Hey all, over the last couple of months I discovered working with LLM AIs like CoPilot and Gemini and at first I used them to automate more fully some batch files I had for daily stuff on my main box: like creating a rolling 7 day window of music files that moves in and out of my phone, and a tool that tells me if I need to create or update my images and icons for MAME when a game is added or promoted in baseline. That was all successful and a lot of fun.
That led me to think about my MAME front-end IV/Play which was last worked on in like 2016. Since that time I had gotten a 4K OLED monitor and saw that poor presentation that gave for DPI use and having to kick IV/Play into compatibility mode and have it stretch its UI as a bitmap and the resultant blurriness. Blech.
I wondered if had enough experience w/ the smaller scripts to step up to something more ambitious, I decided to use the AI agents to modernize the IV/Play codebase. I quickly ran into the limitations of the free tiers so I did the free trials and then bumped up to a month worth of full bore top tier model.
Being retired now, I put a lot of hours into the project and slowly it matured. As a former QA engineer I turned my former vocation to it. So I became a combo Tech Lead / Lead Developer and also the product owner.
With the trusty Visual Studio 22 installed I instructed the AIs and they produced the code and I shuffled it into the solution and compiled and tested.
This was an incredible experience for me, and I got a taste of what our professional friends on MAMEDEV do, when things start working or a technical hurdle was overcome. It was at times exhilarating and super frustrating. I was able to pit the AIs against each other to produce the desired effect when one would fall down. I ended up doing about 90% of it in Google's Gemini 2.5Pro.
Anyhow, that all produced 2.1.0, releasing today with the site going live. See the description below.
Since my former site mameui.info was so simple I was easily able to get it onto GitHub as a 'Pages' site. https://john-iv.github.io/iv-play/
I've also put my snaps and icons there as 'Releases' since they are now 30MB and 250MB.
Due to the sharpness IV/Play can now display on high DPI monitors I have been slowing re-doing all my icons into higher resolution from their (up to) 25 year old versions. I have also taken to using native snapshots out of MAME since the DirectX scaling algos do a very good job at moving them upwards, and if you want you can turn on nearest neighbor scaling on the native snaps to keep them ultra sharp and blocky at full screen.
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For those who are new to it, **IV/Play** is a desktop/keyboard-oriented frontend for MAME. It was created for users who enjoyed the classic feel of MAMEUI but wanted a decoupled, high-performance experience on modern hardware. The goal is quick startup, a smooth game list, and responsive artwork display.
**What's New Since Version 1.8.5?**
This release is an architectural overhaul designed to improve performance and add new functionality. All the classic features remain, now built on a modern foundation.
### A Ground-Up Rebuild for Performance & Stability
The application was re-engineered to eliminate bottlenecks and improve the user experience.
* **Full GPU-Accelerated UI**: The entire interface is now rendered with DirectX to address the "scrolling judder" found in older GDI-based frontends. The result is a much smoother browsing experience, even with large game lists.
* **Optimized Caching System**: Icons are now combined into a single "atlas" for faster loading. `history.xml` and `mameinfo.dat` are parsed once and cached, and the game list itself is saved to a binary file. This results in a "warm start" time of under half a second on modern systems.
* **Modern Backend**: The app has been upgraded to .NET 9 with a stable SQLite database, resolving legacy stability issues.
### New UI Features & Quality of Life
The interface has been enhanced with new views and smarter features.
* **Grid View & Large Icons**: In addition to the classic list, you can now display your collection in a modern Grid View.
* **Full Software List Support**: Click on any console, computer, or device in the list (e.g., Atari 2600) to browse and launch its software library just like the main arcade list.
* **High-DPI & 4K Monitor Support**: IV/Play now scales correctly on high-resolution displays without compatibility hacks. Fonts and artwork are scaled for a sharp presentation.
* **And more...**
* **Custom Game Lists**: Create and switch between your own game lists via a simple .ini file.
* **Icon Sizing Presets**: Cycle through different icon sizes with `Alt+I` to better fit your view.
* **Smart Backgrounds**: IV/Play can automatically detect bright backgrounds and switch the font to black for readability.
### Power User Tools & Diagnostics
For tinkerers and power users, a new set of overlays and shortcuts has been added.
* **DAT Peek Overlay (`~` key)**: Instantly view `history.xml` or `mameinfo.dat` content for the selected game in an overlay without leaving the game list.
* **Diagnostic Overlays**: Toggle real-time overlays to see the **log file (`F2`)**, the **config file (`F3`)**, or a **performance dashboard (`F7`)** with FPS, memory usage, and more.
* **Safe Factory Reset (`F8`)**: A simple way to reset all caches and settings without losing your `favorites.ini` or custom lists.
* **Direct Machine Launch (`Shift+Enter`)**: Launch a console or computer directly to its BIOS screen without entering the software listlike turning on the machine with no cartridge inserted.
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**Downloads**
You can grab the latest version and the recommended art packs from the official homepage.
* [**IV/Play Application & User Guide**] https://john-iv.github.io/iv-play/
* [**MAME Snapshots (Snap.7z)**] https://github.com/john-iv/iv-play/releases/download/Latest/Snap.7z
* [**MAME Icons (Icons.7z)**] https://github.com/john-iv/iv-play/releases/download/Latest/Icons.7z
[Posted by: John IV]