[RESOLVED] DMD 3rd display still active despite it's disabled in the script when launched by Pinbal X Front End

[Pmax65]

Hi there,

first of all let me tell you that I'm a newbie with both Pinball and Pinball X, for that this could be just a silly topic of mine.

I built my own 3 monitors cabinet and I setup some tables with success, mainly VP995 and VPX tables.

Some tables need to turn off the 3rd (DMD) monitor since the original pinball just doesn't have it at all, so I edited their scripts to get the DMD hidden (I just added the line  Controller.Hidden = True).

That works great when I launch the table from the Pinball X Game Manager. That is, the playfield and the backglass show right and the DMD monitor remains void, but when the tables are launched by Pinball X I still have the DMD on the 3rd monitor too (the playfield and backglass still show right).

Is there anybody who can help me with that?

Massimo

 

[Draco1962]

Please attach copies of your .xml files in addition to your pinballx.ini and log.txt files. These will tell us more details. Thanks.

[Pmax65]

Hi Draco1962,

first of all, thank you very much for your time.

I'm not at home now, this night i'll get them and I attach the requested files to this post.

In the meantime have a great day.

Massimo

 

[Pmax65]

Hi Draco1962,

here attached the  requested files.

Note that the xml for VP8 is missing just because is empty, I've no tables for that version.

Note also that some tables in the VPX are not working right because I still have to  deal with them.

The tables which gave me the issue for (the moment, I just started this task) are the two Zaccaria Time Machine, the Zaccaria Farfalla, the  DataEast Time Machine and the Williams FirePower ones. All of them use Visual Pinball.xml file wich is about the VP995.

Thank you again for using your time for my issue.

Have a great day.

Massimo

Pinball_X_Files.zip

[Carny_Priest]

I don't see this as a PinballX thing at all as your issue is performance within the emulator and not the front-end. Hiding the DMD in the xml is the correct course of action but this only controls whether the DMD image or video stored in the media folder continues to be displayed in-game or not once you launch. This does not control anything in the emulation.

In-game, press F1 on a connected keyboard and make sure Visual PinMAME settings for the table actually does have Show DMD/Display window unchecked. I've found it easier to simply use the Settings UI rather than edit the table script. Advanced users may just edit the registry directly (regedit).

Then refer to the instructions for the B2S Player. There are settings with that program that will use B2S generated segments for the scoring display and you can disable Visual PinMAME rendered scoring. Note that some directb2s files may actually display something in the third screen (a static image usually but the author could possibly animate it based on table events in a fantasy scenario) even if the table would normally make use of two screens. It's good to explore all the possibilities. 

[Pmax65]

Hi Carny_Priest,

thank you for your reply.

As said I'm a newbie and maybe I did some silly things. 

What it make me wonder is that launching it by the Pinball X Game Manager or directly by the VP editor it works right, while it returns to show the 3rd monitor DMD only when launched by Pinball X.

This night I'll try your suggestion, even if I remember well it should be already so.

Thank you again for using your time for this.

Have a great day.

Massimo

 

[Pmax65]

HI Carny_Priest,

23 hours ago, Carny_Priest said:

In-game, press F1 on a connected keyboard and make sure Visual PinMAME settings for the table actually does have Show DMD/Display window unchecked. 

I did it, but nothing changed.

That is, when the table is launched from the VP995 directly everything is right and the same happens when it is launched from the Pinball X Game Manager, while when it is launched from Pinball X the third monitor still shows the DMD.
Only a couple of times I got it working from Pinball X, but it always happened just after opening Pinball X and doing nothing else than pushing the start button. But now I'm not able to replicate this behavior.

I'll try next days, now is late at night here in Italy.

Have a great weekend.

Massimo

 

[Pmax65]

Hi there,
Merry Christmas to everyone.

The issue is still there, but I experienced a new misbehavior which could be of help to understand the issue.
It seems to me that launching Pinball X the PinMAME setup for the DMD is rewritten.
I experienced it adjusting the size and position of the DMD in the Bally's NBA Fastbreak table. That backglass has the dedicated area for the DMD, so I activated the DMD window border and moved and resized it to fit the area.
Launching it by the Pinball X Game Manager or directly from the VP everything works correctly but it suffices to run the table by the Pinball X Front End and the virtual DMD returns definitively on the third monitor. That is, after that any successive launching of the table (directly from VP too) has the virtual DMD set to fit the third monitor. To get it back on the backglass I have to readjust size and position outside the Pinball X Front End.
I still believe this is not a VP or a PinMAME issue but a Pinaball X issue instead.

Again Merry Christmas.
 

Massimo

 

[scutters]

Seasons greetings!

Try turning off the auto position DMD via Settings or this line in pinballx.ini to False, AutoPositionPinMAME=True

[Pmax65]

Hi scutters

Wow!

You finally solved my issue!

It was that damned AutoPositionPinMAME which was set to True and other than re-positioning  the DMD into the third monitor it also re-enabled it when launched from the Pinball X Front End. I turned it to False and now every table DMD works right.

You gave me a nice Christmas gift, guy

Thank you very very much.

Many thanks to all of this nice community members which shares my passion for these great tables which were my youthfulness primary amusement.

Massimo.