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the up + down option would have the same effect. If you don't wire the button, you have to power cycle. If you do wire the button, its behind a locked coin door.
 
Both DenTarr and I have the same reason for wanting to disable the short-cut keys and that is for use in public.
It basically comes down to this, exactly.

Not that I use it in public. But the MVS is an Arcade system, so it is SUPPOSED to be able to perform that duty. If the Multi behaves in a way (in any form) that makes the system not able to perform like this than it fails in what it actually should accomplish.


the up + down option would have the same effect. If you don't wire the button, you have to power cycle. If you do wire the button, its behind a locked coin door.
Thats why I still believe its the easiest and most elegant option that should satisfy everybody. (If configuring it in the menu is for some reason a no go)
 
I get that wiring a button to a strange button combo like up+down would wotk in an arcade environment.
But that would NOT work in a home environment, I don’t want to wire extra buttons to my cab when I have a perfectly fine working shortcut already ;)
 
(but who needs a progress bar when it loads in like 5 seconds...)
It's useful for when you're not sure if the cart has crashed or not.
Some people may prefer using UniBios menu while others may prefer DS Multi menu. A manual passthrough option would let the users choose what they prefer.

The Unibios discovery routine may fail with specific past, present or future Unibios releases, without considering clones, possibly resulting in a pain in the ass. Manual option would be safer.
This seems sensible. Personally I'd rather set the cart to a particular region that way if I take it somewhere or move it between cabs I don't need to think about what bios is in the new motherboard, it's just plug and play with the settings I'd left it on.
I don’t want to wire extra buttons to my cab
Seconded. It's unnecessary.
I know for me 10 second would not be a solution.

I WANT to power cycle to return to the menu.
It seems like it would be best to just have an option in the menu that turns on/off the button combos. Set to off, you must power cycle. Set to on, you can use it as it already is.

"Menu shortcut"
On/Off

Easy enough.

Outside of commercial use, I don't even see why this is a problem. The worst that can happen with a friend over who pressed the buttons too long is having to leave the menu again. It's not like there's a "Format card" option in the multi or anything that can render it useless. I simply don't see any malicious activity that even *could* transpire.

But the MVS is an Arcade system, so it is SUPPOSED to be able to perform that duty. If the Multi behaves in a way (in any form) that makes the system not able to perform like this than it fails in what it actually should accomplish
Changing games being holding a direction and button is equally intrusive in this respect. The MVS has a dedicated switch game button, the MVS multi not using it makes it feel not like an MVS.


As a side thought and mostly out of curiosity, are people using the multi in commercial environments? Do Darksoft/Mitsu encourage or discourage this, or simply not care?
 
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Personally, multis are used in my home.

Has arcade use came up before? I don't think it's they don't care. I see it as a new request.

How about a menu on/off accessed through pushing the test switch and player one?

In an arcade setting, there's no way for a customer to get in the coin door. No idea of the programming involved.
 
It seems like it would be best to just have an option in the menu that turns on/off the button combos. Set to off, you must power cycle. Set to on, you can use it as it already is.
"Menu shortcut"
On/Off

Easy enough.

Outside of commercial use, I don't even see why this is a problem. The worst that can happen with a friend over who pressed the buttons too long is having to leave the menu again. It's not like there's a "Format card" option in the multi or anything that can render it useless. I simply don't see any malicious activity that even *could* transpire.

But the MVS is an Arcade system, so it is SUPPOSED to be able to perform that duty. If the Multi behaves in a way (in any form) that makes the system not able to perform like this than it fails in what it actually should accomplish
Changing games being holding a direction and button is equally intrusive in this respect. The MVS has a dedicated switch game button, the MVS multi not using it makes it feel not like an MVS.

As a side thought and mostly out of curiosity, are people using the multi in commercial environments? Do Darksoft/Mitsu encourage or discourage this, or simply not care?
Of course it would be best if we had a menu option where we could assign the button combos ourselves. That way we can use whats convenient or set to buttons that dont exist or whatever we want.
But if for some reason DS cant implement it in a menu function (ingame buttons are apparently checked directly by the FPGA logic. Maybe not so easy to change FPGA code from menu. I dont know...) it would be better to use buttons that everybody can live with.

Personally, multis are used in my home.

Has arcade use came up before? I don't think it's they don't care. I see it as a new request.

How about a menu on/off accessed through pushing the test switch and player one?

In an arcade setting, there's no way for a customer to get in the coin door. No idea of the programming involved.
Thats a pretty good idea. Or maybe use test button instead of start for all the hotkeys....
 
How about a menu on/off accessed through pushing the test switch and player one?

In an arcade setting, there's no way for a customer to get in the coin door. No idea of the programming involved.
I would like to avoid people having to open their cabinets just to change an option. Looks like having an option ON/OFF in the menu to activate/deactivate the key combos is the way to go.
 
Hi,
this is my second round of suggestions. It is completely independent and alternative to my previous one Suggestions for future enhancements to the MulitMVS.
Now this idea completely twists the current DS Multi implementation and I really don’t know if its technically feasible, but, anyway, I think it’s nice to share it here. Let me describe it with an example, specifically tailored for a 1 slot MVS.
We turn on the MVS (cold boot) and we are presented with a progress bar during the slot loading routine; meanwhile we are seeing this progress bar, we are allowed to press a button and, doing so, we stop the loading itself and enter in a barebone slot management menu. In this menu we are presented with the 4 DS Multi virtual slots, we can assign a game from the SD to each of these slots and we can exit the menu, rebooting and returning to the loading progress bar screen. If we let the progress bar go to 100%, so actually loading the games in the virtual slots, the MVS boots the first game and here it comes the interesting part. The basic idea (again I don’t know if it’s technically feasible) is that, once the first game is booted, the DS Multi should trick the MVS hardware and bios (or unibios) into believing it is an actual 4 slot MVS with 1, 2, 3 or 4 (corresponding to the DS slots) physical carts inserted. Doing so DS Multi should not implement any button combo in game hook; no special button combo for going into special menus, no special button combo for changing game; the hardware and bios (or unibios) should behave just like a real 4 slot, with its attract mode rotation and its native game selection routine (select button, right?). If we want to change the games loaded into the DS Multi, we simply turn off and turn on again the MVS. Unibios should be tricked into recognizing the hardware as a real 4 slot, so implementing its special multislot features, i.e. treating select button press as the coin button in specific situations and as the real select button in others situation. I mean, a real 4 slot until the next cold reboot.
This is for 1 slot MVSes; now for native multislot MVSes the whole issue gets trickier. For 2 slots MVSes, the multicart could implement 3 virtual slots tricking the hardware/bios into believing they are 4 slot MVSes. For 4 slots MVSes, again it could implement 3 virtual slots transforming them in 6 slots ones and for native 6 slots ones, I don’t know… maybe it could replace 3 of the physical slots with 3 virtual DS Multi slots. All MVS/AES and regional settings could be (or not be) implemented in the main menu (possibly with a passthrough option as suggested in my previous suggestions post). This implementation would solve all issues for people concerned in hiding menu shortcuts for unsupervised safe operations: there wouldn’t be any menu shortcuts at all. For securing operations in these environments in case of electricity blackout, the DS Multi could implement a 4 or 6 buttons sequence password for exiting the loading screen and entering in the virtual slots management menu.

Many thanks in advance.
Best regards.

Locutus73
 
I don’t want to wire extra buttons to my cab
Seconded. It's unnecessary.
I don't think either of you understand what I mean or think having up+down means having to wire a button. If there is a cart option to choose between the option of start+up or OR up+down as the button combo, then having up + down and not wiring a button is the exact same as having the menu option disabled since you cant hit the button combo and would have to power cycle.

So again, you could keep the existing shortcut or be forced to power cycle. Seems like a win win to me.

My Multis are in a home environment but kids will *ALWAYS* find a way to discover even the most obtuse shortcut commands. Ask anyone with a MAME cab and admin shortcuts :)
 
I don't think either of you understand what I mean or think having up+down means having to wire a button. If there is a cart option to choose between the option of start+up or OR up+down as the button combo, then having up + down and not wiring a button is the exact same as having the menu option disabled since you cant hit the button combo and would have to power cycle.
I guess I'm just not understanding why this is a better option. It does essentially the same thing as "Button combos on/off" but feels like the long way around. Why change the button combo to something impossible to press on a properly wired cab when you could just turn them off altogether?
 
All extra Features on on/off toggle in settings. ( saves on sd card )
Eg:-
Music
Animation
Bios bypass
Buff Saves
Auto Nvram clear
Menu button combo ( hold start on next boot to get back to settings )

Or two poss menu/settings:-

Basic setting, pick three ( maybe 4 slots )games from basic list, you just get games as per real cart
( poss rotation via select button on MVS cab or auto attract, hold start on reboot to change games/menu etc)

Full setting, just like it is now! ( but poss with rotation attract, button combo to change games/menu )
 
There is a new functionality that I'm planning for next release or the one after. Unfortunately due to copycats I prefer not to comment. When it's ready, you'll know what it's all about. I promise that is gonna make you jump out of your coach. It's going to be a revolution for NeoGeo....
 
How about a menu on/off accessed through pushing the test switch and player one?

In an arcade setting, there's no way for a customer to get in the coin door. No idea of the programming involved.
I would like to avoid people having to open their cabinets just to change an option. Looks like having an option ON/OFF in the menu to activate/deactivate the key combos is the way to go.
I agree. I meant for a menu option. Arcade mode, on means the only way to access the menu, test + player 1. Off, the carts existing menu shortcuts work.

Most would use off.

The arcade mode would limit you to one slot when on.
 
I guess I'm just not understanding why this is a better option. It does essentially the same thing as "Button combos on/off" but feels like the long way around. Why change the button combo to something impossible to press on a properly wired cab when you could just turn them off altogether?
why disable it when you can have it set to an impossible button combo?

So if he makes it either up and start or disabled you get what you want and I'm borked.

If he makes it either up and start or up and down , we both get what we want.

I have no idea why you'd have an issue with setting it to an impossible combo if it has zero impact on you.
 
There is a new functionality that I'm planning for next release or the one after. Unfortunately due to copycats I prefer not to comment. When it's ready, you'll know what it's all about. I promise that is gonna make you jump out of your coach. It's going to be a revolution for NeoGeo....
C’mon man, this is sheer blueballing, it’s unfair. I hate you man! :D

Regards.

Locutus73
 
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There is a new functionality that I'm planning for next release or the one after. Unfortunately due to copycats I prefer not to comment. When it's ready, you'll know what it's all about. I promise that is gonna make you jump out of your coach. It's going to be a revolution for NeoGeo....
Okay. Now I am curious. :D
The big question now is: is there en ETA for the next release?
 
So if he makes it either up and start or disabled you get what you want and I'm borked.

If he makes it either up and start or up and down , we both get what we want.

I have no idea why you'd have an issue with setting it to an impossible combo if it has zero impact on you.
They're functionally identical. It disables access from outside of the cabinet.

Why would you have an issue with setting it to "off" if it has zero impact on you?

I simply don't understand what makes *either* option better than the other.
 
So if he makes it either up and start or disabled you get what you want and I'm borked.

If he makes it either up and start or up and down , we both get what we want.

I have no idea why you'd have an issue with setting it to an impossible combo if it has zero impact on you.
They're functionally identical. It disables access from outside of the cabinet.
Why would you have an issue with setting it to "off" if it has zero impact on you?

I simply don't understand what makes *either* option better than the other.
Well that is pretty obvious. If the buttons are disabled nobody can do anything to trigger them. If they are set to these impossible combos you can wire up special buttons and leave them locked in the cab. So YOU can switch games and go to the menu without power cycling but a player cant. Big difference.
 
So if he makes it either up and start or disabled you get what you want and I'm borked.

If he makes it either up and start or up and down , we both get what we want.

I have no idea why you'd have an issue with setting it to an impossible combo if it has zero impact on you.
They're functionally identical. It disables access from outside of the cabinet.Why would you have an issue with setting it to "off" if it has zero impact on you?

I simply don't understand what makes *either* option better than the other.
Well that is pretty obvious. If the buttons are disabled nobody can do anything to trigger them. If they are set to these impossible combos you can wire up special buttons and leave them locked in the cab. So YOU can switch games and go to the menu without power cycling but a player cant. Big difference.
You can power off and on faster than opening cab to press a button.
On bootup anyone can get into unibios,multicart menu.
 
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