[RESOLVED] Can pinball x launch a .exe file from game manager

[Stoner penguin]

I am trying to launch a .exe file from game manager so is this even possible what are the parameters, programs, methods I would need to do this??? 

 

[joyrider3774]

if it's a single exe / game only way i know of is create a new (other) system setup where you link to the exe file then in game manager create a single table entry for example "Launch" or "<name of the game>" for your new system (linking to your exe) and when selected it will launch your exe file. if you have multiple exe's you want to run like this you might run out of systems fast i think you can only have 10 other systems 

If you have multiple exe's you could create a launcher script using autohotkey. I did that for launching bingo gameroom tables, each table there is a seperate exe file and my launcher basically launches that executeable so you can use that as a template.

as far as i know you will always have to define a system (which is the exe) and the tables (in game manager) are just passed as parameter
 

[Stoner penguin]

Yeah thanks! I know about putting a exe file to other systems that is why because ten is the limit here. What I need is a program or scrpit that can launch bat files or .exe file based on what file I select in game manager.  I created a bat file that calls on a powershell scrpit that rotates the screen and launches a program and then I used a program to convert that bat into a application works great when using that exe as the exacutable for other systems but again only ten max.  U said something about a launcher scrpit did u set that up as another system entirely sorry I know nothing about autohotkey but I am willing to learn. What does your scripts look like? Okay so I managed to get comics on Tate mode I have a whole separate pinball x I use for comics that is in my main pinball x menu and the only way to have a full library is to keep making different pinball x and populate the menu with 9 comics and leave one open as a gate way to another pinball x and thus another 9 comics I could do this forever but am sure my PC will crash it something so yeah

 

[Stoner penguin]

I also created a main pinball x comics so each other systems is a pinball x that can give me a total of 50 comics I can have ten other systems so each one could also be a gate way to another pinball x that could be gateways to other creating a huge amount but again this is Pinball x not painball x and each comic takes about 20 min to set up once I have pinball x installed and all dmd, topper, table image, backglass, tables song , and custom made wheel image or clear logo so we are talking abouthours just to set up about ten or twenty

[Draco1962]

What about using .lnk files (aka shortcut link files)? You can put them in one folder and use *.lnk instead of your rom file.

[Stoner penguin]

Will give that a shoot tonight

 

 

[joyrider3774]

just in case the shortcut system does not work ...

Maybe Using commandline parameters in your batch file or powershell script can work also if you only have single exe, standalone exe files. In game manager you define the gamenames as the exe files which you will pass as a command line parameter to your batch file or powershell script, the script would then just launch the exe which was passed as a commandline parameter. But thats basically ' almost the exact same thing my bingo gameroom launcher script does. You will need to modify it, but it can be used as a start and probably be made to work only with minor modifications. The script is available in the bingo game room topic a few topics below this one inside the zip file (or get the ahk file here LaunchBingoGameRoom.ahk ). You can create exe files from autohotkey scripts only need to install autohotkey and right click a .ahk file you created or modified and choose compile to get an exe file. You will only need one other system and the exe files would be defined in the game manager. it's a very simple script and should be readable in any text editor, autohotkey is available here https://www.autohotkey.com

If your exe from your comics files requires other files like images etc in the same directory i would place each one in a seperate directory with as name the same name as the comic exe files without the extension so like comic1\comic1.exe + other needed files needed for comic1.exe in comic1 directory, comic2\comic2.exe + other needed files needed for comic2.exe in comic2 directory etc and your game name in game manager would be comic1 and comic2 (these are just simplified examples), you the just pass the tablename to your created scripts as a parameter defined in the other system and your script would launch <tablename>\<tablename>.exe from a certain directory tablename is the variable parameter passed to your script so the gamename in manager (so comic1, comic2 etc). Basically you need to modify your scripts to accept that one tablename parameter and  handle the launching

if one comic is just one exe you can just launch <tablename>.exe in the script from a certain directory instead of <tablename>\<tablename>.exe (bingo game room launcher uses the <tablename>\<tablename>.exe setup)

But i think there could be other pitfalls when using batch files or powershell script, for example to handle keypresses to quit the application or specifying process to monitor in the system setup as you each time use different exe. i define my launcher as process to monitor and don't let it quit before the exe file i ran from script is quit that way you have a single process to monitor being the launch script

I don't know the structure or how these tate comic things look like when it comes to needed files and directory structure so hard to test for myselve on my pc but i think its all doable

the rotation of your screens can also be done using launchbefore / launch after script batch files that run powershell to launch irotate. Here's a simple example i use 

Launch before batch file to rotate 90 degrees using irotate installed in default location:

powershell -Command "Start-Process 'irotate.exe' '/1:rotate=90 /exit' -Verb runAs -WorkingDirectory 'C:\Program Files (x86)\iRotate\'"

Launch after to rotate back to normal
 

powershell -Command "Start-Process 'irotate.exe' '/1:rotate=0 /exit' -Verb runAs -WorkingDirectory 'C:\Program Files (x86)\iRotate\'"

This is the original topic about bingo game room launcher where there is also a screenshot of how i had set it up in other systems. My guess something very similar can be done in your case

 

[scutters]

Comics?

Sorry no solution, but what am i missing out on -  what are the comics / is comic.exe?

[Stoner penguin]

15 hours ago, joyrider3774 said:

just in case the shortcut system does not work ...

Maybe Using commandline parameters in your batch file or powershell script can work also if you only have single exe, standalone exe files. In game manager you define the gamenames as the exe files which you will pass as a command line parameter to your batch file or powershell script, the script would then just launch the exe which was passed as a commandline parameter. But thats basically ' almost the exact same thing my bingo gameroom launcher script does. You will need to modify it, but it can be used as a start and probably be made to work only with minor modifications. The script is available in the bingo game room topic a few topics below this one inside the zip file (or get the ahk file here LaunchBingoGameRoom.ahk ). You can create exe files from autohotkey scripts only need to install autohotkey and right click a .ahk file you created or modified and choose compile to get an exe file. You will only need one other system and the exe files would be defined in the game manager. it's a very simple script and should be readable in any text editor, autohotkey is available here https://www.autohotkey.com

If your exe from your comics files requires other files like images etc in the same directory i would place each one in a seperate directory with as name the same name as the comic exe files without the extension so like comic1\comic1.exe + other needed files needed for comic1.exe in comic1 directory, comic2\comic2.exe + other needed files needed for comic2.exe in comic2 directory etc and your game name in game manager would be comic1 and comic2 (these are just simplified examples), you the just pass the tablename to your created scripts as a parameter defined in the other system and your script would launch <tablename>\<tablename>.exe from a certain directory tablename is the variable parameter passed to your script so the gamename in manager (so comic1, comic2 etc). Basically you need to modify your scripts to accept that one tablename parameter and  handle the launching

if one comic is just one exe you can just launch <tablename>.exe in the script from a certain directory instead of <tablename>\<tablename>.exe (bingo game room launcher uses the <tablename>\<tablename>.exe setup)

But i think there could be other pitfalls when using batch files or powershell script, for example to handle keypresses to quit the application or specifying process to monitor in the system setup as you each time use different exe. i define my launcher as process to monitor and don't let it quit before the exe file i ran from script is quit that way you have a single process to monitor being the launch script

I don't know the structure or how these tate comic things look like when it comes to needed files and directory structure so hard to test for myselve on my pc but i think its all doable

the rotation of your screens can also be done using launchbefore / launch after script batch files that run powershell to launch irotate. Here's a simple example i use 

Launch before batch file to rotate 90 degrees using irotate installed in default location:

powershell -Command "Start-Process 'irotate.exe' '/1:rotate=90 /exit' -Verb runAs -WorkingDirectory 'C:\Program Files (x86)\iRotate\'"

Launch after to rotate back to normal
 

powershell -Command "Start-Process 'irotate.exe' '/1:rotate=0 /exit' -Verb runAs -WorkingDirectory 'C:\Program Files (x86)\iRotate\'"

This is the original topic about bingo game room launcher where there is also a screenshot of how i had set it up in other systems. My guess something very similar can be done in your case

 

Ok so I already have a launch after scrpit called "comic_kill" that rotates the screen back to normal and kills the comic program. I also have irotate which launches along side the comic file and rotates the screen 90 degrees. I originally used the scrpit for Android games which pasrses the game name and launches it that way. I just did what some other guy did and open notepad and save as all files and save it as the Android game name and put those files in a separate folders but it doesn't work for comics cause...well not sure but I Believe it doesn't know from where it should comic file from. I got this working in launchbox/big box no problem but after seeing this on my screen in Tate I am sold and will not give up until I get it working. I guess pinball x compared to launchbox is a different beast that forces you to adapt if u wanna make certain things work. Also I believe you can only add . zip files for roms. Well I will make a video soon showing where I am at then I will give your method a go. Thanks guys

[Stoner penguin]

Quote

On 9/4/2019 at 6:14 AM, Stoner penguin said:

 

 

On 9/3/2019 at 3:05 PM, joyrider3774 said:

just in case the shortcut system does not work ...

Maybe Using commandline parameters in your batch file or powershell script can work also if you only have single exe, standalone exe files. In game manager you define the gamenames as the exe files which you will pass as a command line parameter to your batch file or powershell script, the script would then just launch the exe which was passed as a commandline parameter. But thats basically ' almost the exact same thing my bingo gameroom launcher script does. You will need to modify it, but it can be used as a start and probably be made to work only with minor modifications. The script is available in the bingo game room topic a few topics below this one inside the zip file (or get the ahk file here LaunchBingoGameRoom.ahk ). You can create exe files from autohotkey scripts only need to install autohotkey and right click a .ahk file you created or modified and choose compile to get an exe file. You will only need one other system and the exe files would be defined in the game manager. it's a very simple script and should be readable in any text editor, autohotkey is available here https://www.autohotkey.com

If your exe from your comics files requires other files like images etc in the same directory i would place each one in a seperate directory with as name the same name as the comic exe files without the extension so like comic1\comic1.exe + other needed files needed for comic1.exe in comic1 directory, comic2\comic2.exe + other needed files needed for comic2.exe in comic2 directory etc and your game name in game manager would be comic1 and comic2 (these are just simplified examples), you the just pass the tablename to your created scripts as a parameter defined in the other system and your script would launch <tablename>\<tablename>.exe from a certain directory tablename is the variable parameter passed to your script so the gamename in manager (so comic1, comic2 etc). Basically you need to modify your scripts to accept that one tablename parameter and  handle the launching

if one comic is just one exe you can just launch <tablename>.exe in the script from a certain directory instead of <tablename>\<tablename>.exe (bingo game room launcher uses the <tablename>\<tablename>.exe setup)

But i think there could be other pitfalls when using batch files or powershell script, for example to handle keypresses to quit the application or specifying process to monitor in the system setup as you each time use different exe. i define my launcher as process to monitor and don't let it quit before the exe file i ran from script is quit that way you have a single process to monitor being the launch script

I don't know the structure or how these tate comic things look like when it comes to needed files and directory structure so hard to test for myselve on my pc but i think its all doable

the rotation of your screens can also be done using launchbefore / launch after script batch files that run powershell to launch irotate. Here's a simple example i use 

Launch before batch file to rotate 90 degrees using irotate installed in default location:

powershell -Command "Start-Process 'irotate.exe' '/1:rotate=90 /exit' -Verb runAs -WorkingDirectory 'C:\Program Files (x86)\iRotate\'"

Launch after to rotate back to normal
 

powershell -Command "Start-Process 'irotate.exe' '/1:rotate=0 /exit' -Verb runAs -WorkingDirectory 'C:\Program Files (x86)\iRotate\'"

This is the original topic about bingo game room launcher where there is also a screenshot of how i had set it up in other systems. My guess something very similar can be done in your case

 

okay so I can't seem to get this to work. I changed the mainDir in the script to where I have the comic exe files. I am using scitE4Autohotkey I complied the changed script and in pinball x I put the working path to that where that launcher exe is located but did not put a table path. I set the parameter to the [TABLEFILE]  and process to monitor is the launcher.exe. In game Game manager I set the name of the exe that open that specific comic file without the ".exe"  just the name. I  don't use anything else to launch with this just the application that's just a batch file which open up a powershell script that rotate the monitor using irotate and launches the comic file in fullscreen. after trying a few times I tried to change the %MainDir%\%Table%\%Table%.exe to  %MainDir%\%Table%.exe and complied it and replaced the old launcher.exe to see if it will work since my Comics.exe files are in the main directory but no it didn't so any idea what I could be doing wrong here??? THanks for helping me by the way

 

[joyrider3774]

Lauchbingo gameroom is an example ahk you have to modify to make it work for your situation. I dont have such comics nor do i know where to get them so cant test anything. It will not work without modifying the script for your own needs and you don't provide enough info like directory structure, name of exe files what files. 

i see you did make changes and you have set it up now it will try to launch "w:\0001 main\comics\Batman -Dark Detective 02 of 06.exe" i also still see the return key still present thats bingo game room specific as it was showing a nag screen unless you need it here also. You need to have the other stuff as well like the esc key and killapp stuff and waitprocess to wait until the exe is closed. Seems you have removed that and launchbingogameroom.exe will immediatly quit and return to pinballx unless your screenshot does not display everything of the rest of the code.

Can you provide me a zip with one or 2 comics and explain how you use them (private message me a link of where you uploaded them). Then i can have a look / test will be much easier and explain how you normally would view / launch them

Edit: nvm i found some examples and downloaded cdisplayex myselve

[joyrider3774]

Ok so i looked at this comic book stuff and your making it way too complicated bat to exe files etc it's all not needed. On my cabinet i can view comic books *.cbr files now although the other formats work also. You can use cdisplayex directly and you only need to create a simple launch before and launch after script to rotate the screen and perhaps launch a keyboard remapping script because left shift and right shift  (in my case left flipper / right flipper) can not be chosen as keys in cdisplayex to scroll between pages but you can remap keys easily using an autohotkey script.

So here's how i setted it up:

1. first install cdisplayeex available here https://www.cdisplayex.com/ i installed the 64 bit version (watch out when installing, the installer tries to install mcafee so be sure to deselect it and not press blindy next button repeatedly).
2. after install run cdisplayeex once and press F11 so it runs fullscreen, the application will remember this settings. Then press ESC to quit the application.
3. place all your comic books (*.cbr and other support formats) in single folder i took c:\comics
   
4. create launch before and launch after scripts to rotate the screen using irotate.
   My cdisplayex launch before.bat contains the following

   start cdisplayexremap.exe
   powershell -Command "Start-Process 'irotate.exe' '/1:rotate=90 /exit' -Verb runAs -WorkingDirectory 'C:\Program Files (x86)\iRotate\'"

   I use i rotate to rotate the screen into portrait mode and i start a program called cdisplayexremap.exe to change keyboard key presses to other keypresses
   My cdisplayex launch after.bat contains code to kill the remap program and rotate screen back to normal
    

   taskkill /IM cdisplayexremap.exe
   powershell -Command "Start-Process 'irotate.exe' '/1:rotate=0 /exit' -Verb runAs -WorkingDirectory 'C:\Program Files (x86)\iRotate\'"

    

5. Setup cdisplayex like this in pinballx settings. The table path must be the (single) folder containing all your comic books (not in subdirectories) (if you installed 32 bit version it's in program files (x86) then)
   
6. in game manager under comic_reader system add the complete filenames including extension (unhide them on your windows as you have them hidden so you can view them) like so for example for all your comic books in your comic books folder, in my case c:\comics as you see i included the fileextension (.cbr) they must match exactly as in the c:\comics folder
   
7. By default cdisplayex uses down / up to scroll pages but i don't have down up mapped on my cabinet, my flipper buttons are left shift and right shift but as said before can not be used in cdisplayeex. So i created a keyboard remap ahk script cdisplayexremap.ahk and compiled it to an exe, so my left shift (flipper) becomes up and my right shift (flipper)  becomes down key. ESC is quit and i do have that mapped in my cabinet. Another trick if you use different buttons on your cabinet is to launch cdisplayex and change the keybindings there but should not the program makes no differents between left / right shift ctrl alt etc an i think might not be usueable as keys but only as key modifiers
8. you can now run pinballx and comic books can be shown from within pinballx on your cabinet. I have it working on my cabinet now and it did not even require special scripts or things you can launch the app directly. 
9. small tip if you got it working when viewing a comic and your on the 1st page press S key on your keyboard to create a screenshot of it, it will display then in pinballx for selecting the tables. Wheel images you'll have to create yourselve although you leave it at text view also

[joyrider3774]

here's a small video of it running on my cabinet

 

[Stoner penguin]

Quote

On 9/4/2019 at 6:14 AM, Stoner penguin said:

THanks Joyrider I got this to work. It's funny because I tried the originally tried the method you figured out except I didn't use the exctention .cbr just the name of the comic file alone and it would freeze up Game manager also I didn't have the parameters set right so I thought the only way would be through some long crazy hard method but I am glad I asked here and you helped me. So again big thanks now I can move on to other things I have problems with. I will still try to use that script to launch a .exe because I want to launch pc games I have them running using a separate pinball x using my old method ten per pinball x as a executable in other systems. I can get them to run in rocket launcher but I don't know how to have pinball x and rockect launcher communicate with one another so I will instead try to launch a exe from game manager through the method you provided but the good thing is I have all the resources I need with all the stuff you provided me as a base to start off of. As you can see in this video I will post I have a main menu where I can choose which pinball x I want to launch into. I like having many different pinball x because I don't want to have too many things in one list plus I can customize each one. For the  Comics I will launch into a pinball x that have them categorized as a separate systems and be a pinball x of there own so mavel, dc, manga, etc.... in other systems I can have ten so each one will just be it's own company comics but thanks to you I can now have as many comics in each one as I want and not just ten. I have no problem running all these pinball x at once so that cool and I like the look and hyperpsin/BigBox look to it since I will have much more in the main menu than what's currently being shown.  Again big thanks to you and the community now off to try this exe thing. I don't have a cab yet that's yet to be built by hand and this vid is of poor quality but it's what I got so far 

 

On 9/3/2019 at 3:05 PM, joyrider3774 said:

just in case the shortcut system does not work ...

Maybe Using commandline parameters in your batch file or powershell script can work also if you only have single exe, standalone exe files. In game manager you define the gamenames as the exe files which you will pass as a command line parameter to your batch file or powershell script, the script would then just launch the exe which was passed as a commandline parameter. But thats basically ' almost the exact same thing my bingo gameroom launcher script does. You will need to modify it, but it can be used as a start and probably be made to work only with minor modifications. The script is available in the bingo game room topic a few topics below this one inside the zip file (or get the ahk file here LaunchBingoGameRoom.ahk ). You can create exe files from autohotkey scripts only need to install autohotkey and right click a .ahk file you created or modified and choose compile to get an exe file. You will only need one other system and the exe files would be defined in the game manager. it's a very simple script and should be readable in any text editor, autohotkey is available here https://www.autohotkey.com

If your exe from your comics files requires other files like images etc in the same directory i would place each one in a seperate directory with as name the same name as the comic exe files without the extension so like comic1\comic1.exe + other needed files needed for comic1.exe in comic1 directory, comic2\comic2.exe + other needed files needed for comic2.exe in comic2 directory etc and your game name in game manager would be comic1 and comic2 (these are just simplified examples), you the just pass the tablename to your created scripts as a parameter defined in the other system and your script would launch <tablename>\<tablename>.exe from a certain directory tablename is the variable parameter passed to your script so the gamename in manager (so comic1, comic2 etc). Basically you need to modify your scripts to accept that one tablename parameter and  handle the launching

if one comic is just one exe you can just launch <tablename>.exe in the script from a certain directory instead of <tablename>\<tablename>.exe (bingo game room launcher uses the <tablename>\<tablename>.exe setup)

But i think there could be other pitfalls when using batch files or powershell script, for example to handle keypresses to quit the application or specifying process to monitor in the system setup as you each time use different exe. i define my launcher as process to monitor and don't let it quit before the exe file i ran from script is quit that way you have a single process to monitor being the launch script

I don't know the structure or how these tate comic things look like when it comes to needed files and directory structure so hard to test for myselve on my pc but i think its all doable

the rotation of your screens can also be done using launchbefore / launch after script batch files that run powershell to launch irotate. Here's a simple example i use 

Launch before batch file to rotate 90 degrees using irotate installed in default location:

powershell -Command "Start-Process 'irotate.exe' '/1:rotate=90 /exit' -Verb runAs -WorkingDirectory 'C:\Program Files (x86)\iRotate\'"

Launch after to rotate back to normal
 

powershell -Command "Start-Process 'irotate.exe' '/1:rotate=0 /exit' -Verb runAs -WorkingDirectory 'C:\Program Files (x86)\iRotate\'"

This is the original topic about bingo game room launcher where there is also a screenshot of how i had set it up in other systems. My guess something very similar can be done in your case

 

okay so I can't seem to get this to work. I changed the mainDir in the script to where I have the comic exe files. I am using scitE4Autohotkey I complied the changed script and in pinball x I put the working path to that where that launcher exe is located but did not put a table path. I set the parameter to the [TABLEFILE]  and process to monitor is the launcher.exe. In game Game manager I set the name of the exe that open that specific comic file without the ".exe"  just the name. I  don't use anything else to launch with this just the application that's just a batch file which open up a powershell script that rotate the monitor using irotate and launches the comic file in fullscreen. after trying a few times I tried to change the %MainDir%\%Table%\%Table%.exe to  %MainDir%\%Table%.exe and complied it and replaced the old launcher.exe to see if it will work since my Comics.exe files are in the main directory but no it didn't so any idea what I could be doing wrong here??? THanks for helping me by the way

 

[joyrider3774]

@Stoner penguin if you update your pinballx version in settings app you can now have 15 other systems and when modifying ini directly it should support 20 other systems now so you can have more than 10 now

[Stoner penguin]

oh wow cool. Now I can add so much more categories in my comics pinball x and much other things as well. Thanks fro letting me know time to change update!