RedDog

@imek Test your Mame setup by downloading the attached file and placing it in the C:\Emulators\MAME 0.164 (64bit)\MAME 0.164 Extracted folder. Next double-click MameTest.bat and you should see a CMD window appear along with pacman in a separate window. Let me know if it works, and if it does, we can set Mame up in GameEx next. @RIP-Felix EDIT: Hey Felix: I know I kind of just jumped in the middle of things here and I am sorry about that; but I think that we may be close to having imek having a command line setup working on his rig. From there, my thoughts are to setup GameEx so it is working there too. Then, once he has a working setup to go by, he can try other Mame flavors in that version (like MameUI). MameTest.bat

OK, don't get ahead of things. Let's take this step by step. Please provide the following information using Windows Explorer (again, we are not touching GameEx at this point) What is the path to your Mame executable? For example, it might be something like this: C:\Games\Emulators\Mame_164\ What is the exact name of your Mame executable? What is the path to your Rom folder? For example, it might be something like this: C:\Games\Emulators\Mame_164\Roms\ Please provide the exact name of a rom to test with. Please choose a classic, older game like pacman, 1941, etc. We can continue after that.

I am sorry, but the version information you provided doesn't get us where we need to be. This may seam frustrating, but the version compatibility is very important. Keep working at it. When I said that you will need the Mame and Rom version to match, that means having something like a version 0.164 rom set and Mame 0.164. The version numbers will actually match. The 2.3 version you noted is most likely related to the release version of the arcade game pcb. As for the 32bit vs 64bit, if the Mame executable isn't named Mame32.exe or Mame64.exe (or something similar), it is most likely the 32 bit version which is fine. Don't worry about opening Mame, viewing game lists, or anything else quite yet. Get the version match first and then we can continue. If we don't have a version match before testing, we will always wonder if that is the problem. I should mention something about CHD files: These are Compressed Hard Drive files. You usally need a really good computer to run these through Mame. Some arcade games used hard drives or CDs to hold larger amouts of data. For instance, I read today that as of Mame version 0.151, the CHD files for all of those types of games comes in around 151GB for around 600 games. That is a lot of space. If you are interested in CHD games, after you become more familiar with how the Mame setup works, then tackle those.

Just wanted to bump this to see if anyone else can replicate.

The version of the Mame and the Rom is very important. As each version of Mame is releases, the devs make changes. Sometimes that means that the rom files also need to be changed. Usuaully the changes to Mame are minor adjustments to allow some games to work better, but every so often Mame goes through a huge overhaul (one such time was around 1.59 I believe). As the difference in Mame and Rom version grows, the less likely a rom will run. Of course, there are some roms that just do not work yet, but the hope is that they might be able to figure those out in the future. In any case, by not knowing your rom version testing means grabbing a random version of Mame is essentially taking a shot in the dark. I will also mention that there are ways to update roms to work with new versions of Mame, but unless you know the versions of roms you have in the first place, that will not help you. Also, the process to update takes some knowhow. ie, don't worry about that for now, but know it is there if you want to learn about it in the future. I hate to say it but I seriously suggest taking GameEx out of the picture for now and focus on getting a Mame setup that is confirmed to be working for at least one rom. To that end, get a Mame and Roms that match in version. The choice of Mame is up to you (Mame32, Mame64, MameUI64, etc). There are many places to get Mame, so that should not be difficult. However, It will be up to you to figure out the roms as we cannot make suggestions about obtaining those. I do not believe that there is a tool for determing the version of a Rom though. Once you have Mame and Roms that have matching versions, extract Mame to whatever folder you like on your PC. Within that Mame folder should be another folder called ROMS. Put all the roms there and leave them in a zip format. Then, come back here and provide the the path where the mame executable is located (such as C:\Games\Emulation\Mame32\Mame.exe) as well as where the Roms are located (such as C:\Games\Emulation\Mame32\ROMS) and the name of a basic rom to test wiht (like 1941.zip or pacman.zip). From there we should be able to walk you through creating a batch file to test Mame. Once that is working, setting up in GameEx should be easy. Also, Mame does not come with Roms, but sometimes other people will package matching Mame and Rom versions together. They don't always get it right though. If you have a package like that then we can probably test with it, but double check that they say the versions match. If they don't say, it may be best to not use it. I also suggest not mixing roms of different version sets together.

Imek, Most likely you have a version mismatch problem. Do you know the version of the 941.zip rom? or if you have a rom set, what version is the set? What version of MameUI did you just test with outside of GameEx? What version of Mame did you just test with inside GameEx? Are you aware of the importance of the rom and Mame version having similar versions?

I don't use Zinc myself, but I have a pretty good guess on how GameEx would handle it...but it would depend on how you would set it up. If you have chose to use the integrated Zinc functionality (and have the path/executable to Zinc set up properly), GameEx will simply choose to use Zinc instead of Mame for the games that specifically call for it. In that case, you should not need to worry about databases as GameEx should handle all that. I woudl think that the files Felix commented on are used for that purpose. If you are using Zinc as an emulator in the Emuilator Setup, then you will need to somehow tell GameEx what roms it will be used with. This could be done through a Mapfile or actually making separate rom directory for Zinc with copies of the roms. You would also need to choose a database if you wanted game information to be displayed. This is what I was referring to in my first post. Go ahead and give it a test.

I do not believe there is a database specifically for Zinc. I do not have one in my list and am fairly certain I have them all. However, since we are still talking about arcade rom files, the [Arcade] MAME or [Arcade] Arcade (Mame) databases should work. Unfortunately from looking at the files, it looks like there won't be any game descriptions, but the titles, publisher, year, genre, etc are all still there.

This one was actually tougher than I expected. I never did get past the first level.

So, this is a fresh GamEx install on a machine that has never had it or a recently loaded machine? How up to date is your Windows 7? If I recall correctly, you do need to have a certain .net version or above for GameEx. Otherwise, like the oh-so-wise Draco suggested, the gameex.ini file may shed some light.

Dang it...I was going to suggest turning off HideOS. Ninja'd! You might also check to see if your anti-virus is interrupting it.

Before we continue, I need to ask if you need to set up Mame via the Mame Setup AND the Emulator Setup, because I now see that you also have this thread open and active. Most people set Mame up in the Mame Setup because you get additional fuctionality there you will not get in the Emulator Setup

For Emulator 5 (MAME Arcade Emulator), your command line is fine and should work. I am not as much of a Mame expert as some of the guys on this forum, so someone else may have some better insights than I, but I assume your problem with primrage.zip is a matter of the ROM not being fully emulated...mine acts similar. When I use Mame64.exe (v1.61) to run primrage.zip from a commmand line outside GameEx, Mame64 tells me that the rom is missing all sorts of files and the game will not run. However, if I run primrage.zip using Mewui64-MAME-1.61 with it's own interface or configured through GameEx it does load and play. I assume that Mewui64-MAME-1.61 has some extra stuff that somehow makes it work, but I could not tell you what, how or why. Side Note #1: You may want to change your command line to include the the -skip_gameinfo flag. It will not make the command run better, but is does allow you to bypass the warning message Mame displays (which is nice). Side Note #2: It usually is a good idea to create a new thread for each issue you are seeking help with as it can cause some confusion talking about more than one issue at a time. If you ahve two issues that are clearly related to one another, that is ok.

I don't see a benefit of using a virtual drive for an emulator if you don't need to use one. I see in your GameEx config that you have Dolphin set up for gamecube. As I mentioned above, I do not use a virtual drive to run gamecube isos with Dolphin since Dolphin can handle isos without the use of a virtual drive. The only reason I might use a virtual drive for Dolphin is if the disk image was in some uncommon format not supported by Dolphin. Note: The log.txt you atteached shows GameEx loading and then an attempt to run primrage via Mame. Mame does not require virtual drive, so this log was not taken after running an emulator that uses a virtual drive. One of the purposes of asking for the log.txt is to see what problems GameEx came across when the non-working emulator was run. You need to run GameEx, then run the emulator that is giving you the problem, then close GameEx, and capture the log. Each time GameEx is run, the old log will be overwritten. If you need help troubleshooting an emulator with a virtual drive, please reread my last post and answer all of the questions. Also repost a log taken after an attempt to run the emulator you need help with has been made and state what emulator and iso you attempted to run.

Tom (and team) are certainly still doing updates. If you go back through the fourm, you will see that they do come out periodically. They usually quash bugs reasonable quickly when they are found, especially if they affect a fair number of users...and that is exactly what you want in a developer. GameEx is pretty feature packed as it is, so many of the updates are fixes to small or unexpected issues. There have also been some additional minor features added even recently. I would not expect any major overhauls or big new features to GameEx, since I would think that big 'stuff' would be reserved for Evolution...but Tom is a surprising dude sometimes...so you never know with that guy.

Hey imek, When asking for help with a GameEx function, please always include your current gameex.in file and a copy of a log.txt file taken just after attempting to do whatever you are attempting to do (such as running an emulator). The information usually helps answer some of the initial questions. This is especially helpful for helping newcomers like yourself since your configuration tends to change a lot when first setting GameEx up. Do keep in mind that some emulators that use isos don't actually require the iso to be mounted. Dolphin is one such emulator. For example, you can run gamecube isos with this command line: Dolphin.exe -e "[ROMPATH]\[ROMFILE]". I am fairly sure Wii isos work the same. Another emulator that uses isos but does not require mounting is Fusion when running Sega CD. The only emulators I use that require command line mounting is NeoGeo via NeoCD and Saturn via SSF, but those emulators are pretty basic with very few features. In my experience, the less steps is usually better so if you can avoid mounting, I think it is very worthwhile. As for the use of a virtual drive (if you do wish to use it), do you have a virutal drive program installed such as WINDVD or Daemon tools? When you installed GameEx, you would have been asked if you wanted ISO Support. If you selected yes, I believe GameEx either installs DaemonTools as part of the install or directs you to their site (I forget which). If you do have a program installed, what is the name and version? I have found Daemon Tools to generally work fine, but I am sure others will work fine. Another option I would suggest to use with virtual drives is Adultry's really slick Virtual Drive Loader plugin. It takes care of mounting an image before the emulator is started.

Hey Phantom, You are moving into the realm of utilizing the program in a way that was not originally intended. So, if you can make it work to your satisfaction, well done sir!!! However, you may also run into obsticles that cannot be overcome. Also, as the program is updated it is possible that an update may break this setup (for example, if the structure of the databse files changes). Please do keep this in mind. As for the database, I suggest against changing the database in any way other than the actual data. How GameEx interacts with the database really can only be answered at a programming level, but I believe more than likely GameEx will utilize those column names in order to reference the data it needs. As you already have seen, removing a column will likely crash GameEx. Adding a column probably will not break anything, but GameEx's code is probably not written to dynamically detect new columns. Also, I believe the way you are utilizing the GoodName, TOSEC, and NoIntro column may get unintended results. These are naming conventions used for Roms (this includes GameBase and HyperList too). For instance, GoodName might name a rom 'Afterburner II' while TOSEC might name it 'Afterburner 2'. GameEx won't know what naming convention is being used so it will search through these columns until it finds a match. I would suggest using only one column and the value in the cell of that column should be the filename without the extension. Lastly, you might consider putting up a post to request additional features for the Karaoke section to utilize third party apps, mapfiles, data files, etc. GameEx Evolution is being worked, so I cannot say how likely it is that new functionality will be added, but it may be worthwhile to ask.

If you are using a Mapfile AND have the Use Database Name paremeter set to YES (and have the right database selected), the name in the database should be what is displayed. You are certainly trying some creativity when it comes to setting this up. I am curious to see how well this will work.

Nah, it wasn't a stupid post. When you run out of ideas, it doesn't hurt to ask someone else. Heck, in the end you figured it out anyway.

For me, the scene has always been grounded in the nestalgia of old arcade machines and retro consoles. When I throw in my own computer-geekiness, collection obsessivness, and a little too much OCD...a hobby suddenly appeared. It also didn't help when I found GameEx! When that happened, I also began the long term goal of getting my rig completely spiffed up. As time goes on, I think younger people don't have much interest in that nestalgia or do not have the exposure. It helps that some game companies have rereleased old arcade and console games as stand alone programs or special platforms (like the recent release of the 30-game NES console). Hopefully it will be enough to keep the interest alive.

The same thing happened with Tom's thread on the 14.53 update. For a while, I kept thinking that Tom was replying with the same post several times. Definately a bug.

OK, after further testing it appears that the Daphne path itself is not to blame. When GameEx attempts to confirm the existence of the Daphne executable, if it cannot do so because of a filename mismatch or an incorrect Daphne Path, then GameEx crashes. I tested this on two different mahcines. I changed the title of this thread to reflect this.

I was just looking at this as well and found a similar topic from a few months ago. Sadly, no solution was given, but the one thing they were able to do is rule out GameEx as a cause. Do you happen to get any errors when you try to run MAMEUIFX on it's own or through a command line batch file?

I tried what Alan suggested and changed the List parameters in the Layout section of my own theme (v4) to List = 14,32,570,964...and when I cycled down through the list of one of my emulators, the entire screen started slowly moving upwards. Eventually, GameEx froze and I had to close it with the task manager. The next time I launched it also felt sluggish, so I tried switching themes back and forth and it got back it's normal speed again. @Draco1962: Alan may have found a fringe issue since it relies on the List parameters being very specific values, but if it is easy for another person besides myself and Alan to replicate, would it not be worth having Tom look at? Would you mind trying the same test?

Hey Dazzle, Maybe try this. Enable Daphne on your setup (if you haven't), clear the 'Daphne Path', and run GameEx. Does it crash for you?