myPrograms 0.2 beta is here! (2 Viewers)

[waeberd]

One question though, the default view s big icons, I change it to List but this is not remebered when MP is restarted. Any fix?

fixed!

I've uploaded another version, same links as in my first post in this thread!

 

[Molokoids]

Ok, I've uploaded an improved version, please check it!

I'm on my way

First impression : Hit refresh... it rocks

Hey now I can assiocate description and pics with every software.... that's nice.

I've not tested it thoroughly with every games I have, but so far so good.




PS.
I've made a template for Ant movie Catalog to export my files for the plugin.

$$ITEM_BEGIN
[$$ITEM_NUMBER]
title=$$ITEM_ORIGINALTITLE
Category="System","$$ITEM_SOURCE"
Category="Company","$$ITEM_PRODUCER"
Category="Genre",$$ITEM_CATEGORY
Review=rating=
Overview=$$ITEM_DESCRIPTION
chain="Game",""$$ITEM_MEDIA""
images="C:\\images\$$ITEM_PICTUREFILENAME"
$$ITEM_END

It lacks an internet script to grab specific game information, I've used the imdb script, not really great you find some games but no pictures... I looked at the scripts but they are far more complex than I thought

 

[Mr.Mitchell]

I've uploaded another version, same links as in my first post in this thread!

I hope the correct version got into CVS then.

I have played around with the new MyPrograms and it seems to have way more possibilities than the old one. Only thing it that I don't know what all the options are for, so maybe you might want to add some tooltips to the configurationscreen for MyPrograms (or even write up a short page on the Wiki that explains it a bit).

I also got things, not neccesarily bugs but tweaks:

In the Home screen the plugin is called MyPrograms (id=0), but when I enter the plugin the #current module tag gets set to MyFiles (id=7). In other plugins the #currentmodule tag is the same as the name on the home screen.

When at the top level of MyPrograms there is a .. entry in the list which acts as it was Back. While this might be a nice shortcut I found it confusing to end up on the home screen. I expected to go one level up, it took me a while to figure out why I ended up at the home screen.

 

[waeberd]

Thanks for checking it out, Mr.Mitchell!

I have played around with the new MyPrograms and it seems to have way more possibilities than the old one. Only thing it that I don't know what all the options are for[..]

Yes, the plugin screen has all options for three modes united and this could be much better...
I think I'll rather write a "howto" for myPrograms with all the options explained.
And of course rewrite the "emulator howto", using emus can be simplified (no BATCH files allowed anymore ).

In the Home screen the plugin is called MyPrograms (id=0), but when I enter the plugin the #current module tag gets set to MyFiles (id=7). In other plugins the #currentmodule tag is the same as the name on the home screen.

I didn't pay attention at all to this... thanks for pointing it out!

When at the top level of MyPrograms there is a .. entry in the list which acts as it was Back. While this might be a nice shortcut I found it confusing to end up on the home screen. I expected to go one level up, it took me a while to figure out why I ended up at the home screen.

you're right, in fact, there are two ways to get back to the main menu. The ".." item and the <ESC> key.
What might be confusing is that a program module is not a "real" shared directory (like in myMusic e.g.). So there is no way to get "higher" than the starting directory. I can see that the ".." is suggesting exactly this...

Should I remove the ".." completely on the program overview? May be more consistent!

Thanks again,

Daniel

 

[Molokoids]

Continuing with my testing. I've tested the plugin with 10 games.
The look and feel is great, it's really cool to have an overview associated with a game.

Launching games using the direct path to the executable gave some bad results. Pro evolution Soccer 3,Painkiller,Max Payne 2, Splinter cell Pandora Tomorow,XIII,Thief 3 started fine but GTA vice city,Need for speed HP2 & Underground,Silent Hill 4,Halo didn't start or crashed. For these games using a link inplace of the executable solves the problem (for GTA, batch file didn't help cause even if you start the program in a command line prompt nothing happens, gta-vc.exe is in memory but the game doesn't start). But the link method works without a hiccup (for the games I've tested).

With some games, when exiting Media Portal goes back to the home menu but that's not for all games, Max Payne 2, Halo, Need for speed underground didn't exhibit this behaviour.

Thief 3 Deadly shadows, when exiting crashes Media Portal, that's a DirectX issue (see the pic). Maybe that's the game crashing DirectX and that causes Media Portal to crash ?(It's in this type of situation that Media Portal runned as a Service could help).

But in the end that's really a great plugin.

Waeberd, are you still thinking about "get online game info" ?

 

[waeberd]

Hey Molokoids,
Great you took so much time to test this!

Launching games using the direct path to the executable gave some bad results. [...]

Hmm, the "direct path" feature was a last minute extension and you don't have all the options there (also because not everything needed to launch a single game will be in the *.my-file).
I'm quite sure most of the programs crash because the file needs to be executed in the correct start directory (similar to the "execute in the following directory"-option in the windows "link" options).

I can of course try to split the whole exe-name and retrieve the path.. I will try to do that! Not difficult and will in the worst case do no harm, stay tuned! 8)

It would be great not needing to use BAT and LNK files...

With some games, when exiting Media Portal goes back to the home menu but that's not for all games, Max Payne 2, Halo, Need for speed underground didn't exhibit this behaviour.

Yes, I've seen the same with emulators. Precisely, MP resets to the home menu as soon as it gets the focus. So if you launch an application in window mode (and both apps process messages), MP main menu is resetted while the game is running.
I guess it's a DirectX issue (and I call FRODO for help here.... :shock: ), and I'm quite sure that there is nothing I can control in my plugin for this problem.

Thief 3 Deadly shadows, when exiting crashes Media Portal[..]

oops... maybe a similar problem to the one above..... can anybody else check out Thief3 and confirm this problem?

Waeberd, are you still thinking about "get online game info" ?

This would be great! Similar to the music info and scraping for example ALLGAME.COM!!
But I will be very busy for my job until the end of the month, and until then I will focus on maintenance and small extensions to make the stuff stable!

Thanks again!

 

[waeberd]

Launching games using the direct path to the executable gave some bad results.

Molokoids, I've uploaded a slightly improved version (same links as ever):
* in "direct path" mode, I extract the directory from the complete filename and set this as the "working directory".

This did the trick on some emulators. Could you please check the latest version and tell me if it changes anything (should not be worse!)?

Thief3:
How to you launch thief3?
Maybe it's disturbing that I need to do a SHELLEXECUTE on thief3...

Thanks!

Daniel

 

[Molokoids]

Hey Molokoids,
Great you took so much time to test this!

You're kidding what a great excuse for playing games Thanks to you, don't forget you're doing the coding.

This would be great! Similar to the music info and scraping for example ALLGAME.COM!!
But I will be very busy for my job until the end of the month, and until then I will focus on maintenance and small extensions to make the stuff stable!

Just knowing you're thinking about is great

This did the trick on some emulators. Could you please check the latest version and tell me if it changes anything (should not be worse!)?

I'm going to try this now. And by the way this feature of importing my files is really nice, I've made my offline DVD, VHS catalog with it and I don't think that was your first intention

Thief3:
How to you launch thief3?

With Shellexecute, yes. Nothing speical, the usual way

chain="Game",""C:\Program Files\Thief - Deadly Shadows\System\t3.exe""

 

[Molokoids]

Nice job Waeberd, everything works perfectly, even GTA That's great.

I've just tested the Sims 2, fine also

For thief 3, I've good news, when I play the game coming back to Mediaportal never crashes. It's only when I start it and close it (I didn't play every game I tested ).

Thanks for this great plugin.


If anyone wants to know how a DVD catalog looks like with this plugin check out the pic

I used this template with ant movie catalog

$$ITEM_BEGIN
[$$ITEM_NUMBER]
title=$$ITEM_ORIGINALTITLE
Category="System","$$ITEM_TYPE"
Category="Company","$$ITEM_PRODUCER"
Category="Genre",$$ITEM_CATEGORY
Review=$$ITEM_RATING
Overview=Directed by $$ITEM_DIRECTOR

$$ITEM_DESCRIPTION
chain="Game",""$$ITEM_MEDIA""
images="C:\DVD\images\$$ITEM_PICTUREFILENAME"
$$ITEM_END

 

[Anonymous]

I know I am missing something here, but I still can't get an external program to launch...

I have tried both 0.1 and 0.2 of the plugins, but to no avail. Basically I want to launch a program like streamsicle that has no inputs etc... and just let it run. I have tried through the "Launching application" option, but simply get a directory listing, I have tried putting the EXE into a .my file (as molokoids did for thief 3) but still nothing, I have tried most permitations and combinations and have hit a brick wall.