New GameEx versions not running well

[djrobx]

Hi Tom,

It'd been a while since I updated to a newer version of GameEx since the older versions were working great. I finally decided I really wanted the "My games" icon in Media Center so I went ahead and did the install.

5.25 through 5.30 loads *painfully* slow compared to the old version on my system.

It seems to hang up for a while on this line in the log:

13:35:24.2 12/18/2005: Loading last used Game List

13:35:51.5 12/18/2005: Creating DirectSound Device

What the heck is it doing for 25 seconds?

What's worse though is that GameEx is affecting the performance of things that run under it. I play StepMania for example. I can no longer use it under GameEx. It stutters and jerks and is completely unplayable.

I went ahead and copied a set of 4.65 set of binaries from another machine, and now it loads fast and StepMania is back to being usable. Is there something in the game history I need to flush or something?

I know you hate complaints about "bloat", but I just wanted to alert you to my exxperience with the current version... I can't use it. System spec is 3ghz P4 HT, 1gb RAM. SANDRA tested and it's performing properly.

- Rob

530log.txt

[zolakk]

I have noticed that the newer versions seem to make my cpu run at up to 10*C hotter than when running windows or any other program (this includes mame by itself, and also programs like beyond tv). It will load into the menu and over the course of 10-20 minutes of just sitting at the menu, no screensaver, no games, just background music it will get hotter and hotter. Then, when I exit gameex, I can watch my temp drop back down almost 10*C in a matter of a minute or so. This may be related to your problems above.

[djrobx]

There are some settings you can tweak in order to reduce the CPU usage while in the GameEx UI. Go under Tweaks/Performance and increase the "Reduce CPU utilization" value. I use 7.

You can also edit the theme and change "AniBak" to false. That will prevent the background from doing a slow animation which uses up some CPU time.

Unfortunately neither of those things affect my start-up time or should affect anything while GameEx is in the background.

-- Rob

[Smiff]

i find same as djrobx..

[Tom Speirs]

Hi Tom,

It'd been a while since I updated to a newer version of GameEx since the older versions were working great.   I finally decided I really wanted the "My games" icon in Media Center so I went ahead and did the install.

5.25 through 5.30 loads *painfully* slow compared to the old version on my system.

It seems to hang up for a while on this line in the log:

13:35:24.2  12/18/2005:  Loading last used Game List

13:35:51.5  12/18/2005:  Creating DirectSound Device

What the heck is it doing for 25 seconds?

What's worse though is that GameEx is affecting the performance of things that run under it.  I play StepMania for example.  I can no longer use it under GameEx.   It stutters and jerks and is completely unplayable.

I went ahead and copied a set of 4.65 set of binaries from another machine, and now it loads fast and StepMania is back to being usable.   Is there something in the game history I need to flush or something?

I know you hate complaints about "bloat", but I just wanted to alert you to my exxperience with the current version...  I can't use it.     System spec is 3ghz P4 HT, 1gb RAM.   SANDRA tested and it's performing properly.

- Rob

Rob, Check your Jukebox settings, in between those two log items, GameEx loads the Jukebox library and may start playing a radion station if enabled.

Could you see if it is hideos.exe that is causing the slowdown by just replacing that old binary and using it with the new GameEx.exe?

Only other thing I can think that would affect it is GameEx checking the GamePad for an exit combination.

Thanks for reporting the problem, I'd rather know about it so I can fix it.

Could you check those things out and let me know.

EDIT: Also are you using an advanced emulator config with joypad mapping? that could cause stutter as it only makes gameex sleep for 10ms.

Thanks,

Tom.

[Tom Speirs]

Hi Tom,

It'd been a while since I updated to a newer version of GameEx since the older versions were working great.  I finally decided I really wanted the "My games" icon in Media Center so I went ahead and did the install.

5.25 through 5.30 loads *painfully* slow compared to the old version on my system.

It seems to hang up for a while on this line in the log:

13:35:24.2  12/18/2005:  Loading last used Game List

13:35:51.5  12/18/2005:  Creating DirectSound Device

What the heck is it doing for 25 seconds?

What's worse though is that GameEx is affecting the performance of things that run under it.  I play StepMania for example.  I can no longer use it under GameEx.  It stutters and jerks and is completely unplayable.

I went ahead and copied a set of 4.65 set of binaries from another machine, and now it loads fast and StepMania is back to being usable.  Is there something in the game history I need to flush or something?

I know you hate complaints about "bloat", but I just wanted to alert you to my exxperience with the current version...  I can't use it.    System spec is 3ghz P4 HT, 1gb RAM.  SANDRA tested and it's performing properly.

- Rob

Rob, once youve checked the other stuff, please try these two new binaries, see if stepmania is any better, and also post the log.

Cheers.

bin.zip

[Tom Speirs]

i find same as djrobx..

Can you explain exactly what you find the same. C'mon make it easy for me to fix. Or are you just ganging up on me!?

[Tom Speirs]

There are some settings you can tweak in order to reduce the CPU usage while in the GameEx UI.    Go under Tweaks/Performance and increase the "Reduce CPU utilization" value.  I use 7. 

You can also edit the theme and change "AniBak" to false.  That will prevent the background from doing a slow animation which uses up some CPU time.

Unfortunately neither of those things affect my start-up time or should affect anything while GameEx is in the background. 

-- Rob

By the way, the Anibak setting does nothing on the CPU, its handled completly by the video card. If its slow it must be a driver or old hardware issue. The only difference with anibak is it does a blit stretching a surface, rather than blitting the surface at the same size. Its bearly 11 lines of code including the changing of dimesions.

Really dont know what that can be about, maybe another NVidia issue?

[Smiff]

oh shit sorry, i didnt notice djrobx started this thread and was agreeing with his 2nd post, that there dont seem to be any problems! i read as if he was offering advice to someone - completely wrong.

very sorry tom. the only prob i have is sometimes gameex takes a while to restore after quitting an app... i have very quick startup times etc. will try 5.31 tomorrow, gotta sleep.

(Radeon 9550, 512MB RAM, Athlon)

[Tom Speirs]

Hi Tom,

It'd been a while since I updated to a newer version of GameEx since the older versions were working great.  I finally decided I really wanted the "My games" icon in Media Center so I went ahead and did the install.

5.25 through 5.30 loads *painfully* slow compared to the old version on my system.

It seems to hang up for a while on this line in the log:

13:35:24.2  12/18/2005:  Loading last used Game List

13:35:51.5  12/18/2005:  Creating DirectSound Device

What the heck is it doing for 25 seconds?

What's worse though is that GameEx is affecting the performance of things that run under it.  I play StepMania for example.  I can no longer use it under GameEx.  It stutters and jerks and is completely unplayable.

I went ahead and copied a set of 4.65 set of binaries from another machine, and now it loads fast and StepMania is back to being usable.  Is there something in the game history I need to flush or something?

I know you hate complaints about "bloat", but I just wanted to alert you to my exxperience with the current version...  I can't use it.    System spec is 3ghz P4 HT, 1gb RAM.  SANDRA tested and it's performing properly.

- Rob

Rob, please give me a bit more info when you have a chance, I dont want to tick off my only moderator