Singe 2

Emulator
Emulates:	Laserdisc Arcade games
Download:	Official website
License:	Freeware
Developer:	Kangaroo Punch

Singe is an emulator to play LaserDisc games. Singe 2.0 was released in October 2020 With 25 games available at launch, and was the largest Singe release to date

Setup Guide

Download the emulator from the official website.

Put the file in the folder you want to install it to e.g. Singe 2.

Run the Singe2 executable, this will then install all necessary files. It will also show you a list of modifiers for the command line, full list below

Extract the data for each game to individual folders within the Singe 2 folder where Singe is installed

You can change controls using the controls.cfg file in Notepad which is located within the Singe directory though it's not normally needed.

Once you are happy right click the menu.bat file and press edit.

You should now see a line like the following:

Singe-v2.00-Windows-x86_64.exe -k -w -z -d data -v ActionMax/frame_38AmbushAlley.txt ActionMax\38AmbushAlley.singe

Here we can see the following modifiers have been applied "-k -w -z -d". You can add or remove these as you wish along with the others detailed below if you change the script at all remember to save it Run menu.bat which will load the built-in GUI, you can select the game using left/right buttons and start the game by pulling the trigger

Using Singe 2.00 (Windows) with a launcher

If you're using a frontend like LaunchBox, you can launch each game with separate parameters by preparing batch files for each of them.

• Open your Singe directory.
• Make a new text file
• Using a text editor, write this:

  Singe-v2.00-Windows-x86_64.exe -k -w -z -d data -v <folder of the game\video or movie folder\video file of the game.mp4 folder of the game\script folder(or not if script in root)\name of script.singe>
  

  folder of the game\script folder(or not if script in root)\name of script.singe
  • Here is my example for Mad Dog McCree:

    Singe-v2.00-Windows-x86_64.exe -k -w -z -d data -v Maddog_McCree_Singe_2\Video\maddog.mp4 Maddog_McCree_Singe_2\Script\maddogiDsinge
    

  • The -k parameter removes the Singe splash screen
  • The -w parameter runs Singe in full screen window
  • The -z parameter removes the console screen, so nothing to close upon exiting Singe
  • You can add parameter -n to remove crosshair in gun games if you prefer.
  • Based on the original Menu.bat, if you want every laserdisc index file to be in the same subfolder, you can keep parameter -d data to your command line. Else, the index file will be created in the game subfolder.
  • -v points to the video file. The video file can be found by opening in notepad the "games.dat" file that is in the game folder.
    • Example: my video file path for Mad Dog Mcree is:

      -v Maddog_McCree_Singe_2\Video\maddog.mp4
      

  • The script file can be found by opening in notepad the "games.dat" file that is in the game folder.
    • Example: the script for Mad Dog McCree for me is:

      Maddog_McCree_Singe_2\Script\maddog.singe
      

• Save your file
• Change the extension to .bat
• Run the bat file
• Drag and drop the file in LaunchBox to add the game if this is your preferred launcher, other launchers can use different methods.
• Repeat for every Singe game in your collection.

Action Max

Action Max .bat files can be built a little differently. Instead of a direct video path you can use the -v command to link to the games frame file.  This will insert the original intro video into the games. So for ambush valley, the intro video will then play after selecting a game type

Batch file example

 Singe-v2.00-Windows-x86_64.exe -k -w -z -d data -v ActionMax/frame_38AmbushAlley.txt ActionMax\38AmbushAlley.singe

Command Switches

  -a, --aspect=N:D               force aspect ratio
  -c, --showcalculated           show calculated framefile values for debugging
  -d, --datadir=PATHNAME         alternate location for written files
  -e, --volume_nonvldp=PERCENT   specify sound effects volume in percent
  -f, --fullscreen               run in full screen mode
  -h, --help                     this display
  -k, --nologos                  kill the splash screens
  -l, --volume_vldp=PERCENT      specify laserdisc volume in percent
  -m, --nomouse                  disable mouse
  -n, --nocrosshair              request game not display gun crosshairs
  -s, --nosound, --mutesound     mutes all sound
  -t, --trace                    trace script execution to screen and file
  -u, --stretch                  use ugly stretched video
  -v, --framefile=FILENAME       use an alternate video file
  -w, --fullscreen_window        run in windowed full screen mode
  -x, --xresolution=VALUE        specify horizontal resolution
  -y, --yresolution=VALUE        specify vertical resolution
  -z, --noconsole                zero console output

Add Border

Although not mentioned in the emulator's "help" output, the "-g" or "--sindengun" argument allows for Singe to draw the borders required by the Sinden Light Gun while scaling the game content to fit inside it.

For example, at a minimum, you should specify a decently sized white border and a minimum black border:

Singe-v2.00-Windows-x86_64.exe -g "10 1"

Official Border Documentation

See the full documentation in the developer's source code.