Emu Loader Changelog

What's new in Emu Loader 8.8.2

Sep 30, 2019

Fixed:
Setting "Use Image Single Background Color" not restored at startup
Screens "MAME Driver Filter" and "Miscellaneous Filters" not updated when changing between night mode profiles
Font color of hint texts not restored when switching back to light mode ("Miscellaneous Filters" tool bar button)
Several CheckBox and RadioButton controls still had shadow text enabled in night mode
A nasty bug in my TCheckBoxEx / TRadioButtonEx components: the icon area was not cleared when drawing new icon states, overlapping existing icons and causing a "left-over" pixels effect, mostly noticeable in "RadioButton"
Startup crash when validating emulator binary if the .exe file is missing
Screen "Machine Type and System Filters" was not resizing correctly for resolutions lower than 1920x1080 (tool bar button)
Ansi WinAPI FileAge() doesn't work well on Windows 10, replaced by the Unicode API FileAgeW()
Play video preview feature was not working at all for the past 10 months... HOORAY!
Text of selected game was black color when editing fields directly in EasyListView controls (night mode only)
Game thumbnails fail to load in thumbnails view even if game snapshot file exists
No auto-update game thumbnails after changing game snapshot folders in "Image Category Settings" screen (thumbnails view only)
Changed:
Tweaks to "Delete/Copy/Move Selected Games"
size of "Delete" and "Cancel" buttons reduced
size of "Destination Folder" edit box increased
if less than 13 files are selected, only one column is shown to prevent waste of space
checkboxes "Overwrite Files" and "Add System Folder" moved above "Destination Folder edit box"
fixed controls alignment in bottom bar
Darker color tweak to gradient bottom bars in night mode
Removed italic font style from texts in help message boxes
Text fonts tweak in several screens
reduced size to 9 pixels
changed fonts from "Segoe UI" to "Trebuchet MS" with "bold" style and removed "italic" style
color tweaks in night mode
Replaced all "ExTrackBar" controls by "XiTrackBar" from the "XiControls" pack; thanks "Eugene Genev"
no more flickering
colors customized for night mode
used in "Customize Thumbnails", "MAME Settings" and "RGB Quick Edit" screens
I've made some minor tweaks to XiTrackBar component, you need my modified version to compile the frontend
New layout for "RGB Quick Edit"
replaced TShape components by my flicker-free TPanelEx component (new color/current color boxes)
added XiTrackBar controls for easier RGB color editing
added form caller title to the caption bar so you know what screen you're currently editing
internal code tweaks
Removed:
Shadow font setting of labels in "Search Games Panel Colors" is no more ("Customize Night Mode" screen)
Added
Custom CheckBox and RadioButton icons for night mode ("Customize Night Mode" screen)
you can use custom icon files instead of Windows themed ones
icons sets are located in "frontend_pathresourcescheckbox_radiobutton" folder
each set must be placed in its own sub-folder and the folder name is used as the set's title (no Unicode folder name support)
icons must be 13x13 pixels but can be at any color depth
each night mode profile can have a different CheckBox / RadioButton set
icons are applied to CheckBoxEx / RadioButtonEx / GroupBoxEx / EasyListView controls
if an icon filename is missing, the Windows themed icon will be used instead
New "Use Windows 10 Dark Scroll Bar in Games List" checkbox setting ("Customize Night Mode" screen)
this is a hack to force Win10 dark themed scroll bars by using the Win10 API "SetWindowTheme(hWnd, 'DarkMode_Explorer', null)"
dark scroll bars can be used even if Windows 10 is not setup with a dark theme
it currently works on ListView, RichEdit, Memo, WebBrowser controls
no support for ComboBox, ColorBox dropdown buttons as there's no way to access the ListBox control used internally (still working on this)
horizontal scroll bar colors are bugged and it's caused by Windows 10, not the frontend
there's a white box painting bug if both horizontal and vertical scroll bars are visible (fix your sh@t, Microsoft!)
only Windows 10 build 1809 and newer builds are supported
Customize splash screen (main menu "Customize Splash Screen")
change font color of each text
text shadow colors are now "black", it looks better
remove text shadows with "Enable Text Shadows" checkbox (untick)
new left-aligned texts layout with "Use Alternate Layout" checkbox
use an alternate logo image with "Use Logo2 File" checkbox; filename must be "logo2.png" and located in "resourcesimages" folder
change version info text position (text is right-aligned); useful when using a different logo image
progress bar replaced by the new XiProgressBar component to allow custom colors
customize progress bar colors with several pre-defined color schemes or create your own color scheme (minimum resolution required 1280x720 / 1336x768)
settings are in the right side of the splash screen
close the splash screen with the "Close" button at bottom/right or with ESC key
drag the splash screen with the mouse
fixed "Lucida Console" font to match the font size of "Terminal" font
NOTE: the "Terminal" font used in Emu Loader is the "vgaoem.fon" file from Windows 7; Windows 10 doesn't have this font
Support MAME v0.214 new "mame.ini" settings

New in Emu Loader 8.8.1 (Aug 19, 2019)

New in Emu Loader 8.8 (Aug 16, 2019)

Fixed:
Fixed a bug in "TCustomColorBox" Delphi 7 class, "SetSelected(" procedure
it was not repainting the control properly, and it was not caused by the frontend (damn you Delphi 7!
my custom TColorBoxEx component was also affected due to this "Delphi 7" bug
the fix was taken from "Code Gear Delphi 2010" source code ("vlcExtCtrls.pas"
Event "OnSelect(" was not properly executed on TColorBoxEx components (color dropdown buttons
A few default settings in "EmuLoader.ini" and "nightmode.ini" were causing problems on a clean install
Colors for "Game Docs Status Bar" not updated when switching between light mode and night mode
Fixes for the night mode
search bar background had gradient always enabled even if the gradient setting was not ticked
floating panel gradient background colors were not properly set, specially at startup
TColorBoxEx were resetting to default colors at frontend startup when viewing the "2 pages" in night mode screen
Hint box colors and style not updated when switching between light mode and night mode
Control "Buttons" was listed twice in "Game Details" screen when a game have multiple controls + buttons
Game selection bar colors and font colors were not correctly set in several screens, including in "Customize Game Fonts"
Font of column header was not properly set when night mode is enabled (MAME Machines Filter Panel
My custom component TEditEx was not repainting the frame color when required
Pressed button custom colors were not applied to buttons in night mode
Font "Terminal" is used in a few places and if it's not installed in Windows, it will be replaced by "Lucida Console" (Windows 7 users don't have to worry about this
App crash when trying to show game images if image category folders are not successfully loaded
Updates to my TAdvCheckBoxEx and TAdvRadioGroupEx components
fixed icons positions as they were not drawn at the same position on Windows 7 and Windows 10
RadioGroup icon updated with a 13x13 sized image when working with Delphi 7 in design time (easier to align controls
added a couple commands to get the correct CheckBox/RadioGroup icon sizes from Windows theme
Metadata files are no longer used when mounting images on a "virtual drive" app (.cue, etc... even if "use .cue" tool bar button is enabled (console/computer games
Game image files failed to mount on a virtual drive, returning an error to the user (console/computer games
Changed
Night mode is now enabled by default on a clean install or if "EmuLoader.ini" file is missing
Shadow texts are disabled in light mode for panel texts, tool bar panels, floating panels; it looks better this way
Improvements to night mode settings (night mode screen
added "Shadow Enabled" checkboxes for texts in "Search Games Panel Colors", so you can disable shadow texts
added "Shadow Enabled" checkboxes for texts in "Panels Colors", so you can disable shadow texts
added preview panels (click the "Preview" buttons so you can see your color customizations
Games List Selection Bar
Panels Colors
Image Hint Box
Search Games Panel Colors
tweaks to the layout
Rounded corners in GroupBox frames are disabled for night mode
The overlay folder "Dark Gray" is no longer needed, these icons are now the default for night mode ("resourcesmain_iconsoverlayDark Gray" folder can be deleted
Blue overlay icons moved to a new "Blue" folder ("resourcesmain_iconsoverlayBlue"
If overlay files of a sub-folder are not found, the "Tool Bar Overlay Icons Folder" setting will reset to "Default" (night mode screen
Improvements to "Image Hint Box" (preferences screen, night mode screen
setting "Show Unzipped/Zipped Icon" is gone, the icon is now mandatory
added a "Italic" font style checkbox, so you can disable the italic style (disabled by default
text font size reduced to 10 pixels
added a new "image resolution (image type" text below the image category title; only font color can be customized
added a "Larger Font Size" checkbox, for a 14 pixels font size like it was before (disabled by default
added a "Box Position" setting to choose where the hint box will appear; default position is "Middle/Left"
fixed "middle vertical" position, it was not taking the hint box height into account
Selection bar of menus/popup menus is a little darker, around 10%
Moved settings panel to a popup menu ("Favorites Manager" settings button
Game details screen changes
removed shadow of texts in the left panel (night mode
removed dual border from ROMs list
minor improvements to make sure border spaces are pixel perfect
Removed shadow of texts in system title bars and replaced yellow font color by orange, on all screens (night mode only
Removed shadow of texts from labels and checkboxes in almost all screens (night mode
Color tweaks to texts font colors in "Delete/Rename Game Image File" screens (night mode
Several source code optimizations to remove redundant duplicates, mostly for the night mode
Modified my TShadowLabel component to not show the shadow text if component is in "disabled" state and the "ShadowEnabled" property is unchecked
If a "Label", "CheckBox", "RadioButton", "GroupBox" component is in disabled state and the "ShadowEnabled" property is unchecked, the shadow text is no longer displayed
it looks a lot better in night mode
in light mode, the "3D effect" no longer applies, but texts still look good
Games list in "Delete Multiple Games Files" screen now uses the same colors / background image as the main games list
Replaced "Consolas" font by "Calibri" in "MAME Game Docs" panel
Tons of interface tweaks, specially texts and their colors
New interface for preferences screen
cleaner and easy to navigate, also to prevent waste of blank space
page 1 is for frontend settings, page 2 is mostly for colors
tweaks to existing settings so they are better aligned with panels
Several settings moved from "EmuLoader.ini" to a new "ini_filesLightMode.ini" file (preferences screen, mostly
they are all exclusive to the light mode
now you can do a clean install and restore these settings easily
most key names in .ini file were renamed to match key names from night mode preset files, you must modify your light mode settings again (sorry
some "MAME Game Docs" settings moved from "el_extras.ini" file into "LightMode.ini"
Removed:
The following is removed to simplify the interface
frames of games list panel, images panel and game docs panel is kaput!
setting "Games List Frame Colors" (preferences screen, night mode settings screen
setting "Games List Status Bar, Inner/Outer Frame" (preferences screen, night mode settings screen
setting "Games List Status Bar, Font Shadow Color" (preferences screen, night mode settings screen
setting "Game Docs Splitter Style / Colors"; same style/colors as image splitters is used, as it was before (preferences screen, night mode screen
setting "Image Panel Frame Colors" (preferences screen, night mode settings screen
setting "Enable Edit Box Custom Frame Color" is no more; custom frame is always enabled in night mode (night mode screen
setting "Games List Splitter" style is gone for night mode; only a single color is supported (night mode screen
setting "Tool Bar Inner/Outer Frame" is no more (night mode screen
Added:
New games list background images, for both night mode and light mode ("resourcesimages"... thank you Fabian for the new images
New setting "Disable Aspect Ratio", to stretch the image on the entire image panel; requires "Image Stretch" setting to be enabled (popup menu "Images"
New setting "Round Corners" to "Games List Selection Bar" colors (preferences screen, night mode screen
Night mode colors support for arcade emulator setup screens: MAME, HBMAME, Supermodel, Daphne, SEGA Model 2, ZiNc
New "Left Align Emulators Info and Games Info" setting to show message box texts aligned to the left instead of centered (preferences screen, "General" panel
New setting to customize games filters tool bar in light mode (preferences screen
you can use gradient or solid colors
new "Windows Theme" checkbox, so you can disable Windows themed tool bar painting
Support for multiple night mode profiles
change profiles with the new "Night Mode Profiles" box ("Customize Night Mode" screen, access thru main menu
all profiles are now stored in "frontend_pathnightmode" folder
file "nightmode.ini" moved to the new "nightmode" sub-folder and renamed to "Default.ini"
setting "Tool Bar Overlay Icons Folder" can be different for each profile
setting "Menus / Popup Menus" frame color can be different for each profile
current profile is automatically saved to .ini file when switching between profiles or when closing the "Customize Night Mode" screen
New "RGB Quick Edit" for color dropdown boxes "TColorBoxEx" (popup menu, mouse right-click
for an easy and quick way to select a RGB color manually
screens that support this new popup menu
Customize Night Mode
Image Category Settings
Customize Game Fonts
Customize Thumbnails
Preferences screen
Added "Show Font Name" setting in "Customize Game Fonts" screen
access in popup menu (disabled by default
useful for high resolution screens (1080p or higher
Added a custom game fonts set for night mode, split from light mode
have a set of game fonts for light mode and another for night mode
light mode filename: "ini_filessysgamecustomfont.ini"
night mode filename: "ini_filessysgamecustomfont_nightmode.ini"
updated "Customize Game Fonts" screen to load the night mode font settings if this mode is active (games popup menu, main menu "Games List"
if file "sysgamecustomfont_nightmode.ini" doesn't exist, it is generated from "sysgamecustomfont.ini" at startup (useful for night mode
New "Use A Single Background Color" setting for image categories
select a background color that will be used for all image categories ("Image Category Settings" screen
you no longer need to select the same color on each category if you want to use the same color for all of them
toggle setting in main menu "Images", images popup menu or in "Image Category Settings" screen (disabled by default
Added options to customize games list header colors in night mode
text font
column background color, hot color, disabled color, pressed color
settings in Night Mode screen, "Games List Column Header" panel
MAME v0.212 support

New in Emu Loader 8.7.8 (Jun 24, 2019)

New in Emu Loader 8.7.7 (Jun 7, 2019)

New in Emu Loader 8.7.6 (May 31, 2019)

New in Emu Loader 8.7.5 (May 30, 2019)

New in Emu Loader 8.7.4 (May 30, 2019)

Fixed:
Media type of Daphne games was not set to "Disc"
Game icons/systems TImageList containers were not emptied before reloading icons
Hint box colors of image panel #4 were not updated after exiting preferences screen
Game files of many MAME software list games were not recognized, tagging the game as "Game With No ROMs" ("a800.xml" software list for one)
Tweaks to prevent splash screen from hiding/showing multiple times when creating games / auditing games; this fix also prevents the timer from resetting
Changed:
First atempt to set the correct media type icon for MAME arcade games with CHD files (HDD, Disc, Compact Flash Card, Game Video Tape VHS)
Added an extra "ArcadeCHD_MediaType" game info tag just for this; tag is set when loading the ROMs database
The new media type icons are used everywhere: game status bar, run game dialog, last played games, delete game snapshot dialog, thumbnails view and others
HDD media type is set for games with multiple CHD files (HDD, CD, flash card) if at least one of them is HDD
You must re-create MAME games list to update the frontend ROMs database files
Improvements to the thumbnails view
Icons are no longer drawn in the thumb image
Icons are handled as overlays and, from now on, they are drawn in the top/left or top/right of the cell (depending on the "align" setting)
Added a "Media Type Icon" to the mix
The system icon for MAME software lists is now the UME icon ("emu_ume.ico"), so you know that it's a MAME game but not arcade
When changing icons settings but not the thumb cell dimensions, only the icons are updated in main games list; thumbnails already created no longer have to be re-created
New setting "Show Icons With No Thumbnail", will display the overlay icons (system, game, media, favorite) even if no thumbnail is available
Media type icon is now drawn after the system icon, moved the game icon below it
New media/game/favorite icon size drop-down selection, no more fixed 24x24 size
Further tweaks to the night mode
Added:
New alternate sub-folders for frontend icons, arcade/console/computer systems and arcade games icons so you don't have to replace frontend's default icons
Toggle alternate icons on/off with the new "Use Alternate Frontend Icons" setting in main menu
Console/computer system icons go in a new "frontend_dirconsole_computersystem_iconsalternate" folder
Frontend icons and arcade system icons go in a new "frontend_dirresourcesmain_iconsalternate" folder
Arcade game icons go in a new "frontend_dirresourcesgameslist_iconsalternate" folder
Message box icons go in a new "frontend_dirresourcesmain_iconsmsgbox_iconsalternate" folder
NOTES:
Tool bar filter icons, image category icons and image layout icons are not supported (basically all icons that use overlay icons)
All icons must be 32-bits color depth (RGB + alpha channel)
All required resolution icons must be added to the .ico file, or the frontend will show an "icon not found" error message
If you enable alternate icons without having them, the frontend will load the default ones
New media type: "Video Game Music"
Initially used in MAME's "VGM Player" software list
New icon file "resourcesmain_iconsmedia_videogamemusic.ico"
New feature: "Special" tag
You can tag a game for any reason: finished games, games you want to play, games you hate, games you are playing, games you want to hide...
Games list is stored in a new "ini_filesspecial.txt" file and the file format is the same as favorites files so if you are using favorites list for things like this, you can safely copy and rename the favorite profile to this new filename
There's a new column in details/grouped view named "Special"
Add/remove games to/from special list in games popup menu (below "Add/Remove Favorite" menu items)
Filter the games list with the new drop-down filter "Special List" in "Miscellaneous" tool bar filter
You can enable/disable the special icon for thumbnails view ("thumbnail settings" screen)
You can modify this new icon to your needs ("resourcesmain_iconsspecial.ico" file)
Night colors support for image hint boxes (preferences screen, "Night Mode 2" page)
Separate colors from light mode
Settings saved in "nightmode.ini" file

New in Emu Loader 8.7.3 (May 1, 2019)

Fixed:
Parent .ico file not showing up in clone sets if clonename.ico doesn't exist ("MAMu_ icons" feature)
Buttons "OK" / "Cancel" were invisible when viewing the simpler "arcade system select" dialog
Wrong read/write of game info "playtime" / "last played" / "times played" if your have multiple games in the same system with same zipped filename but of different media types
Example: 2 files named "Elevator Action (1995) (Nidecom).zip", both MSX1 games, one is cartridge media type and the other is floppy disk
Wrong game info written in played games files after exiting a console/computer game
Wrong game info read from played games files when loading games lists at startup
The media type was missing when searching for the game entry
Bugs related to files located in "console_computerplayed_games" folder
Arcade systems and MAME software lists do not suffer from this bug
Wrong "extra game info" data parsing for "Games Editor" (main menu "Console/Computer")
Night mode was not toggled on/off correctly with the checkbox in messages dialog
PaneEx "inner border color" was not set correctly in procedure uCommon.SetPanelNightColors() causing it to be the same as outer border color
MAME arcade input files were not handled correctly in "Run Game (Extra Parameters)" screen
Files "arcade_name.inp" in the "inp" root folder were not added to the files list, only "inpgamename*.inp" files
For arcade games only, excluding MAME softlist games
MAME save state files were not handled correctly in "Run Game (Extra Parameters)" screen
Files from "stamachine_namesoftwarenamegamename" folder were completely ignored
For MAME software list games only, excluding arcade games
The image layout currently in use could be disabled in "Layout Settings" screen, causing corruption in layouts .ini file read/write routine
Extra title/machine type text color of selected systems were hard to read in night mode; light gray color replaced by dark gray
Selection bar was not red color for CHDs with bad checksum ("Arcade Audit Results" screen)
"CPU Filter" edit box was not correctly painted in night mode
Search games floating panel was not showing up at startup
Changed:
Improvements to "version info" detection in "Arcade Emulators Setup" screen and at frontend startup
Changes and tweaks to AlterMAME feature
RAM variables were not initialized at startup, it could cause the frontend to crash
Added a second AlterMAME slot so you can use two alternate emulators to run MAME games ("Arcade Emulators Setup" screen)
New "Autorun Game With AlterMAME 2" checkbox ("Arcade Emulators Setup" screen and games popup menu)
If game cannot be run with "AlterMAME 1", it will try again with "AlterMAME 2"
new "Run Game With AlterMAME 2" option in games popup menu to run games directly with AlterMAME 2
Added proper detection for "FinalBurn Alpha" and "Raine" emulators in "Arcade Emulators Setup" screen and when running games
FBA website: https://www.fbalpha.com
Raine website: http://raine.1emulation.com
for Raine emulator, the "-nogui" parameter is added automatically to the execution command line and there's no way to toggle it off
Better handling of CreateProcessW() exit codes "0, 1, 2, 5" after exiting emulators
Tweaks and fixes to texts in "run game confirmation" and "execution error" dialogs
Renamed file "image_category_overlay.ico" to "image_category_overlay_light.ico" ("resourcesmain_iconsoverlay" folder)
Image category/layout icons updated to support overlay icons ("resourcesmain_icons" folder)
Icon files "option_check.ico" and "option_radiogroup_on.ico" replaced by better versions, suitable for light and dark backgrounds ("resourcesmain_icons" folder)
Changes and fixes to menu/popupmenu drawing colors
Fixed a couple painting bugs in the selection bar outer border
Fixed unreadable shortcut text color in selected items
Added "help text" and "selected help text" in the colors array, changed them to "gray" to fix unreadable texts
Added inner frame color to the selected items, slightly darker than menu background color
Replaced TEdit standard component by my custom "TEditEx" component, to be used in "night mode"
New properties: "Color Frame", "Color Frame Focused", "Color Frame Disabled", "Round Frame"
Property "Use Custom Border" for an easy on/off toggle when changing between light/dark backgrounds; this property if OFF by default
Allow custom frame colors instead of the fixed Windows themed frame
Remove the fixed white inner frame when setting edit box background color to anything other than white
Improvements to my custom "TShadowLabel" component for dark backgrounds compatibility
Added new "Disabled Font Color" and "Disabled Font Shadow Color" properties so you can change font colors when the component is in "not enabled" state
Added new "Use Disabled Font Color" property for an easy on/off toggle when changing between light/dark backgrounds; this property is OFF by default
Modified image category/layout .ico files, removed monitor frames / texts to use with overlay .ico files ("resourcesmain_icons" folder)
Moved "Tool Bar Overlay Icons Folder" setting to "Night Mode" page since this feature is not for the light mode (preferences screen)
Removed:
All code related to "AlterMAME Default Emulator Settings" and "AlterMAME custom ini settings" completely removed from the source code
Added:
New night mode .ico overlay files for image categories/layouts ("resourcesmain_iconsoverlayimg_dark" folder)
Support custom game icons for MAME software list games; "MAMu_ Icons" feature
File "softwarenamegamename.ico" in arcade "icons.zip" is no longer supported
Zipped icons for each software list must be in: - "user_mame_icons_pathsoftwarenameicons.zip" filename or
"user_mame_icons_pathsoftwarename.zip" filename (alternate .zip name, exclusive Emu Loader feature!)
Unzipped icons must be in:
"user_mame_icons_pathsoftwarenamegamename.ico" or
"user_mame_icons_pathiconssoftwarenamegamename.ico"
Minor tweaks to improve RAM usage and .zip files handling
Don't know what this is ? see this thread in MAMEWorld's "News" forum:
Http://www.mameworld.info/ubbthreads/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Number=380709&page=1&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1&vc=1&new=1549010727
New setting "Show MAME Machines Status Bar" so you can hide the status bar of the machines list panel (setting is in machines list popup menu)
Night mode colors for several dialogs and screens; colors are fixed and cannot be customizable
Custom frame color settings for the edit box in search bar (preferences screen, "Night Mode" page, "Search Games Panel Colors" group box)
New handheld system to the "Console/Computer" list: "Nintendo Switch"
Only Yuzu emulator is supported: https://yuzu-emu.org
You must use "yuzu-cmd.exe" file
Tool bar menus, filter dialogs and popup menus in dark colors for the night mode
You can disable the dark menu with "Show Dark Menu in Night Mode" setting in main menu if you prefer light colors
Colors cannot be customized
Tweaks to selection bar, made it a bit darker
Fixed function uMain.AddDefaultIcons(), it was not reloading overlay icons properly when switching between light/night modes and when changing "ToolBar Overlay Icons Folder" setting in preferences screen
New setting "Use Italic Font Style in System Title Bars" so you can disable italic fonts in system title bars (enabled by default)
Added support for "VisualBoyAdvance-M" emulator and updated "console_computeremulator_parameters[default].ini" file

New in Emu Loader 8.7.2 (Dec 8, 2018)

New in Emu Loader 8.7.1 (Dec 3, 2018)

New in Emu Loader 8.6.9 (Dec 1, 2018)

New in Emu Loader 8.6.7 (Nov 7, 2018)

New in Emu Loader 8.6.6 (Sep 3, 2018)

New in Emu Loader 8.6.5 (Aug 6, 2018)

New in Emu Loader 8.6.4 (Aug 1, 2018)

Fixed:
Oh darn... I forgot to delete some beep/ding sound commands when initializing game zipped images lists
Re-added support to generate zipped snapshot thumbs in thumbnails view
the code was removed by mistake more than a year ago when EmuCon was merged with Emu Loader, and nobody noticed, not even me
all arcade systems are supported, "snap.zip" file; MAME also support "softwarename.zip" and "snap_sl.zip"
Console/computer systems from EmuCon were Ok
Games list was not focused after a manual switch between light and night mode (main menu)
Changed:
Minor optimizations to save some RAM when handling game image folders and improve game images preview search
Changes to "Image Category Settings" screen
button "Default" folder was doing nothing
category folders are now read directly from config files and not from RAM vars, which might contain different data
relative paths in console/computer systems (from EmuCon) are now relative to the frontend root path since you can have multiple emulators per system
minor code tweaks
Added:
New "Machines List Filter" filter for "MAME Machines Filter Panel" (machines list popup menu)
you can customize what machines appear in the list
it works like the "Customize MAME Software List" feature
excluded machines list is saved in "arcademame_machines_exclude.txt" file
machines are only hidden from the list, not disabled
it's only for the machines filter panel, not for the main games list
Support for "all-in-one" zipped image files (MAME software lists only)
you can have snaps for all MAME softlist games combined into one humongous file instead of separate "softwarename.zip" files
filename is the same as MAME's image .zip filenames, plus a "_sl" suffix
filename format: "snap_sl.zip", "titles_sl.zip", "covers_sl.zip", etc (all categories are supported)
files must be located in the same place as their "arcade/machine" files (snap.zip, titles.zip, etc)
you can use "softwarename.zip" files together with these new files
they will be scanned after "softwarename.zip"
easy to use, just drop files in them proper folders and start the frontend
Mulitple image paths detection (MAME only)
only the first path will be used, ignoring everything else after the ; char (snaps, titles, cabinets, covers, etc)
removal of surrouning quotes, just to be safe (first and last char on the string)
NOTE: there is no multi directories scan to show game preview images!
Added "videosnaps_sl" sub-folder scanning for video preview, MAME software lists

New in Emu Loader 8.6.3 (Jul 20, 2018)

Fixed:
Heavy tool bar flickering when resizing main screen / images panel:
Caused by the tool bar's "repaint" internal event (not accessible by the user)
Tool bar "DoubleBuffer" property is now always enabled
Frontend crash when clicking "All Visible" button in "Customize Tool Bar" (games filters tool bar)
Image category icon in images tool bar was showing the night mode overlay while in light mode
Frontend crash when detecting "Atari 800" cartridge type from an unzipped game Unicode filename
Changed:
"Search Games" panel is back in the games filters tool bar:
Floating panel is still available as an option (access in "Settings" button)
Games list attached panel is gone
New "Use Small 16x16 Icons" option , access in "Settings" button (default 24x24 icons)
New "Show Filter Labels in Small Tool Bar" option to show labels, "small tool bar" mode only
The "Search" tool bar button is visible only for the floating panel
The floating panel "enabled" state is no longer restored at startup
"Games List Status Bar" colors limited to the light mode (Preferences screen, "Games List" page)
Setting "Panel Outer Frame Color (7 Pixels)" renamed to "Image 7 Pixels Border Color" to avoid confusion with night mode (Preferences screen, "Games List" page)
Behavior of panel frames have changed, two options to choose from:
"Outer Frame": enable this to use a single frame
"Inner Frame": enable this to use a double frame; "outer frame" must also be enabled
Disabling both settings or just "outer frame" removes the panel border completely
Tool bars updated to support the new setings
Message box now show top bar color and labels colors according to game's set status:
Green bar for available games
Red bar for available games with missing ROMs/CHDs
Gray bar for missing games
Added:
New "Show Game Documents 7 Pixels Border" checkbox and "Border Color" settings, to align the panel with images panel (Preference screen, "Game Docs" page)
Night mode improvements ("Night Mode" page in Preferences screen):
"Search Games" panel colors customization expanded to include the edit box
Customize games list frame color and visibility
Tick the new "Use Windows Themed Border" to disable games custom frame color; it shows a single border
The frame in games filters tool bar is now drawn outside the client area, and it can be set to disabled, single or double frame
Customize images panel frame colors and visibility
Images tool bar height aligned with games filters "small tool bar", frame is now drawn outside the client area
"Customize Games List Status Bar Colors" settings for the night mode (colors box in "Games List" page is now only for the light mode)
New "Panels Colors" general settings for the night mode, so you can change frame colors, background color, font color and shadow font color:
"Apply Filters" message box
"Initialize Zipped Images Contents" message box
Game Details
Select a Machine to Run Game
Load Multi-Slot MAME Games
Load Console/Computer Multi Floppy Disk Games
Search Games floating panel
Rename/Delete Game Images
Customize MAME Software List
NOTE 1: not all texts can have custom colors (font color and shadow font color)
NOTE 2: background color is it's not widely applied; only for a few panels
New setting "Tool Bar Overlay Icons Folder" (preferences screen, "Games List" page)
You don't have to overwrite frontend's overlay icons anymore, just create a sub-folder with your custom icons and select it in the drop-down box
Sub-folder must be inside "frontend_dirresourcesmain_iconsoverlay" base folder
For both light mode and night mode
Use ANSI directory names only, no Unicode support
You only need to add icons that are different than the ones from the base folder
If an icon doesn't exist in the sub-folder, the overlay icon from the base folder will be used
Overlay icons are used in games filters tool bar and images tool bar (so far...)
Folder name is used as the icons set title
Added a "Dark Grey" icons set for the night mode; thanks to "Fabian" for creating the icons

New in Emu Loader 8.6.2 (Jul 6, 2018)

New in Emu Loader 8.6.1 (Jul 2, 2018)

FIXED:
FATALITY! When validating multiple selected games, bios/device sets were not validated at all (works fine with scall all games, scan single game)
FINISH HIM! Games of "SEGA Model 2 Emulator" were not validated correctly, "model2.zip" board ROMs completely ignored
When running single MAME arcade games, frontend was trying to detect the "machine title", intended for multi-slot machines ("uMain.GetTitleMachineToUse" function)
Timer freeze when applying games filters on grouped view mode
Button "Default Grid Size" and "Show Game Title" were not repainting thumb preview images (Thumbnail Settings)
Font style was set to game filename instead of game title in "Delete Multiple Selected Games Files" screen
Some messages were not showing up in splash screen when creating games lists, specially for "SEGA Model 2"
Frontend crash when trying to open a .zip / .7z Unicode filename in "Game Details" screen (console/computer games from EmuCon) ... this bug is almost 2 years old!
Megatons of drawing bugs thru the entire project
Non-game files were added to a MAME software list games:
some games have "rom" entries (battery backup, NVRAM, etc) but are not game files and should not be added ("hashnes.xml", "hashmsx_cart.xml", others)
you must re-create all your MAME software list games lists again, either delete all files in "frontend_dirarcademame_softwarelist_games" folder (easier) or select "Enable: Overwrite Mode" when choosing the arcade scan mode
CRC-32 / SHA-1 checksums of unzipped game files failed to be generated:
some games could not be added to the games list (console/computer systems only)
most noticeable in "Game Details" screen
mostly for Unicode filenames
console/computer games only (ported from EmuCon)
some internal functions updated to support "WideString" parameters and slightly modified to fix this bug
CHANGED:
Changes and improvements to games tool bar:
resized large icons from 44x40 to 48x48
resized small icons from 28x22 to 30x24
added 68x68 icons size support, useful for 2K (2560x1440) and 4K (3840x2160) screen resolutions
added a white background in the lower text so it's visible in night mode
several icons were completely remade
split the icon outer frame from current icons into separate overlay icons, located in a new "resourcesmain_iconsoverlay" folder
overlay icons are painted on top of the icon, alpha blend support
overlay icons can be customized to your liking without altering the filter icons
replaced the "Search" tool bar by a simple button; edit box and buttons are now placed in a new floating panel below the main tool bar
you can move the panel around by dragging it with the title bar
finally removed the dreadful "TCoolBar" control; tool bar background colors can now be customized (night mode only)
Renamed settings entries in "EmuLoader.ini", you need to customize buttons again in "Customize Tool Bar"
Improvements to "Arcade Games Filters" screen (tool bar button):l
if filter icon not found, the "no icon" was not set correctly
added support for 68x68 and 30x24 icon sizes, found in "resourcesmain_iconarcade_filters" folder
choose an icon size to browse the filters list: "Extra Large (68x68)", "Large (48x48)", "Small (30x24)"
additional tweaks
Moved "Tool Bar Buttons" menu options from "View" to "Games List" main menu, renamed "Small Tool Bar" to "Icon Size" and expanded to:
Extra Large (68x68)
Large (48x48)
Small (30x24)
Changes to "Customize Tool Bar":
replaced "Small Tool Bar" checkbox by a "Set Icon Size" buttons group: "Very Large (68x68)", "Large (48x48)", "Small (30x24)"
removed "Search Games Bar" checkbox since it's now listed with the other buttons
renamed "Hide Tool Bar" to "Show Tool Bar", so it's the same title as the checkbox option in main menu
additional tweaks
Moved "Show Games Status Bar" setting from "View" to "Games List" main menu, where is belongs
Changes to Preferences screen:
size increased to 850x600 to give its contents more breathing room
moved "Internet Game Info" panel from "Images" to "General" page
renamed TSlitter component names of games list and images to avoid overlap settings; you must customize splitters again as "EmuLoader.ini" entries were also renamed
additional interface tweaks (still needs work)
Changes and fixes to "Supermodel 3 Emulator" features:
entries in file "frontend_dirarcadeemulator_inisupermodel_iniSupermodel.ini" have changed to avoid settings overlap
NOTE 1: you must re-configure AND save the emulator default settings to update the .ini file
NOTE 2: settings key names are the same as emulator's "Supermodel.ini" file, but not all of them
game custom setting files changed as well (change/save emulator default settings first!)
NOTE: you must re-configure AND save the game custom settings again to update the .ini file
additional interface updates
FATALITY! game custom settings were not added properly to command line when running games (nobody noticed this ?!)
custom settings and emulator default settings were added twice to command line
new behavior: emulator settings is now loaded first, followed by game custom settings file (just like MAME)
if game setting is the same as emulator setting, it's no longer added in "ganename.ini" file (just like MAME)
when running emulator in full screen, if the custom resolution is not valid, current desktop resolution will be used automatically
if game filename is not found, emulator will not run; it was causing the "Error: Invalid Function 1" message on emulator exit
Replaced the "Main CPU MAME Filter" bar by a floating panel
it was wasting too much space above the main games list:
the "enabled" filter state is now restored on a frontend restart ("Arcade Misc" filters tool bar button)
panel position is always at the top left corner of the games list
you can move the panel around by dragging it with the title bar
limited the games search pattern to MAME / HBMAME as it's useless for other systems
added support for night mode
Several tweaks to "Delete Multiple Selected Games" screen; also added "night mode" support
Changes and fixes to "Arcade Scan Games Results" screen ("View Missing ROMs/CHDs" in games popup menu):
added a Device column to easily identify game sets with device ROMs
added a file size column (you must create all arcade games lists to see this info)
MAME CHD file sizes are detected "on the fly" while scan results list is being generated
missing files texts are now painted in a dark gray color (light mode) and silver color (night mode)
status columns text is painted in red color; much easier to spot missing files
device ROMs were not properly tagged as device ROMs; weird bug as it was working fine for games with multiple device sets
parent ROMs/CHDs were not properly tagged as parent files, making it not show "Parent" text in status column
moved controls from bottom bar to top bar, reducing waste of space
increased selected system icon size and font size of emulator/games list version texts to keep in sync with other screens
window now have a fixed width size of 1015 pixels
when viewing a single game, the window height will be shortened to avoid waste of space
removed the redundant Close button since you can close it with the caption bar "close" button (or ESC key)
"filename.zip found" and "filename.zip not found" texts are now in "green" and "red" color for easier reading
status texts are now properly separated by comma; it gives a whole new meaning to the texts being shown
support for night mode; visibility on this mode is much nicer and detailed than light mode
Tweaks to "Game Details" screen (access in games popup menu or "Shift+I" shortcut):
missing files texts are now painted in a dark grey color (light mode) and silver color (night mode)
file size column added to game files list
MAME CHD file sizes are detected "on the fly" while files list is being generated
if a CHD filename text is larger than the label dimensions, the hint text will be enabled, hover mouse on it to see it
Since MAME can load Unicode filenames directly from command line, Emu Loader will no longer convert them to DOS 8.3 format (run custom EmuCon console/computer games with MAME)
ADDED:
Tool bar colors settings for night mode in the new "Night Mode" page, Preferences screen:
for games tool bar filters, images tool bar and other "captionless" tool bars in the future
support custom gradient background; gradient can be disabled to use a single color
frame color is customizable; it can also be disabled
tool bars with button caption enabled cannot be customized (TToolBar component limitation)
Added a "Splitter" setting for "Game Documents" panel so you can customize it (Preferences screen, "Game Docs" page)
Added a "Splitter Style" setting for image splitters, default to "Single Color" (Preferences screen, "Images" page)
Support for Supermodel 3 Emulator SVN 735 ("Supermodel 3 Emulator Default Settings" screen):
new settings: "scroll fog shaders", "tile map shaders", "stretch"
added a "Use Custom [1-1000]" checkbox so you can enable/disable custom "PowerPC Bus Frequency (PPC)" frequency at will
Added save states support for "Supermodel 3 Emulator":
select a save state file before loading the game
valid filenames are "gamename.st?" (state slots go from 0 to 9)
save state folder is fixed by the Supermodel emulator and cannot be changed ("emudirSaves")
ROM/CHD size info added to arcade and MAME software list sets:
games validation system do not use it, it's for information only
ROM size info can be viewed in "Game Details" and "Games Scan Results" screens (games popup menu)
you need to create new games lists for all arcade systems and MAME software lists to see this info, but frontend works fine without it
games of Supermodel 3 emulator doesn't have ROM size info in "emudirConfiggames.xml"
games of console/computer systems already have file size info (systems ported from EmuCon Frontend)

New in Emu Loader 8.6 (May 30, 2018)

Fixed:
Several drawing bugs in games lists, top bars and icons
Top bar lower gradient color was silver instead of white in "Delete/Rename Game Snapshot"
Empty space in multi-floppy games list panel if games of different systems are selected in main games list ("Load Multi Floppy Disks Game" screen)
Set default font was not working in "Game Font Settings" (games popup menu)
Arcade game font was not set correctly on several screens if game status is tagged "found with missing ROMs" and game driver is tagged "preliminary"
Main games list not focused after exiting "Favorites Manager"
Main games list not focused after exiting "Last Played Games (MRU)"
Changed:
Minimum required resolution bumped to 1024x768 / 1280x720; plus, dialogs and screens will no longer auto-resize to fit in lower resolutions
Changes and fixes to Mustangpeak's "EasyListView" component (EasyListView.pas)
it was drawing "State Images" in normal mode when TEasyItem is ghosted and/or not enabled; TEasyViewItem.PaintImage() function
icon top border was not properly set if cell size if larger than icon size; "large icons view" only
to fix this I added a new "IconViewAdjustIconTopBorder" property in "TEasyPaintInfoBasic" class, used in TEasyViewIconItem.ItemRectArray() procedure
Improvements to my "TPanelEx" component
added a "Inner Border Color" property for a cool neon effect, and a property to enable/disable it
added a "Enable Custom Border" property to create a dual color border in the "non-client area"
> border colors are customizable
> no more drawing borders over the client area, covering 2 pixels at all sides of the panel!
> it cannot be used with "Border Style" and/or "Bevel Kind" properties
> "Frames" property is still available but it paints in the client area
fixed paint flickering when enable/disable frames and/or borders
code clean up ("Border Style" and "Bevel" properties will eventually be removed from the component)
Improved my custom TGroupBox component, added "Dual Color" border style for a cool neon effect (see "Delete Games Files" screen in night mode)
Interface changes to "Console/Computer Emulators Setup" and "Console/Computer Games Folders Settings"
default system icons size is now 68x68 (resolution 1280x800 and higher)
48x48 icons are used for 1280x720 / 1024x768 resolutions
left some room in systems panel for the future (just in case)
additional tweaks
Minor tweaks to "Game Details" screen:
Interface changes to several screens
48x48 game icon replaced by 68x68 size (top bar)
16x16 system / media type icon replaced by 24x24 size (top bar)
increased game title font size from 8 to 10 (top bar)
increased game name+extra info font size from 7 to 8 for easier reading (top bar)
removed ListView border (Windows theme forced painting), replaced by a custom panel with dual colors so night mode can be applied
additional tweaks
Removed:
Full screen mode is gone. It's an ugly hack, it causes the dreadful "out of focus" bug at startup and it doesn't work correctly under Windows 10
Added:
Updates to "Night Mode"
Setting "Enable Night Mode" added to main menu for easy access; you can still change it in the message box
added support for several screens
added support for images tool bar buttons
added support for images panel border color
coded some functions to change colors with ease: panels, labels, check boxes, radio groups, group boxes, forms
the following controls are incompatible with dark themes, due to Windows theme forced painting or zero customization properties:
edit box, combo box, button, main menu, popup menu, tool bar button text
additional tweaks to avoid flickering, highly noticeable in night mode
New "Board Game" catver.ini filter added to "Arcade Miscellaneous Filter" (below "Mechanical" filter)
New screen with 128x128 monster icons for "Arcade Files Versions" if screen resolution is 1024x768 and up (main menu "View")
Interface changes to "Arcade Emulators Setup" and "View Arcade ROMs Folders" screens
added monster 128x128 icons to systems list
use checkbox "Large Icons" in bottom bar to enable the big system icons (disabled by default)
additional tweaks

New in Emu Loader 8.5.7 Update (May 8, 2018)

New in Emu Loader 8.5.6 Update (May 3, 2018)

New in Emu Loader 8.5.5 Update (May 1, 2018)

New in Emu Loader 8.5.4 Update (May 1, 2018)

Fixed:
Image layout splitters not restored correctly at startup for triple/quad layouts
Zipped images contents list for MAME software lists not initializing correctly, causing them to not show up in preview images panel
Image layout splitters not restoring to current positions after exiting "Image Category Settings" and "Image Layout Settings" screens
Image category was not properly set to in-game snapshot at startup causing several problems:
Image panel settings not initialized correctly
Image hint panel settings not initialized correctly
Arcade emulator game snapshot folder setting was not being read from emulator config file
Zipped images was not initialized
Fixes to clean install mode:
Arcade emulator config file was not read/initialized
Arcade image folder paths were not being read/initialized
Tons of memory leaks caused by two vars that were not freed from RAM
Changed:
Image layout splitters now update the image panel while dragging them instead of just show a pattern line (experimental)
Clean install dialog interface changed to a dark theme (old light theme is gone)
Optimized uMain.DestroyImageLayoutControls function and removed fixed indexes of panels/splitters count
Deleted "destroy controls" code in "uMain.SetImageLayout" function since it's an exact copy from uMain.DestroyImageLayoutControls function
Interface tweaks in "Arcade Emulators Setup" screen:
Button "Update System" renamed to "Reset System" and its help text changed to reflect what it actually does
Lowered dialog height and merged all buttons in the bottom bar where they belong
Aligned "Ok" and "Cancel" buttons to the right side of the dialog
"MAME Ash" build label link removed since it's no longer updated, replaced by HomeBrew MAME
Changed font of "Autorun Game With AlterMAME" to the same as other labels and simplified its help text to be more clear
"Delete/Rename Preview Image" screen:
Added "Dimensions: 0000x0000" label to show the image's resolution
Replaced category icon by a 68x68 sized monster and removed category title text
Interface tweaks
Replaced "image category selector" and "image layout selector" quick popup menus by improved dialogs in images tool bar buttons:
Popup lists were too big for screen resolutions lower than 1080p
68x68 monster sized icons for easier navigation
Disabled categories/layouts do not appear in the list
Select a category/layout with mouse double-click or ENTER key or "Ok" button
Abort operation with ESC key or "Cancel" button
Reduced RAM usage and code tweaks for future improvements
Startup tweaks:
Double-checked function calls to prevent them executing more than once
Moved some code from uMain.OnActivate() event to uMain.OnShow() event to help mitigate the "out of focus" bug
Fixed a really weird "out of focus" bug that prevents scrolling games with mouse wheel after games list is loaded
Remove a few function calls trying to set focus to the main games list without populating it first
Replaced zipped images initialization messages in splash screen by a darn cute small msgbox below the images tool bar:
Way easier to spot categoy/layout changes
Centered on main screen window in thumbnails view
Message texts no longer sent to splash screen
Action text and visual improvements are now possible
Removed:
2 TImageList components with 24x24 sized image categories/layouts icons and a TImageList with 68x68 arcade systems icons are no longer necessary as they are loaded on demand, directly from .ico files
Added:
Quad Image Layouts:
18 new image layouts to display 4 game preview images at the same time
Image panels cannot be hidden due to layouts mount complexity
Layout 1 have two modes: horizontal and vertical
hor: a single horizontal splitter that separates up and down panels
vert: a single vertical splitter that separates left and right panels
Hide layouts you don't want to use
"Image Layout Settings" interface updated, 1024x768 / 1280x720 minimum screen resolution required
New image layout setting "Use Custom Category for Console/Computer" ("Image Layout Settings" screen):
Define alternate image categories for MAME software games / console / computer systems
Dual / triple / quad layouts only; no point in doing this for single layout
Disabled by default, you can enable this setting in "Image Layout Settings" screen only - categories can be assigned to any panel
Unzipped and zipped images support
Image hint box in images preview panel is updated only when hovering the mouse on top of image panels, to maintain games scrolling high speed
Category background color is ignored to avoid heavy flickering while scrolling games
Useful to show "software cover" in place of "arcade flyer"
Support new "Neo-Geo MVS" machines for MAME v0.197:
You can choose what Neo-Geo MVS machine to use when running multi-slot arcade games
New file "arcademame_multislot_machines.txt" containing the valid list of machines; it can be manually updated when needed
Last used machine is restored next time you run multi-slot games
When changing the machine to be used, games that exceed slot count are grayed out but can still be moved up/down in the list

New in Emu Loader 8.5.3 Update (Apr 4, 2018)

New in Emu Loader 8.5.2 Update (Apr 2, 2018)

New in Emu Loader 8.5.1 Update (Mar 30, 2018)

New in Emu Loader 8.5 (Mar 29, 2018)

Fixed:
Bios/device ROMs showing as "Parent Bios" / "Parent Device" in game sets ("Arcade Scan Results" screen)
Message panel not showing up when applying quick systems filter in grouped view mode
MAME software list games not audited correctly if set has no main "gamename.zip" file but have CHD files
Setting "MAMU_ Icons Folder" was not saved in .ini file when closing "Preferences" screen
TEdit was in read-only mode; you can rename files in "Rename Image" dialog again
Background color of single image layout was not restored at startup and not set after closing "Image Category Settings" screen
Create ZiNc games list was setting bios ROMs as "parent ROM" on games sets
Changed:
File "arcadeimage_categories.ini" renamed to "arcadesysimagefolders_arcade.ini" (done at startup)
Image category background color/visibility settings moved out of "EmuLoader.ini" into a new "ini_filesimage_category.ini" file (done at startup)
from now on, file is updated only when you change settings in "Image Category Settings" screen
settings are no longer lost on a frontend crash or clean install
Image layout visibility settings moved out of "EmuLoader.ini" into "ini_filesscreenshot_layouts.ini", where they belong (done at startup)
from now on, file is updated only when you change settings in "Image Layout Settings" screen
settings are no longer lost on a frontend crash or clean install
Changes and fixes to "Game Details" screen
CHD files of software list games were not correctly detected, "software name" parameter was missing
added "extra required set" info for software list games
bios set filename not shown in "Game Files" section (left panel)
several tweaks
Tweaks to "Create MAME Games List"
Changes/fixes to "MAME Software List Games"
detection of "sharedfeat requirement" tags in .xml files when creating games lists; highly experimental!
some games require an extra set to run properly; Atari 2600 cassette, PC-Engine CD, others (info shown in "Game Details" screen)
if a game doesn't run and you're sure you have all game files, look for this extra info above the "Games Files" section, left panel
requirement data stored in a new "arcadegamesmame.elsoftlistreq" file
the extra parameter is added before the gamename parameter
expanded options to create software lists (new "update" mode)
"Disable": do not create software lists and delete current games list files
"Enable: Update": create new lists and update existing ones only if CRC32 checksum of "mamedirhashsoftwarename.xml" file has changed (XML file updated)
"Enable: Overwrite": create new lists and overwrite existing ones even if CRC32 checksum match
NOTE: settings can be found in the screen to select systems when creating MAME games list and in "Scan Games Mode" screen
new "xmlfile_crc32" entry in "frontenddirarcademame_softwarelist_gamessoftname.el" to compare with MAME "softname.xml" (for "update" mode only)
Interface changes to Select Arcade System" dialog
added new software list modes
systems list moved to a left panel
option "For This Task Only" is unchecked by default
info texts improved
Changes to "Arcade Miscellaneous Filters" (main tool bar buttons)
renamed "Device" drop-down list to "Device ROMs" since this filter is not exclusive to device sets
renamed "BIOS" drop-down list do "BIOS ROMs" since this filter is not exclusive to bios sets
renamed texts from "Sets" to "ROMs" in "Device ROMs" and "Bios ROMs" drop-down filters since they are related to particular ROMs, not the entire set
renamed "Filter by Main CPU Filter" to "Enable Main CPU Filter Bar"
renamed "Games with ROMs (any set)" to "Games With ROMs (any ROM)" in "Game ROMs" drop-down list since this filter includes device/bios ROMs
renamed "Games with no ROMs" to "Games With no ROMs/CHDs" in "Game ROMs" drop-down list to reflect what the filter actually does
new category filter "Music" for sets like "VGM Player" (vgmplay)
minor interface tweaks
Renamed several "function" code blocks to "procedure" since they don't need to return a result
Minor interface tweaks to Preferences screen, and removal of texts with "7 pixel" font size
If screen resolution is smaller than the dialog, scroll bars will be added to the TForm so you can see everything (experimental!)
for screen resolutions smaller than 1280x1024 and because some dialogs just can't be scaled down
supported dialogs: "MAME Settings", "Game Details"
NOTE: minimum screen resolution for Emu Loader is 1024x768 / 1280x720 but some dialogs still fit on 640x480 resolution
Removed:
Masssive source code cleanup (commented/not used code)
Added:
Search .chd files in "softlist_name" sub-folder for MAME software lists
Support to search .chd file in "parent_gamename" sub-folder; MAME supports this; "romspathparent_gamenameclonename_file.chd"
now you can have clone CHD files in the parent folder
for MAME arcade, MAME software list, Demul
New file "arcadefilterssupermodelsegamodel3_control_type.ini"
a list of control tags and descriptions, extracted from Supermodel3 source code
for now, it only show controls list in "Game Details" screen; not used anywhere else
File header detection for "Atari 800" cartridges before running games (highy experimental, used by all Atari800 emulators, except MAME)
the first 4 bytes of file will be read, looking for 'C' 'A' 'R' 'T'
if tag is found, Emu Loader will no longer add the cartridge type in the full command line
any file extension is supported for unzipped game files
for zipped game files, Emu Loader will unzip it to a TMemoryStream and validate the tag; only ".bin; .car; .rom" file extensions are supported
(if there's more than one file inside .zip, the first one found with any of the 3 supported extensions will be used)
HBMAME Software List support, to be used in the distant future, in a galaxy far, far way... what works:
create games list
audit games files
show softlist games in main games list
run games
for everything else, they are handled as MAME softlist games (for now)
Setting "Restore Internet Game Info at Startup", to restore the last state of internet game info button at startup ("Preferences" screen, "General" tab)
Setting "Disable Threaded Preview Image Loading" in "Preferences" screen / "Images" page, to prevent images loading delay and "Invalid pointer operation" error
Support for MAME 0.196
new comm setting: "Syncronize Frames" in "Input" tab

New in Emu Loader 8.4.7 Update (Feb 22, 2018)

New in Emu Loader 8.4.6 Update (Feb 13, 2018)

New in Emu Loader 8.4.4 Update (Feb 6, 2018)

FIXED:
Function uMain.EncodeUnicodeString() was not converting WideString to UTF-8 correctly
Timer frozen while loading MAME software list games at startup (splash screen)
Fixed a bug in my TPanelEx component for proper Windows themed "Tool Bar" paint stylef
Some calls to preferences screen were not redirected to "Preferences" main menu event
Setting "http_root" in "mame.ini" was not implemented (it used to be "http_path")
Total play time info corruption ("frontend_dirarcadeplayed_games" folder)
playing a game for 2 minutes was adding 4 hours or so
MAME softlist games are also affected
console/computer games were not affected (EmuCon frontend ported systems)
Driver status not set to "Good" when creating Supermodel games list
"supermodel_dirconfiggames.xml" doesn't have "driver status" entries
selecting a driver status filter other than "List All", makes Supermodel games not visible
you must create Supermodel games list again for proper games filtering
CHANGED:
Changes to "Export Games List To File" feature (main menu "Games List")
exported file was not saved in UTF-8 format
expanded game info options; "Full Format" only
you can export the file to a format compatible with Microsoft Excel's "import file" feature, using the new "Microsoft Excel Format" checkbox; "Full Format" only
added a new "Use Games List Columns" checkbox to use current columns settings from main games list; "Full Format" only
added a couple help buttons with usage instructions
settings are saved in "el_extras.ini" so you won't have to change settings all over again
removal of dead code
several tweaks
Changes and fixes to "Preview Images"
added a couple variables in "ImageDetails[]" array to keep track of last used image index (max 30 images per category)
several changes in uMain.LoadScreenshot() function for different image index per Image panel
several changes in "Previous/Next Image" buttons for proper index detection on each image panel (images tool bar)
removed "Category Prev/Next Auto Switch" and "Layout Prev/Next Auto Switch" settings as they don't work anymore ("Images" main menu)
(use "F11" / "F12" and "F9" / "Ctrl+F9" hotkeys to change categories and layouts... or prev/next category/layout buttons in images tool bar)
uMain.DisplayImage fuction tweaks to prevent memory leaks, leading to frontend crashes
feature "Image View Mode" is no more, only layouts are available from now on
classic view was using single image layout, it makes no sense keeping it
you can change image category only when in single image layout, with category buttons in images tool bar or in "Layout Settings" screen
fixed some bugs in load/save layout profiles
single image layout setting is now saved in "ini_filesscreenshot_layouts.ini" file
tweaks, tweaks, tweaks!
Removed "Internet Game Info" from image categories and made it standalone
access with a new button in images tool bar
if this panel is enabled, images and game docs of the selected game will not load
images tool bar is no longer visible in the internet browser panel; to go back into "images / game docs" just click "Exit Internet Game Info" button
it requires preview images to be enabled
renamed file "image_internet.ico" to "internet_gameinfo.ico" in "resourcesmain_icons" folder
Changes and tweaks to "MAME Settings" screen
renamed "Video 2" tab to "Video 3"
added a new "Video 2" tab and moved some settings into it ("Video" tab was getting extra cluttered)
"Performace" settings
"Screens" settings
"Monitor Provider" setting
UI tweaks in "Video 2" tab
"Render Options" panel
"Artwork" panel
"Snapshots / Movies" panel
new MAME v0.194 settings: "Fallback Artwork" and "Override Artwork" ("Video" tab)
REMOVED:
The following files are no longer needed:
"resourcesmain_iconsok.ico"
"resourcesmain_iconsimage_viewmode.ico"
"resourcesmain_iconschronometer.ico"

New in Emu Loader 8.4.3 Update (Jan 5, 2018)

New in Emu Loader 8.4.2 Update (Jan 4, 2018)

New in Emu Loader 8.3 / 8.4.1 Update (Jan 3, 2018)

Fixed
FATALITY! Demul games with CHD files and ZiNc games with CDs were not being set as "Media Type = Disc" when creating games lists, messing up with games filtering and games files validation system; you MUST create games list for both systems again, it's the only way to fix it
Changed
Fixes and changes to "Filter Arcade Games by Main CPU" ("Miscellaneous Filters" tool bar button)
Partial string support in TEdit box; you don't need to type the full CPU title anymore
Files "arcadegamesmame_maincpu.ini" and "arcadegameshbmame_maincpu.ini" were not being loaded to the combo box control, making it impossible to select a CPU to filter the list
Selecting a CPU in the combo box list will automatic filter the games list... as it should have been!
The CPU TEdit box will be emptied when selecting a CPU in the combo box
Moved the CPU combo box list to the left as it makes more sense
Improved filtering speed when games list is in grouped view mode
Tweaks to improve CPU names search speed
Changes to the startup process
Detailed messages in splash screen so you know what the frontend is actually doing
On a clean install (no arcade/console/computer games files found), the splash screen is closed to avoid being on top of the clean install dialog, making it look like the frontend is frozen, even though the timer is still running
If you have arcade emulators selected but the executable files are not found, the frontend will no longer ask you to select them again ... old code leftover, sorry
Source code cleaning and some minor tweaks applied
Changes to "Run Game (Extra Parameters)" (games popup menu)
Added support to four (4) memory card slots; PGM2 games use it
Detection of memory card file extensions (from -listxml output) so you can use MAME's supported file extensions per game/driver
(you need to create MAME/HBMAME games list again)
File extension filters in select file dialog changed to support any extension (.*)
Mouse double-click on a listed memcard file will add it to "slot 1"
Resize memcard files list panel according to slots count
Removed
Demul v0.582 and older is no longer supported!
Games with GD-ROM files were never properly detected and were handled by the frontend in a extremely weird way
Nobody probably use old Demul builds anyway because I haven't got a single bug report for the last 2 years
From now on, only Demul v0.7 and newer will be supported
Added
Detection of "ced_videodisc" disk region tag in -listxml output
For "disk" entries and MAME only
- "CED VideoDisc" is handled as "Disc" (or "CD") media type
This is purely cosmetic and it doesn't alter the way Emu Loader validates CHD files
New MAME CHD media type: "Video Tape"
Detection of "vhs" region tag in -listxml output ("disk" entries only)
New game file IDs: "21 -> Game Video Tape"; "22 -> Device Video Tape"; "23 - Bios Video Tape"
This is purely cosmetic and it doesn't alter the way Emu Loader validates CHD files
New "mediatype_tag" for MAME CHDs, Demul CHDs and ZiNc games
Tags added when creating games lists
Tags are listed in "arcadegamessystem_name.elrom" files
Only "Disc" media type have this new tag (CD, DVD, Laserdisc, GD-ROM, AudioCD, CED VideoDisc)
Supported tags: "cdrom", "laserdisc", "gdrom", "audiocd", "ced_videodisc"
For a future improvement, and there won't be exclusive icons for them, only a general "disc" icon
MAME software lists "MIGHT" be supported in the future... maybe
This is purely cosmetic and it doesn't alter the way Emu Loader validates CHD files

New in Emu Loader 8.4 Update (Dec 28, 2017)

New in Emu Loader 8.3.9 Update (Dec 21, 2017)

New in Emu Loader 8.3.8 Update (Dec 19, 2017)

New in Emu Loader 8.3.7 Update (Dec 14, 2017)

New in Emu Loader 8.3.6 Update (Dec 11, 2017)

New in Emu Loader 8.3.5 Update (Dec 6, 2017)

New in Emu Loader 8.3.3 Update (Nov 30, 2017)

New in Emu Loader 8.3.2 Update (Nov 28, 2017)

New in Emu Loader 8.3 (Nov 28, 2017)

Fixed:
ZiNc returning "Error Code 1: Invalid Function"
WARNING: this is not a bugfix! If you get this error, make sure to install the "d3d-ogl12.zip" plugin and the problem WILL go away
No more "new display type found" annoying messages when creting MAME/HBMAME games lists; warning messages will be displayed one ONCE at the end of the process!
Selected game always moving position in the screen after running a game or changing preview image category/layout.."Don't get jittery!"
FATALITY! Emulators executable info and ROMs folders info are deleted if a new emulator build is found at startup (file "eldirarcadeemulators.ini")
Path bug when searching unzipped preview images for software list games, resulting in existing images not showing..nobody noticed this ?
ListView item height changed to 22 pixels when icon size is 16x16; icon/text vertical alignment was not centered
Hitting ESC key would execute the "Apply" button instead of "Abort" button (Image Category/Layout Settings)
Custom font for games with preliminary drivers added back (MAME/HBMAME)
MAME software list games with no ROMs were not tagged as "Game with no ROMs", causing some problems when auditing and running games
Setting "AutoRun Game With AlterMAME" was not restored at startup; moved setting from "eldirarcadeemulators.ini" to "EmuLoader.ini" ("Arcade Emulators Setup" screen and games popup menu)
EL was trying to run MAME software list games with AlterMAME when its build version is lower than 0.162
EL was trying to run HBMAME games with AlterMAME
The following settings were never read from mame.ini: "OSD Lightgun Input Provider", "OSD Joystick Input Provider" (MAME Settings screen)
You could not select items by clicking outsize the text area ("Arcade Games Filter" tool bar button)
Unicode strings were not decoded correctly for software list games
Category and VersionAdded are now limited to MAME and HBMAME sets only; MAME software list games also excluded
Option "Show/Hide All Categories" was not working properly (Image Categories Settings)
Selecting an image category folder was changing internal vars even if you don't have a system and/or image category selected ("Image Category Settings")
Frontend crash at startup if in thumbnails view with MAMu_ icons feature enabled
Thumbnails grid size not properly set at startup, creating a larger thumb image on the last selected game; plus a couple optimizations to improve startup speed
If system icon is disabled, game icon and favorite icon are painted outside the thumb image bounds, making them invisible (thumbnail view)
Game snapshots panel is now cleared when switching to internet game info
Setting "Hide Command Prompt Box" / "Run Game" disabled for all emulators except MAME/HBMAME; emulators do not work correctly if setting enabled (also causes ERROR 1 in ZiNc)
Editing a field directly in EasyListView conponent was not showing the text if the font color is other than black (TEdit controls background color is always white...)
Feature "Scan Games With Missing ROMs/CHDs" was not working at all (games popup menu, MAME and arcade emulators)
Dialog "Select Arcade System" was default to "MAME" instead of "All Systems"
Neo-Geo games with "neopcb" driver were not included in the "Neo-Geo" filter (MAME arcade only)
Games popup menu option "Set Custom Options" for "arcade", "console", "computer", "othersys" doesn't show the current selected game in "MAME Settings" screen anymore
YOU LOSE! Daphne game .zip files were not being searched at all when scanning for games; I guess NOBODY uses Daphne with Emu Loader because I've got ZERO bug reports for the past year!
If the filename for games list background image doesn't exist, after a manual filename edit (edit box), the current loaded bk image was not cleared (preferences screen)
Wrong media type for"disk" entries in games files for ZiNc games; they were detected as "Hard Disk Drive" when the correct media is "Disc"
To fix this you need to re-create ZiNc games listNot doing so will cause no harm to the way ZiNc games are handled (it's up to you)
Changed:
MAME machines filter panel can have the same background color/image and font settings from main games list
MAME/arcade emulators and MAME/arcade games lists are no longer required to use the frontend!
Unavailable systems are now shown with a ghosted icon and gray text (systems selection panels), except for "Emulators Setup" screens
EasyListView component changes and improvements:
New "TileCaptionLines" property (ItemPaintInfo) so you can change how many lines the main caption will be shown; normal behaviour is a two lines caption for tiles view; this change is used in the new game custom fonts dialog, to display a single line on the main caption
cosmetic fix: focus rect is now a solid frame
Renamed "Delete Selected Games" to "Delete Selected Games Files" to avoid confusion (games popup menu); this option delete your game's ROMs/CHDs/CFGs/Cartridge/Floppy/Cassette...
Renamed "Copy/Move Selected Games to Folder" to "Copy/Move Selected Games Files to Folder" to avoid confusion (games popup menu)
Moved MAME softlist games list folder from "eldirsoftwarelist" to "eldirarcademame_softwarelist_games" since they belong to MAME emulator; EL will try to move this folder at startup
From now on, setting "Show Favorite Icon in Games" is only for details view mode ("Favorites" tool bar button)
..to enable/disable favorite icon in thumbnails view, go to "Customize Thumbnails" screen ("View" tool bar button or "Thumbnails" sub-menu in games popup menu)
Unicode WinAPI "CreateProcessW()" is now the default function to run emulator executables; better compatibility with Windows 10;
also, the "StartF_UsePosition" flag is always enabled
Moved arcade games list files from "el_dirarcade" to new folder "el_dirarcadegames"
WARNING: you must move all files manually before using this build (or delete your current arcade game lists and start over)
Moved "ini_filescpu.ini" file to "arcadegames" folder, renamed and split file in two: "mame_maincpu.ini" and "hbmame_maincpu.ini"
WARNING: the frontend will not do this for you, you need to re-create MAME and HBMAME games lists
Moved "ini_filesgames_played.ini" to new folder "arcadeplayed_games", split file for each arcade emulator and renamed to "system_name.txt"
the frontend will try to move/split/rename "games_played.ini" at startup, no action required from your part
last played game is always moved/added at the top of the list (like it does in EmuCon frontend)
arcade files format has changed; added a "title" tag with the game title, a "media" tag with the media type index and a "execparam" tag with MAME softlist execution parameter
console/computer/handheld (EmuCon) files format has changed; "game" tag replaced by "file" tag
Moved folder "emulator_ini" and all its files/sub-folders to "arcadeemulator_ini" new folder (you must move it manually)
Moved files "emulators.ini" and "image_categories.ini" from "ini_files" folder to "arcade" folder (EL will move them at startup)
Moved the following files from "ini_files" folder to "arcade" folder (you must move them manually before using this build)
mame_softlist_exclude.txt
el_mamu_exclude.ini
mame_machines_usercustom.ini
Moved the following files from "ini_files" folder to "arcadefilters" new folder (you must move them manually)
category.ini
version.ini
catver.ini
mess.ini
nplayers.ini
languages.ini
Moved "ini_filesmemcard_lastused" folder and all its files/sub-folders to "arcadememcard_lastused" (you must move the folder manually)
Moved the following files from frontend's root folder to "arcadedb_xml" new folder; they were also updated (make sure to delete your current files from EL's root folder)
DICE_xml.dat
SEGAModel2_xml.dat
SEGAModel2-v1.0_xml.dat
SupermodelSEGAModel3_xml.dat
ZiNc_xml.dat
Frontend logo changed to "Multiple Systems Frontend" since it's not just arcade systems anymore
Minor hack in TFontDialog component to allow custom colors selection (first color in colors list); it's not perfect but it works
Support for 3840x2160 resolution (4K) in "Scan Results" screenListView font sizes increased to 14 pixels and form width increased extra 500 pixels (squinty mode off)
Removed the 1000 chars limitation from command line string..uMain.RunProcess() function
Default MAME machines for softlist games is no more! Bugged featureeg.: "Atari 400" machine was auto-assigned to "Atari 800" games..DUH!
From now on, you will be prompt to select a MAME machine just before running a game..if a machine is not already selected
Changed the scope of a few internal vars from global to local; no need to define them as global and waste RAM
Updates to favorites profiles
filename extension changed from .ini to .txt as they are plain text files, either ANSI or UTF-8 format
merged profiles of same filename from Emu Loader frontend and EmuCon frontend into a single file
you must use fav profiles from EmuCon v2.7.6 or v2.7.7 (profiles of older EmuCon builds are NOT compatible)
moved arcade favorites profiles from "ini_filesfavorites" folder to "eldirfavorites" (DO NOT MOVE fav profiles manually!!!)
IMPORTANT: profile files must be manually updated by you, using the new "Update Favorites Profiles" in main menu (AFTER updating EmuCon fav profiles, if you have them!)
Updates to "Favorites Manager"
new "Settings" button in the buttons tool bar: "show small, medium, large fonts"
you can resize the window to any size
you can resize columns
better handling when renaming title/filename and when cleansing invalid game entries
button "Cleanse" modified to handle arcade and console/computer/handheld (EmuCon) games
dialog is now always centered on screen
Updates to the customize main tool bar buttons
support for new "EmuCon" buttons
added new "MAME and Arcade" and "Console/Computer/Handheld" text tags on each button
auto-resize if resolution is 640x480
minor tweaks to the interface
Changes to the thumbnails view and the "Customize Thumbnails" dialog
renamed "Keep Aspect Ratio" to "Maintain Aspect Ratio"
renamed "Grid Size" to "Cell Size" since you change the size of each cell not the entire grid
added support to customize width and height of the thumbnail
cell vertical size is not increased internally by the frontend if game title text setting is enabled..that's your job
if game title text is enabled, you must increase cell vertical size to accomodate text
new thumbnail preview panel so you can view changes on-the-fly without appling them to the main games list
new files "resourcesimagesthumbnail_preview_hor.png" and "resourcesimagesthumbnail_preview_vert.png" required
(vertical image is only used/viewed if your screen resolution is 1280x720 or higher!)
new "Image Size" text above thumb preview panel, for fine-tuning..if you want perfect square images when "Game Title" checkbox is enabled
(it won't work if you have custom game fonts of different sizes!)
game icon size 128x128 is now used if no snapshot is found
minimum thumbnail cell size changed to 120x120 pixels; 68x68 game icons will be used if cell size is smaller than 144x144 pixels
new settings "Left Align Icons" and "Right Align Icons"; align system/game/favorite icons to the left corver or the right corner of the thumbnail image
new "Cancel" button to restore last settings before entering custom thumbnail settings screen (even after using the "Update" button!)
main games list thumbnails are only refreshed if you actually change thumb settings when pressing "Update" or "Confirm" buttons
Several changes, fixes and optimizations to frontend startup
the frontend will no longer complain if you have an emulator selected without a games list for it, or have a games list without an emulator selected
clean install has changed: it only validate frontend games list files (MAME/MAME software list/arcade/console/computer/handheld); emulator executables are only required to create MAME/arcade games lists
new "clean install" dialog with multiple choices for easier handling; self-explanatory with detailed information
some tweaking to prevent arcade emulators settings from loading twice (in some cases)
removed redundant validation code to decrease the startup time
Split image category settings and image layout settings dialog into two dialogs to avoid confusion (and duplicate code)
Changes to "Image Category Settings" feature
added support for console/computer/handheld systems ported from EmuCon
merged arcade/console/computer/handheld systems into one big list for easier access
minimum 1024x768 / 1280x720 resolution required
several tweaks
Changes to "Game Video Preview" feature
moved settings from preferences screen to its own dialog, accessible in main menu "Images", images popup menu, and games popup menu
you can abort changes by clicking the "Cancel" button (safe mode)
added support for all console/computer/handheld systems ported from EmuCon
merged arcade/console/computer/handheld systems into one big list for easier access
minimum 1024x768 / 1280x720 resolution required
minor optimizations
Games list font settings changes:
support console/computer/handheld systems ported from EmuCon
font settings saved on a new file "ini_filessysgamecustomfont.ini" instead of "EmuLoader.ini" so you don't lose them on a clean frontend install
(you can copy this file from EmuCon before using this Emu Loader build)
new "All Systems" font setting added so EL can use it as a general systems font (arcade systems font settings are EXCLUDED from this)
added games list background color/image settings if you want to change those settings while choosing game fonts (settings are still in preferences screen)
huge UI facelift
access more settings in the popup menu (mouse right-click)
support various screen resolutions, including 4K (3840x2160)
Tiles view mode changes:
new setting: "Tiles View Cell Size" (view mode tool bar buton); change this option if you're using large game fonts
details text font is now fixed to "Trebuchet MS", size 9 (size 12 for larger cell sizes)
details text font color is set automatically by the frontend depending on the games list background color (either black or white font color)..HIGHLY EXPERIMENTAL!
Changes to "Delete/Copy/Move Multiple Selected Games"
support for console/computer/handheld systems from EmuCon
bios name set info removed (MAME and arcade systems)
the "Check Arcade File Types To Delete" box options are limited to MAME, MAME software list games and arcade systems
new settings for the console/computer/handheld systems (MAME and arcade are not supported)
"Delete Game From Games List"; you can delete a game from the main games list files (like in EmuCon)
"Delete Game Files From Disk"; checking this option will delete the game files (like in EmuCon)
gamename search bar removed; this was a ridiculously useless thing to have in there...
Several files in "eldirresourcesmain_icons" renamed and moved to another folder
Removed:
Last selected game per system is gone; if last selected game is no longer visible after a games filters change, the first visible game is selected
File "resourcesimagesfavicon_thumbnail.png" no longer required
Machines filter tool bar button is no more (replaced by something a lot better)
Arcade systems filter tool bar button is no more (replaced by something a lot better)
The following icon files are no longer required, "resourcesmain_icons" folder: "filterarcade_00_listall.ico"; "filterarcade_00_multi_system.ico"; "filterarcade_01_mame.ico"; "filterarcade_02_supermodelsegamodel3.ico"; "filterarcade_03_daphne.ico"; "filterarcade_04_demul.ico"; "filterarcade_05_hbmame.ico"; "filterarcade_06_dice.ico"; "filterarcade_07_segamodel2.ico"; "filterarcade_08_zinc.ico"
Added:
Support for latest Demul 0.7 WIP (November 11, 2017)
detection of "merge" tag and alternate filenames
fix bios titles to match MAME
New "media type" status bar icon next to the game name / game filename for the main games list (preliminary feature!)
Support new "Games.xml" file used in Supermodel 3 emulator SVN 592 and newer, so games list can be created from it
if this file is not found ("supermodel3_dirConfigGames.xml"), the frontend "outdated" custom file will be used (frontend_dirarcadedb_xmlSupermodelSEGAModel3_xml.dat)
support fully merged child sets (clone games); note that partially merged child sets are NOT supported by the "Supermodel 3 Emulator"..you either have all child ROMs in the parent set or all child ROMs in the child set!
New options for screen view: "Cropped" and "Stretched" (MAME Settings screen)
Support for MAME v0.183 and newer:
new "PortAudio" sound output mode ("Sound" tab); also extra settings: API, device, latency
new "UWP (Windows 10)" OSD Input Provider for keyboard and joystick; only supported in Windows 10
new "Hybrid DInput/XInput" in "OSD Joystick Input Provider"..hybrid DirectInput/XInput joystick, Windows only
Support for MAME v0.190 and newer
detection of new "feature" entries from -listxml output ("sound" and "graphics" types only for now...)
"unemulated" entries are renamed to "preliminary"
detection of new "SVG" display type for MAME v0.191 and newer
Added several Unicode functions in "sourceuCommon.pas" for future improvements and better Windows 10 support
Added detection of the "optional" tag in ROMs/CHDs (MAME/HBMAME), for future frontend improvements
New console/computer/handheld systems and games lists (major port from EmuCon frontend!!!)
what ???! MAME calls them "loose software"; games that are not listed in software lists ("mamedirhash" folder)
in most features, handheld systems are included in "console" system
created two new main menu items to separate system types: "MAME/Arcade" and "Console/Computer"
new menu items to setup emulators, games folders, images folders (main menu "Console/Computer"):
> Emulators Setup
select up to 4 emulators per system
> Systems Folders Settings
select games folders for each system and media type (cartridge, floppy disk, cassette tape, disc, hard disk drive)
> Systems Editor
assign MAME software lists to EmuCon systems; multiple software lists can be assigned to a single EmuCon system ; (this requires a MAME games list and a MAME/arcade emulator selected)
> Games Editor
you can split games data: title, year, manufacturer, number of players (MAME and arcade games are not supported)
> Create Games List
I wonder what this doesHumm..I've got it! It makes pudding :)
new "frontend_dirconsole_computer" sub-folder to store config files, games lists and extra stuff
column "Category" shows the system name + media type, just like MAME softlist games
play MAME software list games with custom emulators: BlueMSX, WinVICE, Win-UAE, FS-UAE, Snes9X, ZSNES, Altirra, Atari 800 Emulator, Stella, and many others
you can use MAME and AlterMAME emulators selected in the arcade front to play console/computer games from EmuCon (some games might not work)
you can still select MAME/MESS/UME binaries in "console/computer emulators setup" and use them to play games (to maintain EmuCon compatibility)
you can have two parameters for each emulator; to change between them, go to the new "Use Param" tool bar button
you can play a EmuCon game using different MAME machines, by using the new "Run Game With MAME" in games popup menu..thanks to the new "Systems Editor"
this setting is saved in "frontend_dirconsole_computermame_systems_softwarelist.ini" file
eg.: "msx1_cart", "msx1_flop", "msx1_cass" MAME softlists are assigned to the "MSX" system; you can use any MSX/MSX2/MSX2+/MSX Turbo-R MAME machine to play games not found in MAME software lists
settings from EmuCon frontend can be easily used in Emu Loader simply by copying some files into Emu Loader's new "console_computer" sub-folder
> EmuCon files/folders to be copied to "el_root_dirconsole_computer" folder:
sysemulators.ini
sysgamefolders.ini
sysimagefolders.ini
emulator_parameters.ini
emulator_parameters[default].ini
ignore_extensions.txt
"games" folder and all its files
"game_cfg" folder and all its files
"played_games" folder and all its files
> EmuCon favorites profiles must be copied to "el_root_dirfavorites" new folder
> NOTE: if you make changes to these files in Emu Loader, you can copy them back into EmuCon install dir and use them there without worries :)
> NOTE: you must update favorites profiles manually using "Update Favorites Profiles" in main menu; after the update you can delete "frontend_dirconsole_computerfavorites" and "frontend_dirini_filesfavorites" folders
New mega filter dialog for machine types and systems filters
all systems now have check boxes, make sure to tick them to select the desired systems
new "All Arcade Systems" and "All Console/Computer/Handheld Systems" options so you can quickly show or hide all available systems
individual systems checked status are no longer lost if you check "All Systems" options :) :) :) :)
machine types expanded:
"Arcade Systems": to hide/show all arcade systems (MAME softlist games excluded)
"Console Systems": to hide/show all console systems ported from EmuCon (MAME softlist games excluded)
"Computer Systems": to hide/show all computer systems ported from EmuCon (MAME softlist games excluded)
"Handheld Systems": to hide/show all handheld systems ported from EmuCon (MAME softlist games excluded)
"MAME Machines With Software Lists: to hide/show all MAME machines that have software lists (info from -listxml output)
"MAME Machines Without Software Lists: to hide/show all MAME machines that do not have software lists (AntoPISA's "mess.ini" file required)
"MAME Software List Games: to hide/show all softlist games from MAME (based on "mamedirhash*.xml" files
"Enable MAME Machines Filter Panel": filter MAME software list games by MAME machines (left side of main games list)
check more options in the systems popup menu (mouse right-click)
settings are saved in EmuLoader.ini when exiting the frontend
Added a warning message in the "Run Game Confirmation" dialog for ZiNc; ZiNc returns "error 1: incorrect function" if don't have the "d3d-ogl12.zip" plugin installed in ZiNc
Support AntoPISA's version info and category .ini files for HBMAME emulator
rename "version.ini" to "version_hb.ini" to avoid replacing MAME's "version.ini" file
rename "category.ini" to "category_hb.ini" to avoid replacing MAME's "category.ini"
only then, copy both .ini files to "eldirarcadefilters" folder