[FRONTEND] EmuCon 2.6.1 BugFix

EmuCon - siostrzany projekt do EmuLoadera. Fot@strona projektu

version 2.6 change log - September 27, 2014

Fixed

• I forgot to set the natural sorting to mount multiple floppy lists (1, 2, 3.., 10,11)... it was 1, 10, 11, 2, 3
• Reselect a game after game filters change was not actually selecting anything and sometimes causing the frontend to crash
• Systems list sorting was a little off
  • Commodore 64 should be listed before Commodore 128
  • Game Boy Color should be listed after Game Boy and before Game Boy Advance
  • Atari 400/800/XL should be listed before Atari 2600
  • 3DO was showing before "All Systems"
• Some functions were executing multiple times in the same task, specially at frontend startup
• Game not executing when "Play With Associated Application" option is selected (games popup menu)
• Index out of bounds / access denied errors after manual create games list if using zipped images
• Zipped images fixes/changes/optimizations from Emu Loader
• Icon for batch files ".cmd" not showing correctly (visual bug only)
• Emulator settings loading twice in Emulators Setup screen when selecting a system or emulator filenames
• Select emulators tool bar button would always leave one system out of the list
• Updated PPSSPP parameter to exit with ESC key from "--escapeexitsemu" to "--escape-exit" (required for new builds)
• Reselect last game was not working if you have two games of different media types but same game title
• Changed
• Documentation files updated
• Extensive improvements to 'emulator_parameters.ini' handling (most changes/tweaks for Emulators Setup screen)
  • file 'emulator_parameters[default].ini' is now part of the frontend and CANNOT BE DELETED OR MODIFIED, or vital frontend features will malfuncion!!! (do NOT edit this file)
  • if emulator parameters are not found in 'emulator_parameters.ini', they are read from 'emulator_parameters[default].ini' (Emulators Setup screen and when running games)
  • no need to keep unused emulator entries in 'emulator_parameters.ini' anymore
  • unused emulator entries is NOT auto-deleted by EmuCon, no current data is lost in your file
  • no need to overwrite your 'emulator_parameters.ini' file on new EmuCon builds anymore
  • emulators titles are no longer available in 'emulator_parameters.ini'; they are parsed directly from 'emulator_parameters[default].ini'
  • section [Emulator Title] is auto-deleted from 'emulator_parameters.ini' file every time you open Emulators Setup screen; to keep file clean
• Split/tweaked an important function into smaller functions to prevent executing them multiple times in the same task
• New folder selection dialog (no Unicode support)
• Buttons are back to normal size and font format
• Replaced game size string generator by a more accurate function (from Emu Loader)
• Preferences screen redesign
• Updates to main menu/popup menu drawing functions
  • smaller height for "Play With Emulator #n" menu items if emulator is not bein used (emtpy)
  • each item in the same menu can have a different height
  • games popup menu can have icons of different sizes; 24x24 for "Play With Emulator #n" ; 16x16 for "Add to Favorites" (experimental)
  • grayscale icons on disabled menu items (experimental)
  • changes/fixes/tweaks from Emu Loader
  •  extra minor tweaks
• Function uMain.ELV_SelectItem() adapted to search 'Item.Caption' in lists other than main games list (EasyListView)
• Function uMain.RunProcess() updated to include tweaks from Emu Loader and to support CreateProcessW() API for Unicode handling
• All date/time strings are now in 24 hours format (no more AM/PM)
• Replaced all message boxes by EmuCon's custom message box... because I'm sick and tired of the 'bling' sound every time a msgbox pops up
• Custom message box updated
  • used by all messages in the frontend
  • dynamic height according to text length and screen resolution
  • interface tweaks
  • URL detection; click on URLs now possible, using default internet browser
  • Generic messages show a generic icon
  • Top bar color turns red on fatal error messages (experimental)
• Last played games UI optimizations
• A lot of source code optimizations. I hope I didn't break anything
• Splash screen replaced by a regular opaque screen
• Setting 'Run Game Confirmation Dialog' is now disabled by default
• EmuCon games database files have changed due to Unicode support
  • files are updated by the frontend at startup, you don't have to do anything. Backup copies are created in 'emucon_dirgamesbackup' folder in case something goes wrong, or if you need the old database for some reason...
  • files now have a .txt extension insted of .ec
  • there is no title entries anymore; they are the same as filenames (no custom game titles support)
• Removed
• File 'mru.ini' is obsolete and won't be used anymore
  • last played games info stored in 'emucon_dirplayed_gamessystem_name.ini' files and they use game filenames, not game titles like older EmuCon builds
  • contents of your mru.ini cannot be transfered to new files
• Tiles view mode is gone. Only details view is available from now on
• File 'ec_extras.ini' no longer required

Added

• Core update: Unicode game filenames support
  • Unicode filenames detection when searching files
  • show Unicode texts in games list
  • emulator folders, game folders, emulator filenames file extensions must still be in ANSI format
  • favorites profile title and filename must still be in ANSI format (might change in the far future)
  • not all emulators can run Unicode filenames from the command line, specially from their config files
  • feature 'Run With Associated Application' cannot read Unicode strings from Windows registry (Delphi 7 limitation)
  • run game confirmation dialog does not show Unicode texts in the RichEdit control (Delphi 7 limitation) :(
• the following emulators do NOT support Unicode (tested by me):
  •   MESS / UME (no Unicode filenames in command line for any system)
    •   WinVICE (Commodore 64, 128, VIC-20)
    •   Kegs32 / GSport (Apple IIGS)
    •   WinAPE (Amstrad CPC)
    •   AppleWin / JACE (Apple II)
    •   Atari800 / Atari800Win Plus / Atari++ (Atari 800)
    •   Bsnes / higan v0.94 / Zsnes (Super Nintendo)
    •   puNES / RockNES (Nintendo 8-bit)
    •   JPCSP: JAVA PSP Emulator (Sony PSP) - zipped image files cannot have Unicode names; they must be unzipped (ZipForge + Delphi 7 limitation)
    • several new WideString functions were added to the source code to handle Unicode strings (uCommon.pas)
  • The following emulators can load Unicode files from command line (tested by me):
    •   WinUAE / FS-UAE (Amiga)
    •   PPSSPP latest svn builds September 2014+ (Sony PSP)
    •   Dolphin Emulator (Nintendo Wii and GameCube)
    •    Altirra (Atari 800)
    •    Snes9x latest builds (June 2014+) / higan v0.93 (Super Nintendo)
    •   Nestopia Undead Edition (Nintendo 8-bit)
• Support 2K / 4K standard cartridge mappers (type 57 and 58) for Atari 800 emulators "Altirra", "Atari800", "Atari++"
• puNES Emulator support: http://forums.nesdev.com/viewtopic.php?t=6928
• Favorites lists, ported from Emu Loader
  • profiles are stored in new 'emucon_dirfavorites' folder
  • system_IDs must have leading zeros (valid IDs from 001 to 063)
  • Unicode filenames are encripted with Delphi 7's Utf8Encode() function (only ANSI strings allowed in fav files)
  • add/remove games to/from favorites list using games popup menu (mouse right-click) or with hotkeys Shift+F / Shift+D
  • show only favorites filter; new favorites tool bar button
  • create as many favorites profiles as you want with the favorites manager (favorites tool bar button)
  • profile titles and filenames MUST be ANSI format (no Unicode names... at least for now)
  • profile title entry MUST be placed at the top ('favorite_title=your_fav_title')
  • setting "Show Favorite Icon In Games" (favorites tool bar button) to show a small fav icon in each game tagged as favorite; useful when Favorites filter is disabled
• New "Show Games Status Bar" setting, enabled by default (main menu "View"); uncheck it to hide the bar
• Menu item "Select Random Game" in games popup menu, if the tool bar button is not visible
• Main tool bar buttons improvements (main menu "View" / "Tool Bar Buttons")
  • small tool bar ...to save some space
  • customize tool bar; to hide buttons you don't wanna see, including the search bar
• New games filter "Hide Games", disabled by default; hide games the main filters cannot; MESS/UME bios sets ?
  • add/remove games to/from hidden games list using games popup menu (mouse right-click) or with hotkeys Shift+H / Shift+R
  • enable/disable hidden games with the new filter button in main tool bar buttons
  • remove games from hidden list with games popup menu
  • filter "Show Hidden Games Only" in the new filter button so you can remove games from hidden list easier
  • only one list can be created, no multiple profiles
•   new 'hiddengames.ini' file
  • Play a video preview of your games using a media player of your choice (external player)
  • settings located in preferences screen, 'Video Preview' tag
  • auto-search feature (EmuCon exclusive): search for video/audio files in 'Game Snapshot' folder without the need to select a folder for video files ('snap_dir' and 'snap_dirvideosnap' folders)
  • any video/audio format can be used; limited only by the media player your using and/or codecs installed in Windows
  • any media player that load files from command line can be used, but this feature was coded for/works best with 'Media Player Classic Home Cinema'
• New game data:
  • 'Times Played', 'Last Played' and 'Playtime' game columns
  • info stored in a new folder 'played_games'; each system have its own file
  • recent played games are always moved to the top of the list
  • file format is 'GameFilenameMediaType IsUnicode TimesPlayed¬PlayedDateTime¬TotalPlayTime'
  • Last played info is also shown in 'Last 25 Played Games' screen
  • these files replace the now obsolete 'mru.ini'
• Games sorting routine is now using an undocumented Windows API called "StrCmpLogicalW", for a more natural sorting (like Windows Explorer does)
• New setting "Disable Natural Sorting (1, 2, 3, 10, 11, 20)" (preferences screen)
  • for the purists that want to enjoy the full ASCII sort glory (1, 10, 11, 2, 20, 3)
  • sort disks for multiple games loading still use natural sorting
• Delete Selected Games (games popup menu). Delete games from the list and/or the actual game files. Recycle bin is not supported!
• Select one or more games to delete. A list of all games will be shown so you can remove games from that list and confirm the operation
• Modify image layouts; assign an image category to the panel you want
  • only the current layout can be edited... for easier and quicker usage
  • you cannot hide panels; pointless as there are only 3 categories
  • single image layout cannot be modified. Image category is always 'game snapshot'
  • access in images popup menu or layout selection button in images tool bar button: 'Change Layout Settings'
  • data saved in 'screenshot_layouts.ini'
• Customize images panel background color and splitters; preferences screen, 'Images' tab
  • only one bkcolor for all images categories
  • splitters color is not customizable, it's the same as the panel color
  • splitters 'mouse hover' color can be customized; to work with the new bkcolor setting
  • splitter style 'Office 2007 Luna' removed; only solid single color is supported from now on
• Load multiple floppy disks improved:
  • new multi-floppy dialog so you can change the disks order before loading the emulator
  • read .rtf files in 'docsspecial_rules' folder to more details and for supported emulators