Emu Loader v8.2 is released. Emu Loader was created to manage an arcade games emulator called M.A.M.E. With this frontend, you can change practically any option that is available in the emulator, like the screen resolution, sound quality, game options, etc. There are lots of extra features that makes your life much more easier, like the snapshots viewer where all captured images from M.A.M.E. games can be viewed when selecting games.

Emu Loader Changelog:
Fixed
EL was trying to get emulator version info from batch files, something impossible; it only works if you select a .exe file as emulator filename
Tweak: zipped image filenames are now the same as MAME's default image folder names; "uMain.GetImgZipFileName()" function
Updated frontend docs files, specially "docs\el-quick-setup-quide.txt" that had wrong/missing information
Parsing MAME .ini files array detection was a little bugged (mame.ini, drivername.ini, biosname.ini, gamename.ini, etc)
- last file in the array was not being read at all... the most important file with final settings (MAME settings screen)
- file "arcade.ini" was being read for software list games
- files "console.ini", "computer.ini", "othersys.ini" were being read for arcade games/machines
- added a "MaxIniCountMAME" constant for easier tracking
Folder of record input files and the "-statename" parameter for software list games were wrong. They must be saved in a "machinename" sub-folder because an input file (and save state) from one machine is not compatible with a different machine
- MSX1 machine name "expert11"; file "mame_inpdir\expert11\msx1_cart\gooniesb.inp" cannot be loaded in the MSX 1 machine "cf3300"
- MSX1 machine name "expert11"; file "mame_savestatedir\expert11\msx1_cart\gooniesb\gooniesb-slot1.sta" cannot be loaded in the MSX 1 machine "cf3300"
Menu item shortcut (right-align) was not aligned correctly due to shortcut text font being 1 pixel smaller than menu text
Changed
A bunch of "Date/Time" texts replaced by "Date Modified"
From now on, if the MAME version cannot be extracted, EL will assume you're using the latest MAME build; this is necessary to prevent further frontend corruption
When running software list games, the -snapname and -statename parameters on "mame.ini" are ignored and modified by the frontend, so game snapshots and save state files are created on proper folders... adding "\machine_name\softlist_name\gamename\" sub-folders to the full path, parsed from "mame.ini"
- run game "gooniesb" from "msx1_cart" software list and "expert11" machine, save state files will be saved in "mame_statedir\expert11\msx1_cart\gooniesb\0.sta"
- run same game above and take a screenshot, the file will be saved in "mame_snapdir\msx1_cart\gooniesb\0000.png"
- this is only for software list games... arcade games don't need this as MAME save files in proper folders
- there's no ON/OFF toggle, this feature is always enabled
Changes to "Internet Game Info"
- MAWS game info removed since it no longer exists
- renamed "Progetto EMMA Game Info" to "Internet Game Info"
- added edit boxes to customize internet link games and MAME software list games (preferences screen, "Images" tab)
Changes to "Video Preview"
- relative path is now bound to the emulator directory, not the frontend
- new feature "Snap Dir Auto-search": videos will be searched in "emudir\videosnaps\", "snap\videosnaps\" and "snap" folders ("snap" folder parsed from emulator config file)
- custom video folders are now optional due to the auto-search feature; you can leave them blank (preferences screen, "Video Preview" tab)
- when searching videos in the "snap" folder, EL will try to ignore files with .png and .jpg extension
Big changes to the image preview feature (snapshots, cabinets, flyers, etc...)
- default folder for "In-Game Artwork" renamed from "snapartwork" to "artpreview"; to match MAME folder name
- file "image_09_maws.ico" renamed to "image_09_internet.ico" ("eldir\resources\main_icons\" folder)
- added support for MAME's filename format "\snap\gamename\0000.png" and "\snap\softlist_name\gamename\0000.png"
- only in-game snapshot category is supported!
- only unzipped files are scanned (zipped images will NOT be supported!)
- replaced the zombie "Control Panel Layout" image category that nobody uses by "Software Cover"
- MAME's new "ui.ini" file is now used to read/write image folder settings; if file not found, settings will be saved in frontend "\ini_files\folders_emulators.ini" file
- added compatibility with ClrMAME: unzipped image files can be in extra sub-folders for each image category
-> game snapshot: custom_snapdir\snap\gamename.png
-> title snapshot: custom_titledir\titles\gamename.png
-> marquee:custom_marqueedir\marquees\gamename.png
-> flyer: custom_flyerdir\flyers\gamename.png
-> cabinet: custom_cabdir\cabinets\gamename.png
-> control panel: custom_ctrlpaneldir\cpanel\gamename.png
-> software cover: custom_softcoverdir\covers\gamename.png
-> pcb: custom_pcbdir\pcb\gamename.png
-> in-game artwork: custom_artpreviewdir\artpreview\gamename.png
NOTE 1: these extra folder names are hard-coded in MAME source code and cannot be changed!
NOTE 2: only MAME/HBMAME are supported!
- image folder keyname entries in "eldir\ini_files\folders_emulators.ini" have changed to meet MAME setting names from "mamedir\ui.ini"
- file scanning order changed to prioritize unzipped images
1. custom_snapdir\gamename.png
2. custom_snapdir\snap\gamename.png
3. custom_snapdir\gamename\0000.png
4. custom_snapdir\parent_gamename.png
5. custom_snapdir\snap\parent_gamename.png
6. custom_snapdir\snap\parent_gamename\0000.png
7. gamename.png (from snap.zip)
8. parent_gamename.png (from snap.zip)
Changes to MAMu_ icons feature
- MAME's new "ui.ini" file is now used to read/write icons folder setting; if not found, setting will be saved in "eldir\ini_files\folders_emulators.ini"
- default icons folder is now "icons" since this is MAME's default folder
- relative path is now bound to the emulator directory, not the frontend; this is the way it should've been from the start!
- unzipped files can be on an extra "icons" sub-folder; "custom_iconsdir\icons\gamename.ico" (ClrMAME friendly)
- HBMAME games also display MAMu_ icons, but there is no separate icons folder or icons.zip support for HBMAME; MAME game icon files are used
File "ini_files\times_played.ini" renamed to "ini_files\played_games.ini" and the game name format of software list games
- old format: 'gamename_softlistname=???"
- new format: 'softlistname\gamename=???"
- the file will be renamed and updated the first time you start Emu Loader
- invalid game name entries will be deleted from the file
Favorite profile files format has changed for software list game entries ("eldir\ini_files\favorites\" folder)
- old format: 'gamename_softlistname=system_name"
- new format: 'softlistname\gamename=system_name"
- arcade games and MAME machine name entries have not changed
NOTE: Emu Loader will NOT update favorites to avoid file corruption
File "arcade\multicart_neogeo.ini" renamed to "arcade\mame_multicart_neogeo.ini"
File "arcade\multicart_stv.ini" renamed to "arcade\mame_multicart_stv.ini"
Speed up several operations with multiple selected games, specially in grouped view mode (50% faster)... games filtering is still slow
The following functions were modified by me and optimized for multiple TEasyGroups usage (EasyListView.pas)
- function TEasySelectionManager.First: TEasyItem;
- function TEasySelectionManager.Next(Item: TEasyItem): TEasyItem;
Load Multi-Slot Games dialog updates
- UI adapted to avoid "squinty face" mode on high resolutions
- font of all columns changed to "Segoe UI" size "9"
- all column resize according to text length, except game title
- for resolutions lower than 800x600, dialog resizes itself
Big rewrite of "Run MAME with extra parameters" feature... games popup menu, "Run Game (Extra)" menu item
- new feature: load memory card files; basically for Sony PlayStation (software list games) and Neo-Geo machines (arcade/console)
- you can use "play/rec input files", "load save state", "load memory card" features all at the same time now!!!
- menu items tree "Play Game (Extra)" removed, replaced by a single and more optimized "Play Game (Extra Parameters)" menu item (games popup menu)
- new screen with tab pages so you can activate each feature (all disabled by default)
Playback/Record an Input File
Load a Save State
Insert Memory Card
- you must check the "Enabled" checkbox to activate each feature you want to use
- files lists are always sorted by newest date and the newest file is always selected by default
- insert memory card details:
- default folder is "mamedir\memcard\" even though MAME doesn't support "memcard_directory" entry anymore
- you can select a file from any folder you want or choose a file listed in the "\memcard\" folder
- if a relative path is used, the "mamedir\memcard"\ folder is used for the full path
- only file extensions ".mc", ".mc1", '.mc2" are supported... let's not make a mess here!
- machines that support memory cards are listed in a new file "\arcade\mame_memcard_support.ini"
- EL will save and restore the last used files into a new "ini_files\mame_memcard_lastused.ini" for every game you play!
- only 2 memcard slots are supported; if a machine support more slots, please let me know
Some UI adjustments in MAME Settings screen (still not good enough)
Added
Support for MAME v0.176
- support reading "plugin.ini" from MAME's root folder and/or "mamedir\ini\" sub-folder (root folder is searched first)
- settings "Record Rendered Video Filename (AVI)" removed from both BGFX and HLSL features since they now support "auto" (it uses game name filenames automatically)
Support for MAME v0.177
- new "mame.ini" settings: "Uneven Stretch Vertical" and "Auto Uneven Stretch" (MAME settings screen)
New "Save State" filter (machines popup menu) and new column in "MAME Machines List Side Panel" (Machines toolbar button)
New columns "Clone of" and "Save State" in "Select Machine to Run Game" (games popup menu)... for software list games

Download: EmuLoader v8.2
Source: Here