Constant Ping Sound

[Vynce]

When I'm in GameEx it constantly plays the ping sound that you normally hear when you press the select button. The sound plays approximately every 2.5 seconds. The navigation within GameEx works fine - there is just the annoying ping sound all the time. The pinging stops when a game is started and resumes when the game is exited.

I'm using GameEx 5.45 and have most of the video, jukebox, etc features turned off. I have tried changing various other settings, but I haven't found what is causing the pinging yet. Any idea what's going on?

Thanks

[jedah]

I dont use one myself but I think I remember reading a post similar to this a while back. Do you use a wireless keyboard. I think they can sometimes throw out repeated keystrokes.

Just a guess.

J.

[Vynce]

Good idea. I'm not using any wireless stuff, but I unplugged my gamepad, keyboard, and mouse and then started GameEx. Same problem - every ~2.5s it pings.

[Tom Speirs]

Good idea. I'm not using any wireless stuff, but I unplugged my gamepad, keyboard, and mouse and then started GameEx. Same problem - every ~2.5s it pings.

Hi Vynce,

Can you turn off Sound FX in GameEx and see if it makes any difference?

Thanks.

[Vynce]

The constant pinging still occurs when Sound FX is turned off.

[Vynce]

I installed GameEx on another computer and copied the config across. The pinging problem does not occur on this computer.

I tried closing as many processes as possible on the computer that is having the problem - didn't help. I also updated to the latest version of DirectX which also didn't make any difference. I'm using .net v1.1 - should I upgrade to v2.0?

I've attached a recent log file and my current config.

I'm not sure how to troubleshoot this.

log.txt

GameEx.ini.txt

[Vynce]

I was initially using GameEx v4.01 several months ago. Then I switched to Mamewah for a while, and now I'm back to GameEx . I didn't have this pinging problem with v4.01, but a lot has changed since then.

Unfortunately it seems that this problem is unrelated to the joystick problem I was having. What could be causing this sound eventhough Sound FX is turned off?

[Tom Speirs]

I was initially using GameEx v4.01 several months ago. Then I switched to Mamewah for a while, and now I'm back to GameEx . I didn't have this pinging problem with v4.01, but a lot has changed since then.

Unfortunately it seems that this problem is unrelated to the joystick problem I was having. What could be causing this sound eventhough Sound FX is turned off?

Welcome back Vynce, just out of pure interest and curiosity what made you switch and then come back?

I have spent a lot of time looking at the issue, I even took the turn to modify the sound routines to be cleaner in the code, something I had not got round to previously.

GameEx should really never play a soundfx is sound is disabled, I checked the whole code it just should not happen.

I also checked the code for system beep commands and found none that wernt commented out.

Sorry, you might have to bite the bullet and rebuild the OS. If its not a hardware or driver issue that should hopefully do it.

Cheers,

Tom.

[Vynce]

It was quite a while ago, but I think I was having some problems with GameEx crashing and there was no joystick support at that time. Mamewah was one of the only alternatives, so I gave it a try. It also had problems with it. The whole system was unreliable in general because of how I was using IR and Girder for control of some features. So the gaming system has sat in a broken state for the last 6 months.

Recently I decided to get it up and running again, so had a look to see what progress GameEx had made. I was very excited when I saw all the new features and improvements in GameEx since v4.01 and I've had a lot of fun getting it up and running again. Many of the new features in GameEx have eliminated several of the things I was having to use Girder for. The feature that allows you to exit emulators with a button combination is invaluable.

Mamewah requires more manual configuration through config files and isn't as "flashy" as GameEx, but it is more configurable for users that need a very customized setup. They are both excellent solutions, but GameEx is more user-friendly and has the added video and jukebox (etc) features that may come in handy in the future. Mamewah may be a better choice for a dedicated Mame cabinet, whereas I think GameEx is a better all-round emulator frontend.

Thanks for spending so much time looking into this strange issue for me. I'm going to keep trying things to narrow down and find the problem. It's definitely the GameEx ping sound - so somehow something is causing that sound to play repeatedly. I have a backup image after a fresh Windows install, so I can try reverting to that and see if the problem still occurs.

[Tom Speirs]

Only other thing I could think it could be is the jukebox playing it, either as the only media file in Windows Media Player Library, or the only file in the playlist file or directory. Either the Jukebox playing it or the Arcade Ambience track is set to the ping sound.

So check Windows Media Player and the audio settings in GameEx config.

It would be bizzare if it's that, but similar thing have been known!

[Vynce]

Wow, good guess! That fixed it. I'm not sure if it was the jukebox or the ambience setting that was causing the problem. Neither of them were pointing to the ping sound, but changing them fixed it.

Problem Audio Settings:

Jukebox mode: disabled

Music/Radio on startup: no

Media controls: no

Jukebox playlist: *blank*

Audio file: c:\emulation (no audio files here)

Ambience MP3: c:\ambience.mp3 (doesn't exist)

Working Audio Settings:

Jukebox mode: disabled

Music/Radio on startup: no

Media controls: no

Jukebox playlist: *blank*

Audio file: *blank*

Ambience MP3: *blank*

Windows Media Player playlist and library are empty.

I assumed that if no audio files existed at those locations that GameEx would just ignore them. I also played with the WMP playlist/library - perhaps it was corrupt or contained files that no longer existed. Somehow GameEx found its ping sound and was playing that instead.

Everything is working correctly now. Thanks for your support!