DazzleHP

That helps, yes! cnells, Ubes? You have Sharks Codecs installed too? At this point we might just have to start eliminating stuff to boil it down! Not the most practical way to go about things, but it can be effective and to be honest nothing is jumping out at me right now. That is of course assuming that you don't Stream, Record, Edit vids at all?

Most of us can and it works, but clearly these guys have some common denominator that no one is seeing - yet

Derp indeed I was thinking more along the lines of recording software, streaming software, video authoring, DVD creation etc. Anything that could have altered vital system files (.dll's may be) - all of which could have depending on the program.

Wait a bit Tiki, it should be sorted in a few hours - read back to see what i mean

Wow that really is a mix huh In fact it couldnt be more of one! There must be something common between you guys though... if not hardware then it must be software - right?

NP! I realised when Tiki mentioned 1.2.8 - that's when i started double checking everything

@troy @cnells @Ubes, Can you report back on what brand of GPU you are using? Either AMD, Nvidia or Intel. Also when you last updated and your driver version may be helpfull. There must be a pattern here somewhere

I was going to come back today after doing some digging, and report that the link in the official thread wasn't updated, then (after going through all your threads Adultery) i realised that i may have a beta What's the protocol on this because i believe it may well solve Tiki's problem After the "speed-troubleshooting" we did

+1 to this. As mentioned the Xpadder Plugin has recently been through some changes and major updates, so i would advise to update it manually to see if it remedies your situation. As always you can grab it HERE.

Happy Birthday Mr Tempest, hope life is treating you right!

Me too but i think that was mainly coz i used XP for a long long time and it was almost essential to do such things. With recent versions of Windows though you can keep things running pretty smooth with general maintenance and common sense

I was going to mention SmartDefrag too but then i see Todd mentioned it already There is a standalone version which is completely free. I've used it for many years but can't honestly say how well it will perform in a server situation as i've not tested it. But when it comes to defragging individual drives it is pretty darn good. You can choose from different "levels" of defrag, for instance the basic, which will just make sure all chunks of relevant data are next to each other, to "deep defrag" which will do the same, but take frequencies into account such as how often something is used and for how long. It will then move your more popular programs/material towards the front of the disk, hence faster load/access. It's pretty cool.

I thought that too It has sparked a whole new debate so probably deserves it's own thread

For me, and trust me i don't like saying it but nullDC over the years has treated me best when it comes to compatibility - Rarely do games not run. However the graphical glitches, no matter the plugins are hard to solve and a lot of the time do detract from the experience. Makaron, likewise, runs certain games extremely well, but it takes some effort and the games it is not optimized for run like kack. Never tried Demul seriously TBH coz i decided a few years ago that DC emulation was way off May be things have gotten better in the last 3 or so years, but i'm sceptical

hehe i knew that from your first post I just wanted people to grasp that randomness is a power/force that is meant to be out of our control. I do think Adultery gave the simplest most effective solution so far though. When you start adding counters/stats/excludes/includes etc like i said, it's no longer random, it's an equation

Sounds complicated which again highlights my point - the more you try to control chaos, the more you will need to. More rules will need to be implemented to satisfy more needs until eventually all you have is anything BUT random - a defined set of rules, designed to satisfy multiple outcomes/trends. That is not random! Chaos cannot be influenced for that is the very nature of it.

That is a much better approach yes, and you're right - it would give each system an equal chance of being chosen, then to randomize the roms in the randomly chosen system. This should give more varied results, but what i am getting at, is that when you start to try and influence probability/chance then it instantly becomes non-random - there is now structure - no matter how "loosely" I am totally +1 @Adultery for the purpose of delivering a solution to what you need though stigz, even if it goes against my own principles of what "random" is

That was kind of the point i was trying to make. Probability can't be influenced much. For instance, you have 65,000 C64 roms, you have 1,000 MAME roms - it doesn't matter how clever the algorithm, it is still 65 times more likely that a C64 rom will be chosen, OR, 1 in 65 will be MAME. Of course when you add more systems to the mix, things get a little bit more complicated, but the formula remains the same. Probability is a factor that many in history have wished to conquer, but no one has...

That's just probability though when it comes to RNG's. I guess you could influence it with a sort of "weighting system" that you mention, i would rather think of it as a "priority order" but i hear ya! But, and i say this as precautionary - to get truly random numbers from many systems based on rom count, user priority, favorability etc would take some doing! I know we have some of the best and keen programmers here but that doesn't necessarily make them algorithmic genii No offense intended if any of you are It's a good idea though!

Come on you two - stop teasing each other!

+1 to tthurman's advice. And an extra step you can do to make sure your set is fully functional is to use an auditing tool after snipping your roms. Romcenter and clrmamepro are the big hitters (Romcenter being slightly more user friendly). They will scan your set and alert you to potential problems, such as missing support files (ie bios roms, sound files etc) and dependencies like missing parent roms. Both will also have a means to "fix" everything provided you have the missing files somewhere on your system. It's a peace of mind precautionary, that will guarantee every rom will work before you try to run it. Not mandatory but it's a step i never fail to utilize - anymore It sounds like your MAME set is particularly exclusive though and you may very well not need it. But if you run into MAME problems i certainly would consider it - i never skip it these days, no matter how small a set i think i'm creating.

I will +1 this Ubes

I think we got it! Nice job man - and so fast!!

I'm sure you're aware that GameEx and HS never really looked the same, they both use different approaches to get to the same goal. However we do have many themes that can drastically change the look and feel of GameEx. You can find a lot on the official Theme Download page, and also many more in the Media Projects forum. My personal faves are: Aeon Inspirat Blue Neon LCD GameExRoom V2 (a new version is being developed as we speak!) Of course in case you are not aware, if not satisfied you can always make your own - the theme editor is included in the install >Windows Menu> All Programs> GameEx> Configuration> Theme Editor

Hi there Kortina, and welcome to the forums! We are always nice here All that matters to us is that you get the best experience possible. Your OS is absolutely fine, but understand that with all things PC, individual experiences may vary due to the nature of non-standardized hardware. 8.1 is a fine choice though and comes with no warning flags whatsoever When it comes to your media (including vids), all that is asked of you is that you correctly specify the paths - that is all, and all will work with the unregistered version provided you set them up properly. Specifically, for videos, all you need to do is make sure that the "Video Snap Path" in the Setup Wizard matches where you have them located. That's it. Easy peasy. Enjoy GameEx and if you have any more concerns then please feel free to let us know.