Maximus78: A7800 Emulator Front End

[+Atarius Maximus]

3 hours ago, Trebor said:

Perfect. 

Having the ability to allow any file name and either/any format is allowed, is even better than a unified approach.  The unified approach idea was more along the lines of making it easier to add screenshots; however, from what you stated, that is covered in spades already.  Now having a better understanding of how the image support has been implemented, if anything, my idea would make things less convenient and more difficult all around.  

The application should be able to view any image format that Microsoft's default browsers (Edge/IE) would be able to present, so the basics should be covered there.  If someone wanted to take the time to do it, it would be fairly straightforward to add additional screenshots as well.  It's pretty basic HTML code in those files.

3 hours ago, Trebor said:

The idea for the swap was more for thinking what may be desirable from most to least.  The A7800 command/directory box, IMHO, falls under the more desirable category and leaving it in the middle is probably best, visible with the "Medium" view, as the relocation to the lower right corner would require the "Full" layout in order to see it. Viewing boxes on the the other hand, didn't seem to be typically as much wanted or practical, in comparison to screenshots of the game. From there is where the idea of placing the screenshots in the middle "Medium" view, instead of requiring the largest display of "Full". If moving the screenshots to the "Medium" view, means consequently relocating the A7800 command/directory box to the right, requiring a "Full" view, it may be best to leave the current layout in place. 

Understood.  It's all about personal preferences and trade-offs for how to best use the screen real estate.  I could swap the locations and make the HTML viewing window for screenshots and manuals smaller in the middle with the command box below it, it would then mean that a single page of the manual couldn't be viewed all at once, you'd need to scroll.  I would also result in a blank area on the right bottom as extending the box art window to make it longer would mess up the aspect ratio of the image.  So yeah, basically it's already set up optimally for what you can see on the screen at once, not necessarily the best placement for what you'd like to see in certain areas.  It's probably best right now to leave it as-is, but I can think more about how to improve it.

3 hours ago, Trebor said:

If curious, the capture was taken under a desktop running Windows 10 @ 1920x1080.

I have two Macs that I routinely use, a 2020 Mac Mini M1 and a 2020 Macbook Pro M1.  The Mac Mini uses a monitor that's larger than the laptop, so I can run the virtual Windows 11 VM comfortably at 1920x1080. On the laptop, I need to run the virtual Windows 11 VM at 1366x768.  So it depends on which computer I'm using when I'm taking the screenshot I suppose, and that varies. I often use the Mini during the day (for my work-at-home job and personal use) and the laptop more in the evening when I'm sitting in my recliner watching TV. I'm writing this for the lowest common denominator, as I don't think many people would be running at below 1366x768 anymore, but if you are you can use the small window view.  I also have a Dell Windows 10 ultrabook from 2017 that's really just underpowered for development, running Visual Studio on it along with my image and HTML editors is painful.

[+Atarius Maximus]

I've spent a ton of time on this in recent weeks and I have a new release to share.  A big shout out to @Trebor for his feedback and bug-testing.  I updated the first post with a list of all the new changes and links to the setup package and associated files.

 

Steve

[+Atarius Maximus]

Edit:  The user's guide is now embedded in the application.

 

I finally completed a User's Guide for Maximus78 that explains all of the options available and how to make best use of the application.  It's posted on the same GitHub page, but I'll share it here as well.  If you don't want to immediately install it but would like to see what it's all about, take a look at the guide first!   This is the initial release of the guide, there may be updates in the coming weeks.  If anything changes I'll post an update here. 

 

To anyone who has downloaded the application and is trying it out, please share any feedback or suggestions here.  If you've got an idea for a new feature there's a very good chance I'll be able to add it to the app. 

 

Maximus78 User's Guide.pdf

[+Atarius Maximus]

Maximus78 was updated today to support Trebor's latest 7800 ROM ProPack v4.11.  Upon initial setup the new subfolder names will be automatically populated.  I also noticed an issue when installing it on one of my other PC's - the Menu text was in boldface, but it was not on my development laptop.  That has been fixed.

 

Download here:  Maximus78 0.99.31b (github.com)

[+Atarius Maximus]

I just dropped a new release on github as I discovered and fixed a bug in the application.  Only the NTSC ROM list tab would properly clear the screenshot tab when changing to a different ROM in the list and update/load any saved screenshots.  This has been fixed in version 0.99.32b.  I had finally gotten around to updating screenshots in other tabs last night when I noticed the mistake.  You will not lose any previous configuration settings by installing this new version.

 

Download here:  Maximus78 0.99.32b (github.com)

[+Atarius Maximus]

A new release of Maximus78 was just posted to support Trebor's ROM ProPack v5.12.  Upon initial setup of the application the default ROM paths will populate with the correct subfolders for the new ROM pack.

 

Download here:  Maximus78 v0.99.33b (github.com)