Need help with game names on list

[Tempest]

I have given this more thought, and I really think that this should work. Let's think about this for a minute. Using the first line from the AAE.map file as an example:

alienst|Aliens (Tempest Prototype)

You pick 'Aliens (Tempest Prototype)' from the list of AAE games, and GameEx builds a command using alienst as the ROMFILE. A typical emulator setup uses "ROMPATH"/"ROMFILE" as the location of the rom. ROMFILE is the name of rom including extension, so you end up with MYDRIVE:\MYROMPATH\alienst.zip

If we use the second suggestion I made above: D:\My Rom Folder\Name Of Game\Game.iso|Name That I Want To Display We can see that we are actually providing too much information. I think that you should use Name Of Game\Game|Name That I Want To Display in the map file. GameEx would replace 'Name That I Want To Display' which is the ROMFILE portion of the path with Name Of Game\Game

Your command would include the standard path "ROMPATH"\"ROMFILE" and the result should be:

D:\My Rom Folder\Name Of Game\Game.iso

While testing this, turn on debug mode and you will see the commands that are being sent from GameEX. You may need to make adjustments if part of the path is missing, or duplicated.

I really want to see you get this working.

Edited March 31, 2014 by Tempest
Clarity

[uberpubert69]

I have given this more thought, and I really think that this should work. Let's think about this for a minute. Using the first line from the AAE.map file as an example:

alienst|Aliens (Tempest Prototype)

You pick 'Aliens (Tempest Prototype)' from the list of AAE games, and GameEx builds a command using alienst as the ROMFILE. A typical emulator setup uses "ROMPATH"/"ROMFILE" as the location of the rom. ROMFILE is the name of rom including extension, so you end up with MYDRIVE:\MYROMPATH\alienst.zip

If we use the second suggestion I made above: D:\My Rom Folder\Name Of Game\Game.iso|Name That I Want To Display We can see that we are actually providing too much information. I think that you should use Name Of Game\Game|Name That I Want To Display in the map file. GameEx would replace 'Name That I Want To Display' which is the ROMFILE portion of the path with Name Of Game\Game

Your command would include the standard path "ROMPATH"\"ROMFILE" and the result should be:

D:\My Rom Folder\Name Of Game\Game.iso

While testing this, turn on debug mode and you will see the commands that are being sent from GameEX. You may need to make adjustments if part of the path is missing, or duplicated.

I really want to see you get this working.

Ok so I was doing as you suggested and it seemed things were working, but I am having a problem and I think I know what it is. When I try to add my games via mapfile, I did it correctly the first time having my map full of game.iso|zelda game.iso|metroid and the problem with that is gameex will take the first name in that list and apply it to every game because all of their names are game.iso. So when I go to play Metroid it shows up as metroid but when you go play its zelda because its the first game in the map list. When I do what you suggested, the MAP file doesnt point GameEx in the right directory so it plays its last configuration so I get nowhere because all I get is zelda lol I think I'm doomed

[Tempest]

Try deleting your .cache files. and make sure to use: Name Of Game\Game|Name That I Want To Display in your map file. Do not include .iso. You would only need two entries in the map file to test.

After trying to run a game post the contents of your runitgame.bat.

[Tempest]

I am testing this theory. I shall return.

[uberpubert69]

Try deleting your .cache files. and make sure to use: Name Of Game\Game|Name That I Want To Display in your map file. Do not include .iso. You would only need two entries in the map file to test.

After trying to run a game post the contents of your runitgame.bat.

That might be what I did wrong was I had .iso at the end. But I did delete my Cashe files a couple times.. the runitgame.bat would just show the directory for zelda every time I played any game. I'll try again without the .iso extention at the end and let you know if I succeed

[uberpubert69]

I tried using the format Metroid Prime 2 Echoes\game|Metroid Prime 2 Echoes and this is what happens

C:\GameEx>chcp 65001
Active code page: 65001

C:\GameEx>Q:

Q:\>CD "Q:\Emulators\Dolphin"

ECHO is on.


Dolphin.exe -e "I:\Games\game"

ECHO is on.


Q:\Emulators\Dolphin>PAUSE
Press any key to continue . . .

[uberpubert69]

I am testing this theory. I shall return.

I take it you've had little to no success?

[DazzleHP]

Dolphin.exe -e "I:\Games\game"

There seems to be a problem with the paths (i'm trying to grasp your rather complex situation here ). So you have the rompath setup as I:\Games correct? And in your .map file you have for example Metroid Prime 2 Echoes\game|Metroid Prime 2 Echoes? It seems the game folder path (highlighted blue) is not being sent. The command should read:

Dolphin.exe -e "I:\Games\Metroid Prime 2 Echoes\game" (assuming you launch Metroid)

Did you try Metroid Prime 2 Echoes\game.iso|Metroid Prime 2 Echoes? I know i'm not being too helpful here - i'm just trying to point out what is happening I've not seen a map file used in this manner before so i'm learning with you

[uberpubert69]

There seems to be a problem with the paths (i'm trying to grasp your rather complex situation here ). So you have the rompath setup as I:\Games correct? And in your .map file you have for example Metroid Prime 2 Echoes\game|Metroid Prime 2 Echoes? It seems the game folder path (highlighted blue) is not being sent. The command should read:

Dolphin.exe -e "I:\Games\Metroid Prime 2 Echoes\game" (assuming you launch Metroid)

Did you try Metroid Prime 2 Echoes\game.iso|Metroid Prime 2 Echoes? I know i'm not being too helpful here - i'm just trying to point out what is happening I've not seen a map file used in this manner before so i'm learning with you

Yes my MAP file looks like this

G2ME01 Metriod Prime 2 Echoes\game|Metroid Prime 2 Echoes

G2VE08 Viewtiful Joe 2\game|Viewtiful Joe 2

The game folder indeed is not being targeted. and if I have it set up as game.iso|(Any game) I find that it will load the first folder in my Games folder which happens to be the folder containing Zelda Ocarina of Time/Master Quest and will only load Zelda. Tempest told me to leave out .iso

[DazzleHP]

Yes my MAP file looks like this

G2ME01 Metriod Prime 2 Echoes\game|Metroid Prime 2 Echoes

G2VE08 Viewtiful Joe 2\game|Viewtiful Joe 2

The game folder indeed is not being targeted. and if I have it set up as game.iso|(Any game) I find that it will load the first folder in my Games folder which happens to be the folder containing Zelda Ocarina of Time/Master Quest and will only load Zelda. Tempest told me to leave out .iso

Ok i had spark of brain activity - do you by any chance have scan subfolders on? Try turning it off.

[uberpubert69]

Ok i had spark of brain activity - do you by any chance have scan subfolders on? Try turning it oi

I have done so, and it appears to have had no effect. :/

[DazzleHP]

I have done so, and it appears to have had no effect. :/

OK, so what happens now if you use game.iso with scan subfolders turned off? We will get you sorted!

[uberpubert69]

OK, so what happens now if you use game.iso with scan subfolders turned off? We will get you sorted!

the same thing happens except the command line says game.iso instead of game. I also tried adding a \ at the very beginning like \metroid\game.iso to see if it would add the folder to the command but it doesn't

[DazzleHP]

the same thing happens except the command line says game.iso instead of game. I also tried adding a \ at the very beginning like \metroid\game.iso to see if it would add the folder to the command but it doesn't

Damn, that was my next great idea but you already thought of it I don't understand why the full path is not being sent!

[nullPointer]

Hey just for the shiggles, would you try modifying an entry in your map file to look like this:

Metroid Prime 2 Echoes\\game|Metroid Prime 2 Echoes

And just to avoid confusion, yes I want you to put twin backslashes into the map file. I'm wondering if the behavior you're currently experiencing has to do with the way GameEx is parsing the directory string. In some DotNet languages when you create a Path variable from a path String you actually use twin slashes like that. The first slash is an escape character whereas the second one is actually the directory separator.

Any hoo, give that a shot and post the contents of your runitgame.bat (or the debug mode output) again if it doesn't work. It might be a long shot but I'm genuinely curious about this one. If it gets you closer but still doesn't fully work, you may still need to add ".iso" to the end of the image your name as Dazzle suggested.

[uberpubert69]

Hey just for the shiggles, would you try modifying an entry in your map file to look like this:

Metroid Prime 2 Echoes\\game|Metroid Prime 2 Echoes

And just to avoid confusion, yes I want you to put twin backslashes into the map file. I'm wondering if the behavior you're currently experiencing has to do with the way GameEx is parsing the directory string. In some DotNet languages when you create a Path variable from a directory String you actually use twin slashes like that. The first slash is an escape character whereas the second one is actually the directory separator.

Any hoo, give that a shot and post the contents of your runitgame.bat (or the debug mode output) again if it doesn't work. It might be a long shot but I'm genuinely curious about this one. If it gets you closer but still doesn't fully work, you may still need to add ".iso" to the end of the image your name as Dazzle suggested.

I have tried both of these formats

I:\\Games\\G2ME01 Metriod Prime 2 Echoes\\game.iso|Metroid Prime 2 Echoes

G2VE08 Viewtiful Joe 2\\game|Viewtiful Joe 2

They both have this with the exception of a .iso not there for Viewtiful Joe 2

C:\GameEx>chcp 65001

Active code page: 65001

C:\GameEx>Q:

Q:\>CD "Q:\Emulators\Dolphin"

ECHO is on.

Dolphin.exe -e "I:\Games\game"

ECHO is on.

Q:\Emulators\Dolphin>PAUSE

Press any key to continue . . .

[DazzleHP]

Good call null! See it pays to know a bit about coding I just had a thought though - wouldn't the double brackets need to be here?:

\\Metriod Prime 2 Echoes\game|Metroid Prime 2 Echoes

As it is the first part being trimmed? It just makes sense in my brain but i know nothing of coding!

EDIT - i see you tried that too. Damn this one is tricky!

[nullPointer]

... I just had a thought though - wouldn't the double brackets need to be here?:

\\Metriod Prime 2 Echoes\game|Metroid Prime 2 Echoes

As it is the first part being trimmed? It just makes sense in my brain but i know nothing of coding!

Ha! I was just typing up the same thing. I'm not too sure about the twin slashes now, but I'm definitely curious about the leading slash bit

Uberpuber ... have you tried using a leading slash at the beginning of your directory path in the map file?

\Metroid Prime 2 Echoes\game|Metroid Prime 2 Echoes

You might also try with the twin slashes but if you do just remember you would need to replace both slashes with doubles.

[uberpubert69]

Ha! I was just typing up the same thing. I'm not too sure about the twin slashes now, but I'm definitely curious about the leading slash bit

Uberpuber ... have you tried using a leading slash at the beginning of your directory path in the map file?

\Metroid Prime 2 Echoes\game|Metroid Prime 2 Echoes

You might also try with the twin slashes but if you do just remember you would need to replace both slashes with doubles.

Indeed I have. And nothing changed. But when I put scan subfolders back on with my map file like this

\\G2ME01 Metriod Prime 2 Echoes\\game.iso|Metroid Prime 2 Echoes

I got this

C:\GameEx>chcp 65001

Active code page: 65001

C:\GameEx>Q:

Q:\>CD "Q:\Emulators\Dolphin"

ECHO is on.

Dolphin.exe -e "I:\Games\D43P01 The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time Master Quest

\game.iso"

ECHO is on.

Q:\Emulators\Dolphin>PAUSE

Press any key to continue . . .

Like I said before, Zelda is the first folder in my Games Folder. So gameex is loading the first Game.iso it finds, not the one that I am trying to point it to.

[DazzleHP]

OK so i think we can gather that scan subfolders needs to be off after all the tweaking you have done - it seems to be the reason it is choosing the very first game.iso it finds. How do we get it to send the full path though??

At this point it would probably be easier to hack Loader GX into using No-Intro naming! LOL

[nullPointer]

Man it seems like you've tried just about everything. Who knows we may be dealing with a bug, but OTOH we are out on the edge of trying to hack additional functionality into the map file. Just out of curiosity, would you mind posting the contents of your emulator config as it stands currently?

[uberpubert69]

Man it seems like you've tried just about everything. Who knows we may be dealing with a bug, but OTOH we are out on the edge of trying to hack additional functionality into the map file. Just out of curiosity, would you mind posting the contents of your emulator config as it stands currently?

Hope this helps lol. pretty sure my Gamecube emulator is emu8

GameEx.ini

[nullPointer]

Yeah I have to admit I'm at a bit of a loss here. Currently at least it seems like the Map file solution is at a bit of a deadend. Completely switching gears, it would be a fairly straightforward (if not a bit tedious) task to simply create a .bat file for each game, where the bat file would contain the command to start up the game itself. This is actually a pretty old trick for running PC games through GameEx. You could give this a shot:

• Create a a new directory for housing your bat file(s) (for the purposes of this example let's make it "I:\Games\BAT)
• Create a bat file for one game. Open notepad, and save a new file called "Metriod Prime 2 Echoes.bat" to your new directory
• Enter the following command into your batch file and save it
  Dolphin.exe -e "I:\Games\G2ME01 Metriod Prime 2 Echoes\\game.iso"
• Create a new emulator entry in the GameEx setup wizard. The key entries here will contain the following:
  ROMFilter=*.bat
  RomPath=I:\Games\BAT
  WorkingPath=I:\Games\BAT
  Command="[ROMPATH]\[ROMFILE]"

From there I think you could be off and running. It's been a while since I've done anything like this, but I can't remember any hidden gotchas. It may be worth a shot. If anything it will take your mind off of map files for a bit!

[DazzleHP]

I was going to suggest the same thing!

Yeah I have to admit I'm at a bit of a loss here. Currently at least it seems like the Map file solution is at a bit of a deadend. Completely switching gears, it would be a fairly straightforward (if not a bit tedious) task to simply create a .bat file for each game, where the bat file would contain the command to start up the game itself. This is actually a pretty old trick for running PC games through GameEx. You could give this a shot:

• Create a a new directory for housing your bat file(s) (for the purposes of this example let's make it "I:\Games\BAT)
• Create a bat file for one game. Open notepad, and save a new file called "Metriod Prime 2 Echoes.bat" to your new directory
• Enter the following command into your batch file and save it
  Dolphin.exe -e "I:\Games\G2ME01 Metriod Prime 2 Echoes\\game.iso"
• Create a new emulator entry in the GameEx setup wizard. The key entries here will contain the following:
  ROMFilter=*.bat
  RomPath=I:\Games\BAT
  WorkingPath=I:\Games\BAT
  Command="[ROMPATH]\[ROMFILE]"

From there I think you could be off and running. It's been a while since I've done anything like this, but I can't remember any hidden gotchas. It may be worth a shot. If anything it will take your mind off of map files for a bit!

[nullPointer]

Ha! As I was typing out the steps I was actually wondering if you would beat me to the suggestion! Brother from another mother indeed!

I would have preferred to have the map file working, but if this is what it takes to make it work so be it! I was a bit concerned about additional watched processes which may come to bear, but I think we're good here as I believe the batch window will stay open as long as the launched process (Dolphin) is still running. If it works (or even if it almost works) there may still be a bit of room for fine tuning.