Howdy folks
I spent a couple hundred hours building a B2S add on that actually produces a meaningful DMD display (LCD / third screen) for 70 tables that never had a real DMD. I built a cabinet and loved everything except that DMD display that was just sort of a mirror image of the LEDs with no context. I never cared for the DMD displays that look like this:
The above is from Centaur.
The plug in I built gives us something a little more friendly (here's just a couple of snapshots):
The two images above are a part of attract mode.
This shot is what it does during game play.
I limited the scope of this project to tables that used an LED panel in the backglass to display scores, credits, etc., and didn't have a built in DMD in the ROM. If the game is older and uses reels, I consider that a table that shouldn't have a DMD, and in fact, I am using the data stream coming from B2S and need LED segment updates, anyway.... If the table doesn't have a ROM, I don't think it's compatible.
So, before I unleash this on the world, I want to make sure that I have the details sorted out on what it takes to install. The development effort was significant. It's written in C# using Visual Studio and the plugin comprises over 3,500 lines of code. Heck, the config file for the 70 tables I'm supporting is almost 2,500 lines all by itself (not including the actual C# code). The system operates as a plug-in to B2S, and I discovered a bug in B2S that I had to fix--this slowed my time-to-market significantly. Being a non VB guy didn't help, and secondarily, I thought the problem was my interpretation of the data stream when, in fact, the problem was the data stream itself.
The actual rendering duties are handled by FlexDMD, and there are versioning gotchas there--1.8.1.0 doesn't work but 1.8.0. does, and I still don't get why (and this is after spending hours in the source code for Flex DMD--which is very well built, in my opinion). Significant effort went into my understanding of Flex DMD and how to use it (and, hopefully, properly). The versioning problem really was a gotcha for a while as well.
With the issues I had along the way and the complexities, I'm not completely certain of everything I had to do over the two or three months of development to get everything to play together. I kept notes, and documented things, but in the heat of battle, it's easy to miss something.
I am looking for a volunteer or two that:
1) is excited at the prospect of getting this new DMD added to their machine
2) has a three screen setup
3) one of the screens is a DMD that currently runs Flex DMD version 1.8.0.0
4) knows their way around the VPX ecosystem and Windows, in general (no, you don't need to be a software engineer)
5) is willing to work through any issues we might have getting this running (and understanding that I have a day job and a very busy life)
If all goes well, the extension will just load up and work with about 5 to 10 minutes of effort. If not, head scratching may ensue. However, I'd rather go through that with one or two people than have a bunch of people with different skill sets hitting me up with a myriad of issues. I want to document this and make sure it's all lined out properly before I release it.
Hit me up with a PM if this is something you'd like to work on with me.
Thanks, guys!
-Randy
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), so maybe there's some note sharing we could do if nothing else.
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