Setting Up PC Game As Emulator

[iano]

Hi. I have a few questions about setting up a pc game (MDK) as an emulator. Let me start by saying that the game works beautifully outside GameEX. I've set up the working path as C:\MDK\ and the command line as MDK95.exe . I don't know what to specify in the rom path or the rom filter because it's not an emulator. I know in the rom filter you can specify a shortcut ( .lnk i think ) to the executable. What happens when i run the game thru GameEX is that on the game start page (not sure if would call it that) on the left hand side of the page above the title MDK is a file which is in the same directory (C:\MDK\) called DEISLI (it's extension is .ISU). I think it's something to do with the rom filter. The other thing is that every second time i play the game thru GameEX the graphics are screwed (some of the colors are wrong) yet it plays perfect outside GameEX. Any help on this would be much appreciated - it's my fav pc game & looks class when i'm playing it standalone.

Thanks for your time !

iano.

[lingpanda]

Hi. I have a few questions about setting up a pc game (MDK) as an emulator. Let me start by saying that the game works beautifully outside GameEX. I've set up the working path as C:\MDK\ and the command line as MDK95.exe . I don't know what to specify in the rom path or the rom filter because it's not an emulator. I know in the rom filter you can specify a shortcut ( .lnk i think ) to the executable. What happens when i run the game thru GameEX is that on the game start page (not sure if would call it that) on the left hand side of the page above the title MDK is a file which is in the same directory (C:\MDK\) called DEISLI (it's extension is .ISU). I think it's something to do with the rom filter. The other thing is that every second time i play the game thru GameEX the graphics are screwed (some of the colors are wrong) yet it plays perfect outside GameEX. Any help on this would be much appreciated - it's my fav pc game & looks class when i'm playing it standalone.

Thanks for your time !

iano.

Create a folder called rom in your game directory. Next create a Text file labled whatever you want to display as the games Title. ie. (MDK.txt) Next save it. Now direct GameEx to the rom directory and your text file will be displayed as the game name. Your command line should be MDK95.exe and nothing else.

[iano]

Create a folder called rom in your game directory. Next create a Text file labled whatever you want to display as the games Title. ie. (MDK.txt) Next save it. Now direct GameEx to the rom directory and your text file will be displayed as the game name. Your command line should be MDK95.exe and nothing else.

Hi Ling. Thanks for your help. I got rid of that file displaying above MDK. I noticed that when i remap my ipac2 using WinIPAC (outside GameEX) and then launch MDK everything works fine with no graphics glitches. But when i launch from within GameEX using the option 'Launch Before' C:\Program Files\WinIPAC\WinIPAC.exe C:\Documents and Settings\Ian Duffy\My Documents\IPAC\MDK.ipc to remap my keys the ipac2 does not remap.If it does the graphics are funny. Is the some setting on the emulator setup i'm not ticking ? Or is my command line for remapping the ipac2 wrong ?

Thanks again,

iano.

[lingpanda]

Hi Ling. Thanks for your help. I got rid of that file displaying above MDK. I noticed that when i remap my ipac2 using WinIPAC (outside GameEX) and then launch MDK everything works fine with no graphics glitches. But when i launch from within GameEX using the option 'Launch Before' C:\Program Files\WinIPAC\WinIPAC.exe C:\Documents and Settings\Ian Duffy\My Documents\IPAC\MDK.ipc to remap my keys the ipac2 does not remap.If it does the graphics are funny. Is the some setting on the emulator setup i'm not ticking ? Or is my command line for remapping the ipac2 wrong ?

Thanks again,

iano.

You are in luck my friend. I'm also a I-PAC user and have come across this very same issue. (ie. Keys not being programmed. You need to create a bacth file with the winipac command. Place the batch file in the GameEx root directory. Now just browse for the batch file with the wizard. Once selected it should just display the batch file name and not a directory with it.

[iano]

You are in luck my friend. I'm also a I-PAC user and have come across this very same issue. (ie. Keys not being programmed. You need to create a bacth file with the winipac command. Place the batch file in the GameEx root directory. Now just browse for the batch file with the wizard. Once selected it should just display the batch file name and not a directory with it.

Hi Ling. I've done what you advised but it doesn't remap (running the MDKIPC.bat) outside GameEX or inside. I may have written the batch file incorrectly. Here's the lines:

@echo off

C:\Program Files\WinIPAC\WinIPAC.exe MDK.ipc (i do have the MDK.ipc in WinIPAC's directory)

I've called the batch file MDKIPC.bat , created it in notepad and saved using All Files option

Any ideas ?

Thanks,

iano.

[lingpanda]

Hi Ling. I've done what you advised but it doesn't remap (running the MDKIPC.bat) outside GameEX or inside. I may have written the batch file incorrectly. Here's the lines:

@echo off

C:\Program Files\WinIPAC\WinIPAC.exe MDK.ipc (i do have the MDK.ipc in WinIPAC's directory)

I've called the batch file MDKIPC.bat , created it in notepad and saved using All Files option

Any ideas ?

Thanks,

iano.

Here is my batch file

"C:\Program Files\WinIPAC\WinIPAC.exe" C:\Program Files\WinIPAC\psx.ipc

Make sure you use quotes in the batch file.

[iano]

Here is my batch file

"C:\Program Files\WinIPAC\WinIPAC.exe" C:\Program Files\WinIPAC\psx.ipc

Make sure you use quotes in the batch file.

Hi Ling. Tried what you said - still no go. Head beginning to melt at this point. Thanks for you time & patience ! On a side note - If you set up a pc game as an emulator will it not display the title and snap ? I do have them in .png format in their folders and named them after the executable (MDK95).

Cheers,

iano.

[emphatic]

On a side note - If you set up a pc game as an emulator will it not display the title and snap ? I do have them in .png format in their folders and named them after the executable (MDK95).

If you put all your PC game snaps in the same folder, you can setup GameEx to run PC Games as an emulator. Create shortcuts for you games and put them in a ROMS folder and enter *.lnk as rom extension. In this case, you can create an extra .bat-file that looks like this:

Start.bat:

@echo off

start MDKIPC.bat

start c:\game folder path\MDK.exe

exit

and the shortcut to use as a rom file for mdk is a shortcut to Start.bat

If you have PC games that needs to be mounted, you can create a .mount file as well and let Start.bat run it for you.

Emph

[lingpanda]

Hi Ling. Tried what you said - still no go. Head beginning to melt at this point. Thanks for you time & patience ! On a side note - If you set up a pc game as an emulator will it not display the title and snap ? I do have them in .png format in their folders and named them after the executable (MDK95).

Cheers,

iano.

Does the batch file work outside of gameex?

[Will]

I use an IPAC to do the same thing. I had to use my batch files like this:

Run before: cmd /c ipac.bat

This tells it to run the command prompt and in the command prompt it spawns another one to run the batch file so that the first one can return immediately. Why this allows GameEx to work properly and the other doesn't....I don't know. But it works for me. So, for each IPAC profile I have a batch file that is a one liner to load a new profile, and in each program or emulator I use the line above in my run before and run after lines. Works beautifully. And as a note you do NOT need quotes in the commands in Windows unless there are spaces (such as Program Files directory) or special punctuation. Hope this helps!

[iano]

I use an IPAC to do the same thing. I had to use my batch files like this:

Run before: cmd /c ipac.bat

This tells it to run the command prompt and in the command prompt it spawns another one to run the batch file so that the first one can return immediately. Why this allows GameEx to work properly and the other doesn't....I don't know. But it works for me. So, for each IPAC profile I have a batch file that is a one liner to load a new profile, and in each program or emulator I use the line above in my run before and run after lines. Works beautifully. And as a note you do NOT need quotes in the commands in Windows unless there are spaces (such as Program Files directory) or special punctuation. Hope this helps!

Hi Folks ! Thanks for your support. Much appreciated... I still can't get it to work. I've tried your suggestions but no joy. It seems to always work from WinIPAC but rarely anything else. I've noticed when using WinIPAC that it has to load the driver before programmimg the IPAC2 half the time (and when it is loaded your batch file works perfectly outside GameEX Ling !). Nothing seems to work from within GameEX and i suspect a XP/Driver issue. I've read a thread here about the xp issue that's caused by plugging IPAC2 into different usb ports and have tried the IPACFIX.reg solution. It didn't seem to work. I've also posted my problem on the Ultimarc forum - not much luck there either but i was doing a search in the forum and turn up something on the same lines as IPACFIX.reg. I discovered that i'd 3 drivers in device manager usb section for my IPAC2. I deleted all 3, rebooted and connected the IPAC2 to the usb port which i will be using for my cab but still no joy with external programming. I going to email Andy at Ultimarc after xmas and if he has no solution it's for the bin. Too much of a waste of my time (not to mention yours !). Thanks lads for your help !

Merry Xmas & A Happy New Year !!

iano.

[Will]

I had the same problem and my solution fixed it. The problem for me seemed to be that whatever command was run in the "run before" line wasn't working properly and I couldn't easily tell it. I set mine up the way I did so that I go open up the run prompt on the start menu and try my batch file, which would basically be the same thing that GameEx does. If it didn't work there, then it was a problem on my end. You should create a batch file and run it in the run prompt exactly like you have it typed in GameEx to see if you have made a mistake somewhere. Also be sure you are using the "debug" mode in the emulator config to see what is actually being done. And be sure that any paths or filenames with spaces have quotes around them. Trust me--this is most likely NOT a driver issue cause I had the SAME problem exactly.

[lingpanda]

Hi Folks ! Thanks for your support. Much appreciated... I still can't get it to work. I've tried your suggestions but no joy. It seems to always work from WinIPAC but rarely anything else. I've noticed when using WinIPAC that it has to load the driver before programmimg the IPAC2 half the time (and when it is loaded your batch file works perfectly outside GameEX Ling !). Nothing seems to work from within GameEX and i suspect a XP/Driver issue. I've read a thread here about the xp issue that's caused by plugging IPAC2 into different usb ports and have tried the IPACFIX.reg solution. It didn't seem to work. I've also posted my problem on the Ultimarc forum - not much luck there either but i was doing a search in the forum and turn up something on the same lines as IPACFIX.reg. I discovered that i'd 3 drivers in device manager usb section for my IPAC2. I deleted all 3, rebooted and connected the IPAC2 to the usb port which i will be using for my cab but still no joy with external programming. I going to email Andy at Ultimarc after xmas and if he has no solution it's for the bin. Too much of a waste of my time (not to mention yours !). Thanks lads for your help !

Merry Xmas & A Happy New Year !!

iano.

I have to run and IPC file when GameEx starts because of this problem. Driver needs to be installed after every reboot.

[iano]

I had the same problem and my solution fixed it. The problem for me seemed to be that whatever command was run in the "run before" line wasn't working properly and I couldn't easily tell it. I set mine up the way I did so that I go open up the run prompt on the start menu and try my batch file, which would basically be the same thing that GameEx does. If it didn't work there, then it was a problem on my end. You should create a batch file and run it in the run prompt exactly like you have it typed in GameEx to see if you have made a mistake somewhere. Also be sure you are using the "debug" mode in the emulator config to see what is actually being done. And be sure that any paths or filenames with spaces have quotes around them. Trust me--this is most likely NOT a driver issue cause I had the SAME problem exactly.

Hi Will. Do you have your batch files for remapping the ipac2 in your gameEX root directory ? Just wondering when you said to type say cmd c/ ipac.ipc in the run before field and that would mean that you would have to type cmd /c default.ipc in your run after field that these commands would expect to find these batch files in the GameEX root directory.

Cheers,

iano.

[Will]

the easiest way around path issues is to just add your batch files to your WinIPAC directory and then add that directory to your path. Open up the Control Panel and open up the System panel. In Environment Settings (or something similar) add the directory to your system wide path. Then you won't need any paths for either. That should clear things up in a much simpler way and make sure your problem isn't quote related. From then on, regardless of the path, you can use cmd /c gameex_ipc.bat. In the batch file you only need a line like: WinIPAC profile.ipc. Since the batch file is running from the WinIPAC directory it shouldn't need a path before the profile.ipc.

Regarding lingpanda's comment....I have heard some people have this problem all the time. I found on my system it happens occasionally that the IPAC isn't recognized at first. It doesn't matter though if you are using different profiles for each emulator like I do. When GameEx starts, I load the default GameEx profile (which loads the drivers in case it wasn't recognized), then each emulator loads its profile before running. After running they reload the GameEx one. Problem solved pretty much like lingpanda said.

[lingpanda]

When GameEx starts, I load the default GameEx profile (which loads the drivers in case it wasn't recognized), then each emulator loads its profile before running. After running they reload the GameEx one. Problem solved pretty much like lingpanda said.

Exactly!