Daemon tools lite

[Belinda]

I think this is going to make me look stupid but....here goes.

I've been setting up GameEx on a clean install and have got most things going. I've installed Deamon tools so that i can use images of old windows games and am using the .lnk to start the exe.

Now when i use:

"c:\program files\Daemon tools lite\daemon.exe" -mount 0 "[rompath]\[romfile]"

in Launch before i get an error "unable to mount image.File contains no dat". I know this is because romfile=timeshock.lnk ie it's using the /lnk as the romfile.

Now this is why i'm going to look silly i know on a clean install there is a emulater set for lauching PC games using daemon tools but i overwrote that one with an other emulater and when i import it dosn't show the launch before info and i don't want to start again from scratch.

So any help on what that actual field needs to be would be very helpful.

[fRequEnCy]

  Belinda said:

I think this is going to make me look stupid but....here goes.

I've been setting up GameEx on a clean install and have got most things going. I've installed Deamon tools so that i can use images of old windows games and am using the .lnk to start the exe.

Now when i use:

"c:\program files\Daemon tools lite\daemon.exe" -mount 0 "[rompath]\[romfile]"

in Launch before i get an error "unable to mount image.File contains no dat". I know this is because romfile=timeshock.lnk ie it's using the /lnk as the romfile.

Now this is why i'm going to look silly i know on a clean install there is a emulater set for lauching PC games using daemon tools but i overwrote that one with an other emulater and when i import it dosn't show the launch before info and i don't want to start again from scratch.

So any help on what that actual field needs to be would be very helpful.

Hi Belinda! So you're trying to mount a file with a *.lnk extension? Daemon tools won't mount it since it's not an image. It's simply a link to your executable. Can't you just run using the link or does your game need to be mounted? If it needs to be mounted then you need to use it's usual extension instead of a link.

So if you're just running a link then your command-line would be:

"[ROMPATH]\[ROMFILE]"

[Belinda]

  fRequEnCy said:

Hi Belinda! So you're trying to mount a file with a *.lnk extension? Daemon tools won't mount it since it's not an image. It's simply a link to your executable. Can't you just run using the link or does your game need to be mounted? If it needs to be mounted then you need to use it's usual extension instead of a link.

So if you're just running a link then your command-line would be:

"[ROMPATH]\[ROMFILE]"

HI, thanks for the reply.

It's a game i've made an image of. It runs without the disc in ok but you don't get the music and it's way more fun with the music.

I've only got a few games that will need to run with a disc image so i'm thinking next best option is a batch file.

Sorta like

if [romfile] = game1.lnk

c:\program files\Daemon tools lite\daemon.exe" -mount 0 "[game1path]\[game1imagename]

if [romfile] = game2.lnk

c:\program files\Daemon tools lite\daemon.exe" -mount 0 "[game2path]\[game2imagename]

Then another batch to unmount after.

Would this work? Has anyone done it this way??

[fRequEnCy]

  Belinda said:

HI, thanks for the reply.

It's a game i've made an image of. It runs without the disc in ok but you don't get the music and it's way more fun with the music.

I've only got a few games that will need to run with a disc image so i'm thinking next best option is a batch file.

Sorta like

if [romfile] = game1.lnk

c:\program files\Daemon tools lite\daemon.exe" -mount 0 "[game1path]\[game1imagename]

if [romfile] = game2.lnk

c:\program files\Daemon tools lite\daemon.exe" -mount 0 "[game2path]\[game2imagename]

Then another batch to unmount after.

Would this work? Has anyone done it this way??

Well if they're images then you just need to mount them. No need for a link to the file. Unless you're mixing links with images then that's where you will have to use a batch file or a script to handle them as they'll require different settings for launching.

[Tempest]

Belinda,

Your going to have to try alot harder than that to look stupid around here!

[Visitor Q]

Belinda,

I just sat up Daemon to work with Turbo CD games and it is still pretty fresh so if there is anything I can do to help, please let me know.

[Belinda]

  Tempest said:

Belinda,

Your going to have to try alot harder than that to look stupid around here!

I'm trying!!!

Ok i can make one game start ok, but i'm hitting a few problems now but learnt a few things.

I set the virtual drive to do nothing when the disc is mounted(was on auto play).

In the launch befor i have a batch file

@echo off

"c:\Program Files\DAEMON Tools Lite\daemon.exe" -mount 0,"E:\PC\Images\Timeshock!.mds"

In launch after i have another batch

@echo off

"c:\Program Files\DAEMON Tools Lite\daemon.exe" -unmount 0

Command line is [rompath\[romfile] and i'm using .lnk to show the game in list through rom filter set to .lnk

So here is the problem ....i exit the game and GameEx dosn't reappear it stays hidden together with the taskbar and i have to use task manager to switch to it.

So what am i doing wrong??? Any ideas?

EDITE:

By the way the game uses "Esc" as the key to get to the games options so i have to select that then select exit to windows. Maybe this is why GameEx isn't reappearing.

[Belinda]

Problem solved withhelp from Tempest.Thanks

Will post solution after trying to modify to work with multiple games.

Don't hold your breath it won't be for a day at least i'm all "aaaaaaaaarggggggghhhhhh'ed" out.

[Tempest]

  Belinda said:

Problem solved withhelp from Tempest.Thanks

Will post solution after trying to modify to work with multiple games.

Don't hold your breath it won't be for a day at least i'm all "aaaaaaaaarggggggghhhhhh'ed" out.

Hey! I almost had everybody convinced I didn't have a clue, and now you've screwed it all up! Months of hard work down the drain...

Seriously guys I don't have a clue... will somebody hold my hand with the Mame Launch before problem? Please?

[bkenobi]

Sorry dude. I try to avoid holding hands with other guys whenever possible.

[Tempest]

  Belinda said:

EDITE:

By the way the game uses "Esc" as the key to get to the games options so i have to select that then select exit to windows. Maybe this is why GameEx isn't reappearing.

I missed this part before... you can deal with this using an advanced emulator confiq. You'll figure it out, I have faith in you!

[Tempest]

Belinda,

I'm just curious, did you get this working 100%?

[Palmore]

This sounds like exactly how I have my system set up =)

Some games need CD's mounted via Daemon tools, some don't =)

I don't know if you noticed my first thread I did here lol I was having issues loading games via batch file and all kindsa heck. So I'll summ up what I did to get games working just how I want them =) (and you it seems lol)

We'll use House of the Dead 3 as my example (since mines setup to use the CD)

I have a folder that contains batch files for every PC game (yes, all 47 I currently have installed and adding more daily)

C:\Arcade\Launcher\

The batch file is named

House_of_the_Dead_3.bat

This file contains

@ECHO OFF
ECHo Converting Controls...
ECHO ----------------------
C:\Arcade\Apps\winipac\winipac.exe "C:\Arcade\Apps\winipac\profiles\HOD3.ipc"
ECHO Complete
ECHO ----------------------
ECHO Mounting CD image...
ECHO ----------------------
C:\Arcade\Apps\DAEMON\daemon.exe -mount 0,"D:\Arcade\PC Games\HOD3.iso"
ECHO Complete

This reprograms my i-Pac and mounts the House of Dead 3 CD via Daemon tools.

The link file to start the game is named

C:\Arcade\emus\PC\House_of_the_Dead_3.lnk

Thus the config for PC games

Command Line : "[ROMPath]\[RomFile]"

stays the same

The KEY! is to set this up under Emulater config page three

Launch Before: CALL C:\Arcade\Launcher\[ROM].bat

The trick here is

A. Your .lnk and .bat files have to be named the SAME exactly, as it loads [ROM].bat before it starts the game.

B. You cannot! use spaces in the .lnk and or .bat file names, the batch files will never load, use underscores and tell GameEX to replace underscores with spaces in the Emulator Setup (Page 2 Replace Underscores: Yes)

C. You HAVE to use CALL in the Launch Before statement, the way GameEX launches games is via runitgame.bat, it takes all your run before, run game etc commands and parses them out to runitgame.bat. since you are running a batch file inside a batch file (runitgame.bat is running C:\Arcade\Launcher\[ROM].bat (House_of_Dead_3.bat)) it has to know to return execution back to runitgame.bat to load the game. If you don't use CALL the games will never load.

So in review,

Create a batchfile per game and place them in 1 directory

C:\Arcade\Batch\name_of_game.bat

Create link files names the exact same (cept the extensions)

C:\Arcade\Emus\PC\name_of_game.lnk

Modify the name_of_game.bat to mount your image with Daemon Tools and anything else you wish

Modify GameEX Emulator settings to replace Underscores with spaces

Change Launch Before to

CALL C:\Arcade\Batch\[ROM].bat

And you should be good =)

If you want you can also do the same for launch after.

i.e. (2 ways here)

Launch After: CALL C:\Arcade\Launcher\[ROM]-close.bat

or

Launch After: CALL C:\Arcade\Exit\[ROM].bat

I haven't set a Launch After script up yet so I'm not sure if you really do need the CALL command.

Hopefully this is exactly what you are looking for =)

[Krakerman]

Has anyone tried using MagicDisc (MagicISO) for mounting CD/DVD images as it looks really simple to do with it.

[Tempest]

You mean because the mount, unmount commands in Daemon tools are so difficult? (Sorry, I haven't had my coffee yet )

[Palmore]

But in the end, wouldn't you still have to follow the procedures either Tempest or myself have layed out for mounting images depending on the game?

=)