@ES Codename "Evolution" public beta 5 is out!!

[SCHUMI-4-EVA]

The standard is zip....it's difficult and causes needless troubles to go against the standard....so it should stay at zip/rar support.

[TheCloudOfSmoke]

I heard that the algorithm or code to open up rar files is copyrighted. I believe I read that when it was being suggested as a feature for VBA-M but they decided to not implement it for that reason. The 7z format is picking up quickly, and it looks like it's going to stick around for it's superior compression over zip and rar.

[SCHUMI-4-EVA]

but VBA can open rar files?

[Hard core Rikki]

Originally Posted by TheCloudOfSmoke

I heard that the algorithm or code to open up rar files is copyrighted. I believe I read that when it was being suggested as a feature for VBA-M but they decided to not implement it for that reason. The 7z format is picking up quickly, and it looks like it's going to stick around for it's superior compression over zip and rar.

the encoding algo and app are just not opensource. redistribution of unrar functionalty is unrestricted, i believe. As long as its not bundled into a gpled app, all is fine. Some could find it nice to just have to drop an unrar dll into a folder, then have rar 'supported', but that kind of effort spent would generally not be worth the devs' time, if its not part of the functionalty of the main builds (since gpl-incompatible)

The unRAR utility is freeware. This means:
1. copyrighted to roshal...
2. The unRAR utility may be freely distributed for free. no money charging allowed.
3. THE RAR ARCHIVER AND THE UNRAR UTILITY ARE DISTRIBUTED "AS IS" (no liability, bla bla...)
4. Neither RAR binary code, WinRAR binary code, UnRAR source or UnRAR
binary code may be used or reverse engineered to re-create the RAR
compression algorithm, which is proprietary, without written
permission of the author.

7z's algorythms are not fixed or finalized, so either 7z support should be made complete or will not be viable till completed. too much effort, i'd say.

7z uncompression/direct reading is also significantly taxing in ressources, so encouraging people to 7zip their roms would just again increase the hardware requirements (dualcores to be needed soon? ;p ) especially if people do pick 7zip as the preferred storage format for games. Significantly suboptimal, though leaving room for that feature could be nice (or different actions allowed depending on the type of the games to load. sure, genesis roms would not tax systems much)

[@ruantec]

Theoretically is possible to add .Zip, Rar and 7z format the way you guys wish.... but the question is..... is it worth now???

let me explain you... some emulators already support .zip and in rare cases .rar... but those emulators only support a .zip file per game which means no other game is packed in the same file.

i could add such a feature(maybe) but it could slow down @ES while getting infos, names and other stuff from the packed file..

am re-writing my filter to allow any file supported per section.. so in that way you can run .zip files if the emu support them.. but i do not de-compress the files from a single .zip file containing more than one rom.

anyways i´ll see what i can do in the future to see if such a feature is possible or fast enought to be added.

last but not least i would like to apologize for the delay of the beta 4 the reason for the delay is because i´ve found several bugs(such as ramdom crashes when dragging folders etc) that causes stability problems.. another problem is also @ES settings file which is not too user friendly as i thought.

at the moment all the mentioned bugs and stuff are already fixed/added and working! the only thing left is the CRC implementation wich is 95% complete and the Play button of the Media keys buttons of the keyboard...

anyways the new build is almost done and packed with some bonus other than the ones mentioned by Hard core Rikki in the main page... such as:

*Media keys
*MSN text marquee(yes is back and optimized now )
*Games will display the Game icon in MSN

and many other small features i can get until that...

Greetz

just to make it clear:

it´s possible to add the requested feature with .zip files at a later time!

UPDATE:

i´ve done some tests with .zip format and am able to load the indexes,strings,CRC and informations of the hole zip content very quick...i´ve also successfully extracted files from zipped files so quick that i think such a feature is more than possible to add at a later time

about RAR´s:
i´ve done some tests with this format too and am able to load indexes,strings,CRC and information of the rar file... sadly at a rate of 99%... so no extraction can be done that easy.

anyways i have lots of things to add/fix at the moment... so don´t expect such a feature for now

[SPK8000LG]

I'm looking forward to using this with my HTPC, I have three questions. How will games with multiple discs be handled? If there is any plans to embed any HTPC front end like features (like full control with game pad) And if you plan a way to have more information about a game, like maybe you click on the main picture in cover flow then get an extra screen with more info and a few screen shots maybe?

Keep up the great work!

[@ruantec]

Originally Posted by SPK8000LG

I'm looking forward to using this with my HTPC, I have three questions. How will games with multiple discs be handled? If there is any plans to embed any HTPC front end like features (like full control with game pad) And if you plan a way to have more information about a game, like maybe you click on the main picture in cover flow then get an extra screen with more info and a few screen shots maybe?

Keep up the great work!

I´ll answer your questions one by one

Q. How will games with multiple discs be handled?

A. Yes, Multiple discs games such as FF series Metal Gear etc. will be handled by a menu similar to the albums in the Audio menu. the cover will appear but the images will be stored into a collection and when you click on it a sub-menu will appear showing you the different discs!

Q. any plans to embed any HTPC front end like features (like full control with game pad)

A. HTPC will take me a while to create but is planned... anyways Gamepad, Remote - controller and Wiimote support is comming soon

Q. Do you plan a way to have more information about a game, like maybe you click on the main picture in cover flow then get an extra screen with more info and a few screen shots maybe?

A. Yes, i´ve talked several times to ShAddiX who created a very nice concept which will be used in @ES soon.. am also thinking to add even more features in game such as live-chat, audio menu etc. check out the attached images to have a preview of things to come


i hope i´ve answered your questions... in case you have more questions just post it here again

[mudlord]

I heard that the algorithm or code to open up rar files is copyrighted. I believe I read that when it was being suggested as a feature for VBA-M but they decided to not implement it for that reason. The 7z format is picking up quickly, and it looks like it's going to stick around for it's superior compression over zip and rar.

Correct. Even though blargg donated one of his unreleased libraries to read directly from ZIP/RAR/7z files into memory, we can't use his RAR extraction code because the original unrar licence forbids it. Which means we can only support ZIP and 7-Zip archives.

but VBA can open rar files?

It can't due to the licence. Nestopia can use RAR for some reason, not sure why.....

[SPK8000LG]

Wow, you just gave better tech support then most programs do that I pay for! Good job!

[SHADOVV]

Originally Posted by SPK8000LG

Wow, you just gave better tech support then most programs do that I pay for! Good job!

We hope that you will continue to feel this way as we are hoping to provide tech support that is second to none!!

[SPK8000LG]

You guys should put up a donate link! If you guys follow trough with all your plans you will have the best HTPC software out! Right now I just use short cuts with an mouse emulator mapped to a joystick!

[SHADOVV]

We are looking into setting up a donation page!!

[Hard core Rikki]

Define "we".

[SCHUMI-4-EVA]

I assume Shadow and @ruantec and possibly his coder friend.

[Mr. Duck Sauce]

Originally Posted by Hard core Rikki

Define "we".

More than one in layman terms.

[ShAddiX]

@.E.S. will become VERY big with the time.
The concepts that @ruantec posted are quite old (and also for other programs)

So I started to work out concepts for @.E.S.....and just to tease you, one concept how it could look like in the future. (and yes, the XBOX buttons will be customizable, so you can have your playstation buttons or whatever pad you have)
There will be a lot of surprises!

[hellmasterx]

Originally Posted by @ruantec

I´ll answer your questions one by one

Q. How will games with multiple discs be handled?

A. Yes, Multiple discs games such as FF series Metal Gear etc. will be handled by a menu similar to the albums in the Audio menu. the cover will appear but the images will be stored into a collection and when you click on it a sub-menu will appear showing you the different discs!

Q. any plans to embed any HTPC front end like features (like full control with game pad)

A. HTPC will take me a while to create but is planned... anyways Gamepad, Remote - controller and Wiimote support is comming soon

Q. Do you plan a way to have more information about a game, like maybe you click on the main picture in cover flow then get an extra screen with more info and a few screen shots maybe?

A. Yes, i´ve talked several times to ShAddiX who created a very nice concept which will be used in @ES soon.. am also thinking to add even more features in game such as live-chat, audio menu etc. check out the attached images to have a preview of things to come


i hope i´ve answered your questions... in case you have more questions just post it here again

do whant!

[SHADOVV]

Originally Posted by Hard core Rikki

Define "we".

@ruantec and I is what I mean by we!

[Hard core Rikki]

New section, in case noone noticed ;p