1031 replies to this topic

[toxie]

did some tiny tweaks again yesterday, this should now be as good as it gets (and without increasing load time too much).

especially 4xSSAA now looks insanely good.

 

so again, authors, please use static objects wherever possible, especially on everything that has something metal-ish assigned to it.

[Iain1986]

Don't know if this is the place to put this but it think it is!

I'm using the new Pinup Popper (1.3.3) which now supports the new messaging from VPX to say its "ready" (awesome feature btw!).

However I *think* its sending the message out a little earlier than it is? Not sure if others have seen similar. When I load a table PinupPopper dismisses, but VPX doesn't seem to be completely ready, the playfield remains blank and my DMD doesn't display anything for maybe another 2 or 3 seconds?

I *am* using Freezy's DLL with a PinDMDv3 so not sure if thats the possible delay. Also on Win7 and not the most powerful of machines. When does VPX say its ready, when its booted up or when its finished loading the table fully?

One note tho, awesome work making upgrading so easy, always nervous upgrading things as everything can be such a house of cards it feels at time, but 10.4 -> latest 10.5 took 1 minute and worked flawlessly!

[fuzzel]

rev3417 is up:

 

- retweak/improve new static element oversampling and static object AA

- retweak AO shader

 

[DJRobX]

Don't know if this is the place to put this but it think it is!

I'm using the new Pinup Popper (1.3.3) which now supports the new messaging from VPX to say its "ready" (awesome feature btw!).

However I *think* its sending the message out a little earlier than it is? Not sure if others have seen similar. When I load a table PinupPopper dismisses, but VPX doesn't seem to be completely ready, the playfield remains blank and my DMD doesn't display anything for maybe another 2 or 3 seconds?

 

I'm looking at this problem, I see it on my own system with some tables that initialize B2S slowly.   Can't easily delay it any more than it is, it's the very last line of the table init sequence.   From what I see the table appears, but something steals focus for a while and then puts it back.   So not really a VPX problem.   Will work with David on it.  Thanks for reporting though, otherwise would have assumed it was just me.   

[DJRobX]

I committed another change for this - we found that for some reason when vpx is started with -minimized the ::SetLockForegroundWindow function doesn't take effect.   B2S then steals the focus, which is what causes you to see the desktop in Popper.    Popper later restores focus, but we shouldn't have lost it in the first place.    I now set it in a second place to ensure the lock stays in place which seems to take care of it.   

[Thalamus]

Rob, Toxie and Fuzzel. No matter how good that authors are. Without you core devs !

 

Can't thank you enough !

[Drybonz]

Hey fuzzel... what was the re-tweak on AO?  I'm asking because for a while I have had some weirdness with my ball images and had wondered if it was lighting or AO related.

[toxie]

I just used a different sampling pattern and one sample less (i.e. roughly same quality at a bit more performance). So overall there should be no change in quality/looks.

[Firepower68]

Thank you toxi and all the other guys for your hard work and contributing our hobby    

[Iain1986]

@DJRobX - Just an FYI, my setup isn't even using the -minimized parameter in the Pinup Launch Script in emulators :/ so that doesn't appear to be my issue.

Edit - Also its not that my desktop is visible, that has a grey background image. This is displaying fullscreen black on the playfield. But sometimes the desktop does flash on the backglass screen.

I tested Stranger Things SE which has ho backglass and then has the same effect, dont know if thats relevant.

Edited by Iain1986, 05 May 2018 - 05:41 PM.

[hauntfreaks]

I committed another change for this - we found that for some reason when vpx is started with -minimized the ::SetLockForegroundWindow function doesn't take effect.   B2S then steals the focus, which is what causes you to see the desktop in Popper.    Popper later restores focus, but we shouldn't have lost it in the first place.    I now set it in a second place to ensure the lock stays in place which seems to take care of it.   

 

ok for us (me) retards .... what the hell did all this mean.... I get what your saying about the desktop flashing on for a sec.... but what the hell is the fix?... what do we have to do to make it work right??

[fuzzel]

That's simple...just wait for the next revision

[DJRobX]

@DJRobX - Just an FYI, my setup isn't even using the -minimized parameter in the Pinup Launch Script in emulators :/ so that doesn't appear to be my issue.

Edit - Also its not that my desktop is visible, that has a grey background image. This is displaying fullscreen black on the playfield. But sometimes the desktop does flash on the backglass screen.

I tested Stranger Things SE which has ho backglass and then has the same effect, dont know if thats relevant.

 

I also was not using the -minimized parameter.   For me it was intermittent.   If I used -minimized in the command line, it ALWAYS had the issue.    David and I aren't 100% sure why - maybe a timing thing.    The new code I added seems to resolve it though.   As Fuzzel said, once he makes a new build you can try it out and see if it improves.  So far it's looking good in our testing. 

The BG may still flash if it takes a long time to load (the Fire! BG I have is huge, so it's pretty noticeable for example).  Not much I can do about that - VP has no idea when the B2S has finished appearing.   So, that is out of scope for this thread.   

[Drybonz]

I just used a different sampling pattern and one sample less (i.e. roughly same quality at a bit more performance). So overall there should be no change in quality/looks.

 

Thanks, toxie... this is an minor issue I have had for a while... I actually thought maybe you were fixing it in some way with the AO changes.  I had made a thread about it over at randr's place.  Some kind of lighting or contrast issue causing white streaks or artifacts on the ball images... but I have had this for a while.

[Pin-Pete]

Gottlieb Totem. Vari target does not reply.

Edited by Pin-Pete, 05 May 2018 - 09:57 PM.

[wrd1972]

Devs,

New feature request.

 

If I select an object that's part of a collection, and that collection is marked "group". If I then select that object and move or scale it, I inadvertently move all of the other objects in that collection. If you happened to be zoomed in close, you dont notice the other grouped objects being inadvertently, moved. I can also confidently say, that others are likely make this mistake as well.  But when this happens, it just screws things up especially if you dont notice it.

 

Is there anything that can be done for when you select a "grouped" object to either scale or move it, a little message appears or some other indicator appears that tells you that your getting ready to move or scale all of the grouped objects? Would it also be able to be able to "group" or "un-group" the objects via a right click menu thereby avoiding having to go to table, collections, collection etc?

 

Hope that makes sense.

Thanks

[jpsalas]

Devs,

New feature request.

 

If I select an object that's part of a collection, and that collection is marked "group". If I then select that object and move or scale it, I inadvertently move all of the other objects in that collection. If you happened to be zoomed in close, you dont notice the other grouped objects being inadvertently, moved. I can also confidently say, that others are likely make this mistake as well.  But when this happens, it just screws things up especially if you dont notice it.

 

Is there anything that can be done for when you select a "grouped" object to either scale or move it, a little message appears or some other indicator appears that tells you that your getting ready to move or scale all of the grouped objects? Would it also be able to be able to "group" or "un-group" the objects via a right click menu thereby avoiding having to go to table, collections, collection etc?

 

Hope that makes sense.

Thanks

 

What I do is to never groups the objects while editing. Only when the table is finished, then you may group the objects to speed up rendering the table. This is mostly for the dynamic objects and lights.

[fuzzel]

Regarding movement of objects: wether the objects are grouped or not I could add a move mode. Something like in blender where you have to press g first to enter the movement mode and then you're able to move things around. If not in that mode nothing will happen when you click/drag an object.
And for the grouping feature: if I add more or less all features in the context menu that is in the collection manager the manager would be obsolete and the context menu would be flooded with items. And believe me that won't help at all

[sliderpoint]

I'm with JP.  I just don't have the "group" option checked in the collection manager.  Then you don't accidentally do that.  If I do want to select the collection, I just use the select drop down.

-Mike

[hauntfreaks]

isn't it as easy as shift click move a single object... its what i do

I'm still looking for shift + click move object alone and axis.....

like if you copy and past a light, do a flip X... then if you shift + click move it can be dragged into the exact place to the left or right of the original