Mala not switching to EPSXE when launched from a .bat [Solved]

[Talphadogg]

Hello everyone, Long time lurker here, and just wanted to say thank you to all the threads that i have read through for each of my problems so far.(really its been great) But i do have an issue that i can't seem to figure out. My setup with ePSXe 1.8 has it to were i can double click a bat file that will intern mount my copy of twisted metal 3 using VCD (virtual clone drive) and then launch ePSXe using the CD-Rom option thus giving me CDDA music. I thought that mala alone could launch bat files IF the executable was left blank and the command line was simple ------->%Rom%<------ but that didn't seem to be the case.(I kept getting a "failed to execute program error code 87" error) but after just playing around with the command line i figured out that   ---------------->%Rom%.%Ext%\<--------- will launch it. (IDK why because i have no experience with any form of code writing) Now when it launches it seemed to be working fine, but whenever i press any buttons Mala acts like its the active window(i press back and mala goes up on folder level or if i press the select button it will launch the bat again causing my system to crash.... the batch file that i have is as follows

C:\Emulators\Programs\VirtualCloneDrive\vcdmount.exe -mount 0, "C:\Emulators\RomsFiles\PS1\Twisted Metal III.ccd" <------Mount the .ccd So i can have CDDA Music.

ping -n 5 127.0.0.1 >NUL <-----Acts like a pause for the batch file to give VCD time to mount the Image.

start C:\Emulators\Programs\PS1\ePSXe.exe -nogui -fastboot <---------Run EPSXE1.8 with no gui and use the CD-Rom Option instead of the ISO/EXE

ping -n 5 127.0.0.1 >NUL <----More time for computer to think.

Start C:\Emulators\HotKeys\PlaystationClosers\(2)CloseEmuPS1.ahk <-------My hotkeys for exiting ePSXe1.8 as the mala hotkeys don't work for me.(Again IDK they wont but they wont.)

My Mala command line %Rom%.%Ext% and I have no executable selected. Below are the pictures of my settings Executable/rom path and file types As well as my Command line. I am running Windows 7 Home Edition on a 64 bit. now again my problem is mala isn't acting like it should in the sense that "after it launches the .bat ePSXe should be the top window(or active window). Can Anyone help me? Like say Loadman?

help me loadman-kenobi Your my only hope!


If Need Be i think i can upload a video to youtube and link it here to show you what keeps happening, if i didn't explain it well enough.

[rpgposer]

Have you tried "START /WAIT"?

Code: [Select]

START /WAIT C:\Emulators\Programs\VirtualCloneDrive\vcdmount.exe -mount 0, "C:\Emulators\RomsFiles\PS1\Twisted Metal III.ccd"
START /WAIT C:\Emulators\Programs\PS1\ePSXe.exe -nogui -fastboot
START /WAIT C:\Emulators\HotKeys\PlaystationClosers\(2)CloseEmuPS1.ahkHave you considered converting your .ccd image to .bin/.cue?  You wouldn't have to use a virtual CD program.  One less complication.

EDIT:  Added line about .ccd to .bin/.cue conversion.

[Talphadogg]

Okay i tried the start /wait command and you were correct indeed sir. So thank you for that, i did have to play around with it for a good min tho to get it just right. Here's the new bat file.

C:\Emulators\Programs\VirtualCloneDrive\vcdmount.exe -mount 0, "C:\Emulators\RomsFiles\PS1\Twisted Metal III.ccd"<---------- Mounts the CD Image.

ping -n 5 127.0.0.1 >NUL<-------Computer think time for image to mount.

Start /Wait C:\Emulators\Programs\PS1\ePSXe.exe -nogui -fastboot<----------Starts epsxe 1.8 from CD-Rom instead of iso/exe But makes the bat file pause until you quit the Emulator(But it also makes it to where epsxe is the active window)

ping -n 5 127.0.0.1 >NUL<-------after epsxe quits gives the computer time to collect its thoughts(don't know how much this part is needed, it just works with it so i decided to keep it.)

C:\Emulators\Programs\VirtualCloneDrive\vcdmount.exe /u 0,<------- Added a new part to the code because i discovered that if you quit the image is still mounted, and if you were to reload the same image you would get no CDDA music, but now it will unmount the image after the bat un-pauses(you quit epsxe makes that happen due to the start /wait command i think) and be ready to mount again in a jiffy.

Now i did make a few mala changes as well.
For starters i made the command line just %rom% instead of the %rom%.%Ext%\ thingy i had. i also had to make the file type not a bat. It needed to be a lnk(short cut, or a link) to the bat file. So thank you rpgposer you kept me from deleteing my mala project for the 7th-9th time(i do have it backed up on two additional hard drives, it just feels good to me every now and again to say i'm done with this!) Anyway thx again dude.

 

[rpgposer]

I get the feeling that you are sorta "in the process" of getting Mala to work as your frontend for all your games?  I use Mala in my mame cabinet, which only has mame on it, so I can't really help you figure out specifically what your scripts should be.
However, I use AdvanceMenu on my HTPC with multiple consoles, and most of my games are compressed with .7z, which most frontends can't handle, so I use batch scripts to decompress the game, run it, then remove the uncompressed game after play has ended.
I got some help from Anglescry (XBMC Advanced Launcher dev), when I was using XBMC.  Our discussion is on his forums here - http://www.gwenael.org/forum/viewtopic.php?id=252.
The discussion is old, but touches upon a number of batch script basics, including passing variables, spaces in command lines and other oddities.  ePSXe has some odd behavior where it's command line for starting a disc image passes the quotes around an image name, which of course would have to be removed in order for it to run.
Anyway, I am rambling once again, but I believe the above discussion will help you understand batch scripts a little better.
BTW - I don't use AHK, so I can't really help you with that.  I can say that I haven't had a use for it yet after years of playing around with cabs and emulation.

[Talphadogg]

Okay thanks for the link man. I will be sure to look at it. You are right about trying to get mala as a front end loader for all my games and consoles, but with the PlayStation emulator working now i have completed all of them.  now i just need to get the rest of the games in which really is just grunt work. Thanks for the help