Gatorlover Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 Hi Everyone! I'm new to the community and to the world of emulators. I decided to setup a dedicated pc at home to run Mame on. So I have Mame installed and running along with the games. Then I purchased a X-Arcade which introduced me to Maximus Arcade as a frontend.My research in customizing the frontend experience brought me here. I registered, purchased a annual membership and installed the download service application. It downloaded all this great artwork and videos and such. Now I'm trying to understand how to use it all.I pointed the download service app to a folder on the drive I have mame on and in its process of downloading it created quite a few folders that I do not see in the standard mame install directory. So I'm wondering if there is a how to here on how to best utilize all this great content?The folders I currently see in the Mame directory that match the downloaded content are as follows:ArtworkSnapVideo_MP4_HI_QUAL- I assume this is the same as "movies"That's really it. The other folders:AdvertArtwork PreviewBackgroundBannerCabinetControlsCPGameOverIconMarqueePCBSamplesScoreSelectTitle I'm at a loss as to how to use them. As mentioned I'm using Maximus Arcade as my frontend. is it simply that these directories are what are used by other Frontend products? Anyway, I think you get the jist of it. any help or guidance is greatly appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gatorlover Posted February 12, 2015 Author Share Posted February 12, 2015 No replies. Is this not the place to ask for this help? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riffman81 Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 Sorry for the late reply, I didn't see this thread until today. Yes, just place the corresponding artwork in the correct folder in your MAME directory. Videos go in movies, snaps, go in snaps,etc. It's been awhile since I used Maximus but I believe Maximus gives you the option to add the paths to your Marquees, snaps, and video snaps in the setup wizard, correct? Just point to the correct folder and you should be all set. I use Game EX and Hyperspin, as Maximus is pretty much dead at this point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tthurman Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 Each frontend is a bit different from the others in where things go. I don't use MA, and honestly it hasn't been supported in years, to my knowledge. Recently it was somewhat resurrected, but apparently not to the level where it is seeing new releases. That said, good chance the lack of responses is at least somewhat due to this. I don't want to appear to be bashing MA, but good chance this is going to require some patience and persistence on your part to get going. I don't think MA supports mp4 format, so you'll need to convert your set to what will work with MA. As for the other files, have you looked at your directory structure? On most of the frontend's I've experimented with, many time you'll see folders named for appropriately for the content, marquee, cabinet, etc..... Some googling will likely gain you quite a bit of assistance with setup. Give your thread some time to gain traction, not everybody logs in everyday, and I'm sure there are some MA users that are probably willing to comment. What Riffman said! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riffman81 Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 Yeah, there is literally no support for MA and the forums have been locked for a few years now... at least they were last time I was over on their site. Might want to consider choosing a new FE. HyperSpin and Game EX are nice choices and both are compatible with HyperLaunch. Take a look over on the Game EX and HyperSpin forums. Do some research and pick the front end that meets your needs. Good Luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gatorlover Posted February 13, 2015 Author Share Posted February 13, 2015 Tthurman and riffman81!!!! Thank you for the feedback. Being new to the scene I wasn't sure about Maximus. When I picked up the x-arcade it was a freebie. I did find the option to add in the marquees in the configuration which was a nice touch to the look. The video format issue was one that I learned real quick.....I started converting all the files to flv at first and then tried avi. In the end I started getting errors when it would try to play the preview videos so I removed those. It's funny because I actually started on another PC with hyperspin and actually had it installed and working. Mind you I did not have any of the artwork and such to customize the interface. I think I may revisit it. As for game ex, I haven't looked at that one yet. Your right about about one thing some quality time with Google will yield a wealth of information. I'll continue on this journey of learning. If you have any tips or good links for hyperspin and game ex, I'll take them though!! Thanks again for sharing your experience with these things. I was a 80's kid and grew up playing all these great games and it is a blast reliving that through these great apps. Cheers!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riffman81 Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 Tthurman and riffman81!!!! Thank you for the feedback. Being new to the scene I wasn't sure about Maximus. When I picked up the x-arcade it was a freebie. I did find the option to add in the marquees in the configuration which was a nice touch to the look. The video format issue was one that I learned real quick.....I started converting all the files to flv at first and then tried avi. In the end I started getting errors when it would try to play the preview videos so I removed those. It's funny because I actually started on another PC with hyperspin and actually had it installed and working. Mind you I did not have any of the artwork and such to customize the interface. I think I may revisit it. As for game ex, I haven't looked at that one yet. Your right about about one thing some quality time with Google will yield a wealth of information. I'll continue on this journey of learning. If you have any tips or good links for hyperspin and game ex, I'll take them though!! Thanks again for sharing your experience with these things. I was a 80's kid and grew up playing all these great games and it is a blast reliving that through these great apps. Cheers!!!! I'm pretty familiar with both Game Ex and HyperSpin, as I have both of them setup and running flawlessly! Game Ex has a terrific support forum, with lots of folks willing to help provided that you submit your logs and other requested info related to the issues you are having. Same can be said for HyperSpin, lots of folks willing to help out there as well. Djvj, Gigapig, and Brolly are just some of the guys over at HyperSpin that helped me out in the past with getting my setup funtional and to my liking. There's a bit of a learning curve for any FE you choose, but once you get familiar with the one you choose, it becomes easier and you'll be off and running. I find I do more tweaking with both my setups than actually playing games. That's the hobby, always new art, themes and other fun stuff to mess around with. To me, Game Ex makes a great HTPC front end if your looking to go that route, but it'll also look terrific on a arcade cab as well, and with Game Ex Evolution coming, it'll only get better. I use Game Ex on my HTPC and HyperSpin on my cab. If you need help, just shoot me a private message on here and I'll try to help as much as possible. I'm usually always on... lurking in the shadows My advice is to not try and do too much at once, setup a system at a time, get the artwork and other media you need, and get it just the way you want it, then move on to the next. My biggest mistake I made when I first got into the scene was trying to do too much too fast... it just works better if you take things a step at a time. Have fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tthurman Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 I hear ya, I grew up (well ) with these games too! Aside from what help you get elsewhere, the forums for each of those respective frontends have members that will gladly help you with your journey. Riffman's suggestion of taking it slow and step by step is a good one, as you are a lot less likely to get stuck in a maze of confusion. Good luck, and have fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gatorlover Posted February 15, 2015 Author Share Posted February 15, 2015 Thanks so Much Guys!I decided to try out Game Ex and I have to say, it is night and day from Maximus, not that there is anything wrong with Maximus.....I have Game Ex updae running on a pc and love it! Thanks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riffman81 Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 Glad you found a new FE. It's really a shame Maximus has been left to rot... it was my first FE too before discovering HyperSpin and Game Ex. Game Ex has a FANTASTIC support forum! I've said it before, and I'll say it again... they are truly remarkable over there with help and support! Be sure to checkout all the themes and other extra content they have over there and enjoy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wlandymore Posted September 2, 2015 Share Posted September 2, 2015 I have Maximus running and even though it's kind of dead as far as new releases, it's pretty easy to get it configured and figure it all out. From your original post you just have to open the 'preferences' executable to set the things you need. The only folders you need to care about are for the videos and the pictures. Once you point Maximus to where they are being stored, you will have to convert the mp4 format to swf because that's what Maximus wants for the videos. I actually just went through creating my own theme because I thought their's were pretty bad. While Maximus has a lot of things that are not quite intuitive it's possible to be a master within a few days Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoobybro Posted September 4, 2015 Share Posted September 4, 2015 very insightful Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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