Disk swapping on arcade machine with only a few fire buttons

[geecab]

Hi! I run WinUAE v2.8.1 on my arcade machine. There are a limited amount of fire buttons on my control panel, so for games that require multiple disk swaps, I've had to remap certain buttons to swap from disk to disk. This can get a bit confusing when trying to run many different games, each having its own WinUAE configuration, trying to remember what button I remapped to trigger a particular disk swap.

There are a quite a few amiga games that are on multiple disks, that only support a single drive (DF0). What would be really helpful is if I could map a single key, that when pressed would rotate through the disks in the disk swapper list, inserting a different disk into DF0 each time. Additionally, once the disk in DF0 changes, some text appears on-screen for a few seconds, temporarily letting you know the name of the newly inserted disk.

What would be absolutely ideal (though I realize this is a big ask) is if there was a single button I could press, used to invoke/close a simple disk swapping menu. When invoked, I could then use the amiga joystick organize the disks.

Thanks for reading!

[Toni Wilen]

"Next disk image in DF0:" and "Previous disk image in DF0:" should do what you want if image names have supported format (game_name_disk 1.adf and game_name_disk_2.adf or similar, see below). This has nothing to do with Disk Swapper.

From old changelog (with confusing explanation):

- implemented feature that makes selecting image from multi disk programs faster and easier. When multidisk image is in disk drive, right clicking on "Select disk image" will open menu that lists all detected disk images (+including all normal "favorite" menu options) Also added previous and next disk input events. Currently supports following disk number naming conventions: "*(disk x*", "*<a-z/A-z/-/_/ >x.*", "*_a.*", "*-a*", "*<a-z>A.*" (x = number 1 to 9, a = a-z/A-Z, A = A-Z, ? any character, * = anything)

[liveevil]

__

[geecab]

Originally Posted by Toni Wilen

"Next disk image in DF0:" and "Previous disk image in DF0:" should do what you want if image names have supported format (game_name_disk 1.adf and game_name_disk_2.adf or similar, see below). This has nothing to do with Disk Swapper.

From old changelog (with confusing explanation):

Wow thanks for the quick response Toni and thank you all your hard work on this excellent emulator!

Remapping the "Next disk image in DF0:" option works great! I did not realize repeated presses of just "Next disk image in DF0:" actually loops through the disks. Something else you've just taught me, I thought the disks needed to be in the disk swapper list for this to work, good to know this is an unnecessary step. I should read the docs more carefully!!

I think my only wish then, is to have some form of temporary on-screen message (lasting for a few seconds), just letting you know the name of the disk that is newly inserted when the "Next disk image in DF0:" is triggered. It would just me give confidence that the right disk is in the drive after the game has requested it. At the moment, I just feel a bit blind when swapping between 3 disks using a single fire button (As the disk swapping happens silently, its a case of trying to remember what disk was last inserted, then working out how many times to press the "Next disk image in DFO:" button to achieve the desired swap). Hope that makes sense?

I realize I'm in the minority requesting this modification, not sure how much it would benefit others? Just thought I'd ask if anything could be done as I'd very much appreciate it

[Toni Wilen]

Originally Posted by geecab

I thought the disks needed to be in the disk swapper list for this to work, good to know this is an unnecessary step. I should read the docs more carefully!!

What docs?

Prev/Next is separate more "intelligent" swap method that only looks for disk names. (It also works in GUI, right click on floppy image select button)

I think my only wish then, is to have some form of temporary on-screen message (lasting for a few seconds), just letting you know the name of the disk that is newly inserted

This is planned (for years)..

[Toni Wilen]

http://www.winuae.net/files/b/winuae.zip now shows disk eject and insert messages (other message types will be probably added later).

Message is shown on emulation window if on screen leds are enabled and also in windowed mode window bottom border (if enabled and there is space left)

Any comments?

[geecab]

Wow once again Toni! Thanks you so much for the beta!!

I've been trying it out and the new message looks really great. There are a couple of things I just thought I'd mention:

1. When pressing the key I defined to trigger "Next disk image in DF0:", the message says "DFO:-" for 4 seconds, then "DFO: <name of disk>" for a further 4 seconds. I just wondered if the "DFO:-" delay of 4 seconds is necessary? Its just when I'm rapidly triggering "Next disk image in DF0:" to search for a disk, it would be good to see the names of the disk flash by until I spot the one I need.

2. I'm pretty certain this next one would only ever be a problem for me. My arcade/Amiga machine has a 26 inch widescreen LCD mounted vertically. The screen's very top and very bottom are hidden by the bezel surround I made (Purely for aesthetics, so basically I reduced the aspect ratio from 9:16, to be more like 9:14, view it here if you are interested forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,115188.0.html). Unfortunately, the new disk message is hidden by my bezel. Do you think there is anything that can be done to somehow place the message in the center of the screen?? I feel bad asking for this as where you have placed the message (bottom left) is the ideal spot for everybody, its just me who got this problem because I made a silly bezel!

Once again many thanks for you time

[Toni Wilen]

Originally Posted by geecab

1. When pressing the key I defined to trigger "Next disk image in DF0:", the message says "DFO:-" for 4 seconds, then "DFO: <name of disk>" for a further 4 seconds. I just wondered if the "DFO:-" delay of 4 seconds is necessary? Its just when I'm rapidly triggering "Next disk image in DF0:" to search for a disk, it would be good to see the names of the disk flash by until I spot the one I need.

Eject is separate event and it does not know if there is insert coming later. (Eject, delay, insert is needed or many programs get confused)

But what about halving (or even more) message delay if there is more events queued?

2. I'm pretty certain this next one would only ever be a problem for me. My arcade/Amiga machine has a 26 inch widescreen LCD mounted vertically. The screen's very top and very bottom are hidden by the bezel surround I made (Purely for aesthetics, so basically I reduced the aspect ratio from 9:16, to be more like 9:14, view it here if you are interested forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,115188.0.html). Unfortunately, the new disk message is hidden by my bezel. Do you think there is anything that can be done to somehow place the message in the center of the screen?? I feel bad asking for this as where you have placed the message (bottom left) is the ideal spot for everybody, its just me who got this problem because I made a silly bezel!

What about centering or right aligning it in fullscreen/fullwindow mode? (It may even look better than left alignment if fullscreen mode is high resolution, more closer to other OSD leds)

But not in windowed because it would look stupid, especially if bottom bar is also visible.

[gary]

You might want to consider using WHDload instead of floppy images where possible. Emulate a hard disk with WHDload and don't bother with floppy images.

[geecab]

Originally Posted by Toni Wilen

Eject is separate event and it does not know if there is insert coming later. (Eject, delay, insert is needed or many programs get confused) But what about halving (or even more) message delay if there is more events queued?

Makes sense now, thanks Toni. The 4 second delay thing doesn't bother me really, just thought it might be a bug so I decided to mention it. Would it be possible maybe to have the message indicate what disk is pending during the eject->delay period? Actually, the more I think about this, the more I think I'm just being picky What it does at the moment does give a good indication of what all the drives are up to, and the "DFO:-" message is an immediate indication a disk change is in progress (I hit the correct fire button), so I'm happy

Originally Posted by Toni Wilen

What about centering or right aligning it in fullscreen/fullwindow mode? (It may even look better than left alignment if fullscreen mode is high resolution, more closer to other OSD leds)

I'm not 100% sure I understand what you mean. I've just been messing around with the centering options in fullscreen mode (set to "Hires (normal)"), also be trying different screen resolutions but whatever I choose I can not seem to make those OSD leds move up from the bottom of the screen to where I can see them. I can't make them move with any of the options on the Filter page either? Thought I'd better mention I do use the Filter page to zoom and stretch certain games display area to get the most out of my vertical screen.

Thanks again for your help

[geecab]

Originally Posted by gary

You might want to consider using WHDload instead of floppy images where possible. Emulate a hard disk with WHDload and don't bother with floppy images.

Thanks for this Gary I did try and get WHDload working once (I think my aim was to get Darkseed working with it) but I got confused and gave up (I am easily confused ). I also got a bit put off when I read somewhere that only a few games work 100% with it (though I read this a few years ago, probably things have changed now). I shall look into again