ML TNG Release Notes -------------------- March 12th, 2010 Beta u45 Release - Resolved issues surrounding FAVORITE.ML saving and not keeping proper track such things as orientation, border/font colors and full screen toggle. - Fixed a bug related to using an external font - using orientation 3 (rotated 180 degrees) would display the font in white even if you've changed it locally or in your FAVORITE.ML file. - A problem with using FBA and detecting proper source names has been fixed. - Updated RESOURCE.ML to 0.137 for MAME and partially for MESS. January 22nd, 2010 Beta u44 Release - Reverted my FAVORITE.ML changes until I can properly fix the bug. If you didn't have a FAVORITE.ML file already, it failed to save all your setting you made. January 21th, 2010 Beta u43 Release - Fixed a problem with .INI file deletion via F7/Shift+F7. - RESOURCE.ML updated to 0.136 for MESS and MAME. In a future release, I hope to rewrite the routines that deal with MESS, as there is a lot of bios changes in each release - they often change from revision to revision. - MESS 0.136 changed the command used to obtain devices for a driver. It had to be changed since MAME decided to use the previous standard, -LISTDEVICES. -LISTMEDIA is what will work for MESS and ML is set up to use this for any version of MESS 0.136 or later. The only caveat is that the official 0.136 MESS release doesn't have this working in command line, so you will need an SVN compile or wait until MESS 0.137. - Corrected an issue with older MESS release version identification. This fixes issues with command selection and saving for pre-0.123 versions. - Hopefully, an issue with erasure of your FAVORITE.ML has been corrected. This happened when you tried to run ML when the emulator that was listed in your favorites file wasn't found. - ML.EXE is no longer packed with UPX. I'm hoping that this will help those who want to attempt to run this front-end on other non Windows OS's using WINE (http://www.winehq.org). August 5th, 2009 Beta u42 Release - Fixed another problem with using the F3 (Information). Sometimes, the parent would be incorrectly discovered due to me not verifying the string lengths. For instance, a search for "fastfred" set would find the first match as "fa" and use that. - Updated RESOURCE.ML to 0.133 for MESS and MAME. There is a new command called -BURNIN which is available to MAME/MESS using any version 0.133 or later. - Fixed MANTIS lookup to use the new URL. As a reminder, you can access the MAMETESTERS page while viewing information by simply hitting (F7) to check a game or (SHIFT+F7) to search for the driver. June 29th, 2009 Beta u41 Release - Added missing + new BIOS selections, SAMEROM entries in RESOURCE.ML file for MAME and MESS. Both should be complete up to version 0.132. - Fixed a problem with SAMEROMS varible to allow many more entries. My initial limit of 100 was ecliped recently with all the new MESS Skeleton driver adds. April 12th, 2009 Beta u40 Released - Further refinement to prior fixes to deal with larger setnames for clones. Some setname changes in MAME 0.130u3 exposed some problems with my initial fix in the last release. - Adjusted the SOURCE and SETNAME display spacing to handle the maximum length of 12 (primarily for clone set names) so that those names will not 'seep' off the edge of the screen. - Fixed in-program web link hotkeys for external lookups while viewing Information (F3). - Typical RESOURCE.ML additions including updating the MESS entries up to version 0.130. February 19th, 2009 Beta u39 Released - Added a much expanded FAVORITE.ML format which allows you to add many different settings. See the mlreadme.txt for more information as to the specifics. ML will still attempt to load your old favorite.ml file but write a new style one upon exit or upon not finding an emulator to use. - Temporarily took out command line interaction, since all the items can now be entered into your favorite.ml file. - RESOURCE.ML additions - including new commands such as -listbrothers as well as new parent/clone relationships in MESS to make sure you have a full available list for machines with shared roms. - Major fix to my reading of clones, sources and all functions requiring or including that information. As of MAME 0.129u4, MAME now allows a setname greater than the forever standard 8 characters. My routines to parse the game list and other output depended on the fact that 8 was a limit. The routines were worked to be compatable with old and new MAME structure. More work might need to be done in the future regarding this. November 30th, 2008 Beta u38 Released - Through the use of the FMOD.DLL Library, I've added the ability to handle many different formats of audio. Right now, I have hardcoded support any MP3 file called "AMBIENCE.MP3" to be played while using ML TNG and not playing a game. - With a file called "TICK.WAV", you can add the ability to issue a sound to keystrokes/entries while selecting. Full information on how to use this ability as well as the option to play audio in the background is located in the README.TXT file. September 23rd, 2008 Beta u37 Released - Fixed a problem with ML not working properly on some XP/Vista Systems. I use the "sort.exe" that is available to the operating system and sometimes this did not work correctly until I manually reserved the memory needed for the function. - Took another stab at cleaning up problems I've had when using different sort orders (setname, parent/clone, source). It is my hope that everything should work well now. If not, I need to know! - Normal batch of RESOURCE.ML updates to keep everything updated including a huge MESS (pun indended) of BIOS updates. - Corrected an issue with the DAT file viewing (F3) which in some cases the wrong game information would show. Example: A request for Street Fighter II (sf2) would show instead the data for San Francisco Rush 2049 (sf2049). - Improved the displaying of the COMMAND.DAT portion of the DAT Viewing. Lines which contained many spaces or other characters are now better trimmed. - Added ability to quickly refresh a folder you are viewing while using MESS. Before, you needed to change the folder, then come back to the desired folder to see any changes that were made while viewing that folder. When you refresh, you are put at the top of the filelist again. The F2 key is assigned to this task. July 20th, 2008 Beta u36 Released - RESOURCE.ML changes and additions (especially MESS). - Minor internal rewrites. - I guess it's summer.. there are a lot of things I want to improve on or add to ML TNG, but I lack the desire/motivation as of late to do it. June 20th, 2008 Beta u35 Released - My 'fix' in u34 for the game listings ended up morphing into another bug. The name sorting should be much better now. - My implementation of the -SNAPVIEW was incorrect as well. I made it three choices (auto, internal and native). June 18th, 2008 Beta u34 Released - Fixed a rather sneaky (and annoying) issue with Parent/Clone display listing which caused some clones to be included with the wrong parent sets. This also caused some of my regular name sorts to be incorrect. Thanks to Mr. Do for bringing it to my attention. - Corrected an issue with detecting the MAME.INI file for some MAME GUI derivatives. This resulted in the inability, in some cases, to read stored ROMPATH names which could result in an empty AVAILABLE list. - Typical batch of RESOURCE.ML updates for MAME: -COIN_LOCKOUT (0.125u5), -SNAPSIZE and -SNAPVIEW (0.125u6). MESSSAMEROM: comx35p/comx35n, newbrain/newbraid. May 29th, 2008 Beta u33 Released - RESOURCE.ML changes: MAME: -AVIWRITE (0.125u1), -JOYSTICK (0.125u2 - default behavior is now ON), -SNAPNAME (0.125u3). The AVIWRITE it set up to be handled like the other recording toggles and SNAPNAME has 3 options hardcoded. - Added MANTIS search option (F7 - setname, SHIFT+F7 - source) to allow you to search the MAME Testers database for any bugs registered or mentioning your specific search criteria. As the other web lookups, this is only able to be used from External Data View (F3). The lookup keys are now: F5 - MAWS, F6 - Arcade-History, F7/SHIFT+F7 - MANTIS/MT search, F8 - MARP. - Fixed the List Sort Method routine (F1) to remember and jump to the gamename which was highlighted on the previous list. - Added an icon (finally) to ML TNG. Been meaning to do this for some time. Right now is just an generic cabinet icon - anything to pull it away from a label of being an "anonymous windows executable". If anyone wants to make one to help identify ML TNG as unique, feel free to make a 16x16 or 32x32 .ico file for possible inclusion and credit! May 10th, 2008 Beta u32 Released - Implemented use of FBA's new command-line option to add SOURCE information to your gamelist view. As more command-line functionality is added - ML will add what it can for support. - Corrected an issue where the console window would be completely cleared out if using FBA in certain instances. - Fixed a problem related to loading .BDF fonts. If the saved BDF font is not found then the display should revert to default font built-in. - Ability to use F4 to save a viewed "Parent/Clone" list was not working due to a filename issue. This has been corrected. - Fixed some commands related to the using screen0,1,2,3 triggers. My range I had was DISPLAY0-3 instead of DISPLAY1-4. - Latest round of additions to RESOURCE.ML for MAME 0.125/MESS 0.125. April 24th, 2008 Beta u31 Released - Added detection for a forgotten MAME build called "MetalMAME". The last release seems based on 0.82 MAME sources, so that is the command set that is available. - Added preliminary support for the use of "Final Burn Alpha". You can launch Games, Save States and Recordings and it will use your rompaths as assigned from "CONFIG\FBA.ini". There are limitations to the support [no parent/clone or source listings] until new command-line triggers are created to accommodate output of this information. - Small case change to fix the problem that ML had with the HazeMD lists the last few releases. All "[system]" tags should now be moved to the end of the gamename as intended. - For a few hours after my last release, the build I had out for download contained a couple pause loops I had forgotten to take out (related to F3 Data viewing as well as if you used MESS as an emulator). Fixed. - Fixed a bug related to leaving empty COMMANDxxx.ml files when no options are selected. - Fixed potential problem with reading MAMEUI's .INI file for rompaths. - More RESOURCE.ML updates, mostly covering all the recent MESS adds and new BIOS attachments. Also included the new -WATCHDOG command added in MAME 0.124u4. March 26st, 2008 Beta u30 Released - Fixed a problem with MESS versions after 0.123 not being detected properly. This was due to changes in the text output of the "-help" command which is what ML uses to identify which what emulator/version is being used. - Modified the method of determining "ROMSETS which use this driver" listing when viewing DAT information (F3) - correcting a problem. - Fixed a long standing bug with External Data Viewing (F3) which caused ML to freeze when looking up sets from certain drivers. - Normal updates to RESOURCE.ML to keep up with changes in major emulators (MAME 0.124, MESS 0.124, PinMAME 1.59). - An updated compiler environment fixed an issue related to the display not being correct using SCROLL LOCK (toggling Full Screen/Windowed mode) that snuck in the u29 release. February 14th, 2008 Beta u29 Released - Updated RESOURCE.ML file with all updated/added information needed for the major emulators (MAME 0.123u1, MESS 0.123, PinMAME 1.58). - Added brackets to the left/right of the currently selected item on screen. - In an effort give more ability to customize your experience, you can now use a background image (PNG format). This image will be displayed behind your current list display. All that is needed is to have a PNG named "bground" located in the same folder as ML.EXE. December 8th, 2007 Beta u28 Released - Added expanded Joystick interaction for ML's functions. You can use up to 7 different buttons (those mapped in Windows as #1-7) and 4 directions to send commands normally done with keyboard shortcuts. Right now, this is explicit to Windows mapped Joystick #1. A detailed list will be provided in ML's in-program help (CTRL-L or Joystick Down + Button #3) provided if you have the joystick toggled ON with . - Updated Pinmame's commands to be saved to "CommandsPinMAME.ML". Did much the same with M1's commands list release. - Fixed a problem with ML not picking up on the SAMEROMS (sets which don't normally have their own archive due to having same roms as the parents). This was broken when I added M1 SAMEROM support due to an oversight. - Streamlined the routine which is used when comparing your games you have with the SAMEROMS and/or ADDNOTFOUND lists to make them system specific. It should make initial checking and startup a touch faster. - Added a new feature which allows you to chop off the excess data from gamename list views and only show the game name without all the region, version data. Use to toggle this ON/OFF. This is saved when you exit ML TNG. - The usual batch of updates to RESOURCE.ML including Joystick Mappings added to help, updated MESSSAMEROM, BIOSSEL and new PINADDNOTFOUND sets. November 24th, 2007 Beta u27 Released - When using M1, the gamelist speed has greatly improved (gathers from M1.xml DATA directly rather than the M1.exe program output). - M1 Sets should be detected more accurately now. Before, there were problems with some sets which had all it's roms in the parent (swtrilgy, swtmpeg, scud, scudscsp, etc). - Support for M1's command lines triggers. Please note: The one letter codes can be a bit cryptic, so be sure to check your documentation for M1 before using. - RESOURCE.ML fixes: A Duplicate mame command entry removed as well as updates with new information to support the M1 additions. - Fixed some elements of display, hopefully eliminating overlap of info because of font sizes. This needed to be redone due to M1 and PinMAME needing more than 8 character sourcefile names. - Added a new sort method (selectable with F1) - Parent/Clone. It should mirror MAME32UI's results. Thanks to John IV for suggesting it. September 29th, 2007 Beta u26 Released - Further expanded on MESS File Selections. ML will attempt to locate a folder located in "SOFTWARE" folder with either the setname or it's parent (EG. "a800pal" - ML will check that and it's parent "a800"). If a folder in SOFTWARE is not found, the selector defaults to the current working folder (where MESS is located). - Multiple device loading using MESS. This is needed for cartridges/images which come in multiple parts and must be loaded in separate -cart assignments or other media is needed to start. (EG. "ti99_4a", "vic20") - Saving of the last image(s) run via ML's File Selector so if you want to start up a system in MESS without reloading any image(s), you can do this. This data is kept in it's own unique file, MESSLAST.ML. - Added BIOSSET information to RESOURCE.ML for all MESS systems that have them. - MESS Media Devices are now sorted by name before being shown. September 18th, 2007 Beta u25 Released - Added ability to filter a desired list with a FOLDERS\.INI file. When activated, ML will generate a new .INI for you based on your currently viewed list contents less the INI file you choose to filter it with (CTRL-A). To view a selected INI instantly rather than advancing through them as before, use (CTRL-V). - Implemented per game/per source saving of commands. These are saved to your INI Folder based on your currently selected triggers. Items which require a filename or make a list are not ported to this .INI file. You can initiate the save of these files with: (CTRL-D - gamedir/setname) and (CTRL-S - gamesource). To delete the .INI, F7 still is the key needed. SHIFT+F7 will attempt delete of the source.ini. NOTE: This is currently only available for version 0.100 and later MAME-based executables. All versions prior use .CFG files which are a bit more difficult to reproduce and are created upon exit anyway. - Enhanced .PNG viewing to include gamename subfolders. If a file is not found in the SNAP folder, ML will look in SNAP\GAMENAME for a PNG filename. - Further internal code shuffling in an effort to tidy up and eventually release my source code along with regular releases. September 10th, 2007 Beta u24 Released - Added browser launch integration. While using COMPLETE DATA CHECK (F3), ML will use your default browser to open up an information page. The options available are mapped to: F5 = HISTORY.DAT Edit Page or MESS Sysinfo Page (depending on what you are using), F6 = MARP High Score Page and F7 = MAWS Information Page. ML does not detect if you have internet connected or not and will blindly attempt to open a browser. - Cleaned up the mess that was created on screen when loading fonts. All characters are now plotted directly into the buffer rather than put on the screen first, then captured. - Added a major improvement to MESS usage - File Selection. You can now pre-select an image to use with MESS! This was done mostly for the cartridge-based systems which will not run without a file. When you select a system, [RIGHT SHIFT + ENTER] to bring up the File Selection. Based on the system you choose, you will get a choice as to which device/media type to load (cart, flop, etc). You can simply hit TAB to return to your last system selection. F11 (Randomize) has been enabled here to allow you to randomly pick a file/folder. - Fixed ability to use filenames containing a space when selected for an option (For instance: "-effect scanlines 50.png" will now work). - Updated resource.ml with the new -REFRESHSPEED command introduced in 0.118u5. August 21st, 2007 Beta u23 Released - Updated "RESOURCE.ML" file with more information, mostly adding MESS specific support. As a side, running MESS now should show you a fully accurate representation of what you have based on your romsets. Also, added some MESS specific command support. - Changed order of checking for joystick movement to check UP/DOWN movements BEFORE LEFT/RIGHT. Hopefully those who were having any issues with scrolling the gamelists with a controller will have a better time with it. - Fixed clone detection for Parent Set lookups when using COMPLETE DATA CHECK (F3). - Added SYSINFO.DAT as a viewable DAT file. This is the default information file when using MESS. If you do not use MESS but still want the file, the latest one is always available at: http://mess.toseciso.org/_media/sysinfo.zip - Added some regulation to F3 to only show DAT files available for that emulator. For instance, MESS will only attempt to show SYSINFO and PINMAME will show only HISTORY. - Added informational line on screen and in console when using any "-list" commands which port to a file. - Added interm support for the new -SPEED command that was introduced in MAME 0.118u2. August 5th, 2007 Beta u22 Released - Compiled much of the internal data from within ML's source and created an external file called "RESOURCE.ML". Editing this could cause ML to malfuction or not even work. This is now included in the ML download and must reside in the same folder as ML.EXE - Corrected an issue which appeared with 0.117u3, where due to an output simplication, -listsource no longer was printing the source path. This played havoc with my parsing routine and sources were no longer being properly detected. - Improved PNG viewing display alignment with BDF fonts - it's still not perfect but is much improved. - Added some simple selections for font and border color in program. You can trigger selection of these with F9 (Border) and F10 (Font). The border color will change with the selection so you can see what the color is then ENTER will confirm and make the change. If the desired color or code is not in the list that is provided, feel free to use the command-line trigger as before. With this move, the Backup/Create MAME.INI function is now triggered with F8. - Fixed instance when loading .BDF files and none are found, now will display a message. - New commands introduced in the 0.117u cycle are now properly installed to work with MAME 0.118. July 31st, 2007 Beta u21 Released - Added support for COMMAND.DAT (Shorthand version). This can be obtained from: http://home.comcast.net/~plotor/command.html Contents of this file are listed when you use Complete DATA Check (F3). You'll notice that all the special colored symbols for this .DAT file should be supported. - With this change, I introduced some control over your on-screen display. You can adjust the colors for your FONT and BORDER. The command line triggers "FONTCOLOR" and "BORDCOLOR" will only accept 6-digit RRGGBB Color Values (EG. FONTCOLORffffff). Once changed, this color info will save with other data in FAVORITE.ML so your change will keep. - Added some new commands which were introduced in 0.117u1 (joystick_map, mouse_device, multikeyboard, multimouse). Please note that those commands will not work with 0.117! Support to be corrected when the next major release happens. July 20th, 2007 Beta u20 Released - Added some enhanced joystick navigation using a combination of a pressed down button (whatever is mapped as BUTTON 1 in windows) plus a direction (up/down/left/right). I added what I felt were the more useful keyboard commands so you can have more functionality if your keyboard isn't immediately available (while using a cabinet, for instance). All buttons pressed that are not "BUTTON 1" will launch the game as before. Specific bindings are listed in MLREADME.TXT. - Hopefully fixed a bug which made it impossible to select your font properly in some cases. - Added "mac2bios" (Multi Amenity Cassette System 2 BIOS) to the list of games which show up on the master game list, but have no roms. This is a case similar to the way PONG might be added. This also exposed a bug being able to select a game added in this manner. This comes with the change in MAME behavior of BIOS sets now (as of 0.117u1) being listed on the master game list. - Fixed the display message when adding/deleting favorites - it was being overwritten by FONT information display when loading favorites. July 17th, 2007 Beta u19 Released - Preliminary .BDF Font support. You can load in the .BDF font of your choice to use as a display font in ML. There are some restrictions as to size and it's not as yet perfected, but it allows for much needed flexibility as regards to the front-end's look. I'll place a few fonts on my page for download. For more information, refer to MLREADME.TXT - With move to allowing external fonts, I widened the text display window a bit to let more information be displayed per line. I'm aware there might be some graphic overlapping, it's an issue I'll attempt to fix in the future. - Suppressed some keystrokes that were causing problems while selecting a .BDF font and values for a command. July 10th, 2007 Beta u18 Released - Corrected a selection in -samplerate from 44000 to the more standard 44100. - Updated command line trigger list to be used in MAME 0.117. - When using a new version (for example, with 0.117) and you have not yet created a saved command list, ML will attempt to look for one from the version prior to that to use. This hopefully will ease some difficulty in upgrading. - Added changed romset information, specifically for GALPANIA (was GALPANIB before 0.116u4). This is one of those sets where there will probably NOT be romset in your ROMS folder due to it sharing the exact same complete romset as the parent. - Along with the added change above, version information is now used when checking for these 'same but different' sets. ML should now accurately detect these sets and add the game when the parent game is found and the version number is proper. - ML will now check for MAME.INI if your specific build (EG. MAMEAT, MAMEP4) does not have an .INI file created. June 24th, 2007 Beta u17 Released - Corrected 'syncrefresh' and 'volume' commands. Also, adjusted selectable values for a few others. - Added ability to use the logging to file commands. These include: -playback, -record, -wavwrite and -mngwrite. These are "use once" triggers will be unselected after use. They also will not be saved with your command settings upon exit and must be activated only when you are ready to use them. - Added commands to allow for selectable files: -effect and -ctrlr. This currently is hardcoded to take the items from your SNAP and CTRLR folders respectively. If you make additions or changes to the files within those folders, you may need to reaffirm your desired selections. - Added several more commands related to video. ML should now have enough options internally to cover your needs for commands such as: -resolution, -aspect and -screen. Resolutions are taken from your system information and are based the selected color depth of your desktop. - Added "ARTVIEW" (folder for the new Artwork Preview Packs) as a PNG view mode. Thanks to Mr. Do for the information which lead to it's addition in ML. You can obtain these these shots from the following address: http://www.progettoemma.net/dany69 - Adjusted Folder .INI display routine to fill in the gamename display with the folder name when that game is not located in the emulator version you are using. - Made PONG an available game for those emulators which have it in their complete list of games. (EG. Misfit Mame, etc). June 19th, 2007 Beta u16 Released - With a great bit of effort and research, I have added some preliminary command-line trigger support. This list can be obtained by hitting (CTRL-C). These settings will be loaded specific to the version of MAME (or emulator based on MAME sources) you happen to be using at that time. Each version will save it's settings in a separate file, for now. For more information on what is and is not included as well as usage information, please refer to the MLREADME.TXT file. - Fixed a problem when using PINMAME32, ROMPATHS were not being extracted correctly from the .INI - Dragging the emulator to ML TNG was not working correctly if the target path contained a space character. This has been corrected. - Some internal fixes, including some error checking when dealing with FULLSCREEN/Windowed status. June 10th, 2007 Beta u15 Released - Some reorganization of many routines, resulting in bit less source code, memory usage and slighty smaller executable size! - Had to redo my FULLSCREEN/Window implementation to keep in line with compiler updates. The old method auto-detection I was using no longer works. You now must press SCROLL LOCK to change screen modes between FULLSCREEN and Windowed. ALT-ENTER is locked out. - Added ability to remember your last window location when ML is exited. Note, this is only valid for the main selection window, not the console window. - Per request, I added snapshot viewing and adjustment while using the Complete Data Check (F3) option. May 26st, 2007 Beta u14 Released - Added additional .DAT support (specifically with MAMEINFO.DAT) to extract/view any information about the driver which the selected game resides. This means more information than before is now displayed when pressing F3! - Corrected a problem with the Window Title not reaffirming itself after switching from full screen to window display. - A problem with viewing some FOLDER .INI files has been corrected. On occasion, there would be leftover/unselectable entries from other INI files located at the bottom of the list. - Updated internal BIOS database again to include Aleck64 PIF BIOS add from MAME 0.115u1. May 15th, 2007 Beta u13 Released - Added FULLSCREEN status to the favorite.ml save file, so you can restart ML TNG in either full screen or normal window mode. This also eliminates the need of the command line trigger "FULLSCREEN". - Attempted to improve mouse/joystick navigation response so it is not no sensitive. It's working pretty well now, but it can stand to improve with a rewrite of my input routines. - Minor internal rewrites. May 4rd, 2007 Beta u12 Released - Previously, there were instances which MAME's game screen would become minimized automatically when executed as you are thrown back to to ML's Screen. This, I believe, has been fixed. Thanks to Rogerio for the bug report. - Implemented FULLSCREEN ability. You can turn it ON or OFF by using ALT-ENTER while focused on ML (or use the window buttons). The command line trigger "FULLSCREEN" has also been added. - Added a simple informational line to the console window when a game is executed. - Corrected a problem when checking BIOS setnames/names. When I added some BIOS last release, I forgot to add those numbers to check .INI file verification routines. - Fixed a potential issue with reading ROMPATHS from your emulator.INI file. April 21st, 2007 Beta U11 Released - Corrected some key assignments which broke last release - stupid me!! The broken .CFG/.NV/.INI deletion (F5/F6/F7) is now fixed. - Tried to make ML a bit more intelligent when it comes to using non-MAME but supported emulators, disallowing certain options instead of trying anyway. Also, rejecting non-supported emulators as soon as possible to avoid data corruption. - Revamped the ROMSET verification routine yet again. It should be noticably faster for most users. - Updated internal database of BIOS setnames/names to include new ones added with 0.114u1. March 25th, 2007 Beta U10 Released - Combined all .DAT file information to one output. No longer do you need to toggle which .DAT to view. Use F3 to view all DATA for the GAME currently selected. - Implemented the ability to sort all lists by GAMENAME, SETNAME or by SOURCE. This has been assigned to the F1 key. If viewing a FOLDER INI, however, F1 will let you skip to the next file to be viewed. - Added more functionality to typing to now include GAMENAME, SETNAME and SOURCE searching. Use F2 to toggle these new options. - Took out SKIPCLONE/SKIPCHECK command line parameters. Using them at this time would cause most of ML's unique abilities to be non-existant. - Switched around key assignments a bit in an attempt to simplify for all users. The former "`" and "\" keys were hard or near impossible to type for certain non-US Keyboard Layouts. Thank to Nomak of NPlayers for the heads-up! - As many Key assignments have been added or changed with this version - Be sure to see the list in mlreadme.txt included with the archive or use CTRL-L (HELP) in program. - Some Changes to what information is displayed and where. Version number moved to the titlebar for the Window to make room for Source info. March 13th, 2007 Beta U9a Released - Fixed a stupid bug that happened when I added the new saved items to FAVORITE.ML - ML will again remember what your last selected game was. March 13th, 2007 Beta U9 Released - Page now hosted, more appropriately, at MAMEWORLD. New Address: HTTP://MAMELOAD.MAMEWORLD.INFO - Corrected a bug related to obtaining the source.c file with PINMAME. It produced incorrect parent/clone lists. - Added experimental JOYSTICK/MOUSE list navigation to ML. Simple up,down,page up,page down and execute commands can be issued with either device (mouse 1, joystick id 0). Refer to the mlreadme.txt for instructions. You can enable this by using CTRL-J (joystick) and CTRL-S (mouse) to toggle ON or OFF. The setting you choose will stay in your saved settings in the FAVORITE.ML file. March 3rd, 2007 Beta U8 Released - With the assistance of Chris over at MARP (MAME ACTION REPLAY) we now have a new MAME .DAT file for front ends! "MARP.DAT" contains information on the TOP 3 recorded scores for each game that is supported. This can be downloaded directly from MARP with this link: http://marp.retrogames.com/marp.dat It will have the luxury of being updated at least once daily! Thanks again, Chris!! - Added support for STORY.DAT, another high score site. This can be obtained here: http://www.arcadehits.net/mamescore/home.php?show=files - With that added DATs, I set up ML TNG to be able to view multiple DATs. Use F2 now to view any of the currently supported DATs (HISTORY, MAMEINFO, MARP, STORY). Each DAT viewing will be prefaced by basic parent/clone/driver info based on the selected setname assuming that data was not skipped when ML was run. I will be looking to add more DATs soon enough. - Added FOLDER *.INI file viewing (F3) provided they are formatted correctly. They must reside in FOLDERS directory as MAME32 normally would support them; ML will treat them as another game list. You can toggle the INI file currently being viewed only while in that mode by using the ` key. The "CATVER.INI" file is currently not supported. Work to include this will come eventually. Get a great selection of .INI files from here: http://www.progettoemma.net/?catlist - Bugfixes and internal optimizations too numerous to mention. We can all hope that I didn't break anything else :) February 19th, 2007 Beta u7 Released - Added for Directory Search Toggle [ON/OFF]. This will let you type-traverse the list by typing a ROMSET/FOLDER name rather than the GAMENAME if you are unsure what the gamename is. - Corrected display of 'source.c' (F2) for MAME/variants/PINMAME. Also, the sets that share the same source file should be accurate for all MAME-type emulators. - Fixed an issue with "type your gamename" feature, it was jumping to the last entry of that letter sequence rather than stopping at the first. - Corrected PNG placement for 800x600 screen in upright & turned left orientations. - Implemented ability to "drag on to" for ML. Your emulator must be in the same folder as ML.EXE, however. Hopefully, this will save people a bit of set-up time when using other emulators and versions. February 3rd, 2007 Beta u6 Released - Some small bugfixes (mismapped a couple keys for deleting a games .NV and .INI file) - Added a "save state". ML will now remember vital information when you exit ML and this is re-loaded this when then you restart. If you exit on an information page, you will be defaulted to the game's selection on the last list you were on. - Eliminated command line triggers as relates to RESOLUTION, FONT and ORIENTATION. These all can be adjusted while running ML. - Added PCB as a PNG view mode. You can get these shots from the following address: http://www.progettoemma.net/dany69 - More information from MAMEINFO.DAT is now displayed as well as some hopefully improved spacing. - Added some preliminary M1 (arcade video and pinball sound emu by R. Belmont) support. Right now, it simply lets you use the built-in CUI from M1 in your text output window. It should also read your rompaths correctly from m1.ini. January 24th, 2007 Beta u5 Released - Eliminated (hopefully) all screen flicker when selecting items. - Updated ML's compiling environment to correct issues related to slower computers. Hopefully ML will no longer sap cycles from your CPU while idling. - There was also a key delay problem with slower computers which I hopefully coded away. - Added in startup/output window a checklist as ML TNG starts, so you can monitor what is happening. - Added 2 new functions: CTRL+F - Toggles Fontsize. This will jump between 8x8 and 16x16 font sizes. CTRL+R - Rotate Resolution. Jumps between 640, 800, 1024, 1280 width screen sizes. Resolutions larger than current screen size will attempt to display, but will obviously be cut off. ** Note: Resolution and Font changes cannot be issued while viewing an information (history/mameinfo/help) list, only in a gamelist mode. - Reoriented some screen elements, giving more room for any of the status messages towards the bottom of the display. - Merged F9/F10 to just use F9, which will locate your .INI, create a backup then create a fresh emulator .INI for you. - Rewrote the MAMEINFO/HISTORY data obtaining routines to make finding information much, much quicker. January 13th, 2007 Beta u4 released - Major addition: PNG Support! You can view the traditional MAME32 style PNG archives including: SNAP, TITLES, CPANEL, MARQUEES, CABINETS and FLYERS. If there is no PNG file for the selected ROMSET, ML will look for a parent set and use that. This is defaulted OFF, but can be toggled between all selections with the (INSERT) key. Some images might be bigger than the current screen ML is using, in which case they are noticably cut off. ZLIB1.DLL is now required. You very well might already have this in your system. If not, you can download at my page. - Made further corrections to input associations as related to currently viewed lists. - Attempted to add some delays to slow down selection speed so to avoid possible flicker on the screen while selecting. It now looks a lot better now on my test machine. - Reworked HELP (F1) to be a bit more descriptive and be able to fill up all screen modes (like history/mameinfo already does). - Added Descriptive Window Title which include ML version used, release date and emulator being used. - Added 2 command line parameters: SKIPCLONE and SKIPCHECK These were both added to speed up startup for people who have slower computer and/or do not need the extra information (SKIPCLONE) or check their ROMSET availability (SKIPCHECK). Please note that some functions in ML will not work as well or at all if parent/clone information is not loaded initially. - Slightly revamped the ROMSET verifcation routine, which for the most part should be quicker, especially if you do not have many sets. January 7th, 2007 Beta u3 released - Corrected an error involving using Help (F1) while viewing HISTORY or MAMEINFO. You can only use (F1) now while looking at the game lists. Also while using Help, many functions related to files are not available for use as intended (and as already was the case with HISTORY, MAMEINFO). - Even if you do not have a MAMEINFO.DAT file, ML will now report any source clone information in regards to that selected ROMSET. - You can now use HISTORY.DAT with PINMAME. This is due to upcoming support for the soon to be released HISTORY.DAT exclusively for PINMAME! Incidentally, the format is identical to MAME's structure so adding it for use was trivial. Keep your eye out for it's initial release: http://www.arcade-history.com !! January 6st, 2007 Beta u2 released - After about 3 months of off and on private development, ML sees it's First Public Release!. Temporary homepage is located at: http://users.adelphia.net/~tafoid