CEN64 Front-end for Windows v1.7

Breadwinka · Post by **Breadwinka** » Fri Oct 25, 2013 12:32 am

I made a really basic frontend for CEN64 that was overhauled by Beannaich . If there's any problems with it I can try to fix them, as well any features you want let me know I can see what I can do.
I recommend using the new one that was made by thedax

Heres the links

Version 1.7
CEN64 Fron-end v1.7

Requires .net 4.5
http://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/download ... x?id=30653

Changelog
Version 1.7
Added some icons
Keyboard support to go directly to a rom

Version 1.61 10-27-13
check for exception on loading file

Version 1.6 10-27-13
Added .n64 support
Added saving windows location

Version 1.5 10-27-13
Play and stop buttons closes on new rom load
New name
config file back xml format saved in root directory
refresh button for rom list
remember size of windows done.

No more config file
Version 1.4 10-27-13 beannaich overhaul edition
New UI
No more config file

Version 1.3 10-25-13
Bug fix's
Added saving of controller
Cosmetic change for Pifrom / Pifdata selection

Version 1.2 10-25-13
Some bug fixes when saving config file.(was also trying to run game and save at the same time)
Added controller selection

Version 1.1 10-25-13
Added DoubleClick on rom to start
Hopefully fixed escaping spaces any rom should start now.

Version 1.0 10-24-13
Initial Release

Error Macro · Post by **Error Macro** » Fri Oct 25, 2013 5:27 am

Works great! Thanks!

Sure beats the heck out of renaming files to cut down on typing time at the command prompt

Breadwinka · Post by **Breadwinka** » Fri Oct 25, 2013 5:38 am

NP exactly why I made it. Makes testing a lot quicker as well. Hoping to do a compatibility test tomorrow for cen64.

nmaster64 · Post by **nmaster64** » Fri Oct 25, 2013 7:42 am

Great job, definitely a nice convenience. You should consider open-sourcing so it can be further built upon.

Only issue I'm having is any ROMs w/ a space in the name fail. Special characters are fine, but a single space will cause the launch to fail.

Post by **ShadowFX** » Fri Oct 25, 2013 8:45 am

This is mighty handy. Though non of my dumps work as it complains the system can't find the specified path. And like nmaster64 suggested, it could be because of the spaces used in the filenames or path.

Post by **MarathonMan** » Fri Oct 25, 2013 9:42 am

Spaces need to be escaped.

You could probably try doing something like

Code: Select all

sprintf(rom_name_with_quotes, "\"%s\"", rom_name");

And launching with that. Anywho, good work!

Breadwinka · Post by **Breadwinka** » Fri Oct 25, 2013 1:26 pm

Awesome I over looked that and yes I can release the source for it. Should have an update in a couple of hours when I get off work.

Breadwinka · Post by **Breadwinka** » Fri Oct 25, 2013 3:50 pm

Updated escaping spaces should now be fixed. any more bugs point them out to me and I should get them fixed. Its been fun making this little frontend been years since I have done programming.

Post by **beannaich** » Fri Oct 25, 2013 4:57 pm

I always just selected the pif rom and w/e game rom and dragged/dropped onto cen64. No typing necessary

Can you specify the extra args with this application? Using my 360 controller would be an added bonus.

Breadwinka · Post by **Breadwinka** » Fri Oct 25, 2013 5:03 pm

haha ya that was actually my next step was to add the special args for the extra controllers. Should have that up soon.

Breadwinka · Post by **Breadwinka** » Fri Oct 25, 2013 6:08 pm

Version 1.2
http://breadwinka.com/CEN64GUIv1.2.rar

added controller support let me know if it works for you

Nintendo Maniac 64 · Post by **Nintendo Maniac 64** » Fri Oct 25, 2013 8:29 pm

Perhaps consider having the label for "Pifrom" say "Pifrom / Pitdata" ? I say this because the Pifdata that MESS uses is the exact same file and some of us on emutalk (including me) did not realize this.

Breadwinka · Post by **Breadwinka** » Fri Oct 25, 2013 8:40 pm

That cosmetic change can be done easily.

Nintendo Maniac 64 · Post by **Nintendo Maniac 64** » Fri Oct 25, 2013 10:53 pm

I'd greatly appreciate it. We had several pages back in the Emutalk thread being all confused about what the heck the "pifrom" is and couldn't find diddly-swat information on it. It turns out that all the info on the (Google-indexed) internet regarding the PIF calls it the 'pifdata', most likely because that's what MESS calls it and it obviously came before Cen64.

Breadwinka · Post by **Breadwinka** » Fri Oct 25, 2013 11:00 pm

Already done

Breadwinka · Post by **Breadwinka** » Sun Oct 27, 2013 7:09 pm

Huge update thanks to beannaich, the UI has been massively overhauled and room for more expansions on top of this.

Version 1.4
http://breadwinka.com/CEN64GUIv1.4.rar

Nintendo Maniac 64 · Post by **Nintendo Maniac 64** » Sun Oct 27, 2013 8:09 pm

No more config file?

I greatly prefer my applications to be portable instead of using the registry...

Personally I feel that the Windows Registry should be reserved for various settings for Windows itself (and perhaps also for the OS-bundled programs).

Post by **ShadowFX** » Sun Oct 27, 2013 8:15 pm

Nintendo Maniac 64 wrote:No more config file? I greatly prefer my applications to be portable instead of using the registry...

I second this, fully

Post by **beannaich** » Sun Oct 27, 2013 8:24 pm

ShadowFX wrote:
Nintendo Maniac 64 wrote:No more config file? I greatly prefer my applications to be portable instead of using the registry...
I second this, fully

Doesn't use the registry, the config file is in your %APPDATA% folder now. Which is completely standard program operation since windows 7.

Post by **ShadowFX** » Sun Oct 27, 2013 8:28 pm

Then it would be helpful to have it optionally save within the application's own directory.

Nintendo Maniac 64 · Post by **Nintendo Maniac 64** » Sun Oct 27, 2013 8:31 pm

ShadowFX wrote:Then it would be helpful to have it optionally save within the application's own directory.

I agree, particularly for portability. At least AppData is nowhere as bad as the registry since it's much easier back up and transfer various settings.

Nevertheless, um, where the heck is it? I don't see anything in my AppData folder that looks to apply to Cen64 GUI... That's why I thought the settings were stored in the registry.

Post by **beannaich** » Sun Oct 27, 2013 8:33 pm

ShadowFX wrote:Then it would be helpful to have it optionally save within the application's own directory.

Working on it. Would you like to be able to set the directory or just have it default to application directory?

Nintendo Maniac 64 wrote:I agree, particularly for portability. At least AppData is nowhere as bad as the registry since it's much easier back up and transfer various settings.

Nevertheless, um, where the heck is it? I don't see anything in my AppData folder that looks to apply to Cen64 GUI... That's why I thought the settings were stored in the registry.

AppData/Local/Breadwinka/

Nintendo Maniac 64 · Post by **Nintendo Maniac 64** » Sun Oct 27, 2013 8:35 pm

I would prefer both.

I like the flexibility of saving it to anywhere, but if you save to the application directory then the settings would work no matter what drive letter you run the program from and therefore allow the program to be portable.

beannaich wrote:AppData/Local/Breadwinka/

Oh that's wonky, on my copy of Win7 %AppData% points to "Appdata/Roaming"

Post by **ShadowFX** » Sun Oct 27, 2013 8:39 pm

I would suggest to default it to its own directory at the moment. Later on, you could add an option if there's demand for it.
Also, how difficult would it be to have the CEN64 window automatically closed if the user runs another ROM without closing it first? At the moment, it seems multiple CEN64 instances are allowed.

Post by **beannaich** » Sun Oct 27, 2013 8:40 pm

ShadowFX wrote:I would suggest to default it to its own directory at the moment. Later on, you could add an option if there's demand for it.
Also, how difficult would it be to have the CEN64 window automatically closed if the user runs another ROM without closing it first? At the moment, it seems multiple CEN64 instances are allowed.

Wouldn't be too hard, could add dolphin like control buttons too. Sadly only a "Play" and "stop" button could be implemented, no "pause". Go ahead and list all the features you'd like to see (within reason) now, and I'll get working on them.

Nintendo Maniac 64 · Post by **Nintendo Maniac 64** » Sun Oct 27, 2013 8:46 pm

Might want to clarify that you mean GUI features.

Normally I would say controller button-mapping, fullscreen settings, and RetroArch filter support, but I've no idea if those are even possible via GUI-only functionality.

I'll elaborate on any one of those if you do actually confirm that it's possible.

EDIT: Well I definitely know that this is a GUI function - on first launch ask if you want to run in "normal" or "Portable" mode; in this case 'Normal' = settings in AppData while 'Portable' = settings in program director. The program can tell if it's a first-time run by the lack of any config file in either the program directory or the AppData folder, and said config file will only be created in the according location once the user selects "Normal" or "Portable" mode.

Also if there are settings files in both the program directory and the AppData folder, the settings in the program directory should take priority.

Post by **beannaich** » Sun Oct 27, 2013 8:53 pm

Nintendo Maniac 64 wrote:Might want to clarify that you mean GUI features.

Normally I would say controller button-mapping, fullscreen settings, and RetroArch filter support, but I've no idea if those are even possible via GUI-only functionality.

I'll elaborate on any one of those if you do actually confirm that it's possible.

EDIT: Well I definitely know that this is a GUI function - on first launch ask if you want to run in "portable mode" or not. In this case portable mode = settings in program directory, non-portable/normal mode = AppData

No, no, and no. All of those are built in to CEN64, the GUI is just a launcher/ROM browser. The reason a "pause" button can't be added is because I can't suspend the emulation (maybe I can, I'll confirm that soon) from outside, but I can completely destroy it or create it. As far as booting and asking if you want to run in portable mode, I think I'll just allow the same directory. Allowing other directories would require 2 settings files. One to tell the program where the real settings are, and the real settings. Too much hassle for a free program at the moment.

Post by **ShadowFX** » Sun Oct 27, 2013 8:54 pm

Well, I can indeed think of a few suggestions for the CEN64 GUI:

- Remember Window size
- Remember column width settings
- Change GUI title to CEN64 Front-end 1.0 (something along those lines)
- Add status bar, placeholder for things like VI/s, FPS etc. (can be optional)
- Add front side buttons like Dolphin, 1964, Nemu64 and Mupen64 (can be optional)
-- Open, Refresh ROM list, Play, Stop etc.
- Usage of proper names like ROM instead of rom, Rom etc.
- Icon support within the menus, ROM list?
- Config file can be named something like cen64.cfg or cen64.ini

Nintendo Maniac 64 · Post by **Nintendo Maniac 64** » Sun Oct 27, 2013 8:58 pm

beannaich wrote:No, no, and no. All of those are built in to CEN64, the GUI is just a launcher/ROM browser. The reason a "pause" button can't be added is because I can't suspend the emulation (maybe I can, I'll confirm that soon) from outside, but I can completely destroy it or create it.

Huh, I thought fullscreen was purely a GUI thing considering programs like Sizer exist.

Or can the GUI and therefore programs like Sizer only control the windowed size? Therefore couldn't it make a "pseudo" fullscreen by scaling up the program window and overlaying it on-top of a black image?

Forgive my ignorance, as I've said before on Emutalk I'm much more of a hardware guy so I don't really know much at all about coding and stuff.

Post by **beannaich** » Sun Oct 27, 2013 9:04 pm

ShadowFX wrote:Well, I can indeed think of a few suggestions for the CEN64 GUI:

- Usage of proper names like ROM instead of rom, Rom etc.

Are there any instances of this in the new version? I was pretty particular when I redesigned the GUI to fix things like that. Most of the features you wanted are done or being tested now.

Nintendo Maniac 64 wrote:Or can the GUI and therefore programs like Sizer only control the windowed size? Therefore couldn't it make a "pseudo" fullscreen by scaling up the program window and overlaying it on-top of a black image?

Depends, you could hook the openGL calls and make a full screener, but that takes a lot of effort and I'm doing this for free.

Nintendo Maniac 64 · Post by **Nintendo Maniac 64** » Sun Oct 27, 2013 9:09 pm

beannaich wrote: Depends, you could hook the openGL calls and make a full screener, but that takes a lot of effort and I'm doing this for free.

...opengl? I thought Cen64 used software rendering...

Post by **beannaich** » Sun Oct 27, 2013 9:10 pm

Nintendo Maniac 64 wrote:
beannaich wrote: Depends, you could hook the openGL calls and make a full screener, but that takes a lot of effort and I'm doing this for free.
...opengl? I thought Cen64 used software rendering...

It has to eventually output it's software rendered graphics somewhere. And it does that via openGL. That's why GLFW is listed as a dependency to build the project.

Nintendo Maniac 64 · Post by **Nintendo Maniac 64** » Sun Oct 27, 2013 9:16 pm

oooooooooooooohhhh.... That makes sense.

So uh, does that apply to window resizing as well? I haven't tried your Cen64 GUI on a CPU that actually has the necessary SSE for Cen64, so I haven't been able to test if that functionality exists.

Post by **beannaich** » Sun Oct 27, 2013 9:56 pm

ShadowFX wrote:Well, I can indeed think of a few suggestions for the CEN64 GUI:

- Remember Window size - Added
- Remember column width settings - Added
- Change GUI title to CEN64 Front-end 1.0 (something along those lines) - Changed
- Add status bar, placeholder for things like VI/s, FPS etc. (can be optional) - Not doable
- Add front side buttons like Dolphin, 1964, Nemu64 and Mupen64 (can be optional) - Uh
-- Open, Refresh ROM list, Play, Stop etc. - Added
- Usage of proper names like ROM instead of rom, Rom etc. - Already done?
- Icon support within the menus, ROM list? - Not sure what this means specifically
- Config file can be named something like cen64.cfg or cen64.ini - user.config, an XML file

Breadwinka · Post by **Breadwinka** » Sun Oct 27, 2013 10:19 pm

updated links

Nintendo Maniac 64 · Post by **Nintendo Maniac 64** » Sun Oct 27, 2013 10:22 pm

Version 1.5 is only remembering windows size and not position. This isn't necessarily a problem, but I wanted to make sure that this behavior was intentional.

Post by **beannaich** » Sun Oct 27, 2013 11:24 pm

Nintendo Maniac 64 wrote:Version 1.5 is only remembering windows size and not position. This isn't necessarily a problem, but I wanted to make sure that this behavior was intentional.

Wasn't intentional, it slipped my mind. Breadwinka is adding that, and I sent him .N64 file format support.

Breadwinka · Post by **Breadwinka** » Sun Oct 27, 2013 11:34 pm

and updated

Version 1.6
http://breadwinka.com/CEN64%20Front-end%20V1.6.rar

Changelog
Version 1.6 10-27-13
Added .n64 support
Added saving windows location

Nintendo Maniac 64 · Post by **Nintendo Maniac 64** » Sun Oct 27, 2013 11:40 pm

This is going to seem like the pickiest thing ever, but isn't a lower-case v usually used when designating a version number? Like v1.6 vs V1.6.

On a less picky note, I noticed that the user cannot customize the "File", "Size", and "Compatibility" headings other than resizing them. Normally in windows you can rearrange them by dragging and you can enable/disable them via right-clicking on them.

Post by **beannaich** » Sun Oct 27, 2013 11:45 pm

Nintendo Maniac 64 wrote:This is going to seem like the pickiest thing ever.

I think we have your new motto.

Nintendo Maniac 64 · Post by **Nintendo Maniac 64** » Sun Oct 27, 2013 11:50 pm

beannaich wrote:I think we have your new motto.

At least I'm aware of how picky such a comment was.

Post by **beannaich** » Sun Oct 27, 2013 11:52 pm

One does not require that much customization to merely load a ROM.

Nintendo Maniac 64 · Post by **Nintendo Maniac 64** » Sun Oct 27, 2013 11:55 pm

Guess I should have again stated "this isn't necessarily an issue but I would like to make sure that this is intentional behavior."

Post by **beannaich** » Sun Oct 27, 2013 11:57 pm

beannaich wrote:
Nintendo Maniac 64 wrote:Version 1.5 is only remembering windows size and not position. This isn't necessarily a problem, but I wanted to make sure that this behavior was intentional.
Wasn't intentional, it slipped my mind. Breadwinka is adding that, and I sent him .N64 file format support.

Already answered that one. Nitpicking about a capital or lowercase "V" and the categories is what finally put me over the edge. It's a ROM loader, click your file, and enjoy

Nintendo Maniac 64 · Post by **Nintendo Maniac 64** » Mon Oct 28, 2013 12:06 am

beannaich wrote:It's a ROM loader, click your file, and enjoy

But I can't enjoy it yet because my desktop PC only supports SSE3 at max. >_> Only my HTPC supports SSSE3 and runs a 64bit OS, but people are asleep so I cannot go out into my living room and risk booting it up. (also note my laptop supports SSSE3 but only runs a 32bit OS for driver compatibility).

Post by **ShadowFX** » Mon Oct 28, 2013 3:47 am

Version 1.6 either crashes here or just doesn't start. So far, I have tried to remove the generated AppData directory and also manually added the user.config in CEN64's directory. Any ideas?

beannaich wrote: - Add status bar, placeholder for things like VI/s, FPS etc. (can be optional) - Not doable

A statusbar is a convenient way to display useful information of the emulation status, instead of overlaying this on the video (if that is possible at all for CEN64). May I ask what is hindering you to implement this?

beannaich wrote: - Add front side buttons like Dolphin, 1964, Nemu64 and Mupen64 (can be optional) - Uh
-- Open, Refresh ROM list, Play, Stop etc. - Added

beannaich wrote: - Icon support within the menus, ROM list? - Not sure what this means specifically

Optional means you could enable or disable the row of buttons. I understand this seems trivial at this point in time, but hey, it is a suggestion

beannaich wrote: - Usage of proper names like ROM instead of rom, Rom etc. - Already done?

Nice! I was giving the ROM abbreviation as an example. Same goes for PIF.

beannaich wrote: - Config file can be named something like cen64.cfg or cen64.ini - user.config, an XML file

Ah okay, I thought it would be named something like user.xml

Breadwinka · Post by **Breadwinka** » Mon Oct 28, 2013 3:57 am

Can you check to see if its actually running in your task manager because I just downloaded it and it started just fine. Shouldn't be crashing at all. and the generated appdata is ignored now as well. i wonder if its loading off screen..

Post by **ShadowFX** » Mon Oct 28, 2013 4:04 am

The program is loaded for a second in the task manager, and then disappears or crashes.

Breadwinka · Post by **Breadwinka** » Mon Oct 28, 2013 4:12 am

is it possible to check the md5 hash on the file. mines F75F2B9F91379D11D717F3AD4636D004 I wondering if its corrupt tried another computer not getting any crashes. if thats not the case ill have to look into this even more

Post by **ShadowFX** » Mon Oct 28, 2013 4:16 am

My MD5 check revealed that yours and mine match.
I see you are using Windows 8. Does it help to report that I'm using Windows 7 SP1 64-bit?

Event Viewer log:

Code: Select all

Application: CEN64 Front-end.exe
Framework Version: v4.0.30319
Description: The process was terminated due to an unhandled exception.
Exception Info: System.InvalidOperationException
Stack:
   at System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializer.Deserialize(System.Xml.XmlReader, System.String, System.Xml.Serialization.XmlDeserializationEvents)
   at System.Xml.Serialization.XmlSerializer.Deserialize(System.IO.Stream)
   at CEN64_Frontend.UserSettings.Load(System.IO.FileInfo)
   at CEN64_Frontend.Program.Main()

Who is online