shbon

I don't know about the gameex create snaps option and why it doesn't work for some emus but are these console screen snap packs of any use to you? http://localarcade.com/screenshotarchive/screenshots.htm Shaun

Han I wasn't suggesting using the dont filter thing as the solution, it was just for troubleshooting! The original poster stated he couldn't get the game to show even using dont filter these roms! As I think we've both established, Tom's interpretation of listinfo.dat for working out "Only Working Games" can lead to some games not appearing even though they are technically playable. My guess is GameEx is looking for the explicit whole string "WORKING". So the option could be said to be literally correct but not quite what we'd define as a "working game"! Regards Shaun

I can't get tmnt2 to show normally either! *Unless* I add it to the dont filter box. Are you sure you did this correctly? Should have this in gameex/config/gameex.ini: DoNotFilterROMS=tmnt2 It produced this in gameex/data/gamelist.txt: tmnt2|Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Turtles in Time|Konami|1991|False|Fighter / 2.5D|False|H|304|224||[-LF-][-LF-][-LF-]The sequel to 1989's hugely successful original, 'Turtles in Time' once more sees the four heroes taking on Shredder and his army. Gameplay remains similar to the original game, but the experience is enhanced further with the obligatory improved graphics and sound effects. 'Turtles in Time' also features a larger variety of levels, as now the battle between good and evil rages across time as the Turtles travel to prehistoric, pirate and Wild West times in their pursuit of the elusive Splinter.[-LF-][-LF-][-LF-]Yet again, Konami's mastery of the genre was in evidence as the manic energy and humour of the cartoon and comic-book series upon which the game is based was captured perfectly.[-LF-][-LF-][-LF-]||4P sim|0|False|False|;joy8way; (You could add this (single) line temporarily to the gamelist.txt file, but it will be overwritten when you update the gamelist again...) I would expect tmnt2 to show normally using the settings I use, so there *does* seem to be something going on... What other games don't show? Wonder what the pattern is? EDIT: Setting Only Working Games to NO will also show the game. I think there's some issue with the mame game data for tmnt2. Shaun

If you have all the usual exclusion filters neutralised (Show Vert/Horiz, Working Games, Imperfect Games, Verify ROMS, Existing ROMS, Game Filter, No Clones etc...) then it *should* show. You can try and add the ROM name to the "Don't Filter these ROMS" option. This is supposedly a global override. Remember to update the GameEx gamelist. (This could also be the reason why some games are missing...) Shaun

I kept out of this initially, because of the Wells Gardner monitor. I can see though that you're running it using VGA mode, so it should act like a regular (low res) PC monitor. Can you check you've set the Stretch Using Hardware option in MAME32 (default Game Options/Advanced Tab). You seem to be seeing the game on a 640x480 monitor at its native resolution (E.g. For Galaxian this would be 224 x 256. This would occupy a small portion in the middle of the screen...) MAME32\docs\Mame Command Line Options.txt gives a description of all the video options you've probably played with via the GUI in MAME32. Shaun

Did you solve the power-off issue Mike? Found this while browsing: http://www.onecomputerguy.com/windowsxp_tips.htm#power_off

Or: 1. Using Start/Run, type: control userpasswords2 2. Uncheck User must enter a user name and password to use this computer Shaun

GameEx config: Basic MAME settings - Turn off Use Bezel. I think MAME commandline has changed recently... Applies to vertical games only.Probably unrelated to your other prob. Shaun

1. Use Flat Menus = YES in display section of config app. 2. You do have to manually edit the gameex.ini, but it's pretty straight-forward: Just find the sections [Emulator_1], [Emulator_2], [Emulator_3] etc. in the ini. This is the order your emulators (excluding MAME, which appears at the top) are currently displaying in (with Use Flat Menus set). Swapping the CONTENTS of [Emulator 5] with the CONTENTS of [Emulator 1] will simply change their ordering on the list. Backup the ini first, if you're scared of f'ing it up. Shaun

Glad you found the issue! I mentioned artwork in post 10, but didn't know about the significance! Looks like somebody else has seen this issue too! Perhaps -artwork or -artwork_diretory aren't valid command line settings anymore, like you mentioned in your original post about the ambiguous FAQ item? FYI: The artwork path for MAME32 is specified in MAME32 itself. The default value is set to C:\program files\mame32\artwork, although that's not where I stored the program. Perhaps you've not changed the default, either? Regards Shaun

I expect Tom can get a previous release to you. I'd PM him. If you're worried about an upgrade disrupting game-play in the future, do what I do, copy the existing GameEx directory before allowing the upgrade. Things can go wrong, for numerous reasons, some the program's fault, some not. Luckily, GameEx doesn't use the registry for settings, so its very easy to return things back to how they were by copying back the directory. This is the same for MAME. With a product with rapid and multiple software releases, it pays to be pro-active and manage things yourself... (Cold comfort I know for your current issue) Shaun

This is a bit like finding a needle in a haystack. Can you elaborate on the above statements. I'm reading them as : Latest release of GameEx broke MAME. i.e. You've had mame108 working with gameex previously. You went back to just the keyboard option, but that didn't work, BUT Neo-Geo games (in MAME) are now working where they weren't with a ctrlr option? Too many ways to read your comments, can you clarify it a bit more? Thanks Shaun

Run the GameEx configuration utility... In Advanced MAME: Ingame CP View; Default VK=76 (76 is "L", you mention "K"???) Set to something else (or leave blank). VK list in GameEx\config\emulators\vkcodes.htm Shaun

Seem to be running out of ideas, although the slikstik might still be involved... If you set Enable Keyboard DirectInput and Enable SlikStik Support (Input Section) to NO (i.e. Just use a normal keyboard) that STILL fails?? I assume you had the above two options set to YES for your SlikStik?? Shaun

Mike It's a subject in itself: http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/Hiding_Windows re: your questions: 1. Startup: Either a start menu item or an item in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Currentversion\Run (or a user's version of this key, if you want to restrict to one particular account) or change the shell (See Replacing Explorer With Your FE In XP in URL). Depends on how far you want to go... 2. Shutdown: To stop that message: See Getting rid of the "Loading settings" Popup screens in URL. Setting the entry it describes will stop the 'ready to shut-off' msg, I think? EDIT: I think I'm wrong here! but setting the option does reduce the windows messages during startup and shutdown... Shaun

evh347 The offending line in your config is: ctrlr SlikStik If I delete this out, GameEx launches games correctly. Maybe you can trouble shoot from here?... Edit: How did you get that line in there in the first place?? Shaun

Right, we're getting somewhere now! If I use your 108 MAME32.INI, I can't get any games to load either! Seems to get partially thru loading and then crap out back to GameEx. BUT, if I re-name your ini, to .OLD and then fireup MAME32 and go into default game options and press OK to create a new default ini, then GameEx launches games correctly! So there's clearly something in your ini file disagreeing with GameEx. Can you confirm that if you do the above, that it DOESN'T work for you, as suggested in the last post?? You should get the following default ini: ### Mame32.ini ### ### global-only options ### rompath roms samplepath samples inipath ini cfg_directory cfg nvram_directory nvram memcard_directory memcard input_directory inp state_directory sta artwork_directory artwork snapshot_directory snap diff_directory diff cheat_file cheat.dat ctrlr_directory ctrlr comment_directory comment ### default game options ### video d3d prescale 1 numscreens 1 autoframeskip 0 frameskip 0 waitvsync 0 effect none triplebuffer 0 window 0 hwstretch 1 switchres 0 maximize 1 keepaspect 1 syncrefresh 0 throttle 1 full_screen_gamma 1. full_screen_brightness 1. full_screen_contrast 1. frames_to_run 0 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 d3dfilter 1 d3dversion 9 mouse 0 joystick 0 a2d 0.3 steadykey 0 lightgun 0 dual_lightgun 0 offscreen_reload 0 contrast 1. brightness 1. pause_brightness 0.65 rotate 1 ror 0 rol 0 autoror 0 autorol 0 flipx 0 flipy 0 gamma 1. antialias 1 beam 1. flicker 0. samplerate 48000 samples 1 sound 1 volume 0 audio_latency 1 backdrop 1 overlay 1 bezel 1 artwork_crop 0 cheat 0 debug 0 log 0 sleep 1 rdtsc 0 priority 0 skip_gameinfo 0 bios default autosave 1

Thought I wrote long posts! Sorry, gave up a quarter of the way through... EDIT: Right, I've now read it all the way thru... WTF?

I admit, there seems to be something funny going on. I know people have got 108 working with GameEx so it would be interesting to find out the difference in your setup... Would you mind posting MAME32.ini for 108 and 106? I'm assuming you've no game level overrides set? For the 108, are you using D3D? I assume you used ddraw for 106? Can you also run 108 without the artwork set? Shaun EDIT: FYI: I just downloaded MAME32 108 for the first time. Used a default 108 config, generated by going into Default Game Options and pressing OK (rename your current ini first), fired-up a couple of my existing ROMS through GameEx. Seems to work OK... Can you try that aswell?

Hmmm strange... Have a look in the GameEx log file. It prints the MAME command line it's using. Compare the 106 one with the 108 one. Any differences?

I don't think there's much wrong with 6.76 per se. It's been around for a while and seems pretty stable. What you both have in common is that you've updated from pretty old versions of GameEx. I'd try a fresh install (to another directory even) and see what you get. If OK, you can either work forwards from there or work out what's different with the slow version... Shaun

Does MAME32 V108/V107 work outside of GameEx? As I said MAME/MAME32 has had major updates to its graphics engine that may require config changes.

You're sort of on your own if you're using 'u' builds of MAME. These are really for testing purposes only...things may break as new things are done to MAME! Using the stable 108 (or 107/106) build might give different results. What the FAQ is saying is, have a look at the MAME Options in Advanced MAME config (The first item). There might be dodgy cmd line option that set and is no longer supported. Does your MAME command line work properly outside of GameEx? What version of MAME did you have before? MAME v107/v108 use a new graphics engine so some additional tweaking may be required to get the desired results. Shaun

My best advice, is spend a looooong time doing research. On the face of it, it seems a simple project: a pc, a monitor, a few bits of wood, some arcade controls... I spent over 3 months BEFORE I cut a piece of wood and felt it time well spent. BYOAC is THE place of all knowledge. Study carefully. Their Forum is more focussed and has a larger audience for cab related stuff than this one. Specific answers to you Qs: GameEx needs a relatively good PC to run smoothly. Say min 1.5GHz? I upped the spec of my cab PC (P4 2.8GHz) as GameEx was the heaviest user when considering the FE, MAME (most games) and old console emulation. GameEx is especially heavy if you want to run it in a high resolution on or above say 1024x768. GameEx can easily be controlled with an arcade joy and buttons. Basically two main options for a keyboard interface Ultimarc or KeyWiz. You can hack a keyboard, but most people don't bother these days, I believe. All the emulators have a keyboard interface (certainly the ones worth playing), hence you need something that emulates a keyboard. Watch out for the ANALOGUE joysticks on later emulators (E.g. Playstation) that you can need to play some games effectively. They're a different beast. Your choice about trackballs. I think most need an interface like an Opti, but i expect some don't as a previous poster said. Golden Tee, Missile Command, a few others, will you play them? Most of your consoles didn't have them. If you're flat broke: How about building just a control panel? Or using an X-Arcade? You need access to power tools, expensive to purchase for a one off proj. You'll blow your budget comprehensively anyway! Good luck! Shaun

Tom Maybe unrelated, but you had a similar sounding problem a while back: http://www.gameex.info/forums/index.php?showtopic=1843 First reply, second point. Menus "crawling away"... Shaun