Troubleshooting

Q - ROMs for some emulators wont run anymore, they used to, but now they don't!

This MIGHT occur if an emulator doesn't support Zip Files, and that emulator doesn't exit properly the temporary file that QuickPlay creates may become 'stuck' on the hard drive instead of being deleted, and this will mean no more games will run for emulators that don't have Zip Support. Luckily this problem is easily fixed, just go to the QuickPlay directory and see if there is a directory called 'Temp', if this directory exists then delete it and try running the ROM again - it SHOULD work!

Q -I have messed up my 'Systems.dat'/Language.txt/types.txt file, can you send me a new one?

Just delete the file from the 'DATS' directory in QuickPlay and next time you start QuickPlay the default files will be created.

Q - ROMs don't run with an emulator

This could be a number of problems, but I would try the following suggestions :

Use the ROM Dialog screen and try changing whether the emulator supports zip files, and the short ROM Path property is also a likely candidate. Keep trying different combinations until you find one that works, and then remember to go and set the default properties for the emulator in the emulator management screen.

Of course it is possible that the emulator doesnt support command-line parameters in which case Quickplay will NEVER work with it. This is true of a lot of new-ish emulators which completely ignore commandline parameters for whatever reason. I recommend emailing the emulator writer and politely asking for command-line parameter support :-)

Q - QuickPlay sometimes says Zip Files are invalid, when they are valid files.

This is a strange problem, and is more to do with the zip dlls than QuickPlay. Any files which are flagged as invalid by QuickPlay should be checked by seeing if they can be opened in a zip application

Q - Can you make xxxx feature faster?

Im always working on it! Let me know what feature it is and I will try

Q - QuickPlay doesn't show my ROMs anymore, what's wrong?

Firstly make sure you don't have a filter on! QuickPlay wont delete your filter, so if you filter a folder and then move to a new ROM folder the filter will remain, check the status bar to see how many ROMs are filtered out. If this doesn't solve your problem the next step is to browse to the QuickPlay directory. Find the 'data' directory, and inside it you will find the directory structure from the folder list of QuickPlay. Now navigate to the directory that doesn't load and see if there is a text file there. If there is and the text file is full of your data then QuickPlay has had problems. If restarting QuickPlay doesn't cure it, email the datafile to me and I will investigate the causes of this.

Q - I set up my directory mirroring options and nothing happened! What's going on??

Unfortunately due to some very bizarre coding it was difficult to automatically do a 'rescan mirror' automatically, all you need to do is click the 'rescan' button, which can be found on the toolbar above the folder listing. It's the icon with the folder and a magnifying class! It can also be found in the ROMS menu on the main menu. Just click this button and it will all work!

Q -I can't get any real game icon set to work with my ROMS!

Ok have you followed the instructions on this page? You have? Ok just make sure that in the main preferences screen you have ticked both options to enable Real Icons support - both are needed! Also make sure you have specified a directory, I am aware that older versions of Quickplay had a few problems with specifying directories but these problems are gone!

Q - I want to change all my ROMS to be 'English' in language, do I have to set each one manually??

No of course not. Just select as many ROMs as you want to change in your ROM listings, and then right-click and go to ROM properties where you can change the language (and a few other settings) for all selected ROMs

Q - When using the MAME game renamer - the renamer causes errors, or simply does nothing!

Some games wont rename. This isn't a problem with QuickPlay, it just means that the game which wont rename isn't found in the data list for the version of MAME you scanned with. Try selecting a different version of MAME and see if that solves the problem.

Additionally since Quickplay 3.4, the file structure for the generated data files for MAME emulators has changed. If the MAME renamer repeatedly fails, check in the Quickplay DATs directory for an '.ini' file with the same name as the MAME emulator which you are trying to scan with - if this file exists delete it. This should be done automatically when you upgrade to Quickplay 3.4.

Q -How do I scan merged MAME roms?

QuickPlay 3.4.1 introduced a way of scanning these files (and this should work with all other types of MAME roms), simply go to the 'MAME' menu and then to 'Scan merged Roms', a simple form will appear asking you to specify a directory and which MAME emulator to use. The scanning will take some time as this uses MAME and the 'verifysets' commandline switch. Once scanning is complete all your ROMS will be scanned, and all clones present.

Q -My MAME Roms are in different directories and won't run properly!

This can happen due to the way QuickPlay launches MAME. If a ROM in one directory requires files from a ROM in another directory QuickPlay will fail to launch this ROM. There are 2 methods to fix this:

   Edit your MAME.ini file to include all your ROM paths, and then check the option to stop Quickplay using the '-rompath' parameter with MAME. This option is emulator-specific and can be set in the emulators management dialog.
   Edit the MAME emulators parameters in Quickplay. If you go into the emulator dialog and find the MAME emulator you want to edit, go to its parameters box and type in "-rompath " followed by all your ROMpaths and MAME will use these paths instead of the one generated by Quickplay.

Q - I have set QuickPlay to minimise when running a ROM, but it rarely comes back!

This has been a right pain in the arse since the earliest versions of QuickPlay! I have been unable to find a solution to this problem which doesnt have some negative effects. Personally I'd suggest turning off this feature - sorry!

Q - I have launched a few ROMs and my Emulator doesnt seem to work properly - the keys are disabled!

This is tied in with the hiding QuickPlay when running a ROM - don't ask me how. To fix this simply disable the hiding QuickPlay option.

Q - QuickPlay always adds a space before/after commandline parameters, can you turn this off?

Sure, all you need to do is if you DONT require a space is include the # character at the start/end of your parameters. So if your paramter is '#.something' and its AFTER the rom path, then it becomes : 'rom.zip.something', instead of 'rom.zip .something'. Converted from CHM to HTML with chm2web Standard 2.85 (unicode)