The new MAME title videos are complete. They are located on the FTP here: /-GameEx-/- Emulator Artwork & Videos -/MAME/video_title
95% of them are a decent attract mode capture.
The upscaled videos on the FTP are however the best quality. In the next release of GameEx there will be an option to chose between the three types to automatically download.
Audio can be a slight issue on the title videos because they are all fixed to 60hz.
The title videos are up to date as of MAME 0.287 and include all working or imperfect non clones unless the name of the clone game is different.
6th May, 2026 - 60 fps MAME attract mode title videos
10 years ago I created a 60 fps MAME attract mode title video set.
I decided to revisit this project last week with the latest MAME sets, MAME version and ffmpeg.
I also fixed up and updated the code to run at 64 bit and .net framework 4.8 (it was on 2).
When I initially did this 10 years ago, I used a custom build of MAME with code changes to run at 60 hz. Now with the latest MAME no code changes other than nag removal but using syncrefresh.
I also improved the encoding and the files are now smaller.
The videos are now processing on a couple of machines and should be complete in two-three weeks. There are over a 1400 complete already.They are located here on the public free FTP server:
21st April, 2026 - GameEx Online performance and AI
I have been heavily working on GameEx cross platform and have setup and configuration working via the GameEx Online web app. Its tricky building this into GameEx itself across all versions due to GUI elements, paricularly text boxes although I realise some will have privacy concerns. It took a few seconds to click through each page and performance seemed like a big problem that I had not addressed before. I ran the page through ChatGPT Pro and asked it to improve performance with a single prompt. The result just worked and provided a 1000% improvement. As you can imagine I was very impressed by this. On top of this I removed dead code myself to produce a much smaller binary. It is not a heavily hit site but performance is perfect now.
I was using some software by Preemptive solutions on a scheme for small software houses as part of the build process for GameEx and PinballX.
They have been significantly raising the price every year and this year they raised it by another $1000.
So I spent the last 24 hours migrating over to another solution which fortunately is now as good or better at an 8th of the price. This release uses the new build tools and I say adios to Preemptive. Thanks for wearing a condom.
The new product does some nice optimisations to the code. I notice performance improvements.
Adds Commodor 64 SID music support. This was previously only available in the 32 bit version. Note that they take a while to load as a high quality conversion is done by sidplayfp. Personally I have not heard them sound so good.
Nvidia removed VMR 9 support and this release adds a new video renderer fallback using media Foundation and shared textures with DirectX 11 which is GPU accelerated.
Upgraded to .net 10 runtime and the .net desktop runtime version 10 is included iin the installer rather than 8. it is still compiled as version 6 but set to run under 10. Compatibility with older operating systems back to XP remains intact.
Fixed up Karaoke support and .cdg and .kar files are supported again, although take a while to load.
If you experience any new issues with video playback or old basic GPU's please report on the forums. The new renderer required significant changes including moving to DirectX 9ex from plain 9. Thankis Nvidia!
I spent about 20 hours trying to implement another video playback solution without lots of work because NVidia recently broke VMR 9 support. I thought I found another solution via ChatGPT which was the first time I tried it. It looked amazing but it gave me absolute horseshit over and over. How AI is replacing coders seems hard to believe. It seemed hopeless when experienced people need help. I tried Direct9Ex with DXVA2 and media foundation which it completely lied about. I also tried the same but not hardware accelerated which was valid but It did not work because the current Microsoft codecs dont support RGB output.
Although also legacy DirectX9Ex with FlipEx seemed like a good move on its own and I have it working well, then had problems recreating the device which is a big issue for a front end. I have this code done if I find a solution. Maybe waiting for DWM to be ready or somehow resetting it could be a solution.
FFMpeg may be a way to go for video playback and should perform accept it did involve a memory copy well, and I may try that but probably no better than what I have
Of note both AMD and Intel previously removed or broke VMR 9 support but then put it back. Which is why there was already a fallback in place
PinballX and GameEx do have the option to switch to a more legacy video solution and normally this is automatically detected. However, Nvidia neglected to tell the operating system they removed VMR 9 support so the automatic fallback was not working. Maybe they are using AI coding too!
Also of note when questioning the Brave search AI if there were issues with the solutions ChatGPT it gave the correct response.
I can recommend the Brave AI.
With these two new versions of GameEx and PinballX I check for Nvidia driver versions, so it is now again automatic as it was with intel and AMD.
Just a little fix that mainly broke browsing for media files.
Updated .net 8 runtrime.
Some good news. It looks like intel fixed their processer GPU drivers on 12th gen and above at some point and VMR 9 video playback is working again. This is accelerated. I always recommend those 12th gen mini PC's and this was a problem.
Unfortunatly videos are no longer easily accesible. I spent several days working on this and did find a solution and even tried hosting the files. It was not viable to include this with GameEx and the files worked out at over 2 TB.
Fixed the new system databases missing date field.
Fixed memory leak caused by bass.dll
Full screen exclusive mode has been permanently disabled again. In my testing I could only launch a MAME game once. I did not hear anything but this was the fix for me.
Update .net 8 to latest in installer.
I have resumed work on the upcomging big improvements to emulator setup. This is both client and server side.
In case you missed it there was a little update and bug fix to GameEx Evolution recently.
My code signing certificate was renewed for three years and GameEx and PinballX have been updated with the new security. This will cause a "Windows has protected your PC" message when running the setup until there are enough downloads for Microsoft to detect it as safe. In the meantime click "more infp" then "run anyway". Thank you.
Performance has been well optimized which was just an issue on Android. You will still need a decent device but it runs reasonably okay on my TLC TV. Any slowdown is mostly down to the GPU.
I also tested on Debian Linux and have fixed most of the issues with that. Ubuntu was already working well.
Even if you don't run GameEx the power you get for the money is amazing. It came with a clean version of Windows 11 Pro 24h2. The SSD was SATA so check that if you are buying. I have said it before buy why I buy a PI. This will perform better than a PI 5.
I am constantly trying to optimize PinballX and GameEx but i am quite surprised how fast PinballX starts up on my laptop.It is a fast modern laptrop but does any other front end beat this?
To allow old Windows versions whilst supporting the latest .net runtime - Windows 10 and 11 will now run GameEx under .net 8. The .net 8 Windows desktop runtime will be installed as part of the setup.
I have just uploaded the latest progress on GameEx cross platform.
I am now using Unity 6 and all or most performance issues have been addressed. It is almost functionality comparible to the original GameEx thanks to video playback help from VLC.
The Android version is the priority and incoming fairly soon.
