I've been putting off posting this appeal for help for some time, because I'm sure I'm doing something stupid, but no amount of searching seems to find any details on this problem.
I'm sorting out the PC software side of things in advance of building my first cabinet (
http://SadGamerGeek.com). I'm using Windows XP (pro) and want to run the fantastic MameWah as the shell. I've followed the instructions regularly posted here, but can't get it to work. After I've made the registry change & restarted, the screen just goes black and seems to freeze at this point. It will allow me to use Ctrl-Alt-Delete to start Explorer to get out of the situation though.
When I then look at the MameWah log file, it shows that MameWah certainly tried to start, but seemed to have a problem with my display settings. This is what it shows:
09/02/2005 18:22:57 MAMEWAH launched
09/02/2005 18:22:57 Cursor scheme: Windows default, Arrow: (None), Wait: (None), AppStarting: (None)
09/02/2005 18:22:57 Desktop colour: 10841658
09/02/2005 18:22:57 Wallpaper filename:
09/02/2005 18:22:57 Display mode: 1280x1024 @ 75Hz, 32 bit colour
09/02/2005 18:22:57 Decimal symbol: '.'
09/02/2005 18:22:57 Games list read: mame-1.lst
09/02/2005 18:22:57 Mode 640 x 480 @ 60, 16bit colour not available
09/02/2005 18:22:57 Mode 1280 x 1024 @ 75, 32bit colour not available
The last line was repeated many times (maybe 100 or so)
When I start Mamewah within windows normally, the good log looks like this:
09/02/2005 18:47:45 MAMEWAH launched
09/02/2005 18:47:45 Cursor scheme: Windows default, Arrow: (None), Wait: (None), AppStarting: (None)
09/02/2005 18:47:45 Desktop colour: 10841658
09/02/2005 18:47:45 Wallpaper filename:
09/02/2005 18:47:45 Display mode: 1280x1024 @ 75Hz, 32 bit colour
09/02/2005 18:47:45 Decimal symbol: '.'
09/02/2005 18:47:45 Games list read: mame-1.lst
09/02/2005 18:47:45 Layout selected: C:\Arcade\programs\MAMEwah\layouts\Classic 640x480\layout.lay
09/02/2005 18:47:46 Ctrlr file selected: C:\Arcade\programs\MAMEwah\ctrlr\default.ini
09/02/2005 18:47:50 MAMEWAH quit(The immediate quit was because I was straight in and out - not a problem).
As you can see, it will start OK at 1280x1024x32 @75Hz when not run as the shell.
Have I missed a vital step?
Thanks in advance for any help.
Richard.