GameEx Mame Startup Pack woes..

[top1percent]

I decided to resurrect my MAME machine this past weekend as I've got a party coming up this Sunday afternoon and thought it would be nice to have it running with some classic games instead of sitting turned off like it has been for the past several years.  So, based on my previous experience with fancy front ends I figured it would be best to just start over.

I installed GameEX using the MAME Startup Pack and have run into 2 issues hopefully y'all can help with.  

1.  Game Ex wants to update the game list and create a database every time I start the program.  I don't understand why it doesn't keep the game database somewhere?
2. Once loaded and I can access the games then it won't actually start any of them.  I select "Play this game" and it shows a loading screen and then goes black for about 5 seconds before going back to the game menu screen.

I have installed MameUI64 just to check the roms and they all open just fine using MameUI, so I know my roms are ok.

Also, the GameEx Mame Starter Pack installed flawlessly.  I was really hopeful that everthing would go smoothly, but alas MAME hates me! ;-)

As for roms, I started with the complete .172 romset and then upgraded the set with the .173 upgraded roms so effectively I believe I'm running the .173 version.

I did a search on this form and found only 1 other instance of the #1 issue and unfortunately there was no solution.  Just one member stating that he got upset and went back to the .149 romset.  I hope this isn't the only solution.

Any help is appreciated!!

Thanks,

Brad

[RedDog]

Hey top1percent,

Would you please post your GameEx.ini and log.txt files?

When you say you upgraded your rom set from 172 to 173, how did you go about it? Did you copy the updated roms over or did you use a program like CLRMamePro?

When you tested MameUI outside of GameEx, did you do this through a command line or MameUI GUI?

[DazzleHP]

4 hours ago, top1percent said:

Game Ex wants to update the game list and create a database every time I start the program.  I don't understand why it doesn't keep the game database somewhere?

This behavior is almost always a permission issue. Either you have installed GameEx in a non-default location (C:\GameEx), you are using an external/network drive to run GX, or the profile/account you are using doesn't have admin privileges. This can also happen even if all the above are void BUT your roms are on a separate drive or don't have admin access. I would also check that your AV/security program is not blocking access - they are quite aggressive these days

 

Above all else:

2 hours ago, RedDog said:

Would you please post your GameEx.ini and log.txt files?

 

 

[top1percent]

Thanks for the response.  Here are the files you requested.

RedDog- As for upgrading the roms, I simply copied the new roms into the directory replacing the old ones.  I'm sure I was supposed to use clrmame or something, but that's super confusing and I'm apparently not adept at finding all the required dat files.  However, the roms I'm trying to run are about 20 or so of the classics like frogger, ms pac, etc. so I'm not sure those would be affected.

DazzleHP- I believe everything is running under admin.  As for locations, everything is installed on C: drive.  GameEx is located at C:\GameEx.  As for security, the computer isn't connected to the net so I'm not using any.

Thanks for the help!!

GameEx.ini

log.txt

[tthurman]

GameEx does retain settings, but when you change something, it has to build to that change.

 

 

1 hour ago, top1percent said:

As for upgrading the roms, I simply copied the new roms into the directory replacing the old ones.

 

There's numerous ways to do this, but that isn't one of them.

You have to remember that each release of MAME changes the requirements of numerous files within the romset, but not necessarily the entire contents.  Basically the folder you copied over may have only had a very small change inside of it, that should have be incorporated into the folder.  It is very likely you replaced a much larger folder with only a small portion of what was there, it just has the same name, but resembles nothing of the original folder contents.

This helped me get a feel for it, but yes it is confusing, and can be frustrating.

In the GameEx setup wizard run the verify tool at the end, and see what gets flagged.

 

Check this thread for similar issues/scenario, the romset was apparently the problem.

 

[RedDog]

@top1percent The v172 to v173 update has 404 files, so your romset is still primarily v172. I suggest sorting your rom folder by date and pulling those out. Just place them in a separate folder for now. Then set up MameUI64 v172 in GameEx again and see how it validates....assuming you have not done any other copy-upgrades in the past. 

As for the roms you pulled out, there are likely some that were overwritten. Sadly, I do not have a suggestion on how to determine which ones to easily get them back. However, if you want to try to update the set properly later, you have them to do that.

I agree that CLRMamePro is not simple. I have also made several attempts to try and learn it and have always given up. In the end, I have gone a different route for upgrading (if you know what I mean). I have heard that romcenter is easier, but I have not tried it.

[top1percent]

RedDog- I too have decided to go a different route and upgrade to the latest .177 romset.  I'll work on setting up a working Mame configuration prior to installing GameEx.  It seems that may be the best way to go.

Thanks again!

 

[RedDog]

OK. Best of luck. Hopefully you will be able to make that bad boy party-ready!