Groovymame 0.147 random issues on game start with Gameex frontend

[repetto74]

Hi,

I am posting here on the Groovymame forum even if I am not sure the problem is coming from Groovymame.

I am using Groovymame 0.147 with Gameex into a mamecab. This is working really good but sometimes after a game start, screen will turn to black and I can hear the game sound throttle going up very fast and then it will go back to the gameex menu.
From the time this issue pops up it will come back again for any game I want to run until I turn off the system and back on.

Anyone had the same problem???
Cheers
Rick

[Calamity]

Hi repetto74,

This problem didn't ever happen to me. I'm using AdvanceMenu in Windows. Are you using XP 64 bits? Which card? Magic resolutions?

I'd try disabling -multithreading in mame.ini, then test the system for a while to see if it's related to this.

[repetto74]

Hi Calamity

My XP is a 32bit version and using an Arcade VGA card first generation (9200 I think) without magic resolutions.
I forgot to mention that I am using the GroovyUME not the Groovymame but as far as I remember I did not have this problem before.

I'll try to disable the multithreading option and revert...
Thanks
Rick

[repetto74]

I just tried the multithreading option to off but no changes. Still having this issue. It always pops up when a second games is selected from the frontend games list 

[Calamity]

May you try a different front-end just for testing?

Is Gameex forcing GroovyMAME to exit in a dirty way?

[repetto74]

I do not have any other frontend installed, I will try it but this will be long to set up.
Groovymame exit is set by default to the ESC key. When this issue pops up during the gameplay, the screen turns to black and the game sound is throttle up very fast like an old cassette tape when rewinded...then back to the main frontend menu and freezes there (I have to hit esc again to go back to the dektop).

I really think this is a frontend issue...

[Calamity]

That problem seems to indicate GroovyMAME is loosing the exclusive access to the screen, that's why the video functions stop working (blitting, v-sync) and the game look goes full speed. This could be for several reasons. Another application may be gaining access to the screen for some reason, can you think of something? Have you always had this problem or just lately?

[repetto74]

Hi Calamity,

No, I did not have this problem before. There aren't any other particular softwares installed in the mamecab machine. The only changes I did was to perform a lot of services disabling into XP to speed up boot and shut down sequences....

[repetto74]

Hi Calamity

I am using the Gameex frontend which generate a log. Here is the last one after mame crashed...

[repetto74]

Hi Calamity

I confirm that running games from the GroovyMame GUI will work flawlessly. All games play fine. Running Mame through Gameex will still give troubles after the second or third games selected and Mame is kicked out to the Gameex menu. I noticed that the Windows desktop will behave strangely after the crash. I cannot for example slide any icon on the desktop. Re-running gameex will not reset the problem and any game selected will fail (always after more or less 20 seconds). I need to shut off and back on the system to reset and gameex will run fine just for a couple of games then back to troubles again...

I am thinking maybe to run a repair of my XP installation....
 

[Calamity]

Hi repetto74,

I've had a look at your logs, and there's definitely something odd in the exit sequence:

13:05:32.5  4/3/2013:  Setting Up RawInput Hook
13:05:32.5  4/3/2013:  Launching RawInputHook.exe
13:05:33.6  4/3/2013:  Running: cmd.exe /c C: C:\Groovyume147\mess.exe bublbob2 -rompath C:\1Roms147 -nowindow -joy -skip_gameinfo
13:05:33.7  4/3/2013:  Shutting down display
13:05:56.3  4/3/2013:  Exiting game
13:05:56.7  4/3/2013:  Shutting down RawInput Hook
13:05:56.7  4/3/2013:  Writing MAME stats
13:05:56.8  4/3/2013:  Plugin: Game Exit
13:05:56.8  4/3/2013:  Plugin: Process Commands
13:05:56.8  4/3/2013:  Restoring Window
13:05:56.9  4/3/2013:  Reinitializing Graphics System
13:05:56.9  4/3/2013:  Warning: Display is running in full screen compatibility mode.
13:05:57.4  4/3/2013:  21 Consecutive Exceptions Occured
13:05:57.4  4/3/2013:  Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
13:05:57.5  4/3/2013:     at Direct2D.Direct2d.Device.BeginScene(Boolean Clear, Color ClearColour)
13:05:57.5  4/3/2013:     at GameEx.GameEx.mainform.c(Boolean A_0)
13:05:57.5  4/3/2013:     at GameEx.GameEx.mainform.d4()
13:05:57.5  4/3/2013:  Trying reinitialising the display after sleeping for 4 seconds
13:05:57.5  4/3/2013:  Exception count will be dropped to 15
13:06:22.1  4/3/2013:  Exiting GameEx!

I'd say it might have to do with the RawInputHook.exe. I'm not sure what's the aim of that thing but it seems it would be catching key strokes. In case it's catching Escape to force MAME to exit in a dirty way, that's with 99% of probabilty the issue. Is it possible to disable that feature from the front-end? Is it actually a front-end's feature or something external?

[repetto74]

Hi Calamity,

Gameex frontend has a lot of settings you can play with. I will ask to the developpers on the Gameex forum but I am sure this can be disabled! 
Gameex is working with an INI file. I will post it for you tomorrow.

www.gameex.com

Thanks a lot for your help on this matter...just getting mad with this!
 

[repetto74]

Hi Calamity,

OK I may have found something here!

I have disconnected my control panel and tried to control Gameex menu with the keyboard (the keyboard is connected to the Jpac input).
I have played a while with menus, going back, going to the Home screen, selecting variuos game lists and run almost a dozen of different games....none of them has failed, they all play fine until I hit the ESC key to go back to Gameex!!!
I am assuming something is wrong with my CPanel wirings...maybe a shortcut which force the emulator to randomly exits. I will give a look at it but from my observation now I can say it is hardware related! 

I will keep you posted
Thanks a lot for your kind support!!

By the way I have a technical question related to the video.
My arcade CRT monitor has some grey shadows bands on the left and right side of the screen borders. You can clearly see this in the attached picture. The band to the left is bigger than the one to the right.
I have noticed that those shaded areas results from dot pixels being more spaced when converging towards the screen borders. As far as I understood this may come from a bad quality video cable or by the videocard dot clock not adjusted correctly.
Is it possible to tweak dot pixel clock in Groovymame? I saw this option in the INI file but have no clue on how to set this correctly....

[repetto74]

I have finally fixed the Gameex crash problem!

My control panel wirings was faulty!One pushbutton switch was stucked and therefore interfeering with Gameex controls 

[Calamity]

Hi reppeto74,

That's the most unexpected cause I can think of, but I'm glad you finally figured it out and that it wasn't a front-end issue.