New to GameEX, having a few big problems (mame,pinball)

[gwent]

Hi, all. This is my first post, and having just setup GameEX yesterday, I am quite pleased with it overall. However, I am having a couple major bugs that I can't seem to figure out on my own.

First, as soon as the nag screen disappears, the main screen comes up, and while it is loading, the screen looks terrible (it gets grainy, and strange horizontal black lines,stretching across the screen, move up and down the screen, while at the same time, vertical white lines ,running from top to bottom, move left and right.) I've never seen anything like this before, and I can't imagine what is causing this. Then, suddenly the screen goes black for 1 second, and the main screen pops back up, all nice and clean, and functioning, ready to go. It just goes all weird for about 20 seconds while first loading. Any ideas on this one?

Also, I can't get mame running through gameex. Mame runs fine on its own, and through other frontends. Upon selecting mame for the first time, it took about 20 minutes while it scanned mame.ini and other files, and merged them. Then, everything came up, ready to play. But as soon as I selected a mame category (all games), the game list comes up for 1 second, then gameex gets minimized, and I can't get it back, and I have to use the task manager to end the program. I have "show only available roms" selected in the config. Where should I begin with this?

One more thing, I can't get Visual Pinball running, either. Again, it runs fine by itself and through other frontends. I am using my own install of Visual Pinball, and I pointed the config settings to the working folder of the Visual Pinball executable. Is there something else I should check? I can get the game list up fine, complete with screenshots, but when I click on a table to play, it looks for a second like it is going to start up, but then returns to gameex. I got Future Pinball working okay, though.

Any ideas on these would be appreciated, because other than these issues, I think I am going to be happy with this frontend for sure. Compared to other overbloated frontends, this is refreshing, yet amazingly flexible. Thanks in advance.

[Tempest]

Welcome!

A couple of things you need to know...

1. I'm not the smartest person here, so take everything I say with a grain of salt.
   
2. You sound like you know what you are doing, so you might want to check out "Run Last Game" in the Start Menu > gameex. It shows the command line that Gameex uses to run things, so if you try running the commands in a dos prompt, you may be able to figure out what is wrong.
   
3. If your having problems with an Emulator running in Gameex, Use the advanced configuration program, go to the emulator in question, and click on the "export" button at the top. Save the file, then open it and post the contents. That will allow us to see what you have set up.
   
4. If your having a problem with Gameex, post the contents of your Gameex.ini in Gameex > Config
   

So far as the screwed up screen issue, the first thing I would suggest is to set "don't switch resolution" to "Gameex won't switch resolution" in Advanced Configuration > Display Settings.

I'm not sure what is going on with Mame, if you can't figure it out with Run Last Game, then Post your Gameex.ini...

For Visual Pinball, try setting "show desktop" to yes.

If you can't find a setting like "show sesktop", Use the setup wizard's "search" option.

[gwent]

Thanks for your suggestions. I'm certainly not an expert with this stuff, so forgive me if I'm not getting some of this. The "Don't switch resolution" is already at that setting, as is the "show desktop" option for visual pinball. I did notice in the main install folder of GameEX there is a file called vpauto.exe, which is also selected to run by default in the config file for pinball. Do I need to do anything with this file? There's also a VPinball_Loader.exe file in the loaders folder. What would I do , if anything, with this? Here are the contents of my exported pinball .ini :

[Emulator_31]

Enabled=True

STARTPAGENAME=[Pinball] Visual Pinball

TITLETEXT=Visual Pinball

StartPageLogo=pinball

ROMFilter=*.vpt

RomPath=K:\3D Arcade\emulators\Vpinball\Tables

SnapPath=K:\3D Arcade\emulators\Vpinball\snap

TitlePath=

BoxPath=K:\3D Arcade\emulators\Vpinball\VPLauncher\Flyers

CartPath=

ManualPath=

ControlPanelPath=

InstructionsPath=

WorkingPath=K:\3D Arcade\emulators\Vpinball\Vpinball7

MapKeys=True

WaitBeforeKeys=

SendKeys=

ReplaceDash=True

ReplaceUnder=True

Capitals=True

RemoveBrackets=False

ShowDesktop=True

Debug=False

MAPFile=

AlsoLaunch=[apppath]\vpauto.exe

Command=..\VPinball.exe -play -"[ROMFILE]"

OLDatZip=

LaunchBefore=

LaunchAfter=

configFile=Visual Pinball V6

ExcludedFiles=

CustomBackground=

PlayMusic=

DontShowInfo=

PlaySelectionMusic=

SelectionMusicFolder=

PCGame=

DATABASE=[Pinball] Visual Pinball

UseDbName=

GamesIn7Zips=

PlayInScreenSaver=False

ShowMostPlayed=False

RandomMostPlayed=False

CDCheck=

CDCheckFile=

[GENERAL]

DumbyValue=

My visual pinball folder is located on my K: partition, as this is where I keep all my emulators and roms. GameEX is installed, as was recommended, on my main C: drive. Can anybody see anything wrong with the .ini ?

Also, I tried to upload my GaemeEx.ini file here, and when I hit upload, it said I don't have permission to upload this type of file? I didn't want to post the entire file here as text, because that's a lot of text. Any ideas? Everything else is working great (I even got NullDC working!). Thanks!

[fRequEnCy]

Your commandline doesn't include the location of your table. Try replacing "[ROMFILE]" with "[ROMPath]\[RomFile]" instead.

[gwent]

Okay, I'm feeling pretty stupid right about now. I figured out why my startup was acting funny. I was using the Future Retro theme, and it had a startup video, enabled by default, that was just the menu screen with a weird video interference effect. I just played the video in my media player, and that's what was playing! Now if if I could get pinball and mame running, I'd be happy.

[gwent]

fReguEnCy, I just modified the commandline as suggested. Glad you caught that, but it still doesn't work. I thought that would have done it.

[fRequEnCy]

fReguEnCy, I just modified the commandline as suggested. Glad you caught that, but it still doesn't work. I thought that would have done it.

Yeah scratch that. It looks like that's how it's ran using the suggested config. I don't use that loader as I created my own to include subfolders and unzipping. So am sure someone will chime in that uses this config.

[gwent]

After more tinkering with trying to get mame running, I think it has something to do with ffdshow video decoder. I have all the mame videos as .avi. and I noticed that even though GameEx gets minimized, the arcade ambience is still playing, then I noticed in my icon tray, there is an icon that appears for ffdshow when this happens. so I clicked on the GameEx icon on the task tray, which is still running, and it tried to come back up, but the screen went black, then it just minimized again, with the sound still playing fine. So I then clicked the tray icon again, and if I click the screen while it is black for that 1 second, GameEx appears, playing the video of the first Mame game. I can even scroll through the games, and the videos change. But within a few seconds, it minimizes itself again to the task tray. If I'm quick, I can even back out of that screen, and then it stays maximized once the videos aren't there any more. I can't get it stay maximized with the videos onscreen. After I removed the mame videos path, it worked fine with just the screenshots. So is ffdshow the cause of this? Any ideas?

[fRequEnCy]

Did you use the version of ffdshow found at the main site? I know there are issues with newer versions of it not working correctly.

[gwent]

Okay, I just uninstalled the newer version of ffdshow and replaced it with the recommended one. Now it works! Thanks very much for the suggestion. Proof that newer isn't always better. Now if only I can get pinball running...

[Tempest]

Set your working path to the same as your rom path.

RomPath=K:\3D Arcade\emulators\Vpinball\Tables

WorkingPath=K:\3D Arcade\emulators\Vpinball\Vpinball7

The emulator should be in the Vpinball directory... (I mention this, because I don't know what's in \Vpinball7)

The command line is correct:

Command=..\VPinball.exe -play -"[ROMFILE]"

one (.) means "this directory right here"

two (..) means "one directory up from here"

For some reason Vpinball likes to have the working path set to the tables, and then the ..\vpinball.exe command.

I've tried it with setting it to the Vpinball directory, and then the .\Vpinball.exe command, but for whatever reason, it does not work.

I'm not sure, but I think you have Gameex working perfectly now, it's been really nice working with you!

[Brian Hoffman]

Set your working path to the same as your rom path.

RomPath=K:\3D Arcade\emulators\Vpinball\Tables

WorkingPath=K:\3D Arcade\emulators\Vpinball\Vpinball7

The emulator should be in the Vpinball directory... (I mention this, because I don't know what's in \Vpinball7)

The command line is correct:

Command=..\VPinball.exe -play -"[ROMFILE]"

one (.) means "this directory right here"

two (..) means "one directory up from here"

For some reason Vpinball likes to have the working path set to the tables, and then the ..\vpinball.exe command.

I've tried it with setting it to the Vpinball directory, and then the .\Vpinball.exe command, but for whatever reason, it does not work.

I'm not sure, but I think you have Gameex working perfectly now, it's been really nice working with you!

WOW!

Great support Tempest!

Ratio bump +2

[Tempest]

Good to see you again Brian!

I thought maybe you beat me to the punch... Thanks for the 'bump', I can always use one...

Edit: I see you down there fRequEnCy... Ha! Ha! no 'bump' for you! (Brian likes me better!)

[gwent]

Tempest, A thousand thanks!!! I never liked the way it was installed in the VPinball7 folder - that's thanks to another frontend that installed it that way. So I've just reinstalled Visual Pinball and Visual Pinmame, moved all the screenshots and flyers over, and configured GameEx as per your recommendation above. And now it works great! Thanks again to everyone that helped out today - this is a great frontend with a great support community. It looks like I've got it just about set up now. Thanks again.

[fRequEnCy]

Good to see you again Brian!

I thought maybe you beat me to the punch... Thanks for the 'bump', I can always use one...

Edit: I see you down there fRequEnCy... Ha! Ha! no 'bump' for you! (Brian liles me better!)

Liles you better? LOL. He can LILE you all he wants. Gee I thought there was a spell check on this thing. Bump you back to -2.

[Tempest]

Yep, he liles me better, just lile Mom always lile'd me better! How do you lile them apples!

[Games001]

Ok.. so now what am I doing wrong with VP? I have MAME and Daphne up and running 1000% perfect, but Visual Pinball will give me a list of Tables, but on run the screen flashes to Desktop then throws me back into the Table List of GameEx. Visual Pinball plays fine outside of GameEx as it stands now.

Here's the poop:

[Emulator_3]

Enabled=True

StartPageName=Pinball Games

TitleText=Pinball

StartPageLogo=pinball

RomFilter=*.vpt

RomsInFolders=False

ROMPath=C:\Games\Visual Pinball\Tables

SnapPath=C:\Games\Visual Pinball\Snap

WorkingPath=C:\Games\Visual Pinball

MapKeys=True

WaitBeforeKeys=

SendKeys=

ReplaceDash=True

ReplaceUnder=True

Capitals=True

RemoveBrackets=True

AlsoLaunch=[apppath]\vpauto.exe

ShowDesktop=True

Debug=False

MapFile=

OLDatZip=

Command=..\VPinball-XPFix4.exe -play -"[ROMFILE]"

TitlePath=

BoxPath=

LaunchBefore=

LaunchAfter=

CartPath=

configFile=

ExcludedFiles=

CustomBackground=ArrowDown.png

Import=

Export=

DumbyValue=

PlayMusic=True

PCGame=

DATABASE=VISUALPINBALL

GamesIn7Zips=

PlayInScreenSaver=True

DontShowInfo=True

PlaySelectionMusic=

SelectionMusicFolder=

ShowMostPlayed=True

RandomMostPlayed=True

ManualPath=

ControlPanelPath=

InstructionsPath=

CDCheck=False

CDCheckFile=

lastgame=

UseDbName=

CustomArtName1=

Any clues what I have mismarked??

[Games001]

Ok, I have it working, or so it seems for now.

Here's the change I made:

[Emulator_3]

Enabled=True

STARTPAGENAME=Pinball Games

TITLETEXT=Pinball

StartPageLogo=pinball

ROMFilter=*.vpt

RomPath=c:\Pinball\Tables

SnapPath=

TitlePath=

BoxPath=

CartPath=

ManualPath=

WorkingPath=c:\Pinball\Tables

MapKeys=True

WaitBeforeKeys=

SendKeys=

ReplaceDash=True

ReplaceUnder=True

Capitals=True

RemoveBrackets=True

ShowDesktop=True

Debug=False

MAPFile=

AlsoLaunch=[apppath]\vpauto.exe

Command=..\VPinball.exe -play -"[ROMFILE]"

OLDatZip=

LaunchBefore=

LaunchAfter=

configFile=Project 64 V2

ExcludedFiles=

CustomBackground=ArrowDown.png

PlayMusic=

DontShowInfo=

PlaySelectionMusic=

SelectionMusicFolder=

PCGame=

DATABASE=VISUALPINBALL

GamesIn7Zips=

PlayInScreenSaver=True

ShowMostPlayed=

RandomMostPlayed=

CDCheck=

CDCheckFile=

[GENERAL]

DumbyValue=

Now.. how do we get rid of the Sticky Keys pop-up on a 5 Shift Key repeat? Fun stuff.

Ok.. so now what am I doing wrong with VP? I have MAME and Daphne up and running 1000% perfect, but Visual Pinball will give me a list of Tables, but on run the screen flashes to Desktop then throws me back into the Table List of GameEx. Visual Pinball plays fine outside of GameEx as it stands now.

Here's the poop:

[Emulator_3]

Enabled=True

StartPageName=Pinball Games

TitleText=Pinball

StartPageLogo=pinball

RomFilter=*.vpt

RomsInFolders=False

ROMPath=C:\Games\Visual Pinball\Tables

SnapPath=C:\Games\Visual Pinball\Snap

WorkingPath=C:\Games\Visual Pinball

MapKeys=True

WaitBeforeKeys=

SendKeys=

ReplaceDash=True

ReplaceUnder=True

Capitals=True

RemoveBrackets=True

AlsoLaunch=[apppath]\vpauto.exe

ShowDesktop=True

Debug=False

MapFile=

OLDatZip=

Command=..\VPinball-XPFix4.exe -play -"[ROMFILE]"

TitlePath=

BoxPath=

LaunchBefore=

LaunchAfter=

CartPath=

configFile=

ExcludedFiles=

CustomBackground=ArrowDown.png

Import=

Export=

DumbyValue=

PlayMusic=True

PCGame=

DATABASE=VISUALPINBALL

GamesIn7Zips=

PlayInScreenSaver=True

DontShowInfo=True

PlaySelectionMusic=

SelectionMusicFolder=

ShowMostPlayed=True

RandomMostPlayed=True

ManualPath=

ControlPanelPath=

InstructionsPath=

CDCheck=False

CDCheckFile=

lastgame=

UseDbName=

CustomArtName1=

Any clues what I have mismarked??

[greatflash]

Now.. how do we get rid of the Sticky Keys pop-up on a 5 Shift Key repeat? Fun stuff.

The option is in windows control panel.

But, when it pops up, select settings and uncheck all the options.

[Games001]

The option is in windows control panel.

But, when it pops up, select settings and uncheck all the options.

Hmm, that seems to have done it.. thnx GF

[chriss]

if the sticky keys are still not completely disabled after unchecking everything you can turn it off by using this registry edit:

http://searchwindowsserver.techtarget.com/...1235713,00.html

thats what i had to do to get rid of the pop up message

[Krakerman]

I couldn't get Visual Pinball to work either with GameEx, but found a work around that work better and you don't need to run the file vpauto.exe at all here is my config:

Enabled=True

StartPageName=Visual Pinball

TitleText=Visual Pinball

StartPageLogo=Visual Pinball

RomFilter=*.lnk

RomsInFolders=False

ROMPath=C:\Games\Visual Pinball\Tables\Shortcuts

SnapPath=C:\Games\Visual Pinball\Snap

WorkingPath=C:\Games\Visual Pinball\Tables\Shortcuts

MapKeys=False

WaitBeforeKeys=

SendKeys=

ReplaceDash=False

ReplaceUnder=False

Capitals=False

RemoveBrackets=False

AlsoLaunch=

ShowDesktop=True

Debug=False

MapFile=False

OLDatZip=

Command="[ROMPath]\[RomFile]"

TitlePath=

BoxPath=

LaunchBefore=

LaunchAfter=

CartPath=

configFile=[Mapping Off] Exit (ESC+ENTER)

ExcludedFiles=

CustomBackground=

Import=

Export=

DumbyValue=

PlayMusic=True

PCGame=

DATABASE=

GamesIn7Zips=

PlayInScreenSaver=True

DontShowInfo=True

PlaySelectionMusic=

SelectionMusicFolder=

ShowMostPlayed=True

RandomMostPlayed=True

ManualPath=

ControlPanelPath=

InstructionsPath=

CDCheck=False

CDCheckFile=

lastgame=

UseDbName=

CustomArtName1=

I created a new Advanced Config file called [Mapping Off] Exit (ESC+ENTER) which looks like this:

# This is an advanced emulator configuration file. It does things such as allow keyboard only emulators to be operated by a gamepad, wait for additional processes to exit and map keys. If this file is used it overrides the MAPKeys setting for the emulator.

[GENERAL]

# Enabled. Use this.

Enabled=True

#Make MCE Back button and X-ARCADE Escape and SlikStik Escape to close emulator process

MapBack=True

#Make Escape key close emulator process

MapEscape=True

#When exiting an emulator via the above mappings, you can specify keys in the send keys format to send instead of having GameEx close the process to cleanly exit the emulator. Such as the Q Key or ALT F4 which is %{F4}

KeysToSendOnExit={ESC}{ENTER}

#Wait for keys to be processed by the emulator

EmuWaitForKeys=True

#Additional processes to wait to exit or close on exit. Dont include the .exe. Leave blank not to use.

Process1=

Process2=

Process3=

Process4=

[JOYMAPPING]

# For mapping a GamePad to keys

# Specify a virtual key code to send when the specific joystick control is pressed. Look at vkcodes.htm for codes.

JoymappingEnabled=FALSE

Left=

up=

Right=

Down=

Button1=

Button2=

Button3=

Button4=

Button5=

Button6=

Button7=

Button8=

Button9=

Button10=

Button11=

Button12=

[GAMEPADEXIT]

#MAP Gamepad controls to exit and make controls exit process

MapGamePadExit=True

#Flag the controls that exit a game by placing True next to each control. To not use the control as part of the combination use a 0

Left=True

Down=

Right=

Up=True

Button1=

Button2=

Button3=

Button4=True

Button5=True

Button6=True

Button7=

Button8=

Button9=

Button10=

Button11=

Button12=

[MOUSEMAPPING]

# For registered users, the ability to control the mouse with a gamepad and/or directional keys.

# For example for PC strategy games.

# Apparantly this functionality is similar to the software Pinnacle profiler. Remember you can setup an emulator

# as one PC game. Specify enabled, and mousespeed 0-20. 20 Being fastest. This setting overrides the directional

# mapping for the above and buttons 1 and 2 Button 1/CTRL becomes left mouse. Button 2/ALT Right mouse

MouseMappingEnabled=False

MouseSpeed=0

[bLOCKKEYS]

# Use this section to disable and block key presses and mouse clicks.

# To disable the mouse clicks use code 1 for left mouse button,

# 2 for right button and 4 for middle button

Enabled=False

BlockKey_1=1

BlockKey_2=2

BlockKey_3=4

BlockKey_4=

BlockKey_5=

[KEYBOARDREMAP]

# Remap Keys for the emulator. Specify from the from key, which is the key you wish to replace the to key

# This should be good enough for real time gaming. Registered version feature. Look at VKCodes.htm for codes.

Enabled=False

Remap_1_From_VK=

Remap_1_To_VK=

Remap_2_From_VK=

Remap_2_To_VK=

Remap_3_From_VK=

Remap_3_To_VK=

Remap_4_From_VK=

Remap_4_To_VK=

Remap_5_From_VK=

Remap_5_To_VK=

As you can see you do not need to use the launch before file called vpauto.exe at all. I'm also using a program that I highly recommend called Pinnacle. You can get it here: http://www.pinnaclegameprofiler.com/ (Cost about $20, but well worth it!!)

I use it to play Visual Pinball with my Xbox 360 wireless controller. You could create your own map file as well for displaying the tables however you wanted too ... I just named my .lnk files of my tables like this: Alien Poker (Williams 1980).lnk so there was no need for a map file at all.

Hope that helps out anyone looking for an alternate way of playing Visual Pinball with GameEx. I don't know if it is the correct way, but it works real good for me and was easy to do.

[Tempest]

I use it to play Visual Pinball with my Xbox 360 wireless controller. You could create your own map file as well for displaying the tables however you wanted too ... I just named my .lnk files of my tables like this: Alien Poker (Williams 1980).lnk so there was no need for a map file at all.

I could probably modify my Mapmaker script to create .lnk's with more friendly names automatically if anybody was interested.

I'm mostly thinking of PC Games, where .lnk's are almost a must...