GameEx Startup

[mark_uk]

Hi all,

I am pretty new to this but am having greif starting GameEx. It will always bomb out when I start it up. It doesnt matter what skin I use it is always the same error. I have posted the log below hoping someone will be able to help. The latest .Net and direct x is installed and the PC is a 2.4GHz, 4GB Ram with a wildcat 3d graphics card.

16:01:16.7 9/2/2008: GameEx: Version 9.51: Starting Log

16:01:16.7 9/2/2008: Operating System Platform: Win32NT

16:01:16.7 9/2/2008: Operating System Name: Windows XP

16:01:16.7 9/2/2008: Operating System Version: 5.1.2600

16:01:16.7 9/2/2008: Checking for versions of .net Framework installed

16:01:16.7 9/2/2008: .net Framework 2.0 Installed

16:01:16.7 9/2/2008: Intel® Xeon CPU 2.40GHz, 3455MB

16:01:16.7 9/2/2008: 2.39Ghz - 2 Cores or CPU's

16:01:16.7 9/2/2008: Running Randomize()

16:01:16.7 9/2/2008: Loading PlugIns

16:01:16.7 9/2/2008: Checking for applications to Launch On Startup

16:01:16.7 9/2/2008: Running Misc startup tasks

16:01:16.7 9/2/2008: Setting Menu types

16:01:16.7 9/2/2008: Opening Configuration File

16:01:16.7 9/2/2008: Getting Configuration Values

16:01:16.7 9/2/2008: Using Theme: Default - RedEx - MCE1024x768

16:01:16.7 9/2/2008: Checking for alternate Image Directory for Theme: Default - RedEx - MCE1024x768

16:01:16.7 9/2/2008: Launching HideOS.exe

16:01:16.7 9/2/2008: Initialising Video/MNG DLL's

16:01:16.8 9/2/2008: Hiding Taskbar

16:01:16.8 9/2/2008: Is Media Center running?

16:01:16.8 9/2/2008: Checking/Creating LCD Registry values

16:01:16.8 9/2/2008: Check Media Center Exit/Start Mode

16:01:16.8 9/2/2008: Media Center Mode 2

16:01:16.8 9/2/2008: Video previews on. Warning: Only recommended on modern systems

16:01:16.8 9/2/2008: Snap Delay set to: 2

16:01:16.8 9/2/2008: Get other settings

16:01:16.8 9/2/2008: Set: Find emulator artwork on best match basis

16:01:16.8 9/2/2008: Start work for Form

16:01:16.8 9/2/2008: Getting Original Screen Size

16:01:16.8 9/2/2008: Opening Database Connection

16:01:16.9 9/2/2008: Initializing Component

16:01:17.0 9/2/2008: Retrieving resolution setting

16:01:17.0 9/2/2008: Initialising Windows Media Player Component

16:01:17.0 9/2/2008: MAME Path is: C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Desktop\mame32u901

16:01:17.0 9/2/2008: MAME EXE file is: Mame32.exe

16:01:17.0 9/2/2008: ROM Paths are: C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Desktop\mame32u901\roms;C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Desktop\mame32u901\roms

16:01:17.0 9/2/2008: Catver.ini is located at: C:\Program Files\GameEx\DATA\catver.ini

16:01:17.0 9/2/2008: controls.ini is located at: C:\Program Files\GameEx\data\controls.ini

16:01:17.0 9/2/2008: History.dat is located at: C:\Program Files\GameEx\DATA\history.dat

16:01:17.0 9/2/2008: nplayers.ini is located at: C:\Program Files\GameEx\DATA\nplayers.ini

16:01:17.0 9/2/2008: MAMEinfo.dat is located at: C:\Program Files\GameEx\DATA\mameinfo.dat

16:01:17.0 9/2/2008: Loading Controls.ini map file

16:01:17.0 9/2/2008: Snap Path is: C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Desktop\mame32u901\snap

16:01:17.0 9/2/2008: AVI Snap Path: Not Found

16:01:17.0 9/2/2008: Flyer Path is: C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Desktop\mame32u901\flyers

16:01:17.0 9/2/2008: Cabinet Path is: C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Desktop\mame32u901\cabinets

16:01:17.0 9/2/2008: Title Path is: C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Desktop\mame32u901\titles

16:01:17.0 9/2/2008: PCB Path: Not Found

16:01:17.0 9/2/2008: Artwork Preview Path: Not Found

16:01:17.0 9/2/2008: Panel Path is: C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Desktop\mame32u901\cpanel

16:01:17.0 9/2/2008: Manual Path: Not Found

16:01:17.0 9/2/2008: Icon Path is: C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Desktop\mame32u901\icons

16:01:17.0 9/2/2008: Marquee Path is: C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Desktop\mame32u901\marquees

16:01:17.0 9/2/2008: Loading Custom Emulators

16:01:17.3 9/2/2008: Using 2D Animations

16:01:17.3 9/2/2008: Using General Font: Trebuchet MS

16:01:17.3 9/2/2008: Using Title Font: Trebuchet MS

16:01:17.3 9/2/2008: Attempting to load game list

16:01:17.3 9/2/2008: Initialising DirectDraw

16:01:17.4 9/2/2008: Creating DirectDraw Device

16:01:17.4 9/2/2008: Using Device: Primary Display Driver

16:01:17.5 9/2/2008: 4mb video memory available

16:01:17.5 9/2/2008: Setting Resolution to 640x480 32 bit color

16:01:17.5 9/2/2008: Creating DirectDraw Surfaces

16:01:17.5 9/2/2008: Creating Primary Surface - Full Screen Mode

16:01:17.5 9/2/2008: Creating Back Buffer

16:01:17.6 9/2/2008: Loading graphic Surfaces

16:01:17.6 9/2/2008: Display is running at: 640x480 16bit color, 60hz

16:01:17.6 9/2/2008: Creating Surfaces Flags

16:01:17.6 9/2/2008: Creating Surfaces Misc and Dialogs

16:01:17.7 9/2/2008: Creating Surfaces Volume

16:01:17.7 9/2/2008: Creating Surfaces Arrows

16:01:17.8 9/2/2008: Creating Surfaces GameEXlogo Text

16:01:17.8 9/2/2008: Creating Surfaces Toolbar

16:01:17.8 9/2/2008: Creating Surfaces Backgrounds

16:01:17.9 9/2/2008: Creating Surfaces Toolbar Controls

16:01:18.0 9/2/2008: Creating Surfaces GameEx Logo

16:01:18.0 9/2/2008: Creating Surface Unselected

16:01:18.0 9/2/2008: Creating Surfaces Home & Exit

16:01:18.0 9/2/2008: Creating Surfaces Snaps

16:01:18.0 9/2/2008: Creating Surfaces Menu and List Bars

16:01:18.0 9/2/2008: Creating Fonts

16:01:18.0 9/2/2008: Creating Game Font

16:01:18.1 9/2/2008: Creating Game Font Faded

16:01:18.2 9/2/2008: Creating Title Font

16:01:18.6 9/2/2008: Creating Menu Font

16:01:18.7 9/2/2008: Creating Font Black

16:01:18.8 9/2/2008: Creating Font Black Small

16:01:19.0 9/2/2008: Fonts Created Succesfully

16:01:19.0 9/2/2008: 1mb video memory left available

16:01:19.0 9/2/2008: Creating instance of global keyboard hook

16:01:42.3 9/2/2008: Text/Language: English

16:01:42.3 9/2/2008: Applying Language/Text

16:01:42.4 9/2/2008: Initialising Bass Audio Library

16:01:42.6 9/2/2008: MAME CMD options: -nowindow -joy -skip_gameinfo

16:01:42.6 9/2/2008: Loading last used Game List

16:01:42.6 9/2/2008: Setting Music Volume

16:01:42.6 9/2/2008: Creating DirectSound Device

16:01:42.6 9/2/2008: Trying: Primary Sound Driver

16:01:42.6 9/2/2008: Loading Sound Files

16:01:42.6 9/2/2008: DirectSound Device Created Successfully

16:01:42.6 9/2/2008: Initialising DirectInput for Gamepad support

16:01:42.6 9/2/2008: Unable to create a joystick device

16:01:42.6 9/2/2008: Initializing MCE Remote

16:01:42.6 9/2/2008: Playing intro sound file

16:01:42.6 9/2/2008: Initialization OK! Starting GameEx!

16:01:42.7 9/2/2008: Testing Main Loop Once: Processing Frame

16:01:43.2 9/2/2008: Testing Main Loop Once: Main Loop ran successfully

16:01:58.8 9/2/2008: 21 Consecutive Exceptions Occured

16:01:58.8 9/2/2008: Error in the application.

16:01:58.8 9/2/2008: at Microsoft.DirectX.DirectDraw.Surface.DrawInternal(tagRECT* destRectangle, Surface sourceSurface, tagRECT* srcRectangle, DrawFlags flags, DrawEffects& bltEffects)

at Microsoft.DirectX.DirectDraw.Surface.Draw(Rectangle destRectangle, Surface sourceSurface, Rectangle srcRectangle, DrawFlags flags)

at q.g(Int32 A_0, Int32 A_1, String A_2)

at q.dk()

at q.l(Boolean A_0)

at q.am()

16:01:58.8 9/2/2008: Trying reinitialising the display after sleeping for 4 seconds

16:01:58.8 9/2/2008: Exception count will be dropped to 15

16:02:04.3 9/2/2008: --**--

16:02:04.3 9/2/2008: 21 Consecutive Exceptions Occured: Exiting

16:02:04.3 9/2/2008: Closing database connection

16:02:04.3 9/2/2008: First Exception:

16:02:04.3 9/2/2008: Error in the application.

16:02:04.3 9/2/2008: at Microsoft.DirectX.DirectDraw.Surface.DrawInternal(tagRECT* destRectangle, Surface sourceSurface, tagRECT* srcRectangle, DrawFlags flags, DrawEffects& bltEffects)

16:02:04.3 9/2/2008: at Microsoft.DirectX.DirectDraw.Surface.Draw(Rectangle destRectangle, Surface sourceSurface, Rectangle srcRectangle, DrawFlags flags)

16:02:04.3 9/2/2008: at q.g(Int32 A_0, Int32 A_1, String A_2)

16:02:04.3 9/2/2008: at q.dk()

16:02:04.3 9/2/2008: at q.l(Boolean A_0)

16:02:04.3 9/2/2008: at q.am()

16:02:04.3 9/2/2008:

16:02:04.3 9/2/2008: It was detected you experienced a DirectX error.

16:02:04.3 9/2/2008: Please note the following for possible solutions to your problem:

16:02:04.3 9/2/2008: 1. Ensure you have the latest version of DirectX installed.

16:02:04.3 9/2/2008: 2. Ensure you have the latest Manufacturer provided video card drivers.

16:02:04.3 9/2/2008: NOTE: Windows/Microsoft Update does not contain the latest.

16:02:04.3 9/2/2008: NOTE: Manufacturer normally means ATI, NVidia, or Intel. Not the brand.

16:02:04.3 9/2/2008: www.ati.com www.nvidia.com

16:02:04.3 9/2/2008: 3. If you do not have a modern video card try the following. 1. Turn off advanced Graphics. 2. Try a lower resolution. 3. Try turning on and using 16-bit colour

16:02:04.3 9/2/2008: 4. Ensure any required video codecs are installed.

16:02:04.3 9/2/2008: 5. Try a different theme, or try running the theme at the resolution it was designed for

16:02:04.3 9/2/2008: 6. Try the latest version of GameEx. GameEx is updated all the time.

16:02:04.3 9/2/2008: 7. If you performed an auto update to this version. Try performing a manual download and install.

16:02:04.3 9/2/2008:

16:02:04.3 9/2/2008: Last Exception:

16:02:04.3 9/2/2008: Error in the application.

16:02:04.3 9/2/2008: at Microsoft.DirectX.DirectDraw.Surface.DrawInternal(tagRECT* destRectangle, Surface sourceSurface, tagRECT* srcRectangle, DrawFlags flags, DrawEffects& bltEffects)

16:02:04.3 9/2/2008: at Microsoft.DirectX.DirectDraw.Surface.Draw(Rectangle destRectangle, Surface sourceSurface, Rectangle srcRectangle, DrawFlags flags)

16:02:04.3 9/2/2008: at q.g(Int32 A_0, Int32 A_1, String A_2)

16:02:04.3 9/2/2008: at q.dk()

16:02:04.3 9/2/2008: at q.l(Boolean A_0)

16:02:04.3 9/2/2008: at q.am()

Thanks,

Mark

[Tom Speirs]

It looks like its an issue with your graphics card. Its saying it only had 4mb memory is that right?

Have you tried the latest drivers for it?

I cant see anything else in your log. GameEx is failing when trying to draw the text on the menu. Try deleting all the bitmaps in the data directory, in case its cached the font wrong. Also try the standard media center theme.

[mark_uk]

Yep its the graphics card. I replaced it with an older Nvidia card and it runs, but very very very slowly. I cannot understand whats up with the Wildcat 7110 card? I have the latest drivers available it has 128MB onboard, and my display out of GameEx is fine. Any ideas on what to do to get this working correctly?

[mark_uk]

Anyone???

[Tempest]

Well, since you said "anyone"...

16:02:04.3 9/2/2008: It was detected you experienced a DirectX error.

16:02:04.3 9/2/2008: Please note the following for possible solutions to your problem:

16:02:04.3 9/2/2008: 1. Ensure you have the latest version of DirectX installed.

16:02:04.3 9/2/2008: 2. Ensure you have the latest Manufacturer provided video card drivers.

16:02:04.3 9/2/2008: NOTE: Windows/Microsoft Update does not contain the latest.

16:02:04.3 9/2/2008: NOTE: Manufacturer normally means ATI, NVidia, or Intel. Not the brand.

16:02:04.3 9/2/2008: www.ati.com www.nvidia.com

16:02:04.3 9/2/2008: 3. If you do not have a modern video card try the following. 1. Turn off advanced Graphics. 2. Try a lower resolution. 3. Try turning on and using 16-bit colour

16:02:04.3 9/2/2008: 4. Ensure any required video codecs are installed.

16:02:04.3 9/2/2008: 5. Try a different theme, or try running the theme at the resolution it was designed for

16:02:04.3 9/2/2008: 6. Try the latest version of GameEx. GameEx is updated all the time.

16:02:04.3 9/2/2008: 7. If you performed an auto update to this version. Try performing a manual download and install.

Try doing some of these things, as suggested by your log...

It says to make sure you have the latest version of Directx, but you really want 9.0c...

Alot of the times, themes will crash gameex, so do as Tom said, and try the standard media center theme. The reason that this can cause a crash, is that if you run a theme at a resolution other than what it was intended for, all of the text may not fit in the provided space.

[mark_uk]

Well, since you said "anyone"...

Try doing some of these things, as suggested by your log...

It says to make sure you have the latest version of Directx, but you really want 9.0c...

Alot of the times, themes will crash gameex, so do as Tom said, and try the standard media center theme. The reason that this can cause a crash, is that if you run a theme at a resolution other than what it was intended for, all of the text may not fit in the provided space.

I have done all the suggestions in the log and tried a different media centre. All with no joy. A different graphics card resolved it, but its an old one and the Wildcat 3d should be more than capable of doing the job.

[BookbagNinja]

I know this might be a long shot:

I ran into a similar issue where I had to swap ATI video cards, but here are somethings I did that get the original one to working.

If you are running Windows XP, do you get any errors when running dxdiag.exe? (Click -> Start -> Run and Type dxdiag and Click Ok)

Does running GameEx at a lower resolution solve the problem? Maybe 1024x768 at 16bit?

Check for updated drivers? Or reinstall video drivers? (reinstalling the drivers fixed my problems with my Radeon Card)

[Brian Hoffman]

I know this might be a long shot:

I ran into a similar issue where I had to swap ATI video cards, but here are somethings I did that get the original one to working.

If you are running Windows XP, do you get any errors when running dxdiag.exe? (Click -> Start -> Run and Type dxdiag and Click Ok)

Does running GameEx at a lower resolution solve the problem? Maybe 1024x768 at 16bit?

Check for updated drivers? Or reinstall video drivers? (reinstalling the drivers fixed my problems with my Radeon Card)

What does a "dxdiag" say?

run dxdiag from the command prompt... Its a directx diagnostic tool,