Arcooda Direct Launch for PBX

[GAH1068]

Here is my working compiled AHK script that I use to launch Arcooda tables directly.     You will need to alter your paths depending on where things install but this is working 100% for me

I am running two scripts from PBX.   On startup the one named Start_Arcooda.exe is doing two basic things.    It copies a specific saved settings file I created for both Arcooda and for standard TPA to the C:\Users\YourName\My Games\Pinball Arcade directory\DX11_Settings.dat.     DX11_Settings.Dat are where your screen settings are stored and there will be two different ones if you are running both Arcooda and standard TPA.    Creating a saved  .Dat file allows me to switch between the two system without having to run PBAConfig.exe each time.   I can launch either tables this way..   I have a copy called Arcooda_Dx11.dat and fcm_dx11.dat that I configued for each system by running the PBAConfig.exe located in the Pinball Arcade directory.   I then copied the DX11_settings.Dat to the Arcooda_Dx11.dat and FCM_Dx11.dat.  The script on startup copied either the FCM_DX11.dat or Arcooda_DX11.dat prior to starting TPAFreeCamMod.exe

Here is the PBX system config:

 

Start_Arcooda.ahk

Run_Arcooda.ahk

[hawkeyez88]

Do you need the settings.dat files if you're only using 1 of the versions? Your run_arcooda.ahk file looks like it will completely fix the other issue I was experiencing when just trying to run the TPA cam mod directly out of Pinballx - and should load the correct table too. Thanks for sharing this!

[GAH1068]

No,  If you are not running both Arcooda and standard TPA using FCM you wouldn't need to worry about the DX11_settings.dat.    When you run FCM for standard TPA you have to modify your DX11 settings and set:

Back Buffer Width: 1080

Back Buffer Height 2200

Window Mode to: Window

I own all the content for Pinball Arcade so now I am launching the 76 Arcooda tables using FCM and then the rest (Stern, etc) are running normal DX11 mode with FCM.    

 

[hawkeyez88]

Just now, GAH1068 said:

No,  If you are not running both Arcooda and standard TPA using FCM you wouldn't need to worry about the DX11_settings.dat.    When you run FCM for standard TPA you have to modify your DX11 settings and set:

Back Buffer Width: 1080

Back Buffer Height 2200

Window Mode to: Window

I own all the content for Pinball Arcade so now I am launching the 76 Arcooda tables using FCM and then the rest (Stern, etc) are running normal DX11 mode with FCM.    

 

Thanks, I'll be diving into this again tonight with my fingers crossed!

[GAH1068]

I am going to play around more and see if I can get FCM running directly from PBX without the one AHK script still.    It was close but the key presses that FCM was sending were not registering so I reverted back to what works for me now.

When things slow down I will play with it more.   I quickly tried putting some delays in to give FCM time to lauch TPA and then try and bring the window to the foreground quicker.   I have a feeling it is just a timing issue and need to make sure TPA has focus so FCM can do it's thing.

 

[hawkeyez88]

That's where I'm at using the 1 script - I can hear FCM sending things but no tables load. This is way further than I've ever gotten.

[GAH1068]

The way I posted works great so it isn't really a big deal to me if I can't get it to launch with 1 script only.      When I get some time I'll give the 1-script way a few more shots but I am just happy that table can be launched directly and not have to go through the god awful TPA menu.

[BrandonLaw]

This looks fantastic and almost perfect.  I just want to be clear before I start gettin' on with it...this will launch Arcooda without any affiliation to FCM?  I only have TPA at this point for Arcooda and haven't bothered with FCM in ages.

[GAH1068]

I am only using FCM to launch the table.   I have the HUD turned off and do not use tit for any cameras.   The FCM settings.ini just needs to be updated for this

[hawkeyez88]

GAH1068 - if you wouldn't mind me bugging you for a second. I feel like i'm so close on this one. I feel like I'm missing something with how you created the .dat files or where they cam from? I've attached a video of what happens when I launch and also my 2 versions of the ahk files. Thank you so much for you time and effort, between this and the zaccaria work, you've literally helped make my cab complete with all and every table I could think of playing loading from pinballx!

Run_Arcooda.ahk

Start_Arcooda.ahk

[GAH1068]

@hawkeyez88    Sorry, just seeing this now.   

 

For your settings if you want to confirm you run PBAConfig.exe.   Save your settings and then copy the DX11_settings.dat that greats created in the C:\Users\YourName\My Games\Pinball Arcade

and name it arcooda_dx11.dat in that same folder.

 

Config file you save and rename to Arcooda_dx11.dat would look something like this.   I am not showing the cabinet mode tab as that will be specific

 

Config file for standard TPA and with FCM needs to be close to this.  Especially with bufffer settings and windows mode.    Save and name fcm_dx11.dat or whatever name you are using.   

 

 Run_Arcooda.ahk  : You most likely have a single line to change.  It wouldn't stop the table from launching but PBX won't save your last table launched which is a nice feature.

Where it says system 9 - make sure you replace the number System_9 with with whatever system number you have arcooda under in your setup other OTHER systems.   You might be using 9 but I doubt it.

IniWrite, %description%%1%System_9, C:\Pinballx\Config\PinballX.ini, Internal, lastselected

 

 Start_Arcooda.ahk looks fine to me as long as you have confirmed your paths.

 

FCM

Please send your Settings.ini from the TPACamMod folder.   This is an important part of the configuration.   I am posting the contents of mine,   I will Bold/Underline the parts that you should look at closely.   I am not using the FCM part at all, I am Just using the table launch feature.

The major ones are LauchGame, GamePath, CabinetMode, PFMonitor, BGMonitor,DMDMonitor

There are other ones that depending on how you want to run can be configured but the 6 above are most critical for table launching.

[Settings]

; Auto launch the game when the mod starts.
LaunchGame=1

; Path to the game folder.
GamePath=C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\PinballArcade\

; Overlay is hidden when the game starts.
StartHidden=1

; Opacity of the overlay (0 -> 1.0 / 0.1 range).
Opacity=1

; Enable/disable the mod.
FreeCameraMode=0

; Auto hide the ingame HUD when you click START button.
AutoHideHUD=1

; The cam values are applied to the sliders when you click START button, otherwise sliders value are applied to the cam.
AutoCamToSliders=1

; Check if a *.cam file exists for the current table and automatically loads it.
AutoLoadCamFile=0

; Enable/disable Hotkeys.
HotKeys=0

; The key (constant) defined in the game to manually hide the ingame HUD (default key: H)
; Keyboard scan code constants list: http://goo.gl/rvrMS9
; Take the hex value in the table (0x48) and convert it to an integer (72);
HideHUDKey=72

; Auto rotate the playfield screen when the mod starts.
AutoRotateScreen=1

; Playfield monitor number (as displayed in Windows/Nvidia/Ati display settings).
PFMonitor=1

[Cabinet]

; Enable cabinet mode, dual monitor display with backglass & DMD.
CabinetMode=1

; Backglass monitor number (as displayed in Windows/Nvidia/Ati display settings).
BGMonitor=2

; Enable/disable 4K resolution support.
HighRes4K=0

[DMD]

; ### DMD Settings (position is ignored when a table specific DMD file exists) ###

; DMD monitor number (as displayed in Windows/Nvidia/Ati display settings).
DMDMonitor=2

; DMD Default X Position.
DMDXPos=0

; DMD Default Y Position.
DMDYPos=0

; DMD always on top of all windows.
DMDTopMost=1

; DMD position is locked by default.
DMDLockedPos=0

; DMD size is locked by default.
DMDLockedSize=0

; ############################# HOTKEYS NOTE ###############################
; # For a complete list of usable keys, please visit: http://goo.gl/0blPF6 #
; # NumLock key should be ON to use NumPad keys.               #
; # 'PageUp' key is also known as 'Prior' for backwards compatibility.     #
; # 'PageDown' key is also known as 'Next' for backwards compatibility.    #
; ##########################################################################

[HotKeys]

HideShowOverlay=NumPad0
XTranslation+=Right
XTranslation-=Left
YTranslation+=Up
YTranslation-=Down
ZTranslation+=Home
ZTranslation-=End
XRotation+=NumPad2
XRotation-=NumPad5
YRotation+=Numpad6
YRotation-=Numpad4
ZRotation+=NumPad1
ZRotation-=NumPad3
FOV+=Insert
FOV-=Delete
CamSpeed+=Add
CamSpeed-=Subtract
SetCamView1=F1
SetCamView2=F2
SetCamView3=F3
CycleViews=F4
 

 

[hawkeyez88]

Thank you for that clarification - I didn't realize the folder in users was an actual item, I thought it was just a place you were saving some stuff too ... wow I feel dumb now lol.

[hawkeyez88]

General question here - You have autoratatescreen=1 .. how are you running these systems together? I had to change my playfield rotation to get zaccaria and pba to work.

[hawkeyez88]

arcooda_dx11.dat

Settings.ini

[hawkeyez88]

Also a weird thing - my  recycle bin window opens right when the game starts out of pinballx.

[GAH1068]

My playfield monitor is left in landscape mode.    Before the new FCM I rotated the playfield 90 degrees using display.exe for both arcooda and normal PBA.   Now FCM can do it for you. I do rotate it back via script when I exit.   I run the rotate for zaccaria too and then rotate back at exit.   .

[hawkeyez88]

46 minutes ago, GAH1068 said:

My playfield monitor is left in landscape mode.    Before the new FCM I rotated the playfield 90 degrees using display.exe for both arcooda and normal PBA.   Now FCM can do it for you. I do rotate it back via script when I exit.   I run the rotate for zaccaria too and then rotate back at exit.   .

That's what I was wondering - I couldn't see anything in the script to change it back. Is that something you wouldn't mind sharing? Or at the line of code that does it?

[GAH1068]

Do a search for display.exe screen rotate on Google.   It is a free command line utility that I use using the run command from ahk.   It will just be a single line command to use it.   Very simple tool

[hawkeyez88]

20 minutes ago, GAH1068 said:

Do a search for display.exe screen rotate on Google.   It is a free command line utility that I use using the run command from ahk.   It will just be a single line command to use it.   Very simple tool

I saw that in one of your other original script postings. I'll dig back into that - thanks again!

[hawkeyez88]

Thanks GAH - Got display rotation working. My only hurdle is the games still not selecting in PBA for some reason. Thank you so much!

[GAH1068]

A few questions:

 

1)  What version of TPA are you trying to use?   Did you buy a license for Arcooda (Cabinet Mode) or are you just running standard Pinball Arcade PinballArcade11 .exe)?

       Assuming you did buy the Arcooda license.    Your DX11_settings.dat looked fine to me and your FCM settings.ini all look good so lets do the following:

         1)  Find the PinballArcadeCabinet.exe and PinballArcade11.exe in your Pinball Arcade folder.   Right click each file, go to properties, Compatibility tab and check the box saying                      "Run as administrator"

         2)  Go to your FreeCamMod directory and set the TPAFreeCamMod.exe file to run as administrator as well.

         3) Repeat the progress for Run_Arcooda.exe and Start_Arcooda.exe and make sure those run as Administrator.

2)  Confirm you are running the latest version of FreeCamMod

                 [ Current build : v2.01 working with game version TPA 1.71.8 / Arcooda 1.71.10 Cabinet ]

 

Now lets try and launch a table from outside PBX

             You should be able to launch a table directly outside PinballX if things are configured ok.    Open a command prompt and go to your FCM folder

                    TPAFreeCamMod.exe -arcooda -table fnhouse

                     TPAFreeCamMod.exe -arcooda -table whitewater

                     ( FreeCamMod.exe should start,  Launch 1.71.10 build of Cabinet Mode.    The mod should then send the keys and take you to the table.  )

[hawkeyez88]

5 hours ago, GAH1068 said:

A few questions:

 

1)  What version of TPA are you trying to use?   Did you buy a license for Arcooda (Cabinet Mode) or are you just running standard Pinball Arcade PinballArcade11 .exe)?

       Assuming you did buy the Arcooda license.    Your DX11_settings.dat looked fine to me and your FCM settings.ini all look good so lets do the following:

         1)  Find the PinballArcadeCabinet.exe and PinballArcade11.exe in your Pinball Arcade folder.   Right click each file, go to properties, Compatibility tab and check the box saying                      "Run as administrator"

         2)  Go to your FreeCamMod directory and set the TPAFreeCamMod.exe file to run as administrator as well.

         3) Repeat the progress for Run_Arcooda.exe and Start_Arcooda.exe and make sure those run as Administrator.

2)  Confirm you are running the latest version of FreeCamMod

                 [ Current build : v2.01 working with game version TPA 1.71.8 / Arcooda 1.71.10 Cabinet ]

 

Now lets try and launch a table from outside PBX

             You should be able to launch a table directly outside PinballX if things are configured ok.    Open a command prompt and go to your FCM folder

                    TPAFreeCamMod.exe -arcooda -table fnhouse

                     TPAFreeCamMod.exe -arcooda -table whitewater

                     ( FreeCamMod.exe should start,  Launch 1.71.10 build of Cabinet Mode.    The mod should then send the keys and take you to the table.  )

I'll try loading outside of PBX tonight, I have not done that yet and thanks for such detail. I am using the cabinet version, and did purchase a license for it. I have everything set to run as admin, and using build v2.01 and I see 1.71.10 cabinet running when I start arcooda pinball as well. I'll post back results around 5PM PST for running things through a cmd prompt.

[GAH1068]

One more thing to try is to set your system to run as windows and not full screen under PBAConfig on the DX11 tab..   With the new FCM for arcooda it might need that like the original TPA FCM version.

 

[hawkeyez88]

48 minutes ago, GAH1068 said:

One more thing to try is to set your system to run as windows and not full screen under PBAConfig on the DX11 tab..   With the new FCM for arcooda it might need that like the original TPA FCM version.

 

Thanks GAH, I'll look at that too.

[hawkeyez88]

Checked everything is running as admin - tried running from a cmd prompt and get a similar result - it stays at the loading screen. If I click a mouse button it moves on and never selects a table, I just hear it trying to.