I see the new post about screenshots.
Why not allow the inp submitter to upload a gameplay screenshot with the inp? I believe you can make a snap during playback (correct me if I'm wrong)
The server could extract the screenshot from the zip and resize it appropriately for the preview screenshot.
This way you would be helping to produce a good collection of screenshots for each game (stored in the zips) and the screenshots would also represent the current emulation status of the game, rather than in some cases being out of date (missing backgronds, wrong colours etc.) If no screenshot was present a default one could be used, as is the case now.
You could extend this to allow people to upload a gamename_hiscore.png which shows the hi-score table / screen with the score they got on, again within the zips. (again optional, but some people may wish to do this)
Also, we're trying to stomp out illegal builds of MAME, I don't think recordings made with builds such as mame32k should be accepted. We don't wish to encourage these, nor have people require them for any reason.
Screenshots + more..
Moderators: mahlemiut, seymour, QRS
Re: Screenshots + more..
What do you mean by "illegal", and what methods are you using to try to "stomp them out"?Haze wrote:...we're trying to stomp out illegal builds of MAME...
If by "illegal" you mean in violation of the MAME license, I believe the people responsible for the derivative build you mention claim that they are not in violation. Has the matter been adjudicated in a legal forum somewhere?Haze wrote:...such as mame32k...
Come to think of it, I can't really believe anybody responsible for MAME wants to see the inside of a courtroom.
John Cunningham (JTC)
definitley possible, and something i was always considering. That way each inp could have their own screenshot (what it would 90% of the time turn out to be would be finishing screens with final scores), but i'd rather see a shot of action that describes the game play and identifying the game so people searching could recognize the game by the shot rather than by the finishing screen, thus i hadn't really asked zwaxy to try this yet.
Perhaps if we had another html column for a personalized gameshot...? I'd also be concerened about people or spambots who submit non gameplay shots which would need to be edited. But, then there's the problem of the shots submited by players not being all the same size screwing up the html columns if displayed on the page. So, it would have to be shrunk to a standard size (messing up the aspect ratio, the resizing that makes marp thumbnails looks good can't happen on the servers) that would have to be a popup link to show the image in the zip, but then you could just as easily download the zip and see the personal shot yourself. Not sure there's a trivial solution to the personalized shot.
Note: there are a lot of shots that need fixing that i haven't gotten to. If you simply want a better shot for a game, ask and ye shal receive.
Perhaps if we had another html column for a personalized gameshot...? I'd also be concerened about people or spambots who submit non gameplay shots which would need to be edited. But, then there's the problem of the shots submited by players not being all the same size screwing up the html columns if displayed on the page. So, it would have to be shrunk to a standard size (messing up the aspect ratio, the resizing that makes marp thumbnails looks good can't happen on the servers) that would have to be a popup link to show the image in the zip, but then you could just as easily download the zip and see the personal shot yourself. Not sure there's a trivial solution to the personalized shot.
Note: there are a lot of shots that need fixing that i haven't gotten to. If you simply want a better shot for a game, ask and ye shal receive.
-skito
'Illegal' as in violate the Mame license. This is pretty clear cut, the netplay builds which link to / are distributed with / rely on a closed source netplay library do.
Stomp out as in asking sites hosting them to remove the files, some listen, some don't.
We'd love to see some of these chinese bootleggers making 1000-in-1 boards out of MAME in court, but its practically impossible. We wamt to support the industry, not destroy it by having everywhere replace their arcades with pirated multi-game MAME based machines.
Screenshots idea, well the 'always show the ending shot' problem is why I suggested having 2 shots, one of the ending score, another as an example of gameplay. Purely optional, but would certainly make the game list look more interesting if people made a shot from their inps. (You'd get to see levels you don't usually see because 99% of the screenshot sites out there isimply take a shot of the first 30 seconds of gameplay)
Anyway, up to you guys, I just think it would be a neat option if people made use of it (which they may not..)
Spam would be no more of a problem than it is now, in theory somebody could register now, upload a fake inp, and just spam the text fields with spam. Spambots are usually designed for common sites, not custom ones like MARP. There is little benefit to coding a spambot that only works on the MARP scripts, but coding one that can post spam on 1000000 forums around the world is far more effective.
Stomp out as in asking sites hosting them to remove the files, some listen, some don't.
We'd love to see some of these chinese bootleggers making 1000-in-1 boards out of MAME in court, but its practically impossible. We wamt to support the industry, not destroy it by having everywhere replace their arcades with pirated multi-game MAME based machines.
Screenshots idea, well the 'always show the ending shot' problem is why I suggested having 2 shots, one of the ending score, another as an example of gameplay. Purely optional, but would certainly make the game list look more interesting if people made a shot from their inps. (You'd get to see levels you don't usually see because 99% of the screenshot sites out there isimply take a shot of the first 30 seconds of gameplay)
Anyway, up to you guys, I just think it would be a neat option if people made use of it (which they may not..)
Spam would be no more of a problem than it is now, in theory somebody could register now, upload a fake inp, and just spam the text fields with spam. Spambots are usually designed for common sites, not custom ones like MARP. There is little benefit to coding a spambot that only works on the MARP scripts, but coding one that can post spam on 1000000 forums around the world is far more effective.
Does MAMEdev worry any that "the industry" might someday decide it's easier to attack MAME, than the bootleggers?Haze wrote:We'd love to see some of these chinese bootleggers making 1000-in-1 boards out of MAME in court, but its practically impossible. We wamt to support the industry, not destroy it by having everywhere replace their arcades with pirated multi-game MAME based machines.
John Cunningham (JTC)
I agree if we are talking about only the screenshots for the top scores here.
If I am viewing a game title that has 20 scores submitted, do we want to download and transfer 20 separate screenshots?
I think the top screenshot as the 1 for the gamename is enough. this would be replaced anytime a new top score is confirmed(not when submitted, but when confirmed.)
The zips already can contain the screenshots...just talking about what the web page shows.
imagine those still on dialup...having to transfer 20 images. yes, they might be only 4k each, but it still adds up.
...and I bet would really increase the amount of bandwidth the site uses. Is that ok with the marp server?
If I am viewing a game title that has 20 scores submitted, do we want to download and transfer 20 separate screenshots?
I think the top screenshot as the 1 for the gamename is enough. this would be replaced anytime a new top score is confirmed(not when submitted, but when confirmed.)
The zips already can contain the screenshots...just talking about what the web page shows.
imagine those still on dialup...having to transfer 20 images. yes, they might be only 4k each, but it still adds up.
...and I bet would really increase the amount of bandwidth the site uses. Is that ok with the marp server?
i don't think bandwidth or space is an issue but i must reiterate that IT IS midevally wasteful to upload a png in a zip of the inps completed score. The modem or cellphone users of marp can always select a low quality or single picture per entry mode.
If i can get the picture normalization shots so the user shots can be normalized automatically after upload (this hasn't been possible with ztnet before), then i don't see a problem with having user generated shots showing up next to the main game identifying shot. I also think old existing recordings (not just new ones) should be able to attach shots after uploading and editors should be able to nuke the shot per recording if it's not endearing enough for that game AND of course submit personal shots to be the identifing shot if it's got the most Action. But this is all just a pipe dream, i think all the time i've been doing shots i've only gotten about 3 screenshot requests from 2 people before this topic.
If i can get the picture normalization shots so the user shots can be normalized automatically after upload (this hasn't been possible with ztnet before), then i don't see a problem with having user generated shots showing up next to the main game identifying shot. I also think old existing recordings (not just new ones) should be able to attach shots after uploading and editors should be able to nuke the shot per recording if it's not endearing enough for that game AND of course submit personal shots to be the identifing shot if it's got the most Action. But this is all just a pipe dream, i think all the time i've been doing shots i've only gotten about 3 screenshot requests from 2 people before this topic.
-skito
Hi 
If you want to upload inp AND until 3 screenshots go to MAMESCORE
Everyone is welcome
Example : DARIUS G
If you want to upload inp AND until 3 screenshots go to MAMESCORE
Everyone is welcome
Example : DARIUS G
Sawys is Sébastien GIRAUD, admin of MAMESCORE, member of MARP, TWIN GALAXIES, RETRO UPRISING and ex-member of JVRM