NEWS: GameEx 6.58 Released

[Tom Speirs]

24th August, 2006 - GameEx 6.58

Various optimizations and non cosmetic fixes that may make GameEx run a little a faster, startup faster and return from games a little faster. Please let me know if you notice improvements

Fixes games missing from the end of emulators lists

The last and most played games now only show at the top of an emulator list if theres more than 25 items

Radio stations now load on a thread, so there is no waiting or long pause when loading stations. They will start to play when complete

For non theme editor themes theres an additional animation when an item is selected on the first start page where the selected item zooms in a little

GameEx will not exit with an error if an emultor is not setup correctly but will just disable the emulator and log the error

When paging through long lists after a while GameEx will start paging two pages at a time

I think that's everything. Enjoy

[wastedmind]

is this for v108 af mame32 http://mame32qa.classicgaming.gamespy.com/

[Tom Speirs]

is this for v108 af mame32 http://mame32qa.classicgaming.gamespy.com/

Is what for?

[TX_TRINITY]

Is what for?

Hi Tom, Magic update, my findings are that whilst the emulated games are a bit nippier in starting and exiting, the movie playback is frightfully slower. Now it may be something here, so don't start any extra work, I've got to check out a couple of things to see if it's me. But even switching to movies and playing them is real slow, the playback (of wmv, xvid & divx) is stuttering. My 2nd half of my p4 3ghz ht is peaking like mad! I'll try after a reboot and let you know if it's better.

[Tom Speirs]

Hi Tom, Magic update, my findings are that whilst the emulated games are a bit nippier in starting and exiting, the movie playback is frightfully slower. Now it may be something here, so don't start any extra work, I've got to check out a couple of things to see if it's me. But even switching to movies and playing them is real slow, the playback (of wmv, xvid & divx) is stuttering. My 2nd half of my p4 3ghz ht is peaking like mad! I'll try after a reboot and let you know if it's better.

There were improvements I made to playing game video previews, but not to movies, so don't know what's going on there.

Are you referring to game videos or movies?

[TX_TRINITY]

There were improvements I made to playing game video previews, but not to movies, so don't know what's going on there.

Are you referring to game videos or movies?

oops, yup, the movies within the HTPC folders are the culprits here. Not the actual snapshot movies for games, thats fast, and fine. I've been (probably stupidly) playing about with Nvidia's display wizard. I suspect that has has some detrimental effect to the overlay behaviours etc. Would 'USE VMR9' be any help here?

UPDATE: Yup that's what was the problem. My nvidia install had the overlay accelleration off. Reset to defaults in WM10 for the WMVs and removed any clashing overlay settings etc solved it. I had installed PowerDVD trial to see how good the .h264 codec was. Removing that had probably broken the overlay graph or something. Top stuff!

[Tom Speirs]

oops, yup, the movies within the HTPC folders are the culprits here. Not the actual snapshot movies for games, thats fast, and fine. I've been (probably stupidly) playing about with Nvidia's display wizard. I suspect that has has some detrimental effect to the overlay behaviours etc. Would 'USE VMR9' be any help here? What is VMR9?

Thats just for DVD's. Its the method of overlay which shows video on the screen.

Yeah I've not changed anything with videos in this last version.

[Will]

After updating GameEx today I get an exception when exiting any game. Everything is fine until I use escape to exit the game. Below is the log:

22:31:35.6 8/24/2006: GameEx: Version 6.58: Starting Log

22:31:35.7 8/24/2006: Operating System Platform: Win32NT

22:31:35.7 8/24/2006: Operating System Name: Windows XP

22:31:35.7 8/24/2006: Operating System Version: 5.1.2600

22:31:35.7 8/24/2006: Checking for versions of .net Framework installed

22:31:35.7 8/24/2006: .net Framework 1.1 Installed

22:31:35.7 8/24/2006: .net Framework 2.0 Installed

22:31:35.7 8/24/2006: Running Randomize()

22:31:35.7 8/24/2006: Checking for applications to Launch On Startup

22:31:35.7 8/24/2006: Initialising Video/MNG DLL's

22:31:35.7 8/24/2006: Running Misc startup tasks

22:31:35.7 8/24/2006: Setting Menu types

22:31:35.7 8/24/2006: Opening Configuration File

22:31:35.7 8/24/2006: Getting Configuration Values

22:31:35.7 8/24/2006: Using Theme: Default - Default - Animated

22:31:35.7 8/24/2006: Checking for alternate Image Directory for Theme: Default - Default - Animated

22:31:35.7 8/24/2006: Using Images from theme: Default - Default\MEDIA\

22:31:35.7 8/24/2006: Launching HideOS.exe

22:31:35.7 8/24/2006: Hiding Taskbar

22:31:35.7 8/24/2006: Is Media Center running?

22:31:35.7 8/24/2006: Checking/Creating LCD Registry values

22:31:35.7 8/24/2006: Check Media Center Exit/Start Mode

22:31:35.7 8/24/2006: Media Center Mode 2

22:31:35.8 8/24/2006: Text/Language: English

22:31:35.9 8/24/2006: Applying Language/Text

22:31:35.9 8/24/2006: Custom Keyboard Input enabled: Getting custom codes

22:31:35.9 8/24/2006: Snap Delay set to: 1

22:31:35.9 8/24/2006: Get other settings

22:31:36.0 8/24/2006: Set: Find emulator artwork on best match basis

22:31:36.0 8/24/2006: Using DirectInput for keyboard input

22:31:36.0 8/24/2006: Start work for Form

22:31:36.0 8/24/2006: Getting Original Screen Size

22:31:36.0 8/24/2006: Loading ICON

22:31:36.0 8/24/2006: Initializing Component

22:31:36.0 8/24/2006: Initialising Bass Audio Library

22:31:36.1 8/24/2006: Loading default loading screen

22:31:36.2 8/24/2006: Using 2D Animations

22:31:36.2 8/24/2006: Using General Font: Trebuchet MS

22:31:36.2 8/24/2006: Using Title Font: Trebuchet MS

22:31:36.2 8/24/2006: Starting GameExtender Publisher

22:31:36.2 8/24/2006: Initialising DirectDraw

22:31:36.2 8/24/2006: Applying GameEx is Loading Image

22:31:36.2 8/24/2006: Creating DirectDraw Device

22:31:36.2 8/24/2006: Setting Resolution to 1024x768 32 bit color

22:31:36.3 8/24/2006: Creating DirectDraw Surfaces

22:31:36.3 8/24/2006: Creating Primary Surface - Full Screen Mode

22:31:36.5 8/24/2006: Creating Back Buffer

22:31:36.5 8/24/2006: Loading graphic surfaces

22:31:36.5 8/24/2006: Creating Surfaces Misc and Dialogs

22:31:36.6 8/24/2006: Creating Surface Volume

22:31:36.6 8/24/2006: Creating Surfaces Arrows

22:31:36.6 8/24/2006: Creating Surfaces GameEXlogo Text

22:31:36.6 8/24/2006: Creating Surfaces Toolbar

22:31:36.6 8/24/2006: Creating Surfaces Backgrounds

22:31:36.8 8/24/2006: Creating Surfaces Toolbar Controls

22:31:36.9 8/24/2006: Creating Surfaces GameEx Logo

22:31:36.9 8/24/2006: Creating Surfaces Home & Exit

22:31:36.9 8/24/2006: Creating Surfaces Snaps

22:31:36.9 8/24/2006: Creating Surfaces Menu and List Bars

22:31:37.0 8/24/2006: Creating Fonts

22:31:37.0 8/24/2006: Creating Menu Font

22:31:37.0 8/24/2006: Creating Game Font

22:31:37.1 8/24/2006: Creating Font Black

22:31:37.3 8/24/2006: Creating Font Black Small

22:31:37.4 8/24/2006: Creating Game Font Faded

22:31:37.5 8/24/2006: Creating Title Font

22:31:38.0 8/24/2006: Creating Control Panel Font

22:31:38.5 8/24/2006: Fonts Created Succesfully

22:31:38.5 8/24/2006: MAME Path is: C:\Arcade\Emulators\mame32

22:31:38.5 8/24/2006: MAME EXE file is: Mame32.exe

22:31:38.5 8/24/2006: ROM Path is: C:\Arcade\Roms\MAME Roms

22:31:38.5 8/24/2006: Catver.ini is located at: C:\Program Files\GameEx\DATA\catver.ini

22:31:38.5 8/24/2006: controls.ini is located at: C:\Program Files\GameEx\data\controls.ini

22:31:38.6 8/24/2006: History.dat is located at: C:\Program Files\GameEx\DATA\history.dat

22:31:38.6 8/24/2006: nplayers.ini is located at: C:\Program Files\GameEx\DATA\nplayers.ini

22:31:38.6 8/24/2006: MAMEinfo.dat is located at: C:\Program Files\GameEx\DATA\mameinfo.dat

22:31:38.6 8/24/2006: Loading Controls.ini map file

22:31:38.6 8/24/2006: Snap Path is: C:\Arcade\Emulators\mame32\snap

22:31:38.6 8/24/2006: AVI Snap Path: Not Found

22:31:38.6 8/24/2006: Flyer Path is: C:\Arcade\Emulators\mame32\flyers

22:31:38.6 8/24/2006: Cabinet Path is: C:\Arcade\Emulators\mame32\cabinets

22:31:38.6 8/24/2006: Title Path is: C:\Arcade\Emulators\mame32\titles

22:31:38.6 8/24/2006: Panel Path is: C:\Arcade\Emulators\mame32\cpanel

22:31:38.6 8/24/2006: Icon Path is: C:\Arcade\Emulators\mame32\icons

22:31:38.6 8/24/2006: Marquee Path is: C:\Arcade\Emulators\mame32\marquees

22:31:38.6 8/24/2006: MAME CMD options: -triplebuffer -nowindow -joy

22:31:38.6 8/24/2006: Attempting to load game list

22:31:38.8 8/24/2006: Running: Mame32.exe -help

22:31:38.8 8/24/2006: Running: C: C:\Arcade\Emulators\mame32\Mame32.exe -help > C:\Arcade\Emulators\mame32\help.txt

22:31:38.9 8/24/2006:

22:31:38.9 8/24/2006: Now Outputing Mame32.exe - Help

22:31:38.9 8/24/2006:

22:31:38.9 8/24/2006:

22:31:38.9 8/24/2006: --BEGIN--

22:31:38.9 8/24/2006: M.A.M.E. v0.107u1 (Jul 30 2006) - Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator

22:31:38.9 8/24/2006: Copyright © 1997-2006 by Nicola Salmoria and the MAME Team

22:31:38.9 8/24/2006:

22:31:39.0 8/24/2006: MAME is an emulator: it reproduces, more or less faithfully, the behaviour of

22:31:39.0 8/24/2006: several arcade machines. But hardware is useless without software, so an image

22:31:39.0 8/24/2006: of the ROMs which run on that hardware is required. Such ROMs, like any other

22:31:39.0 8/24/2006: commercial software, are copyrighted material and it is therefore illegal to

22:31:39.0 8/24/2006: use them if you don't own the original arcade machine. Needless to say, ROMs

22:31:39.0 8/24/2006: are not distributed together with MAME. Distribution of MAME together with ROM

22:31:39.0 8/24/2006: images is a violation of copyright law and should be promptly reported to the

22:31:39.0 8/24/2006: authors so that appropriate legal action can be taken.

22:31:39.0 8/24/2006:

22:31:39.0 8/24/2006: Usage: MAME gamename [options]

22:31:39.0 8/24/2006:

22:31:39.0 8/24/2006: MAME -showusage for a brief list of options

22:31:39.0 8/24/2006: MAME -showconfig for a list of configuration options

22:31:39.0 8/24/2006: MAME -createconfig to create a mame.ini

22:31:39.0 8/24/2006:

22:31:39.0 8/24/2006: For usage instructions, please consult the file windows.txt

22:31:39.0 8/24/2006:

22:31:39.0 8/24/2006: --END--

22:31:39.0 8/24/2006:

22:31:39.0 8/24/2006:

22:31:39.0 8/24/2006: Loading last used Game List

22:31:39.0 8/24/2006: Loading Start Page

22:31:39.4 8/24/2006: Setting Music Volume

22:31:39.4 8/24/2006: Creating DirectSound Device

22:31:39.5 8/24/2006: Trying: Primary Sound Driver

22:31:39.5 8/24/2006: Loading Sound Files

22:31:39.5 8/24/2006: DirectSound Device Created Successfully

22:31:39.5 8/24/2006: Creating ICONS

22:31:39.5 8/24/2006: Recreating ICONS

22:31:40.1 8/24/2006: Gamepad/Joystick disabled

22:31:40.1 8/24/2006: Initialising DirectInput for Keyboard support

22:31:40.2 8/24/2006: Initializing MCE Remote

22:31:40.2 8/24/2006: Initialization OK! Starting GameEx!

22:31:40.2 8/24/2006: Testing Main Loop Once: Processing Frame

22:31:40.5 8/24/2006: Testing Main Loop Once: Main Loop ran successfully

22:31:48.7 8/24/2006: Loading Custom Emulators

22:31:48.7 8/24/2006: Loading Emulator 4: Nintendo NES Games

22:31:58.3 8/24/2006: Running: cmd.exe /c C: C:\Arcade\Emulators\mame32\Mame32.exe ddragon3 -rompath C:\Arcade\Roms\MAME Roms -triplebuffer -nowindow -joy

22:32:45.5 8/24/2006: 21 Consecutive Exceptions Occured: Exiting

22:32:45.5 8/24/2006: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

22:32:45.5 8/24/2006: at Microsoft.DirectX.DirectDraw.Surface.get_SurfaceDescription()

22:32:45.5 8/24/2006: at GameEx.GameEx.mainform.DrawBackground()

22:32:45.5 8/24/2006: at GameEx.GameEx.mainform.DisplayFrame()

[Tom Speirs]

This should be fixed in 6.59 now available.

[nullus]

Hi Tom,

I'd like to give my 2 cents to this update.

24th August, 2006 - GameEx 6.58

Various optimizations and non cosmetic fixes that may make GameEx run a little a faster, startup faster and return from games a little faster. Please let me know if you notice improvements

Yes noticable

Radio stations now load on a thread, so there is no waiting or long pause when loading stations. They will start to play when complete

To be honest me personally I'm not happy at all with this "improvement". I'm missing the "please wait" bar as it indicated that something in fact was in progress. With the new system you don't know whether GameEx is really loading anything and as it can take a couple of seconds until the stream is loaded you have no indicator at all that things are on the way... . I was perfectly happy with the old system of loading but if you'll stick to the new one please please add a status indicator somehow.

For non theme editor themes theres an additional animation when an item is selected on the first start page where the selected item zooms in a little

Nice

When paging through long lists after a while GameEx will start paging two pages at a time

Doesn't work for me or I'm just to stupid to get the point...

BTW: I had the same exeption errors with 6.58 that were reported in this thread but it seems to be OK with 6.59.

Regards,

nullus

[Will]

great, thanks for the quick fix, Tom!! I was worried for a minute.