Post by Jonathan Leung on Jan 5, 2004 13:32:14 GMT -5
Recently, I was E-Mail a question from a man named Scott about his AdvanceMENU configuration. I thought I would post the E-Mail exchanges so if anyone is having the same problem they might be able to gleam an answer from the experience.
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E-Mail #1:
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Hey guys,
I ran across your Advance Menu configuration file and tried to use it myself(and I did make the appropriate directory changes for the emulator), but I keep getting errors. It says "error generating the mame information file"...Now I know I should direct this question towards Advance Menu people, but their sourceforge site lacks a forum or any decent way of contacting people..
If you have any ideas I'd love to hear from you. I think its a good frontend, but I havent been able to get the thing working to even try it out. The best I've had so far is audio and a pure white screen, with no functionality. I dont know its a windows XP compatability issue, but its more likely I'm just doing something wrong.
Again though, if you have any ideas, hints, or suggestions, it would be great. And nice site by the way! I envy your game room So far I've just got my Swords of Fury pinball machine which is slowly being restored, and I'm trying to find a spot for a future Mame cabinet. So lets just say I'm a bit behind you two when it comes to games
Scott
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E-Mail Reply #1:
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Scott,
If it's having an error generating the MAME Config file it could be a couple of things.
1.) Make sure you have AdvanceMENU pointing to the right directory where you have your MAME program. The following lines control that.
emulator "mame" mame "c:\mame\mame.exe"
emulator_roms "mame" "c:\mame\roms"
emulator_flyers "mame" "c:\mame\flyers"
emulator_cabinets "mame" "c:\mame\cabinets"
emulator_marquees "mame" "c:\mame\marquees"
emulator_titles "mame" "c:\mame\titles"
emulator_icons "mame" "c:\mame\icons"
emulator_include "mame"
2.) Make sure that your mame has a configuration file (mame.ini if you are using MAME for Windows). If you don't have this, then goto run on your start menu and type c:\mame\mame.exe -createconfig (of course change the first path to where ever your mame is)
3.) If all else fails, see if there is a mame.xml file in your advancemenu directory, if there is, delete it and try to run AdvanceMENU again. You might have a corrupted mame.xml and that's what's causing the error.
Good Luck, hope that helps.
Jonathan Leung
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E-Mail #2:
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Jonathan,
Well I've tried using Mame32, the windows command line version, and the DOS version of mame with no luck. The best I can get is "Lets Rock" with some background sound of crackling fire, with a window that is white on the left, gray on the right. I guess thats the default interface(or a portion of it), but it won't list my roms or anything else. I think it just doesn't agree with my computer. Oh well, I can try to find another frontend that has similar features.
Thanks again for the advice,
Scott
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E-Mail Reply #2:
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Scott,
If you can, send me your advmenu.rc file and let me look at it. I might be able to get it working for ya. Also, list the directories where your mame roms and mame program are. Once you get AdvanceMENU working I promise you will not want to use anything else.
Jonathan Leung
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E-Mail #3:
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Jonathan,
I did some additional tweaking and I'm happy to say I have AdvanceMenu up and running!
There were a few minor things that were preventing it from running properly. First, it didn't like my screen resolution. I was able to fix that by comparing your configuration file to my own, and I put in the correct video size.
After that was fixed, I was able to view everything correctly. Second, the line 'emulator_include "mame" ' was in the configuration file twice; once when I added it and when AdvanceMenu did it by default. This seemed to be causing a minor conflict, because once I removed it the thing actually worked
Thanks again for your help! Without your configuration file as a baseline it would have made the process a lot trickier. Now I just have to hunt down some more snapshots/cabinets/etc to fully enjoy the thing!
Scott
Well, I'm glad that Scott got his AdvanceMENU up and running. If this post didn't help you, please post your problems and we'll try to help you as best we can.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
E-Mail #1:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hey guys,
I ran across your Advance Menu configuration file and tried to use it myself(and I did make the appropriate directory changes for the emulator), but I keep getting errors. It says "error generating the mame information file"...Now I know I should direct this question towards Advance Menu people, but their sourceforge site lacks a forum or any decent way of contacting people..
If you have any ideas I'd love to hear from you. I think its a good frontend, but I havent been able to get the thing working to even try it out. The best I've had so far is audio and a pure white screen, with no functionality. I dont know its a windows XP compatability issue, but its more likely I'm just doing something wrong.
Again though, if you have any ideas, hints, or suggestions, it would be great. And nice site by the way! I envy your game room So far I've just got my Swords of Fury pinball machine which is slowly being restored, and I'm trying to find a spot for a future Mame cabinet. So lets just say I'm a bit behind you two when it comes to games
Scott
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
E-Mail Reply #1:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scott,
If it's having an error generating the MAME Config file it could be a couple of things.
1.) Make sure you have AdvanceMENU pointing to the right directory where you have your MAME program. The following lines control that.
emulator "mame" mame "c:\mame\mame.exe"
emulator_roms "mame" "c:\mame\roms"
emulator_flyers "mame" "c:\mame\flyers"
emulator_cabinets "mame" "c:\mame\cabinets"
emulator_marquees "mame" "c:\mame\marquees"
emulator_titles "mame" "c:\mame\titles"
emulator_icons "mame" "c:\mame\icons"
emulator_include "mame"
2.) Make sure that your mame has a configuration file (mame.ini if you are using MAME for Windows). If you don't have this, then goto run on your start menu and type c:\mame\mame.exe -createconfig (of course change the first path to where ever your mame is)
3.) If all else fails, see if there is a mame.xml file in your advancemenu directory, if there is, delete it and try to run AdvanceMENU again. You might have a corrupted mame.xml and that's what's causing the error.
Good Luck, hope that helps.
Jonathan Leung
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E-Mail #2:
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Jonathan,
Well I've tried using Mame32, the windows command line version, and the DOS version of mame with no luck. The best I can get is "Lets Rock" with some background sound of crackling fire, with a window that is white on the left, gray on the right. I guess thats the default interface(or a portion of it), but it won't list my roms or anything else. I think it just doesn't agree with my computer. Oh well, I can try to find another frontend that has similar features.
Thanks again for the advice,
Scott
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
E-Mail Reply #2:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scott,
If you can, send me your advmenu.rc file and let me look at it. I might be able to get it working for ya. Also, list the directories where your mame roms and mame program are. Once you get AdvanceMENU working I promise you will not want to use anything else.
Jonathan Leung
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
E-Mail #3:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jonathan,
I did some additional tweaking and I'm happy to say I have AdvanceMenu up and running!
There were a few minor things that were preventing it from running properly. First, it didn't like my screen resolution. I was able to fix that by comparing your configuration file to my own, and I put in the correct video size.
After that was fixed, I was able to view everything correctly. Second, the line 'emulator_include "mame" ' was in the configuration file twice; once when I added it and when AdvanceMenu did it by default. This seemed to be causing a minor conflict, because once I removed it the thing actually worked
Thanks again for your help! Without your configuration file as a baseline it would have made the process a lot trickier. Now I just have to hunt down some more snapshots/cabinets/etc to fully enjoy the thing!
Scott
Well, I'm glad that Scott got his AdvanceMENU up and running. If this post didn't help you, please post your problems and we'll try to help you as best we can.