[RESOLVED] Backglass - No Score Visual Pinball

[lees1964]

Future Pinball was giving me one headache after the other, so I have been concentrating on Visual Pinball (and I REALLY like the tables I've found).  Finding the roms and b2s files has been a daunting task and possibly part of my problem.  I have found the correct b2s file OR one that is close and renamed it, for the tables that I currently have installed (very few of them at this point).  They all LOOK amazing and play beautifully, but the backglass shows no score.  I am running a cabinet with two monitors.  I've checked and unchecked about every setting I can find in the PinballX display settings that has ANYTHING to do with DMD (since I believe this would be considered a sort of DMD overlay on the backglass).  There is no DMD screen on the playfield OR the backglass, and no setting that I've found seems to change anything.  Additionally, I would LOVE to get the high score plug-in working, but at this point I'd be happy to see ANY score, lol.  Not sure if I've attached the correct files, but I grabbed anything that I thought might help. 

log.txt PinballX.dll PBXStatsDisplay.ini PinballX.ini

[Mike_da_Spike]

If you mean that the backglass of an  EM table has no score, you properly have a wrong b2s fe.

If you dont see the vpinmame rom, you need to enable it in vpinmame. Best way is to use fteezy"s dmddevice.dll as this also support colorized roms.

Setup the dmddevice.ini and if a SS table is loaded, hit f1 to get the vpinmame table and check the "use externall dll" or something(not at cab now). At next start of the game. It will shows you (if you setup dmddevice.ini jcorrectly) a small virtual DMD on your playfield.

You can drag this and move it to your your backglass. You can also resize this window.

 

 

[scutters]

Do you have a DMD if you launch a table directly from visual pinball? (i'm not sure if the issue is only when launching from PinballX)

Edit - log and ini files show you have 'Hide Pinmame' option set to Yes - as the hint "Automatically hide the PinMAME window when running Visual Pinball or using the setting below. This setting is for cabinets using real DMD displays and can automatically stop the PinMAME window displaying on the playfield." so try with that setting in PinballX as No.

If that works you need to work out whether you want to use the pinmame dmd or freezys (as Mike says freezy's is generally recognised as the better option). If you installed visual pinball using the all in one installer then you should already have the files required and just need to configure freezys (again as Mike suggests!)

(lets worry about the stats plugin later)

[lees1964]

Thank you for the reply, guys!!!  I wanted to upload the files, but will post again below for more info (where I can sit at my desk - I'm OLD and standing over this cabinet for hours is starting to get to me, lol)

PinballX.ini log.txt DmdDevice.ini DmdDevice.dll

[lees1964]

OK, WHEW!  SO much easier to type sitting at my desk!  If I'm going to spend hours standing at the pinball cabinet I want that time to be spent PLAYING, not typing   I've learned more than I ever would have imagined about this entire virtual pinball subject in the past couple of months (thanks to awesome people like you guys!  and reading and reading and READING), but there are still some things that confuse me, and this DMD issue is one of them.  I think there's a good chance that I have the wrong b2s files as I didn't find the exact files but changed the name on some that were close (that MAY be the whole problem right there, but then what do I do if I get this super cool table and can't find the correct b2s file??).  If Freezy's DMDext is the best way to go, I'm all for it!  I believe I have it installed already, and have included about every file that I have that might help.  Scutters, I went in to the PinballX display settings and unchecked "hide pinmame", but that didn't seem to work.  I also checked in the VP preferences and Pinballx database manager and didn't see any reference to hiding pinmame in either of them.  You both mention that I need to "configure Freezy's", but I'm not sure how to do that.  I assume that I would open the dmddevice file and edit it manually?  Oh, and Scutters, the result is the same (no dmd on backglass) in both PinballX and if I just run the tables through Visual Pinball.  By the way, I made the move over to Visual Pinball after you guys mentioned (several times) that you haven't messed with FP in awhile, leading me to believe that VP was definitely the way to go   There seems to be a bit more work involved in getting the tables to run nicely, but when they do...  SO much cleaner, smoother and NICER than the FP tables I had.  So thanks for THAT, too!  You  guys ROCK! 

[scutters]

Ok, so no dmd when launched form PinballX or VPX. In that case go to your visual pinball\vpinmame folder and open settings.exe to go into vpinmame settings.

If not done already make sure you've clicked 'install' and then 'setup paths', next click 'setup defaults' you should get a screen like this;

Select /check 'use external dmd' to use freezys dmddevice and then uncheck 'show dmd display window' (to hide the default pinmame dmd window as you don't want two dmd's). Click ok.

Now you need to edit the dmddevice.ini file (in the visual pinball\vpinmame folder), you want [virtualdmd] enabled set to true, stayontop true and all the [pindmd*] entries set to false. Size and position info can be changed later.

Go back to vpinmame\settings.exe and click 'Test', select a rom you have from the list and then 'Start' hopefully you can now see a dmd somewhere - you should be able to drag/resize it and then right click and save position globally (also has options to customise style but that's an adventure of it's own!)

Most of this is set and forget unless you want to tweak something later, so once you've got it set how you want make a backup and you'll soon be able to spend more time playing at the cab!

[Mike_da_Spike]

Yeah VP kick ass compared to FP. And freezy and some other devs are working on a new vp engine that will support Directx12 with ray tracing etc. That will be awesome.

 

Anaway, back to your issue.

Just test your vpinmame outside pinballx. If you got that working, it will work with pinballX as well.

The directb2s file will be different than the table file, but I rename the b2s file to table name as well.

If you use freezy's dll, make sure it is enabled within vpinmame !!

This is just an example, but uncheck "show Dmd/display window" and check" use external dmd"

I have a real dmd and only need to setup my hardware, but for you, set the following to true in your dmddevice.ini

[virtualdmd]
enabled = True

; virtual dmd stays on top of all other windows
stayontop = True

This will definitely help.

 

 

 

[Mike_da_Spike]

2 minutes ago, scutters said:

Ok, so no dmd when launched form PinballX or VPX. In that case go to your visual pinball\vpinmame folder and open settings.exe to go into vpinmame settings.

If not done already make sure you've clicked 'install' and then 'setup paths', next click 'setup defaults' you should get a screen like this;

Select /check 'use external dmd' to use freezys dmddevice and then uncheck 'show dmd display window' (to hide the default pinmame dmd window as you don't want two dmd's). Click ok.

Now you need to edit the dmddevice.ini file (in the visual pinball\vpinmame folder), you want [virtualdmd] enabled set to true, stayontop true and all the [pindmd*] entries set to false. Size and position info can be changed later.

Go back to vpinmame\settings.exe and click 'Test', select a rom you have from the list and then 'Start' hopefully you can now see a dmd somewhere - you should be able to drag/resize it and then right click and save position globally (also has options to customise style but that's an adventure of it's own!)

Most of this is set and forget unless you want to tweak something later, so once you've got it set how you want make a backup and you'll soon be able to spend more time playing at the cab!

You just beat me 

[scutters]

2 minutes ago, Mike_da_Spike said:

You just beat me 

Just like pinball scores!!! 

[Mike_da_Spike]

8 minutes ago, scutters said:

Just like pinball scores!!! 

That not a 'just' . Your monitor has better response. So must be that. 

[lees1964]

Files again, message in a minute

DmdDevice.ini PinMAME32ui.ini gamelist.txt

[lees1964]

I just want to say, AGAIN, how much I appreciate you guys being willing to help me out with this.  I'm not kidding when I say that I just would NEVER be able to figure ANY of this out on my own without spending months and months AND MONTHS reading, trial and error, etc.  I really am SO thankful. 
  OK, so I changed the settings in the pinmame default box, opened the ini file and (as you will see when you open it) I wasn't able to find the "exact" phrases on the virtualdmd entries, but I changed everything I thought might be applicable.  When it came to opening the vpinmame settings program and "testing" it, the games list that I was able to choose from showed NONE of the tables I have installed.  I exited and tried running one of the tables that I was having a problem with to see if any of the changes had made a difference and it was still the same.  I THINK there may be an issue with which vpinmame setup I am using.  I have both "setup" and setup64" and though I AM running windows at 64bit (I believe), I don't recall which one I installed initially, so I used the standard setup to change setting (check and uncheck the boxes you mention).  Could that be it?  I also have another folder in my vpinmame folder named DMDext that also has a dmddevice.ini file in it.  Could this be causing a conflict, or should I move this one outside of the DMDext folder and into the vpinmame folder (which would then overwrite the other, presumably)? 

[Mike_da_Spike]

Not getting your issue yet (but thats because I'm Dutch)

tables that requires vpinmame needs a rom. That is defined on the vbscript part of the table and mostly have the variable cGameName.

Without this file, the table wont work.

Of you run setup.exe (vpinmame and visual pinball only uses 32 bit versions), there is a Test button. This test section yiu can go to the rom name and check if the rom is valid and do a tests, if the rom is working.

Dont use the dmdext from vpinmame subfolder, but dowload freezy's latests version. 

 

 

 

 

[scutters]

Ignore 64bit vpinmame, and like having dmddevice.ini file in the dmdext folder and dmddevice64.dll it won't cause a problem - they just won't be used by visual pinball.

I see i called the vpiname setup.exe 'settings.exe' above (a pinballx habit, looks like you worked that out though!), i also overlooked one other thing - when you change the vpinmame defaults it'll only apply to new roms, for existing roms you need to go into the 'test' option of vpinmame, select the rom and then check the 'game options' match the default screen.

In your log you have 'Attack and Revenge from Mars' which actually uses the 'Attack from Mars' rom, afm_113 which is probably why you couldn't find it, but it's there...

Check the 'game options' for that rom and then try 'start'.

From a quick look your latest dmddevice.ini looks ok so hopefully you'll see dmd appear...

edit - had another look at your dmddevice.ini, you have useregistry = true. This is fine if it's deliberate and you know the vpinmame registry keys, but you're probably better off with this set to false so the position info in dmddevice.ini is used for the dmd location on screen.

[Mike_da_Spike]

I found a nice YT video how to use/setup vpinmame with freezy 1.9 (will be the same for 1.10.2)

This will explain a lot of stuff as well. Dont skipp anything, just watch the full video

 

[lees1964]

You guys - IT'S WORKING!!!!  I don't know what kind of computer geniuses you guys are, but I never, and I mean EVER, would have figured this out without your help.  I LOVE that I am learning a little along the way, and who knows, I may even be able to help some other LOST guy like me one day, lol!  Now, onto that high scores plug-in!  I'm gonna go back and re-read everything I can find about that and see if I can get it rolling.  I am SO excited to actually PLAY this thing now!  Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! 

[Mike_da_Spike]

Yuor welcome and you are right. I'm a computer genius  

Glad it is working

[lees1964]

16 minutes ago, Mike_da_Spike said:

Yuor welcome and you are right. I'm a computer genius  

Glad it is working

...and MODEST, lol!  Thanks, my friend! 

 

[lees1964]

I even got the stats plug in working!  Not sure where I input initials and such (in the game), but I've got it looking good and positioned just right, so I'm on the right track! 

[Mike_da_Spike]

Also look at pinemhi scores. I made a thread as well

That will update some highscores to a centralized database

 

[lees1964]

That looks awesome, Mike!  I'm gonna get that set up RIGHT NOW!  Thanks, man!!! 

[lees1964]

Hey, it's me again, lol.  I looked through the forum topics and couldn't find a specific place for this, so I'm gonna ask here and HOPE you guys might know what is going on.  Since figuring out how to set and save the DMD on the backglass (thanks to you guys!), I added several more tables.  One of them (I think maybe it was Funhouse) had the playfield rotated sideways (I later found out it was made in desktop mode).  I did some quick checking and found out that there were a few options to get the table in portrait mode WHILE the game was running (this didn't actually work, but did bring up some kind of editor that had overlaid text on the screen).  I tried a few things (that appeared to be related to screen orientation), and when nothing worked quite right I just closed the game down.  I don't know if it was that game or a subsequent game, but one of them froze and I had to hit the windows button on the keyboard to close it out.  Another one required task manager.  It was then that I realized - the strangest thing - my cabinet button that had always worked as a "quit game" button (brought up the "resume game", "quit game", etc. menu in VPX and would take me back to the main pinballx screen in that program, had now SWITCHED to my "right coin" button on the right side of the cabinet that sits very close to the flipper button (not a good place for a "quit button to be").  The button that had previously been working as the quite button (I refer to it as the "blue button" because... yeah, it's blue, lol) now does nothing.  I use an ipac2 interface, and I double checked that all of the keys were still mapped correctly in that.  I checked the physical wires and they were all still connected.  I checked the Visual Pinball settings in preferences and they were all still the same (which I changed just to see if it made any difference - this preference menu does not seem to be the one controlling the buttons for Visual Pinball).  I did some more checking and found that it is possible to edit the VPMKeys.vbs file, but when I try to open that I get an error that says "variable is undefined 'left flipper key'" (which is odd since the left flipper button is working fine) and my only option is to hit "OK" which takes the error box away and never brings up the vbs file.  So I'm fairly sure that I "accidentally" changed this setting somehow, but I have no idea where to change it back.  Another interesting point is that I was getting that "left flipper vbs" error when I would try to run tables in visual pinball in the beginning, which is why I focused on Future Pinball.  When I saw that you guys (the experts) preferred Visual Pinball, I set to work trying to get that all straightened out and running, which I did, but I don't remember exactly HOW I got past that script error OR how I finally got the cabinet buttons to work for it.  I've run out of places to change settings and I'm honestly worried that I will mess up something else in an attempt to fix the current problem.  One final note here, the blue button and the right coin button are also working backwards in PinballX.  I'm not sure if that's of importance, but it bears mentioning.  (sorry this is so long and rambling) 

[Mike_da_Spike]

1 hour ago, lees1964 said:

sorry this is so long and rambling

Yeah, very long ramble...

What I should do : download visual pinball again (not installer, but the files).those contains the core files including the scripts directory and the vbs scripts.

Overwrite all and test if you still got a "undefined" error.

2nd: place a screenshot of your visual pinball "keys and nudgets' settings in this thread

(Btw .. i'm lying.  If I screw up my visual pinball, i will restore a previous backup)

[lees1964]

Hi Mike!  I am including a screenshot, but I've found out a bit more - I ran fploader and tried future pinball as well, and the blue button no longer works for quitting in that emulator either.  I double checked to make sure that the controller settings were the same in opreferences and they were.  It looks like I have somehow universally messed up my escape key?? 

[Mike_da_Spike]

4 minutes ago, lees1964 said:

It looks like I have somehow universally messed up my escape key??

Could be. Not sure what you did mate. Must be something incorrect configured, or your exit button doesnt work anymore

Thats why I create backups of my system. Almost manually registry backup for visual pinball and pinmame. Automatically backup of c:\pinball wherw i put all in subfolders. Even Steam I installed there. All to 1 place

I think your visual pinball screenshot looks good (not 100% sure)