321 replies to this topic

[DKong]

Thanks Terry, this looks great.

 

Any chance you can help me diagnose my issue with getting my DMD to show up when launching a VPX table using freezy’s dmdext? It works in VPM testing, but not when I launch a table.

[TerryRed]

 

Thanks Terry, this looks great.

 

Any chance you can help me diagnose my issue with getting my DMD to show up when launching a VPX table using freezy’s dmdext? It works in VPM testing, but not when I launch a table.

 

 

dmdext is only for FX3.

 

VPX uses dmddevice.dll and dmddevice.ini

 

 

You need to make sure your dmddevice.ini is configured correctly (this configures the VPX freezy DMD). When you launch a vpx table, make sure you press F1 (to bring up PinMAME settings) and make sure "Use external DLL" is enabled. That is what turns on Freezy's DMD for VPX. This needs to be set for EVERY table and the PinMAME default.

[gtxjoe]

What type of DMD do you have?
If you disable B2S does the DMD work?

[DKong]

My mistake. I was referring to the dmddevice.ini and dll (not dmdext). I verified they are configured correctly and have tried using the option "use VPM's registry values when positioning the virtual dmd
useregistry ="

I have tried true and false with the same result.

 

I made sure to save and exit the DMDdevice.ini and VPM Setup each time, so my changes would take affect.

 

Either way, I can see freezy's dmd working when I test from VPM Setup. However when I launch a table with the same roms tested, I can't see any DMD. 

 

I am running an LCD screen for my DMD. I get the same results as above with B2S enabled or disabled.

 

Since I can run the DMD in the correct position in VPM testing (and can run the standard orange DMD when running tables), I must be missing a step. I just don't know what it is. Maybe something in my system registry?

 

Attached are screenshots of my VPM defaults and a couple of table defaults. Also a copy of my DMDDevice.ini.

 

What am I missing?

Attached Files

•  vpinmame dedaults.PNG   33.54KB   10 downloads
•  Metallica vpinmame settings.PNG   35.14KB   11 downloads
•  ACDC vpinmame settings.PNG   38.41KB   10 downloads
•  DMDDevice.txt   1.73KB   29 downloads

[DKong]

I feel like I keep changing the same things, yet I can't seem to get freezy's dmd to load when I launch a VPX table. I change one item at a time inside dmdDevice.ini, save then reload in VPM Setup, then through VPX. I thought if the dmd loads in the correct location on my third monitor when testing with VPM Setup, it should load in the same location and monitor when running VPX. It is not doing that on my system.

 

I had this running well on my old system, but I must be missing and forgot something and here. I have re-read Freezy's instructions on his Github page and other suggestions in this thread, but I'm still not able to get the dmd to run while in VPX.

 

Can anyone help guide me through this? Thank you.

[Thalamus]

What do you mean by changing one item at the time in dmddevice.ini ? Sounds very inefficient to do.

And - yes, if it works in setup, it should work.

[adamstillman]

in your .ini file you have this

 

" use VPM's registry values when positioning the virtual dmd

useregistry = true"  

 

I may be wrong, but doesnt this say to use the registry values for the dmd and not the settings you have listed in the .ini file?

[DKong]

I have been setting up tables the past few days and have come back to Freezy's DMD program. I'm stumped and need some help. I have Freezy's files inside my VPM folder, per the installation instructions and I have configured the DMDdevice.ini inside the VPM folder. I then test several roms with VPM setup and the roms run and show up nicely on my LCD monitor. However when I run the same tables in VPX, with the same roms listed in the table scripts for those tables, I can't see the DMD. If I alt+tab, I can see a VPM rom is running, but there is not an actual DMD text/score in that window. It's also not hidden behind other windows when running VPX. I verified the correct boxes are checked when pressing F1 while tables are running, so I ruled that out.

 

Here is a link of a short video showing when I run the test in VPM setup and then run the same rom/table in VPX.

 

https://youtu.be/p13IyhMH4rI

 

I have uninstalled and reinstalled VPM, including running the install and setup each time. I have also tried installing a fresh copy of the VPX 10.5 installer. I get the same results. I had Freezy's program working great on my old system. Only now that I'm configuring a new system with upgraded parts, am I struggling to understand this.

 

I have also tried running tables using each the use registry = true and = false. I get the same result either way when running VPX.

 

Might this have something to do with my registry? If so, what can I do to fix this?

Edited by DKong, 09 August 2018 - 05:50 AM.

[Thalamus]

Just throwing it out here. Setup doesn't read screenres.txt - does it ? When running tables it is in use. Since I have a pindmd3 - I haven't had to fiddle with 3rd screen.

Edited by Thalamus, 09 August 2018 - 06:40 AM.

[gtxjoe]

What happens if you disable B2S? In VPX go to Preferences -> Keys and turn off the B2S option.

[DJRobX]

Looking at your video, it seems like something white may be obfsucating Freezy's DMD.   Try turning the "force on top" option on. 

[TerryRed]

Do you by chance have Pinup System installed?

 

If you do, alt-tab and see if you can see a window called pupDMDForm displaying and see if that is your white window. Check to see if you may have "showdmd=1" set in your dmddevicePUP.ini located in your VPinMAME folder. That setting is only meant to be enabled if you are capturing PuPCapture images from the DMD for PuP-Packs. Set it to "showdmd=0"

 

Either way you will still the pupDMDForm when alt-tabbing if you have PuP enabled. This is normal, and it may be "white" for a brief moment when loading the table, but it should go away right away. and you should have an empty pupDMDform window.

 

Otherwise, if you don't have any of that then ignore my ramblings...

Edited by TerryRed, 10 August 2018 - 01:20 AM.

[DKong]

Thanks guys, I really appreciate your help. This was a strange one.

Turning off b2s did not solve the mystery. I had Freezy's ini file set to stay on top, so that was not it either. I'm not sure about Thalamus' suggestion, but could be something there.

There wasn't any white area on the DMD, this monitor just looks more grey when viewed at an angle. I also had "showdmd=0" in my dmddevicePUP.ini.

 

What seems like what happened was the DMD location was not saving after I had set it several times in DMDdevice.ini (even though I would save before closing the file). Since the X and Y were not saving, each time I would make those changes in the DMDdevice.ini, the DMD X and Y would be so far off from where it should be (and where I had set it), I could not see it when running tables. When this happens and when I then press alt+tab, I can see a DMD window is open somewhere, but it does not show the DMD, just a blank window that has the DMD in the header.

 

After several days and reboots, this now seems to be working when running tables. I may still need to change my default VPM settings so I can see the DMD when testing as I still can't see the DMD when testing. This must be due to my using Freezy's DMDdevice.ini for my DMD settings and not the native VPM settings.

 

Anyway, thanks for the help and if I'm able to pinpoint it further, I'll update my post.

[boslaw]

Hi folks, I'm hoping someone can help me figure out why my colored roms are not working. I've patched ACDC several times but when I load the table, it opens up, then the playfield goes dark & crashes VP. DMD never shows up. 

 

when I run dmdext test, I can see colored dmd on my pindmd3 but can't get it to work with a table. 

 

Here's my log:

 

[13] 2018/10/03 23:26:14.695  INFO | Successfully loaded config from C:\Windows\system32\DmdDevice.ini. 

[13] 2018/10/03 23:26:14.714  INFO | Determined color path from VPinMAME.dll location: C:\Visual Pinball\VPinMAME\altcolor 

[13] 2018/10/03 23:26:14.714  INFO | Starting VPinMAME API through vpinballx.exe. 

[13] 2018/10/03 23:26:14.714  INFO | [vpm] Open() 

[13] 2018/10/03 23:26:14.714  INFO | [vpm] Set_4_Colors_Palette() 

[13] 2018/10/03 23:26:14.714  INFO | Setting palette to 4 colors... 

[13] 2018/10/03 23:26:14.714  INFO | [vpm] PM_GameSettings(1) 

[13] 2018/10/03 23:26:14.714  INFO | Enabling game colorization 

[13] 2018/10/03 23:26:14.714  INFO | Setting game name: acd_170hc 

[13] 2018/10/03 23:26:14.714  INFO | Setting color: #FFFF5820 

[13] 2018/10/03 23:26:14.733  INFO | Loading palette file at C:\Visual Pinball\VPinMAME\altcolor\acd_170hc\pin2dmd.pal... 

[13] 2018/10/03 23:26:14.741  WARN | [65535] Missing 720885 bytes for 65535 masks, ignoring. 

[13] 2018/10/03 23:26:14.741  INFO | Checking port COM3 for PinDMDv3... 

[13] 2018/10/03 23:26:16.059  INFO | Trusting that PinDMDv3 sits on port COM3. 

[13] 2018/10/03 23:26:16.658  INFO | Added PinDMDv3 renderer. 

[13] 2018/10/03 23:26:16.665  INFO | Transformation options: Resize=Fit, HFlip=False, VFlip=False 

[13] 2018/10/03 23:26:16.675  INFO | Just clearing palette, colorization is done by converter. 

[13] 2018/10/03 23:26:16.675  INFO | Setting up 2-bit Colored VPM Graph for 1 destination(s) 

[13] 2018/10/03 23:26:16.734  INFO | Connecting 2-Bit Colorizer to PinDMD v3 (ColoredGray2 => ColoredGray2) 

[13] 2018/10/03 23:26:16.741  INFO | Connecting 2-Bit Colorizer to PinDMD v3 (ColoredGray4 => Rgb24) 

[13] 2018/10/03 23:26:16.741  INFO | Setting up 4-bit Colored VPM Graph for 1 destination(s) 

[13] 2018/10/03 23:26:16.741  INFO | Connecting 4-Bit Colorizer to PinDMD v3 (ColoredGray2 => ColoredGray2) 

[13] 2018/10/03 23:26:16.741  INFO | Connecting 4-Bit Colorizer to PinDMD v3 (ColoredGray4 => Rgb24) 

[13] 2018/10/03 23:26:16.741  INFO | Setting up RGB24-bit VPM Graph for 1 destination(s) 

[13] 2018/10/03 23:26:16.741  INFO | Connecting VPM RGB24 Source to PinDMD v3 (Rgb24 => Rgb24) 

[13] 2018/10/03 23:26:30.551  INFO | [vpm] Close() 

[13] 2018/10/03 23:26:30.551  INFO | Closing up. 

[13] 2018/10/03 23:26:30.623  INFO | Source for 3 renderer(s) stopped. 

[13] 2018/10/03 23:26:30.623  INFO | Source for 3 renderer(s) stopped. 

[13] 2018/10/03 23:26:30.623  INFO | Source for 1 renderer(s) stopped. 

 

 

One weird thing -- my pindmd3 shows up as Com3 AND Com4 in my computer. I've tried both options with the same results.

 

I've followed all instructions to upgrade SAM, I'm using freezy's 1.7.1. I'm running Win 7, SP1, .NET 4.7.2

 

Thanks for any help

[pinmania3]

Not sure if it's right place to ask but I have a question about Metallica colors. I'm using DMD Extensions 1.7.2 with the coloring by PinballMikeD and J_M. Thre are colors but all seem weirdly off. Some examples:

 

Pink puke

 

Combo

 

Fuel

 

Sparky

 

Electric chair

 

Is it suppose to look like this or am I missing something?

[Thalamus]

1.7.2 is half way broken. Can't remember how the colors are supposed to look like exactly. But, I would consider downgrading to 1.7.1 for dmdddevice.dll

 

https://github.com/f...ions/issues/143

[Fusionwerks]

 

Hi folks, I'm hoping someone can help me figure out why my colored roms are not working. I've patched ACDC several times but when I load the table, it opens up, then the playfield goes dark & crashes VP. DMD never shows up. 

 

 

I recently got all my tables up and working, and when it came to the SAM tables, i found that they would crash unless i changed a registry setting.

 

Go to start, Search for regedit. Run regedit, Then navigate the tree to : Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Freeware\Visual PinMame\ROM NAME

Look in the list on the right and look for at91jit. Double click and change the 1 to a 0 

Close regedit, restart table and try that.

 

Hope this helps somebody, cause i struggled for a bit before i realized what was causing my crash.

1.7.2 is half way broken. Can't remember how the colors are supposed to look like exactly. But, I would consider downgrading to 1.7.1 for dmdddevice.dll

 

https://github.com/f...ions/issues/143

And i can also agree that 1.7.2 isn't quite there yet. Once i downgraded to 1.17.1 everything started working right.

[adamstillman]

Not sure if it's right place to ask but I have a question about Metallica colors. I'm using DMD Extensions 1.7.2 with the coloring by PinballMikeD and J_M. Thre are colors but all seem weirdly off. Some examples:

 

Pink puke

 

Combo

 

Fuel

 

Sparky

 

Electric chair

 

Is it suppose to look like this or am I missing something

 

yup, you got it right, thats how its supposed to look.

[CyclonePF]

I have recently switched to using color DMDs where available. I have a PinDMD v3 as my DMD, and I have downloaded the ".pal" and ".vni" files from another site and put them in my altcolor directory (after setting up my system to work with these files), all as instructed. Everything looks fantastic and it brings a whole new upgrade to those games.

 

But, I am experiencing a problem where the video mode is now too slow to play properly in those games that have color DMD files and have a video mode For example, in Getaway when trying to use the flippers to switch lanes on the DMD when playing the video mode, the lag time is way to slow to play the video mode portion properly.

 

Do others see this too? If so, is there a known fix - or do I just need to choose between having the game use a color DMD vs. having a properly functioning video mode?

Edited by CyclonePF, 03 April 2020 - 01:52 AM.

[dstott]

This is a known issue and is being worked on as a firmware upgrade:  https://github.com/f...ssues/119#issue

Edited by dstott, 03 April 2020 - 02:14 AM.