[RESOLVED] Background and foreground wallpaper crashing

[Dragon Punch]

Hi, I'm loving GameEx but I've hit a snag. I have custom wallpaper backgrounds (and foregrounds, due to not wanting box art to overtake the background image) for each emulator section. GameEx stutters and sometimes crashes when I when I switch emulator sections. Sometimes when entering an emulator section, GameEx tries to load the custom background images, fails and the background reverts to the image I have when starting up GameEx, other times the whole program crashes. It doesn't happen everytime and oddly enough, some emulator sections load wallpaper smoother than others, but that might be coincidence. Also, every background and forground is a .png file if that helps or matters.

I was hoping there was a solution and that I wouldn't have to resort to using just one background image throughout all of GameEx. I like to use an image relating to the game system I am about to play. I have a GameEx startup image and different background images for most of the emulator sections.

I've included the crash report, if you still need the gameex.ini let me know. Thanks.

[Draco1962]

Hey Dragon Punch, welcome to the GameEx forums. I normally recommend providing both the log.txt and gameex.ini files so we don't have to ask for it. In looking at your log, however, the last parts are indicating an issue with DirectX, and could be due to a bad video driver. I would recommend downloading and installing the latest for your video adapter, even if it is the latest.

You may also want to go into the \gameex\data\ folder and delete all files that have cache in the file name or extension. These will rebuild on the next load of GameEx.

Give these suggestions a go and report back along with your gameex.ini and newest log.txt files.

[Dragon Punch]

Ok, I completely uninstalled my NVIDIA graphics driver, download a new copy of the latest version for my cards and did a clean install. I also deleted everything in the \gameex\data\ folder that had cache anywhere in the file name and extension like you said. Unfortunately the problem is exists.

[Draco1962]

I know you want to use your own theme, however, we need to boil this down a bit. If you wouldn't mind, please load the Default-Default theme and lets see if we get the same error results. Post your log.txt file afterwards regardless of whether it errors or not.

[Dragon Punch]

Running the default theme didn't cause GameEx to crash.

I don't have any problem using background/foreground images when I start up GameEx. The problems start when GameEx tries to switch images when I choose an emulator section. That's when GameEx stutters and either falls back to the main background/foreground image or crashes completely. It doesn't do it every time, sometimes images load fairly smoothly.

I will add that I doubt I use foreground images for their intended purpose. I use them because GameEx overtakes my chosen background images with game specific box art or cartridge art even though my I left the background art fields empty during the GameEx setup. So foreground images are used similarly to background images to make sure my chosen backgrounds images are visible.

[Draco1962]

I think that on the affected pages you may need to, while in GameEx, toggle the Change View option in the menu bar until it shows your background image. Not sure what else in your theme could be causing it to crash, however, but if you try this, it may resolve.

[Dragon Punch]

I removed the foreground images that I was using as a band aid fix and cycled through the Change View option on the problem emulator sections. Cycling through Change View enough times does fix the background so I can see my customized background images again. Removing the foreground images makes entering and exiting emulator sections a smooth process again. No more stuttering, no more crashing. So it seems that multiple 1920x1080 background + 1920x1080 foreground images were causing GameEx to crash.

Thank you for you help, this problem is resolved now.

[Draco1962]

You're most welcome! Glad this worked for you!

Edited November 19, 2012 by Draco1962
This thread is now closed. If the problem re-occurs, please start a new thread.