335 replies to this topic

[gauntletlover]

FutureDMD Version is available!

 

I have been working to fix up as many issues as I could thanks to all of your help!

 

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BIG UPDATE

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BAM is now fully supporting Fp-Intercept thanks to Rafal and Macro.

This means that it is fully working with FutureDMD!!!

 

1.8

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-changed shades. the darker shades were showing to bright when text was displayed due to a calculation error. it is now corrected. Looks allot better.

- you can tweak individual shades in the ini file (explained in pdf)

 

1.7b
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-fixed color loading bug that occurs when opening and closing between games. If you use the "always on" method you don't need this update.

 

1.7
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-Added manual monitor selection (screen 1, screen 2, screen 3) Select the monitor you use as your dmd and then re-size and position.

-Changed aspect ratio sizing and made some small pixel size improvements to the stretch (free sizing) option.
You should now be able to run on a resolution as low as 256x64 and have it look as good as a full hd resolution.

 

1.6B
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- rotate the dmd display to support all monitor orientations.
-reversible display for mirrored type cabinets

 

1.6

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-Total resizing system overhaul

-you can now make it any size you like!

 

1.5 d

-moved size and positioning to ini file

 

1.5 b/c

-Fixed bug preventing closing tag from working

-Fixed bug on table names less than 4 characters

-added a new 1.5 update to fix a broken ledwiz file. If you don't use ledwiz you don't need to update from the first 1.5

 

-Major Update full details in FutureDMD Setup.pdf

-Added Plugin for PinballX to display customizable game stats on FutureDMD (High Scores, Times played, Last Time Played etc.) during game navigation in the Pinballx Frontend.

-rewrote a pixel drawing routine resulting in a major performance increase.

-removed the ini file from the distribution and build it on the fly if it doesn't exist. That way you don't have to worry about accidentally overwriting your custom settings when updating. (you should back up your ini still before updating though)

 

 

1.41 Updates
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-Missed some things in 1.4 (sorry don't use 1.4)
-cleaned up a couple routines to help slower machines
-fixed default color not loading from ini file.
-added a relay to use custom colors when "always on"
-updated and added some examples in the read-me.txt

 

1.3 Updates

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-added support for PinballX. example included in the read-me.txt

 

1.2 Updates
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-correction made to the opengl32.dll for ledwiz

 

1.1 Updates
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-missing graphics on some dmd displays corrected
-graphics not resizing correctly are fixed
-overall improvement on pixel shades
-program speed improved fixing some studder issues on slower machines

 

What's new in version 1:

-Patched the bug in the beta causing a handful of non-working tables to crash(Jurassic Park, Goonies, Avatar...)

-Added FutureDMD.ini to support custom colors per table basis and default.

-Added a kill flag (close=1) you can specify in your front end when loading. Tells the dmd to shut down after the game is complete

-Removed calls to the Future Dmd.exe process. You no longer have to rename your exe.

-added example to start FutureDMD in the hyperpin AHK

Special Thanks to Macro for making some changes to fp-intercept to better support FutureDMD. Thank you for your help and support for these improvements!

 

Here is the download link from this site

http://www.vpforums....s&showfile=8222

 

YOU MAY UPLOAD OR SHARE THIS ANYWHERE SOMEONE MAY NEED IT

 

Please feel free to share any things that you need help with as well as positive experiences are always nice to hear!

Edited by gauntletlover, 14 June 2014 - 01:38 AM.

[gogo69]

wow ! DMD on third screen in FP would be killer !!!

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edit: well now v1.0 is released it actually is !! hahahahaha !

thank you very much !

Edited by gogo69, 15 July 2013 - 06:44 PM.

[gamefixer]

I had artifacting issues with FP too. But, that was because I was using the nVidia control panel to modify visual settings and had rotated the desktop 90 degrees. Were you doing either of those? I noticed that the system was more sensitive to screwing with settings when I switched to the physics 2.5 exe too.

Oh, the real DMD doesnt work for all games. Seems to mostly work on recreations of DMD games. Games that have Alpha/numeric or small DMD's like Tron Legacy dont light up the real DMD at all (at least not on my cab).

[gogo69]

artefacts like black squares ? if you mean black squares -> turn on aero in windows 7 -> reflections only work when aero is ON !

services:  themes and uxsms

(aero only works when all screens are at 32bit just as a reminder- had my 3rd screen for the DMD on 16bit color and wandered why aero is not working)

Edited by gogo69, 06 June 2013 - 02:08 PM.

[gauntletlover]

Thanks guys, I may revisit the artifact issue so I can turn on the backglass but right now I'm focused on the dmd. I can utailize a virtual dmd with it enabled as well.  Are you using fp-intercept for your real DMD Gamefixer? If so delete the 128x16 display from the Tron translite and then create a new dmd with the same name at 128x32. It needs to be a 128x32 dmd in future pinball for it to work. It works the same way on the virtual dmd beta as well.

[Toxy]

Can I get a copy of this to try on my system?, I am currently testing a 3 screen table ready for a build later in the year.

Thanks for all the hard work, this sounds awesome.

[gauntletlover]

Hey Toxy, shoot me a pm with your email and I will send you the beta sometime over the next few days. I don't want to upload it yet until a few people have confirmed its working on there machines. I am pretty confident there shouldn't be any issues but hey, that's what beta's are for 

[aupton]

I have a 3 monitor cabinet setup also that I've used for both VP and FP tables. I'd love to help test out the FP DMD on a third screen functionality if you're looking for another beta tester ? I'm using XP32 with two Nvidia GFX cards. 

[waynewhitney]

I'd like to volunteer to test this as well. It has always bothered me having a static image on my 3rd monitor while playing a FP table.

[gauntletlover]

Alrighty! The beta has been sent off!  Check you mailboxes and enjoy I will send it to you guys too (Aupton & Wayne) Just PM me an email address. I'm not putting the beta on a public download. Once it is tested I'll put it up for everyone. There are only a handful of guys testing so don't be shy. Let us know how it is working when you get a chance.

[gauntletlover]

Well I planned to give the beta to anyone who asked anyways, so you can just DL it here. Make sure post how it is working for you!

 

http://www.vpforums....s&showfile=8222

[open6l]

Initial findings.. I notice a line of pixels at the bottom of the DMD seems to be cut off. I tried a few tables (TRON Stern, Tron Legacy and Avengers) and all 3 experienced the same problem. Here is a screenshot (I'm also uploading a video).

 

 Image1.jpg   113.62KB   59 downloads

 

Great work so far though

 

quick video

 

Edited by open6l, 08 June 2013 - 02:35 AM.

[darquayle]

Open6I, It looks like you might have moved the futuredmd down too far and it is getting cut off on your screen.  Try moving it up some and see if it comes back.  You can also try resizing the dmd and/or toggle on/off the aspect ratio.

 

My initial feedback is HOLY COW!  This really works!  I haven't moved it to my cab yet but on my test PC it really does a great job.  I've tried TRON, Avatar, and Iron Man and all three of them play great.

 

One thing I did notice is that it required the LEDWIZ.DLL to be in the FuturePinball directory.  Once I found that file and copied it into my directory everything worked great.  More testing to come but really good job!

[gauntletlover]

Thanks for the video. You should be able to adjust the resize to show the bottom row. Sometimes when you disable the resizing frame it will pull in a few pixels covering part of display area. Just give yourself a few pixels room. The timing seems to look off a bit in the video. If you get a chance can you send me a screenshot of your fp settings  so I can troubleshoot?

Thanks Darquayle, It looks like you were responding at the same time. I am going to see if I can update the upload and include the ledwiz file   oop, my bad

[open6l]

another pic - moved the DMD up to the middle so you can see its not a resize issue. I'm also uploading another video (Terminator 2) showing both DMDs running simultaneously. I notice the screen doesn't constantly refresh either (as you will see in the new video in a few minutes).

 

 IMG_0164.JPG   260.82KB   41 downloads

 

The bottom DMD is the one on my backglass - the top is using the DLL.

 

Here is the second video 

 

Edited by open6l, 08 June 2013 - 03:16 AM.

[gauntletlover]

open6l. Is your Future Pinball.exe named "Future Pinball.exe" ? If so try turning it off and the re-open the dmd with Administrator privileges. It needs to be able to read that "Future Pinball.exe" is running. I'm guessing it doesn't have the correct permission to check active processes on your system. It does this check so it knows to sleep between games. I think it is trying to sleep between frames.

[open6l]

Ran as administrator - still getting the refresh issue but the bottom row of pixels has been fixed (I did a "turn on aspect ratio" and resized and it now shows the full DMD). Not sure why its blanking out between animations. I closed out FP, closed out FutureDMD and restarted it again as Administrator but it still blanks. I even moved the DMD from the 3rd screen to the 2nd screen backglass (thinking it might be a monitor issue) but it still blanked out between scenes.

 

 

 

Update: ok - you hit the nail on the head. The executable has to be named Future Pinball.exe (I'm using BAM with multiple exes named Future1Pinball.exe Future2Pinball.exe with their own exclusive registry settings). When I launched my Future Pinball.exe it worked fine. No refresh issues.

 

 

 

 

Awesome work guys!

Edited by open6l, 08 June 2013 - 03:49 AM.

[gauntletlover]

I am running a bunch of different future pinball configs right now and I can't seem to reproduce it. If I find something I will let you know. If you can pm me your system specs it will help, It could be a horsepower issue.

Oh wait.... Is you Future Pinball.exe named "Future Pinball.exe" exactly? I just renamed mine to "Future Pinball Original.exe" and ran it producing the exact same result as your video. Give that a double check.

[open6l]

yeah - I edited my post above - it was a naming issue.

 

Here is 24 running fine too

 

 

I am running a bunch of different future pinball configs right now and I can't seem to reproduce it. If I find something I will let you know. If you can pm me your system specs it will help, It could be a horsepower issue.

Oh wait.... Is you Future Pinball.exe named "Future Pinball.exe" exactly? I just renamed mine to "Future Pinball Original.exe" and ran it producing the exact same result as your video. Give that a double check.

Edited by open6l, 08 June 2013 - 04:07 AM.

[gauntletlover]

That's Great! We just saved the next guy from some grief!! Enjoy!