835 replies to this topic

[gamemodder]

Ive decided to repair ultra dmd and only use flex dmd for the tables that need it, because my computer is a little weird and doesn't like it very well. I know yall will say to only use flex, but it doesn't like that.

also ive tried that already.

Edited by gamemodder, 04 September 2021 - 08:48 PM.

[wiesshund]

Ive decided to repair ultra dmd and only use flex dmd for the tables that need it, because my computer is a little weird and doesn't like it very well. I know yall will say to only use flex, but it doesn't like that.

also ive tried that already.

 

you can do that, but you would be better served to fix the actual cause than to just relieve the symptom

as eventually it will just wind up biting you

[bpjacobsen]

need some help. First time downloading flex and trying to run JPs deadpool. getting script errors. I tried following the instructions on the download page but I'm missing something. I copied all files to vpinmame and already have the dmddevice files there. From what I gather, I just need to copy those files there and it should work but apparently not. I'm sure it's just something stupid as usual.

Attached Files

•  flexdmd error.png   27.38KB   4 downloads
•  flexdmd error2.png   3.64KB   3 downloads

Edited by bpjacobsen, 10 October 2021 - 02:02 PM.

[scutters]

need some help. First time downloading flex and trying to run JPs deadpool. getting script errors. I tried following the instructions on the download page but I'm missing something. I copied all files to vpinmame and already have the dmddevice files there. From what I gather, I just need to copy those files there and it should work but apparently not. I'm sure it's just something stupid as usual.

 

Did you run FlexDMDUI.exe and register flex dmd? should be in your vpinmame folder after you copied the files across.

[bpjacobsen]

lol like I said, prob something stupid. working now. thanks!

[skillman]

Hello,

  Does FlexDMD support Truetype fonts? I've been looking at the source code and it looks like it only supports bitmap fonts, but I see a bunch of TTF fonts in the FlexDMD GitHub repo - are they just there for reference, in case you want to download them and convert them to BM fonts yourself?

 

I need a 3x7 font (tall, skinny) for a game I'm reproducing, so need to figure out whether I need to convert a TTF to a BM font for it.

 

Thanks!

 

-Skillman

 

[skillman]

I think I've answered my own question through further reading of the FlexDMD source code. Looks like you need to use AngelCode's BMFont converter to convert a TTF font into a BMFont (which is two files - a ".fnt" text file and a ".png" bitmapped character file) - https://www.angelcod...roducts/bmfont/ . I'll give that a go and see what happens.

 

Hello,

  Does FlexDMD support Truetype fonts? I've been looking at the source code and it looks like it only supports bitmap fonts, but I see a bunch of TTF fonts in the FlexDMD GitHub repo - are they just there for reference, in case you want to download them and convert them to BM fonts yourself?

 

I need a 3x7 font (tall, skinny) for a game I'm reproducing, so need to figure out whether I need to convert a TTF to a BM font for it.

 

Thanks!

 

-Skillman

 

[skillman]

Has anyone successfully used ImageSequences with FlexDMD to create animations? I'm looking at the source for the last release - v1.8.0, and it looks like I should be able to specify an image name that's a concatenation of multiple images separated by commas, and it'll automatically be converted to an ImageSequence and play as a video, but when I do that, I get an error that appears to indicate that it doesn't actually support ImageSequences

 

I'm calling it with "FlexDMD.NewVideo('name',"imagedir\image1.png,imagedir\image2.png")...  and the error I get is
 

[1] 2021/11/08 22:43:57.566 ERROR | Exception while resolving image: 'image-dir\image1.png,image-dir\image2.png,image-dir\image3.png,...' 
System.InvalidOperationException: Unsupported asset type FlexDMD.ImageSequence
   at FlexDMD.Asset`1.Load()
   at FlexDMD.FlexDMD.ResolveImage(String filename)

[wiesshund]

Not sure on that

For small images, i've just put them together as an animated gif

 

for other things, i put it together as a WMV

[skillman]

Yeah, animated gif was the first thing I tried. It works, but this particular image has a transparent background and is meant to go over top of text. As a still, it works, but as an animation, the transparency is not honoured - that's why I was trying the ImageSequence.

 

Judging by the error, I'm guessing that ImageSequences aren't actually functional (yet?). I'm using a still image for now, and when I get to the scene where I have to fly a transparent image over text, I'll probably just have to do it using a still image and the MoveTo action.

[wiesshund]

Yeah, animated gif was the first thing I tried. It works, but this particular image has a transparent background and is meant to go over top of text. As a still, it works, but as an animation, the transparency is not honoured - that's why I was trying the ImageSequence.

 

Judging by the error, I'm guessing that ImageSequences aren't actually functional (yet?). I'm using a still image for now, and when I get to the scene where I have to fly a transparent image over text, I'll probably just have to do it using a still image and the MoveTo action.

 

Is the text not being created as a text actor?
because images wont go over top of an text actors, so transparency wont be a problem there.

 

You could try doing the images as a rapid fire set of image changes?

fire off a timer that iterates through the desired images as if each was just a stand alone image change?

[skillman]

In my testing using transparent still images, they actually will go over top of text actors, as long as they are added to the scene after (or, presumably, their index # is changed). In my test, I had an image with the top corner transparent. I could have the text go over, or come out from under, depending on the order the image was added.

 

But yes, thanks for the suggestion! I could create a series of image actors and add actions to turn each one on in sequence - I only have a couple of animated sequences that really require the transparent image over top of text (and again, only if I really want to be true to the original game). Using actions, I can pre-build the scene to save on processing time during the game

[tartzani]

Yeah, animated gif was the first thing I tried. It works, but this particular image has a transparent background and is meant to go over top of text. As a still, it works, but as an animation, the transparency is not honoured - that's why I was trying the ImageSequence.

 

Judging by the error, I'm guessing that ImageSequences aren't actually functional (yet?). I'm using a still image for now, and when I get to the scene where I have to fly a transparent image over text, I'll probably just have to do it using a still image and the MoveTo action.

 

 

FlexDMD.NewVideo('name',"imagedir\image1.png","imagedir\image2.png")

 

 

tried that ? i have not tried that command like that myself

i just change image on a timer and turn on one at a time om my tables.

[wiesshund]

You can have animated GIF's with transparencies

I am not sure if flexDMD will do APNG or not, that may be a possibility

[skillman]

Just to wrap up this thread, I did a bunch more testing tonight and verified that FlexDMD does not handle transparent animated GIFs (I verified in a photo editor that part of each image in the GIF was transparent). It does handle transparent (still) PNGs - animated PNGs are not supported at all.

 

So I wrote a function to animate a set of PNGs with transparent backgrounds and return a scene that can be added to any FlexDMD scene - seems to work! Thanks everyone for the quick responses!

 

For anyone who cares, here's the code:

' Create a scene from a series of images. The only reason to use this
' function is if you need to use transparent images. If you don't, use
' an animated GIF - much easier. However, this does have one other advantage over
' an animated GIF: FlexDMD will loop animated GIFs, regardless of what the loop attribute is set to in the GIF
'  name   - name of the scene object returned
'  imgdir - directory inside the FlexDMD project folder where the images are stored
'  num    - number of images, numbered from image1..image<num>
'  fps    - frames per second - a delay of 1/fps is used between frames
'  hold   - if non-zero, how long to hold the last frame visible. If 0, the last scene will end with the last frame visible
'  repeat - boolean: whether to loop the entire sequence
'  count  - How many times to repeat. Ignored if repeat is false
Function NewSceneFromImageSequence(name,imgdir,num,fps,hold,repeat,count)
    Dim scene,i,actor,af,blink,total,delay
    total = num/fps + hold
    delay = 1/fps
    Set scene = FlexDMD.NewGroup(name)
    For i = 1 to num
        Set actor = FlexDMD.NewImage(name&i,imgdir&"\image"&i&".png")
        actor.Visible = 0
        Set af = actor.ActionFactory
        Set blink = af.Sequence()
        blink.Add af.Wait((i-1)*delay)
        blink.Add af.Show(True)
        blink.Add af.Wait(delay*1.2)    ' Slightly longer than one frame length to ensure no flicker
        if i=num And hold > 0 Then blink.Add af.Wait(hold)
        if repeat or i<num Then 
            blink.Add af.Show(False)
            blink.Add af.Wait((num-i)*delay)
        End If
        If repeat Then actor.AddAction af.Repeat(blink,count) Else actor.AddAction blink
        scene.AddActor actor
    Next
    Set NewSceneFromImageSequence = scene
End Function


Sub TestScene3
    Dim scene
    Set scene = FlexDMD.NewGroup("testscene")
    scene.AddActor FlexDMD.NewLabel("lbl1",FlexDMD.NewFont("FlexDMD.Resources.udmd-f7by13.fnt", vbWhite, vbBlack, 1),"20X")
    scene.GetLabel("lbl1").SetAlignedPosition 64,16,FlexDMD_Align_CENTER
    scene.AddActor NewSceneFromImageSequence "img1","bonusx",50,20,2,false,0
    DMDEnqueueScene scene,0,4000,6000,2000,""
End Sub

Edited by skillman, 10 November 2021 - 08:53 AM.

[Itchigo]

I need some help getting this to work. I installed Freezy's 1.8 DMD text. When I run FLEXDMDUI it crashes. It's not blocked. I'm running Windows 7.

[wiesshund]

I need some help getting this to work. I installed Freezy's 1.8 DMD text. When I run FLEXDMDUI it crashes. It's not blocked. I'm running Windows 7.

Do you have flexdmd 1.9?
Also, do you have netframework 4.8 installed?
DX9 and .NET 4.8 are the only dependencies i can think of off hand

 

Does it show any error when crashing?

[Itchigo]

 

I need some help getting this to work. I installed Freezy's 1.8 DMD text. When I run FLEXDMDUI it crashes. It's not blocked. I'm running Windows 7.

Do you have flexdmd 1.9?
Also, do you have netframework 4.8 installed?
DX9 and .NET 4.8 are the only dependencies i can think of off hand

 

Does it show any error when crashing?

 

I didn't know there was a 4.8, but I have it installed now. I thought I had direct x 9.0, but I redownloaded it. I have 9.0c. I have some success now, I'm able to use the installer. It says the dmddevice.dll is outdated, after that I don't get anymore errors. Thanks!

[wiesshund]

 

 

I need some help getting this to work. I installed Freezy's 1.8 DMD text. When I run FLEXDMDUI it crashes. It's not blocked. I'm running Windows 7.

Do you have flexdmd 1.9?
Also, do you have netframework 4.8 installed?
DX9 and .NET 4.8 are the only dependencies i can think of off hand

 

Does it show any error when crashing?

 

I didn't know there was a 4.8, but I have it installed now. I thought I had direct x 9.0, but I redownloaded it. I have 9.0c. I have some success now, I'm able to use the installer. It says the dmddevice.dll is outdated, after that I don't get anymore errors. Thanks!

 

 

It should not report that dmddevice.dll is outdate

did you unzip, or install if using the MSI, freezys into the VPINMAME folder?

 

freezys and flexDMD should both be in the vpinmame folder

and that should be the only dmddevice.dll present in the vpx folders

 

Now if it is saying the 64bit dmddevice.dll is fubar, thats fine as we do not normally run 64bit VPX

[Itchigo]

 

 

 

I need some help getting this to work. I installed Freezy's 1.8 DMD text. When I run FLEXDMDUI it crashes. It's not blocked. I'm running Windows 7.

Do you have flexdmd 1.9?
Also, do you have netframework 4.8 installed?
DX9 and .NET 4.8 are the only dependencies i can think of off hand

 

Does it show any error when crashing?

 

I didn't know there was a 4.8, but I have it installed now. I thought I had direct x 9.0, but I redownloaded it. I have 9.0c. I have some success now, I'm able to use the installer. It says the dmddevice.dll is outdated, after that I don't get anymore errors. Thanks!

 

 

It should not report that dmddevice.dll is outdate

did you unzip, or install if using the MSI, freezys into the VPINMAME folder?

 

freezys and flexDMD should both be in the vpinmame folder

and that should be the only dmddevice.dll present in the vpx folders

 

Now if it is saying the 64bit dmddevice.dll is fubar, thats fine as we do not normally run 64bit VPX

 

Nope, it was saying those 2 files were outdated. And when I upgraded only the 32 bit .dll, it still said the 64 bit was out of date. I have all of the Flex files in C:Visual Pinball/FlexDMD. The DMD folder for the table is in the same folder as the table. It's working now! Thanks!

Edited by Itchigo, 14 November 2021 - 04:57 AM.