3DO ODE Menu released

As an owner of Fixel’s internal 3DO FZ-1 ODE for a number of years, I have generally been happy with how the hardware functions. Compatibly is great and games load reasonably quick. The fact it supports both USB and SD cards makes its storage options flexible. Then there is the XPort external one if you own a FZ-1 and want to keep your internal cd drive working (or just don’t want to disassemble the machine), there is that option too. And don’t forget the clones! There are a number of clones that are similar to Fixel’s internal unit and provide equivalent functionality.

So what’s the problem?

Hooboy am I glad you asked. It’s the menu interface. One thing all of these units share in common is that they use Fixel’s menu system. And it’s terribleness is epic. Forced background music that you can’t turn off, a garish background wallpaper (purple marble?) and an interface that is…barebones at best. Ohhh and did I mention it’s slow?

I saw that someone recently did a decompilation of Fixel’s boot.iso menu system, so I decided to create my own.

Features

• Tabs for Games, Favs, Recent, Tools and Options
• Box art or screenshots for each game (free web tool or python script to automate this)
• Folders and games sorted the way you’d expect, with Disc 2 before Disc 10
• A game kept in its own folder (Doom/Doom.cue + .bin) shows up as the game itself, no need to open the folder
• Multi-disc games: start disc 1 and the menu offers to auto queue the rest
• Favorites, recently played and a play queue
• X picks a random game (from the whole card after TOOLS > SCAN CARD, otherwise from the folder you’re in)
• Hide games you don’t want in the list (demos, duplicates) without deleting them; Options > Show Hidden Games brings them back
• Five color themes (Synth, Navy, Moss, Wine, Grey)
• Menu sound effects (option to enable and disable it)
• Screensaver (1 min, 5 min, 30 min or off in the options)
• Big folders open quickly after the first visit
• Hold up/down to scroll (it speeds up), L/R to switch tabs, left/right to jump by letter
• All the original tools: NVRAM save and load, ROM and RAM dumps, ODE firmware update, Storage Manager
• PAL support: on PAL consoles the menu is centered on screen and runs at the same speed as on NTSC.

It works with Fixel’s FZ-1 ODE, XPort and with SataTo3DO-based clones: one menu for the common 3DO ODEs. There are some other clones out there that may or may not work, but I can add support for them when folks discover them. And all the original menu tools still work: NVRAM save and load, ROM and RAM dumps, ODE firmware update, Storage Manager and device info.

One of the biggest problems with these kinds of products when there is artwork involved is actually getting the artwork. Combing through cover sites, downloading and converting them to whatever format is needed, copying them to the right spot…it turns into a hassle. Well not anymore! I’ve created a pair of tools that you can use, both a html Cover Maker tool for Chrome/Chromium based browsers or a python script for folks that use a different browser or just like doing it through a terminal. It scans your SD card to see what games you got, goes out to the Libretro github and grabs artwork (box art, screenshots or title screens), converts them to an optimized image format for the 3DO, copies them into place and even creates a folder index in each folder, so even the first visit on the console is quick. Literally brain dead easy artwork.

While I am hardly the first to do this (there is at least 3 or 4 others designing their own menus), I think mine stands out as being easy on the eyes, fast and thoughtfully designed. Plus with the companion artwork tools, I think it makes it a compelling option. But perhaps I am just biased. 😉

Feel like giving it a spin? You can download it from my Github: https://github.com/thgill/3do-ode-menu