Launching PC games

[stigt]

Hi all, I have a question about launching PC games from within GameEx. For most installed games I have a no-cd patch and can run them via a shortcut without mounting anything. Some games however (like the wing commander series) must have an image file inserted with Daemon tools.

I would like to run both type of installs with just one configuration. Is a wrapper of some kind needed? do I need to use a bat file?

Any help with this problem is appreciated.

Regards,

Arjen

(Underneath is my current config for PC games)

[Emulator_21]
Enabled=True
STARTPAGENAME=PC Games
TITLETEXT=PC Games
StartPageLogo=PC
ROMFilter=*.lnk;*.bat
RomsInFolders=False
RomPath=D:\Games\Shortcuts
SnapPath=D:\Games\Artwork\Screenshot
WorkingPath=D:\Games\Shortcuts
MapKeys=False
WaitBeforeKeys=
SendKeys=
ReplaceDash=False
ReplaceUnder=True
Capitals=False
RemoveBrackets=True
ShowDesktop=False
Debug=False
MAPFile=
AlsoLaunch=
Command=[ROMPath]\[RomFile]
OLDatZip=
TitlePath=D:\Games\Artwork\Title
BoxPath=D:\Games\Artwork\Box
LaunchBefore=
LaunchAfter=C:\Emulation\Xpadder\Profiles\blank.xpadderprofile
CartPath=D:\Games\Artwork\CD
configFile=
ExcludedFiles=
CustomBackground=pcgames.png
PlayMusic=
PCGame=
DATABASE=
DumbyValue=
GamesIn7Zips=
PlayInScreenSaver=True
lastgame=
ShowMostPlayed=False
DontShowInfo=
PlaySelectionMusic=
SelectionMusicFolder=
ManualPath=

[Brian Hoffman]

In launch before you can mount your iso via deamontools

"C:\Program Files\DAEMON Tools\daemon.exe" -mount 0,"c:\mygamesisos\mygame.iso"

fyi: you will want to right click on the dtools icon on your taskbar and goto options and disable securemode.

Unless you do that it will promt you when you are about to mount an image using CLI when an image may already be mounted.

[stigt]

In launch before you can mount your iso via deamontools

"C:\Program Files\DAEMON Tools\daemon.exe" -mount 0,"c:\mygamesisos\mygame.iso"

fyi: you will want to right click on the dtools icon on your taskbar and goto options and disable securemode.

Unless you do that it will promt you when you are about to mount an image using CLI when an image may already be mounted.

Hi Brian, I understand what you mean, but wouldn't that mean that each time I start up a PC game it will mount the same image? What I am trying to do is to make gameex know if the PC game that is launched needs an iso or not, and if there is an iso needed, it mounts the correct one.

I just had an idea, would it be possible to mount an iso with every PC game, but when no iso is necessary, I just make a "blank" iso with the name of the game. Is that possible?

Cheers,

Arjen

[Brian Hoffman]

Hi Brian, I understand what you mean, but wouldn't that mean that each time I start up a PC game it will mount the same image? What I am trying to do is to make gameex know if the PC game that is launched needs an iso or not, and if there is an iso needed, it mounts the correct one.

I just had an idea, would it be possible to mount an iso with every PC game, but when no iso is necessary, I just make a "blank" iso with the name of the game. Is that possible?

Cheers,

Arjen

Two ideas

1. Setup the pc games that need the cds seperatly as emulators... Then goto emulator groups and group them all together. Done

2. Make batch files for each of the games.. They should be few. mount the iso then call the game.

Place shortcuts to these batfiles in the games folder.

[stigt]

Two ideas

1. Setup the pc games that need the cds seperatly as emulators... Then goto emulator groups and group them all together. Done

2. Make batch files for each of the games.. They should be few. mount the iso then call the game.

Place shortcuts to these batfiles in the games folder.

Hi Brian, the problem is mostly solved now. I have two kinds of "roms", being .lnk and .bat files. The former are for games not needing an iso, the latter for games requiring an image file. It was quite a puzzle to mount the right image with daemon tools, because the normal command line option of -mount 0, "c:\mygame\game.iso" didn't seem to work from within a batch file. Therefore I used a small and very useful application called Daemonscript, freely downloadable form the daemon tools website. This gives you the possibility of creating short scripts to mount images, put in delays and run applications.

I keep having one problem, when I am running a game from a batch file I can't seem to exit properly, because the cmd.exe keeps on running, and this is what gameex fired up in the first place. How can you properly switch back to gameex (ofcourse without the use of the Esc key, which is needed in most PC games).

My batch file looks like this:

@ECHO OFF
D:\Games\Shortcuts\WC3.Daemonscript
C:\WINDOWS\system32\CMD.EXE /K "D:\Games\Shortcuts\Links\Wing Commander III.lnk" 

My PC games config is this:

[Emulator_21]
Enabled=True
STARTPAGENAME=PC Games
TITLETEXT=PC Games
StartPageLogo=PC
ROMFilter=*.bat;*.lnk
RomsInFolders=False
RomPath=D:\Games\Shortcuts
SnapPath=D:\Games\Artwork\Screenshot
WorkingPath=D:\Games\Shortcuts
MapKeys=False
WaitBeforeKeys=
SendKeys=
ReplaceDash=False
ReplaceUnder=True
Capitals=False
RemoveBrackets=True
ShowDesktop=True
Debug=False
MAPFile=
AlsoLaunch=
Command=[ROMPath]\[RomFile]
OLDatZip=
TitlePath=D:\Games\Artwork\Title
BoxPath=D:\Games\Artwork\Box
LaunchBefore=
LaunchAfter=C:\Emulation\Xpadder\Profiles\blank.xpadderprofile
CartPath=D:\Games\Artwork\CD
configFile=
ExcludedFiles=
CustomBackground=pcgames.png
PlayMusic=
PCGame=
DATABASE=
DumbyValue=
GamesIn7Zips=
PlayInScreenSaver=True
lastgame=
ShowMostPlayed=False
DontShowInfo=
PlaySelectionMusic=
SelectionMusicFolder=
ManualPath=
ControlPanelPath=
InstructionsPath=
RandomMostPlayed=False
CDCheck=
CDCheckFile=

Cheers,

Arjen

[Brian Hoffman]

Hi Brian, the problem is mostly solved now. I have two kinds of "roms", being .lnk and .bat files. The former are for games not needing an iso, the latter for games requiring an image file. It was quite a puzzle to mount the right image with daemon tools, because the normal command line option of -mount 0, "c:\mygame\game.iso" didn't seem to work from within a batch file. Therefore I used a small and very useful application called Daemonscript, freely downloadable form the daemon tools website. This gives you the possibility of creating short scripts to mount images, put in delays and run applications.

I keep having one problem, when I am running a game from a batch file I can't seem to exit properly, because the cmd.exe keeps on running, and this is what gameex fired up in the first place. How can you properly switch back to gameex (ofcourse without the use of the Esc key, which is needed in most PC games).

My batch file looks like this:

@ECHO OFF
D:\Games\Shortcuts\WC3.Daemonscript
C:\WINDOWS\system32\CMD.EXE /K "D:\Games\Shortcuts\Links\Wing Commander III.lnk" 

My PC games config is this:

[Emulator_21]
Enabled=True
STARTPAGENAME=PC Games
TITLETEXT=PC Games
StartPageLogo=PC
ROMFilter=*.bat;*.lnk
RomsInFolders=False
RomPath=D:\Games\Shortcuts
SnapPath=D:\Games\Artwork\Screenshot
WorkingPath=D:\Games\Shortcuts
MapKeys=False
WaitBeforeKeys=
SendKeys=
ReplaceDash=False
ReplaceUnder=True
Capitals=False
RemoveBrackets=True
ShowDesktop=True
Debug=False
MAPFile=
AlsoLaunch=
Command=[ROMPath]\[RomFile]
OLDatZip=
TitlePath=D:\Games\Artwork\Title
BoxPath=D:\Games\Artwork\Box
LaunchBefore=
LaunchAfter=C:\Emulation\Xpadder\Profiles\blank.xpadderprofile
CartPath=D:\Games\Artwork\CD
configFile=
ExcludedFiles=
CustomBackground=pcgames.png
PlayMusic=
PCGame=
DATABASE=
DumbyValue=
GamesIn7Zips=
PlayInScreenSaver=True
lastgame=
ShowMostPlayed=False
DontShowInfo=
PlaySelectionMusic=
SelectionMusicFolder=
ManualPath=
ControlPanelPath=
InstructionsPath=
RandomMostPlayed=False
CDCheck=
CDCheckFile=

Cheers,

Arjen

Remove the filter *.bat and create shortcuts to the bat files in the D:\Games\Shortcuts folder This way it will run all from LNK files

also chage your command to "[ROMPath]\[RomFile]" not [ROMPath]\[RomFile]. The reason being is its more compatable especially when you may have spaces in any folder or file names.