January 29, 2013
Another update with a few more fixes and a new feature: Select multiple systems to show in games list.
EmuCon has also become a little more intelligent. If a emulator filename is not in "emulator_parameters.ini",
EmuCon will try to find an approximate so parameters can be read (Emulator Setup screen).
Peace!
January 25, 2013
Small update to fix a couple bugs and a new feature: Run games with associated application.
All you need to do is associate your games files in Windows with an emulator of your choice and enable a "Play With Associated Emulator" setting in games popup menu (mouse right-click). It's very simple.
You can still play games with your selected emulator by using the same games popup menu, and select "Play With Emulator 1 or 2"
This time, and update pack is available with changed files. And please read the documentation (and change log) before sending bugs reports. Have fun!
January 24, 2013
Holly Molly! Almost two years without updates ? Well, it's finally here.
Big core changes to support 64-bit operating systems and some nice additions. Also, a bunch of annoying bugs were fixed.
Here's a summary of the changes:
- Mount/unmount disc images with
Daemon Tools directly in the frontend :)
- Support for "Box Arts" images and layout views. View three images at the same time...
- Finally, support for zipped images!
- Updated user interface (no gradient panels, glowing texts or glass buttons crap)
- New systems: "
Nintendo DS" (
DeSmuME emulator) and "
PC Engine CD" (requested)
- Popup menus for games, images and image splitters (mouse right-click)
- Frontend config files and games lists are still compatible with
EmuCon v2.3 (no clean install required!)
To use zipped images, all three files (titles.zip, snap.zip, boxart.zip) must be placed in "game snapshots" folder.
You can also enable the "Load images using threads" button in images tool bar. All images are loaded at the same time and it also fixes the games scroll lag :)
There is no need for a clean install and this version is fully compatible with
EmuCon v2.3
:)
Please check the change log for more details on this release.
Change Log
version 2.4.2 change log - January 29, 2013
Fixed
Select emulators to use (Emulators button in tool bar buttons). If the "Mount with
Daemon Tools" option was being used for a system, none of the emulators were selected, making
EmuCon crash or set an invalid index
Mouse scroll was not working to scroll games list on a fresh install, after creating games lists (thanks DMala)
Selecting the same game over and over with mouse was reload all temporary vars and screenshots at every mouse click
Changed
Some icons updated in "ec_icons"folders
Minor interal updates
Improved
If the chosen emu filename is not listed in "emulator_parameters.ini",
EmuCon will try to get an approximate filename so ROM / ISO / DISC parameters can be filled (Emulator Setup screen). Thanks DMala for the suggestion...
Removed
none
Added
"UME: Universal Machine Emulator" entries added into "emulator_parameters.ini". I assume the console parameters are the same as
MESS
Support to show multiple systems in games list (Systems filter tool bar button). You can have multiple systems in games list now:
- settings are stored in a new "[Games Filters]" section in EmuCon.ini
- unavailable systems are always set as visible to avoid crashes and errors
- selection works the same as in Windows Explorer... hold "Ctrl" (or "Shift") key down to select multiple systems
- single filter selection is still supported
version 2.4.1 change log - January 25, 2013
Fixed
Added "mess64" and "snes9x-x64" emulators filenames support in "emulator_parameters.ini". I forgot about the 64-bit versions completely...
Minimize frontend when running games was showing a tiny
EmuCon window at desktop's bottom instead of hiding it
Changed
Setting "Show Full Command Line" is enabled by default. Better suited on a fresh install and for new
EmuCon users
Improved
none
Removed
none
Added
New feature: "Play Game With Associated Application"
With this you can play games without selecting emulators in the frontend. All you need to do is associate your "unzipped" games files in Windows with the application of your choice.
- The associated application is read from Windows registry and the command line cannot be customized in
EmuCon
- To use it, you need check "Play With Associated Emulator" setting in games popup menu (mouse right-click). This is a ON/OFF switch. You must enable this for each system, but only need to do that once.
- To play games with associated applications, use mouse double-click on press the ENTER key on selected game
- You can still run games using selected emulators (emulator setup screen), by using the games popup menu (mouse right-click) and selecting "Play With Emulator 1 or 2"
version 2.4 change log - January 24, 2013
Fixed
Proper support for 64-bit operating systems, fixing a truck-load of bugs and crashes
PC Engine ISO games could not be used at all due to a coding mistake on the search files function
Many visual bugs fixed by replacing labels, bars, buttons, checkboxes, etc
Scale2x filter was not being applied to title snapshots
Function "GetGamesFiles" was including folders as file names (create games list feature)
Game file size info was corrupted for files larger than 1 GByte, specially on 64-bit operating systems
Functions "CheckTotal" and "CheckTotalVisible" were not working on 64-bit operating systems at all
Manually editing "Emulator Executable" (edit box) in "Emulators Screen" was not updating internal variables
Emulator parameters were not being correctly loaded when selecting systems (Emulator Setup screen)... shame on me!
Default emulator to use was not being set after selecting emulators in "Emulators Setup" screen
Game preview snaps were being loaded twice at startup
Changed
Only 32-bit icons are supported from now on. If you're using WinXP with themes disabled, icons will look ugly
Main menu removed and added as a button in the buttons tool bar (first button)
Setting "Create a New List" moved to the systems selection window. Easier to check/uncheck when creating games lists
Enabling this option deletes the current games file. Disable it to add new games to an existing games list
Last played games (MRU) now updates correctly. Also, other changes/fixes:
- Latest played games are now added at the top
- No more duplicates. If a game is already in the list, it's moved to the top
- Games List do not reload if selecting the same system (MRU selection screen)
- Media type is added for each game, to display the proper icon
- No more crash if the list is empty
- Lists are stored on a separated file called "mru.ini" for easier access and maintenance. Old lists from EmuCon.ini are automatically parsed and updated to the new file... no manual action required :)
Snapshots folder selection moved from preferences screen to its own screen. Main purpose is... to abort changes. Access in "Images" main menu (first tool bar button) or images popup menu (mouse right-click)
Message boxes are now using the OS "Application.MessageBox()" function, except for the "Run Game" confirmation dialog, which is customized
Improved
User interface updated. Don't worry... no gradient backgrounds, glowing texts or glass buttons!
Source code updates, optimizations and clean-ups
Replaced open/save file dialogs by Windows native dialogs. Proper dialogs are displayed on Windows 7 and Windows 8
Replaced the "Lanczos" resampler filter by "Hermite". It's a bit faster and it doesn't do "over-sharpening" like Lanczos, plus it looks better (no noise or phantom pixels added to the image)
Removed
The following files are no longer needed ("images" folder): "msgbox_bottom.png", "msgbox_bottom_border_left.png", "msgbox_bottom_border_right.png", "textbar.png", "topbar.png"
CRC32 routines are not used for anything. Functions removed from source code
Default settings for "
z26" emulator (Atari 2600) is no longer needed since you can setup this emulator directly
Setting "Force Quotes in Command Line" no longer needed. Quotes are always added to the command line anyway
Setting "Stretch Larger Image Only" since it never worked right anyway... and I never received any bug reports on it
Added
Popup menus (mouse right-click) for games list, preview snapshots and image splitters
Support all image file formats for
Dolphin emulator (Wii and GameCube)
A file "emulator_parameters[default].ini" is available as a backup, so you can restore original parameters for all emulators
New system: "
Nintendo DS". Only zipped game files are supported. Supported emulator is "
DeSmuME":
http://desmume.org
Games popup menu, to quickly select which emulator you want to play a game with (mouse right-click). If the game uses a disc image, you can also choose the option to mount images on a virtual drive... the last selected options sticks :)
NOTE: The "Emulator" screen ("Emulator" button in main tool bar buttons) is still supported if you want to select emulators for all systems at once
Option to delete snapshot of selected game (images popup menu). Unzipped only
Support for
Daemon Tools.
EmuCon can now mount/unmount CD/DVD images on-the-fly for emulators that support it
- All emulators that can run CD games (or CD images) are supported
- This only works for "Disc Image" media type (no cartridges or real discs)
- Settings located in the new [
Daemon Tools] section, "emulator_parameters.ini" file. Change settings as needed in "Emulator Setup" screen
- To enable/disable mouting images, select a game and call its popup menu (mouse right-click)
- Other virtual drive utils might work, if they can mount/unmout images using command line parameters
Added .bat and .cmd file types support for the "Emulator Executable" in "Emulator Setup" screen (requested)
Added a new system by request: "
PC Engine CD"
- Cards are also supported... you never know
- There's a new [Move CD Games to "
PC Engine CD"] menu item in "Games" main menu. Use this to update "DiscGames.ec" and move CD games from "
PC Engine" system to the new "
PC Engine CD" system (system index is different now). It's done automaticcaly in the first app run, but if you need to update it manually, you can use this option...
- CD games are not supported in "PC Egnine" system anymore
Support for a new image category: "Box Art". Set folder for each system in the new screenshot folder settings screen (snaps popup menu or "Images" main menu)
Snapshot Layouts feature. Similar to
Emu Loader, you can view three images at the same time. There are 8 layouts to choose from.
- access in the new images tool bar buttons
- customization is not available as I want to keep
EmuCon simple and fast... bottom line is: choose a layout and stick with it
Support for zipped images is finally here! Filenames are: "snap.zip" for game snapshots, "titles.zip" for title snapshots, "boxart.zip" for box arts
- all three zip files must be placed on "game snapshots" folder, for each system
- for best speed use a low compression profile
- if you're only using zipped images, there's no need to select folders for title snapshots or box arts
Load images using threads. Enable this feature for faster images loading. Great speed-up when using tripple image layouts and zipped images. Settings is in the new images tool bar buttons. This also improves the lag when scrolling the games list.
For unzipped images, speed improvement is negligible