Req app / Attention coders / Help: CD32 Menu.

fisken uno · 24 February 2007, 05:42

Ok, I really didn't know where on the forum to put this so mods may feel free to move it as they wish

My quest for the ultimate CD32 collection goes on. First off, I made an attempt at a collection using a WB interface with fakemouse and it worked pretty well. But somehow I still miss just launching your favorite Tetris or misc puzzle game for a few minutes of fun. It's a bit time consuming / complicated and some games don't work that well from WB. It's also a memory issue of course since the CD32 only has 2 MB of Chip RAM.

So I had a go with the menu system on the Demo Disc (that came with the console, the one from Commodore) and it worked rather well until I tried launching submenus (the 'main' menu can only display some 15 entries or something). It seems it's programmed to relaunch itself after a program has been launched so that you'll be able to return to the menu when you've quit the program... Resulting in a slowdown each time you launch a new submenu. I even tried using a RAD drive to store the config and script files rebooting each time a submenu was started - which worked very well from HD in WinUAE. But when I burnt it to an iso file I realized it displays the ugly CD32 logo each time it reboots! That's NOT acceptable. And yes you'll need the CD32.TM file for that very menu or the scrolling background pic won't work (I completely rechanged the background pic to take full advantage of the color cycling effect btw

).

THEN there is of course Arcade Game Selector that every CD32 collection and it's mother uses these days - for a reason I would suppose. It pretty much fills my needs except for a few areas of annoyance: 1) It looks like shit. 2) It's not very configurable so it's difficult to make it look like anything BUT shit. 3) It's extremely time consuming to put together screenshots and short game descriptions for each game (sure, you don't HAVE to do that but then it's quite unnecessary to have those frames at all isn't it?). 4) It can be quite slow searching the games at times.

What I really want is a nice looking scrolling menu system that can be configured to SOME extent, that uses a JOYSTICK, that gets the entries for the menu from a config file OR from a directory structure and that executes scripts for each game. The most important two things are that I want it to be as simple as possible to put togteher a collection and I want the collection to be easily navigated. There should not be limits for how many entries it can display and the ability to launch submenus would be nice. And yes a nice copper background would also be quite nice

What I'm after is something along the lines of the menus for the LSD Doc Disks... That good old bootblock menu feel you know.

I like the menu system for Emerald Mines CD32. It's simple and nice. I also like the menu system for the Assassins CDs as well as the Amiga Power CD32 Coverdisc. Both of the latter seem to use a proggy called Interplayer which also seems to be used for the Insight discs as well. The player uses a config file with the *.INT extention but I cannot figure out how to rip this system (not to mention that the menus for these titles look and work completely different to each others) so I would assume you'd need an editor for it. Does anyone know if such an editor is obtainable in any way? I certainly haven't seen one around...

What can I say? I'm pretty clueless. I have been looking and looking and LOOKING for the perfect menu system to use for CD32 collection discs but the closest thing to what I want really is Arcade Game Selector... which I am not very comfortable with at all. It has struck me that it couldn't be THAT hard to code such a menu (perhaps even in AMOS) but since I know approximately nada about programming I guess it WOULD be quite a difficult challenge. Anyone interested in giving it a shot? Or do you guys have any advice on any nice menu system I should try out?

cane · 25 February 2007, 02:59

Some time ago when I bought mine CD32 I had the same problem as you. I couldn't find some simple and nice menu system. Arcade Game Selector was not something that I was satisfied with. Anyway then I decided to program it myself and make it the way I like it. The decision for programing language was really simple because I did some more serious Amiga programing only in AMOS.
So after some time remembering a little bit of AMOS, and downloading examples from net I managed to make menu program that I'm satisfied with. It wasn't something hard to code, and I found it quite fun to make something like that (I did the last update few weeks ago). It has some little bugs that I don't know how to fix, but they can be easily avoided.
The idea is simple: one exe menu program in which you select the game, after that the menu program closes (the amount of free ram after it's closed is the same as before) and executes script for running the game.
A few words about the program:
-it shows one game at the time - screenshot on whole screen, on bottom informations name, year, publisher, if the cheat or manual is available, if the keyboard or mouse is required
-it is controllable with joystick in port 2, or with arrows and enter on keyboard: left/right = +/- one game; up/down = +/- 10 games
-you can jump to first game let's say with letter P by pressing P on keyboard
-it has built-in text viewer for displaying cheats/manual from text files (here there are a few bugs)
-it can't be configured with some text files or something similar - you have to add games in source code of program and then compile it - it is not something complicated to do
-it is in English, but source code is commented in Croatian (sorry, but it's simpler for me)

Ups, I think this explanation is a little bit complicated.
Anyway if you are interested I can make some screenshots so you can see hhow it all looks like. And if you are interested after that we'll figure something out...

fisken uno · 25 February 2007, 03:08

@cane: I am interested in trying ANYthing out so please do upload the source to the zone and I'll have a look at it

BippyM · 25 February 2007, 14:00

http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?...ht=WHD+Project

fisken uno · 25 February 2007, 16:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by bippym

http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?...ht=WHD+Project

Nice, nice!

I'm looking forward to having a look at this Xmas 2010

How could I *not* find that thread? I thought I searched the forum far and wide before I posted this one...

cane · 25 February 2007, 21:24

The source is in the zone. I added some English comments, there are few items in menu, so you can get idea how it works. You need AMOS Professional and AMOS Professional Compiler for compiling.
Here are two screenshots of menu in action:
http://img70.imageshack.us/img70/2161/001bt2.gif
http://img70.imageshack.us/img70/8449/002ns7.gif
Try it, if you have some questions just ask

fisken uno · 25 February 2007, 21:27

Hmm looks interesting! I'll have a look at the source asap

24 February 2007, 05:42	#1
fisken uno Zone Friend Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Sweden Age: 44 Posts: 716	Req app / Attention coders / Help: CD32 Menu. Ok, I really didn't know where on the forum to put this so mods may feel free to move it as they wish My quest for the ultimate CD32 collection goes on. First off, I made an attempt at a collection using a WB interface with fakemouse and it worked pretty well. But somehow I still miss just launching your favorite Tetris or misc puzzle game for a few minutes of fun. It's a bit time consuming / complicated and some games don't work that well from WB. It's also a memory issue of course since the CD32 only has 2 MB of Chip RAM. So I had a go with the menu system on the Demo Disc (that came with the console, the one from Commodore) and it worked rather well until I tried launching submenus (the 'main' menu can only display some 15 entries or something). It seems it's programmed to relaunch itself after a program has been launched so that you'll be able to return to the menu when you've quit the program... Resulting in a slowdown each time you launch a new submenu. I even tried using a RAD drive to store the config and script files rebooting each time a submenu was started - which worked very well from HD in WinUAE. But when I burnt it to an iso file I realized it displays the ugly CD32 logo each time it reboots! That's NOT acceptable. And yes you'll need the CD32.TM file for that very menu or the scrolling background pic won't work (I completely rechanged the background pic to take full advantage of the color cycling effect btw ). THEN there is of course Arcade Game Selector that every CD32 collection and it's mother uses these days - for a reason I would suppose. It pretty much fills my needs except for a few areas of annoyance: 1) It looks like shit. 2) It's not very configurable so it's difficult to make it look like anything BUT shit. 3) It's extremely time consuming to put together screenshots and short game descriptions for each game (sure, you don't HAVE to do that but then it's quite unnecessary to have those frames at all isn't it?). 4) It can be quite slow searching the games at times. What I really want is a nice looking scrolling menu system that can be configured to SOME extent, that uses a JOYSTICK, that gets the entries for the menu from a config file OR from a directory structure and that executes scripts for each game. The most important two things are that I want it to be as simple as possible to put togteher a collection and I want the collection to be easily navigated. There should not be limits for how many entries it can display and the ability to launch submenus would be nice. And yes a nice copper background would also be quite nice What I'm after is something along the lines of the menus for the LSD Doc Disks... That good old bootblock menu feel you know. I like the menu system for Emerald Mines CD32. It's simple and nice. I also like the menu system for the Assassins CDs as well as the Amiga Power CD32 Coverdisc. Both of the latter seem to use a proggy called Interplayer which also seems to be used for the Insight discs as well. The player uses a config file with the .INT extention but I cannot figure out how to rip this system (not to mention that the menus for these titles look and work completely different to each others) so I would assume you'd need an editor for it. Does anyone know if such an editor is obtainable in any way? I certainly haven't seen one around... What can I say? I'm pretty clueless. I have been looking and looking and LOOKING for the perfect menu system to use for CD32 collection discs but the closest thing to what I want really is Arcade Game Selector... which I am not very comfortable with at all. It has struck me that it couldn't be THAT hard to code such a menu (perhaps even in AMOS) but since I know approximately nada about programming I guess it WOULD be quite a difficult challenge. Anyone interested in giving it a shot? Or do you guys have any advice on any nice menu system I should try out? Last edited by fisken uno; 24 February 2007 at 05:55.*

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25 February 2007, 02:59	#2
cane Registered User Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: .hr Age: 45 Posts: 540	Some time ago when I bought mine CD32 I had the same problem as you. I couldn't find some simple and nice menu system. Arcade Game Selector was not something that I was satisfied with. Anyway then I decided to program it myself and make it the way I like it. The decision for programing language was really simple because I did some more serious Amiga programing only in AMOS. So after some time remembering a little bit of AMOS, and downloading examples from net I managed to make menu program that I'm satisfied with. It wasn't something hard to code, and I found it quite fun to make something like that (I did the last update few weeks ago). It has some little bugs that I don't know how to fix, but they can be easily avoided. The idea is simple: one exe menu program in which you select the game, after that the menu program closes (the amount of free ram after it's closed is the same as before) and executes script for running the game. A few words about the program: -it shows one game at the time - screenshot on whole screen, on bottom informations name, year, publisher, if the cheat or manual is available, if the keyboard or mouse is required -it is controllable with joystick in port 2, or with arrows and enter on keyboard: left/right = +/- one game; up/down = +/- 10 games -you can jump to first game let's say with letter P by pressing P on keyboard -it has built-in text viewer for displaying cheats/manual from text files (here there are a few bugs) -it can't be configured with some text files or something similar - you have to add games in source code of program and then compile it - it is not something complicated to do -it is in English, but source code is commented in Croatian (sorry, but it's simpler for me) Ups, I think this explanation is a little bit complicated. Anyway if you are interested I can make some screenshots so you can see hhow it all looks like. And if you are interested after that we'll figure something out...

25 February 2007, 03:08	#3
fisken uno Zone Friend Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Sweden Age: 44 Posts: 716	@cane: I am interested in trying ANYthing out so please do upload the source to the zone and I'll have a look at it

25 February 2007, 14:00	#4
BippyM Global Moderator Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Derby, UK Age: 48 Posts: 9,355	http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?...ht=WHD+Project

25 February 2007, 21:24	#6
cane Registered User Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: .hr Age: 45 Posts: 540	The source is in the zone. I added some English comments, there are few items in menu, so you can get idea how it works. You need AMOS Professional and AMOS Professional Compiler for compiling. Here are two screenshots of menu in action: http://img70.imageshack.us/img70/2161/001bt2.gif http://img70.imageshack.us/img70/8449/002ns7.gif Try it, if you have some questions just ask

25 February 2007, 21:27	#7
fisken uno Zone Friend Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Sweden Age: 44 Posts: 716	Hmm looks interesting! I'll have a look at the source asap

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