No backglass dB2s loaded on most tables

[Slashbot]

After instal the latest pinballx version i got 2 issues:

1. some backglass DB2 is not started after lunching a table from pinballX (like AC/DC,Austin powers,..) Bad Cats still displays DB2s

when starting the same table straight from VPX the backglass is always displayed correct.

 

2. Backglass video's and table videos are not displayed anymore (black screen) dmd videos still work

When i delete the videos from folders the backglass and table pictures are displayed correctly in pinballx

 

What i did: reinstalled LAV filters from link homepage but problem is not solved.

 

Any Help?

log.txt

[Draco1962]

Your pinballx.ini, too, please.

[Slashbot]

i added the pinballX ini

 

PinballX.ini

[Mike_da_Spike]

Does the backglass load when you launch it via the prompt ?

Like : 

C:\vp10\VPinballX.exe /play -"C:\vp10\tables\Austin Powers (Stern 2001) 1.01.vpx"

Or

If you press alt-tab, doe you see the backglass ? (maybe it is not foccused ?)

 

 

[Outhere]

Try this Backglass Server 

https://www.vpforums.org/index.php?showtopic=41903#entry424768

[Draco1962]

2 hours ago, Outhere said:

Try this Backglass Server 

https://www.vpforums.org/index.php?showtopic=41903#entry424768

Could you do a complete "start to finish" setup document in a separate thread with links to the pertinent files and instructions and screen captures? We could then "sticky it" in the FAQ section for future reference and updates as needed  

[scutters]

Be careful if you try the new B2S sever, the send to back 'feature' might catch you out and display the B2S behind the pinballx blank backglass for every table - follow the instructions on outheres link.

For the 2nd issue, videos not showing in font end (except dmd), can you post your LAV settings?

Also noticed your screens are all set to monitor = 0 and positioned by x values instead. Not sure if that's a factor but i think there was a change to how pinballx uses display numbers recently so it might be worth changing the display numbers and setting x =0 instead to see if that changes anything, you can always restore the original ini file if not.

[Tom Speirs]

for no.2 if this is within PinballX, please try latest version.

[Outhere]

Looks like you have a 3 screen setup, This is the normal set up for 3 screen outside of pinballx

like @shutters, not sure why all your monitors are Set to 0 with x value

Normally it's 0,1,2 in the pinballX.ini file

https://www.vpforums.org/index.php?showtopic=33272&page=7#entry346276

 

[wrd1972]

I am still having the issue where when launching a table through pbx, the db2s backglass wont appear on many tables.  But the db2s loads just fine when launching the table through the vp10 editor.  I already installed the server mentioned server and that did not help. I just dont get it. I will spend some time troubleshooting here soon. But i really badly want this fixed.

[Draco1962]

1 hour ago, wrd1972 said:

I am still having the issue where when launching a table through pbx, the db2s backglass wont appear on many tables.  But the db2s loads just fine when launching the table through the vp10 editor.  I already installed the server mentioned server and that did not help. I just dont get it. I will spend some time troubleshooting here soon. But i really badly want this fixed.

Please attach copies (no copy & paste) of your log.txt from when the error occured and pinballx.ini in reply to this thread.

[scutters]

Something else to check from an old post, registry entry;

 

[wrd1972]

Checked for FsWaitTime. It does not exist in my registry.

Logs are attached.

I found some additional useful info and pics and will post them up in about an hour or two.

Thanks

 

 

log.txt [SETTINGS].log PinballX.ini

[Tom Speirs]

For videos try turning off 32 bit video colors in lav video setting.

[wrd1972]

Thanks for chiming in Tom. Just to be clear, I am only using table videos on the 40" TV. I am NOT using videos for anything else - but rather still images.

 

Let me provide a bit of background. I have a 40" TV for the cabinet, and a pair of 23" monitors in the head. The two monitors in the head are in PORTRAIT orientation and are side by side, and of course I span the DB2s backglass across both of them. So by doing this, it gives me a very large display for the head, of course with an thin seam down the middle, but I never really notice it. Also have a PINDMD3 if it matters.

 

So when I am in the browsing menu for PinballX, I show a table video on the 40" TV in the cabinet, a still image of the pin flyer on the left monitor in the head, and a still image of the pin rules card on the right monitor:

I do this for all 200ish tables on the cab. And again, I show no vids on the backglass displays at all.

 

So it now appears, that NONE of the DB2S backglasses for any of my VP10 tables will load at all, when launching a table through PBX. I did recently update to the latest 10.6 beta though. But as I have said before, ALL the DB2S backglasses will load when a table is loaded through the VP10 editor. Every single one without fail.

 

But it does appear that the VP9 DB2S backglasses are indeed loading when launching VP9 table through PBX. So why would VP10 not load the DB2s through PBX, but the The Vp9 ones will?

 

So I have noticed that when I launch a VP10 table through PBX, I see this when the "Loading appears" appears, and when the table is running:

Note the area where the flyer and rules card was, have now turned black. I have also noticed that when you Alt/Tab with the table running, there is no "Form1" active which is the indication that DB2S server is active. But If I launch the table through the editor and Alt/Tab, I will see the "Form1" is active meaning that the DB2s is working propoerly.

 

It just seems to me that PBX is eiter not allowing the DB2S server to load the backglass, or something is preventing it from loading like it should. I just dont see how this can be an issue with VP10 due to the fact that all of the Db2S backglasses will work through the editor. But it is super mind bolggling that PBX will alllow DB2S server to load for VP9 tables, but NOT VP10 tables.

 

[Tom Speirs]

what is that vp 10 executable you are running? says modified? Are you using full screen exclusive mode in vp 10? Did it work in a previous version?

[wrd1972]

The goal of the Modified" exectuables, is to eliminate "egg-ball" on all the tables in my cab. I much prefer to set the "ball aspect ratio" to a setting where if I play a table with 0 inclination, the ball is perfectly round. But if I play a table with 10 inclination, I get ugly and annoying "egg-ball". Just kind of impacts the experience playing pinball with a NON-round ball.

 

So early on I figured - just have two VP10.x executables, and set the ball aspect ration under video options, to the following:

In theory, this would achieve my goal. BUT I found that the two different executables would store their individual "ball aspect ratiio" settings, in the exact same location in the registry.  So now all of the tables would use the BAR that was last entered in - so its back to egg-ball with one set of tables, but not the other.

 

So what I needed now, was for each executable to store their BAR (as well as other) settings, in two different locations in the registry. So the two "modified" executables  you are seeing, have had a single value changed using a Hex Editor that allows the settings for each to be stored in different locations in the registry . One executable is used for tables where "inclination" is 0  and used for EM and early SS tables - ball, and the other executable is used where "inclination" is 10 for more modern tables (88ish and later).  So this process does indeed solve all of the egg-ball issues for all of my tables regardless if inclination is 0, or 10. But is impacting PBX somehow. Hmmm.

 

When I get home, I will point the VP10 tables to the UN-altered executable that stores settings in the default location, and see what that does. I will see very quickly if my modified executables are causing this issue. BUT if this were indeed the issue, why do the DB2S backglasses work fine through the VP10 editor? If PBX is simply pushing the "button" to load and start the Vp10 table through the editor, I would think the Db2s backglass would load up in the same it would, if you did not go through PBX, but rather through the editor.

 

Yes I am using exclusive Full-screen for the modified executables. I will disable that setting and see what happens. Is it NOT compatable with PBX?

 

I will respond back with my finding tonight, about pointing to the UN-altered executable within PBX.

[scutters]

@wrd1972

I think previously it was suspected that it was the longer loading time tables that had the issue with the B2S not loading from PinballX (it is now all tables for you?).

I notice you have Texture Compression checked in VPX, that'll slow down load times a bit.. it might be worth unchecking that and testing (although i appreciate you have it checked for a reason so it wouldn't be a solution, but might help to show it is a timing issue somehow if the loading problem goes away)

(oh, and now i'm starting to see egg balls where before i was totally oblivious...  aaaarrrgh!! More stuff to tweak, when will it end? )

[Tom Speirs]

Can you get me some tables and backglasses to test with please and try and duplicate.

[wrd1972]

LOL so you have egg-balls now. I bet a lot of people will be getting egg-balls along with you after all the Hell I am raising on the matter.

 

Ok, I added the default .exe in PBX settings - problem remains. I am now convinced that load time does not even factor into the issue. I turned off "force exclusive full screen" in VP10 video settings - problem remains. Unchecked "texture compression" - problem remains.

 

Now I do believe I have stumbled onto something that "appears" to have greatly reduced the issue. In PBX setup for "other systems, there is a setting for "system type". I previously had this set to "Visual Pinball" for my two VP10 entries, and the DB2S backglasses would not load. I changed this setting to "other" and now every DB2S is loading correctly, except for one. I have tested about 10 VP10 tables and the backglasses loaded, but the one for BBBB would not load. Not too sure why that is, cause it will load through the VP10 editor.

 

This is the setting I am referring to:

So this setting is playing some role in the problem. Can anyone explain what this setting is really doing? I will do some more testing, but as of now, things appear to be much better. Hopefully I am getting close.

 

I wonder if  "other systems" is playing a role. The reason I dont use the normal "visual pinball" setup in PBX, is because all tables would be launched by the same executable, and I have 4 executables:

-VP10 0 degree

-VP10 10 degree

-VP9

VP9PM

 

Now if there were multiple normal "visual pinballs" that I could leverage, and be able to use different executables, then I would not need to use "other systems".

 

 

 

[Tom Speirs]

Visual Pinball mode enables highs scores and better interaction. It is basically the same as the visual pinball settings.

Its obviously a timing thing. The timing is different in VP mode. Either that or because its hiding the editor window. I assume things were working fine in an earlier release of PBX?

Anyway, please try the attached in VP mode and see if it helps.

PinballX.zip

[wrd1972]

Yeah this was not a problem many many revs ago. Downloading it now.

[Tom Speirs]

Here is another one to try.

PinballX.zip

[wrd1972]

Okay I just tried the above executable, AND set "system type" back to Visual Pinball. Most of the tables I quick tested had their backglasses load properly.  However Funhouse would not NOT load its backglass, but the other handful did. Bugs Bunny still wont work no matter what. If I set "system type" back to custom, the FH will load its backglass propoerly.

 

So this executable appears to me to be a step in the right direction, since now more tables are having their backglasses loading, with "System type" set to Visual Pinball - unlike the previous executable. Many thanks for working on this. I am eager to work with you to find the solution. Please feel free to send more executables to try. I will try them as promptly as possible.

 

 

[wrd1972]

Okay, trying the second one now.