Help! w/ gamelauncher

[mamefan123]

Hi all, any help will be appreciated. i can setup GL to run mame32 no problem but when i set it up to run dmame (dos mame) i select the game and it stays on a black screen for a few seconds and then goes back to the game list i did change all the necessary files to point to dmame.exe.

[SirPoonga]

try it with windows mame.

[ErikRuud]

When GL goes to the black screen and then back to the game list, it means that GL issued the DOS command to run the game, but the game did not run (the emulator probably issued an error), and then GL goes back to game list because the DOS command was done executing.

You have something configured incorrectly.  Check the log files that are stored in the directory where GL is installed.  One of them will have the DOS commnd that GL issued.  That should give you a clue where the problem is.

To give you a more detailed answer we would need to see your config files, and your log file.

[Dave Dribin]

Also try setting "debug = yes" in your glaunch.cfg.  That'll show you exactly what command GL is trying to do interactively and hopefully allow you to see what is going wrong.

-Dave

[mamefan123]

Hey thanks I did have a mistake but now it just stays on a black screen I have to press escape to go back to the menu here is my
runit.log and I have dmame.exe mame.exe and mame.exe in the c:\mame32 folder obviously I have a sound issue

runit.log

Select the audio device:
  0. Silence
  1. Sound Blaster
  3. Pro Audio Spectrum
  4. Ultrasound Max (CS4231 Codec)
  5. Ultrasound
  6. Windows Sound System
  7. Ensoniq Soundscape

audio initialization failed
Unable to initialize system

and my mame.cfg

[Emulator]

# Emulator name, i.e. MAME
name = MAME

# Short description of emulator, i.e. Arcade Machines
description = Arcade Machines

# Location of emulator, i.e. c:\mame
directory = c:\mame32

# Name of emulator executable, i.e. mame.exe
executable = dmame.exe

# Global options passed to emulator, i.e. -sound 1
global_options = -sound 1

# Command to run before running executable. If blank, then nothing
# will be run.
pre_command =

# Command to run after running executable.  If blank, then nothing
# will be run.
post_command =

# Name of map file.  A map file maps short ROM file names to full game
# names.
map_file = mame.map

# Options go before ROM when launching: "yes" or "no".
#  i.e. yes: "emulator.exe -option1 -option2 rom"
#        no: "emulator.exe rom -option1 -option2"
options_before_rom = no

# Directory to look for screen shot images, i.e. c:\mame\snap
# Supported formats are PCX, PNG, and BMP.
screen_shot_directory = mame32\snap

# A ROM file is a list of ROMs to use.  If set to "no", ROMs are
# scanned for in the rom_directory.  If set to "yes" a ROM file (which
# is essentially just a list of ROMs) is used instead of trying scan.
# The default is "no".  ROM files are useful for merged ROMs with
# MAME, where the actual ROM names are buried within a ZIP file.
use_rom_file = yes

# rom_dir, rom_extension, use_extension, and use_rom_directory are
# only relevant if a ROM file is not used.  They are ignored if not
# needed.

# Directory to ROMs
rom_directory = mame32\roms

# List of possible ROM extensions (without the ".")
rom_extension =

# Use extension when launching game: "yes" or "no"
#  i.e. yes: "emulator.exe rom.ext"
#        no: "emulator.exe rom"
use_extension =

# Use rom_directory when launcher game: "yes" or "no"
#  i.e. yes: "emulator.exe c:\full\path\rom"
#        no: "emulator.exe rom"
use_rom_directory = yes: "dmame.exe c:\mame32\roms"


########################################################################
#
# Per ROM options go here
#
# List of short ROM names followed by their options:
#
#   rom = -option1 -option2 ...
#
# i.e.:
#   arkanoid = -novsync

[Options]
altbeast = -novsync
smashtv = -novsync -depth 16 -soundcard 0

[mamefan123]

Oh I forgot to mention I have onboard sound ac97 and autoexec.bat has the necessary info to load the sound chip

[Keith O]

This might be your problem:

# Global options passed to emulator, i.e. -sound 1
global_options = -sound 1

It might be a Mame syntax error. Instead of "-sound 1" try "-soundcard 1".

[Dave Dribin]

runit.log

Select the audio device:
  0. Silence
  1. Sound Blaster
  3. Pro Audio Spectrum
  4. Ultrasound Max (CS4231 Codec)
  5. Ultrasound
  6. Windows Sound System
  7. Ensoniq Soundscape

audio initialization failed
Unable to initialize system

When MAME doesn't have a sound card configured, it'll prompt you for one.  That's what is happening behind the black screen.  MAME is asking you to enter a sound card from that menu.  Now it looks like your passing "-sound 1" to MAME from GL's mame.cfg.  Perhaps it's not liking the Sound Balster option.  Actually, I think you have the wrong option.  Try "-soundcard 1".  Also, try editing MAME's mame.cfg and put in "soundcard = 1".

-Dave

[Keith O]

That's funny! Looks like we both were answering at the same time - with pretty much the same response.

By the way Dave, thanks for making such a great front-end!

[mamefan123]

Thank guys, that made mame run but I still dont have any sound in dos. I have onboard pci ac97?

[jammadave]

    ahhh, this is exactly the problem i started out with, which has snowballed into me about to have to completely wipe and reinstall the whole computer.  onboard ac97 sound and all.  DOS just doesn't like it.

i must say in retrospect to myself and now to you, if GL runs fine with mame32, then why change it to dmame?

Dave Dribin has recommended that I use mame.exe (plain win-mame), thus keeping all the sound stuff in windows and it should work.  

Muh Fangers is Carossed!

cheers
dave

[Dave Dribin]

Thank guys, that made mame run but I still dont have any sound in dos. I have onboard pci ac97?

DOS probably doesn't jive well with your non-ISA sound card.  In my opinion, you have 1 of 2 options.  First, buy an ISA sound card, like a Creative AWE64.  This will solve all your DOS sound problems.  If you can't do this for some reason (ISA slots are harder to come by, for one), I recommend you drop DOS and dmame.exe.  In my experience, it's damn near impossible to get PCI sound cards to work under DOS.  And rather than mame32, I would suggest the windows version of MAME from www.mame.net (i.e mame.exe).  This will use DirectSound and all the normal Windows sound drivers, so all should be fine.  The Windows version of GL works just dandy with mame.exe.

-Dave

[Bill_S]

I also had issues getting my onboard sound to work in DOS.  I ended up giving up and buying an old PCI (that's right PCI, not ISA) soundblaster ensonique 128 soundcard and disabling the onboard audio.
It works great in both windows and DOS.  Problem solved.  The soundcard cost me like $8 at my local PC chop shop.

[Dave Dribin]

I also had issues getting my onboard sound to work in DOS.  I ended up giving up and buying an old PCI (that's right PCI, not ISA) soundblaster ensonique 128 soundcard and disabling the onboard audio.
It works great in both windows and DOS.  Problem solved.  The soundcard cost me like $8 at my local PC chop shop.

I'm impressed.  There must be a small sub-set of PCI sound cards that work well under DOS.  I tried getting a few PCI sounds working without luck.

-Dave

[mamefan123]

Hey Thanks for the suggestions! I gave up on the onboard sound and tried running an old sb pro with no success, it having an issue with irqs, tried irq 5,7,9,and 10 and adjusted autoexec.bat and config.sys accordingly still kept getting errors with irqs in DOS it must have been a bad card. I ordered an ensoniq pci sound card and I'm going to try that instead. I'll post my results when I get it.

[Keith O]

You might end up the the same troubles because it's PCI. Does your board have an ISA slot? Hopefully it'll work out but if it doesn't go with sound blaster 16 ISA. It works beautifully in DOS.

[mamefan123]

Hey guess what guys, I got the onboard pcu ac97 sound to work in dos and mame I just had to load old drivers and tweak my autoexec.bat and config.sys files. I just received my ensoniq sound card too. Oh well it will work on a another box.

Heres the autoexec.bat

@ECHO OFF
REM  The following command is to support FM Music in Legacy DOS Game
LH C:\VIAUDIO\VIAFMTSR.COM
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 P330
LH SMARTDRV.EXE


and the config.sys

SWITCHES= /E /F
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS /NUMHANDLES=128 /TESTMEM:OFF /Q
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS NOVCPI RAM M9 D=256 AUTO NOTR
DOS=HIGH,UMB,AUTO
FILES=80
BUFFERS=10,0
SET PATH=C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\CAMMAND;C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM;C:\VIAUDIO;
SET TMP=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP
SET TEMP=C:\WINDOWS\TEMP


Thats it, it works great. Now if I could only get my radeon 7000 to stop being detected as a rv100