🎮 Arcade Connector — An Arcade Game Launcher

Arcade Connector is a modern Windows launcher built specifically for C.S.U.M.E.
But what is CSUME? It's a Client/Server Universal Machine Emulator — a MAME variant called UME, adapted for client/server multiplayer. With CSUME, users can host and join multiplayer arcade games in real time.

Arcade Connector provides a rich front-end experience with features like IRC chat integration, autojoin, profile icons, hosted game detection, and more.

“Connect. Chat. Host. Play.”

---

✅ Features

• Lightweight IRC client with user list and status icons

• Host CSUME games with automatic ROM broadcasting

• Auto-join games via "Ready Up" toggle

• Clickable join:// chat links for instant connection

• Host and player detection via UDP heartbeat (doesn’t rely on IRC)

• Profile picture support

• Inline images and sound cues in chat (/beer, /snooze, /sound cheer)

• Smart join filtering (prevents joining while already in-game)

• Status-aware icons: online, afk, ingame, ready, moderator

• Loaded ROM (images). When loading a ROM file, bezel artwork and snap screen are displayed. Example: https://github.com/MrRocket/ArcadeConnector/blob/master/images/ac_siteshot2.png Some artwork is already included. They can be found in the csume/artwork folder.

  You may find additional artwork here:

  • https://www.progettosnaps.net/snapshots/
  • Under: Artwork Preview.
  • Its archive will contain a artpreview.7z with over 4000 images.
  • If you download the archive, extract the artpreview.7z into your csume/artwork folder.

---

🛠 Getting Started

✅ Requirements

• Windows 7 / 10 / 11
• .NET Framework 4.5+
  Download .NET 4.5
  Offline Installer
• CSUME executable (included)
• ROM files placed in the configured ROMs folder
  ⚠️ Arcade Connector does not and will not provide ROM files. Users must supply their own.
• Minimum hardware: Dual-core CPU, 1GB RAM, Direct3D-capable GPU
• Internet or LAN connection
  (Offline gameplay still works, but hosting and joining require a network)
• Port Requirements
  • Arcade Connector uses UDP port 45291 for broadcasting hosted game information across the LAN.
  • The C.S.U.M.E. Game connection uses port 5029 (UDP/TCP).
    If you're hosting a game over the internet, make sure to forward both port 45291 (UDP) and port 5029 (UDP/TCP) in your router or firewall.

---

🚀 How to Use

1. Launch the app
2. Enter a nickname and connect to IRC
3. Right-click a user to “Ready Up” for autojoin
4. Click Host Game to start a CSUME server with a selected ROM
5. Use the integrated chat to communicate
6. When you return from the game, your status and icon update automatically

• In IRC Chat, commands like /sound cheer or /sound beback will play the sound cheer.wav or beback.wav and broadcast it to all connected clients. The sound files are located in the Sounds folder. Look in this folder for additional sounds that can played.

• Additionaly, images can be displayed in chat using commands like: /beer or /soulsphere. The image files are located in the Images folder. Images and sounds can be mixed also into a single chat line eg:

"Hi! /sound cheer /beer"

---

📦 Third-Party Libraries / Credits

• CSUME by MisterTea (originally part of MAMEHub)

  CSUME is a fork of UME with client/server support. This launcher includes a CSUME binary compiled separately.

  • CSUME / MAMEHub Attribution

• MetroFramework UI — modern WinForms components

  • Source: MetroFramework GitHub
  • MetroFramework (MIT)

• SmartIRC4Net by Meebey — IRC library for .NET

  • Source: SmartIRC4Net GitHub
  • SmartIRC4Net (GPLv2)

• System.Media.SoundPlayer — built-in .NET sound API

• Windows Forms — native WinForms UI

• .NET Framework 4.5+

💡 If you distribute a compiled version, include all applicable license files.

---

🔧 Build Instructions

1. Open the solution in Visual Studio 2017 or later
2. Set Form1.cs (or your custom form) as the startup form
3. Build and run
4. Ensure that the Sounds/ and Images/ folders exist and contain the required media files

---

🤝 Contribution

This project is still early-stage and focused. Pull requests are welcome for:

• UI and UX improvements
• CSUME integration enhancements
• Visual polish (profile icons, animations, etc.)

---

📄 License

This launcher is open-source and distributed under the MIT License.

---

🔌 CSUME Notice

CSUME (Client/Server Universal Machine Emulator)
Forked from UME (Universal Machine Emulator) by MisterTea — GitHub: MAMEHub
CSUME is derived from the MAME project and follows a BSD-like license.

See LICENSE_CSUME.txt for full details.