I lose my DMD on Pinballx

[rickh]

I am completely stumped.  I have a great DMD displayed on my backscreen monitor.  It works excellently for all my DMD enabled tables.  To get this DMD right I used SETDMD to get them into a rough position and went through my registry to dial them in.  They all worked great.  Alas I was setting up my PinballX and when the dust settled I noticed that my DMD disappeared from all my table.  I used the proverbial ALT/Tab to select the DMD screen, but nothing was there.  I exited out of Pinballx and went back into VP, still no DMD.  I pulled up my SETDMD utility and did an update to install my DMD baseline to all installed ROMs.   I ran the table again under VP and the DMD was right as rain, albeit it needed dialing in again.  I ran PinballX again and paid attention to the DMD.  The DMD came up on the backscreen first, than the B2S artwork.  A split second later the DMD was gone and the music started.  I looked for the DMD using the ALT/TAB and again nothing.  I recorded all the setting in the registry, must have been close to 100 values and compared them to the registry values when the DMD was working.  NO DIFFERENCE.  So here is my set up-

playfield 1920x1080 on left

Backscreen 1280x1024 on right

Visual Pinball 9.9.5

VpinMAME 3.1 32 bit

OS Windows 7, 64

PinballX  September 2018 release

     use DirectB2S in front end  NO

     Auto pos NO

     DMD enabled NO

     DMD display DISPLAY 2

     DMD auto pos NO

DMD settings  x 2250 y 785  600 x 115

I tried running VB 9.9.5 in WIN NT MODE - No change

I am running everything in ADMIN mode - No change

I shook the sacrificial chicken at it (several times) - No Change 

I even check the air in the tires man - No Change

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

 

Thank you in advance,

 

Rickey

 

[SETTINGS].log

log.txt

PinballX.ini

Edited February 14, 2019 by rickh
add pinballx config files and INI

[Draco1962]

Please attach copies of your pinballx.ini and log.txt files so we can take a look.

[Outhere]

Make sure you post those files whenever you have a problem

Turn off -- Auto Position DMD

[rickh]

34 minutes ago, Draco1962 said:

Please attach copies of your pinballx.ini and log.txt files so we can take a look.

Thanks I included those files after the 2nd iteration.

Regards,

 

Rickey

[rickh]

28 minutes ago, Outhere said:

Make sure you post those files whenever you have a problem

Turn off -- Auto Position DMD

Yes, it is off.

[Draco1962]

May be a B2S incompatibility with 64-bit PinballX:

21:40:24.6 2/13/2019: PinballX - Version 3.28 x64

Can you download the latest version of PinballX and let it install 32-bit version by default?

Let us know if that resolves the problem and, if not, attach a new copy of your log.txt file with your response.

[Outhere]

You should not run anything in compatibility mode for anything

With this set to true it may cause problems with your keyboard/button assignments

Set this to false  -- AutoConfigure=True

Just because an operating system is 64 bit doesn't mean you should run 64 bit programs

Going to 32 bit may be a big help

Only run ADMIN mode if needed on anything

[Draco1962]

And we accept Panera Asiago cheese bagels.. 

With cream cheese...

And not the low fat crap...

[simbamame]

8 hours ago, rickh said:

DMD enabled NO

shouldnt this be YES ?

[scutters]

In the ini file try changing this to False

HidePinMAME=True

(i don't even have that entry in my ini file!)

[rickh]

Many thanks to the folks on this forum providing me assistance.  Here is where I am at the moment:

I backed up my pinballx folder and removed pinballx from my PC.  I had the 64 bit version which might have caused the original issue.

I reinstalled Pinballx 32 bit.  

Tried to run VP9.9.5, but discovered that VPINMAME was was hosed.  I re-installed and VP worked without issues (my DMD was working too)

I ran the config on PinballX made sure everything looked good

Tried to invoke PinballX, but it did't budge.  I mean the program did not want to execute. 

Realized that I might need to run Pinballx Manager so I did and all my games were missing.  So when it told me that it detected games I allowed it to scan.  However, when dust settled all the games were missing the artwork.  What did I do?  I tried getting a handful of games configured just to see if this fixed my original issue.  I attempted to run pinballz , but again it not budge.

I must of messed up something and I will look at the FAQs tonight.  Since I have this folder backed up I don't think that there was any damage. In the meantime if someone sees this problem as a low laying fruit solution, please advise.

 

Again, thanks

 

Rickey 

[Draco1962]

First, to reinstall the 32 bit version, all you need to do is install it over the top of the 64 bit - no need to totally uninstall it in most cases!

If possible, you probably just need to restore your backup of the pinbalkx folder and install over it the 32 bit version then go on from there.

[rickh]

6 minutes ago, Draco1962 said:

First, to reinstall the 32 bit version, all you need to do is install it over the top of the 64 bit - no need to totally uninstall it in most cases!

If possible, you probably just need to restore your backup of the pinbalkx folder and install over it the 32 bit version then go on from there.

Draco,

Thanks man!  You make it sound so easy. ;-)

 

Rickey

[Draco1962]

Thanks me if you find success following the instruction. 

[rickh]

3 hours ago, Draco1962 said:

Thanks me if you find success following the instruction. 

Draco- Ok I'll take it back for now.  I tried everything.  same original problem.   Does anyone have any idea what is going on?

Thanks,

 

Rick

[Draco1962]

Attach new copies of your pinballx.ini and log.txt files so we can take a look 

[rickh]

10 hours ago, Draco1962 said:

Attach new copies of your pinballx.ini and log.txt files so we can take a look 

Draco- I sincerely appreciate your help.  Attached are the files requested.

 

Thanks,

 

Rickey 

PinballX.ini

log.txt

[Draco1962]

Thanks, now tell us what is working, then what is not.

[rickh]

58 minutes ago, Draco1962 said:

Thanks, now tell us what is working, then what is not.

Draco,

As originally stated, I lose my DMD display when running under pinballx.  When I exit out of pinballx, I go directly to Visual pinball 9.9.5 and the DMD is also absent.  I run SetDMD (v1.05) , enter my defaults and update all installed ROMs. For some strange reason this makes the DMD work again (can't see differences in registry).  Next I run Visual pinball 9.9.5 again and my DMD appears where expected,  I exit out of Visual pinball 9.9.5 and go back and do the same; my DMD works.  I go back into pinballx and tray another DMD table.  While loading, I see the DMD appear momentarily , than it's gone.  I try ALT/TAB and it is completely blank.  I'm still trying several combinations, but success is still elusive. 

 

Thanks,

 

Rick

 

 

[Draco1962]

Thanks for repeating yourself, Rick. Just wanted to make sure we were back to square one. Only difference is we have eliminated the 64-bit vs 32-bit conflicts.

Have you tried inputting the dimensions of each display (playfield, backglass, DMD) via the Setup Wizard? I noticed they do not show in the pinballx.ini file.

[rickh]

1 hour ago, Draco1962 said:

Thanks for repeating yourself, Rick. Just wanted to make sure we were back to square one. Only difference is we have eliminated the 64-bit vs 32-bit conflicts.

Have you tried inputting the dimensions of each display (playfield, backglass, DMD) via the Setup Wizard? I noticed they do not show in the pinballx.ini file.

Draco,

Ironic, I'm looking at the display section of the PinballX setup wizard.  They have a setting of the backglass (1280x1024), but they do not have a setting for the display.  Entering my DMD dimensions does not yield any different results.   I noticed that there is a x and y dimension for the backglass.  What is that for?

 

Regards,

Rickey 

[scutters]

Have you tried changing this line in the ini file to False?

HidePinMAME=True

 

[rickh]

Folks,

After trying several combination.  I have something now that works, although not optimum.  Allow me to preface with mentioning how unstable the B2S DMD is.   I was able to get the DMD to work by removing the 'Launch before/after executable' which in the default case is 'notepad.exe'.   However, I did encounter a table where I saw the DMD momentarily and it went away.  All other subsequent tables followed suite until I reset the DMD position using setDMD (which I never discovered what it does to get the DMD back).  What I did was invoke Vpinmame using the F1 key when the table is running and the mouse is over the main monitor (playfield).  When this menu comes up you will see 10 check boxes on the left and 7 parameter boxes on the right.  Look at the check boxes near the bottom, you will see the "show DMD/Display window' this should be checked.  Uncheck this box and check the the one below it (Use external DMD DLL).  Click on the OK key and the menu disappear after telling you that you need to exit the program for these parameters to change.   So exit out of the game and and select it again.  A DMD display should appear somewhere on your system, likely somewhere it should be.  Use the mouse to re-position it.  At the lower right corner there is an arrow of the DMD.  You can resize it to your liking.  So this is where it is  not optimum- Once you set the size and location, you are now stuck with it for all your tables, like a condom; it is a one size fits all.  

So applying a bit of brevity:

Remove launch before/after executable makes this work most of the time (might be 100%, alcohol might have messed up my experiment)

Use VPINMAME F1 utility to select the external DMD

If anyone else has more to share about this, I would certainly appreciate it.

 

Regards,

 

Rick