stryker

Does anyone have any killer hints and tips for the doc? Whats that one golden nugget of info that could save someone new to gameEx hours of their time? I also think xpadder may be worth a mention, I don't have any experience of using it but figure I'll be experimenting with it especially when I get my arcade cab setup... anyone got experience of xpadder and could write a short intro paragraph or two on its benefits?

Thanks guys, I'll remove the comment suggesting not all settings can be found in config wizard as looking back I can't find the option I thought wasn't there... I'll spend an hour or two a some point this week and add some screen shots... I'll properly document using shark007 again with screen shots as adware aside it did work rather nicely. Jon

Excellent, hope it helps! I know the last thing you want to do when you start on something exciting like this is take notes :-) ..... but if you could make a note of anything that may be misleading for a first time install or any info that's missing that would be great!!

Thanks dazzleHP, I actually didn't know that! I'll have to look into it see what I learn and I'll add it to the guide. Cheers

Thanks for the corrections tempest. As for the config ini settings, it was a while ago now but I could of swore I found some settings that could not be found in the setup wizard... it was the result of following one particular forum thread.... one out of about 1000 I'd read that day.... I'll try and either confirm or deny that statement, if anyone knows 100% for sure then speak up :-)

Thanks nullPointer, changes have been made. As for the shark007 codecs, I'm usually pretty savy with such things but honestly, I've installed it on two PCs now and both times do not recall having the option to not install the delta search services. You can't simply uninstall the delta search services either. I had to use a freeware malware cleaner to remove it.

Cheers folks. I've made a few edits, added links to some of the software mentioned, also replaced the shark007 codec site with a different one. The shark codec pack installs a web browser search engine called delta and its a pain once installed! Also touched up some of the wording here and there. Remember, I'm open to suggestions and anything obvious I've missed that a first time user should know.

Not sure what tempest's answer will be but following the technique I've documented I think you end up with a merged set as doing the "fixit" function in Rom Centre ensures each ROM (in the GameEx MAME ROM folder) has all the parts it needs to work.... its simple and works well, not too worried about a little wasted disk space.

Many thanks for your input and reading through the document. I've started making the appropriate changes. Regarding the split-set, that's something I'll need to research, thanks for the tip!

Hi All, Just last weekend I was new to GameEx. The first thing I noticed was that while there are various detailed guides on all sorts of GameEx configuration, there was nothing that simply highlighted the route to take when setting up a new system.... a simple overview if you may. The experience was pretty daunting for me as a GameEx newbie. While I'm still new to this and my lessons learnt are fresh in my head I thought I'd start penning a short setup and survival guide to GameEx. This guide is in no way near finished but I'm after people opinions and even help to complete it. Remember I'm new so if there is anything that's inaccurate or even complete downright lies then please let me know! :-) I say again remember its not a detailed howto, the GameEx website has plenty of details docs.... this document is kind of like a set of signposts and a basic route map taking you from nothing to a working install of GameEx. It also outlines some best practices to save you a headache further down the line. The document throughout follows the theme of best results in least time, this phylosiphy is applied to the emulator and tools choices made there-in. Its a google doc so follow the link below. If you want to help edit it directly then PM me with your email address and I'll add you as an editor. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1e4h-yOFAuli7EPk8qGzBGMQZ56sCm6eMdgicl9-a5W4/edit?usp=sharing Cheers, Jon EDIT: .pdf of guide added by Draco1962 GameEx Setup Guide by Stryker.pdf

Hi, Just last week I too was new to gameEx and I must admit the one document lacking for GameEx is a "this is how to set up a typical install" doc... a doc that lists all the critical things you need to do and generally de-bemuse the initial steps for the new user. I'm afraid I found no such document, however I can recommend reading through all the lovely details docs on the gameex site... I did, I know its a shed-load of information, I must of read some of those docs several times to get it to sink in... I also read the docs I felt were not so relevant to me (they all help) and the videos were good too which surprises me to say because I *hate* instructional videos. So in a nutshell I can only say dive in and read, read, read. It worked for me :-) You initial steps especially related to MAME is: 1) Go through the gameex install. 2) Install shark codecs or to be honest any of the other popular codec packs for windows (needed for preview vids etc). 3) Get a good mame rom manager and understand how it works, I use "ROM Centre" as its the only one I found which didn't nee me to dedicate a life time of study to. 3a) Organise your roms, best I found is keep your main MAME rom folder which probably contains 20,000 roms separate from the gameex mame rom folder... This is where you use "ROM Centre" to manage this. Lumping all your roms into gameex is just TOO overwhelming, just move across the ones you want... and of course own :-) 4) Run "download artwork and videos" program (in mameex programs folder). 4a) To complete step 4 sign up to emumovie, its an online database of game box art, preview vids and much more... PS: well worth paying for a subscription. As for setting up the other emulators, its a case of using the gameex install wizard to download and initially install them for you... yes it does all that for you!! then checking they work on their own, configuring controls etc... then they should work in gameex. ooh forgot, well worth making sure your systems drivers are all up to date. Plus if you have some xbox 360 controllers then install the microsoft driver for them and use those, they are brilliant for use with mame and all the emulators gameex supports (plenty of buttons and sticks). FYI, the cheap £5 (gbp) generic wired ones on ebay work flawlessly!! HTH