or8ital's HyperSpin Helper Software - 2nd / 3rd Display Controller

[or8ital]

Most up to date info now found here:

http://hyperspinhelper.wordpress.com/

Features:

- Will display game / controls information on a secondary display

* Displays logos for system, game, genre, and rating

* Displays actions for each button if available (mame, but could work with others following same format)

* Displays primary control (4 way, 8 way, steering, spinner, etc)

- Makes sure all windows stay in place going into and out of emulators so there is no screen shifting (some emulators cause this today)

- Removes the taskbar whenever hyperspin starts (and restores it when it closes). This is for folks not running fullscreen.

- Primarily using assets already present in hyperspin. No dual maintenance of files / art when possible.

- Runs in system tray. Automatically shows when HS launches and hides when HS closes.

- Shows a "please select game" / splash graphic when between games.

- Display marquee images on screen above main screen

Limitations:

- Only works when using hyperlaunch.

- Can only display once you enter a game. It triggers off the hyperlaunch process. I would need BBB to give me something to trigger off of to get it to work when going through the wheel. (would be fairly simple to change in the future)

I've made an alpha version available to test for Gold Members. Go to the ftp site, uploads, or8ital and download the "HyperSpinHelper" folder. Read the README.TXT. Report any bugs or suggestions here. If someone can record a good video of the program that would be great too. A couple notes:

- You are running this at your own risk. I am not responsible for any harm or loss this would cause. (I don't expect it to but who knows??)

- Everything should be documented in the README.TXT file

Good luck!

PS: Also if an artist would like to help with graphics and layout that would be appreciated. I plan to improve the looks of the program the best I can. Just looking to she how it works for folks before I invest time in that.

Also, here is a new video of it. Not that great because I can't zoom back far enough with my phone but gives you a bit of an idea.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=o1SLJzEDhkM

[goldorakiller]

Waiting for screenshots

[or8ital]

Is anyone aware of any ratings besides the ones below? Thanks.

[RayzzorBlack]

I'd LOVE to test this.

[or8ital]

I'd LOVE to test this.

I will be in touch. If for no other reason than I love the location you have listed! (often use the same with my mother-in-law)

[RayzzorBlack]

:-) Thanks man. I'm really looking forward to the second screen support when you get working on this. The entire thing sounds great though.

[or8ital]

Is this the best source of controls info for MAME or is there something newer / better?

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,98241.0.html

[or8ital]

Here are a couple of very early screenshots:

Splash screen for when you are between games (the bottom half is the smaller secondary monitor):

In Game Info Screen (this is very early, just checking to see if it pulls the content appropriately):

This did allow me to realize that the controls.xml file for mame floating around the web is not a good source to get the number of players for a game. I will need to get that directly from mame.

[jackhammersalm]

Ok you've caught my curiosity, what exactly does this do.

[or8ital]

The idea is to have a small display near the control panel that gives you info about the game and what each button does. Additionally it can show a marquee image on a screen above the main screen. You can see more info here:

http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/forum/showthread.php?23579-or8ital-s-3-Screen-Arcade-and-quot-Helper-quot-Software

[relic]

ill test this out for you mate seems very intresting

can we have the support having a marque border as 1st monitor as well that would be awesome

[DonCorleon]

More than happy to help test this out too mate.

3/4 through building my cab with an active marquee and a 7" touchscreen for displaying manuals etc.....

Sounds like just what im looking for.

[or8ital]

What's the resolution of your 7" screen? I may have to have an option for smaller screens to only show key info.

[DonCorleon]

Resolution goes up to 1024x768.

[or8ital]

Just an update: still working on this. My perfectionism is kicking in so I'm refactoring some code trying to account for everything.

[jboyette7]

I'm sure it will be great when your done.

[Crylen]

Wow, this looks very cool. Looking forward to seeing how this project progresses.

[evil eye]

+1 this sounds awesome.

[Rain]

+1 indeed, I wish you all the support in the world. This will no doubt be a daunting piece of software to create, but the end result wound be magic indeed. Keep up the good work, I cannot wait to see what develops!

[or8ital]

I'm past all the difficult parts of the code. It can already show all the info and handles most exceptions. The remaining difficulties:

- how to graphically lay it out so its visually pleasing

- how to get the data for all the systems. MAME, using the controls.xml file, is about 90% of the way there. The other systems won't have any data available. A user would need to add as necessary. Each game for non arcade systems will show the default controls.

Currently I'm working on adding some user configurable flags to control some of the UI elements. Once that is complete I may enlist some testers to test things out. It won't have a pretty UI but it will be fully functional.

I don't plan to create a settings menu option. All configuration will need to be made in the XML. It's pretty self explanatory and really not worth the effort at this point.

Thanks for the support and encouragement. Just my way of giving back.

[or8ital]

Another screenshot. This is the extent of the data I will likely show on the controls screen. Still working on layout (and how to handle the colors specified on controls). Notes the screenshot showing that both players are using the P1 joystick is a bug in the data in the controls.xml file not in the program.

[or8ital]

Here is a really quick video of it in action (almost too fast). The top half of the screen is the main monitor (it is partially cut off due to the program recording it). The bottom half is the other monitor with the controls. When the top half goes back is when it goes into MAME. The video recorder wouldn't capture that.

Video is a little choppy. Things update much more smoothly than this.

[djvj]

This might be the one time that it would be better to record the video with your phone or something external. That video doesn't do it any justice man.

[or8ital]

Yeah in hindsight I thought about that. Once I clean some stuff up (I want to add transition next) I will add a new video.

[jackhammersalm]

From that footage. despite it being crap I can see a really nice Idea here. I will be watching with great interest