PinballX Enhancements/Features Requests

[Hudson1130]

I would also like the extra button for flyers like Numiah2 requested or have instructions on the 1st monitor.I made 1920x1080 instruction cards for Future pinball and Pinball FX2 and did not realize that instructions

only work the backglass monitor until I tried them out on my pinball cabinet.My pinball cabinet also has a extra button that I would like to use for instructions.The smaller images I could use for the backglass but I prefer the 1920x1080 ones that are on the playfield monitor.Here are some examples of what I am trying to do.

[evilantal]

For instruction cards, currently PBX displays SWF files scaled to fit the BG screen while retaining the aspect ratio of the graphic object(s) within the source file. With PNG files, PBX stretches the image to fit full screen. It's not so bad if the instruction card is plain B&W test. But the distortion is noticeable if you are using custom instruction/score cards whose dimensions were designed to match and replace a real card. It would be nice if PNG behaved the same as SWF.

Note: I'd just convert PNG to SWF but I don't have the Adobe tools that can do this without a noticeable degradation in quality. Those online and direct conversion tools don't cut it. Maybe there is another way.

I just rename the files from .png or .jpg to .swf. That usually does the trick.

[Carny_Priest]

Thanks, that works. Don't rename the other direction though (swf to png), That will crash PinballX.

I'm generating my own media content though, some of it for publishing to the community. I don't want to risk distributing content that has the wrong type for the format that it actually is. I decided to just knuckle down and do the conversions the best way I can.

[lacsusz]

Request for PinballX Xpadder plugin:

add a PinballFX2 profile please.

I tried to insert an autostart of Xpadder (upon "sensing" of PinballFX2 start) inside the Xpadder program but it doesn't work (no idea why).

Yes, I know, there is the "launchbefore" possibility amongst the PinballX configs but that option is already "taken" by a borderlessdmd executable.

Yes, I know, there is also a possibility to create a batch file to launch Xpadder AND the borderlessdmd executable together (I read the relevant topic), I am just a total dummy in creating batch files, really, I don't know anything about scripts.

So I thought an addition to the PinballX Xpadder plugin could help...

Thanks.

[Jannek]

Feature Request:

It would be great to have some kind of sorting function: I like to sort my tables alphanumerical (as it is), but I would also like to sort them according to their release-dates and maybe another time I would like to sort them according to rating or manufacturer. Currently it´s necessary to change the "Description" to do so, but that´s too much work to do it again and again.

Maybe it´s also possible to have a first and a secondary sorting Level (first sort regarding release-date, second according to Table-Name)?

Kind regards,

Jannek

[Fulltilt]

Enjoying PBX more and more everyday, Thanks Tom!

I was looking under the launch menu ..information page. Nice idea to have the last played info, times played and for how long. Maybe for the most played list below you could add the total time each table was played too? ..or similar to the last played info?

Thanks

[Scooby1]

Feature Request:

It would be great to have the Playfield image, Backglass image and DMD that was on each screen, stay there while the table loads. This would be in place of the "Loading" screen or even replace the Future Pinball progress bar screen.

Great FE, BTW!

[rockyrocket]

An option to change the "Tables" text appended to each entry in the menu as noted in thread here

Could also be useful for folks using pinballX in other ways than pincab like this

Thanks!.

[Westworld]

Improved error reporting for bad file names/directory names

After adding tables and artwork, PinballX did not launched but simply quit.

The log file showed after line:

10:15:27.3 12.09.2015: Finding and matching artwork and videos

an entry that there is an error in path name

So I verified all added backglass/playfield images and videos and found nothing.

As I did many changes, I started to replace folders with empty folders, it crashed as result.

Going back to a backup still crashed.

Finally I found that I had by error after the name of the table in the XML 3 blanks/spaces (like mytable <)

Removing this blanks solved it of course.

Feature request:

When you find an error in a file name of path and report that in the log, could you include what file or which folder, to reduce testing?

thanks!

[evilantal]

an alternative to [TABLEFILE] that doesn't include the file extension. Something like [TABLEFILENOEXT]

I'm trying to run arcade emulators via PinballX and some of them require just the rom name without extension in their command line commands to run.

(Demul for instance)

[RustyCardores]

Not sure if it's been mentioned.... but add Steam/PinballFX2 support to the "Other System" types.

I'm a Win7/Steam user and PBX works a treat launching PinballFX2 under Steam, but there are some other Steam apps that I would like to launch directly as well.

[gdaymatie]

Random Table button

[hauntfreaks]

PBX has a category menu <---- this I know

it sorts the info in this menu by the default XML we create, llike (year, manufacturer, type) <-----this I know

I would like to add categories to this menu (i.e more years, manufacturer) without making custom XML files <---- requested feature

[hauntfreaks]

PBX has a Screen Grabs (screen capture,screenshots) option <---this i know

it puts these captures in folders, (Screen Grabs and Screen Grabs Backglass) <---- this I know

I would like to designate or modify where the Screen Grabs go <--- Requested feature

[evilantal]

an alternative to [TABLEFILE] that doesn't include the file extension. Something like [TABLEFILENOEXT]

I'm trying to run arcade emulators via PinballX and some of them require just the rom name without extension in their command line commands to run.

(Demul for instance)

Okay, I worked around this by using AutoHotkey scripts to chop off the file extensions and pass that on to the actual emulator exe's. Consider the request closed.

[evilantal]

A new request: Could the limitation of number of Company Logos be stretched a bit?

As I'm adding MAME stuff into my cab now, I'm running into the max number of logos that are taken into account by PinballX.

Upping the limit by, say, another 10/15 would help me out. Or would this be too much of a RAM strain?

[scrivy]

Based on my estimation, we need support for about 75 Company Logos in total. Is this possible to add?

[Draco1962]

Based on my estimation, we need support for about 75 Company Logos in total. Is this possible to add?

Possibly more than that when you consider adding MAME within PinballX.

[gtxjoe]

Pinballx Game Manager

Great utility. some possible enhancements

Table Select list:

List should only consist of valid table filenames (.vpt, .vpx, .fpt) and folder names(if folder traversal support is added) to make it easier to select table names. Currently it shows all files - text files, backglass files, vbs scripts

Typing a letter jumps to that letter, it would be nice to see the additional typing supported. i.e. typing A, T, T, A quickly would take you to Attack from Mars

Description Select -

Typing a letter jumps to that letter, it would be nice to see the additional typing supported. i.e. typing A, T, T, A quickly would take you to Attack from Mars

Media audit -

It would be nice to have a button to force the media audit check to run. If I change the Description name, the media audit result is obsolete and needs to be refreshed. Currently you have to close/re-open game manager or go to another xml list and come back

[mk47]

Hi,

first of all, thank you very much for PinballX, I love it!

My V-Pin cabinet is an original williams standard body and the playfield is a 39" TV.

The TV is not mounted directly at the lock bar. There's an offset about 10cm which is required by the plunger.

Now I came up with an idea to make use of that empty space influenced by aprons of real pinball machines.

On these aprons you usally have two paper cards: instructions and price informations. The later ones are often replaced by "free play cards" created by the community.

I created such an apron to be mounted in the empty space between the lockbar and the TV screen. Instead of real paper cards, I mounted two 7" LCD-Displays connected via HDMI to the on-board graphics card of the PC. This 5 Monitor setup already works great but I want to ease the management of displaying images on these 7" screens.

So here's my feature request:

Can PinballX be extended to support two more screens to display instruction cards, additional to playfiled, back glass and DMD monitors?

I would love to see two additional folders where I can store images (or videos) named like the pinball table which will automatically displayed on the card displays. Just like the existing feature for back glasses and DMD videos. And it will require the same option as already existing for the back glass, if the image should be still shown while the game is running.

What do you think about my idea?

Is there a chance to get such an a "5 monitor support" added to PinballX or do I have to concentrate on building my own solution provided by a script?

[Carny_Priest]

My script can be modified to do what you are thinking of and also mirrors the DMD or B2S - you would extend the desktop on your extra screens and position the output on those screens. The solution does require a custom xml. I have media as well on the FTP.

http://www.gameex.info/forums/index.php?/topic/16462-%5BUPDATE%5D-Visual-Pinball-mini-DMD-B2S-screen-for-apron-now-with-Instruction-Card-splash-viewer

[mk47]

My script can be modified to do what you are thinking of and also mirrors the DMD or B2S - you would extend the desktop on your extra screens and position the output on those screens. The solution does require a custom xml. I have media as well on the FTP.

http://www.gameex.info/forums/index.php?/topic/16462-%5BUPDATE%5D-Visual-Pinball-mini-DMD-B2S-screen-for-apron-now-with-Instruction-Card-splash-viewer

Thanks for pointing my to your script. If I get it right it's goal is to overlay the intruction cards and the DMD on top of the playfield, right?

If my feature request will not be considered I will give it a try.

Nevertheless I consider it to be too complicated and introducing too much overhead for what I want to achieve.

If the regular settings of pinballX just supports two more addiditonal monitors, I assume that the already existing implementation to show images (and videos) on the backglass and the DMD monitors could simply be re-used.

BTW I don't think that my suggestion is a replacemant for your overlay solution. The purpose of both is different, except that both are about apron instruction cards.

[nightgaunt98]

The Zen FX2 cab support is brilliant, thanks for that!

It would be great if there was a way or an option to choose the number of

players (hotseat) when loading a table.

My son loves these tables and it's a bit of a pain to try and play with him as it is now.

Having to exit out and mess around with a mouse on my cabinet glass

just to change the number of players... Not too fun.

I know Nukelauncher has this capability, but I could never get it to work properly.

The new cab support built into both FX2 and Pinballx works flawlessly otherwise.

Thanks!

[mace]

Thank you. I'm experiencing those delays too and was barking up a few wrong trees while looking for the cause.

I did use an different approach before - replacing the vpinball.exe with a script - and replaced it with the alternateexe method a while ago and never made the connection.

Maybe it is something simple like PinballX waiting for the wrong task to exit.

All slow <alternateexe> tagged vpinball exits have now been fixed by Tom in 2.12

[Roterbaron]

Hi all,

I just wonder if there is a possibility to make PinballX show the additional details on the Backglass Screen ???
I was reading FAQ's, searching the forum, was looking for something in PinballX Folder on my PC ... maybe I'm not clever enough :-(

I really would like to display Manufacturer and Year in the Backglass. The information is really useful, but on the playfield it all is getting tooo much. (Tableimage/Wheelimage/Infotext/Wheeltext)

Would also be very nice to be able to resize the Info window ... but that's only the "dot on the i"

Thanx and kind regards from cold Germany

Gilbert