You would think that with the recent release of mamehooker and the ton of display files I did I would be done wiht it for a while. Unfortuantely I'm not. First off, I've added a ton of new features that'll extend mamehooker's usefulness even further so a new version of the app is a given.

Also if you've looked at the screenshots for the display files you'll notice that for the games with digital scoreboards, the digits are often distorted and/or the wrong color or style. The distortion was my fault... I added a "keep aspect" option to display files, but never fully implemented it. Now it works so that much is done. As for the digits these were always meant as a place-holder for better, more realisitc digits that can be generated via an app. This is extremely useful as mame outputs the bit-shifts you'd use to light a real display instead of actual numbers and letters so it is very hard to make digit images unless you know all the possible combinations. The app is almost done and you'll be able to take a source image of a digit and use it to make all your digits.

On top of that if you've been following this thread:

Here


You'll have noticed that I've buried my head into the mame source again and have been making some real progress at getting outputs hooked up. It has also lead to even more mh features out of necessity. Looping of scripts will be implemented and you'll have much more power in terms of data manipulation. Also it looks like we may be able to implement a sort of solution for displaying display files on your portable devices!

The mame source code changes are important to me though. I really think mame's output system has much more potential than driving artwork and leds, but the only way to prove it is to start hooking up some of these more exotic devices. My changes are already outdated as I made them to the 136 source and 137 was just released. I want to try to get them out before u1 is released if at all possible.

This means that mamehooker stuff could be put on hold for a while. I'll probably go ahead and get this latest release out within the next day or so, but everything else is going to have to wait until I can at least get the opwolf/opthunder and revx driver changes submitted.

On the recently added mamehooker display files section you'll see that I've added a wip at the top of the page. Basically as you know, I've taken the artwork files that Mr. Do and other have created and altered them cosmetically and functionality-wise to work as a mamehooker display file. If you go to his site, go to the ingame artwork section and sort the artwork by clicking on the LP (lamp) flag, you'll see every single officially created mame artwork file that has driver controlled animated lights.

As you can see, I've gotten most of them, but before others try to do the ones I haven't and/or bug as to why I didn't do the others, I thought I should post a wip. Anyway go to the mamehooker display files page to check it out.


Also note that the table for downloads on that page is still a little wonky. Don't worry, I'll fix it. Webpage design isn't my thing.

The mamehooker section still has a few additions, mainly the examples page and I'll do that this week. I'll also go about releasing a new version and adding the final features I want in the app. This app might very well be the very first emu-related application I "finish."

I went ahead and updated the about mamehooker page to list the new output devices supported. This page as well as most of the pages on the site will undergo a overhaul in the next few weeks. Examples for mamehooker, as well as downloadable display files and scripts will be added and the direct download link in the menu will probably be removed in leu of a link inside the about page. This way people will HAVE to see what an app is for prior to downloading and read any important documentation it might have.

Almost two years to the day when I left and the Dragon King website is finally back in action! I haven't been sitting on my laurels these past couple of years either, so there are a lot of releases to look forward to. I have finally made the jump from xp to windows 7 and thus now is the time to clean house on all my out-standing projects. Couple that with the fact that I have been doing various hardware-related projects during my hiatus and this god-awful weather we have all been having and this means that the site is going to expand greatly over the next few months.

The first thing you'll notice is a "games" section to the right. Yes I do make games from time to time, but I seldom release them in any grand fashion. I'll be adding more games as the week progresses.

Upcoming releases will also include a non-emulation related section, a GREATLY expanded misc-utilities section, a "my cabinets" section for those of your who bug me about pics of my cabs, a "hardware hacks" section and a brand new release of mamehooker and johnny 5.

All of these things I mentioned are ready to go, they just need uploaded to the site, so they WILL be released. Just be patient as it will take me a while.

No news isn't always good news I'm afraid. I've spent the last week or so struggling over this decision and believe me when I say it's been a difficult one for me. After a lot of soul searching I've decided to leave byoac forums indefinately. It just seems like it isn't a healthy environment for me to be involved in anymore. Before speculation as to why I'm leaving pops up everyone needs to know that it's no one person's fault or even any group of person's fault, I just feel I will be a lot healthier and happier on my own. I hold no ill-will towards anyone and I hope by explaining myself somewhat I will be leaving on good terms. I honsetly feel like a pompus jerk making a big announcment like this, but when somebody who's been on the forums nearly every day for 10 years suddenly leaves in the middle of a big release the rumors get started as to why they left, so I wanted to squash that right here and now.

I just want to leave to keep some of the stress off of me so let's leave it at that.

This doesn't mean I won't be making applications and utilites anymore, it simply means that the general public won't be a part of the process and I'll release them whenever, without wip or warning. Unless it's a brand new app I probably won't even make a news announcment on byoac's main page, so you'll have to check my homepage regularly. You might see me make a brief visit once in a blue moon, but definately not anytime soon. If you want to get ahold of me, you'll need to do so here or via email as I won't be checking my byoac stuff anymore.


Of course I realize the irony of this announcment as I've just recently moved my homepage to the byoac server. To be honest I haven't figured out what to do on that front. Saint has always treated me like gold, for better or worse and he was nice enough to give me this space after oscarcontrols went down. I'm not sure how appropriate it is for me to keep the space considering I won't be contributing to byoac directly anymore. On the other hand, I don't want all of my applications wiped from existance and would like them to still be available to the community if they should want them. I'm thinking about setting up my own web-space, but I'm not sure if it'd be worth it, because I can guarantee you that new releases will be few and far between for a good while. So for a while, with saint's blessing of course, I'd like to leave everything as-is and consider the whole site a working archive.

In case you are wondering, no dk will not be released at the end of the month as I promised. For one thing, I haven't worked on it in the last two weeks, so I'm way behind schedule. Also I've ran into a minor stumbling block that'll be difficult to fix and I don't have it in me anymore to work on things that aren't fun. What'll probably end up happening is sometime within the next month or so I'll be so bored one weekend I'll give it another look and I'll fix the issue and go ahead and make the final release. No promises though.


If and when I start coding seriously again, I intend to change direction. I'll still be working on emulation related things, but less with the front-ends and utilites and more on the actual emulators and simulators. Yes, believe it or not, I've progressed far enough with my coding to attempt (keyword attempt) to start work on some emulators/simulators for some very obscure consoles and arcade devices that nobody else is touching. So, I'm ok... don't start weeping or something.


So long story short, goodbye and thanks for all the fish. I've had fun, everyone as a whole has been a joy to interact with and I've gotten a lot of help over the years that can never be repaid. Take care of yourselves and drop me a line once in a while. Who knows, I might pull a "frosty the snowman" one day just don't hold your breath.

If anyone wants to relay this post in the byoac forums I'd be very grateful. I'd do it myself but I'd be tempted to stick around for a response and the whole viscious cycle would start again.