[HELP] GE and Arcade, mame won't run

[cdbrown]

So have tried both GE and GE Arcade and get somewhat similar results. Have everything set up including having CPWizard to show my CP and the required buttons. I pick a game such as 1942 and it will then lauch CPWizard and after about 2 minutes it will return to GE Arcade, or just crash out to desktop if running GE (GE task is still running in background so have to kill it in task manager). Looking in the logs both applications try to run mame before cpwizard

From the latest GE effort

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16:24:02.1  14-Oct-17:  Running: cmd.exe /c E: E:\MAME\mame64.exe 1942 -rompath E:\MAME\roms -nowindow -skip_gameinfo -video d3d -noswitchres –triplebuffer
16:24:02.1  14-Oct-17:  Shutting down display
16:24:02.2  14-Oct-17:  Launching CPWizard: "C:\CPWizard\CPWizard.exe" -emu mame -game 1942 -timeout 9000

From GE Arcade

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15:56:08.8  14-Oct-17:  Running: cmd.exe /c E: E:\MAME\mame64.exe 1943 -rompath E:\MAME\roms -video d3d -noswitchres –triplebuffer -window -skip_gameinfo
15:56:08.8  14-Oct-17:  Shutting down display
15:56:08.9  14-Oct-17:  Launching CPWizard: "C:\CPWizard\CPWizard.exe" -emu mame -game 1943 -timeout 9000
15:56:19.0  14-Oct-17:  Shutting down RawInput Hook
15:56:19.1  14-Oct-17:  Writing MAME stats
15:56:19.1  14-Oct-17:  Plugin: Game Exit
15:56:19.1  14-Oct-17:  Plugin: Process Commands
15:56:19.2  14-Oct-17:  Restoring Window
15:56:19.2  14-Oct-17:  Reinitializing Graphics System
15:56:20.0  14-Oct-17:  Returning to GameEx

Have tried with CPWizard disabled to see if it was the problem and it tries to load mame but then returns back to GE. Any ideas. Running mame0.190, have latest roms, have checked they work using the mame64.exe

log.txt

GameEx.ini

[Tom Speirs]

I have to admit I have not tested CP Wizard for a long time with GameEx. Its quite possible it doesn't work. I will test soon and fix if required.

[cdbrown]

  On 10/14/2017 at 11:58 AM, Tom Speirs said:

I have to admit I have not tested CP Wizard for a long time with GameEx. Its quite possible it doesn't work. I will test soon and fix if required.

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I initially thought it was CPWizard and the order things were loading, but I've disabled it and tried again and it just returns back to GE each time, no sign of any mame loading screens at all. So it's not CPWiz doing the damage. I must have a setting wrong somewhere as both GE and GE Arcade have the same problem

[RedDog]

Hi @cdbrown So, a few questions/thoughts:

You might try running Mame via GameEx without the "-video d3d -noswitchres –triplebuffer" in the Mame Options and see what happens. If it works, you can add back in parameters one at a time.

If that does not make things work...

Has Mame worked before via GameEx or GameEx Arcade or is this the first time you have set it up?

Does the versions of your rom files match the version of Mame you are running? Also, what version are you using?

Does mame work outside of GameEx? Do you know how to test Mame via commandline batch files?

Also, GameEx Arcade is essentially GameEx with certain parameters hard coded for you. I suggest you choose whichever one you think you will want to use going forward and test with that one until you can figure out why Mame isn't launching properly. Don't waste time testing in both when one will suffice (unless you want to take both versions for a test drive that is). 

[cdbrown]

So I've removed those mame options and edited the mame.ini file in the mame folder and it works. Even enabled cpwizard (rather than the GE panel) and that works as well. Thanks RedDog.

I did test running the games using cmd.exe and the command as per the log file and it worked through that so not sure why GE is having troubles with the extra options. But that issue is sorted.

Any idea how to get my start/task bar to come back after crashing out of GE? Do I need to do a restart to get it to come back or is there a command I can use - I can bring up the start menu using the windows key on keyboard, but the bar doesn't stay there.

Cheers

-cdbrown

[Tom Speirs]

What do you mean by crashing out?

Maybe some of the plugins you are using are causing issues?

[RedDog]

  On 10/15/2017 at 1:11 AM, cdbrown said:

So I've removed those mame options and edited the mame.ini file in the mame folder and it works. Even enabled cpwizard (rather than the GE panel) and that works as well. Thanks RedDog.

I did test running the games using cmd.exe and the command as per the log file and it worked through that so not sure why GE is having troubles with the extra options. But that issue is sorted.

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It's up to you on whether you want to explore the sitatuation with the command line, but if the configuration you ended up with works for you and you are happy with it, thats good. I personally don't get too crazy with all of the switches that are avaialble for Mame. The basics have always worked fine for me. Then again, my setups are pretty basic since I do not have a dedicated cab with fancy bells and whistles.

[cdbrown]

  On 10/15/2017 at 1:33 AM, Tom Speirs said:

What do you mean by crashing out?

Maybe some of the plugins you are using are causing issues?

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Basically when I launched a known working game from GE it would say to wait while it loaded, screen would go black the arcade ambient sounds would then stop but then GE would crash and return to desktop. Or it just wouldn't take focus back after mame not loading, either way the GE wasn't running as an application anymore. Now that the mame options aren't in GE setup this crashing issue has stopped.

[cdbrown]

  On 10/15/2017 at 1:44 AM, RedDog said:

It's up to you on whether you want to explore the sitatuation with the command line, but if the configuration you ended up with works for you and you are happy with it, thats good. I personally don't get too crazy with all of the switches that are avaialble for Mame. The basics have always worked fine for me. Then again, my setups are pretty basic since I do not have a dedicated cab with fancy bells and whistles.

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I've got a reasonable machine in a dedicated cab so want mame and GE to run at highest settings. I'll try and get all the mame configs sorted within mame itself and just let GE run mame and rom as that seems to work best.  I'll probably just stick with GE as well for the customisation options available.

[Tom Speirs]

Again, perhaps a plugin. You have several running there. Some plugins do modify the emulator command line. Its not crashed  it just thinks a game is still running,. Its just sitting there waiting for the emulator to exit or for you to hit the exit combo.