integrated cheap laptop owners like myself!! What I’d really benefit from is some eBay examples of what I want for the low low price of Around 100-150 quid ideally as I’m literally skint!

You will struggle to get anything decent enough to run AS in that price bracket unfortunately.  Though you have options, maybe a second user desktop and buy a second user GTX based card.  We've seen a GTX960 is more than capable. You'll easily get one for £95 - £125 price range, GPU only.

I'll check the GPU in my mame cab to see how AS performs.  It's a very low end discrete card so I don't expect it to perform that good.

J

[cja272]

It runs for me (laptop does get very hot) using most of the memory etc with the looks of it so going to upgrade soon 

[serene02]

@johnparker007 Hey dude, can you add a toggle for FPS?   
 

@cja272 That’s good to know at least.  You are running a fairly recent CPU with UHD Intel graphics.  Good to know though

[woodsy]

52 minutes ago, serene02 said:

@johnparker007 Hey dude, can you add a toggle for FPS?   
 

@cja272 That’s good to know at least.  You are running a fairly recent CPU with UHD Intel graphics.  Good to know though

I could do a klarna deal, so it'd be a brand new laptop in the 300 to 330 quid area.. would that suffice?? what specs do i need? ram UHD graphics card?? any suggestions seen on amazom etc would really help as totally clueless

[MrPillze]

Finally took the plunge and had a play around with this. first impressions are WOW, really well done, things seem to run as they should so far. really interested as to where you take this    one thing is there a way i can unlock the framerate in the room? id like to pump it up to 144 or find away for gsync to do its work. i guess you are probably making things to run as best as they can for everyone but maybe there could be a option or two for people with powerful gfx cards,   TOP BANANA you got skills my friend.

[cja272]

3 hours ago, johnparker007 said:

the Arcade Editor feature will be getting worked on, and available further down the line, along with other fruit machines in other cabinets  

 

Any line up machines going to added please??? 

[serene02]

1 hour ago, woodsy said:

I could do a klarna deal, so it'd be a brand new laptop in the 300 to 330 quid area.. would that suffice?? what specs do i need? ram UHD graphics card?? any suggestions seen on amazom etc would really help as totally clueless

I couldn’t advise you, I don’t know what kind of user experience you’d get from the UHD Intel graphics, I imagine it struggles somewhat.  I’d go for a laptop with a GTX 1650 if you are buying new.

You’d be looking at double your budget I’d say personally but I wouldn’t like to tell to get any specific one personally just in case.

J

[woodsy]

26 minutes ago, serene02 said:

I couldn’t advise you, I don’t know what kind of user experience you’d get from the UHD Intel graphics, I imagine it struggles somewhat.  I’d go for a laptop with a GTX 1650 if you are buying new.

You’d be looking at double your budget I’d say personally but I wouldn’t like to tell to get any specific one personally just in case.

J

That’s cool I hear you, just knowing my arse from elbow would suffice!! When the time comes if you don’t mind I’ll share a few ideas I’ve seen with you

[johnparker007]

6 hours ago, serene02 said:

@johnparker007 Hey dude, can you add a toggle for FPS?   
 

@cja272 That’s good to know at least.  You are running a fairly recent CPU with UHD Intel graphics.  Good to know though

Sure thing, I'll add a toggleable FPS display to the backlog   Also, thanks for helping advise people about the graphics hardware options, I'm really out of touch with that sort of stuff these days!  

5 hours ago, MrPillze said:

Finally took the plunge and had a play around with this. first impressions are WOW, really well done, things seem to run as they should so far. really interested as to where you take this    one thing is there a way i can unlock the framerate in the room? id like to pump it up to 144 or find away for gsync to do its work. i guess you are probably making things to run as best as they can for everyone but maybe there could be a option or two for people with powerful gfx cards,   TOP BANANA you got skills my friend.

Glad it's working well for you   I'll add unlockable/gsync type framerate to the backlog - though I don't have a gsync type monitor to test so you might be the guinea pig for trying it out when it goes in, I've made a note of your username on the task.

4 hours ago, cja272 said:

Any line up machines going to added please??? 

At some point - as I do have the cabinet already made for that (the one that Smash & Grab is in).  I'm currently working on Eclipse cab machines (and then I have some other biggish tasks to do after the next patch)... so it'll be a while but not too long, maybe in a month or two