Individual emus work, nothing launches from GameEx inc. MAME games

[pHreaksYcle]

As stated -

Trying to open any games from within GameEx has rendered little in results.

ie: I open Golden Eye for N64 through GameEx, it gives an error message, then I manually open the ROM from the emulator sitting there still and it works perfectly.

I go to open one of the built in MAME games (Pac-Man for example -might be doing this wrong too because only like 6 are listed) and it just says it's opening in the bottom left but never does.

I'm noticing that there isn't really one set of instructions, just lots of fixes for individual problems posted here. So for people like me who might have just learned what MAME means, and are new to emulation...that could be daunting as all hell, especially after a $17+ purchase for something to make things easier/semi-automatic.

For example - what am I supposed to launch the application with? The Simple Mode? Because when I open it in GameLauncher mode, I get black screen, nothing more.

Another small bit of feedback: You say to post the log.txt and gameex.ini - awesome place to put that reminder, but should add in where to find those. I found the log.txt after seeking it, but the other not so much.

Thanks very much in advance, and I hope I don't come off too pricky here - it's been a long night to little end!

- Danny

log.txt

[Draco1962]

First off, welcome to the forums. We will be glad to help. Can you provide your gameex.ini and attach in reply? Likely there is an issue with how you have setup your paths that needs to be resolved first before we try to diagnose any other issues.

You may be referring to demo videos and not actual MAME games. We do not supply ROMS nor discuss where ROMS can be acquired.

Please keep in mind that this is a "front end" to centralize access to your emulators and is going to require some work on your part to educate yourself to the emulators and GameEx proper. As with most front ends, automation in setup is going to be minimal for each emulator you select to run through it and will still require that you configure the paths for each, and, in some cases, may require additional steps and applications to get some emulators running smoothly.

[nullPointer]

Hi pHreaksYcle! Welcome!

As Draco mentioned, GameEx doesn’t include any games whatsoever. It’s completely ‘BYOG’ if you will. What it does include out of the box is some media to go with your games (i.e. some videos and snaps). This serves more as a demo of what GameEx should look like when properly configured.

The support section on GameEx product site is a great place to get started and begin to learn the ropes of using GameEx. The purpose of the forum (among other things) is so that we might assist users with specific issues they may encounter along the way. There are some really good tutorials featured on the forums, but for the most part we’re here to bail you out if you run into problems. Here’s a brief primer on our community:

In 1972 a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn't commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Los Angeles underground. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as soldiers of fortune video game and emulation enthusiasts. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire the GameEx forum members.

… At least that’s the way I remember it going down.

If or when you have a moment, please post your GameEx.ini as it will give us some guidance as to your current configuration, and any suggestions we make at that point will be better tailored to your specific setup. When you post a new thread, the directions for locating the proper troubleshooting information are linked from the header in the part that says, “Please refer to this link for additional information.” That link will take you to the How to Ask for Help thread which is a fantastic place to start with requests for troubleshooting assistance.

Good luck man! We look forward to seeing you around. Take a look at the Support section of the GameEx product site to see if that makes sense (The Setup Wizard also has help text for nearly every field, so that should also provide some insight). If you still find yourself in a rough patch, please report back and (hopefully) we can set you down the right path.

[celly]

Lmao! Nice A-Team reference!

[pHreaksYcle]

Gentlemen,

Thanks for you prompt attention. I'm going to start pouring over the Documentation linked, that should help a ton.

Where in the world do I find the GameEx.ini?? I've searched within Windows and scoured every GameEx related folder in root of C:.

Thanks,

Danny

[Draco1962]

Try \gameex\config .

[Tom Speirs]

I just wanted to say that's incredible support you guys just gave. I have not seen anything like that elsewhere for a while.

[pHreaksYcle]

Okay, so a progress report for you kind sirs!

I figured out that I need to do all my controller configurations in each emulator, and that the joystick configuration doesn't automatically carry over from the GameEx setup - that's just for the actual GameEx proper menus. So that confusion is over.

I also made the awesome discovery that all of my backups were in compressed format, which is why they were all listed, but unusable (ROMs, art, snaps etc) - another amateur mistake I've overcome/will be overcoming as I get the free time to extract my various collections of backups

Seems like I should be okay after I: 1) stop being a fool & extract all my archives, 2) run through the config menus of all my individual emulators and make sure they all go full-screen/best resolution automatically 3) set individual emulators to recognize my Xbox controllers,

Do you guys have any suggestions for going back to the GameEx homescreen from an emulator other than the ESC key on the keyboard? I'd eventually like to make it all 360 controller based, so desired action would be to hit the center orb and go back to GameEx, but as of right now, all that does is bring up the status bar of Microsoft's gamepad software. Anyone know what the best practice would be for this type of action?

Also: Cxbx is listed in the Emulators Selection list, but general consensus is that there's no real reasonably working Xbox emu - is this still the case?

Any suggestions for my general setup you can glean from my GameEx would be appreciated!

Again, thank you for the gracious welcome. Like our hairy-legged leader Tom said abiove, outstanding fellas y'all are!

GameEx.ini

[Draco1962]

You might want to look into running a 3rd party software such as Xpadder. At $9.99 US it is a steal for all the functionality it yields. Our own Adultery created a plugin that integrates it nicely with GameEx (see his Xpadder Plugin page for details). Many here use it for their controllers so there is plenty of help available.

[DazzleHP]

You might want to look into running a 3rd party software such as Xpadder. At $9.99 US it is a steal for all the functionality it yields. Our own Adultery created a plugin that integrates it nicely with GameEx (see his Xpadder Plugin page for details). Many here use it for their controllers so there is plenty of help available.

+1 to Xpadder! I would just like to mention, for your information, that the Guide button can't currently be programmed for anything, in otherwords it is useless when using on a PC, however using Xpadder you can very easily set up your own custom key combo's to exit emulators. And as Draco said - many many of us use it here so the help is there should you need it.

[nullPointer]

Also: Cxbx is listed in the Emulators Selection list, but general consensus is that there's no real reasonably working Xbox emu - is this still the case?

I can also give a hearty recommendation to Xpadder. It really is a great piece of software.

You're correct about the status of Xbox emulation. I would say we're still at least a few years away from an Xbox emulator with great compatibility levels. Part of the issue is that the community dedicated to the development Xbox emulation is exceedingly small.

[pHreaksYcle]

I can also give a hearty recommendation to Xpadder. It really is a great piece of software.

You're correct about the status of Xbox emulation. I would say we're still at least a few years away from an Xbox emulator with great compatibility levels. Part of the issue is that the community dedicated to the development Xbox emulation is exceedingly small.

I've gotcha - that makes sense. Gotta have someone to write the software!

Could anyone point me in the right direction - I've got my layouts mapped in Xpadder, but I'm not sure how to tell the emulators to use the Xpadder output as input, so to speak. Does that makes sense?

[nullPointer]

Could anyone point me in the right direction - I've got my layouts mapped in Xpadder, but I'm not sure how to tell the emulators to use the Xpadder output as input, so to speak. Does that makes sense?

It does make sense. This will be a two step process. First you'll need to configure inputs individually within each emulator you're using in GamEx (or at least the ones you're using with Xpadder). Then you'll configure GameEx to launch the appropriate Xpadder profile when it launches the associated emulator.

• So let's say I've made an Xpadder profile for NES. In the Xpadder profile I've mapped the Start button to the V key on the keyboard for example. I'd want to open up Nestopia (my preferred NES emulator) and find the input configuration screen (in this case it would be Options > Input...). On the input mapping screen within the emulator I would then set the Start button as the V key. This part is pretty straight forward, but naturally will vary quite a bit form one emulator to the next.

  Protip: Xpadder works brilliantly for digital input, but doesn't work so well for analog input. If you need to map an analog input (like the N64 analog stick for example), you'll likely want to map the analog input directly within the emulator and configure Xpadder to let the analog input to 'pass through' (i.e. the analog input will not be mapped in Xpadder at all).

  Once you've got the emulator setup, you'll want to test that everything is working as expected outside of GameEx. So start up your Xpadder profile, then start up the emulator and fire up the game of your choice. Once you get the frontend involved things get more complicated, so you want to make sure everything is working before you introduce the frontend.

• Everything is working! So now we need to have GameEx launch the Xpadder profile when it launches the emulator. I'm going to give my full endorsement to Adultery's Xpadder plugin for this task. It's going to take the guesswork out of this step, and it's already part of your GameEx installation. Go to Start Menu > All Programs > GameEx > Configuration > Plugin Manager. In the Plugin Manager click the checkbox next to the Xpadder plugin to enable it, and press the Configure button to get it setup. Follow the configuration instructions in the link above, and please feel free to report back if you have any questions about the plugin.

Good luck pHreaksYcle!