Merged multi-system wheel

[cidersid]

Hi all, first off I feel I should re-introduce myself as it looks like it's been 10 years since I was last on here!

It's been a long time since I built a cab and properly had a dabble with HS - things have changed quite a bit in the past decade. That being said, I've spent a few days re-familiarising myself with everything and I'm reasonably confident with how to configure everything. I'm hoping someone may know of a third party app that can help me with what I want to achieve in my new cab, if not then maybe I'll have to develop something myself.

What I want the cab to do:

I want one wheel with the popular old skool (pre 5th gen) systems but all the games merged.

So let's say I want to play "Chuckie Egg", what I want to happen is scroll down to the game in the wheel and there should only be one instance of it despite it appearing in multiple systems.

When I click on the game I then want to be given the option of what version (system) to use e.g. C64, ZX Spectrum, BBC Micro, MSX, Dragon, Amstrad CPC.

Why?!!!

Due to my OCD, my last cab had every rom for every system I could find. Great in theory but in practise I found it to be a total mess and you'd spend longer searching for a game than you would playing one, as the saying goes... sometimes less is more.

So what I've done is setup a PC with "everything" and that's hooked up to the big TV in the man cave. Realistically it'll only ever be used for 5th Gen+ systems only as I find PS1 onwards work much better with a real controller rather than running on a cab.

The cab will only be used for Pre 5th gen systems as generally speaking I find arcade cab button layouts work great for these systems. I also like my cab to have a retro feel and love playing the games from my childhood on it.

Proposed Solution

From what I can tell I'm really only missing one part for this to work but I fear I may have to develop a solution myself as I can't find what I need. I'm really hoping someone out there may know of a solution already available, whether it's a different FE or a completely alternative solution I'm open to any ideas. Here's what I'm currently thinking though...

1. Leave existing HS structure in place, all the roms and RL setup for the standard multiple system wheels but remove all the systems from the HyperSpin menu.

2. Create one master wheel with all the systems scanned in and duplicates removed. I'd literally only need to pass the game name through from this XML so no need for any huge work there, if there's not already an app that does this then it shouldn't take me too long to knock something up in Python or C#.

3. This is the element I'm missing but I'm sure there must be something out there that could do the job which could be repurposed. In an ideal world I'd have an app which you can pass the following data to:

• Console Name
• Game Name
• Gameplay video / screenshot

That app would then populate a basic menu showing the details we sent through. I know I'm being greedy there with the videos, that's just what I'd add if I were developing it, however if there's already something out there which can just list the console names and output a command that'll do.

Once you click on the system this mysterious new app sends through the same params to RL that HS sends through at the moment. Without more investigation I couldn't say exactly what these params are but I imagine it'll be something like system & game name.

Conclusion:

While writing this out I've realised if there is an app out there that could help with this I'll probably have to create some code to link steps 2 & 3 but I don't see that being a problem. What I'd most likely do is create an app which merges the XML's and removes duplicates but while it's doing that get it to also add the records to a db (game name and console name). In the unlikely event there's an app out there which you can get to do a db lookup and populate a list based on that then great but if not I'll just have to knock something up to do this.

Now I've written it all out I'm thinking it's probably going to be easier to just develop the solution myself but I've got a lot of things on at the moment so was really hopeful someone might have some inspiration and be able to point me in the direction of something already out there.

Any help or advice is very much appreciated, thanks.

[Aorin]

I think you can do all that using HyperXMLSpin by Romano, with this tool you can make it the way you want it.

For example, you could merge all systems into one, only favorites, only US games, you can basically filter everything, or nothing and just make an insane endless system.

 

[Spawk]

Great idea cidersid,

Aorin is right about Hyperxmlspin, it will surely help with the databases. I believe it uses all your artwork in its original location as well. 

I also couldn't agree more about trimming down what games are included for a better overall experience. 

I have toyed with the idea of a multi-system wheel as well, my idea was simply to add the system name in parenthesis (like this: (NES)(PS1)) to the end of each game description in the xml. Then simply use the alternate emulator feature of RL. I am now intrigued in how you would add the "choosing a platform" function. That is sorta how merged mame sets work right? Rom mapping?

In my case I am not sure if I really need it. Like the arcade version of Ms. Pac-Man for example is simply the best, all others would be deleted. And I think that's true for a majority of games for me. There are exceptions though, not to mention GBA that has games named exactly like their console counterparts but are nothing like each other in gameplay. It's still a cool idea and do hope you share your experiences with us here while doing this project.

[cidersid]

Awesome, thanks for the quick reply.

Well that's my project sorted for today then.

I'll let you know how I get on 

[cidersid]

@Spawk Thanks for the reply, I almost missed that - think you replied the same time as me. You've given me some great ideas, really appreciate it.

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I have toyed with the idea of a multi-system wheel as well, my idea was simply to add the system name in parenthesis (like this: (NES)(PS1)) to the end of each game description in the xml. Then simply use the alternate emulator feature of RL.

This isn't a feature I'm aware of so thanks for the idea, I'll look that feature up and see how it works. I'm still fairly new to Rocket Launcher and learning as I go along, it wasn't a thing when I done my original cab back in the day - everything was done through HyperLaunch and AHK files if I remember rightly.

 

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I am now intrigued in how you would add the "choosing a platform" function. That is sorta how merged mame sets work right? Rom mapping?

Hmm now you've got me thinking, MAME merged sets... Can you select which version you want to run when opening those? If so maybe I could knock something up which takes advantage of that feature.

My rough idea was basically have HS launch an app which which populates all the games with the same title. In my head it would be a new window appear over HS with buttons for each system and the respective video playing within that button, something like this:

You'll have to excuse the very rough sketch, I'm currently re-installing my OS and don't have Photoshop installed yet so this was done with MS Paint lol.

Actually now I've drawn that up it's given me an idea...

There's already a great little app out there called SimpleTouchFE which I use for my pub quiz games, it displays games based on config files and you can skin it up however you want.

Theoretically all I'd need to do is knock up a little script which configures STFE just for the specific game that's been clicked on, it would then open STFE and you'd have the options of the systems along with screenshots or videos.

When you click on a system STFE just sends through the relevant commands to Rocket Launcher and bam it should load up as normal. 

Damn I think this could work, I'm still going to take a look at the suggestion from @Aorin first but if that won't do what I'm after I really think this could be a solution. It shouldn't be too hard to knock up a script to share with everyone else too.

 

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In my case I am not sure if I really need it. Like the arcade version of Ms. Pac-Man for example is simply the best, all others would be deleted. And I think that's true for a majority of games for me.

Yes I make you right there, if an arcade version of a title exists then you're more than likely want to play that version.

If I do knock up this script I could quite easily add an option in there to always use arcade (and not load STFE) if an arcade version exists. I'll probably default the very first (selected) item in the list as Arcade too so if you do want to list the systems available you're already focused on the most popular selection.

 

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There are exceptions though, not to mention GBA that has games named exactly like their console counterparts but are nothing like each other in gameplay

Very valid point about the GBA thing, I probably won't bother adding handhelds to my cab so shouldn't affect me too much.

That being said I think there are a few games out there with the exact same name but are a totally different game, not sure what I can do about them - I'd just have to rename them slightly, it would be a manual process as and when I come across them I guess.

For the main wheel I was thinking I'd get my script to copy the respective themes and videos to a new "master" folder.

Of course the script will need to know what versions to pull in so maybe I'll just get it to check a text file for ordering, the user setting it up could just list the order they want themes pulled in, for example:

• MAME
• Amiga
• Megadrive
• SNES
• Master System
• C64...

In the above example, lets say you have Chuckie Egg being scanned in. Well it doesn't exist on MAME but it does exist in Amiga and C64 so it would pull in the artwork from the first in the list (Amiga).

This would only be for populating the main wheel, when populating the STFE menu it would use the respective media for each system.