[RESOLVED] Learning Curve = Really High and for 2 days I cannot make steam work

[Adultery]

@NP: Mine is installed in the default location and I don't have any permissions issues. But I have UAC disabled on my rig.

[slavearm]

I disabled UAC on mine straight from the get go. .

I am logged in as admin, and have tried running GameEX as admin.

System does have full control to the folder where gameex is installed.

Moving Steam Now

[slavearm]

Steam moved to c:\steam. SSDD (same s#!t different day).

[slavearm]

Is it possible I have a bad registration key? Nag screen goes away. What version of IE are you guys running? I did not let my win7 upgrade beyond 9. Is there a way to force it to sort of relook for games, or does it do that everytime it launches?

[Draco1962]

I wouldn't focus on IE as it has no bearing. DId you reinstall the reg key after you uninstalled/reinstalled GameEx? While it may be possible, I find it unlikely that the reg key would be suspect. Are you running a full registered version of Win 7 (not an nlited or otherwise modified version)?

[slavearm]

full blown windows 7 64bit Ultimiate edition with service pack 1. Already activated, purchased via my microsoft store account. I reinstalled the key a couple of times... just tried installing it again and then running GEX. Same result. Under emulated games, I just see All Games, [Arcade] Naomi, [Arcade] Atomiswave, and GameEX Arcade.

[slavearm]

About ready to bust out a fatality on this thing. Is there a debug option or something?

[nullPointer]

That's part of the reason we ask to see the log. If there was an error happenning with GameEx, the log would show it. That's why we keep asking questions about factors external to GameEx, as GameEx seems to be running fine according to the available information.

@Adultery & Draco: Any chance this could be some kind of weird caching issue?

[slavearm]

I got an idea. I just dug through the GameEX\Media\Steam\Wrappers\ and noticed there is a list of what seem to be Steam App ID.exe files. I went to steamdb and noticed that none of my installed steam games have a wrapper. Do they need one? Also, the date the wrappers were last updated appears to have been in 10/4/2012.

[Adultery]

Who knows, he's got me stumped here...

@OP: Remind me, what's your GameEx install path? And you have Steam installed in C:/Steam right?

You shouldn't need wrappers for most games...

[slavearm]

c:\GameEx

c:\Steam

Is there a cheap steam game that you have that you know works? I would be happy to buy, download, and install to see if that makes it all gravy.

Games I currently have installed through steam:

-StreetFighterIV: Arcade Edition

-Skullgirls

-King of Fighters XIII (13)

I tell you, the crazy thing here... I have uninstalled, reinstalled, blown out the whole OS once even. That is why I was concerned it might be a 13.20 issue, or maybe even a steam update.

[Adultery]

Just to be clear, these games you have installed in Steam, are they just Windows games you imported in from your own library or games you bought off the Steam store?

[slavearm]

These are steam games I have purchased through the steam store, then installed via steam, then ran a couple of times to get through the steam initial game play. When I want to play one outside of GE, I have 2 options. I have a shortcut that steam created on my desktop that points to steam://<appid> or I can launch the steam client directly, then go to my library of games, then double click or right click on it > select play.

[Draco1962]

Current system: Windows 8.1 Pro x64 with GameEx 13.20 and Steam installed - no issues.

Prior system: Windows 7 Pro x64 SP1 with GameEx 13.20 and Steam installed - no issues.

The fact that it isn't creating a steamdata.ini file on your setup is definitely of concern. Using Regedit, look to see if you show keys and entries under any or all of the following:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\GameEx]

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\GameEx]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\GameEx]

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\GameEx]

In the mean time, I am going to alert Tom to see what he might recommend as this is not a global issue with the version or else we'd all be impacted by the same issue.

[Draco1962]

@null - I meant to respond prior. I don't think it is a caching issue at this point. I am not sure what the deal is, but the fact that the steamdata.ini file is not even being created leads me to believe that, until that file is built (menaing that there is a link between GameEx and Steam established) that there will be no attempt at creating a corresponding cache.

[slavearm]

Current system: Windows 8.1 Pro x64 with GameEx 13.20 and Steam installed - no issues.

Prior system: Windows 7 Pro x64 SP1 with GameEx 13.20 and Steam installed - no issues.

The fact that it isn't creating a steamdata.ini file on your setup is definitely of concern. Using Regedit, look to see if you show keys and entries under any or all of the following:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\GameEx]

--Both a user and key value

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\GameEx]

--the entries for install location, key, and user look accurate. Also a bunch of other things about currentvideo

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\GameEx]

-key and user entries here again

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\GameEx]

--here we have the key again, a pass entry which I assume is a form of my steam password, a SetupInstalled = True value, my correct SteamUser=, and User = the same as the rest

In the mean time, I am going to alert Tom to see what he might recommend as this is not a global issue with the version or else we'd all be impacted by the same issue.

Responses above about the registry entries.

[slavearm]

For giggles, anyone have an older version laying around?

[Draco1962]

An older version won't remedy this issue if it is a regkey problem or environmental. Sorry, but I believe you are grasping at straws with that request.

[slavearm]

How about this. The steam support appears to be a bit suspect. Here is why. I just installed GE on my desktop PC where I have a pile of steam games installed. Most just recently. The only game that shows up at all is BioShock Infinite in steam games. I even tried to them manually alter the steamdata.ini with the AppID of KOFXIII just to get it to show up... but no dice. So now, I am trying to install BioShock Infinite on my new arcade box to see if that is the issue, but that will take a few hours for me to know for sure (its freaking huge).

So if this is the issue, what is the best approach to get the games into GE one way or another?

If this is something that needs some coding work, what would need to happen? I am brilliant in python, and I get by in a few other languages. More than willing to help.

[Adultery]

Well if you wanted a quick fix, make .lnk files of the games and put them in a folder. Name them however you would like them to appear in the game list. Then create a new emulator. Use the link folder as the working path, set the rom filter as *.lnk, and set the command line as "[RomPath]\[RomFile]"

You can set the rest of the options that you would like, such as the artwork directories.

That will at least get you by for the time being. :-)

[slavearm]

One more question. If you guys install a steam game right now... would you expect it to show up in your list of steam games the next time you launched GE?

[slavearm]

Man... I really want to do some cartwheels.

[Adultery]

Yeah it shows up as soon as it gets installed. For me anyways. :-)

[Draco1962]

That's how it works for me as well. Install a game through Steam - load GameEx and there's the game. I think that the workaround Adultery gave is probably the best for the time being, but I really hope we are able to get to the bottom of the issue.

Let us know if the same issue occurs on your other machine. If it does, can you tell us if you are running a firewall via your router or software firewall on each machine, and, if so, what firewall software?

[slavearm]

So that one doesnt show up on the arcade machine either. No firewall is installed on either machine. UAC is disabled. I checked the logs of my external firewall, and nothing but accepts.

Does anyone know how GE works in relation to steam? Because it will take me days to run it through a sandbox and reverse engineer the entire process, at which point in time, I might as well start writing my own plugin.