nullPointer

According to the second link I posted in my previous post, this was the cause of his problem (where the error was identical to yours): So I guess I'd take a look at that first. If that doesn't work I'd "reinstall" MAME which essentially means that you get a new copy of MAME and try that out (as suggested in the first link I posted above). Edit: Also you've never answered whether this problem seems to be related to Attract Mode. That information would be helpful.

Hi Goron It would help if you can confirm that this error seems specifically related to attract mode (as your log seems to indicate). Does MAME run well when not running in attract mode? Based on the text of your error message I turned up two results within the forums, and both of them were related to attract mode: One was resolved by acquiring a new copy of MAME: Attract video problem? And the other one seems to be an issue related to Joystick Input settings: Gameex crashes after attaching gamepads, attract mode root cause? I'd take a look at both of those threads to determine if your issue is similar (I'd be more ineterested to know if it's related to your Joystick Input settings, as that seems to be a pretty close match to the settings you posted here. On the other hand a new copy of MAME certainly wouldn't hurt either). Thanks and Good Luck!

Sega Naomi was the successor to Model 3. It's based on Dreamcast so yeah, it starts to take up some noticeable hard drive real estate (and to my knowledge is not part of the standard MAME set).

I thought this was pretty interesting, and it certainly has some degree of bearing on the hobby we love (or at least for hobbyists in the US) Source: Ars Technica

I think what you mean to say, is that you'll, "buy more arcade boards to add to your already extensive collection," but I take your meaning. In addition to the systems that have already been mentioned, Sega Naomi and Naomi 2 are great arcade platforms that are also fairly well emulated at this point.

If it quacks like a duck ... No, That totally makes sense actually. I retract my previous comment regarding my dawgs and their propensities towards emulation. Thanks for dropping some knowledge on me.

I believe that GameEx runs through WINE on Linux, which is itself a Windows emulator platform. Yo Dawg ... I heard you like emulators? Now you can run your emulator frontend through an emulator so you can launch your emulators while you're emulating. A smashing good time was had by all. Oh hey, back on topic > this project looks like a really killer idea. Keep us posted Draco!

+1 to everything Draco says (ever). If we can't see the nature of the issue (even if it's just environmental factors - like your GameEx log, configuration, and runitgame.bat), we have very little chance of success in assisting you with your issue. It's just like trying to tackle the problem on your own, except now there are a bunch of people shouting random advice at you based on lack of reliable information. So here's my first piece of random advice. If that loader is giving you headaches, try a different one. Adultery has written an excellent one that operates as a GameEx plugin. Tempest is the OG when it comes to Visual Pin wrappers, and I highly endorse his work as well (Tempest is always the OG around these parts). See here. So there you go. Options.

What's going on at the time of this error? Your log makes it look like your machine is in attract mode at the time, but it would be good to verify that. Also we still need to have a look at your GameEx.ini. Are you running any non-standard codecs on your machine? Are your video card drivers up to date (always best to check this through the manufacturer of your video card). Do you have DirectX up to date on this machine? The more detail you can provide, the more likely we will be able to provide useful information regarding the nature of your error. Thanks man!

Thanks Tom! Lot's of good stuff in this one.

Supermodel is a Sega Model 3 emulator where as the Sega Model 2 Emulator emulates ... uh ... Model 2 games. Star Wars trilogy is a Model 3 based ROM.

Hi helpman We're definitely here to help ... uh ... man, but I think Tempest was just saying that the requested files are typically our best "window" into the nature of the problem you're experiencing. Otherwise we're just making uneducated guesses, which may even serve to be more detrimental than helpful. In other news we do actually have a few certifiable experts in VP that occasionally frequent the forums so one of them may be able to provide valuable insight as well. We'll get there man! Edit: Tempest beat me to it.

Yeah this sounds like some kind of DirectX dependency not being met (or possibly missing Visual C++ libraries). It would be worthwhile to insure that you're running the most recent versions of each supported by your machine. Running a DirectX application in full screen vs. windowed can also introduce additional strain on the system. If this is the same video card you mentioned in your Zinc thread it may simply be the case that it doesn't have the necessary horsepower to run Model2 in full screen. Good luck helpman!

What? Sorry I lost you after "naughty librarian" ... Oh right ... As you've likely sussed with having a look at thedevilbunny's theme there are a lot of possibilities in terms of what one can accomplish with the theme editor. Granted it probably won't be a clone of HyperPin, but that's not really the aim either. If you haven't checked out the theme editor yet, I highly recommend having a go. You may just be the next Picasso of GameEx themes! ... And those wizards pulling the levers behind the scenes in the GameEx factory are continually working on exciting developments in GameEx and theme creation. Stick around ... you may find yourself pleasantly surprised (in a jaw dropping sort of way).

Yep, Tempest nailed it there. If your version of MAME doesn't match the version of your ROMs it's asking for trouble. A brief anecdote: On the bass player forum I frequent (lurking about mainly), there's a long running meme about "What is the best bass for metal?" which is a question that pops up a lot more often than you might guess. The answer of course depends on what you want to play, your style of playing, your equipment, etc. MAME is also a bit like that. Assuming that you have matching set of ROMs for your version of MAME, the answer to the "best" version of MAME will largely boil down to personal preference and what works best with your setup. Good luck Capone1212!

The only problem I have with the current issue is that as the poster (or the like-ee if you will), you don't know exactly what you've received positive feedback on (at least not if you have more than one post in the thread being liked). I don't so much care who liked my post, but I'd like to know what I'm being commended on. Interestingly enough this doesn't seem to effect Tapatalk.

Yeah if I were to venture a guess, I'd wager that finding the proper paper will be the crux of the issue (should you tackle this as a home project). I'd imagine Glossy, Semi-Gloss, and Matte papers would all produce highly noticeable distinctions. If possible I'd try to track down some of the double-sided photo paper as I'd wager that it's not as 'sticky' as the single sided stuff (purely a guess). OTOH, you'd probably run into a similar set of issues taking the job to a printer except you wouldn't have nearly as granular a level of control over the results. I'd imagine the cost of outsourcing the job would be similar to the cost of printing wedding invitations through a print shop? (at least the batch run sounds like it would be of a similar volume ) Ill be curious to hear what you decide. It's something I've always wondered about as well.

Hmm ... If I were approaching this project, I would try to assess whether it's something that I could tackle myself. I honestly think that would be the cheapest route, but it depends on a couple of factors. So the first question is, do you have (or have access to) a color inkjet printer? If the answer is Yes, I would do a test run to see if the results are acceptable. In terms of paper I would try something like this (something like that Zeppelin SemiGloss looks like a real winner) Naturally the next step would be finding an acceptable layout for your covers / cases. As far as that goes, this tutorial over at MakeUseOf could be just the ticket.

I'm glad to hear things are looking up for you Capone1212! So ... the next step depends on how far down the rabbit hole you want to go. To my mind it still sounds like your ROMs don't match your version of MAME, especially where turning off Verify ROMs made a big difference in the number of ROMs displayed. The good news is that there are tools available which will help you determine whether the version of your ROM set matches your version of MAME (this process is known as auditing your ROMs, and accordingly the tools typically fall under the umbrella of ROM auditing software). The bad news is that there is a learning curve involved, and some users simply can't be bothered to get into the nuts and bolts of MAME configuration. Either way is a valid answer. If you just want to play games and be thankful that you've got something working you're good to go. If you want to feel safe in the knowledge that your ROMs match your version of MAME and will behave in a predictable fashion then auditing your ROMs is a sound decision. My advice? If your approach to emulation goes beyond a passing interest, learning how to audit ROM sets is an indispensable tool in your utility belt. For new(ish) users I tend to recommend ROMCenter. It’s a great application and fairly user friendly as far as that goes. Here are a couple of tutorials to help get you started with ROMCenter: Romcenter 3 tutorial ROMCenter Wiki Another great tool to be aware of is the venerable ClrMamePro. ClrMamePro is not nearly as user friendly as ROMCenter, but it’s got a lot more history behind it, and you’ll often see grizzled old emulation veterans using CMP over ROMCenter. Here’s the complete guide to using ClrMamePro.

In addition to the information you've already provided, would you mind attempting to run a Zinc game through GameEx and subsequently post the contents of your runitgame.bat? Instructions on how to do that can be found here. Thanks man!

Hi Capone1212 I'm glad to hear you're making some progress. Well done! The fact that there are only a few games showing probably boils down to one of two things (as a first guess). Any time you make a change to MAME settings (for the most part) you'll want to rebuild your list in GameEx. This can be done inside GameEx from your MAME menu, or via the command I mentioned above. The following two settings will have a big impact on what ROMs are displayed in GameEx depending on the variances of your specific configuration: ROMs marked as non-working in MAME may or may not reflect how well they actually play in MAME. Sometimes It can be a minor glitch that caused the game to be marked as non-working (although in most cases non-working means just that). Verify ROMs can have a huge impact on the number of ROMs displayed in GameEx if the version of your ROM(s) is not an exact match to your version of MAME. So it sounds like you changed updated your version of MAME; did you also update your ROMs to the appropriate version? If the CRC of the ROMs doesn't match what your version of MAME says it should be, the VerifyRoms setting will prevent all non-matching ROMs from being displayed. Turning off this setting will likely have an impact, but you may also be opening the flood gates to add a bunch of ROMs to your list which are not compatible with your version of MAME.

Hi helpman, I'm sure you've checked out various tutorials and whatnot, but I think this is one of the best Zinc tutorials around. It's been a long time since I've done anything with Zinc, but IIRC that was the tutorial I used to finally get it up and running. Good luck man!

The new site looks great! Thanks a lot Tom. Great job!

Are you fairly comfortable using the command console (i.e. the command line) to interact with applications? What happens when you run the following command (where C:\GameEx\gameex.exe is the location of your GameEx executable - you may need to alter that bit depending on your configuration): "C:\GameEx\gameex.exe" -listupdateThat command is used to update your MAME list manually. It might help to at least get your games to display within GameEx. Regarding the -listxml error, that's another inbuilt switch which should be recognized as a valid MAME command option. See here for further info, although once again I'm not certain why GameEx would be trying to append that option to your MAME command unless specifically configured to do so. According to your config these are the options which should be applied to your MAME command when running a game:

So just a couple of questions. Have you configured GameEx using the Setup Wizard yet? If not, you'll want to have a go with that. Here's a good source of reference to that end. Part of the reason I ask is this: That command will only display the help text for MAME (rather than actually run a game). So if you haven't configured yet, you'll want to do that. If you have configured GameEx, taking a look at your GameEx.ini will help. You don't have to run the program to access that info. It's just a file that lives in your GameEx installation directory. Check this out: Thanks man