FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
This section I hope to answer some commonly asked questions about the screensaver.
Of course, this will always be a work in progress.
Can TB_ScreenSaver be run as a standalone program (i.e. not as a screensaver)?
Where can I find icons for use with the screensaver?
What is the best way to obtain arcade sound files?
What version of MAME or MAME32 does the screensaver work with?
Why do my games occasionally run slow or the video/sound become interrupted?
Are there any plans to port this to other operating systems?
Why did you write the program in C#?
Can TB_ScreenSaver be run as a standalone program (i.e. not as a screensaver)?
Yes. To do this all you need to do is rename the TB_ScreenSaver.scr file found in your Windows\System32 folder to be TB_ScreenSaver.exe. If you move the executable file to another folder you will also need to move or copy the ICSharpCode.SharpZipLib.dll and KeyboardMouseHook.dll files to that folder as well.
Additional information on this can be found here.
Where can I find icons for use with the screensaver?
The best icons to use with the screensaver are those over at MAME World. Many of those icons have transparent backgrounds which make them look less boxy. Other icons can be found at MAME32.
After running your screensaver I cannot figure out how such-and-such works? Or... Would you consider adding this so-and-so feature? Or... I did this-and-that and the program did something unexpected. Will this be fixed in the next release?
The answer to all of these questions is EMAIL ME!
I am always interested in how the screensaver is being used and what people like or dislike about it. If you find a bug then tell me about it rather than curse about it (or at the very least let me know about it after you have cursed about it). I can usually fix a bug in a couple of days. I don't have a test team so any testing is done by me ad-hoc. Due to the ever increasing feature-list of this screensaver, it is practically impossible to test every configuration.
What is the best way to obtain arcade sound files?
This is one MAME resource on the Net that seems to be lacking. Fortunately, creating them is not difficult although it could be time-consuming if you want to create many sounds. MAME32 has a sound capture feature called "Play and Record Wave Output..." and it is found under its File menu. After you have created a sound file you will probably want to edit it to strip off the dead air at the beginning of the file. Fortunately, Window's free "Sound Recorder" utility works great for this. You can also append additional sounds if you want or adjust the volume.
I have created some arcade sounds that you can use with the screensaver. You can get them here.
What version of MAME or MAME32 does the screensaver work with?
I try to keep the screensaver updated to support the current version of MAME. The screensaver will occasionally work with older versions of MAME as long as there have not been any changes to the startup arguments. As a general rule of thumb, if you update the screensaver then you should update your version of MAME.
Why do my games occasionally run slow or the video/sound become interrupted?
In most cases you will experience the same problems when you run a game directly from MAME without going through the screensaver. Usually the problems can be linked to another process running in the background such as virus or spyware scanners. The easiest way to identify these processes is to run Task Manager and observe the CPU column. If you click on the CPU column header then Task Manager will sort the processes by their CPU usage. Once you have identified the process search the Web for information on it. On my system which is a 1.9Ghz, 512Mb I found the problem was my McAfee Spyware scanner running a process called msscli. This process is responsible for scanning running programs for spyware signatures. I changed that setting so that I (not it) determines when my PC should be scanned.
Are there any plans to port this to other operating systems?
No. I originally wrote this program for myself to run on my PC. I don't have the time or desire to make this program work on other platforms. Plus, I would have no way to test it. However, if you are a programmer and have the desire, you can download the source code and build a version for your operating system.
Why did you write the program in C#?
Mainly because I have been programming in it for several years now and I marvel at how much simpler it is to develop a C# program than a C++ program (my other language). Also, I have gotten really rusty in C++ so why take the longer more rocky path when the shorter smoother one will do. Said another way, if I had decided to write it in C++, I probably would have never finished it. Or, at the very least, it would not be as complete as this version is.