152 replies to this topic

[duck1155]

Hi I set up fp and bam aio got dmdext in correct location when start game dmd box is there but blank..did dmdextlog and say successfully loaded config from dmddevice.ini. plus did alt tab and not running in background

Edited by duck1155, 23 July 2023 - 12:35 AM.

[mshaker]

Hi All; 

 

I just updated FP and BAM using TerryRed's MegaGuide 4.0 and FP and BAM Essentials AIO 1.2: I have almost everything working, except DMDext crashes immediately whenever I play a FP Table.

 

I'm going to use PinballX, but I've also tried manually starting DMDext using a .bat file (using TerryRed's example command for PinUpPopper, including changing the directory to my FP install before starting), then running FP_Loader.exe.

(DMDext display's a blank window that I can move and resize, but crashes when FP plays a table.) 

 

My Environment: 

 

Windows 64-bit.

 

DMDext 64-bit. (Verified.)

 

I'm not using PinUp Player for FP Tables.

 

I've verified that all FP Video Options are as described by TerryRed. 

 

I don't have a backglass monitor, just a DMD monitor peeking through the DMD slot in my speaker panel.

 

I have the FP backglass displayed in the left 1/3 of my DMD monitor, and would like a virtual DMD in the right 2/3 of the same monitor.

 

I had FutureDMD working in this way, but now FP always displays on top of the FutureDMD, so I can never see it. (I'd be happy just to have FutureDMD working again.)

 

 

Any help would be appreciated. (Including where to look for any DMDext logs, or how to enable them.)

 

Thank you!

 

   - Mark

 

 

*** Edit: I got it to stop crashing by directly downloading and re-installing the 64 bit version of DMDext.  Now it just won't stay on top, despite the command line option "--virtual-stay-on-top". ***

Edited by mshaker, 25 July 2023 - 01:56 PM.

[benge]

If the entered values are ignored (and Yes, popper uses GAMENAME pinballX uses TABLEFILE, you have to adjust that per front end) something is amiss

If you point it at a valid INI file, you dont need to specify anything, it works 100% like freezys does in VPX
drag and resize DMD, even create or apply a style, right click DMD and save position global or for game name
and it remembers it.

 

If it does not, then something is wrong.

 

If the INI has things in it freezys does not like, it will ignore it
such as null characters, or tabbed spaces etc

 

Take freezy's zip
take the INI from the zip, and place it someplace, like c:\futurepinball or something
now edit the launch line to use that INI (cause it is new blank and wont be corrupted)
now run an FP table, and drag the DMD resize it etc, save position globally
now, go close that table and run another FP table

DMD should appear in same place at same size, since you saved globally

I do not have Popper, but i will show you my pinballX setup which i am sure you can convert to POPPER
TABLEWFILEOEXT is PinballX's way of doing Tablename minus the extension, i am not sure how POPPER verbalizes that, you'd have to look in popper docs

I'd give you my INI but that would probably be somewhat useless to you
wrong positions etc

 

Thankyou wiesshund. Your settings helped me enormously with getting dmdext working in PinballX. Along with scutters at Gamex forums, I now have dmdext working brilliantly with future pinball tables. Just need to see how I can customise the dmd for each individual table.

Thankyou wiesshund and scutters. Also a massive thankyou to Terryred for these brilliant tables.

[wiesshund]

if by customize you mean apply a style?
make a new style, give it a name of course

adjust as you see fit

click button to apply to game

that gets saved in the INI

[TerryRed]

Hi All; 

 

I just updated FP and BAM using TerryRed's MegaGuide 4.0 and FP and BAM Essentials AIO 1.2: I have almost everything working, except DMDext crashes immediately whenever I play a FP Table.

 

I'm going to use PinballX, but I've also tried manually starting DMDext using a .bat file (using TerryRed's example command for PinUpPopper, including changing the directory to my FP install before starting), then running FP_Loader.exe.

(DMDext display's a blank window that I can move and resize, but crashes when FP plays a table.) 

 

My Environment: 

 

Windows 64-bit.

 

DMDext 64-bit. (Verified.)

 

I'm not using PinUp Player for FP Tables.

 

I've verified that all FP Video Options are as described by TerryRed. 

 

I don't have a backglass monitor, just a DMD monitor peeking through the DMD slot in my speaker panel.

 

I have the FP backglass displayed in the left 1/3 of my DMD monitor, and would like a virtual DMD in the right 2/3 of the same monitor.

 

I had FutureDMD working in this way, but now FP always displays on top of the FutureDMD, so I can never see it. (I'd be happy just to have FutureDMD working again.)

 

 

Any help would be appreciated. (Including where to look for any DMDext logs, or how to enable them.)

 

Thank you!

 

   - Mark

 

 

*** Edit: I got it to stop crashing by directly downloading and re-installing the 64 bit version of DMDext.  Now it just won't stay on top, despite the command line option "--virtual-stay-on-top". ***

 

 

If you downloaded the 1.2 version of the Essentials AIO, it included the 64 bit dmdext.exe that works with FP in 64 bit Windows. The 32 bit version of dmdext.exe was found to crash for lots of people (in 64 bit Windows), so that's why I updated the Essentials AIO to 1.2 to include the 64 bit version instead.

Edited by TerryRed, 01 August 2023 - 02:05 AM.

[mshaker]

 

If you downloaded the 1.2 version of the Essentials AIO, it included the 64 bit dmdext.exe that works with FP in 64 bit Windows. The 32 bit version of dmdext.exe was found to crash for lots of people (in 64 bit Windows), so that's why I updated the Essentials AIO to 1.2 to include the 64 bit version instead.

 

 

I had install Essentials AIO V1.2.  I'm not sure what went wrong, but reinstalling DMDext cleared it up...

 

   - Mark 

Edited by mshaker, 01 August 2023 - 03:18 PM.

[benge]

if by customize you mean apply a style?
make a new style, give it a name of course

adjust as you see fit

click button to apply to game

that gets saved in the INI

 

I want to customize the dmd for each table. For example green wording for Aliens. Red wording for another table. I`ve tried to do this tonight but it appears to only save it globally as there is no option to save to a particular table.

[wiesshund]

?
You make a new Style
NAME said new style before doing anything
Then apply said style to running table

 

Going to need screenshots of what you are doing

[benge]

I will try what you advise but pretty sure it`s not possible. I am away from home now and do not return until Tuesday. So will try then.

Thanx wiesshund for all your help. I will keep you advised of any progress.

[Dicentim]

 

Thank you for your fast answers!! i really like FP because of the superior tables of Slam and updates of Terry. With subtile head tracking settings i keep coming back to them. I'm just starting with this hobby, totally blank with it and maybe have stupid questions, but the DMD's are just fine how they are for now. i was just thinking maybe you can create a 'fake' rom for FP tables and start making colorized dmd's. But my time and knowledge is to short to figure that out. But i think that FP tables have their own dmd coding inside the table?   

 

you can tint the DMD in freezy's using styles
but FP is going to output monochrome i am pretty sure.
Take a table and randomly color some of the DMD frames
think they come out monochrome

 

FP has other things it can do, that are in color
but they are not DMD's and wont be played by freezys.

Look at what the pink floyd table does

 

Hi, why I haven't seen your post earlier ?   
I spent many time trying to get another color than the Red/Orange on my real DMD.
I thought realDMD was just mirroring the virtual DMD but not at all.
As you said it's based on the game rom's name, using then files like pal, pac ,crz..
I asked to Freezy and here is his answer : https://github.com/f...ions/issues/397

He's talking about a name for FP's gamesbut I couldn't find it. I tried with DOF name for example : fp_pe_aliens_legacy_gom for Aliens Legacy but in vain...
Does anyone know where to find this Future Pinball log file he's talking about.
Thanks !

Edited by Dicentim, 05 August 2023 - 11:53 AM.

[TerryRed]

It seems anyone with a real DMD or pixelcade, etc can't seem to get the colour changes to pass through.

 

 

Given that I don't use a real DMD, I can't test such things. Someone else asked freezy about passing different colour changes to a real DMD with FP. This was the answer.

 

 

""Yeah, so I suppose you've changed the style of the virtual DMD to green? Those settings don't apply to real DMDs. What should work is creating a palette file set to green (a .pal file, created by the p i n 2 d m d editor), place it into the altcolor folder of VPM in a folder named by how the FP game is called (it's printed in the log)."

 

 

How exactly to do this I don't know, and it may require you to use the dmdext.exe in VPinMAME and not the dmdext.exe in the FP folder? I don't know... but if anyone does figure out how to do that and they have it working, plaease post it here for others as I can't help you there. Sounds like it's a bit more involved than most were expecting (for real DMD and pixelcades, etc)

Edited by TerryRed, 05 August 2023 - 12:42 PM.

[wiesshund]

It seems anyone with a real DMD or pixelcade, etc can't seem to get the colour changes to pass through.

 

 

Given that I don't use a real DMD, I can't test such things. Someone else asked freezy about passing different colour changes to a real DMD with FP. This was the answer.

 

 

""Yeah, so I suppose you've changed the style of the virtual DMD to green? Those settings don't apply to real DMDs. What should work is creating a palette file set to green (a .pal file, created by the p i n 2 d m d editor), place it into the altcolor folder of VPM in a folder named by how the FP game is called (it's printed in the log)."

 

 

How exactly to do this I don't know, and it may require you to use the dmdext.exe in VPinMAME and not the dmdext.exe in the FP folder? I don't know... but if anyone does figure out how to do that and they have it working, plaease post it here for others as I can't help you there. Sounds like it's a bit more involved than most were expecting (for real DMD and pixelcades, etc)

 

Best i can tell, freezys looks for root\altcolor\gamename

it assumes it is already in vpm folder
If that is true then you only need dmdext path\altcolor\gamename

 

If it is not true, a symbolic link to the VPM folder with dmdext in it should work should work
 

I cannot test it to see personally, because i also do not have a real dmd panel

so it does whatever the style says

 

then you have to create a  p i n 2 d m d.pal file
For that you need the old version of lucky1's editor but i think he removed it in lieu his new format? which does not use VNI and PAL files anymore.
And to use the editor, iirc you have to be a registered owner of a p i n 2 d m d panel and have the serial number?

 

Dont know if any of that was useful at all?

[mandermannen77]

What worked with me is that i had 2 dmddevice.ini 's. 1 in the folder vpmame in vpx for vpx and 1 inside the fp folder for fp. Then i could make a style per table for fp in the dmddevice.ini in the fp folder and refer to the dmddevice.ini in the fp folder inside the launchscript in pinup popper. And that worked. The only thing is that i tried all the settings besidea the color. Then my ssd crasht, everything is gone and i have to start allover again... i have a pixecsde btw

[Dicentim]

Hi all, 

@wiesshund here are 2 simples palettes (green and blue) : https://uploadnow.io..._source=986wQC9

Inside there's .fsq and .pal files.

I also have small .pal files I'm using for VPX tables that don't have altcolor, just to customize the 4 colors mode with good colors (for example fir Big Bang Bar when I'm adding this pal file I can get 4  colors, a mix of green of purple/green/blue/a 4th color and it's better than the défault solide monochrome green).

If i put this little pal file in another Vpinmame\altcolor\name of the ROM then this game will also display this palette of 4 colors.

 

So I imagine the solution should be to modify the script of the .fpt table, adding a variable to create a rom name even if it is not used by the table, just to display the color palette.

A sort of Cgamename=...

 

Am I right? 

[wiesshund]

Hi all, 

@wiesshund here are 2 simples palettes (green and blue) : https://uploadnow.io..._source=986wQC9

Inside there's .fsq and .pal files.

I also have small .pal files I'm using for VPX tables that don't have altcolor, just to customize the 4 colors mode with good colors (for example fir Big Bang Bar when I'm adding this pal file I can get 4  colors, a mix of green of purple/green/blue/a 4th color and it's better than the défault solide monochrome green).

If i put this little pal file in another Vpinmame\altcolor\name of the ROM then this game will also display this palette of 4 colors.

 

So I imagine the solution should be to modify the script of the .fpt table, adding a variable to create a rom name even if it is not used by the table, just to display the color palette.

A sort of Cgamename=...

 

Am I right? 

 

No, dmdext gets told the gamename by the launch script for it
so that should be what it looks at for alt color.

[abique]

Hello guys,

I tried a few things, but I had no luck so far.

Here are the steps I did:

 

1) create a colour palette

With the tool "p i n 2 d m d.exe" you can switch to another palette and you can save it as a *.pal file

To verify my palette I put it in the altcolor folder in VPinMame\altcolor and tested it with a vpx table

My p i n 2 d m d appeared in green colour so I am quite sure that my palette is correct

 

2) activate logging for dmdext in Futur Pinball folder

I created a "dmdext.log.config" file and added a target for file logs. This is very important, because the Future Pinball gamename will be in this log.

Then I set the loglevel to trace

 

3) start Future Pinball from Pinup Popper

After starting FP I could see an error in my "DmdExt.log" file. Dmdext complained that "dmddevicePUP64.dll" could not be found.

So I copied the dll over from my VPinMame directory. After that the log file was clean

I could see the FP gamename "Aliens Legacy - Game Over Man (PinEvent Lite - FizX - 1.0)" in the log

 

4) create an altcolor folder

I created an altcolor folder in FP root dir. In there I created a "Aliens Legacy - Game Over Man (PinEvent Lite - FizX - 1.0)" folder.

In this foider I put my p i n 2 d m d.pal file which contains the green palette

 

5) start FP game again

I started FP Aliens again via Popper, but unfortunately the dmd is still red

 

I saw that the 64-bit version of dmdext was used in Terry's AIO package. I replaced dmdexe and dmddevicePUP64.dll with their 32-bit versions and tried again - no luck.

At this point I'm running out of ideas. Maybe freezy is willing to reopen the issue on github. I will give it a try....

Edited by abique, 01 September 2023 - 05:46 PM.

[wiesshund]

 

Hello guys,

I tried a few things, but I had no luck so far.

Here are the steps I did:

 

1) create a colour palette

With the tool "p i n 2 d m d.exe" you can switch to another palette and you can save it as a *.pal file

To verify my palette I put it in the altcolor folder in VPinMame\altcolor and tested it with a vpx table

My p i n 2 d m d appeared in green colour so I am quite sure that my palette is correct

 

2) activate logging for dmdext in Futur Pinball folder

I created a "dmdext.log.config" file and added a target for file logs. This is very important, because the Future Pinball gamename will be in this log.

Then I set the loglevel to trace

 

3) start Future Pinball from Pinup Popper

After starting FP I could see an error in my "DmdExt.log" file. Dmdext complained that "dmddevicePUP64.dll" could not be found.

So I copied the dll over from my VPinMame directory. After that the log file was clean

I could see the FP gamename "Aliens Legacy - Game Over Man (PinEvent Lite - FizX - 1.0)" in the log

 

4) create an altcolor folder

I created an altcolor folder in FP root dir. In there I created a "Aliens Legacy - Game Over Man (PinEvent Lite - FizX - 1.0)" folder.

In this foider I put my p i n 2 d m d.pal file which contains the green palette

 

5) start FP game again

I started FP Aliens again via Popper, but unfortunately the dmd is still red

 

I saw that the 64-bit version of dmdext was used in Terry's AIO package. I replaced dmdexe and dmddevicePUP64.dll with their 32-bit versions and tried again - no luck.

At this point I'm running out of ideas. Maybe freezy is willing to reopen the issue on github. I will give it a try....

 

 

That is not how i make Aliens DMD green

 

I do it in freezy's and make a profile for what i want to be doing
Set tint to green etc, then apply profile to game.

[abique]

Yes, this method is working for virtual DMDs. But as freezy said it's not working for real DMDs.

Freezy discribed in a github issue those steps I made : https://github.com/f...2TlJYIkfclyXmz8

[nromo]

Why am I only getting the DMDext on my full DMD LCD and not also the color animated display for Aliens Legacy? 3 screen setup. 

Brand New Nov23 Baller Installer new installation.

Everything else works. Both work in the two screen mode on backglass.

Edited by nromo, 11 November 2023 - 01:20 AM.

[wiesshund]

Why am I only getting the DMDext on my full DMD LCD and not also the color animated display for Aliens Legacy? 3 screen setup. 

Brand New Nov23 Baller Installer new installation.

Everything else works. Both work in the two screen mode on backglass.

 

check dmddevice.ini, make sure show virtualDMD is set to true?

 

have to show it if you want one to go on an LCD