Greego Posted March 21, 2017 Share Posted March 21, 2017 Every thing was going well. I performed that recent update yesterday, I believe but after that, every thing was fine. I even played some games through Gameex today without issue. But now it won't even start up. Now it says: "Sorry. An error was encountered" and lists the following: 23:45:37.3 3/20/2017: Initializing Component 23:45:37.4 3/20/2017: MAME Path is: C:\Emulators\Mame32 23:45:37.4 3/20/2017: Cannot Find MAME Path: MAME Disabled 23:45:37.4 3/20/2017: Loading Controls.ini map file 23:45:37.4 3/20/2017: Applying Language/Text 23:45:37.4 3/20/2017: Text/Language: English 23:45:37.4 3/20/2017: Loading Language/Text 23:45:37.4 3/20/2017: Using Version 3 Themes Animations 23:45:37.4 3/20/2017: Retrieving resolution setting 23:45:37.4 3/20/2017: Using General Font: Trebuchet MS 23:45:37.4 3/20/2017: Using Title Font: Trebuchet MS 23:45:37.4 3/20/2017: GameEx will try to reduce CPU usage 23:45:37.5 3/20/2017: Initialising Direct3D 23:45:37.6 3/20/2017: Applying GameEx is Loading Image 23:45:37.6 3/20/2017: Setting Resolution to 1920x1080 32 bit color 23:45:37.6 3/20/2017: Creating Surfaces 23:45:37.7 3/20/2017: Creating Primary Surface - Full Screen Mode 23:45:37.7 3/20/2017: Creating Back Buffer 23:45:37.7 3/20/2017: Loading graphic Surfaces 23:45:37.7 3/20/2017: Display is running at: 1920x1080 32bit color, 60hz 23:45:37.7 3/20/2017: Adapter: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 23:45:37.7 3/20/2017: Max texture size: 16384x16384 23:45:37.7 3/20/2017: Available texture memory: -24MB 23:45:37.7 3/20/2017: Initialising Bass Audio Library 23:45:37.7 3/20/2017: Creating Surfaces Misc and Dialogs 23:45:37.8 3/20/2017: Creating Surfaces Volume 23:45:37.8 3/20/2017: Creating Surfaces Arrows 23:45:37.8 3/20/2017: Creating Surfaces GameEXlogo Text 23:45:37.8 3/20/2017: Creating Surfaces Toolbar 23:45:37.8 3/20/2017: Creating Surfaces Toolbar Controls 23:45:37.8 3/20/2017: Creating Surfaces Backgrounds 23:45:37.8 3/20/2017: Creating Surfaces GameEx Logo 23:45:37.9 3/20/2017: Creating Surface Unselected 23:45:37.9 3/20/2017: Creating Surfaces Snaps 23:45:37.9 3/20/2017: Creating Surfaces Menu and List Bars 23:45:38.0 3/20/2017: Creating Fonts 23:45:38.0 3/20/2017: Creating Game Font 23:45:38.0 3/20/2017: Creating Game Font Faded 23:45:38.0 3/20/2017: Creating Title Font 23:45:38.2 3/20/2017: Creating Font Black 23:45:38.2 3/20/2017: Creating Font Black Small 23:45:38.2 3/20/2017: Fonts Created Succesfully 23:45:38.4 3/20/2017: Initial Emulator Load 23:45:38.4 3/20/2017: Loading Custom Emulators 23:45:38.4 3/20/2017: --**-- 23:45:38.4 3/20/2017: Error: Illegal characters in path. 23:45:38.4 3/20/2017: at System.IO.Path.CheckInvalidPathChars(String path) 23:45:38.4 3/20/2017: at System.IO.Path.GetFileName(String path) 23:45:38.4 3/20/2017: at System.IO.Path.GetFileNameWithoutExtension(String path) 23:45:38.4 3/20/2017: at GameEx.GameEx.MainForm.d1() 23:45:38.4 3/20/2017: at GameEx.GameEx.MainForm.a(Boolean A_0, String A_1, Boolean A_2) 23:45:38.4 3/20/2017: at GameEx.GameEx.MainForm..ctor() 23:45:38.4 3/20/2017: Closing database connection 23:45:38.4 3/20/2017: Disposing Plugins 23:45:38.4 3/20/2017: GameEx is exiting with errors 23:45:38.4 3/20/2017: Deleting search cache 23:45:38.7 3/20/2017: ERRORS DETECTED: EXITING 23:45:38.8 3/20/2017: Bye Can someone get me back up and running? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedDog Posted March 21, 2017 Share Posted March 21, 2017 Hey Greego, The log says that there is an illegal character in one of the paths. Would you check all of your paths via the Setup Wizard in case some unexpected character got there? If you cannot find anything, please post your GameEx.ini file as an attachment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greego Posted March 21, 2017 Author Share Posted March 21, 2017 Hey RedDog, I noticed that "illegal character" statement but when I went to check my Setup Wizard for any funny characters, the strange thing about it was that all my emulators were wiped out. i had to go select and setup each off my emulators all over again. I am not sure what happened.I was opening up Gameex just fine and checking out some Visual Pinball Roms through Gameex and walked away a bit to do somethin else but when I returned to open up Gameex, I started getting the message and my emulators were no longer showing up in Gameex. I never actually seen an ini file in my Gameex file. I have read about them a lot here on the site and have seen them requested a lot but I don't think I have actually seen one on my setup before. I am sure I will be informed now that there has to be an ini file somewhere but I just don't think I have come across. Where else should I look for it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedDog Posted March 21, 2017 Share Posted March 21, 2017 The GameEx.ini file is in the GameEx\CONFIG folder. Depending on how your Windows is set up, you may only see the filename as GameEx...it will not be anywhere else. Since your emulator config vanished for some unknown reason, look for a file in the CONFIG directory called GameEx.UpgradeBackup.ini (or GameEx.UpgradeBackup). It is a backup that is made during the upgrade process. If you have not gone back and reconfigured all your emulators, you could back up your current GameEx.ini (just to be safe), make a copy of the GameEx.UpgradeBackup.ini, and rename it GameEx.ini. This essentially reverts your config back to what it was when the upgrade happened. It also may fix your original issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greego Posted March 21, 2017 Author Share Posted March 21, 2017 5 hours ago, RedDog said: The GameEx.ini file is in the GameEx\CONFIG folder. Depending on how your Windows is set up, you may only see the filename as GameEx...it will not be anywhere else. Since your emulator config vanished for some unknown reason, look for a file in the CONFIG directory called GameEx.UpgradeBackup.ini (or GameEx.UpgradeBackup). It is a backup that is made during the upgrade process. If you have not gone back and reconfigured all your emulators, you could back up your current GameEx.ini (just to be safe), make a copy of the GameEx.UpgradeBackup.ini, and rename it GameEx.ini. This essentially reverts your config back to what it was when the upgrade happened. It also may fix your original issue. I found the GameEx.UpgradeBackup in the Config folder as you stated. I made a copy of it and renamed it GameEx.ini but I got the same error message. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling Gameex last night but that didn't help either. Any other ideas would be tremendously appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greego Posted March 21, 2017 Author Share Posted March 21, 2017 Sorry, I forgot to attach the ini file. I will also paste it... [gameexonline] streamquality=0 Privacy=0 EnableBackground=True [general] Xresolution=800 Yresolution=600 DisplayOnSecondary=False MAMEPath=C:\Emulators\Mame32 MAMEEXE=Mame32.exe ROMPath=C:\Emulators\Mame32\roms StartWait=False USeAdvanceMame=False AdvanceMAMEEXE=advmame.exe AdvanceMAMEPATH=C:\Emulators\AdvanceMAME ADVANCEMAMEOptions=-device_video_output fullscreen -quiet -dir_rom "C:\Emulators\Mame32\roms" UseZinc=False ZincEXE=zinc.exe ZincPATH=C:\Emulators\ZiNc ZincOptions=--renderer=.\renderer.znc Font=Trebuchet MS TitleText=MAME Games OnlyWorking=True AllowImperfect=True VerifyRoms=True OnlyRoms=False NoGameInfo=False GameFilter=Japan;Korea;Asia;Hispanic;Bootleg;French;German;Hack;Prototype;Hardware;Spanish;(Easy;(harder GameFilterOn=True NoAdult=True NoClones=False MameOptions=-nowindow -joy -skip_gameinfo ArcadeMode=False UseLargeFonts=True SnapPath=C:\Emulators\Mame32\snap AVISnapPath=C:\Emulators\Mame32\avisnap AVIFrameSkip=0 flyerpath=C:\Emulators\Mame32\flyers cabinetpath=C:\Emulators\Mame32\cabinets CatverLocation=\DATA\catver.ini nplayerslocation=\DATA\nplayers.ini HistoryLocation=\DATA\history.dat InfoLocation=\DATA\mameinfo.dat CommandLocation=\DATA\command.dat ShowGameInfoPage=True EnableStartPage=True GameEx.ini Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greego Posted March 21, 2017 Author Share Posted March 21, 2017 Can someone take a peek at my ini file and give me some suggestions? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedDog Posted March 22, 2017 Share Posted March 22, 2017 I checked over your GameEx.ini in the Setup Wizard on my rig and could not find any path problems. I also ran it with GameEd and it loaded without an error. I am running Windows 7. From this other thread, I am guessing that you are running Windows 10, correct? Regardless, I do not believe the GameEx.ini is any different for Windows 7 or Windows 10, so I do think it is less likely to be the config now. I cannot say if the Setup Wizard issue reported in that other thread has some relationship to your problem. My gut says it isn't, but you never know. Since you reinstalled GameEx, that also rules a few things out. The only things left that I can think of are: The Cache Files: In the GameEx\DATA directory, there are files that GameEx generates for each of the emulators. I do not recall if the uninstall process removes these files. You might try another uninstall, but before you reinstall take a look at the GameEx folder to see what was left over. If the GameEx\DATA folder is still there, then I suggest changing the name of the GameEx directory so that when you reinstall, you know it is clean. After the install is done, run GameEx with the default settings and see if it opens cleanly. If it crashes with the same error, then you know it is a GameEx/Windows issue. If it works, you can copy over the GameEx.ini, CustomMenu.ini (if you use custom menus), and CustomInput.ini (if you use a file for Custom Controls in the Input section) from the renamed GameEx directory, run the Setup Wizard to check it over, and then run GameEx to see what happens. Some Issue Between Windows & GameEx: The only suggestion I can make is to fully update Windows and try again. Beyond that, you could wait to see what happens with the issue in this thread or wait for someone like Adultry or Tom may to lend some advice. Of course, if you have any other observations or thoughts, please post them here in case it leads to some other ideas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greego Posted March 22, 2017 Author Share Posted March 22, 2017 Hey RedDog, I uninstalled and deleted everything in the Gameex 14.75 folder and reinstalled 14.70. Gameex now launches and I can initially launch a game but now I get plugins errors and Direct3D errors with failed to initialize my HAL device and I am instructed to make sure I have a properly configured 3D graphics card compatible with Direct3D 6.0. Although I used to not receive these errors, at least I am in now. I am sure I can eventually fix the errors after some searching around. I updated my Windows 10. Didn't feel comfortable with it but I do know one thing, once I get this baby back up and running, Windows is going into airplane mode forever and nothing will be updated again. Many thanks, bro. I greatly appreciate your time and effort into this. Addendum: I just ran my Gameex Arcade edition for my mame setup and it also had some video issues. The preview movies would not show and the colors and fonts on the main page was way off. I checked my plugin folders for both the Standard and Arcade version and they both are empty. What should be in those folders? I believe this may be the key to the video issues but I am not sure how those folders both became empty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greego Posted March 22, 2017 Author Share Posted March 22, 2017 I found out what goes in those plugin folders. You can download them from the setup wizard. I tried a couple of them and my cabinet started talking to me and taunting me. After I was told to "come and get some." I started imagining me taking nap in my mancave and waking up with my arcade cabinet standing over me with a butcher knife so I uninstalled the plugins. I guess watching Terminator Genysis yesterday may have had something to do with it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Draco1962 Posted March 22, 2017 Share Posted March 22, 2017 You may want to download and install the KB4015438 Cumulative update for Windows 10 to see if it remedies the Setup Wizard issue as well as the startup issue for regular GameEx. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greego Posted March 22, 2017 Author Share Posted March 22, 2017 1 hour ago, Draco1962 said: You may want to download and install the KB4015438 Cumulative update for Windows 10 to see if it remedies the Setup Wizard issue as well as the startup issue for regular GameEx. Hi Draco, You can mark this one as "resolved." I did a complete Windows 10 uninstall on machine today then re-installed it. When I re-installed it, I left Windows Update disabled completely. I don't want it to screw up anything in the future. Afterward, I re-installed Gameex Arcade Edition and then Gameex standard editions (14.71?) and 14.70 respectively. I avoided any updated software although Gameex tried to sneak in one occasionally while I was setting stuff up (I may have hit a key or two by error). I finally got everything running back beautifully with no error messages. So there was one final thing to do...disable the internet from my machine. I do not want my gaming rig speaking to the outside world ever again. It will be self-contained from here on out. I was really tempted to get a couple of visual pinball tables back running on it but it not worth the risk at this point. I am a bit disappointed because wanting a pinball machine in my man-cave is what started all of this and now, after all of the energy I put into this setup, I don't even want to risk trying to put even one pinball table back on the rig, BTW, I did the Cumalative Update prior to re-installing Windows and it did not fix my issue. My fingers were crossed because I didn't want to spend my day getting the rig back up and running but it is what it is at this point. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedDog Posted March 23, 2017 Share Posted March 23, 2017 Sorry you had to go to such lengths, but at least you got things to where you are happy. That is the #1 important thing. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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