MAMEWAH Bug list.. POST HERE.

[jkam]

I am not home right now to try this out but looking at my mamewah and mame directory at work...I don't have a mame.ini file. Also it works ok here and everything is setup the same. Could it be machine specific? Can I create the mame.ini file manually?

[Minwah]

I am not home right now to try this out but looking at my mamewah and mame directory at work...I don't have a mame.ini file. Also it works ok here and everything is setup the same. Could it be machine specific? Can I create the mame.ini file manually?

It could work differently on each machine if you are using a (slightly) different layout - are you using exactly the same one?

Try making a mame ini (this assumes your mame is called mame.exe):

Goto a command prompt (Start > Accessories > MS-DOS Prompt/Command Prompt),
Navigate to your mame folder (eg 'C:', 'CD\MAME'),
Type 'mame -cc',
(You should now have mame.ini within your mame folder)
Edit mame.ini and adjust accordlingly, saving changes.

[Murph]

Woo Hoo!  My Mame Cab is almost done!! (Ok, you guys realize a cab is NEVER done!  There's always something more to be done-- I'm onto console emus next!  Hehe)  I got my setup going as a P4-2ghz, ECS MB, 60 gig HD, XP Pro 512 meg of ram, ArcadeVGA.  

MameWah is running with a kickin' custom layout, no probs using the designer.  Also, the Daphne stuff started working just fine upon upgrade to XP from 98SE.  98 SE didn't like the %1 variables in my setup-- someone suggested using "%1%" as opposed to just "%1" in 98SE, but I was already in mid upgrade, so never got to test it.  Features seem to be working well too, with 2 exceptions I've noted--- both VERY minor.

1.  Exiting the screensaver/slideshow with the "next song/spacebar" button seems to freeze everything.

2.  Letting the screensaver go any length of time (20 min or so it seems), it crashes everything with a Runtime error 6 overflow.

Other than that, everything seems to be working fine.  I did notice one other thing, once I upgraded, I was getting errors on certain functions in mamewah under XP-- I just had to run the MWInstall prg from a seperate folder-- appears some of the runtimes or DLL's or whatever may not have installed or transfered from 98SE.  Keep in mind, I had everything running under 98SE, but some functionality wasn't working as expected so I upgraded... not a full clean install.  Example-- the jerky/slow-refresh scrolling issue on an arcade monitor with the arcadeVGA was resolved before upgrade by changing some mame.ini settings from another post on byoac forums, and it still works fine after upgrade. But LIFE IS GOOD!

Thanks for the best front end I've seen yet, Min!!!  Hope this post helps a couple others out!

Murph

[Minwah]

1.  Exiting the screensaver/slideshow with the "next song/spacebar" button seems to freeze everything.

2.  Letting the screensaver go any length of time (20 min or so it seems), it crashes everything with a Runtime error 6 overflow.

I'll check these out...

Glad you've got your setup going ok

[SirPoonga]

Note sure if this was posted already but I just installed mamewah.  Here's a screenshot.

[papaschtroumpf]

you probably forgot to unzip layout.zip. Do you have a layout directory in mamewah?

[SirPoonga]

Ahh, yes.

Ok, con number 1.  I'm going through the FEs listing what I do and don't like.

Does mamewah support multiple rom paths?

[Minwah]

Ahh, yes.

Ok, con number 1.  I'm going through the FEs listing what I do and don't like.

Does mamewah support multiple rom paths?

(Answered in other thread)

SirP: You may want to overwrite your MAMEWAH exe with the v0.962 update - that version does not require layouts.zip (until you want to try a different res/layout of course).  If you do, be warned that you will probably have to remove + recreate your \MAMEWAH\FILES\*.CFG files tho (try just MAMEWAH.CFG first).

[papaschtroumpf]

I've got a layout problem:
My "emulator 2" is  a jukebox, and I set up the CFG file where the name of the emulator is the name of the jukebox, the ROM extension is TXT and there is a single "ROM"/text file called "start the jukebox".
I then created a custom layout where the only objects are the game list (single entry) and the background picture.
Unfortunately, Mamewah seems to insist on putting the up default mamewah logo thay it uses when it can't find the artwork for that game even though none of the artworks are seected on the form.
Any ideas? (running 0.962)

[Minwah]

I've got a layout problem:
My "emulator 2" is  a jukebox, and I set up the CFG file where the name of the emulator is the name of the jukebox, the ROM extension is TXT and there is a single "ROM"/text file called "start the jukebox".
I then created a custom layout where the only objects are the game list (single entry) and the background picture.
Unfortunately, Mamewah seems to insist on putting the up default mamewah logo thay it uses when it can't find the artwork for that game even though none of the artworks are seected on the form.
Any ideas? (running 0.962)

I heard a report that hiding the games list does not work (it insists on showing the games list always).  It could be that a similar thing happens with the artwork boxes - I haven't tried showing no artwork - I will check it out...

[JoeB]

Is there an ETA for the next release of MAMEWAH?

I think the 2 bugs we got out together should go out to others.. you never know how many others run into that problem (many use the ArcadeVGA card here!)

[Minwah]

Is there an ETA for the next release of MAMEWAH?

I think the 2 bugs we got out together should go out to others.. you never know how many others run into that problem (many use the ArcadeVGA card here!)

I wasn't planning a release for a while - aside from the bug(s) we sorted I haven't done ANY coding since v0.962.  I've been building my cab at weekends/some nights, playing guitar and generally giving my brain a rest lately   ...

That said I agree the things we fixed are pretty important, but I'd like to make some more fixes too.  Maybe next week I'll try and get some more done

[papaschtroumpf]

I heard a report that hiding the games list does not work (it insists on showing the games list always).  It could be that a similar thing happens with the artwork boxes - I haven't tried showing no artwork - I will check it out...

Now that's really weird: I changed the layout to display artwork #1 and redid my artwork so that it would be a background without a title and a big "Jukebox" title that I then saved as "fake" artwork. (I posted pics of my skin in the Jukebox forum if it helps).
When I tried this new layout, the artwork didn't show! (neither my "Jukebox" title nor the default mamewah missing artwork window). Maybe it's because I just dragged an "artwork #1" box in the layout editor without worrying if it was big enough for the art to be displayed in it? (although I think it is) What happen if the art is bigger than the box, does it not display or does it shrink? (PNG file in this case)

This basically solved my problem, I just re-added the title to the background image (JPG) and it now looks the way I want it to, even though I don't understand why.

[papaschtroumpf]

Minwah, I have the following questions about layouts:

will the art get sized down/up if the element on the form are smaller/bigger than the actual art? (I believe the answer is yes, at least for PNG)

In the screen saver, can I pu multiple art elements such as snap, cabinet,marquee and flyer?

It appears that the screen saver shows an erro if it can't fin d somw of the art rather (fro example if I want to display both cab and flyer but the cab is missing)

Do you have a description of how this all works?

Thanks

[papaschtroumpf]

I tried using a gif with a transparent color for the emu?-message.gif and the transparent color doesn't appear to work. What's interesting is that I forced the transparent color to be yellow as an experiment but it still shows as black in mamewah so it does appear to be treated differently.
I have attached the GIF (message for my jukebox skin) so that you can see it really is transparent in the lower right corner. I guess I should mention that since I have only one "ROM" for my jukebox "emulator", I disabled all elements on the form except for the background. I don't know if it makes any difference.

[snowdogg187]

Searched more and found how to fix it, I just needed to redo the config files.
Minwah, this fe rules, thanks again!!

I haven't been able to update to .962. 954 works fine with my mame config setup but when I extract the 962 to overwrite in the directory mamewah won't start.

I get the error msg

Run-Time error 13
Type Mismatch

[Minwah]

Minwah, I have the following questions about layouts:

1) will the art get sized down/up if the element on the form are smaller/bigger than the actual art? (I believe the answer is yes, at least for PNG)

2) In the screen saver, can I pu multiple art elements such as snap, cabinet,marquee and flyer?

It appears that the screen saver shows an erro if it can't fin d somw of the art rather (fro example if I want to display both cab and flyer but the cab is missing)

Do you have a description of how this all works?

Thanks

1) Yes, the image will always be resized to fit the artwork image box.

2) Yes, you just need to refer the the Artwork #? Paths in MAMEWAH, and alter the layout using the designer.  I'll try and duplicate the problem you're having, it certainly shouldn't cause a problem...

[Minwah]

I tried using a gif with a transparent color for the emu?-message.gif and the transparent color doesn't appear to work. What's interesting is that I forced the transparent color to be yellow as an experiment but it still shows as black in mamewah so it does appear to be treated differently.
I have attached the GIF (message for my jukebox skin) so that you can see it really is transparent in the lower right corner. I guess I should mention that since I have only one "ROM" for my jukebox "emulator", I disabled all elements on the form except for the background. I don't know if it makes any difference.

Hmm, it should work OK - I'll check this one out too...

[Minwah]

Searched more and found how to fix it, I just needed to redo the config files.
Minwah, this fe rules, thanks again!!

I haven't been able to update to .962. 954 works fine with my mame config setup but when I extract the 962 to overwrite in the directory mamewah won't start.

I get the error msg

Run-Time error 13
Type Mismatch

The v0.954 CFG files aren't compatible with v0.962.  Either delete the contents of your \MAMEWAH\FILES folder (& re-configure), or give DBut's 'MAMEWAH Setup' program a go - it can work with CFG files of varying versions

[papaschtroumpf]

OK Minwah, I've got another one for you:

When mamewah is launched from the keywiz upload application it allows me to play one game, but when I exit the game I get a run-time 384 error and mamewah crashes.
This only seem to happens when I launch mamewah from the keywiz app (the keywiz reprograms the keyboard then launches mamewah).
Any idea of what might be causing the problem? I've contacted RandyT to let him know about it but you may have ideas of what the keywiz softwareis doing to launch mamewah that is diferrent from from double clicking on it. (I have never programmed in VB and have no idea what this error message might mean). Could this be a focus related issue? or a full screen vs not issue?

Edit: I tried both settings for the "task switching" setting in mamewah and the behavior is the same.

Edit: just to be sure I went back to the "classic 800x600" layout to make surethat the issue was not with my custom skin.

Edit: here's RandyT's response:

      The only thing I can think of is that MAMEWAH siezes control of the system
      in such a way that it doesn't allow the KeyWiz software to exit properly.
      This is just a guess, because I haven't seen the code.
      But I do believe this is a MAMEWAH problem, as I have tested a LOT of
      software without any issues, including a number of other frontends.
      Unfortunately, this one is out of my hands.
      RandyT


Edit (yet again): I guess it looks like Pungo76 has reported this problem in this thread already, I somehow missed it (I hate the search feature on this forum, I can never get it to work for me):

I'm currently having two issues when running Mamewah.  First off are all the details:

Mamewah .962 (the latest I believe)
Arcade Monitor with ArcadeVGA
Keywiz
Windows XP Pro
AMD 1300 PC

I currently have the keywiz uploader in my startup, so that upon booting the pc the software uploads to the keywiz then it runs Mamewah.  Everything seems fine, but after selecting and exiting the first game I get the following error:

Runtime Error '384'
A form can't be moved or sized while minimized or maximized.

I then can hit OK and then open back up Mamewah and everything works fine.  However, when I exit Mamewah and go back to windows, then return to Mamewah again I can no longer see my artwork (snaps and marquees).

Have any thoughts?

Thanks,

This is a bug which I think I've now fixed.  If you (or anyone else) would like a modifed version which fixes just this bug, then let me know you email address

I'll PM you my email address for the update.

[papaschtroumpf]

I tried using a gif with a transparent color for the emu?-message.gif and the transparent color doesn't appear to work. What's interesting is that I forced the transparent color to be yellow as an experiment but it still shows as black in mamewah so it does appear to be treated differently.
I have attached the GIF (message for my jukebox skin) so that you can see it really is transparent in the lower right corner. I guess I should mention that since I have only one "ROM" for my jukebox "emulator", I disabled all elements on the form except for the background. I don't know if it makes any difference.

Hmm, it should work OK - I'll check this one out too...

Does the gif display routine make any assumption of which color is transparent in the palette? A lot of GIFs use the first or last color in the palette but due the to reason I generated mine the transparent color is something like color 87 out of 127. Note that this is perfectly legal per the GIF format (as shown by the fact that the picture attached to my previous post does display as transparent).

[Minwah]

Does the gif display routine make any assumption of which color is transparent in the palette? A lot of GIFs use the first or last color in the palette but due the to reason I generated mine the transparent color is something like color 87 out of 127. Note that this is perfectly legal per the GIF format (as shown by the fact that the picture attached to my previous post does display as transparent).

I don't think it should matter - I use VB's ImageBox's built-in GIF support.  I tried your image (just on a blank VB form), and it worked fine, so I guess something else must be the problem

I'll post when I know more...

[papaschtroumpf]

Try it on top of a background JPG. I can even send the actual JPG and layout file I'm using if you think it might help.

This is what it ends up looking like for me: (this picture is a fake for illustration purpose, it's not an actual screenshot but faithfully represent what I'm seeing). I'd like to see the jukebox under the rolled up edge of the music sheet.

[Minwah]

Try it on top of a background JPG. I can even send the actual JPG and layout file I'm using if you think it might help.

This is what it ends up looking like for me: (this picture is a fake for illustration purpose, it's not an actual screenshot but faithfully represent what I'm seeing). I'd like to see the jukebox under the rolled up edge of the music sheet.

Aahhh, I see  I think it is impossible to do what you want (atm) .  The black you see is the background color of the 'Message' form, so indeed the GIF probably IS being displayed complete with transparency (check the forms background color in the designer - this will confirm).

To achieve what you are trying to do, the (Message) form itself would need to be transparent.  While this is certainly possible to program (using SubClassing IIRC, something I'm not too familiar with), the way it currently is it is not possible for you to do it (using a transparent GIF anyway).

One cheap but do-able way of doing it would be to overlay your 'Loading' image over the suitable section of the main jukebox background image...

[papaschtroumpf]

I guess that's what I'll do!

[Luxury]

I dont know if this has been mentioned before or not (lousy search).  its not really a bug, just something thats a little annoying.  i have set up some custom lists, and got them to how i like them with the latest version of mamewah.  but when i refresh my gamelist, and go back to my custom list, it resets itself and i have to adjust everything again.  does refreshing the list reset the custom lists?  again...its not that big of a deal because it only takes a few minutes to do, but i just wanted to see if this common.  

btw - are there any custom layouts designed for 640x288 out there?  im curious to see how they would look on my monitor.  

[Minwah]

I dont know if this has been mentioned before or not (lousy search).  its not really a bug, just something thats a little annoying.  i have set up some custom lists, and got them to how i like them with the latest version of mamewah.  but when i refresh my gamelist, and go back to my custom list, it resets itself and i have to adjust everything again.  does refreshing the list reset the custom lists?  again...its not that big of a deal because it only takes a few minutes to do, but i just wanted to see if this common.  

btw - are there any custom layouts designed for 640x288 out there?  im curious to see how they would look on my monitor.  

Sorry, this is just the way it works atm (it kindof assumes that the filters will be different every time, so starts afresh).

Haven't seen many 640x288 layouts out there yet.  I started work on a custom 368x240 one a while ago, but probably won't finish it until I've made my cab.  Anyone else?...

[JoeB]

640x288 is not a very MAME friendly resolution...

Let me explain why.

Most games fall into 2 categories:

- less than 240 lines (neo geo and most 80-90's games!)
- more than 240 lines (most are vertical here)

The best way to get both categories to work perfectly on a horizontal monitor is to fix the monitor to 240 lines.  Any thing higher than this, gets HW stretched to 480 lines.

Mind you most monitors can't support 480 lines horizontal.. so video cards (arcadeVGA) actually shows it in interlaced.. or 640x240 twice as fast!

WOW! The same magic 240 lines..  

The biggest problem with running MAMEWAH at 288 lines is that most 240 lines or less games will need to get their vertical hold to be changed every time you start the game and then go back to MAMEWAH..

So my suggestion.. work with the magic 240 line vertical.. it's the most arcade friendly!

[Luxury]

right...but with the arcadevga, the lowest setting it can handle windows is 640x288 - or the highest setting there is for non-interlacing (so i believe).  368x240 would probably look better though because everything in 640x288 seems so stretched out to me.  

[JoeB]

You are correct about the windows resolution,

but MAMEWAH is not windows!  It's an application (just like MAMEWAH) and being an application it can switch to any support resolution on the video card!

So you can run MAMEWAH and 368x240 or any arcadeVGA resolution!!

[rosico]

Hello there,

I recently installed the latest mamewah on my cab (arcade monitor, Win 98 SE, PIII 400, 128 ram) and got a completely white screen as a result.    

Erased everything and did a complete reinstall and still have the same results ... the ghostly white screen ...

I was looking through the pages hoping to see if anyone else has had this to no avail ...

not sure if this is a bug vs. my inability to get mamewah working (more the latter I assume since I had this great FE working before).  

Any advice?  Please?  Thanks for the assistance.

[Minwah]

Hello there,

I recently installed the latest mamewah on my cab (arcade monitor, Win 98 SE, PIII 400, 128 ram) and got a completely white screen as a result.    

Erased everything and did a complete reinstall and still have the same results ... the ghostly white screen ...

I was looking through the pages hoping to see if anyone else has had this to no avail ...

not sure if this is a bug vs. my inability to get mamewah working (more the latter I assume since I had this great FE working before).  

Any advice?  Please?  Thanks for the assistance.

Haven't heard of that problem before...do you use an ArcadeVGA?  If so, try plugging a PC monitor in to see what happens with that...

[meta87]

after i install mamewah and try to open the program it gives me a runtime error and says: path not found.

I've used the older versions with great results but i cant figure out what the error means or how to fix it.

Thanks!

[Minwah]

after i install mamewah and try to open the program it gives me a runtime error and says: path not found.

I've used the older versions with great results but i cant figure out what the error means or how to fix it.

Thanks!

If you installed it to the same folder as a previous version (I expect so), then delete the contents of the \mamewah\files folder - anything previous to v0.962 are not compatible with the latest version  

[meta87]

Thanks for the help

but  it is a completely fresh install. Any other ideas?

Thanks!

[Minwah]

Thanks for the help

but  it is a completely fresh install. Any other ideas?

Thanks!

I've been thinking but I'm not sure what 'path' is giving the problem  

I know you said 'fresh install', but have you ever had MW installed in the folder previously?  What I am getting at is that uninstalling a previous installation will not remove the config files etc...all I can think of atm...

[meta87]

hummm. no it is a completely blank new folder on a computer that hasn't ever had mamewah installed on it. I'll try to do it again on different computer. Thanks for the help.

[Minwah]

hummm. no it is a completely blank new folder on a computer that hasn't ever had mamewah installed on it. I'll try to do it again on different computer. Thanks for the help.

Sorry, I just can't think of what could be wrong  

Perhaps try uninstalling and installing to a different folder - try one with a 'short' name like c:\mamewah.  It shouldn't make any difference but worth a shot

[Nightmare03]

I dunno if someone has already posted this but theres too much to read through.. here it is

I made a new game list, when i go to add a game to it i get subscript error or somethin along them lines and then mamewah closes and leaves my desktop at 640 X 480

Any ideas on how to stop this? Its annoying cuz i want another game list for my favorite games.

-Nightmare

[Minwah]

I dunno if someone has already posted this but theres too much to read through.. here it is

I made a new game list, when i go to add a game to it i get subscript error or somethin along them lines and then mamewah closes and leaves my desktop at 640 X 480

Any ideas on how to stop this? Its annoying cuz i want another game list for my favorite games.

-Nightmare

Haven't had this one reported before...

Could you be quite specific in what you do & what happens because I can't seem to reproduce the error - it seems to work OK for me whether adding to an empty list or a populated one...