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[Koitsu]

hm, i received it from the most usual of usual places and in the 3 parts. i double-clicked the first part and extracted the files just like i did with some of the other releases (they weren't all in three parts, but some were). the skins and the emulator work fine until i try to switch skins or try to boot the emulator a second time. the games all work as they did before. if i delete the ini in the E drive, it's fine again, but it later goes right back to the same problem.

the glitched ini goes something like:
------------------------------------------------
BetazLeft=-0.500000
zRight=0.640000
zTop=-0.680000
zBottom=0.700000
SoftwareFilter=11
HardwareFilter=2
FlickerFilter=0
Soften=0
ShowFPS=0
SoundFrequency=0
SoundInterpolation=0
LowPassFilter=0
SurroundSound=0
DisableMenuSounds=0
Disable34=0
DisableSaveStates=0
Controller1ButtonA=1
Controller1ButtonB=0
Controller1ButtonX=3
Controller1ButtonY=2
Controller1ButtonLeft=6
Controller1ButtonRight=7
Controller1ButtonSelect=32
Controller1ButtonStart=16
Controller1ButtonFastForward=5
Controller1ButtonRewind=64
Controller1ButtonLoadState=-1
Controller1ButtonSaveState=-1
Controller1ButtonExitGame=128
Controller1ButtonShowFPS=7
Controller2ButtonA=1
Controller2ButtonB=0
Controller2ButtonX=3
Controller2ButtonY=2
Controller2ButtonLeft=6
Controller2ButtonRight=7
Controller2ButtonSelect=32
Controller2ButtonStart=16
Controller2ButtonFastForward=5
Controller2ButtonRewind=64
Controller2ButtonLoadState=-1
Controller2ButtonSaveState=-1
Controller2ButtonExitGame=128
Controller2ButtonShowFPS=7
Controller3ButtonA=1
Controller3ButtonB=0
Controller3ButtonX=3
Controller3ButtonY=2
Controller3ButtonLeft=6
Controller3ButtonRight=7
Controller3ButtonSelect=32
Controller3ButtonStart=16
Controller3ButtonFastForward=5
Controller3ButtonRewind=64
Controller3ButtonLoadState=-1
Controller3ButtonSaveState=-1
Controller3ButtonExitGame=128
Controller3ButtonShowFPS=7
Controller4ButtonA=1
Controller4ButtonB=0
Controller4ButtonX=3
Controller4ButtonY=2
Controller4ButtonLeft=6
Controller4ButtonRight=7
Controller4ButtonSelect=32
Controller4ButtonStart=16
Controller4ButtonFastForward=5
Controller4ButtonRewind=64
Controller4ButtonLoadState=-1
Controller4ButtonSaveState=-1
Controller4ButtonExitGame=128
Controller4ButtonShowFPS=7
HDMode=0
DeadZone=0.540000
ROMInfo=0
BGVollume=-250.000000
HideFileExtensions=1
ReverseStereo=0
ScreenshotSaving=1
Controller1TurboButtonA=0
Controller1TurboButtonB=0
Controller1TurboButtonX=0
Controller1TurboButtonY=0
Controller1TurboButtonLeft=0
Controller1TurboButtonRight=0
Controller2TurboButtonA=0
Controller2TurboButtonB=0
Controller2TurboButtonX=0
Controller2TurboButtonY=0
Controller2TurboButtonLeft=0
Controller2TurboButtonRight=0
Controller3TurboButtonA=0
Controller3TurboButtonB=0
Controller3TurboButtonX=0
Controller3TurboButtonY=0
Controller3TurboButtonLeft=0
Controller3TurboButtonRight=0
Controller4TurboButtonA=0
Controller4TurboButtonB=0
Controller4TurboButtonX=0
Controller4TurboButtonY=0
Controller4TurboButtonLeft=0
Controller4TurboButtonRight=0
zLeftP=1.690000
zRightP=-0.850000
zTopP=-0.609999
zBottomP=0.090000
zLeftJ=4.130000
zRightJ=-2.619951
zTopJ=0.249999
zBottomJ=-0.709991
GameNameColor=0
GameNameSelectedColor=4
FolderColor=2
MenuOption=0
MenuOptionSelected=4
FontSizeGUI=18
FullNameColor=4
showTransparency=0
HighResScreenshots=0
zLeftB=0.039999
zRightB=-1.110000
zTopB=-1.019999
zBottomB=-1.780000
EnableAudioAdjust=1
zLeftA=-6.301444
zRightA=-6.168536
zTopA=2.911500
zBottomA=6.248534
zLeftS=-15.840026
zRightS=-26.110054
zTopS=-13.660209
zBottomS=-6.230045
MenuVertSpacing=20
FontSize=18
animationFPS=6
animationSpeed=0.090100
zLeftPB=0.900001
zRightPB=-0.010000
zTopPB=0.619999
zBottomPB=-0.810000
zLeftG=0.000000
zRightG=0.000000
zTopG=0.000000
zBottomG=0.000000
previewTransparency=200
RomBrowserTopText=-10
RomBrowserLeftText=5
FullnameTopText=2
FullNameLeftText=0
VideoTopText=26
VideoLeftText=46
SoundTopText=24
SoundLeftText=61
GeneralTopText=2
GeneralLeftText=28
MainMenuTopText=-4
MainMenuLeftText=0
EmulatorOptionsTopText=35
EmulatorOptionsLeftText=-1
ControllerMenuOptionsTopText=30
ControllerMenuOptionsLeftText=2
TurboControllerOptionsTopText=38
TurboControllerOptionsLeftText=-6
ControllerOptionsTopText=-12
ControllerOptionsLeftText=-5
previewBorder=1
fadeSpeed=17
ImageTextTopText=0
ImageTextLeftText=12
InGameTopText=0
InGameLeftText=0
CheatTopText=0
CheatLeftText=-5
zTopHT=-18
zBottomHT=-231
leftClip=86
topClip=109
clipWidth=563
clipHeight=394
RombrowserWidth=200
zLeftAR=4.645640
zRightAR=0.574512
zTopAR=3.174505
zBottomAR=10.225707
distA=0.009500
minA=-0.200000
maxA=-0.800000
distA2=0.000170
minA2=-0.496501
maxA2=-0.505095
cDist=100
SkinPath=ÐF



-------------------------------------------------------
with the spaces above the dashed lines. this is after the second boot or if i try to change skins. looking at the file in notepad, it had squares around the 'DF' in the Skinpath line, but they didn't transfer here. the Zelda skin worked fine for me in 2.3.

the Zelda.ini even before transferring has the last few lines like
-------------------------------------------------------
maxA2=-0.505095
cDist=100
SkinPath=Zelda

oid
------------------------------------------------------
where Zelda also had squares around it (squares like the ones that appear when the current font can't display a character. if that's not normal, it'll at least give me something to go on.

[nes6502]

I don't have access to the archive right now. Can you post the contents of the Zelda.ini and Metroid.ini that are in the archive? There may some corrupt data in them for some reason. There should not be anything other than a few blank lines after the SkinPath=Zelda in the Zelda.ini in the Zelda skin folder. If there is the extra garbage, try deleting it. Also try renaming/deleting/moving the ZsnexBox folder so it is a fresh run when you start it the first time.

The white images are happeneing because the SkinPath=Whatever has garbage for the "Whatever" part. And it's looking for a skin folder named this garbage name (which it doesn't find). So to fix it, just type Skinpath=Zelda or SkinPath=Metroid in the ZsnexBox24.ini. However, the reason this is happening to begin with may be because the Zelda.ini in the Zelda skin folder is corrupted. That's what it looks like. It looks like it has part of the word "Metroid" at the end from what you posted.

On another note. The skin settings are saved for the "current" skin. So if you want each setup and saved you will need to do this:

Load the Zelda or Metroid skin
Change everything to how you like it.
Exit
Copy the ZsnexBox24.ini into the Zelda or Metroid skin folder and rename it to Zelda.ini or Metroid.ini.


Then whenever you switch skins it will have your correct settings from the start.

[escape75]

Awesome Zelda skin, btw ...

is there a way to turn off the animation from the .ini itself?
I tried removing the animation dir but I get a white block

Thanks.

[FastShow]

I don't know if it's of any interest, or use, but I've just run the skin PNG files through PNGOUT (I was bored and needed to write a batch file to bulk process directories and this seemed as good a directory as any to test it on!)

The Zelda images drop from 2736.59KB to 2554.79KB (a saving of 181.8KB).
The Metroid images drop from 1986.15KB to 1796.48KB (a saving of 189.67KB).

I know it's not a massive amount, but memory can occasionally get tight on the trusty old XBox (though I guess it's the uncompressed size that matters here which will be much the same), and it might even speed up loading slightly.  I can provide the crushed images somewhere if anyone is interested?

[nes6502]

@escape75
There's no way to disable the animation, but you can simply move them off screen so they are not visible.

@FastShow
What is the available free memory with the new smaller images (this can be turned on in the general options menu and displays on the rombrowser)

[frankenberrie]

Excellent... I will test it tonight. Thank you so much.  

[currygoat11]

Question for nes6502:

With all the bells/whistles to the GUI, does this end up resulting in higher memory requirements for the GUI? In other words, are there any side-effects to the more demanding SNES games that I should be concerned about?  I appreciate it.

[FastShow]

QUOTE(nes6502 @ Aug 11 2006, 03:44 PM)

@FastShow
What is the available free memory with the new smaller images (this can be turned on in the general options menu and displays on the rombrowser)

Zelda
Normal: 28.4876MB free
PNGOUT: 28.5327MB free

Metroid
Normal: 28.7221MB free
PNGOUT: 28.7498MB free

So in both cases there is slightly more free memory, but more nonetheless (also it frees up a few KB on your drive too).

[nes6502]

Interesting. Is there any notable image quality loss?

[nes6502]

QUOTE(currygoat11 @ Aug 11 2006, 04:23 PM)

Question for nes6502:

With all the bells/whistles to the GUI, does this end up resulting in higher memory requirements for the GUI? In other words, are there any side-effects to the more demanding SNES games that I should be concerned about?  I appreciate it.

Don't know. I'd have to run some tests to see. Or you could. Shrink all the images down to something like 16x16 pixels. Then start the emu. Compare the framerates for games like ToP intro (at the end of it), SMRPG intro, and the spinning logo on SMW2. You'll likely want to turn on AdvanceMAME 2X to stress the emulator a little so the FPS can drop below 60. Otherwise it will stay at 60FPS and make it hard to notice a performance drop. test with the normal GUI with HQ previews and one with small GUI images and no previews.

These represent about as intense as it gets. I do know that if memory is too low it will impact performance. ZSNES caches data in RAM if it can. If the ram is not available, it has to do the calculaions (like graphic decompression in games that reuqire it) again.

QUOTE(FastShow @ Aug 11 2006, 05:07 PM)

Absolutely none.  While PNGOUT does recompress the images using a different algorithm, it is still completely lossless, so the crushed images are in fact IDENTICAL to the non-crushed ones.

Got a batch file I can run? Or can you post the images so that I can try them?

QUOTE(ozzy2k @ Aug 11 2006, 06:12 AM)

is it possible to add the pal/ntsc switch from options in the game menu so you can switch a pal game "on the fly" to ntsc?  like on a real snes  

Unfortunatly, ZSNES does not allow changing once a game has started because it affects too many things in the emulation. I tried changing it after a game started and ZSNES just ignores the change.

How do you switch a PAL game to an NTSC on the fly on a real SNES? Is this some type of hardware modification?

QUOTE(Manzzon @ Aug 11 2006, 04:02 PM)

I have a request, would be nice if I could specify the preview path myself in the path.ini file.

Maybe in a later release, but not any time soon.

[nes6502]

QUOTE(ozzy2k @ Aug 11 2006, 06:23 PM)

yes it's a hardware modification. btw i found a way so you can run pal games in ntsc. start the game in pal, make a savestate, exit the game, switch to ntsc and load the savestate.  

This is also the only way to get Actraiser 2 NTSC to run.

[currygoat11]

QUOTE

Don't know. I'd have to run some tests to see. Or you could. Shrink all the images down to something like 16x16 pixels. Then start the emu. Compare the framerates for games like ToP intro (at the end of it), SMRPG intro, and the spinning logo on SMW2.

I apologize, I was asking more in the context of the misc GUI improvements, but excluding the screenshot preview capabilities. I take it from your reply that the real memory hog would relate to displaying screenshot previews?  I'm actually not using any screenshot previews at all. I assume that means that I really do not have anything to worry about? Please confirm, thank you very much.

[Coolgamer30]

CODE

zTopAR=3.174505
zBottomAR=10.225707
distA=0.009500
minA=-0.200000
maxA=-0.800000
distA2=0.000170
minA2=-0.496501
maxA2=-0.505095
cDist=100
SkinPath=Zelda
oid

There are extra characters after SkinPath=Zelda but they do not show up here.

[nes6502]

You should be ok for the most part (likely 100% ok all the time) with regular previews (256x244) and the high res ones ZsnexBox generates (512x448) and still keep perfect performance.

However, if you use the HQ preview boxart images (where some are like 700x500), you may run into serious performance hits in a 4 or 5 games. I havn't seen any major hits in the current release for all the most demanding games. Usually the worst thing that will happen is the preview will not load bc there isn't enough memory or ZsnexBox will crash when starting a game. And both of these do not happen in the current version.

So there may be absolutly nothing to worry about performance wise in the current release with HQ boxart or not. But I can't tell you 100% because I havn't done any extensive testing on this.

[nes6502]

QUOTE(bent98 @ Aug 11 2006, 09:14 PM)

I think you have done a great job with this port. One small gripe from making this perfect. Can you please add support when browsing and skipping alphabetically. Example. A B C D .... I have over 2000 roms and to scroll through them all to get to Z really sucks.

I might look into it for a later release.