Linux XBMC Live, Advanced Launcher issues

I've installed the Advanced Launcher plugin, and have set the plugin up correctly (or so I thought?). However, there are a couple of problems, and I'm hoping someone could help me on these.

First, the only way I've found to get a rom to load (zsnes) is to disable fullscreen, which gives me only the left top corner of the screen, until I start a ROM. Do we have a workaround to resolve this? I can always go back to the system settings and change it back to fullscreen afterwards, but thats kind of impractical.

Now here's the big one; I'm using a Logitech Dual Action Gamepad, and I have it set-up in zsnes. The problem is after I've hit a few buttons, somehow its also controlling XBMC in the backround, causing music to play, movies to start, starting the audio mixer, etc etc., and just now caused XBMC to restart!!! There is no way I can play a game with that happening!! I tried disabling LIRC to maybe shut my RC off, but that didnt make a difference. Any ideas anyone??

(2012-04-09 20:59)douglasdouglasj Wrote:  I've installed the Advanced Launcher plugin, and have set the plugin up correctly (or so I thought?). However, there are a couple of problems, and I'm hoping someone could help me on these.

First, the only way I've found to get a rom to load (zsnes) is to disable fullscreen, which gives me only the left top corner of the screen, until I start a ROM. Do we have a workaround to resolve this? I can always go back to the system settings and change it back to fullscreen afterwards, but thats kind of impractical.

You need to create a files launcher for ZSNES and not a stand alone launcher. So, you will not need to disable fullscreen to choose a rom. It will do it automatically. Here is a tutorail for files launcher creation : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Pl-3yEDgUY and here is the WIKI page for ZSNES configuration under linux : http://www.gwenael.org/xbmc/index.php?title=ZSNES#Linux

(2012-04-09 20:59)douglasdouglasj Wrote:  Now here's the big one; I'm using a Logitech Dual Action Gamepad, and I have it set-up in zsnes. The problem is after I've hit a few buttons, somehow its also controlling XBMC in the backround, causing music to play, movies to start, starting the audio mixer, etc etc., and just now caused XBMC to restart!!! There is no way I can play a game with that happening!! I tried disabling LIRC to maybe shut my RC off, but that didnt make a difference. Any ideas anyone??

You need to suspend XBMC when playing your rom. You could do this by creating and using a .sh script : http://www.gwenael.org/forum/viewtopic.php?id=39

---

Here is the .sh script I use for ZSNES on my proper HTPC :

OK, I'll try the script. When I installed zsnes I did install under file launcher, and again, xbmc needs to be in windowed mode. However, when I use mednafen, no resolution changes are necessary. I'll try the suspended method.

In regards to the controller issue, I ended up deleting the keymap I created in /.xbmc/userdata/keymap for my dual action controller, and that solved the issue of the gamepad controlling xbmc while in a game.

I also have another issue within gameplay, where around the 10 minute mark, the screen goes blank, and I reach over and hit a random button on my remote, and the screen comes back. I changed the screensaver setting to 60 minutes, but no change in results. Perhaps the script will address that issue as well.

Tried the script, and instead of the emu loading, the screen flickers and goes right back to the emu listing. Perhaps I didn't write the script correctly? Here's what I have;

#!/bin/bash

# Hide and suspend XBMC
wmctrl -r "XBMC Media Center" -t 1
killall -STOP xbmc.bin

# start application
/usr/bin/zsnes -m -s -v 4 "$1"

# restore screen resolution
xrandr -s 640x480
xrandr -s 1360x768

# restore and show XBMC
killall -CONT xbmc.bin
wmctrl -r "XBMC Media Center" -t 0


I also modified my launcher.xml to this;

<id>ba4bdc6a4d25dd64c5aeee1a6ba9b807</id>
<name>zsnes</name>
<application>/home/upstairs/.xbmc/script/zsnes-launcher.sh</application>
<args>-s -v 22 "%rom%"</args>

Does this look correct?

(2012-04-11 20:42)douglasdouglasj Wrote:  Tried the script, and instead of the emu loading, the screen flickers and goes right back to the emu listing. Perhaps I didn't write the script correctly? Here's what I have;

#!/bin/bash

# Hide and suspend XBMC
wmctrl -r "XBMC Media Center" -t 1
killall -STOP xbmc.bin

# start application
/usr/bin/zsnes -m -s -v 4 "$1"

# restore screen resolution
xrandr -s 640x480
xrandr -s 1360x768

# restore and show XBMC
killall -CONT xbmc.bin
wmctrl -r "XBMC Media Center" -t 0


I also modified my launcher.xml to this;

<id>ba4bdc6a4d25dd64c5aeee1a6ba9b807</id>
<name>zsnes</name>
<application>/home/upstairs/.xbmc/script/zsnes-launcher.sh</application>
<args>-s -v 22 "%rom%"</args>

Does this look correct?

No... launcher arguments must be only

Quote:<args>"%rom%"</args>

as they are already indicated into the zsnes-launcher.sh file. Also modify this last one yo have the right patrameters correasponding to your system :

Quote:# start application
/usr/bin/zsnes -m -s -v 22 "$1"
...

Forgive my ignorance of code, I'm learning as I go... I changed the launcher arguements back to %rom%, and changed my zsnes launcher script to;

# start application
/usr/bin/zsnes -s -v 22 -ad sdl -r 6 "$1"

These were the arguements which I initally used, leaving the -m out to be able to configure my gamepad. At this point, after editing the script and launchers.xml file, instead of the flicker and back to menu, I get a blank screen, and I have to hard reboot. Ideas?

(2012-04-11 21:45)douglasdouglasj Wrote:  Forgive my ignorance of code, I'm learning as I go... I changed the launcher arguements back to %rom%, and changed my zsnes launcher script to;

# start application
/usr/bin/zsnes -s -v 22 -ad sdl -r 6 "$1"

These were the arguements which I initally used, leaving the -m out to be able to configure my gamepad. At this point, after editing the script and launchers.xml file, instead of the flicker and back to menu, I get a blank screen, and I have to hard reboot. Ideas?

Try to remove :

Quote:# restore screen resolution
xrandr -s 640x480
xrandr -s 1360x768

form of the script. Xrandr commands are optional, they are just here to restore the screen resolution to 1360x768 after you close the ZSNES emulator. But if your screen resolution is not 1360x768, it can effectively create some problems or freeze your system.

Also for the wmctrl command be sure that you have at least 2 virtual desktops on your system. BTW, you could try at first with this simplified script :

Quote:#!/bin/bash

# Suspend XBMC
killall -STOP xbmc.bin

# start application
/usr/bin/zsnes -s -v 22 -ad sdl -r 6 "$1"

# restore XBMC
killall -CONT xbmc.bin

OK, tried removing those lines, no change. I did however get the script for mednafen to load and play the game; however, I still have the sleep issue. Would it make a difference since I'm running XBMC live instead of XBMC Linux? I am running in 1360x768 btw.

(2012-04-11 22:26)douglasdouglasj Wrote:  OK, tried removing those lines, no change. I did however get the script for mednafen to load and play the game; however, I still have the sleep issue. Would it make a difference since I'm running XBMC live instead of XBMC Linux? I am running in 1360x768 btw.

If you are able to make the script works for mednafen, that's mean that there is something wrong into the command line of your ZSNES script.

Quote:...
/usr/bin/zsnes -s -v 22 -ad sdl -r 6 "$1"
...

. But it looks correct for me. I do not know why it is not working.

For the sleep issue, that not simple. Sleep mode is defined by XBMC, the windows manager and/or the X server. But the way it is managed is different depending which XBMC version you are using (XBMC Live, XBMC Linux ou XBMCbuntu). Also it depend of the emulator you are running. With some emulators, once they are running there is no problem. With other ones, they automatically shutdown after a certain time of inactivity. You can wake up using the gamepad. But for some emulators you need to close it to get focus back. And with other emulators, after a certain time, even if you are playing games, the system turn into sleep mode... Then, finally, into rare case, the sleep mode make crashing the emulator. So it's seems that there is no real rules how is managed the sleeping mode. But here is what you can try :

You can try to disable the XBMC sleeping mode (into settings).
You can also try to disable the sleeping mode under linux : http://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/linux-disa...blank.html
I you are under ubuntu you can try to disable the screensaver : http://home4film.com/questions/337/how-c...is-running

Yesterday I did some digging for sleep issues during emu gameplay, and found that there is a method to disable system sleep in the /etc/X11/xorg.conf - I added this to the config;

Section "ServerFlags"
Option "BlankTime" "0"
Option "StandbyTime" "0"
Option "SuspendTime" "0"
Option "OffTime" "0"
EndSection

I restarted XBMC, and it works great!