GameEx 12 to 14.49 Upgrade - Themes+Launch Broken

[N1K0S]

Heey Guys,

I bought a new subscription today but wasn't too pleased with the upgrading process. I installed 14.49 over an existing 12 installation but games wouldn't launch and the theme doesn't display correctly. I then proceeded to delete all generated files (everything but GameEx.ini) and reinstalled 14.49. I then rebuild the mame list. The following problems are still present:

- The theme does not display its background anymore (Its black) (And foreground on some emulator menus, at random)
- The application becomes black when changing views (and then crashes after finishing playing the current MP3 file)
- The screenshots take extremely long to load (about 4 minutes for ~30 screenshots, in current small snap grid view)
- The game video snaps are no longer displayed as background in game select (in emulator + mame)
- GameEx doesn't show the launch text i configured anymore (it shows status dialog)
- The Launch dialog keeps flashing but doesn't do anything
- No games can longer be launched (The screen goes black, crashes after MP3 file finishes)

To the best of my knowledge (checked GameEx.ini + Log.txt) All paths are setup correctly, the files are present, and worked before the upgrade

I am using Windows XP SP3+ on an x86 machine, and i am launching GameEx as an administrator (and the key file is registered in the registry)
(Some emulators have been switched around so it makes sense that emu_x =/= emu_x)

I searched the forums before posting but the topics resolved can't solve my issues. Are any of these problems known?
Any suggestion what might be wrong/what to do to fix these issues?

Thanks in advance,

Nikos

GameEx.ini

GameEx.UpgradeBackup.ini

log.txt

[MNMax21]

Without looking at much, I would suggest a few things.

You said things appear accurately placed.  I would just verify your snap file locations are entered correctly.  I'd use the GameEx Wizard and just make sure all the file locations are accurate.

I had a similar problem with a theme and ended up just having to use a different theme.  In regards to the background issues.  I'm not sure what happened, but it appeared to corrupt the theme file.  There is also an area in the wizard where you can choose what to show in the background.  I believe this is in the GameEx.ini file too, but I prefer changing things in the wizard.

[N1K0S]

Yes, the folders are setup correctly, as can be verified in the log.txt. I wasn't aware of the background settings in the wizard, im not at the machine right now, ill look into it tomorrow, thanks

[Draco1962]

I definitely suggest going Windows 8.1 or 10 when you can afford to upgrade your kit to do so as it is getting increasingly difficult to troubleshoot XP. If you did an update install, you may want to download and install over the top. Of course, backup your gameex.ini as a precaution.

[RedDog]

Hey N1K0S,

Depending on what version 12 you upgraded from, that is a 3.5 to 4.5 jump...the biggest I have seen. Your 'problems' could very well be a result of how far GameEx has come since you last updated. There very well could be a number of parameters in your config that are no longer used in the same way.

If it helps, how I have reinstalled in the past is to archive any files I want to keep (GameEx.ini at minimum), uninstall, manually delete any residual files, reboot, install GameEx, run the Setup Wizard to walk through each menu and disable all the 'top of the page' features, save, and then run GameEx. Give GameEx all the time it wants to generate files. After that, exit, copy the old GameEx.ini file over to the CONFIG directory, run the Setup Wizard, check for plugin upgrades, and run GameEx giving it plenty of time to generate files while you say a silent prayer...and then test.

If the above does not work I think you need to consider starting from scratch or disabling every feature you can and then slowly adding them back in (testing each in turn).

Also, don't forget to check your plugin versions. In 3 to 4 years, they probably have been updated. 

Lots o luck with this. I think you are in for a challenge.

[Tom Speirs]

The majority of this seems to be theme/view related. So a different theme and selecting change view seems in order. Obviously things have changed in the last 5 years. You may also have some bad cache which can normally be fixed by switching between full screen and windows mode.

The delay browsing thumbnail views sounds like you have no snaps/titles setup so it is generating snaps from videos. This has always been slow as it has to load and scan the video.

Not sure about the MP3. Is it the Jukebox, Ambiance or emulator playlist that is running?

For games not launching, please provide a log trying to run a game. Also see if data\runitgame.bat actually works. This will indicate if it is in fact a GameEx issue or not.

Could you clarify what you mean by "Launch text" please?

[Tom Speirs]

PS: Overall its a good example of why people shouldn't wait 5 years to update software!

[N1K0S]

Heey Guys, thanks for all the quick responses (as an avid forum user, im quite amazed )

The bare reason i wanted to upgrade (on this machine!) was to support the new software xml format by mame. I upgraded to MAME .161 (the last version before the MESS merge), to get the most recent supported version for the .174 set on GX12.

Everything is basically setup (a couple of hours before my machine is finally completed) so i decided against rebuilding everything from scratch, just wanna get it finished at this point  

I started creating this machine a year ago, totally wasn't aware i was using an outdated version at that time! Not being able to upgrade seamlessly after 5 years, is well, normal haha.

Quote

Could you clarify what you mean by "Launch text" please?

I mean the text you can set that will show when you launch a game, back in the day (haha) it would show a neat little white box with text inside it (instead of the control panel viewer, for example) i had it configured to show some techinal information on the emulator and the creators

One last question! before its resolved:

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I definitely suggest going Windows 8.1 or 10 when you can afford to upgrade your kit to do so as it is getting increasingly difficult to troubleshoot XP. If you did an update install, you may want to download and install over the top. Of course, backup your gameex.ini as a precaution.

 

Is Windows XP still properly supported? (Were you saying this because MS dropped XP support) Because i was planning to use XP on my next build

 

Thanks,

N1K0S

[Tom Speirs]

Help screens are fixed for the next release. They got broken last month.

I still support XP it's just a bad idea.

[tthurman]

GameEx still supports XP, and most likely will for the foreseeable future.  The issue though is the user base running XP here is trending to fewer users, so this can present a challenge when attempting to assist someone having problems. 

[N1K0S]

Ok, ill use Windows 7 wherever possible