[RESOLVED] Can't get past GameEx nag screen

[MikeP]

Just installed GameEx on WinXP for the first time. Ran the Setup program and accepted the default options except for in the Performance/Tweaks page where I change the Media Center option to be zero (don't do anything with Media Center).

When I run GameEx, I get the nag screen about donating. After 10 seconds or so I hear the startup sound. Then nothing happens. It's just stuck on the nag screen. Here is the last part of the log file:

23:12:12.2 1/8/2011: Initialization OK! Starting GameEx!

23:12:12.2 1/8/2011: Testing Main Loop Once: Processing Frame

23:12:56.6 1/8/2011: Exiting GameEx!

23:12:56.6 1/8/2011: Saving Settings

23:12:58.3 1/8/2011: Disposing Plugins

23:12:58.3 1/8/2011: Closing database connection

23:12:58.3 1/8/2011: Checking for applications to Launch On Exit

So it looks like it is immediately exiting GameEx but isn't telling me why. I tried playing with the screen resolutions settings also (using 1280x720) and didn't have any effect. I have no idea what else to try. There are millions of options in the Setup program but I'm not even getting into the program to be able to try anything. This was recommended as the best Mame front end, but my experience so far doesn't make me want to donate.

I've attached the full log. I tried attaching my gameex.ini file but the forum won't let me upload that kind of file. Please help me so I can use GameEx. Thanks.

log.txt

[Brian Hoffman]

Are you using a tiny or nlited build of xp? Gameex has real issues on these "special" builds because they lace services and other engines game ex takes advantage of.

Usually there are tell tale signs with other errors.

Can you give us any other details?

[Draco1962]

I wouldn't let an issue with initial install be a deterrent to donating for the full version. As you can see form browsing about through our forums that there is more to GameEx than being a great Frontend (which you will see once we get you past the the current dilemma).

In addition to the log file you provided and answering Brian's question about your XP install, can you locate and zip a copy of your gameex.ini file(alternately you can load this file in Notepad and save as a text file - the Forums do not allow for uploading of raw .ini files)? You should find it at C:\GameEx\CONFIG .

Thanks and Welcome to the GameEx Forums!

[MikeP]

It's a plain install of WinXP Media Center Edition (with SP2 and all the latest Microsoft updates). Had it for several years and played lots of normal PC games on it and never had any trouble, including many current games. I've got MAME and MAME32 both working by themselves just fine. I consider myself very computer knowledgeable and can solve most stuff, but in this case the LOG file doesn't have any useful error message in it that I can see.

I never use any of the MCE stuff which is why I turned off the MCE usage in GameEx. The first time I used GameEx it exited because MCE wasn't running. But I no longer get that error in the log.

I have attached the zipped gameex.ini config file (I also attached it in TXT format since that might be easier for people to view). I hope somebody can figure this out. I'm definitely not donating until this is resolved since it's a bad sign that something doesn't run "out of the box" on a standard XP install.

The only errors I get in the Verify screen are all related to missing or empty directories for various emulators I don't use.

The only other thing I could think of was that if GameEx is trying to load or somehow manipulate my Media Player library, I have a rather large library. So maybe it's stuck doing something with that? Tell me what option to change to have it ignore media player and I can see if that makes any difference.

GameEx.zip

GameEx.txt

[Draco1962]

First things I noticed different between the LOG and INI files are discrepencies with what is reported for the artwork preview presence/path:

LOG:

23:11:46.2 1/8/2011: MAME Path is: C:\Emulators\MAME

23:11:46.2 1/8/2011: MAME EXE file is: mame.exe

23:11:46.2 1/8/2011: ROM Path is: C:\Emulators\MAME\roms

23:11:46.2 1/8/2011: Catver.ini is located at: C:\GameEx\DATA\catver.ini

23:11:46.2 1/8/2011: controls.ini is located at: C:\GameEx\data\controls.ini

23:11:46.2 1/8/2011: History.dat is located at: C:\GameEx\DATA\history.dat

23:11:46.2 1/8/2011: nplayers.ini is located at: C:\GameEx\DATA\nplayers.ini

23:11:46.2 1/8/2011: command.dat is located at: C:\GameEx\DATA\command.dat

23:11:46.2 1/8/2011: MAMEinfo.dat is located at: C:\GameEx\DATA\mameinfo.dat

23:11:46.2 1/8/2011: Loading Controls.ini map file

23:11:46.2 1/8/2011: Snap Path is: C:\GameEx\DEMO\MAME\snaps

23:11:46.2 1/8/2011: AVI Snap Path is: C:\GameEx\DEMO\MAME\video

23:11:46.2 1/8/2011: Flyer Path is: C:\GameEx\DEMO\MAME\flyers

23:11:46.2 1/8/2011: Cabinet Path is: C:\GameEx\DEMO\MAME\cabinets

23:11:46.2 1/8/2011: Cabinet 3D Path is: C:\GameEx\DEMO\MAME\cabinets3d

23:11:46.2 1/8/2011: Title Path is: C:\GameEx\DEMO\MAME\titles

23:11:46.2 1/8/2011: PCB Path: Not Found

23:11:46.2 1/8/2011: Artwork Preview Path: Not Found

23:11:46.2 1/8/2011: Panel Path is: C:\GameEx\DEMO\MAME\cpanel

23:11:46.2 1/8/2011: Manual Path is: C:\GameEx\DEMO\MAME\manual

23:11:46.2 1/8/2011: Icon Path is: C:\GameEx\DEMO\MAME\icons

23:11:46.2 1/8/2011: Marquee Path is: C:\GameEx\DEMO\MAME\marquees

23:11:46.2 1/8/2011: Loading Custom Emulators

23:11:46.2 1/8/2011: Loading Emulator 1: Atari 5200

23:11:46.2 1/8/2011: Loading Emulator 2: Nintendo SNES

23:11:46.2 1/8/2011: Loading Emulator 3: Nintendo N64

23:11:46.2 1/8/2011: Loading Emulator 4: [Arcade] Arcade (MAME)

INI:

MAMEPath=C:\Emulators\MAME

MAMEEXE=mame.exe

ROMPath=C:\Emulators\MAME\roms

...

SnapPath=C:\GameEx\DEMO\MAME\snaps

AVISnapPath=C:\GameEx\DEMO\MAME\video

...

flyerpath=C:\GameEx\DEMO\MAME\flyers

cabinetpath=C:\GameEx\DEMO\MAME\cabinets

CatverLocation=\DATA\catver.ini

nplayerslocation=\DATA\nplayers.ini

HistoryLocation=\DATA\history.dat

InfoLocation=\DATA\mameinfo.dat

CommandLocation=\DATA\command.dat

...

MarqueePath=C:\GameEx\DEMO\MAME\marquees

PanelPath=C:\GameEx\DEMO\MAME\cpanel

TitlePath=C:\GameEx\DEMO\MAME\titles

ICONPath=C:\GameEx\DEMO\MAME\icons

CPEnabled=True

CPPath=\data\controls.ini

...

ManualPath=C:\GameEx\DEMO\MAME\manual

...

CustomMAMEFolderPath=C:\Emulators\Mame32\CustomFolders

MAMEFavoritesini=C:\Emulators\Mame32\Folders\Favorites.ini

...

PCBPath=C:\Emulators\Mame32\pcb

ArtworkPath=C:\Emulators\Mame32\artworkpreview

...

cabinet3dpath=C:\GameEx\DEMO\MAME\cabinets3d

So a minor issue there but not something that should be causing the issue. I would like for you to confirm within your MAME directory options what you are showing for your various paths to make sure that the paths match what you have in your GameEx setup. If not, then correct your paths within GameEx to match those in MAME or iwithin MAME to match those within GameEx and try running GameEx again. You can easily do this without opening MAME or MAMEUI32(or64) by locating the "SEARCH PATH OPTIONS" within the mame.ini (or mameui.ini if using the gui versions) - refer to mine as an example:

# SEARCH PATH OPTIONS

#

flyer_directory C:\Assets\MAME\flyers

cabinet_directory C:\Assets\MAME\cabinets

marquee_directory C:\Assets\MAME\marquees

title_directory C:\Assets\MAME\titles

cpanel_directory C:\Assets\MAME\cpanel

pcb_directory C:\Assets\MAME\pcb

background_directory C:\Assets\MAME\bkground

folder_directory C:\Assets\MAME\folders

icons_directory C:\Assets\MAME\icons

To clean things up a bit, since you do not have any other emulators setup to run through GameEx currently, let's also remove the additional emulators from the configuration.

Once these have been done, please provide new copies of yoru log and gameex.ini files.

I know it sounds like a pretty basic request, but have seen some pretty odd stuff occur due to a basic, minor detail. Since the log file is not forthcoming with what is causing it to not go beyond "nag" I don't want to rule anything out.

[MikeP]

I don't have any roms or artwork for Mame on my system yet. I'm just trying to get the basic GameEx front-end menu to display.

Instead of messing with all of the above, I removed GameEx and reinstalled it fresh. This time I turned off everything. I didn't tell it to download ANY emulators. When asked for a feature, like Media, or Video, or DVD, I selected the Disable radio option.

Same problem. Just the startup nag screen and then the startup sound plays. Then it just sits there and never displays the main menu. If it is going to be this hard to mess with GameEx, then it really isn't worth my time. I just want a simple menu system for selecting games (both emulated games and normal PC games) and it seems that GameEx is so full of other features that I don't care about that it can't even act as a simple menu anymore.

The author needs to test the "out of the box" install on a basic WinXP system and add more debugging to the log file to help solve these kinds of problems. I certainly don't have the patience for it.

Still attached the new LOG file output and new INI file (as TXT) in case anybody else has any ideas.

GameEx.txt

log.txt

[Adultery]

Honestly I use an out of the box XP Media Center install (} just did a fresh install two months ago) and don't (or never have had) this issue. Maybe I missed something, but if you go to task manager after the crash is GameEx still running or do you get the GameEx crash screen? Maybe GameEx is just losing focus or something?

[Draco1962]

Mike - will be glad to address your issues, however, I don't think you will find an author that does more "out of the box" testing of his programs than the one for GameEx. I had tinkered with this program and a few others including "kicking the tires" on the respective forums for almost a year before making the leap. Trust me, you will not find better than Tom when it comes to supporting and testing this frontend, nor will you find a better forum for support. In addition to the author, myself and a few others have multiple machines from which we attempt to recreate the issues the forum members run into in our best effort to communicate a resolution or workaround.

Yours is defintiely outside of the norm for an initial install. My guess from what I am seeing is that the issue is not with GameEx. While it should work with XP Media Center Edition, there is something else going on here that I can't quite put my fingers on just yet. I would recommend that you install it on another PC (say, one running XP Home or Pro) to see if you run into the same results. I have a laptop with XP Home installed and just ran a new installation (GameEx has never been installed on this machine and it is a single core Intel P4 processor with only 512MB RAM. Absolutely no probelms - hits the nag, waits for a few (normal) then right into the program from there.

I understand if you haven't the time to mess with what I am suggesting. My guess is that you will possibly run into issues with whatever program you choose, if not on install, further along, until you make the time to resolve whatever is causing this issue.

Regards,

Draco

[Adultery]

I just had a thought. Maybe it's striking a key during the 'nag' screen and maybe your machine doesn't have internet? Is this possible?

Another thought I had was maybe there's a Windows services issue here? Did you 'clean up' your Windows install and maybe remove a service that GameEx uses by accident? Also, did you try using a different theme or are you just using the default one? Did you install a codec pack? There's a ton of possibilities here. I'm just shooting from the hip so to speak, I don't mean to ask seemingly dumb questions.

.EDIT. The two things that trouble me here after looking at the log file:

1) Is your MAME path really C:\GameEx and if so,

2) Why does it say your MAME EXE is sleep.exe?

That doesn't look right to me. Maybe that's causing the issue here?

[Draco1962]

I noticed the same thing. Because of some of the changes from the first set of files to the next, I was wondering if he might be just tossing stuff in the paths to see if we were awake and "really" looking at things when we ask for them. Not that anyone would intentionally toy with us that way.

MikeP - did you purchase your copy of Win XP Media Center? I ask because you noted that you just installed it. That version of XP was only available for Media Center machines as part of an OEM purchase of a pre-built media center PC (although some retailers skirted that avenue by requiring the purchaser to buy a motherboard or a hard drive along with their copy).

If you obtained it through other than the channels above, then it is possible that the copy you have is not clean or complete in some way that it is interfering with the proper function of the program. Anything you can provide here may be helpful to us.

If you are running the OS on a Linux box (via Wine) or Mac OSX (via Bootcamp),or within a virtualized environment, that would be good to know as well.

[MikeP]

Let's see, lots of stuff to answer:

1) (Draco1962) This was an OEM addition of WINXP Media Center that I bought many years ago when putting together this HTPC. So I've had it for years, all working fine. Although honestly I rarely use the actual Media Center application.

I haven't "toyed" with the files in any way at all. The second set is from doing a fresh install of GameEx, and then running the config/setup, selecting the "Normal" (I think that's what it was called) setup option, and then just clicking "Next" through all of the screens. If a setup screen asked if I wanted to enable something (like Music, Video, DVD, etc) I selected the Disable option.

In this second set of files, MAME is not installed at all. So anything in the INI or LOG file is whatever GameEx decided to use as the defaults.

2) (Adultery) The nag screen just sits there. If I press the (1) or (2) keys, then it goes to Firefox and opens up the donation pages in the browser. I've let it sit for 20 minutes after I hear the initial startup sound and it never changes away from the nag screen.

If I try to use Alt-Tab to switch away from GameEx, then I just get a black screen. At that point I can't even get back to the nag screen. Just a black screen. I have to press Ctrl-Alt-Delete to bring up the Windows Task manager and then kill the GameEx task to get back to Windows. When I look at the task Manager, GameEx is running, and also something called HideOS.

I have another WinXP computer I can try, but that's not going to help me a whole lot since it's my HTPC connected to my projector system that I really want GameEx to be running on a front end.

BTW, Video card is a NVidia 9500 running in 1280x720 resolution (widescreen). I'm using the latest 260.99 WHQL drivers. I do have the Windows MCE remote connected along with a Logitech wireless mouse/keyboard. 2GB RAM, Athlon X64 6000+. That's really it as far as the hardware. Nothing special. WinXP has SP3 installed and the rest of the latest Microsoft updates.

And I know it doesn't help to say this, but having used this computer for several years for my Home Theater and gaming, I've really had zero problems with it. Given how stable the system is, there is very little "tinkering" that I'm really willing to do just to try and get GameEx to work. I don't want to screw up this computer since I use it all the time (and wife watches DVDs with it on the big screen).

[Draco1962]

Mike - thanks for answering. We have to ask these questions as some of us have gone down the path only to find out that the OS was being run on another system (Linux or Mac) or a virtualized environment and there was no way to remedy those types of issues when the conflict imay be caused by the true OS or drivers that are other than Windows or, a pirated copy of same.

We will continue to see what we can determine. What I would like to ask you to do for right now on the Media Center PC is go into the Advanced Configuration for GameEx and, under Display Settings disable Hide Desktop by changing Hide Operating System to No, then save the change. Let me know if you see any error messages or prompts (from GameEx or otherwise). Another place for possible clues may be under Event Manager. Note the time you tried to run GameEx and review the event logs to see if anything is notable for that same time.

Let us know if anything is pre-loading when you launch Windows and, if so, what? As you can imaigine, it is difficult to diagnose another's PC or software issue when not involved with the setup or hands-on in front of the PC.

[Adultery]

I think you're doing a pretty fine job Draco!

[MikeP]

OK, this is really odd. And I feel stupid for not trying this sooner. I'm a software developer myself and I know how difficult it can be to diagnose these kinds of weird computer problems. And in this case I didn't even follow my own advice to my own customers, which is to "reboot Windows and see if anything changes".

Tonight we had a power outage, so my computer rebooted. Since we use the computer all the time for playing movies and stuff, we usually just keep it turned on. So it doesn't get rebooted very often. We all know how screwed up Windows can get sometimes when it stays on too long.

After the reboot, I went into the GameEx Setup program and turned off the Hide OS option. Then I ran GameEx and this time it worked just fine. On a hunch I went back in and restored the Hide OS to it's original value...GameEx STILL worked.

Who knows why it didn't work before. Maybe some game left the graphics card in a weird state. Maybe the Media Center stuff was messed up. Any number of things could have messed up Windows in the background. I should have thought about rebooting even before posting here...don't know why I forgot about that. Sorry for wasting everyone's time.

The support that you all tried to give me in this situation really shows me the great support community behind GameEx, so I'll definitely be donating.

Thanks for your patience and help.

[Adultery]

Great to hear you got it working, and welcome to GameEx!

[Draco1962]

Mike - that is awesome! I do this kind of support for a living so probably should have asked "when did you last reboot the machine?" I will be adding this to my "list" from now on for here. We all learned something positive so no harm, no foul, no time wasted. Again, welcome!