Arcade-Cab

[PrinceVlad]

Hey People....
I build an arcade-machine som time ago, and after the appearance of the first ever, as far as I know, Amiga-frontend, I decided to add the options of playing C64 and Amiga games on the system.
GameBase was easy enough to set up on the Arcade, and using CSS64 emulator, I could simply remap the joystick keys to the ones used by MAME, since the Frontend (GamesBase) does not interfere with the emulator's keymap settings. However, for the Amiga system I ran into trouble; the frontend only allows three keysets, as you alreday know, and none of them are identical to the MAME keyset. Thus, it is impossible to get any of my Arcade keys to act as the firebutton on Amiga games, and thus rendering the whole Amiga/Arcade-project impossible. A pity, since I can play any Arcade or C64 game on the system without any problems... and it is just one damn key!
Thus, I humbly suggest that you add the option to remap the buttons (which I can see others have suggested already), so that problems such as mine can be solved... I know that this may not be as important as compatibility issues and what have you, but surely a remap-feature is very easy to implement?
Otherwise, Lemonade is extremely professionally designed and created, so keep up the good work

[sittingduck]

Hi there.
I also built a cab recently for Mame and Lemonade. I'm using a reprogrammable keyboard encoder (I-PAC from Ultimarc) that is programmed with the right keys every time an emulator starts. However, this isn't necessary for what you want to do although it's very convenient.

Lemonade is actually just a Frontend for WinUAE, and WinUAE does have a feature for remapping keys. Granted, it isn't very intuitive to use but it is there (Input tab). Maybe do a search for how exactly it is done. Toni Wilen knows that it asn't all that good and maybe sometime he will change it to an easier system.

So what you need to do is make a custom configuration for your games and assign this configuration to all the games in Lemonade. A good way to do this would be to copy the configuration files from Lemonade's configuration folder - they're called A500, A600 etc. Then load them up in WinUAE, do your remapping of keys and save the configuration. Then import it into Lemonade and assign it to your games using the Set as Playable button.

Oh, and I'm from Denmark too

[PrinceVlad]

Yeah, I know you're from Denmark, dude, but don't tell.... We're not very popular at the momment

I'm not quite sure that I follow what you are saying... I also use I-PAC, but I'm not aware that it can be scripted to use different keysets. Is that what you mean with '..programmed with the right keys every time an emulator starts'? I have IPAC using the default keyset, since it obviously fits MAME. I have re-mapped two keys only, for RETURN and ESC, so that I can control the frontend 100% without a keyboard...

I know how to remap keys in WinUAE, but the frontend, Lemonade, overwrites these maps with it's own keysets, so I don't know how it should help remapping WinUAE...? and who is Toni Wilen ??

I'm not quite sure about your theory about the .dat-files either. I've already gone through all of them, but they don't contain (as far as I can see) any keyset configurations.....? They just holds variables for mouse speed, deadzones and such.... Am I wrong?
And once again, even if I change the keysets within the actual emulator (UAE), Lemonade would just overwrite these..... right?

Hvor i landet bor du?

[sittingduck]

Just using the built in config of the Ipac is just a waste. It's programming ability is what makes it so good - and its friggin' easy too! Here's what to do: Go to http://www.ultimarc.com/download.html and find the right software depending on how old your Ipac is. Then use the panel designer to make a "picture" of your control panel - see the picture on top of the webpage. Then save this layout. Now, you can assign keys to this picture for every emulator you want to find. So you can program the ipac to use the exact same keys that Lemonade uses for joysticks. And another for Mame. You can make a small batch script to execute an automatic programming of the correct set of keys everytime you start Lemonade, Mame, CCS64 etc. Or you can use Ultimarcs small frontend to execute these different emulators with the appropriate key configs. The Launcher program isn't on the website but I'll mail it to you if you want to see what it looks like. Very easy to setup and use.

This is what I'm doing on my cab and it works flawlessly with both Lemonade and Mame.

And no, we're not popular these days. But then again, hunting for popularity never got anybody nowhere...

Toni Wilen is the guy who programs WinUAE.

About the dats: No there's probably nothing in them regarding specific keys. That's why you have to do it like this: Copy one of these files. Then open it using notepad. Then save it with a *.uae ending. Then load up this config in WinUAE. Make your key changes and save the config from within WinUAE. Then import it into Lemonade. If Lemonade does indeed ignore the key configs it would be a waste of time, but I'm not sure it does, when they're actually defined in a config. I will check and get back to you.

Edit: I have now checked, and youre right; this can't be done the way described above. Guess you'll have to go the Ipac programming route or wait for a version of Lemonade that's more configurable controllerwise. Although I'm still pretty sure that the above procedure would actually work for somebody really good a configuring WinUAE. There's just too many options available that I'm not quite sure of.

Jeg bor i Århus.

[PrinceVlad]

Ok, so the DAT-thing won't work.... but thanks for trying it out, I've never actually tried it myself, just asumed from what I've read that it would not be possible. But now I know

However, the programming ability that you mention is very interesting.... I'll definitely try it out! I already have ultimarc, that's what I've been using to add RETURN + ESC keys. But, apparently I've not played around with it enough
I don't have, nor do I know about, the launcher program that you speak of.... I'd like to check it out.... were did you get it from, if it's not on the webpage?

I'll drop you a PM with my email/Messenger, but perhaps we should continue the main discussion here, so that others (?) may benefit from it/participate in it...? We can't be the only two guys in the world running Lemonade on an Arcade.....

[PrinceVlad]

One other thing that I thought about... Since every system Frontend that I run, except for Lemonade, is reprogrammable, it would be posible to reprogram IPAC to the keys used by Lemonade, and the reprogram C64 GameBase and MAME to use those keysets.... in that way, only one configuration would be necessary

[LeeT]

You should contact Darran Jones at Retro Gamer magazine about this, as I would love to see an article in the magazine about building something like this.

His email is: retrogamer@imagine-publishing.co.uk
_________________
www.lemon64.com - For all C64 fans!
http://compilation64.5gigs.com -
Details of Compilations released for the C64.

[PrinceVlad]

Yessir (LeeT), I will definitely do that. I'll write and present the project.

Sitting Duck : You, sir, are a genius and a gentleman! I've installed the Launcher, and you're right... it's a whole new world of opportunities for Arcade/C64/Amiga Emulation! Thankyou very much... I'll be back with a repport when I've finished assigning Amiga-controls to the different buttons...... I'm currently thinking, that assigning FIRE, SPACE and RETURN to the three main buttons would cover controls for most Amiga Games, and leave only the problem of controlling the mouse via the aracade controls...... Thoughts on this are most welcome.

[sittingduck]

Thanks, Prince - it was nice talking to you. Glad you're having succes with this. Actually I might have one more thing for you to try. In Windows the mouse can actually be controlled from the numeric keyboard using "Hjælp for handicappede" - support for disabled. This is in control panel. Maybe this could work for you by mapping these keys to your second joystick. However, I am not sure if this would work after launching Lemonade but it's worth the shot. I'll try this myself tomorrow because now it is super bowl time!

[sittingduck]

Ok, although using the numeric keyboard to control the mouse in Windows works, it doesn't work when Lemonade starts. The mouse is still needed here. However, if pressing F12 when runnning Lemonade you can actually get the mouse to register moving around in the game window when it is not active. But whenever activating it by pressing the mouse button when over it, the numeric keypads lose their function again. Too bad. Don't think there's anything to do about this.

[PrinceVlad]

Well, that's allright... The idea is good, but I think that in reality, the num.keys are useless, even when they do simulate the mouse. I would take out the mouse and use it each time I needed it, since this would be easier than trying to navigate with the keys.
I think that the only real good solution is to attach a second controller area, on the side of the frame, perhaps, and to then build into it a touchpad and a keyboard.... for instance, from an old Laptop. I know that they would have to be rewired, but I bet I can do that..... well, maybe I can.... I'm certainly going to try

[Nevada]

hi guys, this is my first post...

first of all i'd like to thank robert for this great piece of software and kim for the cool website! i think we were missing a frontend for the amiga computer!

i posted here 'cause i'm very interested in this kind of emulation; i also got a cab and i'm using winxp, ipac and mamewah for different emulators, and i wanted to add amiga emulation. just thinkin' how i can figure it out...

[PrinceVlad]

[sittingduck]

Nevada,
if you want to run Amiga games using Mamewah you have to make a WinUAE config file for each game. And then you use Mamewah to launch the configuration file which in turn launches Winuae. So in this case Lemonade wouldn't be of any use to you. And keep in mind that there's no way around changing disks when emulating an Amiga (at least not yet, unless you use whdload or wait for an upcoming version of Lemonade). So unless you exclusively run 1, 2, 3, and 4 disk games that don't need disk changing and support an appropriate number of drives you're still bound to break up the gaming experience with disk changing.

What I'm doing is using both Lemonade and Mamewah. I don't mind that my arcade uses different emulators and frontends although it doesn't look as neat as using just one frontend for everything. As long as it works, I'm happy. I'm using the Launcher program (PrinceVlad can fill you in on this) to keep everything easy to use.

Good luck.

Oh, and have a look here: http://home.comcast.net/~cpviewer/downloads.htm

This guy runs just about every emulator in his cab and he's got some useful downloads on his website. Including stuff for Amiga.

[PrinceVlad]