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Enable Video Previews/Snaps in GameEx


rtkiii

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I went digging through the Wizard under display options and I could have sworn I saw an "enable video snaps" somewhere in the early days of me messing with this amazing app(March 2013) but after 30 minutes today I cannot find anything. I'd like to check that out if someone knows how to easily enable it.

I did find something about showing video/image lists and I enabled "videos" but that did not seem to do what I wanted :)

Thanks again,

Rich

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You may be thinking of the Preview Videos setting found on the HTPC / Multimedia Settings screen in the Setup Wizard. Bear in mind this particular setting is directed at movies and videos in your Movies and TV path, rather than preview videos for games. Preview videos for games are simply dictated by whether there are video snaps to display. If you'd like to disable those simply leave your Video Snap Path blank for the applicable emulator.

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I don't think there is an enable/disable. I think it's just enabled by default. You just have to put media into a folder and have GameEx link to it in the given emulator settings in the Wizard. The enable/disable for video that I know is if you wanted to have GameEx work as a Media Center, and have it show things like music videos, movies, tv, etc.

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I had never used them before so I added one for Arknoid for testing purposes and it did not come up.

So I thought maybe there was a setting I was missing and went digging. I DLed it from emumovies and it is mp4 format. So my next question is to we need to convert this mp4 to avi or mpg for them to work with GameEx?

If so I can only hope they add mp4 compatibility with the next GameEx release. As I do not plan wasting time to convert to a lesser quality format and lose a ton of HDD space :)

Thanks

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Hey, yeah... GameEx supports mp4. Has for some time now. ;)

Not in theme editor it doesn't :)

So I guessed it did not support them at all. That is good news!

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I had this problem when I first started as well. Did you download and install the Shark007 codecs? That's what fixed it for me.

Just my $0.02. ;)

Man I hope this isnt the fix...I hate adding codecs I'm not too familiar with. I have quicktime and widows media player and those play the mp4s I make just fine so the PC should be good to go unless GameEx needs this additionally.

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So I downloaded BubbleBobble video and Arknoid. I put them in the designated folder I have set in MAME SETTNGS for GameEx and now instead of getting a still screen shot when I highlight those games I get nothing in the preview. If I remove the .mp4 files from the said folder and launch Game Ex then I get screen shots.

So to me GameEx sees there is something in there...but just is not playing the movie. I let it sit on BubbleBobble for a good 60 seconds and nothing came up. Thought maybe I was not being patient enough.

Maybe I'll give that codec a try.

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Remember, snaps (static or video) have to be named exactly the same as the ROM...

I was not aware of this as I normally just DL everything from the emumovies download tool directly into my artwork folders and they would just work(still images that is)....but I just checked and they are named the same as the ROM...still not loading. I'm going to give the codec a try and let you guys know.

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If ti makes you feel any better rtkiii, the author of the Shark007 pack has gone to rather great lengths to insure that they can be cleanly uninstalled as a single unit. Like you I was (and to a great extent still am) suspicious of unknown codec packs, but I really feel like Shark007 is one of good ones (maybe the only good one). I wouldn't endorse it if I felt otherwise, but this pack has never given me so much as a single hiccup.

Just be sure to follow the installation instructions which aren't hard to follow, but you do need to follow the proper order. The main thing is if you're installing the 64 bit codecs you need to install the 32 bit pack first, followed by the 64 bit components. If you uninstall them simply reverse the order (64 bit components then the 32 bit pack).

Good luck man, I have a feeling you may be pleasantly surprised! :)

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Shark007's codec is the best. I was in the same boat a while back, and didn't want to have to keep installing new codecs. I was tired of doing it, and was tired of fixing problems when they arose. I had already manually installed the CCCP (Combined Community Codec Pack) as well as manually installing DivX, XviD, Matroska, AC3Filter, FFDSHOW, etc. When GameEx officially started support for mp4, I went through and re-manually uninstalled all that and installed the Shark pack per Tom's suggestion. I'll never go back to anything else again. The pack installs cleanly and is super easy to configure for those tweakers out there. The best part is when you decide you want to update, you just uninstall and install the newest version. It remembers your previous settings so you don't have to re-tweak. Something I noticed when I recently (like about 2 weeks ago) updated, Shark is no longer using Matroska for the MKV HD movie file-splitting. They're now using LAV. I never heard of it before. So at first, I configured Shark to NOT USE LAV but rather use Matroska. Turns out, the LAV works so much better for everything, that I didn't even need to do that.

All in all, I love the Shark007 codec pack. Easy to install, configure, and maintain. It's not overly huge, has EVERYTHING you'll ever need, and it just plain WORKS with GameEx, which is a plus in my book!

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I think you smacked the nail into the noggin there Han. Most Windows users who tweak their system have at some point installed some stubborn codecs, that result in a complete OS re-install which is a PITA in anyones book. So naturally anyone with such an experience will be hesitant to take our advice on Sharks (or any for that matter) codecs. Hell i was, even after Tom himself pointed me toward them. Unfortunately, until there is some sort of video Utopia created where all OS's enjoy all vids with no intervention then we will have to rely on charisma and hard facts to persuade people to listen to us. In this case it was a win so i'll raise a glass to +1 who now knows that we don't recommend stuff unless we are sure it works :)

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