1622 replies to this topic

[gtxjoe]

I am also on Windows 7 and I used the all-in-installer. (It installs DX9 for you)

Edited by gtxjoe, 16 March 2019 - 03:46 PM.

[DreamTrap]

can't use it don't have internet on the cabinet it tries to download it.

[Thalamus]

Then you have to download it on to a usb drive or something. Same method as you use to get your tables over to the machine.

[Brer Frog]

Same here, Windows 7 and I used the all-in-installer for VPX.

[Thalamus]

@mjr : I want to report back on you 1.7.1 version of dmddevice. Currently it is the best alternative for me at least being a PinDMD3 owner. So thank very much once again for that.

 

For PBY. I have kind of two things that PBX can do, that I'm struggling with.

 

I have table sound/music recorder for all table in PBX. And there is option to set the volume. My recordings does have a decent volume to them, but, I have a option to turn that volume to a set percentage. I believe it is 20% or so. I haven't found anywhere this can be set in PBY ? I have PinVol - I could use that. But, it will be forgotten and my wife was not happy when I started PBY just recently and forgot about the 100% volume.

 

My worst problem though is a bit odd. In PBX I display table videos in the dmd while browsing. This works in PBY too, but, Freezy' virtual dmd is also shown and I can't  seem to make it go away. For some odd reason it also gives me a distorted, almost like squeaky sounds. I can take the mouse and select freezy' virtual DMD, then the sound disappears. That of course kind of disables PBY though, since it is not active anymore. So, I'm stuck.

 

My RealDMD is currently set to always on. Any ideas ?

Edited by Thalamus, 17 March 2019 - 08:30 PM.

[mjr]

I have table sound/music recorder for all table in PBX. And there is option to set the volume. My recordings does have a decent volume to them, but, I have a option to turn that volume to a set percentage. I believe it is 20% or so. I haven't found anywhere this can be set in PBY ? I have PinVol - I could use that. But, it will be forgotten and my wife was not happy when I started PBY just recently and forgot about the 100% volume.

 

Did you want to set the volume globally for all of PinballY, or just for certain tables?

If you want a global setting, I'd go with PinVol.  I'm not sure what you mean by "it will be forgotten" - do you mean you might forget to start it up sometimes?   You could always set it to start automatically when you start the system - use a Startup shortcut or a Task Scheduler "at log on" task.

 

If you want per-table settings, if you've updated to the Beta 8, try Game Setup > Adjust Audio Volume.  That'll let you set a reduced volume level for each table's videos.  (This isn't ideal if you want a "global" setting, since you'd have to tediously apply it to every table.  That's what I meant about PinVol being better for a global setting for all of PinballY.)

 

 

My worst problem though is a bit odd. In PBX I display table videos in the dmd while browsing. This works in PBY too, but, Freezy' virtual dmd is also shown and I can't  seem to make it go away. For some odd reason it also gives me a distorted, almost like squeaky sounds. I can take the mouse and select freezy' virtual DMD, then the sound disappears. That of course kind of disables PBY though, since it is not active anymore. So, I'm stuck.

 

My RealDMD is currently set to always on. Any ideas ?

 

Hmm, no idea where the distorted/squeaky sounds are coming from.  DmdDevice.dll doesn't have any interface for audio at all, so I don't think it can be coming from there.

 

Did you want to get rid of Freezy's virtual DMD window entirely?  That can be done - you just need to edit the DmdDevice.ini config file and make sure it says:

 

[virtualdmd]

enabled = false

 

I doubt that'll help with the squeaky noise, but it'll at least get rid of the unwanted window (if indeed you don't want that window).

 

I'm thinking the squeaky noise must just be coming from PinballY playback of one of your videos.  Any chance it's just the recorded soundtrack of one of those videos?  PBY plays back all of the audio tracks, so maybe one of them has an audio track that was being muted in PBX.  Have you tried playing each video in a regular video player to see if any of them has the problematic soundtrack?  The standalone VLC Player would be a good way to test, since it uses the same codecs as PBY.

Edited by mjr, 17 March 2019 - 08:53 PM.

[Thalamus]

There is no recorded sound on any of my videos. I've used gtxjoe's pbxrecoder for all playfield videos. That doesn't have any sound capture feature. And the videos I'm talking about in the real-dmd is a sequence of png that I've written code for to make avi from via ffmpeg.

 

I agree. It is very odd that I do get that irritating sound. And, none of my dmddevice.ini files have virtual = true. I did not find any inside PBY, so I guess you are reading the one in VPinmame. Doesn't matter really which one. All has that setting. It used to be that dmddevice did look for *.ini inside same folder as the dll. I believe now, location can be controlled by ENV, just haven't implemented this. I just double verified that all those copies have virtualdmd = false.

 

I noticed something else. I could right click on playfield and ask for dmd to be shown. Then I do get PinballY up, once that happens, sound changes, but is still there, just like for Freezy's virtual DMD. So, it seems like the sound is related to a DMD over any of the screens. Playfield or Backglass. Odd - very odd. I should try next to disable realdmd and ask for your dmd to be shown.

 

If it was sound coming from any of my videos. I would hear the same in PBX. PBY is setup to re-use my PBX collection. I haven't started to capture yet via PBY.

 

The volume, yes, I would prefer that to have a global volume setting just like PBX has. PinVol is already tuned for Night and Daytime. Take this example. It is now night over here. I want to play right now. PBY is much louder than I want for browsing. I would have to adjut PinVol global night volume before starting. Once there I find my game. Now my global night is lower than what I want. Damn, ok - adjust up. So, hmm. What do I have to remember before exiting table ? Lower PinVol global again. No thank you - I've been married 15 years, have plans for that to stay a few years more

Edited by Thalamus, 17 March 2019 - 10:01 PM.

[mjr]

And, none of my dmddevice.ini files have virtual = true. I did not find any inside PBY, so I guess you are reading the one in VPinmame. Doesn't matter really which one. All has that setting. It used to be that dmddevice did look for *.ini inside same folder as the dll. I believe now, location can be controlled by ENV. I just double verified this.

 

I think you have to explicitly set enabled = false for to hide the virtual DMD.  I think it's always on by default.  Let's see... yep, that's the default in the code.  So if you don't have a .ini file or it's looking in the wrong place for the .ini file, that should explain why it's showing the virtual window.

 

 

There is no recorded sound on any of my videos. I've used gtxjoe's pbxrecoder for all playfield videos. That doesn't have any sound capture feature. And the videos I'm talking about in the real-dmd is a sequence of png that I've written code for to make avi from via ffmpeg.

 

It might still be worth trying playback of that in standalone VLC Player, just to absolutely rule that out.  Maybe there's a bug in the VLC codec that's making it misinterpret a non-soundtrack as random sound data or something.  From your description I could believe it's a codec problem - non-soundtrack that someone is misinterpreting as soundtrack data.

 

 

If it was sound coming from any of my videos. I would hear the same in PBX. 

 

Well, most likely true, but not necessarily - I'm not sure if PBX tries to play audio from every video, for example, and of course the codecs are different.  If it's a bug in one of the codecs I'm using, you wouldn't see the same results in PBX.  You'd be more likely to see the same results in VLC Player, since that uses the same codecs (modulo version).

 

 

The volume, yes, I would prefer that to have a global volume setting just like PBX has. PinVol is already tuned for Night and Daytime. Take this example. It is now night over here. I want to play right now. PBY is much louder than I want for browsing. I would have to adjut PinVol global night volume before starting. Once there I find my game. Now my global night is lower than what I want. Damn, ok - adjust up. So, hmm. What do I have to remember before exiting table ? Lower PinVol global again. No thank you - I've been married 15 years, have plans for that to stay a few years more

 

I take your point, but I'm still not sure I understand why PinVol doesn't work for you.  PinballY counts as a separate program in PinVol, so you can set its "local" volume in PinVol, right?  What I'm not getting is how it would be different if PinballY had its own separate "local" volume setting.

 

I think you have a specific solution in mind here, so maybe you could walk me through the steps of exactly what you're looking for?  I'd be happy to add something if it makes sense; I just can't quite picture what you have in mind yet.

[Thalamus]

Update : Hmm. It seems that the sound come with any image over playfield ( I don't have anything over backglass ) - that being Wheel images, and general info. It is worst though when Freezy is there. The sound starts instantly on load-up. Splash image, and general wheel and info. I then tried to turn off Freezy and just when it disabled it, it was quiet for a brief time, then started again. Going the other way. Turning it to always on, there is a short break of silence. Not as long as then I'm turning it off.

 

While flicking through the tables I can hear almost the same as when I turned on Freezy again from being off. It is small breaks of quietness.

 

I know that this isn't going to be easy to solve, and probably not worth trying to figure out if I'm the only one experiencing it.

Ok. Just read your reply as I was writing my last stuff and I updated my previous a bit, probably while you where replying. I'm going to try your suggestion right away. Who knows. I never thought as far as to codec's and other differences.

[Thalamus]

Again. You're perfectly right. Made a softlink in pinbally folder to dmddevice.ini in vpinmame and Freezy is gone. Good riddance. Still that irritating sound though, but, not as bad now that Freezy is gone. ( one less object I guess ). I don't know how to test your vlc codes. I tried with the regular that I've got installed because of Popper ( 2.8.2 32bit ). Took a random playfield video and ran it without any issues.

 

I don't know. I don't play with a frontend every day. I don't even auto start pinvol automatic either. You can wonder why, and I can't give you a good answer I guess. It is just very convenient to know that my frontend, when started isn't going to be a 100% volume if I forget to start PinVol.

Edited by Thalamus, 17 March 2019 - 10:50 PM.

[mjr]

Again. You're perfectly right. Made a softlink in pinbally folder to dmddevice.ini in vpinmame and Freezy is gone. Good riddance. Still that irritating sound though, but, not as bad now that Freezy is gone. ( one less object I guess ). I don't know how to test your vlc codes. I tried with the regular that I've got installed because of Popper ( 2.8.2 32bit ). Took a random playfield video and ran it without any issues.

 

Glad the virtual DMD part of it is solved, at least!

 

If you can isolate it to a particular video/image/whatever file, send me a copy and I'll give it a try.  I'd say at this point your best bet is process of elimination - get rid of one file at a time until it goes away.  Then you should know which file it is.  Assuming it's a particular file, at least - I'm assuming this doesn't happen if no videos are playing at all.

[Thalamus]

I will continue my search tomorrow. You know, we're not on the same continent

I see your point, and I can of course disable all elements one by one. Wheel, info etc. The sound starts exactly at the same moment that the display comes on. It would be a good idea to strip it down as much as possible. Rename some playfields and backglasses sounds like a viable way next.

 

Thank you once again for all that you do for us. I'll report back soon. G'night !

[Thalamus]

Guess I unintentionally lied saying I was going to bed. I decided to stop by the pin once more before heading to bed. After disabling all kinds of images and videos, even your default ones I noticed that it was related to playfield monitor only and that it only happend when the playfield was populated with a image or video of any kind. The menus would kind of give a noise from them depending on their size if Playfield had some kind of media. Smaller images, slightly higher in pitch than larger ones. So, I though. Ok, that is something to report tomorrow at least. Quickly browsed through the end of the config because I knew that there where some settings there related to the screens. I found one that looked interesting - vsynclock, turned that to on, and that fixed it. I have a 4k monitor if that makes sense to you.

 

So, that means. I finally have no issues anymore that prevents me from using PBY. Except maybe .... cough ... fixed volume ... cough.

[mjr]

I found one that looked interesting - vsynclock, turned that to on, and that fixed it. I have a 4k monitor if that makes sense to you.

 

Aha.  It must have been EMI noise from the video card being picked up somewhere on the audio chain and getting amplified.  That would fit with the random squeaky noise.  Setting the vsync lock must have either reduced the EMI emissions from the video card by reducing the load, or maybe just changed the frequency of the EMI to push it out of the audio band.  Maybe now your neighbor's TV is showing faint white stripes across the screen, or their garage door is going up and down constantly...

 

I wouldn't be surprised if it comes back in the future in other contexts.  It'll probably be pretty random if so, since it might depend on the specific type of work the video card is doing.  At least if it does you'll know where to look.  If similar video rendering adjustments don't fix at that point, the next step would probably be to figure out if there's something you can do by way of shielding either the audio or video cabling.

 

 

So, that means. I finally have no issues anymore that prevents me from using PBY. Except maybe .... cough ... fixed volume ... cough.

 

Great... like I said, if you want to propose something by way of volume settings, I'd be happy to bounce around ideas.

Edited by mjr, 18 March 2019 - 12:18 AM.

[Thalamus]

I played around with PBY today and it is sweet. What it is lacking is this option for me. And is there a option to NOT record sound in PBY for the table videos ? I didn't find it. Sounds like I'm un-greatful maybe. I can assure you I'm not. It just that I have made several custom things around adding tables that just isn't "compatible" with PBY. 

 

[randr]

You can record silent

[mjr]

I played around with PBY today and it is sweet. What it is lacking is this option for me. And is there a option to NOT record sound in PBY for the table videos ? I didn't find it. Sounds like I'm un-greatful maybe. I can assure you I'm not. It just that I have made several custom things around adding tables that just isn't "compatible" with PBY. 

 

 

 

Oh, I see - you want separate global controls for video soundtracks and button sounds, rather than just one global volume level?  I can add that.

 

If you want to mute all videos across the board, open the Operator Menu (press the digit "0" key, if you haven't remapped buttons) and select Mute Videos.  (There are also options Mute Table Audio, which is strictly for the separate Table Audio .mp3 file if any, and Mute Buttons.)

 

And as randr said, whenever you capture a new table video, one of the options is "Capture Silent" (the others are "Skip" and "Capture w/Audio"). 

Edited by mjr, 18 March 2019 - 09:32 PM.

[Thalamus]

God damn. This is great news. Thanks guys !!

Edited by Thalamus, 18 March 2019 - 10:24 PM.

[JLPicard001]

So with migration from a botched and buggy pinballx to pinbally a huge success i assume I cannot delete pinballx without moving some media over? And changing the location of media to pinbally structure. There's no reason for me to keep pinballx on this machine it won't even behave and I'm tired of trying to fix it. Ive made the move to y baby!

[mjr]

So with migration from a botched and buggy pinballx to pinbally a huge success i assume I cannot delete pinballx without moving some media over? And changing the location of media to pinbally structure. 

 

Right - I think you should just need to move the Media and Databases folder trees over, and update the paths in the settings to match.