no games found - mame

[qin_23]

Hi,

New to GameEx, and i already have mame installed. MAME runs fine from the cmd line, but when i try to update the list of games in GameEx, no games show up even though i set up the roms path correctly. I do not have any artwork or any of the other stuff, so i just set those paths to D:\mame, my root mame installation folder.

When i set up gameex, i selected "verify installation" and for some weird reason, it couldn't find "D:\mame" despite the fact that it is clearly there!

Here's the log:

Thanks.

23:02:26.5 1/25/2009: GameEx: Version 9.80: Starting Log

23:02:26.5 1/25/2009: Operating System Platform: Win32NT

23:02:26.5 1/25/2009: Operating System Name: Windows XP

23:02:26.5 1/25/2009: Operating System Version: 5.1.2600

23:02:26.5 1/25/2009: Checking for versions of .net Framework installed

23:02:26.5 1/25/2009: .net Framework 1.1 Installed

23:02:26.5 1/25/2009: .net Framework 2.0 Installed

23:02:26.5 1/25/2009: Intel® Pentium® 4 CPU 3.00GHz, 2046MB

23:02:26.5 1/25/2009: 3Ghz - 2 Cores or CPU's

23:02:26.6 1/25/2009: Running Randomize()

23:02:26.6 1/25/2009: Loading PlugIns

23:02:26.6 1/25/2009: Checking for applications to Launch On Startup

23:02:26.6 1/25/2009: Running Misc startup tasks

23:02:26.6 1/25/2009: Setting Menu types

23:02:26.6 1/25/2009: Opening Configuration File

23:02:26.6 1/25/2009: Getting Configuration Values

23:02:26.6 1/25/2009: Using Theme: Default - MCE Glossy

23:02:26.6 1/25/2009: Checking for alternate Image Directory for Theme: Default - MCE Glossy

23:02:26.6 1/25/2009: Launching HideOS.exe

23:02:26.6 1/25/2009: Initialising Video/MNG DLL's

23:02:26.6 1/25/2009: GameEx will check for media insertion (may affect performance)

23:02:26.6 1/25/2009: Hiding Taskbar

23:02:26.6 1/25/2009: Is Media Center running?

23:02:26.6 1/25/2009: Checking/Creating LCD Registry values

23:02:26.6 1/25/2009: Check Media Center Exit/Start Mode

23:02:26.6 1/25/2009: Media Center Mode 2

23:02:26.7 1/25/2009: Video previews on. Warning: Only recommended on modern systems

23:02:26.7 1/25/2009: Snap Delay set to: 2

23:02:26.7 1/25/2009: Get other settings

23:02:26.7 1/25/2009: Set: Find emulator artwork on best match basis

23:02:26.7 1/25/2009: Start work for Form

23:02:26.7 1/25/2009: Getting Original Screen Size

23:02:26.7 1/25/2009: Opening Database Connection

23:02:26.8 1/25/2009: Initializing Component

23:02:27.0 1/25/2009: Retrieving resolution setting

23:02:27.0 1/25/2009: MAME Path is: D:\mame

23:02:27.0 1/25/2009: MAME EXE file is: mame.exe

23:02:27.0 1/25/2009: ROM Path is: D:\mame\roms

23:02:27.0 1/25/2009: Catver.ini is located at: C:\GameEx\DATA\catver.ini

23:02:27.0 1/25/2009: controls.ini is located at: C:\GameEx\data\controls.ini

23:02:27.0 1/25/2009: History.dat is located at: C:\GameEx\DATA\history.dat

23:02:27.0 1/25/2009: nplayers.ini is located at: C:\GameEx\DATA\nplayers.ini

23:02:27.0 1/25/2009: MAMEinfo.dat is located at: C:\GameEx\DATA\mameinfo.dat

23:02:27.0 1/25/2009: Loading Controls.ini map file

23:02:27.0 1/25/2009: Snap Path is: D:\mame

23:02:27.0 1/25/2009: AVI Snap Path is: D:\mame

23:02:27.0 1/25/2009: Flyer Path is: D:\mame

23:02:27.0 1/25/2009: Cabinet Path is: D:\mame

23:02:27.0 1/25/2009: Title Path is: D:\mame

23:02:27.0 1/25/2009: PCB Path is: D:\mame

23:02:27.0 1/25/2009: Artwork Preview Path is: D:\mame

23:02:27.0 1/25/2009: Panel Path is: D:\mame

23:02:27.0 1/25/2009: Manual Path is: D:\mame

23:02:27.0 1/25/2009: Icon Path is: D:\mame

23:02:27.0 1/25/2009: Marquee Path is: D:\mame

23:02:27.0 1/25/2009: Loading Custom Emulators

23:02:27.3 1/25/2009: Using 2D Animations

23:02:27.3 1/25/2009: Using General Font: Trebuchet MS

23:02:27.3 1/25/2009: Using Title Font: Trebuchet MS

23:02:28.0 1/25/2009: Initialising DirectDraw

23:02:28.0 1/25/2009: Creating DirectDraw Device

23:02:28.0 1/25/2009: Using Device: ATI Radeon HD 4670

23:02:28.1 1/25/2009: 1130mb video memory available

23:02:28.3 1/25/2009: Setting Resolution to 1280x1024 32 bit color

23:02:28.3 1/25/2009: Creating DirectDraw Surfaces

23:02:28.3 1/25/2009: Creating Primary Surface - Full Screen Mode

23:02:29.2 1/25/2009: Creating Back Buffer

23:02:29.2 1/25/2009: Loading graphic Surfaces

23:02:29.2 1/25/2009: Display is running at: 1280x1024 32bit color, 60hz

23:02:29.4 1/25/2009: Creating Surfaces Flags

23:02:29.4 1/25/2009: Creating Surfaces Misc and Dialogs

23:02:29.4 1/25/2009: Creating Surfaces Volume

23:02:29.4 1/25/2009: Creating Surfaces Arrows

23:02:29.4 1/25/2009: Creating Surfaces GameEXlogo Text

23:02:29.4 1/25/2009: Creating Surfaces Toolbar

23:02:29.5 1/25/2009: Creating Surfaces Backgrounds

23:02:30.0 1/25/2009: Creating Surfaces Toolbar Controls

23:02:30.0 1/25/2009: Creating Surfaces GameEx Logo

23:02:30.0 1/25/2009: Creating Surface Unselected

23:02:30.0 1/25/2009: Creating Surfaces Home & Exit

23:02:30.0 1/25/2009: Creating Surfaces Snaps

23:02:30.0 1/25/2009: Creating Surfaces Menu and List Bars

23:02:30.1 1/25/2009: Creating Fonts

23:02:30.1 1/25/2009: Creating Game Font

23:02:30.2 1/25/2009: Creating Game Font Faded

23:02:30.3 1/25/2009: Creating Title Font

23:02:30.3 1/25/2009: Restoring Title Font From Cache

23:02:30.6 1/25/2009: Creating Menu Font

23:02:30.6 1/25/2009: Creating Font Black

23:02:30.8 1/25/2009: Creating Font Black Small

23:02:30.9 1/25/2009: Fonts Created Succesfully

23:02:30.9 1/25/2009: 1036mb video memory left available

23:02:30.9 1/25/2009: Creating instance of global keyboard hook

23:02:34.0 1/25/2009: Attempting to load game list

23:02:34.0 1/25/2009: Text/Language: English

23:02:34.0 1/25/2009: Applying Language/Text

23:02:34.0 1/25/2009: Initialising Bass Audio Library

23:02:34.2 1/25/2009: MAME CMD options: -nowindow -joy -skip_gameinfo

23:02:34.2 1/25/2009: Loading last used Game List

23:02:34.2 1/25/2009: Setting Music Volume

23:02:34.2 1/25/2009: Cannot Load Play List. Check Path and filename

23:02:34.2 1/25/2009: Creating DirectSound Device

23:02:34.2 1/25/2009: Trying: Primary Sound Driver

23:02:34.2 1/25/2009: Loading Sound Files

23:02:34.2 1/25/2009: DirectSound Device Created Successfully

23:02:34.2 1/25/2009: Initialising DirectInput for Gamepad support

23:02:34.3 1/25/2009: Using Device 4 axis 12 button joystick with hat switch

23:02:34.3 1/25/2009: Initializing MCE Remote

23:02:34.3 1/25/2009: Initialization OK! Starting GameEx!

23:02:34.3 1/25/2009: Testing Main Loop Once: Processing Frame

23:02:34.9 1/25/2009: Testing Main Loop Once: Main Loop ran successfully

23:02:43.9 1/25/2009: Updating MAME Game List

23:02:44.0 1/25/2009: Running: D: D:\mame\mame.exe -listxml > D:\mame\listinfo.dat

23:02:44.0 1/25/2009: Opening Listinfo.dat

23:02:45.5 1/25/2009: Reading ListInfo.dat

23:02:45.5 1/25/2009: Reading ListInfo.dat - DONE

23:02:45.5 1/25/2009: Processing ListInfo.dat

23:02:45.5 1/25/2009: Listinfo.dat Processing Complete

23:02:45.5 1/25/2009: Sorting MAME Game List

23:02:45.6 1/25/2009: Adding Catver.ini info to gamelist

23:02:45.8 1/25/2009: Writing MAME Game List To File

23:02:46.5 1/25/2009: Adding History.dat info to gamelist

23:02:47.5 1/25/2009: Adding Nplayers.ini info to gamelist

23:02:47.6 1/25/2009: Adding History.dat Series info to gamelist

23:02:48.4 1/25/2009: Adding MAMEInfo.dat info to gamelist

23:02:52.2 1/25/2009: Writing MAME Game List To File

23:02:52.4 1/25/2009: Updating Year List

23:02:52.4 1/25/2009: Updating Manufacturer List

23:02:52.4 1/25/2009: Updating Category List

23:02:52.4 1/25/2009: Updating Custom Folders

23:02:52.4 1/25/2009: Writing Year List To File

23:02:52.4 1/25/2009: Writing Manufacturer List To File

23:02:52.4 1/25/2009: Writing Category List To File

23:02:52.4 1/25/2009: Loading Game List

23:02:52.4 1/25/2009: Importing MAME32 Favorites

23:02:52.4 1/25/2009: Creating: [Arcade] MAME.mdb

23:02:52.4 1/25/2009: Recreating ICONS

23:02:52.8 1/25/2009: Attract Mode Re-Enabled

23:02:56.3 1/25/2009: Exiting GameEx!

23:02:56.3 1/25/2009: Saving Settings

23:02:57.3 1/25/2009: Disposing Plugins

23:02:57.3 1/25/2009: Closing database connection

23:02:57.4 1/25/2009: Checking for applications to Launch On Exit

qin_23

[Tempest]

Although I'm not an expert, It look like Gameex found your mame.exe. Try checking this page that shows how to setup the filters for Mame roms, and let us know if you have any problems.

http://www.gameex.info/forums/index.php?sh...amp;#entry34705

BTW: I'm not expecting this to help...

Post #1800!

[qin_23]

Thanks Tempest.

Yep, I already saw those filters on the FAQ page and set them to those values and nothing shows up still.

My roms are in .zip format. Does that matter?

qin_23

[bkenobi]

Your roms must be zipped up, so don't extract them. Just to be thorough, do your roms play in MAME correctly? GameEx uses MAME to check the roms and validate that they are correct for that version. If MAME reports that the rom is not valid, imperfect, etc. then GameEx will treat it differently (depending on how your filters are set up). If you set the filters in GameEx to show all games even if they don't work, they should all show up. BUT, if they don't work with your version of MAME, then it doesn't matter since it will crash back to GameEx after launching.

[qin_23]

Yes, all my roms work correctly with mame. I used to run them from the command line, then i was using mamewah to run them.

They all run correctly in mame. The filters are set just as the post that Tempest linked to.

qin_23

[sWampy]

When this happens to me, it's always been on of the secondary paths that wasn't right, something like the link to pcb files pointing to a directory that doesn't exist.

[qin_23]

Swampy, did you mean the paths on the Basic MAME Settings page?

I set the MAME path, MAME exe path and roms path, but all the paths after that (snap path, title path, etc.) i set to the root mame folder since i dont have any marquees or snaps or anything.

qin_23

[sWampy]

I would think the mame directory would work, but I usually set mine to blank. I had the pcb one cause mine to not show games when it was set to a path that didn't exist.

[qin_23]

I tried leaving all the fields i didnt need blank, but it still didnt work.

Just to test, i ran mame from the command line and it can still run my roms.

Is there anything i need to set up in mame prior to using it with game ex?

qin_23

[Tempest]

No, you shouldn't have to do anything. I'm just trying to think what it could be... You don't have "use advance mame" enabled, do you?

It might be best to post your GameEx.ini, here's how:

http://www.gameex.info/forums/index.php?showtopic=6451

[qin_23]

[sWampy]

When I was having this problem before, someone suggested I run a gameex config check tool, but I never found the tool.

[bkenobi]

The tool sWampy is referring to is found in the Setup Wizard. All you have to do is launc the Setup Wizard, go to custom, select nothing, then click ok. This will take you to the Verify Setup page. If you run through this test, it will tell you if you have any bad paths that should be checked. If nothing shows up in red, you *should* be ok.

[qin_23]

Using Setup Wizard, what about the stuff i dont care about?

I used setup wizard before, and set the paths for the mame stuff, but not for videos, audio and jukebox, etc.

The MAME stuff wasnt red, but some other non-mame related things were.

Does absolutely everything have to be ok for game ex to run correctly for mame?

qin_23

[sWampy]

  bkenobi said:

The tool sWampy is referring to is found in the Setup Wizard. All you have to do is launc the Setup Wizard, go to custom, select nothing, then click ok. This will take you to the Verify Setup page. If you run through this test, it will tell you if you have any bad paths that should be checked. If nothing shows up in red, you *should* be ok.

Ahh, I have only run the setup wizard once, no wonder I didn't find it. ;-)

[bkenobi]

If you don't have some content, say boxes for a certain emulator, just leave the boxes path blank. If the feature is disabled it shouldn't matter, but the setup validation tool will still prompt you that the path is invalid. I would recommend fixing everything in red even if it's disabled, but you shouldn't absolutely have to.

[qin_23]

Thanks bkenobi.

Well i left everything that wasnt necessary blank, and then nothing showed up in red when i verified the paths.

Still no roms found.

I may just reinstall at this point or something.

qin_23

[fRequEnCy]

What version of MAME are you running?

[bkenobi]

It might not be a bad idea. It's possible that the installation got corrupted or something. If you do reinstall, make sure you delete the C:\Program Files\GameEx directory (or move it to another location if you want to keep your setup files).

Oh, I guess I didn't mention this (I usually do, but forgot this time)...make sure your rom set and version of MAME are matching. If you use different versions, then some or all files will/may not work.

[qin_23]

frequency, i'm running mame v0.121 .

qin_23

[qin_23]

Just an update: finally got it working. can run mame games and list them.

What i did was install mame 129 and recreate all the files. must've screwed up the previous installation.

thanks for all the help.

qin_23