Moving/reinstalling GameEx to a new PC

[TheRuralJuror]

Hi everyone. I recently decided to replace my Mame PC. My new rig is in the mail so I thought I'd start researching the best way to transfer my GameEx setup to this new machine.

I guessing I'll need to start by installing GameEx fresh then running the registry key. After those steps I'm not sure what to do in order to maintain my settings that I made in my old computer.

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[tthurman]

Depending on what you're moving from, you could experience some permissions issues, say moving from XP for example.

You could copy the entire of your GameEx contents over.  Most important is to ensure that the directory tree is structured exactly the same, else you'll run into paths issues

It's pretty straight forward, but there's no denying that it can still be difficult.

[DazzleHP]

3 hours ago, TheRuralJuror said:

Hi everyone. I recently decided to replace my Mame PC. My new rig is in the mail so I thought I'd start researching the best way to transfer my GameEx setup to this new machine.

I guessing I'll need to start by installing GameEx fresh then running the registry key. After those steps I'm not sure what to do in order to maintain my settings that I made in my old computer.

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You basically said it yourself - in this kind of situation you'll have to do some hard work to get back to zero. It's not your fault, or anyone's in fact.

 

Bottom line is there is never gonna be a "sweet spot" for anything when it comes to hardware, software or anything inbetween. To believe so is incredibly naive and short-sighted. You MAY need to do certain things in order for us to help you, I would suggest you do that because this team is on the ball far more than anything you have experienced elsewhere, guaranteed. Just saying.

[RedDog]

9 hours ago, tthurman said:

Depending on what you're moving from, you could experience some permissions issues, say moving from XP for example.

You could copy the entire of your GameEx contents over.  Most important is to ensure that the directory tree is structured exactly the same, else you'll run into paths issues

I have reinstalled or transferred GamEx I don't know how many times usually because I had some great idea of how to organize stuff or because I had a new rig. Ultimately my advice to you would be the same as I would tell someone doing a new set. After the base install is done, do it in small steps; set one thing up and then confirm it works before moving on. Don't set up a whole bunch of stuff and then test at the end. Test general functionality first, then built-ins and mame (steam, videos, karaoke, etc), and then emulators.

As far as transferring a setup, this is what I generally do:

• Install the latest GameEx on the new rig
• Make sure you install every option you need during the GameEx install (databases, themes, arcade ambience, etc; if you are not sure, just install it)
• Run the setup wizard once and go through every single option using the defaults so GameEx can download and generate stuff it needs.
• Run GameEx. If it runs, let it generate other stuff that it wants to generate.
• Copy over your GameEx.ini to the CONFIG folder.
• Run the Setup Wizard and do your best to confirm that the paths are correct.
• Run GameEx and see if it starts. If it doesn't check the log.txt file for errors. If that is enough to help you fix it, then continue on.
• If it starts, test the built-in functions and Mame first (Kareoke, Videos, Jukebox, etc). If that stuff works, start testing the emulators outside GameEx one by one. Once you know an emulator works outside GameEx, test it inside GameEx.
• Lastly, let GameEx generate as much 'stuff' as it can on it's own. Don't copy every single file over from the old build.

However, there is one caveat I have to mention with transfers: GameEx has a lot of stuff going on under the hood and it is important to get the config right. Doing a transfer requires a degree of knowledge and some troubleshooting skills. If you run up against a wall, don't bang your head against it too long. It may be better to wipe and start over with a clean install and start from scratch than it is to troubleshoot a whole mess of things.

If you try to migrate an install and have a lot of errors, I think that most of the people here will probably suggest a clean install. I have done it many, many times myself, but I also am willing to take the time to troubleshoot my stuff...but I also have went with a fresh install at least once after trying a migration.

Whatever you decide, it's always fun to get a new rig that you can pimp out. Good luck with it.  

[TheRuralJuror]

Thanks for the advice! My plan of attack is to do a fresh install of GameEx, copy over the "old" .ini file, then copy/replace the old paths in the .ini file with the new paths. I've had some luck in the past batch editing the .ini file in this manner so it's worth another shot.

Again, big thanks to everyone that responded!

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