25 replies to this topic

[Tesla]

I went to play some VP today, and I can't get the DMD to appear on the second monitor on top of the static backglass images like it use to ... on any tables. VPinMame seems to be working because the machines work, but I can't see the score or DMD. If I bring up the Win7 TaskManager, I can see the DMD process, but can't bring it to the front or make it visible during play.

If I press T, the cursor appears ... but there is still no DMD to drag anywhere.

Everything was working fine until I switched one of my monitors (the second one) from using it's VGA input (with DVI -> VGA adapter) to just straight DVI in like my main/playfield/Primary Windows monitor.

Even if I run tables from Visual Pinball directly, they work but still no DMD shows on any monitor. The VPinMame test works ok, and is the only way I have been able to see the DMD on a real screen since this all started.

I have installed:
Visual Pinball v9.12
- VPInstaller_1.0.3.exe
- All upgrades to VPinMame v2.3.1 (cabinet version 3.0)
- Visual Pinball v9.12
HyperPin v1.0
- FPLaunch v1.1 Upgrade

Compatibility Settings Summary:
------------------------------
VPinball.exe
- Vista and Win7 choose "Win-XP SP3" from the drop-down menu.
- Vista and Win7, set program to "Run as Administrator"

VPinMame's Setup.exe
- Vista and Win7 choose "Win-XP SP3" from the drop-down menu.
- Vista and Win7, set program to "Run as Administrator"

HyperPin.exe
- Vista and Win7 choose "Win-XP SP3" from the drop-down menu.
- Vista and Win7, set program to "Run as Administrator"

So I'm stumped on what to try next. My desktop setup is sort-of like a dual-monitor "cabinet concept" setup. I just rotate my Primary Windows monitor, and click the HyperPin icon and it usually just works fine. Any help on the DMD problem would be much appreciated.

Edited by Tesla, 25 September 2011 - 03:53 AM.

[007]

ALT-TAB

[Tesla]

Ok, I got it working.

Maybe this experience will help someone else one day. Looks like I had two problems.

When I switched the Secondary monitor from VGA to DVI, the "Monitor Identity Numbers" ended up being different between Windows and AMD-Catalyst. The fix to this was to boot up with only the Primary display, then connect the secondary display and then turn it on and manually "Detect it" in CCC.

Second, I found out that ...

- Even if your smaller secondary display is on the desk to the left of your main Windows display ... Before you play VisualPinball, the Main Primary Display must be dragged to the left or first (in Windows CP and CCC placement diagrams) or the VPinMame DMD will likely not display properly on the secondary monitor (overlayed on static BackGlass image) like it should.

Here is a section of notes that I now have saved to my longer (full install) custom setup notes:

Video Card Setup Notes:
- Be sure video card 3D settings are set to "Multiple Display Performance Mode" (not single if using 2 or more LCDs)
- If nVidia, nView should be turned off
- The assigned Windows "Monitor Identity Numbers" don't matter. What matters is which display is Main/Primary.
- However, the "Monitor Identity Numbers" must match between Windows and ATI/AMD-CCC.
- In Windows and CCC, the Primary (main) Windows Display must be on the left (or first). This will be the table PlayField.
- In Windows and CCC, the Secondary Windows Display (for BackGlass and DMD) must be on the right in diagram or the DMD will not display.
- In Windows CP (Display), set res for both displays. In Win-7, select Extend Multiple Displays
- Startup VP from desktop, and in Settings, select the proper res. of the Primary (Playfield) display
- VisualPinball will only run table on the Windows Primary display. However, HyperPin seems to be fine with either (but mute point because of VP limitation)
- No settings for Rotations are required. With a "cabinet concept" desktop setup, the table PlayField rotates itself automatically. All you have to do is physically rotate the PlayField monitor 90 degrees and start playing.
- In VPinMame/Setup/Setup Paths/Global Settings/Display must be left on "Default". Trying to force to one-or-the-other doesn't seem to work.

DMD Missing Troubleshooting:
- If DMD doesn't appear on the proper monitor while running table from VP editor directly, it won't work in HyperPin.
- Even if your smaller secondary display is on the desk to the left of your main Windows display ... Before you play VisualPinball, the Main Primary Display must be dragged to the left or first (in Windows CP and CCC placement diagrams) or the VPinMame DMD will likely not display properly on the secondary monitor (overlayed on static BackGlass image) like it should.

ToDo:
Add some kind of prompt to a batch file or something to the HyperPin startup ... that reminds me to drag the the main Windows monitor over to the left in Windows/Control Panel/Display before playing.

Edited by Tesla, 25 September 2011 - 05:59 AM.

[DKong]

Hey guys,

I have been setting up a 3 screen VP9 cabinet build and have several tables set up. However I am really stuck. 

 

At first, most DMDs (those that support DMD) showed up just fine on my third screen.  However, when I was adjusting the DMD (moving the DMD around and resizing), the DMD no longer shows up on any screen.  

 

I have tried all of the suggestions I could find in the tutorials and previous posts, with no success.  

 

The one thing that lets me see the DMD (somewhere) is holding Alt-Tab.  This brings up all open programs and the DMD does show up here.  The problem is that I cannot access the DMD, even from the Alt-Tab screen.  When I click the DMD from the Alt-Tab screen, nothing happens.

 

I re-sized the playfield on the main screen, to see if the DMD was hiding behind the playfield.  It is not.

 

This is very frustrating that the DMD is running, but I can't seem to figure out how to get it back to my third screen.

 

Please, any help with this would be SO appreciated.

 

Thanks.

 

 

My specs:

 

Windows 7 (64bit) Home premium

AMD A10-7850K Radeon

Quad core 3.7GHz

Radeon R9 280 3GB GPU

8 GB DDR3

120 GB SSD

 

 

VP and VPinmame are running as administrators

[hmueck]

Did you try this program?
http://pinballbulbs....les/setdmd.html

[DKong]

Thanks for the program suggestion, but unfortunately I still cannot see the DMD on my third screen.  Strangely, I can see it on some tables, but a lot of others the DMD is still stuck (behind the main play field?).  When I click the DMD from the Alt-Tab screen, still nothing happens...even though I can see the DMD sitting there.  

 

Does anyone have any other suggestions?  I feel I'm so close to having VP setup, yet so far away.  

 

I'm frustrated, yet hopeful some kind soul on this message board will help me find my way out of this.

 

Thanks!

[allknowing2012]

What I do to troubleshoot stuff like this is .. save a copy of your screenres.txt, then change the bg & dmd sizes way smaller so that if anything is hidden you can see it.

In visual pinball bring up preferences, and change the video size to the smallest - again just to test - just to find that dmd. For ROM games, you might want to go into the registry and delete the entry for a few of the tables that you are debugging to reset them back to the "default" registry entry.

[DKong]

Okay, I resized the play field to the smallest windowed setting, then had to relaunch each table, some a few times.  The DMD came back in view and now I can move them to the third monitor.  For some reason there are still a few tables I can't get the DMD to show, but I'm going to move on and come back to those at a later time since most DMDs are in view now.

 

Thanks.

[freneticamnesic]

If you can see the dmd in alt-tab, try pressing the windows key + left or right and hopefully it will bring the dmd into view, if it is in fact off the screen.

[BigBoss]

Thanks for the program suggestion, but unfortunately I still cannot see the DMD on my third screen.  Strangely, I can see it on some tables, but a lot of others the DMD is still stuck (behind the main play field?).  When I click the DMD from the Alt-Tab screen, still nothing happens...even though I can see the DMD sitting there.  
 
Does anyone have any other suggestions?  I feel I'm so close to having VP setup, yet so far away.  
 
I'm frustrated, yet hopeful some kind soul on this message board will help me find my way out of this.
 
Thanks!

did you actually run he program? Did you position the DMD then save all roms? It's not rough to just download it.

[DKong]

 

Thanks for the program suggestion, but unfortunately I still cannot see the DMD on my third screen.  Strangely, I can see it on some tables, but a lot of others the DMD is still stuck (behind the main play field?).  When I click the DMD from the Alt-Tab screen, still nothing happens...even though I can see the DMD sitting there.  
 
Does anyone have any other suggestions?  I feel I'm so close to having VP setup, yet so far away.  
 
I'm frustrated, yet hopeful some kind soul on this message board will help me find my way out of this.
 
Thanks!

did you actually run he program? Did you position the DMD then save all roms? It's not rough to just download it.

 

 

I did try the program and it sounds like a good tool.  I'm at a point that I have about 50 of my 60 tables set up with the DMD showing on the third screen and I don't want to mess up what I have.  I'm a bit uncertain of the "save" buttons at the bottom of the program, even after reading the descriptions on your website.  For example, when I change the Anti Alias and press the Save as Default button, I don't notice any difference either way I slide the Anti Alias bar.

 

That being said, if I could get to understand what the Load Defaults, Load First rom values, etc. buttons do, I'd like to use the program.  Also, how does the program know where my VP files are and therefore make the necessary changes?

 

Thanks.

[BigBoss]

Load first Rom value will scan the registry for the first rom configured and loads those settings into the app. Save as default saves the current settings in the all as the default registry key for roms that don't yet exist.

The way the program knows where the roms are is when you hit "install roms and update". Then you point it to your roms. After you make changes, use "update all installed roms" which then saves the data into the registry.

Edited by BigBoss, 24 June 2015 - 01:46 AM.

[DKong]

Load first Rom value will scan the registry for the first rom configured and loads those settings into the app. Save as default saves the current settings in the all as the default registry key for roms that don't yet exist.

The way the program knows where the roms are is when you hit "install roms and update". Then you point it to your roms. After you make changes, use "update all installed roms" which then saves the data into the registry.

 

I checked the first rom in my registry which is afm_113b (attach from mars) and that table loads and plays well.  I then pressed the Install roms and update, but nothing happened.  I then pressed Update all installed roms, but nothing happened.  The program didn't ask for the location of my roms.  Am I missing a step here?

[allknowing2012]

it knows where things are and would have just updated all the entries in the registry.

[DKong]

When I make changes using the set DMD program, the changes I made did not take effect.

It's as if the program is not yet linked to my visual Pinball folder or ROMs folder. Therefore it cannot make changes to those Roms as it so far has not. I have uninstalled and reinstalled the program with the same result.

Any suggestions what else I could try?

[BigBoss]

When I make changes using the set DMD program, the changes I made did not take effect.

It's as if the program is not yet linked to my visual Pinball folder or ROMs folder. Therefore it cannot make changes to those Roms as it so far has not. I have uninstalled and reinstalled the program with the same result.

Any suggestions what else I could try?

There is no install or uninstall so you cannot have reinstalled anything.

I hate all pop ups that you have to click away so nothing pops up to tell you things are completed. The only thing that will pop up is if you hit the install roms button. That pops a box asking for the location of the roms. And this step is crucial as it scans each rom in that folder and creates a registry entry for them. After this, load first rom value,this will import AFM in your case into the gui. Make necessary changes if any and update all installed roms updates the entire registry. That's it.

Edited by BigBoss, 24 June 2015 - 09:03 PM.

[DKong]

When I press the Install Roms button, I don't get a pop up box.

This is where I'm confused.

Any thoughts on how to get the pop up box when pressing the Install Roms button?

[gtxjoe]

Works for me when I click the "Install Roms and Update" button.

Try clicking on Action -> "Install Roms and Update" 

Try downloading the program again

Try running SetDMD from a different folder

Try another computer

Try after a beer or two

[hmueck]

Try run as admin?

[DKong]

I tried all of those and the beer was good ; ).  I was able to get the "pick a file in the directory" pop up box to open when I click "Install Roms and Update"...on a Windows 8 computer.  Unfortunately, the Windows 8 computer I tested this on is my work PC and my pinball setup is on a Windows 7 computer.

 

I just can't get the pop up to look for my roms folder on the Windows 7 machine.

 

I have tried:

 

Running the program in Windows XP compatibility mode (checked in properties and then not checked)

Running the program as admin and then not as admin

Verified that all users on the Windows 7 machine have full control/permissions

Installed the program in a different location

Turned on and off the box when opening or extracting the exe file, asking if the file is safe to open

 

This must be something so simple, since it runs just fine on first try on the Windows 8 machine.  I'm just stumped and dreading the idea manually adjusting every table one at a time.  Are you guys running it on Windows 7?

 

Please tell me there is some small item I have missed or not checked to get this awesome program working on my Windows 7 machine.