February 25, 2021 [version 8.8.7 released]

    More bug fixes and improvements!
Mouse single click to enable/disable Favorites and MAMu_ icons (tool bar buttons). To call the popup menu , use mouse right-click on the buttons.
Much easier, no ? :)

    That annoying white box bug between horizontal/vertical scrollbars in night mode is gone . Turns out it was caused by EasyListView, not Win10. Mulitiple paths for MAMu_ icons (zipped / unzipped) was not working , the frontend could not find .ico files (MAME only).

    The frontend was using RichEdit v1.0 (richedit32.dll) , causing problems and crashes with Game Docs feature ( mameinfo , history , etc...). I updated Delphi 7's TCustomRichEdit class to v2.0 (richedit20.dll) and made other minor changes.
Still no support for multi-language Unicode text (Delphi 7 limitation).
    URL links were not working in history.xml / history.dat . I missed the URL format change made to this file.

    And I thought this project was solid, with some "minor" issues left to fix...

January 28, 2021 [version 8.8.6 released]

    " Ah sh#t, here we go again... " (Carl Johnson). I'm having a blast re-playing GTA San Andreas for the 50th time, but no GTA beats Vice City !

    Added support for history.xml format (MAME v0.228 and newer). The old history.dat is still supported , even for newer MAME builds. If you create a XML file for an older MAME version, it will work too. :)
You can get it here: https://www.arcade-history.com/index.php?page=download .

    Per category "no image found" feature is back . You can have an different  .png file for each of the 17 image categories (in-game snaps, titles, cabinets, flyers, etc...)
    Files are to be placed in a new resources\images\img_missing\ folder and be in .png format . Since MAMu_ , a.k.a. the icons master ,  already made images for  no flyer and  no marquee (years ago), they are included with the frontend as an example. You are welcome to create your own images set and share in Emu Loader's forum .
If one or more files are not found, emuloader.png will be used instead (as it was before).

    Filenames are as follow :

Title Snapshot: title.png
Game Snapshot.: ingame.png
Marquee.......: marquee.png
Flyer.........: flyer.png
Cabinet.......: cabinet.png
Control Panel.: controlpanel.png
Software Cover: softwarecover.png
PCB...........: pcb.png
Game Artwork..: ingameartwork.png
End...........: end.png
Boss..........: boss.png
Logo..........: logo.png
Score.........: score.png
Versus........: versus.png
Game Over.....: gameover.png
How to Play...: howtoplay.png
Select........: select.png

    There are other minor stuff, mainly bug fixes and more tweaking. Night mode's setting Use Windows 10 Dark Scroll Bar in Games List is enabled by default, and it might not be necessary anymore since this Win10 internal API code hack is working quite well (future setting removal ?).
That's it for now.

September 30, 2020 [version 8.8.5 released]

    Here's another update. More bug fixes, tweaks and some new stuff.
Support  MAME v0.225 new settings (mame.ini / ui.ini).

    Added multiple folders scan for zipped images ,  MAMu_ icons (zipped/unzipped), video preview files and thumbnails view (zipped/unzipped). I completely forgot about this, and had to make some minor core changes to make this possible. Did some testing, hope I didn't break any of these features.

    Animated GIF image  in clean install dialog replaced by a static PNG image . It was causing problems with Windows 10. It was just an experiment...
Small update but some nice improvements.

May 21, 2020 [version 8.8.4 released]

    QUARANTINE!
MAME v0.221 is making Emu Loader crash when creating software games lists . The only game causing this is colasm from  cgenie_cass.xml software list ( usage tips text ).

    If you already updated to MAME 0.221 and are experiencing the crash, just delete the following files before loading Emu Loader to create a new MAME games list. They are located in eldir\arcade\mame_softwarelist_games\ folder.

cgenie_cass.el
cgenie_cass.elrom
cgenie_cass.elstatus

    Since Emu Loader can't show multi-line usage tips, all & #10 entries will be replaced by an empty space . I know it's not ideal but it will have to do for now. This is for software lists only. If arcade games / machines start using this entry, the frontend will crash again...

December 07, 2019 [version 8.8.3 released]

    Last build of the year, more bug fixes and some minor tweaks .
Added night mode colors for MAMu_ Icons Manager . Updated MAME Settings screen to support MAME v0.216 .

September 30, 2019 [version 8.8.2 released]

    And the graphical glitches just keep showing up, don't they ? Some of those glitches were fixed by replacing TrackBar components by  XiTrackBar from the XiControls pack (thanks  Eugene Genev for making them). Progress bars components were also replaced by XiProgressBar . I had to make several modifications and drawing fixes to both components as Eugene is not updating them anymore.

    Cool new feature, custom checkbox / radiobutton icons . You can make your own icons set to use with the night mode . Each night mode profile can have a different icons set (stored in  \resources\checkbox_radiobutton\ folder). By default, Windows themed icons are used, you can change this in  Customize Nigh Mode screen.

    Windows 10 users can have dark scroll bars now. I found an undocumented WinAPI function  to force the use of Win10 dark scroll bars. It works even if Windows 10 is not setup to use a dark theme! SetWindowTheme(hWnd, ' DarkMode_Explorer ', null) . Be aware that this only works on Windows 10 build 1809 and newer . Older builds are not supported. There are graphical glitches on the horizontal scroll bar. This is Windows fault, not caused by the frontend.

    You can customize the splash screen now.
- change font colors and version info text location
- disable text shadow effect
- use a custom image file logo2.png for the logo without overwriting the frontend's default logo.png file
- there's a new left aligned texts layout
- progress bar  replaced by XiProgressBar component from XiControls pack, colors are fully customizable

    Night mode colors were added to the preferences screen. There are many other internal changes and bug fixes but the one that stands out is the thumbnails view . There was a bug were thumbnails would randomly not show up  even if you have the snapshot file .

August 18, 2019 [version 8.8.1 released]

    You can't delete/copy/move games files ? Grab v8.8.1 to fix this problem.
While updating the night mode feature I had to set some functions in debug mode.

August 14, 2019 [version 8.8 released]

     To Infinity... and Beyond!
Massive changes on this " double infinity " build. Night mode has gone thru a major facelift and it is now the default mode . The entire frontend is updated with a dark theme, except the preferences screen which is mostly used for the light mode. You can  created multiple night mode profiles .
    There's a new \nightmode\ folder to store all night mode profiles now. To keep your current night mode colors, just copy or move  nightmode.ini to the new \nightmode\ folder and rename it to Default.ini .

    Several internal fixes and tweaks . Most noticeable, the frontend could not mount images on a virtual drive . Metadata files ( .cue and others) are also  no longer used to mount images when the " use .cue " tool bar button is enabled.
    There was so many drawing bugs and misaligned controls in the previous build that forced me to update my custom Delphi components, fixing some of those weird bugs.

    Several settings from EmuLoader.ini were moved to a new LightMode.ini file. Almost all of them are from  preferences screen . Unfortunately you'll have to re-configure these settings, there's no other way. This change was necessary to allow future improvements.
Preferences screen have a new layout . The old one had lots of empty space and too many pages.

    Night mode can have custom game font settings separete from the light mode ( Customize Game Fonts in games popup menu). No need to copy/rename sysgamecustomfont.ini file anymore when switching between night mode and light mode.

    Image category background colors for night mode are now split from light mode ( Image Category Settings screen). Colors can be  different for each mode . If you customized the background colors, go to this thread and follow the tutorial on how to copy current colors into the night mode .
NOTE: You only need to do this if you're using colors different than black (default color).

    New setting Use A Single Background Color  for image Categories . Select a color in Image Category Settings screen. Aren't you tired of going thru every image category to set the same color ? Now you can select one background color and enable this new feature. All image panels will use it and the best of all, you won't lose the custom background color per category. It's an easy "on/off" checkbox. You can have a single color for night mode and another for light mode, depending on what mode is currently active.

    A few frontend configuration files have changed and you cannot use the new ones with previous versions of the frontend. I recommend to make a backup of your current install before upgrading to this build if you plan to rollback to a previous frontend build. No need to backup the entire folder though, just make sure to backup EmuLoader.ini , el_extras.ini , nightmode.ini and the  \ini_files\ folder.

June 24, 2019 [version 8.7.8 released]

    This project is filled with painting bugs, mostly caused by recent changes to my Delphi components...
Aside from bugs, the night mode settings feature has been moved away from preferences screen into its own private screen. The interface was also updated with dark colors .

    Ok, I'm way over my oops limit for this month... :)
The update binary pack no longer contains extra files, your frontend install must be in v8.7.7 in order to download the update pack for this new build.

June 07, 2019 [version 8.7.7 released]

    More bugs fixed.
I forgot to remove a debug code from the Delete/copy/move game files feature, making it completely useless.
Improvements to the popup menu library TBcBarPopup (BcMenus.pas) to allow custom menu border drawing (might be buggy on Windows 10). You can customize the frame color  in preferences screen, Night Mode 2 page.
    Further tweaks and fixes to my TBitBtnEx / TSpeedButtonEx  components. There was a painting bug, showing garbage in the outskirts of the control.

If you have v8.7.6 feel free to get the exe only update pack in the downloads page.

May 31, 2019 [version 8.7.6 released]

    As they say... the third time is the charm. Frontend crash on a clean install or if you're using the light mode .
In the rush of fixing another bug of my TBitBtnEx / TSpeedButtonEx components I created another one. Forgot to validate a parameter of the function that draws the button's text.

    As usual, there's a  EmuLoader.exe "quickfix" link in downloads page so you don't waste internet bandwidth with the update pack. You only need to update the .exe file anyway.

May 30, 2019 [version 8.7.5 released]

    Who turned the lights off ? Buttons font color was black when in night mode .
I guess my component rewrite was not as perfect as I thought . All is good now.

If you already have v8.7.4, there's a EmuLoader.exe "quickfix" link in downloads page so you don't waste internet bandwidth with the update pack.

May 29, 2019 [version 8.7.4 released]

    New splash screen logo ! I updated some elements of the background image that looked weird, out of place, and added new characters.
The big change on this release is thumbnails view . Icons are now drawn as overlays on top of thumb images, avoiding the need to re-create the thumbnails every time you change icons settings. Several tweaks were also made to this view mode, it looks amazing now.

    A new media type was added : Video Game Music . Mostly used by MAME's vgmplay software list but it can be expanded to arcade games, if needed.
It works even with your current MAME games list.

    New feature, alternate frontend icons . Arcade/console/handheld/computer systems, arcade game icons, frontend icons. Instead of replacing default icon files you can have a separate set in a different folder. Almost all icons are supported except ones that use overlays (games filters tool bar, image categories, image layouts). Files go in a \alternate\ sub-folder and they must be RGB+Alpha format , otherwise Emu Loader will not be able to load them.
   You can toggle the alternate icons ON/OFF in the main menu, no need for a frontend restart.  Each alternate folder is already created in frontend's directory tree so you know where to place the new files. You don't need to download the alternate icons pack if downloading any of the binary packs.
Thank you Fabian Leonel for creating those beautiful icons!

   More tweaks to the night mode. Some fixes and minor visual changes. Someone even suggested to make night mode the default theme, which is not a bad idea. Minor improvements to my TBitBtnEx / TSpeedButtonEx Delphi components after I " accidentally " deleted my Delphi components folder on a Windows reinstall! I had to recreate both custom components from scratch. Luckily their code was still fresh in my memory banks...

    Here's an insteresting new feature : Special game tag . You can tag your games with this extra list for whatever reason, game you finished playing, games you are playing, games you have the highest score, games you hate, games you want to hide... the possibilities are endless.
There's a new \ini_files\special.txt file containing the games list and its format is the same as favorites files . If you were using favorites for another purpose other than favorite tag, you can copy/move/rename that favorite file to the new special filename without converting anything. 
There's a new Special List filter in Miscellaneous filters tool bar button. This games filter is no longer limited to MAME/arcade games. Details/grouped view mode have a new Special column, and you can use the new  Add To Special List and Remove From Special List options in games popup menu .

    In the downloads page you'll find all Borland Delphi 7 components used to compile Emu Loader . If you don't know how to work with Delphi compiler or want to compile the frontend just for sport, I do not recommend it.

    I've also made available several  Photoshop files (.psd)  with frontend logo , splash screen , along with the required TTF fonts to edit those .psd files.
There's even a huge 2000x1000  Emu Loader marquee for you to play with ( MAMu_ original work ).. Make sure you rasterize all layer effects before resizing the marquee image so its effects are resized in the correct scale.

    Emu Loader logo was created by MAMu_ , I appreciate if you keep the logo's in its original form, format, colors and effects (you may change the background though. Apply outer glow and other effects OUTSIDE the logo boundaries). I still need to create a new marquee to show the " multiple systems frontend " label.

    I'm sure there are other minor fixes I forgot to mention, but they are there.

April 30, 2019 [version 8.7.3 released]

    And so it begins, first release of 2019.
The colors in night mode went thru a big change. You will not recognize the night mode...

    This build uses my new TBitBtnEx and TSpeedButtonEx  buttons . Their colors are fully customizable. There is a new  Night Mode 2 page in preferences screen so you can customize the button colors to your liking . They are only used in night mode. Light mode still uses  Windows themed button. Made modifications to my PanelEx component for better user customization and fixed a couple bugs I didn't even know were there.
     Replaced all TEdit controls by my custom TEditEx component. Guess what... it allows custom frame colors and you can do it in preferences screen . Two last changes. Dark colors in menus and popup menus . No more white menus in night mode.
Almost all screens now have a dark theme. I also replaced the black background color by dark gray , it's easier on the eyes. Emulator settings screens will probably not get dark colors because some of the controls colors cannot be customized ( Windows themed  drawn).

    Many bugs were fixed in this buid . Some of them are important fixes so make sure you update the frontend to this version.
You can no longer change AlterMAME settings. AlterMAME was never supposed to be customizable. A LOT of code was removed and I was able to simplify several routines and fix a bunch of bugs that could not fixed without duplicating the code of these routines (that's a big no no...).

    Three changes to the AlterMAME feature:  added a second AlterMAME slot so you can use two alternate emulators to run MAME games .
Proper detection of  FinalBurn Alpha ( https://www.fbalpha.com ) and  Raine ( http://raine.1emulation.com ) emulators . Finally, better handling of application exit codes and their descriptions.

    New feature, support custom game icons for MAME software list games when using MAMu_ Icons feature. See the change log for details on how to use it. You can take a look in this thread ,  EmuChat forum to know more about these icons. So far there are no game icons packs for any MAME softlists.

    One last thing. Support for a new handheld system : Nintendo Switch .  Yuzu emulator ( https://yuzu-emu.org ) is the only supported emulator for now and you must select  yuzu-cmd.exe file to play games.


Have fun...

December 07, 2018 [version 8.7.2 released]

    And one more... commented ROM / DISK entries were added to MAME software games list . You must create new MAME software games lists again to fix this. Go to main menu MAME/Arcade then select  Create MAME Software Games List .
    Added PDF manual support for MAME software lists . The View Missing ROMs/CHDs screen now have a search game edit box so you can go to a game without scrolling the list. You can enter a game title or a game name.
    Frontend docs folder updated . Some files had old info.

December 02, 2018 [version 8.7.1 released]

    Oh my crap!
Minor fix to the audit system. Some clone games got lost in the woods. Minor fix to the Game Details screen, some ROMs were listed as missing because I forgot to include special ROM IDs after the audit system change.

December 02, 2018 [version 8.7 released]

    Out with the old, in with the new. Version 8.7 cycle has begun.
More fixes to the audit system . Many clone games you don't have wrongly set as missing ROMs/CHDs if you have the parent set... again.

    Two important changes in the audit system for clone sets . If you have one clone game ROM merged into the parent set , the clone set will be tagged as missing ROMs/CHDs . Second, if you have all clone game ROMs merged into the parent set but some parent ROMs are missing , the clone set will be tagged as merged ... because you actually have all clone ROMs, no matter if parent ROMs are completely missing.
To update your games list you need only to re-scan MAME games.

MAME on! :)

November 29, 2018 [version 8.6.9 released]

    Quick fix. You're not surprised, are you... ?
Audit system was tagging clone sets you don't have as missing ROMs/CHDs.

November 29, 2018 [version 8.6.8 released]

    Ho Ho Ho! Oh wait, it's not that time yet...
This is a big release. The  audit system has gone thru some changes and now many, many MAME games are audited correctly . Thanks to Fr�d�ric for helping me with tests.
Merged clone sets that have CHDs and/or bios/device sets but all game ROMs are tagged "nodump" are detected correctly. Sets with only CHDs and bios/device sets (no game ROMs) are detected correctly. Other minor fixes.
    Another change for games that use CHD files and ROM files. If the CHD is found, game is now set as " missing ROMs/CHDs " even if you don't have the main gamename.zip set. Previously, the frontend would tag these games as  missing .

    Moving on. I added support for MAME manuals in .pdf format . Yes, you can view PDF game manuals with your favorite PDF viewer application. You must associate a program for .pdf files in Windows for this to work. Only unzipped files are supported . Emu Loader will never unzip files into your HDDs / SSDs. You can view manuals in games popup menu or clicking the PDF button in images tool bar buttons . No auto-load feature, you must do it manually.

    Support for scores3.htm so you can view MARP scores again. The file marp.dat is no longer available. Make sure to download the file from the following internet link into MAME's dats folder. Emu Loader will try to read the scores for each game. http://replay.marpirc.net/txt/scores3.htm

There are other minor fixes and tweaks to the frontend, not worth to mention here...

November 06, 2018 [version 8.6.7 released]

    Maintenance update. Nothing much has been going on with EL latety.
Support for MAME .202 and .203 , a couple cosmetic fixes in MAME Settings screen .
Support for Supermodel SVN 741 new Enable Quad Rendering setting and minor UI tweaks in Supermodel Settings screen .
It was brought to my attention that Emu Loader doesn't play arcade preview videos in a \videosnaps\ sub-folder. That's now supported.

    One bad bug was finally reported in the frontend's audit system . It's been there for like a year, and nobody noticed it not even me.
If a game set  has a bios ROM with a different name then the ROM from the bios set , it wasn't correctly audited and set as missing. Many games were tagged as Missing ROMs .

NOTE : you must create MAME games list again to fix this bug in the audit system!

    That's it for today, but I'm sure someone somewhere will find more bugs for me to fix. :)

August 31, 2018 [version 8.6.6 released]

    Time for a new build. Support for MAME .201 and more.
Finally, I found an easy way to support multiple directories scanning per image category without breaking the current code. Mostly for unzipped images but it works for zipped images too. You can have as many folders as you want in MAME/HBMAME image categories.
    You can have  snap.zip and snap_sl.zip  in different folders now. It also applies to  softlistname.zip files. Other emulators do not support multiple image paths, only MAME and HBMAME.

    The feature Cleanse in Favorites Manager has been updated, per request. This feature removes invalid entries from favorites profiles without telling you what is being removed. Now you can review and remove entries from the soon to be removed list, so you can keep them.

    The Ignore Exit Code 1: Invalid Function feature in Preferences screen is now enabled for all console/computer emulators , not just KEGA Fusion.
There are more internal tweaks but it's not visible to the end-user.

August 04, 2018 [version 8.6.5 released]

    More colors customization ahead.
You can change games list selection bar colors now. One set for light mode and another set for the night mode. I even managed to restore the  gradient bar by modifying Jim 's EasyListView Delphi component. You'll find settings in Preferences screen, Games List page and Night Mode page.

    Added a new Slot Machines  filter in MAME and Arcade Miscellaneous Filters (tool bar buttons). You need an updated catver.ini to use it. Just head over to AntoPISA's website to download it. There are more than ten thousand games of that category in  MAME v0.200 .

    As usual, more bugs have been fixed and some minor optimizations were made in the source code.
Next thing I wanna do is update this website. Some pages need some serious work.

August 01, 2018 [version 8.6.4 released]

    All I can see is bugs... bugs... bugs... thumbnails view was not showing zipped snaps , only unzipped. I didn't notice it until now.
But this build also bring new stuff, like showing MAME software list images from snap_sl.zip , titles_s.zip , covers_sl.zip , others. All image categories are supported. Make sure these files are in the same folder as snap.zip , titles,zip , etc, or the frontend will not find them.

    More fixes related to game preview images. If you have  mulitple path entries in snaps , titles , cabinets , covers , etc, they were not handled correctly, making it impossible to show images.  Emu Loader can now detect the first path entry ,  ignoring everything else after the ; char . This is for MAME and arcade systems only. Make sure you change image directory entries in MAME 's ui.ini file and snap directory  entry in mame.ini , and
move the relevant path to the front of the string . If you don't do this, images will not show in the preview panel.
Multiple paths suport is not possible with the current implementation and it will require a complete rewrite on how Emu Loader search for preview images.

So...

current titles directory entry in ui.ini :

titles_directory "titles; H:\MAME 0.199 EXTRAs "

all you need to do is:

titles_directory H:\MAME 0.199 EXTRAs ;titles

Easy, right ? Do this for all image categories, including snap_directory entry in mame.ini.

    Moving on, I added a feature to the MAME Machines Filter Panel called Machines List Filter . Accessible in the machines list popup menu (mouse right-click), you can hide machines that you don't want to see. It even comes with a customizer (interface is unfinished) that shows a list of all machines so you can easily show/hide them with checkboxes. The list is stored in a new \arcade\mame_machines_exclude.txt file.
This filter is only for the machines filter panel, the main games list does not use it, all machines are listed.

    Be wary ( hmmm, again it is heard... ), there are two update packs in the download page (this will be the last build with multiple update packs):

pack 1 contains only the executable + docs . If you already have v8.6.3 ,  get this one. File is a lot smaller, good for those with limited bandwidth.

pack 2 contains the executable + docs + new/updated icons . You can get this one if you're still at v8.6 . No need to download v8.6.3 first.

    More updates are coming... :)

July 19, 2018 [version 8.6.3 released]

    Update 3 is here with some great news, the search games panel is back next to the games filters tool bar were it belongs!
I had to resort to  voodoo magic to accomplish this miracle...

    Panel frames settings expanded. You can choose between 3 modes : disbled , single border , double border . You can even change their colors in night mode . You might need to reconfigure the frame settings again.

    Status bar colors settings for the games list, Preferences screen, was  split in two sets , one for the light mode ( Games List page), and another for the night mode ( Night Mode page). There's a Copy button in the night mode set so you can copy status bar colors colors from the light mode .

    Several updates were made to the night mode , more options for color customization and even more drawing bugs were fixed. You can change games list frame color and even disable it. Same for images panel frame.

    The game documents panel now have a 7 pixels border , just like the images panel. Good for those who use image splitters with the same color as the background color. You can disable the docs panel border in Preferences screen, Game Docs page.

    Last but not least, there's a new feature called Tool Bar Overlay Icons Folder  ( Preferences screen,  Games List page). You don't need to overwrite frontend's default overlay icons with your custom icons anymore. All you need is to create a new sub-folder inside  \resources\main_icons\overlay\ base folder with the name of your choice and place your custom icons there. Then you can switch between default overlay set and custom sets at will . Feature for both light mode and night mode.

    There are some new screenshots in the screenshots page demonstrating the awesome powers of the dark side, err... night mode.
Thanks to  Fabian Leonel  for making them. They look fantastic. I'll update the rest of the screenshots when I can. You can contribute with frontend screenshots as well. Just make sure they are in PNG format with no compression for maximum picture quality.

    Be wary ( I think I heard that b4... ), there are two update packs in the download page:

pack 1 contains only the executable + docs . If you already have v8.6.2 ,  this is the one you want. File is a lot smaller, good for those with limited bandwidth.

pack 2 contains the executable + docs + new/updated icons . You can get this one if you're still at v8.6 . No need to download v8.6.2 first.

July 06, 2018 [version 8.6.2 released]

    Of course I had to miss something...
I forgot to include arcade\filters\mame_filters.ini file. Some filters were renamed and are not added to the list without it.

    The  Search Games feature was expanded. Besides the floating panel , you can now choose to attach the panel below the games list or at the top .
If you press  ESC key while the edit box is focused, the search bar closes, just like in Firefox / Chrome internet browsers. Also, the search panel enabled mode is now restored at a frontend restart .

    Be wary, there are two update packs in the download page:

pack 1 contains only the executable + docs . If you already have v8.6.1 ,  this is the one you want. File is a lot smaller, good for those with limited bandwidth.

pack 2 contains the executable + docs + new/updated icons . You can get this one if you're still at v8.6 . No need to download v8.6.1 first.

July 02, 2018 [version 8.6.1 released]

    Henceforth, you shall be known as Darth Emu Loader !
Humongous amounts of drawing bugs where fixed since last build. That was all thanks to the night mode. I would have never found them bugs without it...

    Quite a few internal changes were made in favor of the night mode. Further improvements to my TPanelEx and TShadowLabel Delphi components were required. I've had so much fun working on Emu Loader these past 4 weeks, I tell you.

    Many " under the good " bugs were also fixed. But let me say this first:  you must create games list for all arcade and MAME software lists all over again . This is required due to recent internal changes. Not doing so will cause a cataclysmic event!

The goods:

- Emu Loader's audit system was still flawed . Bios/devices were not validated 100% in some situations. Model 2 board ROMs for SEGA Model 2 Emulator were also completely ignored.

- Support for Supemodel 3 Emulator latest SVN 735 build . You lhave to reconfigure the emulator and game custom settings within the frontend since .ini file entries have been renamed . I took the opportinity to add support for save states . You can select a save state before loading a Model 3 game now. I've also fixed quite a few bugs related to Supermode 3 usage. The most important is proper command line parameters , that were completely messed up.

- Emu Loader was adding bogus files to games in MAME software lists . Some of them are battery ROMs. These are not game files and should not be added to the game's files list. Most affected are cartridge softlists nes.xml and msx1_cart.xml .

- ROM/CHD size is now added to arcade games files list . There is no file size validation, it's just used for information. Currently used in Game Details screen and Arcade Games Scan Results screen.

- Games Search tool bar repalced by a floating panel . This is the only way I found to implement tool bar colors customization .

- Filter Arcade Games by Main CPU tool bar replaced by a floating panel ( Arcade Misc Filters button). Again, to allow changing tool bar colors.

- The interface of several screens were updated to support night mode . Some of them look incredibly beautiful.

- New Night Node Customization settings in preferences screen. Only tool bar colors can be customized for now.

- Preferences screen redesigned so its contents don't clutter in a small space.

    And here's the golden goose:  tool bar icons were complete redesign! Outer frames split from the icons into overlay icons .
These overlays are dynamically drawn on top of the filter icons. Located in the new  \resources\main_icons\overlay\ folder, you can easily customize them to your liking . Full alpha blend support . There's a set for the night mode and another one for the light mode.
    Large icons were resized from 44x40 to 48x48, and small icons resized from 28x22 to 30x24.

    I took the time to create extra large 68x68 tool bar icons for those like me with 4K (3840x2160) and 2K (2560x1440) screen resolutions. They look awesome. There's also new 30x24 arcade filters small icons for the small tool bar.

    I'm sure I'm forgetting one or two things here, but those are the main changes. Refer to the change log for details. There's also the message board for help.

May 30, 2018 [version 8.6 released]

    The night mode is coming along nicely. It's still in WIP state though.
No more support for low screen resolutions.  The minimum resolution required was bumped to 1024x768 and/or 1280x720 .

    Many drawing bugs were fixed in this build while implementing the night mode. I found horrenduous amounts of components painting weirdness that only show up if you use the dark theme.

    A new category filter Board Game was added to Arcade Miscellaneous Filters. File catver.ini required.
Not much else has been done for this release. Most changes were done internally, not apparent to the end-user.

May 07, 2018 [version 8.5.7 released]

    Seduced by the dark side, Emu Loader was.  Yes, hmmm.
More dark themed stuff. Messages box succumbed to the darkness... but it can be turned back to the good side with the unticking  of a checkbox.

    Additional tweaks to Neo-Geo MVS (run multiple Neo-Geo games). Plus, more bug fixes.

May 02, 2018 [version 8.5.6 released]

    Fix  out of focus bug at startup , take 3... action !
This time it's gone for good. Thank you Geoman for helping with beta tests. Another bug resisting the purge was  arcade emulator filename being emptied when detecting a new MAME build at startup.

    I hope I can get some rest now and actually enjoy using a " most of the time " bug-free frontend.

May 01, 2018 [version 8.5.5 released]

    If you're annoyed by the dreadful  out of focus bug at startup like me, make sure to try this build.
Also, the arcade emulator filename is no longer updated when checking for a new build at startup, only file date/time stamp and version info.

April 30, 2018 [version 8.5.4 released]

    Can you say... quad image layouts ? One more image panel for your viewing pleasure.
Tons of bugs were fixed in the build, lots of them reated to image panels and image layouts. I took the opportunity to separate the zipped images initialization code from images main functions. Also create a darn cute dark themed messages panel that appears just below the images. Showing the splash screen when changing categories/layouts was getting old.

    Image category selector and image layout selector popup menu in images tool bar were replaced by improved dialogs . They were way too large and required a resolution of 1920x1080 to show all options. Tweaks were also made to fix bugs present in, now deprecated, popup menus.

    Image layout splitters now redraw image panels while dragging them instead of just show a pattern line. This is an experiment and I hope it doesn't cause paiting problems or app crashes.

    A new Use Custom Category for Console/Computer setting is available. You can have a  set of image categories on the same layout  for arcade and another set for MAME software list games, console/computer systems.
You can use cabinet  for arcade and  cover for MAME software list / console / computer . Everything is saved on the Feature can be enabled/disabled only in Image Layout Settings .

    Added support for MAME v0.197 and expanded Neo-Geo MVS multi-slot machines . When running multiple arcade games you can now select between different multi-slot machines.
Select multiple Neo-Geo arcade games, and execute. You can change carts order and now the Neo-Geo machine. There are 6-slot, 4-slot, 2-slot and 1-slot machines to choose from.

April 04, 2018 [version 8.5.3 released]

    And the hunt for more bugs continue.
Frontend crash when trying to save emulator default settings from Arcade Emulators Setup screen. Plus, other minor adjustments.

April 02, 2018 [version 8.5.2 released]

    Booyakasha!
More bugs terminated. They were causing Emu Loader to malfunction.

    This build also bring a new feature: colors customization of preview image's hint box . Great if you want to see a dark hint box when hovering the mouse on the image. Settings can be found in Preferences screen, Images tag.

    Emu Loader is going thru another major house-cleaning season. There are plenty more commented/unused code to be removed. This is the reason why I've been crossing paths with some jurassic bugs that I didn't know were there.

March 29, 2018 [version 8.5.1 released]

    By The Power of Greyskull!
Audit MAME software lists was dead after creating a software games list in update mode , tagging all games as missing.

Other than that, all is well... except the things that aren't.

March 28, 2018 [version 8.5 released]

    Can you guess what this is ?... a new version with lots of goodies.
Several bugs were fixed and lots of dead code removed from source code.

    MAME software list support has been expanded and largely improved . There are 2 options when creating software games lists:

- update mode : if you're updating MAME but softwarename.xml files are the same (CRC32 checksum), frontend will not delete current lists or re-create their games lists. There are around 400 software lists in MAME. From now on, this is the frontend's default mode.
- overwrite mode : this mode will delete current lists and recreate all software games lists again. This is how the frontend was working until now

    The system selection dialog  and the scan mode dialog were updated with the new software list feature. User interface and info texts also updated.
Internal changes to improve game .chd file search routine. Also added  \softlist_name\ sub-folder search since MAME supports this.

    Software games that only have .chd files and no  gamename.zip set were not audited correctly. This was a serious bug!

    This is really cool! Support to  run software list games that require and extra set . Info saved on a new \arcade\games\mame.elsoftlistreq file.
You don't have to manually insert the required media (cart, floppy, etc) to run these games anymore. Highly experimental feature and it might require updates in future builds. Some examples:
Atari 2600 Cassettes require an extra cartridge inserted called  Starpath Supercharger .
PC Engine CDs require an extra cartridge inserted called Super CD-Rom System Card (v3.0) .

    Atari 800 fans, Emu Loader can  read Atari 800 cartridge header (first 4 bytes) , looking for the  ' C ' ' A ' ' R ' ' T ' tag . If found, the cartridge type will no longer be added to the command line. Unzipped and zipped games are supported. See change log for more details.

Plus, code tweaks for consistency and speeds improvements.

    Remaining image category/layout settings moved out of EmuLoader.ini into their own settings .ini file (see change log ). Now you won't lose image their settings on a frontend crash or a clean install. :)
Be aware that file  \arcade\image_categories.ini was renamed to  \arcade\sysimagefolders_arcade.ini . Done once at startup, if old file exists.
A new  \ini_files\image_category.ini file was created containing image category settings from EmuLoader.ini . Done once at startup.

    Arcade Miscellaneous filter dialog interface updates and added a new category filter   Music for sets like  VGM Player ( vgmplay ). You need AntoPISA new catver.ini for this filter to work.

    Added a new Device Name column in Game Details screen, ROMs/CHDs list panel. Only visible for sets that use 2 or more device sets . This is a nice visual update.

    Support for MAME v0.169 , including the new comm setting Syncronize Frames entry in mame.ini .
Initial work to support software lists in HBMAME . Most of the work is done for MAME, only a few functions were modified to add HBMAME.

    One last change. I re-implemented an old setting, Disable Threaded Preview Image Loading . If you have problems and/or frontend crashes while viewing zipped images , just enable this setting. Emu Loader will no longer load images within threads . Not that much of a speed loss, except when fast-scrolling the games list (hold up or down arrow key).

    Oh, and make sure to re-create the games lists for the following systems so the fixes/changes/new features can be applied to the games list:
MAME, HBMAME, MAME Software List (use overwrite mode), ZiNc, Demul .

February 22, 2018 [version 8.4.7 released]

    More goodies!
This build brings a new audit system with  99.99% accuracy . Why not 100%, you ask ? Because I don't have a complete MAME set, but from my extensive tests, all ROMs were validated without a single error.

    MAME and Demul sets with CRC32 collisions are properly detected and validated . Sets segadimm and segasp no longer tag missing ROMs as available. Emu Loader will try to unzip these ROMs into a memory stream and generate a SHA-1 checksum. For now, only device and bios ROMs are scanned.

    There is one limitation for sets with CRC32 collisions . Device ROMs must be in their device sets and bios ROMs must be in their bios sets . Why ? The entire set must be unzipped to generate SHA-1 checksums. Having these ROMs in game sets would require to unzip game sets as well.... oh, the madness!
Unique device/bios ROMs can still be in game sets though.

    Other than a rewritten audit system, other bugs were fixed and there was a lot of old code cleaning. Frontend documentation files were updated and some functions were optimized.

    I know this is something most people don't like to do, but  you need to create games lists again so these changes can be applied .
No need for a clean install though. Systems that required a new games list:  MAME, HBMAME, Demul, SEGA Model 2, ZiNc .

I hope you enjoy this build as much as I enjoyed working on it.

February 12, 2018 [version 8.4.5 released]

    It's that time of year again. Emu Loader is going thru an agressive metamorphosis process.

MAME's audit system must be rewritten to support CRC32 collision detection and proper device ROMs detection . A bunch of MAME games that require device sets are wrongly set as available when they shouldn't. But later...

    This build brings a feature requested many, many, many months ago: tabbed images / game docs . A really nice addition if you want to view game docs maximized in the screenshots panel without disabling Images feature. Access in preferences screen, Game Docs page.

    Next, is the removal of  Internet Game Info feature from the  image categories list ( what the hell was I thinking !? ). There's a new toggle button in images tool bar for the web viewer, and you can use it with all image layouts.

    No more images view mode ... what a great day!  Single Image Layout inherited all the code from the, now dead,  classic view . Previous frontend version was still using the classic view under the hood . From now on, to change between image categories you must be in  single image layout . Lots of internal changes were made to make this possible. It's now a lot easier to change between images layouts and categories. Much more intuitive interface. As a result, long time bugs and weird behavior were finally crushed without mercy !

    Another change is support for MAME softlist zipped images in a \softwarelist\ sub-folder . eg.: snap_dir\msx1_cart\msx1_cart.zip
Just something extra to separate unzipped images files from zipped images files.

    A  last minute addition. A new Show Only Sets With CRC32 Collision filter in Arcade Miscellaneous Filters (main tool bar buttons). Enable this option to show only games that have CRC32 collisions. It might seems like a pointless filter since MAME have only two sets,  segadimm and segasp , that fall into this category. For me, it will be useful while rewriting Emu Loader's audit system.

    As usual, if you have any problems, I appreciate if you post it in Emu Loader's forum instead of sending me e-mails. This way everyone can see it.

February 12, 2018 [version 8.4.6 released]

    I missed a couple bugs... Oopsie!
Forgot to remove a beep command when caching zipped images list and forgot to reindex the tab's internal indexes in MAME Settings screen.

February 12, 2018 [version 8.4.5 released]

    It's that time of year again. Emu Loader is going thru an agressive metamorphosis process.

MAME's audit system must be rewritten to support CRC32 collision detection and proper device ROMs detection . A bunch of MAME games that require device sets are wrongly set as available when they shouldn't. But later...

    This build brings a feature requested many, many, many months ago: tabbed images / game docs . A really nice addition if you want to view game docs maximized in the screenshots panel without disabling Images feature. Access in preferences screen, Game Docs page.

    Next, is the removal of  Internet Game Info feature from the  image categories list ( what the hell was I thinking !? ). There's a new toggle button in images tool bar for the web viewer, and you can use it with all image layouts.

    No more images view mode ... what a great day!  Single Image Layout inherited all the code from the, now dead,  classic view . Previous frontend version was still using the classic view under the hood . From now on, to change between image categories you must be in  single image layout . Lots of internal changes were made to make this possible. It's now a lot easier to change between images layouts and categories. Much more intuitive interface. As a result, long time bugs and weird behavior were finally crushed without mercy !

    Another change is support for MAME softlist zipped images in a \softwarelist\ sub-folder . eg.: snap_dir\msx1_cart\msx1_cart.zip
Just something extra to separate unzipped images files from zipped images files.

    A  last minute addition. A new Show Only Sets With CRC32 Collision filter in Arcade Miscellaneous Filters (main tool bar buttons). Enable this option to show only games that have CRC32 collisions. It might seems like a pointless filter since MAME have only two sets,  segadimm and segasp , that fall into this category. For me, it will be useful while rewriting Emu Loader's audit system.

    As usual, if you have any problems, I appreciate if you post it in Emu Loader's forum instead of sending me e-mails. This way everyone can see it.

February 05, 2018 [version 8.4.4 released]

    Captain's log, stardate 95699.36 .
    I've received reports of erratic behavior in main sections of this program. Further investigation confirmed that Emu Loader was suffering from temporal displacement causing data corruption, specially after running games. Nothing can be done to restore the playtime data of affected games, except resetting them to zero.
End of log .

    Take note on the following changes:
- data corruption in Total Playtime info
- splash screen timer frozen  when adding MAME software lists into the games list
- driver status set to undefined for Supermode 3 games , making it impossible to filter by driver status
- removed Internet Game Info from image categories, making it a standalone feature
- expanded  Export Games List To File feature
- support for MAME v0.194 and tweaks to MAME Settings screen
-  Preview Images feature rewrite to remove Images View Mode , plus several tweaks for future improvements

January 05, 2018 [version 8.4.3 released]

    Ok, this is getting out of hand.  Petrificus Totalus!
If you delete/copy/move games files with Emu Loader, you need this build. For the life of me, I can't understand why  CopyFile() , MoveFile() , DeleteFile() Windows APIs were malfunctioning. Replaced by their Unicode counterparts. Windows 7 seems to work ok again.

    I've made a few more tweaks to the Delete/Copy/Move Games Files feature. Added a new Add System Folder checkbox so you can copy/move games  to a \destination folder\system_folder\  without having to manually select a system sub-folder.
Disable this new checkbox to copy/move files directly to the destination folder without adding the extra system sub-folder.

And the race continues. I know I've said this many, many, many times before but, Emu Loader is better than ever!

January 03, 2018 [version 8.4.2 released]

    Today's forecast is...  FIRE!  Right, left, up and down, there's no scape. The only way out is use a pokey code to freeze time and download this new frontend version.
A couple freakish bugs caused by old code, plus more goodies.

January 01, 2018 [version 8.4.1 released]

    "Day one" update. ^-^ More fixes and changes.

    Demul v0.582 and older builds are no longer supported! Yes, I removed support for the older builds because the frontend could never handle their CDs/HDDs properly. There was a major bug detecting Demul CHD files as regular ROMs, making it impossible to validate games.
You must use Demul v0.7 and newer from now on.

    Added support to 4 memory card slots for MAME v0.193 in Run Game (Extra Parameters) , accessible in games popup menu. Also improved support of file extensions. The frontend was limited to  .mc? extension. The frontend read extensions from -listxml output. Note that you can still use any file extension since MAME allows you to load them from the command line (not sure if this is possible in MAME's internal menu).

    Improved detection of MAME CHD region tags from -listxml output. Added detection of  CED VideoDisc and Video Tape (VHS) regions.
Also fixed CHD region detection for ZiNc games, to properly set them as discs files instead of  ROMs . You coudn't validate ZiNc games in previous frontend builds... seriously, nobody noticed this ???

    Due to all the changes you have to create games lists for the following systems again: MAME and MAME software lists, HBMAME, Demul, ZiNc.
There's no other way.
These CHD region tag changes are purely cosmetic and do not affect the way Emu Loader validate games files.

December 28, 2017 [version 8.4 released]

    I broke my promisse, one last 2017 build. Since MAME v0.193 have new settings in mame.ini , I had to make a new build. Also, a couple bugs related to Systems Quick Filter that nobody noticed.

    Since category.ini from AntoPISA doesn't have adult or mature categories, you can't filter out those games anymore. So, I aded support for AntoPISA's mature.ini , found in his CatVer pack . This new file only works together with category.ini .

    Starting from version 8.4 there will be some serious core changes related to the game media type indexation. I've been planning this since I added support for MAME software lists. Currently, EL uses zero for ROMs and one for CHDs . Not very useful, is it ?
Media type for MAME software lists is partially supported.

My initial media type index list will be something like this:

0 -> ROM
1 -> Cartridge
2 -> Floppy Disk
3 -> Cassette Tape
4 -> MAME CHD (general, uncategorized or unknown media type)
5 -> Hard Disk Drive (for both arcade and EmuCon games)
6 -> Disc (CD, DVD, LaserDisc, CED VideoDisc, GD-ROM, others?)
7 -> Compact Flash Card
8 -> Video Tape (VHS only ?)

    This index list will be used for all systems (arcade, console, computer, handheld, MAME software lists).
For MAME CHDs , there will be a new file tag: Media Type Description  (or Title ?). This is especially useful for Disc media type (see index 6 above). ROMs don't need this. This new tag is only for looks, as they will not have unique icons. Either way, it will be nice to know if a disc is CD or DVD or LaserDisc... right ?

If there are missing medias or you have suggestions on this rewrite, please let me know. Post a message in Emu Loader's message board.

    EmuCon Frontend (and games) must also be updated, so both frontends can have interchangeable files. Not to worry, I will write a small app to update games lists, favorites profiles and played games files.
All systems will be updated with this app except MAME, MAME software list games, HBMAME. A game can have multiple CHD files of different media types, and Emu Loader will try to detect the correct media type while creating games lists.

Only the update pack is available. A full pack is not required at this time.

December 21, 2017 [version 8.3.9 released]

    Ooh! Emperor likey. What does it do... don't care, I want it. Gimme, gimme, gimme!
More bug fixes and some interface tweaks. Thank you all for your bug reports, feedback and suggestions.

    This will probably be the last release of the year so... I Wish You a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year !

December 18, 2017 [version 8.3.8 released]

    And another one.. :)
This build fixes yet another bug related to the restore selected game . There was no Unicode strings support in the ELV_SelectItem() function. Can't believe I missed this. EmuCon games were left out... alone... in the dark...

    I've also added a popup menu in the systems list with more options in the Systems Quick Filter dialog to make your life easier. Make sure to use it on a selected system so you don't lose current selections.

December 13, 2017 [version 8.3.7 released]

    Dude... Holy Crap! One year without updates and now they just won't stop coming.
A tiny update to fix a bug that was not restoring last selected game on a restart and when switching view modes. Also, I added proper support for console/computer games (EmuCon systems).

December 11, 2017 [version 8.3.6 released]

    Can this frontend get any better ? No, it cannot.
A couple bug fixes and initial work on the media type expansion. Currently, Emu Loader assign ROM or CHD media type for arcade games.

    Some changes have been made to  Last Played Games (MRU) feature.

December 05, 2017 [version 8.3.5 released]

    More... more... more... MORE...!
Bug fixes and a couple changes to the  Systems Quick Filter . You can disable this filter directly in the quick filter dialog by using the new Reset To Default button. Or by clicking the Apply button in Machine Types / Systems full filter.

December 04, 2017 [version 8.3.4 released]

    Some oopsies, I've made!
More bug fixes and a new feature: Systems Quick Filter . Why ? To select a single system for the game list in the Machine Type / Systems filter can drive you coo coo crazy. There are tons of settings and systems to uncheck there.

    Systems quick filter is here to make your life easier. All you need to do is select one or more systems and click the apply button. It's like magic ! :)
It will overwrite the settings from Machine Type / Systems filter without changing any of its settings... you're welcome.

    There are two state icons for this tool bar filter. One with a green stripe meaning the filter is enabled/active  and another one with a red stripe telling you the filter is  disabled . There is no extra activation option for this filter. Either the Machine Type / Systems is active or the Systems Quick Filter is active. Very easy to use.
And the current active filter is restored on a frontend restart. The MAME Machines Filter Panel feature is disabled when Systems Quick Filter is active though. This is to prevent games filtering errors if the MAME system is not selected.

The uptobox links in downloads page have been removed. I need one thousand downloads for a single point. Absolutely insane, not worth the trouble.

November 29, 2017 [version 8.3.3 released]

    And the updates keep coming... :)
This one have a few bugfixes related to console/computer/handheld games lists.

    MEGA links are no more. You cannot rely on MEGA these days, since they've implemented a darn  daily quota, making it impossible to download files.

You may also notice a little "award" link at the bottom of the downloads page. Thank you Softpedia !

Since I have a UpToBox premium account, there are alternative links from this server in the downloads page. If you can, please download EL updates from UpToBox links. I will add points to my account. This is just an experiment as it seems you need 1000 (one thousand) download hits so they can award you 1 (one) tiny point...

November 27, 2017 [version 8.3.2 released]

    New update with new category filters ( misc arcade filters tool bar button). You need category.ini or catver.ini to use these filters.

November 26, 2017 [version 8.3.1 released]

    First update with some bug fixes related to the thumbnails view, making the frontend crash. Thanks to  Fabian ... again, for stumbling into this bug!
From this version forward, I will no longer upload the full package on every new update.

    If you didn't get v8.3 already, do it and then download this update. This way, I can post updates a lot quicker.
More frequent releases is good for everyone, even if they fix a tiny insignificant bug. Call them beta builds, if you will. I might need to change the downlods page to handle more files.

November 24, 2017 [version 8.3 released]

    Greetings, fellow earthlings! Avert your eyes from everything else you're doing and read every word of this long news post like you really mean it... :)
Happy birthday . One year without updates. What changed ?  All 65 systems and all features from EmuCon frontend are now in Emu Loader . You don't need two separate frontends anymore. It's my dream come true! Seriously, it took 2 years and a lot of rewriting to make it happen.
Since EL is not exclusive to arcade emulators, the logo changed to Multiple Systems Frontend .

    Many thanks to Fabian Leonel for helping me these past months with beta tests . Without your help, Emu Loader wouldn't be anywhere near ready for a public release.
Windows 10 compatibility has also improved, thanks to Fabian help.

    MAME and arcade emulators/games lists are no longer a requirement to use Emu Loader . You can have a couple computer systems like MSX and Amiga , and nothing else. Like in EmuCon, you can use 4 emulators per system and 2 execution parameters per emulator.

    There aren't many changes on the arcade side, but there are tons of bug fixes and tweaks. Added support for latest MAME , Demul ,  Supermodel 3 emulators and several files/folders were moved to the \arcade\ folder. Read instructions at the end of this post .

    The minimum Supermodel 3 emulator version required is now  SVN 592 . You can use older builds but they might not be compatible with EL v8.3. If you haven't updated this emulator, I recommend you do so. Latest Supermodel 3 SVN builds are much better.
    There's a minor fix for ZiNc. The media type of <disk entries were detected as Hard Disk Drive when the correct type is Disc . To fix this you need to create ZiNc games list again. This is just a cosmetic fix, not doing so will cause no harm in the way ZiNc games are handed... it's up to you.

    Added  merged tag support for latest Demul v0.7 WIP (November 11, 2017) . Clone games show parent game file tags in Game Details screen. You must create Demul games list again to rebuild the ROMs database in the frontend. Not doing so will cause no harm in the way Demul games are handled... again, it's up to you.

    One of the important changes is that favorites profiles have changed. You must update your fav profiles to the new EL v8.3 format before adding new games to it . There's a new Update Favorites Profiles item in main menu  you can use. Make sure you update EmuCon fav profiles with EmuCon v2.7.6 or v2.7.7 as well before updating EL fav profiles!
    This process will  merge favorite profiles of EmuCon and Emu Loader if files have the same name . There is a detailed tutorial on how to do this update in eldir\docs\How To Use EmuCon Files With Emu Loader.rtf file.
Don't wanna update fav profiles ? No problem. The content of current profiles will not be recognized by the frontend.

    On the console/computer/handheld side, if you have a working EmuCon install , you can copy games lists files and config files directly into Emu Loader . Read the .rtf file mentioned above for instructions. Don't worry, it's easy.
    Games from EmuCon can have the game info split into game title , year , manufacturer , number of players . To do that, use the new  Games Editor  in main menu Console/Computer . This data doesn't alter games list files. They are saved in eldir\console_computer\games_extra_data\system_name.txt and loaded into the list. If you re-create games list, the extra game info will not be lost.
    You can also assign MAME software lists to console/computer/handheld systems (EmuCon) and use the arcade MAME executable to run EmuCon games . You can modify the assignments when a new MAME comes out using the new Systems Editor in main menu Console/Computer . This way you will be able to select ANY MAME machine compatible to the assigned software list to play EmuCon games... endless possibilities.

    Thumbnails view customizer  got a facelift. You can preview the results before applying to the main games list. Resize thumbnail cell's width and height,
enable/disable icons and game title.
Games custom fonts was also updated. You can preview all systems at once on screen, if you have a high resolution monitor. Recommended resolution is 1680x1050 or higher. 4K resolution is also supported (3840x2160).

    Video Preview Settings was removed from preferences screen into its own dialog. There's a new cancel button to abort changes in case you make a mistake. Access is in main menu Images or images popup menu.
Make sure to read eldir\docs\How To Use EmuCon Files With Emu Loader.rtf file for insttructions on how to merge the contents of videopreview.ini file from both Emu Loader and EmuCon .

Dialogs  Image Category Settings and Image Layout Settings were split into two dialogs.

    EmuCon feature Last Played Games ported to Emu Loader and expanded. Added support for arcade systems, including MAME software list games. This feature is in preliminary stages and it will be expanded further.

    One cool change is the new mega Machine Types + Systems Filter . I'm particularly proud of this one. All machine types and available systems are listed in this dialog. A great improvement is the addition of a check box on each listed system. If you select the all systems filter, the checked state of individual systems will not be lost! Accessible in the main tool bar buttons, next to view mode button.
The machine type filter  and arcade systems filter buttons are no more, replaced by this new mega filter!

    Many dialogs and screens now require a minimum of 1024x768 or 1280x720 resolution. Lower resolutions are still partially supported. Remember that Emu Loader is a Windows application to be used with a high resolution monitor. Low res CRT TV. Arcade cabinets ? This frontend was not built for them...

    Some files and folders must be manually moved before you can use EL v8.3. Arcade stuff are now in the  \arcade\ folder. You must do this manually,  to avoid this procedure executing EVERY time you load the frontend and waste precious CPU cycles... and a few seconds!
Let's assume the frontend's root folder is eldir\

Move the following files from eldir\ini_files\ to eldir\arcade\
  el_mamu_exclude.ini
  mame_machines_usercustom.ini

Move the following files from eldir\ini_files\ to eldir\arcade\filters
  category.ini
  version.ini
  catver.ini
  mess.ini
  nplayers.ini
  languages.ini

Move all arcade games list files ( *.el; *.elstatus; *.elrom; *.miss; *system_name*.ini ) from eldir\arcade\ to eldir\arcade\games\
... or just delete all arcade lists and create arcade games lists from scratch.

There are new arcade XML databases. They are located in eldir\arcade\db_xml\
Make sure to delete the outdated files from eldir\ folder.
  DICE_xml.dat
  SEGAModel2_xml.dat
  SEGAModel2-v1.0_xml.dat
  SupermodelSEGAModel3_xml.dat
  ZiNc_xml.dat

Move folder eldir\emulator_ini\ to eldir\arcade\emulator_ini\

Move folder eldir\ini_files\memcard_lastused\ to eldir\arcade\memcard_lastused\

    Alright, enough is enough. You can load Emu Loader now. Remember to check out the change log for a complete list of changes. If you have any problems, please post a message in the message board instead of sending me e-mails. This way I won't be bombarded with the same bug reports and other users will be able to see them too.

November 26, 2016 [version 8.2.9 released]

    Bugs, bugs, bugs... bugs!
A couple more fixes. Internet game info crashing the frontend and the inability to detect source .ini files due to  cough! bad coding cough! in games popup menu.
I advise everyone to update to v8.2.9 if you create custom settings for games/drivers.

May The Schwartz Be With You!

November 23, 2016 [version 8.2.8 released]

    My mistake! I missed a tiny detail, to check if file  ini_files\image_categories.ini exists before reading it. DUH!
Emu Loader crashes on a fresh install.

November 23, 2016 [version 8.2.7 released]

    Minor update to fix a bug where MAMu_ icons folder is not saved back into .ini file when exiting the frontend.
File ini_files\folders_emulators.ini has been split in two: ini_files\emulators.ini and ini_files\image_categories.ini for easier handling.

November 22, 2016 [version 8.2.6 released]

    May I say it again ? This is the best Emu Loader version yet!
I think this phrase should become a frontend slogan... :)

    So many things have change in this version. The thumbnails view has gone thru a facelift and tons of bug were fixed.
You'll see 128x128 icons for games without snapshots. System icon, game icon and favorite icon are shown on each thumbnail.

NOTE: setting Show Images/Game Docs Panel is no longer available. The images panel is now always visible in thumbs view. You must disable the images panel manually to get rid of it ( F6 hotkey, main menu Images , games popup menu / thumbnails sub-menu). This was necessary to fix a really old bug that I could never find a suitable fix for.
This also fix a bug where the game docs panel was not showing correctly if the images panel is disabled.

    The  screenshots preview feature is also updated with new categories : end , boss , logo , score , versus , game over , how to play , select .
EL now support separate .zip files for each software list . You don't need to put software list snapshots in snap.zip anymore. Just create zip files named the same as software lists and put them in the same folder as snap.zip ( msx1_cart.zip , a7800.zip , nes.zip , c64_flop.zip ...).
All image categories are supported. Many.... many... many bugs were squashed here as well.
   You can find all these sets in Progetto-SNAP website. Many thanks to  AntoPISA for creating and maintaining softlist zip files.

    EL can detect image types now. If you have a file with .png extension but the image is actually in JPEG format , EL no longer crash and load the image without going nuts.

WARNING: columns Game Status and Software List Game Usage Tips  were removed from the main games list. Make sure to delete file ini_files\columns_profile.ini before using this new version or EL will crash.

It took me quite some time to implement these changes but it was worthed. The startup process might be a little faster as well. Not to worry, there are more things to improve, like the games audit system. I hope you enjoy v8.2.6.
Report bugs in EL's forum so everyone can see it.

October 19, 2016 [version 8.2.5 released]

    Minor update to fix Error code 1 when trying to run games with  ZiNc emulator.
For me life of me, I don't know why the function to convert long names to short names (8.3) was not working. I didn't make changes to it...

Sorry I took so long to upload this bugfix, I was busy updating EmuCon.

September 28, 2016 [version 8.2.4 released]

    It's that time of the month again. New release compatible with MAME v0.178 .
Bios names in zn.cpp driver have changed, breaking EL's games filters.
I fixed the problems with the audit system. It's works again.

    Added a new Software Name column in the games list for details and grouped view modes. Software games list only.
Also, there's a new search bar option : Software List Name . What does it do, you ask ? It lists all MAME machines that support that software list name (examples: msx1_cart , nes , c64_flop ). You can either sort the games list by the new software name column or enter a software name directly in the search bar.

September 27, 2016 [version 8.2.3 released]

    S.U.R.P.R.I.S.E.!
I broke the audit system with the big core change, affecting old demul builds and some MAME/HBMAME sets, specially the ones with CHD files. Many thanks to Fabian for the bug report and helping me with tests.

As a bonus, I added support for the baddump ROM/CHD status. You can see this info in game details screen and, in the future EL version, scan games results (implemented, it has not).

NOTE: remember to re-create the games list of all systems so the system.elrom files can be updated with the new baddump tag. The frontend will not crash if you don't do this

September 24, 2016 [version 8.2.2 released]

    Finally, the second phase of the major core change is finished.
The ROMs database format has changed ... again. First thing you must do after starting the frontend is create the games list for all systems !

    If you don't do this, you'll get non-stop crashes... this change was necessary for future improvements. Now the files can be expanded even more because they are using tags, just like the main games list files. Important fixes were made. This update is a must for all users.


    Emu Loader is now also capable to split CHD files into three different categories : HDD , Disc , Compact Flash Card . If you go to Game Details of  a game with CHD files, you'll notice the new CHD icons in the files list. This was an important change for future improvements... :)
Deleting game files is more stable now.

CRC32 collisions detection is implemented. These ROMs cannot be validated thru SHA-1 checksum yet, but at least they are being tagged. Naomi GD-ROM Bios is the only affected set,  with 6 ROMs using the same CRC32, but different SHA-1.

    Many changes to the user interface were made as well. You might notice them if you look close enough. :)
It's getting hard to support 640x480 and 800x600 resolutions but I'm doing my best.

    I haven't forgot about the new Demul v0.7 (August 18, 2016) . New games and new machines. MAME CHDs are also officially supported.
But don't worry, older Demul builds are still supported...

    One last change. Load memory card files. I completely forgot that a memcard created by one machine is not compatible with another machine (psa, psu, psj...). File ini_files\mame_memcard_lastused.ini  is no longer valid.
Instead, all files will be saved in ini_files\memcard_lastused\mame\machine_name.ini . The  machine_name.ini string is replaced by the machine name ( psa.ini , psu.ini , psj.ini , etc...).
    Now a single game can have different memcard files each machine. This change was necessary for the Sony PlayStation machines.
Remember that you can select what machine to play the game with Select Machine to Run Game in games popup menu.

You can expect more nice improvements in the future!!! :-D

September 05, 2016 [version 8.2.1 released]

    One hour before the official release, I had to do some last minute changes and, for an unknown reason, part of the source code got corrupt without me knowing!
I'm sure it was my fault. Because of that, you couldn't play or record input files. I had to rewirte a big chunk of the code.

    I've also took the time to finish the  Record Current Section to a Movie feature (record .avi ; .wav ; .mng files).
Since MAME doesn't allow full path as a parameter, files will have to created in MAME's snap directory . There's no way around it.
To avoid mixing videos with snapshots, Emu Loader will create files in a  \record_video\gamename\ sub-folder.

    Still no work has been done to handle CRC32 collisions within the same set (different files with same CRC32 but different SHA-1). That will require quite some work!  Naomi GD-ROM Bios is one example. Just check the ROMs list and you'll see.

I'll update the screenshots page when possible.

WARNING: with all the current frontend changes, after starting Emu Loader, please re-create MAME and HBMAME games lists because some files have change name and/or format. Games list from previous EL builds are not fully supported and you will lose some of the new features of EL v8.2.

September 01, 2016 [version 8.2 released]

    After two months of hard work, it's finally here! There are some BIG changes in this version, mostly for preview image and expanded support for MAME input/save state files... and other minor updates. A lot of core functions had to be rewritten, but all for the best.

    Talking about MAME input and save state files.  I've also added a new feature to insert memory cards for machines that support it (Sony PlayStation, Neo-Geo and others). Now you can play/record an input file, load a save state and insert a memory card all at the same time!
Check out this screenshot: http://emuloader.mameworld.info/screenshots/36.png

    The user interface has gone thru some facelifting as well. Slowly, EL is supporting high screen resolutions (FullHD and higher).
Added support for MAME v0.177. Proper folder detection of snapshot files extra sub-folders ( mame_snapdir\snap\gamename.png ). You can use ClrMAME to update your snapshots packs without worries now.

WARNING: with all the current frontend changes, after starting Emu Loader, please re-create MAME and HBMAME games lists because some files have change name and/or format. Games list from previous EL builds are not fully supported and you will lose some of the new features of EL v8.2.

To avoid any problems, please check the change log before using this new version.
More updates and new features are comming...

July 05, 2016 [version 8.1.7 released]

    Releasing a new build in the same day... one month later. What are the odds ? :)
This version brings support for MAME v0.175 and some bug fixes related to thumbnails view. There were some internal tweaks and code cleaning but they are not visible to the user.

June 05, 2016 [version 8.1.6 released]

    Let's try this again...
There was a bug when reading ROMs paths from emulator.ini file on Sega Model 2 system, making it impossible to validate ROMs.

May 29, 2016 [version 8.1.5 released]

    Oopsie EX2 Plus!
Search bar was not filtering correctly, returning an empty games list no matter the search criteria. Thanks to Nomax for reporting this bug.

May 26, 2016 [version 8.1.4 released]

    Oh no!... I missed the new Neo-Geo driver name from MAME v0.174.
From now on, Emu Loader will also check for the bios name neogeo when filtering Neo-Geo games in the list.

May 25, 2016 [version 8.1.3 released]

    Last release of the month... Fixed a couple bugs and added a new search bar filter for MAME: Controls .
You say : there is a controls filter in Miscellaneous Filters dialog already ... I say : this filter belongs to the Search Bar , but it couldn't be added in the search criteria list ... and it overwrites the controls filter in the misc filters dialog. :) :) :)
Note : Make sure to uncheck Include Tool Bar Filters option in the  search criteria popup menu to avoid filtering with main filters. I may add a separate option exclusive to the  search bar controls filter in the future.

May 02, 2016 [version 8.1.2 released]

    Don't you get angry when customize the machine names to run software list games and after creating a new MAME games list, it's all lost ?
That's now fixed. Many thanks to  Jaylinx for reporting this problem.

     Machine to Run Game has changed (games popup menu). If you have dozens of customizations already and don't want to start fresh, move file mame_machineslast.ini from eldir\arcade\ to eldir\ini_files\ folder, and rename it to mame_machines_usercustom.ini .

    I recommend you delete   mame_machineslast.ini because this file doesn't list all software lists anymore. Just the ones you customize.
Since MAME doesn't have a default machine for each software list, EL uses the first one listed in \arcade\mame_machines.ini as default. I know this is not ideal, but it works.

April 29, 2016 [version 8.1.1 released]

    Oops! Games from any systems other than MAME and HBMAME were not showing up in the games list. My bad...
The new neopcb.cpp Neo-Geo driver name for MAME v0.174 is also supported. Neo-Geo games filter works again.

April 28, 2016 [version 8.1 released]

    Frontend updated to support the new MAME v0.173 build. Some changes were made to MAME's  -listxml output (controls mostly).
EL v8.1 has even more bug fixes to avoid crashes, but since there were some big changes in the last 3 MAME releases, I highly recommend a clean MAME install. And when I say clean install, I mean install MAME in a new folder .
    HBMAME also requires a clean install . The easiest way is to use latest MAME's official binary pack and then overwrite latest HBMAME pack on top of it.

    I added save state info back for MAME ( supported/unsupported tags). But is only used to filter games... in Miscellaneous filters button.
I hope I squashed all bugs related to the MAME settings screen.

April 23, 2016 [version 8.0.8 released]

    Everyone, please get this new new buid.
There was a bug in the function to update the info in ini_files\times_played.ini that makes the frontend crash, even when loading the games list.
    If you still get crashes with v8.0.8, please delete this .ini file before using the frontend. Sorry for the inconvenience.

April 23, 2016 [version 8.0.7 released]

    One more update for Supermodel. I fixed the read/write settings functions. Everything is working as it should now... :)
New behavior: only settings that are different than Supermodel default settings are added to game custom settings files (just like MAME).

April 21, 2016 [version 8.0.6 released]

    Got some free time ? I did, and the result is here.
Another update with more BGFX goodies and other stuff. I separated BGFX/HLSL/GLSL settings into their own pages ( MAME Settings screen). Emu Loader will also  list all BGFX shaders in a list for easy selection.

    I've also added support for custom .dat folder , so you don't have to keep .dat files in MAME's root folder (mameinfo.dat; history.dat; etc). For this to work, you need MAME v0.172 and newer because EL reads the historypath entry from the new ui.ini file. Multiple folders are supported. You can have mameinfo.dat in MAME's root and history.dat in mamedir\dats\ folder.

    Supermodel got a new XML File again, based on  SVN 351 ( https://sourceforge.net/p/model3emu/code/HEAD/tree/ ), including a new controls tag... for future usage ? Only time will tell.

    You can access the new online  MAME Documentation in the Help main menu. Internet connection is needed.

PS : If you're having crashes when updating the frontend, delete all files from eldir\arcade\ folder first. Emu Loader will no longer update your current games list to the new format. If you're not doing a clean install, EL v8.0.5 is the minimum version required.

April 11, 2016 [version 8.0.5 released]

    There has been so many changes in MAME lately that it's getting hard for me to keep up...
Added preliminary support for the new LUA plugins and  BGFX new settings. Note that those features are relative new in MAME, and their support in EL will improve with time.

    Supermodel got updates as well. Support for the latest SVN builds ( https://sourceforge.net/p/model3emu/code/HEAD/tree/ ), including the new engine setting and a new XML file listing new/changed games. Make sure to create a new Supermodel games list in Emu Loader.

    It took me a while to release this build as I had to rewrite some core functions in the frontend, trying to maintain support for older MAME builds... tricky coding.
Perhaps it's time to drop support for old MAME versions ? Or keep the options in MAME settings screen to a minimum...

March 18, 2016 [version 8.0.4 released]

    YAY! Bugfix of the bugfix release.
Games list background image was not loading. I didn't update the function to fix full paths when using relative paths with filenames. EL was adding a backlash at the end of the filename (DUH!). All good now. :)

March 17, 2016 [version 8.0.3 released]

    Something is fishy here...
There was some serious problems when accessing emulator default settings from Emulators Setup screen. Wrong emulator config file was being used or not even found, causing really annoying crashes.

    The good news is, because of this cough   bad programming cough , I discovered other problems related to  emulator config file detection functions. They were causing other bugs not related to a fresh install.

    I took the opportunity to do some house cleaning while I was at it. Some array vars storing data are also no longer needed, saving a couple MegaBytes of RAM usage.

    Nothing more to say... grab the update if you use the frontend to change MAME settings often or are always creating custom game settings.

March 15, 2016 [version 8.0.2 released]

    New update with a bunch of fixes, changes and user interface tweaks.  Support for MAME v0.171 was added.
Cool bonus: you can abort the changes you've made in Image Category/Layout Settings screen.

    Good news: the Quick Scan feature is finally fixed ( games scan mode in games popup menu; system selection dialog).
No more waiting 40 minutes to scan your ROMs collection!

    I updated the website a little bit and there's also a new section: Old News ... for news history sake! :)
A history page for the change log might be added in the future.

    It might not sound like much but EL suffered lots of internal changes, most of them invisible to the end user. I just wish I had more time to do faster releases... sorry for the delay.

December 26, 2015 [version 8.0.1 released]

    First update or version 8. EL is almost reaching version 10!...

Important: EL's games list files format have changed. They will be updated at startup, but only the arcade games list .
If you have software list games list, make sure to delete all files from el_dir\softwarelist\ folder before using this build, or the frontend WILL CRASH!

December 10, 2015 [version 8.0 released]

    New version with an updated to the games list format. The old format was using the � char to separate fields, causing problems with non-English code page and Windows localization. Files will be updated at startup.
WARNING: Make sure to delete all files from eldir\softwarelist\ folder because they will not be updated and the frontend will crash!

    Other updates to support MAME v0.168.

November 07, 2015 [version 7.9.6 released]

    One more...
Emulator binary detection was not updating the internal variables correctly and the info was not being saved in ini_files\folders_emulators.ini file. Other minor fixes and updates included.

    You can customize games list status bar colors now. Check the new settings in preference screen. :)

November 01, 2015 [version 7.9.5 released]

    "I am number five..."
Thanks to  george_woody for reporting a bug in the copy/move game files feature. And an update to  Export Games List to .txt File .

October 13, 2015 [version 7.9.4 released]

    Dang, another update! :)
A couple bug fixes and new setting: Allow Only One Instance , to prevent from opening multiple copies of Emu Loader at the same time.

October 07, 2015 [version 7.9.3 released]

    " Fee-fi-fo-fum "... I smell another tiny bug fix build .
Splitters for games list and images layouts were not restoring correctly at startup. Thanks to Elaphe for the recent bugs reports.
At this rate I'll be releasing a new build daily...

October 05, 2015 [version 7.9.2 released]

    Round 1 : Bugs Win!
Round 2 : Fight! I've made a terrible mistake in the function to create MAME/HBMAME games list. Software list game files (eldir\softwarelist\) and some MAME games list files (eldir\arcade\) are deleted when you create a games list for HBMAME. If you use HBMAME, you must update to this build!
The main screen doesn't hide anymore when creating games lists. Bugs, bugs and more bugs because of it...

    I added a new setting: "Images Panel Outer Frame Color". You can now change the color of the 7 pixels frame around the images panel (preferences screen, Images tab).

The screenshots page is finally updated...

October 03, 2015 [version 7.9.1 released]

    Small update with some fixes. Emu Loader was crashing if you tried to set MAME default options in Emulators Setup screen, after selecting a MAME executable, specially on a clean install.

October 01, 2015 [version 7.9 released]

    After 4 months of hard work and beta testing, here it is. MAME software list games (console/computer) and tons of fixes, changes and optimizations. So much has changed on this build, you wouldn't believe the lengths I had to go thru to support software lists as Emu Loader was created to support arcade games and nothing else.

    Talking about software lists, MAME's games count have increased to more than 100 thousand... if you have Create Software List Games setting enabled, that is. I had to do something to optimize games list loading, and I did. Now EL takes half of the time...
    Remember, don't add software list paths in mame.ini , and put all your software list game files in sub-folders named the same as xml files in mamedir\hash folder. Check this thread for more details.

    Running console/computer games. You can select what machine to use with the new Machine to Run Game option in games popup menu.
The last selected machine will always be used so, you can just select the game and hit ENTER / mouse double click...

    If you want to separate MAME arcade machines from non-arcade, you need  category_home.ini file from category ini for MESS pack made by AntoPISA . Without it, EL will handle MESS machines as arcade. Check the new Machines filter in tool bar buttons and you'll see why. Just put the file in el_dir\ini_files\ folder before starting the frontend.
   There is a new MAME Machines Side Panel filter listing all non-arcade machines, so you can filter software list games by a specific machine.
When this feature is enabled, games list columns will use a new columns profile to remove the ones with no game info. You can customize this profile without affecting the full profile, except for the column width , which is the same for both profiles.

    Thumbnails view mode is also updated... support for zipped images ! You don't have to keep your in-game snapshots unzipped for this view mode anymore. Other tweaks and bug fixes applied. Note that EL needs to unzip multiple files at the same time from the .zip file so, it will not be as fast as using unzipped images.
You can have the images panel enabled while in thumbnails view (requested feature). You can see game snaps in thumbs, and flyers/cabinets in the images panel.

    I did my best to support Unicode texts in the games list. As a bonus, EL will try to read Unicode strings from catver.ini and  languages.ini files.
But texts in game documents panel and run game confirmation dialog do not show Unicode texts. RichEdit control is weird to work with.

    One last major change. Video preview bug fixes and optimizations. There's also a new Play Dummy Video to Stop Current Playback setting with custom media player parameters. If you select a new game while a video is playing, EL will not stop the current video. There's a new el_dir\resources\images\no_image\novideo.avi with 100ms length that EL will use.

    After so much work, I'm sure I missed one or two bugs that needs fixing. EL's games list files have been renamed and reformatted... again. Don't worry, you current lists will be updated in the first run.

    One removed feature that will angry some EL users. No more auto-create games at startup if you update the emulators. You must re-create your games list manually from now on. This was necessary to adapt the frontend for console/computer games. It makes no sense ? EL suffered gigantic internal changes not apparent to end users, that's why.

June 04, 2015 [version 7.8.3 released]

    Holy Moly!
Previous build had a serious bug preventing from creating a fully functional MAME/HBMAME games list. My bad...
Grab this build and make sure to create a new MAME and HBMAME games list.

June 01, 2015 [version 7.8.2 released]

    Minor update prevent confusion about the new MAME and MESS machines missing from EL's games list.
I removed the softwarelist tag detection from MAME's -listxml output. All MESS machines are now listed in the games list. A game audit bug was fixed and other minor bugs.
One game audit bug still remains, and for the time being, there's nothing I can do. A couple MESS machines are set as missing even if you have all the ROMs. They do not have game ROMs but have device ROMs. This is a problem for EL's games validation system due to the way it was coded.

May 28, 2015 [version 7.8.1 released]

    Hello again! To keep up with recent MAME changes a new version of EL is required. MAME is now officially merged with MESS and the format of -listxml output also changed, making impossible for EL to build a games list.
For the time being, EL will not support software lists (console/handheld/computer).

    Support for MAME 0.162 and a few bug fixes were made. This update is a must even if you're using an older MAME version.
Device sets with no ROMs are no longer added to the games list, and a lot of machine entries from -listxml output are filtered out (mostly console/computer machines). For a list of all game names removed, check the new el_dir\arcade\mame_softwarelist.txt file.

    That's all for today, folks!

April 14, 2015 [version 7.8 released]

    Emu Loader  jurassic edition is here.  After countless hours of research and excessive testing, I managed to add support for old MAME versions, all the way down to v0.37 beta 15 (v0.51).
Since a bunch of people were asking me for old Emu Loader builds, and to fix certain problems with them, I decided to fill this gap in latest EL versions. It's also directed to low screen resolution (640x840).
    Games list is parsed from  -listinfo and -listdetails output (MAME v0.37b15 to v0.69). There will be some game info missing, and some frontend features will not work, naturally. Among other things, there's full ROMs audit, including CHDs header v1, v2 and v3 detection .

    MAME default settings and game custom settings will use a new  basic mode , resized to fit 640x480 resolution. Only a few primary MAME settings are supported. I have downloaded several MAME versions from  http://mamedev.org  to ensure compatibility with all builds from v0.37 beta 15 to v0.125. Be aware that intermediary "u" versions are not officially supported or even tested.

Note: custom game settings are partially supported. Files like vertical.ini; horizont.ini; debug.ini are not supported on all MAME builds.

    I've also did more work on other screens to adapt them to 640x480 resolution... for the CRT monitor afficionados.
As of this version, EL will try to detect the MAME build version to lock/unlock a few features in the frontend not supported by older MAME, but this is an extremely preliminary feature. It works but more testing might be required.

    On the user side, you will not notice many changes but there was a massive update in the project and source code refactoring.
Using old MAME versions should be transparent to users. Just select an MAME executable like, v0.56 and re-create the games list. Boom!... start playing games. :)
You will find more details in the change log. I'll update the screenshots page later.

If you encounter any problems with old MAME builds, drop a message in EL's forum, so others can read it.

Now, away to enjoy GTA5 PC!!! Let's see if my GTX 970 beast can handle this game... :)

March 16, 2015 [version 7.7.3 released]

    Finally! The first update of 2015.
Lots of small updates for this build making it fully compatible with MAME/HBMAME v0.159. I've tried my best to keep the frontend compatible with previous MAME builds.

    There is a new feature for custom game settings: Validate All Custom Files on Save .
Disabled by default, it will compare settings of previous files so they are not repeated in the current custom settings. There is a nice help button in  MAME/HBMAME Settings screen so I won't repeat myself, hehe...

Important: you must create MAME/HBMAME games list again so recent changes can be applied. The frontend should not crash while using an older games list though.

November 27, 2014 [version 7.7.2 released]

    Minor update with support for MAME 0.156 new mame.ini settings.

January 14, 2015: Website finally updated...

October 17, 2014 [version 7.7.1 released]

    New update with support for MAME / UME / HBMAME v0.155.
There's also a fix for Windows XP where two buttons were showing in the task bar. I hope this fix sticks...

August 24, 2014 [version 7.7 released]

    And yet another minor fix build.
1. Atomiswave games  launch with Demul emulator again... The Atomiswave machine name in Demul's -help output is wrong.

2. Daphne games status was always set as missing. I forgot to set the game status when scanning for game .zip files. You must create Daphne games list again to fix this problem .

I see Emu Loader is close to version 10... after 17 years and two major rewrites! :)

August 17, 2014 [version 7.6.9 released]

    Ain't life grand...
Frontend was crashing at startup if file \arcade\neogeo.ini was not found. And all that because I decided to create local vars to load this file. Bug is fixed simply by creating/using a global var instead. Delphi 7 really bugs me sometimes.

August 16, 2014 [version 7.6.8 released]

    Even more tweaks and optimizations were made to this build. A very old and unoptimized feature was broken into smaller pieces for easiler and faster handling... some functions were executing multiple times for the same task. This implementation is a proper one, to remove the  hack  solution from previous EL build...
Maybe it's a placebo effect but, for me, EL is booting and executing certain functions faster. :)
    If you have MAME v0.154 or a newer version, you can run multiple games with the new Neo-Geo MVS multi-slot loading system. Just select up to 6 Neo-Geo games in the games list and click RUN ! You can even change the order of cartridges for each slot before starting the emulator. :)
Sega Mega-Tech also support multi-slot loading. Up to 8 games. Note that not all combinations work. This limitation is from the arcade and/or MAME. There's nothing to be fixed. Nintendo PlayChoice-10 is still not converted to use the multi-slot system. Let's hope MAME devs update this driver...

    For those that didn't like the new natural sorting, I added an option in preferences screen to use the good old ASCII sorting function.
That's enough for now. It doesn't look much to the end user, but I've made many internal changes and optimizations in this version.

July 27, 2014 [version 7.6.7 released]

    Yet another quick fix version. Since the last major core rewrite, that load the entire games database to RAM for faster/easier access, I didn't update the function to reload the games list and apply games filters. Call me lazy . Do it, you'll fell better inside. :D

    Because of that, when creating a new games list manually (main menu Create Games List ), some functions would execute 3 times over : apply filters, change tool bar icons, reset favorites profile and the worst of the pack, re-select the games list, which includes reload selected game info, game images, game docs and game video preview.

    Can you imagine the amount of wasted CPU cicles, pointless repeating the SAME actions 3 times in a row ? Well, that's exactly what has changed in this build. Note that this is sort of a hack fix , not an actual fix...
For the next builds I will rewrite the create games list feature to prevent this insanity, but not the actual  -listxml parsing function (that one is perfect!).

    I recommend everyone to get v7.6.7 specially if you're using zipped images with layouts view mode and have video preview enabled. You probably won't notice any speed improvements though. The changes are at source code level.

    On EmuCon front, the necessary changes are taking more time than antecipated. It will be a while until I have a suitable build for end users.
Ok, enough talk... I'll shut up now :)

July 24, 2014 [version 7.6.6 released]

    Quick fix version.
Emu Loader was crashing at startup and on a fresh install due to changes in the last version. When loading device sets list on each game, I forgot to validate the system. Only MAME and HBMAME have device sets. Funny that EL was not crashing for me at all.  Thanks to all that helped me to track it down.

    And I have a new present for you (and me). The sorting routine was always faulty. Filenames order would be all messed up, showing as File1 , File10 , File11 , File2 , File3 ... and games showing in a weird order. The most noticeable were The King of Fighters series, showing the  '99 title AFTER the 2000 title.
Yesterday morning I found out about an  undocumented Windows API called StrCmpLogicalW that sort string lists in a more natural way, just like Windows Explorer does. This wonderful API was implemented in Windows XP so, if you're using an older OS, this feature will not work and EL will probably crash.

    Now, back to EmuCon... :)

July 22, 2014 [version 7.6.5 released]

    Another month, another EL version with even more goodies. I've been working on both Emu Loader and EmuCon like a crazy mofo  for the past few weeks  (Pardon my French) ! :)
     Four new additions and a few changes along with many, many, many... many user interface tweaks and source code cleanup. Just when you think there's nothing else to be done...
And I'm still not done with the changes, there is room for more. But I decided to release this build to not make you wait another week or so for a new version.
    All date/time strings are now in 24h format ( no more AM/PM ). And you can even choose to hide the seconds from the time string.

    I'm in the process of updating the website layout as well. The logo is way too big and the screenshots page hasn't been updated in ages. The texts are a little too big for my taste too. Maybe Segoe UI size 9 ... or  Trebuchet MS or even Tahoma .
    I hope you enjoy the changes.

June 25, 2014 [version 7.6.4 released]

Hold... hold... HOLD!
    Haze released a new MAME/UME/SDL v0.153ex5 with changes to some  mame.ini / ume.ini settings that makes Emu Loader crash if you try to change settings in MAME settings screen. Only video output , sound and debugger_internal entries have changed, from what I could see.
I've also done a couple more tweaks to the MAME/SDLMAME/HBMAME setttings feature while I was at it.

    I've done my best to maintain support for older MAME/UME/HBMAME builds. All my tests were successful, no read/write errors in .ini files.
If you are using an older MAME/UME version you don't need this update right away, but it doesn't hurt to try it. :)

June 24, 2014 [version 7.6.3 released]

    Another version with some new and cool stuff. SDLMAME for Windows support anyone ?
There is a really important startup fix on this build, I recommend everyone to update. Images, game docs and video preview of the last selected game were being loaded multiple times, slowing down the initialization process and in some cases it could cause an app crash.
    ROMs folders for ZiNc and Supermodel 3 was resetting to default on every restart. Also a bug when deleting a favorites profile in favorites profile manager.
Game size info was doubled. You need to recreate games lists for all systems, except MAME/HBMAME. This is not required, only if you want to see a correct game size.

    More low resolution work. Splash screen now shrinks to fit 640x480 and 720x480 resolutions. Note that not all frontend features will fit on those resolutions unless I make some serious UI changes, but that will not benefit users with high resolutions monitors like myself.

Another nice change, you can set emulator default settings and game custom settings for AlterMAME now. Good when using USE as primary MAME and SDLMAME as the second MAME...

June 06, 2014 [version 7.6.2 released]

    Thanks to the work I'm doing in EmuCon I found a couple bugs in the favorites profile manager.
If you use multiple favorites profile, grad this update.

May 27, 2014 [version 7.6.1 released]

    Here we go again... :)
If you use thumbnails view mode, grab this update. There was some very nice changes and fixes to it. The search bar got a cool face lift as well.

May 21, 2014 [version 7.6 released]

    Oops! I forgot to include videopreview.ini in the binary packages. It contain basic command line switches for MPC Home Cinema and other media players. If you grabbed the binary already, you can get the missing file here . Copy the file to emu_dir\ini_files\ folder.

May 21, 2014 [version 7.6 released]

    When I thought nothing more could be done to improve Emu Loader, new stuff happens...
Video preview playback is finally added. You can use any media player you want. I recommend Media Player Classic Home Cinema due to its impressive features, and the fact that it's the best freeware open-source media player I've ever used!
    This feature is simple and easy to use, it only requires three small steps. Any video/audio format can be used as long as you have the proper codecs and the software to play those files. You will find the new feature in preferences screen ,   Video Preview tab. Check this image!
    Another nice news,  small tool bar buttons is back. After all the recent changes and tweaks I've made in the project, it was fairly easy to re-implement the small tool bar. You won't have button titles but visual reminders are not actually need when tool bar buttons have hint texts...

    For the 640x480 / 720x480 low resolution users out there, several important screens and dialogs were either resized or  auto-shrink  when one of those two screen resolutions.

    Other minor improvements:  columns header can have a custom font now (details/grouped view modes), improved support for U.M.E. , and a few other nice changes/fixes.

April 08, 2014 [version 7.5.7 released]

    New build ready for light speed... ENGAGE!
A couple fixes and new logos for the splash screen and about screen.

April 08, 2014 [version 7.5.7 released]

    New build ready for light speed... ENGAGE!
A couple fixes and new logos for the splash screen and about screen.

March 21, 2014 [version 7.5.6 released]

    Another tweak edition! I'm trying to keep some interface consistency between screens, also to replace pointless ultra large icons and exterminate the waste of space in several screens. There are minor fixes and changes in this release as well.
    I hope you enjoy the interface changes. The screenshots page will be updated later.

March 08, 2014 [version 7.5.5 released]

    Hello fellow MAMErs! A new version is here with some changes and fixes.
I'm on a tweaking spree... there isn't much more I can do to improve Emu Loader though. I won't get faster than it already is, it won't use less RAM, which is around 82 MBytes.

    You must create games list for all systems before using this new build, or you won't see any improvements over previous build!
Just delete all files from el_dir\arcade\ folder and start Emu Loader. The application won't crash if you don't, but some of the changes will not apply.

February 18, 2014 [version 7.5.4 released]

    A new version of the DICE emulator is out with new games, and so is a new version of the frontend that support those new games. :)
Other than that, a few more fixes and tweaks have been made in Emu Loader. Remember to create a new games list for DICE if you don't have new binary detection option enabled in preferences screen.

February 14, 2014 [version 7.5.3 released]

    Hello again. This new build have a bunch of fixes, optimizations and some new stuff.
Here's the hot stuff:
- support for  batch files in emulator executable (emulators setup screen)
- MAME driver info expanded : driver status, emulation status, color status,   sound status, graphic  status
- new columns for each driver category, including status icons for each game
- new settings for the new status columns (customize columns screen)
- filter Working/Non-Working expanded so you can filter by any status category (main tool bar buttons)
- Quick access menus for game docs categories (game docs popup menu)
- Message boxes can have dynamic height based on text length, and different formatted fonts (experimental)

To view the new status categories you must create MAME/HBMAME games lists again. Enjoy!

January 28, 2014 [version 7.5.2 released]

    Another bug fix release. This time I forgot to update the scan results feature. ROM tags and other stuff.
And some new stuff: last played (date/time)   and total playtime columns (details/grouped view modes). For those who want to keep track of when and how much they played their favorite games :)

January 24, 2014 [version 7.5.1 released]

    It seems the scan games system was not perfect after all... well now it is! Thanks to Anton Belenki for helping me to track down the scan errors so I could fix them.
    And a new feature (well, not new...); you can change default settings, including ROMs folders, for Sega Model 2 emulator again.

January 22, 2014 [version 7.5 released]

    First release of the year, and this one comes with a bang... scan games is now accurate (ROMs audit) . I finally fixed the validation errors with clones and CHDs (MAME/HBMAME systems). Because of this (and other changes), if you are updating from v7.4.4 you must delete all files from  emuloder_dir\arcade\ folder or EL will crash.
Many thanks to  hap for the bug report and helping me track down the errors in the scan system.
    Another great news is multiple favorites lists . Create as many profiles as you want, complete with a new and very simple manager.
And more...
- added support for SEGA Model 2 v1.1a and Demul v0.5.8
- improved ZiNc support, including an updated database file
- many fixes, updates and improvements in EL's interface and in source code
- File 7z.dll is now distributed with the full package (only 280 KB increase anyway)

    Distrubution files are now in .rar format to prevent anti-viruses from tagging EL files as trojans. WinRAR is now required to unrar EL files.
Have fun! :)

December 30, 2013 [version 7.4.4 released]

    C'mon... say you were expecting a quick bug fix release... say it! :)
There was an annoying beep at startup that I didn't even noticed because I have Windows default beep sound set to none (I hate that Windows beep). If it doesn't bother you, no need to get this build.

December 23, 2013 [version 7.4.3 released]

    Ho! Ho! Ho!
Christmas release with tons of UI tweaks, general optimizations and other stuff. This build is even more stable than the last time I released "the most" stable release yet...

    Now to the hot stuff:
- Proper emulator title detection for MAME variants: MAME Plus! , U.M.E. and WolfMAME
- Last sorted column is restored at startup (details view mode)
- New  game size  info/column for details/grouped view modes
- Create games / scan games for multiple systems at once (multi-systems selection)
- Usual fixes and tweaks

Screenshots page will be updated after the holidays.

November 12, 2013 [version 7.4.1 released]

    Stop the press! First update of 7.4 cycle, and this one brings an important fix: Detection of game sets in 7-Zip format.
If you have game sets in .7z format EL would simply crash or not be able to handle these files, even if you have the 7z.dll file in place, marking games as missing.

    Other than that, a new feature has been added: Select a fixed game at startup. Until now, on a restart EL would automatically select the last game you were viewing when exiting the frontend. But now you can force EL to always show the SAME game on every restart, regards the last game selected at the time. Just open the games popup menu and go to the new "Select Game on Startup" sub-menu.

November 12, 2013 [version 7.4.1 released]

    Stop the press! First update of 7.4 cycle, and this one brings an important fix: Detection of game sets in 7-Zip format.
If you have game sets in .7z format EL would simply crash or not be able to handle these files, even if you have the 7z.dll file in place, marking games as missing.

    Other than that, a new feature has been added: Select a fixed game at startup. Until now, on a restart EL would automatically select the last game you were viewing when exiting the frontend. But now you can force EL to always show the SAME game on every restart, regards the last game selected at the time. Just open the games popup menu and go to the new "Select Game on Startup" sub-menu.

November 08, 2013 [version 7.4 released]

    Greetings programs! Don't you get tired of these little updates ? This build fixes a few nasty bugs that I didn't even know they were there... :)
I recommend you all to update to v7.4 even if you're not having any problems.

    Support for DICE v0.7 and an expanded feature: Copy/Move Selected Games. It works just like "Delete Selected Games" but it allows you to copy or move your files to another folder instead of deleting them. I even created a fancy progress dialog for a better viewing.

October 09, 2013 [version 7.3.4 released]

    Another small update with more fixes and some tweaks for MAME v0.150.

September 20, 2013 [version 7.3.3 released]

    Minor update to fix a crash when listing games in "View Missing ROMs/CHDs" feature (F8 hot-key).

September 17, 2013 [version 7.3.2 released]

    New update with support for MAME v0.150 new settings (mame.ini).

August 25, 2013 [version 7.3.1 released]

    Yet another update. Misc filters were completely ignored with text filter bar.

August 21, 2013 [version 7.3 released]

    Greetings programs! "It's not just another minor update" release.
... "Double expresso fix and a new filter, please", said the user.

August 01, 2013 [version 7.2 released]

    Another minor update. A fix and a new misc filter: Hide Device Sets with no ROMs . You can use this new filter to hide all those new MAME devices that do not have ROMs (screen, audio, etc...). You'll find it in the misc tool bar button, under  Devices filter.

July 11, 2013 [version 7.1 released]

    Small update with a couple important fixes, updates and a new feature: 7-Zip support.

- Crash fix for Demul v0.58
- Fix for MAME 0.149 devices detection. All these new devices added to MAME made EL go crazy, marking tons of games with missing ROMs
- Support for ROMs in 7-Zip format (.7z). MAME, HBMAME and Demul only

    I finally found a way to support 7-Zip in Emu Loader, by using an old Delphi library that was coded way back in 2009. You wouldn't beleive how hard it is to find a 7-Zip library for the Delphi compiler.
I had to do a couple minor modifications to it though. An external 7z.dll file is also required for this feature to work. Note that if you don't have ROMs in 7-Zip format or don't plan to use them, you don't need this DLL!

    Warning: I haven't actually tested the 7-Zip part as all my ROMs are in .zip format.

June 26, 2013 [version 7.0 released]

    Finally, after a couple months of work, the new version is here! Many, many, many... many updates and fixes. Most of them are internal so you won't notice much. But seriously, the changes I've made are insane. Emu Loader never looked so good!
The user interface has been changed a little bit as I'm on a mission to simplify the interface to make things a little more... uncomplicated.

    Important: you MUST re-create the games list for ALL systems if you plan to update your current Emu Loader install. Make sure to delete all files from the  el_dir\arcade\ folder before starting up this version.
    If you prefer a clean install but also  keep current frontend settings, just copy emuloader.ini to the new folder . Also,  favorites.ini ; screenshot_layouts.ini ; times_played.ini  to the  el_dir\ini_files\ folder. And to keep emulator settings, copy all files/folders from el_dir\emulator_ini folder. Do NOT forget to delete games list files or Emu Loader will CRASH !

    Enough talk, here are the most noticeable changes:
- New emulators are supported: HBMAME and DICE . Some very interesting arcade emulators, specially HBMAME with its hacked games
- MAME games list now have a device  game type, with its own icon (same for HBMAME)
- Zipped MAMu_ icons support. Also, icons folder is now unified into a single folder...
- Screen resolution and refresh rate is back into details/grouped view modes
- AlterMAME feature now works as originally intended. If game fails to load with MAME, EL will try to load it again with AlterMAME (if enabled)
- Proper support for MAME v0.149
- New Dark Font Selection Bar setting for those who like to use a white font in games list

    I'm sure I forgot to mention one or two things in there but those are the most important changes. I did some testing (clean install) to make sure EL is working to the point where games lists are created and you are able to start games. If there are any problems, please let me know... but read the documentation first, ok ?

    Check the change log for more details on this release. You can also check the documentation in el_dir\docs\  folder for more info about this frontend as they were updated as well.

    Oh right... a new website written from scratch! I grew tired of the other one. Too many little creepy details and a boring style. This website is simple, light, uncomplicated and fast. All sections can be accessed at the top and it's completely HTML based (the old one was PHP driven). Emu Loader and EmuCon websites are now separate as well for easier access. :)

    Website built with KompoZer . It's a very nice tool... and it's free. It was created with a FullHD resolution in mind (1920x1080), but it's viewable on a 1280x720 resolution. Sorry low resolution viewers...

February 20, 2013 [version 6.7 released]

    It's time for one of those huge updates. There are a lot of bug fixes and some new stuff. Some many changes that an update pack will not be available this time. But there's no need for a clean install.
The major news on this build:

- Load images using threads. When using image layouts and zipped images, all images are loaded at the same time
- The old interface is back! No more gradient panels, glowing texts or glass buttons. Some screens still have gradient top bars, as they are used to show game status (available, not available, missing ROMs)
- Support for "languages.ini" from AntoPISA Progetto-SNAPS. Along with a new column (details/grouped view) and a new filter option for the text filter bar
- Games list files are updated. The last semicolon (;) char used in games list was replaced. Now you can have game titles with semicolon without application crashes. Files are updated automatically on first frontend run, you don't need to do anything
- There's also speed improvement in some areas, specially when loading preview images

    I did several tests on this build to make sure it doesn't crash, reason why it took me a couple months to release this baby. I hope you like the new (or should I say old) interface.