GoTheBunnies

Thought I'd post my problem on this thread as some of my issues seem to be common to Ninja's..... Decided to set up Zinc today - reading through the posts it seems to make sense to use the GameEx integration rather than set up a separate emulator (correct?), so I did the following in Advanced MAME settings - Use Zinc Yes Zinc Path C:\emulators\Zinc Zinc Exe zinc.exe Zinc Options --renderer=.\renderer.znc I moved all my zinc roms (which have numbers as names) into the same folder as my Mame roms. Went back to GameEx and Updated my Games List - a new menu item called Playstation appeared, with games behind it. So far, so good. Go in and play a game and most seem to run ok. I get an error message when I exit some of them - but I'll get to that later. My main problem is that my input keys don't seem to be mapped correctly on all the games. Some keys work on some games - but there's not a lot of consistency and I can't really see a pattern to work out what's going on. So a couple of questions - do the keys have to mapped for each individual game? I'm using ZincFE2 - but I can't actually run any of the games directly on the emulator (ie without GameEx) because it doesn't recognise the roms names (because they're numbers). I'm missing something obvious here? What is it? Is there a guide to setting up Zinc on GameEx (I couldn't find it....). Thanks

Oh ok, so I can actually set it up to run in GameEx without it running in the emulator itself? Interesting......Ok, I'll give that a go instead!

Hi all, With most of my emulators up and running now, I thought I'd have a go at getting Zinc going so I can play Streetfighter, Tekken and the like. As I've done with other emulators, I wanted to get the games running outside of GameEx first, before I considered the GameEx config. Having a lot of problems with these games, and there doesn't seem to be any basic tutorials on the Internet? I've tried a couple of GUI's - Zinc and Zenith, but when I map either of them to my Roms folder - it doesn't see them. I have about 30 roms, but instead of game names, they have numbers as the .zip file name. Is that why the emulators can't see them - do I need to rename each of the files? Thanks

Problem fixed! I couldn't find ANY video settings in the BIOS, but decided to remove the video card drivers and reinstall. It's now fine. The thing I don't get is that I already installed the latest drivers the last time I had the lagging problem. Anyway, whatever it was, it's now fine. Thanks for everyone's input!

Here's a potentially stupid question - what is GameBase? Is this something I should get??

It IS a HP - the only things I've upgraded are the Hard drive (to 500gb) and the RAM (to 2gb). The video card is an AGP card - when you say adjust the settings for optimal use - that basically means playing around with the settings until I see a difference, right? I'll download the Process Explorer program when I get home and will have a look at the results. What am I looking for? A discernable difference in the CPU usage when I run GameEx?

Yes, we have discussed it previously, and I thought I'd fixed it (until after this update ). I didn't change the video aperture settings in the BIOS - I couldn't find it in there (and after a few other tweaks the problem was fixed so didn't see the need to persist). Perhaps now I better have another look.

Tom suggested defragging the pagefile - I was responding to that suggestion. I'm using a NVidia Geforce FX5200 128mb graphics card - but thinking now I might need something bigger.

Thanks for having a look at this Tom - I've tried a few of your suggestions, without success - BUT I can confirm that I don't have the lagging problem when I run it through runitgame.bat, nor when I play it directly via Mame. What does that tell you? Looked at drefragging my pagefile, but it only has 1 fragment, so doesn't look to be the issue.

Hi Tom -.ini attached. Games lag in GameEx - for example, moving the ship across the screen in say Space Invaders, the ship will stop a few times along the way, just for a micro second. Play it in Mame and it's fine. I had the problem with this PC in the past, changed a few settings (cant remember what), and it was fine until this update. Thanks GameExconfig.txt

I'm happy to rollback a couple of updates to solve the problem - is that an option?

My log follows Tom - CPU usage gets to 100% when I go into GameEx, but normalises pretty quickly. Seems to jump to 100% again whenever I go to play a game 12:22:00.0 18/12/2010: GameEx: Version 11.44: Starting Log 12:22:00.0 18/12/2010: Operating System Platform: Win32NT 12:22:00.0 18/12/2010: Operating System Name: Windows XP 12:22:00.0 18/12/2010: Operating System Version: 5.1.2600 12:22:00.0 18/12/2010: Checking for versions of .net Framework installed 12:22:00.0 18/12/2010: .net Framework 1.1 Installed 12:22:00.0 18/12/2010: .net Framework 2.0 Installed 12:22:00.0 18/12/2010: .net Framework 3.0 Installed 12:22:00.0 18/12/2010: .net Framework 3.5 Installed 12:22:00.0 18/12/2010: Intel® Pentium® 4 CPU 2.80GHz, 2047MB 12:22:00.0 18/12/2010: 2.8Ghz 12:22:00.0 18/12/2010: Running Randomize() 12:22:00.0 18/12/2010: Loading PlugIns 12:22:00.0 18/12/2010: Checking for applications to Launch On Startup 12:22:00.0 18/12/2010: Running Misc startup tasks 12:22:00.0 18/12/2010: Setting Menu types 12:22:00.0 18/12/2010: Opening Configuration File 12:22:00.0 18/12/2010: Getting Configuration Values 12:22:00.0 18/12/2010: Using Theme: Default - BlueEx - MCE1024x768 12:22:00.0 18/12/2010: Checking for alternate Image Directory for Theme: Default - BlueEx - MCE1024x768 12:22:00.0 18/12/2010: Launching HideOS.exe 12:22:00.0 18/12/2010: Initialising Video/MNG DLL's 12:22:00.0 18/12/2010: Hiding Taskbar 12:22:00.1 18/12/2010: Is Media Center running? 12:22:00.1 18/12/2010: Checking/Creating LCD Registry values 12:22:00.1 18/12/2010: Check Media Center Exit/Start Mode 12:22:00.1 18/12/2010: Media Center Mode 2 12:22:00.1 18/12/2010: Video previews on. Warning: Only recommended on modern systems 12:22:00.1 18/12/2010: Custom Keyboard Input enabled: Getting custom codes 12:22:00.1 18/12/2010: Snap Delay set to: 2 12:22:00.1 18/12/2010: Get other settings 12:22:00.1 18/12/2010: Desktop set to Hide ICONS and set Background to Black 12:22:00.1 18/12/2010: SlikStik support enabled 12:22:00.1 18/12/2010: Using DirectInput for keyboard input 12:22:00.1 18/12/2010: Start work for Form 12:22:00.1 18/12/2010: Getting Original Screen Size 12:22:00.1 18/12/2010: Opening Database Connection 12:22:00.2 18/12/2010: Initializing Component 12:22:00.4 18/12/2010: Retrieving resolution setting 12:22:00.4 18/12/2010: MAME Path is: C:\Emulators\Mame32\Mame_133 12:22:00.4 18/12/2010: daphne Path is: C:\Emulators\Daphne 12:22:00.4 18/12/2010: daphne EXE file is: Daphne.exe 12:22:00.4 18/12/2010: Use daphne on. Daphne.exe will launch games 12:22:00.4 18/12/2010: MAME EXE file is: mame.exe 12:22:00.4 18/12/2010: ROM Path is: C:\Emulators\Mame32\Mame_133\roms 12:22:00.4 18/12/2010: Catver.ini is located at: C:\GameEx\DATA\catver.ini 12:22:00.4 18/12/2010: controls.ini is located at: C:\GameEx\data\controls.ini 12:22:00.4 18/12/2010: History.dat is located at: C:\GameEx\DATA\history.dat 12:22:00.4 18/12/2010: nplayers.ini is located at: C:\GameEx\DATA\nplayers.ini 12:22:00.4 18/12/2010: command.dat is located at: C:\GameEx\DATA\command.dat 12:22:00.4 18/12/2010: MAMEinfo.dat is located at: C:\GameEx\DATA\mameinfo.dat 12:22:00.4 18/12/2010: Loading Controls.ini map file 12:22:00.4 18/12/2010: Snap Path is: C:\Emulators\Mame32\Mame_133\snap 12:22:00.4 18/12/2010: AVI Snap Path is: C:\Emulators\Mame32\Mame_133\Videos 12:22:00.4 18/12/2010: Flyer Path is: C:\Emulators\Mame32\Mame_133\flyers 12:22:00.4 18/12/2010: Cabinet Path is: C:\Emulators\Mame32\Mame_133\cabinets 12:22:00.4 18/12/2010: Cabinet 3D Path: Not Found 12:22:00.4 18/12/2010: Title Path is: C:\Emulators\Mame32\Mame_133\titles 12:22:00.4 18/12/2010: PCB Path is: C:\Emulators\Mame32\Mame_133\pcb 12:22:00.4 18/12/2010: Artwork Preview Path is: C:\Emulators\Mame32\Mame_133\artwork 12:22:00.4 18/12/2010: Panel Path is: C:\Emulators\Mame32\Mame_133\cpanel 12:22:00.4 18/12/2010: Manual Path: Not Found 12:22:00.4 18/12/2010: Icon Path is: C:\Emulators\Mame32\Mame_133\icons 12:22:00.4 18/12/2010: Marquee Path is: C:\Emulators\Mame32\Mame_133\marquees 12:22:00.5 18/12/2010: Loading Custom Emulators 12:22:00.5 18/12/2010: Using 2D Animations 12:22:00.5 18/12/2010: Using General Font: Trebuchet MS 12:22:00.5 18/12/2010: Using Title Font: Joystix 12:22:00.5 18/12/2010: Initialising Direct3D 12:22:00.6 18/12/2010: Applying GameEx is Loading Image 12:22:01.2 18/12/2010: Setting Resolution to 1024x768 32 bit color 12:22:01.2 18/12/2010: Creating Surfaces 12:22:01.4 18/12/2010: Creating Primary Surface - Full Screen Mode 12:22:01.4 18/12/2010: Creating Back Buffer 12:22:01.4 18/12/2010: Loading graphic Surfaces 12:22:01.5 18/12/2010: Display is running at: 1024x768 32bit color, 75hz 12:22:01.6 18/12/2010: Creating Surfaces Flags 12:22:01.6 18/12/2010: Creating Surfaces Misc and Dialogs 12:22:01.7 18/12/2010: Creating Surfaces Volume 12:22:01.7 18/12/2010: Creating Surfaces Arrows 12:22:01.7 18/12/2010: Creating Surfaces GameEXlogo Text 12:22:01.7 18/12/2010: Creating Surfaces Toolbar 12:22:01.7 18/12/2010: Creating Surfaces Backgrounds 12:22:01.7 18/12/2010: Creating Surfaces Toolbar Controls 12:22:01.7 18/12/2010: Creating Surfaces GameEx Logo 12:22:01.7 18/12/2010: Creating Surface Unselected 12:22:01.7 18/12/2010: Creating Surfaces Home & Exit 12:22:01.7 18/12/2010: Creating Surfaces Snaps 12:22:01.7 18/12/2010: Creating Surfaces Menu and List Bars 12:22:01.9 18/12/2010: Creating Fonts 12:22:01.9 18/12/2010: Creating Game Font 12:22:02.1 18/12/2010: Creating Game Font Faded 12:22:02.2 18/12/2010: Creating Title Font 12:22:02.2 18/12/2010: Restoring Title Font From Cache 12:22:02.5 18/12/2010: Creating Menu Font 12:22:02.6 18/12/2010: Creating Font Black 12:22:02.7 18/12/2010: Creating Font Black Small 12:22:02.9 18/12/2010: Fonts Created Succesfully 12:22:02.9 18/12/2010: 3MB Video Memory Used 12:22:02.9 18/12/2010: Initialising Bass Audio Library 12:22:02.9 18/12/2010: Creating instance of global keyboard hook 12:22:03.6 18/12/2010: Attempting to load game list 12:22:03.7 18/12/2010: Applying Language/Text 12:22:03.7 18/12/2010: Text/Language: Custom 12:22:03.8 18/12/2010: MAME CMD options: -nowindow -hwstretch -joy -skip_gameinfo 12:22:03.8 18/12/2010: Loading last used Game List 12:22:03.8 18/12/2010: Creating DirectSound Device 12:22:03.8 18/12/2010: Trying: Primary Sound Driver 12:22:03.8 18/12/2010: Loading Sound Files 12:22:03.8 18/12/2010: DirectSound Device Created Successfully 12:22:03.8 18/12/2010: Creating ICONS 12:22:03.9 18/12/2010: Recreating ICONS 12:22:04.6 18/12/2010: Initialising DirectInput for Gamepad support 12:22:04.6 18/12/2010: Unable to create a joystick device 12:22:04.6 18/12/2010: Initialising DirectInput for Keyboard support 12:22:04.7 18/12/2010: Initializing MCE Remote 12:22:04.7 18/12/2010: Playing intro sound file 12:22:04.7 18/12/2010: Initialization OK! Starting GameEx! 12:22:04.7 18/12/2010: Testing Main Loop Once: Processing Frame 12:22:05.4 18/12/2010: Testing Main Loop Once: Main Loop ran successfully 12:22:48.7 18/12/2010: Exiting GameEx! 12:22:48.8 18/12/2010: Saving Settings 12:22:50.1 18/12/2010: Disposing Plugins 12:22:50.1 18/12/2010: Closing database connection 12:22:50.2 18/12/2010: Checking for applications to Launch On Exit

Arrgghhh - downloaded the update today (I think I went from 11.41 to current), and now my GameEx lags again (I had a major lagging problem previously, and it took me a long time changing different settings (and a RAM upgrade) to get it right.) I've disabled the weather option, but what else is new that could be chewing up additional resources? Can I undo the update??

I had the same problem - all of my videos are .flv. Downloaded Shark007's codecs, problem solved.!

You sir, are a genius! That worked perfectly, and now a user can readily identify the games that are going to flip screens - mission accomplished. One question - I have a lot of clones in my .ini file, and I was expecting GameEx to filter them (filter is enabled and it filters other lists). It doesn't - it just displays everything. No big deal, but was wondering why that was?

Thanks for that! I'm out of town for a few days, but looking forward to getting home and trying to get this set up! Appreciate all your help!

Not sure what you mean by this??

Hmmm, well that didn't work, but I think it may have to do with where I have the file (??). Here's what I've done - added a new .bmp file to my LOGOS folder for the theme I'm using and called it 'Cocktail Gmaes'. Saved the .ini file to my Mame folder (the same folder mame.exe sits) and called it 'Cocktail Games'. In basic Mame settings, I've set the 'Custom Lists Path' to the Mame folder (as above), and I've set the 'Favorites File' to the Cocktail Games.ini file. I go back into GameEx but it doesn't appear in any of the menu lists. Where have I gone wrong??

Hey thanks a lot for that. Just so I'm clear - I can put the .ini file anywhere (I'll put it in my MAME directory) and just point the Custom Menu setting to it in the GameEx config?? With the logo I put in my themes logo folder - how does GameEx know where it is and that is needs to use it?? And what should appear on the menu ie how does GameEx know the name of the menu line? Potentially silly questions....sorry about that! Thanks again

Lol welcome to my world! Use the Blue whatever it's called Theme, that's the only one I could get it in. You'll see it on the left hand side when you pull up the Emulators menu.

Oh ok thanks - I didn't hit go because I was concerned it was going to run for 2 days! Did you get my email by the way?

Right, I can see it in that theme as well. Question - I thought it only looked for missing snaps and created them? Seems to me it wants to create snaps for ALL games?

Thanks - I need you! PM sent!

No - it doesn't appear for me in anything (nor for others apparently). Is it appearing for you? And I'd be happy to get them on a per-game basis, but the problem is I don't have a way of filtering which ones are missing.

It would an excellent enahncement - some of the Mame bezels look fantastic - it's a shame to be wasting them.