Palmore

Happy Halloween to you as well =)

I too would love to see this, I haven't tried yet, but I know in MAMEWah you could just hit player 1 to load that game that was being displayed. But I agree if that games loaded and running, you should be able to walk up, hit Player 1 or Coin 1 and start in that game. If you are looking to display game info in Attract Mode, turn on Show MAME bezel in the setup, it will show the game info at the bottom as well. I don't think this will work for other emus, I have yet to try it as I only have MAME games setup in my screen saver thus far. Since we are on the topic of Attract Mode / ScreenSaver I had 2 things I've notcied in the 2-3 days I've been running GameEX that kinda bug me with Attract Mode. 1. when using the speech plugin and in attract mode, it says "Game Over" after each game, hearing that repeat once a minute for an hour drives you crazy. It's ok to hear it when you are actually playing a game I think the effect is cool, but can that be turned off during attract mode? 2. last MAME game played, may not really display last MAME game "you" played, if attract mode kics in and cycles thru your MAME games, the last one loaded will stay as the last MAME game played. That can be good or bad. In your case good cause you can goto the last game loaded in the attract mode and play it. Bad cause, to me, I didn't play that game so I'd rather not see the last game loaded (via attract mode) rather the last game the user actually choose and loaded. (is this possible?) Thanks

This may be a dig in the dark, but how beefy is your vid card? how much video ram? looking at your log file.... 17:35:48.4 10/17/2008: 14mb video memory left available Then you get a graphics memory error 17:35:50.8 10/17/2008: Error: Attempted to read or write protected memory. This is often an indication that other memory is corrupt. 17:35:50.9 10/17/2008: at System.Drawing.SafeNativeMethods.Gdip.GdipCreateFromHDC(HandleRef hdc, IntPtr& graphics) 17:35:50.9 10/17/2008: at System.Drawing.Graphics.FromHdcInternal(IntPtr hdc) 17:35:50.9 10/17/2008: at System.Drawing.Font.GetHeight() 17:35:50.9 10/17/2008: at System.Drawing.Font.get_Height() Could it just be, using 1900 icons and depending on what else is happening / loading at the time you are just crushing the RAM on the vid card?

I'm kinda new to mame.ini trouble shooting so please forgive me if I give you bad information. 2 things to try. 1, I'm trying to find the setting explanation for d3deffectrotate 1 But not being sure of its function currently lets skip that one first (though you might wanna try setting it to 0" 2, depending on the rotation, try changing either autror or autorol to 1 (Auto rotate right / Auto rotate left) this command should only effect games that are "vertical" pulled from some docs _______________________________________ Rotating the Screen Some games have the monitor set vertically in the arcades, if you have a fancy rotating Flat Panel monitor you could use the autorol feature in MAME, this will only effect games that have a vertical monitor so putting that switch on Gradius would have no effect Rotates the screen left mame twinbee -autorol Rotates the screen right mame twinbee -autoror _______________________________________

Eww yeah Klite Codec back is horrible! Again, use either FFDSHOW or my new fave CCCP (Core Community Codec Pack) it also includes party of the FFDSHOW libraries (and can handle mkv files)

Ok... Ok... Looks like I worked all the kinks out =) modifying the Pre-Game script to say CALL C:\Arcade\Launcher\[ROM].bat rather than C:\Arcade\Launcher\[ROM].bat allows the runitgame.bat to "call" and run [ROM].bat as a child process and then continue executing runitgame.bat upon it's completion. What have we learned kiddies? 1. research and test and try EVERYTHING before you post (such as myself) 2. use debug mode and read the output on the logs, as well as review runitgame.bat loading from the GameEX/data folder 3. if you use spaces in your game name and u are launching something based off that game name as a pre-game script such as myself, replace spaces with underscores and then have Game EX strip them from the dispaly name 4. if you are calling a batch file for your pregame load, append CALL prior to the command string, allowing the game launch script to return focus and finish launching. 5. GameEX rocks 6. Trouble shoot trouble shoot trouble shoot.

Ok, Ok.... I'm making progress (for those that are following my boring thread lol) Replacing my link files and batch files with underscore filled file names, I am now getting the pre-game scripts to all launch and run correctly. But that leads me to the actual root of the problem I was having with other games such as Balloonrain and Motoroma. It's not technically a case of the runitgame.bat performing the directory command prior to the pre-launch command (though in some setups I can see how this would cause an issue). it's a situation of, how gameex launches games, as well as how I have them configured. Since it generates runitgame.bat to launch the game, and I'm using batch files to run my joystick mappings and ISO loads, it trys to run Runitgame.bat that in turn passes control to [ROM].bat, [ROM].bat executes and exits, never passing control back to runitgame.bat to execute the games command line to launch. I'm rusty on batch files, isn't there a return command used to embed a batch file in a batch file and continue thru the parent batch proccessing once the child job executes? I'mm be diggin around google for the answer, less someoen has it handy =)

ok, couple of items, I turned on game debug mode. And here's my outputs First we'll use the Touhou 7 - Perfect Cherry Blossom example. In this example the Pre-Game script fails to load [ C:\Arcade\Launcher[ROM].bat ] C:\Arcade\Apps\GameEx>D: D:\>CD "D:\arcade\PC Games\Touhou 7 - Perfect Cherry Blossom" c:\arcade\launcher\Touhou 7 - Perfect Cherry Blossom.bat C:\Arcade\Emus\PC\Touhou 7 - Perfect Cherry Blossom.lnk c:\arcade\apps\winipac\winipac.exe "c:\arcade\apps\winipac\profiles\default.ipc" D:\arcade\PC Games\Touhou 7 - Perfect Cherry Blossom>PAUSE Press any key to continue . . . D:\arcade\PC Games\Touhou 7 - Perfect Cherry Blossom>c:\arcade\launcher\Touhou 7 - Perfect Cherry Blossom.bat 'c:\arcade\launcher\Touhou' is not recognized as an internal or external command , operable program or batch file. D:\arcade\PC Games\Touhou 7 - Perfect Cherry Blossom>"D:\arcade\PC Games\Touhou 7 - Perfect Cherry Blossom\Th07.exe" As you can see, GameEX does not wrap my Pre-Game command with double quotes (shucks) causing the batch file to fail to run. Just for sh*ts and giggles I wrapped the pre-game command in the gameex, thus looks like this "C:\arcade\launcher\[ROM].bat" Of course, doing this causes GameEX to freeze when loading ANY game lol Sadly the way I designed the launching of my games is dependent on this configuration working, and several of my PC games have spaces in the name, thus when [ROM].bat is called via Pre-Game commands, every one of those games will fail to load their controls and or mount the CD. Ok, next... Balloonrain Balloonrain.lnk D: CD "D:\arcade\PC Games\BALLOONrain\" @echo. @echo c:\arcade\launcher\BalloonRain.bat @echo. @echo. @echo C:\Arcade\Emus\PC\BalloonRain.lnk @echo. @echo c:\arcade\apps\winipac\winipac.exe "c:\arcade\apps\winipac\profiles\default.ipc" @echo. PAUSE c:\arcade\launcher\BalloonRain.bat "D:\arcade\PC Games\BALLOONrain\Balloon.exe" c:\arcade\apps\winipac\winipac.exe "c:\arcade\apps\winipac\profiles\default.ipc" Balloonrain.old.lnk D: CD "D:\arcade\PC Games\BALLOONrain\" @echo. @echo c:\arcade\launcher\BalloonRain.old.bat @echo. @echo. @echo C:\Arcade\Emus\PC\BalloonRain.old.lnk @echo. @echo c:\arcade\apps\winipac\winipac.exe "c:\arcade\apps\winipac\profiles\default.ipc" @echo. PAUSE c:\arcade\launcher\BalloonRain.old.bat "D:\arcade\PC Games\BALLOONrain\Balloon.exe" c:\arcade\apps\winipac\winipac.exe "c:\arcade\apps\winipac\profiles\default.ipc" The only difference in the 2 launch files is the fact that the Pre-Game launch script is looking for Balloonrain.old.bat now (of course this does not exist) @ECHO OFF ECHo Converting Controls... ECHO ---------------------- C:\Arcade\Apps\winipac\winipac.exe "C:\Arcade\Apps\winipac\profiles\BalloonRain.ipc" ECHO Complete ECHO Complete ECHO ---------------------- ECHO Mounting CD image... ECHO ---------------------- C:\Arcade\Apps\DAEMON\daemon.exe -mount 0,"D:\Arcade\PC Games\MGP1.23.iso" ECHO Complete ECHO ---------------------- Again is my Balloonrain.bat that is launched Pre-Game. The ONLY thing I can think of in this case is.... Some how the active directory is changed once either the Controls are mapped via C:\Arcade\Apps\winipac\winipac.exe "C:\Arcade\Apps\winipac\profiles\BalloonRain.ipc" OR When the CD is mounted via Daemon tools and C:\Arcade\Apps\DAEMON\daemon.exe -mount 0,"D:\Arcade\PC Games\MGP1.23.iso" (Going to test these now from a dos box.) What are fixes? For game names with spaces, I guess if I really wanted, I could rename all the files with spaces and replace the spaces with underscores, then allow GameEX to strip the underscores out of the name as it displays the game. (Kinda sucks as I have 41 PC games currently, that means 41 link files to update and 41 batch files that go along with the link files.) Would it be possible to request in a future version of GameEX that the Pre and Post-Game launch scripts can utilize double quotes? Next correcting the Balloonrain mystery... As stated the only thing I can thing of, is upon Pre-Game script launch one of the 2 commands is changing the current directory, and since Game EX calls the games launch directory first D: CD "D:\arcade\PC Games\BALLOONrain\" Then executes the Pre-Game scripts, THEN launches the game command... Either another "feature request" for a new version of Game EX would be, change to the games directory after Pre-Game launch right before the game is called Or... Modify all 41 current batch files to change directories to the games base directory as it's last step, and see if that fixes the issue. I'll give these both a test and report back =)

lol, I'll just call ya B for short And lets say, the plot thickens.. Any time the Launcher batch files run (pre game batch files to load iPac controls and if needed mount ISOs via Daemon tools), Daemon tools loads and the CD mounts (great!) yet, not once have the controls for the iPac been loaded, if I manually run the batch files thats being called pre-game it configs the panel as need be. I've also added a pause to the pre-game batch file for Touhou 7, yet I'm never prompted in the dos window to press a key (is pre-game apps spawned in the back ground? rather than interactively with the desktop?) Now also. I've created a Balloonrain.bat, placed the commands to change directory and then launch balloon.exe. This fails and drops me back to GameEX, yet... I renamed Balloonrain.lnk to Balloonrain.old.lnk When I launched this from GameEX (Balloonrain.old.lnk) the game loads. Since the batch file did not work, I deleted it, and renamed Balloonrain.old.lnk back to strictly Balloonrain.lnk Loading back into GameEX and launching Balloonrain.lnk, the game fails and drops me right back into GameEX... Ok... so lets try this, pick some random PC games in my list Motoroma, this game exhibited the same failures are Balloonrain when launching from GameEX (I actually went ahead and renamed ALL .lnk files to .old.lnk) Launching the Motoroma game with just Motoroma.lnk, and the game fails to load and returns me to GameEX Launching the Motoroma game with Motoroma.old.lnk and the game loads and plays reviewing the log for gameEX only shows the same basic information 16:01:53.7 10/30/2008: Running: cmd.exe /c D: D:\Arcade\PC Games\Motorama\motorama.exe for both launching motoroma.lnk and motoroma.old.lnk Yet again, if I rename it back to motoroma.lnk, the game fails to launch and return focus to GameEX Is it safe to assume that the log does not show pre and post game applications launch commands as well? Additional information Game EX emulator config Command Line: "[ROMPath]\[RomFile]" Launch Before : C:\Arcade\Launcher\[ROM].bat Launch After : C:\Arcade\Apps\winipac\winipac.exe "C:\Arcade\Apps\winipac\profiles\Default.ipc"

You should be able to, follow these steps Install FFDSHOW (or my fave CCCP, Core Community Codec Pack) Load up the setup Wizard Choose Custom, and check Attrack/ScreenSaver ScreenSave Mode : Run GameEx screensaver Game to video ratio: Just play videos Videos Path : [Path to your clips] And you should be golden =)

Rockin, I'll give that a try, I'm also adding a pause string in my launcher batch files that load keyboard settings etc pre-game load. I wasn't sure if batch file launching of PC games would work as it spawns a second process to run the game, thus Game EX hides upon launch of the batch file, the batch file executes, spawning the game, then closes. Yet gameex sees the batch file close and returns focus to itself. I'll give it a try now =) btw srry bout callin ya Ben Thanks Bob (if thats correct?)

Understandable, I guess I was missunderstood (or misstyped lol) I was more or less base lining the minimum size required for those drives. But, keep in mind, you can get a PATA WD Raptor 10k RPM drive in the 36 (or was it 32GB) size, still a fairly new drive, yet excellent performance! (I picked one up a couple years back for my Mediacenters OS drive) Also lets not forget SSD. Solid State Drives are smaller size and are getting pretty fast (although you are still limited to the bus speed of the host system) But you take alot out of your seek times with SSD drives. (they are just $$$$ lol) I also have a few SCSI 3 Ultra 160 10k drives that aren't extremely old, and in my case hardly used... Just going off what I have sitting around in my basement lol wanna see what I mean with stuff in the basement? Needless to say, Ben Kenobi is correct is saying those size drives are hard to find, and typically old and crusty. But if you are looking for bare minimum requirements, there ya have them =)

I'm in the process of converting ALL my emus / games over to GameEX from MAMEWah and I'm hitting a couple of road blocks. Here's my current layout. GameEX App C:\Arcade\Apps\GameEX\ Pre-Game Launcher (Batch Files, used for iPAC configurations and DaemonTools) C:\Arcade\Launcher\ .lnk locations (Link files for games to launch.) C:\Arcade\Emus\PC\ Games Directory (Where the game actually resides) D:\Arcade\PC Games\ ____________________________________________________________________ My issues. Some games load, oddly enough others don't. Here's one example of a game that does not load. Bubblerain Inside GameEX my "Load before Game" reads C:\Arcade\Launcher\[ROM].bat That in turn loads C:\Arcade\Launcher\Bubblerain.bat @ECHO OFF ECHo Converting Controls... ECHO ---------------------- C:\Arcade\Apps\winipac\winipac.exe "C:\Arcade\Apps\winipac\profiles\BalloonRain.ipc" ECHO Complete ECHO Complete ECHO ---------------------- ECHO Mounting CD image... ECHO ---------------------- C:\Arcade\Apps\DAEMON\daemon.exe -mount 0,"D:\Arcade\PC Games\MGP1.23.iso" ECHO Complete ECHO ---------------------- I do see Daemon tools load, thus so far so good. Yet when it goes to launch, I get dumped back to the GameEX menu. So I tried launching the game directly from the lnk file I created (keep in mind it launches fine in Mamewah from the .lnk file) Link file properties. Target "D:\arcade\PC Games\BALLOONrain\Balloon.exe" Start in "D:\arcade\PC Games\BALLOONrain\" If I run the .lnk file directly, it works (of course) if I load it via MAMEWah it works. Yet... if I try and launch the game from a command prompt it fails, UNLESS I'm in the working directory D:\arcade\PC Games\BALLOONrain\ Once I launch the game from the working directory I'm fine. I read thru the GameEX log and see cmd.exe /c D:\ D:\Arcade\PC Games\BALLOONrain\Balloon.exe Thus making me think it's parsing out data from the link and just running the game itself. And possibly it's setting only D:\ as the current/working directory? Other games that do not require to be launched/ran from their install directory function fine and load. (i.e. Touhou 7 - Perfect Cherry Blossom) Yet.... on the flip side. Touhou 7 - Perfect Cherry Blossom... (it gets better folks) Same layout for launcher files etc... Pre Game Launch @ECHO OFF ECHo Converting Controls... ECHO ---------------------- C:\Arcade\Apps\winipac\winipac.exe "C:\Arcade\Apps\winipac\profiles\TH7.ipc" ECHO Complete Perfect Cherry Blossom loads, yet the controls aren't mapped correctly. As if the batch file above is never ran. I've verified I can manually run the batch file, my iPac is reprogrammed, then I launch the game from it's link file and everything is great, likewise when loading via MAMEWah, iPac is configured, game loads, everything is happy. But when performing these steps via GameEX, the controls never load =/ Also I've noticed it doesn't appear the post game and pre game commands aren't logged? or atleast not that I found, maybe I over looked them? Ideas? Let me know if you need more information!

I'm currently running 30,000 games on my cab (mostly ROMs / emulated games). But I do have upwards of 30+ PC games installed and configured. (I just came across the Cab Friendly Games List here, so this weekend and into the next 2-3 weeks I'll be adding ALOT more PC games). As for registry woes, try 2 things. 1. I have a "beater" box that I install and test games out on to see if they are "cab friendly" and can be used via Keyboard only. Once validated, I just copy the game folder over to my arcade. 99.999% of the time the games load and run just fine with out having to run the installer. 2. If you are really trying to keep your regiesty clean, have you ever used RegMon by sysinternals (well, M$ now since they bought them.) that and FileMon are great windows tools. 3. Defrag Defrag Defrag, 2 1TB drives, and 30+ up to 100+ game installs will leave you grinding away searching for those precious blocks of data for your game. Defrag often, or grab a copy of Diskeeper for your cab. 4. As stated, OS should be on 1 Hard drive (not the same hard drive diferent partition, you gain nothing but ease of a windows reinstall. You are still hitting the same platters with the same read/write head.) Best practice would be.... 1 HDD for your OS 10-20GB (20 being optimal, as with the amount of patches etc M$ releases you don't wanna be cramped on space. 1 HDD for your swap/page file, again it's great to have a separate spindle for this, thus paging does not hit your OS or Games drive. This can be a 4GB drive and format it out to a 3.5GB page file (should suffice, although typically best practice is 1.5x-2x physical RAM) 3.5GB again though will be enough (heaven help us if you are paging more than 4GB at anyone time.) ALso be sure to set the Min/Max for your page file to the SAME, it's a performance hit when Windows decides to grow or shrink this page file... you don't want that to happen in the middle of a game session. 1 HDD (or of course more) for Roms / Games. Not only does this give your system a 3rd spindle to dedicate to your games, it also makes life easier when you have to reinstall windows... now your games are on a segmented volume and you can leave them as is, just wipe windows on drive 1 and reinstall and point back to your roms drive. Feel free to use NLite or XPLite to trim down your Win XP install, just make sure you know what you are turning off and what will break when you disable that feature Topkay makes a good suggestion with Striping your 2 1TB drives, you will get better performance if you stripe those disks (preferably via a hardware controller with the XOR hardware on board, and not via the Windows OS.) But then your are at the mercy of loosing all data if 1 of the 2 drives fail on you. Anyone toy with the /3GB switch in their boot.ini to see if you gain any perfomance / RAM utilization benefits on a cab?