93 replies to this topic

[HiRez00]

Got 2 questions:

 

1.) Is there a way to get an Ultra DMD image to play on a real PinDMD3 screen?

 

2.) If I am playing a table that DOESN'T use the DMD at all like an EM, is there a way to display an image on the DMD screen so it isn't blank?

 

Please advise.

[32assassin]

2.  their are multiple DMD image and a few default video packs available for download.  it all depends on what frontend you are using.

 

if you are using pinballx,

all you have to do is

find an image you like ( I ran a Photoshop script that set my wheel images on a black canvas and resized them to fit the RGB panel DMD dimensions)

you can also make or use the default PinballX video

 

after you have an image go to your XML (or pinballx game manager) and set the 

"Hide DMD"  to false.

		<hidedmd>False</hidedmd>

when you load a table,  the image/video displayed on the DMD will be visible wile you play your table.

 

 

you can do something similar with the Pinup front end.

[HiRez00]

Very cool, 32.

Thanks for the info.

Do you happen to know the rgb panel dimensions for a pindmd3 and what file format I save as? PNG, Gif?

[32assassin]

I don't know the dimensions of the piindmd3,   

 

and the format can be anything your front end supports.

 

try my Monday night football image and see how it looks

 

its small 128x32 px

 

 Monday Night Football (Data East 1989).png   9.36KB   7 downloads

 

 

if it fits make all your images the same size, if not you will need to adjust it.

Edited by 32assassin, 14 June 2018 - 07:12 PM.

[Thalamus]

32assassins is correct. The pindmd3 is 128x32. You can get the UltraDMD to display inside Pindmd3 by replacing xdmd and xdmd-native dll.

Note though. There is a drawback. Eg. I can't write my highscores initials for a few of the originals. The only one I know that was able to fix that was ScottyWic. It used not to work on the earlier versions of the "old" Stranger Things table. He worked it out with me in the end.

 

Update in 2020 : With flexdmd -  this issue is gone.

Edited by Thalamus, 02 April 2020 - 05:20 AM.

[HiRez00]

32assassin,

 

Unfortunately it didn't work at all. In fact, NO image will work.

 

In PinballX, for a particular table, I loaded the image as Real DMD and DMD in the table settings, made sure Hide DMD was not checked and it says "false" in the xml.

 

Still nothing.

 

Don't know if this makes a difference, but the only things I generally load in Pinball X is the table and the wheel image. I also have auto configure (I think that is the setting) off because the key commands were over-riding Visual Pinball X, etc.

 

On the display settings (which I think is the 2nd page of setting) I have the section where it says DMD set to NO because I think that setting want to stick the DMD on screen 3. I tried turning it ON and that didn't work either.

 

Am I missing a setting somewhere?

32assassins is correct. The pindmd3 is 128x32. You can get the UltraDMD to display inside Pindmd3 by replacing xdmd and xdmd-native dll.

Note though. There is a drawback. Eg. I can't write my highscores initials for a few of the originals. The only one I know that was able to fix that was ScottyWic. It used not to work on the earlier versions of the "old" Stranger Things table. He worked it out with me in the end.

 

And what do I replace "xdmd and xdmd-native dl" with?

[Thalamus]

http://vpinball.com/...-dmddevice-dll/

 

I know that newer xdmd and xdmd-native where posted inside pinballx forum not that long time ago. And Lucky1 has probably compiled newer ones. But, I haven't tried any of these. Why change something that works ?

 

The dmd images files need to be named just as your table and I have them inside "Read DMD Color Images". But, I don't display them during gameplay - only during browsing through the tables. Or if you want videos ... inside the "Read DMD Color Videos" folder.

[HiRez00]

 

The dmd images files need to be named just as your table and I have them inside "Read DMD Color Images". But, I don't display them during gameplay - only during browsing through the tables. Or if you want videos ... inside the "Read DMD Color Videos" folder.

 

 

Nope. Still doesn't work.

 

Check the names and the folders with no luck. Does it matter I am loading an EM table with no roms?

[32assassin]

just like your wheel image, backglass image/video,   playfield  image/video,   everything needs to be named the same as what you have in your XML  regardless if its an EM or Solid State table.

[HiRez00]

Nope. Still Doesn't work.

 

Table name: Airport (Gottlieb 1969).vpx

Real DMD Color Image name: Airport (Gottlieb 1969).png

 

Interesting enough, I went through the other folder in PinballX/Media and renames Road Kings and Big Game flv videos to exactly the same name as the tables name for those 2 games and the video plays on the playfield on during pinball x navigation no problem.

 

But the situation with the DMD is still blank on any game I put an image to like an EM table. The DMD starts up fine when running a game that uses the DMD when playing the game, but it's blank the whole time while using pinball X navigation ... start the game up in Pinball X, the dmd for games with DMD work fine.

 

I'm at a loss.

[Thalamus]

Ups. I mean to say what 32 just did. XML name is important part. Here is an example entry. It will show you a image if it is named "VPX__Abra_Ca_Dabra__EM__1975__Gottlieb.png" and are in the mentioned image folder. If there exists eg "VPX__Abra_Ca_Dabra__EM__1975__Gottlieb.mp4" it will take that before it uses the image. (priority to the video)

 

The table here is "Abra Ca Dabra (Gottlie 1975).vpx". But media files is controlled for me by description.

 

  <game name="Abra Ca Dabra (Gottlieb 1975)">
    <description>VPX__Abra_Ca_Dabra__EM__1975__Gottlieb</description>
    <rom></rom>
    <manufacturer>Gottlieb</manufacturer>
    <year>1975</year>
    <type>EM</type>
    <hidedmd>False</hidedmd>
    <hidetopper>True</hidetopper>
    <hidebackglass>True</hidebackglass>
    <enabled>True</enabled>
    <rating>1</rating>
  </game>
 

Edited by Thalamus, 14 June 2018 - 08:34 PM.

[HiRez00]

Thalamus,

 

That's exact what I did. Just with "Airport (Gottlieb 1969)".

 

Both the Game name and description names are the same in this case.

 

For some strange reason, PinballX isn't "talking" to my DMD.

 

Is there a dll, exe, plugin or driver I am missing in my PinballX folder that tells PinballX to communicate with the DMD?

[Thalamus]

Yes. You need to read my guide once more. If you want pinballx to talk to your pindmd3 via the "not so new anymore" dmddevice.dll you have to change out the xdmd and xdmd-native dll inside pinballx folder. For UltraDMD - you have to replace them too. Read my post carefully. All steps need to be done. If you have a pindmd.dll inside pinmame - you have to take care of that one too.

Edited by Thalamus, 14 June 2018 - 08:50 PM.

[HiRez00]

What a mess. Thalamus, see PM.

[Thalamus]

For the future. PM isn't very useful for people that struggle with the same

[HiRez00]

Ok. We can resume this conversation here. I was under the impression that with all the versions of DMDs that keep getting flagged in open posts, I didn't want anyone to get in trouble over it.
 
Plus I didn't think anyone would want to read all my "rants".
 
Here's an update.
 
If I do ANYTHING (rename, replace, etc) XDMD.dll or XDMD-Native.dll in PinballX, then PInballX becomes disabled and wont load at all. Even the icon turns grey and trying to open it regular or administrator does nothing.
 
When I put the XDMD.dll and XDMD-Native.dlll files back, PInballX opens again.
 
When I disable PinDMD.dll, I go NO IMAGE in PinballX on the DMD, but the tables load fine.
 
When I restore PinDMD.dll, I get the nice animating PinballX logo, but when I load a table, the PinballX logos stays. When I open a table with an UltraDMD, I get an error saying "No PinDMD3 found".
 
For some ridiculous reason, PinballX doesn't know I am using a realDMD (PinDMD3) and if PinDMD.dll is enabled, it doesn't shut off and let VpinMame take over.
 
The whole point of my original posting was to be able to pin an image on the DMD in pinballx and make specific images for EM tables that would stay there when playing non-rom / non-DMD games.
 
There has to be a setting in PinballX that TELLS PinballX to look for a real DMD and to NOT use PinDMD.dll that I must be missing. Or there is a serious bug that PinballX just takes over the DMD forever??!?!??

Ive followed every tutorial to a T and just cant get it to work properly.
 
FYI:
 
Running: PinballX 3.04, Pinmame 3.0, VPX 10.4, Windows 10

Edited by HiRez00, 15 June 2018 - 07:01 PM.

[HiRez00]

RESOLVED - THANK GOD!!!!
 
After a lot of hair loss, tears, angry outbursts, a beating from my wife, and a ton of reading just about every single thread on the subject here ... I actually found the solution on "another website".
 
Here's was the problem (not to contradict anything anyone suggested previously) so if someone else has this problem, they have the solution:
 
1.) Pinball X has restructured the way it works. You HAVE to have PinDMD.dll active for any graphic or image to show up  in the DMD. Why it was done this way, I don't know ...
 
2.) According to a posting in the support section of the makers / distributors of PinballX, in the newer versions, the "Hide DMD" option in the game settings means "Do you want to hide the DMD image when you are LEAVING PinballX to open say Virtual Pinball."
If 'Hide DMD' is set to FALSE, the PinballX animation will STAY ON THE DMD when you start the table. If the table has its own DMD, PinballX has over-ridden the DMD and the DMD for the game doesn't show up. This is fine for games that DON'T use the DMD like EM tables.
 
3.) If you set 'Hide DMD' setting to TRUE, when when you are in PinballX, you see whatever graphic or video you have set to that particular game, but when you start a table, the image / video will turn off (Hide it) and the actual game DMD will show up.
 
This had absolutely nothing to do with upgrades, DLLs, etc, it is a setting PinballX makers reversed in newer versions. So the advice I got before was correct for earlier versions, but not correct for newer versions. I was basically looking in completely the wrong place.
 
Thanks to Thalamus, and 32assassin for the initial assistance.
 
BTW: I am using PinballX 3.04 which is the newest version, which I actually really like because it has a great new feature called 'Favorites List' which means you can create a list of your favorite tables within the PinballX emulator and not have to even touch an XML file to make a favorites list. If you have a favorite table, click 1 button and it has been saved to a favorites list you can pull up at any time.
 
The other nice things with version 3.04 is that previous, a lot of mp4 videos crashed Pinball X. This seems to be resolved now.
 
Hope this info helps someone else because I wish I knew all this before I went ripping through every upgrade for each program to try and resolve this issue.

If you found this useful ... leave a comment below.

Edited by HiRez00, 16 June 2018 - 02:13 AM.

[randr]

Link to the fix would be helpful for the next poor s.o.b that is having the same issue and reading this thread. Was it in Pinballx forums? Or?

[HiRez00]

I thought th link would be blocked here due to [Copyright Infringement].

So I re-wrote EXACTLY the text that was written in the explaination on the other site plus my own explanation in order to avoid [Copyright Infringement] tags from showing up here.

Its a setting, not a patch or download.

Yes to answer your question. Pinball X forum, but used an odd title which is why I couldnt find it in a google search originally.

Edited by HiRez00, 16 June 2018 - 03:55 AM.

[Thalamus]

Happy to hear that you resolved it.