1630 replies to this topic

[mjr]

Thanks for the suggestion. I just did a thorough check and I have an Aero theme.  I also tried switching to a basic theme and then back to aero but the same issue.  I also checked that desktop composition isn't disabled from the PinballY properties and it isn't.

 

Have you ever had the menu text work before, or are you just installing it and this has been happening since you first tried? 

 

If it worked before, any chance anything else in the system has changed?   Does the menu text come back if you go back to the previous PinballY version where it last worked?

Is there anything "non-standard" about your system, such as "I always run everything in Admin mode", or "UAC is disabled"?

[atarian]

No the menu text has never worked with any version.  I ignored it initially as I was busy with the rest of the configuration and I wanted to read your troubleshooting guide first in case there was a solution there.

 

For the wheel images these do display with the 29/11 version but not Beta 18.

 

I am not running everything as admin (I check the compatibility properties just now for the PinballY exe).  On the pinball cab I have UAC set to the lowest setting, however I just set it to the default but it did not make a difference.  I also just ran the PinballYAdmin mode exe but no difference.  Please let me know if there is anything else you would like we to check/try.  Thanks.

Edited by atarian, 02 January 2020 - 08:11 PM.

[mjr]

Atarian - I only mentioned the UAC/Admin Mode issues as "things that aren't typical", not because of any particular association with this particular problem.  The only time I've seen "menu text not showing" before, it seemed to be related to Aero, and it sounds like you're ruled that out as the cause.  I really can't think of any other possibilities, so all I can suggest is that maybe you should try to brainstorm about anything that might be out of the ordinary with your system configuration.   It might even be something difficult to pin down like system resources (memory, video memory, GDI handles).  Is this by any chance a low-spec system?

 

I assume you've carefully gone over the log file looking for anything at all that might suggest trouble of any sort?

 

 

(I'm kind of intentionally ignoring the wheel issue until we figure out the menu text issue.  It's most effective to stick to a strict "one thing at a time" rule when debugging, since it's easy to run in circles if you try to tackle multiple variables at once.)

[atarian]

Thanks for the ideas - I understand what you are saying about considering all possibilities .  Sometimes the smallest thing can make an impact.

 

The PC is high spec as it runs a full-size pincab with 2-screens, real DMD, lightbar, etc.. The PC is Core i7, Windows 7 64-bit, 4GB RAM (with only basic stuff running so plenty of free RAM), GTX 970 graphics card, etc

 

I have looked at the logs, but will enable some more logging options and will report back if I see anything untoward.  I will also try and think if I have anything out of the norm.  Cheers

[mjr]

The PC is high spec as it runs a full-size pincab with 2-screens, real DMD, lightbar, etc.. The PC is Core i7, Windows 7 64-bit, 4GB RAM (with only basic stuff running so plenty of free RAM), GTX 970 graphics card, etc

 

You're running the 64-bit PinballY, right?  

 

Are you using any 4K videos?  "Only" 4GB might actually be a bit tight if so - 4K video playback is really memory-hungry (it's the whole reason you need 64-bit to use them at all).  You might try firing up Task Manager and seeing what the process memory usage looks like.  Memory is a really unlikely cause, since I'd expect a much more dramatic symptom (probably just a total program crash) if you were running out of memory, but if you're somehow lucky enough to be right at the edge it could be a factor.

[Thalamus]

@mjr : Enabled all log options. Shut down PBY. Deleted log and started it up again. Last game was Scared Stiff so that is why it loads it automatic.

 

- Could not find anything obvious.

 

https://www.dropbox....lY-log.rar?dl=0

[mjr]

Thalamus - have you tried going back to beta 17 to make sure the problem doesn't show up there now (just in case it's something system-wide)?

One thing I notice in your log is a complete lack of mentions of the backglass window media lookup.  It's like your backglass window is closed, hidden, or disabled.  Do you see the window on-screen? 

[atarian]

 

The PC is high spec as it runs a full-size pincab with 2-screens, real DMD, lightbar, etc.. The PC is Core i7, Windows 7 64-bit, 4GB RAM (with only basic stuff running so plenty of free RAM), GTX 970 graphics card, etc

 

You're running the 64-bit PinballY, right?  

 

Are you using any 4K videos?  "Only" 4GB might actually be a bit tight if so - 4K video playback is really memory-hungry (it's the whole reason you need 64-bit to use them at all).  You might try firing up Task Manager and seeing what the process memory usage looks like.  Memory is a really unlikely cause, since I'd expect a much more dramatic symptom (probably just a total program crash) if you were running out of memory, but if you're somehow lucky enough to be right at the edge it could be a factor.

 

 

I have tried both 32-bit and 64-bit versions just in case but got the same behaviour with both of them.  I don't use videos as I wasn't using them with PinballX.   Whilst running the 64-bit version just now, I checked the Physical RAM and there is 2GB out of 4GB free.  PinballY is using 76meg and the PinballY Watchdog is using 1.2m.

 

[djlunchbox]

@MJR 

 

Hmm that's a lot to dive into. I'm 0 knowledgeable about Javascripting so I'll need to take my time getting that to possibly work. 

 

Also I just realized you can change fonts on a per section basis. Gonna download a few and get to adjusting. 

[Thalamus]

I went back to 16 yes - that's what I've been doing and it works like before. I can of course try b17 as well, but I would expect that it is working.

 

Checked - yes - b17 has backglass as well. Just not b18. Very odd that you are able to get it to work. The monitor is on. Just showing a gray screen which is my default windows background. I can make a video if you want ??

Edited by Thalamus, 02 January 2020 - 09:33 PM.

[mjr]

I don't use videos as I wasn't using them with PinballX.   Whilst running the 64-bit version just now, I checked the Physical RAM and there is 2GB out of 4GB free.  PinballY is using 76meg and the PinballY Watchdog is using 1.2m.

 

Definitely not memory, then!  4K videos would be the only situation where 4G wouldn't be a gracious plenty.

One more grasping-at-straws thing to try: go to Settings > Fonts & Colors, and try changing the menu font to something that you know for certain that you have installed on your system.

[atarian]

 

I don't use videos as I wasn't using them with PinballX.   Whilst running the 64-bit version just now, I checked the Physical RAM and there is 2GB out of 4GB free.  PinballY is using 76meg and the PinballY Watchdog is using 1.2m.

 

Definitely not memory, then!  4K videos would be the only situation where 4G wouldn't be a gracious plenty.

One more grasping-at-straws thing to try: go to Settings > Fonts & Colors, and try changing the menu font to something that you know for certain that you have installed on your system.

 

 

Thanks again for suggestions .

 

I checked for installed fonts in Wordpad and then tried several, but no change unfortunately for each one I tried.

 

 

 

Edited by atarian, 02 January 2020 - 09:46 PM.

[mjr]

Atarian - I'm pretty much out of ideas.  I think you might need to get out the C++ debugger and do some investigation at that level - I can point out some places to look if you want to give that a try.  Visual Studio Community Edition is a free download from Microsoft, and the build process is pretty easy - you just pull the source tree from github, load the .sln file in Visual Studio, and select Build > Solution from the top menu.

[atarian]

Ok thanks for trying. I will try that at some point when I get some time. Will ping a message here once I can do that. Cheers

[Thalamus]

https://photos.app.goo.gl/9tQugNBEPcPBDUL88

 

First image - I only rename the exe - my though, going back in revisions shouldn't hurt for the extra data files that might have been created ?

 

Second image - is how b18 now starts up here. The backglass is on and no videos, if I start a game, it works.

 

3rd and 4th image - b17 realdmd works as I hoped for, also after loading, but, as you see, the dmd is dead afterwards ( ironman).

 

So, right now I'm back on b16 - all that it won't give me is "real dmd" after tables are loaded up ( best used for EM's )

[mjr]

Second image - is how b18 now starts up here. The backglass is on and no videos, if I start a game, it works.

 

If I'm understanding what I'm seeing there, it looks like there's not even a backglass window.  Yes, your *monitor* is on, but what I see in that space is a desktop (Windows Explorer) window.  Am I parsing that correctly?  

 

What happens if you right click in the main playfield window and select Show Backglass?  What do the backglass window position entries look like in your Settings.txt?

 

It sure looks like the backglass window just isn't opening at all.  I'd guess that it's somewhere off in Deep Space (out of the visible desktop area), except that the log is showing that it's not even attempting to look for media, which suggests that the window is just closed/hidden.

 

 

 

 my though, going back in revisions shouldn't hurt for the extra data files that might have been created ?

 

Nope, that shouldn't do any harm.

[Thalamus]

Yes. You are correct. My main pf is 4k and 90 degree I can't really move my body to work at the cab so I drag eg. explorer to the right, ending up on backglass. This is after starting b18. No backglass video or anything.

 

 

BUT THE GOOD NEWS : I didn't believe it was going to work, but, right clicking on my pf asking to show backglass seems to have solved the problem.

 

I just did a very quick test of the features I wanted and first impression is that it works perfectly. I feel kind of ashamed that I didn't think about checking more options. But, it simply didn't cross my mind that this could be a issue.

 

I've even restarted PBY a few times and it seems to stick - Sweet ! Thank you so very much Mike. Must be some kind of value that just isn't picked up from the previous version to the new ?

Edited by Thalamus, 02 January 2020 - 11:32 PM.

[mjr]

BUT THE GOOD NEWS : I didn't believe it was going to work, but, right clicking on my pf asking to show backglass seems to have solved the problem.

 

 

Must be some kind of value that just isn't picked up from the previous version to the new ?

 

Great!  Glad that solved it. 

 

I have no idea why the window went missing - nothing related to window placement changed between those versions.  Here's something you can try:

 

- make a backup copy of your settings.txt file (call it settings18.txt, maybe)

- run 16

- if the backglass window is gone now, do the Show Backglass trick again

- exit

- make a backup copy of that new settings.txt file (call it settings16.txt, for example)

- compare the two settings.txt files to see what the backglass window settings look like

- maybe try running 18 again with the 16 settings now in effect and see if the backglass disappears again

[Thalamus]

Did that now. But, the settings-file from 18 works with 16. So, I was only able to come to #2 in the list of tasks. Seems like the right clickwas the magic blue pill in this case. Back to 18 and enjoying it

Edited by Thalamus, 02 January 2020 - 11:57 PM.

[Dave Beedle]

A couple questions...

 

I gave PinballY a try and have an oddity.  I had it share files with PinballX but, I have mixed VPX and VP9 definitions in the same Visual Pinball database by using the  <alternateExe>  tag.  Does PinballY  support that tag in the database?  

 

Secondly, I have made sue if PinemHi which is in PinballY but, it looks to me that it is pulling scores...is there a way to report scores also?  I have not seen an option to supply my PinemHi ID and password for reporting scores or participating in the challenges.