Exiting a mame game without exiting Game Ex

[812MANY]

Hello, dusting off the arcade cab and starting with a fresh PC. It's been about 6yrs since my last build. I'm using vanilla mame .151 and the latest version of game ex. Here is my issue: when I exit a mame game with the esc key it also auto-exit's game ex. I have game ex setting to disable exit with esc key but it still persists. Any suggestions? Also what is a good alternative to regular mame if I'm using .151 set?

[nullPointer]

I may have a suggestion on this, but it will help immensely to know the lay of the land before diving in. The usual adage applies:

When reporting a possible GameEx bug or error, please ensure you submit a copy of your log.txt and gameex.ini file so we may quickly assist you. Please refer to this link for additional information. Thanks!