[GUIDE] How to setup an emulator in GameEx

[Tempest]

Hello, and Welcome to GameEx!

If you are like me, you stumbled onto GameEx, and managed to setup Mame quite nicely. But now what?

You are probably wondering "How do I set up other emulators in GameEx?"

First things first. GameEx is a front-end for emulators, and other programs. Basically, it is an program laucher. For GameEx to launch an emulator, you will need to get the emulator working in Windows first.

I have a Nintendo 64, and I would like to setup a Nintendo 64 emulator. Here are the steps that I might take:

1. Get the Emulator working in Windows

a. Go to http://www.emulator-zone.com/ and find out what emulators are available for N64. I see that Project 64 is the #1 rated emulator, so I guess I will use that. I click on the link for Project 64, and it takes me to a new page where I can download the emulator.

b. Extract the files onto your computer. I extracted mine to "C:\Emulators\Nintendo 64 (project64)", but you can extract them anywhere, as long as you know where they are.

c. Open the folder that contains the Project 64 files. I created a Roms folder in the C:\Emulators\Nintendo 64 (project64) directory, but you can put yours anywhere. The contents of my folder looks like this:

d. Double Click on "Project64.exe" to run the emulator. Click on "File > Choose Rom Directory..." to set the location of your roms folder. A list of your available roms should appear in the window. Double Click on one of the RomNames, and the emulation should start. Press {Alt}{F4} to exit Project 64.

e. We will want to configure Project 64 to work well with GameEx, so Double Click on "Project64.exe" to run the emulator again.

Select "Options > Configure Graphics Plugin..." and change the fullscreen resolution to whatever you want. It may be best to set all of your emulators to run at your desktop resolution if possible, so that you don't have the screen jumping, while changing from one resolution to another.

Selecting "Options > Configure Controller Plugin..." opens up a window that we can use to change key mappings (What keys do what action) for Project 64

Select "Options > Settings..." and change the settings to this:

f. Go ahead and close Project 64.

2. Set the emulator up in GameEx

a. From the start menu, select "All Programs > GameEx > Advanced Configuration" to start the advanced configuration program for GameEx. Keep clicking on "Next Page" until you get to an empty emulator slot. My first empty slot is #22 as shown here:

Click on the your empty emulator slot, and you will be taken to the first page of the emulator setup, which at this time, will be blank.

b. The first Option is "Enabled", and it is set to "No". Change it to "Yes" by Clicking on the "Down Arrow", and selecting "Yes" from the drop down menu.

c. The next option is "Import Emulator". From the Drop down list, choose "[Console] Nintendo N64 (Project64)" and click on "Import" and this window will pop up.

Click on "OK" and you will be ruturned to the screen that shows your empty emulator slot. Wait a few seconds, and the first page of the emulator setup will re-open, with alot of the information filled in for you. GameEx will remind you that you will need to set your own paths. Click on "OK", and make sure your paths are correct as I have shown in the following images.

On page 3 of our emulator setup, GameEx has entered "[Mapping Off] Exit (Process Close)" for the "Advanced Config" option:

What the heck is that? Click on "Edit", next to the drop down box, and You will open the "GameEx Advanced Config Editor" Program. Click on the "General" tab at the top, and you will see this:

Do you remember that we had to use {Alt}{F4} to exit Project 64? For consistency, we want to always have {Esc} exit our emulators. Why? Because we don't want to remember different key combos for each emulator on our computer, and if we have a game Cabinet, we will want one key to exit since we won't have access to a keyboard. The Advanced config has the option to re-map keys, (if the option were not available like it is in Project64), GamePad exit, and other handy features. Be sure to check out all of the tabs for possible future use.

That's all there is to it. Start GameEx, and start Playing!

[Tempest]

Ok, that was pretty easy with Project 64, Gameex pretty much had everthing done for us. But what if we had had problems?

This may seem complicated at first, but it is really fairly simple, so stay with me...

GameEx lauches each program by first creating a "Batch" file called "runitgame.bat" that contains all of the commands that need to be sent to run the program. To view the commands that GameEx uses, goto: Start Menu > Program Files > GameEx > Run Last Game, Right click on the icon, and choose "Edit". If Windows wants to know what program to use to open the file, Choose "Select a Program From a List of Installed Programs" Choose "Notepad" from the list. (You may want to make sure that "Use This Program Everytime" is checked.)

It is important that the last item run in GameEx is the one that you are having problems with!

After running Project 64, my runitgame.bat looks almost like this: (I say "Almost", because I added the "Pause" to it so that the command window will remain open after the commands have been sent, so that I can view any errors.)

This is the proper set of commands that are needed to run Project 64. But what If I had made a mistake in my setup? It's possible that I wasn't paying attention, and entered Project69.exe [ROMPath]\[RomFile] for my Command in my emulator setup. If I made a mistake like that, it would appear as if GameEx were going to launch the emulator, but immediately returned me to the screen from which I was trying to launch the game from.

If for some reason my emulator isn't working, I can edit my runitgame.bat, adding "Pause" to the end of the file as described above, Save the file, and then run the .bat file by Left Clicking on the icon in the start menu. This time, the Command Window remains open, and looks like this:

It tells me that "'Project69.exe' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program, or batch file." It may be confusing at first, but what it is saying is that either the file doesn't exist (Wrong FileName), or it doesn't know where to find it (Wrong Path)

If I had entered the incorrect rompath for project 64, and clicked on the Run Last Game icon, I would get this error from Project 64:

By using this method to troubleshoot, It's pretty easy to see what went wrong. If you still don't get it, and need our help, this page will show you how to ask for help effectively: http://www.gameex.info/forums/index.php?showtopic=6451

[Tempest]

This one is reserved too.

[whirlwind]

Nice gonna try and set up a couple of emulators im having trouble with wheres theres no ready made configs, now this gives me a better idea of where im going wrong thanks Tempest

[Tempest]

If you need help, you know where to find us. Also, it never hurts to ask if somebody has a working config. What are you trying to set up?

[whirlwind]

Im trying to set up spectrum and amstrad cpc ,for the spectrum someone recommended zxspin but i couldnt get it working with my xarcade controller , so if you know of any better emulators please let me know , and i tried to set this config up for the amstrad http://www.gameex.info/forums/lofiversion/....php/t2668.html , but it needs Nologic's winape wrapper but the link is dead for it.

[Tempest]

Im trying to set up spectrum and amstrad cpc ,for the spectrum someone recommended zxspin but i couldnt get it working with my xarcade controller , so if you know of any better emulators please let me know

I'm not sure what you mean by "i couldnt get it working with my xarcade controller". If it's a mapping issue, and zxspin doesn't have a way to re-map keys, you can do it with an advanced config. I think that MESS emulates the spectrum as well.

and i tried to set this config up for the amstrad http://www.gameex.info/forums/lofiversion/....php/t2668.html , but it needs Nologic's winape wrapper but the link is dead for it.

nologic pulled his stuff... I will make a wrapper when I get a chance.

[Tempest]

I added a Winape Loader to this thread:

http://www.gameex.info/forums/index.php?sh...t=80#entry56685

Please post here if you have an issue.

[whirlwind]

Wow , ive just replied to your pm and then i seen this 5 seconds after lol.Gonna try it tonight and let you know how I got on .Many Thanks!

Just realised on my profile that im a lurker , Ive added the definition to my sig till ito remind me to change my ways lol!

[Lawrence]

I set up Winape last night actually -- works beautifully without a loader. What's the loader do?

[whirlwind]

what command line do you use for winape lawrence?

[Lawrence]

Just WinApe.exe "[Rompath]\[Romfile]" /A

[Tempest]

I set up Winape last night actually -- works beautifully without a loader. What's the loader do?

It loads games into Winape.

He asked for a loader, and I gave hime one. Where were you a week ago?

Be Specific...

[whirlwind]

Right , i added your loader Tempest but when i run the game in gameex it loads up winape ok but does not load the game for me ,also when i exited gameex to the desktop there was lots of instances of winape running about 10 , 1 for every game i tried. so i tried lawrences WinApe.exe "[Rompath]\[Romfile]" /A command and runs the games for me until i tried this one removed it tries to load it but then stops.

.

[Tempest]

I will look into it. In the meantime, you should remove that link. It is against the forum rules....

[whirlwind]

oops sorry i didnt realise that. heres my gameex config for the winape ill send you my winape.ini through pm Tempest

[Emulator_37]

Enabled=True

STARTPAGENAME=Amstrad CPC1

TITLETEXT=Amstrad CPC

StartPageLogo=amstrad

ROMFilter=

RomPath=C:\Documents and Settings\MULTIARCADE\My Documents\Emulation\Amstrad CPC\a\a

RomsInFolders=

SnapPath=

TitlePath=

BoxPath=

CartPath=

ManualPath=

ControlPanelPath=

InstructionsPath=

WorkingPath=C:\Emulators\WinAPE20A17

MapKeys=True

WaitBeforeKeys=

SendKeys=

ReplaceDash=False

ReplaceUnder=True

Capitals=True

RemoveBrackets=False

ShowDesktop=True

Debug=False

MAPFile=

AlsoLaunch=

Command=WinApeLoader.Exe "[RomFile]"

LaunchBefore=

LaunchAfter=

configFile=

ExcludedFiles=

CustomBackground=

PlayMusic=

DontShowInfo=

PlaySelectionMusic=

SelectionMusicFolder=

PCGame=

DATABASE=

UseDbName=

GamesIn7Zips=False

MergeSets=

PlayInScreenSaver=

ShowMostPlayed=

RandomMostPlayed=

CDCheck=

CDCheckFile=

CustomArtName1=

CustomArtPath1=

CustomArtName2=

CustomArtPath2=

CustomArtName3=

CustomArtPath3=

[GENERAL]

DumbyValue=

[Tempest]

As far as I can tell that game doesn't work, although It's possible I don't have the emulator setup correctly. I have alot of games that don't work???

I used "Ace 2 (UK) (1987).dsk" as my test file.

Here is another version of the loader if you want to try it, but if Lawrence says it's not needed, I believe him.

I will try your .ini to see if it makes a difference.

WinApeLoader.7z

[whirlwind]

I can get the pool game to work in winape when it loads up through gameex it autotypes run"poolcd.bin into winape then it goes back to the command prompt. but if you then type cat you will see a directory of whats on the disk image , it needs to type run"ahpool i picked that game at random ,but am sure theres lots more games that will have this type of problem ,its probably asking a lot or impossible to get the loader to do all this, but i am grateful for all your help.

[Lawrence]

What's the name of the game in question? I can try it on my system.

Here's how Winape's autoloader works (straight from the horse's mouth):

The logic searches for the following files in order: disc, disc.bas, disc.bin, disk, disk.bas, disk.bin, menu, menu.bas, menu.bin, game, game.bas, game.bin. If none of these are found, it searches for DiscName, DiscName.bas, DiscName.bin. If none of these are found, it searches for *. Followed by *.bas, then *.bin, using the first match found. If no files are found and a valid CP/M boot sector exists, the |cpm command is executed.

Likely the game in question doesn't fit into any of the above.

[whirlwind]

The game in question was "alex higgins world pool" ,but had a late night last night trying lots of other games bringing back fond memories ,and had no problems loading them up