Emu Loader 8.8.2

Description

Emu Loader is a graphical user interface (GUI) for arcade emulators and MAME emulator. Compatible with all versions of Windows (WinXP and newer).

This frontend started as a hobby and a learning project. I first discovered MAME in 1997.

WARNING: DOS MAME and MAME32 are not supported by the frontend!

Features:

Emulators supported (latest versions of all emulators only, except MAME/HBMAME)

MAME v0.37 beta 15 and newer (variants: UME; SDLMAME; SDLUME; MAME Plus!; WolfMAME)
ZiNc v1.1
Daphne
Demul
SEGA Model 2 Emu v1.0 and v1.1a
Supermodel: SEGA Model 3
HBMAME (HomeBrew MAME)
DICE: Discrete Integrated Circuit Emulator

Support for non-arcade machines and games from software lists (MAME 0.162 and newer only)
Support for split ROMs (zip/7-zip only)
Detection of MAME/HBMAME merged clone sets (full scan mode only)

NOTE: Merged sets are NOT fully supported by the frontend and I recommend stay away from them

Multiple favorites lists (no limit)
Support for 7-Zip ROMs. It requires an external 7z.dll file to work. MAME, HBMAME and Demul emulators only
Three scan games modes (audit)
Full scan with full ROMs validation thru CRC32 checksum and CHDs thru SHA-1 or MD5 checksum
Quick scan to simply search for main game files, no validation
Force games available to set games available no matter what, with no files search or validation
Support for several image categories: title snapshots, game snapshots, marquees, flyers, cabinets, control panels, control panel layouts, PCBs, in-game artworks
Preview snapshots (unzipped and zipped). Max of 10 snapshots per game (and per image category) Zipped images filenames are fixed (same filename for all emulators):

Title Snapshot......: titles.zip
In-Game Snapshot....: snap.zip
Marquee.............: marquees.zip
Flyer...............: flyers.zip
Cabinet.............: cabinets.zip
Control Panel.......: cpanel.zip
Control Panel Layout: cpanellayout.zip
PCB.................: pcb.zip
In-Game Artwork.....: snapartwork.zip

Video preview playback. Watch a video sample of your games when browsing the games list
any video and audio format can be used, limited only by your system
any media player can be used as long as it can load files from the command line
support for command line switches so you can have more control over the media player
Extra snapshots using full game names. This is an unique Emu Loader feature to avoid similar filenames to be mixed up. Format: "fullgamename0000.png" (e.g.: galaga0000.png instead of gala0000.png)
Image layouts view mode. View up to three image categories at the same time
Support for MAMu_ icons, one folder per system (unzipped or zipped)... MAMEUI / MAME32 icons might not be fully compatible Icon files can have multiple icons with different sizes: 48x48; 32x32; 24x24; 16x16 (one for each games list view mode)
Random game selection (only thru Ctrl+R hotkey or games popup menu)
Advanced games filters, including a search bar with customizable settings
Incremental search by game title or game name Just type the game title or game name for a quick acccess (partial strings support)
Custom game/driver options (driver settings for MAME/HBMAME only)
Support several .dat files: mameinfo.dat, messinfo.dat, history.dat, story.dat (MAMEscore v2), marp.dat
Run multi-slot machines by selecting multiple games in list: "Neo-Geo MVS", "Sega Meta-Tech", "ST-V"
Easy access with popup menus, toolbar buttons and hot keys
Rename/delete preview snapshots (unzipped only)
Long file/folder names friendly
Browse games list with Detonator II / HotRod SE / SlikStik and X-Arcade arcade controllers (limited functions)
Full screen mode. Shows only games list and preview snapshots, no tool bars or Windows title bar
Delete/copy/move game files directly from the frontend (.zip; .7z; .cfg; nvram; .dat; etc). Recycle bin not supported!
Game columns customization (details and grouped view modes)
Basic detection of bad .zip files to prevent frontend crashes (ZipForge library)
Frontend settings are stored in .ini files. Windows registry is never used!
View complete web game info directly in images panel (ProgettoEMMA website)
Grouped view mode. List games in "parent + clone games" groups format. (columns sort is disable in this view)
CatVer support (catver.ini or catver_full.ini from AntoPISA). View category and version added in your games list (MAME only)
Nplayers support (nplayers.ini). Shows how many players a game support (MAME only)
Languages support (languages.ini). Show language for each game (MAME only)
Category ini for MESS ("category_home.ini" from AntoPISA). Category of MESS machines and for proper non-arcade machines filtering (MAME 0.162 and newer only)
Version ini for MESS ("version.ini" from AntoPISA). Version added of MESS machines in your games list (MAME 0.162 and newer only)
MAME Machines Side Panel to list all MAME machines with software list games, to filter games by machine ("Machine" tool bar button)
MAMu_ Icons Manager. Neat feature to manage game icons. Specially coded for the icons master, MAMu_
Alpha-blend icons support (32 bits)

Changelog

Fixed

Setting "Use Image Single Background Color" not restored at startup
Screens "MAME Driver Filter" and "Miscellaneous Filters" not updated when changing between night mode profiles
Font color of hint texts not restored when switching back to light mode ("Miscellaneous Filters" tool bar button)
Several CheckBox and RadioButton controls still had shadow text enabled in night mode
A nasty bug in my TCheckBoxEx / TRadioButtonEx components: the icon area was not cleared when drawing new icon states, overlapping existing icons and causing a "left-over" pixels effect, mostly noticeable in "RadioButton"
Startup crash when validating emulator binary if the .exe file is missing
Screen "Machine Type and System Filters" was not resizing correctly for resolutions lower than 1920x1080 (tool bar button)
Ansi WinAPI FileAge() doesn't work well on Windows 10, replaced by the Unicode API FileAgeW()
Play video preview feature was not working at all for the past 10 months... HOORAY!
Text of selected game was black color when editing fields directly in EasyListView controls (night mode only)
Game thumbnails fail to load in thumbnails view even if game snapshot file exists
No auto-update game thumbnails after changing game snapshot folders in "Image Category Settings" screen (thumbnails view only)

Changed

Tweaks to "Delete/Copy/Move Selected Games"

size of "Delete" and "Cancel" buttons reduced
size of "Destination Folder" edit box increased
if less than 13 files are selected, only one column is shown to prevent waste of space
checkboxes "Overwrite Files" and "Add System Folder" moved above "Destination Folder edit box"
fixed controls alignment in bottom bar

Darker color tweak to gradient bottom bars in night mode
Removed italic font style from texts in help message boxes
Text fonts tweak in several screens

reduced size to 9 pixels
changed fonts from "Segoe UI" to "Trebuchet MS" with "bold" style and removed "italic" style
color tweaks in night mode

Replaced all "ExTrackBar" controls by "XiTrackBar" from the "XiControls" pack; thanks "Eugene Genev"

no more flickering
colors customized for night mode
used in "Customize Thumbnails", "MAME Settings" and "RGB Quick Edit" screens
I've made some minor tweaks to XiTrackBar component, you need my modified version to compile the frontend

New layout for "RGB Quick Edit"

replaced TShape components by my flicker-free TPanelEx component (new color/current color boxes)
added XiTrackBar controls for easier RGB color editing
added form caller title to the caption bar so you know what screen you're currently editing
internal code tweaks

Removed

Shadow font setting of labels in "Search Games Panel Colors" is no more ("Customize Night Mode" screen)

Added

Custom CheckBox and RadioButton icons for night mode ("Customize Night Mode" screen)

you can use custom icon files instead of Windows themed ones
icons sets are located in "frontend_pathresourcescheckbox_radiobutton" folder
each set must be placed in its own sub-folder and the folder name is used as the set's title (no Unicode folder name support)
icons must be 13x13 pixels but can be at any color depth
each night mode profile can have a different CheckBox / RadioButton set
icons are applied to CheckBoxEx / RadioButtonEx / GroupBoxEx / EasyListView controls
if an icon filename is missing, the Windows themed icon will be used instead

New "Use Windows 10 Dark Scroll Bar in Games List" checkbox setting ("Customize Night Mode" screen)

this is a hack to force Win10 dark themed scroll bars by using the Win10 API "SetWindowTheme(hWnd, 'DarkMode_Explorer', null)"
dark scroll bars can be used even if Windows 10 is not setup with a dark theme
it currently works on ListView, RichEdit, Memo, WebBrowser controls
no support for ComboBox, ColorBox dropdown buttons as there's no way to access the ListBox control used internally (still working on this)
horizontal scroll bar colors are bugged and it's caused by Windows 10, not the frontend
there's a white box painting bug if both horizontal and vertical scroll bars are visible (fix your sh@t, Microsoft!)
only Windows 10 build 1809 and newer builds are supported

Customize splash screen (main menu "Customize Splash Screen")

change font color of each text
text shadow colors are now "black", it looks better
remove text shadows with "Enable Text Shadows" checkbox (untick)
new left-aligned texts layout with "Use Alternate Layout" checkbox
use an alternate logo image with "Use Logo2 File" checkbox; filename must be "logo2.png" and located in "resourcesimages" folder
change version info text position (text is right-aligned); useful when using a different logo image
progress bar replaced by the new XiProgressBar component to allow custom colors
customize progress bar colors with several pre-defined color schemes or create your own color scheme (minimum resolution required 1280x720 / 1336x768)
settings are in the right side of the splash screen
close the splash screen with the "Close" button at bottom/right or with ESC key
drag the splash screen with the mouse
fixed "Lucida Console" font to match the font size of "Terminal" font