GoTheBunnies

Ok, I'll do that thanks. What about my current configs - they won't get overridden? Cheers

So what was the upshot of this Tom - should I be trying to install this differently? Thanks

Hi - have downloaded a bunch of Karaoke files in .zip format, and they're name in the following way - CBE5-11-02 - Hall & Oates - Private Eyes That's then how they display in the song menus. Is there any way to change it (within GameEx) - for example, I want the above song to show as Private Eyes - Hall & Oates. Will I have to rename each file individually? Thanks

No I didn't - I've just updated GameEx to the latest version, so I've only tried to install the plugin via the Config settings (ie Custom, Karaoke.....).

Hi guys, Have downloaded some karaoke files, and thought I'd get it going through GameEx. Went in and enabled the Karaoke functionality - it tells me that I don't have the DXKaraoke plugin installed (agreed!), but when I click to install it doesn't seem to do anything. So when I'm back in GameEx the songs show up etc, but selecting them doesn't do anything. I looked for the plugin elsewhere on the site, but couldn't find it. Attaching log file just in case. Thanks log.txt

Thanks for that - problem solved. The GameEx.ini file was totally empty. Have now updated to the latest version, and everything seems fine. Thanks again.

Don't think it's that - can only see 1 install.

Hi all, Turned on my arcade machine today for the first time in a few months (so I'm a few updates behind), and immediately knew there was a problem. It started in a different theme to what I normally have, and none of the games were on the menus. The menu was really brief - only 3 or 4 items, and not even the Config option. I went back out of GameEx and opened up the Configuration Settings, and everything was blank. No settings, no file paths - nothing. In fact the only field I saw populated was the Theme field. Fortunately I have a back up of the GameEx config that I think is reasonably current, so I'm not too stressed about it (yet). But how could it have happened? From memory I think I turned it on a few months ago to do an update of GameEx, and I may not have played it after that. But where did the configs go? Can I get them back? If I have to resort to using the backup files I have - what files/directories do I need to copy across to the Gameex folders? Thanks

Why is there a need to rename the files? (better ask these questions before I spend money on the files, only to find that there's still a bunch of work to be done with them....)

So just so I'm clear on this - you both seem to have a squillion songs, but the sites listed as being the best are pay-per-song type sites. So am I right in saying it's cost you a fortune to build up your collections?

Hi guys, Having had GameEx up and running for a while now, I thought I might have a crack at getting the karaoke functionality up and running. Knowing nothing about how it works - what types of karaoke files should I be seeking? Any suggestions on the best source for files? (I think I'm allowed to ask that, apologies if I'm not). Thanks

Just re-reading your post, and I realised that you want to be able to play 4 players (not 2). My table is only designed to suit 2 players (whether they be playing vertically or horizontally) - I'm almost certain that Mame games will not do what you're trying to achieve

Hi Ryan, Went through exactly the same issues a couple of months ago. I ended up with a reasonable result, but it's not perfect. In summary (and happy to expand on any points as you like) - - I had to indentify all of the cocktail games (ie games that WOULD flip the screen for Player 2 - not all do). I used Romlister as my start point, but even then it comes up with plenty in the results that don't actually do as Romlister expects - I then had to change the dipswitch in MAME for all the cocktail games, and test them all. Again, just because it has a Cocktail dispswitch doesn't mean it actually works. - Then created a custom list of all the Cocktail Games (around 180 in total from memory), and added the 'Cocktail Games' list to me GameEx menu - So now, is the user selects a Cocktail Game, they know it will flip over for Player Two. A couple of shortcomings - the menu is always horizontal, so if you have players sitting at sides 1 and 4 (as you described them), then menu is still facing the wrong way. There are hundreds of MAME games (non-Cocktail) on my machine that play in the vertical mode anyway, so the menu being in horizontal is something you have to get used to - I don't know a way around it without GameEx knowing which games are Vertical and which are Horizontal, so it knows when to flip. All in all, it was a pretty painful process to go through the games individually for what is a less than optimal solution, but it does the job. Cheers

I had the same problem when I was first setting up as well - I downloaded Shark007's codecs (from his website and separately to the GameEx download), and the videos then worked fine. Someone on here suggested that I shouldn't have had to do that (because the codecs come with the GameEx download), but I did and it fixed the problem.

I did - after copying over the folders I did a complete install over the top into the same directory.

Thanks for that, but the plot thickens! When I downloaded and tried to install the font, Windows told me JoyStix was already installed (and so it was). Weird then that the theme wouldn't work.

Thanks - that's a bit weird, but you were right, I just changed the theme and now GameEx loads. Why wouldn't the font have copied over given I copied all the GameEx files, including the Themes folder?

Thanks - font type as in 'Main Font'? (Bold is not a choice there?). TTF = ?

Hi guys, Have just copied GameEx from my cab to my main PC so I can test some new emulators etc. I copied my entire GameEx directory onto the new PC, and then reinstalled GameEx from the website - that's the best way to go about it right? Anyway, it's not loading - and my error log follows. What am I missing? 12:36:00.7 24/03/2011: GameEx: Version 11.63: Starting Log 12:36:00.8 24/03/2011: Operating System Platform: Win32NT 12:36:00.8 24/03/2011: Operating System Name: Windows XP 12:36:00.8 24/03/2011: Operating System Version: 5.1.2600 12:36:00.8 24/03/2011: Checking for versions of .net Framework installed 12:36:00.8 24/03/2011: .net Framework 1.0 Installed 12:36:00.8 24/03/2011: .net Framework 1.1 Installed 12:36:00.8 24/03/2011: .net Framework 2.0 Installed 12:36:00.8 24/03/2011: .net Framework 3.0 Installed 12:36:00.8 24/03/2011: .net Framework 3.5 Installed 12:36:00.8 24/03/2011: Intel® Pentium® 4 CPU 2.93GHz, 1471MB 12:36:00.8 24/03/2011: 2.93Ghz - 2 Cores or CPU's 12:36:00.8 24/03/2011: Running Randomize() 12:36:01.2 24/03/2011: Loading PlugIns 12:36:01.2 24/03/2011: Checking for applications to Launch On Startup 12:36:01.2 24/03/2011: Running Misc startup tasks 12:36:01.2 24/03/2011: Setting Menu types 12:36:01.2 24/03/2011: Opening Configuration File 12:36:01.2 24/03/2011: Getting Configuration Values 12:36:01.2 24/03/2011: Using Theme: Default - BlueEx - MCE1024x768 12:36:01.2 24/03/2011: Checking for alternate Image Directory for Theme: Default - BlueEx - MCE1024x768 12:36:01.2 24/03/2011: Launching HideOS.exe 12:36:01.2 24/03/2011: Initialising Video/MNG DLL's 12:36:01.2 24/03/2011: Hiding Taskbar 12:36:01.3 24/03/2011: Is Media Center running? 12:36:01.3 24/03/2011: Checking/Creating LCD Registry values 12:36:01.4 24/03/2011: Check Media Center Exit/Start Mode 12:36:01.4 24/03/2011: Media Center Mode 2 12:36:01.4 24/03/2011: Video previews on. Warning: Only recommended on modern systems 12:36:01.4 24/03/2011: Custom Keyboard Input enabled: Getting custom codes 12:36:01.4 24/03/2011: Snap Delay set to: 5 12:36:01.4 24/03/2011: Get other settings 12:36:01.4 24/03/2011: Desktop set to Hide ICONS and set Background to Black 12:36:01.4 24/03/2011: SlikStik support enabled 12:36:01.4 24/03/2011: Using DirectInput for keyboard input 12:36:01.5 24/03/2011: Start work for Form 12:36:01.5 24/03/2011: Getting Original Screen Size 12:36:01.6 24/03/2011: Opening Database Connection 12:36:03.5 24/03/2011: Initializing Component 12:36:03.8 24/03/2011: Retrieving resolution setting 12:36:03.8 24/03/2011: MAME Path is: C:\Emulators\Mame32\Mame_133 12:36:03.8 24/03/2011: Cannot Find MAME Path: MAME Disabled 12:36:03.8 24/03/2011: Loading Controls.ini map file 12:36:03.9 24/03/2011: Loading Custom Emulators 12:36:03.9 24/03/2011: Using 2D Animations 12:36:03.9 24/03/2011: Using General Font: Verdana 12:36:03.9 24/03/2011: Using Title Font: Joystix 12:36:04.0 24/03/2011: Initialising Direct3D 12:36:04.1 24/03/2011: Setting Resolution to 1920x1080 32 bit color 12:36:04.2 24/03/2011: Creating Surfaces 12:36:04.8 24/03/2011: Creating Primary Surface - Full Screen Mode 12:36:04.9 24/03/2011: Creating Back Buffer 12:36:05.0 24/03/2011: Loading graphic Surfaces 12:36:05.0 24/03/2011: Display is running at: 1920x1080 32bit color, 60hz 12:36:05.2 24/03/2011: Creating Surfaces Flags 12:36:05.2 24/03/2011: Creating Surfaces Misc and Dialogs 12:36:05.4 24/03/2011: Creating Surfaces Volume 12:36:05.4 24/03/2011: Creating Surfaces Arrows 12:36:05.4 24/03/2011: Creating Surfaces GameEXlogo Text 12:36:05.4 24/03/2011: Creating Surfaces Toolbar 12:36:05.5 24/03/2011: Creating Surfaces Backgrounds 12:36:05.5 24/03/2011: Creating Surfaces Toolbar Controls 12:36:05.6 24/03/2011: Creating Surfaces GameEx Logo 12:36:05.6 24/03/2011: Creating Surface Unselected 12:36:05.6 24/03/2011: Creating Surfaces Home & Exit 12:36:05.6 24/03/2011: Creating Surfaces Snaps 12:36:05.6 24/03/2011: Creating Surfaces Menu and List Bars 12:36:05.9 24/03/2011: Creating Fonts 12:36:05.9 24/03/2011: Creating Game Font 12:36:06.5 24/03/2011: Creating Game Font Faded 12:36:06.7 24/03/2011: Creating Title Font 12:36:06.7 24/03/2011: Restoring Title Font From Cache 12:36:07.2 24/03/2011: Error: Font 'Joystix' does not support style 'Regular'. 12:36:07.3 24/03/2011: at System.Drawing.Font.CreateNativeFont() 12:36:07.3 24/03/2011: at System.Drawing.Font.Initialize(FontFamily family, Single emSize, FontStyle style, GraphicsUnit unit, Byte gdiCharSet, Boolean gdiVerticalFont) 12:36:07.3 24/03/2011: at System.Drawing.Font..ctor(FontFamily family, Single emSize, FontStyle style, GraphicsUnit unit) 12:36:07.3 24/03/2011: at ag.cf() 12:36:07.3 24/03/2011: at ag.c(Boolean A_0, Boolean A_1, Boolean A_2) 12:36:07.3 24/03/2011: at ag.a(Boolean A_0, Boolean A_1, Boolean A_2, Boolean A_3, Boolean A_4, Int32 A_5) 12:36:07.3 24/03/2011: at ag.a(Boolean A_0, String A_1, Boolean A_2) 12:36:07.3 24/03/2011: at ag..ctor() 12:36:07.4 24/03/2011: Closing database connection 12:36:07.4 24/03/2011: Disposing Plugins 12:36:07.4 24/03/2011: GameEx is exiting with errors 12:36:10.7 24/03/2011: ERRORS DETECTED: EXITING

I found the solution to this problem - simply change the option labelled artwork_crop from 0 to 1 and no more bezels. Games go to fullscreen (and look a lot better albeit not authentic IMO). Thanks

Thanks for that, and might take you up on the troubleshooting offer at some stage. I've posted to problem in one of the Mame forums, so I'll see if I have any joy over there. Cheers

Ahhh well that's good to know! What happens when there's a command in the GameEx commnad line that conflicts with the Mame config file - which one takes precedence? No luck with a duplicate .ini file unfortunately, and yeah I am using Mame32/mameui. I played around a bit with the Mame settings, without success.

Ok, my Mame options line says -nowindow -hwstretch -joy -skip_gameinfo Mame ini file is <UNADORNED0> # # CORE CONFIGURATION OPTIONS # readconfig 1 # # CORE SEARCH PATH OPTIONS # rompath "c:\Emulators\Mame32\Mame_133\roms\" samplepath samples artpath artwork ctrlrpath ctrlr inipath .;ini fontpath . cheatpath cheat crosshairpath crosshair # # CORE OUTPUT DIRECTORY OPTIONS # cfg_directory cfg nvram_directory nvram memcard_directory memcard input_directory inp state_directory sta snapshot_directory snap diff_directory diff comment_directory comments hiscore_directory hi # # CORE STATE/PLAYBACK OPTIONS # state autosave 1 playback record mngwrite aviwrite wavwrite snapname %g/%i snapsize auto snapview internal burnin 0 # # CORE PERFORMANCE OPTIONS # autoframeskip 0 frameskip 0 seconds_to_run 0 throttle 1 sleep 1 speed 1.0 refreshspeed 0 # # CORE ROTATION OPTIONS # rotate 1 ror 0 rol 0 autoror 0 autorol 0 flipx 0 flipy 0 # # CORE ARTWORK OPTIONS # artwork_crop 0 use_backdrops 1 use_overlays 1 use_bezels 1 # # CORE SCREEN OPTIONS # brightness 1.0 contrast 1.0 gamma 1.0 pause_brightness 0.65 # # CORE VECTOR OPTIONS # antialias 1 beam 1.0 flicker 0 # # CORE SOUND OPTIONS # sound 1 samplerate 48000 samples 1 volume 0 # # CORE INPUT OPTIONS # coin_lockout 1 ctrlr mouse 0 joystick 1 lightgun 0 multikeyboard 0 multimouse 0 steadykey 0 offscreen_reload 0 joystick_map auto joystick_deadzone 0.3 joystick_saturation 0.85 natural 0 uimodekey auto # # CORE INPUT AUTOMATIC ENABLE OPTIONS # paddle_device keyboard adstick_device keyboard pedal_device keyboard dial_device keyboard trackball_device keyboard lightgun_device keyboard positional_device keyboard mouse_device mouse # # CORE DEBUGGING OPTIONS # log 0 verbose 0 update_in_pause 0 debug 0 debugscript debug_internal 0 # # CORE MISC OPTIONS # bios cheat 0 skip_gameinfo 1 # # CORE MKChamp OPTIONS # disable_hiscore_patch 0 disable_nagscreen_patch 0 disable_loading_patch 0 # # WINDOWS DEBUGGING OPTIONS # oslog 0 watchdog 0 debugger_font "Lucida Console" debugger_font_size 9 # # WINDOWS PERFORMANCE OPTIONS # priority 0 multithreading 0 numprocessors auto # # WINDOWS VIDEO OPTIONS # video d3d numscreens 1 window 0 maximize 1 keepaspect 0 prescale 1 effect none waitvsync 1 syncrefresh 1 # # DIRECTDRAW-SPECIFIC OPTIONS # hwstretch 1 # # DIRECT3D-SPECIFIC OPTIONS # d3dversion 9 filter 1 # # PER-WINDOW VIDEO OPTIONS # screen auto aspect auto resolution auto view auto screen0 auto aspect0 auto resolution0 auto view0 auto screen1 auto aspect1 auto resolution1 auto view1 auto screen2 auto aspect2 auto resolution2 auto view2 auto screen3 auto aspect3 auto resolution3 auto view3 auto # # FULL SCREEN OPTIONS # triplebuffer 1 switchres 0 full_screen_brightness 1.0 full_screen_contrast 1.0 full_screen_gamma 1.0 # # WINDOWS SOUND OPTIONS # audio_latency 2 # # INPUT DEVICE OPTIONS # dual_lightgun 0

Ok, finally got some time to try to set this up - it didn't work. I don't use AdvanceMAME (actually I don't even know what it does), so the switch is set to False. I tried putting the -noka switch in the Mame Options line, but nothing changed. What should I try next?

Thanks - I just put it in the Mame command line?