GameEx Emulator Project

[Brian Hoffman]

Wow! Amazing work Brian, am really impressed at how much you've done here! I'm am postive the GameEx community and espeically people new to emulation will find this project will make it so much easier to setup GameEx! This is going to be one of the best features of GameEx!

Oh and the "deadline" Brian is talking about. A long time ago when I first built my arcade machine we had the XMas party here and the arcade machine was not finished (hadn't even been painted). So friends and family just stood around looking at this half finished arcade machine saying how cool it would be etc.. This year we're having the XMas party again and THIS time I will have the arcade machine out for all to enjoy. So it should be great fun! Since both Brian and I are setting up GameEx again this feature will actually be great for us as well and a good opportunity to test this new feature

Spreadsheet filled out and email sent.

That was a bit of fun. I'd like when things settle a bit to add a few more emus to that list. Project tempest for jaguar, Makaron for Naomi and dreamcast, Nulldc for Naomi, Demul for Atomiswave, naomi,naomi2,dreamcast. Vivvanonno for some sega games, no$gba for gameboy advance and NDS emulation, Dolphin for Wii and a handfull of others. Again Im in no hurry to add these in now and no doubt there are more, but eventually I can see this becoming pretty comprehensive.

Im glad you are impressed, its about time I pull some weight, I felt I was slacking a little. This now seems to be coming together nicely.

I will work on this more tommorow.

Brian Hoffman

[Tempest]

This is going to be great! They don't know it yet, but new users (And old users) are really going to appreciate all of the hard work that you guys have put into this.

I am willing to test when it's ready. (That is if it needs testing.)

It sounds like HK will have it tested before Christmas.

[headkaze]

Just to let you all know this project has been a great success. Many thanks to Brian for the help with the uploads and getting the extra data needed for the new features. This project ties in with a massive update to the Setup Wizard I've been working on over the last several weeks. Some pretty cool new features to make setting up emulators as easy as possible. You don't even have to go searching on the web for emulators anymore, you can now auto download and have the Setup Wizard import the profile for you automatically. We are currently in testing phase now and hopefully you should see this great new feature soon to GameEx

New features added to Setup Wizard

- "Download Emulators" section will now prompt to import profiles.

- You are now always prompted for default paths, database download and emulator download when you import. You can now turn these off using the "Always Show" checkbox.

- Sorting emulators via Name, Category, System and Emulator.

- You can now move multiple emulators up and down at once by shift/ctrl selecting emulators in "Emulator Selection"

- Logos now have a drop down list

- Columns showing all the extra info added to profiles such as System, Category, Emulator, Version, Rating, DownloadUrl, RequiredFiles, Website, Info

- Automatically creates the file structure for you when you import

- POV Joystick support

- Lot's of work remaking the profiles and getting downloads uploaded (thanks alot to Brian for the help with this)

[Brian Hoffman]

Sega Dreamcast profile and auto download have been updated. Feel free to Run the setup wizard, re-download and import the new config. A new loader has been added to aid in the ease of setup for those that have issues configuring the emulator.

Ben, Matt want to test this?

[headkaze]

Sega Dreamcast profile and auto download have been updated. Feel free to Run the setup wizard, re-download and import the new config. A new loader has been added to aid in the ease of setup for those that have issues configuring the emulator.

Ben, Matt want to test this?

Will check it out when I get a chance. BTW I thought NullDC didn't need a loader? I would really prefer it if we can avoid loaders if we don't need them.

[Brian Hoffman]

Will check it out when I get a chance. BTW I thought NullDC didn't need a loader? I would really prefer it if we can avoid loaders if we don't need them.

The cli used for gameex only runs the emulator and configures the default image. Apart for that you need to set a few things manually in the INI for that to matter. 1)Load defaut image=1 2)autostart emulation then things like no console, fullscreen etc..

Loading the default image without these flags set does not make the emulator run through an FE without manually wither editing the ini first or through a loader.

Using the loader sets the flags in the INI and then runs the command helping newusers. The default package included prior to today did not work out of the box like it does now.

Although bios files are still not included.

BH

[headkaze]

Using the loader sets the flags in the INI and then runs the command helping newusers. The default package included prior to today did not work out of the box like it does now.

Yeah but why not just edit the ini file manually in the download and leave it at that? Having a loader do it seems pointless to me. It just adds an unnecessary step. Moreover it's easier to edit the WorkingPath of a config than it is to re-distribute a new loader if future versions of NullDC change the command-line. Please if possible can we avoid using a loader? I've seen it been done without the need for one.

[Brian Hoffman]

Yeah but why not just edit the ini file manually and leave it at that? Having a loader do it seems pointless to me. It just adds an unnecessary step. Moreover it's easier to edit the WorkingPath of a config than it is to re-distribute a new loader if future versions of NullDC change the command-line. Please if possible can we avoid using a loader?

Well, its your call. This release of NullDC is over a year old. If a new version of NullDC gets released it may even break the current method. The only reason I suggest a loader for this emulator is if you have to delete the NullDC.CFG file due to corruption (it happens) then the user will have to manually edit it again. Also out of the box new users will not know they need to do that, our seasoned users know this because of the many threads revolving around the topic. Since the scope of the setup wizard is to ease installation and configuration I thought it may be welcomed.

If you would still rather me pull it just let me know and it is easy enough to re-update the distribution.

Brian Hoffman

[headkaze]

Well, its your call. This release of NullDC is over a year old. If a new version of NullDC gets released it may even break the current method. The only reason I suggest a loader for this emulator is if you have to delete the NullDC.CFG file due to corruption (it happens) then the user will have to manually edit it again. Also out of the box new users will not know they need to do that, our seasoned users know this because of the many threads revolving around the topic. Since the scope of the setup wizard is to ease installation and configuration I thought it may be welcomed.

If you would still rather me pull it just let me know and it is easy enough to re-update the distribution.

Brian Hoffman

If you think it needs one then leave it in. The only time I've experienced problems is when I set it to go fullscreen but didn't specify a width and height it would crash. I just want to avoid using wrappers if possible because we may have problems in the future depending on them. If it's an AutoHotkey script then please have the source included aswell.

[fRequEnCy]

Great addition guys! Just tried it out. A few things though..... Not downloading latest emulator (MESS) for instance. One thing I like and dislike at the same time is the file structure. As it will make things more organized for the user, it's not how all people organize their art collections. For instance those who download torrents or from ftp (EmuMovies). Also when selecting ROM path then it will also create the folder C:\roms no matter which folder you choose. Also creates other folders as well. Again great idea if that's the way people are gonna organize but it's kinda forcing them to do so. Maybe change the way it's handled in leaving blank and not creating the folders anyways so that the user can then choose the folders they need in the config. Love the new feature though and see it has great potential. I'm here to help in anyway.

[starbuck]

File structure at first seemed weird to me too. But with so many systems out there, I needed to clean up my file structures anyhow. What I did was buy me a new 1.5 Tilabit external drive. ($100.00 at Walmart)In my first emulator setup I changed c:\ to Z:\ and the first installation created the roms,emulator and assets folders. After that everything followed as easy as pie.

I would like to see a folder created that puts in the emulator picture, so that it shows below the logo.

Also it would be cool if there was a way for us that have accounts with Emumovies to download the boxes, videos, snaps etc. into the file structure created by GameEX.

I started my new setup from scratch. Do we just need to check when a new emulator setup is added or will there be a history file etc. to alert us of this. Really want to see a Namomi setup.