[RESOLVED]GameEX Crashes when loading theme screens

[RIP-Felix]

The issue:

I'm having trouble on my cabinet when moving between emulators, it sometimes freezes on loading the background/foregrounds, fails and loads the default background. Sometimes it just crashes and throws a direct x error (log & config attached). This is happening more often as I create the theme.

Some info that may be of help:

1. ​I'm unable to display the screen at native resolution of the theme (1080x1920). Instead it is reduced to 768x1366. This may add an extra layer of computing to compound the problem, and that's why I mention it.
2. Graphics is a Saphire Radeon HD 3800 series, CPU is not the issue (3.2GHz quad core), and I did download the most recent drivers from AMD (Direct X runtimes are current).
3. I just cleaned the computer of dust and increased my GPU's fan speed, which has aftermarket cooling on it.
4. I've had no issues with it on my HTPC (Radeon HD 7700 series).where I do most of the creation/reverse engineering for the theme (a vertscreen/portrait version of GameRoomEX v2). The screen resolution is set to 1152x648 and GameEX is set to rotate 90 degrees. I have to look at it sideways, but it works.

I hope this is not a sign of needing better graphics. However, as a side question, Is there a way to establish system requirements for themes? I will be releasing the theme, hopefully before summer's end, and would like to make a suggested minimum requirements section, if indeed graphics are more demanding.

GameEx.ini

log.txt

[Draco1962]

It may not be an issue of the need for increased GPU but the GPU (Radeon HD 3300) itself. I am assuming this is an onboard GPU. Have you considered taking the GPU from the PC that works and using it in place of the 3300 to rule-out an issue with that GPU (3300)?

[RIP-Felix]

it is a discrete card, but the motherboard does have on-board graphics. Hmm, it's possible that the on-board re-enabled itself (It was terrible to begin with and I disabled it in favor of the card). I do have a card in the HTPC I could theoretically try, but I will avoid doing so because it's very tight (Mini ITX) and it's been running well; I don't want to jynx it.

I'll have a look at the bios and make sure the PCI-e card is selected as the primary graphics option and not the on-board crap...

EDIT:

Ok, the PCI-e device is selected and working. It's a Saphire Radeon HD 3800 series. Still no change. I could try overclocking it...Ok, I overclocked it as much as AMD overdrive (built in functionality) would let me and it seemed to make it a little quicker (maybe psychosomatic) but it still crashes with same error.

[u-man]

Judging by your GameEx.ini, i would say, that the problem maybe lies in the resolution settings:

[General]
Xresolution=800
Yresolution=600
DisplayOnSecondary=False

All your resolution settings like 768x1366, sound really odd to me. What is your display resolution? Is it really capable of 1920x1080?

Is it a Monitor Display or a HDTV (cause it sound like a HDTV)?

What are your theme-resolution settings (check it via Theme-Editor) ?

If you setup your theme with 1920x1080 or 1080x1920 and your display can only show 768x1366, then you need to consider that your whole theme needs to be downscaled everytime. this can be resource hungry and causing problems, as you dont drive native resolutions.

If you intend a Vertical setup, then maybe its not good to start with 1080x1920, because you said GameEx to rotate it. I would start like with a normal 16:9 1920x1080 resolution, as GameEx will rotate it later into 1080x1920 anyway.

I think somewhere here is the error. Hope that are some suggestions for you, wish you good luck u-man

[DazzleHP]

Just to put some more ideas into the mix - have you tried changing the fullscreen/window options? For example there are options for GameEx to switch resolution, not switch resolution, run in fullscreen with no switch, run in fullscreen with switch, run in fullscreen window etc etc. I agree with u-man, the resloutions you are forced to don't seem to be the norm anyway, AND you're trying to create a vert theme too.

You could try making a quick copy of your theme and natively make it to your required resolution, just to see if it remedies anything, then you might get an idea if it really is your hardware playing up or something is happening during the rotation. Either way in my experience a lot themes glitch-out if not displayed at their created resolutions even if it's in the same aspect ratio. Then again only some do and others are fine

[Draco1962]

Have you tried creating a copy of your theme at the 768x1366 resolution to see if that remedies the issue? I know it is more of a test and not a solution but it may confirm something else along the way.

[DazzleHP]

Have you tried creating a copy of your theme at the 768x1366 resolution to see if that remedies the issue? I know it is more of a test and not a solution but it may confirm something else along the way.

Ninja! Hwahhhhhhhhhhhhhorrrrrrrrrrrrr

[Draco1962]

Yeah ya beat me to it (had to leave the keyboard to deal with a family issue).

[RIP-Felix]

Thanks guys. I'll give re-sizing the theme in the editor a try. Question, all the pngs are saved to 1080x1920. Do I need to to re-size each of them as well? I know it will just stretch them, but would it be better to make them smaller?

Just to be clear, I create the theme on my HTPC set to rotate 90 deg in gameex (for testing purposes only), works fine even though the computer is set to a different resolution; It has better specs. The issue is on my arcade cabinet, lesser specs, which is set to portrait in windows. No need for settings in gameex to rotate. The cabinet won't display at 1080x1920 otherwise I would do that. So i'm stuck with 768x1366 unless I get a better card. The only reason I mention the HTPC is because it's newer and doesn't have this issue, even though both are running windows resolutions different than the theme's native. I understand the confusion though.

[u-man]

To be honest, i dont understand a thing at all . Please keep that HTPC stuff away it just confuses more and explain me, what you want to do in your cab.

Which Resolution has your Display? Is it ´tated? Is it a monitor or Flat-TV?

Your card should be well enough for HDTV resolution. I am sure the problem is the strange resolution your display have.

Normally it should not be a problem, to use bigger grafics in a smaller theme, but in your case... everything matters, therefore i would resize all your grafics to the native resolution that is intended.

First find out, what resolution your display from your cab is capable of. Whats it native resolution?

good luck

[Draco1962]

Native resolution is a combination of the max the monitor will support and the GPU. Likely the GPU is not suspect here but the monitor which is buggerng things up. You would need to resize all images for the test theme to see if that "fixes" the issue. If so, then it is probably an issue with GameEx trying to scale the 1080x1920 to work with the 768x1366 resolution. What is puzzling is that both 1080x1920 and 1366x768 are 9:16 resolutions (or 16:9 resolutions when in standard landscape orintation for those that might be confuzzled). It is a possibility that there is an issue with GameEx handling the scaling for the portrait resolution. Besides testing a resized theme, do you have another 1080P monitor that you can try with the current theme to see if the same errors occur?

[RIP-Felix]

My HTPC is on a 40 inch plasma.:

While I was creating the 768x1366 version of my theme and testing on the HTPC, I encountered the same errors in GameEX I was having on my cabinet.

My cabinet is a 1080p 32" LCD:

My card can't display that high though. In fact the only resolution within reason it does support is 768x1366. It took me the last few hours, but I did manage to port it to a 768x1366 version, there're lots of systems to re-config. I also went ahead and re-sized all the images as well, so nothing should need re-sizing. I am pleased to report that did indeed fix the problem. There is no shudder when transitioning between screens like before (I assume because there is no re-sizing to do). Honestly, I'm not surprised. There are a lot of very detailed PNGs and each system has a foreground overlay. All that processing, is bound to cause problems. The cabinet has no issue with the 768x1366 version.

If I swap the 2 versions, I encounter the error.So that lends some evidence to the re-sizing Hypothesis

In light of this I will be releasing both versions of my vertscreen theme, between the 2 there should be compatability. I'll just have to instruct people to use the one closest to their resolution setting or try the other one if they experience problems.

Thanks for the help guys!

[u-man]

I am glad to hear, that your problem is gone, but I am still sure, that your graficscard in your cab setup (Radeon HD 3800 series) is capable to do 1920x1200, this is even from the AGP specs (which is a really old grafics-port):

Two integrated dual-link DVI display outputs

• Each supports 18-, 24-, and 30-bit digital displays at all resolutions up to 1920x1200 (single-link DVI) or 2560x1600 (dual-link DVI)

Is your 32" LCD a TV or a monitor? It may have to do with refresh rates, that you only got 1366x768. If you can, try to hook up your cab-pc to your 40" Plasma and see if you can push the 1920x1080.

However, I am pretty sure, this can be solved.

[RIP-Felix]

I have to use a VGA or the screen won't automatically sleep/wake when the computer is turned on/off. This being an Arcade cabinet, that's essential functionality. If I use the HDMI input it will display higher resolutions, but won't automatically turn on like it will with the VGA port, which is used mainly for PC's anyway and probably why VIZIO made it wake/sleep on VGA. HDMI doesn't work the same and I scoured the settings to find a way, but no luck. So, like I said I'm stuck with 768x1366 unless I get a better Card (which would be good for PCSX2). This of course is assuming VGA can output higher resolutions.

[Draco1962]

Downscaling the theme is a workable solution considering the GPU and monitor situation for now and I am glad you got it sorted! Now finish that )($ theme and play some games!