Hypermarquee and System Images

[schmucm]

Hello,

I have HyperSpin which calls HyperSpin EDS. EDS then signals to LED Blinkey and HyperMarquee. The game images across all systems switch perfectly on the marquee. No issues there. However, as the user scrolls through the system wheel, the system images do not update. The marquee inherits whatever the last game was. Does anyone know how HS is supposed to signal to EDS that the user moved to a different system? I have a process monitor program and HS is not sending any communication on the system change. I'm able to see communication on the game changes. It is like HS is communicating differently at the system level.

For the system image folder, I have tried the following combinations (the the root folder fully typed out). However, I do not believe the issue is in HyperMarquee as it is never actually getting a pipe message since EDS is never getting a communication from HS:

• systemImages
• systemImages\
• systemImages\[FileName].png
• systemImages\[System].png

Thank you for the support!

[stevepel]

Hey schmucm.  Here's how I got this to work on my setup:

• HM->Global Settings->System Image Folder:  C:\HyperSpin\Media\Main Menu\Images\Wheel\[FileName].png
• HM->Artwork:
  • Artwork File:  C:\HyperSpin\Media\Main Menu\Images\Wheel\[FileName].png
  • 1st Alternate Artwork:  C:\HyperSpin\Media\[System]\Images\Marquees\[FileName].png
  • 2nd Alternate Artwork:  C:\HyperSpin\Media\MAME\Images\Marquees\default.jpg (this is just a generic marquee I'm using if a matching system or game image can't be found)

[schmucm]

Hey @stevepel, thanks for the settings. I have the same type of string as you do. I'm at such a loss. You can see my string below.

This is for my other artwork. What gets me is the game artwork works perfect! No issues (other than EDS crashes which we're talking about on your thread). I've been monitoring what HS sends to EDS and what EDS sends to HM but I never see any type of communication as I scroll through the systems. When I scroll through the games, I see those communications get sent. I'm not even sure how to troubleshoot why ONLY the system scrolling does not work. I have confirmed that the files are in that folder. I have not tried moving them to a different folder though... Perhaps I'll create one in the artwork file location and see if that changes anything. Never thought of trying that.

[stevepel]

Hmm, I don't recall having to change anything else to get the system images to display.  How are you monitoring the events from HS?  I can run the same on my setup and let you know the results.

[schmucm]

Using EDS. While my folder system is different, I think we have very similar setups. I renamed the EDS file to LEDBlinky and mapped to it from HyperHQ. The strangest part is the marquees change when scrolling through the games. It is only the system wheel that doesn't work. My system image files are MAME.png, Nintendo Entertainment System.png, Super Nintendo Entertainment System.png, and Sega Genesis.png. I could understand one of them needing to be NES.png or something like that but MAME.png should be fine at the very least. The game wheels for every system work correctly which makes me think my naming conventions are fine. 

[stevepel]

Try this experiment to rule HS out of the equation:

1. Launch EDS UI
2. Specify the following in the fields to "Send Message from Front End:
   • Event: 1
   • Game:  <pick any mame rom e.g. pacman>
   • System:  MAME
3. Hit the "Try" button for HyperMarquee.  This should launch HM and display the marquee for the game you specified.
4. Now set the above fields to:
   • Event: 7
   • Game:  MAME
   • System:  MAME
5. Hit the "Try" button again for HyperMarquee.  This should display your MAME system marquee.
6. You can try the same for your other systems.

If your game marquees display this way but the system marquees still don't then it has to be something with the image locations and paths setup in HM.

[schmucm]

Thanks for that. I had no idea how to use EDS to test the system selection. Sending the rom information worked fine. Sending the system name (Event 7, MAME, MAME) just gave a black screen. So it looks like the issue is with HM. I guess that narrows it down. What's interesting is if I put the system location as a backup artwork, then it will display. So the file path is good. HM can display it as artwork for a rom; just not as a system. UGH!

I feel like it's something stupidly obvious. Here is the HM location and then the file locations.

[stevepel]

I think I see your problem.  Refer back to my first response.  To get this to work, I needed to have the location for my system images as the first Artwork File path on the Artwork tab.  I don't recall how I stumbled upon this solution and come to think of it not sure if the setting on the Global Settings tab makes any difference.  My 1st alternate path is for the game marquees (all are .png format so I didn't need another alternate for .jpg).  My 2nd alternate path is for the default image if neither of the above can be displayed.

[schmucm]

That is an amazingly clever workaround. I now have the Artwork image be the system and then 1st alternative be the rom. It now works when I do your EDS test. I can pass Event 7, Game MAME, System MAME and HM responds correctly. 

Of course, HS still does not. Recall any odd settings in HS that needed to be set to get the system to trigger? 

[stevepel]

Progress!  I don't think I had to do anything special in HS.  Not sure if it matters but I'm running in Multi wheel mode.

[schmucm]

Multi Wheel mode makes sense. I'm doing the same. My settings are here but I'm not seeing anything that could really impact how it calls EDS. I didn't touch the screen tab. Optimizer is below. Attract is disabled. Didn't touch sound. Startup/Exit is normal with the intro videos enabled. For Tools, LEDBlinky is enabled and the EDS file is selected. I also have the High Score enabled. So strange that so much works except the system wheel.

Definitely appreciate your help. I've been trying for months. This is definitely the closest I got. I also have some additional process monitoring tools to try and catch what exactly crashes EDS (going back to our other thread).

[stevepel]

Unfortunately I'm at a loss at this point.  The only differences I see between our HS setups is I have CPU priority set to High and High Score disabled.  Also I'm running the earlier version.

[gigapig]

@schmucmIs your issue just the system image not showing? Not sure why you would have system images in a Rocketlaucher folder and just point to the Hyperspin main menu wheel folder.

Perhaps post the Hyper marquee xml. 

[schmucm]

Hey @gigapig, my issue is JUST the system images. That's what's so weird. The games for every system work perfect. It is only the system wheel. Why do I have system images in a RocketLauncher folder? Because past me was an idiot and present me is too afraid to touch anything since majority of the setup works. 

I did update hyper marquee to use the Hyerspin main menu wheel folder to test it out. No difference. The xml is attached. As I scroll through the systems, the last played system remains displayed. 

MAME-Marquee_Artwork.xml

@stevepel I changed the CPU prioritization. I might try the older version out of curiosity if I think I can safely switch between the two. 

Thanks for all your help. I'm kinda glad it's not something obvious but at the same time wish it would work.  

[gigapig]

Yours

  <ArtworkPathLocation>C:\HyperSpin\Media\Main Menu\Images\Wheel\[FileName].png</ArtworkPathLocation>
  <Artwork1AlternativeLocation>C:\HyperSpin\RocketLauncher\HyperMarquee\[System]\[FileName].png</Artwork1AlternativeLocation>
  <Artwork2AlternativeLocation>C:\HyperSpin\RocketLauncher\HyperMarquee\[System]\[FileName].jpg</Artwork2AlternativeLocation>
  <Artwork3AlternativeLocation>C:\HyperSpin\RocketLauncher\HyperMarquee\systemImages\[System].png</Artwork3AlternativeLocation>
  <Artwork4AlternativeLocation>C:\HyperSpin\RocketLauncher\HyperMarquee\systemImages\FrontEnd.png</Artwork4AlternativeLocation>  

Mine

<ArtworkPathLocation>C:\HyperSpin\RocketLauncher\Media\Marquees\[System]\[FileName].jpg</ArtworkPathLocation>
  <Artwork1AlternativeLocation>C:\HyperSpin\Media\[System]\Images\Wheel\[FileName].png</Artwork1AlternativeLocation>
  <Artwork2AlternativeLocation>C:\HyperSpin\RocketLauncher\Media\NES\Marquees\[FileName].jpg</Artwork2AlternativeLocation>

 

My HM looks for marquee images in RL first and then if it doesn't find any then it looks in the HS media folder. There is a slight difference in the highlighted lines above as well a few other things in the xml which mine has blank. I have attached it for you to compare.

There's also a set of quotes missing from your EDS which may be nothing and its been so long I have no idea why they are there on mine.

 

HyperMarquee.xml

[schmucm]

Thanks for the .xml. I did compare it and removed some of my entries. They are now more aligned. Ran it and same result: only the games change. 

I then added the extra quotes that I did not have. No change in functionality. I was expecting that to either fix or break it. 

I should add that from EDS, if I 'Try' it with any number and "MAME" for the game and "MAME" for the system, HM comes up correctly. It also comes up correctly using "Unknown" and "MAME". It's only when scrolling through HS that there are no changes. So bizarre.

Oh well! Definitely appreciate the helpful attempts.