Dicentim Posted May 31 Posted May 31 Sorry @DnaDisturber, it's me again I think I found the issue, in the pinemhi_leaderboard_log, the line : "matching romname : " is empty as if the rom is not recognized. With every other working game this line is filled with the rom's name. So could anyone send me a working rom for him ? Thanks !
DnaDisturber Posted May 31 Author Posted May 31 @Dicentim Thanks for the log output. It is clear now where it goes wrong With your new vpinmame version they have altered the rom's name Instead of vpinmame always using the word Judgement (english spelling) they now use Judgment ( that is the american spelling) Terminator 2: Judgment Day (L-8)=t2_l8.nv Add this line in romfind.ini and it will work That's the risk you take when you work with beta releases from vpinmame unfortunately
Dicentim Posted June 1 Posted June 1 Thanks @DnaDisturber, you got it. Now that's working and I'll be able to continue my road to Rookie Challenge 😇 I'll also be able to fix this kind of issues in the future. Have a nice day !
Dicentim Posted July 18 Posted July 18 (edited) Hi, @DnaDisturber I'm keeping my way to Rookie challenge. Struggled a little with Tales from the Crypt. Now I'm fighting my nemesis (Roller coaster tycoon) but I studied the rules and I'm confident. My concern is about the high scores on this table, many people completed the rookie challenge without achieving the 15 M points on the leaderboard. Are they cheaters? Edited July 18 by Dicentim
DnaDisturber Posted July 19 Author Posted July 19 (edited) On 7/18/2026 at 6:21 PM, Dicentim said: Hi, @DnaDisturber I'm keeping my way to Rookie challenge. Struggled a little with Tales from the Crypt. Now I'm fighting my nemesis (Roller coaster tycoon) but I studied the rules and I'm confident. My concern is about the high scores on this table, many people completed the rookie challenge without achieving the 15 M points on the leaderboard. Are they cheaters? @Dicentim no they are not 🙂 Older scores have been removed from the database (prior to vpx era). This was a request from the community some time ago (the database had all the scores since 2011 when pinemhi leaderboard started) So the players have made those scores and leveled up but they can't be seen on the website anymore because they did it before mid 2023 Some of the players from the kiddie challenge are also not present in the cup anymore because you have to have scores submitted within the last year otherwise players get removed from the cup list So no cheaters... Glad you like the Rookie challenge.... Studying the rules and getting better at the tables is the reason for the challenges , mission accomplished 😉 Keep those scores coming Edited July 19 by DnaDisturber
BennyBurrito Posted July 19 Posted July 19 Very interesting project. Is factory settings required in the rom for high score submits, or can changes be made? Number of balls etc.
DnaDisturber Posted July 21 Author Posted July 21 (edited) On 7/19/2026 at 8:59 PM, BennyBurrito said: Very interesting project. Is factory settings required in the rom for high score submits, or can changes be made? Number of balls etc. Hi Benny, Honor system is being used here.... it's difficult near impossible to prevent people from cheating if they really want to. Even if i could prevent the scores being made with more than 3 balls then someone could edit the table so that the ball doessn't drain (or doesn't drain easily) That's going down a rabbithole you don't want to go to try and prevent cheating So if you would like to join then please use the standard factory settings for tables It's also fun for people who don't like competitions....as there are challenges to make certain scores on tables and level up and get another challenge. Also all scores are being registered, so if you don't make the hiscore list on the cab itself you can still see your top 10 highest scores on that table You can also see scores from your friend(s) for a table to see who is the better one , a little rivalry amongst friends only No need to compete against strangers and still get a lot of extra's using pinemhi leaderboard Edited July 21 by DnaDisturber
BennyBurrito Posted July 29 Posted July 29 On 7/21/2026 at 2:19 PM, DnaDisturber said: Hi Benny, Honor system is being used here.... it's difficult near impossible to prevent people from cheating if they really want to. Even if i could prevent the scores being made with more than 3 balls then someone could edit the table so that the ball doessn't drain (or doesn't drain easily) That's going down a rabbithole you don't want to go to try and prevent cheating So if you would like to join then please use the standard factory settings for tables It's also fun for people who don't like competitions....as there are challenges to make certain scores on tables and level up and get another challenge. Also all scores are being registered, so if you don't make the hiscore list on the cab itself you can still see your top 10 highest scores on that table You can also see scores from your friend(s) for a table to see who is the better one , a little rivalry amongst friends only No need to compete against strangers and still get a lot of extra's using pinemhi leaderboard I understand. I appreciate what you have created, it really enhances the playing experience. Thank you!
jbrunbau74 Posted August 14 Posted August 14 (edited) Hi DnaDisturber! First of all many thanks for this cool implementation. Unfortunately my scores aren't submitted to your server. Here the content of my last try - using the 'Independence Day' Table (but occurs for any table) as an example - according to file 'pinemhi_leaderboard_log.txt': 14/08/2026, 16:56 pinemhi rom monitor version : 3.6.8.0 pinemhi leaderboard version : 3.6.8.0 VPinmame version : 3.6.0.1227 Player : jbrunbau detected exit from game with rom description : ID4: Independence Day (2.02) new id4 score extracted *** previous score is equal to new score *** *** probably because there was no game played *** *** it could also be that this rom is not supported (yet) *** *** this score will not be submitted *** *** it could also be that your nvram didn't update *** *** NVRAM ADDITIONAL CHECK *** checking nvram directory: C:\vPinball\VisualPinball\VPinMAME\nvram\ does exist -> OK nvram id4.nv modified: 14-August-2026 16:56:15 time now: 14-August-2026 16:56:24 nvram seems to be updated less than 2 minutes ago after exit from vpinball. -> OK ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Everything looks okay so far, even highscores are written in my Nvram file, but as it seems the program doesn't detect score changes. I'm calling the Monitor using your UAC Batch implementation under Windows 11. As Frontend i'm using Pinup Popper. Maybe some race condition problem? But according to the log and the file stamps this shouldn't be the case. If you can give me any guidance i would be extremly happy, right now i'm a little bit lost. Greetings from Austria, Joachim Edited August 14 by jbrunbau74
DnaDisturber Posted August 14 Author Posted August 14 @jbrunbau74 Hi Joachim, Let's see if we can fix this for you. I use pinup popper myself and i haven't got any problems (pinemhi works independent from frontends, you could even run it when using vpx only) Could you show me the first part of your pinemhi.ini file, you can just dm the contents of the file. or just post the first lines of it in here minus the code of course Maybe there is something in there that is not quite right.
jbrunbau74 Posted August 14 Posted August 14 (edited) 47 minutes ago, DnaDisturber said: @jbrunbau74 Hi Joachim, Let's see if we can fix this for you. I use pinup popper myself and i haven't got any problems (pinemhi works independent from frontends, you could even run it when using vpx only) Could you show me the first part of your pinemhi.ini file, you can just dm the contents of the file. or just post the first lines of it in here minus the code of course Maybe there is something in there that is not quite right. Hi! First of all many thanks for your quick answer 😀 Pinemhi.ini: Remark: I left out all sections after (and including) display, since these were all left to their default values ; **************************************** ; *** PINemHi created by Dna Disturber *** ; **************************************** ; *********************** ; *** PINemHi section *** ; *********************** ; *** use this section to set the paths to FP fpram's and VP nvram's *** ; *** also set the user directory from your Visual Pinball directory , this is for support of the rom-less games *** [paths] VP=C:\vPinball\VisualPinball\VPinMAME\nvram\ FP=C:\vPinball\FuturePinball\fpRAM\ USER=C:\vPinball\VisualPinball\User\ [options] ; *** Set these to 1 if you want to see them in your output - 1 means its on , 0 means its off *** replays=1 hiscores=1 buyins=1 ; *********************************** ; *** PINemHi Leaderboard section *** ; *********************************** ; *** use the website http://www.pinemhi.com/ to register your name and get a code *** [user] name=jbrunbau code= [keys] ; *** You could map the challenge and key to the same button/key if you want *** ; *** You can also use joystickbuttons here , Joy1 , Joy2 or Joy3 etc *** ; *** to change the key to display the popup, don't use a key that is used by the frontend or visual pinball *** ; *** press this key multiple times to cycle through the different popups *** ; *** This key can only be used ingame *** key=L ; *** challengekey to start the challenges,don't use a key that is used by the frontend or visual pinball *** ; *** This key can only be used when not playing a game *** ; *** I would suggest using the backtick (accent grave in europe) for this key(key left from the 1) *** ; *** because if the pinemhi_rom_monitor runs this key can't be used for anything other *** ; *** This is especially true when you start pinemhi_rom_monitor on windows startup *** challengekey=L ; *** weeklychallenge shows what game it is for this week and interim scores and winner previous week *** weeklychallengekey=] ; *** This key activates 5-minute mode, this will stop gameplay after 5 minutes if game is compatible *** ; *** 5-minute mode can only be activated and deactivated outside of a game *** ; *** if using pinup system as frontend, set the exit key you use (this to make 5-minute mode work properly) *** 5min_key=m pinupsystem_exit_key=e ; *** This key sends the score when still in game , you don't have to quit the table *** ; *** You can use this best when you are done with a game (all balls played) *** ; *** Otherwise you can get the pinball missing message with the next game *** send_button=a [sounds] ; *** 5minute_mode_status will tell you when you turn 5minute mode on or off if set to 1 *** 5minute_mode_status=1 ; *** at the start of a game this will warn you that you are about to play in 5-minute mode if set to 1 *** 5minute_mode_gamewarning=1 ; *** Choose which voice you want to use *** ; *** 1 - female (american english) *** ; *** 2 - male (american english) *** ; *** 3 - frau (deutsch) *** ; *** 4 - man (deutsch) *** ; *** 5 - femme (francais) *** ; *** 6 - homme (francais) *** ; *** 7 - vrouw (nederlands) *** ; *** 8 - man (nederlands) *** ; *** 9 - mujer (español) *** ; *** 10 - hombre (español) *** voice=3 May I ask you some questions to gain some understandings how things work: Is my understanding correct, that pinemhi compares the old NVRAM file contained (in my environment) in 'C:\vPinball\PINEmHI\PINemHi LeaderBoard\Local' with the new one, written by VPINMAME after exiting the table? I learned from the docu, that all scores greater than 1000 are submitted to your server, regardless of NVRAM files. Is this correct? In the meantime I tried to set a timeout of 5secs in the batch file which calls the monitor executable during system startup, but it didn't help. I suspect there is an error in above config File. I think I read something that a delay is already built-in in the recent version. Many thanks in advance for your great help. Joachim Some additional info. Calling the NVRAM File and checking its content for a Table by means of a CMD Shell using the 'pinemhi_rom_monitor.exe' 'executable works perfectly fine! Edited August 14 by jbrunbau74
DnaDisturber Posted August 14 Author Posted August 14 (edited) @jbrunbau74 Everything seems fine regarding the pinemhi.ini file I'll first answer your questions 🙂 as for question 1: no the old nvram is checked at the start of the game (pinemhi_rom_monitor) , then after you exit a game the scores are written to the nvram and after then they are extracted again and then they are compared. as for question 2: all scores are submitted after an exit of the game , they don't have to be higher than the local hiscore list on the table itself. So you can have your own top 10 of the game even when you don't get the local hi-scores from the table It does need the nvrams , only the special scores (loops and that sort of things) have to be higher than the local hiscore on the table to be submitted This also goes for the rom-less games that are supported (they don't need an nvram of course) Since i can't find a usual suspect regarding it not working a few questions for you Do you happen to have a zeddmd in your cabinet? Are you perhaps using the new beta build from vpx (vpx 10.8.1 with the new directory structure)? Is the pinemhi_rom_monitor running constantly or are you starting and stopping it when launching a table? Do you perhaps have a second vpinmame installed? Are you using vpin studio? You tested the hiscores using a cmd shell, and that worked fine (i assume this was with the pinemhi.exe instead of the above mentioned pinemhi_rom_monitor,exe) This would mean that the nvram directory in pinemhi is correct And i didn't mention it in the previous post but thanks for the kind words regarding pinemhi Hope we can get this fixed and let you enjoy it as well Edited August 14 by DnaDisturber
jbrunbau74 Posted August 14 Posted August 14 (edited) 2 hours ago, DnaDisturber said: @jbrunbau74 Everything seems fine regarding the pinemhi.ini file I'll first answer your questions 🙂 as for question 1: no the old nvram is checked at the start of the game (pinemhi_rom_monitor) , then after you exit a game the scores are written to the nvram and after then they are extracted again and then they are compared. as for question 2: all scores are submitted after an exit of the game , they don't have to be higher than the local hiscore list on the table itself. So you can have your own top 10 of the game even when you don't get the local hi-scores from the table It does need the nvrams , only the special scores (loops and that sort of things) have to be higher than the local hiscore on the table to be submitted This also goes for the rom-less games that are supported (they don't need an nvram of course) Since i can't find a usual suspect regarding it not working a few questions for you Do you happen to have a zeddmd in your cabinet? Are you perhaps using the new beta build from vpx (vpx 10.8.1 with the new directory structure)? Is the pinemhi_rom_monitor running constantly or are you starting and stopping it when launching a table? Do you perhaps have a second vpinmame installed? Are you using vpin studio? You tested the hiscores using a cmd shell, and that worked fine (i assume this was with the pinemhi.exe instead of the above mentioned pinemhi_rom_monitor,exe) This would mean that the nvram directory in pinemhi is correct And i didn't mention it in the previous post but thanks for the kind words regarding pinemhi Hope we can get this fixed and let you enjoy it as well Thank you very much for your helpful answers 😀 Regarding your questions: > Do you happen to have a zeddmd in your cabinet? Yes indeed. I'm using a ZeDMD S3 128x64 panel driven by an ESP32 S3 over USB, Software version 5.1.8. > Are you perhaps using the new beta build from vpx (vpx 10.8.1 with the new directory structure)? My Pinup Popper Emulator Setup calls vpinballx.exe, which according to file properties is Version 10.8.0.2058 > Is the pinemhi_rom_monitor running constantly or are you starting and stopping it when launching a table? Yes, the pinemhi_rom_monitor runs by means of a Background process. It is loaded during Windows Startup through a Batch File. > Do you perhaps have a second vpinmame installed? I only find one VPinMame Folder in 'C:\vPinball\VisualPinball\VPinMAME', but it seems that i have certain files in a x32 and x64 Version in this folder (for example Setup.exe and Setup64.exe, VPinMAME.dll and VPinMAME64.dll) if that matters. If I remember correctly I was unsure which bitness I need for driving ZeDMD, it was quite a hack to get it running. > Are you using vpin studio? No If you need any other Details just drop me a line. Thanks for your help. Joachim Edited August 14 by jbrunbau74
DnaDisturber Posted August 15 Author Posted August 15 (edited) @jbrunbau74 Thanks for answering the questions, very detailed and probably very helpful 🙂 I think we have a suspect here Someone else had that problem a while ago.. After many hours of searching for an explanation zedmd was the culprit It all looked the same as your problems so that is why i asked There is something buggy in zedmd which causes a delay in vpinmame (dmd) closure when using usb You can see that when you exit a table when zedmd is used (some stutter when exiting) But there is a solution so zedmd and pinemhi work zedmd can be set to wired or wifi. If you set it to wifi the problem no longer exists You could test first if the zedmd is indeed the culprit by not using zedmd (probably by detaching the usb cable) and then start a game , playing a ball on attack from mars for instance and exit and see if the score is submitted to pinemhi Hope this helps ------------------------------------------------------------ Using an ESP32-S3 (such as the N16R8 board) with ZeDMD allows for smoother rendering and higher color depth via its extra memory. Wi-Fi streaming via UDP or TCP bypasses Windows USB driver limitations on the S3 and enables seamless frame transmission for virtual pinball cabinets. Hardware and Setup Benefits ESP32-S3 N16R8 Board: Recommended for new builds due to higher RAM and fast processing capabilities. USB vs. Wi-Fi: S3 variants can experience Windows USB mode issues, making Wi-Fi streaming the preferred and more stable operational choice. Firmware Flashing: Use tools like ZeDMD Updater2 while connected via USB CDC port to flash the appropriate S3-compatible firmware. Wi-Fi Configuration Tips Start with UDP: Use Wi-Fi UDP for fast, seamless frame streaming. UDP Delay Tuning: Set a low UDP delay (values around 4 or 5) depending on your network speed. Switch to TCP: Fall back to Wi-Fi TCP if you experience stuttering or packet loss on crowded wireless networks. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Edited August 15 by DnaDisturber
jbrunbau74 Posted August 15 Posted August 15 (edited) 6 hours ago, DnaDisturber said: @jbrunbau74 Thanks for answering the questions, very detailed and probably very helpful 🙂 I think we have a suspect here Someone else had that problem a while ago.. After many hours of searching for an explanation zedmd was the culprit It all looked the same as your problems so that is why i asked There is something buggy in zedmd which causes a delay in vpinmame (dmd) closure when using usb You can see that when you exit a table when zedmd is used (some stutter when exiting) But there is a solution so zedmd and pinemhi work zedmd can be set to wired or wifi. If you set it to wifi the problem no longer exists You could test first if the zedmd is indeed the culprit by not using zedmd (probably by detaching the usb cable) and then start a game , playing a ball on attack from mars for instance and exit and see if the score is submitted to pinemhi Hope this helps ------------------------------------------------------------ Using an ESP32-S3 (such as the N16R8 board) with ZeDMD allows for smoother rendering and higher color depth via its extra memory. Wi-Fi streaming via UDP or TCP bypasses Windows USB driver limitations on the S3 and enables seamless frame transmission for virtual pinball cabinets. Hardware and Setup Benefits ESP32-S3 N16R8 Board: Recommended for new builds due to higher RAM and fast processing capabilities. USB vs. Wi-Fi: S3 variants can experience Windows USB mode issues, making Wi-Fi streaming the preferred and more stable operational choice. Firmware Flashing: Use tools like ZeDMD Updater2 while connected via USB CDC port to flash the appropriate S3-compatible firmware. Wi-Fi Configuration Tips Start with UDP: Use Wi-Fi UDP for fast, seamless frame streaming. UDP Delay Tuning: Set a low UDP delay (values around 4 or 5) depending on your network speed. Switch to TCP: Fall back to Wi-Fi TCP if you experience stuttering or packet loss on crowded wireless networks. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you very much! I disconnected my ZeDMD Panel and voilà, it works perfectly fine 😁 During installing and configuring my cabinet i also tried to go the WiFi way with my ZeDMD board, but dismissed that, since my cab sits too far away from my router. But maybe i'll give it another try. But for the moment i'm extremly happy to know the reason, and to be able to start competing with all other pinball enthusiasts by using your great piece of software. May i ask you one last question, since i'm an IT Database professional. Which toolstack do you use for your pinemhi leaderboard? Looks like Apache, PHP and most probably some lightweighted database (perhapts MySql)? Keep up the good work and see you on the Leaderboard! Joachim Edited August 15 by jbrunbau74
DnaDisturber Posted August 15 Author Posted August 15 @jbrunbau74 Glad you got it working 😁 I'm looking at your scores right now on the website 👍 Maybe a wifi repeater is a good solution, not that expensive as well It would be a shame to have to disconnect your zedmd everytime you want to use pinemhi leaderboard and to answer your question, yes all of the above mentioned Keep those scores coming and thanks again for the extremely kind words
cheese3075 Posted Wednesday at 05:31 AM Posted Wednesday at 05:31 AM (edited) @DnaDisturber Does Dark Chaos work with PinemHi (not talking about leaderboard)? I noticed the table does not store high scores in the user file like most other originals, instead it uses an ini file. I use the program to display local high scores from games to a file, convert to an image and then display it to popper. Edited Wednesday at 05:35 AM by cheese3075
DnaDisturber Posted Wednesday at 10:57 AM Author Posted Wednesday at 10:57 AM @cheese3075 unfortunately no. pinemhi does not read hiscores from ini files. Not part of your question but.......... With pinemhi leaderboard you can also have the scores in your frontend....dark chaos will work in that case https://www.pinemhi.com/pinemhi scores in frontend.mp4
cheese3075 Posted Wednesday at 09:25 PM Posted Wednesday at 09:25 PM Is that functionality you will be adding in the future. I think cyberrace does the same thing... I've been meaning to setup the leaderboard on my CAB. Maybe that is the direction i will go.
DnaDisturber Posted Wednesday at 11:27 PM Author Posted Wednesday at 11:27 PM @cheese3075 Maybe in the future but with all the changes coming in the directory structure with the new vpx, it will take a while Lots of stuff to do to make pinemhi and pinemhi leaderboard work with the new vpx release, this will cost me quite some time.... And yes, you should definitely check out pinemhi leaderboard...but i'm biased of course 😉
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