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I'd be willing to bet that the DTAgent.exe only remains open long enough to mount the applicable disc image. GameEx sees the above command as the emulator you intend to run (i.e. as far as GameEx knows DTAgent.exe is the emulator). Given that it only lasts a fraction of a second GameEx just assumes that you legitimately exited out of the emulator and happily returns to the menu. You can pull this off, but you'll need to set up an advanced config to tell GameEx to watch the MagicEngine process, and not the DaemonTools process. I'd post more detailed instructions but I'm away from my GameEx machine, and I do this so rarely I always have to sort of walk myself through it. It's not hard if you open up the AdvancedConfig editor, I just can't remember which specific field(s) to direct you to. There are a few forum threads related to this issue. If you don't figure it out, one of the more experienced members will have you up and running in no time. Edit: I'm assuming you're launching all of this through a batch file. Just out of curiosity what does the rest of your batch look like? Reason I ask is just to be sure that MagicEngine is getting invoked somewhere in there Another Edit: Nevermind - realized you're using a Launch Before parameter (Sorry - Need to RTFOP). That may make the above question moot . . . but it sure seems like that's what it's doing. Does it ever get around to attempting to launch MagicEngine?

I'm taking a real shot in the dark here, as I've never used the Pro version of DaemonTools (What can I say, I'm a cheap-skate ). According to this documentation the DaemonTools executable applicable to mounting disc images is called 'DTAgent.exe' Do you have that executable in your DaemonTools directory?

+1 to this! I’ve never tried BitDefender but have had tremendous luck with Parted Magic. It’s my go-to utility for any file system/hard drive operations that I can’t perform directly from Windows. It’s a great suite of tools. Don’t fear the penguins. I would imagine either of these tools could be of tremendous benefit to you. Good luck man!

I know I speak for a lot of us here when I express my extreme gratitude for the work you put in over at EmuMovies. Please consider yourself one of the giants of our hobby, working behind the scenes to insure a certain 'wow' factor. I was waxing about this very topic the other day when I read this thread. There aren't a lot of 'celebrities' in our hobby. There are so many people working behind the scenes on neat little projects that a lot of us rely on, but never really get truly recognized for their contributions. They do it out of passion and dedication. That's awesome. So yeah, enough sucking up Looking forward to seeing those demos! Enjoy the tools you helped to create! I know I do.

I almost forgot to mention another sweet looking theme (see I knew I'd forget someone). Krakerman's Retro Arcade HD theme looks to be a whole juggernaut of awesomeness.

Well you can definitely take a look at the 2011 Theme Competition thread for some exemplary work. I'm going to forget someone obvious (hopefully others will chime in here too), but here are some other noteworthy themes not included in the contest that stick out in my mind Adultery's MegaMAME Theme is a beauty. Draco1962 is like a theme machine and his work is always very high quality Sins of a Solar Empire is one of my favorites that he did Likewise his Enter the Dragon theme is a pretty sweet minimalistic theme In the WIP department I'm really looking forward to the ConfluenceEx theme being built by Chazz and the MetroEx theme being built by vsilvalopes. And as far as I know Draco1962 is still working on his ode to 1970's prog rock. I guess the answer to including multiple theme presentations in your GameEx demo will depend on your general strategy for these demo movies. If you're also including theme showcases for other front ends, then you should definitely include some good GameEx themes as well. If you're displaying other front ends using only their default themes it might be confusing to show a multitude of themes for GameEx. It also might indicate favoritism for GameEx if you only do this for GameEx. I mean we know that GameEx is your favorite, but one must maintain the appearance of objectivity right? My 2 cents of course.

This functionality relies on HiToText for proper operation. Unfortunately there have been a number of reports regarding problems between HiToText and more recent versions of MAME. Here are a few threads regarding these issues: HiToText (Version 2010.11.4) 143u9 MAME build and hitotext HI to Text crashing I believe that Hunk_4th looked into this issue fairly extensively at one point. Unfortunately I don't think his findings were sunshine and rainbows. The HiToText project appears to be dead? (or at least stagnant).

I can connect, but it's noteworthy that my FTP login information was updated on 12/15/2011. Is your FTP password still the same?

Hmm . . . all good information. I'm not sure where to take it from here. I suggest putting this in as a feature request. In the meantime I think your options are either to alter your exit button combo for the purposes of bsnes, or to consider an alternate approach like an AutoHotKey script. AutoHotKey was basically designed to handle stuff like this, and it's fairly easy to write up a simple button swap script. The whole script could be as simple as Joy0::Send{Alternate Key Stroke} The part I'm not sure about is whether or not GameEx will correctly receive the input from AutoHotKey, although I don't see why it wouldn't (probably comes down to the RawInput polling vs. DirectInput polling). Ultimately it comes down to the question of whether you want to go through this trouble or whether you'd rather just alter the button combo. Edit: I almost forgot to suggest that you could still try one of the other controller mapping utilities mentioned earlier. Joy2Key is free and Xpadder has a free version (although it's worth sparing a few bucks for the current version IMHO). Yet another option is the Logitech Profiling software which as far as I know is free and I think works with a variety of controller brands (I've never tried it)

Is that button associated with the Home button on your controller? Honestly I kinda wondered if that was going to work for you. Does button 0 show up in the Windows default controller configuration dialog? If it doesn't, I'm afraid you're going to be out of luck as far as using that button in GameEx (and probably most emulators). My Logitech F710 has a home button and the only games that recognize it are Games for Windows (i.e. Windows Live and such) I typically map my emulator exit combo to Select + Start. I haven't run into any conflicts with that yet. Are you super attached to the button combo you mentioned for the purposes of exiting emulators? There might still be a way via some sort of script but that's starting to get into 'more trouble than it's worth' territory. Edit: Sorry missed the part where you said you're already using this key combination for other emulators. This may also come down to differences in programs that support Xinput vs. those that support DirectInput vs. RawInput etc. That's kind of grasping though. I take it button 0 does show up in the Windows controller configuration dialog?

Wow, thanks so much for these detailed instructions AlphaUMI! I learned something myself today. Always good to become familiar with with other tools available. I'll be bookmarking this for future referrals. Thanks!

Great work Adultery! This continues to be one of the slickest themes available for GameEx.

If you'd like to configure this emulator to exit via a button combination I'm afraid it's going to come down to some controller mapping (or CP mapping if you're using a cabinet). In this realm your options are Xpadder (my favorite), JoyToKey, or the GameEx native controller mapping utility. My experience is with Xpadder, but obviously the GameEx utility is likely to be the most available/convenient option here. Your solution here will depend on which of these options you choose. Using Xpadder it's fairly trivial to pull off. I can give you some pointers in Xpadder but don't really have experience with the other options. Let us know whether you'd like to pursue this option and if so which utility you plan to use.

I may have run into a similar issue IIRC. I tend to use controller mapping software for most of my emulators in order to map emulator functionality to controller functions (save states, load states, etc.). As a result my workaround here was fairly simple; I just mapped the bsnes exit emulator key to the controller combination I would normally use to exit an emulator. You can configure the key used to exit bsnes in the input settings (the settings in bsnes, not in GameEx). I believe I have mine set to F5, but for some reason I think I altered it from the bsnes default, possibly due to a conflict with my controller mappings. This setting could just as easily be set to exit bsnes when esc is pressed (or whatever your global exit key is in GameEx). If possible I tend to do this with most of my emulators. I figure it’s preferable to let the emulator close in the way it’s designed, rather than simply killing the process. Not sure how valid that is, but it makes sense to me.

Nice job fReq! Glad you guys got it resolved.

Just to double check, you're not using a map file are you?

Hrmpf. Yeah it's probably something with the command line then. I'll take a look at my config when I get home, if someone doesn't respond in the meantime.

This will depend on what version of bsnes you’re using (i.e. the version number). I recently made the jump from 0.73 (or whichever the last QT build was) to 0.84 which is currently the most recent build. If you don’t see bsnes-performance.exe in your bsnes emulator directory then that command won’t work for you. I believe the separate ‘core’ executables have been phased out in more recent builds of bsnes. Now you choose the applicable core in the emulator settings rather than running a whole separate executable. I’m away from my GameEx machine(s) right now but I believe my bsnes command looks like the first command you posted. But here’s the important part: the most recent builds of bsnes no longer support zipped roms. This leaves you with two options: unzip all your roms, or set the ‘Zip/7-Zip/GoodMerge’ setting to true in the Setup Wizard (registered feature). I think that should get you going on the right track. Interestingly enough I also had some ‘focus’ issues with bsnes. If I had any other open windows bsnes would open behind them (regardless of the ‘Show Desktop’ setting). In order to resolve this I wrote a small script to force bsnes into focus. If this turns out to be the case for you I can post that script when I get home later. Good luck!

This theme is looking fantastic. I’m looking forward to seeing how everything develops. If it’s possible to combine this theme with the new GameEx WIP changes it’s going to be epic. Please don’t let this one languish! Also don’t forget the theme contest!

Sorry . . . double post. Responding to different thread. Dangit!

I’m super pumped for these changes! They dovetail very nicely for those HTPC users splitting their systems between GameEx and XBMC/Media Browser. Brilliant! I'm excited to see what our theme wizards will do with these changes. One question/possible request: The Logo/Background feature seems like it opens up the opportunity for backdrop artwork on a per game basis. Will this feature display artwork from a user defined artwork directory (custom or otherwise)?

Just for my own personal edification are you referring specifically to the XmlTextReader in .NET or to SAX implementations in general? I come more from the Java world and am relatively familiar with Java implementations of SAX (or more recently JAXB) - but .NET not so much. Without delving too far into .NET vs. Java debates would you say that parsing XML in .NET offers specific advantages? Certainly not questioning your assessment, I just like to talk to other developers about the tools they use. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s more efficient on Windows based systems.

Wow thanks guys! This is a huge surprise! I feel very privileged to be a part of this great community. I hope this doesn't mean I have to stop asking stupid questions!

If you're not intrinsically tied to FBA, I'd definitely recommend giving NeoRaine a shot for emulating Neo-Geo CD. Take a look at the the developer's page and see if it will meet your needs. I typically don't run many Neo-Geo CD games since they are usually quite similar to their counterparts in MAME, but NeoRaine fit the bill perfectly when I added it to my system a while back.

It was a bit of a surprise at first, but now I'm really digging the new theme. It looks so much more modern and mobile friendly. Great work! One thing I've noticed is that the new theme only seems to display the first frame of animation for those using .gifs as their user pic. Is that a result of switching to the new theme? If so, it's not like it's a huge issue, I was just curious more than anything. The place looks great!