Cannot get games to play

[tknow]

Hello all, I just joined today and for the life of me, i cannot get any games to play.  Every time I start a game, it just resets back to the initial screen where you press play.  I followed the "Simply Austin" Game Ex install tutorial, but when I start Game Ex, I don't see all of my roms loading up like Simply Austins' does.  Could someone here please assist, I've been working on this all day and at this point I'm beyond frustrated. Thanks in advance folks! 

Edited July 3, 2018 by tthurman
Moved: GameEx>General

[tthurman]

Based on your post yesterday I have to ask, do you have a romset?

If so did you update GameEx after you got everything configured and got in to the GameEx interface?

Do you have .net framework 3.5 installed?

Do you have the LAV Codecs installed (in the downloads section)?

 

You haven't provided an .ini or log, so you really haven't given us much to go on, but the above are the basic problems new users typically encounter.

 

[RedDog]

And just to clarify tthurman's post a bit...

...the gameex.ini  can be found in the GameEx\CONFIG folder. It contains your GameEx setup config...

...and the log.txt is found in your GameEx\LOG folder. It will show info about your setup and (hopefully) error messages that will help diagnose the problem.

If you could attach both files to a reply post, it is a good place to start.

One other thing. It is important that the version of your romset matches the version of your mame. If there is a mismatch, that will lead to some or all games not showing up in the GameEx game list.

[tknow]

Guys, thanks for the response and help.  I uploaded the log files and also installed .net framework 3.5 just now.  Also, sorry for the newbie post yesterday about ROMS.  I should have known better!  Won't happen again.

log.txt

GameEx.ini

[tknow]

Also, .net framework 3.5 IS installed with service pack 1.

[tknow]

4 hours ago, tthurman said:

Based on your post yesterday I have to ask, do you have a romset?

If so did you update GameEx after you got everything configured and got in to the GameEx interface?

Do you have .net framework 3.5 installed?

Do you have the LAV Codecs installed (in the downloads section)?

 

You haven't provided an .ini or log, so you really haven't given us much to go on, but the above are the basic problems new users typically encounter.

 

How do I update Game Ex when I'm in the interface? Thanks.

[Adultery]

Just at a quick glance of your log file, maybe adjust your ROM paths so they don't have spaces in them.

Also is that an official MAME build our a custom compile/different version? The exe for vanilla MAME is usually named mame64.exe

The update list option is towards the bottom of the MAME list in GameEx (before the game list comes up).

[RedDog]

@tknow Your config says that your rom path is F:\GAME EX\ROMS\MAME - Update ROMs (v0.143 to v0.144). This file format indicates it is an upgrade pack for .143 to .144 and not an actual romset. Unless your folder is mislabeled, I am not even sure if this can be made to work. I am not very familiar with the format of update packs. Thurm or Adultry may be able to say. It might be good enough for testing though.

After looking over your config, I'd like to make a few other suggestions:

I suggest not installing your emulator assets on your desktop or any asset directories to the GameEx folder. Use something like this for example:

• c:\Emulation\Emulators\Mame\Mame144
• c:\Emulation\Emulators\NES\Nestopia
• f:\Emulation\Roms\Mame
• f:\Emulation\Roms\NES
• c:\Emulation\Assets\Mame\Snaps
• c:\Emulation\Assets\NES\Snaps

There are several ways to organize roms and assets, but this is similar to how I do it. Different people have different ways. Do what works for you.

I would also take the 'GAME EX FILES' out of the path since the emulators are not actually part of GameEx, but that is purely preferential.

[Adultery]

Good spot @RedDog! Those packs don't contain full ROM sets, needed BIOS files, etc. You definitely need a full set. That would only contain what had changed between versions of MAME, most of which are most likely clones anyhow, which won't help if you don't have the parent ROMs.

[tknow]

8 hours ago, tthurman said:

Based on your post yesterday I have to ask, do you have a romset?

If so did you update GameEx after you got everything configured and got in to the GameEx interface?

Do you have .net framework 3.5 installed?

Do you have the LAV Codecs installed (in the downloads section)?

 

You haven't provided an .ini or log, so you really haven't given us much to go on, but the above are the basic problems new users typically encounter.

 

How do i update Game Ex after I configure everything?  Thanks.

[simbamame]

You can update by downloading the latest version and just running it  ( install where GameEx is installed ( usually C: )) also it just updates GameExs core files and does not alter your configuration so its good to update.

[tknow]

I am no good at this at all.  I am certain I downloaded a complete MAME .197 Rom set and it took several minutes to load when I first started MAME but I still can't play the games.  Again, when i choose start game, it just resets right back to the startup screen for the game.  I've included the log files.  Thanks in advance for the help!  I really appreciate it! Thanks.

log.txt

GameEx.ini

[RedDog]

Sorry, but I would prefer to confirm that you probably have a valid set:

• How much space does the rom folder take up? For example, a full 0193 set without CHD (Compressed Hard Drive) is about 60GB
• How many files are in the folder? a full 0193 set is around 35,000 files
• Do you know if you have CHDs or not? If you are, the space would be 600GB to 700GB (or more)

Also, if your rom set is now .0197, are you also now using Mame0197? If not, please grab this official one, update the Setup Wizard, update the Game List in GameEx, and test again.

...and BTW, after you successfully update the Mame game list, there may only be several thousand games listed. There are A-LOT of non-working or partially working games.

[tknow]

It says 49.6gb and 10,523 files.

[tknow]

Yes, I downloaded the MAME from the Game Ex DOWNLOAD section and .197 is the version given.  Afterwards, I downloaded .197 complete ROM set.  I don't believe they're CHDs because of the size of the folder.

[RedDog]

Your rom set is only a partial set and probably no CHDs, but it is still pretty good size. Hopefully it is a good 197 group.

I do have confidence that the Mame0197 64bit  on the GameEx site is correct.

The Mame config in the Setup Wizard does look fine. Everything appears to be pointing to the right place.

Try this test. Go into GameEx and try running a classic Mame Game...something like Dig Dug, Donkey Kong, or Galaga (I assume you have one of these). Running a game will update a file in the GameEx\DATA folder called runitgame.bat. If the game fails to run inside GameEx, then exit GameEx and try running runitgame.bat by double-clicking it. If runitgame.bat fails to run outside GameEx, then we know it is not specifically a GameEx issue and would likely mean there is likely a Mame/Rom version mismatch, bad roms, or a bad Mame install.

I suggest using classic games to start with is because those games are seldom altered anymore. They have been tweaked and updated so much that there isn't much left to fix as the Mame devteam releases new Mame versions. Some of them will work across many, many versions of Mame.

[tknow]

ok, i've done a complete re-install of everything (Game Ex and MAME) but now when I use the GAMEEX EVOLUTION MAME SYSTEM INSTALLER, I get "invalid system pack path" for "Set Path For Game Ex".

log.txt

GameEx.ini

[RedDog]

1 hour ago, tknow said:

ok, i've done a complete re-install of everything (Game Ex and MAME) but now when I use the GAMEEX EVOLUTION MAME SYSTEM INSTALLER, I get "invalid system pack path" for "Set Path For Game Ex".

Not even sure what that is. Please provide a link.

If it is somehow an alpha for GameEx Evolution, uninstall it and delete the install file. It not appropriate for you to use.

 

And please don't reinstall unless you plan to troubleshoot on your own or someone suggests a reinstall be done. You essentially threw out most of the troubleshooting we did above. We donate our time to help people and it is a bummer when it feels like someone tosses aside our efforts.

[tknow]

1 hour ago, RedDog said:

Not even sure what that is. Please provide a link.

If it is somehow an alpha for GameEx Evolution, uninstall it and delete the install file. It not appropriate for you to use.

 

And please don't reinstall unless you plan to troubleshoot on your own or someone suggests a reinstall be done. You essentially threw out most of the troubleshooting we did above. We donate our time to help people and it is a bummer when it feels like someone tosses aside our efforts.

I'm sorry, its called the MAME SYSTEM PACK, it was about 20gb.

[tknow]

Just now, tknow said:

I'm sorry, its called the MAME SYSTEM PACK, it was about 20gb.

And, sorry about the reinstall.  Another newbie mistake.  Believe me, I totally APPRECIATE all the help.  Would be completely lost without it.   I was just frustrated at 2 days and no success.  Won't happen again.

[tknow]

I feel like jerk...again, I apologize.

[tthurman]

Tackle one thing at a time.

Based on the size I believe you to have a merged set (no chds) but your post several back about "update set" is confusing. 

Those sets are to rebuild a previous set to a current one using clrmamepro (or similar.  A rather involved task that I don't think you are ready to tackle currently.

 

Regardless:

 

Skip the system packs until you get MAME running.

There are two ways to setup MAME in GameEx,  you want to use integrated MAME support.

Start here

and complete until the end of Advance MAME settings (NOT to be confused with AdvanceMame)

Tips:

Turn off "Verify ROMS" as it will drop any title that's got even the slightest bug.  If you don't like what it does  you can always toggle it back on later.

Catver ini, history dat, etc in Advance MAME settings are in the downloads section.

 

Once you get this done exit setup wizard.  Don't worry about snaps, marquees and all that jazz now, just leave them default.

 

Launch GameEX

Goto MAME

 

23 hours ago, Adultery said:

The update list option is towards the bottom of the MAME list in GameEx (before the game list comes up). 

Let it update, which takes a while

 

You must run the update anytime changes are made to the MAME configuration section in order for them to become active within the GameEx frontend.

 

 

Once you have this going then start on the system packs.  You need to follow the system pack setup tool "exactly" for it to work properly. 

 

[Draco1962]

Can I make a suggestion? Before configuring GameEx - make sure you can launch the games via the emulator first! Too many times do we see where no setup and confirmation that the emulator works before the end-user proceeds to setting up everything in GameEx only to blame the frontend for failure to launch!

[Adultery]

I was gonna hop in here, but to be honest, @tknow already has a good deal of "homework" to do. Please follow everyone's suggestions before doing anything like reinstalling GameEx or moving things around.

Thanks @RedDog, @tthurman and @Draco1962 for the informative and thoughtful suggestions.