In development

Nightcrawler · Post by **Nightcrawler** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 5:42 pm

Nice to see ZSNES is finally catching up to the new millenium.

Perhaps this will pave the way for a debugging interface in ZSNES.

If I had to choose, I think I like Pagefault's GUI better.

Noxious Ninja · Post by **Noxious Ninja** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 6:52 pm

Nightcrawler wrote:Nice to see ZSNES is finally catching up to the new millenium.

Perhaps this will pave the way for a debugging interface in ZSNES.

If I had to choose, I think I like Pagefault's GUI better.

You... like the file chooser?

Jipcy · Post by **Jipcy** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 7:10 pm

I prefer Qt.

Zuzma · Post by **Zuzma** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 7:18 pm

I really like wxWidget applications. They're stable and they even look nice on different OSes. But I guess if it were too hard to integrate into zsnes it wouldn't really be worth it.

Noxious Ninja · Post by **Noxious Ninja** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 7:50 pm

bitcopy wrote:I prefer QT.

Lower-case t. QT == QuickTime.

flamingspinach · Post by **flamingspinach** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 8:25 pm

Clements wrote:On a more cynical (but sadly true) note, this will also please the lazy kiddies who think the Windows GUI of Snes9x makes it automatically a better emulator than ZSNES.

What, really? I'd think that ZSNES's beautiful blue box would entice more users than SNES9X's ugly window with its menus that wrap if you use a small resolution

As for the interfaces, from what I can tell, Qt should be a better choice - though I do like how pagefault's GTK method allows skinning. Speaking of ugly wrapping menus - one of the features I love most is that the GUI with all its menus and options and whatnot completely disappears when you're playing the game. I really hope you guys can keep that in some form. I know most people here probably play ZSNES at max resolution, fullscreen, but I personally prefer the 256x224 R W. A menu bar would look pretty ugly there... please consider. Thanks.

-fs

Post by **Nach** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 8:28 pm

Cyan wrote:I really like wxWidget applications. They're stable and they even look nice on different OSes. But I guess if it were too hard to integrate into zsnes it wouldn't really be worth it.

wxWidget is only good if you like spending 6 years writing every little thing while living off a supply of fresh horse carcas.

creaothceann · Post by **creaothceann** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 8:32 pm

re: flamingspinach:

IIRC, VBA lets you use the ESC key to hide/show the menu bar. That could be one way to go.

flamingspinach wrote:What, really? I'd think that ZSNES's beautiful blue box would entice more users than SNES9X's ugly window with its menus that wrap if you use a small resolution

ZSNES doesn't support wrapping menus. Of course this forces the devs to keep them short, which is a nice thing... but not automatically better.

ZSNES generally lacks support for large screens because then they could not be used in 320x200. That's a disadvantage, IMO.

Post by **Nach** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 8:39 pm

flamingspinach wrote: As for the interfaces, from what I can tell, Qt should be a better choice - though I do like how pagefault's GTK method allows skinning.

Qt of course does skinning too.

flamingspinach wrote: Speaking of ugly wrapping menus - one of the features I love most is that the GUI with all its menus and options and whatnot completely disappears when you're playing the game. I really hope you guys can keep that in some form.

Making the GUI disappear shouldn't be a problem.

flamingspinach · Post by **flamingspinach** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 8:40 pm

Well I know ZSNES doesn't support wrapping menus, what I'm saying is that I hope the new GUI will continue not to support them. (By wrapping I mean that there are two lines of menu headers, not that the menu itself scrolls up and down, just to clarify)

EDIT: Nach, excellent! Then I definitely vote for Qt. Sorry pf.

-fs

Noxious Ninja · Post by **Noxious Ninja** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 8:51 pm

Do you have a better way to keep all the menus useable in a tiny window?

Post by **Nach** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 8:53 pm

Noxious Ninja wrote:Do you have a better way to keep all the menus useable in a tiny window?

We shrink them, and trust me, not hard.

Noxious Ninja · Post by **Noxious Ninja** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 9:09 pm

Nach wrote:
Noxious Ninja wrote:Do you have a better way to keep all the menus useable in a tiny window?
We shrink them, and trust me, not hard.

Shrink font size, or just cut off part?

Zuzma · Post by **Zuzma** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 9:29 pm

Nach wrote:wxWidget is only good if you like spending 6 years writing every little thing while living off a supply of fresh horse carcas.

Hahahaha. So why do people even bother using it then? I guess they must enjoy pain.

Post by **Nach** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 9:37 pm

Noxious Ninja wrote:
Nach wrote:
Noxious Ninja wrote:Do you have a better way to keep all the menus useable in a tiny window?
We shrink them, and trust me, not hard.
Shrink font size, or just cut off part?

The font/image and cut off white space.

Cyan wrote:
Nach wrote:wxWidget is only good if you like spending 6 years writing every little thing while living off a supply of fresh horse carcas.
Hahahaha. So why do people even bother using it then? I guess they must enjoy pain.

Probably. Although it has been around longer than some other stuff.

byuu · Post by **byuu** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 10:14 pm

Keeping a menubar in one line is pretty simple.
Make File, Settings, Misc only.

File has all your rom loading/unloading/reset/power/savestate stuff, Settings drops down branch menus for video, audio, input, etc., which go to their own menus. Misc has your other stuff. Netplay, screenshot capture, about box, cheat codes, etc.
Takes a second longer to navigate, but beats a two-line menubar any day.

If three entries causes a two-line menu at 256x224, then you desperately need to lower your font size.

Post by **Nach** » Tue Jul 12, 2005 10:42 pm

byuusan wrote: If three entries causes a two-line menu at 256x224, then you desperately need to lower your font size.

Such a res is too small.
I don't think we should do anything less than 512x448.

Ichinisan · Post by **Ichinisan** » Wed Jul 13, 2005 1:49 am

I have also been using ZSNES since before it had any sort of GUI whatsoever. I remember when a GUI resembling the current interface replaced the older GUI. I have grown quite fond of it, though I have always been increasingly bothered by it's obvious limitations.

Windows GUI elements have been refined for decades and are quite intuitive at keeping options accessible at different sizes. Although a double-line menu bar would bother me more than a concatenated one, Internet Explorer uses the good old ">>" trick to keep a menu bar on a single line. This still keeps all options accessible with the keyboard and mouse.

The standard Win32 File>Open dialog would be one of the greatest improvements in usability, especially for those who are not familiar with the directory structure of a hard drive (~75% of PC users). It could be further simplified by creating the following file type filters:

All SNES/ZSNES Files
(*.jma, *.sfc, *.smc, *.fig, *.swc, *.zs?, *.zm?, *.spc, *.srm, *.ips, *.zip, ...)

SNES Game (ROM Image) Files
(*.jma, *.sfc, *.smc, *.fig, *.swc, ...)

SNES Game Save (*.SRM, *.zs?)

SNES Game Patch (*.IPS)

ZSNES Files (*.ZS?, *.zm?)

All Files (*.*)

Loading a game save or IPS patch should prompt the user to reset emulation. ZSNES can check to see that the correct game is running when loading a save, state, movie, or patch and show an appropriate message if the user tries to load a file that does not apply. It would be even better if ZSNES stored ROM information in a file header/footer of ZST and ZMV files.

Post by **pagefault** » Wed Jul 13, 2005 2:10 am

Just for the record for people complaining about GTK+ in windows. Firefox uses it. If you have had experiences with GTK+ programs crashing in windows it's most likely the application at fault ant not the library. If GTK+ is used in ZSNES I will make sure it runs as well as Firefox in Windows. I can't stand unstable software.

Ichinisan · Post by **Ichinisan** » Wed Jul 13, 2005 2:21 am

I just noticed that Firefox does not do the ">>" when menu bars cannot fit. At least it doesn't create a second line.

Firefox is very smooth and user-accessible. Sounds like a perfect fit for ZSNES.

Noxious Ninja · Post by **Noxious Ninja** » Wed Jul 13, 2005 3:12 am

pagefault wrote:Just for the record for people complaining about GTK+ in windows. Firefox uses it. If you have had experiences with GTK+ programs crashing in windows it's most likely the application at fault ant not the library. If GTK+ is used in ZSNES I will make sure it runs as well as Firefox in Windows. I can't stand unstable software.

Firefox in Windows does not use GTK.

Post by **pagefault** » Wed Jul 13, 2005 4:47 am

Noxious Ninja wrote:
pagefault wrote:Just for the record for people complaining about GTK+ in windows. Firefox uses it. If you have had experiences with GTK+ programs crashing in windows it's most likely the application at fault ant not the library. If GTK+ is used in ZSNES I will make sure it runs as well as Firefox in Windows. I can't stand unstable software.
Firefox in Windows does not use GTK.

Are you absolutely sure about that. it has many of the GTK+ widgets. If it's not using pure GTK, it's using some parts of it.

KaOSoFt · Post by **KaOSoFt** » Wed Jul 13, 2005 4:52 am

I like Nach's one because it's simpler, but there is something I don't like. The bottom edge at emulation screen, I think game image should limit with windows one, not like that not-filled space there.

Remember, for GUIs, simplicity = less things to be fixed.

EDIT: Hmm... sorry, actually, I like this one better. I don't care skins at all, just make it look like that. Skin possibility = more things to be fixed. I don't know too much about programming stuff, but if I have to install something (GTK) like for GAIM, then I will definitely choose Nach's one.

Noxious Ninja · Post by **Noxious Ninja** » Wed Jul 13, 2005 4:56 am

Pretty sure.

See the building pages:

Win32 | *nix

The Windows page makes no mention of GTK. Also, searching Google for firefox gtk brings up no references to Windows.

XUL can use multiple backends. GTK is one of them, Windows is another. I'm not sure if it uses GTK on OS X or not.

KaOSoFt wrote:I like Nach's one because it's simpler, but there is something I don't like. The bottom edge at emulation screen, I think game image should limit with windows one, not like that not-filled space there.

That's a status bar. Tons of GUI programs use those.

creaothceann · Post by **creaothceann** » Wed Jul 13, 2005 9:02 am

byuusan wrote:Make File, Settings, Misc only.

File has all your rom loading/unloading/reset/power/savestate stuff, Settings drops down branch menus for video, audio, input, etc., which go to their own menus. Misc has your other stuff. Netplay, screenshot capture, about box, cheat codes, etc.

Personally, I don't like menus (especially as in VBA) - they have the annoying nature to vanish after selecting an option. Why not make one menu button called "Settings", and open a window with tabs...

ZSNES board

In development

Which API should be used for the new ZSNES GUI?