Create Your Own Arcade with H+Soft Arcade

Community Forums/Showcase/Create Your Own Arcade with H+Soft Arcade

Chugs40

(Posted 2010) [#1]

Hi,

I was playing around last night and thought, I could run any app from H+Soft Arcade, so I started adding some of my favorite old games, remakes and/or abandonedware. You should try this it's fun! All you need is H+Soft Arcade some game folders with a valid
executable (exe) file and couple files H+Soft Arcade looks for.

H+Soft Arcade w/ custom backdrop and console skin.

Here's how to do this:

First, get the H+Soft Arcade Only version (2MB) with no games installed. Install it, then close it. It installs to program files/H+Soft - remember this.

Here is the code to create a 'info' file that H+Soft Arcade needs to run stuff. Compile/Run it in BlitzMax to enter Game Title, Ignore the Info url input, and enter the exact name of exe file to run.

'** H+Soft Arcade Game Info Maker
'** BlitzMax Source v1.0
'** 2008 Steve Huck (H+Soft Retro Arcade Entertainment)

Strict

Type game_tag

  Function save_info()
    Local file:TStream
    file=WriteFile("info.dat")
      WriteLine(file,game.title$)
      WriteLine(file,game.info_url$)
      WriteLine(file,game.app_file$)
    CloseFile(file)
  End Function

  Field title$,info_url$,app_file$

End Type

Global game:game_tag=New game_tag

'** Main

Print; Print "** H+Soft Arcade Game Info Maker v1.0 **"; Print

Print; game.title$=Input("Game Title >> ")

Print; game.info_url$=Input("Game Info Url >> ")

Print; game.app_file$=Input("Game App Name >> ")

game_tag.save_info()

Print; Print; Print "** Info File Saved... (info.dat) **"

Once you have the 'Info.dat' file needed, create a folder named 'Data' in the game folder you want to run from the arcade, and put the info file in it.
Next, you need a screen shot, get a screen shot for your game and resize it to 200x150 and save it as 'screenshot.png' in the data folder you created - make sure it's 200x150!
You must make sure the executable game file is alone in it's folder and not the data folder!
Now make sure the game folder is in the H+Soft Arcade directory, run the arcade and it should be there ready to play!

The arcade will run anything and you can use it to delete the game if you no longer want it. None of the H+Soft Arcade settings, will work on other games, such as: Game pad and display settings etc, that only works on my stuff! Nor can you have an info url, that just goes to my website!

You can add your own backdrops too. Just take an image, resize it to 640x480 and save it as 'backdrop.png' in the H+Soft Arcade 'Config' folder. You can get skins in the 'Gallery' at my website HsRetroGames.com

Have Fun! - I'm going to go play some games with this on my big HD tv right now!

Blitzplotter

(Posted 2010) [#2]

So, can you start for example WINUAE with this & consequently run games within an Amiga emulator?

Chugs40

(Posted 2010) [#3]

What's WINUAE? I have'nt messed around emmulation software much - maybe I should!

I guess I don't have time to look around much. I should've been more specific. I was running other Windows apps. I'm guessing '95 and up. I was adding various remakes, and some DOS abandonedware - which abviously had been modified to run in the later windows. Nonetheless, I made an arcade of other stuff, 'free stuff' and played around with it for awile. :)

SLotman

(Posted 2010) [#4]

I did something similar last year, for a game fair booth I had, so anyone could come by and select one of my games to play.

This keeps changing the screenshot, the images slides left or right when you change games, you have 'gaming info' when hitting the big '?' button, and below the game itself is indicator if it supports mouse/joystick/keyboard. The big "Jogar" button starts the game ;)

Instead of complicating things with dat files, I used a plain text one, so adding more games, removing or editing was just a matter of opening the file on notepad ;)

I used the following scheme:

sr- 
c:\apps\languages\blitz3d\projects\snailracers\ 
SnailRacers.exe 
Cool racing game!
5

First line is just the 'screenshots' and 'logo' filename. I use many of them, and keeps changing them from time to time in the display. (logo is in that case 'sr-title.png' and screenshots 'sr-1.jpg', 'sr-2.jpg', etc)

Second line, is the path to the game, and third one is the executable name.

Third is game description. I used '|' as a new line indicator, so altough in the text file the description appears as one-line, it can be displayed as several lines inside the program.

Fourth line is the indicator for joy/mouse/keyboard, using individual bits to indicate each. (In the shot above: 4 indicates keyboard support, 1 indicates joy support, hence 1+4 = 5).

To run 'any' program, it should have another option, to include parameters passed to the game exe. So some emulators can start in fullscreen, run a specific game... all automagically :)

Chugs40

(Posted 2010) [#5]

Hmm... That's good info to know - I will remember this.