[APP] PinballX Database Manager 24.10.11.0 (supports Touch Play as well)

[MrGrynch]

@Mike_da_Spike@scutters I am totally in love with PinballX Db Manager.  What a fantastically well-written and intuitive tool.  Thank you so much for creating this!

like Game Manager, you somehow didn’t think a “Save” button was needed.  I disagree.  It’s one of my biggest annoyances with Game Manager.  Please consider adding it.

Again, thank you a thousand times! 
 

[Mike_da_Spike]

5 hours ago, Wahreez McDermott said:

Hi, I'm running PinballX in a very basic configuration. Single Screen and using only Visual Pinball tables.

I decided to add one VP9 table to my list because the VPX version of "Strike 'N Spares (Gotlieb 1995)" doesn't run properly and starts to slow down badly if you try to play more than 1 game.

As a result of adding this VP9 table every time I launch the manager I get the warning about an obsolete table. The VP9 version of Strike N' Spares is "obsolete". Is there anyway I can edit the xml or do something else to ignore that table in regards to possible updates? Despite there being a VPX version it's not an update because it doesn't work properly.

I know this is probably an edge case cause I googled this thread for "obsolete" and didn't find anything. I would just ignore it, but obviously I'm incapable of that, lol.

Thanks for your time!

Hi and thanks for reaching out to us.

So, if I understand, you setup a vpx system and added a vp9 table with am alternate exe to the vp9 executable ?

DBM wiill see indeed a vp9 table as obsolete in a vpx system. Normally you would setup an extra system for vp9 tables, but if you have just 1 table,  it doesnt make sense. 

Is your system on low specs that the vpx version doesnt run smoothly ? If i remember correctly, there are 2 versions of strike n spares for vpx. And 1 was indeed bas

[Mike_da_Spike]

3 hours ago, MrGrynch said:

@Mike_da_Spike@scutters I am totally in love with PinballX Db Manager.  What a fantastically well-written and intuitive tool.  Thank you so much for creating this!

like Game Manager, you somehow didn’t think a “Save” button was needed.  I disagree.  It’s one of my biggest annoyances with Game Manager.  Please consider adding it.

Again, thank you a thousand times! 
 

No problem. About the save button, there is a save table button, that will do a save. Or ... what kind of save ro you miss? 

Save of xml is controlled in the settings. You can choose set autosave to yes, that will save all the changes. If you have autosave turned on, it will popup to save the table, if you have unsaved entries

You can use 'table versions' to check all downloadable versions of a table

[MrGrynch]

14 hours ago, Mike_da_Spike said:

No problem. About the save button, there is a save table button, that will do a save. Or ... what kind of save ro you miss? 

Save of xml is controlled in the settings. You can choose set autosave to yes, that will save all the changes. If you have autosave turned on, it will popup to save the table, if you have unsaved entries

You can use 'table versions' to check all downloadable versions of a table

I see the save now.. all good!  Thank you again!   I'm loving this tool the more I use it

[Mike_da_Spike]

28 minutes ago, MrGrynch said:

I see the save now.. all good!  Thank you again!   I'm loving this tool the more I use it

There will be a release soon and a brand new documentation as well.

Spoiler ??? Sorry

[Mike_da_Spike]

Thanks to @scutters, we have a new release of DBM.
Scutters took most (read all  ) part of this release as I'm still trying to recover from some health issues.

Just a small background how DBM is updated and how the ideas come together,
Scutters lives 449 KM away from me (279 miles) and we have created a shared medium where we have the CODE and other stuff for DBM (or PinballX).

We communicate about ideas and store them in a notepad document.
The notepad contains new features and bugs that are discovered

If an idea or new feature is agreed and added to the list for a new release, normally the person who has the idea/feature will work on it. 
(that 99.9% of the time Scutters ) 
But this release Scutters took even an idea from the list that I added (without agreement) and code it.

So thanks Scutters for this release . As Always, I really appreciate your help with all of this. 
And as I said multiple times, without you, DBM wasn't so mature as it is now !

Anyway. What did we added/change ?

In previous release we added 'InGame' images. So if you have a Video for Backglass, DMD or topper and you have unchecked to 'Hide during game option', you can add a picture media as well. This will switch instantly when you launch a table from the video to the image. And depends on your emulator, it can show your emulator backglass when game is loaded.


If you have Mega Links setup for Backglass, DMD or Topper, the same links will be showed now as well if you right click on the InGame image:

 

Media Audit is now also checking the 'InGame' images and will not report them as obsolete

The IPDB list now also have teh manufacturer 'OrbitalPin' for some Original Tables

 

If you use System menu in the front end, we also added 'Loading Videos/images' icon
(loading videos/images will only be available when using Scutters 'PinballX Loading Video & Image Changer V2'(https://forums.gameex.com/forums/topic/23127-plugin-pinballx-loading-video-image-changer-de-randomiser-v2/

 

I checked FTP, and for Visual Pinball, filter media on 'Loading' and there are some nice Loading videos :

You can also upload your own Loading system video/image
It will contain the system name (and your GameEx username) and when others click on the ftp to download it, it will be filtered on the system name :

We also included an extra user manual in the installation and will be available in your database manager folder or in your start menu entry :

 

The user manual will shows and explains all the options and features we have and gives a load of examples as well.
The Previous manual is renamed to 'Reference Manual', so you can still use it as reference
The manual can also be downloaded individually from the Download section on this forum (https://forums.gameex.com/forums/files/file/2539-database-manager-for-pinballx-user-guide/)

I'll hope you enjoy this release !

 

[Wahreez McDermott]

Your understanding is correct. I have an i5-6600K with 16GB Ram and an RTX 2700.

I'm able to run VPX tables at 120hz in 1080p with AO and Quality FXAA or SMAA. ScSP will work as well, but I do not bother to run it. I can also run with SSAA4x, but I choose not to right now because it's so hot outside here in the south. There are two VPX versions of Strike N' Spares, but they are the same copy despite occupying different data base entries.

The issue with the VPX Strikes 'N Spares is that it'll run fine if you want to play one or two games, but over time it gets worse and worse. It has something to do with the physics as the VPX version starts around 20% (via F11 in VPX), but each time balls are returned after firing at the pins the physics value gets higher and higher until it's consuming all of the CPU. It's not an issue with the script as the % usage for script functions stays very low.

I've become used to the single obsolete table entry and have learned to ignore it. I doubt they'll be another VP9 table in my database. Thanks for your time and response!

[Mike_da_Spike]

I normally play just 1 game when launched from pinballx and exit it again, so the rom (if supported) is send to pinemhi. I wasn't that strike 'n spares  causes issues when playing multiple games. Maybe ask an author about it. Maybe a s8mple script that fix it

I have an idea for ignoring obsolete tables,but let me talk to scutters first

[Wahreez McDermott]

I don't think it's an issue with the script as the f11 stats show the script is only using 2% CPU. The author knows about the issue, but doesn't want to try and fix it because he has no idea what it might be.

It's not a big deal, I just ignore it now. Thx for the reply!

[MrGrynch]

On 5/14/2022 at 1:21 AM, Mike_da_Spike said:

Thanks to @scutters, we have a new release of DBM.
Scutters took most (read all  ) part of this release as I'm still trying to recover from some health issues.

Just a small background how DBM is updated and how the ideas come together,
Scutters lives 449 KM away from me (279 miles) and we have created a shared medium where we have the CODE and other stuff for DBM (or PinballX).

We communicate about ideas and store them in a notepad document.
The notepad contains new features and bugs that are discovered

If an idea or new feature is agreed and added to the list for a new release, normally the person who has the idea/feature will work on it. 
(that 99.9% of the time Scutters ) 
But this release Scutters took even an idea from the list that I added (without agreement) and code it.

So thanks Scutters for this release . As Always, I really appreciate your help with all of this. 
And as I said multiple times, without you, DBM wasn't so mature as it is now !

Anyway. What did we added/change ?

In previous release we added 'InGame' images. So if you have a Video for Backglass, DMD or topper and you have unchecked to 'Hide during game option', you can add a picture media as well. This will switch instantly when you launch a table from the video to the image. And depends on your emulator, it can show your emulator backglass when game is loaded.


If you have Mega Links setup for Backglass, DMD or Topper, the same links will be showed now as well if you right click on the InGame image:

 

Media Audit is now also checking the 'InGame' images and will not report them as obsolete

The IPDB list now also have teh manufacturer 'OrbitalPin' for some Original Tables

 

If you use System menu in the front end, we also added 'Loading Videos/images' icon
(loading videos/images will only be available when using Scutters 'PinballX Loading Video & Image Changer V2'(https://forums.gameex.com/forums/topic/23127-plugin-pinballx-loading-video-image-changer-de-randomiser-v2/

 

I checked FTP, and for Visual Pinball, filter media on 'Loading' and there are some nice Loading videos :

You can also upload your own Loading system video/image
It will contain the system name (and your GameEx username) and when others click on the ftp to download it, it will be filtered on the system name :

We also included an extra user manual in the installation and will be available in your database manager folder or in your start menu entry :

 

The user manual will shows and explains all the options and features we have and gives a load of examples as well.
The Previous manual is renamed to 'Reference Manual', so you can still use it as reference
The manual can also be downloaded individually from the Download section on this forum (https://forums.gameex.com/forums/files/file/2539-database-manager-for-pinballx-user-guide/)

I'll hope you enjoy this release !

 

I made a company logo for Orbital.  I had been using my "made up" manufacturer "OrbitalPin".  Happy to see its now legit.  I also made a VPW logo for their original games (so far, only Blood Machines AFIK)

 

 

[Wahreez McDermott]

Both of those looks very sweet!

[MrGrynch]

I noticed a glitch today when adding an instruction card for "The Amazing Spider-Man".  I right-clicked on the icon, and selected the appropriate card title

I then hovered over the icon to make sure it loaded the right one

I then clicked the icon to preview the card, and it displayed the following:

However, this was only a glitch with the preview, as it did indeed load the right card

FYI

[Mike_da_Spike]

That's really odd behaviour.

And I'm able to reproduce it. Thanks for letting us know. Will be on our list to be fixed.
 

[Mike_da_Spike]

@scuttersand myself released a small update.
It a bug fix release that was found by @MrGrynch (thanks for that)
Issue was that when checking an instruction card with multiple pages (SWF file) that the preview didn't show the selected instruction card.
This could also happen with the "overwrite" dialog.

We also discovered that some PC's didn't show the instruction cards during the overwrite file dialog (just 2 black screens)
Going through the code, we speedup the preview of showing swf files with 425% (calculation was done before and after fix)

Something that bothered me for a long time, was that the Icon didn't show correctly in explorer for 'medium' icons :

 

This is fixed now as well, and icon should be shown correctly

NOTE : be aware that Windows has an icon cache, so could take some time before you notice anything
See https://neosmart.net/wiki/clear-icons-cache/ for clearing the cache

 

Big thanks for @scuttersfor his help again and also to @MrGrynchfor reporting the bug

[MrGrynch]

@Mike_da_Spike out of nowhere, the DBM stopped working for me.  I load it, but the UI never pops up.  The last thing I did to the machine was add Simpsons Pinball Party 3 days ago.  The log shows nothing of note.  The task manager shows it running AND consuming a considerable about of CPU, but still no UI.  I've attached images of what I am seeing.  I uninstalled it and reinstalled it, but that did not solve the problem

 

[MrGrynch]

@Mike_da_Spike UPDATE:  I tried different compatibility settings without luck.  I've checked all the system event logs and don't see anything there.  The antivirus isn't complaining about anything.  There might have been a Windows update in the last few days, but can't be certain.

[Mike_da_Spike]

Odd... i had yesterday security update and dbm was still launching. It looks like the code loops somewhere, but we don't have a loop in it. I will check the code tomorrow morning (CET), if I can find what could cause this.

Edit:Program should run without aby compatibility mode. Buid on .net framework 4.

You dont have dbm running as admin, right ?

[MrGrynch]

1 minute ago, Mike_da_Spike said:

Odd... i had yesterday security update and dbm was still launching. It looks like the code loops somewhere, but we don't have a loop in it. I will check the code tomorrow morning (CET), if I can find what could cause this.

 

I also deleted my .ini file and tried it just in case there was a corruption there, but no joy

[Mike_da_Spike]

Program should run without setting it to any compatibility mode. It is build  and compiled for .net framework 4.

You dont have dbm running as admin, right ?

[MrGrynch]

Just now, Mike_da_Spike said:

Program should run without setting it to any compatibility mode. It isbuild  and compiled for .net framework 4.

You dont have dbm running as admin, right ?

I do not.. 

[Mike_da_Spike]

Just now, MrGrynch said:

I do not.. 

Thats good. On top of my head, the code will do the initialize of PBX. Never seen issues with that. 

[MrGrynch]

2 minutes ago, Mike_da_Spike said:

Thats good. On top of my head, the code will do the initialize of PBX. Never seen issues with that. 

I also tried booting in SAFE mode.  No Joy

[Mike_da_Spike]

After deleting the ini file and relaunching the app, was the ini file recreated with some default values ?

Any corruption in the ini file should be handled as well, but you never know

[Mike_da_Spike]

1 minute ago, MrGrynch said:

I also tried booting in SAFE mode.  No Joy

Don't have an answer now, but will check tomorrow morning for you.

If you leave the exe open for multiple minutes, is it doing something else in the logfile?

[MrGrynch]

7 minutes ago, Mike_da_Spike said:

After deleting the ini file and relaunching the app, was the ini file recreated with some default values ?

Any corruption in the ini file should be handled as well, but you never know

Yes, was recreated just fine.. just no UI