[Wintermute0110]

Great work on the add-on. Just thought I'd let you know that the fanart (snaps) don't appear for me when using the Estuary skin on Kodi 17 (Ubuntu). They appear fine if I use Confluence.

Thanks for the report. I will have a look and get the new version ready ASAP.

[Wintermute0110]

New AML release 0.9.3

The main feature of this release is the speed: the browsing is now much faster than before thanks to a redesigned ROM database. Many other things have been improved here and there, particularly launching of Software List ROMs. There is a new "Parents only" view mode that launches machines from a parent view (clones can be accessed from the context menu "Show clones"). Also, there are new MAME Favourite machines and Software Lists Favourite ROMs sections to store your treasured machine/ROMs!

NOTE AML is still under heavy development and the format of the databases may change in the future. Do not make huge lists of Favourites because there could be incompatibilities with future versions (in other words, it may be possible that you will need to wipe out your favourites in order to upgrade AML).

The instructions on the first and second post need and update to follow up with 0.9.3 version but you should be able to figure out the new menus and settings

Release notes and upgrade

In order to not to accumulate cruft, it is recommended that before you upgrade to AML 0.9.3 you delete the PLUGIN_DATA_DIRECTORY. On Linux is is located in:

Code:

/home/your_username/.kodi/userdata/addon_data/plugin.program.advanced.MAME.launcher

On Windows

Code:

C:\Users\your_username\AppData\Roaming\Kodi\userdata\addon_data\plugin.program.advanced.MAME.launcher

After deleting the directory then install AML using the ZIP file. You will need to configure the plugin (MAME executable and paths), rebuild the databases and scan for ROMs/assets again.

Advanced Emulator Launcher | version 0.9.3 | 31 May 2017

Code:

FEATURE  Ability to choose default Icon and Fanart for MAME and SL ROMs in addon settings.

FEATURE  "Parent only" view mode.

FEATURE  Plugin speed has been increased a lot owing to a brand new database design.

FEATURE  Unified catalog system and new machine rendering method.
         Requires wiping of ADDON_DATA_DIR to avoid problems.

FEATURE  Properties can be configured for every individual list in AML.

FEATURE  New Status Device flag. Marks wheter a device is mandatory or not.

FEATURE  Show database statistics.

FEATURE  Favourite MAME machines.

FEATURE  Favourite Software Lists ROMs.

FEATURE  Scan SL assets/artwork.

FEATURE  Manage MAME Favourites.

[Bmn2016]

Thanks for the update! I especially appreciate the options to set the artwork paths and add favorites inside AML 0.9.3.

I have a bug to report: Galaga doesn't show up inside AML under "Machines with coin slot" or any of the Category views.
However, it is found under the "Machines by Driver" view in galaga.cpp where it is named "None".

I'm running Kodi 17.3, MAME 0.186 64-bit, and Windows 10 64-bit.
My debug log is here: https://pastebin.com/kSEh67rD

Thanks for the continued support of this great add-on.

[Wintermute0110]

Thanks for the update! I especially appreciate the options to set the artwork paths and add favorites inside AML 0.9.3.

I have a bug to report: Galaga doesn't show up inside AML under "Machines with coin slot" or any of the Category views.
However, it is found under the "Machines by Driver" view in galaga.cpp where it is named "None".

I'm running Kodi 17.3, MAME 0.186 64-bit, and Windows 10 64-bit.
My debug log is here: https://pastebin.com/kSEh67rD

Thanks for the continued support of this great add-on.

Hi Bmn2016, thanks for your support.

Make sure you extract the MAME XML for 0.186, rebuild the databases and scan ROMs/assets again. Also, you can always check the version of the database in context menu "View", "View database information". In the "Database information and statistics" window "MAME version" is the version of the extracted MAME XML that AML is currently using. MAME 0.185 had some bugs: many well known games, for example Metal Slug 4 (mslug4) had incorrect description "None". There were shown under "Machines with coin slot" filter with name "None". You can check the raw database information for any machine with the context menu "View", "View MAME machine data".

Do not make huge lists of Favourite machine or SL yet: keep in mind the Favourite database format has not been fixed yet and maybe you will have to wipe out everything when updating to 0.9.4.

Also, the ROM/CHD scanner is not perfect yet. Some games that have ROMs will be reported as missing and vice versa. I'm working on solving that. Some of the options in the "Display" tab of the addon settings do not work yet. For 0.9.4 I will incorporate history.dat and mameinfo.dat (I believe you suggested that feature some time ago...) but I'm thinking about how to do it efficiently. Also, I you think of a feature that could be useful let me know.

[Slurm]

Thanks for this great addon, everything is working great!

I have just a short question: Where do I put the SL assets/artwork?

[Wintermute0110]

Thanks for this great addon, everything is working great!

I have just a short question: Where do I put the SL assets/artwork?

Glad you like AML. If you have any feature suggestion or comment let me know.

I have updated the first post and included instructions about the Software Lists assets/artwork. Have a look and tell me if it's OK.

[Slurm]

Wow! Now it's perfect for me. I'm using the progretto artwork and only had to change "Software List icon" under "Artwork" from Boxfront to Title.

[Wintermute0110]

Wow! Now it's perfect for me. I'm using the progretto artwork and only had to change "Software List icon" under "Artwork" from Boxfront to Title.

Yes, AML is designed to use progretto ZIP files or Pleasuredome torrent files (which are based on progretto content).

[Rychem28]

Love the add-on., Thanks for the great work. So far it is working very well!!

Are you planning to eventually include videos as part of the asset packages for both MAME and MAME software lists? If not, I think this would be a good feature.

[Wintermute0110]

Love the add-on., Thanks for the great work. So far it is working very well!!

Are you planning to eventually include videos as part of the asset packages for both MAME and MAME software lists? If not, I think this would be a good feature.

I'm glad you like it

OK, I will include videos/trailers in the TODO list.

[ConvertApple]

Great plugin, would be awesome to incorporate the videosnaps and any other data (like internet rom archiver addon) that is available, as addon is so quick/easy to setup.

Having burrowed deeper into the retrohole and trying out all the various different solutions I find myself returning to this addon for it’s simplicity, it could be even simpler though. All it needs to do is to point to the mame folder and from there key off the mame.ini and ui.ini to find the paths for everything, I presume the catver.ini files and other ini’s would live in the category path normally ‘folders’. The ideal would be to show all the same info the mame ui has (plus video snaps). So you could get mame configured properly in the built in ui then in kodi enter a single path in the addon, hit go and done.

Is it still being worked on

[Wintermute0110]

Great plugin, would be awesome to incorporate the videosnaps and any other data (like internet rom archiver addon) that is available, as addon is so quick/easy to setup.

Having burrowed deeper into the retrohole and trying out all the various different solutions I find myself returning to this addon for it’s simplicity, it could be even simpler though. All it needs to do is to point to the mame folder and from there key off the mame.ini and ui.ini to find the paths for everything, I presume the catver.ini files and other ini’s would live in the category path normally ‘folders’. The ideal would be to show all the same info the mame ui has (plus video snaps). So you could get mame configured properly in the built in ui then in kodi enter a single path in the addon, hit go and done.

Is it still being worked on

Hi ConvertApple,

Trailers will be available in the next version. However, note that IARL has its own customised database (withe pre-scraped artwork/trailers) whereas AML extracts the database for the MAME version you have. In AML you need to download artwork/trailers yourself from Pleasuredome or EmuMovies.

I will think about your suggestion about reading mame.ini and ui.ini. Also, keep in mind that in Windows all MAME stuff is inside the MAME folder you download in the ZIP file but in other operating systems (Linux) MAME stuff is kept and separated in several folders. I have to think in a solution that make every user happy.

[ConvertApple]

I separated out my mame stuff (under windows) and adjusted the mame.ini and ui.ini accordingly, do other systems not use the same two .ini files to reflect where these files are to be found?

e.g.:
Mame is at S:\emu\Mame\mame64.exe
Roms are at S:\emu\data\mame\roms
Extras + multimedia are under S:\emu\data\mame\assets
Though there is no entry for videosnaps in the ui.ini though a custom one could easily be added as videosnaps_directory

mame.ini snippet

Code:

homepath                  .
rompath                   S:\emu\data\mame\roms;S:\emu\data\Mame\chd;S:\emu\data\mame\roms_SL
hashpath                  hash
samplepath                S:\emu\data\Mame\assets\samples
artpath                   S:\emu\data\Mame\assets\artwork
ctrlrpath                 ctrlr
inipath                   .;ini;ini/presets
fontpath                  .
cheatpath                 S:\emu\data\Mame\assets\cheat
crosshairpath             crosshair
pluginspath               plugins
languagepath              language
swpath                    software

#
# CORE OUTPUT DIRECTORY OPTIONS
#
cfg_directory             cfg
nvram_directory           nvram
input_directory           inp
state_directory           sta
snapshot_directory        S:\emu\data\Mame\assets\snaps;S:\emu\data\Mame\assets\snaps_SL

ui.ini snippet

Code:

historypath               S:\emu\data\Mame\assets\history;S:\emu\data\Mame\assets\dats
categorypath              S:\emu\data\Mame\assets\folders
cabinets_directory        S:\emu\data\Mame\assets\cabinets
cpanels_directory         S:\emu\data\Mame\assets\cpanels
pcbs_directory            S:\emu\data\Mame\assets\pcbs
flyers_directory          S:\emu\data\Mame\assets\flyers
titles_directory          S:\emu\data\Mame\assets\titles;S:\emu\data\Mame\assets\titles_SL
ends_directory            S:\emu\data\Mame\assets\ends
marquees_directory        S:\emu\data\Mame\assets\marquees
artwork_preview_directory S:\emu\data\Mame\assets\artpreview
bosses_directory          S:\emu\data\Mame\assets\bosses
logos_directory           S:\emu\data\Mame\assets\logo
scores_directory          S:\emu\data\Mame\assets\scores
versus_directory          S:\emu\data\Mame\assets\versus
gameover_directory        S:\emu\data\Mame\assets\gameover
howto_directory           S:\emu\data\Mame\assets\howto
select_directory          S:\emu\data\Mame\assets\select
icons_directory           S:\emu\data\Mame\assets\icons
covers_directory          S:\emu\data\Mame\assets\covers;S:\emu\data\Mame\assets\covers_SL
videosnaps_directory   S:\emu\data\Mame\assets\videosnaps
ui_path                   ui

[Wintermute0110]

@ConvertApple Thanks for your inputs. I will have a look ASAP. Currently I'm on AEL development cycle and after that I will port useful stuff from AEL to AML (like file search cache) and release a new AML version.

[jgraver]

I am having trouble scanning ROMs from an NFS share.
nfs://x.x.x.x/MAME/MAME 0.192 ROMs (split)

Looking through the code:
 

Code:

ROM_path_FN = FileName(self.settings['rom_path'])
if not ROM_path_FN.isdir():
kodi_dialog_OK('ROM directory does not exist. Aborting.')
return

Looks like the FileName object is throwing an error on .isdir() over a network share.

Does AML support resources over NFS? Thanks!