PinballX with B.A.M for Future Pinball

[Tom Speirs]

@Tom since you said you're new to this... wanted to make sure you were hep to Slam's physics 2.5? Not always a safe topic but this seems like neutral ground!

Just sayin...

Yeah, I am slightly aware of it but thanks anyway. It could potentially break the forum rules here though just so you know.

[evilantal]

That's great news, Tom! I'll go and test it out right away...

Superb support (nice alliteration there) on both your parts!

[pocketpal]

Last night I installed the newest versions of PinballX (1.48) and BAM (v0.9-40) to check out these latest attempts at getting them to play nicely together. I experienced inconsistent behavior with the in-game/pause menu which I couldn't figure out a way to fix on my end. While testing, I noticed it seemed that when the game first launched, I always had to wait a short while before the in-game/pause button would register, but that may be according to design, and wouldn't usually be an issue. What happened after that, though, could be one of four things:

a.) the menu shows up and operates as it should

b.) the menu shows up for a second or two with my previous selection highlighted (if I've already been using the menu) and doesn't respond to buttons, disappears for a second or two, then reappears with the top option highlighted and responds to buttons as normal

c.) the menu does not appear, I still see the playfield, but can operate the invisible menu as normal

d.) the menu does not appear, I see nothing but black playfield and backglass and my mouse cursor, but can operate the invisible menu as normal

Whichever behavior it is exhibiting is consistent the entire time a game is running, but may be different on subsequent runs of the same or different game. I tried everything I could think of that might affect it, including renaming "FPLoader.exe" to "Future Pinball.exe", changing the key for "in-game/pause" to something different than what I have for "Quit," and probably some other things I can't remember now.

Is anyone else experiencing this?

[Tom Speirs]

What card and drivers are you using? Do you get the issue if not using backglass in FP?

[evilantal]

I experienced similar behavior, but that seemed resolved after installing ati catalyst driver version 13.1 and rebooting the pc.

I'll test some more, but for now it's looking great!

[pocketpal]

I experienced similar behavior, but that seemed resolved after installing ati catalyst driver version 13.1 and rebooting the pc. I'll test some more, but for now it's looking great!

Ok, that sounds promising, although I'm using an nVidia card. I'll upgrade my drivers to the most recent version tonight and see how I fare.

[evilantal]

Just be sure to keep your previous working drivers handy

[pocketpal]

Ok, I download the newest version of PinballX (1.50), the most recent certified drivers for my GeForce GTX 460 (320.49), installed them both, rebooted, and I'm still experiencing the same issue as before. I'm too tired to mess with it any more than that tonight, but I'm open to more ideas!

[Tom Speirs]

Please try the attached. Ive increased the timings slightly. Could you look into what I said about the backglass? It is releveant. Does regular FP work fine?

PinballX.zip

[pocketpal]

Do you get the issue if not using backglass in FP?

I don't understand what you mean by this.

[Tom Speirs]

I don't understand what you mean by this.

Its for troubleshooting. Temporarily disable the second monitor/backglass in future pinball and let me know if you still have the issue.

[pocketpal]

Please try the attached. Ive increased the timings slightly. Could you look into what I said about the backglass? It is releveant. Does regular FP work fine?

I tried this replacement EXE, but there was no noticeable change.

Its for troubleshooting. Temporarily disable the second monitor/backglass in future pinball and let me know if you still have the issue.

I disabled the backglass display in FP video preferences, but it didn't help.

I also tried a slew of other things, some crazier than others, including updating to 1.51, running PinballX windowed rather than fullscreen, running regular FP without BAM, disabling the backglass in the XML for individual tables, and maybe some other things I can't remember, but nothing has helped. I appreciate your trying, though.

[Tom Speirs]

So to confirm it does it in regular FP too? Has it ever worked?

[pocketpal]

So to confirm it does it in regular FP too? Has it ever worked?

Right -- it works no differently whether I'm running FP with or without BAM. It used to work fine until you and Rafal both updated your apps to work better together. That was needed, and a welcome effort, but that's exactly when I started having this issue.

I think I have a better description of what happens, if it helps: the first time I press the menu button in a particular game, both screens go black. I can tell the menu is present because I hear the sound effects for button presses, and if I just press select it will exit like it should. When I press the menu button again, both screens return to the game as they should. Subsequent presses of the menu button do NOT make both screens black, but instead make the playfield paused and the backglass switches from the current game active backglass to my static backglass image for display in PinballX. I still don't see the menu, but I can still tell it's there and use it as I described before. Also, sometimes the table is closed when I choose exit and sometimes it is still running in the background, requiring an alt+tab and manual close.

Then again, sometimes it works as it should, although it seems to be less often. When it does, subsequent menu button presses will instantly show the previous instance of the menu for a second, which will then vanish, and a new instance of the menu will then pop up which I can interact with.

I should also probably mention that the behavior when a game is launched is inconsistent as well: sometimes it says "LOADING" for awhile and then switches to the FP loading screen, while other times it will go from "LOADING" to a black screen until the game just appears. Might be related, I suppose.

[pocketpal]

I finally found a solution to my problem with the in-game pause menu! All I had to do was set my Future Pinball.exe file to compatibility mode with XP SP3 and now the menu always shows up! Maybe the rest of you already had it set this way...? I do still intermittently experience the behaviors described here, though:

...subsequent menu button presses will instantly show the previous instance of the menu for a second, which will then vanish, and a new instance of the menu will then pop up which I can interact with.

I should also probably mention that the behavior when a game is launched is inconsistent as well: sometimes it says "LOADING" for awhile and then switches to the FP loading screen, while other times it will go from "LOADING" to a black screen until the game just appears. Might be related, I suppose.

As far as the menu goes, sometimes it's like as soon as I press the button, PinballX switches to a buffer for a second or two that still contains a static image with the menu and backdrop as it was last displayed, then the screen updates and the menu animates onto the screen and the backdrop appears as they should. Anyway, if that kinda-theory holds any water, then perhaps a solution would be to clear the buffer each time the menu is put away.

Does anyone else experience this? And am I supposed to be seeing the FP loading screen or just the PinballX one -- which is the intended behavior?

[Tom Speirs]

I think I have fixed the problem. Please try the attached.

PinballX.zip

[pocketpal]

Sorry, but it doesn't help.

[Tom Speirs]

It will be worth trying the new release but not sure if its fixed. I've never had this issue.

[pocketpal]

1.52 doesn't have any noticeable effect either. It's not a big deal, really, and if it's something on my end, then maybe I'll figure it out in due course.

[ravarcade]

Pocketpal: If i udersted it right, You see [old pinballx window/black screen/windows desktop" then You switch between pinballx menu and FP.

I did today tests with nVidia 650TI (gfx drv. 320.49) and i have same "isssue".

I don't think it will be easy to "fix".

Problem is, that FP uses OpenGL and PinballX uses DirectX. ATI/AMD gfx drivers don't like to create 2 windows with opengl 3d graphics and another with directx. Thats way, when You press "P" to switch menu, pinballx have to:

- freeze FP

- hide FP windows

- create new window with DirectX (it is window displayed on backbox).

- switch to pinballx window.

Some actions need time and You can see not refreshed windows.

PinballX on version prior 1.47 don't stop FP, recreate DirectX window, so switching was fast, but it allways creashes on ATI/AMD gfx. There was also problem with FP and key response. FP need not only visible window, but also playfiled window must get "focus" to process keyboard input. This way it works stable.

[pocketpal]

Pocketpal: If i udersted it right, You see [old pinballx window/black screen/windows desktop" then You switch between pinballx menu and FP.

I did today tests with nVidia 650TI (gfx drv. 320.49) and i have same "isssue".

I don't think it will be easy to "fix".

If that's the way it has to be, then it isn't really that big of a problem. Thanks for looking into it!

[Tom Speirs]

Can you please try 1.53 and see if you still have the issue please.

Cheers.

[pocketpal]

Yeah, I do still see the previous menu instance first, although it does seem to disappear quicker than before, so it's an improvement! Thanks for still trying to make it work as smoothly as possible!

[graf]

has this been fixed ? i am having this issue aswell. should i update my nivida driver ?

[graf]

well it is working now. i added this FP parameters for PinballX look like this:

Parameters=/STAYINRAM

just attack from mars crashes pinballx.

trying new nvidia drivers