RedDog

Well, that certainly is a major malfunction. There has never been anyone else that could verbally tear down another person like he could. Damn poetry it was! Really sorry to hear about this one.

@Gildahl Would you please review the summary in the post above to make sure I am explaining the issues you found as well as you initial request properly. These are the issues I have been able to replicate and have created examples files for the devs to review. I just want to be sure I did not miss or misinterpret what you have said thus far. If it looks good, I will report the post for Tom to review. Thanks for waiting on me to get through these tests.

@Tom Speirs: While looking at an issue reported by Gildahl, a few other issues (posible bugs) came up regardling Emulator Groups, Custom Menus, Favorites, and SelectList1. ATTACHED FILES: In the attached gameex.ini, I set up three Emulators and two Emulator Groups utilizing those emulators. The CustomMenu.ini contains all the emulators and emulator groups. I've also included a 7-zip file that contains a set of dummy folders, dummy emulators, and dummy roms that can be extracted to the C drive that will work with the included gameex.ini. Again, these are dummy files (empty txt files with the names and extensions changed to rom names). No actual roms are included. Hopefully this will make it an easy example to review. ISSUE #1: Emulators not displaying correct contents when Emulator Groups are used with Custom Menus In the attached example, the CustomMenu.ini contains the three emulators, two blank lines, two Emulator Groups. Once you are in GameEx, if you navigate to any of the emulators and enter, instead of displaying the content for the emulator, it instead displays content on an Emulator Group. If you enter into one of the Emulator Groups, the content there looks to be correct. I find it odd that this has not been reported before, but as I am have been unable to have emulators and emulator groups in the same menu while testing, I have to assume there is some sor tof issue. I did clear my cache during troubleshooting to make sure that was not the cause. ISSUE #2: The SelectList1 object does not display the word "Items" when navigating the parent menu In the attached example, after starting GameEx, navigate through the home screen to the NES emulator. Note how the SelectList1 object will display "5 Items.". If you then navigate to the NES/SNES Emulator Group, notice that the SelectList1 displays "10." instead of "10 Items." It is a minor oversight, but the word "Items" should be present. I tested on v3 and v4 themes (in case it is relevant). ISSUE #3: The SelectList1 object does not display an item count for the Favorites when navigating the parent menu This may be more of an oversight than a bug. If you navigate to the Favorites, notice that the SelectList1 does not display the number of items in the Favorite list at all. It would make sense to display the count. REQUEST: When navigating the list of games inside an Emulator Group, can the title on the screen be made to reflect the emulator the game comes from? This is the main request made by Gildahl when the thread began. Currently, the Title Text that is displayed comes from the Title Text of the Emulator Group in the Setup Wizard. I do not see any parameter that overwrites that value. Gildahl would like the to have an option in Emulator Groups where the Title Text that is displayed is based on the game that is currently high-lighted. This is to show the user what emulator or game system the currently high-lighted game is from. Note that some users may not want th etitle to change, so if this is done, I think the best bet is to add a parameter in the Emulator Group section. GameEx.ini : This is a setup I specifically set up to test these issues CustomMenu.ini log.txt : I navigated and entered each of the emulators and emulator groups when capturing this log. Emulation.7z : If you extract this pack of dummy files file to your C drive, the resulting emulator directory will work with the attached gameex.ini.

I was able to see the isues you pointed out with the 'items' description for the emulator groups and favorites, however there is an additional issue I came across with the emulator groups. Your gamex.ini is pretty involved, so I have been working on a more simplified example to give to Tom for review. I should be able to post it in the next day or two assuming we do not uncover any other issues.

There does not appear to be a command line parameter for full screen. See the documentation for 4.4 here. Does the emulator retain it's fullscreen parameter if you start and stop it outside of GameEx? Perhaps you are inadvertantly toggling to windowed mode when you are exiting the emulator. Apparently, you can use [ALT] + [ENTER] to switch between full and windowed mode. If the emulator will not retain it's full screen setup, you could do a Send Keys when the emulator is launched.

OK. I've done some testing, but I am not getting the results I am expecting. Because of it, I do think that there is something wrong with the way emulator groups and the emulators that compose those groups are being displayed. There appears to be more off than the titles. I don't think it is related to the custom menu, but since you can't test emulator groups without custom menus, it's hard to say. I have been busier than expected, so I have not had as much time as I have wanted to test it more thoroughly. Sorry for the wait. As soon as I can run through a few more scenarios, I will likely post a new topic with examples for Tom to review.

It's not a bad idea for a feature for non-Mame emulators, but I would not want it to automatically update. I would much rather be notified that an update is available and trigger it to download and install. The problem is that occasionally an emulator will go through a major change which may require some adjustments on the user side. I would rather have the opportunity to look at the change log before it was installed.

@Zero Dreams Would you mind posting what you created? If they look good, maybe I could include them in the download.

@Gildahl Hey. I am traveling today. I had hoped to look at this again before I left, but I ran out of time. I should be able to check it out no later than this weekend.

@Zero Dreams Glad you like it. I used Gimp to make all of the assets. I included templates for making the sidebar, logo, and backgrounds in the _TEMPLATES folder in the download. I have not used photoshop, but I believe it will take .xcf files. The process I used was to first create the sidebar graphic using the sidebar template with colors and images based on the console boxart. Once you have what you like, save it as a single layer graphic, reedit it to turn the entire thing -90 degrees, and then cut the red guide area out to get the resulting vertical sidebar. The background template is layered, so just paste the vertical sidebar on the sidebar layer and position it as needed. If you cut the sidebar properly, it should fit perfectly along side the drop shadow. Adjust the background layer's color to fit the console theme and then save the result as an image file (I like png myself). If you decide to get fancy with curves like the GameCube or Dreamcast, then you will have to position it to your liking and redo the drop shadow. It sounds like you are comfortable with photoshop, but if you do find yourself struggling with it, let me know. I will be traveling starting tomorrow, but once I get settled I should have some time to whip up a 3DO and 2600 set if needed.

Congratulations. Keep it up.

I checked the theme download page before posting to see if there was something similar, but there is no Deep Purple available for download now. I shouldn't need the whole theme, but if it's not a bother, I figured I might as well. Really, I need to know what version it is and the theme.ini will give me that. There are different theme versions and some of them display information differently than the others.

Gildahl, It looks like you are using a custom theme, Dave's Deep Purple? Could you post the theme if it is not too big? If it is too big, how about posting the theme.ini from the theme's folder? It may be enough for me to go on.

I do not have Mesen, but from the command line settings I found It looks like the following basic Emulator Setup should work for you: WORKING PATH: Enter the path where the Mesen executable is located. Example: c:\emulation\Mesen ROM PATH: Enter the path to where your roms are located. Example: c:\emulation\Mesen\roms ROM FILTER: Enter the filter for the rom files. Example: *.nes; *.fds; *.nsf; *.nsfe; *.unf COMMAND LINE: Mesen.exe "[ROMPATH]\[ROMFILE]" /fullscreen DATABASE: Select [Console] Nintendo NES USE DATABASE NAME: Select YES For the command line, there appear to be a number of flags that Mesen can use when it is run such as fullscreen, video scale, and overscan. To include any of those options, just add them at the end of the command line. Take a look at the bottom of the page of this LINK to see some additional info on some of those flags. Of course, many other settings will have to be configured within Mesen itself. Otherwise, set the paths for any of the pretty stuff you would like to use: image snaps, videos, box art, etc. There are a number of other settings that you can use, but many are optional depending on your setup. Note that this setup is actually very similar to how most emulators are set up.

...and the GameEx.ini please.

Some screenshots would probably be a good idea. Post your GameEx.ini file as well. I have to wonder how much your configuration is affecting how things are being displayed. It is possible that what you have come across is a bug; it certainly happens; but depending on what it is you are seeing, it is also likely that what you are seeing is intended. I don't use title text in my theme at all. I have it disabled. The only purpose it serves in my setup is to identify the emulator in the Emulator Setup of the Setup Wizard. For most themes, the title text of the emulator is displayed when you go into the module.

Hi zevs_7, Even though Mesen is not an emulator that GameEx officially supports at the moment, most any emulator that has command line functionality can be set up. Is there something particular about this emulator that you don't think works with GameEx or are you mostly looking for some help configuring this?

I have a feeling there is no bug here since you are referring to two different functions, but it is difficult to see what you are referring to with the limited information you have provided. The excerpt from the custom menu really isn't enough to go on. However, you would likely be better served by making a feature request since not everyone will prefer the same thing you do.

Glad it worked out. I learned something new with this one as well. I think it has to do with the number of times a game has been played (over 5 maybe) as well as the total amount of time.

Rochabian, From looking at the way the data.db3 file is constructed, I have a feeling the Most Played list is generated based on gameplay statistics that are recorded there. By reinstalling GameEx, you may have reset the data to zero. It's possible that the reinstall fixed it, but you may not have played enough. Try launching a game at least 6 times and leave at least one running for 30 minutes. Then see if the list starts populating. If not, please post the data.db3 file so I can check it over here. Alternately, you could try the attached data.db3 file I tinkered with while I was testing. It only contains data for a few Mame games. Just rename your current data.db3 so it is not overwritten and then rename the test file. The only thing is that I don't actually know how the Most Played functionality works, so there may be other files that come into play. Also, I would not worry about the LastList.txt file. Yours is very similar to mine. There are no game names listed there. DATA_test.db3

I always thought of the two buttons at the bottom to represent the right and left shoulder buttons from gamepads.

methodman, Please explain what you are expecting and what you are seeing. Perhaps even post a pic if you think it will help. I see both Playstation and Amiga in the Emulator Selection list for the Setup Wizard for GameEx 15.10 and GameEx Arcade 15.10. I also see dowloadable options in the repository. If you are referring to GameEx GameEx Arcade, please state which one and what version you are using.

Sorry. That does not appear to be a feature in GameEx Arcade.

Png and jpg files are supported. Just make sure the filenames of the snap, title, whatever match the filename of the game that is used in the rom filter.

@jmk That was Windows 7 that I was working with. I fooled around with it a lot, so I got pretty familiar with the ins and outs of what 'should' happen. I installed the directx Karaoke (regular and beta) and was able to get Karaoke working in Windows Media Player (CDG files), but I never could get it fully working in GameEx for some reason. The song preview in the list would work fine (showing the lyrics for a short time for example), but launching a song always failed. In the end I turned to other projects and let it go. Instead I went with Karafun as a stand alone application launched from GameEx. GameEx's Karaoke is pretty bare-boned and lacks many features that really makes a karaoke setup work. It's fine for a small song list, but not so much for a large library.