GensHack emulator lauching but not automatically launching selected game.

[Sandroace]

Ok so as the title suggests I am having some difficulty using the gens emulator. I recently came across a hack for the genesis game UMK3 called UMK Trilogy. Apparently retroarch is able to run said hack but the audio is all sorts of messed up and so I tried the genshack emulator and voila it works just fine. Problem is when I tell Launchbox were the game is and which emulator to use all it does is launch the emulator without loading the game. I know this is probably an obvious and simple fix but I can't seem to wrap my head around it. Any help is greatly appreciated.

[skizzosjt]

Hi @Sandroace Can you post a screen shot of the GensHack emulator > details page? I think it might help seeing what you're currently trying. Initially sounds like the launch parameters aren't set up correct since I've had some emulators behave like that, just open but not launch a game, if I didn't have all the parameters entered properly

[Sandroace]

12 hours ago, skizzosjt said:

Hi @Sandroace Can you post a screen shot of the GensHack emulator > details page? I think it might help seeing what you're currently trying. Initially sounds like the launch parameters aren't set up correct since I've had some emulators behave like that, just open but not launch a game, if I didn't have all the parameters entered properly

 

[Sandroace]

I have tried with remove quotes unchecked.

[JoeViking245]

Does it do anything (the same thing?) if your remove all the Custom Command-Line Parameters and un-check all the boxes?  So the Sample Command would look like:

gens.exe "FULL\PATH\TO\ROM\FILE"

[Sandroace]

41 minutes ago, JoeViking245 said:

Does it do anything (the same thing?) if your remove all the Custom Command-Line Parameters and un-check all the boxes?  So the Sample Command would look like:

gens.exe "FULL\PATH\TO\ROM\FILE"

Nope same thing just launches the emulator and not the game.

[JoeViking245]

Does the version you're using even accept command-line parameters?  Do they have a support forum?  You may be able to: Open the Windows Command Prompt and navigate to where the exe is located, and enter in something along the lines of   "gens.exe -help" or "gens.exe --help"

[Sandroace]

1 hour ago, JoeViking245 said:

Does the version you're using even accept command-line parameters?  Do they have a support forum?  You may be able to: Open the Windows Command Prompt and navigate to where the exe is located, and enter in something along the lines of   "gens.exe -help" or "gens.exe --help"

Doing that just launches the emulator as well.

[skizzosjt]

20 hours ago, JoeViking245 said:

Does the version you're using even accept command-line parameters?  Do they have a support forum?  You may be able to: Open the Windows Command Prompt and navigate to where the exe is located, and enter in something along the lines of   "gens.exe -help" or "gens.exe --help"

this is exactly where I was going with this. because I found their support/download page and this appears to be small time niche emulator and I didn't immediately see any docs on what parameters it needs and accepts. if @Sandroace cannot get these commands to work in a command prompt then said commands either don't exist or are being typed in improperly. there is a chance that maybe "-h" or even "-options"  (try them with with two dashes -- also) might list out available command parameters/switches? with this all said, due to our line of questioning and the answer Sandroace is after it might be better asking on their forum. this more or less proves that they need to figure out what the proper parameters are if it currently doesn't work via the command prompt. for all we know, like what JoeViking245 was eluding to, the emulator may not even have parameters to launch games like this

[Headrush69]

On 8/11/2022 at 8:52 PM, Sandroace said:

Apparently retroarch is able to run said hack but the audio is all sorts of messed up and so I tried the genshack emulator and voila it works just fine. 

Can you provide more information on these issues (like a link) and is it up to date information?

I have no way to know what to listen for, and I only know MK by name and look, but I downloaded the hack and ran it with Retroarch and didn't notice audio issues. (Not to say there isn't any, I just don't know what they are.)

[Sandroace]

1 hour ago, Headrush69 said:

Can you provide more information on these issues (like a link) and is it up to date information?

I have no way to know what to listen for, and I only know MK by name and look, but I downloaded the hack and ran it with Retroarch and didn't notice audio issues. (Not to say there isn't any, I just don't know what they are.)

For example at the beginning with the rotating MK LOGO no audio is present at all(there should be audio) and the rest of the game the audio is garbled and scratchy. At first I figured I applied the crack to the UMK3 rom improperly or had the wrong UMK3 rom to begin with or both. So I checked the CRC32: 7290770d, MD5: 5a129779699f8b388e97c9c0d703d503, SHA-1: bf2da4a7ae7aa428b0b316581f65b280dc3ba356 and it all matched up. That is when I tried(as requested in the cracks readme) the GensHack emulator and the rom works flawlessly, so obviously this is an issue with retroarch and not with the cracked rom.

[neil9000]

6 minutes ago, Sandroace said:

For example at the beginning with the rotating MK LOGO no audio is present at all(there should be audio) and the rest of the game the audio is garbled and scratchy. At first I figured I applied the crack to the UMK3 rom improperly or had the wrong UMK3 rom to begin with or both. So I checked the CRC32: 7290770d, MD5: 5a129779699f8b388e97c9c0d703d503, SHA-1: bf2da4a7ae7aa428b0b316581f65b280dc3ba356 and it all matched up. That is when I tried(as requested in the cracks readme) the GensHack emulator and the rom works flawlessly, so obviously this is an issue with retroarch and not with the cracked rom.

OK this has been going on far long enough, you said you used Retroarch initially and it had issues with sound, you never mentioned the core you used, so that may be helpful info for others to know. You also said that it is supposed to work with Retroarch, but yours does not, due to sound issues correct? Well, there are all sorts of reasons for sound issues, often nothing to do with the actual rom. What we really need is instructions, (without the links) on how you made your rom, so that others here, who are really trying to help you can make their own. Its fine if its mario 3 on nes, everyone has that rom and can quickly test, this we cannot. Or maybe DM someone like @Headrush69 with the actual rom you are using, as they are knowledgeable and trying to help.

[Sandroace]

Ok so I may have figured it out. The UMK3 Hack has two patch files one called "Ultimate Mortal Kombat Trilogy h23(5125)" and another called "UMKT h23(5125) +TRACKS". If I apply only the first patch than retroarch plays it without issue. However if I apply the second patch as directed in the readme than retroarch no longer plays the audio correctly and only the Genshack will play it correctly. Seeing as the second patch only changes some music I think I'll just leave it with only one patch and use retroarch to run this specific game.

 

*EDIT* Just noticed your reply. I did try all cores related to audio in the retroarch menu none of which made any difference the audio was still messed up. Though as mentioned I likely figured out why. Though why the Genshack can play the rom properly with both patches applied and retroarch can't is still a mystery.

Edited August 13, 2022 by Sandroace

[Headrush69]

Well played with this some more and got some interesting results.

1. The second patch is the problem one. No sound for me on that one with Genesis GX core in Retroarch.
2. Neither patched version will even load for me using Gens 2.14. (What version are you using)
3. I added Gens emulator to LB and when loading ROMs they didn't start for me either. Then I remembered I was testing with my current library which are all zipped. (Core supported) I turned on the LB option to extract archives first and now Gens emulator booted directly into the games. 

So looking back on your posts you said you tried all the options but maybe you didn't get them all right at the same time.

Don't remove quotes and extract archives if using archives ARE requirements. 

Also, from your screenshot, the option to extract ROM archives has a solid square, not a check mark. This leads me to think that you have multiple platforms listed for using the Gens emulator and not all have the same extract ROM archives option enabled or disabled. Are you 100% sure it's not enabled/disabled as need for you ROMs?

Bottom line is LB can launch a ROM directly in Gens emulator without command line options. It's just a matter of finding the configuration issue.

 

[Sandroace]

15 hours ago, Headrush69 said:

Well played with this some more and got some interesting results.

1. The second patch is the problem one. No sound for me on that one with Genesis GX core in Retroarch.
2. Neither patched version will even load for me using Gens 2.14. (What version are you using)
3. I added Gens emulator to LB and when loading ROMs they didn't start for me either. Then I remembered I was testing with my current library which are all zipped. (Core supported) I turned on the LB option to extract archives first and now Gens emulator booted directly into the games. 

So looking back on your posts you said you tried all the options but maybe you didn't get them all right at the same time.

Don't remove quotes and extract archives if using archives ARE requirements. 

Also, from your screenshot, the option to extract ROM archives has a solid square, not a check mark. This leads me to think that you have multiple platforms listed for using the Gens emulator and not all have the same extract ROM archives option enabled or disabled. Are you 100% sure it's not enabled/disabled as need for you ROMs?

Bottom line is LB can launch a ROM directly in Gens emulator without command line options. It's just a matter of finding the configuration issue.

 

In regards to your points made. As to the first point the second patch is a problem for me as well but only using Retroarch and not Gens. With both patches applied the Gens emulator plays it fine. Which leads to your second point about the version of gens I am using. You have to use a cracked version which has support for roms larger than 4mb. That said I am using Genshack version 2.11. As for your last point I made the associated platforms for the Gens emulator to all have extract roms checked now the extract rom archive has a check mark and not a solid square and the emu still does not launch the game automatically. Perhaps the Genshack version is the culprit in regards to that. All good I'll just use retroarch with the one patch applied and play like that.

[Headrush69]

1 hour ago, Sandroace said:

You have to use a cracked version which has support for roms larger than 4mb. 

For future reference, that's an important detail to include when asking for help.

1 hour ago, Sandroace said:

 All good I'll just use retroarch with the one patch applied and play like that.

I'm glad you have a solution you are OK with, but I was curious at this point.

1 hour ago, Sandroace said:

 Perhaps the Genshack version is the culprit in regards to that. 

I downloaded the gens 2.11 with large ROM support hack and it starts games just fine directly from LB as well.

If you're still interested, maybe post some checksums (CRC32) of your rom and gens.exe and we can eliminate any issues there. Just curious, if you start a Windows Powershell or command prompt and start the emulator passing the file path to a ROM, does it work?

Something like this in Powershell (from the gens emulator directory):

Quote

.\gens.exe 'E:\ROMS\Genesis\Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 (USA)\Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 (USA).md'

 

[Your Friendly A.I Overlord]

1 hour ago, Sandroace said:

Perhaps the Genshack version is the culprit in regards to that.

I downloaded the correct rom. Applied both patches. Used the hacked emulator. Runs fine from LaunchBox. (just not wih the command-line parameters shown in your screenhot.)

[Your Friendly A.I Overlord]

For exiting out of the emulator paste the following script in the "Running Script" tab:

$Esc::
{
WinClose, ahk_exe {{{StartupEXE}}}
}

For fullscreen start your game and press Alt + Enter. If you exit out of the game while in fullscreen, the next time you start the game it will automatically go fullscreen.

Happy gaming! 😀

[Sandroace]

2 hours ago, Your Friendly A.I Overlord said:

I downloaded the correct rom. Applied both patches. Used the hacked emulator. Runs fine from LaunchBox. (just not wih the command-line parameters shown in your screenhot.)

I set it up the way you have it and it still just launches the emulator not the game. No biggie as mentioned I'll just use Retroarch.

[nosoucy6262]

On 8/14/2022 at 5:11 PM, Your Friendly A.I Overlord said:

I downloaded the correct rom. Applied both patches. Used the hacked emulator. Runs fine from LaunchBox. (just not wih the command-line parameters shown in your screenhot.)

for me it's perfect and work !!! thanks