New release: v2.3.0

[Jewer]

1 hour ago, LynnInDenver said:

Did you uncompress them on a Macintosh? Because those are typically "meta" files that a Macintosh always writes.

I did, and at last that was also my own reasoning after I discovered them in all folders. I guess the mystery is solved.

 

But huge thanks for the help. I had not noticed that weird filename on my own.

[RotarySam]

I have only had success with v2.2.1 working with my PinDMD v3.1 (v4.0.2 firmware). When I installed v2.3.0, every table causes the the DMD to reboot on launch. I don't have any serum files. I'm up to date on everything else I believe. Attached is the log when I try to run a table. Reverting back to v2.2.1 makes the DMD work again. ZeDMD is set to true. Could someone help diagnose further? Thanks.

 

UPDATE: I had to manually enter the COM port, and I can finally get tables to work. I didn't have to do this before. The DMD reboots after I exit a table, but it's better than nothing.

DmdDevice.log

Edited December 24, 2024 by RotarySam

[sting932003]

i got everything up to date, small problem is i cant open up the dmd device.ini to edit. there a program to open and edit ini file?

[Thalamus]

@sting932003No, the dmddevice.ini can be opened by a regular notepad.exe or any other "clean" editor.

[sting932003]

found it!!!. and fixed! i must of didnt save the settings on that notepad, all working and up to date

 

Edited December 25, 2024 by sting932003

[Texje]

On 12/22/2024 at 11:13 PM, PastorLUL said:

 

 

Try renaming it to "pin2dmd.pac", so remove the _

thank you for this advice!

 

For me all .pac files were freezing vpx. It would always hang at "Starting game scripts ..", which would lead to an application timeout / crash. Renaming the .pac files fixed the loading problem.

 

[update]

now VNI files are crashing the table startup ... this freezy update seems to be cursed for me

Edited January 12, 2025 by Texje

[Texje]

Found the reason for my "Starting game scripts .." freeze: it happens when starting a table with not zedmd connected and having it enabled in the dmddevice.ini.

In the last version I was running, this was not a problem.

 

Is this known? If so, a small remark in the release notes would have saved me a few evenings troubleshooting 😅

[pelletalexandre]

Hi,

 

I just install the 2.3.0 ad it des not work.
it says serum64.dll not found, but it's no more used ?

 

How can i fix it ?

thanks

DmdDevice.log

[Johngreve]

I had the exact same thing and had to install Microsoft C++ Redistributal 2017https://aka.ms/vs/17/release/vc_redist.x86.exe

https://aka.ms/vs/17/release/vc_redist.x64.exe

[darthwhat]

I haven't paid attention to all the drama with the dmd stuff. Does anyone know of some good up-to-date tutorials on getting all types of dmd color files working in perfect harmony? I haven't updated since before you had to add some sort of "vni key" to your ini file.

[Redwings13]

4 hours ago, darthwhat said:

I haven't paid attention to all the drama with the dmd stuff. Does anyone know of some good up-to-date tutorials on getting all types of dmd color files working in perfect harmony? I haven't updated since before you had to add some sort of "vni key" to your ini file.

This worked for me

all of my color files work using this method.  .pac  .pal/inv  .cRZ  and stern

Edited January 25, 2025 by Redwings13

[ginzu]

Hello everyone, 

 

1st of all i would like to thanks  all the people that did  a so great feature to enhance the quality of the displays and games looks  really great from day to day!

 

For now i just use vpx on desktop mode and  i have not any pincab yet but  i love pinballs!  i am equipped with a Real DMD which is a zedmd 128x32.

 

I am now able to use vni/pal and .crz altcolors files with success. On the other hand , i am unable to use .pac files , they never change my display colors.

 

I am aware i need to use the vni key to decrypt something regarding some files  but even with this key it's not working , can someone give me an hand to find out why this is not working?

 

I already reinstall all my setup many times now and i can't find why it is not working as expected.

 

anyway, there is what i can see in my log DmdDevice.log file : 

 

 

 [1] 2025/02/04 09:43:48.863  INFO | Starting DmdDevice API 2.3.0 (x64) through VPinballX64.exe.

 [1] 2025/02/04 09:43:48.895  INFO | Assembly located at D:\FRONTEND\Hyperspin Attraction\Hyperspin Attraction\emulators\Visual Pinball\VPinMAME\DmdDevice64.dll

 [1] 2025/02/04 09:43:48.895  INFO | Running in D:\FRONTEND\Hyperspin Attraction\Hyperspin Attraction\emulators\Visual Pinball\Tables

 [1] 2025/02/04 09:43:48.923  INFO | Successfully loaded config from C:\Program Files\DMD Extensions\DmdDevice.ini.

 [1] 2025/02/04 09:43:49.005  INFO | [serum] Determined altcolor path from assembly path: D:\FRONTEND\Hyperspin Attraction\Hyperspin Attraction\emulators\Visual Pinball\VPinMAME\altcolor

 [1] 2025/02/04 09:43:50.417  INFO | [dll] Open(0)

 [1] 2025/02/04 09:43:50.434  INFO | [dll] Set_4_Colors_Palette(device: 0, 0%: #000000, 33%:#0600D6, 66%:#E10FC1, 100%:#FF5820)

 [1] 2025/02/04 09:43:50.437  INFO | [dll] PM_GameSettings(0, drac_l1, 1)

 [1] 2025/02/04 09:43:50.437  INFO | Enabling game colorization

 [1] 2025/02/04 09:43:50.437  INFO | Setting game name: drac_l1

 [1] 2025/02/04 09:43:50.437  INFO | Setting color: #FFFF5820

 [1] 2025/02/04 09:43:50.466  INFO | [serum] No colorization found at D:\FRONTEND\Hyperspin Attraction\Hyperspin Attraction\emulators\Visual Pinball\VPinMAME\altcolor\drac_l1...

 [1] 2025/02/04 09:43:50.490  INFO | [vni] Loading PAC file at D:\FRONTEND\Hyperspin Attraction\Hyperspin Attraction\emulators\Visual Pinball\VPinMAME\altcolor\drac_l1\pin2dmd.pac...

 [1] 2025/02/04 09:43:50.499 ERROR | [vni] Could not decrypt PAC file: The specified key is not a valid size for this algorithm.

 [1] 2025/02/04 09:43:50.499 ERROR | [vni] Could not decrypt PAC file: The specified key is not a valid size for this algorithm.

 [1] 2025/02/04 09:43:50.499  INFO | [vni] PAC v1 loaded successfully.

 [1] 2025/02/04 09:43:50.499  WARN | Error initializing colorizer: Object reference not set to an instance of an object. System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

   at LibDmd.Converter.Vni.VniColorizer..ctor(PalFile palFile, AnimationSet animations)

   at LibDmd.Converter.Vni.ColorizationLoader.LoadVniColorizer(String gameName, ScalerMode scalerMode, String vniKey)

 [1] 2025/02/04 09:43:51.632  INFO | ZeDMD device found at port COM3, libzedmd version: 0.7.5

 [1] 2025/02/04 09:43:51.632  INFO | Added ZeDMD renderer.

 [1] 2025/02/04 09:43:51.656  INFO | Uncompressed encoder found.

 [1] 2025/02/04 09:43:51.656  INFO | MJPEG encoder found.

 

This is the content of my drac_l1 folder as an example :

 

 

And i attach my DmdDevice.ini to this post if someone want to look into it

 

I would like to clarify one point as well : where do you guys are you putting your DMDext and files exactly ?  I read  we have to put it in the VpinMame folder (which i did ) but i need to put also in the Visual Pinball folder to make it to work normally as well. Are you doing the same ?

 

I use DmdExt V2.3.0

 

My Zedmd uses the v4.0.2 fw version currently.

 

If  you need more informations , ask me please and  thank you all.

 

DmdDevice.ini

[Thalamus]

I checked my dmddevice.ini and I'm running a pindmd3. I'm not sure I have ALL the coloring emulations out there, but, I went through all I had downloaded while I was "incompatible/ignoring pac".

When the discussion where at it's peak.

 

After I re-installed my cab, I went through looking for colorization that I didn't have.

And, currently - all colored dmd has worked for me.

 

The only difference I have vs. you is that I have a space behind the equal sign for vni.key ... and I don't have any pin2color*.dll references or dll files with those name in my install.

The error you are getting - indicated that your key isn't valid some way or another. Make sure that there is no hidden characters in there. Sometime copy/paste from a webpage can become weird,  though, I don't really expect that to be the case.

 

; the key to decrypt PAC files, in hex.
vni.key = f0ad135937ffa111c60b24d88ebb2e59

; if set, don't send anonymous usage statistics
skipanalytics = false

; put your plugins here, up to 10 plugins can be defined.
; since they are native plugins, you need to define them
; for both 32-bit and 64-bit versions.
plugin.0.path =
plugin.0.path64 =
plugin.0.passthrough = false

 

I've extracted the latest freezy to c:\visual_pinball\vpinmame (I don't like spaces in paths ...)

I have an extra folder c:\dmdext ... that I use at startup to load an image when machine boot.

But, there is no path or anything setup for that. Just an extract of Freezy.

 

Since the error complains about not being able to decode. I would focus on that first and foremost.

 

[ginzu]

Ok, thank you, will check that soon!

[Kobalt]

Hi,

 

I have the same problem. My pal&vni file and serum (cRZ) are working just fine.

The pac file are not working.

The log say that my vni key is not valid.

 

Edit : the wrong config file was loaded

[3] 2025/03/30 18:01:42.958  INFO | Successfully loaded config from C:\vPinball\VisualPinball\VPinMAME\DmdDevice.ini. 

should have been :

 [3] 2025/03/30 18:43:21.754  INFO | Successfully loaded config from C:\vPinball\VPinMAME\DmdDevice.ini

 

i do not know from where this folder came, deleted it and now it load my correct config file. Every things works fine.

 

 

DmdDevice.log DmdDevice.ini

Edited March 30, 2025 by Kobalt
Probleme Solved

[80sRkadeguy70]

I'll.upload my dmddevice.log later, but after the latesr vpx / vpinmame / freezy updares, my pac colorizations for Super Mario Bro and Simpsons Kooky Carnival no longer work properly and my Southpark and X-men vni / pal colorizations are no longer working properly.

Here's a video showing the weird color changes in Southpark.

 

https://youtu.be/NwfF6QvyFEg?si=0ARZ1mgKyKG9nq0B

DmdDevice.log

Edited April 25, 2025 by 80sRkadeguy70

[80sRkadeguy70]

On 3/30/2025 at 12:10 PM, Kobalt said:

Hi,

 

I have the same problem. My pal&vni file and serum (cRZ) are working just fine.

The pac file are not working.

The log say that my vni key is not valid.

 

Edit : the wrong config file was loaded

[3] 2025/03/30 18:01:42.958  INFO | Successfully loaded config from C:\vPinball\VisualPinball\VPinMAME\DmdDevice.ini. 

should have been :

 [3] 2025/03/30 18:43:21.754  INFO | Successfully loaded config from C:\vPinball\VPinMAME\DmdDevice.ini

 

i do not know from where this folder came, deleted it and now it load my correct config file. Every things works fine.

 

 

DmdDevice.log 4.32 kB · 1 download DmdDevice.ini 12.98 kB · 4 downloads

PAC for Super Mario Bros and Simpsons Kooky Carnival stopped working properly for me as did dome of my pal / vni colorizations. 

[Interimus]

Been following this thread and noticed no one answered an earlier question. Why are there duplicate copies of DmdDevice.dll's, DmdDevice64.dll, DmdDevice.ini in C:\vPinball\VisualPinball\VPinMAME and also one copy in C:\vPinball\VisualPinball\VPinMAME\DMDext?
The copy in DMDext is version v1.10.2.0 and the one in C:\vPinball\VisualPinball\VPinMAME is v2.3.1.0.

The whole system was installed via Baller Installer current version, updated etc. Clean setup.

 

Can someone explain or advice about these duplicates and if it is normal? Should the older version be removed from "DMDext"  or updated to 2.3.1 to match the other in ../ ?

Edited May 11, 2025 by Interimus

[deadmanworking]

@Interimus I've had those duplicates in a new AOI install as well, on my cab (manual install) the dmdext folder only contains a "textures" subfolder. You can ignore (and probably delete or zip up) the duplicates in the dmdext folder as the only pertinent ones are in the VPinMAME folder.