Gameex takes an awful long time to startup on vista 32bit

[draconus]

Hi Everyone,

I hope someone can shed some light on this for me, I have just installed the latest version of gameex v9.21, But it takes up to 2 minutes to startup on vista 32 ultimate, I have checked taskmanager for the gameex process and it is there, but it shows no cpu usage for over a minute then it gradually increases the memory consumption before it eventually starts, I have attached my log file so I hope someone can help! (please note- I know that some emu configs are incomplete at the moment in the log file, but if you look at the timestamps on the log you will see where it seems to pause and it is not where it verifies the setup - it used to work fine before anyway)

Thanks as always,

Draconus.log.txt

[Tom Speirs]

Hi Everyone,

I hope someone can shed some light on this for me, I have just installed the latest version of gameex v9.21, But it takes up to 2 minutes to startup on vista 32 ultimate, I have checked taskmanager for the gameex process and it is there, but it shows no cpu usage for over a minute then it gradually increases the memory consumption before it eventually starts, I have attached my log file so I hope someone can help! (please note- I know that some emu configs are incomplete at the moment in the log file, but if you look at the timestamps on the log you will see where it seems to pause and it is not where it verifies the setup - it used to work fine before anyway)

Thanks as always,

Draconus.log.txt

The log appears to show that its taking 30 seconds to initialize. So Im not entirely sure whats going on at the moment. Is your version registered? If its not theat timing could be right. Are you saying this is due to the upgrade? the validation of the emulators, should happen after gameex has actually started. It does this as soon as it needs to access an emulator, but after its loaded.

[draconus]

The log appears to show that its taking 30 seconds to initialize. So Im not entirely sure whats going on at the moment. Is your version registered? If its not theat timing could be right. Are you saying this is due to the upgrade? the validation of the emulators, should happen after gameex has actually started. It does this as soon as it needs to access an emulator, but after its loaded.

Thanks for your reply Tom. I am Indeed a registered user for almost 2 years now, This happened to me for the first time for a short period a couple of updates ago (v9.12 I think), but seemed to sort itself out so I didn't think much about it, unfortunately I don't remember if it was due installing the next update or upgrading my nvidia drivers that seemed to sort it out as I update gameex with every update, I was just hoping I suppose that someone else had this problem and maybe found a solution. Or that my log file might give you a clue. I am using the valhalla theme, don't know if that makes a difference or not!

Regards,

Draconus.

[Tom Speirs]

Thanks for your reply Tom. I am Indeed a registered user for almost 2 years now, This happened to me for the first time for a short period a couple of updates ago (v9.12 I think), but seemed to sort itself out so I didn't think much about it, unfortunately I don't remember if it was due installing the next update or upgrading my nvidia drivers that seemed to sort it out as I update gameex with every update, I was just hoping I suppose that someone else had this problem and maybe found a solution. Or that my log file might give you a clue. I am using the valhalla theme, don't know if that makes a difference or not!

Regards,

Draconus.

It deffinitly does seem slow then if its registered. It starts up in about 4 seconds for me. I dont know why, but I think I heard of a slow startup issue occuring when GameEx could not connect to the internet properly. Could that be an issue?

[draconus]

It deffinitly does seem slow then if its registered. It starts up in about 4 seconds for me. I dont know why, but I think I heard of a slow startup issue occuring when GameEx could not connect to the internet properly. Could that be an issue?

That could definately be an issue Tom as my PC has not got any internet access! (I have a wireless router though for media streaming arount the house). Is there something I can do about this in the advanced settings? e.g. turn off checking for internet connection/do not connect to the internet? I always manually download my updates at work.

Thanks

Draconus.

[bkenobi]

If you have automatic updating turned on, it could be checking to see if you need an update. Since you don't have connectivity, it might be waiting till the internet times out which could be 30 seconds or so. Check and make sure you have automatic updating set to OFF.

[Tom Speirs]

That could definately be an issue Tom as my PC has not got any internet access! (I have a wireless router though for media streaming arount the house). Is there something I can do about this in the advanced settings? e.g. turn off checking for internet connection/do not connect to the internet? I always manually download my updates at work.

Thanks

Draconus.

The issue was only reported once. GameEx definitly does not sit there waiting for a connection or anything daft like that. 99.99% have no problem with GameEx not being connected to the internet. So sorry I have no ideas, that was only just a real longshot.

[draconus]

The issue was only reported once. GameEx definitly does not sit there waiting for a connection or anything daft like that. 99.99% have no problem with GameEx not being connected to the internet. So sorry I have no ideas, that was only just a real longshot.

Ok Thanks Tom and Bkenobi, I will check this evenining after work if turning off automatic updates makes any difference.

Regards,

Draconus

[Tom Speirs]

The issue was only reported once. GameEx definitly does not sit there waiting for a connection or anything daft like that. 99.99% have no problem with GameEx not being connected to the internet. So sorry I have no ideas, that was only just a real longshot.

Actually looking at your log, it looks like most of the time is taken up closing media center and initialising your video card. So it could be a video card issue.

Is the startup ok if you dont launch GameEx from Media Ceter?

[draconus]

Actually looking at your log, it looks like most of the time is taken up closing media center and initialising your video card. So it could be a video card issue.

Is the startup ok if you dont launch GameEx from Media Ceter?

Hi Tom,

The startup is just as slow launching it normally (the log file is not from a media centre launch). I already had automatic updates disabled in advanced configuration. So it isn't that. also when I goto advanced configuration from the interface it seems gameex takes almost as long to close as it does to start before launching the advanced configuration utility.

I have a load of themes in my themes directory - would too many themes in there cause the slow down? I am also running at 1920x1080 resolution if that makes any difference (although it worked fine before).

Also do you think it would be helpful if I changed the name of my gameex directory to "gameexold" and reinstalled gameex and gradually introduced my settings back in.

Just an idea, this problem also seemed to coincide with using the console database files in advanced configuration for a few emulators. could this cause the slowdown? do I need ms access installed to properly read the databases maybe?

I am just throwing a few thing out there, maybe one might give a clue.

Thanks again for your help,

Draconus.

[bkenobi]

I would certainly try making a backup of your GameEx directory and trying a reinstall. It won't hurt anything and you can easily go back!

[draconus]

Thanks BK, Would clearing the paging file help do you think? is that safe to do on vista?

Regards,

Draconus.

[bkenobi]

I don't know about vista since I don't run it and haven't really followed it yet. I don't see why it would be a problem to clean it out, but I don't see how it would help significantly here. The paging file should only be needed if you are running low on ram. If you are launching this right away and it's taking a long time to boot, you could try more memory, but it depends on your current config and what you have running in the background.

I would first try a clean and basic GameEx install.

[headkaze]

I was going to suggest that, you set your paging file size to zero, reboot then set it back to default. Also do a defrag on your HDD, can't hurt.

I don't have Vista so I can't say how it might differ from XP but IMHO it probably hasn't changed much in this respect.

[draconus]

I was going to suggest that, you set your paging file size to zero, reboot then set it back to default. Also do a defrag on your HDD, can't hurt.

I don't have Vista so I can't say how it might differ from XP but IMHO it probably hasn't changed much in this respect.

Thanks Headkaze, I was waiting for a reply before I try this! I will try it after work (it is only 8.15am at the mo) and let you all know if I have any luck!

Thanks again,

Draconus.

[midget35]

Tom - could you add an option in GameEx that does not automatically reload media center upon exiting gameEx?

MCE is slow thanks to my gfx card as well, and often when i close gameEx it means a long period of waiting so that I can shut down the pc. means I'm late for work!

Thanks

[bkenobi]

Can't you turn on the "Shut down" option? I don't know if it works in MCE, but if you use that in XP, it will quit GameEx and then shut down the PC.

[draconus]

Hi Tom ,

Just to update you all, (I Haven't had a chance to post in a while) but I installed version 9.27 a few days ago and my problem of a very slow startup with gameex seems to be solved! gameex now loads in about 10 seconds or so, when I looked at the release notes for v9.26 it mentions that it fixes a memory leak specially when you run the screensaver (which I like to do when not playing). Can you confirm for me please Tom (for piece of mind) that this bug was what I was probably experiencing or might it start happening to me again? If it is solved for good thanks very much - fantastic!

Best Regards,

Draconus

[Tom Speirs]

Hi Tom ,

Just to update you all, (I Haven't had a chance to post in a while) but I installed version 9.27 a few days ago and my problem of a very slow startup with gameex seems to be solved! gameex now loads in about 10 seconds or so, when I looked at the release notes for v9.26 it mentions that it fixes a memory leak specially when you run the screensaver (which I like to do when not playing). Can you confirm for me please Tom (for piece of mind) that this bug was what I was probably experiencing or might it start happening to me again? If it is solved for good thanks very much - fantastic!

Best Regards,

Draconus

Hi Draconus,

Sorry, I really dont know why its suddenly fixed itself, are you sure nothing else changed on your system?

[draconus]

Hi Draconus,

Sorry, I really dont know why its suddenly fixed itself, are you sure nothing else changed on your system?

no nothing has changed on the system, drivers or hardware. I recently installed vista sp1 but the problem was there after that (it only seemed to fix itself after installing gamex v 9.27), I will keep an eye on it to see if it happens again though, fingers crossed it won't though!

thanks anyway Tom,

Draconus.

[headkaze]

Hi Draconus,

Sorry, I really dont know why its suddenly fixed itself, are you sure nothing else changed on your system?

I was thinking it could have been the multi-threaded booting you added recently. Where the startup video would show while GameEx would continue loading in the background. Could it be something like this perhaps?

[dwight]

Hi,

I noticed Vista getting slower after the last service pack updates. Im not sure it's GameEX. Anyway, I have given up on that pig with lipstick (Vista) and have gone back to XP and can confirm, on the same hardware, GameEX loads faster, and mame runs faster.

Regards,

Dwight.