Draco1962

Will have to give Level 9 a looksie. Regardless of which format (.dat or z3, 4, 5, etc.) I get the same error. If you wouldn't mind exporting your emulator config for it that would be awesome!

Glad those two items are resolved. Tom will have to answer for how the files are randomized. Regardless of whether or not there is a repeating pattern in the randomizing process, I think he has met your concerns regarding. Regarding Visual Pinball - there are the ROM filter settings where you may enter the extensions of the files to open (e.g. *.vpt) or multiple file extension types separated by semi-colon (e.g. *vpt;*tbl). As for what you are asking regarding Daphne and the multiple MAME ini files for Favorites, I am not sure that is possible but will defer this to the community and Tom. I do have a few questions to ask if you don't mind entertaining them: Are you currently using any front end software and, if so, what? Another question based upon the issues you have presented regarding the MAME Favorite ini files and Daphne and dependent upon a positive for a front end in use currently or in the past - Have you found any front end that will handle these as you expect? This is not meant to bait you, just trying to see a clearer understanding of where you are coming from. Regards, Mike

Sure does help - me and a few others that are interested! Yeah I love that about WinFrotz GUI so our older eyes can enjoy the game. Better for big screen or cab or desktop. EDIT - Can you confirm your settings for the ROM filter, etc.? I am not sure why but I encounter a "Cannot open Story" via GameEx, however can open outside just fine.

Griggs - just to let you know I haven't forgotten. I am going to ask one of the more experienced mods to jump in and take a look. I will be the first to tell you if I don't know something or am a little stumped. Right now, I am a little stumped and that could be in part due to running on fumes lately and not being able to get a good nights sleep in the past few weeks. Excuses aside, I think that with some more experienced help we can get this working for you.

Sharing is caring, Krake! I'll show you mine (Infocom logo file) if you show me yours (setup details)! Also, will probably try to compile a db for the most common retail games so that we get the neat info pops in the themes.

To be honest, I just googled them using Infocom and Text Adventure as my keywords and then clicked on links of some of the sites listed in various links pages.

The attract screensaver is built around your favorites. So as you add games to your favorites list, it will cycle through those.

LMAO! Glad to shake things up for ya, bud! I had a chance to boot it up outside of GameEx briefly and give it a quick go. I have to say that for a program that has little support, it doesn't seem too shabby. Kinda hard to get a good feel as there really isn't much in the way of a "user community" around it or the whole Infocom adventures in general - mostly loose collections of websites, half of which no longer exist.

Tom - thanks as always! It is rare that programmers have the latitude and concern to make these kinds of changes to suit the users' needs. Stay rare, my friend!

Original Item 1 - Arcade Ambiance will only only point to one mp3. Fixed in version 11.82 to point to folder. Original Item 2 - Attract Screensaver only go down to 2 minutes between games Fixed in version 11.82 to minimum of 1 minute between games displayed. @se_lees - can you update to this latest version, please, and advise if this is working for you as expected? You will need to change the Arcade Ambiance to the folder setting.

@se_lees, All, My wife is having surgery today and I will be of limited availability until later Wednesday. Please provide the information I requested and responses to my post and I will attempt to address upon my return. Also, anyone may feel free to step in if you have an answer or suggestion to address se_lees responses instead of awaiting my return. Thanks everyone! Mike

Thanks for the shares! Filfire, while it looks like it is a little more "feature rich" may not fit what I am looking for so far as a cab/htpc friendly program is concerned with the addition of the option pads. I will definitely take a closer look at the options both provide I am looking within whatever program to have a simple interface, be able to launch to full screen, adjust the font, background and text color selection for distance reading on the big screen, and require minimal mouse use. WinFrotz, so far, looks very promising.

Have you looked through the Setup Wizard for the Enable/Disable features section? There are many functions there that can be disabled. Some modules will have their own section that can be disabled within.

Does anyone have any experience using WinFrotz, the Infocom Text Adventure emulator or know of a better emulator? I loved playing these and wasted many an hour when I had my first 8-bit system and want to add them in for play through GameEx.

Thanks, Ian. I admit I had to bite my fingers to keep from posting a negative response initially, but I truly think he has some legitimate concerns. If he is willing to roll-up his sleeves and get a little dirty in the details then I am willing to help where I can and ask for help above my "pay grade" on his behalf to get answers. So far, his response has been to provide some needed info to get things started so I ask all to give some space and not react to the initial post and let's see where this lands. We all have some level of love & loyalty to this software and our forum friends and if there is a chance to add one more, I will do what I can to help as I know all of you will.

Marking this one as [RESOLVED] !

There is a utility called The Randomizer written by one of our mods, Tempest. Per the description: "The 'Randomizer' can be used to randomize files for which GameEx would normally only use one static file. E.G. startup video, ambience.mp3 files, background images, etc." I think that use of this may allow you to shuffle several files for use. I reread the original post regarding Item 4 and Daphne. "Daphne: (minor) setting the exe directory does not affect the 'options'." Please provide more details as prior forum posts did not appear to relate to this directly. "(MAJOR) there are still extra Cobra Command entries, with blank entries after that. Not all the games are default. I mean, seriously, either put in all the supported games - or don't put none of 'em in. I anticipated this, though hoped for difference." I believe that the intent behind placing some games and command lines was to provide example. I cannot speak for all the extra Cobra Command entries. Perhaps these can be cleaned out in future releases, however, we can also remove them ourselves so they do not show up in the menu (they shouldn't anyway so long as each Game is not showing in the config as Yes to Enabled). I do not see this part of the Daphne issue a deal-breaker but, perhaps, as a clean-up opportunity. EDIT: As Mesk noted in a following post, GameEx is no longer supporting the Advanced Configuration app and is using the Setup Wizard. For our troubleshooting we may refer to the Setup Wizard from time to time. You will see the Cobra Command repeated there as well even if you upgrade from an older version. Again, you may check these to ensure they show disabled and delete any text reference in the fields for them. This one may require Tom and or/Ben's attention unless one of the other admins or mods has any further feedback to provide.

Alrighty - I tested your CustomMenu.ini against my gameex.ini and I did not run into what you have described. When accessing the other emulators, I only saw the ROMS associated with the emulators and nothing more. When accessing the all games, all games showed. What I would recommend trying at this time is enabling your emulator group. Change the setting to enable it under the Start menu instead of under Emulators then start up GameEx and see if you run into the same issue. Also noted that you do not have the Emulator Group setup under your Custom Menu Start. Try adding the Emulator Group as a new item right under the Start menu in Custom Menus. I know this isn't optimal but we need to see precisely where this is breaking. My guess is that because the setting is for under Emulators this is conflicting with the use of Custom Menus.

j0eh4x - Welcome to the GameEx forums! I am sure that there will be plenty of advice coming your way. Usually best to have the hardware you need and ready to go rather than attempt to troubleshoot prior to any issues. GameEx has many of the features ready to go but will require some additional tweaking when you are at that step. MrJimmy - Welcome and well said! We'll be here when you are ready!Let us know if you get stumped along the way.

Marking as resolved! And you can't be THAT old, I mean... um, yeah.

Thanks for the images and the .ini files. My vision is a tad blurry from the need for sleep so I will try to take a closer look sometime tomorrow. That is not to say that someone else in the forum may also take a stab at a resolution! Good night!

Ok, I see your complaints and while I understand expressing one's feelings, when asking for help or noting an issue with an aspect of the program, I see them getting in the way of you obtaining any resolve to the issues you have presented. What are your expectations? Let's start with the first 3 items. Item 1 - What are your expectations for the arcade ambiance? How many files do you wish to access? Are you expecting the program to be able to rotate through x number of files randomly or sequentially? Item 2 - Attract Mode Screensaver expectations, what are they? Are you expecting it to have a minimum of 1 minute between games? Item 3 - Now this is a big one and clarification of your expectations is critical. Also, I would like for you to provide a copy of your gameex.ini as previously requested so that we can take a closer look and see if there are any settings that need to be tweaked to meet your expectations as closely as is possible. As moderators and admins, we do more of the "heavy lifting" in troubleshooting problems experienced by the users and providing advice or workarounds. You may find other users assisting with advice as well. Once we have determined that the issue is indeed a bug (and you need to give us the opportunity to examine things and not just tell us it is), it is at that point Tom will usually step in.

Hi se_lees. It sounds as if you are having some difficulty and I am sure we can help you to find some solutions. I can't tell with certainty if you are merely venting out of frustration or using this as an opportunity to slam the software. I am hoping for the former as opposed to the latter. If you would like help, please start by providing us with a copy of your gameex.ini and we will be glad to assist you in reconciling some of the issues you are having. Regards, Mike

If I understand you correctly, Griggs, whenever you access an emulator that has been made part of an emulator group, it brings up all emulators/games that have been grouped. And you are using Custom Menus? I have tested on my machine with an emulator group right under the start menu. I selected emulators 0-3 and, as expected, all roms for all 4 emulators show. I have my emulators setup as separate items for each under a menu name of Arcade and when I access them, they only show their own roms. No mater how I tried to twist this situation, I cannot replicate what I understand to be your error. Can you perhaps provide us with a copy of your gameex.ini, CustomMenu.ini and, perhaps we can better determine what is going on. It might be helpful for you to get a screen capture of your custom menu setup and the Start screen within GameEx as well.

Glad it is working for ya!