[NEWS] Big seasonal updates

[Tom Speirs]

Introducing PinballX 2.50, GameEx and GameEx Arcade Edition 15.00

Big updates for the season.

These are mainly performance improvement related releases with general optimizations to key functions as well as rendering and the executable compiles.

This should hopefully result in better FPS and speed improvements throughout although obviously it will be more noticeable on lower end machines.

With GameEx several other areas have been improved for performance such as the Jukebox, loading Game Info, the Movie Library and getting Meta Data.

In addition the YouTube feature is now working again and the Movie Library has been improved significantly. Getting Meta Data for the movie library is now much quicker to and downloading music artist and album images is working again.

I also made the decision to make the Media Library and DVD/BluRays on disk features free for all users and no longer a registered version feature.

I am toying with the idea of releasing a sub version of GameEx without gaming features, purely as a free HTPC solution. Please let me know your thoughts on this.

In preparation for the season I, and behalf of all of my loyal team and friends who work alongside me wish you all the best, happy thanksgiving, happy Hanukkah, Eid, Kwanzaa and Merry Christmas!.

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[Kustom Kid]

First off, thank you Tom, and everyone else, for your hard work and dedication to this amazing software. It's much appreciated.

 

Secondly, I think it's a good idea to spin off a free HTPC solution. It was a long time ago, but I'm pretty sure I found GameEx researching HTPC software. At the time I decided to go with Windows Media Center. WMC was fairly easy to setup, I could use Xbox 360's as extenders, and Emby (Media Browser at the time) integrated well with ripped DVDs and music for both the 360's and the PC. Currently there is Kodi, which I find kind of clunky and has come under fire as of late, Plex which I'm also not a big fan of, and Emby. If the GameEx HTPC solution were as feature rich as the primary software I would imagine it could really take off. I just bought an Xbox One to keep app usage simple for my girlfriend and myself. It was a pain in the butt using a PC because we always had to have a keyboard/trackpad handy to use different apps. On the Xbon we use HDHomerun DVR, Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime. I haven't sprung for Emby Premiere, so all of my ripped content is sitting on a hard drive waiting for me to figure out what to do with it.

Long story longer, and I don't even think it's possible, but a single app to aggregate the multitude of live TV/DVR, streaming, and local content into one place would be a godsend.

[RedDog]

Always glad for the updates. I did not have time to test the beta, so I am looking forward to playing with this.

As for having a standalone HTPC app, I don't see a reason to go there unless you intend to remove the functionality from GameEx. What makes you consider a doing a standalone and having to maintain the feature in two applications?

I have had an HTPC for about 10 years now and have tried many of the more popular front ends. I currently use WMC7 as a PVR and Emby as a Video/Movie front end. I find both to work well with only a few gripes. The most important feature I look for though is whether I think the wifey will be able to use it...critical in fact. Seams to be a common need. 

[tthurman]

2 hours ago, RedDog said:

The most important feature I look for though is whether I think the wifey will be able to use it...critical in fact. Seams to be a common need. 

I believe if someone could satisfy the WAF on HTPC software = instant winner!

 

[morgoth32]

Thanks for the update.

The advanced config editor doesn't work with xbox one controller but I'm still happy to see the frontend evolution.

[Draco1962]

1 hour ago, morgoth32 said:

Thanks for the update.

The advanced config editor doesn't work with xbox one controller but I'm still happy to see the frontend evolution.

If you have an issue with the functionality, please open a new thread in the GameEx>General forum and attach copies of your gameex.ini and log.txt files in addition to details regarding the issue (i.e. has always been an issue for you or started with the latest version, etc.). Thanks.