bkenobi

LJA... I'll take a look at 'blockinput'. Thanks! Oh, I editted my last post for you.

EDIT: LJA... Naw, I was curious if your script worked better...really! I was new to writing AHK scripts when I put that one together, so I didn't know all the tricks (not that I know that many more now). If there's a way to get the AHK script to keep the mouse from sending GameEx inputs, that would be ideal. I was hoping to check out your version today, but my wife and I took the pup up to the mountains today and didn't get back till late. I want to check it out, so when I do, I'll let you know how much better than mine it is

Good stuff. Does your code interact with GameEx in any way other than what you send it? If I change themes with mine to one that has the filter stuff in the area where the mouse is 'trapped', it will freak out. I dealt with it by simply moving where I was trapping the mouse.

This is the problem I was having for a while. Things would work the first time. I would quit and load again. GameEx would crash. I found that one or two of the "GLaunchListSelected" items was being set to something weird. I think it has to do with moving the selection before GameEx is ready to move it. The result is that it puts the selection out of bounds (like -1 or something) and when GameEx starts up completely, -1 in a list = crash. I think the problem was caused by the pageup/pagedown part of the code, so I commented it out and things seem to work. Also, are you using any other programs than XPadder, the script, and GameEx? Perhaps something else is moving the mouse without you knowing about it. Oh, and with BeyondCompare, you can export a report in html format.

Yeah, I remember Adultery mention something about that (it was Adultery, wasn't it?)... Anyway, that's a major undertaking in my opinion, so I wish anyone who tries it manually much luck!

Ok, so I grabbed the config stuff for my racing cabinet. The main files that configure the controls are GameEx.ini, Mouse2key.ahk, and an XPadder profile. I've zipped them up in case you want to take a look at them. I haven't done anything special other than that, so perhaps if you do a diff on the gameex.ini file, you will see an important difference in the setup. RacerX_Config.zip

Ok, so the biggest difference I see between your script and mine is the method used to send the key press. You call: SendPlay {Blind}{up}where I call SendInput {Blind}{%NormalUp% DownTemp} SendInput {Blind}{%NormalUp% Up}where %NormalUp% is set to the up key.

Yeah, I had the same problem initially. I ended up getting some help from Stu as I recall. The solution was incorporated in my script, but I can't remember what it was. Like I said before, make sure you don't have custom inputs turned on. I recall those screwed things up with scripts. I also recall some problems with enabling mouse input. I don't have any other programs installed related to getting this to work, so it should work. My racing cab's setup is pretty simple. I'll compare my script to yours to see if you are doing something different from me. Also, I can try to remember to upload my GameEx.ini so you can compare it to your setup.

Just curious if there's a reason you didn't like my script? I wrote it with the express purpose of controlling GameEx with a steering wheel. The only thing I could see it not having is the ability to use the filters. BUT, after spending the time to incorporate that feature (which was in there in the first place), it turned out there were few enough games that a filter wasn't worth it. As a result, I have both the left and right steering wheels mapped to do the same commands. That way, both left and right players can pick games. EDIT: I reviewed your code and it looks like you are trying to accomplish this with a slightly different approach. I personally think your way is a bit cleaner if you can get it to work. I was trying to include a buffer zone so that the wheel would have to move more than a minimum distance. This was an attempt to minimize unwanted movement (or nonexistent user input).

Hmmm, it sounds like there should probably be a new way to link snaps to goodmerged sets used. Here's one thought off the top of my head. Since the name of the goodmerge archive is (I assume) the name of the roms inside without all the detailed info (like region, version, etc.), should GameEx find the first snap, title, etc. that's base name matches the rom name? One solution would be to rename the snaps, etc. so that there's a single matching file, but that requires maintaining that new naming standard if an update is released for the set.

I was thinking about this again, and I believe the problem people were having with MAME was that the controller file (in the ctrl directory) needed changing. The IPAC (or any other Ultimarc product) should work fine in MAME if you hit tab and set up the controls that way. If the key press detector doesn't show anything, then you should check your wiring (the ground could have been broken somewhere and broken all controls for instance).

That's what I figured. There was a change in how MAME recognizes inputs when the MAMEDevs released v0.117. I could be wrong, but this is how I understand it. The old system accepted inputs that windows sent whereas the new system looks at raw inputs from machine hardware. This means that before, you could send an input from a high level script (like AHK for instance) and MAME would interpret it as user input. The new system requires that the input come from some hardware driver (keyboard, mouse, game pad, etc.). This is bad for end users that used scripts etc. to interface with MAME, but I think it's goal is to improve the accuracy of emulation (that's good). As far as your problem (I don't use any Ultimarc products for reference)... There was a problem with using the IPAC when the raw input system was released. I don't know what the resolution was, but you might want to check either BYOAC forums or contact Andy at Ultimarc to see how to get things fixed. There might be a FAQ at Ultimarc that you should check for first though. In the mean time, you should be able to get things working if you use an older version (like v0.116 or earlier).

It should just work like a normal keyboard. You shouldn't have to do anything special. Does it work in Windows? How about GameEx? I suspect you're having problems in MAME v0.117 or newer, right?

Does this even still work? I haven't tried it, but does CoinDrop work with the new input system the MAMEDevs introduced in v0.117? This was written in the MAME v0.103 time frame, so I seriously doubt it will work on current builds. If it does, awesome! I'll probably give this a try this weekend if I get a chance. Thanks for the link... EDIT: After thinking about it, the main point was to track the coins being inserted into the cab just to see how many were used. In that respect, having MAME recognize the inputs from this program are not desired. As such, this program should work great! Well, it won't tell you what game you were running when you inserted all those coins, and it won't give you a nice display when you are done, but it will keep track of your coins...I think. If it were me, I might consider just programming something in AHK that tracked the coin button and wrote it to a file. Then, I would have an emulator with a couple scripts in there. I would have: * Reset - Reset the coin count to 0 in the file * Display - display a screen showing the number of coins and maybe the total play time (or any other info you want to keep track of) This could automatically be reset for each different game. In fact, now that I think about it, you could use a modified version of the MAME_Loader script to track the credits AND the game that's being played. So, if you load a game, it will record the number of credits used and the time it was run for that game. This would be a cool thing that Tom might consider adding to the statistics page since it would be fairly simple... Maybe a feature request?

I know what a Zune is, I've just never used it's specific software. I'm aware that many media players have their own flavor of software that works with your pc (my Creative Labs Zen Vision:M uses some Creative branded stuff). All I'm saying is that I don't know what the Zune software was derived from or if it's its own product entirely. I would anticipate it being related to Windows Media player since M$ owns both, but I don't own one so I have no reason to research it. In any respect, Tom (the developer of GameEx) regularly reads and comments on the forums. He also views the features requests as far as I know, and when something is requested that fits in with his vision for GameEx, he usually incorporates it. Now, that's not to say that it happens that day, but that it is put in his personal to do list. The features request thread is intended for proposing ideas. If it's something that you think is a good enough idea to be incorporated, that's the correct place to pose the suggestion. It is never a bad idea to post a topic asking other people's opinion on your concept though. In many cases, the community has improved the concept prior to posting in the features request thread. Thanks for your input!

First, I don't know what Zune Media Player is as I don't have a Zune. However, if you want a feature added to GameEx, I suggest adding a feature request to the 'Features Requests' thread.

That's a big part of the problem with using actual acrade guns. The guns they used on actual arcades were designed to work on arcade monitors. I don't know what zx12rcarl is running for his display, but that could be an issue. I use a TV in one cabinet and a PC CRT in the other, but I know there are all kinds of displays people use for running MAME (Arcade monitor, TV, PC CRT, PC LCD, LCD TV, Rear Projection TV, Projectors, Plasma TV, etc.). One of the main reasons that the LCD TopGun is a popular choice is that it works on any of these whereas most lightguns will only work with the first 3 (Arcade Monitor, TV, PC CRT). It may be possible to wire up a pair of original arcade light guns to work, but it's likely only going to work on the first 3 (or maybe only the first one).

Another solution is to shell out the machine. If you do this and set your background to black, when it does show the desktop, it's only showing a plane black screen (no icons, images, etc.).

Yeah, when it doesn't run, it should say why...that's the main reason to run it that way!

I doubt it's the CPU not seated correctly. With modern CPU's, they are either in correctly or you just F'ed it up. I vote for overheating with the second option being power supply (as did Brian). If the system is overheating, you should be able to go to bios upon reboot after it freezes and see the temp WAY high. If it's a GPU though, you won't be able to see that temp. My suggestion would be to aim a room fan directly at the guts of the PC and see if it runs longer. I had a system crash randomly during the summer when I was at school. The resolution I came up with was pulling the drive bay covers off the front and aiming a fan at the opening. As a side benefit, I cooled my feet off at the same time! Be careful if it's a bad PSU. I had one kill at least one hard drive. I can't remember if I used the same PSU when both drives died or not, but losing your data sucks!

If you set up an advanced config file, you can set up a button combo to exit. In this case, it sounds like the combo is just the R3 button. You will need to figure out what button that is in Windows first, then set it to true in the file. Also, make sure turn on the combo exit in the file. You will need to point to the advanced config in either the setup wizard or the advanced configuration app (for each emulator), and then edit the file manually. Advanced config files are located in: "c:\Program Files\GameEx\CONFIG\EMULATORS\" (as I recall anyway).

What the hell is wrong with Japanese people! I mean first they have those freaky games like "I'm Sorry", then they have children blow up toys where the kids jump in Pikachu's cuchie! Wait, I always assumed Pikachu was a boy...

Does it run via "Run Last Game.bat"? I'm guessing you have some kind of an error with your MAME command line that's keeping it from running.

That's something that has been covered at BYOAC before. I think it might be possible, but it requires building a circuit of some kind. I don't remember the details, but I'm sure if you find the thread over there, you could draw some useful conclusions.

Hadn't heard it either (must be a midwest thing). Maybe I should find out what part it is prior to saying I want it.