Media Center Interaction with GameEx

[RedDog]

I am having a minor annoyance with the interaction between Windows Media Center and GameEx.

I have a Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit PC (HTPC) connected to my TV that is primarily used with Windows Media Center to record and watch media. I also have GameEx installed on it.

The Windows Media Center client and service are set up to always be running and I would prefer it to be that way. However, whenever I exit GameEx, the Windows Media Center client also stops running a few seconds later. Fortunately, the service (for recording shows in the background) continues just fine.

I have the following options set in GameEx:

- Media Center Exit\Start Mode: No Media Center Interaction

- Exit GameEx if MCE Loaded: No don't check for ehshell process

The GameEx log file does not indicate to me if GameEx is prompting the WMC client to stop, yet the WMC client is definitely closing when GameEx closes. I browsed the Windows Event Viewer and was unable to find an entry for WMC indicating an error or that the client was closed.

Besides my HTPC, I also have WMC and GameEx running on my laptop (Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit). This sort of behavior occurs there as well (with the same GameEx WMC settings as above).

The attached log file is the result of the following steps:

- Start WMC and minimize

- Start GameEx

- Close GameEx as soon as it loads (by ESC, manual EXIT, or closing it at the taskbar)

- GameEx closes

- Approximately 2 seconds later, WMC closes

Anyone have any suggestions?

GameEx.ini

log.txt

[Kustom Kid]

I have a similar setup to yours. I went through and noted WMC (I think) settings differences between our GameEx.ini files. Try this because, who knows, it might be right. I changed the values in my setup to yours. I couldn't duplicate the problem, but it did act pretty weird.

Backup your GameEx.ini file to GameExOld.ini or something like that.

Search for "MediaCenterMode" and change the value to "2"

Search for "MediaCenterOpenCheck" and change the value to "true"

Save the new file as "GameEx.ini" and give her a go!

[RedDog]

Hi Kustom Kid,

The Parameters you suggested would be the same as the following settings in the Setup Wizard:

- Media Center Exit\Start Mode: Close and restart (recommended)

- Exit GameEx if MCE Loaded: Yes Exit if Home button pressed

Thanks for the suggestion, but it did not help my situation. These settings cause WMC to close if GameEx starts or GameEx to close if WMC starts. I did notice that the original programs did not restart after the interrupting program was closed (not sure if that is intentional or not).

My intention was that no interaction would take place between GameEx and WMC. If one opens, the other does not care (and vice-versa). I am making the assumption that when Media Center Exit\Start Mode is set to No Media Center Interaction, there should be no interaction. I can't see any other way to interpret the commands, but perhaps that is not completely accurate or perhaps it is not functioning as it should be.

[Kustom Kid]

Ahh well. I tried. I haven't really cracked into the GameEx.ini file before. I also didn't realize you were the one who asked the question. In hindsight I'm guessing you've already dug in under the hood.I'll see if I can recreate the problem tomorrow.

[RedDog]

Anyone else have a suggestion?