GameEx Arcade 16.49 erasing MAME mapped controls

[spamola]

After I installed the updates to bring my version to 16.48, my MAME controller mappings are being erased when I start a game from GameEx.

If I open MAME using mame64.exe and map my controls under general inputs and save the config they work within games, (launching from the mame64 UI), and are saved when MAME is closed. 

When I launch GameEx and start a game, all the control mappings that have been set are changed to n/a under both the settings for the machine, and the general inputs.  I've also noticed that from a MAME session launched in GameEx, the control mappings no longer list the device with the input, (my X-Arcade tank stick normally shows up as kbd 3 up for example), but post update when mapping controls in MAME launched from GameEx it shows the input only, no device, additionally, MAME ran from GameEx isn't allowing multiple controls to be mapped to a button, (for example, I have Button 1 set as kbd 3, gun 1 button 0 so my control panel button 1 is set for all games that use it, and my light gun trigger is available for games that use that).

Once I map the controls for MAME ran from GameEx, those mappings are saved across GameEx restarts and system reboots, and MAME is the only emulator with this issue, all others work and have the control mappings they had previous to the GameEx update.

I've not changed anything except the GameEx version, (no new MAME, no new controller files, etc).

I've attached my gameex.ini and log.txt files, let me know if there's anything else I can provide to help diagnose this.

 

GameEx.ini log.txt

Edited July 5, 2020 by spamola
Attaching files, adding additional info after testing

[Tom Speirs]

Sorry, I am probably being slow, but what exactly are you referring to by controller mappings? Are you talking about within MAME only?

You may want to try turning off the bypass disclaimer option. It could be that but you didn't say which GameEx you upgraded from.

[spamola]

No worries, thanks for the Reply Tom.

Yes, I'm referring to the controls in MAME only, (accessible by hitting tab when in game). I downloaded the version available here when I installed it on my new machine in May of this year, (not sure what the version number was, sorry), is there a way for me to tell what version I upgraded from?

Is the disclaimer option in the setup wizard somewhere? I can't seem to find it.

Thanks again!

Edited July 5, 2020 by spamola
Clarity

[Tom Speirs]

MAME settings - Advanced MAME settings. Thats the only thing I can think it could  be if it is in fact anything to do with GameEx.

[spamola]

Hi Tom, 

I'm running MAME 0.209, and there's no disclaimer option under advanced settings in MAME. I noticed that this is the command that GameEx sends to launch a MAME game:

16:39:51.47  7/5/2020:  Running: cmd.exe /c C: C:\GameEx\emulators\MAME0209b\mame64.exe bwidow -rompath C:\GameEx\roms\MAME_0.209_ROMs_merged -nowindow -joy -skip_gameinfo -keyboardprovider dinput

Even though I've removed the Mameoptions from gameex.ini, (I've attached the current gameex.ini for reference),  they are being used regardless.

Posts in other MAME forums have questioned why -keyboardprovider dinput is being used on the command line, can you shed any light on this?  The setting in mame.ini is set to keyboardprovider auto and this seems to override it. Running MAME from a command line and specifying these same options recreates the issue for me, while running MAME without these allows MAME to see keyboard inputs from different devices, versus treating all keyboard inputs like they come from one device.

I've also been able to capture the changes that happen to the MAME default.cfg when MAME is launched from GameEx and the control mappings no longer work.

Here's a snippet from the default.cfg with the controls mapped in MAME run manually:

 

<system name="default">
        <input>
            <port type="P1_JOYSTICK_UP">
                <newseq type="standard">
                    KEYCODE_2_UP
                </newseq>

And here's the same snippet from the default.cfg after launching MAME from GameEx and the controls arne't working in game:

<input>
            <port type="P1_JOYSTICK_UP">
                <newseq type="standard">
                    KEYCODE_2_UNKNOWN_SWITCH
                </newseq>
            </port>

Finally here's a snippet from default.cfg from MAME launched from GameEx with the controls mapped in that session:

<input>
            <port type="P1_JOYSTICK_UP">
                <newseq type="standard">
                    KEYCODE_UP
                </newseq>

This seems to show that GameEx is doing something different in the way of launching MAME games that doesn't happen when I just double click mame64.exe and load a game using that interface.

 

Any ideas on the next steps?

GameEx.ini default.cfg defaultMAME.cfg defaultgameex.cfg

[Draco1962]

Please attach your log.txt file as well when reporting a problem. Thanks!

 

[Draco1962]

2 hours ago, spamola said:

Hi Tom, 

I'm running MAME 0.209, and there's no disclaimer option under advanced settings in MAME. 

Look in the Setup Wizard Advance MAME Settings for the integrated MAME section.

[spamola]

Here's a log from it running with the attached GameEx .ini still showing the keyboardprvider option being used on the GameEx command line.

 

I'm still not seeing any disclaimer setting in the setup wizard's advanced MAME settings, is it possible I have an old version of the setup wizard?

log.txt

[tthurman]

Are you looking in Advanced Mame settings, not to be confused with AdvanceMAME?

 

 

[Draco1962]

Am I correct in my assumption that you are running MAME 0.209 via a separate emulator setup? It does not look like you have it configured within the integrated MAME section.

[spamola]

@tthurman In MAME with no game launched, I hit tab, then arrow down to Advanced Settings. 

 

@Draco1962 , maybe I'm not understanding you. I used the setup wizard to configure the paths, and set the exe name under MAME settings, and I run games from GameEx under the MAME menu, vs the Emulators menu. FOr reference, I'm referring to this section of the setup wizard:

https://www.gameex.com/setup-wizard-configuration-guide/#mamesettings

I don't see any Integrated MAME settings in my setup wizard, only what's listed on that page.

I do have MAME configured in custom emulators, (Emulator #6 shown in the log ):

20:40:26.69  7/6/2020:  Loading Emulator 6: MAME Arcade

but its the same mame64.exe and core MAME file set, it just has a different ROM path that I was creating a curated list of ROMs for), but it's not been used for months. Is that what you mean?

 

[spamola]

Also, I'm a bone head, I see the disclaimer option in the setup wizard, (overlooking it the entire time). I've set that to No, and no change in the issue.

[Draco1962]

Yes, I noted that you had settings for both and trying to determine from which you were running MAME and having the problem which would entail probable different solutions. This is the integrated MAME Settings section of the Setup Wizard to which I was referring:

 Your gameex.ini shows the following:

ADVANCEMAMEOptions=-device_video_output fullscreen -quiet -dir_rom "C:\Emulators\Mame32\roms"  which is your launching command line switches for MAME (in the Wizard under Advance Mame Settings > MAME Settings

You noted previously that you have a TankStick. When you setup MAME, did you do so using the Option 2 instructions from Xarcade?  I am not near my GameEx PC to provide you an example of my command line but I can assure you that I have not noticed any iof your reported ssues with my version of MAME v0.222 launched via GameEx Arcade. I do seem to recall some issues with v0.209 but cannot put my finger on it at the moment.

P.S. I corrected your thread title to the actual GameEx Name and version (From GameEx to GameEx Arcade and from 14.48 to 14.49 as shows in your log,txt fille).

[spamola]

I was under the impression that section was for advancemame, and since the UseAdvanceMAME directive was set to false, this was being ignored.

USeAdvanceMame=False
AdvanceMAMEEXE=advmame.exe
AdvanceMAMEPATH=C:\Emulators\AdvanceMAME
ADVANCEMAMEOptions=-device_video_output fullscreen -quiet -dir_rom "C:\Emulators\Mame32\roms"

I thought that MAME's command options were from this directive:

MameOptions=

Configured in this section of the wizard:

Since my gameex.ini has nothing in that section, I'm puzzled why it's being ran with those options. 

 

[tthurman]

2 hours ago, spamola said:

Also, I'm a bone head, I see the disclaimer option in the setup wizard, (overlooking it the entire time). I've set that to No, and no change in the issue.

 

Okay, that's what I was referring to in setup wizard.

Advance MAME Settings is directly tied to the integrated MAME support in GameEx.  This section allows for further customization of GameEx mame support, game filters, etc.....

 

AdvanceMAME is it's own launcher and completely separate, but the name serves to confuse matters.

 

[Draco1962]

Two things for you to try and they are mutually dependent:

First, via Setup Wizard, replace whatever you have in Advance MAME Settings for MAME Options  with this:

-nowindow -video d3d -noswitchres -triplebuffer -skip_gameinfo -ctrlr x-arcade

Second,  Option 2 instructions from Xarcade to ensure that the controller file for x-arcade is proper within your MAME installation.

[spamola]

So, I was able to stop GameEx from injecting the keyboardprovider option when running a MAME game, and the issue is gone.

I ran through the setup wizard again, and the Mame options were showing blank, (reflecting the maunal gameex.ini edit),  so I stepped all the way through the wizard to the end, and then closed the wizard on the last screen.

When I launched GameEx,  the controls worked as they did before. I was able to map multiple keyboards, and have them recognized as separate devices, (kbd 1 kbd 2 etc), and I'm able to map multiple inputs for controls again, (button one in MAME can be kbd 1 Z or Gun 1 B0).

[Draco1962]

1 hour ago, spamola said:

So, I was able to stop GameEx from injecting the keyboardprovider option when running a MAME game, and the issue is gone.

How?

[spamola]

I ran through the setup wizard again, and the Mame options were showing blank, (reflecting the maunal gameex.ini edit),  so I stepped all the way through the wizard to the end, and then closed the wizard on the last screen.

When I launched GameEx,  the controls worked as they did before. I was able to map multiple keyboards, and have them recognized as separate devices, (kbd 1 kbd 2 etc), and I'm able to map multiple inputs for controls again, (button one in MAME can be kbd 1 Z or Gun 1 B0). 

Still no clue where the keyboardprovider option was coming from since it wasn't present in mame.ini or gameex.ini, but the controls work again, and the GameEx log reflects that no command line options were injected:

09:42:30.52  7/7/2020:  Running: cmd.exe /c C: C:\GameEx\emulators\MAME0209b\mame64.exe mspacman -rompath C:\GameEx\roms\MAME_0.209_ROMs_merged 

 

[Draco1962]

OK, understand better, For some reason my brain was not connecting the dots that what followed your first sentence was an explanation of the steps you performed that remedied the issue for you. I now return you to the program already in progress...

[Tom Speirs]

Glad you figured it out. The option may have been removed from the setup in Arcade. Could swear I looked at your log and it was not Aracade edition. Sorry about that but yeah skip disclaimer injects those options so it can send keys to MAME.

PS: Advance MAME settings should be renamed to Advanced. These are in fact settings and nothing to do with the legacy MANE version discontinued many years ago.