surface tension Posted December 22, 2016 Share Posted December 22, 2016 Hi. I'm looking for some help to get Headkaze's Ultrastik plugin working on GameEx. I've read through a lot of threads here and on other forums and tried everything I've found which may be causing an issue. I'm pretty sure I had this set up a few years ago on a system with the same configuration, but there must be something subtly different I'm doing. System: Windows 10 Home premium 64-bit Account with user privileges MAME 0.124 2 Ultrastiks set to output mode into a minipac Latest version of GameEx The plugin is enabled in the manager and in GameEx.log: - Loaded plugin Ultrastik 1.23 - Pluginultrastik initialized OK - Nothing else appears during ROM load GameEx.ini shows the plugin is set to enabled Gameslist.xml is present Debug is enabled in pluginultrastik.ini - Pluginultrastik.log isn't created, but an empty file named pluginultrastik without an extension is created. Any help is appreciated as I've hit a brick wall! Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Speirs Posted December 22, 2016 Share Posted December 22, 2016 Hey, Could you post your gameex log and ini please. I am not able to test the plugin myself but I've not heard of any issues. Cheers. Tom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surface tension Posted December 22, 2016 Author Share Posted December 22, 2016 Hi Tom Thanks, files attached. log.txt gameex.ini Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Speirs Posted December 23, 2016 Share Posted December 23, 2016 All I can really suggest right now is updating your version of MAME. I'm not sure if something got broken in an update with support for that version over time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surface tension Posted December 24, 2016 Author Share Posted December 24, 2016 OK thanks Tom. I'll look into it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surface tension Posted December 30, 2016 Author Share Posted December 30, 2016 Before updating my version of MAME I have been in touch with Andy @ Ultimarc regarding this. I sent him a copy of the dll from the plugin zip and he told me this is out of date and pointed me to the sdk zip which contains 32 and 64 bit versions of the plugin. I tried the 64 dll first as I'm in W10-64 but this threw up errors in the log. I then tried the 32 dll which didn't display any errors, but it didn't show any sign it was loading maps either. QBert felt like it was working in diagonals, but it's not a game I ever play so I couldn't be sure. Should there be something in the log.txt to show when the plugin is loading maps? Or is this in the pluginultrastik log? The latter is still being generated as an empty file. Working or not, should this have something in it? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
headkaze Posted January 5, 2017 Share Posted January 5, 2017 Yeah I'm the author of the UltraStik plugin and offical dll's. I did update the plugin a while back but have yet to post it. Please try this one... PlugInUltraStik.zip Let me know if it works and I'll do an official update. EDIT: Also are you using the Plugin Manager to enable the plugin? There is a bug in that too that needs fixing. You can download an updated version from... PluginManager.zip Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surface tension Posted January 5, 2017 Author Share Posted January 5, 2017 Great, thanks! Yes, using the plugin manager so I'll grab that too and report back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surface tension Posted January 8, 2017 Author Share Posted January 8, 2017 Hi Ben/Tom I found some time this weekend to get onto this. I'm pretty confident the maps were loaded as I used QBert, but again, there was no log created for the ultrastik plugin. It updates the pluginultrastik (no extension) file modified date, but still no contents. But there exists another problem which I was actually seeing before but didn't report at the time. But with further testing, it appears to be linked to using the plugin. So with the plugin enabled, and it is pretty consistent for each time you start GameEx then select a ROM to load, you just get a black screen. You can't Esc to exit, though most of the time you can alt-tab (to Windows), then again (back to GameEx). Worst case I hit the power button (sleep), then again and I'm back in GameEx. One other thing I've noticed with the above is when using alt-tab twice, I can then get the ROM to run. But if I alt-tab, then hit the active GameEx icon in the task bar, it takes me back to the pre ROM launch screen, but there is no text on it, just some empty menu boxes. I've attached 3 log files; 1 - Plugin disabled with the ROM loading as expected. 2 - Plugin enabled with the ROM not loading 3 - Plugin enabled with the ROM loading (after repeating 2 then selecting ROM again) Any help here is appreciated, thanks. log1 - plugin disabled.txt log2 - plugin enabled, no game.txt log3 - plugin enabled, game.txt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
headkaze Posted January 9, 2017 Share Posted January 9, 2017 Can you please make sure you have the latest GameEx installed. In the PlugInUltraStik.ini please remove the '#' from the start of the following line: #Debug=true # Used for debugging. Then run GameEx again and you should get some log output. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surface tension Posted January 9, 2017 Author Share Posted January 9, 2017 The install of GameEx is a couple of weeks old. I also have the # removed to enable debugging. I'm running from a user account, so could it have something to do with admin privelidges? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
headkaze Posted January 9, 2017 Share Posted January 9, 2017 Hmm.. I'm not getting log output either. This could be a GameEx issue. I've sent a message to Tom. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
headkaze Posted January 23, 2017 Share Posted January 23, 2017 After further examination (thanks Tom) it was in fact a bug in the plugin. Please download again... PlugInUltraStik.zip Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surface tension Posted January 24, 2017 Author Share Posted January 24, 2017 Thanks Ben, I'll take a look at this and report back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surface tension Posted January 25, 2017 Author Share Posted January 25, 2017 OK I've installed the updated plugin. The plugin is definitely working, though I'm still not getting a log file - just the same extension-less pluginultrastik file. I'm still having the issue with the plugin enabled where it won't load the ROM. I have a bit of a pattern - in the ten times I've just loaded GameEx, the ROM won't load first time and I get a black screen which requires alt-tab to get out of. I do this by alt-tabbing straight back to GameEx. I can then seem to load a ROM. In this instance, the plugin has reprogrammed the sticks. I know this as I've been using Q-bert to test. So I'm not sure where this leaves things. I'll attach the log.txt again for when the ROM didn't load in case there's something to be had. Thanks for your time so far. log.txt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
headkaze Posted January 26, 2017 Share Posted January 26, 2017 The debug output should be working for the plugin if you turn it on in the ini file again. Please check. PS Be aware that if you have the GameEx_Background.exe process running it will lock the plugin dll's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surface tension Posted January 26, 2017 Author Share Posted January 26, 2017 Yes, it's in debug mode. If I delete the pluginultrastik file it gets regenerated (with no content). Can you elaborate on your PS please? I have just searched and I see a thread where (back in Aug 15) Tom said it was a new feature for GameEx Online. I'll have to check in the settings if this is active. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
headkaze Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 I just checked and I'm getting the log output. Try following these instructions: 1. Download and install the latest version of GameEx 2. Reboot your PC 3. Download PlugInUltraStik.zip and extract to C:\GameEx\PLUGINS overwriting the files 4. Run Plugin Manager and make sure the UltraStik plugin is enabled 5. In the PluginManager click on Configure and then "Edit Configuration" 6. Edit the following line like so (removing the '#' character at the start of this line) then Save Debug=true # Used for debugging. 7. Run GameEx and launch a game, then exit GameEx 8. Open PlugInUltraStik.log located in C:\GameEx\PLUGINS Let me know if it's still empty. I also recommend you make sure your UltraStik's have the latest firmware (v2.5) (For instructions go here) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surface tension Posted January 30, 2017 Author Share Posted January 30, 2017 OK I have done all of the above and nothing has changed. I'm running the latest firmware on the sticks as I flashed them just before Christmas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
headkaze Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 Can you zip up your PLUGINS and CONFIG folders and post them here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surface tension Posted January 31, 2017 Author Share Posted January 31, 2017 Here you go. Thanks. CONFIG.zip PLUGINS.zip Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
headkaze Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 Thanks for your patience Surface. I tried your PLUGINS folder and I didn't get any log. I tried downloading the plugin and that didn't work either. It appears I must have screwed up the upload so I have uploaded the latest version again. Sorry about that. Please try the download again and fingers crossed it works this time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surface tension Posted February 1, 2017 Author Share Posted February 1, 2017 Hi Ben I hate to say it, but I'm getting the same thing - an empty file. To confirm, the date for the dll is 23/1/17. Is that correct? I don't know if they are linked, but there are 2 things going on here - The U360 logging and the blank screen. Another observation I can offer up is when exiting GameEx, most of the time I can't use the mouse buttons for a good 30 seconds, which actually looks like there's an invisible window layer on top of what is visible. If you click on whatever window is up it loses focus, but you can interact with the task bar. Saying that, they must be linked somehow as this doesn't happen when the plugin is disabled. Thanks Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
headkaze Posted February 2, 2017 Share Posted February 2, 2017 I just compiled and uploaded it again so the date for PlugInUltraStik.dll should be 2-2-2017. I also updated PacDrive32.dll. So grab the latest. Can you try unplugging your U360's and see if you get the debug output. The reason I asked you to reboot in the earlier post is because when you exit GameEx and have the GameEx Online "Run in background" setting enabled it will lock the PlugInUltraStik.dll file so you will not be able to overwrite it. So can you also turn off this setting in GameEx and make sure "GameEx Background.exe" isn't running in the background using Task Manager. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surface tension Posted February 3, 2017 Author Share Posted February 3, 2017 I've grabbed the latest zip and that's now on my system with pacdrive dll,(though the date for this is 1/3/16). I have unplugged the U360s and this did not cuase the log file to be written - only the empty one as before. However, there is no black screen when loading a ROM. I thought I had stopped GameEx "Run In Background" but after running the wizard, it appeared not! So I have stopped this before performing the above and no difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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