Reveal Vid for Darksoft's MVS Multi Cart
- Thread starter Mitsurugi-w
- Start date
pulstarx
Student
Well currently you guys have several small issues with the software that add up to a bigger problem for some of us. @daithidownunder described it best.
I'm sure a lot of awkward transitions and load times can be cut too. For instance not loading the music if it's off and not loading the gfx if the menu is set to simple list. Not having the menu ever pop up when it directly boots in a game. Showing which game is currently loaded and some simple percentage number. Implementing that stuff only takes a few hours but helps a lot. Every seconds counts in the startup process.
I would also turn off the MVS hardware test (jumpled greenscreen) with the cheat bios.
I'm sure a lot of awkward transitions and load times can be cut too. For instance not loading the music if it's off and not loading the gfx if the menu is set to simple list. Not having the menu ever pop up when it directly boots in a game. Showing which game is currently loaded and some simple percentage number. Implementing that stuff only takes a few hours but helps a lot. Every seconds counts in the startup process.
I would also turn off the MVS hardware test (jumpled greenscreen) with the cheat bios.
pulstarx
Student
Why not? A progress bar is of course even better but takes 20 minutes to implement instead of 5 minutes.
It's important to show progress, that the device didn't hang itself while starring on a black screen.
It's important to show progress, that the device didn't hang itself while starring on a black screen.
And some people wonder why we don't like menus.....just can't seem to please some of you. Jeez. LOL. We love listening to your suggestions but at this time we have let this project get bogged down long enough. We can continue to tweak things but we aren't going to delay this anymore. We can always update things later and also someone can write their own software when we release the source in a year or so. Menu updates will continue as long as needed, however. I've worked with the menu as is quite a bit and it works well.
You may think changes don't take long. The fact is that those of us working on this thing are on three different continents. Some of us have big time zone differences, etc. Never in the same room. All with real jobs and family to deal with first. We have a team on this. No one person does everything. Some of the people working on this want to be anonymous but you would be surprised to find out who they are.
This menu is the culmination of what most people wanted. Remember, we originally were not going to do a menu at all. So our first goal is to release a good, functional cart with great load times and a menu that works well and can have options adjusted. Can we offer a minimalist menu in the future? That's a definite maybe.
You may think changes don't take long. The fact is that those of us working on this thing are on three different continents. Some of us have big time zone differences, etc. Never in the same room. All with real jobs and family to deal with first. We have a team on this. No one person does everything. Some of the people working on this want to be anonymous but you would be surprised to find out who they are.
This menu is the culmination of what most people wanted. Remember, we originally were not going to do a menu at all. So our first goal is to release a good, functional cart with great load times and a menu that works well and can have options adjusted. Can we offer a minimalist menu in the future? That's a definite maybe.
i see your point with the progress bar, but if it takes longer than 1 minute its obvious that something went wrong.
Imagine everybody would implement a counter for every short transition....
A progress bar is meaningful in a context where it takes very long to finish and where the probability to mess something up is big.. Like Windows installation, compressing a movie file, rendering a 3d model, load a game in the NeoSD etc etc. .
Imagine everybody would implement a counter for every short transition....
A progress bar is meaningful in a context where it takes very long to finish and where the probability to mess something up is big.. Like Windows installation, compressing a movie file, rendering a 3d model, load a game in the NeoSD etc etc. .
I just talked to Darksoft, if any of you that are unhappy with the menu as is has coding experience and would like to help implement some of your ideas into the menu we would love to invite you onto the team. It can be your own little project.
Also, if you have VERY SPECIFIC ideas of what needs to be changed then please list them and we will try to see what we can do in an update in the near future.
Also, if you have VERY SPECIFIC ideas of what needs to be changed then please list them and we will try to see what we can do in an update in the near future.
SNK-NEO-GEO
Enlightened
I am going to use the NeoMuilty like an everdrive and turn off all the features. A simple text list of games (no music, no video, no animation) and select a game and load. The extra slots are nice and all to have more games but at the end of the day, I just want to select a game load and play
.. We all know all the Neogeo games, who needs videos and animation when we could be playing in seconds.. I love the Everdrives for that simplicity.
.. We all know all the Neogeo games, who needs videos and animation when we could be playing in seconds.. I love the Everdrives for that simplicity.
I think the progress bar is a nice touch, to help you keep in mind that the machine is working. Progress bars are not needed for very small tasks, like loading roms on any other multicart (they take like a second) but this is neo-geo, nothing about this console is regular (LOL) so progress bars would be useful, even if they last "only" 20 seconds.
noonan2678
Student
Thanks for the ongoing commitment... Agreed that getting our hands on this is far more desirable than further software tweaks.
Mentioned before, but this is the one from my perspective (similar to SNK-NEO-GEO):
Ability to boot direct to the games list, select single game and launch.
Bypass slots and slot selection, RAM dumped on exit so nothing loaded at startup.
Mentioned before, but this is the one from my perspective (similar to SNK-NEO-GEO):
Ability to boot direct to the games list, select single game and launch.
Bypass slots and slot selection, RAM dumped on exit so nothing loaded at startup.
software takes 1-2 hours. Modifying the firmware in the cartridge, the design and do proper testing takes much longer. I won't add a progress Bar at least for now.
ram dumped where?
You can boot directly any game from the selection list by just pressing 1p start. It will automatically load that game in slot1 and boot to it...
FrizzleFried
Enthusiast
I am not a programmer so I am not sure how difficult it would be to implement,
Thanks for the ongoing commitment... Agreed that getting our hands on this is far more desirable than further software tweaks.
ALSO, I remember hearing about high scores being saved at some point. Did that happen? Honestly, the only reason I've sold the 3 NEO-GEO's i've owned is because they do not save high scores when you load in enough games, etc... why bother when MAME does NEO-GEO perfectly fine AND saves high scores...
Thanks for the ongoing commitment... Agreed that getting our hands on this is far more desirable than further software tweaks.
I suspect he means he'd prefer a menu of ALL GAMES on the SD card come up...without loading any of them in to RAM... then load the game in to RAM on selection... and when the board is powered down, the memory in RAM is lost so that you can do the same again upon bootup.
ALSO, I remember hearing about high scores being saved at some point. Did that happen? Honestly, the only reason I've sold the 3 NEO-GEO's i've owned is because they do not save high scores when you load in enough games, etc... why bother when MAME does NEO-GEO perfectly fine AND saves high scores...
noonan2678
Student
Darksoft said:
Meant to avoid the loading of what is selected for the slot(s) upon startup of the cart. If I go to sit down and want to play Metal Slug, but KOF 2003 is currently in slot 1, why not avoid the time for KOF to load and just select Slug off the bat. To me, worth losing the advantage of direct booting the slot games to be able to select upon startup. They are arcade games, so rare that (just IMO) I would go back to the same game over and over without switching it up.
EDIT - What Frizzle said too.
Dreamstate
Enthusiast
Gee, too much negative from the peanut gallery. Thanks is what they were looking for.
synbiosfan
Enthusiast
Negativity is still helpful, much better than a bunch of yes men.
They're at the point where they have pretty thick skin and they're committed so...
They're at the point where they have pretty thick skin and they're committed so...
Yeah we've developed thick skin the last few years. I never really get too high or low which helps me in my business life. Sometimes I need to calm Darksoft down though. Spanish blood, ya know? 
What? Me irritable?Yeah we've developed thick skin the last few years. I never really get too high or low which helps me in my business life. Sometimes I need to calm Darksoft down though. Spanish blood, ya know?
