Slingshot failure with “Rockmakers” and flipper malfunction

[Piffer]

First of all, details of my system:
I am running a 2-monitor VPin-Cab under Windows 10 Home. I use VPX 10.8 Beta Rev. 1947 without using any additional programs. I use the latest version of PinballX.
My problem is that I cannot operate the flippers normally with different tables and at irregular intervals, i.e. one or both flippers remain up after operation. Canceling and restarting solves the problem. This problem has existed since I have been using PinballX (approx. 5 years). Now another problem has arisen: With the EM table “Rockmakers”, the slingshots become passive at irregular intervals. With the next ball, everything is fine again. Problems of this kind only occur in conjunction with PinballX, although I do not use any other front end. I would be very happy if someone could provide an explanation for this strange bug.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

[Mike_da_Spike]

Do you mean you have real flippers and slingshots and they act this way, or you mean the flippers/slingshots in the virtual environment?

Please provide required files as well after you reproduced your issue

[Piffer]

Just now, Mike_da_Spike said:

Meinst du, dass du echte Flossen und Schleudern hast und sie sich so verhalten, oder meinst du die Flossen/Schleudern in der virtuellen Umgebung?

Bitte stellen Sie auch die erforderlichen Dateien bereit, nachdem Sie Ihr Problem reproduziert haben

Thank you very much for the quick reply. Unfortunately, I do not understand your question. Just to clarify: I mean a virtual pinball and I don't know what is meant by a virtual environment. I also do not use VR. Sorry but my English is very poor and I have to rely on translation programs. I have attached some files and hope they are the ones you mean.

Visual Pinball.xml PinballX.ini log.txt SetupWizard.log XDMDlog.txt

[Mike_da_Spike]

39 minutes ago, Piffer said:

Sorry but my English is very poor and I have to rely on translation programs

No problem. While my German language proficiency is limited, I am a native Dutch speaker, though my Dutch language skills are also lacking.

Upon reviewing the log, I noticed numerous entries indicating the absence of ffmpeg. Typically, when attempting to record a video or capture a screenshot, ffmpeg should only appear once.

Given that you mentioned your Flipper device is behaving unusually, I would like to propose a hypothesis: is it possible that certain keys on your keyboard or joystick are obstructed or stuck?

To test this, please open notepad.exe on your cabinet and create a three-line text document. Position the cursor on the middle line. If you are able to move the cursor up or down, it is likely that you do not have any sticky keys.

Additionally, please access the Windows joystick devices and verify that none of the buttons are continuously pressed. This can also lead to unexpected behavior.

Lastly, please inform me if you are running any tools such as JoyToKey, Gremlin Joystick, or similar software that could potentially cause issues.

I hope this information proves helpful in resolving the matter. Please let me know if you require further assistance.

[Piffer]

5 minutes ago, Mike_da_Spike said:

Kein Problem. Während meine Deutschkenntnisse begrenzt sind, spreche ich Niederländisch als Muttersprache, auch wenn meine niederländischen Sprachkenntnisse mangelhaft sind.

Bei der Durchsicht des Protokolls sind mir zahlreiche Einträge aufgefallen, die auf das Fehlen von ffmpeg hinweisen. Normalerweise sollte ffmpeg beim Versuch, ein Video aufzunehmen oder einen Screenshot aufzunehmen, nur einmal angezeigt werden.

Da Sie erwähnt haben, dass sich Ihr Flipper-Gerät ungewöhnlich verhält, möchte ich eine Hypothese vorschlagen: Ist es möglich, dass bestimmte Tasten Ihrer Tastatur oder Ihres Joysticks blockiert sind oder stecken bleiben?

Um dies zu testen, öffnen Sie bitte notepad.exe in Ihrem Schrank und erstellen Sie ein dreizeiliges Textdokument. Positionieren Sie den Cursor auf der Mittellinie. Wenn Sie den Cursor nach oben oder unten bewegen können, haben Sie wahrscheinlich keine Sticky Keys.

Bitte greifen Sie außerdem auf die Windows-Joystick-Geräte zu und stellen Sie sicher, dass keine der Tasten ständig gedrückt wird. Dies kann auch zu unerwartetem Verhalten führen.

Bitte informieren Sie mich abschließend, wenn Sie Tools wie JoyToKey, Gremlin Joystick oder ähnliche Software verwenden, die möglicherweise Probleme verursachen könnten.

Ich hoffe, dass diese Informationen bei der Lösung des Problems hilfreich sein werden. Bitte teilen Sie mir mit, wenn Sie weitere Hilfe benötigen.

I only take screenshots on this system when setting up new tables, not videos at all. 
I consider a blocking of buttons or the joystick to be completely out of the question, especially as the errors described never occur when I use VPX without PinballX. This also doesn't really fit with the power failure in the Slingshots. I have tried your Notepad suggestion. Everything works fine. I use the keyboard encoder I-Pac 2 in conjunction with the configuration program WinIPac.exe, but no other tools. 
What is really annoying is the lack of reproducibility of the bugs: the errors suddenly appear, whereupon I close and restart the table in question and everything runs fine again. As I said, the blocking of the fins occurs every now and then and has done so since I started using PinballX; only the slingshot thing is new.

[Mike_da_Spike]

Thanks for your answer.

I really don't have a clue. Not sure what a "power failure in the slingshots" really mean. But if it is not DOF, i really won't have an answer.

I use PinballX for a long time, and dont see strange flipper issues. I've seen it in the past with blocking joystick  and with outdated vpinmame. But all occurs also outsidevof pinballx.

 

The only weird thing is the lot of "ffmpeg.exe not found in application" message in the log when launching a table.  

I don't see configuration issues

[scutters]

@Piffer

Can you post a screenshot of your Visual Pinball - Keys, Nudge & DOF configuration screen? Maybe there is a conflict for key mapping between VPX and PinballX (is the capture videos key in PinballX mapped to a VP function as well)

As you only capture screenshots you could also try going into PinballX settings.exe and under Keyboard Input Settings clear the 'grab videos' key to see if that stops the error in the pinballx log file.

[Piffer]

"Not sure what a "power failure in the slingshots" really mean" 

An active slingshot actively repels the ball, with a passive slingshot only the rubber elasticity ensures a certain rebound. With “Rockmakers”, both slingshots are normally active, but when the error occurs, they behave like passive slingshots.

[Piffer]

Here is the desired screenshot

[Mike_da_Spike]

The screenshot you provided indicates that you have not assigned any joystick buttons to Visual Pinball, only keyboard presses. Visual Pinball is capable of handling multiple different types of joysticks. If windows recognize your joystick controller, you can use it in visual pinball as well

my assumption  is that you have assigned the same  keyboard keys to Visual Pinball and Pi nballx (is not the "v" key used to record videos?, that would explain a lot).

I am unable to verify your pinballx.ini file at this time, but I recommend setting all Visual Pinball keyboard inputs to default and assigning joystick numbers instead.

[scutters]

4 minutes ago, Mike_da_Spike said:

my assumption  is that you have assigned the same  keyboard keys to Visual Pinball and Pi nballx (is not the "v" key used to record videos?, that would explain a lot).

Yep.

The C & V keys are both mapped to functions in visual pinball. They are also mapped as C to grab screenshots and V to grab videos in PinballX.

@PifferChange those two key mappings in PinballX settings and see if the issue persists.

[Mike_da_Spike]

It's better to map the actual joystick buttons in Virtual Pinball instead of mapping a key to a button, as even milliseconds can add latency.

Below are my assigned buttons, the real buttons, and how I have set them up in Virtual Pinball.

 

[Piffer]

First of all, thank you very much for your kind support in this forum. Yesterday I switched off the two buttons C and V om PinballX and then played several tables. The flippers behaved as they should. So it may be that at least this problem has been solved. But the slingshot bug in Rockmakers still exists: every third or fourth ball, the slingshots have no power and remain passive. Very, very strange. I don't think the key mapping has anything to do with it and it's only this one table that has this problem. I would leave it alone for the time being. If I find out the cause, I will get back to you.