503 replies to this topic

[ArcadiusMaximus]

Any updates on the editor? Can't wait to give it a spin

[Herweh]

Any updates on the editor? Can't wait to give it a spin

Have had a few days "backglass break" to spent some time with my wife and my kids. But I'm making progress, including the new LEDs to the designer right now. Hopefully in a few days I wanna show you the designer's bandwidth with some backglasses: ELVIS (with sound), T2 Chrome, Sorcerer with new LEDs, Close Encounters, maybe Bow And Arrow, maybe Baseball, maybe Elvira.

[Sir Cheddar]

Have had a few days "backglass break" to spent some time with my wife and my kids. But I'm making progress, including the new LEDs to the designer right now. Hopefully in a few days I wanna show you the designer's bandwidth with some backglasses: ELVIS (with sound), T2 Chrome, Sorcerer with new LEDs, Close Encounters, maybe Bow And Arrow, maybe Baseball, maybe Elvira.

That's great news
I installed the Sorcerer backglass yesterday, Looks awesome, didn't give me any problems while installing it. Thank you, this looks very promising.

[vulbas]

hello,
Where download this software please ?

[Aaron James]

Read this entire thread.

[Herweh]

hello,
Where download this software please ?

Hello vulbas,

here is the link to the thread entry for the SORCERER backglass:
http://www.vpforums....=60#entry196143

[Baron Shadow]

I have a 2 monitor setup but the backglass doesn't show horizonal.
So it's just as the monitor sideways over the screen.
How do i turn it i used allready different values on the bottom X and Y values in the screen.txt but that's not turning the screen..

[Herweh]

Hi everybody,

moving on, the next preview of some B2S.Server backglasses. I have worked a lot the last weeks. And I have had a lot test support.

The downloadable ZIP
http://www.mediafire...ze46l88cydb8307
contains the new B2S.Server-DLL, the register app and three backglasses: Sorcerer, Cosmic Gunfight and TAXI.

So, please

• Unzip all five files into your VP tables folder
• Start the EXE and the server dll should be registered automatically (with Win7 start the exe as administrator). There should be NO NEED to register once again when you have done this with the previous version
• If you haven't downloaded the matching tables from VPForums then please do this
• Well-known from UVP you have to change one line in the script code. Change the CreateObject line in the table script to "Set Controller=CreateObject("B2S.Server")".

Let me tell you a bit to each of these backglasses

• SORCERER: Finally the new LEDs are included in Sorcerer. The first directb2s backglass, still a pretty cool one with a lot flashing.
• COSMIC GUNFIGHT: Wonderful table and awesome new version 1.1 here at the forum. Backglass started yesterday evening, a bit similiar to Sorcerer since it is out of the same Williams era (a bit earlier). The new LEDs included too, background is pretty dark at the beginning with "glowing" horses. Koadic asked for a B2S backglass to update the table. There is no need to update the table anymore, here is the directb2s backglass.
• TAXI: Wonderful table too, pretty interesting for me since there is a slanted LED bar and the requirement to show a DMD in the grill or on the third monitor (maybe Y flipped). And normally no space for the "Joy ride" lights.

Have a lot fun with my backglasses.

Performance is always an interesting part of all that backglass stuff. So here are a few tipps to tweak the performance with the new B2S.Server backglasses:

• During the tests two of the testers discovered that switching the Windows color depth for the backglass monitor from 16bit to 32 bit gave a performance boost. So maybe switch to 32bit.
  
• I have implemented a settings' panel to the backglass server. Please move the mouse over the backglass display and click the backglass. Then press the "S" key for "S"ettings. You will see the following screen laying over the backglass. Pressing "S" once again hides the settings' panel.
   Settings.png   20.53KB   153 downloads
  There are two main parts at the settings panel to tweak the performance:
  
• "Skip ... frames:": These backglasses are controlled by the output of the table ROM. There is coming a lot stuff out of these ROMs and maybe it is necessary to do not update the backglass immediatelly and every time.
  Let me explain it with an example: A value of 5 at "Skip solenoid frames" means that 5 times the solenoid's infos are just collected and not shown at the backglass. At the 6. timer event of the solenoids these collected info is shown at the backglass. If a light is going on and off in one cycle it will not flash. In all other cases the light will flash a bit later. This sounds bad but it is working pretty well to reduce the amount of flashing on the backglass to increase the performance. Especially the solenoid's timer is firing pretty often (about every 8 ms at my test system). And this value of 5 means that a light is going on or off about 40 milliseconds later or earlier. I'm talking about the half of a tenth of a second.
  Try playing around with these "skips". Maybe try "2" at lamps and "10" at solenoids and increase or decrease like you want to.
• Switch between the default LEDs and the absolutely fabulous looking "Dream7" LEDs of my good friend "Dream7". The Dream7 LEds need more power but are looking awesome. Normally no need to do this at Sorcerer or Gunfight but maybe at Taxi or the upcoming Elvira.

Well, a few more backglasses are waiting here. Tomorrow you will get Elvira and maybe Close Encounters. And Elvis is still waiting. Elvis is cool, with sound, I like it very much. Maybe Bow And Arrow, ROM controlled with EM reels. I'm looking forward to showing you much more.
 Elvis.jpg   189.16KB   139 downloads

How far is the development? Please give me a few days, I will answer this pretty soon.

And very important: So much thanks are going to thewool, ttttwii, tipoto, westworld and open6l for testing my backglasses and giving me so much great and honest input. And another thanks is going to Flying Dutchman for sending me a wonderful TAXI image and some more images. And of course so much thanks to Dream7 for creating these wonderful LEDs.

Have fun, give me some response, Herweh.

Edited by Herweh, 12 November 2012 - 03:27 PM.

[hmueck]

Thanks very much!

FYI: on my Win7, the B2S.server has a tendency to disable Aero.

EDIT: the sorcerer b2s shows:

My B2SBackglassServer.dll was last changed on Nov,11th, 4 hours ago.

Edited by hmueck, 11 November 2012 - 07:58 PM.

[Sir Cheddar]

Works pretty much out of the box for me. No stutter at all.
The Taxi Backglass with 3 screen support is simply awesome. Needs some more testing, right now

[ArcadiusMaximus]

Wow, I wasnt expecting anything this involved when you first announced the designer. Being able to tweak all of the B2s settings right on the backglass is a great idea ! Can't wait to give taxi a go. Thanks again for this !

[Herweh]

Thanks very much!

FYI: on my Win7, the B2S.server has a tendency to disable Aero.

EDIT: the sorcerer b2s shows:

My B2SBackglassServer.dll was last changed on Nov,11th, 4 hours ago.

Looks like you are accessing an old backglass directb2s file of Sorcerer (I will improve the message text ). Please check all the directb2s files in your VP tables folder. I expect that there are more than one *.directb2s file for Sorcerer with similar names

[koadic]

The downloadable ZIP
http://www.mediafire...ze46l88cydb8307
contains the new B2S.Server-DLL, the register app and three backglasses: Sorcerer, Cosmic Gunfight and TAXI.

Cool, thanks Herweh... was mainly waiting for a chance to use the editor you are working on before creating one for Cosmic Gunfight, although I don't think it would have been too bad for this table the 'old' way. I am also hoping to use your editor when Hurricane if finally released to create a b2s backglass with the big spinning wheel in the middle. If by chance you are interested in doing anything with it and saving me the work, please, pm me or something

[hmueck]

Gnaahh.. forget it. Works fine. I'm using the Sorcerer_URNF_VP91x_v1.1.0.1_JF_BMPR_MOD_FS table. I renamed the .directb2s in the past and when i extracted the new one i was wondering why i still have the sorcerer_ur_ table and deleted it. But it wasn't the table - it was the new directb2s. The devil is in the detail.
Everything works fine...

Edited by hmueck, 11 November 2012 - 09:20 PM.

[oldskoolgamer]

WOW thank you so much for including our Cosmic Gunfight! This looks/plays great!!

[Aurich]

Glad to see this is moving along! If the source files for Scared Stiff ever go up I'd like to redo the spider, lose the white plastic (and maybe make it higher rez if I can find a better shot).

[bent98]

Thanks for your hardwork. Can't wait for more 80's bg as uvp + force feedback + vp = stutter

Edited by bent98, 12 November 2012 - 02:31 AM.

[Shadowsclassic]

Cosmic Gunfight and Sorcerer look great and work fine, no slow down or stutter that I notice. Taxi looks awesome, but unfortunately on my system it is virtually unplayable! Ball animation jumps from just a little bit to nearly the length of the table. Sound stutters at times bad. Table suffers from slow downs and extreme stutter. The only way to fix was to go into the B2S menu and turn everything off. I have not had this issue with any past UVP or B2S backglasses.

Intel Pentium D CPU 3.40GHz 3.42Ghz
Running Windows 7 Ultimate 32bit
2.00 Gig. Ram
Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX+

Edited by Shadowsclassic, 12 November 2012 - 02:26 AM.

[boogies2]

I just got done installing it and it runs great - looks awesome,
I would love to see Pinbot, Space Shuttle and Haunted House if you have time and are looking for candidates.
Thanks for your hard work.

[tttttwii]

The B2S server worked out of the box on my cab without ANY stutter. It was important to set the backglass monitor to 32bit!

All 3 backglasses are really awesome,especially the Taxi table is a beauty, with its slanted LED in the taxi meter. Have you observed the traffic lights, Gorbi and Pinbot blinking according to gameplay? What I like most is the quality of the LEDs (set Dream7 LED) ... it is much better than all I saw on my UVP tables.

All in all I think the B2S server outclasses the UVP-stuff in terms of LED, effects and performance, at least on my cab.

... imagine, if Herweh spreads his backglass desiner software, we will see a flood of new direct-B2S backglasses

Thanks Herweh!!!