24 replies to this topic

[spacegoogie]

I can not find a way to get a table's DMD to look decent on a fulldmd.  Like JP's It, I start to expand the DMD size slightly and it becomes unreadable.

I see videos of others with a larger size fulldmd and their dmd (colored, or the basic 3 colors) look fantastic.

I'm I missing a setting or settings somewhere?

 

Thanks.

[wiesshund]

SHow a picture of what you mean 1st
in case it is doing something abnormal

 

you can right click a DMD and customize the style, though it wouldnt help if you have something abnormal going on.

 

I mean i can size a DMD to space a 32" 2k screen and it never becomes unreadable, even with changing nothing
so need to see what you are seeing

[spacegoogie]

SHow a picture of what you mean 1st
in case it is doing something abnormal

 

you can right click a DMD and customize the style, though it wouldnt help if you have something abnormal going on.

 

I mean i can size a DMD to space a 32" 2k screen and it never becomes unreadable, even with changing nothing
so need to see what you are seeing

wow I knew something was not right, my dmd image if it gets any bigger than the size of my hand it's blurry and just looks really bad. I'll upload a pic as soon as I can.

I have tried all the settings as far as the customizing settings with not much of a difference.

Thanks for the help.

[Cliffy]

Check your dmddevice.ini and try adjustments there, example below

 

[global]

 

; how to scale games to smaller or larger displays: fit, fill or stretch

resize = fit

 

; flips the image horizontally

fliphorizontally = false

 

; flips the image vertically

flipvertically = false

 

; enable or disable frame-by-frame colorization (inactive in VPX bundle)

colorize = true

 

; scaler mode for standard content (vpm frames): doubler, scale2x.

; note: see readme.md for details

scalermode = scale2x

 

; always scale standard vpm frames to 256x64

; note: see readme.md for details

scaletohd = false

 

; a DMD that renders with nice dots on a computer monitor

[spacegoogie]

The way it comes through on the camera actually looks a little better lol.

 

https://ibb.co/BTRtf7N

 

https://ibb.co/dbXnC6B

Edited by spacegoogie, 04 December 2022 - 12:33 AM.

[spacegoogie]

 

Check your dmddevice.ini and try adjustments there, example below

 

[global]

 

; how to scale games to smaller or larger displays: fit, fill or stretch

resize = fit

 

; flips the image horizontally

fliphorizontally = false

 

; flips the image vertically

flipvertically = false

 

; enable or disable frame-by-frame colorization (inactive in VPX bundle)

colorize = true

 

; scaler mode for standard content (vpm frames): doubler, scale2x.

; note: see readme.md for details

scalermode = scale2x

 

; always scale standard vpm frames to 256x64

; note: see readme.md for details

scaletohd = false

 

; a DMD that renders with nice dots on a computer monitor

 

Thank you for the info, my dmdini looks good. 

[Cliffy]

 

The way it comes through on the camera actually looks a little better lol.

 

https://ibb.co/BTRtf7N

 

https://ibb.co/dbXnC6B

 

Those pics look like a FlexDMD/UltraDMD. If so check the table script for a Hi-res or High Quality option. Especially if you can set the resolution to 256 x 64.

 

Heres an example from VPCooks Poltergeist;

 

'FlexDMD in high or normal quality

'change it to True if you have an LCD screen, 256x64

'or keep it False if you have a real DMD at 128x32 in size

Const FlexDMDHighQuality = False

 

By default its set to False. I always change that to True

 

With Flexdmd you can drag a corner out till you get the clearest picture possible where all the hatch lines go away. However, the higher the resolution the better it will look when you do that. 

Edited by Cliffy, 04 December 2022 - 01:53 AM.

[spacegoogie]

 

 

The way it comes through on the camera actually looks a little better lol.

 

https://ibb.co/BTRtf7N

 

https://ibb.co/dbXnC6B

 

Those pics look like a FlexDMD/UltraDMD. If so check the table script for a Hi-res or High Quality option. Especially if you can set the resolution to 256 x 64.

 

Heres an example from VPCooks Poltergeist;

 

'FlexDMD in high or normal quality

'change it to True if you have an LCD screen, 256x64

'or keep it False if you have a real DMD at 128x32 in size

Const FlexDMDHighQuality = False

 

By default its set to False. I always change that to True

 

With Flexdmd you can drag a corner out till you get the clearest picture possible where all the hatch lines go away. However, the higher the resolution the better it will look when you do that. 

 

going to check this out right now.

[spacegoogie]

 

 

 

The way it comes through on the camera actually looks a little better lol.

 

https://ibb.co/BTRtf7N

 

https://ibb.co/dbXnC6B

 

Those pics look like a FlexDMD/UltraDMD. If so check the table script for a Hi-res or High Quality option. Especially if you can set the resolution to 256 x 64.

 

Heres an example from VPCooks Poltergeist;

 

'FlexDMD in high or normal quality

'change it to True if you have an LCD screen, 256x64

'or keep it False if you have a real DMD at 128x32 in size

Const FlexDMDHighQuality = False

 

By default its set to False. I always change that to True

 

With Flexdmd you can drag a corner out till you get the clearest picture possible where all the hatch lines go away. However, the higher the resolution the better it will look when you do that. 

 

going to check this out right now.

 

Omg forgot all the different places settings could be hiding. Ok, changed settings in the script. It does look better.  Thank you. 

Any recomended settings? Seems like no matter what I do it looks pretty crappy.

[wiesshund]

 

The way it comes through on the camera actually looks a little better lol.

 

https://ibb.co/BTRtf7N

 

https://ibb.co/dbXnC6B

 

 

#1 Dont ignore aspect ratio, at least not on use created DMDs
You can sometimes on a ROM DMD due to much lesser amount of detail and much lesser use of colors

#2 You need to edit your DMD style, for this table anyways
I usually do styles per table, atleast for flexDMD content

 

start of course by making a profile name for the table, and save that profile
now, try adjusting the dot size, perhaps smaller than 1.0 a little

back off the sharpness and maybe shave a little off roundness

 

get your dots looking good
then worry about brightness and glow

do brightness 1st, with no glow
then add a little dot glow, just for a very slight effect

Then you can try a wee bit of background glow, but you may find you dont need any

When customizing stypes
always go with the least amount of something needed to obtain the effect

 

On a flexDMD table, the DMD can go much much higher in pixel density
in the case of this table 265x64, but flexDMD can do full on HD 1920 x 1080 dots (your cpu will die rendering that many though)
when increasing dot density, you will have to adjust your style to suit

 

Incidentally, depending on how the author made the flex DMD content
If you want the DMD to look more like a mini spike 2 display
set the dots to square
adjust dot size until the black area between dots only just disappears
adjust sharpness as you see fit

 

DMD will resemble a cell shaded cartoon

 

(This is FlexDMD this is NOT a PUP pak, though i do not recommend running a DMD at this pixel density, Freezy did not design DMDDevice for this kind of work load)

[Cliffy]

 

 

 

 

The way it comes through on the camera actually looks a little better lol.

 

https://ibb.co/BTRtf7N

 

https://ibb.co/dbXnC6B

 

Those pics look like a FlexDMD/UltraDMD. If so check the table script for a Hi-res or High Quality option. Especially if you can set the resolution to 256 x 64.

 

Heres an example from VPCooks Poltergeist;

 

'FlexDMD in high or normal quality

'change it to True if you have an LCD screen, 256x64

'or keep it False if you have a real DMD at 128x32 in size

Const FlexDMDHighQuality = False

 

By default its set to False. I always change that to True

 

With Flexdmd you can drag a corner out till you get the clearest picture possible where all the hatch lines go away. However, the higher the resolution the better it will look when you do that. 

 

going to check this out right now.

 

Omg forgot all the different places settings could be hiding. Ok, changed settings in the script. It does look better.  Thank you. 

Any recomended settings? Seems like no matter what I do it looks pretty crappy.

 

Thats just the nature of the beast with flex/ultra dmd's. I will sometime export the background in image manager and darken it to make the graphics have better contrast. I had to do that on iron maiden for example otherwise it looked washed out

Also, I don't know if you're running a cab or desktop but if desktop mode 

change the following to look like mine;

' Use FlexDMD if in FS mode

Dim UseFlexDMD

If Table1.ShowDT = True then

    UseFlexDMD = True

Else

    UseFlexDMD = True

End If

 

For some unknown reason everyone who codes flexdmd into their tables ignore desktop users. Setting UseFlexDMD to True allows us to move and resize the dmd. 

This is as good as I was able to get resizing the flexdmd on poltergeist

[wiesshund]

 

 

For some unknown reason everyone who codes flexdmd into their tables ignore desktop users. 

 

 

 

Not ignoring
But most desktop users prefer to run exclusive fullscreen mode, which obliterates an external DMD

 

In the case of this table, it is 100% the opposite actually.

 

The DMD itself is NOT flexDMD at all
The DMD is purpose built 100% for desktop users

FlexDMD is being used after the fact, to capture the DMD, and render it outside the table, for cab use.

The table uses JP's desktop internal DMD design.

But back to the other, most dont turn on flexDMD for desktop use cause the most common way to run is exclusive fullscreen.

I have only run into a few tables where the author both
Turned off flexDMD if in desktop view
AND
Failed to provide any alternate means of seeing the DMD at the same time.

 

Mind you i did a table where i let the player pick each and every little thing, regardless of mode they played in
Want external DMD even in desktop? Sure, turn it on here

Want a DMD right on the apron too?
Cool turn it on here

 

LoL got a lot of feed back basically saying ugh too many options, please get rid of them (but i didnt)

[spacegoogie]

Thanks again everyone for the help. It looks like I can now resize the DMD to a full 1920x1080 and you can read it lol. 

Now when I shrink the DMD down to the correct size it looks bad smaller?   LMAO I just can't win, but hey this is all the fun of it right.

Is this not why most of us do this, is to keep working on it and always find that one more thing to "fix"!

Nevertheless, when I do play I really have a good time.    I can't get too crazy with my build, gonna be moving in about 4 weeks

The good news is my other half supports what I'm doing   Thank you Hunny bunny

My DMD ini is set to 1200x800, should that be different?

[wiesshund]

er keep in mind
the DMD is not 1920x1080 it is not 16:9 and isnt intended to be displayed that way, it is 4:1
So 1920x480
 
or 1200 x 300 depending on what screen you are sticking it on
 
If you make it any other aspect ratio, nothing you can do about the weirdness that will follow
 
and changing size affects if the style works or not
 
put it in the right place and at the right size, then do the style
 
and suggest not distorting the aspect ratio much if any

Or this

 

Becomes THIS

 

And aint no style fixing that

[Mooserules]

I updated by B2S Server from 1.3.04 to V 1.4 successfully so I could use new tables like the Kiss (3 screen DMD) and Aerosmith tables (3rd screen digital display) that have the third screen digital score/background. As you can see that worked and is working fine on many tables. However, in doing so it blew out the the Dot matrix FlexDMDs for table such as Kiss, SOA, Guns N Roses, acdc, star wars, etc. They are gone, not hidden. As you can see with Kiss the background display is there but the DMD/Score/Flex is gone. I have reloaded the Kiss table, B2B and Ultra and still its not showing up. I lost these as well a month ago and by updating my Flex it resolved it. Here is what I’ve troubleshooted so far to no avail: Back glass settings are set to Grill hidden, DMD hidden, B2S DMD Visible and use dream7Leds. Its not a back glass positioning issue it seems since they only don't show up on the DMD/Flex tables. I have went into my my VPinMame Setup.exe file and ensured use external DMD is checked. The one question I have is does B2S V 1.4 require DMDDevice64/FlexDMD.DLL 64? I have the latest Freezy, I don’t think that is the answer. if Any other recommendations to check if not that?

[wiesshund]

B2S Server has 0 bearing on DMD Extensions or FlexDMD

they dont interact with each other at all

 

DOes FlexDMD test run?

Open FlexDMDUI.exe and see

[Mooserules]

Thx so when I open flexdmdui. exe I get this showing DMD64 is not found. When I run the test under the designer tab I get a fade in/out dmd and when I run the test under the FMD designer I get a welcome Enjoy. so seems like both are running right? 

[wiesshund]

64bit DLL isnt needed, unless you are running some 64bit app that can use dmd extensions and flexDMD

typically we dont have any 64bit apps that use the DLL, so you can ignore that, informational only.

 

If FlexDMD demo runs, then flexDMD itself does in fact work

 

But you have a lot of mixed up info above

 

VPINMAME has no bearing on FlexDMD

 

if VpinMAME makes the display it is not flexDMD, just freezy's DMD extensions (if use external DLL is enabled)

 

Kiss 2015 is NOT a vpinmame table, there is no ROM
so there is no vpinmame settings on it

 

Does Attack from Mars show a DMD? (everyone has attack from mars)
If so, then Freezy's works
(If not then does dmddevice.ini have show vertual DMD set to true?)

 

Do you have JP's Diablo, Zelda or Slimer? (gotta have one of those?)
Do those display a DMD?
If so, then FLexDMD works

 

At which point i would go to the kiss table thread and ask the table author

[TT11]

Wiesshund - You should be congratulated for all the inputs/advice you constantly offer to help forum members.  You have the patience of a saint !

[wiesshund]

You have the patience of a saint !

 

No, really i dont.

It's an illusion to the forum, cause you cant whack people with stuff

and also

In the forum
No one can hear you scream....