[RESOLVED] Gameex and Mess Vectrex getting mad....

[repetto74]

Hi ,

I want to set up the Vectrex emulation with Gameex but I can't get any rom to load from Gameex. Loading the roms from Mess GUI will work good. I have been through some posts here but are only related to the overlay issue.

I am using this command line in the Wizard :mess.exe vectrex -cart "[ROMPATH]\[ROMFILE]" -view "[ROM]" -joy -now -nonewui. My paths to the rom folder and mess exe are good.

I did ask initially to use the Gameex Vectrex database but then I have switched off this option but I noticed the gamelist is still unchanged??

Roms are in the VEC format and are working with Mess.

Thanks,

[nullPointer]

Hi Repetto74

So far everything seems configured pretty well actually. It would be helpful to take a look at the emulator config you're using for Vectrex, as well as your log after having attempted to run it. Troubleshooting via runitgame.bat should also work pretty well for MESS. What happens when you follow the steps listed in item 4.B from the Help Thread? Is there any error output to the console?

One other shot in the dark - be sure that you have Zip/7-Zip/GoodMerge/RAR setting set to No.

[u-man]

Hi Repetto74,

if you are really a fan of Vectrex, i would not go the MESS route. Try PARAJVE, best Vectrex Emu on Earth. Far better than anything else. It nearly looks and feels like a real Vectrex and that is a big task. I wish the MAME Vector games would look like this. The shaders of ParaJVE are great, even better than AAE. Try it, you will like it for sure... just my 50cents .

http://vectrex-emu.blogspot.de/

[nullPointer]

Yeah I was going to suggest this as well. ParaJVE is the bomb for Vectrex emulation. There's even a setting to emulate the characteristic "hum" of the Vectrex system! Definitely my favorite Vectrex emulator. Couldn't hurt to give it a shot!

[repetto74]

Hi,

I will give ParaJVE a try for sure thanks.

Anyway I have used the RunitGame.bat command and here are the outcomes in the screenshot.

I do not understand why Mess is using a software list to launch a game? I never set this....

[DazzleHP]

Hi repetto,

I've never used MESS myself, but if it is at all like MAME then your romset will need to be named to match the version of MESS you are using. The reason it is spewing you that list it because it doesn't recognise "BERZERK" as a valid rom, therefore it shows you a list of what you might be trying to load. As you can see "berzerk" is there as a valid entry. Unfortunately as yours is capitalised it is just as unrecognisable as if it was called "IAMNOTAVALIDROM".

Is your romset the same version as your MESS? For example if you're using MESS 0.150 then you will need version 0.150 of the romset. If you are sure this is the case then you can use a rom manager such as RomCenter to rename your roms.

If you want to test it, just rename "BERZERK" to "berzerk" and try launching again. If it works then you will need to rename your whole set.

EDIT - i see you say it works through MessUI? Hmmm ok, you have double checked your paths? If so could you humor me and still try renaming BERZERK as mentioned?

[repetto74]

Hi DazzleHP

As far as I remember what is important for MESS is to have the correct BIOS Romset Vs the MESS version you are using. Cartridge image files can be used with any version of MESS whatever the source is (Goodump, No Intro, TOSEC). I confirm that Vectrex is running fine when started from the Mess GUI

I played a little bit more with the Gameex emulator settings and here are the outcomes:

First I tried to delete the MAP file Gameex was pointing at in the emu settings and noticed then that no roms could be found in the game list. I started wondering the roms extension are giving trouble with Gameex (they are in .VEC). I copied then the roms (BIN) from the ParaJVE package into my vectrex romfolder and here it is now Gameex is running MESS Vectrex good. I have just noticed the overlays will not display but I assume this is a common problem which can be fixed.

I have also given a try to ParaJVE, it looks very nice but I am having also an issue with it. When I quit ParaJVE with the ESC key I am back to the desktop instead of being sent back to Gameex ?? The desktop become also unresponsive and need to reboot.

Also I do not know if it is possible to set a different resolution in fullscreen mode....I am using a CRT arcade monitor and the image is way to flickery (640*480 I believe)...

[u-man]

I have also given a try to ParaJVE, it looks very nice but I am having also an issue with it. When I quit ParaJVE with the ESC key I am back to the desktop instead of being sent back to Gameex ?? The desktop become also unresponsive and need to reboot.

Also I do not know if it is possible to set a different resolution in fullscreen mode....I am using a CRT arcade monitor and the image is way to flickery (640*480 I believe)...

Hello again,

when i am done with work and home again, i can give you the right instructions to start and to leave ParaJVE from GameEx, i know that it need some special treatment, because it is a JAVA app. GameEx just see that you escaped ParaJVE but there is still something running in background (JAVA?) and then it is in a loop state with a unresponsive desktop.

or look here at post 27: http://www.gameex.info/forums/topic/9513-resolved-parajve/page-2?hl=parajve

as you see, there is a Process called Javaw. this is causing your troubles.

there is no way to tell ParaJVE to run in a particular resolution, so you have to check that you are running a suitable resolution (i.e. 320x240) prior start of ParaJVE, if you want to use your CRT without flickering. Maybe some guys here know a good solution of how to change the desktop-resolution via a commandline or something else, prior of starting ParaJVE .

[nullPointer]

Hi repetto

U-man is right that you'll need to setup an advanced config in GameEx to be able to properly exit ParaJVE (I believe this is true of most Java based emulators, since technically they all run through a virtual machine - the JVM). I imagine U-man will beat me to the punch, but I also have a working config for ParaJVE that I can post after work.

Regarding your initial issue with MESS, it seems to me that the "[ROMPATH]\[ROMFILE]" portion of that command should include a file extension (otherwise you would just use "[ROM]"). Are you using a custom map file for Vectrex?

Whichever route you choose, posting your emulator config will likely shed a bit more light as to what might be going wrong with either of these systems.

[repetto74]

Hi Nullpointer,

I am not using a MAP file for the MESS config but has stated on my previous mail I managed to get Mess Vectrex working now (I swaped the .vec roms with the .bin roms+no map file in the config)

I would be glad if either you or U-man can post a working config for ParaJVE as I have to admit it is far more good!

Thanks both for your help

[nullPointer]

Just a quick ping back on this particular issue. Turns out I had a working config for ParaJVE on my development machine (I don't run Vectrex on my main rig), but as of today I'm experiencing the same issue Repetto describes.

When I quit ParaJVE with the ESC key I am back to the desktop instead of being sent back to Gameex ?? The desktop become also unresponsive and need to reboot.

I'm wondering if this issue wasn't introduced by a Java update somewhere in the interim. It's noteworthy that I'm running an advanced config with Javaw set as an additional watched process. Even so, I want to point out that you don't actually need to reboot your system when it hangs like this - you simply need to open up the Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc) and kill GameEx. I'm looking into the nature of the problem but at the moment I'm honestly not sure what's causing GameEx to hang when ParaJVE exits. If I were to make a guess, something has changed in the way that ParaJVE used to be launched under Java 1.5 (the version of Java ParaJVE was written in) and the way it launches under current version of Java which is 1.7. If anything, I suppose you could always force ParaJVE to run under a legacy JVM. I might give that a shot.

At any rate, I didn't want to post an unverified config for this emulator. I'll report back if I discover anything.

[hardcorehubz]

Hi,

I have a similar issue. I'm using the advanced config provided as well as the map files. Games launch and play great! But upon escaping it just hangs with HideOS still open. I can hit escape on the keyboard a few times to get out of it but that kills GameEx too. Did you ever find any sort of solution?

[u-man]

the answer is in my post#8 in this thread. you need to be sure that the "Javaw" process in the taskmanager is terminated, if you leave ParaJVE. So read the posted link carefully (especially the last three posts) and do the same... it should work.

Keyword here is:

#Additional processes to wait to exit or close on exit. Dont include the .exe. Leave blank not to use.

Process1=Javaw
Process2=
Process3=
Process4=

[hardcorehubz]

Thanks that got it going!