[Freevo-users] MAME and keyboard--cheesy workaround
(posting this to the list mostly in case someone needs this information later) I'm not certain of the hoops that Freevo puts child applications through, but as configured it launches xmame as a child application in such a way that there is a lag (or something) in the keyboard response. This ranges from unnoticeable in some games to making others unplayable on my machine (Joust was the worst culprit; I could not even get my wee bird to fly at all, because repeated "flap" presses were not registered correctly; the best I could do is sort of a tepid fluttering). There is a good workaround, I'm sure. But in the absence of that, I made a "freevo_xmame.sh" script which consists of the following: #!/bin/sh /usr/local/bin/xmame.x11 $* ...and then set xmame in freevo_conf to point to it. Freevo passes all the arguments to the script as if it were xmame, and the script just passes them on to xmame. It works like a champ. Silly, but it *does* at least work. I'm guessing that freevo sets up some pipes, etc to talk to the child process, and somehow this was interfering with keyboard input to xmame. By launching xmame from within a script, xmame is talking to nothing (freevo is busy chatting with the script, which is saying nothing and receiving nothing while xmame is playing), so the game can process events as fast as they come. This probably has some disadvantages like making it impossible for the remote control to stop games or some such, but it's a price I'm willing to pay. Anyway, hope it helps someone. -->VPutz signature.asc Description: Digital signature
[Freevo-users] Xmame, keyboard problems from freevo
OK, here's an odd one, and I'm legitimately baffled. I am using the xmame/games plugin from freevo, and overall it works well. But there is a fairly serious problem: when I run xmame from within freevo, something is preventing rapid keypresses (in other words, keys pressed close together are interfering with each other). I have tested this numerous times; in Joust, for example, running under freevo I cannot get my wee bird to fly more than about an inch above the bottom of the screen; using the same command line from a terminal (*WITH* freevo running in the background), it works fine. In some fighting games, playing under freevo makes it nigh-impossible to hit certain combos; using the same command line from a terminal (again, with Freevo still running in the background), you can hit the combos every time. It's a very noticeable difference. I have tried changing the GAMES_NICE value, but I honestly don't think this is the problem, because (interesting)... if I use xmame to map a *joystick* button to the control, I can register as many events as I want to and get combos, play joust, whatever under freevo without error. (but since the whole reason I'm using xmame is that I built a console controller that sends keyboard events, getting the keyboard working is a vital part of my enjoyment). So: Something is interfering with keystrokes when running xmame from within Freevo. Could it have anything to do with PyGame keyboard setups, like setting a value so that autorepeat doesn't scream down to the bottom of the page instantly? I'm not sure why that would propagate to a program launched from within freevo, but I'm game to play with it. *ANY* ideas would be helpful; I'm flummoxed here. -->VPutz signature.asc Description: Digital signature
[Freevo-users] fxd files running amok!
OK, this is one I should have been able to figure out for myself, but it's perplexing me. In my "recorded TV" folder, freevo is happily making an .fxd file for every .avi that is recorded. So I get pairs for everything recorded, ie 06-28_23:30_Whose_Line_Is_It_Anyway_-_.avi 06-28_23:30_Whose_Line_Is_It_Anyway_-_.fxd In the Freevo menu, that means I have one long list of two "groups" of files--one of which has a descriptive name (with for example the episode name as well as the show name), and one group that will just have show names (for example, I will have two lines in the menu for one show; one might say "Good Eats - The Egg-Files" and the other will just say "Good Eats"). That's bad enough, but it's even more of a pain to try and delete both files, so I just let the fxd's pile up and eventually remove them via command line. How can I turn off this spontaneous fxd file creation? Thanks-->VPutz signature.asc Description: Digital signature
[Freevo-users] XMame not listing some games...?
Here's a curious one, and I'll hunt it down if no one knows, but I figured I'd ask. My xmame configuration is not listing certain games for which I have the rom AND the rom passes verification. I only know of one (T-mek), and it's not even a game I particularly am dying to play, but it irks me that I can't figure out why it's not showing up. I've looked at the xmameitem.py file, and it looks like most of the right stuff SHOULD be happening (the Python code calls xmame with --listitems as an argument, and t-mek does show up in that huge list), but somewhere between xmame --listitems and showing on the screen, it vanishes. Any ideas, or should I just hunt it down? -->VPutz signature.asc Description: Digital signature
Re: [Freevo-users] remote as a joystick
> Does anyone have any suggestions on wireless joysticks/gamepads or good > video cards for emulation? I have a dxr3 but that doesnt seem to supprt > emulation output, so I had put in a voodoo card, which really sucks. I am currently using a pair of Logitech Cordless Rumblepads. You can almost always find them on eBay in the $10-$15 range (I bought two for $20) and they make very passable controllers for MAME, TuxRacer, SCUMMVM, and the like. I'm in the process of making a tabletop-style arcade control panel and wiring the buttons/joysticks to one of the rumblepad circuit boards, which ought to be entertaining even if it doesn't work... Basically depending on your emulator, any vid card will work (it's not like the vast majority of emulated games require intense 3d acceleration-- in fact, I don't think MAME would take advantage of it anyway). There is GLMame, although it has issues with vector games at the moment. -->VPutz signature.asc Description: Digital signature
[Freevo-users] Blocky mencoder... on some channels.
OK, after doing searches, looking at faqs, and getting thoroughly
perplexed, I must finally ask the list (apologies; seems like the sort
of problem that's been addressed before).
I'm using mencoder with a Hauppage WinTV board on an Athlon 1400 (or so)
with 768MB ram. The quality of my recordings varies; almost all of them
have two vertical visible wiggly lines down the middle of the screen...
and while some channels are fairly clear (Food Network, of all things,
comes through with about the same quality as a VHS VCR), some are
execrable (Comedy Central is EXTREMELY blocky to the point where
on-screen text is difficult if not impossible to read).
Additionally, and this is less important (because we use an external
tuner for live TV), watching TV via the freevo gets choppier and
choppier as time goes on.
Here's my VCR command line from local_conf.py (the aumix bit is in there
because I was having difficulty with setting record levels; now that
I've switched motherboards to ALSA, it's probably no longer needed):
Any help anyone could offer would be greatly appreciated. I'm OK with
320x240 (not sure the hauppage can actually record at better--any
ideas?), but the blockiness is really unacceptable.
VCR_CMD = ('aumix -L -f /home/freevo/recording_aumixrc; ' +
'/usr/bin/mencoder ' +# Change. Absolute path to the
runtime
'-tv driver=v4l:input=0' + # Input 0 = Comp. V. in
':norm=NTSC' + # Change
# ':channel=%(channel)s' +# Filled in by Freevo
':chanlist=us-cable' + # Change
':width=320:height=240' + # Change if needed
':outfmt=yv12' +# Prob. ok, yuy2 might be
faster
':device=/dev/video0' + # CHANGE!
':adevice=/dev/dsp' + # CHANGE!
':audiorate=32000' +# 44100 for better sound
':forceaudio:forcechan=1:' +# Forced mono for bug in my
driver
'buffersize=64' + # 64 Megabyte capture buffer,
change?
' tv://%(channel)s'+
' -ovc lavc -lavcopts ' + # Mencoder lavcodec video
codec
'vcodec=mpeg4' +# lavcodec mpeg-4
':vbitrate=1200:' + # Change lower/higher,
bitrate
'keyint=30 ' + # Keyframe every 10 secs,
change?
'-oac mp3lame -lameopts ' + # Use Lame for MP3 encoding
'br=128:cbr:mode=3 ' + # MP3 const. bitrate, 128
kbit/s
'-ffourcc divx ' + # Force 'divx' ident, better
compat.
'-endpos %(seconds)s ' +# only mencoder uses this so
do it here
.
'-o %(filename)s.avi ') # Filled in by
Freevo
-->VPutz
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