1353 replies to this topic

[toxie]

Will do.. And add a check for backwards compatibility..

[toxie]

Turns out i'm too stupid to add this with the required automatic backwards compatibility, so could some of the VBS wizards try to figure that out?

(PinMAMEinterval should be 10 if VPBuildVersion >= 10000, otherwise it should be 1. But one cannot just code it as simple like that unfortunately)

[arngrim]

Const zy = 10000

 

If zy >= 9999 Then

msgbox("1")

Else

msgbox(z)

End If

 

depends what type is bpbuildversion perhaps, why is there a dependancy with the buildversion?

[toxie]

As said, its not that simple. Maybe i can figure something simple out though.

The dependency is there, as old VP9/VP8 tables should still get 1, same as it was before.

[arngrim]

my code didn't help?

[toxie]

no.. 

the problem here is that one cannot init the constant properly as it relies on the version which is passed in via COM from VP. and it is also used in the table scripts, too, not just in the core.vbs.

but i think/hope i have a simple solution now, lets see.

[doogie2301]

>had an empty value for the file name, like "\.directb2s"

 

I had exactly the same problem. Also mainly the same tables as described above. New, modern, big tables.

All worked fine directly from VPX, failed from PinballX. All worked without fullscreen.

 

If I tried from VPX and THEN directly from PinballX it always works, but other tables fails. Always the last played table in VPX also worked in PinballX. So I thought it is something with Registry or so.

 

I renamed the tables and backglass, to simple names like "monster". Only lowercase, only characters, 8 char or less, good old DOS rules. Did not helped always.

I opened the direct2bs files (they are in fact XML) and entered there the same names. Helped with some, not with all.

I entered the ROM names. Helped with some more.

 

Sometimes I thought it was just that, then it failed with the next table again.

 

It was more trial&error mixed with magic as real fixing.

 

Because of Registry difference (comparing after launching directly from VPX and comparing with PinballX) I tried to launch PinballX as admin. That helped! But I always got that stupid admin dialog. So I removed the flag again - and it still worked. No idea why.

 

at least, at the end all tables worked except Lord of the Rings. I used an older, smaller backglass and now also that works. Currently all tables works for me... Happy again. Needed 4 weeks.

 

It is a combination of large tables and large backglass, launched from Pinballx and not directly.

btw, it is an i5 with 8 GB Ram, Windows 10, 2 screens + DMD.

 

So for all frustrated with the same issue: sorry, no clear help, but at least, you are not alone. And it seems to be solveable, don't give up.

Be careful, it could be several issues at the same time. Once i installed a new Elvira and that also failed, which always worked before. I needed a while to see I had a typo in the name, so table/backglass had different names and it was normal that this failed. But if you are already frustrated, you might miss that easy.

Every time when I thought I found the reason, the same trick failed with another table. But table by table, more and more worked, so don't give up.

 

I think it was worth the time. I had so much stutter before, was close to spend a fortune and purchase a 1080 card, just to be able to play without that stutter. Now (I have a 970) everything is fine, fast, super.

 

Fullscreen mode is great, thousand thanks to the developers!

 

Thanks, but I was hoping to take a more scientific approach.  Normally if the directB2s file is not named properly, the error message will include the name of the table file when it finally fails to locate it, like "c:\vp\tables\Sopranos.directb2s".  Does anyone know where the code is that determines the filename and when it executes?  Maybe if we look at that, we can figure out under what condition it would come up with an empty filename, like "c:\vp\tables\.directb2s", which is what is currently happening in this scenario.

[fuzzel]

Please stay on topic here. This isn't a support thread...

[arngrim]

i do that, seems to work

 

Dim PinMameInterval

If VPBuildVersion >= 10000 Then

PinMameInterval = 10

Else

PinMameInterval = 1

End If

[toxie]

True, thanks.. I'm just extremely stupid, as it turned out..

[unclewilly]

everytime i try to select text in the script editor with the mouse,  i get a crash.

[Drybonz]

I get similar crashes in the editor while selecting items. Reported it a couple pages back.

- edit... Sorry. Just re-read. The crashes I get are while selecting objects on the table in the editor.

Edited by Drybonz, 23 August 2016 - 11:39 PM.

[fuzzel]

Crash dumps anyone?

[unclewilly]

Where is the crash dump saved?

[fuzzel]

Normally in that folder where you loaded the table from
A crash dump consists of two files crash.dmp and crash.txt. Sometimes a dmp file can't be created but a crash.txt should always be saved.

[unclewilly]

I'll upload it when i get home from work

[unclewilly]

I have 2 questions.
If i have been building a table using the beta, but haven't used any of the new features, will it still be playable in the regular vpx release?

The second question is about the day/night slider. I know there is a feature that allows the slider to be adjusted with the pc's clock so at night the tables are dark and during the day they are bright. What range on the slider are those values adjusted too. Like how far in either direction does the slider get adjusted?

The reason I'm asking is this.
With my current bad cats wip. All of my textures are normal brightness from photos or redraws. I don't darken anything like in vp9. When the slider is pegged to the right. Everything looks way over exposed kind of like if the table was sitting directly under the sun at noon in your back yard.
I'm using code that checks the slider position upon table init and adjusts the intensity of insert lights, gi lights and flashers based on a percentage of the position of the slider. So how i have it now if the slider is pegged to the right none of the lights will even light. So if the auto slider function actually makes it all the way to the right i need to adjust my code so if pegged to the right the lights will still show a slight intensity.

Although honestly i don't see why anyone would even want to play a table with the slider much past the mid point of the slider on the right side

Thanks for any info

And thanks again for all your hard work on the software

[fuzzel]

Q1: tables built with 10.2 beta should be playable with 10.1 not with 10.0 if you don't use 10.2 features. If we are close to a 10.2 release we will change the file format version again so if you save a table (even a 10.1 table) with 10.2 you can't load it with 10.1 without getting a warning message.

 

Q2: this is actually a scaling factor between 0-100% so if the slider is completely on the right side it is set 100% that means that the Light Emission Scale (defined in the light sources property of the table) is fully applied to the light/brightness calculation. If you set the slider to 100% and everything is over exposed then your emission scale factor is too high. I would recommend to build a table with the slider at 100% and tweak everything until the tables looks natural (like in a bright room) and then dim it down by adjusting the slider to the left.

Edited by fuzzel, 24 August 2016 - 01:15 PM.

[toxie]

A tiny bit more info about the correlation with the automatic day night slider: its a mixture of science and magic.

The science part being that it relies on the position on earth and the date/time, and then approximates the radiation from sun hitting earth at that point. The magic part in addition takes into account that shorter days imply things like "the weather is more on the cloudy/rainy side of things" for most populated parts on earth, so shorter days = more dark.

So this means that in practice the slider will almost never reach very far to the right, so with the automatic setting you won't get the "standing in the middle of a desert in summer at noon" part, but really something reasonable. So do not worry too much about the extreme setting, but more that it looks okay in the first 3/4th parts of the slider or so.

 

Note that you can also see the percentage of the slider when you press F11 during gameplay, so if you like you can even test different times/days on your own to get a feeling what the slider percentage is like in reality.

[sliderpoint]

Couple random editor crashes for me as well.  Here is the last one:  DUMP

 

-Mike