Gildahl

Hi Tom, Sorry to keep bugging you, but encountered an error message twice today (hours apart) that I've never seen before. It happened both times upon exiting a game. Basically, I get a windows error dialog that allows me to view the error or continue. I copied the error text into the attached error.txt. If press the continue button on the dialog, GameEx actually goes back to the front end and does not crash. I looked at the GameEx log (also attached), but there seems to be no sign of anything unusual there (the error would have occurred at about the 20:52:13.24 9/29/2018 mark in the attached log.txt fie). Not really a big deal so far, but I thought you should be aware. Dave error.txt log.txt

So far so good on the new build. I've let the machine go into attract mode several times with no loss of sound.

Whoops. Maybe spoke too soon. After testing last night, I left the machine running. When I went back later to shut it down, GameEx had gone into attract mode. When I exited attract mode I noticed that the interface sounds were gone. Didn't have time to test further, but it looks like returning from attract mode is capable of killing the sound too.

I just started playing around in the latest Beta of Evo and noticed something that I can see will be an issue for me. I run multiple versions of MAME in parallel. In regular GameEx I deal with this via custom scripts that take care of running the games in the correct version and creating the combined game list (I'll leave out the details, but it works well enough), but Evo seems to "automate" things too much for me to do this effectively. I think there are other ways I can fake it into working for me, but since Evo is so new I thought it would be worth making a plug for first class support of multiple mame installs, In principle the idea is simple. In Evo today, if you go into the emulator setup and try to add a second instance of a MAME emulator it doesn't let you (you can only replace the existing one). What I would like to see is the ability to add additional MAME emulators, each with their own independent configuration and rom list. At runtime, these would be regarded collectively as a single set of roms and assets within the front end, similar to the way groups work in GameEx. And that's it. If you could do something like this, it would be wonderful!!

Well it looks like we have a winner. Both the port audio and joystick issues seem to be solved with this exe. I've tried a bunch of times to reproduce the issues and have not been able to. Thanks so much for fixing this!!

Thanks...should have a chance to try it out tonight.

Hi Tom, I saw that you had a post over in the BYOAC forums in the RatRefresh topic: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,152919.msg1610005.html#msg1610005 I don't use the RatRefresh utility, but have successfully experimented in the past wtih my own scripts that do a similar thing. Unfortunately, I ultimately ran into the same thing you (and RataPlan626) did in that these methods don't work from within front ends like GameEx that have control over the display. When you try, the machine locks up. You can do it if you mercilessly kill the front end upon game launch, then restart from scratch after game exit--but that's hardly an elegant solution. So long story short, I gave up trying a long time before the RatRefresh thread. Anyway, since such scripts (using the ChangeDisplaySettings API) do run fine outside of the front end, it seems like there could be a way for give GameEx a special method to release the display upon a game launch, then reinitialize when the game is existed. I suspect this would not be simple, but it might be worthwhile to look further into if you ever have the time.

Hi Tom, I went ahead and installed 15.50 and made sure to check the 64 bit install. Unfortunately, I still have exactly the same issues that I mentioned in my PM to you. I will re-state here in case anyone else might be having similar issues. If I run a game from either the standard Favorites menu or standard MAME game list and the game has port audio turned on, then 100% of the time, when I return from the game, the interface sounds are gone (other sounds like video snaps still works). If a game does not have port audio on then I never lose the interface sounds. On the other hand, if I run these same (port audio) games from my custom menu (which runs mame as an ordinary emulator), I never have this problem. In fact, if I lose sound and then go into my custom menu and run the same game, the interface sounds come back when I return from the game. Finally, I will note that I have none of these audio issues in any menus in 15.27, which I am otherwise continuing to use while these issues are being looked at. Here are my port audio settings in mame in case you'd like to try reproducing (rev. .201) # OSD SOUND OPTIONS# sound portaudio audio_latency 1 # # PORTAUDIO OPTIONS # pa_api "Windows WASAPI" pa_device default pa_latency 0.003334 The second issue I'm having, loss of joystick control, also continues to happen in 15.50, but again never in 15.27. This issue is less predictable and has no correlation to port audio games. The symptoms here are that after entering GameEx and running a game from either the standard Favorites menu or the standard MAME game list, I will lose joystick control over the menus after returning from the game. This happens most frequently on the very first game that I run (but not always). Interestingly, I can recover joystick control by viewing my CPWizard layout from the game menu and returning. Once recovered, the joystick is usually pretty stable after that. Once again, I have none of these issues in 15.27; only in the more recent versions (including 64-bit).

Just a note that after testing a bit more (on both 15.35 and the recent 15.37) it looks like I still lose the joystick reliably even when not in the custom "Golden Age Arcade" menu. However, whereas I lose the joystick immediately after returning from the very first game in that menu, in the regular menus (like Arcade Favorites or MAME Master List in my theme) I don't lose the joystick until after I've returned from games three times. Bizarre but true. As usual, I must restart GameEx to get js back.

Here you go. Theme.zip

Hi Tom, I made a couple of videos and sent links for them to you in a pm. Dave

Hi Tom, As reported in a separate thread, the audio problems I was experiencing in builds since 15.27 seem to be fixed in 15.35; however, there are two remaining issues related to game controllers and video in the latest builds that may be somewhat related. Perhaps these also reflect initialization issues. Neither of the two problems seem to happen in most of my game menus (which are mostly simple lists). However, I have one menu called "Golden Age Arcade" that contains video backgrounds and a wheel that simulates the GameEx Arcade look. (I've attached my configs and ini files). Here are steps to reproduce the problem. 1. Go into the '"Golden Age Arcade'" menu and select a game. 2. Return to GameEx. At this point my U360 joysticks no longer work at all in GameEx. My control panel buttons still work, and if I select another game the joysticks still work in the game. If I exit GameEx and restart it, the joysticks work again. I should note that this ONLY seems to happen reliably in the "Golden Age Arcade" menu (I believe it may have happened elsewhere, but couldn't duplicate it anywhere else today). 3. If, after selecting a game in the "Golden Age Arcade' menu and returning to GameEx I choose another game (using the control panel since the js doesn''t work), I can play fine but when I return to GameEx the SECOND time (never the first time), the menu does not re-appear but the screen remains black. Once again, this only happens in the '"Golden Age Arcade'" menu, and I must exit GameEx and restart. Like the audio issue, if I replace the contents of the GameEx folder with copies from 15.27, I do not have the issue with the joysticks. However, even in 15.27 I still get the black screen after every second return from a game in the '"Golden Age Arcade'" menu. I know that there was a time when the video worked fine, but I don't have any earlier copies to try tracing when the problem began. Dave log.txt GameEx.ini CustomMenu.ini

Hi Tom, Woo-hoo. 15.35 does appear to fix the audio re-init problem. Thanks for that. With that said, I have another issues that I will post in a separate thread that are still preventing me from using the latest build. It has some relation to the game controller issue and might provide some more info toward fixing that. Dave

Should have a chance to try out the audio fix tomorrow.

Hi Tom, Just a note that I updated to 15.34 today and still get loss of interface sound after returning from some games back to GameEx. It doesn't happen with all games, but Visual Pinball X seems to be the most reliable in killing the interface sounds. As before, if I revert the files in the c:\GameEx folder back to those from 15.27, I have no issues. I didn't test extensively, but didn't notice any joystick issues this time, so maybe that's fixed now? I'll follow-up if I see that again. Also, on the Daphne issue that I was having, that seems to be resolved. On a whim I toggled the switch in the Wizard to disable then enable Daphne and the games now show up again, so it was just something funky in the configuration that seems to have happened after a recent update.

Just to follow-up, I deleted the whole contents of the GameEx folder (just the files in the root, not the subfolders) and replaced the contents with a backup from 15.27 and both the joysticks and sound seem to work fine/normal (unfortunately, however, the Daphne issue is still there). As soon as I revert back to the 15.32 files again, the sound and joystick issues return (I can at least now confirm that when it happens the joystick remains dead for about 5 to 10 seconds after returning from a game). I should also remark that just replacing the GameEx.exe with the 15.27 .exe does not fix the issue, it is only when I replace all the files in c:\GameEx with the ones from 15.27 that the problem goes away.

I did a little more testing today. The joystick issue is hard to pin down. When I started up today, all was good (joystick & sound), after playing a bit of Asteroids I returned to GameEx and found the joystick not working; however, after a few moments it started working again. After playing some more, most of the time the joystick would be ok after returning to GameEx, but I did encounter one more "delay" of about 5 seconds of dead joystick before it became functional again. So I can see how this might be hard to duplicate. It has definitely never done this sort of thing before 15.30 though. Regarding sound, interface sounds (clicks and chimes) are always fine upon first loading GameEx but are gone for good after returning from pretty much any game. As I reported earlier, sound from video snaps still work in the interface and sound in games is fine, it's only the interface sounds that disappear.

Hi Tom, I just updated to 15.32 and I am experiencing loss of joystick input again (as well as my other two open issues). It's a little different this time. Originally joystick control was gone upon loading GameEx. This time jJoystick works fine at first, but after playing a game for a while and returning to GameEx, joystick control is gone. I use Ultrastick 360s. So to recap open items. 1. Loss of joystick control (but only after returning from a game). 2. Loss of interface sounds after returning from games (game sounds and video snapshot sounds still work). Restarting GameEx gets sound back temporarily. 3. Loss of Daphne game list in my custom menu. Dave log.txt GameEx.ini CustomMenu.ini

Hey Tom. Since you've got my config files above, I've found another issue with 15.31. Seems that after I play certain games and return to GameEx, that all the menu sounds (clicking and the select "chime") go silent. Sound related to video clips continues to work, but none of the menu sounds work until I exit GameEx and restart. So far it hasn't happened with MAME arcade games, but I've been able to reproduce it pretty reliably with non-MAME games like Visual Pinball and ColecoVision (which, interestingly does use MAME as its emulator).

Here they are. log.txt CustomMenu.ini GameEx.ini

Thanks Tom. 15.31 fixed the joystick issue. Still can't access my Daphne games any more at all in my custom menu though. Neither from within a group (as described in another post), nor even as a separate list (using item type 31). Did the indexes for Daphne lists in custom menu change?

I have long had a custom group that puts Daphne and Mame laserdisc games in the same group. Daphne is referenced as emulator 1000 and MAME laserdisc games are in emulator 45. I just noticed today that the Daphne games are no longer being included in the list, only the MAME games. GameEx.ini is attached (search on "1000;45" to find the configuration). I just noticed this in 15.30, but after reverting back to the previous version the problem exists there too, so not sure at exactly what version it started, but it must be fairly recently. GameEx.ini

Just upgraded to 15.30 and two out of three of my joysticks no longer work in GameEx for navigating through menus (they continue to work in games, however). All sticks are Ultrastik 360s. GameEx.ini is attached. I've reverted back to the previous version and all is well again. GameEx.ini

Yup. Problems here too. Just upgraded and now two out of three of my sticks no longer work in GameEx. I don't have time to investigate or post my config at the moment...perhaps sometime tomorrow.

Well, this is very interesting. Thanks for working up this demo. Issue #1: For some reason I do not seem to experience this. However, I downloaded (on a separate machine) a brand new copy of GameEx and used your examples and was able to duplicate what you are seeing. I also duplicated this myself using the default GameEx.ini. I have no idea why I don't see this on my arcade machine, but if I were a new user trying to use custom menus and saw this I would conclude that groups are broken. Basically (as you are also seeing), as soon as you enable groups in the wizard, the emulator lists start to behave as though they are groups. If you disable groups the single emulator lists go back to normal. Totally weird. Issue #2: Yes you are seeing what I am seeing and would love to see this addressed. Issue #3: I wasn't actually asking for the title to show the *game* title, but rather for it to show the title text for the *emulator* (like "Mattel Intellivision" or "Atari 5200" etc.). I wouldn't think this needs to be an option since it seems like the expected value (since it is blank today, and that's what the emulator's title text is supposed to be for presumably). I personally wouldn't want the game name to show as the title since they would often be too long for the space. [Edit: Not sure if you edited or I read wrong, but after re-reading your post I see that you say to "show the user what emulator or game system the currently high-lighted game is from"...which is correct, so what you wrote is fine]