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Post by Gamesoul Master on Aug 12, 2006 17:24:20 GMT -5
Would anybody be interested in a small "frontend" program that allows you to set the BIOS and command-line functions, then automatically run the program? I wrote it with patrickp in mind (considering he brought up the idea to me of creating shortcuts for game-specific settings), but anybody who wants it can have it.
As far as I know, it should run on at least Win95 - WinXP, but I'd guess that it should run on pretty much any Windows or DOS system.
It operates in a DOS window, but I can't imagine that anybody would have a problem with that. Just would need to know where to upload it to (I'll take suggestions on that, since I never upload things and won't bother to search the forum for places unless somebody actually wants it).
This thread is dedicated to the work and discussion of Ultima's fabulous pSX Frontend, an essential utility for anybody who enjoys using pSX for their PS1 emulation needs.
For links to this frontend, you can get it from my signature for the Windows version, or search back from the last page of this thread for links to both the Windows and Linux versions.
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Post by patrickp on Aug 12, 2006 17:44:33 GMT -5
Sounds interesting, Gamesoul Master - will it do this by using command line switches? Because AFAIK there's no switch for selecting a BIOS. But, of course, if it runs under W95 - XP, then it'll run on all the platforms that pSX will - on any other OS, pSX will only run in a Windows emulator, and I presume your frontend would, as well? As to having problems with a DOS window, I wouldn't, and I don't think most people here would. But then, there are people who have a problem with pSX's DOS window... As to hosting sites, I guess there's www.hostfile.org/index.php or www.imageshack.us/. Edit: no, ImageShack only hosts images AFAIK; hostfile.org hosts .exe, .zip and .rar files, though.
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Post by Gamesoul Master on Aug 12, 2006 18:07:04 GMT -5
It actually sets the BIOS by changing it in the psx.ini file. The only limitation off the top of my head is that this program has to be in the same folder as the psx.ini file (which isn't much of a restriction). I'll post it soon (by soon, I mean within the hour), as I'm pretty much adding selections for every BIOS I can find and think of at this point.
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Post by Gamesoul Master on Aug 12, 2006 20:26:55 GMT -5
Here is the program: www.hostfile.org/psxselector.zipView the included readme before use. If I missed something, contact me however you want, and I'll take care of it (or try, anyway... XD). It contains a couple more tiny limitations than the one I mentioned, but they are mentioned in the readme, and they shouldn't apply to most people (although even if one or more of them do, they can all be eliminated by one-time quick-fixes).
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Post by patrickp on Aug 12, 2006 21:22:46 GMT -5
There's a bug, I think, Gamesoul Master. I tried a couple of BIOS selections, and each time got an error message that "This emulator requires a bios image which must be installed in the bios directory." Then it opened a window to look for a BIOS of the same name as I'd chosen, but with an extra preceding "S," i.e for scph1001.bin, it looks for "Sscph1001.bin" and for scph7502.bin it looks for "Sscph7502.bin."
It also opens the window in the main emulator folder, rather than the BIOS folder; I don't know if that's significant.
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Post by Gamesoul Master on Aug 12, 2006 21:27:12 GMT -5
It's doing that because... I'm not sure why it isn't working like it was before. I found the problem too, after running it with v1.8 that I just grabbed. I actually came back here because I was pretty certain that you'd find the error too. I'll have it fixed soon enough
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Post by patrickp on Aug 12, 2006 21:39:48 GMT -5
Well, FWIW the same happens with pSX v1.7 and 1.6, so it isn't anything to do with upgrading to v1.8 instead.
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Post by Gamesoul Master on Aug 12, 2006 21:45:21 GMT -5
Ugh... There wasn't as big a problem as I thought. The problem we *both* had, was simply me being off by 1 in one of my constants. The other thing I *thought* was wrong... wasn't wrong, because I just didn't have the bios I was asking for in the folder, like I thought I did.
Problem fixed. The same link still works, so just redownload it. And thanks for the quick feedback, patrickp.
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Post by Gamesoul Master on Aug 12, 2006 21:46:54 GMT -5
Yeah, I checked the upgrade. Basically, as long as there are 6 lines before the BIOS setting in the .ini file, and you don't change the default bios directory (/bios), then there shouldn't be any problems with upgrades.
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Post by pSX Author on Aug 12, 2006 23:17:21 GMT -5
Yeah, I checked the upgrade. Basically, as long as there are 6 lines before the BIOS setting in the .ini file, and you don't change the default bios directory (/bios), then there shouldn't be any problems with upgrades. Don't do that! Use WritePrivateProfileString to set the entry in the .ini file - the order of stuff in the .ini file can and will change.
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Post by patrickp on Aug 12, 2006 23:24:18 GMT -5
Ouch! It's still misbehaving, Gamesoul Master! Sometimes it repeats the previous error; sometimes it starts looking for something like "biosscph1001.binn." It seems to me as if it's replacing the "bios\" part of the filename that indicates the file is in the bios subfolder of the working folder either by omitting the backslash and sometimes by substituting an "S" for it. It also sometimes adds an "n" to the end of the filename. This is compounded by the fact that, each time it does this, it rewrites the .ini file, so if you try it more than once, it's modifying an already modified entry... Edit: I hashed the files, and definitely have two different files - also the later one agrees with the checksum now posted. This is sometimes a problem for me, as my ISP insists on cacheing http traffic, so it's easy to get old files when a new one should be available... but I definitely have the new one here.
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Post by Gamesoul Master on Aug 12, 2006 23:26:41 GMT -5
@psx Author: Thanks for the heads up! I just sort-of threw this program together, so it could use quite a bit of work. It's been a while since I've had the chance to program anything useful, so I know I've forgotten a thing or two. patrickp: Nifty. I'll get back to that at once. Not sure why it's giving you trouble. Just for the sake of knowing what's going on, can you post the first 7 lines of your *working* psx.ini file? While I intend to make a few drastic changes, I'd still like to figure out why it's giving you trouble.
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Post by pSX Author on Aug 12, 2006 23:35:11 GMT -5
Thanks for the heads up, pSX Author! I just sort-of threw this program together, so it could use quite a bit of work. It's been a while since I've had the chance to program anything useful, so I know I've forgotten a thing or two. Hehe - no problem... anyway - the easiest way to manipulate .ini files in windows is using the private profile API. In C you would do something like this to read the entry: char biosname[MAX_PATH]; DWORD size=GetPrivateProfileString("BIOS","PS1","bios\\scph1001.bin",biosname,MAX_PATH,"psx.ini");
The third parameter is a default value that it will set if the entry does not exist in the .ini file (it should do, but its best to set a sensible default just in case). to write it: WritePrivateProfileString("BIOS","PS1",biosname,"psx.ini");
Doing it this way you don't need to know anything at all about .ini files, or care about ordering of items, etc... Windows will handle everything for you.
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Post by patrickp on Aug 12, 2006 23:35:26 GMT -5
Here you go -
[Paths] SaveStatePath=E:\PSXGames\sstates MemoryCardPath=E:\PSXGames\memcards CDImagePath=E:\PSXGames\isos ScreenShotsPath=E:\PSXGames\screenshots [BIOS] PS1=bios\SCPH1001.BIN
I've corrected what your frontend wrote to it, of course - generally, it seems to replace the complete filename (including the bios folder) with whatever it asks to look for when you run it.
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Post by Gamesoul Master on Aug 13, 2006 0:15:04 GMT -5
Ugh... I may take a little longer than I thought to implement those functions. Everything seems fine, but it's not actually doing anything to the .ini file. I never was good at doing things the easy way... XD Meh... something will give.
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