MameWah and WinXP

[YoungWarrior]

I recently changed the computer in my MAME cabinet to one that runs Windows XP Home Edition. While MAME and MAME32 seem to run fine by themselves, but when I load a rom using MameWah, the screen turns white in the resolution of the game loaded (the rest of the screen around it is black). Does anyone know how to solve this problem?

[jcrouse]

Did you install the system files from the MameWAH web site?

John

[YoungWarrior]

Yes, MameWah itself runs fine, but the problem occurs after the game has finished loading, but before the info screen.

[jcrouse]

Post the mamewah ini file you use to launch mame.

John

[YoungWarrior]

here is the mame.ini file in the ini folder, folowed by the mamewah.ini file:

### mame.ini (mamewah v1.61) ###

emulator_title                            M.A.M.E.

### List Generation Settings ###
rom_path                                  c:\mame\roms
rom_extension                             zip
dat_file                                 
nms_file                                 
catver_ini_file                           
list_generation_method                    rom_folder_vs_listxml

### Execution Settings ###
emulator_executable                       c:\mame\mame32\Mame32.exe
commandline_format                        [name]{autodosbox}{nosafelaunch}
alt_commandline_format_1                  [name]{autodosbox}{nosafelaunch}
alt_commandline_format_2                  [name]{autodosbox}{nosafelaunch}
game_specific_config_path                 

### Artwork Locations ###
artwork_1_image_path                      c:\mame\snap
artwork_2_image_path                      c:\mame\marquees
artwork_3_image_path                     
artwork_4_image_path                     
artwork_5_image_path                     
artwork_6_image_path                     
artwork_7_image_path                     
artwork_8_image_path                     
artwork_9_image_path                     
artwork_10_image_path                     
movie_preview_path                       
movie_artwork_no                          1

### Screen-Saver Settings ###
enable_music_in_screensaver               1
saver_type                                slideshow
movie_path                               
movie_fullscreen                          1
quit_delay                                30
wrapper_executable                       
wrapper_commandline_format                [name]{nodosbox}{nosafelaunch}
scr_file                                 

### External Application Settings ###
ipc_file_or_path                         
app_1_executable                         
app_1_commandline_format                 
app_2_executable                         
app_2_commandline_format                 
app_3_executable                         
app_3_commandline_format                 
auto_launch_apps                         

### Additional Settings ###
music_path                               
lcd_display_file_path                     
lcd_fe_text                               

### Settings used by MAMEWAH ###
current_list                              0

here's the mamewah.ini file

### mamewah.ini (mamewah v1.61) ###

### (Global) Screen-Saver Options ###
delay                       300
slide_duration              3

### Audio Options ###
enable_sounds               1
sound_volume                100
music_path                 
enable_music                1
music_volume                100

### Movie Options ###
intro_movie_file           
exit_movie_file             
keep_movie_preview_aspect   game_aspect
delay_before_movie_preview  2
music_movie_mix             mute_movies
movie_volume                100

### Misc Options ###
layout                      Classic 640x480
ctrlr                       
wrap_list                   0
remember_current_game       1
keep_image_aspect           1
refresh_images              0
correct_orientations        horizontal
safe_mode                   0
show_cursor                 0
keyboard_led_states         -,-,-
winipac_file               
mamewah_ipc_file           
lcd_com_port                1
lcd_settings               
exit_action                 choice
app_to_run_on_exit         

### Settings used by MAMEWAH ###
current_emulator            mame
locked                      0
last_ipc                   

[ahmer]

I did not found something bad in your ini files.

Do you have install the Directx9C?
Is there a reason of using Mame32 because it is not reccomended.
BTW,mame32 almost takes much memory due to its size.

[jcrouse]

In the mame.ini file make the "commandline_format" say this:

"[rompath]\[name].[romext]"{autodosbox}{nosafelaunch}

and see if that makes a difference.

John

[YoungWarrior]

I tried entering in the line into the mame.ini file but all it seems to have done is decrease loading time by about a secound. Also, the reason I am using Mame32 as opposed to MAME is that Mame32 seems to run faster on my computer than MAME for some odd reason. However, the problem occurs on both Mame and Mame32.

[Minwah]

Sounds like a MAME 'resolution auto' problem to me.  Try setting the resolution for all games to something you know works (eg 640x480).  If this works OK you might need to set resolutions to use for each game.

Of course I also recommend not using MAME32...it could be that a resolution issue is giving you different performance between mame/mame32 - they should perform pretty much exactly the same (mame better if anything).

[YoungWarrior]

Ok, now I have another problem. I tried using the MameWah resolution tool to set all my roms at 640X480, and now MameWah wont start (It works the same as before once all the individual game ini files are gone). Also, I have a lot of roms, so setting all the resolutions manually would be a little impractical.

Also, as far as using Mame over Mame32, certain games on Mame (such as Super Street Figher 2) take so long to load and lag so much that they are unplayable (this applies to both the regular and Pentium Pro versions). However, running the same games with Mame32 loads very fast, and has no lag at all. Despite this, I'll be using mame untill I get this problem solved.

[Minwah]

Ok, now I have another problem. I tried using the MameWah resolution tool to set all my roms at 640X480, and now MameWah wont start (It works the same as before once all the individual game ini files are gone).

You didn't create the ini files in your \mamewah\ini folder did you??  Make sure they are in \mame\ini, and your *MAME* mame.ini file points to the correct inipath.

Also, I have a lot of roms, so setting all the resolutions manually would be a little impractical.

Um, that is the point of the Resolution Tool

Also, as far as using Mame over Mame32, certain games on Mame (such as Super Street Figher 2) take so long to load and lag so much that they are unplayable (this applies to both the regular and Pentium Pro versions). However, running the same games with Mame32 loads very fast, and has no lag at all. Despite this, I'll be using mame untill I get this problem solved.

Trust me, you must have something configured wrong, as MAME32 is just MAME with a GUI and some extra stuff lobbed on.  Make sure you have skip_validitychecks 1 in your mame.ini file, I expect that is causing the long loading times.

[YoungWarrior]

Ok, I think I see were the problem is, I have MameWah and Mame installed to the SAME directory! I'll try putting mame and MameWah in their own directories and see if that works.

[jcrouse]

I agree that they should be in different directories, for clarity, but they could co-exist in the same folder as long as all your paths are correct in your ini files.

John

[YoungWarrior]

Ok, I used the Mame Resolution Tool to take the roms off of auto resolution and it worked! Thanks everybody!