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Styling contest with dmdext 1.9


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#1 freezy

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Posted 04 March 2021 - 01:40 PM

Hi folks,

I've had a go at pimping the DMD rendering over two years ago - but it turned out to be too expensive for the CPU. Now, thanks to Vincent (author of FlexDMD), we present a second attempt - this time entirely rendered on the GPU.

Vincent's contributions allow deep customization. Besides two different glows, you can customize the dot shape, boost brightness, change gamma, set an overlay texture with ambient blending, and add a frame.

109708090-3ee0cf80-7b9b-11eb-9fdd-83523a

The feature is going to be in the upcoming 1.9 release of dmdext. Like for the alphanumeric rendering, we use reusable styles that can be easily shared. So we thought hey why not ship the release with a bunch of awesome styles made by the community!

So, how does this work?

Well, grab the 1.9 beta here and install it. We have included a "dmdext" folder that goes into your VPM installation folder. It's where we keep the textures. If you're using the installer, it will also copy those. There are already a few for you to play with.

Then head over to the documentation page and have a quick look. In a nutshell, if you run a game with VPM, right-click on the DMD and choose "Customize Style", then you'll get a panel like this:

109726696-6fccfe80-7bb3-11eb-97a9-34fe00

Now play with the settings, try different textures or create your own, and make sure it looks good also when playing the game (not just in the preview window).

If you think you have a nice looking style, give it a name and save it. Then open dmddevice.ini, look for your created style, and paste it here in this thread. For example, the default style of the screenshot above looks like this:
 

style.default.dotsize = 0.85
style.default.dotrounding = 0.85
style.default.brightness = 0.95
style.default.dotglow = 0.3
style.default.backglow = 0.4
style.default.gamma = 1
style.default.unlitdot = #00000000
style.default.glass =
style.default.glass.color = #00000000
style.default.glass.lighting = 0
style.default.glass.padding.left = 0
style.default.glass.padding.top = 0
style.default.glass.padding.right = 0
style.default.glass.padding.bottom = 0

If you're using custom textures, post them here too, so we can test it! Then don't forget to add a small preview video. Screen2Gif is a great tool for capturing. You can save it as animated gif and just paste it at imgur.com, or you can attach it to your post directly (or maybe that depends on your forum status, I have never figured out how to attach stuff). But if that's too much effort, post a screenshot at least. :)

Lastly, click the like button on the posts you like most! The five (or more) most liked styles will be included in the next dmdext release.

Happy styling!

PS: Vincent submitted this PR already a few months ago, but we've refactored and added a lot the last two weeks. So if you encounter bugs or issues, don't hesitate to post them here as well.


Edited by freezy, 05 March 2021 - 06:04 PM.


#2 xantari

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Posted 04 March 2021 - 02:17 PM

Looks awesome. Great job!

 

My suggestion is to have one preset in there for what it looked like in the old version. It's very crisp, not much glow at all and I think a lot of people are happy with it. Though this is going to provide much cooler glowing effects, so I wouldn't be surprised if one of the glowing presets will become preferred.



#3 freezy

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Posted 04 March 2021 - 02:19 PM

Yes, it's the legacy preset. If you just update the DLL, you should get the same look as <1.9.



#4 toxie

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Posted 04 March 2021 - 04:43 PM

I hope hanzoverfist/arconovum and morttis will participate.. Their FSS tables feature the most realistic DMDs, i think..



#5 Thalamus

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Posted 04 March 2021 - 07:58 PM

This sounds great guys - thank a bunch !

 

What about, added color support from the not to allowed to mention project ? My main issue with alpanum has been performance (solved ? ) and bug - overwriting the dmddevice.ini. Using registry for this would be a better solution imo. That way you don't eradicate all the other working setups/roms, only the rom that you are creating it for. Sounds like it is time to start testing new versions of freezy again :)


Edited by Thalamus, 04 March 2021 - 08:09 PM.

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#6 freezy

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Posted 04 March 2021 - 08:00 PM

And, added color support from the not to allowed to mention project ?

This one? Point me to the issue if you're not allowed to mention it here. Yes I'll try to get this fixed.



#7 Thalamus

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Posted 04 March 2021 - 08:13 PM

Ups. You're online - updated my previous post just a tad so re-read :)

 

No, I was thinking about lucky1 and more colors for the pin to dmd. I believe he said in a post that he had sent you some info about it. There are a few colorization projects out there with more colors. I just don't remember the details on how many etc. Never spent time on it since freezy didn't support it ( yet ? )

 

And. well, right now - VPU is down.


Edited by Thalamus, 04 March 2021 - 08:13 PM.

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#8 freezy

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Posted 04 March 2021 - 08:17 PM

Ah yes. I haven't looked at that yet, but I will check whether I'll have a go at it directly or let Rob handle it :)



#9 wiesshund

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Posted 04 March 2021 - 08:26 PM

Fun with alphanumerics
T91CGR7.png


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#10 wiesshund

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Posted 04 March 2021 - 11:10 PM

na67jI6.png


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#11 Thalamus

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Posted 04 March 2021 - 11:28 PM

Cool but ugly ;)


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#12 wiesshund

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Posted 05 March 2021 - 02:30 AM

Cool but ugly ;)

 

Of course it is

 

I made it


Not a style, but check this out

 

Looks very much like a pin DMD?

 

JSwO57J.png


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#13 freezy

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Posted 05 March 2021 - 09:17 PM

Okay, so I'll start. My first style is creatively called bluesquare:

style.bluesquare.brightness = 3.24
style.bluesquare.dotsize = 0.72
style.bluesquare.dotrounding = 0
style.bluesquare.dotsharpness = 0.8
style.bluesquare.unlitdot = #00000000
style.bluesquare.dotglow = 0.186178861788618
style.bluesquare.backglow = 0.11
style.bluesquare.gamma = 0.94
style.bluesquare.tint = #ff2852f5
style.bluesquare.glass = textures\glasses\glass3.jpg
style.bluesquare.glass.color = #ff5477ff
style.bluesquare.glass.lighting = 0.13
style.bluesquare.glass.padding.left = 0
style.bluesquare.glass.padding.top = 0
style.bluesquare.glass.padding.right = 0
style.bluesquare.glass.padding.bottom = 0


 



#14 wiesshund

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Posted 05 March 2021 - 09:52 PM

@Freezy

Do you know why some alpha numeric ROMs, like ones based off of taito controllers, do not seem to do alphanumerics in dmdext?

 

heavymtl is an example, so is cavnegro


Edited by wiesshund, 05 March 2021 - 09:53 PM.

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#15 freezy

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Posted 06 March 2021 - 12:01 AM

Because dmdext is receiving "none" for the numerical layout. Maybe @toxie knows why. We've had this with a few other games already and it has been fixed afaik.



#16 wiesshund

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Posted 06 March 2021 - 12:32 AM

Because dmdext is receiving "none" for the numerical layout. Maybe @toxie knows why. We've had this with a few other games already and it has been fixed afaik.

Ahhhh

 

that explains a few other roms which must be sending 900 for the layout

there are a few that induce dmdext to spawn a huge number of digits
when i remember which ones, i will make a note of it also


Edited by wiesshund, 06 March 2021 - 12:32 AM.

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#17 freezy

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Posted 06 March 2021 - 10:56 AM


there are a few that induce dmdext to spawn a huge number of digits
when i remember which ones, i will make a note of it also

 

 

 

Yes, if I interpret "none" as  "2x20Alpha" in dmdext, I'm getting that behavior (dozens of alphanum panels spawned) for this particular game. Need to dive into it a bit more unless @toxie confirms it's a bug in VPM.



#18 wiesshund

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Posted 06 March 2021 - 11:00 AM

 


there are a few that induce dmdext to spawn a huge number of digits
when i remember which ones, i will make a note of it also

 

 

 

Yes, if I interpret "none" as  "2x20Alpha" in dmdext, I'm getting that behavior (dozens of alphanum panels spawned) for this particular game. Need to dive into it a bit more unless @toxie confirms it's a bug in VPM.

 

 

Well, since dmdext gets it right for 90% or more of the ROMs
I would have to think that it is either an anomaly in VPinMAME

OR

When the controller itself was built, the controller itself has info that is buggy, at least as far as how dmdext sees it


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#19 wiesshund

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Posted 07 March 2021 - 11:40 PM

Pimp my Diablo

 

OoV0sEP.png

 

I like 2nd version better

rNZPQMG.png

 

Notes on Style

Using squared pixels to leverage JP's use of real Diablo movies and full color DMD sequences

 

@freezy

Slight problem, and could be my own fault maybe

It is hard to resize the DMD on the 2nd version
the corner point only appears when mouse is pointing far into the DMD, but that isnt a valid place to resize from.
I am not sure if it is because that area is fully transparent?
No issues editing the ini by hand to size it though

 

EDIT:
Yes, it is the transparency
you can not point at a transparent area


Edited by wiesshund, 08 March 2021 - 01:33 AM.

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#20 freneticamnesic

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Posted 08 March 2021 - 09:16 AM

Too cool, great to have all these aesthetic options for our on screen DMD!

 

2 bugs, one could be an unrelated error

Can't seem to remove frame or glass once it's on there without restarting the GUI - not a big deal just a clear button or something would help.

The other was some weird issue going between an ultradmd table and a vpm table, when I switched to ultradmd table it flickered back and forth between the last frame (I think) of the VPM table and the currently running ultradmd. This could be a FlexDMD issue, I have minimal experience with it, but hadn't seen it before 1.9.0