themes for GameEx Arcade

[Atari2600guru]

I'm setting up an arcade cabinet and installed GameEx Arcade.  I had read that GameEx lets you customize the theme and had many user-created themes that could be chosen from.  Somewhere I had read that you could do this after registering.  I'm now a lifetime member, but I'm unable to find any of the theme editors or download theme options in the setup wizard.  I have ~200 mame ROMS that are working in mame and I just want to create a GameEx interface with my own categories and change the circular wheel style game selection to something like a vertical list.  

Any help on this would be appreciated.

Thanks,

John

[Tom Speirs]

Hi,

Not sure what you read but GameEx arcade edition is quite limited in regard to skinning and themes. Sorry.

[Atari2600guru]

Hmm.  Is there a way to tell it which games to put into each category?

On a related note: I'm getting some games showing up in my list that are not MAME ROMs that I've installed in MAME (and they don't show up in the MAME GUI).  Is there a way to remove them?

[Tom Speirs]

Please post your log file and gameex.ini. GameEx Arcade edition is meant to just be plug in play so there is not a lot of customization of the menus.

Although It sounds like your MAME list is not updating correctly and is showing all games. This could be because of an old or incompatible mame version or you may need to update the list.

[Atari2600guru]

Hi Tom.  I was able to figure out my issues with the game list.  I have to say after playing with GameEx Arcade for a few hours I'm now liking the interface a lot.  I don't think I'd change anything even if I could!  Clearly you put a lot of thought into the interface and setup wizard.  I do have a few open questions:

1) My understanding is that in order to get Dragon's Lair and Space Ace working I'd need to get the Daphne emulator.  Is that correct?  If so, would those games show up in my regular list of games in GameEx Arcade?

2) I have a few games that are being misclassified. Is there a way for me to fix that?  For instance "Elevator Action Returns" and "Bubble Bobble" are showing up in the spinner games list, but they use joysticks.

3) I am running MAME version 222.  In the MAME GUI there are about 5 of my favorite games that are showing up grayed out, but they run just fine.  These games that are grayed out in the MAME GUI do not show up in the GameEx Arcade GUI even though I selected the 2 options in the setup wizard to use every game even if they are imperfect. Do you know what might be wrong?

Thanks,

John

[Draco1962]

Hi John - I'll see if I can be of help and answer a few of your questions to the best of my knowledge. To my peers, corrections are welcome.

1) My understanding is that in order to get Dragon's Lair and Space Ace working I'd need to get the Daphne emulator.  Is that correct?  If so, would those games show up in my regular list of games in GameEx Arcade?

DAPHNE is required to play Dragon's Lair, Space Ace, and other Laser Disc games. These will display under Laser Disc separate from the Arcade Games for MAME and other integrated emulator support that utilize MAME ROMs (e.g. AAE, Sega Model 2 and 3, etc.).

2) I have a few games that are being misclassified. Is there a way for me to fix that?  For instance "Elevator Action Returns" and "Bubble Bobble" are showing up in the spinner games list, but they use joysticks.

This may be an error in the catver.ini file. This file is updated frequently for frontends so make sure yours is up-to-date and use Update List option if you find a new version for your version of MAME.

3) I am running MAME version 222.  In the MAME GUI there are about 5 of my favorite games that are showing up grayed out, but they run just fine.  These games that are grayed out in the MAME GUI do not show up in the GameEx Arcade GUI even though I selected the 2 options in the setup wizard to use every game even if they are imperfect. Do you know what might be wrong?

Without reviewing your gameex.ini, I am not able to see your settings, however, if you can identify the ROM names, you can add them to your "Don't Filter These ROMS" list in the "Advanced MAME Options" of the Setup Wizard. Be sure to separate each ROM name by a ; with no spaces. Update List after changing.

I hope that answers your questions. If still having issues with #3, please attach copies of your gameex.ini and log.txt files for review.

Mike