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Tom, Did you manage to implement this? Tried it, but couldn't get it to rotate... Thanks Shaun

Thanks Night. Tom or anyone, What's the answer to my question 4? *** Edit *** Answered this myself. Config rotation value was being overriden by explicit setting in the theme.ini. Sorry to bother... *** Edit *** Thanks

Should be capable of doing it using Ghost. I've used Acronis True Image to do the same thing without any issues. Shaun

I'm about to have a go at a GameEx theme for my cocktail cab project! A few questions, before I start: 1. Are people building version 2 themes now or still using the older format? 2. Is the difference just a different theme.ini structure and the ability to use Headkaze's nice UI? 3. Can you 'upgrade' a V1 theme to V2 relatively painlessly? 4. Also, V2 themes don't appear to rotate. Is this a bug or by design? If by design, will V2 theme rotation be supported? Thanks in advance... Shaun

Tom Just let GameEx update, but it now crashes during startup... Unfortunately no log entries produced. Error message attached. To return to 6.32 do I just rename the exe.config files? If not, how to revert to old version? Cheers Shaun

Good enough for me. Thanks!

Bump. Sorry... Hi Tom Any more thoughts in this area?? Shaun

You've reached the limit for a PIII 500, I think. As Ricci mentions, it's capable of playing all the 70s/80s classics (and simple older console emulators), but not the more modern games. If you're more interested in the modern games you might need to save up your pennies/cents. FYI. In MAME, if you load a game and then press F11 you'll see the framerate the game is playing at. On a PIII, for something like Galaxian, the framerate will be quite high, but for something like Metal Slug it won't be. I ran the classic games on a PIII until recently. I've just built a cheap P4 2.8/1Gb RAM/256mb graphics using second-hand bits from ebay. It plays pretty much all MAME games (all the ones I've ever played anyway) at full frame rate now. As a bonus, GameEx runs sweetly also. Be aware though, there are always new 'PC breakers' around the corner. Future Pinball is pretty ace, but the P4 above, can't play it properly at anything above 800x600 in the medium settings... Shaun

If you're talking free stuff, I'd recommend the following: Firewall - Zone Alarm Anti-virus - Avast! 4.7 Home edition Spyware - combination of: Spybot Search & Destroy SpywareBlaster HijackThis Autoruns This has kept me clean for quite a while (touches wood quickly). Shaun

I've no direct answer but below and attached are my working configs. See if you can spot any differences in your setup. Shaun PC has XP SP2 with all updates ZSNES version 1.42 from GameEx.ini: [Emulator_2] Enabled=True StartPageName=Nintendo SNES games TitleText=SNES StartPageLogo=snes RomFilter=*.zip RomsInFolders=False ROMPath=D:\Program Files\Emulators\Zsnes\roms SnapPath=D:\Program Files\Emulators\Zsnes\snap WorkingPath=D:\Program Files\Emulators\Zsnes MapKeys=True WaitBeforeKeys= SendKeys= ReplaceDash=True ReplaceUnder=True Capitals=True RemoveBrackets=True AlsoLaunch= ShowDesktop=False Debug=False MapFile= OLDatZip= Command=Zsnesw.exe "[ROMPath]\[RomFile]" TitlePath=D:\Program Files\Emulators\Zsnes\titles BoxPath=D:\Program Files\Emulators\Zsnes\boxart LaunchBefore= LaunchAfter= CartPath=D:\Program Files\Emulators\Zsnes\cartridgeart configFile= ExcludedFiles= CustomBackground= PlayMusic= PCGame=False DATABASE=SNES DumbyValue= GamesIn7Zips=False zsnesw.cfg_renamed_as_zsnesw.cfg.txt

Actually, I think it varies for different people. I and some other posters have reported that their VP setup works fine (virtually) all the time. i.e It loads properly, plays properly and exits back to GameEx properly (with no VPAutos left in the tray). I didn't do anything special in the GameEx config, as far as I know, to achieve this state. This has worked for me like this for quite a while now. In fact, it's worked on two separate PC installations - 1 old laptop and one new custom built PC. Both run XP SP2 with all updates applied. My GameEx is 6.31 My Visual Pinball install is version 0.7.7012 My VPinMAME.dll install is version 1.53 Here's my relevant ini section: [Emulator_3] Enabled=True StartPageName=Pinball Games TitleText=Pinball StartPageLogo=pinball RomFilter=*.vpt RomsInFolders=False ROMPath=D:\Program Files\Visual Pinball\Tables SnapPath=D:\Program Files\Visual Pinball\snap WorkingPath=D:\Program Files\Visual Pinball\Tables MapKeys=True WaitBeforeKeys= SendKeys= ReplaceDash=True ReplaceUnder=True Capitals=True RemoveBrackets=True AlsoLaunch=D:\Program Files\GameEx\vpauto.exe ShowDesktop=True Debug=False MapFile= OLDatZip= Command=..\vpinball.exe -play -"[ROMFILE]" TitlePath=D:\Program Files\Visual Pinball\snap BoxPath= LaunchBefore= LaunchAfter= CartPath= configFile=Visual Pinball V2 ExcludedFiles=;Godzilla (Sega) (1998) (Kid Charlemagne & Lander) (2.1).vpt; CustomBackground= Import= Export= DumbyValue= PlayMusic= PCGame= DATABASE= GamesIn7Zips= Maybe this info will help you track down your problem? Shaun

rygars#1#fan I just ran some macros on MAME's 0.105 listinfo.dat XML file (in the MAME installation folder). Attached is the list of vertical games with a joystick and declared as using three or more buttons. There are 211 entries! Whether you are going to play any of them, though, only you can decide... *EDIT* There are probably some false positives in the list. I noticed Galaga88 is in there. MAME has LCTRL / LALT / SPACE as buttons 1,2,3, but Galaga88 only has one fire button? Looking at the KLOV entry http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=&game_id=7883 you can see the cabinet has both left and right buttons probably wired to be the same fire button. This accounts for LCTRL & LALT in MAME (which do indeed both work as a fire button). SPACE doesn't seem to do anything though??? Anyway, at least it's narrowing things down!... *EDIT* Hope this helps. Shaun MAME_joystick_vertical_games_with_3_or_more_buttons.txt

There is a project called Controls.dat that documents arcade game control panel layouts for MAME, so the data is readily available. Don't have the direct answer to your initial query but look at: http://fe.donkeyfly.com http://fe.donkeyfly.com/controls/controls_dat.php The URL below lists games by main control type http://fe.donkeyfly.com/controls/gamesbycontrol.php Shaun

The slowness is the performance problem I mentioned. Something to do with DirectX I think. It depends on your PC spec somewhat and maybe even the graphics card. For me, it's fast enough even in 1600x1200 vertical. You could try lowering the resolution further and/or using 16-bit color (via the gameex config again). Shaun

This would help me also. Has anybody got a list or something of all the different game groups control panel configs?? (E.g. Joystick + One Button vertical Game List, Joy + One horizontal game List, Spinner Game List, Trackball + Button Game List etc...) Thanks Shaun

Look at Brian Hoffman's suggestion. It's the easiest if you've a newish PC. When you boot your PC it normally tells you which key to press to enter the BIOS - sometimes it's the DEL key. Once in the BIOS setup screen look for a item like 'Power-On' (maybe several levels down the menu structure somewhere). It may have a value something like 'On/Off Button only'. Change this to 'Any Key' or similar and F10 to save and exit. Then, after a windows shutdown, you should be able to restart the PC by pressing any button (which simulates a keypress). The other way is to wire up a button (switch) to the Power (and mayble also the Reset) jumpers on the motherboard (or reuse the existing wiring from your case power-on button). Obviously, this requires a bit of (reasonably simple) electrical knowledge, a couple of push-buttons and jumper connectors and maybe the motherboard manual if you don't know where the jumpers are located (Normally a block of 'prongs' on the edge of the motherboard, front side). Hope this helps. Shaun

Try Display Settings/Rotate Display in configuration Also, the Tab key is a hot key and will rotate 90,-90,0 degrees iteratively. Note: Currently there is a resolution limit of 800x600 for rotations. This is apparently because of performance considerations. I'm trying to get Tom to relax this condition, because if you've got a fast PC and just use GameEx for CAB game launching you can run in a higher resolution vertically with a PC monitor with little problem. See thread http://www.gameex.info/forums/index.php?showtopic=1680 Shaun

I agree with Cratermass, VP plays reasonably well through GameEx, with no intervention, as long as you have a powerful PC and 1024 or above display, but does show windows both on entry and exit. Assuming you're using GameEx as a shell, the resulting loading window is small and unobtrusive, if previously you have made the main Visual Pinball UI window as small as possible. The exit window is three buttons that GameEx handles for you (via VPAuto), so you only see them briefly. You'd forget about the slight window faux-pas's pretty quickly IMO. My other thought (I'm also experimenting with the software, prior to build a cab) is to use a 'black on black' windows theme or try an XP skin such as bbLean which may give more scope for hiding the windows elements. Launch before and after options may also provide other avenues... Clearly, the VP software is not currently FE/CAB orientated, but it is playable and I love playing the old tables with the mechanical sounds. Where there's a will there's a way... Shaun

Tom I've built my new PC now and tested 90 deg rotation in higher resolutions using the undocumented feature! Surprisingly, I don't really have a problem with the menuing system speed! I can quite easily have the GameEx menus in 1600x1200 with 32 Bit color and anti-aliasing on, and it still performs pretty well. Certainly well acceptable to me. In fact it's only marginally slower than 1280 or 1024. (1024 is v. fast!). And launching a game like Metal Slug with hwstretch and 75% scan lines in 1600x1200, I can get 60/60 fps no problem both horiz & vertically. I only use 2D menus (I don't care much for the 3D menu effect) and the default GameEx theme, but I did try the Galaxian theme and that worked fine aswell with the video playing in the background. So, I'm mystified as to why you signalled doom and gloom above 1024 and 16-bit color? Certainly for simple game launching it seems to work well in any resolution. My PC spec is reasonable but not OTT (it only cost 350 quid buying parts on Ebay!) : Pentium P4 2.8Ghz, 1GB memory, GeForce 6200 256MB AGP graphics card, Barracuda 7200 160Gb HDD... Edit: Passmark Rating = 385.4 (CPU/2D/MEM/3D/DISK/CD = 447/422/396/55/398/536) Could you release the tab rotation to work above 800x600 for me aswell? I'm interested in what I can run to make the PC grind?.... Shaun

Actually, I think GameEx can handle this particular situation through the config. I came across the same issue and solved it as follows. In 'Advanced MAME' config section: 1. Leave 'Set No Clones' at 'I dont want clones' 2. Don't Filter These ROMS - add the ROM pacman to the list (and any other clones to explicitly include, separated by a semi-colon). 3. Excluded ROMS - add the ROM puckman to the list (and any others to explicitly exclude, separated by a semi-colon). This will exclude all clones except any listed in 'Don't Filter These ROMS' *AND* exclude ROMS (clones or otherwise) that are listed in 'Excluded ROMS'. Hence you'll see pacman instead of puckman! Be sure to update your gamelist to see the change... Shaun

These might help you... http://themes.gameex.net/Downloads.html http://themes.gameex.net/Misc.html - logo pack (Credit to Night) Persevere with the graphics package, it's not too difficult with a bit of practice!... Shaun

Hey Tom, No hurry, as my 'fast' PC is still in bits...waiting for a part. So maybe a few days away... As someone who's planning to use GameEx's rotation features extensively on a 3-sided custom cocktail cab (again, when I finish building it!), I'd be glad to help with any alpha testing, if it's helpful to you. Regards Shaun p.s. Only just realised that you're based in the UK. That dollar registration fee sure threw me!

So, if you have a fast P4 computer and only intend to use GameEx in a cab as a 'lite-ish' menuing FE (PNG only, some MP3, no video), then it'll probably have acceptable performance? Would it be possible to have some 'heavy' parts like full screen video playback disabled and then derestrict the 800x600 limit / 16 bit color using some configuration settings? What do you reckon Tom? Shaun

Hi There! Question: Is the 800x600 max res. in vertical mode a permanent restriction or is it going to be engineered-out at some point? How about the 16-bit color stipulation in vertical mode? What are the issues? Regards Shaun

It makes a slight improvement, Headkaze. I personally, still prefer the original anti-aliased 16-bit color image...which is more than acceptable on my 19" CRT at 800x600. In fact I hadn't noticed the (slight) degradation in vertical mode before. Perhaps I'm just sensitive to anti-aliasing or something, as I did go 'what's happened there then' when I saw the new 6.1.4. vertical mode text. Does the anti-aliasing look particularly bad on arcade monitors or larger monitors/TVs running 640? Question: Is the 16-bit color stipulation in vertical mode insolvable or just temporary? Similarly with regards to 800x600 vertical mode max resolution. Since, if these restrictions are going to be engineered out at some point, the anti-aliasing issue won't exist anymore... Shaun