[Resolved] Strange problem after fresh install on new hardware

[jukker]

Hello everybody,

I am using GameEx for several years now and never had any trouble with it.
Now i replaced the hardware GameEx runs on and have a problem.

System is an Asrock Deskmini with Celeron 3900, 8GB Ram and a SSD. OS is
Windows10 Pro 64Bit. I did a memtest and a stresstest on the machine prior
to installing.

I installed a fresh Windows, the latest drivers, ClassicShell, the LAV codecs
and GameEx 14.70. The problem is, that after some time browsing in the Mame list (can
be a few minutes to an hour) graphics are not displayed any more, no snaps,
avisnaps, marquees or whatever. The frontend is still usable, but without
any graphics.

If i exit GameEx i have a black screen. With ctrl-alt-del i can reboot or
logoff. After logging in again the background image of the desktop is set
to black. I then can restart GameEx and everything works again until the
next time the graphics are gone.

Things i did already:
- deactivate Speedstep
- tried different fan settings (in case of temp problem)
- deactivate artwork download
- window mode vs full screen
and many others i can't remember now.

The logfile shows the start of GameEx and then nothing until i exit GameEx.

Any ideas how i can further troubleshoot this problem?

[Draco1962]

You may want to provide us with copies of your gameex.ini and log.txt files. They may or may not tell us anything, but we request them when reporting an issue if for no other reason than gits and shiggles.  Thanks!

[jukker]

Ok, attached are gameex.ini and log.txt in one zipfile.

I hope someone can point me in the right direction, i'm out of ideas.

log_and_ini.zip

GameEx.ini

log.txt

[RedDog]

Hey jukker, what GPU are you using?

 

[jukker]

GPU is "Intel HD graphics 510".

[tthurman]

Some suggestions:

Go into the config wizard and set "enabletouchscreen" to false

Try fullscreen windowed

If  you haven't already done so, be sure the HD 510 Intel drivers are up to date.

 

[jukker]

I thought i already disabled touchscreen  Support:

[touchscreen]
Touchscreen_Enabled=False

Where do i find

EnableTouchScreen=True

in the config wizard?

 

Fullscreen windowed makes no difference.

The HD 510 Intel drivers are up to date, i even tried the latest beta with no success. I'm now back to the latest stable.

[tthurman]

http://www.gameex.com/setup-wizard-configuration-guide/#touchscreentabletsettings

[tthurman]

Additionally, another thing you can try is simply installing GameEx over itself.  Occasionally this has been known to correct odd occurrences like you are experiencing.

[jukker]

Thats where i disabled touchscreen support. This results in the following section in the gameex.ini:

[touchscreen]
Touchscreen_Enabled=False
Touchscreen_HidePointer=True
TouchScreen_ShowHelpScreens=True
TouchScreen_SingleClick=True
TouchScreen_OnlyCompatibleGames=True
TouchScreen_CheckForExit=True
TouchScreen_SendCredit=True
TouchScreen_ShowMouseAnimations=True

But there is also this line in the general section:

EnableTouchScreen=True

Is touchscreen support now enabled or disabled?

[jukker]

Installing GameEx over itself also does not help.

[tthurman]

Not sure, perhaps that's from the touchscreen settings in the GameEx arcade section.

Is your rom set really 0.178.  That's about the only other thing I would guess at, running an old set on a current release.  This doesn't seem to be the case based on your directory names though.  I also run Vanilla MAME, but I wouldn't thing UI would be causing this type of anomaly.

 

[RedDog]

This may be a stab in the dark, but this feels like a video memory issue to me. I believe the Intel Integrated graphics has a very small amount of isolated video memory for itself, but the majority of the memory it needs is shared with the CPU. Since the visibility of images and video drops off after browsing GameEx for a time, I am wondering if the RAM is being overtaxed and either there is not enough available for video (because of swapping, slow allocation, or just non-availability). Doing a log off/log on or a reboot temporarily fixes the issue, which would support this theory.

If it is not memory related, I would lean towards a video driver issue (even if drivers are up to date, it could mean that there is a conflict).

 

@jukker You say that you recently 'replaced the hardware that GameEx runs on'. What components did you remove and what were those specs? Reinstalling Windows would indicate that this is essentially a new build or a mobo/hd swap at minimum. It may be helpful to know what changed.

A few other suggestions:

• Set Menu Transitions to 2D under Display Settings. 3D Alpha Blended is for good PCs with graphics cards.
• The black screen is likely related to Hide Operating System under Display Settings. It is it's own little program and may not close properly if GameEx is force-closed. You may want to disable Hide Operating System when troublshooting issues.
• It looks to me like your touchscreen is disabled now. I would not worry about the additional entry in the GameEx.ini file.
• When the images start to disappear, try checking the memory usage in the Windows Task Manager.

Also, I am guessing that your Windows 10 is fully updated via Windows Update, correct? If not, you should allow it to do so.

You sound like you know your stuff pretty well when it comes to PCs, so hopefully with a little brainstorming we can narrow it down.

[jukker]

25 minutes ago, RedDog said:

This may be a stab in the dark, but this feels like a video memory issue to me. I believe the Intel Integrated graphics has a very small amount of isolated video memory for itself, but the majority of the memory it needs is shared with the CPU. Since the visibility of images and video drops off after browsing GameEx for a time, I am wondering if the RAM is being overtaxed and either there is not enough available for video (because of swapping, slow allocation, or just non-availability). Doing a log off/log on or a reboot temporarily fixes the issue, which would support this theory.

If it is not memory related, I would lean towards a video driver issue (even if drivers are up to date, it could mean that there is a conflict).

I totally agree. I tried setting the amount of shared memory to "Auto" (which means 256MB with 8GB Ram) and 1GB (which is the maximum selectable) in BIOS. It made no difference, with 1GB it does not take longer to come to the faulty display. Even if video memory is short, slow or whatever, displaying images or videos can be slow, maybe you have to wait for it to display but it should NEVER result in this type of faulty displays.

34 minutes ago, RedDog said:

@jukker You say that you recently 'replaced the hardware that GameEx runs on'. What components did you remove and what were those specs? Reinstalling Windows would indicate that this is essentially a new build or a mobo/hd swap at minimum. It may be helpful to know what changed.

This is completely new hardware and a new installation of Windows10. I installed everything from scratch, i even did not copy any configuration (including GameEx).

40 minutes ago, RedDog said:

A few other suggestions:

• Set Menu Transitions to 2D under Display Settings. 3D Alpha Blended is for good PCs with graphics cards.

I already tried that, no difference

41 minutes ago, RedDog said:

The black screen is likely related to Hide Operating System under Display Settings. It is it's own little program and may not close properly if GameEx is force-closed. You may want to disable Hide Operating System when troublshooting issues.

OK, i will diable this during troubleshooting.

42 minutes ago, RedDog said:

• It looks to me like your touchscreen is disabled now. I would not worry about the additional entry in the GameEx.ini file.
• When the images start to disappear, try checking the memory usage in the Windows Task Manager.

This is what i want to do now. I will start GameEx in windowed mode and check the memory usage in parallel.

44 minutes ago, RedDog said:

Also, I am guessing that your Windows 10 is fully updated via Windows Update, correct? If not, you should allow it to do so.

Yes, fully updated.

44 minutes ago, RedDog said:

You sound like you know your stuff pretty well when it comes to PCs, so hopefully with a little brainstorming we can narrow it down.

Thank you, i hope so.

[jukker]

55 minutes ago, tthurman said:

Is your rom set really 0.178.  That's about the only other thing I would guess at, running an old set on a current release.  This doesn't seem to be the case based on your directory names though.  I also run Vanilla MAME, but I wouldn't thing UI would be causing this type of anomaly.

Yes, it's really 0.178. I would not call that "old", it was released in September 2016

I will update to 0.181 as soon as my time allows it, but i don't believe that it will solve my problem.

[tthurman]

I wouldn't either, but I've seen people posting that had sets prior to 0.139, so just checking.

[jukker]

1 hour ago, RedDog said:

When the images start to disappear, try checking the memory usage in the Windows Task Manager.

I started GameEx in windowed mode and monitored memory usage. GameEx used 370-420MB all the time, even when the display went faulty. The total memory usage of the system was around 2GB all the time. So, nothing unusual.

When i exit GameEx in windowed mode, it closes the window but it does not close the process, it's still running and uses 370MB of memory.

 

Update:

I also monitored video memory usage with GPU-Z. It was around 120-150MB all the time, so there is plenty of room.

Edited January 10, 2017 by jukker
Additional info

[RedDog]

2 hours ago, jukker said:

Yes, it's really 0.178. I would not call that "old", it was released in September 2016

I will update to 0.181 as soon as my time allows it, but i don't believe that it will solve my problem.

I would not bother with a different rom set. It is very unlikely to be related at all. Heck, if anything, I would try an older set. More people have old sets than new and do not have the issue.

[jukker]

I tried countless things in the last 2 days, amongst others:

• different cpu
• different memory
• numerous bios configurations
• different codecs
• different pack of video snaps (with deleting all cache files)
• various combinations of settings in GameEx
• ...

I'm stucked now. Is there any way to get more debug messages out of GameEx, especially for loading and displaying media files?

[RedDog]

@jukker You might try the GameEX Function Logger plugin. Switch everything on and see what happens. Maybe it will capture something that will help.

I know of no other debugging in GameEx other than for troubleshooting emulators...and we are not doing htat here.

I still think it is video related. I am doubting that the integrated graphics can keep up with the graphic needs. If you have the option (assuming it is a desktop PC) to purchase a video card to 'troubleshoot' the problem, you might consider doing so. If nothing changes, then I am out of ideas...but if it fixes the issue, you may need to go with a card. Personally, I would not run a box without an isolated card of some sort.

[jukker]

7 hours ago, RedDog said:

I still think it is video related. I am doubting that the integrated graphics can keep up with the graphic needs. If you have the option (assuming it is a desktop PC) to purchase a video card to 'troubleshoot' the problem, you might consider doing so. If nothing changes, then I am out of ideas...but if it fixes the issue, you may need to go with a card. Personally, I would not run a box without an isolated card of some sort.

I also thought it is video related until i used ProcessMonitor from Sysinternals to examine what GameEx is doing when the screen becomes faulty. As soon as the error occurs, GameEx constantly reads sound related registry entries and does not load video or graphics files any more.

When i disable the onboard sound (Realtek HD audio) either in Bios or in Windows, everything works fine (without sound of course). It is not sufficient to disable all sounds in the setup wizard, i really have to deactivate the playback device. Tomorrow i will try with an external USB soundcard.

GameEx Arcade Edition does NOT have this issue.

[Draco1962]

I have an Intel mobo with Realtek audio installed and I am not able to replicate the issue. Granted I have an older mobo.

Definitely a head scratcher. Have you tried disabling the sound and reinstalling the audio driver?

 

[jukker]

1 hour ago, Draco1962 said:

Have you tried disabling the sound and reinstalling the audio driver?

Yes, several times with different versions of the driver. Behavior was always identical.

[Draco1962]

What about UAC? Are the GameEx.exe and all other executibles (MAME, etc.) set to Run as administrator? Have you tried running with UAC disabled to see if the behavior is the same?

[jukker]

39 minutes ago, Draco1962 said:

What about UAC? Are the GameEx.exe and all other executibles (MAME, etc.) set to Run as administrator? Have you tried running with UAC disabled to see if the behavior is the same?

I tried every combination of "Run as Admin" and UAC on/off, always the same behavior.