Sega CD LED Emulation settings. Disk Slot/On Screen/Off

[Former user]

Original issue 286 created by cheatfreak47 on 2012-10-15T03:04:17.000Z:

I was wondering if you could add an option to emulate the LED's on screen, and add an option to turn them off. The blinking disk slot is somewhat distracting.

[Former user]

Comment # 1 originally posted by ekeeke31 on 2012-10-15T07:20:39.000Z:

yes, i have been thinking to this as well.
Honestly, it was initially meant to show that infos are being loaded and emulator is not frozen (loading times can be very long, with only a black screen to "inform" you, for some games) but you get use to it anyway so i am not sure if this really brings anything.

I also thought a better use could be to indicate when the virtual tray is open, which indicates you should swap in another disc.

[Former user]

Comment # 2 originally posted by iceknightmail on 2012-10-17T16:05:50.000Z:

Would something like the attachments do? It's the less intrusive and more intuitive way I can think of implementing both the on-screen leds and the open tray indicator.

Keeping the option of using the Wii's light for emulating the Mega-CD's leds would be nice, though. Something like:

Mega-CD indicators:
-On-screeen
-Wii (Access LED)
-Wii (Ready LED)
-Wii (Open tray)
-Off

[Former user]

Comment # 3 originally posted by iceknightmail on 2012-10-17T16:10:08.000Z:

Also, the "open tray" icon in the middle could blink to catch the user's attention.

[Former user]

Comment # 4 originally posted by ekeeke31 on 2012-10-17T17:06:46.000Z:

Thank you, that's not bad really, a good mock-up of the original system.
Maybe smaller images would be less distractive though. And I am not sure if the ready LED is really that much useful, it is always ON, isn't it ?
Do you have original image files as PNG ?

AS for the open tray status, i prefer not obfuscating the screen with too much infos so i think it's a better idea to make the drive LED blinking by default when virtual tray open. It's not permanent and will only happen at very specific point so it won't be distractive, just enough to get you open the menu in order to load another disc.

[Former user]

Comment # 5 originally posted by iceknightmail on 2012-10-17T18:25:06.000Z:

According to the Mega-CD's front label, the READY led is always lit except when in "Standby mode", where it starts blinking.

I'm attaching the icons I used for the mockups. I made them from some random images I found on the internet and I quickly colorized the buttons, so they might not look too clean or accurate.

I can take higher quality pictures of the lit/unlit leds next time I get access to my Mega-CD 1, if you want (probably this week).

[Former user]

Comment # 6 originally posted by ekeeke31 on 2012-10-17T20:44:31.000Z:

Yeah, I will probably need to remake them from scratch, even if displayed small enough, we need better quality to display on a TV screen.

What is "standby mode" again ?

[Former user]

Comment # 7 originally posted by iceknightmail on 2012-10-17T21:09:09.000Z:

...I really don't remember. I'll have to go check it out this week.

[Former user]

Comment # 9 originally posted by iceknightmail on 2012-11-17T20:24:57.000Z:

Couldn't figure out that standby mode, but here's some clear pics of the front lights in case they'll be of help.

[Former user]

Comment # 10 originally posted by iceknightmail on 2012-11-17T20:31:18.000Z:

And here's the original first pic.

I had to modify it a little to make it look flat since it's a curved surface, so if you see something not aligning perfectly, that's the reason.

[Former user]

Comment # 13 originally posted by ekeeke31 on 2012-11-18T16:12:40.000Z:

Thanks for the highres pictures.
Here are some PNG mockups I quickly made out of it (though not exactly the same font)

[Former user]

Comment # 14 originally posted by ekeeke31 on 2012-11-21T00:34:54.000Z:

[Former user]

Comment # 15 originally posted by ekeeke31 on 2012-11-24T19:56:49.000Z:

added in r750

[Former user]

Comment # 16 originally posted by icedomains on 2012-11-29T23:18:00.000Z:

I've just tried the on-screen LEDs and found out they seem to get misplaced when the NTSC video is activated.

About their current design, I'm not sure they look so much like actual lights, but more like colored buttons... I'm attaching some variations I've made from the real lights just in case you end up liking them better.

[Former user]

Comment # 17 originally posted by icedomains on 2012-11-29T23:23:27.000Z:

I meant the NTSC video filter, sorry.

[Former user]

Comment # 18 originally posted by icedomains on 2012-11-29T23:50:52.000Z:

By the way, I've figured out the Standby mode and it does work properly already.

It just happens automatically whenever the drive is left for one minute without reading a thing. The "READY" LED keeps flashing as shown in the front label.

[Former user]

Comment # 19 originally posted by ekeeke31 on 2012-11-30T07:20:45.000Z:

I will look into it. I don't use NTSC filter because it slowdowns emulation a lot, which does not really help when Mega CD is emulated...

About the LED images, it is actually difficult to use very precise representations because of the limited resolution on TV screen and the scaling. What looks good on computer often look like a pixels garbage on TV screen, but i will try with yours to see how it looks.

[Former user]

Comment # 20 originally posted by ekeeke31 on 2012-12-02T19:34:15.000Z:

Your "lighted" leds actually look quite good so I ended up using it.
Also fixed misaligned leds when using NTSC filter in r755

[Former user]

Comment # 22 originally posted by iceknightmail on 2012-12-06T19:38:29.000Z:

I've managed to take some better pics of the colored LEDs and I've come up with new icons that look slightly better than the ones I had posted earlier.

I'm also posting new "off" versions that match their "on" counterparts perfectly, so it won't look like they're moving a little when lit.

[Former user]

Comment # 24 originally posted by iceknightmail on 2012-12-06T20:38:54.000Z:

And here's the translucid versions that won't hide anything on screen:

[Former user]

Comment # 25 originally posted by ekeeke31 on 2012-12-07T18:58:44.000Z:

Thanks, they look great on my TV screen.
I did not tried the translucid versions yet though.

[Former user]

Comment # 26 originally posted by iceknightmail on 2013-01-02T18:16:12.000Z:

Something I've noticed, by the way, is that the on-screen LEDs seem to slightly change their position when the emulated system changes the screen resolution (easy to see when booting up Sonic CD).

Also, when in widescreen mode, perhaps these LEDs could be moved more to the sides so they don't block anything from sight? Oh, and also they currently look squished in this mode.