Vectrex Overlays in MESS not switching

[logan5]

I was hoping someone could tell me how to get the Overlays in MESS to switch automatically to the game I choose. Minestorm comes up everytime. I have to manually hit the tab button and select it from the video options within the MESS\Vectrex gui after I launch the game. I've tried both the gui and dos version of MESS and get the same results. Thanks a lot in advance!

[guyverjay]

I also need help for this particualr conundrum

[warpig]

Same problem here, anyone got it working properly yet?

[Lid]

I have a fix for it but it's sort of a temporary thing I have come up with.

The problem I had was that once I had put the overlays into the mess\artwork folder and called it vectrex.zip mess would always load with the mine.png overlay for every game I launched. Even if I launched the game through command line and used -view "overlayname" it still launched with the ming.png overlay.

So after plenty of messing (no pun) around trying to get it to work correclty I ended up cheating and adding a few lines to HyperLaunch which copy the correct overlay.png (by using %romname%) from one folder into an artwork\vectrex folder and then renames it to Mine.png then it launches the game and see the correct game overlay names as mine.png.

This all works fine except for games which I don't have overlays for as mess seems to add diagonal lines to the screen. But my plan was to create a transparent overlay file for games I don't have an overlay for and then the script will copy this in.

It's quite straight forward to do and I have written the lines of script so they are relative to hyperspin path. So if anyone is having the same problem where it always launches the mine overlay I can post a quick walkthrough on here and the code you need.

Let me know if anyone needs it.

[chillinwater]

I have the same problem and started researching this a while ago but never followed through with it to get them working.

I did find a couple of promising links that might be helpful.

http://www.gameex.info/forums/index.php?showtopic=6229&st=0

http://mess.redump.net/sysinfo:vectrex

the first link has some guys finally having success setting them up

@lid

I would like to see your script with the temp solution and or your transparent overlay.

[Lid]

I think I have got this working correctly now after editing the .lay file. I have only done ir for one game but it works fine from command line now. I will test that I can get it working from hyperlaunch and then I will edit the entire .lay file to fix all of the games.

I won't post my temporary fix yet as if I can get it working correctly I can upload the edited .lay file and the extra bit of code needed in hyperlaunch and that will be much easier and better for everyone.

It won't take me too long once I get some time to sit at my computer.

[Lid]

I have it all working now at least for the roms and overlays that I have. It might not be 100% perfect as I seem to be missing some roms and not all roms have overlays but I'm not sure if they are meant to have them or not. It will be easy to edit to add more anyway.

So here is what I did to get it working:

1. Renamed all of the overlay.png files to match the roms (my roms are named to match the Vectrex.xml database and wheel images for Hyperspin).

2. Renamed all of the references in the vectrex.lay file to match the new overlay.png file names.

3. Placed the vectrex.lay file and overlay.png files into the artwork folder of mess in a folder called vectrex (I think this works fine from a zip but I left it in a folder as it is easier to edit files without having to zip them again).

4. Added this line to the end of the vectrex launch code in hyperlaunch -view "%romName%" (and re-compiled) so the entire line should read like this:

RunWait, %executable% vectrex -cart "%romPath%%romName%%romExtension%" -skip_gameinfo -nowindow -nonewui -view "%romName%", %emuPath%

If its ok for me to upload the renamed overlay.png files and the .lay file I could put them on the ftp but I'm not sure if that will be allowed on the ftp. If someone can let me know that would be great as it would make it eaiser for other people.

If anyone is still having trouble with it post on here or pm and I will try and help as I think I have got my head around it now. If all else fails I can always send the info for the other fix I did which isn't greta but does work.

Hope this helps people.

[mixelplick]

I did the same thing as you but only up to berzerk work and then the rest default to minestorm. Can't see what I did wrong. Can you send me the file?

[fubar168]

Lid, I'd love the renamed png files if you can share them....

[Lid]

I have uploaded the .lay file to the FTP server. It is currently in the Upload Here section in a folder called GCE Vectrex (Working With Mess). I am just trying to find out if the overlays are allowed to be uploaded as they are probably copyrighted so might not be safe to upload.

If I get the OK to upload I will put the renamed overlways in the same folder and let everyone know. If not all I did was used fatmatch to rename my roms to match the wheel art (which matches the database) and then used fatmatch to rename the overlays to match the wheel art.

After that if you follow my steps in the earlier post everything should work.

[mixelplick]

Lid,

Thanks so much for uploading the file. Good news is it didn't work for me. I say good because it did the same thing my overlay file did and mine had a few more overlays listed. It made me realize that there was nothing wrong with my file and it made me look for something else.

I noticed that when I went in to the game and hit the tab key the overlays that worked had the correct names but the ones that didn't, well didn't. Couldn't understand it since I named all of them.

What I found is not only did I have all of the overlays and lay file in the artwork folder as unzipped files like you (forgot to put them in a folder named Vectrex which could have also been the issue), but I also had a zipped file called Vectrex that contained all the artwork and a different lay file, a lay file I tested with that only had three games changed. Got rid of the unzipped files, put my lay file in to the zipped one and BANG, all worked!

So far all seem to be working.

[chillinwater]

Great news thanks guys!

@Lid, no need for your script now?

Also you could create a free megauploads account and upload it there.

[Lid]

Sorry for the delay in uploading the files I have put them on the FTP in the upload here folder in a folder called "GCE Vectrex Overlays (Working With Mess)"

if you get the .lay file and the renamed images and follow the instructions on the first page of this post everything should work.

For some reason there is a folder with KoolBrez art folder in the Vectrex folder on the ftp you obviously don't need these files they aren't meant to be there.

@chillinwater, Your correct there is no need for the script now as it should all work correctly if you follow the instructions on here with the renamed images and .lay file. This is a much better way to do it than the script I was using.

[jvlk]

Can anyone with this fix upload them to the ftp again, can't seem to find them.

[djvj]

Do not use mess for vectrex, use ParaJVE.

[jvlk]

Great, just gave it a shot and replaced mess immediately

Bit of a hazzle to setup with hyperlaunch 1.0 but I got it working.

[mixelplick]

Never heard of this emulator before but wow is all I can say after all the hassle of getting mess to work.

[djvj]

Great, just gave it a shot and replaced mess immediately

Bit of a hazzle to setup with hyperlaunch 1.0 but I got it working.

Well you shouldn't be using HL1...There is like practically no setup if you use my module, the db off HyperList, and HL2

[Lid]

I haven't looked into the new emulator but I have had a few PM's about the Mess overlay stuff I did. I have uploaded everything to the FTP /Upload Here/Lid/Vectrex Overlays

There is a HL 2 script in there which is the default one from djvj with a few bits added to the mess launch command to add the overlays (I hope djvj doesn't mind). There is a readme file on the ftp but it is quite straight forward. If anyone has any problems let me know in this thread or PM me. I haven't done much testing but it seems to work although I am having a problem with Hyper Chase but haven't looked into it.

[djvj]

Nobody should be using mess for vectrex. Once you use parajve, you will wonder why you ever even thought of using mess in the first place.

I don't care what you do with the modules, but if it originated from mine, just make sure you mention so.

[Lid]

I jut copied the module so it still has you name in there and just added an extra line for the overlay and added my name after yours.

It looks like no one will need the files anyway if parajve is much better, I will have a test of it later in the week. I'm sure when I started to configure HS Mess was recommended for Vectrex, otherwise I wouldn't have used it.

[djvj]

Yes back then it was, until parajve was discovered, and it blows mess away.

[readyplayerone]

Has anyone experienced speed issues in parajve related to overlays? I've got a pretty fast computer with the latest version of java runtime (downloaded it yesterday) and parajve. If I use overlays the game gets very choppy (2 fps). If I turn off overlays the speed is fine (51 fps).

[djvj]

Nope, don't have that issue and I'm on an old core2quad.

[vindic8r]

Wow. I wish I would have found this thread two weeks ago. I've been foolishly banging my head against the wall trying to get MESS to work with overlays, having all of the same problems described here.

Not only did ParaJVE work right out of the box when I followed djvj's instructions here, but it looks 10x better. Night and freaking day.

Thanks for the tip (and the module), djvj!