Problem getting GameEX to start

[Twinbee]

Hi, Firstly, I'm new here and new to GameEX but have been using emulators for more years than I can remember and built my own mame cab which was not a problem so I know the basics.

Here is my problem....

I downloaded gameex and set it up on my PC in the office (Windows XP SP3) and everything went fine. It booted up ok and seemed to be running just fine. I liked the look of it so when I got home, I decided to install it on my Emulator PC at home connected to a 32" CRT. (Windows 7 Home). The install went fine and then the wizard started, Everything was setup the same as before on the XP PC but this time it won't run. If I click the GameEX.exe the screen goes black but then after a while before it starts it goes back to the desktop with a log file. the error at the bottom states that mediacenter is not running so gameex will exit or something like that. I have tried launching media center on its own and it works ok.

I'm at the office at the moment so can't show a screen grab but does anyone know of this problem and an easy fix? If not I will upload the log and ini file tomorrow.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Paul.

[thurmansevolution]

Welcome to the forums and to GameEx!!

I had a similar problem when I first installed GameEx when I started building my cab. My issue was that the version of Windows Media Center was outdated...I think lol. I updated WMC to the latest version and it was fixed. I'm not sure if this is the exact same issue as yours, but it's worth a shot

Hope this helps!!

LC

[Twinbee]

Hi LC,

Thanks for your reply and warm welcome!

I gave updating MC a try, There was an update available but I'm still facing the same problem. When I first installed GameEx at home, I set it up with MAME + 7 or 8 other emulators so just incase I did something wrong, Last night I wiped everything and stated again only this time I only setup MAME but it's still the same. I have no idea whats wrong. It's actually a Windows 7 Home Premium install, as I said, it works perfectly on my XP machine at the office. The home PC is 64bit if that makes any difference?

Anyway, I'll keep trying as I really like the look of this front end and plan on getting the full version..... if I can get it working ofcourse!

Cheers,

Paul.

[nullPointer]

Hi Paul,

When you have a moment would you mind posting a copy of your GameEx log? Here are the instructions on how to access that information. I'm hoping the log may provide a clue as to what's happening here. Thanks man!

[Twinbee]

As requested, here is a copy of the log when I try to run GameEx. As my home PC is connected to a CRT its a bit hard for me to work online and do things from there (Although it is online via Wifi) so I'm posting the log file from the office.

Thanks in advance for your help........

22:52:50.3 8/4/2013: Opening Configuration File
22:52:50.4 8/4/2013: GameEx: Version 13.09: Starting Log
22:52:50.4 8/4/2013: Operating System Platform: Win32NT
22:52:50.4 8/4/2013: Operating System Name: Windows 7
22:52:50.4 8/4/2013: Operating System Version: 6.1.7601
22:52:50.4 8/4/2013: Aero running
22:52:50.5 8/4/2013: Initializing Vista/Windows 7 volume control
22:52:50.5 8/4/2013: Getting CPU and RAM info
22:52:50.5 8/4/2013: Intel® Core i3-2120 CPU @ 3.30GHz, 16263MB
22:52:50.5 8/4/2013: 3.29Ghz - 4 Cores or CPU's
22:52:50.5 8/4/2013: Running Randomize()
22:52:50.5 8/4/2013: Loading PlugIns
22:52:50.5 8/4/2013: Checking for applications to Launch On Startup
22:52:50.5 8/4/2013: Setting default net connection limit to 15
22:52:50.6 8/4/2013: Running Misc startup tasks
22:52:50.6 8/4/2013: Setting Menu types
22:52:50.6 8/4/2013: Getting Configuration Values
22:52:50.6 8/4/2013: Using Theme: Default - Media Center
22:52:50.6 8/4/2013: Checking for alternate Image Directory for Theme: Default - Media Center
22:52:50.6 8/4/2013: Using Images from theme: Default - Media Center V1\MEDIA\
22:52:50.6 8/4/2013: Launching HideOS.exe
22:52:50.6 8/4/2013: Initialising Video/MNG DLL's
22:52:50.6 8/4/2013: GameEx will check for media insertion (may affect performance)
22:52:50.6 8/4/2013: Hiding Taskbar
22:52:50.6 8/4/2013: Is Media Center running?
22:52:50.6 8/4/2013: Checking/Creating LCD Registry values
22:52:50.6 8/4/2013: Check Media Center Exit/Start Mode
22:52:50.6 8/4/2013: Media Center Mode 2
22:52:50.6 8/4/2013: Video previews on. Warning: Only recommended on modern systems
22:52:50.6 8/4/2013: Snap Delay set to: 4
22:52:50.6 8/4/2013: Get other settings
22:52:50.6 8/4/2013: Desktop set to Hide ICONS and set Background to Black
22:52:50.6 8/4/2013: Set: Find emulator artwork on best match basis
22:52:50.6 8/4/2013: Start work for Form
22:52:50.6 8/4/2013: Getting Original Screen Size
22:52:50.7 8/4/2013: Opening Database Connection
22:52:51.3 8/4/2013: Initializing Component
22:52:51.5 8/4/2013: MAME Path is: C:\Emulators\Mame32
22:52:51.5 8/4/2013: Cannot Find MAME Path: MAME Disabled
22:52:51.5 8/4/2013: Loading Controls.ini map file
22:52:51.5 8/4/2013: Applying Language/Text
22:52:51.5 8/4/2013: Text/Language: English
22:52:51.5 8/4/2013: Loading Language/Text
22:52:51.5 8/4/2013: Loading Custom Emulators
22:52:51.5 8/4/2013: Using Version 3 Themes Animations
22:52:51.5 8/4/2013: Retrieving resolution setting
22:52:51.6 8/4/2013: Using General Font: Trebuchet MS
22:52:51.6 8/4/2013: Using Title Font: Trebuchet MS
22:52:51.6 8/4/2013: GameEx will try to reduce CPU usage
22:52:51.6 8/4/2013: Initialising Direct3D
22:52:51.7 8/4/2013: Applying GameEx is Loading Image
22:52:51.7 8/4/2013: Setting Resolution to 800x600 32 bit color
22:52:51.8 8/4/2013: Creating Surfaces
22:52:52.0 8/4/2013: Creating Primary Surface - Full Screen Mode
22:52:52.0 8/4/2013: Creating Back Buffer
22:52:52.0 8/4/2013: Loading graphic Surfaces
22:52:52.0 8/4/2013: Display is running at: 800x600 32bit color, 60hz
22:52:52.0 8/4/2013: Adapter: Intel® HD Graphics Family
22:52:52.0 8/4/2013: Max texture size: 8192x8192
22:52:52.0 8/4/2013: Available texture memory: 1690MB
22:52:52.1 8/4/2013: Initialising Bass Audio Library
22:52:52.1 8/4/2013: Creating Surfaces Misc and Dialogs
22:52:52.2 8/4/2013: Creating Surfaces Volume
22:52:52.2 8/4/2013: Creating Surfaces Arrows
22:52:52.2 8/4/2013: Creating Surfaces GameEXlogo Text
22:52:52.2 8/4/2013: Creating Surfaces Toolbar
22:52:52.2 8/4/2013: Creating Surfaces Toolbar Controls
22:52:52.2 8/4/2013: Creating Surfaces Backgrounds
22:52:52.2 8/4/2013: Creating Surfaces GameEx Logo
22:52:52.2 8/4/2013: Creating Surface Unselected
22:52:52.2 8/4/2013: Creating Surfaces Snaps
22:52:52.2 8/4/2013: Creating Surfaces Menu and List Bars
22:52:52.3 8/4/2013: Creating Fonts
22:52:52.3 8/4/2013: Creating Game Font
22:52:52.4 8/4/2013: Creating Game Font Faded
22:52:52.4 8/4/2013: Creating Title Font
22:52:52.6 8/4/2013: Creating Font Black
22:52:52.6 8/4/2013: Creating Font Black Small
22:52:52.7 8/4/2013: Fonts Created Succesfully
22:52:52.7 8/4/2013: 2MB Video Memory Used
22:52:52.8 8/4/2013: MAME CMD options: -nowindow -joy -skip_gameinfo
22:52:53.1 8/4/2013: Initialising DirectInput for Gamepad support
22:52:53.1 8/4/2013: Unable to create a joystick device
22:52:53.1 8/4/2013: Loading Start Page
22:52:53.1 8/4/2013: Initializing MCE Remote
22:52:53.2 8/4/2013: Playing intro sound file
22:52:53.2 8/4/2013: Initialization OK! Starting GameEx!
22:52:53.2 8/4/2013: Testing Main Loop Once: Processing Frame
22:52:53.5 8/4/2013: Testing Main Loop Once: Main Loop ran successfully
22:55:13.2 8/4/2013: Exiting GameEx!
22:55:13.2 8/4/2013: Disposing all videos
22:55:13.2 8/4/2013: Deleting temporary Karaoke videos
22:55:13.2 8/4/2013: Disposing Image List
22:55:13.2 8/4/2013: Disposing Fonts
22:55:13.2 8/4/2013: Disposing Surfaces
22:55:13.3 8/4/2013: Saving Settings
22:55:13.3 8/4/2013: Shutting down Bass
22:55:13.4 8/4/2013: Closing HideOS.exe
22:55:13.6 8/4/2013: Disposing Plugins
22:55:13.6 8/4/2013: Disposing Plugins
22:55:13.6 8/4/2013: Closing database connection
22:55:13.6 8/4/2013: Checking for applications to Launch On Exit
22:55:13.6 8/4/2013: Media Center was not open when starting GameEx, so not launching
22:55:13.6 8/4/2013: Bye

Paul.

[DazzleHP]

Hi Twinbee, the only error i see in your log is your MAME path seems to be incorrect:

22:52:51.5 8/4/2013: MAME Path is: C:\Emulators\Mame32
22:52:51.5 8/4/2013: Cannot Find MAME Path: MAME Disabled

You may want to double check your paths. I'm not sure why this would stop GameEx loading entirely but after finding a similar issue someone else was having where incorrect paths were the culprit, it might be a good place to start

In post #6 of that thread the OP reveals that somehow two GameEx.ini's were on his system - might want to rule that out too.

[Twinbee]

Thanks, I will check those and correct the path names...... It was all set up correctly with the correct paths but when I wasn't working I re ran the set up and clicked default for everything to see if that would work (which is why my mame no longer points to the correct location) but I will check this evening with regards to the ini file.... you never know.

Thanks,

Paul.

[Twinbee]

Update: I have checked and there is only 1 ini file that I could see. I have uninstalled the whole thing and started again but the outcome was the same. It just won't run.

Any ideas?

[Tempest]

post your latest log.