GameEx and HyperLaunch Working!!

[Krakerman]

Well today I have finally setup and got HyperLaunch's Beta 3.1.0.3 up and running within GameEx. Really cool stuff here that you can now do within GameEx that was only possible within the Hyperspin Frontend before but now the guys have made HyperLaunch work with any FE. Was a bit tricky trying to figure out how this would work within GameEx as I've always used it in Hyperspin but with the help of Brolly, Bleasby and DJVJ (Thanks very much guys!!) I have got it up and running and have managed to not only launch just my games but able to use custom Bezels, Instruction Cards and HyperPause as well as all the other cool things that you could only do in Hyperspin but now doing it within GameEx.

Very cool!! Go check it out over at the HyperLaunch site.

Example on how to setup the command line within GameEx is:

HyperLaunch.exe -s "Atari 2600" -r "[ROMName]" -f "F:\GameEx\GameEx.exe" -p "GameEx"

-s "Atari 2600" = Will be the System Name that you setup in HLHQ (System.xml)

-f "F:\GameEx\GameEx.exe" = Path to your GameEx.exe

Note: This only works for the newest beta versions of HyperLaunch also make sure you setup GameEx as the default FE within HLHQ.

[ShankyMcStabber]

Let me know if you have any issues with HyperLaunch rarely not correctly shutting down after you exit an emulator.

It didn't happen often to me but it was often enough convinced me to migrate me completed Hyperspin setup over to GameEx (the unfixed bugs were the remaining reason I decided to switch).

[Krakerman]

So far no issues .... it shutdown correctly and exits back to GameEx smoothly the test that I have done so far. HyperPause works as well need to run more test on that feature but I have been able to enter and use all options in HyperPause and exit back to the game smoothly too.

Really diggin HyperLaunch so far within GameEx! Nice playing around with what I can do with it in GameEx while we wait for EVO plus I'm sure it will work within EVO too once it's released.

Note: Newest versions of HyperLaunch is still in beta but they are releasing updates and new/updated modules for emulators. Very good times ahead for sure for the GameEx community.

Also note that you no longer need Hyperspin installed to use HyperLaunch which is how I am using this currently as I have it installed in it's own folder called HyperLaunch.

[ShankyMcStabber]

I have been running the latest version of HyperLaunch. The 2 big offenders for me were Project64 and Dolphin. Those 2 systems seemed to cause the HyperLaunch script to not exit about 1 in 6 times (forcing the thread to be terminated in order to launch a new game).

I am tempted to use HyperLaunch to handle the systems I have in GameEx with multiple discs because HyperLaunch has much simplier support for Disc Switching.

[Krakerman]

Yeah the beauty of it is you can select which systems you want to use HyperLaunch or those you don't. If it doesn't work for you with a set system then don't use it for that system and the problem systems report the issues to HyperLaunch team as they will fix it if it's a bug within HyperLaunch or at least help you with the issues.

Yes I agree multi-game (disc) systems is better thru HyperLaunch but remember EVO will more than likely address that issue but again you have choices now within GameEx on what you want to use to launch your systems.

With all this new excitement of using HL now in GameEx and that I actually have it working I think I might get back into working on designing a new theme for my HTPC/Arcade/Pinball system.

Forgot to mention .... for HyperLaunch command line parameters look here.

[Krakerman]

Just to show you guys what can be done when using HL with GameEx here is a custom bezel project I have been working on with Hyperspin that will now be available to use in GameEx using HyperLaunch.

This is actual gameplay using a custom bezel I made. Each game can have a custom bezel and Instruction cards as well.

[Adultery]

I do something similar with RetroArch, which is why I dig that emulator so much.

Thanks for the share Krak.

[Zero Dreams]

Speaking of HyperLaunch, my theme is directly related to it. All of the backgrounds are 1080 which should give nice clarity during the loading screen, plus they added the Backgrounds folder which is absolutely perfect.

One glitch I've noticed in using GameEx & HyperLaunch is that not all emulators play nice with Show Desktop enabled. If you leave it disabled, you will get a quick flash of your desktop during the transition between the two. Enabled on some will overlay the emulator with a black canvas.

For me, here's one of my favorite HyperLaunch uses. I know a picture would suffice but a quick video is more interesting.

I can't drive two cars at the same time.

[Krakerman]

I been thinking of moving alot of systems over to retroarch and bizhawk. The Atari LYNX pic that you see was using Mednafen.

All my themes are 1920x1080 as well as I run everything on a HDTV. I found out Stella so far isn't playing nice with the bezel feature so might have to switch that over to retroarch as that works with bezels.

[Zero Dreams]

Unfortunately for me I've only got one system setup for RetroArch and I've heard quite a few people switching as many systems as possible to it. Not sure how it handles bezels but the word on the street is the emulation quality is excellent.

I need to put the Mednafen down and step away from it but it's hard because it's so easily integrated and doesn't look bad at all.

[Adultery]

Well fwiw it took some time to get retroarch added but it works so well it's completely worth the effort.

I haven't looked at bizhawk yet but I will at some point.

I believe RA uses Handy for the Lynx core but it may have mednafen too. I'm not sure offhand.

[Krakerman]

BizHawk is very easy to setup. I use it for Colecovision and a few others. Runs and looks good too.

[Krakerman]

Just a quick correction for the command line (Should read):

HyperLaunch.exe -s "Atari 2600" -r "[ROM]" -f "F:\GameEx\GameEx.exe" -p "GameEx"

[Krakerman]

If you have HyperSpin setup with GameEx using RocketLauncher (formerly HyperLaunch) it makes running your systems even easier as GameEx plugin support is not yet finished but for those that have HyperSPin installed already you can just use this command line within GameEx:

HyperLaunch.exe -s "Atari 2600" -r "[ROM]"

Where you see Atari 2600 you can just put the name of the system you are trying to launch and boom! your good to go and as for the working path just point it to your HyperSpin folder (example):

C:\HyperSpin

For those who are new to RocketLaunch you might wanna read up on it on there site so you understand how it works before using it. It is a little more advanced but very easy to get working as long as you understand on how to set it up and get it working. It works with any FrontEnd not just HyperSpin as I use it for everything within GameEx plus it brings much much more to the table than just launching your games.

Good Luck!

[aldub516]

I wish this all wasn't so ahead of my understanding I'm still trying to kill these issues on my regular gamex run system.

[aldub516]

ill ask an ignorant question if you dont mind. The ONLY reason i wish i had a hyperspin set up was to use all that nifty art and menus that it has, with all those game overlays and such. Does this method somehow allow that? I dont really understand the relationship and how gameex gains new features through hyperlaunch. I remember reading about gameex evo and how those game menu bezels would be a feature, but someone explained thats not the case, and just some workaround from hyperspin? Basically im just asking what relationship do the two programs have to eachother, does one launch and work in the backround of the other? And what gameex features are actually gained or useable with this method. I dont even want to begin to learn about it just yet, but it seems intriguing.

[Krakerman]

RocketLauncher does not allow GameEx to display those fancy themes that will be a EVO feature however it does allow you to have custom bezels for any emulator and on a game by game basis as well. A more advanced way to launch your games with more options but there truly are so many features I would just say goto there website and read up on it as there are alot of features.

It really compliments GameEx by adding more features that you can have. In the current version of GameEx you could setup HyperSpin as an external application and run it thru GameEx that way if you want to have and see those fancy themes.

RocketLauncher is not a frontend let me just clarify that. Go check it out it's pretty fricking awesome using it with GameEx. Gives this community more options which is a good thing.

So while we wait for EVO and you want more toys/options/features to have in the current version of GameEx then look at adding RocketLauncher to GameEx.

[Draco1962]

But.. get your stuff working well within GameEx first, please! I know, I am the wet blanket on the Rocket Launch suggestion, and it may be cool after everything else is sorted and running well.

[Krakerman]

Any more future questions regarding RocketLauncher I suggest sending them over to the RL forums.

I would also recommend taking Draco's advice get your systems up and running first in GameEx then I would play around with RL and see what it brings to the table for you.

Thanks Draco good advice for the newbies just starting using GameEx should understand how it works and get it up and running first before trying more advanced setups.

[Krakerman]

Me personally have not setup Raine within RocketLauncher however with that said RocketLauncher does have a raine module and supports bezels from looking at the module code so I would say more than likely yes you can.

[kicker75]

I have over 35 systems configured to run thru rocketlauncher and gameex... I made a guide about it if you are interested and having a hard time with it. It also deals with the transition from gameex to RL and back.

I have neogeo cd setup thru neoraine in rl. Rocketlauncher makes everything easy to use. Download emulator, sometimes you need to fire it up once to configure a few things, then you let rl do its magic.

I even run the sorted mame list thru rl... and my emulator of choice is retroarch... running about 95% of my systems.

edit: in the guide I wrote last week about rl, I also show how to run the sorted mame list (i also run daphne thru rl... makes it much easier to configure in gameex... as you dont need to configure each framefile... you just delete the line since its not needed..)