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CoinFX - Arcade coin sound effects for your MAME arcade system!

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CrackedConsole
(@crackedconsole)
Member Admin
Joined: 5 years ago
Posts: 368
Topic starter  

I wrote an application several years ago... Back in 2010.
Sadly I've since lost the source code in a crash, but was able to locate 2 versions of this application so I can still provide it to you.

I'm debating relaunching the project as I've learned a lot more in VB and I can provide a better service and experience for you in its use.

What is it?

It's a small application that runs in the background on a MAME arcade system and hooks into the keys so when you press a button to insert coins, a coin sound effect plays.
You can utilize the built in sound effects included with CoinFX, or import your own sounds to use. 

I've included 2 versions I was able to pull from archives.

Version 0.3.0b - A more simplistic build for those that don't need all the additional features of the last build (0.3.8b).


[download id="399"]


Version 0.3.8b - The final build of CoinFX.

[download id="396"]


User Manual

 

CoinFX Readme - Version 0.3.8b (C) Scott Palmore

_______________________________

 

http://www.crackedconsole.com/

Palmore@crackedconsole.com

_______________________________

 

General
_______________________________

Launching CoinFX -

Command Line---------------

CoinFX is command line friendly, any commands sent to CoinFX will be passed to the emulator
configured under the MAME/Emulator section.

i.e.

CoinFX.exe SF2

This will launch CoinFX in the background, spawn the emulator configured under MAME/Emulator
in the foreground and pass any commands through to the emulator.

If you launch CoinFX with -null as the only command, it will spawn the MAME/Emulator and will
not pass any commands to the emulator. (This works great for launching MAMEui32 from command line)

GUI------------------------

When launchin CoinFX from Windows, you have the option to spawn MAME/Emulator in the foreground.
To configure this, visit the MAME/Emulator section and check the box for Spawn MAME at launch.

___________________________

For either MAME/Emulator spawn options (Command line or GUI) you must have your MAME/Emulator
executable selected.

Exiting CoinFX -

Manually-------------------

To exit CoinFX manually, right click the CoinFX coin icon located in the bottom right of the
Windows task tray. This will bring up the mini menu, from here select Exit.

You may also kill CoinFX manually in Windows XP from the command line by using TaskKill.

i.e.

TaskKill /IM /F CoinFX.exe

Automatically--------------

It is possible to configure CoinFX to shut down when MAME/Emulator exits.

To do so, check Close CoinFX when MAME exists under the MAME/Emulator section.
This will cause CoinFX to close when it detects MAME shutting down.

For this to function correctly you must meet these requirements. (options wise)

Under MAME/Emulator, you must select the Emulator to launch.
You must either have Spawn MAME checked or launch CoinFX from a command prompt with
MAME options or -null
You must have Close CoinFX checked under MAME/Emulator.

Configuration General -

Top tool bar---------------

Save options - This will save all your current options and settings to the CoinFX.ini
Load options - This will load all your current options and settings from the CoinFX.ini

Reset all defaults - This will reset every option (NOT coin counts) back to original settings.

Check for updates - Allows you to check online for new versions of CoinFX.

Minimize to system tray - Will minimize the CoinFX application and hide it from your task tray. Only leaving
a small icon in the system tray next to your clock in the bottom right. (Coins icon)

System tray icon-----------

When CoinFX loads, it automatically minimizes to the system tray. To access options, check for updates or exit
right click on the Coins icon in your system tray.

_______________________________

Sounds Menu -

Load Custom Sound ---------

Custom sound effects must be a PCM wav format file. Click the folder icon to choose a custom wav sound.

Stack Sound ---------------

Stack Sound allows 2 sounds to be played in succession when a coin key is detected. This can be used to
create even more custom sound effects and realism to your arcade system.
An example would be Stacking Coin chute with the incremental options of bin empty/half/filled.

To enable Stack Sound, check the box for "Stack effects"

The initial sound effect is choosen in the drop down menu under "Stack effects" check box.

You can modify the time (in miliseconds) that Stack Sound will wait to play the second sound effect.
Currently cpu usage,cpu speed and other variables effect this delay, the delay may not be consistent.
Chaning the Stack Timer will effect this delay.

Incremental Counts---------

The values listed are used when Incremental sound is checked. Each value determines when the desired coin
sound will be played, please be sure each value is greater than the previous.

i.e.

0 Coin empty
20 Coin half-full
40 Coin filled
60 Custom effect

Thus coins 0-20 will play Coin empty, coins 21-40 will play Coin half-full and so-on.
You must have each effect you wish to use during Incremental sound checked, any effects unchecked will not
be part of the sound effects. Coin chute is never part of Incremental sound. (but can be an initial
sound if used with Stack Sound)

This counter is based on "Per session".
Each time you start CoinFX and close it, it sets the session counter to 0.

Coin Sounds----------------

It is possible to enable or disable sound effects by checking or unchecking the box next to each sound.
To utilize a custom sound effect, you must choose a valid PCM format wav under Load custom sound.
Clicking the Green arrow next to each sound will play a preview of that sound effect.

 

Incremental Sound vs Randomized Sound

Incremental Sound will play Coin empty, Coin half-full, Coin filled and Custom effect in order, based on the settings in
Incremental counts. It will only play sounds that are enabled (Check box filled next to desired coin sound).

Randomized Sound will play any enabled sound at random. To enable a sound, check the box next to the desired sound.

_______________________________

Keys Menu -

Use Relay Keys-------------

Relay keys can be used to send key presses to MAME or other emulator.
To fully utilize this function, change your Custom Keys to what keys you wish CoinFX to listen to for Coin inserts. Then change your Relay keys to what ever MAME (or other emulator) listens for to insert a coin (i.e. 5,6,7 and 8)
CoinFX will listen for a key press of Custom Keys, then once the coin sound plays (or last sound in Stack Sound)
it will send a Relay Key press for the coin key pressed.

Reset----------------------

The reset button will reset all coin keys, relay keys, timer tick and relay delay back to default values.

Custom Keys----------------

Coin 1,2,3 and 4 keys are what CoinFX will watch / listen for prior to playing a coin sound.
Valid characters are only Alpha/Numeric, special characters are currently un-supported and will fail.
During a detected valid coin key press, the associated 25cent icon will illuminate red.

Timer tick (in ms)---------

This value is a numeric value, calculated in milliseconds. It allows the configuration of how often CoinFX will check
for a key press. This can allow help with CoinFX detecting multiple coins with one keypress.
200 ms is the default value, but you may tweek this to your liking.

_______________________________

MAME Menu -

MAME.exe-------------------

Clicking the folder icon under MAME exe will allow you to choose your MAME executable file location, it is also possible to select
other emulators that support command line. i.e. Zinc, FBA, Model2 and others.

Spawn MAME-----------------

Enabling this option will automatically launch MAME (or other emulator) you have choosen under MAME exe.

Close CoinFX---------------

This option will wait for MAME exe (or other emulator) to close and then shut down CoinFX. Spawn with MAME must be checked, or
you must launch CoinFX from the command line in Spawn mode.

_______________________________

Background -

Background Audio-----------

Clicking the folder icon under Background Audio will allow you to choose a custom MP3 file to loop in the background.
A great example of an audio track to loop is Andy Hofle's Arcade Ambiance.

http://arcade.hofle.com/

Play Background Audio------

This check box enables and disables the Background Audio function. Checking this box will play the selected MP3 in the background.

Start CoinFX Minimized-----

Checking this box will cause CoinFX to minimize to the system tray upon load.

Media Player---------------

The mediaplayer snap in allows you to modify the volume, play, pause and stop the background audio as well.
Volume is saved when you save your INI file options.

_______________________________

Coin Counts -

Reset-----------------------

The reset button will clear and zero all coin counts, coins for player 1,2,3 and 4 as well as the current session coin counts.

Coin Counts-----------------

Coin key presses are recorded and saved for each player - 1,2,3 and 4. A total value is then calculated and dollar values based on
25cent increments.

Unified Coin Counter--------

Checking this box will enable the Unified coin counter. This will not only report and save coin counts inside the local CoinFX.ini,
but it will also save coin counts to the Windows registry.
If this box is checked, it will first look for existing coin counts i nthe registry, it will take the greater value of the 2 and use
said value moving forward for coin counts.
It also checks each time during load, the local CoinFX.ini against the registry values and will keep the great values of the 2.

The basis of this function allows you to utilize multiple copies of CoinFX yet have them all report their coin counts to a centralized
location, thus MAME, Zinc, FBA, Model2 and all other arcade / coin op emulators will be tracked together.


Change Log

CoinFX Changelog (www.crackedconsole.com - Palmore)

_____________________________________________________________

0.3.8b

Relay keys have been enabled, this allows you to set a key press to send when a coin noise is made
This works great with Stack sounds.
Relay keys also trigger the relay activity light next to each relay key under the "Keys" tab.
Added configuration option for minimize (or not) coinfx on start.
Changed default stack sound timer to 150ms

_____________________________________________________________

0.3.6b-rp RePack

The CoinFX RePack includes a full user manual
Arcade Ambiance logo and link inside Background Audio
Relay Keys are now visible, yet not implemented.

_____________________________________________________________

 

0.3.6b

Bug fix release
Corrected issue with Spawn MAME being checked and launching CoinFX and passing commands via CLI. This would cause CoinFX to launch 2 versions of MAME(or other emulator).

_____________________________________________________________

 

0.3.52b

Bug fix release
Corrected High CPU usage when running in Spawn mode and watching for MAME/Emulator to exit.

_____________________________________________________________

0.3.51b

Bug fix release
Issues with Windows 7 64bit.

After launching the program, it keeps playing the coin sound and increasing the number of coins inserted - endlessly.

_____________________________________________________________

0.3.5b

Added Coin chute sound effect
Added stack sounds, this allows you to stack or play 2 coin effects together (such as Coin chute, then Incremental Coin effects)
Changed Sounds tab UI
Added Spawn MAME when CoinFX starts option
Added -null command to CLI to spawn MAME exe from CLI with out any functions being passed from CoinFX to MAME
Added Background MP3 player for Background music or Arcade Ambiance
Added "Unified coin counter" to allow multiple copies of CoinFX to report coin counts to one location (registry)

_____________________________________________________________

0.3.0b

Complete rewrite of main code to clean up a few items
Added online version upgrade check
Added reset defaults option (returns all controls and options to defaults. does not effect coins)
Increased default Timer tick from 150ms to 200ms
Added coin indicator lights under the keys section that illuminate when a key press is detected
Added demo 1up.wav custom sound (Thanks headkaze for your initial help and this audioclip
Changed customsound and MAMEexe input boxes, they are still read only but you can now navigate the entire string

_____________________________________________________________

 

0.2.6b

Added option to monitor your MAME exe and close CoinFX when you exit MAME
_____________________________________________________________

 

0.2.5b

Added save options for Incremental coin values, they now are saved to the INI file.
Corrected slight display bug in windows XP (with coin logos, name and crackedconsole logo).
Updated code to make ini file ALWAYS relative to the app, rather than current working directory.
Corrected MAME wrapper function
Updated INI version handler to import coin counts from previous application ini versions
_____________________________________________________________

 

0.2.2b

Loading a custom wav file

Choosing what sounds are played

Randomizing or incremental sound effects

Customizing coin keys

Customizing key press listen timer

Using as a MAME frontend/wrapper via command line

Coin counters for Player1,2,3 and 4 as well as over all and money collected.

Added INI configuration file
_____________________________________________________________

0.1b

This version listened on key 5,6,7 and 8 and played 1 of 3 random coin sounds.
It was the first test version, and my first public app.


   
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Spider
(@spider)
New Member
Joined: 5 years ago
Posts: 0
 

You have different games for MAME and different Emulators to play for MAME Games. For someone, it's confusing to find the proper Emulator to play MAME Rom's on the PC. Every site where you can download the Games it writes the name of the Emulator you should need to play the game. But for the lovers of MAME games that is not a problem. You have tons of MAME EMULATORS to chose to play and enjoy in the retro games.


   
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CrackedConsole
(@crackedconsole)
Member Admin
Joined: 5 years ago
Posts: 368
Topic starter  
Posted by: Spider

You have different games for MAME and different Emulators to play for MAME Games. For someone, it's confusing to find the proper Emulator to play MAME Rom's on the PC. Every site where you can download the Games it writes the name of the Emulator you should need to play the game. But for the lovers of MAME games that is not a problem. You have tons of MAME EMULATORS to chose to play and enjoy in the retro games.

CoinFX is not an Emulator, it is just a launcher that calls either MAME or the emulator of your choice.

This basically just plays sounds when you press a button, to give the effect coin being inserted into a slot.


   
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