Pinballx versus VP backglass servers and cabinets

[scrivy]

The following information resolves two problems in Pinball Cabinet configurations and one of them is caused by the Game Manager that comes with Pinballx and the other is caused by Pinballx not closing out servers upon exit from the game.

Problem 1:

UltraVPServer and B2SBackglassServerEXE have been observed to be running in the Task Manager even after a VP game is closed and you exit back to the menu in Pinballx.

Solution to this is as follows:

1. Create a batch file called “killbackglass.bat” containing two entries. Use your systems DOS task kill command. In XP it is "tskill”. Place entries tskill UltraVPServer and tskill B2SBackglassServerEXE each on their own line. Use a program like Jitbits BatToExe to convert the batch file into an executable. You will then have “killbackglass.exe”. Execute the Pinballx “Settings” manager to call this program in Virtual Pinball to Launch After when a table exits.

Problem 2:

Why is the UltraVPServer not working in PinballX to display the backglass? Why is the back box black? Why does the server menu pop up when a table runs and not the back glass?

1. Make sure all of your table game files have the same name.

2. UltraVPServer and the home directory folder that you used to store your finalized UVP files must remain in the Hyperpin folder like “C:\Hyperpin\UltraVP” or whatever. Don't try to move any of this over to Pinballx because it won't work. When you install a table using a UVP back glass you can store the original back glass file and the uvp file in the appropriate \Pinballx\Media\Visual Pinball\ sub-folders, but once you execute UltraVPServer and read in the back glass and uvp file, you must save it in its home Hyperpin folder. For example on my installation it is at “C:\Hyperpin\UltraVP”

3. UltraVPServer must see that your newly installed table is present in the database “Visual Pinball.xml”. There is a bug with this that I have discovered. If you executed “Game Manager” that came with Pinballx, made a change and saved the file, you now have created an xml file with additional lines that UltraVPServer does not understand. This will cause your UVP file not to be found and the UltraVPServer menu will pop up instead of the back glass. If you are transitioning from Hyperpin to Pinballx and moved your xml file over, it originally did not have these extra lines so all the uvp's installed prior to the installation will work even if you did execute “Game Manager” and messed up your xml later adding lines with: <hidedmd>, <hidebackglass>, </enabled>, </rating> This is because UltraVPServer only needs to find itself one time but now you start to install more tables with new UVP's and your xml file is all messed up and the server can't find the new table. What can you do? There are only two solutions to this problem. One is to manually change the Visual Pinball.xml file back to the way it was in Hyperpin with extra lines removed. I don't like this idea because for some of my VP tables, I don't even use a back glass server but only the back glass image displayed with the DMD running in the right place. <hidebackglass> as FALSE is a good feature for this and reduces stuttering. Server's can sometimes slow games down on older machines. The other is to temporarily hide the complete Visual Pinball.xml file (move it somewhere else), then create a new file with only the one game you are trying to install and after you run the game one time, UltraVPServer finds the installed UVP and you can put the original Visual Pinball.xml file back to where it was and install the new game inside of it. Once the server finds it in the xml, it doesn't care that the xml that came later has additional lines it because the Game Manager messed with it.

4. VP cabinets running UVP presents a major problem in that everyone has a different back monitor screen size so if you download UVP for a particular table, you may find that the back glass does not have the proper size for your monitor and the UVP overlay that goes over it combined with the back glass being the wrong size too, can't stretch it to your back monitor and you get the black screen. You will have to use an image editor to resize a new back glass to fit your monitor. Create the UVP that originally came with your installation saving it with its original wrong sized back glass. Now open it back up and drag all overlays containing scoring, lighting, digits, away from the edges of the display and place them more towards the center of the screen and remember their original positions and save this UVP somewhere. Now run the UltraVPServer, read in the newly sized back glass, read in the wrong sized original UVP file that you saved earlier, and move the overlayed UVP items to their correct positions. Remember that UVP overlays can't stretch so when you try to transpose them on a newly sized back glass image, much of the data will be lost on the bottom edge so this is the reason you have to create a dummied up UVP and drag the elements away from edges where they can be lost. Then when you run the server, read in the new back glass, and the dummied up UVP, you can then drag elements back into their positions.

[Outhere]

killbackglass.exe - Only works when you exit Pinballx, Not each game .. -- Help

[zeenon]

Are you adding the killbackglass.exe on the Visual Pinball emulator settings screen and not the Exit Program settings?

The Launch After under the Visual Pinball settings will run after you exit out of each table, the Exit Program settings will run when you exit PinballX. If you're still having an issue, post your pinballx.ini and we can see if you have it in the right place.

Z

[Draco1962]

killbackglass.exe - Only works when you exit Pinballx, Not each game .. -- Help

Welcome to the PinballX forums! You may want to refer to the How to Ask for Help thread and provide us with some information about your setup as instructed there and also let us know what OS you are running. Thanks!