[RESOLVED] Custom database limit?

[dinodino]

Hi All,

I'm working on the finishing touches of my cabinet, and running into an issue with custom groups that is driving me insane.

I want to display the following custom groups in the menu:

! Favorite

! Kid Friendly

Era 1 - Pre 1970

Era 2 - 1970's

Era 3 - 1980's

Era 4 - Post 1990

Make - Bally

Make - Gottlieb

Make - Original

Make - Stern

System - FP

System - VP 91

System - VP 99

System - VP 99 PhyMod

Type - Elec-Mech

Type - Non-Pinball

Type - SS (no DMD)

Type - SS (with DMD)

This divides up the tables well, and through earlier (also unsuccessful) experimentation, I know that this will fit nicely on the screen and gives all the options I would really want.

As you could probably guess from the "system" menus, I have configured 4 systems (Future pinball and 3 version of Visual Pinball).

I have 1115 tables total.

So, I've copied the 4 system databases to create the "System - X" custom databases, all the rest are created with custom groups. Each custom group maps to databases for each system, for example "! Favorite.xml" contains :

<group name="! Favorite">

<database>Future Pinball\! Favorite</database>

<database>Visual Pinball\! Favorite</database>

<database>VP99\! Favorite</database>

<database>VPMOD\! Favorite</database>

</group>

Therefore, there are 4 + (14 x 4) = 60 custom databases.

The issue that I'm running into is that not everything is showing up. Initially, it appeared that the VP99 related content was missing, so I spent a hellova long time trying to troubleshoot that to see if I had any errors with my VP99 config. However, everything appeared to be configured properly. Then, I noticed that the log file was showing that not all the custom databases were being loaded.

Check out these attachments:

lognew.txt

logold.txt

logold.txt - From this log, you can see the 4 main system databases loading, then it starts loading all the custom databases. First it loads the 15 custom databases for FP, then the 15 for VP 91, then gets to 11 databases for VP 99 PhyMod and stops. So, you can see that 4 "VP 99 PhyMod" custom databases do not load, and ALL 15 "VP99" custom databases do not load. 41 custom databases load, then it stops.

lognew.txt - As an experiment, i deleted and removed the "Make - Original" database from the VP 99 PhyMod custom group (it was empty anyway... unfortunately the remaining databases are not empty). Now when you look at the list of custom databases that are loaded, it loads one at the end that it was unable to load before (VP 99 PhyMod, "Type - Elec-Mech"). Again, 41 custom databases load, then it stops.

If my conclusion here is correct, it appears then that either a) There is some sort of memory limit that I am hitting into that halts the loading process, or b ) there is a limit to the number of custom databases that can be loaded (41?)

Does this make any sense? Is there some way around this apparent limitation?

Sorry for the long-winded description, hope I've explained that well. If you've managed to read this far you have my gratitude!

Any help or insight that can be offered to solve this problem would be GREATLY appreciated!!!

Would be glad to share any other relevant config info that might help solve or workaround this issue...

Regards,

dinodino

[Draco1962]

Can we get a copy of your pinballx.ini as well? Thanks!

[dinodino]

Hi Draco1962,

Thanks for your reply. Pinballx.ini attached.

PinballX.ini

Regards,

dinodino

[dinodino]

I have some additional information.

In order to test if this was a memory limit that was being hit, I tried to chop down the custom database sizes so that none had more than 10 tables in each one (this literally removed 1000's of lines in total).

First I started with FP custom databases --> no difference, 41 custom databases load, then it stops.

Then moved on to VP custom databases --> no difference, 41 custom databases load, then it stops.

I didn't bother with VPMOD, since there are very few of them in my setup anyway.

Finally, cut down the VP99 custom databases --> no difference, 41 custom databases load, then it stops.

This result was very surprising. I thought for sure it would be a memory limit, but this result seems to show it *might* be a limit on the number of custom databases that can be loaded.

Hope this helps....

Any help in tackling this problem GREATLY appreciated!

Regards,

dinodino

[Draco1962]

Tom will need to answer this as I am not aware of anyone setup with so many custom DBs. If it is a hard coded limit, then it will be something he will need to address.

You may want to post a summary of this in the PinballX Enhancements & Features Requests thread as well.

[dinodino]

Thanks again for your follow-up Draco1962. I'll try to see if Tom will do me the favor of a look at this issue. ( I assume you were referring to Tom Speirs?)

Regards,

dinodino

[Tom Speirs]

Its by design that PinballX is designed for only the best of the best games to play on a pincab. ie. A Finite number and its not designed to support hundreds of systems and lists. Ill have a look when I get a chance but it sounds like you are trying to make the front end do something its not really designed to do. Sorry!

[Draco1962]

@dinodino - Please post your request for this type of change here so that it can be easily found with other similar requests for Enhancements and Features. Thanks!

[dinodino]

Tom,

Thanks a lot for your reply! Well, I only have 4 systems, and 1115 tables. There are a lot of talented table designers out there, so It's pretty easy to find 1115 good tables The custom group thing is such a killer feature of PinballX I guess I thought there would be a lot of folks out there with the sort of categories defined that I described. I just assumed I must have messed something up with my config and didn't think that I could really be bumping into a limit. Thanks for confirming that is likely the case.

Knowing this, it's forced me to rethink this and prioritize a bit. I decided to eliminate the Bally, Gottlieb, and Stern menus. Also, the VPMOD system has only 16 tables total, so there were only a few in each of the custom groups. Therefore, I decided to remove the VPMOD stuff from the remaining groups since there were so few tables effected (and since I could always just load the VPMOD menu to see all those tables). Now all loads and displays as expected.

Draco1962,

Although this "work around" will solve my immediate need, it would be nice to be able to set the menus up as I had originally intended. As soon as I get a chance I will add a post in the enhancements section as you suggest.

Thank you both for your feedback, appreciated.

dinodino

[tthurman]

Seeing how this is a current design limitation, as opposed to an actual problem, I'm marking this one as resolved in an effort to avoid confusion.