MAMEWAH Bug list.. POST HERE.

[Minwah]

1. Sometimes I lose my controls for a while (older Ipac).  Everything stops responding for maybe 30 seconds or so, then the big "mame wah" full-screen image appears, then my controls are again active.

Are you re-programming the IPAC from MW?  Someone else had a similar problem when doing this - I'm about to start looking at it.

2. Sometimes I have problems getting to the main menu.  I'll be in a games list and want to regenerate my list, but can't seem to pull up the menu.  Hitting P2 Start (mapped to "2") doesn't pull it up.  Original ctrlr/default.ini file.  Can't always reproduce.

I *think* I have encountered a similar problem, but I couldn't close the options menu.  Hopefully this will be resolved in the next release.

3. Having trouble getting VisualBoyAdvance.exe correctly configured.  I've tried various param combinations and have the same problem each time.  The exe comes up with an error message "Unsupported file type: (name of rom)."  I press "ok" to get rid of the error dialog, then select File -> Exit to close visualboyadvance.exe.  

Then visualboyadvance.exe is immediately executed again, but this time it works fine and the game starts up as expected.

<snip>
[ edited: never mind on #3.  This was fixed by setting show_dos_box to "yes".  Evidently "auto" results in a call to verify roms, which doesn't work with anything except mame. ]

Yes, never use 'auto' for anything other than MAME.

[Minwah]

His problem was vdeo was different in mame when running mame at commandline vs through mamewah.  Now I have some weird issues too.  I think they are due to the fact that you might be running mame from NOT in the mame folder.  It ther is a c:\mamewah folder.  Mamewah runs fromt hat.  Mame is in c:\mame.  In mamewah you just call a "C:\mame\mame.exe -someoption romfolder romname".  If oyu run it like that it will easily cause these issues.  As mame will look for all it's file save and setting from the folder it is being run in, in this case c:\mamewah.  Y

What should be done is temporarily remember the current directory(temp = CurrentDirectory()).  Then switch to mame directoryusing file system functions.  Run mame without the directoryinfo.  When mame quits restore old working directory.

I can assure you I do change to the emulators directory before launching.  I think the issue/problem is this: MAMEWAH runs @ 640x480 (by default).  Many people run their desktop at a different res.  When MAME is run with 'resolution auto', it will sometimes pick a different mode, depending on what mode is currently selected - ie it might pick a different mode when launched from MW (eg 640x480) than desktop (eg 1024x768).

I'm not saying 100% this is the case, but it seems to explain most if not all cases of this I have encountered.

[gap]

MW:  I am not using MW to reprogram the Ipac.

I'm not even sure this is a MW problem, btw.  Even my pass-through keyboard LEDs stop working during the lockup period.

The only thing making me wonder if MW is involved is that the keys stay locked until the screen changes to the full-screen MW logo.  What makes that come up, btw?  Screen saver?

Thanks for the reply and for the great FE.

[Minwah]

The only thing making me wonder if MW is involved is that the keys stay locked until the screen changes to the full-screen MW logo.  What makes that come up, btw?  Screen saver?

I'm not sure which screen you mean...what do you have saver_type set as in your emuname.ini file?

[gap]

I'm not sure which screen you mean...what do you have saver_type set as in your emuname.ini file?

I'll check when I get home, but I haven't changed any screen saver settings, so it should still be set as distributed.

The full-screen I'm seeing is all black with a large centered mamewah logo on two lines.  Kind of like this:
....................
....MAME........
........WAH......
....................

The weird part is that when the controls stop responding, about 30 seconds later this screen appears and the controls start working again.

Hope this helps.

[Minwah]

The full-screen I'm seeing is all black with a large centered mamewah logo on two lines.  Kind of like this:
....................
....MAME........
........WAH......
....................

The weird part is that when the controls stop responding, about 30 seconds later this screen appears and the controls start working again.

It must be the screensaver...it should be set on slide_show by default.  Adjust the 'delay' in mamewah.ini to see for sure...I'm not sure why it is showing the MW logo tho, do your snaps show up in the main screen?

Next time the controls stop working, click your mouse button.  This will return focus to MW if it has lost it (sounds like this might be the case).

[lcddream]

+edit+

moving my prob to a separate thread as it probably isnt a bug.

[headkaze]

MameWah won't allow command line parameters when dealing with .lnk shortcut files. [Adding parameters to the shortcut file by right-clicking and selecting properties, then adding the appropriate switches]

Any chance you fix it so that it will launch them using the entire command line, that way I can use some wrappers and such to launch games.

[Minwah]

MameWah won't allow command line parameters when dealing with .lnk shortcut files. [Adding parameters to the shortcut file by right-clicking and selecting properties, then adding the appropriate switches]

I forget exactly why but I decided to work around this by using the 'commandline_format' setting to supply additional switches etc.  See the thread you recently replied to for more info.

Also (TO ALL): please don't bother replying to this thread any more, it's outdated and so I never really check it.  Any bugs with the latest beta's should be reported in the relevant thread here: http://www.mameworld.info/ubbthreads/postlist.php?Cat=&Board=arcadeospc2jamma

[Mark70]

I think I read somwhere else that "remove game from list" doesn't work on the main game list but works on custom lists, and this is intentional.  It seems to me like a bug.

Additionally, for some reason I have two instances of MAME in my Select Platform List.

[Minwah]

I think I read somwhere else that "remove game from list" doesn't work on the main game list but works on custom lists, and this is intentional.  It seems to me like a bug.

No, it's intentional as the main list is used to build other lists (using filters etc.).

Additionally, for some reason I have two instances of MAME in my Select Platform List.

You probably have multiple mame ini's in the \ini folder then.

PS did you read my last reply?

[papaschtroumpf]

MameWah won't allow command line parameters when dealing with .lnk shortcut files. [Adding parameters to the shortcut file by right-clicking and selecting properties, then adding the appropriate switches]

Any chance you fix it so that it will launch them using the entire command line, that way I can use some wrappers and such to launch games.

I hadn't realized that until I started adding an AHK wrapper to a few new games I got from Reflexive Arcade. The wrapper automatically cancels out ofthe window that stays on the screen for 20s after you exit a Reflexive Arcade game.

The workaround for now is to create a batch file and use a link to the batch file in the game list. The batch file can then call the wrapper with all the options it needs. Note that in some cases the shortcut "workign directory" needs to be the one of the final game, not the one where the batch file is truly ran.


It would be nice not to have to use batch files.

[Minwah]

I hadn't realized that until I started adding an AHK wrapper to a few new games I got from Reflexive Arcade. The wrapper automatically cancels out ofthe window that stays on the screen for 20s after you exit a Reflexive Arcade game.

I've almost no idea what you're talking about! 

The workaround for now is to create a batch file and use a link to the batch file in the game list. The batch file can then call the wrapper with all the options it needs. Note that in some cases the shortcut "workign directory" needs to be the one of the final game, not the one where the batch file is truly ran.

Put the batch file in the same location as the .exe and it shouldn't matter.

It would be nice not to have to use batch files.

As I say I don't really know what you're getting at...sounds like a problem with the game you're using rather than a Mamewah issue.

[papaschtroumpf]

I don't think so.

for example I have  an AHK wrapper for several Reflexive Arcade games.
The program to execute in the windows shortcut properties looks like: (I'm making it up but it's close enough to the real thing)

"c:\ahk\autohotkey.exe" "d:\PC Games\scripts\reflexive.ahk" "d:\Program Files\Feeding Frenzy\FeedingFrenzy.exe"

Basically it calls AHK passes it a script name and the script itself gets passed the name of the game to run and monitor.

When the link (in d:\PC Games) is launched from mamewah, it seems to only see the first part of the command and doesn't start the game, in fct I can't remmeber for sure but I think it doesn't start the script either. If I put the command line in a batch and execute the link to it from mamewah, everything works fine (as long as the execution folder in the shortcut is set to d:\Program Files\Feeding Frenzy)

I'm using XP Pro if it makes a difference.




As far as putting the batch file in the same folder as the game, that works too, but I prefer to have my batch files all in the same spot, it makes backup easy (I don't backup the games themselves, I can always re-isntall if needed). I prefer to modify the shortcut, but your solution works too. Either way I wasn't complaining about that part. In fact, I'm not really complaining at all, I can live with the batch file trick.

[Minwah]

"c:\ahk\autohotkey.exe" "d:\PC Games\scripts\reflexive.ahk" "d:\Program Files\Feeding Frenzy\FeedingFrenzy.exe"

Basically it calls AHK passes it a script name and the script itself gets passed the name of the game to run and monitor.

That makes sense...when Mamewah retrieves the 'Target' using a Windows API, all that is returned is the first filename...any parameters are ignored.  So your assesment of the situation is correct...Mamewah only launches the first part of the target (it is the only info it has).

I thought of using ShellExecute which would launch the shortcut exactly like double-clicking it...but the major drawback with this method is that I cannot wait for the application to quit, which is crucial really.  If anyone can point out how to 'ShellExecute' and wait for the app to finish then I'd be more than happy to add it.

As a workaround you could use game-specific ini files in Mamewah (latest beta's only)...but you might decide your current batch file method is just as easy.

[papaschtroumpf]

I might have to check out your game specific ini feature though. Does it allow you to change some of the {dosbos} and {cursor} flags on a per game basis?

[Minwah]

I might have to check out your game specific ini feature though. Does it allow you to change some of the {dosbos} and {cursor} flags on a per game basis?

Yes

What you would do is this: in your normal pcgames.ini file use the generic 'pc app' setting as follows:

emulator_commandline pc

...this would launch pc apps as you do currently.  For special cases you could use \game\gamename.ini files to specify some alternative launching method, such as:

emulator_commandline c:\ahk\autohotkey.exe "d:\PC Games\scripts\reflexive.ahk" "d:\Program Files\Feeding Frenzy\FeedingFrenzy.exe"

This combined with the {dosbox} etc. flags you mention mean it should hopefully be able to launch just about anything.

[Boz]

Any idea why Mamewah would do this?

I run pacman and it plays just fine. If I quit the game and try to run it again, it flashes a DOS box, then goes away. I've attached the pertinent section of my log file. I am able to duplicate it regularly. If I delete the CFG file for the game in my Mame folder, I can run the game again.

(log entries put into attached text file below so the message board CSS doesn't go crazy)

[Minwah]

This looks very odd:


9/3/2006 10:32:42 PM Commandline run: CMD.EXE /c D:\mame\mame.exe PACMAN -verifyroms > D:\Mamewah\files\verify {flags=17}
9/3/2006 10:32:42 PM Commandline run: D:\mame\mame.exe PACMAN {flags=12}
9/3/2006 10:33:15 PM Commandline run: D:\mame\mame.exe MAMECFG   4

[Boz]

What version of Mame are you using?  I see you are using {autodosbox}...I suggest you try {dosbox} or {nodosbox}.

I thought it might be the very old version of mame I was running (.80) so I finally bit the bullet and got ahold of the very latest version of ROMS and Mame binaries. I haven't tested it out yet, but I will get back to you here when I do.

Incidentally, I poked around a little more and found that if I set the path of game specific CFG files in my Mamewah --> ini --> mame.ini, that's where the problem originated from. If I remove that path from the INI, game specific CFG files are fine and I can run the game multiple times without issue.

Seems to me the <mame folder>\CFG files are being referenced twice in Mamewah giving the crazy commandline launch I posted. I'm probably wrong, but it's something to think about.

I'll let you know what I find out later.

[Minwah]

Incidentally, I poked around a little more and found that if I set the path of game specific CFG files in my Mamewah --> ini --> mame.ini, that's where the problem originated from. If I remove that path from the INI, game specific CFG files are fine and I can run the game multiple times without issue.

Seems to me the <mame folder>\CFG files are being referenced twice in Mamewah giving the crazy commandline launch I posted. I'm probably wrong, but it's something to think about.

Mame's cfg files have nothing to do with Mamewah, and you have no need to point Mamewah to them - so yes this is probably why wierd things are happening.

I guess you are using Mamewah v1.61....if so, you will need to upgrade to the latest Mamewah beta for Mame v0.107+ to work - see my sig for a link.

[icecreamguys]

Not sure what is happening on my end..

MameWah runs great until I exit the program, then the next time I load it up I have no screenshots or preview videos.

When I look at my INI files, they are completely BLANK.

If I restart the computer, the files are restored but to the default settings and not mine.

What am I doing wrong?

v1.62b12, by the way

[Minwah]

Not sure what is happening on my end..

See my reply at MameWorld....

Can someone close this thread?  Seems stupid to post bugs in a 3 year old thread....especially as there is a dedicated thread at MameWorld for b12 bugs.

[Boz]

Yeah, but their forum software BLOWS!!

Does this mean you will no longer support questions and bug reports on BYOAC?

[screaming]

Hey Minwah:

 If you don't want people posting bugs in this MAMEWAH bug list thread then you should probably have Peale take it out of the sticky post at the top....

[Boz]

Hey Minwah:

 If you don't want people posting bugs in this MAMEWAH bug list thread then you should probably have Peale take it out of the sticky post at the top....

He didn't respond to my question so my guess is that he's taken the topic off notify.

[Minwah]

Yeah, but their forum software BLOWS!!

I disagree, when configured it is actually easier than here...it's just the default expanded thread mode that is terrible!

Does this mean you will no longer support questions and bug reports on BYOAC?

No, just would probably be better to start a new thread...

[Minwah]

If you don't want people posting bugs in this MAMEWAH bug list thread then you should probably have Peale take it out of the sticky post at the top....

Good point...I didn't realise it was stickied!

He didn't respond to my question so my guess is that he's taken the topic off notify.

I don't use notify for any threads, I just reply to ones I see.

[advantis]

Hopefully someone knows the answer to this one.

When I load a rom in mamewah, the I get the hour glass and it just clocks.

I need to hit CTRL ALT DEL to get to task manager and manually end task on the ROM  I was trying to play.

Once I do that, then all ROMS load up.

Thoughts?

[Minwah]

When I load a rom in mamewah, the I get the hour glass and it just clocks.

I need to hit CTRL ALT DEL to get to task manager and manually end task on the ROM  I was trying to play.

Once I do that, then all ROMS load up.

Seems strange, but try using {safelaunch} in your emulator_commandline (instead of {nosafelaunch} if that is there).

[advantis]

I will try that tonight