Some roms don't work after replacing PC

[ragbak]

I am running into a strange phenomenon which I cannot explain. I hope somebody can point me to the right path ;-)

 

The problem:
I have a game cabinet now ever since 2013 using Gameex as a front end and MAME (ver 0.145b) as one of the emulators. The PC running this is a windows 7 machine and kind off sluggish. I want to replace the PC with a newer and faster one running windows 10 Home edition. So I installed Gamex again on the new machine, and since I don't want the hassle of finding proper working roms with the lastest mame version, I decided to go for version 0.145b again (being quite lazy I admit, but time is an issue nowadays and I am quite happy with the library of roms gathered sofar). Next step is to go through the Gamex wizard. Completed it. Now I notice that not all MAME roms are functioning, some do, but others don't. How can that be? I ran the two systems (old and new) side by side and singled out just one of roms which does work on the old setup, but will not on the new setup: 1942.zip

 

I took a peek in gamex' log.txt file and noticed the following difference:

Old system:
19:17:28.8  4-12-2017:  Running: cmd.exe /c C: C:\Emulators\Mame\mame.exe 1942a -rompath C:\Roms\MAME\Roms -nowindow -joy -skip_gameinfo -bezel -artpath artworkgameex

New system:
19:15:12.30  4-12-2017:  Running: cmd.exe /c C: C:\Emulators\Mame\Mame\mame.exe 1942 -rompath C:\Roms\MAME\Roms -nowindow -joy -skip_gameinfo -bezel -artpath artworkgameex

 

In the roms directory there is only a file called 1942.zip (so no 1942a.zip there!) and all roms are in C:\Roms\MAME\Roms
In fact the rom dirs are the same on both systems, with identical contents. I am sure about this because on the new system I copied the rom dir from the old to the new system.

If I issue the following command on the new system, the game will run correctly:
C:\Emulators\Mame\mame.exe 1942a -rompath C:\Roms\MAME\Roms -nowindow -joy -skip_gameinfo -bezel -artpath artworkgameex
But apparently Gamex sees things differently and issues a command referring to 1942.zip.

What also strikes me as strange is that when I start Gamex on the old system and go to All Mame games, it will show "1942 (Revision A)" at the top of the list. However the new system shows "1942 (Revision B)". How can that be, it's the same rom! Yes, I am 100% positive about that, checked and double checked.

 

I also checked this behavior for a second rom: 1943.zip. Same issue, old system starts it as 1943u where new system tries to start it as 1943 so this is hapening with more roms, but not all.

 

Totally puzzles me.

I attached the config files of both systems and logs

 

Oh, the versions used:
old system: Gamex 14.40
new system: Gamex 15.05

 

Hope somebody can help.

 

Regards,
Peet

GameEx newpc.ini

GameEx oldpc.ini

log_newpc.txt

log_oldpc.txt

[Tom Speirs]

Can you please post the log after you've updated the game list in that session? You may well be out of luck with an old MAME build on the latest gameex now. Since I made changes to speed up the list update considerably old builds may no longer work.

Also , looking at your log your path to MAME is different.

[ragbak]

Hello Tom,

Thanks for looking into this.

The path is indeed slightly different on the new machine, but will work. It does work with a number of donkey kong roms when started from Gamex. I updated the gamelist on the new system, but I don't see different behavior.

I also updated gamex on the old system, so both systems  are now on the same version level, and I updated the gamelist on the old system as well. Afterwards the 1942.zip rom does not work anymore on the old pc either... Problem is the same now on the old system as on the new.

Well at least it's consistent behavior now in both systems, so I am getting somewhere.

 

How to go forward from here, can I fix this? In what way?

 

Thank you for taking your time with this.

 

B.t.w. new logs of both systems attached.

 

Regards,
Peet

 

log_newpc1.txt

log_oldpc1.txt

[Tom Speirs]

Again, could you please post the log after a session where you updated the game list?

I think you may just have to bite the bullet and update though.

[ragbak]

Sorry, I misunderstood your initial request.

Attached is the log right after update of the gamelist.

With update I assume you mean updating mame and roms accordingly right?

Is there a recommended Mame version to take, or just the latest version?

log_newpc2.txt

[tthurman]

The GameEx releases, at least in part, aim to keep GameEx current with the mamedev releases.  This has become more important as big changes in the releases have come much more frequently in the last few years, so I'd suggest that if you plan on pretty much staying put, then get as current as you can avoid updating unless absolutely necessary.

[Tom Speirs]

You can try turning off the verify and turning on the only existing setting.

But basically your MAME version is not fully supported in GameEx now.

[ragbak]

OK, @tthurman and @Tom Speirs: thank you for your help, I will upgrade Mame and then be cautious with Gamex updates from that point onward, i.e. I will read release notes first.

I like the product very much!