1790 replies to this topic

[toxie]

'Stealing' is a bit much to say, but the reverse engineering and especially shipping of the SPA .dll wasn't taken well and all people were politely asked to please not continue with it. At least that's what i got from it.

For the source changes themselves (which are fine, as no SPA code or data shared!) there is still this variant: https://github.com/f...ree/feature/spa

[ClarkKent]

Has the problem with the Capcom coil strength ever been addressed and is this solved? I remember that somebody found out that it is done by pulsing. As Capcom KingPin is in the works, this function would be very much appreciated…

[Joe]

Has any one asked about getting the roms dumped from this?

https://flipprojets....hp#alternate/4/

[toxie]

Has the problem with the Capcom coil strength ever been addressed and is this solved? I remember that somebody found out that it is done by pulsing. As Capcom KingPin is in the works, this function would be very much appreciated…

Not yet.  :/

Has any one asked about getting the roms dumped from this?

https://flipprojets....hp#alternate/4/

Yes, it is in progress.   And we also already got some technical details.

 

But the guys are still waiting for approval from the previous owner (as they want to ask him, too).

[apophis]

Hey guys, we are having a couple issues with Special Force (specforc). There are two main issues that we discovered in the process of developing the table in VPX:

 

1) Similar to the issue with LOTR where the inserts were not flashing during the modes, I believe the specforc emulation is missing some fast consecutive ROM signals. Specifically, the bumper solenoids (solenoid# 1, 2, and 3) should fire at about 100 ms interval at some points during the game (to make a machine gun sound effect). Currently only one solenoid command is given during that fast sequence when roughly 13 commands should occur in quick succession. Maybe the solution is similar to what you found with the LOTR/Whitestar emulation.

 

2) There is a ROM menu setting that selects whether locked balls get ejected or remain locked at Game Over. The lock saucer is solenoid# 10. The lock saucer fires correctly during the game (and during the solenoid self-test), but it never ejects balls at game over, even when it is supposed to according to the ROM menu settings. 

 

I appreciate any help/insight you guys might have on these issues. Thanks again.

[jpsalas]

Hey toxie!

 

In VP9 and older, the droptargets in Alien Poker (for ex. Alien Poker FS - VPForums.org) don't rise up during the game when using the latest vpinmame . I have checked several tables and they use the same commands and rom that I use in my version which works well under VPX. I still have vpinmame 3.5.0 and they don't work either. Could you take a look? I guess it is better to use an older vpinmame with VP9 and older, but maybe there is an easy fix

 

Greetings

JP

[toxie]

Has any one asked about getting the roms dumped from this?

https://flipprojets....hp#alternate/4/

By now we have the dump, and emulation is already pretty far.. 

 

@JP: will have a look, thanks!

[Thalamus]

@jsm174 : https://www.vpforums...=70#entry483036

 

Any insight to how you disabled upx compression compiling from master ? I would like to be able to use the setup.exe -> test button without a crash. I don't see why we need to compress something this small when it leads to problem for a few - persistently.

Edited by Thalamus, 16 April 2022 - 05:11 PM.

[toxie]

But i don't think that setup.exe is even compressed nowadays. Which version do you use?

[Thalamus]

Any version that is auto built nowadays crashes with Win7 - using the test button. I'm not sure, but, I believe the issue is that setup.exe can't handle compressed pinmame.dll

If I use a anchient setup.exe - I can, but, in this thread, I was told that you guys wanted me to use a newer version because of some changes. Running unregister/register.

 

That I can do with the setup.exe - but, well, I can't use it to validate roms with anymore. I guess, I can always keep anchient-setup.exe for this job. But, well, it doesn't feel right, and it would be confusing for any newcomer still running win7. I've tested this on Win10, and I had no issues.

 

For a really good answer, maybe talk to jsm174. All I do know is that he built me a setup.exe that was beyond the point where this started happening consitenly by disabling upx - like he describes in the above linked post.

[robertms]

Any version that is auto built nowadays crashes with Win7 - using the test button.

 

I can confirm this continues to be an issue using Win7. This is the version I'm using to avoid the test button crash, anything newer crashes in Win7:

 

[wiesshund]

@Toxie

 

in VPM 3.5

 

What has changed in regard to aliases and NVOffset?

 

My aliased tables all give errors in VPM 3.5

 

The error is 

Starting script

Runtime error
-------------
Line: 1
Object doesn't support this property or method: 'Controller.ROMName'

The table script pertaining to the alias looks like so

Const cGameName = "acdcluci"

Sub ACDC_Init
	vpmInit Me
    With Controller
		.GameName = "acd_170hc"
		NVOffset (3)
		.GameName = cGameName
        .Games(cGameName).Settings.Value("rol") = 0
        .SplashInfoLine = "AC/DC LUCI (Stern 2013)"
        .HandleKeyboard = 0
        .ShowTitle = 0
        .ShowDMDOnly = 1
        .ShowFrame = 0
        If NOT CustomDMD Then .Hidden = DesktopMode				'hides the external DMD when in desktop mode and color ROM is not in use
        .HandleMechanics = 0
        On Error Resume Next
        .Run GetPlayerHWnd
        If Err Then MsgBox Err.Description
        On Error Goto 0
    End With

Works fine in VPM 3.4 but not VPM 3.5

 

my VPMAlias.txt looks like so

ratfink,startreb
missworld,kissc
penthouse,hglbtrtb
blkou_hf,blkou_l1
christmasp,playboy
afm,afm_113b
aarfm,afm_113b
acdcprov,acd_170c
acdcpro,acd_170c
acdcbib,acd_170hc
acdcltbr,acd_170hc
acdcluci,acd_170hc
acdcprem,acd_170hc

What is changed or must be done different in 3.5?

 

I only see

 

- Add 'ROMName' to COM-API to get the internal game name if an alias is used

 

It seems to pertain to the NVOffset ?

as if i comment out the real romname line and the nvoffset line, the alias name itself works

[wiesshund]

Anyone know how we set up the NVOFFSET in VM 3.5?
obviously it has changed, but i cant find any info on the change.
The above works in 3.4 but not in 3.5

[xenonph]

Does it act same when B2S is disabled?

I am using VPM 3.5 and my NFL tables all have alias names and nvoffset commands, and they all work for me.

Now if you update to new core.vbs file, you will need to download the new Backglass Server which was updated to handle the new ROMName calls.

 

EDIT:

To avoid this error I was getting when using the new core.vbs file,

I switch gamename back to original right before the nvoffset command, and then switch back to alias name right after nvoffset command.

 

So at top of script it has gamename..

 

Const cGameName="nfl_min"

 

Then in table init sub...

 

                   .GameName = "nfl"
         NVOffset (8)
                   .GameName = "nfl_min"

 

This worked for me.

I will update all the NFL tables and remove this when the new core.vbs is out of beta.

Edited by xenonph, 26 April 2022 - 07:20 PM.

[wiesshund]

Does it act same when B2S is disabled?

I am using VPM 3.5 and my NFL tables all have alias names and nvoffset commands, and they all work for me.

Now if you update to new core.vbs file, you will need to download the new Backglass Server which was updated to handle the new ROMName calls.

 

Hmm, as B2S Server is not in the VPX 10.7.1 beta builds (just noticed), i am going to say
No I do not have the newest b2s server, but YES do have the most up to date scripts

Funny thing, and i maybe am missing it, but i dont see it noted in any of the vpx or vpm docs
maybe it is in a forum post that i have missed
 

And i have not changed b2s server lately as im waiting to test the DLL free version, when the guy working on it
fixes a few issues with b2s designer and has it working in a DLL free manner as well.

Ive also not ran the 10.7 all in one installer, other than to test it in a sandbox, it maybe has the newer b2s server in it
but if it did, it went bye bye when i emptied the sandbox

 

SO i looked and found   B2S Backglass Server 1.3.1.0.zip

So i dropped that in quick, and yep, issue solved.

 

I only have 5 ROMs that would have been affected so i didnt notice it until now
alien poker, attack from mars, ACDC, Metallica and Firepower

[toxie]

Any version that is auto built nowadays crashes with Win7 - using the test button. I'm not sure, but, I believe the issue is that setup.exe can't handle compressed pinmame.dll

If I use a anchient setup.exe - I can, but, in this thread, I was told that you guys wanted me to use a newer version because of some changes. Running unregister/register.

 

That I can do with the setup.exe - but, well, I can't use it to validate roms with anymore. I guess, I can always keep anchient-setup.exe for this job. But, well, it doesn't feel right, and it would be confusing for any newcomer still running win7. I've tested this on Win10, and I had no issues.

 

For a really good answer, maybe talk to jsm174. All I do know is that he built me a setup.exe that was beyond the point where this started happening consitenly by disabling upx - like he describes in the above linked post.

Could you try unpacking the pinmame.dll yourself if that really solves that issue?

Just download upx via https://github.com/upx/upx/releases

and then run upx -d VPinMAME.dll

[xenonph]

"I only have 5 ROMs that would have been affected so i didnt notice it until now
alien poker, attack from mars, ACDC, Metallica and Firepower"

 

I was including the beta core.vbs with my NFL mods, and never noticed it either.

It was just by chance that someone tried playing JPSalas' Attack from Mars table with B2s enabled after using the new core.vbs I included with NFL table.

They are the ones who alerted me to the error.

I then alerted Toxie, and he updated Backglass Server program to fix this. (Huge thanks by the way @Toxie!!)

I decided to remove the beta core.vbs from the NFL packages, and used the work-around in script as showed above.

Once this is out of beta phase, I will update all NFL tables, and point people to new Backglass Server version.

[Thalamus]

 

Any version that is auto built nowadays crashes with Win7 - using the test button. I'm not sure, but, I believe the issue is that setup.exe can't handle compressed pinmame.dll

If I use a anchient setup.exe - I can, but, in this thread, I was told that you guys wanted me to use a newer version because of some changes. Running unregister/register.

 

That I can do with the setup.exe - but, well, I can't use it to validate roms with anymore. I guess, I can always keep anchient-setup.exe for this job. But, well, it doesn't feel right, and it would be confusing for any newcomer still running win7. I've tested this on Win10, and I had no issues.

 

For a really good answer, maybe talk to jsm174. All I do know is that he built me a setup.exe that was beyond the point where this started happening consitenly by disabling upx - like he describes in the above linked post.

Could you try unpacking the pinmame.dll yourself if that really solves that issue?

Just download upx via https://github.com/upx/upx/releases

and then run upx -d VPinMAME.dll

 

 

Latest upx from github - amd64-win64-msvc-14.2  and your instruction resolves the problem !

Didn't save me much on harddrive space though - which is kind of my point too. It just adds a new layer of possible issues.

Edited by Thalamus, 27 April 2022 - 03:19 AM.

[toxie]

This is really interesting..  :/

Then i guess we should disable upx compression..

[wiesshund]

 

I decided to remove the beta core.vbs from the NFL packages, and used the work-around in script as showed above.

Once this is out of beta phase, I will update all NFL tables, and point people to new Backglass Server version.

 

Odd thing is, if you look at my code snippet from ACDC Luci
you will notice that i was already doing the

 

cgamename=aliasname

 

gamename = romname
nvoffset (##)

gamename = cgamename

 

Still fell on it's face.

But dropped in the latest b2s server build, problem vanished
odd that it did not work for me, i guess, then again the only thing i have that isnt a beta version was b2s server
actually not even really sure which bs2 server version i did have, probably what ever one initially came in 10.6.0
 

This is really interesting..  :/

Then i guess we should disable upx compression..

 

Probably no real advantage now days
No one is really running around with a 40GB HDD, and VPX is not that large anyways, probably no present advantage to the compression?