PC games in MameWah

[IG-88]

I need some help setting up MameWah to run PC games. I have read the mwreadme doc and the tutorial from the ScreenshotArchive site but can't really find what I need. Does each PC game go into it's own emu.cfg file like a seperate emulator or can I put all the PC games into one emu.cfg file? Or is it something else alltogether? Also what are the rest of the settings supposed to be? ie the:

;LIST GENERATION SETTINGS
ROM Path =
ROM Extension =
List Generation Method =

;EXECUTION SETTINGS
Emulator Executable =
Send Rom Path =
Send Rom Extension =
Use Long Filenames =
Show DOS Box =
Defualt Options =
Extra Options #1 =
Extra Options #2 =
IPC Filename / Path =

;MISC SETTINGS  ect, ect, ect........

Thanks.

[Minwah]

All PC games can go in one MW 'emulator'.  Do not edit the .CFG file directly, enter 'PC' as your Emulator Exectutable within MW's menu - all the other settings will be set up automatically, except of course the ROM Path - enter this as where you placed the .LNK files.

[IG-88]

O.K. a little confused. So I open up MW and goto the menu where it lets me enter the Emulator Exe. Set that to = PC right? Not thru my HD and into the program files\.cfg files?
Now for the ROM Path. Thats thru MW menu also?
And the ?LNK? files, I have all my PC games icons on the windows desktop can I point the rom path towards that? How do I do that for multiple games?

Sorry to bug, I'm not very computer literate  

[Minwah]

O.K. a little confused. So I open up MW and goto the menu where it lets me enter the Emulator Exe. Set that to = PC right? Not thru my HD and into the program files\.cfg files?

Correct, set it to 'PC' (don't include the quotes).

Now for the ROM Path. Thats thru MW menu also?

Yes

And the ?LNK? files, I have all my PC games icons on the windows desktop can I point the rom path towards that?

From the readme:

Create shortcuts for each application required, and rename as you wish the game to be displayed (retaining the .LNK file extension).  Place these shortcuts in the folder created above.

You can point to the desktop (something like c:\documents and settings\username\desktop) but that is a pain IMO.  Personally I would make a folder that is easy to remember/type in, eg c:\pcgames.

How do I do that for multiple games?

You just put a LNK file for each game in the one folder.

Hope that helps

[IG-88]

And the ?LNK? files, I have all my PC games icons on the windows desktop can I point the rom path towards that?

From the readme:

Create shortcuts for each application required, and rename as you wish the game to be displayed (retaining the .LNK file extension).  Place these shortcuts in the folder created above.

You can point to the desktop (something like c:\documents and settings\username\desktop) but that is a pain IMO.  Personally I would make a folder that is easy to remember/type in, eg c:\pcgames.

How do I do that for multiple games?

You just put a LNK file for each game in the one folder.

Hope that helps

I guess my question is about that ".LNK" extension.  The readme says too:

Create shortcuts for each application required, and rename as you wish the game to be displayed (retaining the .LNK file extension).  Place these shortcuts in the folder created above.

Where does that .LNK file extension come from? None of my apps (games) have that extension, therefore I couldn't "retain" it if I wanted too. And if I rename my games executables from  'PCGame'.exe too 'PCGame'.LNK  they don't work anymore.

[Cave]

Don't change the actual exe itself but create shortcuts for them first and then stick .LNK on the end of them, you can try this on the desktop by renaming them and then double clicking on them they should still work.

Cave

[IG-88]

So I right clicked on my game icon (Alien Shooter) & re-named it too AS.lnk. I can now see the game in the MW games list but when I goto play it, it says AS.LNK Loading...... and that is as far as it gets.

I tried the same procedure with a different game and it actually gets to its start screen but when I hit the "Play Game" button MW crashes and it sends me back to windows with half the desktop screwed up.

Also, I changed the Emulator Exectutable to PC but it still says Emulator 2 back at the main MW screen. Maybe I'm changing the wrong thing?

Thanks again....

[Minwah]

I guess my question is about that ".LNK" extension.  The readme says too:

Create shortcuts for each application required, and rename as you wish the game to be displayed (retaining the .LNK file extension).  Place these shortcuts in the folder created above.

Where does that .LNK file extension come from? None of my apps (games) have that extension, therefore I couldn't "retain" it if I wanted too. And if I rename my games executables from  'PCGame'.exe too 'PCGame'.LNK  they don't work anymore.

Create shortcuts for your games/apps - shortcuts automatically have .LNK extensions put on them (although you may not see it).  If you add .LNK to the end you will probably end up with 'shortcutname.lnk.lnk'...that is probably why you see 'AS.LNK Loading' (the .LNK usually wouldn't show up).

Turn 'Show DOS Box' to Yes, some PC apps need this, some don't.

Sounds like you entered the Emulator Executable right, the emulator title will not change - you must enter this manually if you want it to display something else.  Edit: I just made a slight change so that PC 'emulator' titles default to 'PC Games' - this makes more sense

[Minwah]

So I right clicked on my game icon (Alien Shooter) & re-named it too AS.lnk. I can now see the game in the MW games list but when I goto play it, it says AS.LNK Loading...... and that is as far as it gets.

I just read this bit again, did you actually create the shortcut to AS?  Or just rename the .exe file?  You must create a shortcut to the .exe file, then rename the shortcut if neccessary.

[IG-88]

So I right clicked on my game icon (Alien Shooter) & re-named it too AS.lnk. I can now see the game in the MW games list but when I goto play it, it says AS.LNK Loading...... and that is as far as it gets.

I just read this bit again, did you actually create the shortcut to AS?  Or just rename the .exe file?  You must create a shortcut to the .exe file, then rename the shortcut if neccessary.

Yes, I right--clicked on the game exe icon and created a shortcut I then right-clicked on the new shortcut and renamed it, AS.lnk

I didn't realize that shortcuts have that .lnk extension allready on them. When I right-click the properties of the shortcut icon it doesn't show that .lnk extension.

How do you manually enter the emualtors name again? And I'll try that DOS box thing also.
 

[Minwah]

Yes, I right--clicked on the game exe icon and created a shortcut I then right-clicked on the new shortcut and renamed it, AS.lnk

I didn't realize that shortcuts have that .lnk extension allready on them. When I right-click the properties of the shortcut icon it doesn't show that .lnk extension.

How do you manually enter the emualtors name again? And I'll try that DOS box thing also.
 

That's OK then!

It is called 'Emulator Title' and should be within Emulator Settings > Misc Settings.

[IG-88]

   YES     It works!!!!

Man, all that trouble and I haven't even gotten to the skins yet!  

I have some more questions but I'll post them under a new subject heading later.

Thanks all    

[chrisindfw]

THanks!

I was wondering the same thing?

Another question regarding PC games. Does anyone know any software that will take a cd rom and turn it into a virtual drive on your pc? I want to play you dont know jack but do not want to have to swtich out the cds all the time. I think I saw at one time that one of the burning software packages will create a virutal image.

Thanks

[Minwah]

THanks!

I was wondering the same thing?

Another question regarding PC games. Does anyone know any software that will take a cd rom and turn it into a virtual drive on your pc? I want to play you dont know jack but do not want to have to swtich out the cds all the time. I think I saw at one time that one of the burning software packages will create a virutal image.

Thanks

I used to use some little progs called '0cd' and 'cdemu' some years back.  All you had to do was copy the contents of a CD to a directory, then let the program make the folder appear as a CD drive.  Worked very well, for legitimate purposes of course

Whether or not you can get those for latest OS's I'm not sure, try a Google search...

[IG-88]

THanks!

I was wondering the same thing?

Another question regarding PC games. Does anyone know any software that will take a cd rom and turn it into a virtual drive on your pc? I want to play you dont know jack but do not want to have to swtich out the cds all the time. I think I saw at one time that one of the burning software packages will create a virutal image.

Thanks

Hey, that would be cool. Make sure you post your findings here, I'd be interested.  

[papaschtroumpf]

look for daemonTools. There are others out there including commercial products. I use daemonTools in my cab and a commercial product in my desktop PC. Whatever you use make sure that you can use a command line option in a shortcut (or a batch file) to mount ("insert") the CD.
Note that if you want to play some of the newer games that have copy protection in it, you want to make sure that the tool you use can defeat the protection. DaemonTools works with at least some of them but I don't have much experience with it since I use few CDs on my cab.