Mamewah Other Apps
There is an excellent list of "Cabinet Friendly" PC games located *[here].
Contents
PC Games
In order to launch PC games, you should create a folder, like 'C:\Games\PC links\' and copy any shortcuts (these are the .lnk files) to the games you wish to run into that folder. If you need to create a new shortcut, right-click and select 'New'-> 'Shortcut' and follow the steps to locate the program you want to run.
Just like configuring emulators, you will need to create a seperate .ini files in the \ini folder specifically for your PC Games.
What is important in this new ini file are the following settings:
rom_path C:\Games\PC links\
rom_extension LNK
list_generation_method rom_folder
emulator_executable PC
commandline_format [name]{autodosbox}}{nosafelaunch} (constant)
The emulator executable here is just called 'PC', since there is no seperate program required to launch this application.
With these setting you simple enter the gamelist option, then select generate list and, if all goes well, the PC game list is generated and you're ready to start playing.
You have a few different options for configuring regular applications to run from Mamewah.
It is usually recommended when setting up applications to locate programs which exit with the 'ESC' key, or allow you to configure the keys which exit the program, and preferrably fill the screen just as Mamewah does, to keep the experience seemless.
External Applications
This is useful when you need access to run an application, but do not need a list selection for the program to run properly. This would normally be used for applications such as Control Panel viewer apps, which show the buttons needed for a particular game, or possibly the History Viewer, which shows additional information about a game. It could also be used for something as simple as notepad.
Mamewah allows for up to 3 external applications to be configured. These can be configured from within each emulator config file, therefore you can have different programs setup for each list, if you wish.
Note: 1.61 provides the following external application options
in mamewah.ini app_to_run_on_exit in \ini\<emu.ini> app_1_executable app_1_commandline_format app_2_executable app_2_commandline_format app_3_executable app_3_commandline_format
Standalone Application (as an Emulator)
Regular PC applications can be setup just as you would an emulator. This option is best when you need to select from a list of files that may be passed to the application, such as audio or video.
All that really needs to be changed is the 'emulator_title', the 'rom_extension', the 'rom_path', the 'list_generation_method', and the 'emulator_exectuable', along with any 'commandline_format' that may be needed for the application to work properly.
Mplayer ini file, configured as an emulator
### mplayer.ini (mamewah v1.61) ###
emulator_title Movies
### List Generation Settings ###
rom_path C:\movies
rom_extension avi
dat_file
nms_file
catver_ini_file
list_generation_method rom_folder
### Execution Settings ###
emulator_executable C:\Software\mplayer\mplayer.exe
commandline_format [name]{nosafelaunch}
alt_commandline_format_1 [name]{safelaunch}
alt_commandline_format_2 [name]{nosafelaunch}
game_specific_config_path
### Artwork Locations ###
artwork_1_image_path
artwork_2_image_path
artwork_3_image_path
artwork_4_image_path
artwork_5_image_path
artwork_6_image_path
artwork_7_image_path
artwork_8_image_path
artwork_9_image_path
artwork_10_image_path
movie_preview_path
movie_artwork_no 1
### Screen-Saver Settings ###
enable_music_in_screensaver 1
saver_type slideshow
movie_path
movie_fullscreen 1
quit_delay 30
wrapper_executable
wrapper_commandline_format [name]{nodosbox}{nosafelaunch}
scr_file
### External Application Settings ###
ipc_file_or_path
app_1_executable
app_1_commandline_format
app_2_executable
app_2_commandline_format
app_3_executable
app_3_commandline_format
auto_launch_apps
### Additional Settings ###
music_path
lcd_display_file_path
lcd_fe_text
### Settings used by MAMEWAH ###
current_list 0
Suggestions
Emulation Related
These applications are generally ones which will coincide with the games you are running. They may provide more information about the game, or possibly are for help/assistance in playing the game.
- Recommended Apps:
Music
You can use either of the above options to configure a music player to work with Mamewah. While you can just launch something like Windows Media Player or Winamp to play music, and you can even set it up as an emulator to select individual songs from a list, I would recommend using a standalone application, such as WinCab or Arcade Music Box, as these programs are designed with these types of files in mind, and will allow you to use playlists or navigate through a list of music and folders, as opposed to selecting individual songs to play. They also have a much nicer interface.
- Recommended Apps:
Video
Again, you can use either of the above options to launch a video player. You can either configure a video application as an external app that is just launched, set it up as an emulator, which will provide a list of movies, or you can launch an application such as Arcade Music Box, which will provide a nice interface to the files, and will probably give you a lot more options to handle these types of files.
- Recommended Apps:
- Arcade Music Box
- MoviePlayer by Space Fractal (cabfriedly movieplayer with no gui at all)
- Mplayer
Launching External Applications
If you have configured the application as a single external application in the emulator ini file, you may also need to configure the keys that will launch the applications. These are configured in your \ctrlr\default.ini file with the LAUNCH_APP_# events, where # is 1-3, as 3 seperate external applications can be configured. By default, the 'C' key will launch the first configured app, but additional apps do not have a key configured to launch them.
If you have configured the application as a seperate 'emulator', you will need to change to that emulator using the NEXT_EMULATOR (default '4') and PREVIOUS_EMULATOR (default '6'), or the SELECT_EMULATOR (default 'Z') keys to change to the correct page for that emulator. You can then select the file that you wish to use when launching the application. Note that a list of the files will need to be generated, just as you would for a game list.
