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Thanks fRequEnCy! As always you are the man! That worked perfectly. Also thanks to everyone else who helped out with this problem! I can now move on to setting up the next system. Please feel free to mark this thread as [RESOLVED].

Dangit! On this machine I'm behind a firewall that's not under my administration. Thanks for the generous offer of live assistance! PM sent.

Thanks for confirmation bkenobi. That brings me around full circle to wondering whether I have something misconfigured for the emulator itself. This functionality seems to be working for some users as Adultery confirms above. Hereâ??s my emulator config in the event that it might indicate the source of the error: I can post my batch files later if that would help to troubleshoot the issue, but theyâ??re really nothing fancy. Launch Before: Start Xpadder with a controller profile. Start an AHK script Launch After: Close Xpadder, Taskkill the AHK script Itâ??s worth noting that I still have the error even when I remove all commands from the Launch Before / Launch After batch files. Iâ??d definitely like to figure this out using the built-in GameEx functionality, but if not Iâ??m leaning pretty heavily towards using only the AHK script as the Launch Before parameter. From there, the script can handle starting Xpadder and the controller profile, as well as and exiting Xpadder and shutting itself down when the emulator closes. Itâ??s not as neat or as easily configurable as Iâ??d like, but Iâ??m pretty sure I can pull it off.

I’m pretty sure you need to use the ‘Advanced’ setup option rather than the ‘Basic’ option. Or you can do what I do for these situations which is to select the ‘Custom’ option then place a check mark for the ‘Emulator Selection’ and ‘Emulator Config’ options. Press ‘Next’ select your emulator, and away you go. Note: I’m away from my GameEx machine so the option names listed here may not be exact, but they should be close enough to give you the idea. I could be wrong, but you might be able to accomplish what you’d like by setting the ‘Merge Set’ option to Yes (under Advanced Emulator config). This will display duplicate games as a single entry on the main game list selection screen, but will display the alternate (duplicate) versions of the game on the game info screen with the appropriate flag listed next to each version signifying the country of origin. I love that feature! Of course I could be misunderstanding your intentions here. This isn’t to suggest any sort of alternate fix (in regards to the thread), but rather to bring an awesome GameEx feature to your attention if you weren’t already aware of it. Best of Luck!

Wow! Apparently it's not a good day for tracking down disc based DAT files! Redump.org I'm unable to try the mediafire link right now as I'm currently . . . ahem . . . at work. Presumably it's in working order. It looks like Darkwater isn't much better at the moment. Darkwater I could have sworn I've gotten Darkwater DAT files via their official site, but maybe my mind is failing me in my old age! At the moment I only have their Sega CD DAT, but I can post it later if you're interested *mods note: I haven't seen what's included in the 'official' Darkwater release packages, so this may be getting into some gray area. I assume it consists of all their DAT files but I could be wrong here. Please feel free to remove the above links / references if this seems to be in violation, or let me know and I'll take care of it post haste.

Thanks Adultery that’s an excellent suggestion. I was very interested when I saw that post. It may not fix my current issue, but I think it’s a good option for running Xpadder in GameEx. It also saves a bit of processing when starting the emulator(s) since Xpadder is already running. My main issue is that Launch After seems to be executing immediately after running the emulator, rather than when it exits (see my runitgame.bat examples). Thanks for the confirmation fReq. It’s just occurred to me that I still need to test Launch After with a simple command rather than running a batch file. At least from the comments here, that option seems like it's working for various users. I’ll give it a go tonight (or later – my wife has been feeling like she’s in competition with GameEx this week). GameEx you are a fickle mistress! It would be weird if this issue was tied only to running batch jobs as a Launch After parameter, but stranger things have happened I suppose. Thanks again you guys!

Iâ??m in total agreement about running rom/disc sets through ClrMamePro. To me itâ??s always seems like a bit more insurance that my games are going to function correctly (or at least as good as possible given the limitations of the corresponding emulator). I really like Darkwater for disc based systems. Their Sega CD DAT is absolutely phenomenal. I trust their DATs as much as No-Intro. The trouble is that theyâ??re a bit of a darkhorse in this realm, so some outlets may not recognize or acknowledge the Darkwater naming conventions (i.e. EmuMovies, and the GameEx Database). I havenâ??t verified this suspicion yet (Iâ??m rather early on in my GameEx configuration odyssey), but itâ??s something to be aware of. Redump is also awesome, but they are a bit of a newcomer so as a result, many of their sets are on the small side. Thus you end up with a combination of Redump verified images, and whatever else youâ??re using. Eventually I think Redump will become the source for disc verification, but theyâ??ve got a ways to go yet. Finally thereâ??s TOSEC. Their sets are undoubtedly some of the most complete, but my issue here is that they donâ??t put a lot of emphasis on verifying the dumps contained in their DATs. To my mind this is a bit like comparing a No-Intro set (Darkwater and/or Redump) to a GoodSet (TOSEC in this analogy). TOSEC has done some excellent work; theyâ??re just not my first choice for verifying disc based systems (or any system for that matter). Lastly (this probably goes without saying), youâ??ll want to be aware of the disc formatting preferences of whatever DAT youâ??re using. If youâ??ve got an .iso, but the DAT is looking for a .bin/.cue (as is the case with Darkwater for TG-16 CD), your .iso is going to get the boot.

Thanks for the info bkenobi! I think Iâ??ve decided to let the AHK script handle the closing (and potentially the starting) of Xpadder. One last question though (this probably should have been my very first question): Am I correct to assume that the Launch After process in GameEx should run immediately after exiting the game/emulator, and not immediately after launching the emulator? Which is to say, at what point in processing should the Launch After command be running in GameEx? Ideally I'd still like Launch After to have the ability to close the AHK script when I exit the emulator. This would be via batch process or taskkill command, although I suppose the AHK script could also close itself if necessary. Iâ??m beginning to suspect that my whole line of thought here is based on a faulty premise of what Iâ??m assuming about the Launch After option.

The crazy part about all of this was that one could (hypothetically) move EPROMS back and forth from the Arcade System (MVS) to the Home System (AES). The only difference between the Arcade and Home cartridges was the pinouts. Apparently this was a measure to prevent Arcade owners from simply buying cheaper Home cartridges to run in their arcade systems. Other than that the game code and program specifics were identical between the home and arcade systems.

I guess the first question here would be if you're trying to build any set in particular (albeit the options here are fairly limited)? The reason I ask is because the best TG-16/PC Engine CD DAT release group that I know of is Darkwater. However, they are very stringent about their disc dumping guidelines, and require more re-dump verification than TOSEC. Because of this, their DAT files can be rather finicky about what should or should not exist in your set. If you go that route I'd definitely set ClrMamePro to ask for verifications on everything (and back up your set as always). A (somewhat) more forgiving option would be ReDump.org. I believe their TG-16/PC Engine CD DAT is a bit on the light side right now (I could be wrong on this), but they also strive for very good disc dumping standards. At any rate that's a couple of options. Best of luck!

UPDATE: I've more or less verified that it doesn't matter what I'm running under the Launch After option, it's always running immediately after running the emulator. In order to verify this, I entered paths to the batch files themselves (rather than the shortcuts) under Launch Before and Launch After options. I commented out everything contained in the batch files (meaning they were completely empty .bat files from a functional perspective). This still resulted in the following runitgame.bat: Note that everything runs as expected if I don't enter anything under Launch After (but the supporting processes continue to run after I exit the emulator). If I don't enter anything under Launch Before but leave the Launch After process in place, it still runs that process immediately after running the emulator. This leads me to believe that the error has nothing to do with the contents of my batch file(s), .lnk(s), or AHK script. This is not to say that I don't think I've made an error somewhere, but I think that I've possibly made an error in my emulator configuration (see my first post) rather than the supporting Launch Before / Launch After files (I could of course be absolutely wrong on this point ). Is anyone else running a batch file as a Launch After process? If so does my emulator config appear to be in error? Am I simply misunderstanding the functionality of Launch After (meaning: is this intended to run upon exiting the game/emulator)? Is this a bug in GameEx (I rather doubt it)? Any help I can get is greatly appreciated at this point. Thanks!

Hi Guys. Thanks for checking this out. Basically I wrote the AHK script to allow the use of save states and load states using a controller. The AHK script sends the Save / Load state keyboard shortcut (F5 or F7 respectively in this case) when I press a specific button combination on the controller. When the Save / Open state dialog box opens up, the script swaps out the loaded Xpadder profile for another Xpadder profile that allows the controller to act as a mouse. When the dialog box closes, the script reloads the original 'gaming' controller profile. The batch process simply allows me to load and/or exit the Xpadder profile and script simultaneously (and the .lnk lets it run minimized). Another approach would be to run a small .vbs script in place of the .lnks (trouble is in my experience Windows 7 doesn't really like to run 'hidden' .vbs scripts). It's also occurred to me that the .ahk script could take control of the whole shebang, although honestly either of these options sounds like it's getting a bit elaborate, particularly where GameEx has this functionality built in. I've also thought about compiling the AHK script to an executable, so maybe that would be the next thing to try out. I've mainly left it uncompiled in the event that I need to modify anything in the meantime. Edit: Running the compiled executable doesn't seem to make any difference vs. running the raw AHK script. Thanks again for having a look!

Hello I'm in the process of (finally) setting up my registered copy of GameEx after having tooled around with the unregistered copy for quite a while. I'm in the process of setting up Nestopia and would like to run a batch process both before the emulator loads and upon exiting the emulator. I'm running the process via a shortcut (.lnk) so that it can run minimized. In a nut shell the Launch Before process loads an Xpadder profile and launches an AutoHotKey script. The Launch after command conversely exits from Xpadder and kills the AHK script. The Launch Before process seems to execute in the correct order. My problem is that the Launch After command executes immediately after launching the emulator, in effect closing the supporting processes before the emulator even has a chance to get going. My only guess is that GameEx might be watching the wrong process when it opts to execute the Launch After command? Here's my emulator config for Nestopia: Here's the runitgame.bat that illustrates the problem (I've been running it in debug mode while troubleshooting, but I don't think it's related): My GameEx Log looks like pretty standard stuff by my estimation (no visible errors), but I can post that to if it would help to see what's going on here. Stuff I've tried thus far: Running Launch Before / Launch After commands with and without "" Running the associated batch files rather than the shortcuts (.lnks) Running only the Launch Before command. This works, but obviously when I exit the emulator Xpadder is still running and sending wonky input to GameEx Any help on this would be awesome. I'm feel like I'm missing something basic here, just not sure what. I've double checked my batch files which seem to run fine on their own (I can post them too if it would help). I'm feeling a bit absurd as this should be the absolute easiest emulator to set up! Thanks!

Hi doom_Oo7, and welcome to the GameEx forums! To be honest I’ve never used the controller mapping utility in GameEx so I’m afraid I can’t speak specifically to your questions regarding the native controller functionality in GameEx. (Update: If bkenobi says it can't be done, then there's no way to accomplish this using the integrated tools). I’ve always used Xpadder for these purposes and it works fantastic. I suggest Xpadder specifically here for its ability to load and swap out controller profiles via the command line (I’m not sure if there are other controller mapping utils that offer this functionality). I do something similar to what you describe using a combination of Xpadder and an AutoHotKey script, but it may not be strictly applicable to your question. If you wish to swap out controller profiles on a per emulator basis, all you need to do is create a batch file specifying the proper Xpadder controller profile(s) to run when the emulator starts, and enter it as a 'run before' option for the emulator in question (under Advanced Emulator Config). If you wish to swap out Xpadder profiles based on what game is being loaded, that's where a script becomes necessary. As I mentioned, I have a script that does something similar to this, but it's not tailored specifically for these purposes (it would require rather extensive modification). In this scenario you would need to pass the [ROM] variable into the script from GameEx so that the script would in turn load the proper controller profile(s). To address your requirements: Xpadder seems to handle this very well, although I can’t elaborate on how or why. I think the free version handles this just as well as the paid version, but I’ve been using the paid version for a while now so I’m not sure (totally worth the $9.99 by the way). For me it’s always been one of those things that ‘just works’ On a per emulator basis, you should be good to go with just a batch file referencing your Xpadder controller profile(s). On a per game basis, you'll need a script. Under either circumstance you would need to create any of the necessary Xpadder profiles for all of the controllers you wish to map (and potentially on a per game basis if I understand you correctly). (Edit: I realized I was (potentially) trying to make this too complicated - a bad habit of mine . Simplified my suggestions)

I haven't seen that tutorial before but it looks really good! Thanks for passing it along. I had completely forgotten about the -listxml profile option for MAME. To be honest I'm so used to just grabbing DAT files for various systems (No-Intro and whatnot), that's usually what I do for MAME as well. Glad you got everything sorted out, and have fun!

To Merge or Not to Merge? This is a question for the ages. The answer to this will probably depend on the nature of the set you are scanning. A MAME set can be either Merged, Not Merged or Split. Here's a pretty good definition regarding the distinction: Source: http://www.dweasel.com/agmfaq/index-4.html You'll want to set up clrmamepro so that it knows which type of set it's scanning, otherwise it will happliy go about merging or unmerging your set (and consequently take a loooong time to run). More to the point: Source: http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/ClrMamePro So to answer your question: It looks like clrmamepro is attempting to merge your rom set. So really the correct answer to your question depends on your personal preferences as to which type of set you prefer (i.e. Split this ROM or Remove the parent-clone relationship). More to the point, be very sure that it's attempting to take an action that matches your MAME set and/or your expected results. Here's a GameEx forum thread relating to the Merged / Not Merged question: http://www.gameex.info/forums/index.php?showtopic=1983 For the record I prefer Split sets. I figure what the hey, storage is fairly cheap, and it seems to save me some headaches. As far as renaming goes, I always let clrmamepro decide what's best (so long as you trust your DAT!). It seems like every version of MAME modifies naming conventions slightly. Same goes for the rest of the built in 'Fix' check boxes on the scanner screen. Once again, good luck!

D'oh! I just realized I never provided a link to where you can actually get clrmamepro! Here you go (also edited my original post): clrmamepro: http://mamedev.emulab.it/clrmamepro/download.htm That is an excellent question, and to be honest I have never attempted to downgrade a version of MAME. Having said that, it really shouldn't be that different from upgrading. The thing about MAME sets is that from a functional perspective they really don't change that much from one incremental version to the next. Over time they will change rather substantially, but the changes generally take the form of baby steps from one version to the next (with some notable exceptions). Taking all this into account it might theoretically be best to run clrmamepro against the set that is closest in version to your target set (0.135). That would mean upgrading from 0.132 to 0.135 (a difference of 3 versions rather than 4). Like I say this is purely my theory, and it could very well be bunk. Ultimately It probably doesn't matter which set you run against. As long as you back up the set you'll be upgrading/downgrading, I'd go ahead and try running against 0.139 (since it's already a complete set). Clrmamepro is pretty good about providing information about which ROMs are potentially broken, missing, etc. for the version of MAME corresponding to the loaded DAT file. So if it seems like you're getting a crazy amount of warning messages then try running against 0.132 instead. Always here to help!

Whoa there! Before you do anything drastic please be aware that you can use clrmamepro to update your set to the appropriate version of MAME. The first thing you'll need is the clrmamepro application: clrmamepro: http://mamedev.emulab.it/clrmamepro/download.htm Be aware that you'll need to run clrmamepro with administrative rights if you're running in Vista or Win7 (what with UAC and all). Next you'll need a DAT file for the version of MAME you'll be updating to (0.135?). I think most people rely on the DAT files from Logiqx found here: Logiqx - MAME History http://www.logiqx.com/Dats/MAMEBeta/MAMEBetaHistory.php (As an aside this site has reliable DAT files for many arcade based systems). Secondly, you'll (obviously) need to know how to use clrmamepro. Here's a set of good tutorials to get you started with the tool. I think these are the same tutorials I used when I was starting with clrmamepro. The interface may have changed slightly from the tutorial, but the steps should be the same. Clrmamepro Tutorials (Lessons 1-4) http://retro-roms.blogspot.com/2010/01/clrmamepro-lesson-1.html http://retro-roms.blogspot.com/2010/01/clrmamepro-tutorial-part-2.html http://retro-roms.blogspot.com/2010/01/clrmamepro-tutorial-part-3.html http://retro-roms.blogspot.com/2010/01/clrmamepro-cmpro-tutorial-part-4.html Having said all of this you may still need to update some of the ROMs in your set after running clrmamepro, but it's a far cry from having to replace your whole set. An alternative that some people prefer over clrmamepro is RomCenter. I've never used it, but if you'd rather use that program I'm sure someone around here can help you out. One final word of caution: it's probably a good idea to back up your set before running clrmamepro, especially when you're just starting out with the program. It's a great tool, but like all powerful tools a little safety precaution goes along way. Best of luck!

Hi Tom, This isn't specifically related to this thread, but I just wanted to express my sincere gratitude for all the efforts you put into the development and continual improvement of GameEx. It truly is a herculean (and often thankless) effort. Thanks again. Also please allow me to express gratitude to all the active mods and forum members that make this such a great community. Thanks!

Playstation emulators are a great example of subjective ranking dependent upon the user. I love the 'Plug and Play' functionality of pSX. On the other hand I also really like that ePSXe offers the ability to tweak settings and in some cases improve upon certain elements of an original game (this functionality may not be ideal for frontends). As such I'll cast the following votes with a certain degree of hesitation: [Console] Sony Playstation (ePSXe) - Good [Console] Sony Playstation (pSX) - Best I also second Adultery's votes for Fusion. It's an all-around terrific emulator, to the point where it renders other Sega system emulators redundant (for the systems it covers). I'll expand upon my previous votes to encompass the other systems Fusion covers. [Console] Sega CD (Fusion) - Best [HandHeld] Sega Game Gear (Fusion) - Best

I think this is a great idea for a thread! I think this will potentially allow for shifting viewpoints and opinions regarding the ultimate emulator for any given system. For instance, until about 8 months ago I would have voted zsnes as the best snes emulator, nowadays I fall rather firmly into the bsnes camp. Sometimes I look at older threads (mostly elsewhere), and hope that the user actually does a little more research before using an older out of date emulator (take Chankast for example). A few observations: Does this mean that this list should be limited only to emulators available via the setup wizard? (I'm away from my GameEx machine so I can't double-check the setup wizard right now) If not, is there no love for Daphne? Some of these choices are very subjective and/or limited by means of de facto choices. For instance, I mentioned bsnes above, so allow me to cast my vote: [Console] Nintendo SNES (BSNES) - Best However, a user with lesser system resources, and/or an older machine may not get a satisfactory experience from this emulator. Something like snes9x will most likely give them much better results. [Console] Nintendo SNES (Snes9x) - Good In other cases a given emulator may be the only choice for emulation of a given system. As an example, cxbx meets this criteria by virtue of being the only emulator for Xbox (actually there's also dxbx - but you see what I mean). This rating quickly falls apart if one attempts to actually play games using cxbx (certainly not knocking the developers here, just calling a spade a spade). Given these observations I'm wondering if some of these votes shouldn't contain some sort of qualifying system. Maybe something like: [Console] Nintendo SNES (BSNES) - Best* [Console] Microsoft Xbox (Cxbx) - Best^ * Requires higher system specs (refer to emulator homepage) ^ De Facto (Uncontested) Edit: Or maybe each emulator should simply be ranked independently from the system it emulates. In other words, is the emulator in question a good piece of software regardless of the emulated system? This would certainly take into account the quality of emulation. Just a thought . . . There are a few other emulators I'd love to see included in the list, if not just for developing some sort of consensus: [Arcade] Arcade (Model 2), [Arcade] Arcade (Demul), [Arcade] Arcade (Makaron). This is of course dependent upon the limitations of this list (i.e. do we only include emulators available via the setup wizard). Please disregard this if we plan to only include the listed emulators. Any hoo, just my 2 cents (and likely worth half that). I'm probably reading way too deeply into this. On with my votes! I won't reiterate what HK has already voted as the Best as I tend to agree in most cases (or have limited experience with the specific emulator) [Console] Atari 2600 (Stella) - Best [Console] Nintendo NES (Nestopia) - Best [Console] Sega Dreamcast (nullDC) - Best [Console] Sega Genesis (Fusion) - Best [Console] Sega Master System (Fusion) - Best [Console] Sega Saturn (SSF) - Best [PC] Microsoft MSX (blueMSX) - Best (I honestly don-t play many MSX games, but as a standalone emulator I absolutely love how cleanly and intuitively this emulator has been executed - I guess it just really appeals to the software developer in me) Well there are a few votes from me (and a lot of other BS ). I'll probably cast more as this thread develops. Sorry for the extreme verbosity! Preparing for TL;DR response!

Depending on what route you decide to take and/or your experience using Open Office the following tutorial may be of some assistance. [Tutorial] MS Access and OOo Base Best of luck!