[Arcade] Stuck on load screen

[cdbrown]

So I've just recently updated to the latest version of GameEx Arcade (and the other flavours as well). Gone through the setup for mame

My mame is in E:\MAME and it's mame64.exe version 0.202. Roms and CHDs in E:\MAME\Roms

Setup goes through and verifies everything and then I run GameEx Arcade as Administrator and it begins some arcade audio and shows the start up screen saying GameEx please wait while loading....

And this loading screen will be there and show no signs of going away. Left it for over 30 minutes to see if was doing some update or something but still no change. ESC out of it and the audio will continue for a bit before finally closing.  Any ideas? What have I done wrong?  Also I have the HideOS disabled yet the program to hide the OS still runs.

GameEx.ini

log.txt

SetupWizard.log

[Draco1962]

Noticed this in your log.txt file (thanks for providing the support files, BTW):

17:49:59.64 20-Oct-18: Open: Failed Opening Video: c:\gameex arcade edition\themes\default - default\media\bak.mp4

Don't know why this is happening. I assume you have the latest LAV codecs installed (x32 and x64)?

If so, the bak mp4 file may be corrupted.  You may want to rename the file noted in the error to .old or whatever and download GameEx Arcade and install over the top. The bak.mp4 should be installed from the new install.

Report back if successful or not and provide a new copy of your log.txt file for review.

[Tom Speirs]

Might be a silly question but did you try a reboot?

[cdbrown]

Renamed the file, installed GameEx Arcade again. Updated the LAV codecs to latest. A few reboots and still the same stuck on the please wait page. 

SetupWizard.log

log.txt

GameEx.UpgradeBackup.ini

GameEx.ini

custominput.ini

[Draco1962]

Can you provide date details on the bak.mp4 file? I am not able to replicate the error and the log show the same load failure for the same file.

It is possible that the failure on this file is either hiding another error or the file is still corrupt.

A few things to test:

- 1) Rename the bak.mp4 file to something else, such as bak.old so that Arcade does not recognize it. Restart the PC and load Arcade. It should now load the bak.avi file. Let us know if it errors or loads/runs as expected.  Regardless of success or failure,  provide a new copy of your log.txt file and proceed to 2.

- 2.) Rename the bak.avi file to bak.old2, restart the PC and load Arcade. It should now load the bak.png file.  Let us know if it errors or loads/runs as expected. Regardless of success or failure,  provide a new copy of your log.txt file and proceed to 3.

- 3) Download the bak.mp4 file attached into the C:\GameEx Arcade Edition\THEMES\Default - Default\MEDIA folder. This is one that I used as part of my Draconus theme. Let us know if it errors or loads/runs as expected. Regardless of success or failure,  provide a new copy of your log.txt file.

 

[cdbrown]

1. renamed bak.mp4 to bak.old and restarted (I can run bak.mp4 in a media player no problems). GEArcade gets past the please wait screen and loads a list of genres.  However as I scroll through one or two it freezes and windows asks whether to close or wait. As i was scrolling (list is on the right side) and there weren't any icons showing on the left side.  I had to rename hideos.exe as that is a pain.

2. there is no bak.avi in the MEDIA Folder

3. I installed the Draconus theme and changed the config to Draconus as per instructions in the download page

I got this error message06:43:53.76  22-Oct-18:  Opening Configuration File
06:43:53.79  22-Oct-18:  GameEx Arcade Edition x64: Version 15.52: Starting Log
06:43:53.93  22-Oct-18:  Windows 10 Home 64-bit
06:43:53.93  22-Oct-18:  Aero running
06:43:53.95  22-Oct-18:  Initializing Vista/Windows 7 volume control
06:43:53.96  22-Oct-18:  Getting CPU and RAM info
06:43:53.96  22-Oct-18:  Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2400 CPU @ 3.10GHz, 8157MB
06:43:53.96  22-Oct-18:  3.09Ghz - 4 Cores or CPU's
06:43:53.98  22-Oct-18:  Running Randomize()
06:43:54.14  22-Oct-18:  Loading PlugIns
06:43:54.22  22-Oct-18:  Checking for applications to Launch On Startup
06:43:54.22  22-Oct-18:  Setting default net connection limit to 15
06:43:54.32  22-Oct-18:  Running Misc startup tasks
06:43:54.32  22-Oct-18:  Setting Menu types
06:43:54.33  22-Oct-18:  Getting Configuration Values
06:43:54.33  22-Oct-18:  --**--
06:43:54.35  22-Oct-18:  Error: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
06:43:54.41  22-Oct-18:     at GameEx.GameEx.MainForm.a(Boolean A_0, String A_1, Boolean A_2)
06:43:54.41  22-Oct-18:     at GameEx.GameEx.MainForm..ctor()
06:43:54.43  22-Oct-18:  Disposing Plugins
06:43:54.43  22-Oct-18:  GameEx is exiting with errors
06:43:54.44  22-Oct-18:  Deleting search cache
06:43:54.44  22-Oct-18:  ERRORS DETECTED: EXITING
06:43:56.89  22-Oct-18:  Bye

 

I will reboot and see if that helps

log.txt

[Draco1962]

The log.txt file shows the default-default theme liading not Draconus. You didn't indicate that you had downloaded the bak.mp4 file I had attached as noted in #3.

[cdbrown]

Ok downloaded the bak.mp4, made sure it had the correct name and placed into the default - default/media folder. Changed the config back to Default - Default and started up Arcade.

Back to being stuck on the please wait screen, the background arcade sounds play after a bit, in fact they continue to play for about a minute after I ESC from the program.

log.txt

[Draco1962]

I am at a loss for the moment. At least we ruled out a problem with the bak.mp4 .

 

 

[cdbrown]

Tonight I will uninstall all GameEx, GameEx Arcade and GameEx Evolution and start fresh with just GameEx Arcade (as I only plan on having mame on there and Evolution throws up java errors in the setup wizard).

Hopefully a fresh install will clear out any bugs. Will report back in about 10 hours.

Cheers

-cdbrown

[cdbrown]

Update:

Uninstalled GameEx, GameEx Arcade and GameEx Evolution. Deleted the folders that remained. Rebooted. Installed GameEx Arcade. Rebooted. Froze on the please wait screen again. Mumbled some profanities. Uninstalled GameEx Arcade. Rebooted. Installed GameEx Evolution. Ran set up. Took me a while to get the folders to work properly and be pointed at mame64.exe. Ran GameEx Evolution and was able to play a game.

This can be marked Resolved through giving up.  Thanks for trying to help.

[Draco1962]

I feel that we were almost halfway there. If this was entirely a GameEx Arcade issue I would expect that it would be more widely reported or easily replicated. 

Since that is not the case, the next step would be to look at the OS or drivers and/or 3rd party apps, such as codecs.

I guess the thread can be locked and you can open a new thread if you want to pursue it again.

 

 

[cdbrown]

You are probably right Draco, but after hours of installing, reboots, frozen screens, crash reports to windows, reboots, uninstall, swear words and no sign of improvement seeing Evolution work without these issues was a massive relief. Thanks again for the tips and trying to help.

[tthurman]

Good to hear EVO is working for you.  I'm going to lock this one so it doesn't get a necro bump down the road.