Emu Loader 8.2.9

Fixed
Frontend crash when switching to internet game info (images tool bar button) and if starting the frontend with "internet game info" selected
Error detecting MAME driver .ini files if gamename and drivername are the same (games popup menu, custom game/driver settings)

Oopsie! Crash when trying to read "ini_files\image_categories.ini" when it doesn't exist

Fixed
Select a media player and reset parameters buttons doesn't work; video preview, preferences screen
Message box dialog doesn't display unicode game titles in the top bar
Proper detection of PNG, JPG, GIF, BMP image types, to fix frontend freezes and crashes (unzipped and zipped)
Memory leak when exiting the frontend; image panel controls were not destroyed properly
If clicking button OK in "Emulators Setup" screen, emulators info are not updated correctly in "folders_emulators.ini" file
Neo-Geo filter was broken; from now on, it is done by checking only the "neogeo" bios name instead of driver names
Several fixes to preview images and EL's internal zip files cache system
- memory leak when switching image categories in classic view mode; images zip cache was not properly terminated
- memory leak when exiting the frontend if it was started directly in thumbnails view
- images zip cache were initialized three times over if starting frontend directly in thumbnails view
- when starting frontend directly in thumbnails view, after switching to another view mode, images zip files cache was not reinitializing; on images layout view, only game snapshots were showing
- when switching to thumbnails view, image zip files cache was not cleared, wasting RAM... only game snapshot cache is needed
Frontend crash while parsing LUA plugin info from "plugin.json" files... EL was not checking for empty lines, causing the crash (MAME settings screen)
MAME snapshot name format was not scanned correctly for parent sets (snap\gamename\0000.png)
Switching to "Internet Game Info" now clears the image zip files cache (image categories popup menu)
Cycle image categories doesn't select "Internet Game Info" anymore (images tool bar button)
Filter "Taito G-NET" was not working
Changed
Changes to thumbnails view
- minimum size increased to 152 pixels
- game icon size changed to 128x128 pixels
- added system icon in thumbnails to separate similar games of different systems
- added game icon so you know if game is parent, clone, available, missing
- you can no longer delete game snapshots of multiple selected games; to prevent frontend corruption
- setting "Show Images/Game Docs Panel" is no more, it was causing too many bugs; from now on, images panel is always enable in thumbs view
-> you must enable/disable images in main menu images, view mode button, games popup menu "Thumbnails" sub-menu or in Thumbnais Settings dialog
-> this also fixes a couple bugs related to game docs panel in thumbs view
- UNFIXABLE bug: if you change games font (name/size), the thumbnail cell size doesn't update correctly; only a frontend restart fixes it
Game name icon in games list status bar now show frontend's default game icon (system/have/miss icon status)
From now on, driver ini files are only searched in "inidir\source\" folder, except for MAME builds older than v0.118
- it fixes gamename.ini files from being deleted if driver name and game name are the same
- starting MAME v0.179 there is no support for drivername.ini in "inidir\" folder
No more gradient selection bar on games lists, and any other list that uses EasyListView; single color is enough
Changes to "Delete single selected game dialog"
- fixed a bug that was not calculating the total files listed, so dialog's width/height can be properly adjusted
- extended width and height to support higher screen resolutions; 640x480 is still supported
User interface tweaks/updates to "delete/rename game image"
Split read/write routines of emulators binaries and images folders from the main ReadIniFile() / UpdateIniFile() functions
- to update images paths settings (ui.ini; folders_emulators.ini) right after exiting "Image Categories Settings" screen; prevent loss of changes in case of an app crash... FINALLY!!!
Tweaks to "Select Machine to Run Game" (software list games related)
- show favorite icon in machines
- support higher screen resolutions
Load preview images with threads enabled by default... toggle button no longer available in images tool bar
Removed
Setting "Selected Game Dark Font" no longer needed; font is always in black color on selected games (preferences screen)
Columns "Game Status" and "Software Info Tip" removed from the main games list
IMPORTANT: make sure to delete "eldir\ini_files\columns_profile.ini" before starting the frontend or it might crash!
Added
Driver status icon info next to the game icon in games list status bar (useful in thumbnails view)
-> good = green; imperfect = yellow; preliminary = red
Support MAME v0.179
New security setting: Disable "Delete/Copy/Move Games Files"; to prevent kiddies from messing with your games files (preferences screen, "Games List" tab)
NOTE: this setting is disabled by default; to protect your ROMs you must check the new setting
Multi-slot arcade games loading support for HBMAME
- systems: Neo-Geo, STV, MegaTech
- new files: "arcade\hbmame_multicart_neogeo.ini"; "arcade\hbmame_multicart_stv.ini"
- misc filters "Show Only Neo-Geo MVS" and "Show Only STV Multi-Slot" also include HBMAME games
Software list games: new info "part name" / "part title" for games with multiple files (floppy disk/cassette)
- EL can show you the title of the floppy disk (see game "aleste2" in "msx2_flop" softlist)... for future expansion
Changes to preview images feature:
- file "image_09_internet.ico" renamed to "image_internet.ico"
- new categories: end, boss, logo, score, versus, game over, how to play, select
-> read/write folder paths in MAME's "ui.ini", if file found
-> only .png files are supported since these categories are from the actual game screen
-> see "docs\el-readme.txt" to find out what are the valid .zip filenames for each category (same as ClrMAME)
-> you can find these collections at Progetto-SNAPS (http://www.progettosnaps.net)
- added a new image category custom hint box that doesn't disappear after 4 seconds (mouse hover over image)
- maximum images per category increased from 10 to 30
Support separate zip filenames for software list snapshots, so you don't have to put snapshots of all your software lists in "snap.zip"
- files must be the in same folder as snap.zip (or same folder as titles.zip; marquees.zip; cabinets.zip; etc...)
- zip filenames must be the same as software list names, for all image categories! (msx1_cart.zip; nes.zip; n64.zip; snes.zip; etc...)
- filenames like "msx1_cart_titles.zip" or "a7800_titles.zip" are not supported
- you can find these image packs in Progetto-SNAPS website (http://www.progettosnaps.net)
- all image categories are supported
- if you make changes to any .zip file, a frontend restart is required; Emu Loader uses a temporary cache system to avoid open/close .zip files for each selected game (abuse mode OFF)
- these softlist zip files will be scanned before snap.zip
Added icons size options for machines list side panel; "small (16x16)", "standard (24x24)", "large (32x32)", so you can use bigger game fonts (machines list popup menu)
Setting "Multiline Captions" is alsos applied to machines list side panel (preferences screen, "Games List" tab)
Machines list side panel background color and parent/clone font settings are now the same as main games list

Fixed
Removed the "ding" sound if you press ENTER key in the select folder dialog
No "ui.ini" detection when changing MAME/HBMAME binary; it was causing problems if "ui.ini" is missing
ZiNc games failed to run, generating error code 1; frontend "LongToShortPath()" function was not working; it's replaced by "ExtractShortPathName()" function from Delphi XE 10 Seattle compiler, which works... YAY!
Added
Support "ui.ini" for HBMAME; v0.172 and newer required

Fixed
Record input was not working at all due to source code corruption; had to write some functions from scratch :(
Reset record input filename was not selecting a valid file in the files list (if a match exist)
Changed
Changes and fixes for "Run MAME With Extra Parameters":
- added a new "Reset to Title" button so you can reset the filename to the game title (Input File tab)
- file "gamename.inp" is not always at the top anymore (Input File tab)
- finished implementation of "Record Current Section to a Movie" (.avi; .wav; .mng)
-> default save folder for arcade/non-arcade machines is "mame_snapdir\record_video\gamename\"
-> default save folder for software lists is "mame_snapdir\record_video\softlistname\gamename\"
-> you can select a file in the list to overwrite it with a new recording

Fixed

Var "eThumbnailFileName" was not being cleared when reloading games data into the list or deleting selected game thumbnail
Memory leak when exiting the frontend while in thumbnails view mode (selected game thumb var still in RAM)

Changed

Modified my custom "TGaugeBar2" component (Graphics32 library) to support "0.000" float values (three decimals)
Whene deleting thumbnails, zipped thumbs are skipped since they cannot be deleted... to improve speed when deleting multiple thumbs

Added

Setting "Disable V-Sync" added back to Supermodel settings (requires emulator SVN 446 or newer)
Support for MAME v0.175; also added new "Vector Post-Processing" settings in "Direct3D Post-Processing" page ("Video 2" tab)

Fixed
Sega Model 2 ROMs paths were not being correcty read from "emulator.ini", making it impossible to validate games
Changed
Moved all category filters inside a group box; removed "Light Gun" category filter (Miscellaneous tool bar filters)
Clicking "Reset" button, text in TEdit box is cleared (search bar)
Pressing "ESC" key, the text in TEdit box is cleared (search bar)
Changes to "Game Details" (games popup menu / Shift+I shortcut)
- if save state is "unknown" (empty), info is not shown anymore
- "Played" info renamed to "Last Played"
- "times played" info moved from "Last Played" to "Playtime" info

Fixed
Search bar was not working anymore after implementing controls search bar button
Removed the annoying "ding" sound when pressing ENTER and ESC keys in the search bar TEdit control
Changed
Setting "Allow Only One Instance" is now enabled by default; to avoid problems and unwanted crashes, you shouldn't run more than one instance of the frontend from the same folder
Added
Added a separate setting "Include Tool Bar Filters" to the new controls search bar button (its setting can be different than the one from the search criteria!)

Fixed
Neo-Geo filter was not showing all games for MAME v0.174); there is a new driver name: "neodriv"
EL will also validate Neo-Geo game names by its bios set name...: "neogeo"

Fixed
Control "none or empty" was not filtering the games list correctly ("MISC" main tool bar filter)
- software list games should not be listed as they don't have control entries (mamedir\hash\*.xml files)
Changed
Renamed "\ini_files\control_type.ini" to "\ini_files\mame_control_type.ini" since this file is for MAME/HBMAME only
Added
New search bar filter: Controls
- a quick way to filter games by controls (for MAME/HBMAME only)
- the results are affected if "Include Tool Bar Filters" option is checked (search bar options button)
- software list games are excluded from this filter since they don't have controls listed in "mamedir\hash\*.xml" files
- this new filter ignores the search criteria and overwrites the controls filter selection in the miscellaneous filters ("MISC" main tool bar button)

Fixed
Danger, Will Robinson. DANGER! Feature "Machine to Run Game" was resetting user custom machine names to their default values when creating a new MAME games list (games popup menu)
- file file "mame_machineslast.ini" renamed to "mame_machines_usercustom.ini" and moved from "\arcade\" to "\ini_files\" folder
- file "\arcade\mame_machines.ini" is now used to get default machine names for each softlist file
- file "\ini_files\mame_machines_usercustom.ini" now only list machine names that differ from default machine names in "mame_machines.ini"
(default is the first machine listed in each section... MAME has no default machine for software lists)
- fixed a crash when a machine is not selected in the list and you click "Confirm" button
- file "\ini_files\softlist_exclude.txt" renamed to "ini_files\mame_softlist_exclude.txt" ("Customize Software List" in main menu)
Added
Partial support for software lists in HBMAME; it might never be used by the emulator, but you never know...

Fixed
Systems other than MAME and HBMAME were not showing in the list
Detection of the new "neopcb.cpp" Neo-Geo driver name, so Neo-Geo filter works again

Fixed
App crash when trying to read/write "language" setting in "mame.ini" (MAME Settings screen)
Selected game docs texts were parsed twice at startup ("mameinfo.dat" and others); startup is 1 second faster...
When the frontend is all setup (emulators already selected), if an emulator executable is not found at startup you couldn't select a new file, forcing you to edit "eldit\ini_files\folders_emulators.ini" manually or make a clean install
Control Type filter was adding blank control names into the ComboBox (Miscellaneous filter, tool bar buttons)
If "ini_files\folders_emulators.ini" read fails at startup, EL would re-write existing "EmuLoader.ini", changing some frontend settings to their default values
Changed
Deleted extra TPanel component from game docs panel (not needed); moved game docs panel below the image panel in project's source code
Replaced a bunch of Pos() function calls by the faster asm optimized function PosEx()
Grouped all controls and players info texts for easier reading ("Game Details" screen)
File "ini_files\control_type.ini" updated to include new control tags for MAME v0.173; a bunch of unused entries were also removed
madExcept library now shows error messages automatically
Removed
Support for MAME Plus! is no more... you can still use it to create a games list and play games, but do not use emulator/game settings or EL might crash and/or damage "mame.ini" contents
Added
MAME/HBMAME save state info is back; you must create a new games list to use this
- to filter by save state, go to the "Miscellaneous" filter in main tool bar buttons
- this info/filter is available for MAME/HBMAME only; other emulators are not supported
- software lists are not supported since they can be used by different machines, and their save state values may differ
- info is shown in "Game Details" screen, nowhere else
Support for MAME v0.173
- huge update to the "input" / "control" tags in -listxml output; future changes in the frontend might be necessary
- the "buttons" tag is not separated by player; frontend's "buttons count fixed (do not merge all players buttons...)
- buttons count for keyboards, keypad and other controls are now added to the buttons count info (might change in the future)

Fixed

App crash due to a bug in the "ini_files\times_played.ini" file update function after exiting a game.

version 8.0.7 change log - April 23, 2016

Fixed

Fixed read/write Supermodel settings for good! Also, custom game settings that are the same as emulator settings are no longer added to .ini files

Removed

Setting "Disable V-Sync" removed since this setting doesn't exist in Supermodel emulator (Supermode Settings screen)

Fixed
Daphne version info not showing up correctly in Daphne settings screen on a fresh install, or if changing exe filename in Emulator Setup screen
Finished updating "LoadROMsFolders" function calls for all the non-MAME related emulators; added the custom emu exe filename parameter
ROMs folders lists for all system were being loaded into RAM twice at startup (cosmetic fix)
Some SEGA Model 2 games were missing screen orientation, resolution and refresh rate (need to re-create games list to fix this...)
Some ZiNc games were missing screen orientation, resolution and refresh rate (need to re-create games list to fix this...)
Filters were not applied after creating games list manually (main menu "Create Games List")
Changed
Finished updating some function calls, related to bugs fixed in EL v8.0.4
More code cleaning
Changes and improvements to MAME Settings screen
- improved hint texts on some settings (hover mouse in them)
- setting "HLSL Prescale Override Factor" is no more ("Video 2" tab, "Direct3D Post-Processing Effects" group box)
- setting "Hardware Stretch" is gone; DirectDraw is gone from MAME and this setting is always enabled anyway
- new setting "HLSL Oversampling" ("Video" tab, "Direct 3D Post-Processing Effects" group box)
- moved all LUA related settings into a new "LUA" tab since MAME v0.172 have a bunch of new LUA settings
- moved Audio settings to "LUA" page, renamed "Video and Audio" to "Video"
- moved "Visual Effects Overlay File" from "Video 2" tab to "Game Screen" panel in "Video" tab
- new setting "Integer Scale Overscan" (for MAME v0.173)
- removed setting "Write Dummy Snapshot" since you need a MAME compile with debug enabled (and EL is all about playing games)
- moved setting "Video Output Mode" to "Video 2" tab, to be placed with HLSL/GLSL/BGFX Pos-Processing Effects
- fixed audio latency setting
- several settings are now disabled if they are not present in "mame.ini" (emulator default settings file)
- source code optimizations and removal of redundant code
- UI tweaks to reduce waste of space between controls
Updates to Supermodel emulator (settings screen, and games list)
- minimum emulator version supported is now v0.3a SVN release 335
(using older emulator builds might cause problems)
- added new video setting: "3D Engine"; you can select between the new engine by Ian Curtis or the old one (legacy)
- updated "SupermodelSEGAModel3_xml.dat" file with new/changed games, based on source code v0.3a SVN R335
- fixed missing screen resolution/refresh rate and driver name in some games
Added
Enabled support for AntoPISA's "gameinit.dat", not that's officially supported in MAME; to be used with "Game Docs" feature; place file in MAME's root folder
http://www.progettosnaps.net/gameinit

Games list background image was not loading; there was a tiny 1 line code missing in the function to fix full paths when you use relative paths

Fixed
Forgot to update "docs\el-listformat" file with new games list format
Added
New MISC tool bar filter: Hide "No Dump" Games; it will hide games were all ROMs/CHDs are tagged as "nodump"

Fixed
Emulator binary detection at startup was not updating emulator version info; also, the version info for MAME and AlterMAME was switched
...be aware that the new data is only saved to "ini_files\folders_emulators.ini" when exiting the frontend or accessing "Emulators Setup" screen
Changed
Changes to customize columns screen
- added "Customize Header Font" and "Default Font" buttons for easier access
- removed test/debug button
Game custom settings (game, driver, screen type, etc...) is disabled if selected game is a MAME software list game (non-arcade). MAME doesn't support custom settings for software list games
Removed
Some source code cleanup
- game info var "eUseDeviceROMs" no longer used... completely removed from the project
- array "ListGamesDeviceROMs" no longer used... completely removed from the project
- removed a couple disabled functions since they are no longer used
Added
Columns sub-menu in main menu to access the customize games list columns (sub-menu "Games List")
Games list status bar color customization (preferences screen, "Games List" tab)
Support "raster.ini"; "lcd.ini" screen type settings for MAME v0.167 (games popup menu, "Custom Settting" / "AlterMAME Custom Settings")

Fixed
Export games list to .txt file fixes/changes (main menu "Games List")
- new feature dialog with several options to choose from
- full format was not listing all info; entries format changed a little bit
sys_name: game_title [softlist_name\gamename; cloneof parentname] - export to "MAME Content Manager Plus" was including software list games. MCM+ only support arcade/non-arcade machines from -listxml output and MAME/HBMAME emulators
Fixes to delete/copy/move multiple games files
- frontend frozen in an endless loop when trying to detect software list names, resulting in a crash
- only MAME games were being processed, ignoring games from other systems
- memory leak when processing software list games
- some optimizations to improve speed
- created an internal list of MAME games files to be processed so they won't have duplicate copies for other systems, in case MAME game files are being shared with different systems (MAME, HBMAME, ZiNc...)
Changed
File 'ini_files\videopreview.ini' is not available in the distribution pack anymore. It will be generated at startup if not found. This is to prevent overwriting your current video preview settings
Added
Support for new MAME v0.167 vector settings (MAME settings screen, "Vector" groupbox)... setting "beam" for older MAME builds is still supported
New file "ini_files\videopreview[default].ini"

Fixed
MAMu_ icon was not showing in the selected game at startup (old bug)
Error message "28x22 icon could not be loaded" if changing arcade filters while "Small Tool Bar" setting is enabled (files in "resources\main_icons\arcade_filters\" folder don't have small icons, only 44x40 size)
Changed
Setting "Run Game Confirmation Dialog" is now disabled by default (main menu)... no more nagging dialog on a fresh install
From now on, when a game is re-selected (filter change, view mode change, etc...), it will always appear in the middle of the list (vertically); it's easier to find this way
Added
New setting: "Allow Only One Instance"; prevent multiple instances of the frontend running at the same time (preferences screen)

Fixed Access to main menu from games popup menu was not possible while frontend in full screen mode
Games list splitter and images splitter incorrectly set at startup

Fixed
Creating HBMAME games list would corrupt MAME games list, deleting MAME software list files and multi-cart files ('eldir\arcade\' and 'eldir\softwarelist\' folders)
Application crash after creating games list for multiple systems at once
Main screen doesn't hide anymore when creating games list; it was creating too many problems
Changed
File 'ini_files\catver_full.ini' is now priority; file 'ini_files\catver.ini' is used if the other is not found (when loading games list)
If you use 'ini_files\catver_full.ini', there's no need to use "version ini for MESS" pack (version.ini) as version added for non-arcade machines can be read from 'catve_full.ini'
NOTE: you still need 'ini_files\category_home.ini' for proper non-arcade machines tagging! ("category ini for MESS" pack)
Added
New setting: "Images Panel Outer Frame Color", so you can change the color of the 7 pixels frame in the images panel (preferences screen, 'Images' tab)

Fixed
Game icons weren't updated correctly after single/multi game audit (visual bug only)
Application crash when trying to setup MAME default settings on a fresh install, while at Emulators Setup screen
Apply filters message box was not centered on screen (grouped view mode)
Changed
If MAME build number can't be detected, full MAME settings mode will be used by default (if using old MAME builds, the frontend might crash)

thumbnail cell resize when hiding game titles
if using game fonts of different sizes (parent font, clones font, preliminary font, etc) the thumbnail cell will update based to the biggest font, to fix screen garbage
thumbnail cell resize when editing game fonts (parent, clones, preliminary, etc)... no need to be in thumbnails view mode
thumbnails settings screen updated to include a ?Confirm? button (apply settings and close dialog)
new setting ?Keep Aspect Ratio?, enabled by default. If you want the image to fill the entire thumbnail cell, uncheck this option
new generate thumbnail function to work with aspect ratio disabled; this one also does anti-aliasing... sharpening code from previous function actually made thumb images worse!!
fixed huge ammounts of memory leaks by placing GlobalThreadManager.FlushMessageCache() calls BEFORE reinitializing thumbnails... same fix for MAMu_ icons
Search bar changes:

removed fiter title bar; edit box hint now show the current filter title
a grayed out ?Search games...? text is displayed if edit box is empty
buttons/icons size changed to match the edit box
removed filter search pattern button and replaced it by a small down arrow button inside the edit box (preliminary)
edit box width increased by 20 pixels
Added:

New setting ?Show Games Status Bar?, enabled by default. Unckeck it to hide the status bar below the games list (main menu ?View?)