245 replies to this topic

[Slydog43]

I just tried out HiRez=2 and it looks awesome, thanks.  I did discover something strange though, I have 2 DMD's running, both with handles.  Does this matter  (I show 2 different DMD displays when I alt tab).

 

 

 

 

Edited by Slydog43, 06 March 2023 - 04:34 PM.

[Tesla]

I just tried out HiRez=2 and it looks awesome, thanks.  I did discover something strange though, I have 2 DMD's running, both with handles.  Does this matter  (I show 2 different DMD displays when I alt tab).

 

 

 

 

Cool. Yeah, this was my first table with FlexDMD and videos enabled.

 

This is how @Wiesshund explained it to me:

 

Heavy-Metal doesn't need use DLL or show vpm checked

as the score is both in the backglass and via FlexDMD

 

so you don't want the VPM display nor freezys DLL display

 

VPM will get you a score box you simply don't want

and enabling external DLL will result in freezys and FlexDMD fighting over control of the same display window

which will result it it either flashing back and forth, or might possibly result in 2 windows, one of which you didn't want.

 

Let me know if it's still not right and I'll document my exact settings for you.

[Slydog43]

Thanks, I unchecked Use External DMD and FlexDMD still works.  I thought you needed the external DMD to use FlexDMD/UltraDMD.  Great stuff, thanks for the information.  Love the intro song, and the movie verymuch.

[wiesshund]

Thanks, I unchecked Use External DMD and FlexDMD still works.  I thought you needed the external DMD to use FlexDMD/UltraDMD.  Great stuff, thanks for the information.  Love the intro song, and the movie verymuch.

 

Hehe, yea you probably wont want the VPM DMD at all, DLL or otherwise, unless you are one of the rare people who are playing in totally stock mode
and still want something on your DMD screen.

[Tesla]

 

OK, I tried again.

 

You are correct ... after the Extra-Ball is claimed, the (blue) "Same Player Shoots Again" does indeed light-up on the BackGlass. Also, the circular "Same Player" on the Playfield also lights. So, I guess that is good enough. I was watching for the (yellow) "Extra Ball" on the BackGlass to light also (which never does, that I saw).

 

Now I wondering if it's a "Language thing".

 

The (yellow) "Extra Ball" lit on the BackGlass ... on Ball #4 . After it drained and I went to Ball #5, it went out. I wonder if it really means "one whole ball left" ?

[wiesshund]

 

 

OK, I tried again.

 

You are correct ... after the Extra-Ball is claimed, the (blue) "Same Player Shoots Again" does indeed light-up on the BackGlass. Also, the circular "Same Player" on the Playfield also lights. So, I guess that is good enough. I was watching for the (yellow) "Extra Ball" on the BackGlass to light also (which never does, that I saw).

 

Now I wondering if it's a "Language thing".

 

The (yellow) "Extra Ball" lit on the BackGlass ... on Ball #4 . After it drained and I went to Ball #5, it went out. I wonder if it really means "one whole ball left" ?

 

 

The backkglass lamp follows the Ball Lock Bonus light labeled Extra Ball
You have to lock the ball to claim it

if you drain and dont claim it
It may well be lost

 

the ROM has it's own unique logic

other nifty things it does is, it only gives you like 1 second, after knocking down 2 drop targets on the upper of center banks, to put down the 3rd
after that it resets them on you and takes away your chance to get a bonus for putting down all 3

[Tesla]

 

 

The backkglass lamp follows the Ball Lock Bonus light labeled Extra Ball
You have to lock the ball to claim it

if you drain and dont claim it
It may well be lost

 

the ROM has it's own unique logic

other nifty things it does is, it only gives you like 1 second, after knocking down 2 drop targets on the upper of center banks, to put down the 3rd
after that it resets them on you and takes away your chance to get a bonus for putting down all 3

 

 

I'll keep watching and trying to master it ... it sometimes seems about as mysterious as the movie. 

 

Unlike some of my other 11 VPX tables, I still play yours practically every session. 

Edited by Tesla, 10 March 2023 - 05:52 AM.

[Tesla]

I'm not seeing either of these 2 issues with any of my other 18 VPX Tables, so I would like to report them here if I may.

 

VPX v10.7.2
B2S-Sever v1.4.1
PinballY v1.1.0 Beta-6 7-16-2022 (latest)

 

Issue 1:

If I start and play Heavy-Metal from PinballY, after I exit the game (and return to the Wheel) often ... the Heavy-Metal Backglass is now displayed for all games in the Wheel. Exiting and Restarting PinballY does not help. If I exit PinballY again, I can see why ... the B2S-Server is still running in Taskbar (I have to force it closed).

If I browse past Heavy-Metal in the PinballY wheel (without starting it) ... no problems.

If I start and play Heavy-Metal directly from VPX ... no problems.

 

Issue 2:

Only reporting in case it has something to do with Issue #1. After you browse to a Table in PinballY and pause there for a few seconds, it seems to look into the nvram and it displays High Scores and what-not for that table. Only this table always says this:

 

 

Issue-1 is the main problem. Even a work-around would be appreciated. I've settled on PinballY as it serves all my needs and the family "understands" it. Machine now "boots to" PinballY. I don't want to have to remove Heavy-Metal from PinballY as everyone likes playing it. 

[wiesshund]

You would have to post to pinballY or a Pinball Y topic
Chances are that no one is going to see or look here with any pinball Y knowledge and i do not use pinball Y, so no idea.

do you see this happen if you launch table to vpx directly, and then exit VPX?

If no, it may be a pinball Y config issue

[digitalarts]

Hi Tesla,
to stop all controller things at exit (b2s, Rom,...) in most tables is a sub called "table1_Exit"
In which a "Controller.Stop" do the magic on table exit.
Check what "Mode" you set in the script (line 216) because I think the sub differs in what Mode is set...(mine is Mode=3 to use FlexDMD)
And the Highscore showing in PinballY depends on, which Rom you set in Table Details... Here it is heavymtl

Edited by digitalarts, 17 March 2023 - 09:39 AM.

[Tesla]

do you see this happen if you launch table to vpx directly, and then exit VPX?

If no, it may be a pinball Y config issue

 

Not that I've seen, but it is intermittent (usually breaks but not always).

 

Possibly. But AFAIK, there is no specific configuration required for each game that would influence this behavior. Also, this Heavy-Metal table is the only table that has ever had this problem or anything like it.

[Tesla]

And the Highscore showing in PinballY depends on, which Rom you set in Table Details... Here it is heavymtl

 

I had: [Default - heavymtl]

 

I just tried: heavymtl

 

But no change in the displayed error.

So, you are saying your PinballY doesn't show "Not supported rom" error message for this table?

[Tesla]

1. to stop all controller things at exit (b2s, Rom,...) in most tables is a sub called "table1_Exit"
In which a "Controller.Stop" do the magic on table exit.

2. Check what "Mode" you set in the script (line 216) because I think the sub differs in what Mode is set...(mine is Mode=3 to use FlexDMD)

 

 

1. Understood

 

2. Yes, Mode=3 for me also since FlexDMD is very cool on this table thanks to @Wiesshund .

 

3. So, I assume you looked at the sub-routine and it looks fine to you?

 

I'm wondering if PinballY just needs to give this Table an extra second or two to close everything before returning to the Wheel. I say that because sometimes (well, rarely) it all works properly.

 

I see in PinballY/Options/Systems/Visual Pinball X ... there are some Run Before/After pairings. I will try exploring those to insert a pause. You think that might help?

Edited by Tesla, 17 March 2023 - 07:33 PM.

[Tesla]

Someone, please ... verify this looks correct (especially Mode=3 section):

 

' Table Exit - kill the DMD and stop the controller

Sub table1_Exit

SaveBGV

SaveLut

If mode=2 then

    If Not UltraDMD is Nothing Then

        If UltraDMD.IsRendering Then

            UltraDMD.CancelRendering

        End If

        UltraDMD.Uninit

        UltraDMD = NULL

    End If

Controller.Stop

End If

 

If mode=3 then

  if B2SOn Then Controller.stop

  If Not UltraDMD is Nothing Then

    If UltraDMD.IsRendering Then

      UltraDMD.CancelRendering

    End If

UltraDMD.Uninit

    UltraDMD = NULL

    FlexDMD.Run = False

  End If

End If

Controller.Games(cGameName).Settings.Value("sound")= 1

Controller.Stop

End Sub

[Tesla]

 

I see in PinballY/Options/Systems/Visual Pinball X ... there are some Run Before/After pairings. I will try exploring those to insert a pause. You think that might help?

 

 

OK, let's see if this helps ...

 

I created a wait4.bat file, containing:

 

timeout /t 4 /nobreak

 

---------------

 

I entered it at:

PinballY/Options/Systems/Visual Pinball X /Run After-1

[digitalarts]

Hi Tesla
About Highscore display in PinballY
The Frontend use pinemhi.exe to recognize the .NV files of supported roms.
Look into the PINemHi folder, you can start the exe in a console with parameter -lr to list all supported roms.
And .exe <romname>.NV to show the stored Highscore in this . NV
As you will see, heavymtl is not supported by PINemHi.
So PinballY also can't show Highscore of this Rom/table

[wiesshund]

This ROM is not supported by PinEMhi

The memory location etc of the score is unknown presently
 

[Tesla]

As you will see, heavymtl is not supported by PINemHi.
So PinballY also can't show Highscore of this Rom/table

 

Understood.

 

Out of my 23 installed Tables (of the ones that provide it) ... Star Wars (Data East 1992) is the only other one that does that so far.

OK, let's see if this helps ...

I created a wait4.bat file, containing:

timeout /t 4 /nobreak

---------------

I entered it at:

PinballY/Options/Systems/Visual Pinball X /Run After-1

 

 

This change (and no others) seems to have corrected the issue I was having.

Edited by Tesla, 20 March 2023 - 11:42 PM.

[wiesshund]

 

As you will see, heavymtl is not supported by PINemHi.
So PinballY also can't show Highscore of this Rom/table

 

Understood.

 

Out of my 23 installed Tables (of the ones that provide it) ... Star Wars (Data East 1992) is the only other one that does that so far.

OK, let's see if this helps ...

I created a wait4.bat file, containing:

timeout /t 4 /nobreak

---------------

I entered it at:

PinballY/Options/Systems/Visual Pinball X /Run After-1

 

 

This change (and no others) seems to have corrected the issue I was having.

 

 

There are a number of ROMS that PinEMhi cannot yet pull scores out of.
It is a tedious manual task for DNA to add new ones, and some ROMs are just made in a way that makes it hard to impossible.

 

Your delay working is probably a sign that that things were landing back int he front end a little faster than the system could exit the table, cleanly shut down vpinmame and cleanly get out of flexDMD

Since this table actually uses 720x404 (once considered HD) FMV with Audio, even though encoded down to WMV, it perhaps takes flexDMD longer to cleanly unload itself
than something that uses simpler media.
Especially given that game over instigates the playing the 1980's Heavy metal Infomercial.

[Tesla]

 

1. Your delay working is probably a sign that that things were landing back int he front end a little faster than the system could exit the table, cleanly shut down vpinmame and cleanly get out of flexDMD

2. Since this table actually uses 720x404 (once considered HD) FMV with Audio, even though encoded down to WMV, it perhaps takes flexDMD longer to cleanly unload itself
than something that uses simpler media.

3. Especially given that game over instigates the playing the 1980's Heavy metal Infomercial.

 

 

1. Agreed.

 

So now I wait an extra 4 seconds for ALL tables to exit and close down cleanly. It's really no bother ... let's not all be in such a hurry. 

 

2. Cool

 

3. I like the Infomercial . I also like that it says you can go get your newly released album down at the record-store.