bkenobi

I had my cab configured like this for a while and never had a problem with shutting down windows through GameEx. The only problems I did have were related to trying to run another program before it shut down. Basically, that program wasn't fast enough so GameEx shut down windows prior to the program running. But either way I've never had any problems with tskill.exe.

I still think multi categories per game would be better, but it may be difficult based on how Tom implemented them in the first place. I know it has been requested MANY times, but each time Tom says the same thing. Since that is not currently an option, I believe it should be possible to use a smaller number of categories that are more general that would still be intuitive. I came up with a list for my custom CatVer that seems to work pretty well, so I don't think it should be too much of a problem. Who knows, Tom may eventually come up with an easy way to implement multi categories, but just not today.

There are some command line options that can be used to do this kind of thing (e.g., you can update your game list without having to open GameEx and navigate to the correct location). I don't know if Tom added CLI support for updating GameEx though. That could be useful. However, I suspect that it is not available since the other CLI options still launch GameEx before they do their thing. Since update is the first thing it asks about, there probably wouldn't be much of a reason to have it in there.

I wrote the script with some help from Stu among others. The script should work great with a spinner! I use it with my 360° steering wheels which are essentially just big spinners. In case you need it, here's the script. Mouse2Key__GameEx_.zip

I haven't tried, but it doesn't seem like that kind of a problem. I'll give it a try and report back though.

I'm still having problems with crashes, but it appears that they are NOT related to joystick detection like I originally thought. I'm using the GameLauncher interface for GameEx and when I load up, I get an immediate error on launch saying that an array is out of bounds. I checked and there are 2 variables defined in the GameEx.ini file that are set to -1 that I don't think should be (SelectedGame=-1, GLaunchListSelected_16=-1). I tried setting these to 1, but it doesn't work. Anyway, I don't know what to do to fix this so hopefully Tom or someone else will have some insight. GameEx.zip

Bezels will only display in MAME if you have bezel art for it in the artwork directory. In GameEx, you can also choose to have all verticle games use a standard GameEx black bezel. There is no way to display a bezel if there is none define for it, obviously.

Good to hear you got it going! And thanks for posting the solution. Perhaps this will help others in the future.

I don't think the last artwork needs a '-' since that appears to be the directory where the artwork is contained in (just giving the local path rather than the full path D:\mame32\mame32\artwork). What you need to do is go to the start menu and find the 'Run Last Game' item. Right click and say properties. Select 'Find Target'. Now, open that file in a text editor (right click and say edit). What is the command it is running? Try running that in a command prompt (doslike box) and see if that works. If not, it will give you an error that might help. I think you can just add a line and put 'PAUSE' on it in the batch file if that's easier. Report back what you find and we can go from there!

Did you upgrade MAME or your other emulators recently? You said you didn't do anything, but GameEx has the option to update on launch. Do you have that enabled? Did you try the 'Run Last Game' item in the GameEx Start menu (if it runs there, then it's not the emulator)? Is there an error log?

Are you running MAME32 through GameEx or are you using the standard command line MAME? I would suggest running the "Run Last Game" batch file in the GameEx menu under the Start menu. It should give you an error for you to decipher. If it flashes by before you can read it, add 'pause' to the end of the batch file. If you need help with the error, post it here and someone might be able to help.

Like I said earlier, I didn't have time to completely test it out since I ran out of time last night. I was primarily posting what I thought was causing the crashes to see if anyone else had similar problems or another work-around. I spent some time this evening poking around and have isolated what I believe is the cause of the crashes. I don't know what's causing it, but it appears that changing one parameter fixes things. I am including 4 files: 1) GameEx1.ini - The original, clean installed config file without loading GameEx 2) GameEx2.ini - The config file after launching and exiting GameEx 3) GameEx3.ini - The config file after GameEx crashed on the second startup (NOTE: there are only 3 differences between 1 and 3) 4) log.txt - The error log after the crash which created GameEx3.ini I was able to get GameEx working again by changing the entries that had changed and were assigned -1 to the value in GameEx1.ini. The problem is that upon launching again, it just did the same thing again. I cannot rule out that the joystick is causing this problem, but it currently looks like that is not the case. Error.zip

Seems like I shouldn't have to do that at all. If the joystick is causing the crash, then it's a bug in GameEx. If it's something else, then it doesn't apply. I think I will grab a joystick and see if that solves the problem. If so, then it should be fixed in GameEx. If you say disable joysticks, it should automatically set to "Disabled" not "All available joysticks".

I did disable joysticks, and it is disabled when I check. The thing that changes is the joystick to use. I only have 1 plugged in and it automatically grabs that one. Perhaps there is something else that's causing my crashes, but that's where it stops in the error log and that's the only thing that I can see changing in the config file. It sounds like I'll have to look at it a bit more. Thanks

I would love to come up with a better way of setting up the pedals so that they were correct in windows. That would eliminate a lot of problems. BUT, the main problem is that GameEx keeps reenabling the controller casuing a crash (it appears). If I disable gamepads, GameEx automatically change the next box to disabled or blank.

Yeah, there is. That option is designed to keep GameEx from twitching with joysticks that have a sensetive centering spot (like 49 way and analog joysticks). In this case, I have an analog joystick that is held at one extreme. It basically is supposed to have one axis in only one direction (positive/negative). The way that Windows deals with it though is sorta messed up. When I configure the pedals, it takes the extremes and remaps them to center and extreme. But, when I test it inside the window, sometimes it hangs on the oposite extreme rather than center when it's not being touched. I don't know if that's clear. I can sketch something out if anyone is interested. Or, perhaps just grab a screen capture to show it, but I'm not near that machine now.

My driving cabinet uses a MS Sidewinder hack to attach the pedals. This works fine for MAME, but it causes problems for GameEx due to the axis not alway staying centered like it should. Anyway, if I touch the pedals it will start scrolling the list and when I let go it will shoot the other way (because either windows or GameEx doesn't understand where the axis SHOULD be). So, the solution is to disable all gamepads. That's where the problems start though. If I disable gamepads and set the next box in the advanced config to blank, GameEx starts up correctly. If I quit and start again, it crashes. When I go into the advanced config, it still shows gamepads are disabled, but the next box shows "Use all devices" instead of blank. I need to do a little more testing to verify this is consistently happening, but it sure looks that way at the moment. I will upload 2 configs and the error log later today or tomorrow when I get a chance if this isn't straitened out by then.

I looked at the site, but didn't try it. The documentation sucks as far as it's flow for reading (you have to read everything to learn anything). Anyway, I'll keep this in mind when I rebuild my CP. I'm about to swap to a new version of the GP-Wiz that has rotary controls built in (Ikari warriors anyone?).

This is a bit off topic, but has anyone run across a program that will allow you to map joystick buttons to virtual d-pads? Here's why I ask. I use a GP-Wiz in my cab which is a gamepad device with 1 dpad and 32 buttons. I use it for a 2 player CP. I would ideally have 2 virtual gamepads that were made from the one real gamepad. Anyway, I tried some stuff a while back (using ppjoy etc), but nothing worked out. In the end, I made due with Joy2Key and later XPadder. I think the virtual gamepads would be a cleaner route, but it's not worth programming when there's a solution that works. Anyway, just curious.

There are several guides here that show how to set up either Daemon Tools or Alchohol 120 with GameEx. I beleive they are even linked from the GameEx.net -> Tutorials section, but I haven't checked to verify. If not, search the forum for either.

If things don't work, you could try checking that the mouse is clicking in the right spot. You might be running in a different resolution from Brian so AHK might be clicking the wrong spot. As I recall, if you enable the mousehook you can open AHK and when you click somewhere, there is a way to display the location where you clicked. I haven't done this so I can't be more specific though (I always just guess and check the location).

I ended up swapping my speakers with a spare set I salvaged from another machine. Turned out that the original ones had no shielding but the new ones were. MUCH better! Thanks for starting this topic HK!

I think v6.xx didn't have .NET 2.0, so you will probably have to install that if you don't already have it.

Not familiar with Starsky and Hutch? Ehhh, no worries!

On partsexpress these are only $0.75 - $1.83 USD each. I don't know the conversion to Australian currency, but I know that for under $10 USD shipped you can't even find a degaussing wand! I've recently noticed this problem with my cabinet, so I may look into it. The speakers were from the original cabinet so I assumed they would be shielded, but apparently not. I also have another set which I'll have to try, but I'm guessing it will be the same. Either way, this is definitely a cheap fix if it works (perhaps cheaper than the tomatoes!