Alphamame - question for mahlemiut and others

kranser · Post by **kranser** » Mon Mar 03, 2003 8:04 am

What do you all think of the suggestion mentioned in the recent 'Camel Try' topic that maybe ALPHAMAME should not allow accessing the TAB menu and/or config options during gameplay [after insertion of credit / 1Player start pushed?] (so that the controller sensitivity cannot be changed during gameplay)?

Regards,
Kranser.

LN2 · Post by **LN2** » Mon Mar 03, 2003 8:28 am

kranser, actually it could be a thing just like how the pause is disabled for "official" recordings. If you are officially recording then accessing that area could be totally disabled like pause is. If you want to change the cfg then do it in a previous game not recording beforehand to get the settings and sensitivities to your liking.

I like the idea....whoever suggested it.

I just wish we had an alphamame type thing on macs...maybe someday.
Even then it would have it's own encryption routine so still would need others using macs to verify the inp even if the inp is cross-platform compatible cuz the platform specific encryption. Cuz of this having an alphamame for macos really wouldn't help much. I still wouldn't be able to participate in events like T6.

kranser · Post by **kranser** » Mon Mar 03, 2003 8:34 am

Well, I agree disabling the config area totally for offical recordings would be easier to add into Alphamame. But, wouldn't you need to send in your CFG and/or Nvram files for the recordings to playback (something that isn't acceptable in MARP)?

Kranser.

LN2 · Post by **LN2** » Mon Mar 03, 2003 9:33 am

It's not a problem cuz you don't need the cfg files for the inps to playback correctly now....so why would you need them if you make it so you can't change the cfg during the gameplay? Those types of changes aren't saved to the inp anyway.

It's just disabling a shortcut key function similar to how the pause key is disabled. Nothing about the actual game emulation or inp file is changed. It's a front end limitation you are adding there to disable the key for the config screen within the game emulation when recording.

kranser · Post by **kranser** » Mon Mar 03, 2003 9:39 am

Ah, now I see. So the controller settings in the CFG file are just related to how your game plays on your machine - not how it is recorded.

Thanks for clearing that one up.

Kranser.

kranser · Post by **kranser** » Tue Mar 04, 2003 7:46 am

Just stopping the control config from being adjustable within a recording should solve the problem, but if ALPHAMAME were to go a step further and disallow the TAB button, then this would have to be only after a game (1P) has started, as some games (i.e. gng) require special Dip Switch settings to be set first!

But, as disabling TAB hasn't been suggested yet, I don't think there's a need to go for this, is there?

Kranser.

Francois Daniel · Post by **Francois Daniel** » Tue Mar 04, 2003 7:53 am

kranser wrote:Just stopping the control config from being adjustable within a recording should solve the problem, but if ALPHAMAME were to go a step further and disallow the TAB button, then this would have to be only after a game (1P) has started, as some games (i.e. gng) require special Dip Switch settings to be set first!

But, as disabling TAB hasn't been suggested yet, I don't think there's a need to go for this, is there?

Kranser.

I agree for this idea too. And if alphamame use it one day don't worry, I bet my shirt it's only after a game has started. Because for tournament, there many special rules where we must change settings.

Francois

Zwaxy · Post by **Zwaxy** » Tue Mar 04, 2003 10:03 am

You can change whatever settings you like in a previous game and they will be remembered. Disabling the TAB key altogether when recording doesn't sound like a bad idea. Any settings which affect emulation (such as the dip switch settings) are stored in the inp, because MAME treats them as inputs, just like the joystick and fire buttons are inputs so there's no need to submit .cfg files.

kranser · Post by **kranser** » Tue Mar 04, 2003 10:15 am

Thanks for clearing that up Zwaxy, I thought that the Dip switch settings were stored in nvRAM, not the cfg file! (but of course, it's the High scores that are stored in nvRAM!).

Kranser.

Zwaxy · Post by **Zwaxy** » Tue Mar 04, 2003 11:34 am

It's possible to change dipswitches lots of times part way through a game, so using NVRAM wouldn't record what changed, and when. Keeping it in the .inp file means that every single change is recorded accurately.

On the downside, last time I looked, every dipswitch position is stored in the .inp file for every frame of the recording. This is a huge waste of diskspace, and is part of the reason that .inp files zip up so well.

piot · Post by **piot** » Tue Mar 04, 2003 11:38 am

Francois Daniel wrote:for tournament, there many special rules where we must change settings.

Francois

Where is the probleme with just disabled tab key ? No need of it during the game at all ! Settings can be changed directly in the cfg file if you use command line to start the game or throw your frontend API (like emuloader...).

Post by **mahlemiut** » Tue Mar 04, 2003 2:41 pm

kranser wrote:Thanks for clearing that up Zwaxy, I thought that the Dip switch settings were stored in nvRAM, not the cfg file! (but of course, it's the High scores that are stored in nvRAM!).

DIP switch settings are stored in the .cfg. As they are implemented in MAME as input ports, like joysticks and buttons, they are also in each frame of an INP, which is effectively just a log of said input ports. Not all games use DIP switches, of course, some games will use NVRAM to store game settings, and other stuff. These games have NO or very few DIP switches.

It's just important to know that there's a difference. Neo Geo games calling game settings "Soft DIPs" doesn't help.

Haze · Post by **Haze** » Wed Mar 05, 2003 3:30 pm

just treat such cases like autofire, an abuse of controller / controller options, its quite obvious anyway.

LN2 · Post by **LN2** » Wed Mar 05, 2003 5:36 pm

piot wrote:Where is the probleme with just disabled tab key ? No need of it during the game at all ! Settings can be changed directly in the cfg file if you use command line to start the game or throw your frontend API (like emuloader...).

uhh, I don't think there is a front-end method for assigning the input configuration like customizing what keys are what commands or setting sensitivity for analog controls in analog games.

You would still need to enter that cfg for that. You also would need to enter it for the game's dip switch settings. I don't think you can set those in the command line or mame32 front-end either.

Maybe there is a special build that can do that or you use an advanced option for setting that stuff....not a part of the standard mame builds I have seen though.

It's very easy to just handle it like pausing. You can pause while not recording in alphamame I think....it's just disabled when recording. That's al that's needed for entering the cfg area. You can't just set it to "tab" either. It needs to be the cfg area itself...like pause is. ...cuz a user can easily change what key triggers those in the overall config area.