MAMEWAH Bug list.. POST HERE.

[papaschtroumpf]

while we're on the feature request, it would be nice if the layout editor would open the window in the exact size of the layout, I edit my 800x600 layouts on my other desktop which is 1600x1200 and I never know where the 800x600 really ends

[Minwah]

A couple of bugs that I have run into with version 0.963

Here goes:

- I have run into the focus problem that a few above have described.  On occasion when I start Mamewah, the windows taskbar stays visible.  Note that the first time Mamewah starts after booting up a PC never has this problem for me.   This only seems to happen after I have quit Mamewah to windows, then start it up again.

I'm not sure about this one - I can't replicate the problem .  Perhaps try setting a different resolution or colour depth to your desktop.

- A related problem is multitasking with Mamewah.  If I switch to the desktop while Mamewah is running, sometimes Mamewah has trouble regaining focus.  The only way I can get it back is to open the task manager and manually switch to the Mamewah task.  Then sometimes (read once or twice) after I exit from a mame game, only half of Mamewah appears.

This doesn't surprise me - I realise it's not easy to Alt+Tab back to MAMEWAH, I suppose I would just recommend don't do it!

- If I set up a custum list to generate from filters, that works great.  But, then I cannot use the Next List key to cycle through my other custom lists, unless the other lists were also set up to generate from filters.  The Main list, and both the Longest Played and Most Freq Played lists are unavailable, unless I navigate to them through the menus.

From memory the way it works is when you generate a custom list, it automatically switches 'on' that list in the 'Select Custom Lists to Cycle' menu.  Use this menu to select which lists you wish to be able to cycle to using the 'next list' key.

- I was playing around with veritcal layouts.  Rotating the screen resolution with the Geforce drivers and then creating a layout that matched (600x800), which worked fine.  The only problem I had was with the image aspect ratio of the snapshots.  I attached 2 picts (at least I will try, first time attaching a pict) to better illustrate what I mean.  One for vertical games, one for horizontal

Yep one other user pointed this out to me - I have now fixed the problem.  My aspect-ratio-fix code didn't take into account vertical layouts  

Future feature wish list  
- a shortcut key for selecting custom game lists from a menu
- ditto, but with selecting emulators from a menu
- a key for cycling to the previous custum game list
- ditto, but with emulators
- 2 exit keys (as suggested in another post).  one for exit to windows, another for exit and shutdown.  Or perhaps just a key to exit and shutdown and leave a menu option to exit to windows?  Maybe this is posible already /em scratches head - I'll go look again
- EDIT:  add in a key that will pop up a smallish blank form(like the options menu window) that can be custumized (i.e. a help screen image background).  If you wanna go crazy, add in a number of these blank form windows that can be popped up from a key.  That way I could put in additional art images, gameinfo, history, etc that I couldn't normaly fit into the layout.
- EDIT2:  more custom games lists    (sorry, getting carried away here)

I'll add them to the list!

[Minwah]

while we're on the feature request, it would be nice if the layout editor would open the window in the exact size of the layout, I edit my 800x600 layouts on my other desktop which is 1600x1200 and I never know where the 800x600 really ends

There should be a dotted line to show the extents of the layout, is it not there?

[Calawala]

I'm not sure about this one - I can't replicate the problem .  Perhaps try setting a different resolution or colour depth to your desktop.

I will try this out sometime.  To clarify it a bit more: it only seems to happen if I quit to desktop, start up another app (like IE), and then start up Mamewah again.   May I ask what settings you are running at?

This doesn't surprise me - I realise it's not easy to Alt+Tab back to MAMEWAH, I suppose I would just recommend don't do it!

ok  

From memory the way it works is when you generate a custom list, it automatically switches 'on' that list in the 'Select Custom Lists to Cycle' menu.  Use this menu to select which lists you wish to be able to cycle to using the 'next list' key.

err... doh.  Guess my eyes sorta glossed over that menu option.  Thanks for pointing it out.  What threw me off though, was that by default all custom menus were set to 'yes' to cycle.  And then after setting up one to generate from filters, it then set all to 'no' except that list.

Yep one other user pointed this out to me - I have now fixed the problem.  My aspect-ratio-fix code didn't take into account vertical layouts  

Sweet.  Look forward to the next release  

I'll add them to the list!

Thanks!  

Another question: is it possible to have Mamewah automaticaly launch a game upon startup?

Calawala

[Minwah]

I'm not sure about this one - I can't replicate the problem .  Perhaps try setting a different resolution or colour depth to your desktop.

I will try this out sometime.  To clarify it a bit more: it only seems to happen if I quit to desktop, start up another app (like IE), and then start up Mamewah again.   May I ask what settings you are running at?

I run 1280x960 desktop res, and then MAMEWAH in 640x480 or 1024x768.  I've tried just about every combination tho, and it works OK for me...also I open/close it etc. when I'm testing.  Just one of those pain in the behind things

Another question: is it possible to have Mamewah automaticaly launch a game upon startup?

Nope!

[supersinner]

New Bug? Alright I setup Mamewah and I love it...it is a great front end. The ability for different layouts is awesome. Anyway I am having a problem....when I run a mame rom file through mamewah...it changes the colors of my mame rom. They are wrong. When I run them directly through mame they work like a charm. I heard a few people say they run batch files instead of the actual roms...is this what I should do to fix the problem? Any help would be appreciated.

i too am having the same problem when i run it in my laptop its fine but its like it changes the pallette or something when the games start i checked the mameini and they are both set to 1 any other ideas???

[supersinner]

New Bug? Alright I setup Mamewah and I love it...it is a great front end. The ability for different layouts is awesome. Anyway I am having a problem....when I run a mame rom file through mamewah...it changes the colors of my mame rom. They are wrong. When I run them directly through mame they work like a charm. I heard a few people say they run batch files instead of the actual roms...is this what I should do to fix the problem? Any help would be appreciated.

i too am having the same problem when i run it in my laptop its fine but its like it changes the pallette or something when the games start i checked the mameini and they are both set to 1 any other ideas???

i corrected it by setting the display to 32 bit high color thanks anyway

[screaming]

Hello there,

  I'm having layout issues in MAMEWah. I'm sure it's something I'm doing wrong, but I've read and re-read the layouts.txt file to make sure and I can't find anything.. So here goes:

  I would like at least two images to be emulator specific. One is the logo and the other is a layout of the buttons you would use on my CP while playing a game in that emulator.

  I figured the easiest way to do this was to just make a single background image for each emulator that would change when I selected an emulator. After reading layouts.txt, it looks like MAMEWah is supposed to be able to do this.

  I started off with a single layout.lay file and a emu?-main.jpg file for each emulator. That worked great, except whenever I started MAMEWah whichever emulator it was in the background stayed as the background, even when I switched emulator lists. It just didn't change.

  So I thought I'd take a different approach and make an emu?.lay for each emulator and remove the layout.lay file. That worked again for the first emulator list that came up, but now when I change emulators I get an error: Run-time error: '360': Object already loaded.

  Are you loading all the emulator layouts when MAMEWah starts up, then trying to load them again when I switch emulators? That's what it looks like.

  As an aside, when it's in this configuration, it changes resolutions when I change emulator lists. Since all my resolutions are the same, I just get an annoying screen flicker. Is there some way you can put a check in there to see if the new resolution is different than the current resolution, and if so don't change it?

Thanks for any help you can provide.

/Steve
 
*edit*
Okay, I narrowed it down definitely to the layout file. I have two layout files, both were made from the MLD, but one gives me that error 360 and one doesn't.  Ihave all the same elements visible.. I'm not sure what the difference could be. I'll keep looking though.

I'm trying to get the catver.ini stuff to show up with the MAME roms, but I don't see the  'CatVer Filename' under 'Emulator Settings' > 'List Generation Settings' (as stated in the FAQ). Has this moved somewhere else?
*/edit*

[Minwah]

Hello there,

  I'm having layout issues in MAMEWah. I'm sure it's something I'm doing wrong, but I've read and re-read the layouts.txt file to make sure and I can't find anything.. So here goes:

  I would like at least two images to be emulator specific. One is the logo and the other is a layout of the buttons you would use on my CP while playing a game in that emulator.

  I figured the easiest way to do this was to just make a single background image for each emulator that would change when I selected an emulator. After reading layouts.txt, it looks like MAMEWah is supposed to be able to do this.

  I started off with a single layout.lay file and a emu?-main.jpg file for each emulator. That worked great, except whenever I started MAMEWah whichever emulator it was in the background stayed as the background, even when I switched emulator lists. It just didn't change.

  So I thought I'd take a different approach and make an emu?.lay for each emulator and remove the layout.lay file. That worked again for the first emulator list that came up, but now when I change emulators I get an error: Run-time error: '360': Object already loaded.

  Are you loading all the emulator layouts when MAMEWah starts up, then trying to load them again when I switch emulators? That's what it looks like.

  As an aside, when it's in this configuration, it changes resolutions when I change emulator lists. Since all my resolutions are the same, I just get an annoying screen flicker. Is there some way you can put a check in there to see if the new resolution is different than the current resolution, and if so don't change it?

Thanks for any help you can provide.

/Steve
 
*edit*
Okay, I narrowed it down definitely to the layout file. I have two layout files, both were made from the MLD, but one gives me that error 360 and one doesn't.  Ihave all the same elements visible.. I'm not sure what the difference could be. I'll keep looking though.

I'm trying to get the catver.ini stuff to show up with the MAME roms, but I don't see the  'CatVer Filename' under 'Emulator Settings' > 'List Generation Settings' (as stated in the FAQ). Has this moved somewhere else?
*/edit*

Try opening the problem layout with the MLD and re-save - might do the trick    It does load and apply the layout when you switch, not all at the beginning.  Did you email me about this?  If not someone else had the same problem the other day...

To use catver.ini, just place it in your emulators root folder.  I removed the 'CatVer Filename' as it seemed a bit pointless!

[old_computers]

Hi

I have just installed Mamewah 0963 on my W2000 system...
But just after succesfull installation, when I want to run Mamewah,
I get :

"Run-time error '13' : Type Mismatch" error....

I have tried to several install attempts, but still the same problem
Is it a real bug, or is the solution trivial ?

Thanks for your help

[screaming]

Hi

I have just installed Mamewah 0963 on my W2000 system...
But just after succesfull installation, when I want to run Mamewah,
I get :

"Run-time error '13' : Type Mismatch" error....

I have tried to several install attempts, but still the same problem
Is it a real bug, or is the solution trivial ?

Thanks for your help

I got that error when I tried to add extra lines in any of the config files that weren't supposed to be there (like the CatVer Filname= line). Did you add or remove any lines from any of the config files?

/Steve

[Minwah]

Hi

I have just installed Mamewah 0963 on my W2000 system...
But just after succesfull installation, when I want to run Mamewah,
I get :

"Run-time error '13' : Type Mismatch" error....

I have tried to several install attempts, but still the same problem
Is it a real bug, or is the solution trivial ?

Thanks for your help

Yeah screaming is right, usually it means a mistake in the config file(s).  If all else fails try deleting the contents of your \mamewah\files folder and start again.  If you manually edited CFG files before then don't do that this time - use MAMEWAH's menu's and you can't go wrong

[old_computers]

Well in fact, I didn't touch anything !

I just downloaded latest Mamewah.
Installed it through the installer,
Installed the layout folder,
double-clicked on mamewah.exe
and BANG... I get this error...

I tried to install it to different locations, different disks, and two different w2000 computers... I get the same error!

The first time you launch Mamewah, there is not even the FILES folder from what I read... I guess this is normal

I even tried Mamewah configuring tool, to see if it could magicaly correct the error, but no, same error...

So I'm here... quite motivated to use Mamewah for my brand new Mame cabinet (picture attached), but I cannot get it to run

Wouldn't it be the latest version of Mamewah which cannot run on w2000 ?
Thanks for any help

_____

Olivier Boisseau
Webmaster
www.old-computers.com

[Minwah]

Well in fact, I didn't touch anything !

I just downloaded latest Mamewah.
Installed it through the installer,
Installed the layout folder,
double-clicked on mamewah.exe
and BANG... I get this error...

I tried to install it to different locations, different disks, and two different w2000 computers... I get the same error!

The first time you launch Mamewah, there is not even the FILES folder from what I read... I guess this is normal

I even tried Mamewah configuring tool, to see if it could magicaly correct the error, but no, same error...

So I'm here... quite motivated to use Mamewah for my brand new Mame cabinet (picture attached), but I cannot get it to run

Wouldn't it be the latest version of Mamewah which cannot run on w2000 ?
Thanks for any help

_____

Olivier Boisseau
Webmaster
www.old-computers.com

My apologies, I think this could be a regional settings problem (bug).  From your name I'm guessing that you are European...MAMEWAH seems to have a problem with the decimal separator/symbol that some regional settings use, namely the symbol must be a full-stop '.' and not a comma ','.

The only way I know of around this problem atm is to change your decimal symbol in Regional Settings in Control Panel.  Hopefully I will fix that some day  

Cool website btw, my original programming computer was the Amstrad CPC6128  

[old_computers]

From your name I'm guessing that you are European...MAMEWAH seems to have a problem with the decimal separator/symbol that some regional settings use, namely the symbol must be a full-stop '.' and not a comma ','. The only way I know of around this problem atm is to change your decimal symbol in Regional Settings in Control Panel.  Hopefully I will fix that some day  

YES ! you are right !
It solved the problem!
I'm french... But I'm surprise to be the first european to report this bug...
I think it could be important to mention it on the Mamewah website, otherwise most people will not look for a solution like I did, and will try other frontends (what a shame)

Cool website btw, my original programming computer was the Amstrad CPC6128  

hey hey
Thanks for the website... I had a CPC 6128 too, though my first computer was an Oric-1
Haaaa, those days... Message to other readers : if you have not visited www.old-computers.com so far, give it a chance

My last attachment didn't seem to work, I try again (my arcade cabinet)...

Thanks a lot guys for your help

_______

Olivier Boisseau
Webmaster
www.old-computers.com

[Minwah]

YES ! you are right !
It solved the problem!
I'm french... But I'm surprise to be the first european to report this bug...
I think it could be important to mention it on the Mamewah website, otherwise most people will not look for a solution like I did, and will try other frontends (what a shame)

Glad it worked...you're not the first to hit apon it tho, I'm just a bit lazy at making docs etc.  I'm in the middle of making a brand new FAQ mind, so I will make sure I mention it.

Nice cab btw

[cheezeflap]

I found that if you asign the tab key to "next list" then it does not switch around the lists properly.   After flipping the first list, you need to het another key (any)  before you can move to the next list.   The only seems to happen with the tab key.

[Minwah]

I found that if you asign the tab key to "next list" then it does not switch around the lists properly.   After flipping the first list, you need to het another key (any)  before you can move to the next list.   The only seems to happen with the tab key.

OK I'll check it out...

[JoeB]

I found that if you asign the tab key to "next list" then it does not switch around the lists properly.   After flipping the first list, you need to het another key (any)  before you can move to the next list.   The only seems to happen with the tab key.

Just out of curiousity, are you using MAMEWAH as a front end on your regular desktop PC??  

[cheezeflap]

Just out of curiousity, are you using MAMEWAH as a front end on your regular desktop PC??  

I have a cabinet running Windows XP and a homemade CP

[JoeB]

Just out of curiousity, are you using MAMEWAH as a front end on your regular desktop PC??  

I have a cabinet running Windows XP and a homemade CP

If you have a homemade cab, why no remap the switch emulators button to something else and do the same in MAMEWAH?

[cheezeflap]

If you have a homemade cab, why no remap the switch emulators button to something else and do the same in MAMEWAH?

Yah, already done.   I was just reporting it as a bug because it took me a while to figure out that it was what was causing my wierd problem and I didnt want someone else to have to have the same problem.   Its not really a big deal for me anymore

[quarterstringer]

In the Longest Played feature, 4 of my games that were in the top 10 are now at the very bottom of the list. Any ideas about what happened?

[screaming]

In the Longest Played feature, 4 of my games that were in the top 10 are now at the very bottom of the list. Any ideas about what happened?

  Is this a test?

[quarterstringer]

Not a test. I looked at the EMU1.FAV and the 4 games that went to the bottom of the list all had negative numbers in them. I just changed the numbers to put the games near the top again.

[Minwah]

Not a test. I looked at the EMU1.FAV and the 4 games that went to the bottom of the list all had negative numbers in them. I just changed the numbers to put the games near the top again.

Not sure why that happened...I'll have to start using the longest played feature in my cab and see if I get any problems.

[MadEditor]

Just a question

Did i miss it or was "mouse/spinner support to browse games" suppose to be in the last build ?

[Minwah]

Just a question

Did i miss it or was "mouse/spinner support to browse games" suppose to be in the last build ?

Nope, the next one

[MadEditor]

Nope, the next one

  I'll wait then ...  

[Minwah]

I'll wait then ...  

Good news is that I have almost done the mouse support

Bad news is that I want to add (PC) joystick support too, and my analog joystick isn't finished yet for testing purposes (I don't have another PC stick)...

[quarterstringer]

I'll have to start using the longest played feature in my cab and see if I get any problems.

You should use it, it's a great feature . I'll be waiting for joystick support too, so I won't have to use JoytoKey anymore.

[esfb8zs]

I just started using MAMEWAH, and LOVE it.  I've been using a DOS cabinet with AdvanceMenu.  

I like that you can lock the MAMEWAH menu by holding down the player 2 key.  Is there anyway to make this the default behaviour when starting up?  I'd like for my cabinet to boot into this mode, and I could hold the player 2 button down to access the menus if I need them.  

Also, can the esc key be made to take a menu off the screen also?  Say if I press esc (menu is not locked of course), and the shutdown menu comes up.  I'd like to be able to press esc again and the menu go away without me having to make a choice on the menu, or hitting start2 to bring up the other menu, then start2 again to exit.  I hope I am explaining this so you can understand.

Again, I really like the menu system, I appreciate all the hard work!

Jay    

[Minwah]

I like that you can lock the MAMEWAH menu by holding down the player 2 key.  Is there anyway to make this the default behaviour when starting up?  I'd like for my cabinet to boot into this mode, and I could hold the player 2 button down to access the menus if I need them.  

Lock the menu, and quit MAMEWAH using the Exit button...next time you start MAMEWAH the menu will be locked

Also, can the esc key be made to take a menu off the screen also?  Say if I press esc (menu is not locked of course), and the shutdown menu comes up.  I'd like to be able to press esc again and the menu go away without me having to make a choice on the menu, or hitting start2 to bring up the other menu, then start2 again to exit.  I hope I am explaining this so you can understand.

Yeah sounds like a good idea...

[AGGIEZ]

Is there no solution for the "Run-time error '70' & '75' in Windows 98???

[AGGIEZ]

Is there no solution for the "Run-time error '70' & '75' in Windows 98???

Well, after some work, I think I have a solution for these two errors. It seems to be working form me now.

I've created two batch files, one that MINWAH recommended and one that deletes everything in the c:\Program Files\Mamewah\Files folder except for the Emulator 1 and mamewah.cfg files. I put both of these batch files into the startup folder along with MAMEWAH. Upon bootup, the two batch files run and then MAMEWAH opens. No issues so far...

If that somehow doesn't work in the near future I'm just going to have to bite it and upgrade to XP.

[JoeB]

Great job with fixing the 1.5 bugs..  here's some stuff I noticed:

- When scrolling through the games, the images do not referesh the way they did pre-1.5.  They do not refresh until you're done scrolling.  Pre-1.5 they always refreshed.  It looks wierd on my layout to have the big empty spot with no snap.

- Has anyone managed to get the "next emulator" button to work?  I set it to the letter C (button 7 for me on my JPAC) and it doesn't work.  Even with the keyboard plugged in, and pressing C doesn't do anything.
I've checked the ini file for other "c" keyword names, but it's not there!  

My feature request:

- Have the ability to modify the menus strings.  For example, I don't want to see "Exit to windows" but rather might want "Exit to OS" etc..  or what about people that don't speak English and would want to translate the menu strings?  It'd be great if MAMEWAH can read it from an ini file.
- Have the ability to change the menu font color.  Green is cool.. but blue will be cooler.  

Apart from that, great job!

[Minwah]

- When scrolling through the games, the images do not referesh the way they did pre-1.5.  They do not refresh until you're done scrolling.  Pre-1.5 they always refreshed.  It looks wierd on my layout to have the big empty spot with no snap.

Actually, for the most part it works the same - set refresh_images              1 in mamewah.ini to have the images refresh each time.  The one difference is that rather than getting the 'no snap' image while scrolling (with refresh_images 0), you now get nothing - there is a reason for this but don't ask!

- Has anyone managed to get the "next emulator" button to work?  I set it to the letter C (button 7 for me on my JPAC) and it doesn't work.  Even with the keyboard plugged in, and pressing C doesn't do anything.
I've checked the ini file for other "c" keyword names, but it's not there!  

How about this?:

LAUNCH_CONTROL_VIEWER      "DIK_C"

- Have the ability to modify the menus strings.  For example, I don't want to see "Exit to windows" but rather might want "Exit to OS" etc..  or what about people that don't speak English and would want to translate the menu strings?  It'd be great if MAMEWAH can read it from an ini file.

Someone requested this before, for the sake of different languages.  I will add it eventually (for v2), but it is far from the top of my todo list atm.

- Have the ability to change the menu font color.  Green is cool.. but blue will be cooler.  

Use the Layout Designer - I have yellow text in my menu

[JoeB]

never mind.. works!

[gap]

Possibly bugs, but more likely my own ignorance... but here goes anyway.

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.

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.

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.

If I run the command line in mamewah.log, it works fine.

rom_path                                  f:\gba\gbaroms
rom_extension                             zip

emulator_executable                       f:\gba\visualboyadvance.exe
send_rom_path                             1
send_rom_extension                        1

[ 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. ]

[SirPoonga]

Minwah, I don't know if this was discussed and I wouldn't have brought this up because I don't use mamewah enough but a chat user was having a simular problem.

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.

But I have an old mamewah too so my issues could be something that was fixed but I have been too lazy on modem to download a new mamewah.  But the symptoms are of that of this type of problem.