Bonscott

Maybe the request can be simpler. Right now GameEX detects inactivity of X minutes and then will either put the computer into standby or attract mode screen saver. The feature I'm asking for could simply be to have the option to set a time window for the attract mode. For example,from 5pm to midnight, if I haven't hit a key for X minutes, then start the attract screen saver. Else it should go into standby. If the attract screen saver is running and the window ends say at midnight, then GameEX stops the screen saver and goes into Standby. We could drop the complexity of having GameEX wake up the computer. This would be a great option for me and would probably be pretty easy to implement? Does anyone else like this idea? Regardless, GameEX is a superb program for running my MAME cabinet and with or without this option I'm very happy with it. Thanks Tom and company for all your hard work. Thanks, Bonscott

It's true that PC's have their own power management functions but they aren't available when GameEX is running in attract mode. Also, an arcade cabinet PC is not a typical PC setup. Since GameEX can start the screen saver or put the computer in standby when not in use, maybe it can manage the time frames it does these actions in. Maybe it can't put the computer into standby and bring it out but at the very least it could stop running the attract mode and turn off the computer monitor based on the timer. -Bonscott

Well, they both waste power but having it power down after a predetermined time would defeat the purpose. I like to walk in the room and see a game playing but I don't need it running from say midnight to 5pm. During this time, both the monitor and computer could be in standby and saving electricity. Can the computer even powerdown the monitor when GameEX is running the attract mode? I think you either have to run attract mode 24/7 or have GameEX put the computer into standby but you can't do both. Am I wrong? Anyway, it's just an idea and certainly not a big issue for sure. I thought I would throw it out there and see if it was possible. -Bonscott

All, Here's an idea I've had for a long time and would love to see implemented (if possible). I love having the attract screensaver running on my cabinet playing random games. It's cool to walk into the room and see a game playing like walking through an arcade. The problem is that it uses a lot of electricity since the computer is basically running games all day, every day. I think it would be great to be able to specify a time window where the attract screen saver would run and then outside that window, the computer would go into standby mode. I don't know if it's possible for GameEX to wake the computer out of standby automatically though. This would be nice so I could have the attract screen saver running in the evening when I'm home and automatically go into standby saving electricity at night and during the day when I'm at work. Thanks, Bonscott

OK, copying an old mame.exe file works. The GameEX bezels are working again. Yeah! Thanks for the help Tom and Adultery. -Bonscott

Tom, I changed the name of mame.exe to mame22.exe but GameEX is too smart for that and found the new filename and used it automatically. I tried changing the name in the setup to a random name and that didn't work either as GameEX found the executable on startup again. So I copied the mame.exe file to another directory and started GameEX and this time GameEX wouldn't load since it couldn't find the mame.exe file (finally!). I exited and copied the mame.exe file back into the mame directory and started GameEX up again and I still have the same problem as before, the attract mode screensaver won't start with GameEX bezels option enabled. Thanks, Bonscott

Tom, I downloaded the GameEX 12.37 version and tried it out but I still have the same problem. The MAME command line is still -artwork_directory instead of -artpath. log.txt Thanks for your help, -Bonscott

Tom, I temporarily got stuck in that view the other day and struggled to get out of it. I didn't like it and found it a bit confusing. I don't think its the best option for a default view. -Bonscott

Hello, I recently updated my MAME rom set and executable to 0.144 using the high score diff file. I've also installed the latest Gamex version 12.32. I noticed that my attract mode screen saver wouldn't launch. The screen goes dark for a second and then it goes right back to the menu. I verified that if I disable the Gamex bezel option, the attract screen launcher will launch normally. I also verified that if I enable the Gamex bezel option for normal MAME operation (vertical games only) and launch a vertical game, the game won't launch. Without the Gamex bezel option, there's not problem playing MAME games. I noticed in the log file that Gamex is launching MAME using this command: D:\MAME32\mame.exe cloaksp -rompath D:\MAME32\roms -triplebuffer -nowindow -volume -32 -bezel -artwork_directory artworkgameex When I run this command in a DOS box, MAME complains about the -artwork_directory switch. After doing some research on this forum I found that on recent versions of MAME this option should be -artpath. I also saw that this was supposed to be fixed in Gamex earlier this year where it looks at the MAME version and will use the appropriate MAME option version. It doesn't seem to be working for me on 0.144 I reloaded my rom list to make sure that Gamex knew I had a recent version of MAME. That didn't fix the issue. This line was in the listinfo.dat that was created. <mame build="0.144 (Nov 26 2011)" debug="no" mameconfig="10"> Also, I don't see any bezel artwork in the artworkgameex directory under my MAME main directory. I used to have a bunch of files for each game but I deleted them to see if that would fix the issue. It didn't fix the issue and I haven't seen the custom Gamex bezels being recreated there. Are they deleted when the game exits? I didn't see any this issue reported recently so I wanted to report it. I'll attach my gameex.ini and log.txt file for reference. GameEx_ini.txt log.txt Thanks for your help in advance, Bonscott

Has anyone been able to confirm this issue that I'm seeing with custom lists in Gamelauncher mode? I'd like to know if it's something I'm doing wrong or not. bkenobi, You didn't actually verify the issue again, right? It seems from your message that you thought you remembered seeing it a while back. It would be nice if someone could actually verify the issue. Thanks, Bonscott

I don't think that you can update the list while in GameLauncher mode. I didn't see the option. I had to switch back to normal mode to update the lists when I experimented with them. I tried changing the format and location of the lists and it didn't work. Can somebody else confirm that this option is working for them? Can you see the contents of one of the MAME32 custom lists in GameLauncher mode? I just see them as -+- CUSTOMMAMELIST -+- with no games listed when I am in GameLauncher mode. -Bonscott

Tom, When I enable the GameLauncher mode, my custom MAME lists in the customfolders directory displayed but don't have any games in them. However, when I go back to normal Gamex mode, those lists exist and show the games. It seems that the only lists that work are the ones that Gamex generates itself. Also, why isn't my favorites list available in GameLauncher mode? Has anyone else seen this issue? I've tried searching the forum and haven't seen this mentioned before. I'm running the most current GameEx version and have recently reinstalled GameEx from scratch to see if that resolved the issue. I love your program and thanks for your support, Bonscott