GameEx slows down MAME32 emulation

[uncle]

Hi Tom,

First of all thanks a lot for making such a great frontend!

Before donating the $19+ I have a few tecnical issues that needs to be solved:

- - -

PC specs:

AMD Sempron 3000+, 1GB Geil RAM, ArcadeVGA (latest Radeon 9200 based version), J-Pac, Hantarex Polo/3 monitor. Running WinXP SP2 and .net 1.1. Everything is 100% stable. My machine is build into an arcade cabinet.

The XP installation has been done on a fresh harddisk and the system has only been used for MAME, nothing else ... WinXP boots directly into MAME. The machine is not connected to the internet. No antivirus or other memory resident software is running in the background. GameEx will only be used for MAME.

- - -

With that out of the way here goes:

1.

When I run games directly from MAME32 (latest version), nearly all games run nice and smooth (the framerate is as it should be). But when I use GameEx as the frontend for MAME32, emulation (of the very same games) becomes a lot slower. Even relative simple games such as Hook and all Neo-Geo games suffer greatly.

I've tried to remove the MAME32 syntax (triplebuffer etc.) within the configuration tool, but that doesn't improve things. It seems rather strange. What can I do?

2.

Furthermore some of the games (including all CPS games) appear with huge black borders all around (top, bottom, left & right) - this does not happen, when run directly from MAME32. Is there a way to fix this or is there a way to tell GameEx to leave the resolution stuff up to MAME32? (Within GameEx configuration, I've selected ArcadeVGA, set the resolution to the values recomended: ArcadeVGA, 640, 288, etc.).

- - -

It should be said that the GameEx frontend itself runs perfectly, smoothly and with no problems at all. And the same goes for MAME32.

Hope you can help me solve these problems as I really, really, really like your frontend and I would love to donate when everything runs satisfactory.

Kind regards,

Uncle

[bsailors]

Hi Tom,

First of all thanks a lot for making such a great frontend!

Before donating the $19+ I have a few tecnical issues that needs to be solved:

- - -

PC specs:

AMD Sempron 3000+, 1GB Geil RAM, ArcadeVGA (latest Radeon 9200 based version), J-Pac, Hantarex Polo/3 monitor. Running WinXP SP2 and .net 1.1. Everything is 100% stable. My machine is build into an arcade cabinet.

The XP installation has been done on a fresh harddisk and the system has only been used for MAME, nothing else ... WinXP boots directly into MAME. The machine is not connected to the internet. No antivirus or other memory resident software is running in the background. GameEx will only be used for MAME.

- - -

With that out of the way here goes:

1.

When I run games directly from MAME32 (latest version), nearly all games run nice and smooth (the framerate is as it should be). But when I use GameEx as the frontend for MAME32, emulation (of the very same games) becomes a lot slower. Even relative simple games such as Hook and all Neo-Geo games suffer greatly.

I've tried to remove the MAME32 syntax (triplebuffer etc.) within the configuration tool, but that doesn't improve things. It seems rather strange. What can I do?

2.

Furthermore some of the games (including all CPS games) appear with huge black borders all around (top, bottom, left & right) - this does not happen, when run directly from MAME32. Is there a way to fix this or is there a way to tell GameEx to leave the resolution stuff up to MAME32? (Within GameEx configuration, I've selected ArcadeVGA, set the resolution to the values recomended: ArcadeVGA, 640, 288, etc.).

- - -

It should be said that the GameEx frontend itself runs perfectly, smoothly and with no problems at all. And the same goes for MAME32.

Hope you can help me solve these problems as I really, really, really like your frontend and I would love to donate when everything runs satisfactory.

Kind regards,

Uncle

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Just curious, you said mame32 is in the startup. Is it running when you start game ex? If so, take mame32 out of the starup, and put game ex there instead.

Game-ex calls mame32 and if mame is already running, I beleive it simply calls another instance of mame32. This would explain your slowdown.

I am a noob at game ex, but I did run into this problem as well, and what I outlined above fixed my issue.

[uncle]

Nope. I have removed MAME32 from the startup and replaced it with GameEx instead.

[emphatic]

Check this thread out:

http://www.gameex.info/forums/index.php?showtopic=1316

I think it may be of use for you, because it seems to me like the settings you've set in MAME32 doesn't "migrate" to Gamex running MAME32.

Hope this solves your little problem so you can give Tom some money.

Emph

[uncle]

What a great evening I've had. Just for kicks I decided to try out the regular version of MAME instead of MAME32 together with GameEx.

Loaded the GameEx Configuration tool. Changed mame32.exe to mame.exe... saved the config, fired up GameEx, crossed my fingers and started a game.

And guess what: Now everything works perfectly! No more slowdown. No more big black border on CPS games... All problems are gone!

Hope this will help users who run into the same problems as I did.

I love this frontend. I love you Tom Speirs.

ArcadeVGA mode + "Default - Dark Gloss" skin + Smallest Verdana + "Display Title (Arcade Mode)" = No - suits my needs perfectly.

Will donate money this week :-)

How does it work btw, do I get a password?, do I get a new serial?, do I need to donate again when a new version becomes available?

Keep up your great work!

[Tom Speirs]

How does it work btw, do I get a password?, do I get a new serial?, do I need to donate again when a new version becomes available?

Keep up your great work!

Thanks for the words, glad your having fun.

You will get a key in your email, and I have no plans at the moment to ask people to donate again for newer versions.