DMD not showing on screengrabs in Pinball X

[Itchigo]

Once I've added a game in the system, I take a screenshot. Even with the DMD clearly visible on the screen, the screenshot does not show the DMD. It's like the DMD loses focus when taking the screenshot. I have a 2 screen setup.

To be clear, I have a DMD at all times during a game. But the DMD does not show up in the screen grab. This only started a couple months ago.

I'm running 6.03 and W7 on a 2 screen cab. No VR, DOF, PUP, etc. Just good old fashioned 1080p pinball.

[Mike_da_Spike]

Do you take the screenshot from PinballX ?

can you post a log after you take a screenshot (and also post you rpinballx.ini file) ?
Ty

[Itchigo]

PinballX.ini

That's my screen grab. The DMD was visible during the game, but it didn't show on the screen grab. I have more than 1 game doing this.

 

 

log.txt

[Tom Speirs]

Hi itchigo.

I do need to look at the screen grab code. There have been a few reports of it not working with backglass and DMD. Ill get back to you all as soon as I can.

Cheers.

[Tom Speirs]

Oh wait, so it is working your just not seeing the DMD. Yeah, this is probably to be expected in some cases. Sometimes windows wont capture DirectX.

[scutters]

@Itchigo Are you using freezy for the DMD?, if you are make sure you have this line set in dmdevice.ini;

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

Not sure if it'll help, but worth a shot.

Btw - noticed you're running a 2 screen setup but have the DMD enabled in PinballX on screen 2 (with backglass on screen 1);

[DMD]
Enabled=True
monitor=2
x=0
y=0
width=900
height=300

Not sure if you used to have a 3rd screen or something but you may as well disable the DMD screen in PinballX

[Itchigo]

3 hours ago, scutters said:

@Itchigo Are you using freezy for the DMD?, if you are make sure you have this line set in dmdevice.ini;

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

Not sure if it'll help, but worth a shot.

Btw - noticed you're running a 2 screen setup but have the DMD enabled in PinballX on screen 2 (with backglass on screen 1);

[DMD]
Enabled=True
monitor=2
x=0
y=0
width=900
height=300

Not sure if you used to have a 3rd screen or something but you may as well disable the DMD screen in PinballX

I'll check my settings and see thanks. (Although I think it wouldn't be showing at all if it was disabled.)

I never had a real DMD, just the setup you see above. (DMD on 2nd screen)

[Itchigo]

9 hours ago, Tom Speirs said:

Oh wait, so it is working your just not seeing the DMD. Yeah, this is probably to be expected in some cases. Sometimes windows wont capture DirectX.

Correct Tom, it's working during the game, just hidden when I take a screenshot.

[Itchigo]

I'm not sure if this is related or not but when I take screengrabs now the playfield image is black. I upgraded to 6.05 and I still have the issue,

I saw something in another post about adjusting LAV settings. I don't know where to find those. I do have an AMD setup. I'm not sure if that helps.

 

[Draco1962]

Can you attach copies of your pinballx.ini and log.txt files please? Thanks!

[Itchigo]

PinballX.inilog.txt

Here you go.

[Draco1962]

Instructions on how to open LAV Filters here.

Locate the Video Settings and match the Output formats as Tom noted on the other post.

Hopefully that will work for you.

[Itchigo]

I'm not sure if I did something wrong. I downloaded the installer and installed it, 0.78 is the latest. I mirrored the above screen, and did a reboot. I did not do anything with the audio or the other one, I only configured the above screen and that's it.

After my reboot I started Pinball X, loaded a table and took a screenshot. The backglass screen grab was fine, the playfield screen grab was all black. Log attached.

 

Should I revert to an older version?

log.txt

[scutters]

8 hours ago, Itchigo said:

After my reboot I started Pinball X, loaded a table and took a screenshot. The backglass screen grab was fine, the playfield screen grab was all black.

Is the screenshot image black in an image editor, or is it just displayed black in PinballX? 

[Itchigo]

1 hour ago, scutters said:

Is the screenshot image black in an image editor, or is it just displayed black in PinballX? 

Both. The screenshot displays as all black, and if I go to the folder and open it with Irfanview, it also displays all black.

[Mike_da_Spike]

I don't see the screenshot grab in your log.

Was that the log directly after you created the screenshot ?

If you an older version of pbx, will that work and what is in the log?

[Itchigo]

12 hours ago, Mike_da_Spike said:

I don't see the screenshot grab in your log.

Was that the log directly after you created the screenshot ?

If you an older version of pbx, will that work and what is in the log?

That was making me wonder too. I don't see anything in the log about a screengrab, but there it is. I tried again just now. Here's the latest.

Target Practice 2 is the playfield scxreengrab. I had to rename because they can't both be the same name.

 

I'm using 6.05. I'd like to try an older version to see if there's any difference, but I can't download anything in the threads as the threads are all locked for the older versions.

log.txt

[Mike_da_Spike]

3 hours ago, Itchigo said:

I'm using 6.05. I'd like to try an older version to see if there's any difference, but I can't download anything in the threads as the threads are all locked for the older versions.

I tested the downloads, but I could download older versions. (Even very old ones)

Did you do it according the procedure as described in the manual?

[scutters]

10 hours ago, Itchigo said:

That was making me wonder too. I don't see anything in the log about a screengrab, but there it is. I tried again just now. Here's the latest.

PinballX might not log when screen grabs are taken, but on exiting the table after a screen capture you should have 'Rescanning for new artwork' in the log (yours don't?)

Not sure if PinballX will overwrite existing media if new screen shots are taken, so try deleting the playfield image before taking the screen shot and post a new log file copy after.

[Itchigo]

I'll try that tonight. I know from previous experience that Pinball X won't overwrite existing media. If you already have a preview picture in there it'll just go to the screengrabs folder.

I'm also going to try changing the screengrab key (currently P on the keyboard). I thought I saw the table behave weirdly when I hit it. I know P is pause in Mame, but I don't have Mame on this cab anymore. Although why that would be an issue now is a mystery.

When I view older news threads I don't have a download button. I can't even tell you what version I upgraded from. I don't use a lot of the latest features. If I have my lists and screenshots, I'm happy (I don't do videos). I should have known better than to upgrade lol. After all, my 30 year old car still gets me to work every day. 🤣 (Although I think by you guys it's called an Escort MK2 Ultra).

[Itchigo]

On 2/7/2024 at 9:31 PM, Mike_da_Spike said:

I tested the downloads, but I could download older versions. (Even very old ones)

 

Can you please link me to the old versions? I'm in the threads, but I don't have a download button.

[Mike_da_Spike]

9 minutes ago, Itchigo said:

Can you please link me to the old versions? I'm in the threads, but I don't have a download button.

Which version you want ? I can give you a link

But within the pdf documentation that is distributed with PinballX, I explains how to download an older version as well

[Itchigo]

I tried changing the screengrab key with no success. I didn't think it would do anything but the table I tried looked like it paused when I hit "P". I figured it couldn't hurt to try it.

Next I'm going to try uninstalling/reinstalling. I'll name my old Pinball X folder PinballX old (I have a backup anyway), and I'll find the registry key and copy that as well.

I saw the PDF in my Pinball X folder but it only showed how to install/upgrade. Hopefully reinstalling will fix it. I have a very simple setup, I don't need all the bells and whistles. I mainly use it for the menu and media shots (I don't use videos).

[Mike_da_Spike]

Not at pc, but downloaded the pdf on my phone.

Chapter 3.3 explains how to downgrade and download older versions

[Itchigo]

Ok I was finally able to download an older version. That's a weird way of doing it, I thought it was taking me to the newest version constantly. I was trying to figure out what step I was missing.

After all this BS I finally nailed down the problem..... I tried changing the key- nothing. I tried getting the newest version, previous version- nothing. It turns out it was VP doing it! I tried another VP version and it finally gave me both screenshots. That'll teach me to upgrade lol!

Thanks to Mike da Spike and Scutters!! Both of you guys are great and I know these things can be frustrating from the other end of things. 😎