empireguitar

Thanks for the advice Draco; I think what i will do, is install PinballX (but not to have it start upon system boot), set up Visual Pinball, Future Pinball and PBFX2 etc, then look in to exactly how JoytoKey is being used/started upon system boot, and see if i need to get PinballX to start it upon Boot. Once that's all sorted, i can look into deactivating the HyperPin start up, and setting PinballX to start upon system boot (Which i understand is a simple option to tick in the set-up menu).

Good afternoon all, Firstly, apologies in advance if the answer to this is found elsewhere here; I couldn't find it. I can sum up my situation as follows: I recently bought a Virtual Pinball cab from someone, it's a fairly nice two monitor set-up, and it came with Hyperpin installed (Which launches on start up), with a bunch of Future Pinball tables set up (I've not been very impressed with FP; the physics are terrible - I may go back to it later and mess with BAM etc, however I'm enjoying Visual Pinball and Pinball FX much more). I am at the stage where I'm able to exit out of Hyperpin (by plugging in a keyboard,) and then use a mouse to start other pinball programmes. As I have some tables set up now in Visual pinball (with back glasses etc), my next step is to install PinballX, so that I can launch Visual Pinball and PinballX tables (I also play to install a Jukebox programme and some vertical monitor MAME games) By the looks of it, Hyperpin is set to load upon start up, and also I notice that JoytoKey also starts (as I can see it when I exit out of HyperPin). I am worried about setting PinballX to boot upon startup and mess with JoytoKey etc. As a bit of a safety plan, I thought that it might be best to keep the cab booting in to HyperPin, but then have an option in HyperPin to launch Pinball X? (I can also then still play the future pinball tables for now - configure them with pinball X later if I like). My main questions are; is this possible?, and also, would this use up a lot of system resources? (as in, if I started Pinball X from HyperPin, would HyperPin still be running in the background and slow down my machine?. Alternatively, could I just install Pinball X to run at start up, and chose to also run JoytoKey at the same time? (I'm not sure if Joytokey is running at startup via a separate script, or if Hyperpin is telling the machine to launch Joytokey). Any help would be much appreciated; many thanks in advance.

Hi, yeah I tried that and it didn't make any diffence:-( I've even tried the "launch after" and "Launch with" options. Very frustrating:-( When I start PBFX2 by just clicking the.exe it just launches straight in to it; no steam screen or message etc. As I said befre, I'm no sure if my version of PBFX even needs steam running.

Firstly, I'd just like to say how much I'm enjoying using GameEx again after a few years absence (I use to ave rgistered vrsion on my MAME cab a few years back before the machine died and I sold it now running it on my current set up, hooked up to my main TV.) Apologies if this has been solved within a previous post, however I couldn't see a solution for my issue, which is just being able to launch Pinball FX 2 - not worried about being able to launch individual tables directly from GameEx. Anyway, I have a full setup of Pinball FX 2 with many tables. The program runs fine when i just click on the "PInball FX 2.exe" but after trying to set it up in Game Ex (Via Custom Configuration) and simply pointing GameEx to the .exe can't get it to work. When i select PBFX2 start in GameEx, the cknd then returns me back to the GameEx menu. The log just says this: 12:22:59.8 09/08/2014: Running: cmd.exe /c e: Pinball FX2.exe 12:23:00.0 09/08/2014: Shutting down display One thing to note, is that I'm not sure if i even need Steam running, as I think the version of PBFX2 i have blocks the need to connect to Steam - (I have purchased all teh tables for my PS3/Vita though). Any help would be much appreacited, as I'd really like to have GameEx as a permanent, Go-to, set up. Many thanks in advance.

Firstly, apologies for my spelling mistakes etc; I am typing quickly when I should be working and also, for some reason the screen was messed up when I typed my previous postsand so I couldn't see what I was typing and couldn't see everythng if I previewed my posts first. The version of MAME whcih I was to add high score support is not that old; it is a version from around the time the Mame Dev removed high Score support. The option which you recommended which would show all available games from both versions of MAME sounds like a great idea, although it sounds a littel complicated... (will check it out though). Also, you mentioned Zinc support; I did start a topic before to get zinc workin gon my cab and I could never get it working:-( (I would love to be able to play Tekken at full speed - the pc in my cab isn't powerful enough to run it full speed in MAME:-( - I will probably have to re-visit that post to get it working (likewise - I would like to get PinMame/Visual Pinball working correctly). One off topic point; previously you kindly provided me with a patch to re-mapp Esc to L or R (I think), as I couldn't exit my Gens and SNES emus. I have GameEx shelled on my cab now; would it be possible for the pc to run that patch on start up?Thanks:-)

Thanks for your advice. My aim now would be to re-compile a version of MAME that I am currently using with Hi-Score Dat working, so taht that all my ROMS would work. (I'm using tha tonce I re-colpiled MAME with highscore support, i could just copy the .exe file over to my cab in place of my current one and it would all run as normal? (I would also ofcourse need to save teh hi-score dat in a "Hi" folder)??. i would also like the latest version of MAME recompiled with highscore support, so that I can just use that to play a few more recenty supported games such as the Final fight boss Hack (ffightjhk.zip?) (btw have anyone got any recomendations for any good games which have been released over the past year or so fo for MAME?). Would I be correct in saying that i would be able to have two versions of mame running at teh same time with GameEx? (i.e; I could have my usualy slightly older MAME with my tons of ROMs and then also be able to select games and use the latest MAME?. Many thanks for your help; it's nice to be tweaking my cab again; I was on the verge of selling it due to nearly having to find a new flat to rent. Now i won't have to worry about it for a nother 5 months or so before I will move.

It's strangeas the games i tested it wish (Cadilacs & Din's, Streetfighter 2: HF all let me save a state manualy and then it will autoload that state, however it won't automaticaly save a state upon exiting teh game as it should:-( why or why did the kill joy MAME devs remove highscore support?

Hi All, It's my first time back here after a while away. Firstly I'd like to say thanks again to the GameEx team for all the hard work and time they have put in to creating and maintaining the program. I have Mame set up in GameEx and all is working finem however the version of Mame which i'm using is one of the newer versions, which doesn't support the hi-Score DAT of old. I did some looking around on the net and have read about teh new auto Save state option, whcih I would be fine with. In the MAME config, I put a "1" next to the "Autosave" and also a "1" next to the "slot". When I load a game it comes up a message saying "ASave state failed to load". Then when i exit ta game after playing for a bit and re-start the game from GameEx as I did before, it still hasn't saved a state:-( If I manualy plug in a keyboard and hit the save state button and select the slot, MAME saves an then automatically loadsteh save. What am I doing wrong?. i don't realy want to install another version of MAME, as my roms will be out of date. I would like to install a new version of MAME, so that I can play the Final Fight Boss hack on my cab for example though; could anyone recommend a commandline based MAME which has Highscore support (I may aswell check to see how many of my ROMS work on a new version while i am at it). Just to be clear, my MAME config file is like this; Slot 1 autosave 1

many thanks guys - i will try the new batch file. if it works, is there any way to make windows run the file at start up?; I'd like to shell my cab/pc with gameEx and have it load the batch file at start up aswell.

I had an idea (as I would rather not start messing with using a new version of MAME - although I am tempted to start using an Unofficial MAME, which still supports saving Hi Scores - do you think those sort of unofficial builds might support direct input?) Would it be possible to get GAme Ex to run the "Patch" (which changes my "l" botton to ESC), so that i could run it when I want to play SNES or Fusion games? For example, when i want to run Snes or Fusion, could I set the patch as a programme in Game Ex and then Run my SNEs or Megadrive emus? - I'm guessing no, as even if I could run the patch through games Ex I wouldn't have a way to stop it running when i want to use MAME:-( Maybee I could try going on the Fusion and Snes forums to find out if there is a way to get those emus to exit games with the "l" key (which I would also need to do for PinMAME).

Are <=0.117 versions of MAME that old? I'll need to check which MAME i'm using (it's a version post where the MAME devs made the awful descision not to support Hi-Score DATS. I don't play Daytona or Scud racer in MAME (pc isn't anywhere near powerful enough to run them) - but I wouldn't want to loose support for any games/drivers included post 0.117. Also, wouldn't some of my Rom sets be incompatable with older verisons?

Right, so I ran the patch/little programme, which let's me use the button to exit Zsnes and Fusion (as it is telling the pc that the button usualy assigned to the "l" key is the ESC key. I ran MAME, pressed tab and tried to reasign "GUI exit"(or whatever it is to this key), however for some reason MAME does not like to recognise the button when I'm using the patch:-( - i even tried using my keyboard to press ESC to assign Exit GUI to ESC, however MAME still doesn't recognise the button when the patch/little programme is being run. So for now, i just stopped teh patch running and then reasigned exit GUI to the button (acting as the "l" key. Any suggestions?

O.k, so I ran the patch which you created (thanks for that) and now the button is exiting Fusion which is grerat, however now ofourse, the button isn't exiting MAME:-( - I looked in the MAME config file 9where i specify the resolution and effect/snanlines etc) and i can't see anywhere that it lets you state which key to use to exit the game;-(; any ideas? Also, once this is sorted, i would need to somehow make windows run the patch whenever i start the cab 9once i have shelled with game Ex.

Hi guys, I'm gonna try this out tonight; so this won't affect my MAME settings or anything?; that is exiting to Game Ex with the "l" assigned key already. My worst nightmare (realated to my Arcade cab..:_)) is that I can't run MAME as I have been running it (i.e with no hiccups) - what I mean is, i would be gutted if this sorted out exiting Zsnes/Fusion etc but screwed up exiting MAME:-)! My Game Ex is not registered at the mommet, however I definately will be registering it (my cab is not hooked up to the net- can i still register it and unlock the regeistered only features?)

o.k, so i Dl charprobe and it seems that the rougue button is actualy acting as the l key (lower case L) - i think it produced the odd character before, as certain font was selected in note pad. So how can i get it so that Fusion and Zsnes (and soon hopefully Visual pinball and Zinc) exit back to game Ex with the "l" key?

Lovely stuff -i will try this:-) - thanks again.

I'm not sure if a keyboard encoder is being used (all I can see is that sdomething is plugged into one of the usb ports (might just be a hacked keyboard?) Is there any way I could find out what it is? - maybee if I look for a certain something in the device manager/control panel?; I guess if the device manager is just showing a keyboard attached, then it's a hacked keyboard. When i boaught the MAME cab, I bought it from a guy than ran a snooker club, who had it set up in his club (but the coin mech had since busted and so he sold it). The guy had absolutely no idea about the machine; whoever had built the machne had shelled it with MAMEWah and set up MAME with crappy video settings; no effects/scanlines etc so it looked like crap. I will try and get hold of the guy that I baught it from and see if he still knows the guy that built the cab (won't get my hopes up though). Failing that, I would be happy to set up the game exit button as something like "player 1 start and player 2 start at teh same time?" would that be possible? The other buttons when I press them in note pad are assigned to the Space bar and other normal keys. My cab only has 6 buttons for each stick (ideal for SNES and Megadrive) and i just use my player 1 start and player 2 start buttons as the start button in these emus - and then ofcourse the other button which exits MAME and brings me back to Game Ex

Thanks guys - I'll try it out tonight if I get a chance:-)

I just checked and when i press teh button in notepad, it shows something like this ¬ but if you rotated in so that it's like an upside down L. I don't even know how to type that character (my cab is not hooked up to the internet) This is confusing..:-( I just checked on the net and to obtain taht character(which is ┌ ) - you have to use times new roman font, hold alt and type "218" ┌

I have tried to set up Visual pinball in game Ex, however when i go to load a table it just starts Visual pinmame without loading a table:-( i can load tables if i plug in a mouse and select "load table" as i would when running outside of game Ex but how do I run it through game Ex? (i have PinMame set up o.k with visual pinmame). Also, would the setup bypass all the pinmame options (such azs when it asks you which rom set etc you want to use). Any help would be appreciated.

I finaly got Fusion and Zsnes running through Game Ex:-) - I didn't realise that I actualy had to go into the Game Ex config manualy and type the "rompath/ rom file etc" in manualy" - I thought that this would've been done automaticaly when i used teh Advanced config/config wizard. Now the problem i have is that gameEx will load a game but the button on teh from of my cab which usualy exits from MAME games (bringing me back to teh GAme ex game select menu) is not having same effect in Fusion and Zsnes (it is not bring me out of the game like hitting the escape key) when i got my cab, MAME was already setup so that the button on my cab exited games (acting like the escape key), so I'm not sure how this was set up. I think the arcade controls on my cab must be set up as keyboard keys. Would you know how I can set up Fusion and Zsnes so this button exits games? (i'm so close now to having this set up - this will be teh final step)

Again, many thank sfor your help - I think that guide is for using zinc seprate from MAME though?; Idealy I'd like to have it set up so that MAME to use zinc to load games like Tekken etc (i set up in the Game Ex config setup for MAME to use zinc I think where availbale). It would also be cool to have Zonc set up in Game Ex away from MAME though, that way i can see straight away which games run with zinc.

Hi, on emore thing; where can i get the "Zinc intergration pack" I have checked on the downloads page and could not find it:-(

I'll have a go soon (I'm pretty good with photoshop at times) - I might just create some backgrounds for different emus; a MAME one, SNES, Megadrive etc. Is it possible to create custom backgrounds for different game groups in MAME?; i.e; If I select "Camcom CPS games" in game Ex it'd be cool to have a custom CPS background or for Neo Geo, or maybee cutom backgrounds per manufacturers? - that would be REALY cool; One background for Capcom (I'd create a montage containing Streetfighter/Marvel/Gouls'n'ghosts/Aliens/Bionic Commando etc, etc) Sega (Outrun,Powerdrift,Space Harrie, Sonic etc montage), konami (Sunset Riders, Alines,Turtles montage etc). I would LOVE to be able to do this for a bunch of diffrent Manufactures; Capcom, Midway,Sega,Konami, Psycho, Taito. I'd be willing to create a bunch of backgrounds and share them around.

I realy appreciate your help guys (realy great community here) - I will try these things out tonight when I get home and report back. Idealy, at some point i will have MAME,Megadrive,Snes,Zinc and a few other things running through Game Ex on my Cab. Would love to have Automiswave and stuff on there, however the pc inside my cab is a P4, using onboard Graphics and only 512MB of RAM - I can't realy upgrade teh pc, as the dude that built it stripped away the pc and propped it up at an angle inside the cab - I fear that if I try and mess with the pc, i could end up breaking it!