1473 replies to this topic

[russdx]

ok cool, me and snotz will sort it out
thanks for letting me know

[Zablon]

The more I mess with this the more non working I find. There seem to be multiple variables as to why they aren't working correctly even if the scripts are the same. I will start a list of games and modes that seem to have issues of one type or another. As far as I've seen so far all "DMD" type games work as expected except for one (which I'll get to later). For the moment, I've went back to the previous .dll, but I'll do some testing with the newer one too.

I hope I'm not being annoying, just trying to help out, I know it's hard to test everything with just a couple of people

[russdx]

Hehe. Yeah it was only really ment to handle the dmd. All the virtual alphanumerics was an add on by request . all the Rom work local for me. There seams to be some issues with these new uvp and b2s tables. (Which I have not tested). Me n snotz are slowly working through them.

[H4CK3R]

as long as they work with the bs2 im happy... UVP is old school.....

H4CK3R

[deadsoulz]

I got mine up and working no problem so far. (Red Vishay LED) Its not mounted yet, but will get there soon. does anyone have a converted hyperpin logo I can bug you to post somewhere to use with this?

Thanks,

--DS

[kruge99]

[DMD img conversion tool]


you will need
http://get.adobe.com.../?promoid=JOPDE

then download
logoConvert.air

then load a 128x32 Gif,Png or Swf, make sure the colour palette is the same as written in the app

click Export and save the .txt file with your tables.

this image will now be displayed on your dmd between games!

this does not remove the start up firmware pinDMD logo!!!! (ill upload another version of the firmware that removes that logo)

I must be doing something wrong. Can someone point me to a tutorial that explains how to create or convert an existing image to use those palette colors? Sorry for being clueless.


Best Regards,
Todd.

[Zablon]

You can't just convert unfortunately (that I'm aware of). I found the easiest way was to take an image and copy it into a grayscale image (like 8bit) that is 128x32 and shrink it to that size. Let's just say, you won't get alot of detail.
Make a background layer that is 000000 (black) as a base for starters.
Then you have to manually edit each pixel to one of the 4 colors allowed so it is a bit of give and take you won't get awesome gradiants..(you manually choose those colors from the color palette of your paint program).
Save it as a .png (if in photoshop). You do not want to use the "save for web" feature as it will dither your colors.
Import the file into the program, then export it. Open up the text file to see if you see 0's, 1's, 2's, 3's. If you see only 0's and 3's and you used more than 000000 & FFFFFF, it didn't do it right and you probably have "other" colors in your picture.

From my testing, any other color will make it not show correctly (only on/off pixels). I had to actually go in and manually click every pixel with the colors. I found a few that were randomly off by just a hair, which messed up the whole output.

Edited by Zablon, 01 April 2012 - 10:07 PM.

[Snotz]

Zablon,

I tested Diner B2S and the current dll seems to work with it. Your current dll doesnt work with Diner specifically? Have you tried any other B2S tables? What other games have you noticed have issues?

Thanks,
Snotz

[Zablon]

Zablon,

I tested Diner B2S and the current dll seems to work with it. Your current dll doesnt work with Diner specifically? Have you tried any other B2S tables? What other games have you noticed have issues?

Thanks,
Snotz

In the DLL that Russ uploaded today, Diner didn't work from Hyperpin (with load B2S set to false) or in just VP. It does not even clear the custom logo.

I then tried Scared Stiff B2S and it still worked fine. When I switched back to the previous DLL and Diner works fine.

I also found that Cyclone B2S does not work either (in both old and new DLL). It does kill the custom logo, but no rom info ever appears.

Currently I'm on the previous DLL so I'll switch back to the new one and run through the B2S tables that I have.

One interesting thing I have found is that in Medusa, the new dll's break UVP and it just won't work at all, but you can see that the PinDMD actually flickers on occasion with the scores. I find this to be very interesting since UVP shouldn't even be passing that info to the PinDMD (as I understand it).

Anyway..there are lots of variables that I've been looking at --- I'll concentrate on just the B2S stuff for now and post my findings.

I was thinking others would post things as well just to verify if what I'm seeing is normal? (Win 7 - 64bit.)

Edited by Zablon, 01 April 2012 - 10:18 PM.

[Snotz]

Oh, thats not the case. UVP tables work perfectly fine if you dont use the ShowPinDMD control. That control doesnt work with UVP so with games that have scores on the backglass, you cant use the control to shut off the DMD so it will show in both spots.

If you add the ShowPinDMD control into the script with UVP as the controller, it will error. But, if you dont use the control UVP tables will work just fine.

But B2S tables should all work fine since the controller is still vpinmame.

As for the custom logo. If you use .ShowPinDMD = 0, the custom logo is still sent, so the logo will show, but the game will not. Did you want the custom logo to turn off too?

I'll look into Cyclone.

Edited by Snotz, 01 April 2012 - 10:44 PM.

[maxxsinner]

Russ can you please update the link in your app note 003 as the firmware link is giving a 404 error.

Just a suggestion, maybe update your first post on this thread with the firmware links, DMD image converter, dll files, etc so it's all in one place?

[kruge99]

The issue with Medusa not displaying properly, (and probably all the other tables with a segmented display on the playfield) is that perhaps Russ hasn't made room for those digits on the pinDMD display.

Russ, to fix Medusa, (and Spirit and Haunted House for example) you will have to load up the "normal" pinmame display that is output, and then examine each one to figure out how make room somewhere for those extra digits on the the pinDMD display. (or render the display without those digits without causing the display to go crazy.) I think the extra digits are making the display "scale" constantly which is making it look very weird.

(I hope I just didn't confuse the heck out of everyone)

This is a similar problem with UVP server - if the UVP backglass is made with those extra digits missing, this will cause the UVP server to crash upon exit.


Best Regards,
Todd.

p.s. I'm having a small bit of luck with my dmdlogo.txt file but it only appears once and afterwards never gets re-draw on my display.

[Zablon]

No, I understand what you are saying and what is happening, what I find intersting is that it doesn't work that way on every table. On a few tables, UVP completely breaks and on others the pinDMD works, while others it doesn't. (Just talking UVP enabled here) Maybe if there was a way to disable the PinLED when UVP is enabled might be one way to attempt it via firmware? I realize this part is low priority so no worries. **Krugge might have explained some of what I'm seeing on a few tables.

Anyway -- Here are the B2S tables I had to test (no= not working, yes = working) Note that I did not make any script changes to these tables (although I did try to add the .ShowPinDMD=1 to see if that made a difference)

Newest DLL:
Bad Cats - No
Diner - No
Cyclone - No
Flash - No ( but for this one it doesn't matter since score is on BG)
Spirit - No ( but for this one it doesn't matter since score is on BG)
Star Trek 25th - Yes
Scared Stiff - Yes
Eight Ball Deluxe - No
Circus Voltaire - Yes

Previous DLL:
Bad Cats - Yes
Diner - yes
Cyclone - No
Flash - Yes ( but for this one it doesn't matter since score is on BG)
Spirit - Yes ( but for this one it doesn't matter since score is on BG)
Star Trek 25th - Yes (does not clear the logo, writes over it)
Scared Stiff - Yes
Eight Ball Deluxe - Yes
Circus Voltaire - Yes

As you can see..it seems to only affect the alpha numeric games (which makes sense).

I would be interested to see if anyone else sees this same thing?

Edited by Zablon, 01 April 2012 - 11:22 PM.

[russdx]

We must of added Somin Tht has really upset these tables.We will try and sort Tht out asap.


As for the image convert u don't need to edit each pixel that's crazy Hehe. Ill post a how to. For converting images to the 4colour palette easily very soon

Hey maxsinner the link is correct I just haven't uploaded the firmware yet as its not quite finished yet. Next on my list

[maxxsinner]

Cheers Russ. Just thought it may have been an oversight with you being so busy

[BadBoyBill]

I wrote a small online app last night that someone asked me to write since they couldn't convert their image to the right colors.




Go to this page:
Link

Click the browse button to load an image from your computer, image must be 128 x 32. The program doesn't resize your images so you can use the resampling filters of your choice in programs like photoshop. Don't worry about the colors.

The top image is the original, the bottom is a converted image to the proper colors.
The upper sliders adjust hue, saturation, brightness and contrast, changing these settings in your image can affect the output.
The lower sliders adjust the thresholds of what colors in your image convert to the greyscale colors. The algorithm is based on perceived brightness of colors allowing for unique outputs depending on the set thresholds. These sliders are
more important than the color sliders.

The upper slider controls dark colors, the middle slider controls medium colors, the bottom slider controls light colors.

You should adjust the sliders to get your image to look the way you want.

The bottom area has the output for your txt file. Just double click in the text to highlight and you can copy the output.

If other options are needed they can easily be added.
The program supports animated swf's and outputs to multiframe txt files which are not supported by the dmd yet. But it's already there in case it happens.
You can use the frame buttons to move between frames.
The software allows for individual swf frame color adjustments per frame so you're not stuck with one look across your animation since a swf can be made up of many types of images.

Since its 4 colors there isnt much play, 8 colors might allow for more detail, but not sure if that relates to it looking any better at all on a real dmd since thats just really one color of different brights.

Just let me know if there are any bugs or requests.

Edited by BadBoyBill, 03 April 2012 - 07:24 AM.

[russdx]

That's great one note. The output text is not commer delimited ie. 0000122210000

[BadBoyBill]

np will fix tonight.

[g00se]

...Yeah it was only really ment to handle the dmd. All the virtual alphanumerics was an add on by request....

Hi Russdx,
I'm just happy it allows the use of a real dmd ---alphanumeric pins can either go B2S or stay UVP.
(it would be really cool if you could make an additional driver board that can use real alphanumeric displays!! Put me first on that list :-)

...I wrote a small online app last night that someone asked me to write since they couldn't convert their image to the right colors...

Wow, thanks!! I can't wait to try it out :-)

[ebarlow99]

PinDMD board came today....on my rare day off!!
had to try it!!! All i can say is WOW totally awesome! Great work Russ! Fired right up no problems...install was a breeze! now to read the thread and get caught up with what's new......great job again