Toonces

Would it be possible to be able to remove games from the lists through use of an additional text file in the config directory? That way, besides filtering the list as you currently do, additional games could be removed by typing the rom name in the list and it would not be included the next time the list is rebuilt. An additional thing that would be really cool would also be a key combination that could remove roms from the list on the fly. With the list filtered down to 1884 games there are still many that once I play them I find out they're not really that good and I would like to remove them from the list without actually deleting my roms. The key combo would have to be something out of the ordinary like player 2 start and player 1 joystick down then maybe a confirmation where you have to do an OK (joy left - right). I don't know how difficult it would be to do a key combo but I think the manual filter list would be useful with or without it. Mainly because I keep my cabinet up to date with roms and when I need to burn a set I grab them from there. I know the alternative would be to simply delete the rom but again I like to use my arcade controls to do stuff :-) Thanks! Toonces

Well, being a cat of a curious nature I decided to see if anyone else had asked that question on the mameworld forums. Lo and Behold, Minwah's answer: "If the 'cloneof' field from mame -listxml has something in it then it is a clone. If any or all of the driver, color or sounds status' are more complete for a clone than parent, then it is classed by MAMEWAH as 'better'." The original thread is here: http://www.mameworld.info/ubbthreads/showt...o=&fpart=1&vc=1 Tom, you think it's doable without too much trouble? Thank You, Drive Through. Toonces

I don't know why GameEx couldn't figure out *.zio = *.zip

How should these be adjusted? I am using the commandline version of mame .92 (not trusting .93 until the bugs of the new sound system are worked out). Thanks, Toonces

Thanks, I'll give it a try. I did notice it did not seem to matter whether a connection was in use or not. When I removed it the connection was definately not open and it made an immediate difference.

Actually, we need a 640 X 288 which is the highest resolution that can display non-interlaced on a low res monitor. Thanks! Toonces. BTW, love your themes.

I tried UltraVNC and it game me terrible sound problems. Especially in Robotron. Very bad clipping and skipping of sounds. As soon as i removed UltraVNC the problems went away. My Hardware: P4 2.4Ghz 512MB RAM 80GB HD built in AC '97 sound ArcadeVGA 7000 802.11b wireless network card JPac Namco Cyber Lead Cabinet Thanks! Toonces

When I had disabled exit, I didn't think of trying CTL-ALT-DEL. Does that just bring up the task list then I have to end the program or does it give me an exit? I'll have to try it I guess. At the time, I had disabled everything and when I tried to get back to the desktop I couldn't. Well, at least as far as I knew then. I'll try this and see what i get. If that works then I really have no need for a password protected area although I still think it's a good idea

It's isn't really about how long. I just wanted to be able to do it with my arcade controls. No problem though. I think I've beat this to death. I get it :-)

I had vnc installed but kept running into problems with sound. I initally installed the vnc server at the same time I setup GameEx and thought it was something with GameEx. As I went back and retraced what I had installed and removed things it was apparent that vnc was the source of the problem. The problem is that sound in many williams games like Robotron, defender,etc would be distorted and get clipped. It was VERY noticable in both startup and Gameplay. Sounds would skip and the high notes would cut off. I even tried installing a PCI SB16 to see if it was the built in sound on the motherboard but it did the same thing. Since I have removed vnc I get perfect sound every time. As far as using other remote control progs, I tried Dameware which installs itself when you connect but unfortunately I went cheap and bought XP home which when used without a password, disables remote access. Took me a while to find out why that didn't work too but apparently, MS have disabled any kind of remote access on XP Home if you don't have a password set. If I set a password then I have to login. Catch 22 really.

I receved your thank you. it was at my gameadvance.com email. Thank You!

Tom, I really appreciate what you have done with GameEx. I love it. For me to donate says a lot. I don't buy software or make donations lightly. It's not about the money. It's about the quality of the software. I have very few pieces of software that I actually consider worth what I paid. The exception is GameEx which is already worth 10 times what I donated. The biggest problem I have is that I really want a front end that I can operate soley with arcade controls. This isn't because I don't want to pick up a keyboard but rather to compensate for my low res monitor. It's something I am stuck with for the foreseeable future and other than having to go to the desktop at 640X480 interlaced, it does very well. I would think that the majority of people with arcade cabinets are in a similar situation and do not have a VGA or better monitor and the features would be most welcome. The less I have to do on the desktop the better. I'd really like to make GameEx my shell and keep my kids from having to call me when they are using it too. It's little things like them calling me to get back in when they accidentaly exit which I find somewhat annoying. I know it's not your fault they call me. I just want help in getting them to stop I can make a windows script (or more appropriately, I can have one of my programmers make one) that does the update but I figured it would be something better integrated into the product. I understand your views about wanting people to actually visit the pages and thought it would best be a function built into GameEx. This is something I will tackle and if I come up with something, donate back to here for inclusion or use (depends on how I do it I guess). As far as password protecting a System Tools entry and having all the configuration, exit, etc under there, I still think that would add value to many people but if you don't want to add it I understand and won't keep bringing it up. Now, as far as hiring you for private development, please send me your languages and availabilies. I have need for programmers all the time and keep 3 on staff and several more on a project basis. Mostly web, php, perl, etc but occasionally I need a good VB or C programmer. Best Regards, Erik

That's what I was trying to accomplish. Being able to use GameEx without having to go back to the desktop and use a keyboard. It's not only a feature for bootleggers. It's a feature for those of us that have arcade cabinets with low res only monitors. Bootleggers have much better choices for front ends than GameEx. It has too many features to be attractive to them I'll drop it and try to develop something on my own. The only problem would be in running the setup unless there's a way to silently install it. Thanks Again, Erik

Hi Rob, I think the issue is that unless you have a monitor that does VGA or better, the ArcadeVGA card will only run those resolutions interlaced which makes it difficult to see and is hard on the eyes. I have a 29" low res monitor and 640X480 desktop is hard to stand for more than a few minutes.

Now this concerns me. I really like GameEx. So much so I donated. Something I have not done with any other front end or mame support program simply because so many of them are difficult to configure. None of them even come close to being easy to setup and use. It bothers me the insinuation that the feature requests I have made are for bootleggers. Now, my arcade cabinet is used by my 3 kids who absolutely love it and as much as I love them, there isn't a day that goes by that when they are playing they inevitably call me and tell me there's something wrong. for the 4 year old, most of the time she's exited GameEx and is sitting at the desktop. For my 6 year old, he's hit some combination of buttons and now the screen is black. My 11 year old is the only one that can play and not find himself in a spot where he can't get out of trouble. I have tried hiding these options to the point of having to start up in safe mode because I have GameEx loading on startup and hiding Exit GameEx is a bad idea when it starts automatically. Every update means I have to go back to the desktop and reenable viewing of the options and launch config or launch update list, etc. all of which are uncomfortable at 640X480 interlaced. My requests aren't about bootlegging. It's about trying to use GameEx as a solid front end. One I don't have to exit and reenter several times to use/configure/update. One that I can use completely via the arcade controls and one I don't have to tend to all the time when my kids are playing. If I were trying to use a front end for bootlegging I certainly would not choose one with as many features as GameEx. I would choose something simple like Game Launcher or hire a programmer to write one that suits my needs or use the one that already has coin processing in the front end. There are many other choices besides GamEx that are more suitable to that task. If you want to have a non-free version that has the lockdown features or automatic updating, let me know how much and where I can buy it. Like I said, I REALLY like GameEx and it would be worth it for me to have such features so my kids can play and not get dumped out to the desktop and I can maintain without leaving the comfort of the interface that looks great at 640X288. Those are the types of features that would make it possible to make GameEx the shell as well. Best Regards, Erik

I am not certain how it would be circumventing going to the page? Doesn't the html application section use GameEx as a browser? I was thinking it would actually open the webpage where you would navigate to the link using the joystick and hit a button to download the latest file. The download path would have to be preset so there would be no path to type in and the file would just downlaod or maybe present a confirmation that could be accepted using a button. Basically just making it possible to go to each site and navigate using arcade controls. Then the script would unzip the support files after they were all downloaded and launch a silent install of gameex to do an upgrade. I guess I don't understand how that is circumventing going to the pages if they are opened up within gameex or am I completely misunderstanding the html application framework? Thanks! Toonces

I guess I can give it a shot. The way I am thinking it would actually visit each site's page to go along with your ideas that the support files are not developed by you and the site should get the traffic in order to download it. I would think the obstical is not actually going to the sites and downloading but rather the "upgrade" install process. Could the installer include a silent mode that would install using the same options as the existing install? Also, how about commandline switches for the config or gameex app to rebuild the lists? If there are commandline options the entire process could probably be scripted and would function by visiting each site where a download must be initiated and then the upgrade could proceed through the entire process after all of the files were downloaded. I hope it is easy to understand what I am looking for. I am not trying to circumvent going to the individual pages to do the downloads but rather trying to put together a process where I don't have to go back to the desktop to complete. Thanks! Toonces

The roms I have are already renamed but nothing shows up in the gamelist. Maybe I am just missing something on how to get them to show up? Thanks! Toonces

Hi Dave, I was just reading this over and the thought comes to mind, who decides which is the better clone? I am sure they are out there but who would create the list or does one already exist?? I am just curious as to how you would make the determination to keep clone X over it's parent? I like the idea I just don't see how it could be done programatically without a pre-existing list of what you want. Toonces

I would have to write a LO-FI version of the web page, and my views on the support files still stands. Sorry, the answer is still no, but thanks for your input. I have already thought about this many times, along with the RSS feed Plug-In. Perhaps you or someone else could develop an RSS feed application? The HTML apps don't need to be coded by me!

First. I suck at scripting things. With that said, is it possible to add an application like weather that would get the latest newsfeeds from various MAME sites and maybe display them in a menu like the games and then when an article is selected it could be displayed like the weather app? I would suspect it would need to support RSS newsfeeds or some other newsfeed type. Doesn't have to be just MAME newsfeeds either. /. would be cool too. Thanks! Toonces

Hi Tom, Is there a tool such as TS GameLauncher Tools which would help create MAP files for other emulator based on just the roms? I am trying to setup Project64 and have it running without a problem but creating the rom list MAP file is quite a lot of typing! Or did I miss something?? Thanks! Toonces

Hi Tom, Would it be possible to password protect configure and update list? Here's the situation. I have 3 kids ranging in age from 4 to 11. They all love to play "GameEx" (That's what they call my mame machine since it's what they see loading :-) and being kids there are always problems of some kind (How does a 4 year old hit 14 buttons at the same time as going up on 1 joystick and down on another?) and I end up having to go into configuration to change something or to reenable showing rebuild list so I can update things. I have these things hidden and just reenable them when I need to use them. What I would really like is for those items to remain hidden and use a key combo to bring up config or rebuild list or create snaps and a password to get in. Nothing terribly secure. just a password box and if it does not get the correct password, it stays at the menu if it gets the right password it goes into config or rebuilds the list, etc. That would keep me from having to pop back and forth between config to reenable rebuild list then going back to GameEx to d it then going back to config to disable it. Exit GameEx would also be a good canidate for hiding and using a key combo & PW to exit. Pretty much the only thing keeping from hiding exit GameEx or even making it my shell is that there are still basic maintenance and little fixes that mean I have to exit to accomplish. Another thought might be to move those items to a sub-menu and PW protect it? Something like System Tools (which could be hidden and activated via a key combo) that had all of the rebuild list, config, and anything else which would be used for maintenance. Then it would only require 1 key combo to be used to get at all of the tools. Thanks! Toonces

Sorry, forgot to add the example. Assuming the WinIpac utility is installed in c:\program files\winipac. @ECHO OFF C: C:\"Program Files\WINIPAC\winipac.exe" ZINC.IPC CD "C:\zinc" zinc.exe 62 --roms-directory="C:\mame\roms" --renderer=.\renderer.znc C:\"Program Files\WINIPAC\winipac.exe" MAME.IPC Of course, the winipac utility could be copied from the default install location to the GameEx folder and then put the IPD files under the DATA folder if you wanted to integrate it a little tighter to keep people from having to know the entire commandline. Thanks Again! Toonces

Hi Tom, I was poking around last night and noticed that to launch a game, GameEx creates a batch file. The easiest and most generic way I could see to add support for downloading codes on the fly to ipac/jpac would be to include a configuration item for command to be run before running the game and command to be run on exit. That way, all that would need to be done is add the command for the WinIpac to both field and load the appropriate WinIpac config and it would load the correct keyset up. Of course that would only make the support extend to the emulator and not down to the game but that would be a huge help. The only reason I could think of extending support down to the game level would be for ZiNC which I beleive uses different mapping for System 11 than the other games? I could be wrong since I am very unfamiliar to Zinc having just recently installed it since GameEx supports it (Something I am glad I did too!). Just a thought. Toonces.