GameEx Mame List Questions...

[MadMan]

Question: In my GameEx Mame game list I have displayed a list of numbered decimals such as .001 to .121. Why does it show this and is it normal behavior? How can I stop GameEx from displaying this long list of decimal numbers in my Mame game list for a cleaner, shorter list?

Question: How can I differentiate between a regular Mame Rom and a CHD in my Mame game list? Is there a way of displying an option to show a list of just the CHD's?

Question: What are CHD Diff files and what am I supposed to do with them?

Zinc Questions: How can I setup Zinc from scratch using a wrapper? Should my game list show Zinc Games or are my Zinc Roms displayed under the listing of "Playstation"? How can I tell if Zinc is working in GameEx?

There may be more questions to come but I really appreciate ANY help and responses.

ThankYou.

[bkenobi]

1) The version numbers that you are seeing are contained in the catver.ini file. They shouldn't be in the main list like you are describing. I suspect that the catver.ini file may be malformed. Try getting a new version and updating your list.

2) There is no way to identify in GameEx the CHD games. The only thing I can think to do is create a custom list. You would basically need to make a MAME32 formatted list and put it in your custom folders directory.

3) You got me. I'm not sure why you need them, but it's been discussed here before. I don't remember what they were for, so you might want to search here since there should be an answer.

4) There's no real need to make a second emulator for Zinc since it's possible to build it into GameEx's MAME list. If you really want to have a separate list (and 'Playstation' isn't suitable for whatever reason), then you can find details here on the forum how to do it. Go to the wrappers thread in the stickies and someone has uploaded a set of batch files here.

[MadMan]

1) The version numbers that you are seeing are contained in the catver.ini file. They shouldn't be in the main list like you are describing. I suspect that the catver.ini file may be malformed. Try getting a new version and updating your list.

2) There is no way to identify in GameEx the CHD games. The only thing I can think to do is create a custom list. You would basically need to make a MAME32 formatted list and put it in your custom folders directory.

3) You got me. I'm not sure why you need them, but it's been discussed here before. I don't remember what they were for, so you might want to search here since there should be an answer.

4) There's no real need to make a second emulator for Zinc since it's possible to build it into GameEx's MAME list. If you really want to have a separate list (and 'Playstation' isn't suitable for whatever reason), then you can find details here on the forum how to do it. Go to the wrappers thread in the stickies and someone has uploaded a set of batch files here.

Thanks for the reply however, where's the best place to find a replacement catver.ini?

"Playstation" is ok by me but I'm just wondering how I can tell if it's Zinc running the game or if it's Mame.

Also I don't use Mame32 as I'm running Windows XP Pro X64 so I use Mame64.

[MadMan]

1) The version numbers that you are seeing are contained in the catver.ini file. They shouldn't be in the main list like you are describing. I suspect that the catver.ini file may be malformed. Try getting a new version and updating your list.

2) There is no way to identify in GameEx the CHD games. The only thing I can think to do is create a custom list. You would basically need to make a MAME32 formatted list and put it in your custom folders directory.

3) You got me. I'm not sure why you need them, but it's been discussed here before. I don't remember what they were for, so you might want to search here since there should be an answer.

4) There's no real need to make a second emulator for Zinc since it's possible to build it into GameEx's MAME list. If you really want to have a separate list (and 'Playstation' isn't suitable for whatever reason), then you can find details here on the forum how to do it. Go to the wrappers thread in the stickies and someone has uploaded a set of batch files here.

Update > Ok, I downloaded a new catver.ini from http://www.mameworld.net/catlist/ and installed it to my Mame64 directory and also made sure my GameEx Config was pointed towards it. I updated my list twice and I still get the decimal numbers in my Mame game list. Anyone have any ideas?? Any help would be greatly appreciated. attached is my GameEx Log file & my GameEx.ini. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

log.txt

GameEx.ini.txt

[Tempest]

There are catver.ini, and other files located in Gameex/Data, so point to them.

I had this problem, and the only way I could get it to go away was to leave the path to "Favorites File", or maybe "Custom Lists Path" under "Basic Mame Settings" blank. I'm not sure which one fixed it, because I'm not home, and can't verify it.

[bkenobi]

This is a better set of zinc setup help: link

I have had the version numbers show up in the past. I was thinking it might have been caused by a bad catver file. Now that I think about it some more though, I think it was actually caused by having it located in the custom folders directory. You don't want to put it there!

[Adultery]

MAME diff files:

MAME doesn't alter the original chd file, but creates a diff file with the written data (sectorwise). If the game seeks to a sector, MAME redirects the loading to the diff file.

In other words, you need both AFAIK. At least, you need the CHD's to create the diff file, and then you may be able to safely remove them from your HDD.

Also, I'm fairly certain that the list your getting is in the catlist file. It should be a list of games that were added to each version of MAME if you were to view it in MAME32. Since GameEx reads these files a little differently, this 'gunks up' the works as far as some custom folders go.

[MadMan]

You guys are awesome and were right on the money. I had a folder called Custom in my Mame directory and it contained three files called artwork.ini, custom.ini & some thing else. I have no idea where these custom folders & ini's came from but after I deleted them and rescanned my GameEx Mame Game list all the decimal numbers were gone from the list and I now have a nice clean looking list which is what I wanted. I also pointed my catver.ini etc, towards the ones in the GameEx/DAT folder. Every thing's working great.

The reason I asked about the CHD diff files is because I acquired a few from somewhere I will not mention here since it's against the rules. Thanks for your answers.

I have one other question regarding sound with my avisnaps. The snaps preview work OK when I'm browsing my Mame game list, only there's no sound. I have ffdshow installed. I get sound when I preview the snap in WinAmp. I'll search the forums further for an answer but if anyone might know the solution/info and are willing to share your help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks everyone.

[bkenobi]

Please don't mention where/how you obtained roms. Tom doesn't want this site to become a place where people talk about illegal activity. Tom only gives one warning for breaking the rules.

There's an option when you setup GameEx that you can turn off the sound in the video snaps. This usually speeds things up, so many people turn it on. The feature can only be setup using the Advanced Configuration tool. Look under Audio Settings (1) for Audio in SNAP AVI's.

[MadMan]

Please don't mention where/how you obtained roms. Tom doesn't want this site to become a place where people talk about illegal activity. Tom only gives one warning for breaking the rules.

There's an option when you setup GameEx that you can turn off the sound in the video snaps. This usually speeds things up, so many people turn it on. The feature can only be setup using the Advanced Configuration tool. Look under Audio Settings (1) for Audio in SNAP AVI's.

Apologies I wasn't aware that there were legalities involved with the afore mentioned source of Roms etc. I thought that site was totally legal else I wouldn't have mention it, won't happen again and thank you for your advice and responses to my threads. Yours and everyone else's help is greatly appreciate.

Thank you

Hey! Sweeet! I found that setting. Thanks so much! I love GameEx! I'm so glad I purchased it. I can't wait to try and set-up other types of Emu's. This Rocks!!!!!!

Thanks Tom for inventing GameEx, you're a freakin' genius!!!

Wahoooooo!!

AAAAAArgh! I see what you mean. With sound for AVI snaps enabled my Quad core PC freezes. Oh well, sight is better than sound, although both would've been nice.

[bkenobi]

If you are using the HiQ set, you might try running the standard resolution set instead. There's been problems with freezing on that set even on high powered machines. I thought Circo had figured out what was going on (a codec issue as I recall), but I can't remember exactly.

[MadMan]

If you are using the HiQ set, you might try running the standard resolution set instead. There's been problems with freezing on that set even on high powered machines. I thought Circo had figured out what was going on (a codec issue as I recall), but I can't remember exactly.

ok, thanks. I have a few sets I'll try.

Is it possible to get snaps working with Daphne? If so, how?

[greatflash]

If you are using the HiQ set, you might try running the standard resolution set instead. There's been problems with freezing on that set even on high powered machines. I thought Circo had figured out what was going on (a codec issue as I recall), but I can't remember exactly.

It is a coedc issue. I have HQ snaps running (almost perfect) on a lowly micro pc with a single core 1.33 processor...

I just installed a Vista codec pack. (no FFDshow)