[RESOLVED] Rebuild - upgrade from V12.75

[GoTheBunnies]

Hi guys, 

I was an early adopter of GameEx, and built a couple of Mame machines using the GameEx frontend. One of the machines I built has died, and I'll need to do a re-build with a new PC. It was running GameEx V12.75.

I've still got all my original GameEx Config files, but I'm thinking I may be better off just starting from scratch with the latest GameEx version (?). Last build I put in a bunch of emulators - Mame, Sega, Daphne - the list goes on. But this time I think I'll keep it simple and just use Mame (and download the latest Mame emulator) - I've got more than enough roms for that.

The other things I'm considering are that the last build had no internet access, but this time I'll probably include a wifi card. The only other thing to think about is that it's for a cocktail machine, and I recall last time it was a pain working out all the games that had to flip screen for player 2.

Any early advice before I start getting into it would be appreciated.  Any tips or tricks I should be mindful of moving up so many versions of GameEx?  

Thanks in advance

[Draco1962]

Hard to give this kind of advice. Assuming that you will have much newer kit and a more recent OS - at least Windows 10. A few things:

- Get the latest MAME version and ROMs. Older versions can be problematic.

- Install the LAV filters. Much better than the old recommended Shark007 codecs.

- Consider running GameEx Arcade Edition. Derived from GameEx, it is a bit more streamlined with arcade in mind.

 

 

[GoTheBunnies]

Thanks very much, that’s really helpful

[GoTheBunnies]

An update to this - have decided to install GameEx Arcade with the new codecs as recommended. Going to keep my old Mame version though - I installed the new Mame version and a lot of my roms wouldn't run, so given they were running fine on the old version I figured why mess with it.  I haven't tried to run other emulators yet, but suspect it will be a similar story.

One early issue though is that my old version of GameEx won't run on the new PC (maybe something to do with 32-bit versus 64-bit?). It doesn't need to run obviously, because I'm re-building, but I was hoping to reference some of the config settings that I used so I could copy them in the new system. Any suggestions?

Thanks

[Draco1962]

Problem with older MAME is that there are some conflicts with newer GameEx. Your version of MAME and ROMs must be the same. If you are mixing new MAME with old ROMs you will experience what you described. Since you are "new building" not a better time than now to update both.

I'd just start all anew including the config. Once you start setting things up it will come back to you. You can still reference the old gameex.ini file for specific command lines if need be.

My two pence.

[GoTheBunnies]

Thanks, and I agree with you re the Mame version - but I've got hundreds of old Mame roms and I have no idea where to start looking for updated versions of them given it's not legal to download them etc (or is it?)

So if I'm hearing you right, if I try to use my old version of Mame and roms I'm going to run into issues with the latest version of GameEx Arcade?

Edited May 11 by GoTheBunnies
Added more info

[Draco1962]

Correct Part of the issue with older MAME builds - I want to say pre 0.197 but it may even be a little later 0.265 is the latest out. As for ROMs and where to find them, I cannot help you other than to say they are out there if you look for them.