GameEx Minimizing Upon Startup

[gamepimp]

Lately GameEx has been minimizing on computer startup more often than not. Here's a little background on my setup: I use Instant Sheller on my cab to hide Windows and boot right into GameEx. I recently redid my CP and now have added a trackball and spinner to my system. I also have added a 3rd monitor in my CP that displays an image using Marquee Magician. I haven't installed any new programs on my PC that would be loading at startup and might cause GameEx to minimize. Not sure if this is an issue created by a recent update to GameEx or perhaps something caused by one of the new devices. Any thoughts? I have included my log as well as .ini file in case these might be helpful.

log.txt

GameEx.ini

[Adultery]

Everything looks OK so far... The only difference between your setup and any other is Instant Sheller (I don't use it and frankly don't see a need for it... We're literally talking about 30 seconds maybe, and even then only when launching). Don't get me wrong, I'm not dishing on ya, I just don't understand the need for that.

That being said, it just has to be a focus issue, and I feel like Instant Sheller is to blame for the hijacking that's happening here (unless you us Xpadder or some other Windows app that launches right away). The only rel good way to check for the offending app/service is to watch the process tree and see what's happening, and with IS that's gonna be tricky.

/end my 2c

Just as a quickie... Did you change the boot screen or the logon screen too?

[gamepimp]

I appreciate the sentiment and I guess this falls under the "different strokes for different folks" category. I use IS because I want my cab to feel as much like a true arcade machine as possible. I have not changed the boot screen yet, although that is on my list of things to do. Lol! I've been running IS for along time now w/o issue. So I can't believe that one's to blame. The only recent changes on my PC were some software updates for Win 7. Since IS was created by Tom, maybe he can weigh in on whether it might be having an impact...

[gamepimp]

So the only programs that startup as the computer boots are the NVIDIA control panel for my video card and the ASUS AI Suite II program with utilities for my motherboard. The AI Suite has the My Logo program for changing the boot screen image (which I would like to do at some point). On a whim, I decided to uninstall the AI Suite to see what happens. Well, for 3 attempts in a row it seems that GameEx stays up w/o minimizing. I've had the AI Suite installed for about a year now and it hasn't caused any problems like this. But perhaps it got updated with my last round of Win 7 updates or updated on its own. Needless to say, at this point it would appear to be the culprit. I will see what happens for the next cpl of days. If the minimizing no longer occurs, one of the moderators can mark this as resolved.

[Draco1962]

One other place you can look for info might be the Event Viewer in your Windows Administration tools. Sometimes good programs just go bad. You may want to try to reinstall it to see if you have any issues in a few days once you have confirmed no problems without it installed.

[Adultery]

So the only programs that startup as the computer boots are the NVIDIA control panel for my video card and the ASUS AI Suite II program with utilities for my motherboard. The AI Suite has the My Logo program for changing the boot screen image (which I would like to do at some point). On a whim, I decided to uninstall the AI Suite to see what happens. Well, for 3 attempts in a row it seems that GameEx stays up w/o minimizing. I've had the AI Suite installed for about a year now and it hasn't caused any problems like this. But perhaps it got updated with my last round of Win 7 updates or updated on its own. Needless to say, at this point it would appear to be the culprit. I will see what happens for the next cpl of days. If the minimizing no longer occurs, one of the moderators can mark this as resolved.

That's why I asked. Tom's IS has a note on the latest release that you can't shell the boot or the login screen or there will be issues. Not sure if that's still an issue or not... Anyhoo, I was only asking why people still shell. IS hasn't been updated in like forever so I thought maybe it was a fad.

[Mike Fishcake]

*THREAD RESURRECTION*

I had a similar issue. Installed the Asus monitoring utility to take a look at why my PC was being stupid and rebooting, then noticed GameEx wasn't starting fullscreen.

TBH I just have GameEx in my startup folder, but I have a Space Invaders backdrop on Windows and one GameEx icon in the middle of it anyway, so I'm not massively bothered... although I might replace the Windows boot screen. After I've done another backup though

[RIP-Felix]

I placed GameEX in the startup folder, set my desktop background to black, and set the start bar to auto hide. That way when windows loads you don't see anything before GameEX loads. Also I don't need to hide windows, when emulators are loaded I don't see the desktop flicker before the emu kicks in because it's black. I had trouble with the hide desktop function. So no IS necessary for me! I thought an example of how another does it might help. YMMV.

I've had intermittent issues with GameEX loosing focus too. I've stopped all nonessential startup processes and set some others to wait a few minuets. Now the only time it does it is when my security program (Norton Security Suite) decides to notify me about monthly security reports, or auto updates. Its an attention seeker, taking focus from GameEX. So in short lots of things can do this and good luck fingering out what it is. I wish I could be more helpful.