Pinball wicked working in my cabinet

[joyrider3774]

4 minutes ago, ganjaman25 said:

Yeah i dont use pinballx no more i use pinup popper but thanks for info on changing the monitor

launcher (without inbetween launcher) could be used in popper as well. I think popper has some way to define parameters for games so you could use it to select multiple players / pure action mode. I read something once about it that it was possible for pinball fx3 so should be possible for pinball wicked and my launcher for the new menu as well. although can not help you with the how to do it. I'm fine with pinballx don't want to start over

[Outhere]

Thanks for the help

3 screen Pinball wicked

 

[GAH1068]

1 hour ago, joyrider3774 said:

@GAH1068 did you disable backglass dmd option when trying the multiple screens ? that options links the dmd to show inside the backglass. But as i don't have 3 screens i can not verify it. see hint on the right about this setting

Yep - tried a few different variations but never got it to work.  I think this is just a bug in the beta version since they are giving those options.     Not a big deal as I really only use the third monitor for when I use the PC for non-pinball stuff like web browsing.     I have the DMD sized small on my backglass and the just mirror to my dmd now.    
 

Yeah i used to use camera 8 but also had to change to camera 7. Camera 8 is zoomed out way too much. I'm glad they added this could give them some new sales as a lot of people are put off from doing it all manually  

I also liked 8 too previously but it is way too zoomed out.  I think this is probably a bug as well as the previous views were better.

 

[joyrider3774]

@Outhere nice, btw it's possible to hide the small dmd on the main playfield while keeping the other ones active (unless you need it for mirroring to pindmd). i think it was that hide main dmd setting some of the 1st options in cabinet options

[Outhere]

it's possible to hide the small dmd on the main playfield while keeping the other ones active  - Yes

i think it was that hide main dmd setting some of the 1st options in cabinet options  - Yes

[Outhere]

I'm going to try mirroring it to my real DMD and see how it Looks

I have one of these so I can put the LCD DMD off screen

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=display+Emulator+Plug&ref=nb_sb_noss

[joyrider3774]

3 minutes ago, Outhere said:

I'm going to try mirroring it to my real DMD and see how it Looks

I have one of these so I can put the LCD DMD off screen

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=display+Emulator+Plug&ref=nb_sb_noss

ah nice thats a good way todo it if you have pindmd and use mirror feature. Did not understand it initially but it probably allows for another monitor to be available in windows for a "screen" you do not see. Basically to create virtual screen. Probably need to play with the resolution a bit to get best results

[Outhere]

I mirror it to my pin2DMD and it didn't look too bad but the LCD looks better

[joyrider3774]

seems the latest update has commandline parameters for playercount and pure/action mode:

-PureAction 0 = Pure mode
-PureAction 1 = Action mode

and it's possible to launch the game and skip the nag screen using return key which is my plunger / launch key if it's not with your setup an easy ahk script can be created to remap one of your cabinet keys to return key upon launching the game.

So in theory we do not need the script to launch the game anymore and only my pinballx Launcher app with customized ini file is needed for pinball wicked now. I'll see if i can create such ini later and upload a new zipped package

Edit: i tried it but pinballx can't seem to close pinball wicked direcrtly for some reason so i'll leave as is, i could create an ahk script for a launch before command that can kill pinball wicked on a key press just like in the current launcher but i guess i'll leave as is for now. 

[joyrider3774]

is that latest script for the new menu still working with you guys ? I seem to be having a problem with it. for some reason pinball wicked shows the backglass temporary on my main playfield screen and then reverts to to normal position but because of this the main game window is not activated anymore and keys send by launcher does not seem to work on my cabinet. The launcher also failed to quit pinball wicked for some reason. have not yet investigated it all

Edit: ok fixed the window from appearing on my playfield first by selecting windowed fullscreen instead of windowed for backglass and dmd. But script can't seem to send commands because window is not activated (i run playfield borderless fullscreen as far some reason everything i run fullscreen exits fullscreen randomly, was a problem i had from the beginning with my cabinet)

Edit2: Window title seems to have changed thats what makes the script not work. Before it was named "Pinball Wicked", now it's named "Pinball Wicked - This Way Comes". Will test the script a bit and release new version

Edit3: here is the new script witch detects "Pinball Wicked - This Way Comes" window title, if the old version still works for you don't change yet as i'm still running the beta build and maybe they did not change it yet in normal release version. You will have to edit the same lines again if needed and also watch out i also added the -rotate 90 parameter if you don't need that please remove it. I will also have to investigate the need to press the exit key twice as i'm having it constantly but i'm not sure i can fix it will have to verify later. i Also increased to the timeout value for menu to appear to 15000 (15 seconds) by default if it starts faster with you again lower that valu.e. You'll need to compile to launchpinballwicked.exe and overwrite the previous exe LaunchPinballWicked.ahk

 

[joyrider3774]

Here's an updated how to for pinball wicked.

First make sure the game is up to date and that you have requested and entered your cabinet code. after that setup your pinball wicked cabinet mode to your liking. If you run your windows in landscape mode you can pass parameters to the executable to rotate screens at launch of pinball wicked, Irotate is not needed anymore. For example adding "-rotate 90" will rotate display 1 90 degrees, "-rotate2 90" will rotate display 2 90 degrees etc. Valid parameters are probably 90 180 270 but i have not verified that generally if you run landscape and you main screen is the playfield "-rotate 90" should be enough.

When your testing you best add these commands to steam on your cabinet. You do that by right clicking on the pinball wicked game and choosing properties on the menu item. 

 

then select "Set Launch Options" and add the rotate parameters that are needed for your setup like for me "-rotate 90" and click ok. The next time your launch the game from steam it will autorotate your screen

Next setup your cabinet options which you find in the settings menu of the game all the way on the right if you have activated the cabinet code already. I'll show my setup as i use 2 screen setup the most important setting there for a 2 screen setup is "Backglass DMD" as that will display the dmd inside the bacglass. If you have a 3 screen setup you must set it up differently and not enable this option. If you find that your backglass window keeps appiearing on playfield try setting it as windowed and drag it to your backglass screen. Exit the game and restart and see if it fixed. Setting borderless fullscreen might also help. You'll have to expermiment but it's important that your settings are correct when playing like this before going any further.

 

 

 

Next the launcher, which looks like this ...

 

Download this zip file: pinball wicked launcher.zip  and extract it for example to your scripts folder. For example in my case c:\pinballx\scripts

open LaunchPinballWicked.ahk with notepad or another text editor (not word) and

- check if 15 seconds on this value is enough for your system to show the pinball wicked menu with the single ok button.
WaitForMenu = 15000.  If the menu loads faster decrease the value, if the menu loads slower increase the value
its the value used to wait for the menu to be visible ingame

- IMPORTANT change the key used to exit the game to the same key that is assigned in pinballx / you use to exit normally.
Default is mapped to ESC change it to your key if you are not using the ESC key
; Exit Table
; pinball wicked does not seem to react well on the quit game key from pinball x
; so change the ESC key below to the key you have set in pinballx as quit game key
; info about keys can be found here : https://autohotkey.com/docs/KeyList.htm
; in my cab i use the esc key
    Esc:: ;<----- change HERE
        Gosub killApp
    Return

- also verify if you need the -rotate 90 parameter set this to the same as what you use in steam in the initial steps or remove it if your windows is already running portrait mode in this command:
Run, "%SteamDirPath%\Steam.exe" -applaunch 595960 -rotate 90

download and install latest autohotkey once you have done your changes in the script rightclick on the LaunchPinballWicked.ahk file and  choose compile it will have created LaunchPinballWicked.exe file. Anytime you do modifications in the ahk file you will need to right click and choose compile on the file to create the exe file.

 

You will also need to edit the pinballwickedlauncher.ini file with notepad to setup your cabinet buttons and launchkey. Launch pinballwickedlauncher.exe once and press Q or ALT+F4 to quit it immediatly (before the 7 second timer runs out). Next check the explanation on github (with pfx3 as setup used) on this page on github (scroll down) https://github.com/joyrider3774/PinballX_Launcher_app on how to setup your buttons. You basically have to provide the "LEFTKEY", "RIGHTKEY", "LAUNCHKEY" and "QUITKEY" for your setup. if you had already setup the launcher for pinball fx3 launcher you can check there what your keys were.

And the final step is setting up pinball x system settings, set these up like so, if you don't want to use the pinballwickedremap ahk / exe do not add any launch before / launch after scripts. If you do want to use them check my example ahk script and edit the 2 bat files (right click / choose edit) by removing the "rem " value you will enable the launch of the remapper exe. The remapper exe is something i use to redefine keys of my keyboard encoder. But i'm not sure if it's still needed since you can set up keys in pinball wicked itselve i think (i have not verified) it. It basically works like thise <KEYTOMODFY>::<KEYTOUSEINSTEAD> for example in my script the &/1 key is replaced by return so i can also use my start button as plunger launch key also in the game along with my plunger button

In the zip is also a database folder included with example pinball wicked database entry if you don't want to use that database just goto game manager once you have setup the system and choose the system and add one table entry with any game name and description you like. Just add only one to be able to launch pinball wicked. Or copy the xml file from the database folder in your database folder after you have created the system in pinball x settings.

when launching the game from pinball x Do not press anything in the menu's or on the screen with the ok button. The script should select everything for you and start the game automatically with the chosen settings in the launcher

Problems:

- you might have to press your quit key twice if you want to exit the game. I might still investigate this at some point

Edit:
Zip downloaded update to launcher version 4.1 which supports specifyng text colors in ini file

[JLPicard]

Thanks for this work!  I have a question, I realize this is Steam game and Steam is required for download, but does your cabinet need to be online while you play this or can it simply be set online to purchase and once installed, you can then return to offline?

[joyrider3774]

that i don't know my cabinet is always online, i do know steam can be put in offline mode but you need to be online for steam once every so often, there might be ways around it. Maybe someone else can answer this as i really don't know the answer to that

[Draco1962]

@joyrider3774I haven't looked at this or the script you created for Pinball FX3 (and is there one fir FX2?) as of yet. Is it possible to change the default and selected colors of the "buttons" and text to align with the end-user's "theme" of sorts?

[joyrider3774]

@Draco1962 the buttons (both selected and not selected) are images, background as well so you can change them to anything you like as long as you keep them the same size and same format. There is no transparancy and colorkey support. I just drew the complete background including buttons and cut them out afterwards, filling the background or you could use layers for the buttons so you have original background. Text is always black/white. Don't know what you mean with the text algin part but text will stay as it is when it's positioning on the buttons concerned, there's too much trouble otherwise to keep everything working. Only thing i could look at is changing text colors like prodive options to change the black / white text. you can scale the font but if it exceeds the button box it will be cut off you can not change the alignment. But it is possible to rotate the app in increments of 90° till 270°. 

Edit forgot to mention, no support for pinball fx2, pinball fx2 does not have any commandline parameters for hotseat mode as far as i'm aware nor for direct launching a table. Although if you create an ahk script that would select and start the tables based on a commandline parameter (for the script not the game) it can be used. But i don't have any tables in pfx2 that i don't own in pfx3 so never bothered to look at anything fx2 concerned

[Draco1962]

Gotcha. Easy enough to edit colors on the button images. The text size is fine. Text color changes for choosing colors using hex codes that work best with the button colors would be a good thing if possible.

Align was used not in the context of the text, but "aligning the appearance to as closely possible match the end-user's theme." 

[joyrider3774]

11 minutes ago, Draco1962 said:

Gotcha. Easy enough to edit colors on the button images. The text size is fine. Text color changes for choosing colors using hex codes that work best with the button colors would be a good thing if possible.

Align was used not in the context of the text, but "aligning the appearance to as closely possible match the end-user's theme." 

I'll see what i can do about text colors, i'll probably use just 2 colors one for everything thats in white (title / selected button and text below the buttons with the timer) and one for text that is currently black (being only disabled buttons i think) 

[joyrider3774]

@Draco1962 just released version 4.1 and updated the zip here in the previous post for pinball wicked with same version to be able to specify 3 colors in Hex RGB format. Color1 = Selected button, Color2 = Disabled button, Color3 = Window title, credits and countdown timer.

[Draco1962]

19 hours ago, joyrider3774 said:

@Draco1962 just released version 4.1 and updated the zip here in the previous post for pinball wicked with same version to be able to specify 3 colors in Hex RGB format. Color1 = Selected button, Color2 = Disabled button, Color3 = Window title, credits and countdown timer.

Thanks for this! I have been away from my pincab for a while, but hope to get back to it soon and update it with the joyrider3774 goodness!

[bciarcia]

On 2/19/2020 at 5:14 PM, joyrider3774 said:

@Draco1962 just released version 4.1 and updated the zip here in the previous post for pinball wicked with same version to be able to specify 3 colors in Hex RGB format. Color1 = Selected button, Color2 = Disabled button, Color3 = Window title, credits and countdown timer.

trying to follow these instructions, but not seeing the .ahk file.  looks like all your other links are unavailable..  any thoughts??

[joyrider3774]

25 minutes ago, bciarcia said:

trying to follow these instructions, but not seeing the .ahk file.  looks like all your other links are unavailable..  any thoughts??

need to check the pinball_wicked_launcher.zip a few posts up it's all explained there and everything is in that zip, the files still work as they are attached to forum, just downloaded it

[bciarcia]

Yea.. that was my stupidity..  i needed to be logged in first..   so I have seen a mix of different instructions on getting this to work in the cab.  These are the most current instructions, correct?  i see instructions for using DMDext, for my pindmdv3.   Can i use the new Pupdmdcontrol that im using for FX3?  are there instructions on how to get the buttons to work? 

[Mike_da_Spike]

1 hour ago, bciarcia said:

Yea.. that was my stupidity..  i needed to be logged in first..   so I have seen a mix of different instructions on getting this to work in the cab.  These are the most current instructions, correct?  i see instructions for using DMDext, for my pindmdv3.   Can i use the new Pupdmdcontrol that im using for FX3?  are there instructions on how to get the buttons to work? 

I use x360ce (https://www.x360ce.com)

Same for fx3. Just copied the files from my fx3 director to this.

Dmdext is mirroring the part on the display to your pindmdv3. I also use that. Not sure if you can use it with pupdmdcontrol. For some reason I don't get the pupdmd to work.

[bciarcia]

12 minutes ago, Mike_da_Spike said:

I use x360ce (https://www.x360ce.com)

Same for fx3. Just copied the files from my fx3 director to this.

Dmdext is mirroring the part on the display to your pindmdv3. I also use that. Not sure if you can use it with pupdmdcontrol. For some reason I don't get the pupdmd to work.

Hey Mike,

 

I use x360ce as well and did copy the files over, but it doesnt seem to be registering..    Im trying pupdmd now.. crossing fingers. 

 

[Mike_da_Spike]

13 minutes ago, bciarcia said:

I use x360ce as well and did copy the files over, but it doesnt seem to be registering..    Im trying pupdmd now.. crossing fingers. 

 

If you got pupdmd to work, let me  know how you did it. 

If I recall it right. I set an extea option for x360ce. Will check tomorroe my cab config for you