[RESOLVED] Mess emu and game lists

[mviars]

trying to set up atari 2600, 5200 and 7800 as well as a few other I have not set up completely yet. The problem i am having is that the game list for each system using mess emu gives me the all the games for all systems listed together and the games will all play no matter which system I chose. I check the map files in the data folder tried using and not using the database option in the gameEx wizard. I am not sure what else to do.

[gamepimp]

Do u have all the roms in the same folder? I kept mine in separate folders for each system and told GameEx where to find them. If BIOS files were required, I also had to tell MESS where to look for them. GameEx just displays everything that is contained in the folder you have specified for a given system regardless of whether the game is for that system or not...

[nullPointer]

Gamepimp is exactly on the money here. Separate directories will likely be your best option. If you find yourself in a position in which mixed ROM directories are the only option, you would likely need to use map files to keep your various game lists clean in GameEx. There are several resources and quality tools available for creating map files if you decide to have a go.

Adultery's Map File Maker (freshly updated!)

Tempest's Map File Magician

fRequEnCy's Map Files

[mviars]

All my roms are in separate rom subfolders. I put them in the gameEx made Rom file with each system having its own rom folder.

c: roms

atari 2600

roms

atari 5200

roms

atari 7800

roms

atari jaguar

roms

odyssey 2

roms

NES

roms

SNES

roms

and so on

Funny thing is that it seems to only be merging all the atari system games and the odyssey games not the NES or SNES.

I did have to create a roms folder in the Mess folder and put the bios only in it for mess to work certain systems properly. Which took me a while to figure out because I could not find any info on how to set that up and I put the bios in every folder I could think of before stumbling upon making a bios ROM folder inside mess.

But I digress this has nothing to do with the game list merging problem as it was doing this before my bios problems so any ideas?

[mviars]

Oh and I do have it configured in the wizard to point to the proper rom folder areas.

[nullPointer]

I do have a couple of ideas but before I go off half-cocked with suggestions, would you mind posting a copy of your GameEx.ini? This will help to give us a better picture of what might be happening here. Do the games in the 'merged' lists still run correctly?

[mviars]

Oh sorry I thought I posted the ini on my first post. I will try again. Yes these merged games run fine no matter which one I pick or even which system I pick. If I pick atari 2600 it will run both 2600 and the 5200 games. If I pick 7800 it will run 2600, 5200 and 7800 etc. It seems like an all games list.

Just double checked but it seems to be merging 2600, 5200, 7800, jaguar, odyssey 2, and intellivion systems. turbografx16, NES, SNES, N64 all sega's systems are normal.

GameEx.ini

[DazzleHP]

Hi there, the emulators you mentioned that are ok (NES, SNES, N64 etc) are not configured to use MESS according to your GameEx.ini so ofcourse are behaving how they should - as separate systems

As for the Atari systems (some) which are configured for MESS - this may seem like an obvious question but, do you have the relevant (and only relevant) roms in the directories for each system? Or do you have the same romset copied 3 times into each directory? As i said its seems obvious but it never hurts to be thorough

[nullPointer]

DazzleHP brings up an excellent point. It never hurts to verify that the contents of your ROM dirctories do in fact contain what you think they contain. So double check that first. If your directories look to be in order, then I have a couple of things for you to try. I've excerpted a couple of lines from each of the problematic systems you mentioned

[Emulator_1]
System=Atari 2600)
MapFile=C:\GameEx\DATA\EMU_1.map

[Emulator_2]
System=Atari 5200
MapFile=C:\GameEx\DATA\EMU_2.map

[Emulator_3]
System=Atari 7800
MapFile=C:\GameEx\DATA\EMU_3.map

[Emulator_4]
System=Atari Jaguar
MapFile=

[Emulator_5]
System=Magnavox Odyssey 2
MapFile=

[Emulator_6]
System=Mattel Intellivision
MapFile=

I'm wondering if the map files assigned to Atari 2600, 5200, and 7800 are causing the merging issues. Those map files are created by GameEx and will be rebuilt by GameEx upon loading. Please try the following steps:

1. Exit GameEx if it's running
2. Navigate to ..\GameEx\DATA in your GameEx installation directory
3. Delete EMU_1.map
4. Delete EMU_2.map
5. Delete EMU_3.map
6. Restart GameEx and see if that changed anything

If that doesn't help let's also try this for good measure:

1. Exit GameEx if it's running
2. Navigate to ..\GameEx\DATA in your GameEx installation directory
3. Delete ALL files containing the word cache in the filename or extension within this directory.
4. Restart GameEx and see if that changed anything

I'm almost positive that something is going on with those map files. Try the above and see if that helps at all.

Good luck mviars!

[mviars]

Hi Dazzle. I rechecked the roms and directories again and they are all completely separated into their own rom system subfolders under the main "rom" folder as I showed above in a previous post. I too once thought it had something to do with mess as my post topic implies since all the atari systems seemed to be merged however since the start of this post it has now effected atari jaguar using the virtual Jaguar emu, odyssey 2 using the od2em emulator as well as the intellivision using the bliss emu. by the way I only have 2 roms in both the Jaguar and odyssey 2 rom folders and all 4 of those games show up in all the effected games lists as well.

null, tried both ideas with no change. it kinda reminds me of the mame all games list. it just so strange that is only effecting my first 6 emulators on my list and not the rest.

[nullPointer]

Ah crap ... I can't believe I just noticed this:

[EmulatorGroup_1]
Enabled=True
STARTPAGENAME=Consoles
StartPageLogo=emus
Emulators=1;2;3;4;5;6
ShowUnderEmulators=True

Not sure what's going on with that group, but it will certainly group all the ROMs for those emulators into a single game list. Get rid of that group and I bet your problem will go away. For reference you can configure emulator groups in the Setup Wizard on the Emulator Groups screen.

This time I'm really pretty positive about the source of your issue.

[mviars]

OMG!!! I found the problem and your never going to believe how stupid it was. I was just about to try making some map files when i decided to start the wizard to enable the gameEx auto update as i saw a new version has a ma builder built in. when I start the wizard I always start in custom mode and as i was looking for the section with the auto update checkmark I decided to go into the emulator groups area and lo and behold it was enabled with emu's 123456. I kinda remember playing with this section a while back wondering what it did. guess i know now.

[mviars]

Oh sorry null you posted just as i was trying to type. but you where right! crazy how one little oversite can make this happen. Sorry about all this and thanks so much.I am sure you haven't heard the last from me as i am having fun setting this all up and customizing it. well I better get some sleep heading to Jamaica in the morning.

See ya mon.

[nullPointer]

Oh sorry null you posted just as i was trying to type. but you where right! crazy how one little oversite can make this happen. Sorry about all this and thanks so much.I am sure you haven't heard the last from me as i am having fun setting this all up and customizing it. well I better get some sleep heading to Jamaica in the morning.

See ya mon.

No need to apologize! I'm always pretty jazzed when motivated users such as your self get in there and root out problems all on their own. Pretty soon you'll be the one helping new users! Feel free to ask all the questions you like. I don't think we'd be here if we didn't enjoy talking about this stuff (for some strange reason!)

So ... have fun in Jamaica! What with the crystal clear waters, sandy beaches, ska music, and bikinis. Yeah ... I'll just be here up north ... enjoying my Montana winter! Seriously though, have fun! It's going to be awesome.

[Draco1962]

OT - Speaking of Montana, my cousin sent a pic to me of a monster stealhead he caught there. He is a fishing (and sometimes hunting) tour guide operating outside of Great Falls.

[nullPointer]

Cool! Small world. I live a little over an hour south of Great Falls (meaning it's the next city over to the north ). There's definitely some good fishing to be had along the Missouri and its tributaries (Wolf Creek, MT in particular is a fantastic hub from which to head out fishing).

You'll have to let me know if you ever make it up this direction Draco!

[Draco1962]

Will do. He is almost always working so not sure if and when I could get up there. However, it is somewhere I haven't been and would love to get a good dose of the fresh air and "God's Country" views to refresh the soul a bit.

Edited February 18, 2013 by nullPointer
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