bkenobi

Like I said, I was unable to get XPadder to work using the launch before/after commands just like you are attempting. My solution was to use a script that would basically do what you have above, but in a file with a different extension (ahk I think). If you figure out another way, have at it!

This has been a problem for some time. The video snaps used to start immediately, but several months ago I noticed that they took several seconds to load. I don't have access to a log, sorry.

Zinc games are based on Sony Playstation hardware. If you can find a similar game for PSX, you don't need to use Zinc at all. It does take a while to get up to speed on setting up Zinc, but once it's running you won't need to change anything.

This sounds like a good thing for those of us using TVs or arcade monitors. Thanks!

The first step would be to post a log so we could see what's going on.

Not sure if you remembered to send numbers rather than rom names from your response. Tempest's tool for mameemumap.ini generation takes care of this for you. If you don't go that route, you will want to rename the files to numbers and use a map file to link the new file names to something meaningful.

If you use the built in Zinc support, GameEx will force the roms to be in your MAME folder. That is bad IMO since MAME has redumped many roms since the last version of Zinc was released. I keep my Zinc roms in a different folder, but that means I can't use the built-in support. Check out the mameemumap.ini file. It will allow you to set zinc up as an emulator (and control where you want files located) yet still appear to be linked in with MAME. All your games will then load seamlessly. Good luck!

First things first... Upgrade to 11.14 (or whatever the current version is). Sometimes these bugs can be fixed already. It's pointless to debug a problem that might already be fixed (it's happened, don't laugh)!

FWIW, I use a script to load my XPadder profiles. I think the reason was that XPadder was causing focus problems and/or unreliable profile switching unless the app was already open. I originally had a call to change the profile the same way you have, but it didn't work for me the way I wanted it. I'm probably using an old version of XPadder at this point, so maybe these issues have been fixed.

That's where GameEx stores the images it creates for the screen saver (if not other things too). I don't think you can change that path.

That's freaking awesome!

This is a really great idea. Thanks for the work you and your team have done. I don't know what ever happened to my login to emumovies, but I guess it must have been eliminated in the server change or something. I guess now would be a good time to buy another subscription!

Yes, you can compile any version of MAME that you can get source code for (which should legally be all versions). MAMEDevs provide older versions on a different page than the current release, but they are all available. This is not part of you question, but be aware that if you want to compile something REALLY old (v0.70 for example), you won't be able to use HK's compiler since the actual compiler has changed. You can take the exe that the compiler generates and drop it in the same location that you currently have the mame.exe. If it's the same version, then yes it will work without any changes. If there is a version difference, you might need to alter your mame.ini. GameEx can support different versions of MAME in a couple ways. There is support built in to use Zinc and Model2 emulators for supported games, but there is no built in second version of MAME available in the menus. You can create a new emulator for your second version of MAME and use it that way. If you want to take the next step, you can use the mameemumap.ini file to have those files show up in the same list and just play through your alternate version of MAME. If you want to go that route (I highly recommend that approach), you should check out Tempest's GUI which makes setting this up EXTREMELY simple.

You could always just add HiScore support back in by compiling using HK's MAME 64 Compiler.

I could be wrong, but I don't think all games support save states. I used the feature a while back and some games would save and load correctly but others would not. I couldn't figure out what was going on at the time. I didn't really like the way it worked, so I stopped using it anyway.

If it's not in the list, then they are probably considered clones and you have "no clones unless better" turned on. Add the game you want to the excluded filters list and add the 4p version to the filter list. Once you rebuild your list, you should be good to go!

I think there's a pretty good split between HTPC and cab users these days (well, and those who just run off their main PC). Most cabs are 4:3, so a resolution of 1024x768 (which GameEx can scale down if need be) is always useful. For those running HTPC/PC's, I would guess most are running wide screen monitors. As such, 16:9 or 16:10 would probably be best for them. FWIW, I still run 4:3 on ALL of my displays (PC, cabs, TV's).

Tom is in the UK, so there may be a time zone thing going on. He generally gets the keys out really quickly. He was on earlier making some big updates to the program, so he might not have gotten to it yet depending on when you registered.

I don't understand the question. CFG Magician will help you set up your games' inputs the way you want them based on lists of games you want to set up. It really doesn't have anything to do with the version of MAME (well, REALLY old versions used a different format for the cfg file). So, if you want to generate a special config for all 6 button fighting games, you can just make a list of the rom names (I think one is already included with this software, but you can easily make your own with RomLister). Then, feed that file into CFG Magician and define your keys interactively. The software will generate cfg files for each game in the list all at once. You just need to then copy those files into your MAME/cfg folder. That's all been elaborated on earlier in the thread, I'm just reiterating it here...

Run the game outside of GameEx via the runitgame.bat file and see if it does the same thing.

I used Excel to do it at one point (prior to using mameemumap.ini). You can probably use Python or another language more quickly if you are good with something supporting RegEx. I just have become used to bruit forcing Excel into doing the job for me.

That's probably the easiest thing to do. If for some reason you need to use a loader or launch something at the same time as zinc, then you will need to look into the mameemumap.ini support. If you are happy with just launching zinc as is, then definitely at least try the built in zinc integration into MAME.

Never used these systems, but thanks for putting forth the effort to extend the databases!

That's one advantage to using the mameemumap.ini file. Since it maps the mame roms to the numbers that zinc wants to see, it will get the artwork correct out of the box.

Although you might get help from someone here, you will find a larger audience of people who are experts on monitors over at the BYOAC forums. Check out their monitor section in particular.