[ATTENTION] Two possible bugs found with GameEx 18.75

[u-man]

Hello folks 😇 ,

After taking a break creating my theme and getting back after holidays, I did update GameEx to version 18.75.

However it seems that this version introduced two possible bugs. To better replicate the problems, I will try to explain it as this:

The first bug is, that the "Sort by: Year" option in the MAME menue is not showing up anymore. However it shows up, if "Show Game Information" is enabled in the setup wizard of the "Enable / Disable Feature" section AND you clicked on a MAME game from your game list. For proof I attached my English.ini and i also enabled "English" as language in the setup wizard. Just to be sure it is not my mistake.

This brings me to the second bug. You cant completely scroll through the game info list and therefore can not read any game info. Lets say for example, you click on Donkey Kong, then you should see a "Game Information" in your list field. How many lines to scroll it has, depends on your list field size. Lets assume my list field contains 90 lines of  "Game Information", but the list field shows only the MAME extras, that are enabled in the "MAME Settings" of the setup wizard. Like the Flyer, Marquee, 3D cabinet etc. This means you can only scroll about 10 lines of the 90 lines from the "Game Information". It misses the entire history and mameinfo lines or better said you can not reach them, because you get stuck after about 10 lines of scrolling.

A workaround for this, is to enable the "Loop" option in the "Input Settings" from the setup wizard. Afterwards you can scroll backwards (like scrolling from line 0 to line 90 in one step), then the "Game Information" will finally show up, but you will need to read it from bottom to top which is confusing.

I hope I was clear enough, but it should be easy to replicate i think.

Thx in advance, for anyone trying.

English.ini

[Draco1962]

Two (maybe three) things:

First, please upgrade to the latest version 18.75.

Second, always attach copies of your gameex.ini and log.txt files when reporting an issue!

Third, if possible, please provide a video example of what you are experiencing.

Thanks!

[u-man]

Hello Draco ,

thanks for looking into this. First I am sure, that I use the latest version of GameEx, as i do the "automatic" updates. I just did not look into the download section to know what the latest version is, instead looked in the forum news section for it . Any good way to know which version is GameEx running on?

Second, gameex.ini and log.txt files attached.

Third, any good and easy to (de)-install screen capturing software recommended?

I did find out the cause of the first bug. Remember that in my last thread I wanted to remove the "Sort by Developer" option? The solution was to leave the developer line in the English.ini blank  . In the current version of GameEx, doing this has a downside, because it removes everything that comes after the "Sort by Developer" too which includes the "Sort by year" option. If for example you leave the "Sort by Name" line blank, then you would have removed the "Sort by..." menue entirely 🤪. I am almost sure, this behaviour was not the case with my older version of GameEx.

The second bug, is still the same.

Cheers!

GameEx.ini log.txt

[Draco1962]

For screen video capture, I use the built-in Windows features. More here: Windows Screen Recording

For the second bug, I will see if I can replicate it. This may be by design to keep GameEx from loading everything for all games for the sake of minimizing latency. Just a guess and I may be totally wrong.

[u-man]

I dont use Windows 11 for many obvious reasons, including this "feature", but  thanks anyway . If you know any else free to use screen capturing software, let me know it.

For the second bug, yeah please try it. For this, you only need to be sure that "Show Game Information" is enabled in the setup wizard of the "Enable / Disable Feature" section. Can not imagine, that this is done on purpose to minimize latency.

[Draco1962]

24 minutes ago, u-man said:

I dont use Windows 11 for many obvious reasons, including this "feature", but  thanks anyway . If you know any else free to use screen capturing software, let me know it.

Features work for Windows 10 as well.

[u-man]

Ooops, i did not know this. Guess I will try to record the bugs then and post a video .

[Draco1962]

1 hour ago, u-man said:

Ooops, i did not know this. Guess I will try to record the bugs then and post a video .

For my demo and bug capture videos I use the Xbox Game Bar instructions.  

[Tom Speirs]

Thanks for reporting. I will have a look shortly. As far I am aware the first item has always been that way with v3 and v4 themes. I can't think of anything that would have changed there. i know without looking it exits populating the menu when there is not a menu to add (empty string). There were some changes to ini reading though. You could have had a blank space there that maybe is trimmed now. That could be the cause of the other issue too.

[u-man]

Hello Gentlemen ,

I am sorry for the late reply. I recorded the bugs, so you can have a look for yourself.  My Theme.ini is telling me that the theme is a v4 theme. Sadly i forgot what the differences are between all these versions and AFAIK from the past, there was a point where GameEx would support only v4 themes, but i could be very wrong here .

Now coming to the first bug: If i sound harsh then i am really sorry, it is not my intention (seriously). So Tom is saying this "bug" has always being the case for "trimming" the menue. If that is the case, i would really be happy, if the sorting of the menue would be different in that way, that the "by manufacturer" and "by developer" options would be the last items in the menue. Currently the "by year" option, is the last item in the menue and if you trim "by manufacturer" or "by developer", you will also automatically trim the "by year" option.

At this point i also want to mention that in the case of MAME, the "by manufacturer" or "by developer" options lead to the same result. So I dont see a point, why i need to have both sorting options in the menue. Not only that, it also contains a bug where clicking the "by developer" item, is acting like you have pressed the "Home" button. Just observe carefully the end of the bug 1 clip. It will only show up, if the "game info" menue is enabled.

IMHO Tom should rework the "game info" menue. It should not contain any sorting menue items, because it is not really needed (you can always go back one step and do the sorting there.) and should focus more on the "game info". Also the sorting menue that shows up with the "game info" screen cannot be trimmed , no matter what you do, it will show up in its full glory.... eh mmh length .

The Bug 2 Clip is showing the "scrolling through game info" bug. The only way to scroll through it, is to enable the loop function (see first post) and do a  reverse scroll (from end to start), by pressing the "arrow up" key on the keyboard.

Thats all so far

 

Theme.ini

[Draco1962]

Please upgrade to v18.77 and report back with new copies of your gameex.ini and log.txt files. Thanks!

[u-man]

Hello Draco,

Updated to v18.77 and attached all new .ini and log files. Nothing has changed, my previous post still valid

GameEx.ini log.txt