Draco1962

Worth giving it a go again. Did you see the link for Pachou's Corner for another MCE Theme Editor?

Are you using Windows buitl-in ZIP or another software for opening/reading within ZIP files on either machine?

Sorry, I am kickin' it old skool - when I am done playing, I click Shut Down. PC shuts down. When I want to play again - I hit the power button. The more steps you build between points A and B the more likely you are to have a break and will exponentially add to your frustration troubleshooting through each one to find the culprit (kind of like government).

I will have to give it another go. Itried the workaround once and could not get the program to work. I also have concerns about using it as it seems that MS always breaks it with their updates and, since nobody is currently supporting it for any patches, I find it hard to commit to it.

Does sound li ean interesting re-use of that LCD. When you look at monitor settings, does it show as a monitor? What about under device settings? I had posed a question quite a few months ago regarding some of the USB powered 7" and 10" monitors and the consensus was that GameEx should recognize it so long as it shows as a monitor.

Welcome to the forums! This is not possible as the LCD (GamePanel) would need to be recognized as a Monitor in order to use, say, GameExtender (Registered feature) and even that only displays still images from the emus and not WMP playlist items.

Go to the link in my sig Emulators, Suggested Command Lines, and MAP Files as this will have most of what you need to setup in GameEx with the various emulators.

I know this is totally off topic but have you heard anything about whether or not someone is going to pick up where the author left off with the Media Center Studio software for modifying MCE?

Bu T-Jay, what would be the fun in that?

Are Cliffhanger and Mach 3 even playable via MAME? My understanding was that is not the case ATM and still require files and setup via Daphne.

I would think, however, that you could put together a static image of the buttons that would reflect Forward, Backward, Punch, Block, Kick, Combo buttons, whatever you would need even if you can't do the specifics per character.

Not sure if this is of help, but check out this link. Item #2 of the last response is as follows: "If you're dealing with a lot of large images, you may need to cache these images and load them from file only when necessary. I ran into this problem when trying to store 500x500 images in a collection of about 3000 classes (oops). Just add a property that saves the image to file (probably in your AppData) when set and loads this file when requested (get)." Assuming that something similar may be taking place, could it be that the cache for the images is not setup large enough to handle so many?

I am on 12.38 right now and no problems with seeing Karaoke vid display as I page through my list or playing upon selection. My songs, however, are not in .7z or .zip format.

BK - If Tom could throw together a task scheduler as you noted, then I would think it relatively simple to plug in an "if-then -else" or 3 or 4 to look for keyboard and mouse inputs and time since last input to initiate the shutdown, sleep or hibernate sequence based upon the parameters set by the admin user of the cab/htpc.

While I think these are good points, you may run at odds with agains the myriad of power settings that are available via the OS. You could set your own power settings and there are utilities (I believe) both freeware and purchased, that can be used to fine-tune and schedule sleep and power-downs of your HDDs, PC, Monitors, etc. Keep in mind that GameEx is a gaming and HTPC frontend and not an OS. The more that is added outside of its intended function may only servesto bloat and slow it down... kind of like government when it tries to be all things to all people.

I have put in a few enhancement requests directly relating. I feel that the default view should be the vanilla list view everyone is familiar with and what 100% of the themes available currently support. I like the new "ribbon" view for HTPC and I am currently working on a theme to support it. That being said, I think that there needs to be controls within the Theme Editor that allow theme authors to select the view(s) that they intend for the function and design of their theme or else there will be considerable end-user confusion and angst created that could be avoided from the outset. I am not certain how or if something like this can be implemented, but to be able to select the view per emulator, MAME, Daphne, etc. would be required. This will also need to play well with Custom Menus.

New Views Enhancement Request #3: As an adjunct to #2, add editable elements for the two new Ribbon views (small and large) This will allow for additional flexibility in theme creation by allowing for the placement (same as the menu bar) anywhere within the creators theme.

Tom and Ben, Below are a few enhancement requests following the release of the new icon "ribbon" views in GameEx: ENHANCEMENT REQUEST #1: Add "cover flow" type functionality to new ribbon view The new view is great, but it is limiting to theme creation in that the item being highlighted by the selector is dynamic as opposed to centered on the screen. This causes the decription text for the icon to move as well. By implementing a cover flow type view, this will center the icon selector in the middle of the screen and cause the ribbon to flow left or right of center as needed, but will retain the focus in a constant or static location on the screen. Benefits in creating new skins using this view will include being able to strategically place select text and image boxes to enhance the experience. of the end-user. Additionally, this will create less confusion for the end-user and that feeling of being "lost" as the items change as the selector focus will always be middle screen. ENHANCEMENT REQUEST #2: Enable Theme Editor Override of user view settings The ability to override user view settings will greatly minimize end-user frustration when a new theme is released but allowing the author the ability through Options within Theme Editor to override some of the user view settings when utilizing the new Ribbon view. This will also benefit the theme creator in being able to release their theme with the views they originally intended for use with the theme.

Would be a neat feature if Game Extender could display avi's or mp4s.... feature request maybe for within the user's network?

Nice to see another GIMP user in the forums!

Have you tested this through MAME directly? Are you using the MAMEUI version or command-line? Have you setup your paths in MAME as well to reflect the change to the UNC paths? What OS are you using on your PC? Can you provide us with a copy of your batch file text? As I am not well-versed in the realm of controller mapping, I will defer this to one of the forum "pros" to answer.

A new icon pack is on the horizon - likely will accompany a new 1920x1080p theme making use of the new view options... here are a few icon examples to start a few salivating.

Gotcha, that makes sense. I have GameEx set to run at my set resolution regardless of the theme res. From what tTom just posted, appears the GPU is the issue, not the driver. So in the right ballpark, just the wrong bullpen!

I run at a 1680x1050 resolution on my system currently and do not have this problem. What kind of video card are you using and do you have the latest video driver installed? If you have the latest, you might consider reinstalling it. Also curious about your arcade machine - why 4:3 when it is capable of 16:10 or 16:9?

To be honest, the only thing that I see that is half-assed is your expectation of what a front-end should do for you, and your lack of self-control. You have been asked to let us know what emulators you intend to run as this is helpful in helping you to get things up an running. As with any emulator front-end, it is not going to automatically set itself up for any and all programs & game pads that run through it - you are going to have to learn how to make modifications to make the software work for you. The purpose of this forum is to help you make the best of it when you get stuck. We cannot read your mind to know what emulators you intend to run or what game pads or other input devices you have for this.