Need a bit of guidance

[otifrank]

I've got a bit of a perplexing situation on my hands and I figure maybe someone can set me towards the right direction.

Due to the set of roms that I have for Mame, I am currently using the .134 version of Mame. I have compiled the .134 source (Downloaded from Mame site) using the 1.17 version of Headkaze's Mame Compiler. I have added no other .diff files and only the default options for the compiler. I have verified the rom set with ClrMamePRO and the .134 dat file from logix.net with no unexpected issues found with the rom set. I am using the most current version of GameEx.

Now to my issue. Having just freshly run the update list command within GameEx, I get a list that includes, among all the other titles for my set, the one title I am specifically looking for which is Gauntlet. The problem is that when I fire up the game, GameEx advises me that it is now loading gauntletS and proceeds to only load the Spanish version of the game. I have tried everything I can think of including, re-downloading the Gauntlet (revision 14) rom as I believe this is the proper parent set, rebuilding the game list within GameEx multiple times, down-grading my Mame.exe to version .129 (I had this from my original build of my cabinet), and uninstalling and re-installing GameEx entirely. It just seems no matter what I do, the list shows GAUNTLET but the game loaded is GauntletS, the Spanish version.

Sorry to be so long winded but, I'm just trying to include as much information as possible.

Thanks in advance to anyone who can offer an assist here.

[Tom Speirs]

With a default install GameEx tries to "remove duplicates" from the list. Its not perfect but it does produce a clean list. It sounds like that feature is removing the version of Gauntlet you want. You can either specifically tell it not to filter that rom in the config by adding "gauntlet" to the dont filter these roms list or turn off the remove duplicates feature altogether. Its auto by default which means on if you are using a game name filter. If you make changes you will need to update the list again. You may also be able to add something from the wrong game name to the game filter such as "spanish" depending on what the full name of GauntletS is. I thought "spanish" was already in there by default but I just checked and its not. Ill add it to the next release but for your existing install you can also try adding "spanish" to the game name filter in conjuction with leaving the remove duplicates feature on and update the list again.

Hope that helps. A thorough answer if not simple!

[mesk]

i had the exact same problem with gauntlet s loading.i ended up just going into my mame roms and removing gauntlet s from my roms folder(i actually didnt delete it,i just put it elsewhere so i still have a full set when needed )

[Tempest]

If we were going to solve this with a 'cheat', I would manually edit my gamelist.txt. It sounds like Tom is already on it, so I would just wait until the next release.

[Noddy]

What do you know it is the spanish version hadn't got around to playing that one yet. The ignore rom option is a great feature you'll probably also find that Wonderboy in Monsterland is missing. I think it's beacause the english versions are actually bootlegs and the default filter includes ignore japanese and bootleg games. Anyway I added the wonderboy rom (wbmlb) to the ignore list and problem solved, well after I remembered to update the list again.

[otifrank]

Yep, the ignore rom option within the config was the answer here! Adding gauntlet to the list and then refreshing the game list within GameEx has resolved my issue.

I am left with one trivial question though. Now that Gauntlet is showing up in the game list, there are 2 entries simply titled Gauntlet. That I see, there is no indication within GameEx of specifically what rom/version you will be choosing until after you have chosen the rom for play. Like I said, a rather trivial issue but, perhaps if enough folks were interested, this could be added to the gamelist so that you knew which rom/version you were thinking about picking prior to actually selecting it.

Thanks to all who replied!

[Noddy]

you can also either add spanish to the filter or the rom to the exclude rom option to cut it back to one gauntlet

Someone else will hopefully chime in with if it can be seen from gameex but another option is using cpwizard, the program is handy for displaying the game controls and commands/ special movies so really great if you like the fighting games but it can also display all the other mame details including the rom. The other thing your post has brought up for me is that having a 2 player cabinet I need to go back and edit the games like gauntlet, TMNT etc that have the 4 player option as default.

I dont know if 4 player can be added to the filter but I'm thinking it would also take out games that work ok and dont have 2 player versions?

So I'm going to use romlister to make a list of 4 player games, then add them to the ignore rom/exclude rom options as needed.

[Mittens]

  On 10/10/2010 at 12:53 PM, otifrank said:

Yep, the ignore rom option within the config was the answer here! Adding gauntlet to the list and then refreshing the game list within GameEx has resolved my issue.

I am left with one trivial question though. Now that Gauntlet is showing up in the game list, there are 2 entries simply titled Gauntlet. That I see, there is no indication within GameEx of specifically what rom/version you will be choosing until after you have chosen the rom for play. Like I said, a rather trivial issue but, perhaps if enough folks were interested, this could be added to the gamelist so that you knew which rom/version you were thinking about picking prior to actually selecting it.

Thanks to all who replied!

Deleting a game from the list within GameEx (just hit the Delete key) will remove it from your list and not your hard drive. Try playing Gauntlet, and if it loads the English version, delete the the other one. If it's Spanish, delete the one you just played. It has the same effect of adding a game to your romfilter, as Noddy suggested.

[otifrank]

  On 10/10/2010 at 8:24 PM, Mittens said:

Deleting a game from the list within GameEx (just hit the Delete key) will remove it from your list and not your hard drive. Try playing Gauntlet, and if it loads the English version, delete the the other one. If it's Spanish, delete the one you just played. It has the same effect of adding a game to your romfilter, as Noddy suggested.

Thanks Mittens, that will work for my situation however; I still can't help but wonder if my situation were one where I actually wanted to keep both the English and Spanish version in my list (Call me Crazy!), if it wouldn't be helpful for GameEx to indicate which version/Rom Name was associated with the game name in the list? Of course, I couldn't even begin to offer the solution to how to do this so, feel free to just tell me to "hush up and enjoy what you get!

[Tempest]

The easiest way would be to add the two roms to your 'Do not filter' list. Update your list, and then exit GameEx. Open the C:\GameEx\DATA\gamelist.txt file, and find the roms in question in the list. gauntlet will look like this:

  Quote

gauntlet|Gauntlet|Atari|1985|True|Maze / Shooter Large|True|H|336|240||[-LF-][-LF-]Gauntlet is a maze-based shoot-em-up for up to four players. Heavily influenced by classic fantasy conventions, players take on the role of either an Thor the Warrior, Thyra the Valkyrie, Merlin the Wizard, or Questor the Elf and must play cooperatively as they explore and fight their way through the enemy-packed mazes. Competitive play is encouraged as players must fight for the limited amount of food, treasure, magic potions and power-up items that litter the dungeons.[-LF-][-LF-][-LF-]Each of Gauntlet's four characters posess different strengths and weaknesses: Thyra has great armour, Thor is best at hand-to-hand combat, Questor has the fastest speed, and Merlin has the best ability to use magic. The object of the game is simply to survive as long as possible while exploring Gauntlet's mazes in search of treasure, food, magic potions and ultimately, the exit that leads to the next dungeon.[-LF-][-LF-][-LF-]The potions - shown as blue bottles - that litter the levels offer either improved character abilities (such as 'speed' or 'extra shot power') or can be used as a 'smart bomb', destroying some or all of the on-screen monsters. Potions are also the only way to kill the game's 'Death' character that appears in many of the stages. Magic potions can be kept and used at the player's discretion by pressing 'Magic' button, although each potion can only be used once.[-LF-][-LF-][-LF-]The first seven mazes are always the same, but from level eight onwards, players will find themselves on any one of over a hundred different mazes. If a player survives long enough, the mazes will be repeated in a different order. How long a player lasts depends upon the player's 'health' level. Health continually depletes as time progresses and further health is lost by contact with various monsters or their projectyles. Health can be replenished by consuming the food found in the mazes or by inserting more credits. The many treasure chests that litter the levels can be plundered for points, and collecting treasure increases a player's score multiplier when two or more players are playing the game.[-LF-][-LF-]|35[-LF-]541[-LF-]791[-LF-]790[-LF-]792[-LF-]789[-LF-]1116[-LF-]788[-LF-]2628|4P sim|0|False|False|joy8way|791[-LF-]792[-LF-]790|gauntlet.c

Change the text that I have marked in red to whatever your heart desires, and do the same with gaunlets. Save the gamelist.txt file. The downside to this is that everytime you update your list, you will need to manually change the gamelist.txt file.