237 replies to this topic

[jasonsmith]

Appreciate it Loafer. FPS is huge for me and I've learned so much from it, but due to my crappy PC it's insanely important. It's amazing how many little tweaks I've had to do to simply gain the much needed 10 FPS to make a table playable or not. This crappy PC of mine has been a pain but interesting at the same time. 

 

I do remember Macro mentioning the thread issue, and I think he has it in a different thread already but may be wrong on that. Hopefully there's a tweak or two that can be made so it doesn't effect much. 

[russdx]

Pindmd in pinmame is threaded so should place no load at all on the games

Pindmd2 will be the same


Im not sure if macro has threaded his ftdi coms so this might be the issue with the future pinball .dll ill have to ask

Edited by russdx, 30 December 2012 - 06:49 PM.

[Macro]

no, still running in the same thread (as far as I know) - I was hoping once I had done the call to FTDI.DLL it would be in a different thread, but apparently not

 

may also be worth throttling it down to 30 FPS max for PinDMD1, since it only shows 30, not really worth sending 60, but then V2 can do 60 anyway.

 

so who has some sample VC2008 code for multi-threading I can look at ...

[russdx]

Hey macro v1 will struggle with 60fps this might be the cause of the stuttering.

Did u get my email the otherday with the v2 example pinmame code that has the v1 thread code as well

[Macro]

I think so, hadn't worried too much about V2 yet, waiting for the PinDMD and my Vishay to arrive before starting on that, will have a look for the thread code since I should be able to bolt that in (and add a 30 frame limiter) - it only sends the DMD data if it changes, but guess some tables update it at the full 60 fps.

[russdx]

thread code is at the bottom in sendFrame

[The Loafer]

Well, the idea that the slowdown can potentially be fixed is great news, especially for those v1 owners who may not be upgrading!

[Macro]

ok, have Russ' code now, and it's looks much simpler than the sample code I was viewing on the microsoft knowledge base (which used classes and such things and had all sorts of complex syncronisation code)

 

I will attempt to create a version where the data send is done as a separate thread so we can see if that improves things.

 

Just bought a 3 core CPU and board for my virtual pin, so better do something to make use of the extra cores!

 

[The Loafer]

if you need a tester, let me know

[Macro]

first threaded version sent to be tested, fingers crossed that it does what it should.

[Zablon]

I gave this a try on the few games that it worked with no changes and it was pretty frickin awesome! I didn't see any slowdown with the ones I tested.

Edited by Zablon, 03 January 2013 - 12:41 AM.

[aupton]

 

While I patiently wait for the pinDMD2,  can someone please recommend what the best/most compatible DMD would be to use with the pinDMD2 ? I'm currently using an LCD for the DMD which draws a 14"W x 4.5"H DMD, but obviously that's only limited to use with Visual Pinball. I'd love to replace it with a real DMD that's large enough to fit in the existing 14"W x 4.5"H hole that's cut out in my existing back box bezel

 

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I'm so excited that I'll eventually have a proper DMD display for Future Pinball

 

Thanks!

[deadsoulz]

Maybe I missed it somewhere, but how does one disable the dmd display in futurepinball, so I only see it on my pinDMD?

[jasonsmith]

My plan was to just expand the back glass to move the DMD off and bring it to proper scale. It needs to keep running I believe as Macro's code captures it and sends it to pinDMD.

Edit: If you really want it gone then I guess you just have to unlock the DMD and move it off the translite area in the editor.

Edited by jasonsmith, 03 January 2013 - 03:36 AM.

[Steve Paradis]

you simply "push it outside" of the screen parameter deadsoulz.

[deadsoulz]

My plan was to just expand the back glass to move the DMD off and bring it to proper scale. It needs to keep running I believe as Macro's code captures it and sends it to pinDMD.

Edit: If you really want it gone then I guess you just have to unlock the DMD and move it off the translite area in the editor.

 

 

Looks like just opening the table up in the editor and dragging the dmd off screen works.

[The Loafer]

For those interested in the new DLL with support for multiCPU, It works!!! The slowdown issue is fully resolved.  Strangely, pressing F9 while playing to show the fps does not show anything different FPS wise (60(58)) but where version 1 was clunky while playing sttng1.2, it is smooth while playing with this new dll.  Well done Macro!

[deadsoulz]

For those interested in the new DLL with support for multiCPU, It works!!! The slowdown issue is fully resolved.  Strangely, pressing F9 while playing to show the fps does not show anything different FPS wise (60(58)) but where version 1 was clunky while playing sttng1.2, it is smooth while playing with this new dll.  Well done Macro!

 

Can we get a link to it?

[The Loafer]

My present pc specs: i7 quad core clocked at 2.85ghz, gtx570 with 1.25gigs of ram, 8 gigs of ram on win7-64bit. The key hold back is the ghz of the CPU, but I am buying a dedicated cab pc in about 1 month or so that will take care of this issue. I don't know if it will be enough for flawless FP with this new pin dmd dll, but it will be better overall. I also think I have a PSU that is not strong enough, that will also be rectified .

 

Those are actually pretty awesome specs, especially compared to my P4 System with an AGP x800 VC and 1G ram. My frame rates hover around the 50-70 average for most tables, some higher, some a bit lower. Bottom line I can't afford to take too much of a hit. I've noticed that fellas like yourself don't notice issues with tables because your not watching your FPS. For example, STTNG has a 40FPS drop after a few minutes for some strange reason, that makes it unplayable for me but for high FPS'ers like yourself, you probably don't notice. 

 

If you get a chance Loafer, can you play some tables and monitor the FPS rates with and without the DLL running? That would give us an indication of how much it's actually effecting the system. 

 

Russ - Is there any load that the pinDMD puts on the system that you have noticed? If so would ver.2 be any differen

Sorry if i did not reply sooner Jason.  See my previous message, frame rates seem to be the same for me, clunkier dll or not.  i think with this you may need to upgrade your mb. 

For those interested in the new DLL with support for multiCPU, It works!!! The slowdown issue is fully resolved.  Strangely, pressing F9 while playing to show the fps does not show anything different FPS wise (60(58)) but where version 1 was clunky while playing sttng1.2, it is smooth while playing with this new dll.  Well done Macro!

 

Can we get a link to it?

 

its under "testing" right now, when Macro feels its ready he will release it ASAP no doubt.

[russdx]

the beauty of threading