HiToText

[Wombat]

I'm currently struggling with a problem with the latest version of HiToText (which I've manually copied into the base program directories for CPWizard and GameEx) and MAME.132 which I've posted on http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?...84017#msg984017

Basically it's reading the prime record for games like dkong and galaga fine but I'm having trouble with Track & Field (so I'd love it if anyone can help me out with that problem or confirm it does/doesn't happen for them under MAME.132)

I've have an alternate question for Tom and HeadKaze though... I've noticed under GameEx the existence in some game displays of the HighScore option on the info page displayed prior to selecting to launch the game and in CPWizard when I pause it (I have the option ticked on to display my high scores yet not the world records since they seem sadly out of date in some cases). Donkey Kong and Galaga both display this option and the scores fine.

Track & Field doesn't display the option however.

I always assumed that both GameEx and CPWizard used HiToText with its -l option to determine what games are valid to be viewed in this fashion and that maybe this information was stored somewhere (so maybe I had to rebuild the mame list under GameEx which I tried) in some GameEx database (I haven't yet looked)

However Track & Field doesn't show up in this fashion so I'm wondering if (and where) the information is stored and how it can be updated (assuming I wish to keep HiToText updated more frequently that I update GameEx (although I usually keep up to scratch on that too)) "manually"

Additionally I see HiToText has had for some time, support for "alternate formats" such as the best stage times in Moon Patrol or all of Track & Field's individual sport best 3 records (i.e. for 100M, Long Jump, Javelin etc.) as opposed to the generic "score" High Score table. Any plans in how these could be incorporated/displayed in both GameEx/CpWizard (as scrollable tables or pageflip displays)?

[Fyrecrypts]

Basically it's reading the prime record for games like dkong and galaga fine but I'm having trouble with Track & Field (so I'd love it if anyone can help me out with that problem or confirm it does/doesn't happen for them under MAME.132)

I can confirm this is not just you, and a fix for this issue is in place for the next release of HiToText. It will also allow support for the old nvram file format.

[Wombat]

Now that Firecrypts has fixed my trackfld error, let me bump this topic to ask again the main original question which may have got lost.

i.e. How does GameEx (and CPWizard) know when to display the menu option "View High Scores" in the front-end?

If I'm going to keep HiToText (and hiscore.dat) up-todate outside of GameEx/CPWizard updates I'd like to know if I can do it and what I may need to do/edit in order to do so.

[Wombat]

Found this in and oldish post on the aracdecontrols thread for HiToText. I guess I'll see if and where this file exists on my system tonight.

Quote from: redhorse on November 28, 2008, 02:34:05 PM

Ok, I have it running now and after updating the GameEx HiScore_SupportedGames.txt file I can see my R-Type Higscores now!!

[headkaze]

CPWizard reads the supported games from HiToText using the -l command when it's first launched.

[Tom Speirs]

Found this in and oldish post on the aracdecontrols thread for HiToText. I guess I'll see if and where this file exists on my system tonight.

Quote from: redhorse on November 28, 2008, 02:34:05 PM

Ok, I have it running now and after updating the GameEx HiScore_SupportedGames.txt file I can see my R-Type Higscores now!!

That was with the original implementation before the -l switch was implemented in hittotext. It now does the latter.

[Wombat]

Well... you have to colour me still confused then.

1) I have the 1st of July 2009 version of HiToText.exe and hiscore.dat downloaded. hiscore.dat goes into mame root directory. HiToText.exe copied to root directory of both CPWizard and GameEx replacing whatever version is delivered with them.

2) Opened a DOS command prompt and navigated to both. Did a HiToText -l and saw that (amongst everything else) dkong (Donkey Kong), turfmast (Neo Turf Masters) and trackfld (Track & Field) are in the output. The latter two are relatively new to HiToText.

3) I have "Show My High Scores" enabled in CPWizard. Fired up those three games and displayed the CPWizard control panel. It displays the option for view my high scores and indeed does display them. It's therefore okay for the -r records.

4) Went back to GameEx. I have "View High Scores" enabled as an option. In the Donkey Kong "info" screen the "View High Scores" option is available and selecting that option does indeed display my high scores (this also works for Galaga etc.. i.e. stuff that's been around for a while)

5) No such option is presented on the Neo Turf Masters and Track & Field info pages.

6) I've deleted some cached files (manually under Windows Explorer) and Rebuilt the MAME game list but I can't get the option to show up for those games.

So... what now? I'm on the latest version of CPWizard and GameEx and a compiled version of 0.132 of MAME. The GameEx log file confirms I am on version 10.17 but I see no instance of a call to HiToText in there. When does the call get made... once when building the entire mame list (and it's stored somewhere) or each time the mame game info page is displayed?

Dare I ask if anyone's on the same combination of these elements as me that they can see this option under Track & Field and Neo Turf Masters? Can I supply any sort of log (after setting any extra debug switches) that can assist in my problem?

[Fyrecrypts]

Well... you have to colour me still confused then.

1) I have the 1st of July 2009 version of HiToText.exe and hiscore.dat downloaded. hiscore.dat goes into mame root directory. HiToText.exe copied to root directory of both CPWizard and GameEx replacing whatever version is delivered with them.

2) Opened a DOS command prompt and navigated to both. Did a HiToText -l and saw that (amongst everything else) dkong (Donkey Kong), turfmast (Neo Turf Masters) and trackfld (Track & Field) are in the output. The latter two are relatively new to HiToText.

3) I have "Show My High Scores" enabled in CPWizard. Fired up those three games and displayed the CPWizard control panel. It displays the option for view my high scores and indeed does display them. It's therefore okay for the -r records.

4) Went back to GameEx. I have "View High Scores" enabled as an option. In the Donkey Kong "info" screen the "View High Scores" option is available and selecting that option does indeed display my high scores (this also works for Galaga etc.. i.e. stuff that's been around for a while)

5) No such option is presented on the Neo Turf Masters and Track & Field info pages.

6) I've deleted some cached files (manually under Windows Explorer) and Rebuilt the MAME game list but I can't get the option to show up for those games.

So... what now? I'm on the latest version of CPWizard and GameEx and a compiled version of 0.132 of MAME. The GameEx log file confirms I am on version 10.17 but I see no instance of a call to HiToText in there. When does the call get made... once when building the entire mame list (and it's stored somewhere) or each time the mame game info page is displayed?

Dare I ask if anyone's on the same combination of these elements as me that they can see this option under Track & Field and Neo Turf Masters? Can I supply any sort of log (after setting any extra debug switches) that can assist in my problem?

Both Track & Field and Neo Turf Masters use only nvram for decoding, and I wonder if perhaps a check for the existence of a trackfld.hi or turfmast.hi in GameEx might be causing the score menu to not show up.

HiToText actually allows for the usage of -r trackfld.hi and will determine it should actually be looking for trackfld.nv to decipher the scores. This was done so FEs wouldn't have to change how they access HiToText and still be able to display these nv only games.

[Wombat]

You're onto something there FyreCrypts... I just created empty trackfld.hi and turfmast.hi files in the mame/hi directory and GameEx now shows the "High Scores" option in their respective game info pages before launch (although it only shows about the first 16 scores of the possible 160 of the "base" trackfld scores... maybe a scrolling or pageflip display could be contemplated?)

So far there doesn't seem to be any ill-effect in either CPWizard or MAME of having these extra files but I'd appreciate Tom (GameEx) looking again to see if he indeed has a secondary check for the existence of a .hi file and hopefully amend it (to cater for .nv only) if necessary.