After table launch long pause before I can close table

[bushav]

A recent release, sorry I don't know which, changed the "close table" command on my cab.  I now have to wait about thirty seconds after launching a table before my "return to wheel" button is active.  This is only noticed if you accidentally launch a table and want to quickly return to the wheel.  Cound you guys see if you can replicate this on your systems please.  I thought maybe it was related to the launch audio issues I was experiencing but after testing it seems unrelated.  My logs are useless for this characteristic as they show no errors.  But, I can submit them if you guys think this issue is isolated to my system and not affecting others.  

[Draco1962]

Best to go ahead and attach copies of your pinballx.ini and log.txt files when reporting any issue to be reviewed/triaged. Thanks!

[bushav]

I tried disabling my only plugin (DOF) and it did not resolve the issue.  So I launch a game from PinballX, loads great but lets say I want another table instead.  If I try to return to the wheel the button isn't recognized for about 30 seconds.  So usually this characteristic is not noticed in normal operation.  Log attached.  Thanks to you guys the log is much cleaner than it was last week.  I don't see any failed processes.

log.txt [SETTINGS].log

PinballX.ini

[Draco1962]

Need your pinballx.ini file too. Thanks!

[bushav]

1 hour ago, Draco1962 said:

Need your pinballx.ini file too. Thanks!

done

[scutters]

Not seeing the same behaviour here;

10:23:42.14  28/06/2025:  C:\Visual Pinball\VPinballX64_10_8_GL.exe -minimized -play "C:\Visual Pinball\Tables\24 (Stern 2009).vpx"
10:23:47.47  28/06/2025:  Visual Pinball Player window foreground: 5
10:23:48.11  28/06/2025:  Exit System Control Pressed

(note this is just testing on the desktop pc, and the 24 table file here is actually 8 ball [EM] - so no vpinmame rom involved])

From your log;

17:25:44.97  6/27/2025:  C:\Visual Pinball\VPinballX.exe -play "C:\Visual Pinball\Tables\bad cats_vpw_v2.03.vpx" -minimized
17:26:49.11  6/27/2025:  Visual Pinball Player Foreground
17:26:49.11  6/27/2025:  Visual Pinball Player window foreground: 64
17:26:49.80  6/27/2025:  Found PinMAME ROM: bcats_l5
17:26:52.34  6/27/2025:  Exit System Control Pressed
17:26:52.91  6/27/2025:  Found Visual Pinball editor window
17:26:53.51  6/27/2025:  Process Closed

It looks like the table is a bit slow to load, but the exit system press is recognised shortly after.

Difference might be DOF initialising in VPX or something slowing down the load?, not sure as i don't use DOF

[Mike_da_Spike]

On 6/27/2025 at 8:58 PM, bushav said:

I now have to wait about thirty seconds after launching a table before my "return to wheel" button is active

In your example, it looks like that PinbalX starts creating your backglass, dmd and topper around 9 seconds after you pressed esc.

17:25:44.97  6/27/2025:  C:\Visual Pinball\VPinballX.exe -play "C:\Visual Pinball\Tables\bad cats_vpw_v2.03.vpx" -minimized
17:26:49.11  6/27/2025:  Visual Pinball Player Foreground
17:26:49.11  6/27/2025:  Visual Pinball Player window foreground: 64
17:26:49.80  6/27/2025:  Found PinMAME ROM: bcats_l5
17:26:52.34  6/27/2025:  Exit System Control Pressed
17:26:52.91  6/27/2025:  Found Visual Pinball editor window
17:26:53.51  6/27/2025:  Process Closed
17:27:04.07  6/27/2025:  Getting high score
17:27:04.27  6/27/2025:  Writing high score
17:27:04.41  6/27/2025:  Created DirectX BackGlass Window
17:27:04.43  6/27/2025:  Created DirectX DMD Window
17:27:04.44  6/27/2025:  Created DirectX Topper Window

The log does not display when the playfield with the wheel is visible., is your experience that it takes 22 seconds?
Did you changed any media ? Could be audio, media or (animated) images that is causing this.
Just for testing, try to remove (or rename) the media files you are using for this table and try again.

 

 

[bushav]

On 6/29/2025 at 7:09 AM, Mike_da_Spike said:

In your example, it looks like that PinbalX starts creating your backglass, dmd and topper around 9 seconds after you pressed esc.

17:25:44.97  6/27/2025:  C:\Visual Pinball\VPinballX.exe -play "C:\Visual Pinball\Tables\bad cats_vpw_v2.03.vpx" -minimized
17:26:49.11  6/27/2025:  Visual Pinball Player Foreground
17:26:49.11  6/27/2025:  Visual Pinball Player window foreground: 64
17:26:49.80  6/27/2025:  Found PinMAME ROM: bcats_l5
17:26:52.34  6/27/2025:  Exit System Control Pressed
17:26:52.91  6/27/2025:  Found Visual Pinball editor window
17:26:53.51  6/27/2025:  Process Closed
17:27:04.07  6/27/2025:  Getting high score
17:27:04.27  6/27/2025:  Writing high score
17:27:04.41  6/27/2025:  Created DirectX BackGlass Window
17:27:04.43  6/27/2025:  Created DirectX DMD Window
17:27:04.44  6/27/2025:  Created DirectX Topper Window

The log does not display when the playfield with the wheel is visible., is your experience that it takes 22 seconds?
Did you changed any media ? Could be audio, media or (animated) images that is causing this.
Just for testing, try to remove (or rename) the media files you are using for this table and try again.

 

 

I'll do some more experimenting.  In my experience, the game becomes active and playable, I hit the button to return to the wheel and I get no response.  I continue this about every ten seconds and approximately on the third try the table disappears and PinballX wheel appears shortly therafter.  I did try disabling DOF and there was no change.  I did remove the loading video and there was no change.  I did not remove topper and backglass videos but I can try with them removed.

[Mike_da_Spike]

According to your log, you launched the table and allmost 1 minute late, Pbx finds the player and the rom. 

3 seconds after that, the exit press is registered and pbx is within 8 sec to the wheel again.

That's a total of minute and 40, from launch to end.

I'm a really lousy player, but my games take longer than 1.20 minutes.🫣

Maybe lowering your 30 seconds of waits in settings would reduce the time, but I'm not sure.

 

[bushav]

It’s fine with me if you mark this topic as resolved. I think it’s a rare occurrence if you are getting out of a table immediately after launching. You are probably right about PinballX just having to sequence through my self imposed videos and settings. I really was mostly interested if anyone else had experienced a slightly different lag lately.  Not wanting to beat this horse to death and tie up your time. 

[SixOfTwelve]

No idea if this helps you or not, or if it's even related - but I recently got back into the hobby after over a year, and after updating everything from VPX to VPINMAME to FLEXDMD I noticed that some tables took ages to close.

It turned out that I needed to include

skipanalytics = false

in the [global] settings of my DmDDevice.ini file, and after that, the problem went away for me.

(I had also severed my cab's connection to the internet - I don't want to be constantly reminded to upgrade to Windows 11 - so maybe the slowdown was due to FLEXDMD trying to send usage statistics and failing repeatedly)

[scutters]

@bushav I agree with Mike, it may be the extra wait time you have set for Visual Pinball. My guess is that PinballX will ignore key presses until after it has found the Visual Pinball window, and it probably only looks for that after waiting for those extra 30 seconds.