[RESOLVED] Emulator difficulties

[Spongey]

I am having issues with 2 software list systems. ColecoVision and NES. I will ask for help with NES and maybe that will solve my ColecoVision problems. I have set up NES exactly the same as my SNES. I'm using MAME as the emulator for both. Just trying to keep it simple. When I try and run a NES game it just goes black for a few seconds and then returns to the play this game screen. I have tried playing with rom paths, hash info and command lines. All to no success. If I run NES games with stand-alone mame, not through GameEx they work fine. I was trying to upload my config file but am getting a server error. Will try tomorrow.

[Draco1962]

Hi Spongey - please attach copies of both your gameex.ini and log.txt files - from when the error(s) occurred - when opening a thread requesting assistance. This helps us to expedite our assistance for you in resolving the issue(s). 

You should be able to drag the files from Windows Explorer to the new post, then hit Submit Reply.

[Spongey]

I tried and kept getting a Server error message. I will try again tonight. Not sure if it was something on my end or your end.

 

[Draco1962]

May be as simple as clearing your browser cache, closing, and logging back in anew.

[Spongey]

Unfortunately, I am still unable to upload my gameex.ini and lod.txt files. I keep getting an unknow server error. I have cleared my browsers cache and everything else I can find. Rebooted and still no luck uploading the files.

[Spongey]

log.txt

[Spongey]

My log file uploads fine. But the Cameex.ini will not upload.

[Spongey]

It let me upload my backup Gameex.ini. Will this work? No idea why.

GameEx.UpgradeBackup.ini

[Tom Speirs]

Hey Spongey,

Its helpful to get a log showing the game trying to be launched. it can show common problems. Can you do that?

Otherwise, i was thinking maybe you are missing the bios roms,

[Spongey]

I thought I had uploaded the correct log file, but I will do it again tonight. Now on the missing bios roms, I can run NES games just fine running GroovyMame directly using its GUI. But not through GameEx AE. I have compared the ROM locations in Mame to GameEx AE and they appear to be exactly the same. I am using a merged ROM set if that makes any diffrence. 

[Draco1962]

Have you tried running through "vanilla" MAME and GameEx?

[Tom Speirs]

1 hour ago, Spongey said:

I thought I had uploaded the correct log file, but I will do it again tonight. Now on the missing bios roms, I can run NES games just fine running GroovyMame directly using its GUI. But not through GameEx AE. I have compared the ROM locations in Mame to GameEx AE and they appear to be exactly the same. I am using a merged ROM set if that makes any diffrence. 

it is likely the command line. the log should help.

[Spongey]

Latest and correct log file. (I hope)

log.txt

[Spongey]

I just tried vanilla mame through gameex it does not work, but works fine stand alone.

[Tom Speirs]

GameEx creates runitgame.bat in the data folder to launch a game. That is exactly what is run. Take a look at that.

if you add pause to the end of the batch file, you should hopefully get a notification of the problem.

im guessing its missing a bios/rom.

[Spongey]

runitgame says Fatal Error: Device NES Cartridge slot load failed: File is not  an iNES or UNIF cartridge image

Command line is 

E:\GroovyMame>mame.exe nes -cart "E:\GroovyMame\roms\nes\arkanoid.zip"

So apparently it does not like the Rom, just not sure why.

[Tom Speirs]

it has been a while since I looked at MAME outside of Arcade but is -cart needed?

[Draco1962]

5 hours ago, Tom Speirs said:

it has been a while since I looked at MAME outside of Arcade but is -cart needed?

Per the MAME .278 Universal Commandlines page, yes. See example #2:

mame nes -cart robby -snapname %g\%d_cart

I have seen things about MAME emulation of Nintendo NES and SNES and not many of them very good. My suggestion would be to use RetroArch or an emulator with dedicated focus on these. See this page for a list:

Best NES Emulators For Retro Gaming | Den of Geek

[Spongey]

OK, I will look into that. It just seems so odd that it works fine outside of GameEX. Was just trying to keep things simple by using Mame for all of the emulators.  I went through this with Colecovision and never did get it to work with GameEx. I tried several different emulators. All worked outside of GameEx and none running through GameEx. Was going to ask for help on that next. Oh well. 

[Tom Speirs]

No worries and sorry to correct you but as you can see it actually does not work outside of GameEx.

[Spongey]

Mame may not be the best software list console emulator, but it plays the games I wanted to play pretty well. My vision was to have a seamless experience using GameEx to play the games I wanted to play. And yes, the NES games will run using stand alone MAME without GameEx. Maybe not perfectly, but they do at least run. And I have seen videos of people using NES and Colecovision through GameEx. So I know it is possible. So my guess is that it is something in my setup that is causing problem. I did find a post on here about setting up Retroarch to run through GameEx and will try that route. Thanks again everybody for the help. I will keep you posted if I ever come up with a solution.

[Tom Speirs]

if its not the -cart it maybe because you are passing the whole filename with extension. Maybe you need to pass the filename without the extension (.zip).

PS: When I said it did not work outside of GameEx i was referring to via command line. i get that it works in the gui.

Cheers.

Tom.

ps: its going to be much easier with Retroarch soon. i am working on it.

[Draco1962]

Is it possible that the ROMS for NES and Colecovision need to be added to the Don't Filter These ROMS section in Advanced MAME?

 

[Tom Speirs]

3 minutes ago, Draco1962 said:

Is it possible that the ROMS for NES and Colecovision need to be added to the Don't Filter These ROMS section in Advanced MAME?

 

No and that is just for arcade games.

As you can see he ran runitgame.bat and got a strange error outside of GameEx.

[Spongey]

Just wanted to update my progress with ColecoVision and GameEx Arcade. I got it work by downloading a new set of Roms and unzipping them into a separate folder.  Also, a different Bios file. Pointed GameEx to them and it runs fine now. Not sure what fixed it to be honest. I really don't think it was a bad set of roms since it worked fine outside of GameEx. Maybe unzipping them? I tried GearColeco and did get it to work also. But I could not get the ColecoVision controllers mapped correctly. They work great using MAME and my adapter. Thanks again for all the time and ideas. Hope this will help someone else down the road.