[RESOLVED] Noo-b in need of help with GameEx Mame Mapping Magician

[thurmansevolution]

Hello to all!

I am kinda new to this. I'm working on building a 4 player mame arcade cabinet, and now I'm hitting a bit of a "speed bump". I've tried to look up as much as I can about this (which isn't really much to a noo-b lol).

Here is the problem: There is one rom that works well with a version of MAME32, but not at all with the other version of MAME32. ** I am trying to get GameEx to run the rom in the correct version of MAME32, with all the other roms running of the other version of MAME32.

I am still trying to figure out the Mapping Magician that came with GameEx. So here is my question -

How do I do this (**) in noo-b "english" by using the Mapping Magician? (Almost like a more simple step by step version)

How would I get GameEx to recognize two different versions of MAME32?

...

And on a seperate subject (to keep from starting a new post...) - Is there a way to adjust or customize the "launch time" during when GameEx exits to launch a specific game? I am having trouble when launching Minecraft through GameEx. It does launch, but it takes a little longer than most other programs, which leads GameEx to return and leave Minecraft in the "background".

Thanks in advance!!

[thurmansevolution]

Nevermind about the mapping, I used a little elbow grease and my "mad scientist experements" to kinda figure it out ..

...if anyone can help me with the Minecraft issue, I will greatly appriciate it!

Thank you in advance! GameEx is the shiz-nit!! lol

[celly]

About Minecraft, how exactly are you loading it? From a .lnk shortcut or directly from the .exe? I have mine setup within my PC games as a shortcut link. Then GameEx exits with a ALT+F4 for pc games.

[thurmansevolution]

I'm getting it to load from the .exe file. How would I install it to may games as an .ink shortcut?

Thanks!

[celly]

Not near my cab but from memory, I have all my PC games setup as its own emulator. Grab an empty slot in the setup wizard. Then make shortcuts to all your PC games, name them as you wish, and drop them into a folder called ROMs or whatever. Then, back at the setup wizard, for rom path show that folder. Make sure the rom filter is set to *.lnk. Alls you have to do after that is make sure that you have it set to ALT+F4 for exit on advanced and your set.

Give that a whirl and lets see how that works.

[thurmansevolution]

Thanks! But I'm still having a little trouble. Which path do I show for "working path". I've done everything else which gave me an error. After I tried to add a working path, it showed the Minecraft file, but still would not launch.

[Chaos.Tiki]

The working path and the rom path should be the same for running all of the shortcuts you put in a folder

[celly]

CT is correct. Show them both as the same.

[thurmansevolution]

Thanks! I'll give it a try when I get back home after work and let ya know the results

[thurmansevolution]

I still can't seem to get it to work. When I go into the Emulators section, it will show Minecraft, but after choosing it, it will not show any "games" to choose from in the next menu. I have tried using *.ink in the rom filter, as well as leaving it blank.

I am going to attach a snip of how I have it set up now, and if you get any free time, please look over it and let me know what I'm doing wrong.

Also note that "H:\" is my drive on the computer instead of "C:\".

Thanks!

[nullPointer]

You've got your ROM filter (and command line) set to .ink (like from a pen). You need it to be set to .lnk (like the hero of Legend of Zelda but without the i (ironically)). .lnk is the proper extension for a shortcut in Windows.

Additionally your command line can be set to simply "[ROMFILE]" (be sure to include the double quotes). That way the command will still work if you opt to add additional game shortcuts to your ROM directory.

Good Luck.

[thurmansevolution]

Thanks for the help! But I've done followed the instructions you gave me - it will show Minecraft, and will launch it, but it will go automatically back into GameEx within a couple of seconds.

[thurmansevolution]

oops...lol I said "done followed" ...typo - makes me sound like I'm a redneck

[nullPointer]

OK, I suspect I know what's happening here, but let's get the basic clarification out of the way first. Does your Minecraft shortcut successfully launch Minecraft when launched outside of GameEx? (i.e. does it work when you double click the shortcut from Windows?)

I must apologize as I'm one of the luddites who has yet to be exposed to Minecraft on any platform. For my edification (and potential troubleshooting), Minecraft is a Java application isn't it? (It's OK if you don't know, but that bit of information may help in troubleshooting your issue).

Edit: No need to answer that Java question. I just investigated, and Minecraft is in fact Java based. This will probably develop into a couple of troubleshooting steps, but all the same let's still verify that the original Minecraft shortcut is working outside of GameEx.

Edited June 15, 2012 by nullPointer

[celly]

What is your Show Desktop set too also?

[thurmansevolution]

Hello and good evening! The Minecraft shortcut does work out of GameEx, and I have tried to set the "show desktop" to both yes and no, and tried with each, both with the same results - GameEx will exit to launch Minecraft, but it will return shortly, leaving Minecraft in the background.

[nullPointer]

OK, thats basically what I expected. Here's what I suspect may be happening.

When you launch an emulator or game from within GameEx, it will 'listen' for the launched application to close. When that application closes GameEx knows that it's time to return focus to the frontend.

This can cause an issue if the application you launch is not in fact the game itself, but rather a launcher of sorts. Java applications (like Minecraft) run inside a JVM (Java Virtual Machine) by their nature. So when you start a Java application you're actually starting up the JVM and feeding in any parameters necesary for running the application. The launcher starts the JVM, feeds in application parameters for Minecraft, and promptly exits; it's sole reason for exsistence having been met once the JVM has taken over control of actually running the application.

The trouble is that GameEx only knows about the launcher and not the JVM; so once the launcher is done GameEx figures that you're done playing the game. Badda Bing, badda boom you're back in GameEx.

We need to tell GameEx to listen for the Java component of this application before it returns to the frontend. This will be accomplished through an Advanced Emulator Config. First we need to figure out the exact name of the process, so we can tell GameEx. Here's how we do that:

1. Start your Windows Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc).
   
2. Switch to the Processes tab. Take a brief look at the applications that are running. Pay special attention to see if there's anything related to Java already running (it will be called Java.exe, Javaw.exe, or something similar). Hopefully there isn't as it will make the next steps easier.
   
3. Keep the task manager open and launch Minecraft
   
4. Take another look at the task manager and see if there are any new listings for Java. If there is a new listing for Java, pay special attention to the exact name of that process. We need to tell GameEx about it.
   

Before we dive into the next step of actually creating the Advanced Emulator Config, let's verify the steps above. No point in going too far down this road if we took a wrong turn somewhere.

Here's a preview of what we're going for here, as the issue (and subsequent resolution) is practically identical. [RESOLVED] ParaJVE

[thurmansevolution]

Thanks for all the help from everyone so far!! Without you all, I would be sooooo stuck! lol

@nullPointer - I checked through all the steps you provided, and it is javaw.exe that starts in the process tab in the task manager. And the way you explained it makes a lot of sense. Ya learn something new everyday!

[nullPointer]

@nullPointer - I checked through all the steps you provided, and it is javaw.exe that starts in the process tab in the task manager. And the way you explained it makes a lot of sense. Ya learn something new everyday!

Great, so far so good. The next step will be to create an Advance Emulator Config for Minecraft. I honestly don't know if there's a more 'official' way to create an Advanced Emulator Config, but I'm going to tell you how I do it. This method works just fine

1. Navigate to the following directory in GameEx:
   C:\GameEx\CONFIG\EMULATORS
   This directory assumes the default install location, so you'll need to adjust it if you installed to a non-default location.
   
2. Make a copy of the following file (Ctrl+C)
   [Mapping Off] Exit (Process Close).ini
   and paste it in to the same directory (Ctrl+V)
   
3. Rename the copied file as something relevant to what it will ultimately do ("Minecraft Config.ini", or "Java Listener Config.ini", etc)
   
4. Launch the GameEx Setup Wizard and navigate to the 'Advanced Emulator Setup' screen for your Minecraft entry
   
5. There you'll notice a dropdown selection box called Advanced Config. In that list of selections you'll find an entry for the new config you created and named in steps 2-3. Select that entry and press the '...' button located to the right of the selection box.
   
6. Welcome to the Advanced Config Editor. Open up the Process Wait tab. Double click the Process entry for Process1. In that field enter javaw.exe.
   

So there we go. You've now configured GameEx to listen for the javaw.exe process to close before returning to GameEx. Take that for a spin and see how it works out.

Now, there's still one potential issue to be aware of. You'll notice that the advanced config we copied was labeled as 'Process Close'. That's because when you press your exit key (ESC by default) that config will instantly kill the running emulator or game. That's fine in many many cases, but some apps get a little 'crotchety' if they aren't closed in a specific fashion. One possible symptom is game saves are not allowed to process correctly upon exit (thus loosing saved game data).

You'll want to take a look at the Minecraft documentation/menus and see if there's a key combination that might be more suited to exiting Minecraft in an elegant fashion. If there it turns out that there is a preferred key combo for exiting Minecraft we'll want to modify your Advanced Emulator Config to send those specific keys on exit. Feel free to report back if that's the case.

For a thread that started as a 'Noo-b' question, we're jumping right in to the deep end of the GameEx pool! Come on in the water's fine!

[thurmansevolution]

It works!! Thanks man! I'll be happy to jump in the deep end of the GameEx pool, as long as I don't have to syncronize swim!! lol

Oh, and Happy Father's Day to all of you who are dads!!

[nullPointer]

Awesome! Glad everything worked out.