Duimon - HSM Mega Bezel Graphics and Presets - Feedback and Updates

Duimon · 12 July 2021 22:01

I decided that since I succeeded in compiling a custom MAME core, that I would do a MAME 2021 core based on the MAME 0.232 source, freezing it like it is today since everything seems to be working.

I also figured that, while I was in there, there was no reason to not apply some of the customization I did to the stand-alone MAME, back when I created the private version of my original raster PDP-1 graphic. So…

Here is a shot of it running on the current MAME core…

And here is a shot of it running on my MAME 2021 core.

The first shot uses Grade to Hue shift the entire output and a Cabinet Glass Layer to tint the screen back to green.

The second uses no Grade, I changed the color of the lit and unlit lamps in the code. I am still using the Cabinet Glass Layer to tint the screen, because i want to, not because i need to.

I briefly thought of stopping there and seeing if I could get the code merged into MAME, but I am changing a color that they seem to (theoretically) be saving for when they add pen support. (Personally I think they are done working on this machine, but there are hints in the code.)

I would have to add a color to the fixed panel palette and I can’t figure out how they are getting the color definitions from one place to the other, I am just not savvy enough.

So since there is nothing stopping me I will probably move the center column of lamps to the right and the right group to the left, to more accurately reflect the original machine.

They have them the way they are to make room for panel text, which I will be doing away with.

The change will create a lot of work for me, modifying the graphic. I will keep the version I have now for the current core and do a second modified version for my custom core.

oneshout · 13 July 2021 09:14

hi @Duimon, i was wondering if you plan to produce a generic psd file for Amiga users outside of the work of @TheNamec ? …or maybe you have one in a secret stash

Duimon · 13 July 2021 11:10

Here is my Retroarch core list the way it stands.

Sharp X1
SEGA Pico
Commodore VIC-20
Commodore 64c
Commodore 128
Amiga 500
Amiga 1000
Amiga 2000
Amiga 4000T

As you can see there are only two systems left before I start work on some Amiga systems. In all honesty, I will probably have to do the CD32 at some point as well, or the project wont feel complete.

After that there are 13 MAME SL systems to do.

MegaDuck
Apple 2e
Apple 2 GS
Casio PV-1000
Emerson Arcadia 2001
Entex Adventure Vision
Epoch Super Cassette vision
Gamepark GP32
Hartung Gamemaster
Watara Supervision
Fujitsu FM-7
Fujitsu FM-Towns
Tandy CoCo 3

If I understand you correctly, I don’t have plans for a generic Amiga.

oneshout · 13 July 2021 11:13

tks for your answer; i said generic to not bother you to much the todo list is really, really intersting Tks again

PS: no 1200 on the list ? a shame

Duimon · 13 July 2021 11:15

PS. I am excluding many models out of respect for @TheNamec’s set. The models I have selected are actually at his request.

Duimon · 14 July 2021 23:39

Here is a new WIP.

@akuma22 Surprise!!

Fujitsu FM Towns!!!

I know it was near the bottom of the list but I couldn’t resist. (I wanted to have some fun.)

I honestly think that when it comes to sexy computers, the FM Towns II gives the x68000 a run for it’s money.

This thing came together like a dream, I just couldn’t seem to make a bad decision. (The LEDs are some of the coolest I have done, I really like them!)

I think I have some highlight fixing to do on the monitor version, but this should be done soon.

On a sad note. The current MAME core wants to reload the shader multiple times during the boot process. The 0.220 version doesn’t suffer from this, so it looks like the 0.220 will be my recommended core after all, unless I can solve the issue with some MAME settings.

akuma22 · 15 July 2021 01:10

tenor

It is incredibly beautiful, I knew that it would look good on you because of how attractive it is but I did not expect it to look so good, it is fantastic.

A pity about the current core, with all the effort that it cost us to make FMTOWNS work in the current core it is a pity not to be able to use it at the end.

Duimon · 15 July 2021 01:22

Yes it is.

I am glad that I compiled a 0.220 core that can gracefully coexist with the current core. I may recompile it and call it MAME 2020.

I still have yet to do any testing with the current core setting. Maybe we’ll get lucky.

akuma22 · 15 July 2021 01:21

Hopefully we are lucky because otherwise even my Arcade project would be damaged.

Duimon · 15 July 2021 01:49

We got lucky… enabling mame_alternate_renderer, (Using a content directory *.opt.) solves the issue.

BTW. I am glad you like the graphic. IMHO it is one of my best. One cool thing is the FM-Towns used standard parts so I can reuse the floppy drives in other projects.

akuma22 · 15 July 2021 01:55

Thank God I was already worried

About FMTOWNS, yes, I also think it’s the best you’ve done so far, although pc98 and pc88 are also incredible.

This one from FMTOWNS is so nice that it is the first time that I have doubts about not putting the night version or leaving the normal one and going to alternate one and another manually.

Great job, this time you’ve outdone yourself.

oneshout · 15 July 2021 02:28

Wow, just splendid, love it (the third is great)

Duimon · 15 July 2021 02:35

Thank you.

I wanted the monitor to look like it belonged, like the original did. (Although It was tough to find pictures of it that weren’t lens distorted beyond recognition.)

In the end I made it fairly representative of the original and actually borrowed most of the assets from the background to make it cohesive.

Duimon · 15 July 2021 12:57

For those of you, (Like me. ) that can’t have enough LEDs in night mode.

The FM Towns is in the repo, full cast included.

There is a shader issue with scaling the monitor presets, I didn’t want to wait to upload them so I may have to update in the future.

Unparallell · 15 July 2021 13:10

Looks absolutely stunning! I wonder if someday we even get interactive leds feeding with cores so disk loads and even cd media spin would be animated Because this feels like it’s the limit of the current technical possibilities. Thank you very much

Duimon · 15 July 2021 13:22

I’m going to say no. MAME has a very intimate relationship with the hardware, because of this the Layout system can do things the RA shaders cannot.

@HyperspaceMadness has explored ways to introduce animation in the shader but the size of the graphic resources needed make it unrealistic.

It is possible that a small element in the graphic could be animated at a low resolution and framerate but I’m not sure if the end result would be satisfying.

HSM is a mad scientist though… who really knows what the future holds?

While they wont have a reflection, I am planning on converting my MAME SL overlays to the MAME layout format and getting them included in the standard MAME Extras package.

This will of course happen down the road a ways but will probably include what animation I can provide.

akuma22 · 15 July 2021 20:47

The one from FMTOWNS is impressive, after testing it I can say that it is the best to date, the LEDs are incredible, the night version enhances the terror of the splatterhouse

HyperspaceMadness · 15 July 2021 21:36

Yeah this is tricky, basically we need the core to supply the info which I think @sonninnos did recently with PUAE-VICE and then we would need to expose some generic values to the shader system that we could then use to drive the shader.

I’m interested in doing something like this, but it is a long way down the road because there are a bunch of projects which I feel would provide value that I want to do first, like allowing the user to choose textures from the UI, or having UI categories so the Mega Bezel doesn’t present you 450 parameters in a giant flat list.

I am curious about what kind of images we would use to identify where the LEDs are if we had this ability, possibly having little blocks of different colors placed around the screen with each color range assigned to one of the LED types.

Duimon · 15 July 2021 22:29

MAME layouts are all text and coordinate based. I like the idea of a single image for coordinates and maybe shader generated LEDs. Converting a vector LED to code would be easy using SVG.

We could have a hard coded library of LEDs and referencing a single simple image would make them magically appear. Size could be determined by the image as well.

Duimon · 15 July 2021 22:38

Honestly, they kind of freak me out.

It almost looks like I Photoshopped a raster image into the graphic.