bkenobi

I just did this last night after accidentally adding all MAME games to the favorites list (DOHHHHH!!!!!!). If you run the Advanced Configuration program, you will see a button called 'Admin'. In there is a single item that will reset all user statistics. The down side is that you lose ALLL statistics, but you do remove the favorites as well as the truth about you and those crazy japanese puzzle games!

In case anyone has use for this info, apparently someone has put together a DAT file for Circo's MAME EmuMovies. You will have to locate them in the forums where the tracker is located. Due to forum rules, I cannot expand beyond that vague guidance...

What game(s)? MAME, console, PC, ????

Many people just use the default MAME config for all emulators whenever possible. I personally don't like the idea of using hotkey buttons (CTRL, SHIFT, ALT, SPACE, TAB, ENTER, BACKSPACE) in my configs just to make sure that Windows doesn't think it should step in, so I change them to a custom set.

Basically all analog controls can be controlled via a digital input. If you look at the MAME controls (hit 'TAB' and find the control), you will see 3 items for each analog input. For example look at trackball x. You will see Analog Trackball X, Inc Trackball X, and Dec Trackball X. If you don't have an analog device to control this, you just need to set the Inc and Dec fields to a digital control. You can then fine tune these controls FOR EACH GAME within MAME. I don't recall what it's called, but there is a menu that sets sensetivities for each of these. I believe that digital input is tweakable, but I know analog input is. Check it out and see if it improves things.

That's correct. In GameEx, there is a toggle for debug mode. When enabled, it adds 'PAUSE' to the end of the command. This allows you to see what command was called if things fail as well as any results of the command.

I sorta forgot about this thread... Now that it's bumped, I will mention that after a lot of looking, I couldn't figured out how to get MAME to NOT pause when the config menu is raised nor could I figure out how to tell HK's bezel code to NOT call the CPWizard if the config menu was active. I don't know enough about the details of the MAME system, so I'm calling it If someone else wants to look at this, I can try to explain (via PM probably) what I've looked at so that the same things aren't a waste of time for future effort. The silly thing is, for the right person this is a 2 second task At the moment, the only problem I'm having is that CPWizard will minimize MAME on exit. I don't know if I need to disable overlays or something (I saw that mentioned in another thread...), but I haven't had a lot of time to play with it recently.

To dumb it down as much as possible.... You basically need to patch the MAME executable to include those changes. The way to do that is by following the directions provided in the MAME Compiler thread. It includes both enabling high score and disabling nag screens, so with one patch, you will be all set up!

Hmmm, well I suppose it should be there. There should at least be a link in the FAQ on what thread to read anyway...

Just a thought, but if you *must* use 3 databases for each, I hope 2 (or maybe all 3) would be linked to a master database where the actual data resides. In this case, the extra databases wouldn't need updating, they would just be there to make things easier for Tom. I personally think it's pretty silly to do it that way unless it's a major undertaking to get the correct solution working, but hey, not my call. I also had another thought... I don't know how much data there is contained in all the databases (I haven't looked recently), but perhaps this info could just be pulled from a server so it could be maintained at a central location and a local cached copy used if no update was desired/needed. Obviously it would be slower that way, but if data is small, then it wouldn't be too bad. Also, it would only need updating if a flag showed your version wasn't up to date. And, it would only need to update out of date info. I haven't messed with this stuff, so I don't know how hard it is putting hash tables together vs just eating the bandwidth of the download. Anyway, just a thought.

I think this one's already in the FAQ, so you wouldn't have to search!

I noticed it's in the way of the kids and the dining room table, so I figured she would complain (I know mine would).

Looks good. I bet P1 gets crammed against the wall with 2 player fighting games though. I would try rotating it 45° in the corner so that it's pointing into the center of the room. It won't take much more space and it will give the players more room to move around as well as the possibility for spectators.

I remember someone saying that if there isn't enough space in a text field it will sometimes crash (like if the game name is too long). It's possible that the database is converting the filename to a longer name that exceeds this string length. That's my best guess, and it could be off base.

I would second copying the entire GameEx directory. Newer versions are missing some of the loaders (due to political issues), so if you have those on your current installation and use them, you will want to back them up. There are a number of directories that need certain files, so I would just take the whole thing and be done with it. If you have a bunch of themes installed, you could opt to delete any that you don't intend on using/keeping. I found that the majority of the space taken up by my instl was due to the themes directory (I only use 1 theme, so I saved a LOT of space).

Yeah, that could be a corrupted page file. If running check disk doesn't work, you could try reducing the page file size to 0 (or close to 0), rebooting, then increasing the size again. This *should* result in a reallocation of the page file on a new section of the hard drive. It's possible fragmentation could be an issue (when was the last time you defragged?), but I was pretty sure the page file occupied a single contiguous chunk on the drive. It's also possible the message is exactly right in that you have corrupt memory. If that's the case, then memtest86 could help. Incidentally, I had a problem with my system locking up at strange times. I thought it was heat, video card, HDD issues, etc. In the end, it turned out to be mismatched memory. I was using DDR, so it shouldn't have been an issue, but for whatever reason it was. If you have multiple sticks, you could check to make sure they are matched. If that's the issue though, you are probably running on a pretty skimpy system...

In case the pause command is still a problem... There is a setting in your emulator to run in debug mode. Set that to false and it won't insert the pause command at the end of the batch file when running your game. Have fun...

Try running "Run Last Game.bat" outside of GameEx. If it doesn't work, check that the command line seems appropriate. Either way, this is a good place to start.

Make sure you check that no direction keys are required as well. As I recall, the up line tends to hide the "=True" just based on the length of the line. That has gotten me before...

GameEx uses Amazon to get boxart from as I recall. Tom would have to answer about how it's done and if it's possible to use an alternate language.

I don't think there's anything special needed to make it work. I run GameEx on 3 machines (well, it's installed on 3...2 never get turned on anymore and the 3rd is the machine used to test setups). I have 1 LCD, 1 PC CRT, and 1 TV CRT. They are all pretty much set up the same except for the resolution (SDTV is only ~640x480 vs 1024x768 used on the other 2).

Check out Night's page. It has a TON of themes including the wide screen ones. If you go to the main page, there is a link to 'Themes' that will take you right there!

Opti-Wiz is a product made by RandyT of GroovyGameGear.com. I've purchased from them a couple times and spoken to RandyT a number of times. He's got some great products and I will buy from him again come my next project!

You need to interface the trackball to the PC so that it turns into a standard mouse. There are many ways to do it, but the easiest way (arguably) is to use a MiniPac, opti-pac, or an opti-wiz. The minipac doesn't require any soldering although I think the others can be purchased so they don't either. If you are capable of using a soldering iron, I would consider using a mouse hack since it may be cheaper and quicker (although the opti-wiz is only $15 USD).

I don't think Shaunopp was trying to make a cutting remark. I think he was just saying that if you are going to spend all the money on a large hi-res arcade monitor, you really should spend the extra money to get the interface to make it work as spec'ed. If you don't get the card, you will have a nice screen, but it will just display in TV resolutions (from my understanding...which is limited on arcade monitors). Remember...Have Fun With It!!!!