Video and joystick issues in 15.35

[Gildahl]

Hi Tom,

As  reported in a separate thread, the audio problems I was experiencing in builds since 15.27 seem to be fixed in 15.35; however, there are two remaining issues related to game controllers and video in the latest builds that may be somewhat related.  Perhaps these also reflect initialization issues.

Neither of the two problems seem to happen in most of my game menus (which are mostly simple lists).  However, I have one menu called "Golden Age Arcade" that contains video backgrounds and a wheel that simulates the GameEx Arcade look.   (I've attached my configs and ini files).  Here are steps to reproduce the problem.

1.  Go into the '"Golden Age Arcade'" menu and select a game.

2.  Return to GameEx.  At this point my U360 joysticks no longer work at all in GameEx.  My control panel buttons still work, and if I select another game the joysticks still work in the game.  If I exit GameEx and restart it, the joysticks work again.  I should note that this ONLY seems to happen reliably in the "Golden Age Arcade" menu (I believe it may have happened elsewhere, but couldn't duplicate it anywhere else today).

3.  If, after selecting a game in the "Golden Age Arcade' menu and returning to GameEx I choose another game (using the control panel since the js doesn''t work), I can play fine but when I return to GameEx the SECOND time (never the first time), the menu does not re-appear but the screen remains black.  Once again, this only happens in the '"Golden Age Arcade'" menu, and I must exit GameEx and restart.

Like the audio issue, if I replace the contents of the GameEx folder with copies from 15.27, I do not have the issue with the joysticks.  However, even in 15.27 I still get the black screen after every second return from a game in the '"Golden Age Arcade'" menu.  I know that there was a time when the video worked fine, but I don't have any earlier copies to try tracing when the problem began.

Dave

log.txt

GameEx.ini

CustomMenu.ini

[Tom Speirs]

Hey, sorry to create work for you but a video would speak a thousand words on this.

[Gildahl]

Hi Tom,

I made a couple of videos and sent links for them to you in a pm.

Dave

[Tom Speirs]

Thanks for the videos. Could you please send me the theme so I can properly replicate the issue here.

Thanks.

[Gildahl]

Here  you go.

Theme.zip

[Gildahl]

Just a note that after testing a bit more (on both 15.35 and the recent 15.37) it looks like I still lose the joystick reliably even when not in the custom "Golden Age Arcade" menu.  However, whereas I lose the joystick immediately after returning from the very first game in that menu, in the regular menus (like Arcade Favorites or MAME Master List in my theme) I don't lose the joystick until after I've returned from games three times.  Bizarre but true.  As usual, I must restart GameEx to get js back.

[Tom Speirs]

Hey, would be interesting to know if you have more luck with the new 64 bit version, since both audio and video will use different drivers etc?

[Gildahl]

Hi Tom,

I went ahead and installed 15.50 and made sure to check the 64 bit install.  Unfortunately, I still have exactly the same issues that I mentioned in my PM to you.  I will re-state here in case anyone else might be having similar issues.

If I run a game from either the standard Favorites menu or standard MAME game list and the game has port audio turned on, then 100% of the time, when I return from the game, the interface sounds are gone (other sounds like video snaps still works).  If a game does not have port audio on then I never lose the interface sounds.  On the other hand, if I run these same (port audio) games from my custom menu (which runs mame as an ordinary emulator), I never have this problem.  In fact, if I lose sound and then go into my custom menu and run the same game, the interface sounds come back when I return from the game.  Finally, I will note that I have none of these audio issues in any menus in 15.27, which I am otherwise continuing to use while these issues are being looked at.

Here are my port audio settings in mame in case you'd like to try reproducing  (rev. .201)

# OSD SOUND OPTIONS#

sound                     portaudio
audio_latency             1

#
# PORTAUDIO OPTIONS
#
pa_api                    "Windows WASAPI"
pa_device                 default
pa_latency                0.003334

The second issue I'm having, loss of joystick control, also continues to happen in 15.50, but again never in 15.27.  This issue is less predictable and has no correlation to port audio games.  The symptoms here are that after entering GameEx and running a game from either the standard Favorites menu or the standard MAME game list, I will lose joystick control over the menus after returning from the game.  This happens most frequently on the very first game that I run (but not always).  Interestingly, I can recover joystick control by viewing my CPWizard layout from the game menu and returning.  Once recovered, the joystick is usually pretty stable after that.  Once again, I have none of these issues in 15.27; only in the more recent versions (including 64-bit).

[Tom Speirs]

Okay, Ill have another look at this shortly and give you an update to try. Thanks for your patience,

Libraries did change so that is the reason it works in older versions.

[Tom Speirs]

Please try the attached for both joystick and audio. Note: 64 bit version.

GameEx.zip

[Tom Speirs]

PS: Audio works for me with this version when using your MAME settings.

[Gildahl]

Thanks...should have a chance to try it out tonight.

[Gildahl]

Well it looks like we have a winner.  Both the port audio and joystick issues seem to be solved with this exe.  I've tried a bunch of times to reproduce the issues and have not been able to.  Thanks so much for fixing this!!

[Gildahl]

Whoops.  Maybe spoke too soon.  After testing last night, I left the machine running.  When I went back later to shut it down, GameEx had gone into attract mode.  When I exited attract mode I noticed that the interface sounds were gone.  Didn't have time to test further, but it looks like returning from attract mode is capable of killing the sound too.

[Tom Speirs]

Fixed for the next release.

Thanks.

[Tom Speirs]

(Now available)

Thank you for your patience.

[Gildahl]

So far so good on the new build.  I've let the machine go into attract mode several times with no loss of sound.