2 Screen Virtual Pinball Cab and GameEx - a few questions

[thedevilbunny]

Sup ya'll,

I've been working on a cocktail Virtual Pinball machine, the two screen variety, and after a long setup with another frontend, I wanted to get my personal fav GameEx on there as well (Had to install the other one for an interested party..i'm a GameEx man). Anyway, this is my first experience with using GameEx on a two monitor setup vertically, and I have a few questions i've had trouble finding answers for.

For starts, GameEx obviously supports 2 monitors...but is there a way to diplay a backglass image on the second monitor while i'm scrolling through the list of pins (Ie display art on monitor two).

Secondly, why the 800x600 resolution limit on vert screens...is this there for a reason?

Next, it seems that theres no load screen that pops up when I select the table I want, and in both Visual Pinball and Future Pinball I see the program load up on a blank desktop..I mean they work fine, but i'm used to a GameEx load screen hiding all this...is that not an option on a Vertical setup?

Thanks for the input ya'll...is anyone out there running a virtual pinball machine with GameEx? I'd love to get some pointers.

Aaron

[Tom Speirs]

Version 4 themes support a very low res on vertical screens. if you are talking about maximum resolution there is no limit. Are you using an old version of GameEx? I am not sure what you mean about the load screen, I don't believe it should be any different for vertical.

As for the backglass GameExtender should work fine.

[thedevilbunny]

Thanks for the feedback Tom. I suppose I should elaborate on the loading screen.. I'm only loading Visual Pinball and Future Pinball on this rig..when I choose a table, even with the desktop off I still see the editors load up. Is there a way to cover this load? I know these emulators are unique and provide a special challenge to mask.

The 800x600 resolution question is from reading the faq on verts...might be old. I am using the most current version, and this has not really been an issue...I just saw this and wondered about it.

I've not used Game Extender in this way before..to put up backglasses. Can someone direct me to an example of how to implement this..i've had a look around and haven't came across a method for how this works.

Thanks alot Tom.

[Tom Speirs]

Just setup GameExtender server and client to use the same IP and port. 127.0.0.1 is fine if just running from the same PC. Then tell GameExtender viewer to display on the secondary monitor and gamextender viewer to load on startup. Should not be difficult. Then you can tweak it and tell it what images to show etc. That is if I understand correctly about the backglass. Might need a bit more work. Let me know how you get on. Have you got the show desktop for the emulator config turned off as well as the global hide desktop off? Otherwise don't realy have any suggestions. These emus can be a bit clunky loading up as folks know.

[thedevilbunny]

You're the man, Tom! Your Gameextender gimmick did the trick! My backglasses show on the second monitor while I scroll thru the table...very fine. Future Pinball still works perfectly, but Visual Pinball with the UltraVPserver gets lost behind the gameextender image. I'm working on it. Nevertheless, thanks for the tip.

[Tom Speirs]

Glad its working out. I was thinking about it and we may need an option in GameEx to hide the viewer when launching from certain emulators.

[thedevilbunny]

Yeh that would definitely fit in this scenario. If the gameextender shut off at launch there'd be no trouble. The funny thing is the DMD from Pinmame actually sets on top of the gameextender screen. The end result is that it took me awhile to realize I was still looking at the gameextender screen and not the UVP screen, since the DMD was perfectly positioned (Of course it would be, i'm using the same backglass shots for Gameex and the UVP). What this means is that Gameex actually could let you phase out UVP software all together provided you didn't mind looking at a static backglass with no lighting features. This would make gamex attractive to people that have a 2 screen setup but don't wanna go through the hassles (lots of hassles) of setting up UVP and editing the script of EVERY table. You'd still have to position the digital scoring and whatnot, but the DMD machines..easy as pie.

If I can figure out how to give the UVP screen priority over the gameextender screen, I'll post it. I'll have to ponder this a bit. That said and as I suspected, Gameex is a GREAT frontend for a setup like mine. Once I got past the backglass issue, it's been the choice frontend of everyone i've shown it too over the other one I have installed.

[thedevilbunny]

Well i've been pulling my hair out trying to get UltraVPServer to gain focus over the gamextender screen on the launch of a table in VP, but so far i've had zero luck. Funny that Future pinball doesn't have that problem. Tom, or anyone else, whadda you think the possibilities of turning off gameextender somehow when a VP table is launched and then turning it back on when the table is exited are? I was wondering if I could somehow send the ALT+F4 key combo out ahead of the load and then just reinitialize the gameextender software when I exit the table. I'm very close to getting this...

[Tom Speirs]

Ill try an add a setting as discussed.

[thedevilbunny]

Thanks Tom.

[Tom Speirs]

That should be done. now. Please replace files with the attached.

You will need to add HideGameExtenderViewer=True to the appropriate emulator section within gameex.ini.

eg.

[Emulator_1]

HideGameExtenderViewer=True

... other settings.

g.7z

[Krakerman]

Sounds like an option that needs to be added to the setup wizard

[Tom Speirs]

Sounds like an option that needs to be added to the setup wizard

It will be in the next release. This is just a pre release for testing.

[thedevilbunny]

Wow, that's what I call service! We'll, i've only tested a few tables but so far it's a 100 percent win! I'll do a full test in the morning, but I think we got a winner on our hands! Well done!

[thedevilbunny]

Actually one thing I have noticed is that after exiting a game, Gamex occasionally is minimized in the toolbar...and this happens even with other emulators.

[Krakerman]

Maybe we should have some kind of instruction for setting up UltraVPServer with GameEx.

[thedevilbunny]

Theres not much to it really. It's resident, and runs when called out of visual pinball. I'll tell ya'll, I tried about 10 tables last night...most worked 100 percent with the new beta. But occasionally it'd pop out of the game to the desktop with a minimized gameex...or one time the uvp screen just stayed on the 2nd monitor. Therein lies the difficulty...Future Pin and Visual Pin are old, cranky emulators that occasionally do random stuff. I have very similar problems on the other front end I setup, and it's very common...everyone has the issue. I'm still testing. I'm VERY pleased for the most part..Tom's new addition holds up it's end of the bargain.

[Tom Speirs]

Please try the attached for the focus issue.

g.7z

[thedevilbunny]

Ok, I wanna preface this little test by saying I only have Future Pin and Visual Pin installed so I can't say what other emulators will do with this beta software. That said, I think you got it sir. I ran a pretty comprehensive test...I hit random table 10 times and played 5 visual and 5 future pin tables. I also played at least one ball per table, and finished a full session on a few. Just to be thorough, I did some wacky stuff like resized the DMD on the visual pin tables (this causes trouble with the other frontend almost every time). I ran all 10, with ZERO problems, and with no hiccups, slowdowns, or any problems what so ever getting back into the frontend smoothly and with gameextender firing 100 percent. I will continue testing in the morning, but I can tell you I'm all but convinced this is a done deal. If anyone is interested in having a look at a rig with this setup, I'll post a video....I have a feeling that there will be an influx of emulated pinheads coming around pretty soon after this feature gets implemented.

Once again, thanks very much Tom.

[celly]

Sounds awesome to me, please post a video kind sir! I'm a big pinball fan.

[Krakerman]

That's why I mentioned how you go about setting this up in GameEx like step by step so it would make it much easier for everyone to do the same. Sometimes it might be easier for some and no so much for others. Looking forward to checking out your video of it in action

[Tom Speirs]

Ok, I wanna preface this little test by saying I only have Future Pin and Visual Pin installed so I can't say what other emulators will do with this beta software. That said, I think you got it sir. I ran a pretty comprehensive test...I hit random table 10 times and played 5 visual and 5 future pin tables. I also played at least one ball per table, and finished a full session on a few. Just to be thorough, I did some wacky stuff like resized the DMD on the visual pin tables (this causes trouble with the other frontend almost every time). I ran all 10, with ZERO problems, and with no hiccups, slowdowns, or any problems what so ever getting back into the frontend smoothly and with gameextender firing 100 percent. I will continue testing in the morning, but I can tell you I'm all but convinced this is a done deal. If anyone is interested in having a look at a rig with this setup, I'll post a video....I have a feeling that there will be an influx of emulated pinheads coming around pretty soon after this feature gets implemented.

Once again, thanks very much Tom.

Cool. I love it when I out do the competition

[Krakerman]

I think you have outdun the competition a long time ago T!

[thedevilbunny]

Ok Tom, an update. So far, i've had no problems with focus under usual game conditions. HOWEVER, I just noticed that I DO lose focus on gamex after returning from playing a table when Custom Menu's are on. I don't know if this will help you at all, but figured i'd mention it. I tried the same tables with and without custom menu's on, and they only failed to focus back on gamex with custom menu's on.

[thedevilbunny]

I think we can put this topic to bed. The new release has worked flawlessly for me, and the ability to turn off gameextender seals the deal on visual pinball. Well done, Tom.