3 unrelated questions please

[Smiff]

heya ive been away for several months, cant believe how many update there've been!

a few questions please, that arent really related to each other sorry.

1) i forget how can i clear the most played list (and other stats that gameex keeps?).. selecting Most Played gives me an empty screen and hang. sometimes it hangs while actually doing the transition into this screen. deleting gamestats.ini does not solve.

2) when gameex crashes on start, then you press the clost/exit (i forget what it says) button, it seems to run the OnExit now. could we have a different line in the config for exiting after a failed start.. onCrashExit for example. i want to not do what i normally do on exit, instead i might want to restart the machine etc.

3) does the installer try to redownload the themes every time? it seems to (i know can uncheck the option on each update run but can you make the installer detect that the themes are already there, save you some bandwidth!)

4) when i select the Custom v2 default 1024x576 theme (that is my res), gameex crashes on start.. any ideas why this would be? other themese seem ok, im just curious

16:32.6 21/05/2006: Playing intro sound file

12:16:32.6 21/05/2006: Initializing MCE Remote

12:16:32.6 21/05/2006: Initialization OK! Starting GameEx!

12:16:32.7 21/05/2006: Testing Main Loop Once: Processing Frame

12:16:33.0 21/05/2006: ERRORS DETECTED: EXITING

12:16:33.1 21/05/2006: at Microsoft.DirectX.DirectDraw.Surface.DrawFastInternal(Int32 xcoord, Int32 ycoord, Surface sourceSurface, tagRECT* srcRectangle, DrawFastFlags flags)

12:16:33.1 21/05/2006: at Microsoft.DirectX.DirectDraw.Surface.DrawFast(Int32 xcoord, Int32 ycoord, Surface sourceSurface, DrawFastFlags flags)

12:16:33.1 21/05/2006: at GameEx.GameEx.mainform.DrawButtons()

12:16:33.1 21/05/2006: at GameEx.GameEx.mainform.DisplayFrame()

will probably have more Qs so i'll add them here as things come up if that's ok.

anyway yeah gameex coming on great, so many new features (got to find out how the karaoke works!)

thanks

[Smiff]

another Q, this is not really worse than 5.xx? not sure, but it takes so long to restore to gameex after exiting a MAME game.. about 10 to 15 seconds - feels like a very long time with a black screen

(system is not slow: Athlon 3000+, 512MB RAM, Radeon9550 Catv6.1 - just upgraded the hard drive and CPU)

edit: this is not just MAME, its slow to restore from anything.. just noticed it with MAME more because im trying different games a lot.

is there anything i/you can do to reduce this delay this please? its kinda embarrasing when other people are watching

which settings might make a difference? i have the save cpu option on 8.

[Tom Speirs]

heya ive been away for several months, cant believe how many update there've been!

a few questions please, that arent really related to each other sorry.

1) i forget how can i clear the most played list (and other stats that gameex keeps?).. selecting Most Played gives me an empty screen and hang. sometimes it hangs while actually doing the transition into this screen. deleting gamestats.ini does not solve.

2) when gameex crashes on start, then you press the clost/exit (i forget what it says) button, it seems to run the OnExit now. could we have a different line in the config for exiting after a failed start.. onCrashExit for example. i want to not do what i normally do on exit, instead i might want to restart the machine etc.

3) does the installer try to redownload the themes every time? it seems to (i know can uncheck the option on each update run but can you make the installer detect that the themes are already there, save you some bandwidth!)

4) when i select the Custom v2 default 1024x576 theme (that is my res), gameex crashes on start.. any ideas why this would be? other themese seem ok, im just curious

will probably have more Qs so i'll add them here as things come up if that's ok.

anyway yeah gameex coming on great, so many new features (got to find out how the karaoke works!)

thanks

Glad to see you back mate!

1) Theres an menu called Admin, in config when delete ALL data. otherwise Most played are stored in \DATA\gamelist.TXT

2) I'd rather fix the crash if its a bug.

3) No it doesn't

4) Might be because thats one I use to test, as thats what I run at. Ill take a look.

Not sure about the wait time on exit, not sure what's changed. Nothing I thought. Ill look when I get a chance though.

[Smiff]

thanks yeah

another thing i should know:

how do i exclude CHD (hard disk) MAME games from the MAME list (without using verify option)

about (2), the way my scripts work is dangerous if gameex crashes because it keeps trying to restart it. theres always a danger of gameex startup failing if something goes wrong with directx, that isnt your fault.

edit: actually ive just thought of a way around it, i can look for ShowLog.exe, so its cool

and the most played list is fixed now after deleting some files in \data, not sure what fixed it, but something in the upgrade didnt like my old data..

so yeah things are working pretty well thanks, main thing is hoping for some faster re-appearing of gameex..

[Tom Speirs]

thanks yeah

another thing i should know:

how do i exclude CHD (hard disk) MAME games from the MAME list (without using verify option)

about (2), the way my scripts work is dangerous if gameex crashes because it keeps trying to restart it. theres always a danger of gameex startup failing if something goes wrong with directx, that isnt your fault.

edit: actually ive just thought of a way around it, i can look for ShowLog.exe, so its cool

and the most played list is fixed now after deleting some files in \data, not sure what fixed it, but something in the upgrade didnt like my old data..

so yeah things are working pretty well thanks, main thing is hoping for some faster re-appearing of gameex..

Do you have a radio station playing when launching games? That could be the issue, since you last upgraded, Gameex reloads the stream, as some streams got lost previously when they were just paused. I bet that's it.

What you been upto anyway, I was wondering what happened to you? I miss the "Impressed with some questions" thread! Just taking the piss and kidding!

[Smiff]

nope i have no radio setup, but i do have ambience.mp3 playing..

ah i've just been travelling and stuff, away from the htpc (and computers completely for a while, w00t) now i have to put more time into pj64 aswell, its been coming on ok without me though

[Tom Speirs]

nope i have no radio setup, but i do have ambience.mp3 playing..

ah i've just been travelling and stuff, away from the htpc (and computers completely for a while, w00t) now i have to put more time into pj64 aswell, its been coming on ok without me though

Well good to have you back. Ill take a look whe I get a chance. How do you exit MAME?

[Smiff]

its not just MAME (sorry i mislead). restoring to gameex is *always* slow for me (i count to about 10 usually, can time accurately if that helps?)

i tried turning the save cpu option down to 0 to see if that would help - doesn't.

gotta go to bed though eh, l8rz

edit: but i should say, i terminate all apps by just having Escape key Exit the app, and waiting for GameEx to notice. (a natural exit, i dont use remapping or force closing or anything fancy). gameex does reliably restore, it just seems to take that extra time. the machine is not busy either - no background tasks taking cpu. i wonder what its doing!

[Smiff]

hey the return to gameex time seems to be about half what it was. did you do something 6.14-6.16?

remember that handy util setvol.exe that you made before? well im still using it, i wonder can you possibly add mute/unmute to its functions?

one more q sorry this is probably answered, after enabling/disabling special arcade emus like Zinc, does the game list have to be updated for the change in emu to take effect?

edit: answered myself: Yes! you do

many thanks again.

i have another Q only slightly related to gameex -- you know those arcade games with the screen above the game screen, the top one showing instructions etc.. well, itd great if you could toggle off the top screen, or put the 2 side by side, so the game is bigger on a wide tv. anyone know anyway to do this with MAME?

[Smiff]

damn, its started hanging on Most Played again. i don't want to keep resetting all my data if this happens.. any ideas please? (i have not actually tried resetting all data from Admin screen before, Most Played just started working again).

[Guest Invision]

damn, its started hanging on Most Played again. i don't want to keep resetting all my data if this happens.. any ideas please? (i have not actually tried resetting all data from Admin screen before, Most Played just started working again).

Yeah, theres a bug there. I've fixed it my end. Will be in the next release. Just be a little patient.

[Tom Speirs]

Yeah, theres a bug there. I've fixed it my end. Will be in the next release. Just be a little patient.

[it was me]

[night]

hehe Are you working Undercover Tom ?? or did the message board steal your Nick and you took thiers

anyway nice to you see you back Smiff hope Pj64 are going fine

[Smiff]

hey, having that fixed anytime in the next 6 months is fine by me

what was stressing me out was this is the type of thing that might be very difficult to track down.

[Vynce]

Here's a little command line utility that lets you control the sound card mixer. Adjust volume, and mute/unmute any of the sound card inputs/outputs that appear in the windows sound mixer.

http://glorysoft.omsk.ru/files/volumeline.zip

[Smiff]

thanks Vynce i'll give that a go.

this is really dorky but its driving me nuts.

i can't find the text string for "Playstation" in the start page menu anywhere.. ive changed every instance of the word "playstation" to "system 11/12 arcade games" (in gameex.ini and my language.ini) and still it refuses to change in gameex. argggghh!

[Tom Speirs]

thanks Vynce i'll give that a go.

this is really dorky but its driving me nuts.

i can't find the text string for "Playstation" in the start page menu anywhere.. ive changed every instance of the word "playstation" to "system 11/12 arcade games" (in gameex.ini and my language.ini) and still it refuses to change in gameex. argggghh!

Its:

[TEXT]

PlaystationSart=

Playstationlist=

Its in GameEx.ini but seems it missing from the langauge files. Fixed now though. I appreciate having you back Smiff. You do help me make a better product.

Thanks.

EDIT: Actually it in the launguage files, I had a typo on my search. Should be working. Maybe your going barmey!?

I checked the code too looked fine. Can't see any typos reading the inis or anything.

Tom

[Smiff]

you don't have to update your game list for that to take effect do you?

trying again now

ah: at some point you changed from:

"System"

seperating out to

"SystemStart" and

"SystemList"

and i'm still using an old custom language file, so i had the old entries. sorted cheers

[Tom Speirs]

you don't have to update your game list for that to take effect do you?

trying again now

No.

[Smiff]

just realised you implemented the thing i weally weall wanted : allow control by any gamepad! yay.

but my Q is: is there any way to customise the buttons by pad name.

what i think i want is to make the A button on every pad be select and the B be back, for example.

now, button 1 on every pad is select, 2 is back etc. i can understand this because i have the directx mapping of each adapter type memorised, but no way can anyone else know without randomly stabbing buttons! so is custom mapping per controller name possible? if not i guess ill make a feature request please.

Q2: about the Attract/screensaver business. the way it seems to work now is:

a demo is running, only sound is ambience.mp3

i come along and insert coin, start playing game

a few seconds later, game quits (!). screen is black as game exits. loud "greeting" sound plays (!)

now im back in gameex menus and can start a game with game audio like normal

this can't be right? do i have the config wrong? surely i should be allowed to continue to play the game that was demo-ing. and gameex should mute the ambience.mp3 and start the game's audio? or if adjusting the audio is not possible, at least let me play the game

[Smiff]

"no clones unless better"?! i gots to try this!

/me skips happily away

i love these crazy new fuzzy options!

edit: the Q is: what makes "better" how do you define that please?

[Smiff]

wtf? just noticed all the games are not showing for n64, snes and nes.. gba and md still show.. what have i done now#

AHA. major nasty evil bug alert! set off the sirens! call the authorities! alert the media! phone batman etc

if Capitals=False, no games will show for that emu!

at least thats how it is for me in 6.19

damn that was 20 minutes to find, anyway hope that helps tom heh

[Smiff]

tom i have kind of a special request please

i'm trying to use Snes9xPP (desperate for a SNES emu that works properly, there are weird show-stopper bugs in everything else ive tried, zSNES and Snes9x normal etc) and have run into a major problem:

Snes9xPP doesnt seem to load its .ini if started like this:

> CD path

> .exe ROM

it has to be started like this:

> path\.exe ROM

all in one line.

(you think i'm smoking crack? link below!)

this is some weird bug with Snes9xPP i think, ive been playing with batch files, and narrowed it to this.

(or if you can think why an app would behave like this, id love to know, i dont see why theres a difference)

gameex, if you put the whole path into the commandline, truncates to just the .exe as you know.

i need to be able to put the whole path into the command, so the emu will load its config.ini. otherwise i cannot config the emu. please pretty please can you help?

if anyone wants to see this problem for themselves (or proove im going mad!) here's where i got the emu:

http://www.aep-emu.de/Emus-file-emus_detail-id-283.html

it works so well, if only i could use it with gameex, so tantalisingly close !

edit: actually thanks to Filemon i found it is loading a config, but from the system folder (C:\WINDOWS\) when started like this by gameex! maybe i can deal with this..

[Tom Speirs]

tom i have kind of a special request please

i'm trying to use Snes9xPP (desperate for a SNES emu that works properly, there are weird show-stopper bugs in everything else ive tried, zSNES and Snes9x normal etc) and have run into a major problem:

Snes9xPP doesnt seem to load its .ini if started like this:

> CD path

> .exe ROM

it has to be started like this:

> path\.exe ROM

all in one line.

(you think i'm smoking crack? link below!)

this is some weird bug with Snes9xPP i think, ive been playing with batch files, and narrowed it to this.

(or if you can think why an app would behave like this, id love to know, i dont see why theres a difference)

gameex, if you put the whole path into the commandline, truncates to just the .exe as you know.

i need to be able to put the whole path into the command, so the emu will load its config.ini. otherwise i cannot config the emu. please pretty please can you help?

if anyone wants to see this problem for themselves (or proove im going mad!) here's where i got the emu:

http://www.aep-emu.de/Emus-file-emus_detail-id-283.html

it works so well, if only i could use it with gameex, so tantalisingly close !

edit: actually it is loading a config, but from the system folder (C:\WINDOWS\) when started by gameex! maybe i can deal with this

It sound like a batch file would sort this out

Something like this in the emulator dir: snespp.bat

cd ..

snespp\snespp.exe %1

Then for the gameex emulator cmd run: snespp.bat [ROMFILE]

Create an advanced emulator config to monitor snespp.exe so the exit mappings work.

Anyway, something along those lines.

Cheers

[Smiff]

ah thanks, that might be another way.. my knowledge of batch files is really quite sh*t

thanks for your attention, i'll try that.