585 replies to this topic

[Pinhead45]

No matter what I try i can't seem to get this working for AMH. I followed the directions and when I click on UltraDMD.exe I get the black dmd box like it's working, but when I run AMH i get a can't create active x component error line 139. It seems like the computer is telling me it's not installed. So i tried running UltraDMD/i under command prompt and it says folder not found. I don't get it the demo works.

[UltraPeepi]

Regarding "UltraDMD.exe /i", make sure you run the command prompt as administrator.  It it fails, for some reason, please use the alternate

 

C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\RegASM UltraDMD.exe

 

I'll review the code to see if these is something I can see.

 

 

As for the crash, it looks like it is in the USB code.  I'm not saying UltraDMD or XDMD isn't the cause; and even if it's not, there is hopefully something I can do to work around the issue.  I'll let you know if I am able to reproduce the issue.  Also, on the next release I will add code to try to absorb these kinds of errors (since it is on exit).

[Pinhead45]

I ran C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\RegASM UltraDMD.exe but it just said REgASM.exe, no UltraDMD. That didn't change anything. I need to see if a different table works. Version I'm using is 1.0.130115, (maybe i'm not using the right version)

Edited by Pinhead45, 28 June 2015 - 07:46 PM.

[randr]

I have this working and is great but does crash on exit(real Dmd)

I had to put ultra Dmd exe with the demo files and register it there to make it work

[Pinhead45]

I have this working and is great but does crash on exit(real Dmd)

I had to put ultra Dmd exe with the demo files and register it there to make it work

I tried that. No good for me. Maybe I need a dropbox of a working xdmd setup, but my main problem is it seems like I can't register it.

 

Yeah that must be it GIJoe gives me the same error.

Edited by Pinhead45, 29 June 2015 - 01:53 AM.

[RYSr]

I finely got it working!

At first I wasn't really sure what ultradmd was, I thought it was for Cabs with a real DMD. Turns out it is for making both a virtual DMD for tables that don't have ROMs and VPM running, or for a CAB with Pindmd controlling a regular DMD.

 

I'm running Win 8.1 and had to press the windows key and X together to get the command prompt as administrator menu pick I needed to get it working. Your ID must be a member of the administrators group to do this. See below for a way to open a administrators CMD window for other Windows versions.

 

Note: When the administrator command prompt window opens you will see c:\windows\system32 and the title of the window will say administrator command prompt. If you see c:\users\(your login name) you are not in an administrators window.

In windows 7 click on all programs, then accessories, then right click on command prompt, then select run as administrator to get the administrators command box.

 

Make sure you have .net framework ver 2 on your PC, if no download from windows site, Newer versions will also load ver 2.0 support when they install.

To see if it's installed see if you have this directory in your c: drive      C:WINDOWS\Microsoft.net\framework\v2.0.50727

 

I created c:\ultradmd directory and put the following files in it. This makes it easier to type at the command prompt later for the install.

 

From the XDMD ver .2 download get these files from either the XDMD or XDMDdemo  bin/release sub-directories. You you only need the files listed below:

Also download the XDMD binary ver .3 zip. It only has one file an updated XDMD.dll. use it to replace the one from the ver .2 download. You will not get the DMD animations if you miss this step.

Also download the UltraDMD.exe and put it in the directory.

 

See UltraPeepi's post #110 http://www.vpforums....e=6#entry300174 in this thread for the download locations for these files!

Be sure all these files are installed or UltraDMD will crash when loaded!

atl90.dll

Flash.dll

libusb0.dll

UltraDMD.exe

XDMD.dll (use the ver .3 version)

XDMDNative.dll

Flash.ocx

Microsoft.DirectX.DirectDraw.dll

UltraDMD.exe

 

Then open the administrator command prompt window.

type cd\       press Enter

type cd \ultradmd      press Enter

type ultradmd.exe /i  Press enter to install the program to the windows registry.

 

An alternate way to open a Administrators Command window is to:

use file manager to select the C drive

Type c:\

type cd \windows\system32

find the CMD.exe file in the system32 directory, right click on it and select Run as Administrator.

Then you should see a new CMD window that has administrator listed in the heading. Then run the ultradmd /i registration listed above

 

When you want to use it just run the VP table that supports it and it will load the display automatically just like a regular VPM table.

 

If you click on the Ultradmd.exe file without a vp table it will load a blank window, you can right click on it to set the size color or position, then click OK or click on close to close the display.

you can drag the window to the location you want it.

 

Note: When I ran the xdmddemo.exe it would run a banner screen for pinballx and the 1 screen of text but would stop with a windows error screen. and it didn't use the  saved size and position of the working display.

Some people mentioned that the demo worked. I wonder if it is really meant to be a test of the system, but rather just a display of what it would look like, because it worked the same way even before I had the install done and working properly with VP tables.

 

Also it was interesting that at one point I could get the display window to load but got the error in VP on Line 139 like others. I tried uninstalling using the ultradmd /u command and reinstalling but got the same problem. It was only after running the command prompt as administrator that the install took properly and the VP table would load the display automatically.

 

I'm enjoying the AMH wip now it's a fun table, and l'm now also enjoying Freneticamnesic's VP10 version.

 

Thank you UltraPeepi for the Ultradmd code and Shoopity for the AMH table.

 

Hope this helps someone else..

Rich

Edited by RYSr, 11 July 2015 - 03:07 AM.

[Pinhead45]

Yeah, that worked. Thanks Rich, I've been working on this for about 2-3 days.  Now I can play some AMH!!

[hauntfreaks]

 

Hope this helps someone else..

Rich

 

 

Rich until now I couldn't get this MFer to work...lol

thank you for your explanation its works perfect now !!!

[lodger]

here was the gif i was trying to get it to recognize. it is a single-cycle gif that has the resolution of a standard dmd. Every time i tried to trigger it, the dmd just went black. If someone could attempt to trigger this in a table it would really help me to know if it was the gif itself (made in CS3) or was just user error on my part

-Lodger

[RYSr]

That's great..   glad I was able to help!  Bring out the beer and play some AMH.       

Edited by RYSr, 30 June 2015 - 08:58 PM.

[Shoopity]

here was the gif i was trying to get it to recognize. it is a single-cycle gif that has the resolution of a standard dmd. Every time i tried to trigger it, the dmd just went black. If someone could attempt to trigger this in a table it would really help me to know if it was the gif itself (made in CS3) or was just user error on my part

-Lodger

I got it to work... sort of.  I think it's the colors you're using.  XDMD may be converting most of those colors or intensities to black.  I say sort of because initially it was black, but after about... 4~5 seconds I got a frame or two of something.

 

***Edit***

Oh yeah, definitely a color thing (unless it was the way the gif was created and GIMP just happens to create it the way XDMD/UltraDMD understands it).  I threw it into GIMP, changed the mode to grayscale, saved the file again and it looks/plays just fine now.  Do you really want 200ms between each frame?

Edited by Shoopity, 29 June 2015 - 09:37 PM.

[lodger]

Thanks shoopity- the 200ms was unintentional. I was using photoshop to make the gif and as I recall i had it at 0.08 ms or so per frame. I dont do animation much so it was tricky to make sense of it

[Pinhead45]

If you guys want to enable a B2S for this, I discovered how to script it. Just add

 

Dim Controller
Set Controller = CreateObject("B2S.Server")
Controller.Run

 

On lines 29 - 31, i left line 28 blank, so after line 27 just hit enter and place the above in lines 29-31 and you're good to go. I setup a static backglass and set my backdrop to FS, it looks pretty good for an amateur.

Edited by Pinhead45, 30 June 2015 - 04:17 AM.

[UltraPeepi]

Thanks everybody for helping me / each other.  That is the strength of vpforums.  I know what it's like when some piece of documentation focuses in on what is thought to be the hard problem, but fails to consider that some people can't even get to that point.

 

This project is really a chicken and egg endeavor.  There is only so much time worth investing in a system that nobody uses; but until the project reaches a functional level, nobody will use it.

 

I think before AMH, UltraDMD was good enough for a proof of concept and a simple DMD table (working within the UltraDMD limitations).  Since AMH, and a couple of tables still in progress, the capabilities have been refined to make it a solid candidate for original table authors.  Special thanks to those authors who have been willing to take the plunge with an unproven technology.

 

 

RYSr, I believe the XDMD demo crash is related to a video codec.  I ran into the same issue when I first started playing around with XDMD.  If table authors want to use video, be careful with your selection of video encoding.  You don't want to require customers to install a special codec just to use your table.

 

 

I will work this holiday weekend to get a new release of UltraDMD which has some instrumentation, and extra error handling, to attempt to work around the real DMD crash on table exit.  If anybody with PinDMD is willing to test this weekend, please let me know (PM me).

[freneticamnesic]

Weird issue...works on my PC but on my cab, which is Win8 and had more permission issues than one would desire, I am not having great success. This is with AMH specifically, the game runs and the score (text) shows up, but none of the animations do. Other than that it works fine....I've got the AMH.ultradmd folder in my tables folder and it's set up just like my pc

[RYSr]

Weird issue...works on my PC but on my cab, which is Win8 and had more permission issues than one would desire, I am not having great success. This is with AMH specifically, the game runs and the score (text) shows up, but none of the animations do. Other than that it works fine....I've got the AMH.ultradmd folder in my tables folder and it's set up just like my pc

 

Fren,

Strange I didn't see that one.

 

Did you do an install and then switch the directory location? If so did you try uninstalling using the ultradmd /u command from the currently installed directory, then reinstall again?

 

Did you see the c:\windows\system32 prompt in the cmd windows when you ran it?  If it had c:\users\(your login name) it was not a admin cmd window.

 

You mentioned having permission issues, is your login ID a member of the windows administrators group on the Cab PC?

 

Rich

[freneticamnesic]

yea I opened cmd as admin, I mean UltraDMD works just fine, it's like it can't access the gifs so all I get is the scoring

Win8 sucked (the PC I tried to install it on this time) - to open CMD as admin I had to go to the c:\windows\system32 folder, right click on cmd and run as admin. Then I got UltraDMD.exe to register. I believe my issue is the link between UltraDMD and the gifs, so what I'll try I guess is putting XDMD installation in the Tables folder.....

I have changed ownership of all the folders to be the same so there should be no conflicts there. It's pretty bleeping frustrating, but there's a solution out there! I know someone else has the same issue on Windows 7 though so I'm sure it will come up for others once more people install

[UltraPeepi]

OK, here is a test version to try to work around the crash on table exit when using PinDMD.

https://www.dropbox....traDMD.exe?dl=0

 

Just replace your existing UltraDMD.exe with this one.  It should display a build number of 1.1.150703.

 

If, on table exit, you see a message with the following text, then we have a valid work around:

"If you are running a PinDMD, and you are seeing this on table exit..."

 

 

As for AMH animation not working, there is logging built into UltraDMD to help diagnose these kinds of "file not found" problems.

 

Right-click on the Virtual DMD.  This brings up the "Configure UltraDMD" window.  On the right side is a button "Display Error Log".  This opens the log in notepad.  If the table has a reference to an asset that does not exist, it should get logged.  It should say something like:

 

2/15/2015 11:38:06 AM file not found: Z:\Downloads\UltraDMD_TestTable\test.UltraDMD\xblack.bmp

 

 

You may be right about it being a permission issue on the folder.  I have only tested with Windows 7.  If your tables folder is under Program Files, it is more likely there will be restrictions on those folders - possibly requiring you run VP as admin.

 

Just an FYI: the sample/test table I created has the code to search for DMD assets in a folder relative to the VPT.  The table author gets to decide what relative folder that is.  I recommend that table authors name the folder with exactly the same name as the table, but with ".UltraDMD" at the end.  So my "test.vpt" looks for assets in a folder called "test.UltraDMD".  HOWEVER, it's up to the table author to decide that subfolder the assets belong.  The error log should identify assets not located where the table expects, AND it should be apparent from the log what the desire folder is (because the fully qualified path is reported in the error).

 

 

One more thing I added in this update: if you attempt to run "UltraDMD.exe /i" from a cmd prompt that does not have administrator privilege, it should pop up an error.

 

 

As soon as someone can confirm that this version works properly on table exit (when using a real DMD), I will put the update on the ultradmd.wordpress.com web site.

 

 

Thanks everybody.

Edited by UltraPeepi, 03 July 2015 - 10:41 PM.

[freneticamnesic]

No errors in the log

[randr]

No message. Crash still but closes automatically and Dmd stays on where I exit still running for 25 sec or so till crash then just stops with whatever animation Frame it was on and sticks

Edited by randr, 04 July 2015 - 01:23 AM.