New release: v2.2.0 BETA1

[freezy]

Hi folks!

 

With Pinball FX now officially supporting dmdext, there was a little bit of a pressure to get out a release that addresses a few bugs we've encountered and fixed during testing. However, I was still finishing up the new plugin system, so it took a few days more, and now we need testing!

 

While this first beta already includes the plugin system, there are no plugins to test yet. I expect @lucky1 to release a plugin with PAC support at some point, but the plugin API changed since his PR, so you won't be able to use the current pin2color.dll that you might have.

 

Thus, this beta is focused on regression testing. I have done a long needed refactoring of dmdext with over 10k lines of code changes, so it's quite a massive update internally. Part of this was to finally add unit tests, so I'm fairly confident about the core functionality. However, what I'm not so much confident about is device support and all the various hacks you guys established over the years.

 

So, if you could grab this release and give it a spin and let me know what doesn't work, that would be awesome. If you're using dmdext with Pinball FX, it fixes the skewed LCD rendering and an issue with segmented displays. You can find the entire changelog on the download page.

 

Download is here.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

  -freezy.

[Westworld]

"hang on quit" on Windows 11, VPX 10.8 64bit with ZeDMD.

When I launch a VPX game using the DMD, it works fine, but when I stop VPX it freezes/hangs. Does not respond to Q or ESC, stays on top, only way I found was to switch to a 2nd desktop, start here Task Manager and kill VPX.

Using a VPX without DMD works fine.

Strange: launching VPX through PinUp front end works fine (it quits correctly). Maybe because that also drives DMD?

 

When I replaced the DLLs with the previous version all worked fine again.

Not sure that report helps this way. Any other information I can give?

[MikeDASpike]

I tested this BETA version with FX. I got a real PinDMDv3
I replaced the DMDDEVICE64.dll in my steam directory "Steam\steamapps\common\Pinball FX\PinballFX\Plugins\PinballFXCabinet\Binaries\Win64" 

I have an system enviorment variable DMDDEVICE_CONFIG set to my vpinmame directory (C:\pinball\Visual Pinball\VPinMAME)

 

First Ttme I launched it, The DMD was showed as virtual DMD (but my DMDdevice.ini in the above directory is set to use my PinDMDv3)

I could not find any logfile on any harddrive called  DMDdevice.log.
I discovered I didn't have a C:\pinball\Visual Pinball\VPinMAME\DMDext directory.
When adding this directory DMDext with all files in it (dmddevice64.dll and dmddevice.ini) I was able to get a log file and the real DMD started to work
(I still don't get why I need a dmdext direct when I have the global variable set, but for now I can live with it  )

 

Launching a table (for example Fish tale) with a pal and VNI works.

But closing the table results that FX3 will hang in the loading screen of FX 

 

I tried with multiple tables, but all shows the same behaviour.
When this screen was showing, the file Pinball\Visual Pinball\VPinMAME\DMDext\dmddevice64.dll was also in use (not sure if it is related, but wanted to mention it)

Attached my DMDdevice.log

Btw. When doing the same tests with virtual DMD, I was able to close and return to the main menu again
 

 

DmdDevice.log

[blackvulcan3]

I've moved to Freezy 2.2.0 beta today and it is intermittent and mostly not working for Last Action Hero, everything else seems to work fine. It works fine without the colour using the ROM but colour is generally a black screen with intermittent flashing of the colour ROM. Using VPX 10.7.4 updated today to 64 bit. Other color roms work on 32 bit VPX, but have only tried this color rom on 64 bit.

[freezy]

Thanks guys!

 

@Westworld  Could you post a log file? Instructions are here.

 

@MikeDASpike Yes, dmddevice64.dll slipped into the PFX build Zen is distributing. However, it's the last priority, so if you have VPM installed, it the one you have in the VPM folder should be loaded. Best is just to delete the one in your PFX folder. Then, you seem to have dmdext installed at C:\pinball\Visual Pinball\VPinMAME as  well as C:\pinball\Visual Pinball\VPinMAME\DMDext. Are you sure DMDDEVICE_CONFIG is pointing to C:\pinball\Visual Pinball\VPinMAME? Because according to your log, C:\pinball\Visual Pinball\VPinMAME\DMDext\DmdDevice64.dll is loaded (the version is the correct one, though). About the hanging exit I'm kinda clueless, will have to try to repro on my cab. Meanwhile, could give this one a go?

 

@blackvulcan3 I tested LAH at 64 bit and it seems to work fine. I don't have a colorization for that one, though. Can you post a screenshot of how it looks versus how it's supposed to look?

 

[MikeDASpike]

Thanks Freezy for your feedback.
Strange part is, my DMDDevice_config is pointing to my vpinmame and not to the sub dir DMDEXT:

 

I checked registry and cannot find anything related to DMDext subdirectory.

Changing the environment variable path even to c:\pinball, and put the dmddevice64.dll, ini and log.config in, will still use my Assembly path at C:\pinball\Visual Pinball\VPinMAME\DMDext\DmdDevice64.dll 

I thought it has to do with a junction point I created, but still without the junction point, it is not working for me either. I will keep the files in dmdext

Anyway, When I delete the dmddevice64.dll from the FX plugin directory, and place this DLL in my vpinmame\DMDext directory,  it is still hanging on closure of the table.

Here's a new log file.

My FLEXDMD is using the DMDdevice64.dll as well
Closing Flex DMD cannot close the DMD as well, and will hang as well
this only happen when I use my real DMD (pinDMDv3), not when I use virtual DMD

DmdDevice.log

[freezy]

@MikeDASpike DMDDEVICE_CONFIG needs to point to the actual .ini file, not just the folder. Just to be sure, does the hanging happen with VPX as well, or only PFX?

[MikeDASpike]

44 minutes ago, freezy said:

@MikeDASpike DMDDEVICE_CONFIG needs to point to the actual .ini file, not just the folder. Just to be sure, does the hanging happen with VPX as well, or only PFX?

Oh... my bad. Thought the path ... stupid.

I will check vpx as well, but an own made plugin for pinballx (that uses fle dmd) is hsnging as well at the moment that pinballx is closing (dll still in use)

[lucky1]

1 hour ago, MikeDASpike said:

this only happen when I use my real DMD (pinDMDv3), not when I use virtual DMD

 

@freezy I also made some changes to the pindmdV3 code in my version. Maybe have a look.

[blackvulcan3]

13 hours ago, freezy said:

Thanks guys!

 

@Westworld  Could you post a log file? Instructions are here.

 

@MikeDASpike Yes, dmddevice64.dll slipped into the PFX build Zen is distributing. However, it's the last priority, so if you have VPM installed, it the one you have in the VPM folder should be loaded. Best is just to delete the one in your PFX folder. Then, you seem to have dmdext installed at C:\pinball\Visual Pinball\VPinMAME as  well as C:\pinball\Visual Pinball\VPinMAME\DMDext. Are you sure DMDDEVICE_CONFIG is pointing to C:\pinball\Visual Pinball\VPinMAME? Because according to your log, C:\pinball\Visual Pinball\VPinMAME\DMDext\DmdDevice64.dll is loaded (the version is the correct one, though). About the hanging exit I'm kinda clueless, will have to try to repro on my cab. Meanwhile, could give this one a go?

 

@blackvulcan3 I tested LAH at 64 bit and it seems to work fine. I don't have a colorization for that one, though. Can you post a screenshot of how it looks versus how it's supposed to look?

 

.

 

 

 

Edited June 20, 2023 by blackvulcan3
Resolved

[blackvulcan3]

This may not help Freezy, but I decided I would try again.

 

I reinstalled PINMAME 32 & 64 again, doing setup for both again & reinstalled your dll's just copying over everything I had. 

 

Anyway, it worked first time. Must have been a cock up my end, not sure what though and it only seemed to impact the only 64 bit color ROM I had. 

[freezy]

@lucky1 Thanks, there's indeed a change in the Clear() method. I'll add this later tonight and let you retest, @MikeDASpike.

 

@blackvulcan3 Tell me all about it, cock ups just suck

[MikeDASpike]

RTFM Mike ....

 

Quote

Enter DMDDEVICE_CONFIG as variable name and the full path to DmdDevice.ini as variable value.

I gave the fullpath to the ini (so more the direcotory name) , but when I include the dmddevice.ini in the path it is working.
but thats something you already knew. took me a long time to understand and got it to work after a very long time.

If you have a new version that will fix the pinDMDv3, i will test it early morning (CET)
 

[freezy]

@MikeDASpike Try this build (when it's built). The changes @lucky1 mentioned were already applied, and the might have introduced the bug. I reverted back and wrapped it into a try/catch.

[MikeDASpike]

11 hours ago, freezy said:

@MikeDASpike Try this build (when it's built). The changes @lucky1 mentioned were already applied, and the might have introduced the bug. I reverted back and wrapped it into a try/catch.

Link was to the 32 bit, but grabbed the same build with 64 bit

Same issue when closing a table in FX

 

Same happens with VPX as well
launching table works, but closing table makes VPX freeze completly

 

DmdDevice.log DmdDevice_VPX.log

[freezy]

@MikeDASpike Thanks for testing. Would it be possible to temporary disable pinup and try again?

[MikeDASpike]

No luck. I set pinup to disabled=false, but pinball FX is still freezing/hanging on exit of table (same as VPX)

 

 

DmdDevice.log

[Westworld]

With 2.2 beta VPX freezes/hangs on quit (when VPX is launched directly).

I tried VPX.8 64 and 32 bit, as well as .7 32 bit.

When I disable ZeDMD and enable Virtual it works fine, it is related to ZeDMD.

(Not sure if it helps, but I unplugged the DMD matrix to have just the ESP32 connected (with Firmware 3.2.4) and this was enough to reproduce, just in case you have an ESP32 around).

I tried tables with original color (just red), simple color mapping, full color (both VNI and Serum) and original tables.

With and without Pinup.

 

In all cases, the log looks similar. All starts, all quits, DMD is finished, just VPX hangs.

DmdDevice.log

[freezy]

@MikeDASpike @Westworld Thanks for testing. Can you both confirm that this problem doesn't occur in 2.1.2?

[MikeDASpike]

6 hours ago, freezy said:

@MikeDASpike @Westworld Thanks for testing. Can you both confirm that this problem doesn't occur in 2.1.2?

Just checked (to be sure) and yes that works. For VPX and FX
Not sure if it is relevant, but when closing/exiting table with 2.2.0 beta, the last frame is still shows on the display, but with 2.1.2 it is released/cleared

 

Logs only shows th enext extra lines :

[15] 2023/06/26 05:58:56.265  INFO | Source for 4 renderer(s) stopped. 
[15] 2023/06/26 05:58:56.265  INFO | Source for 4 renderer(s) stopped. 
[15] 2023/06/26 05:58:56.265  INFO | Source for 1 renderer(s) stopped. 
[15] 2023/06/26 05:58:56.265  INFO | Source for 0 renderer(s) stopped. 

I hope this helps

DmdDevice_FX.log DmdDevice_VPX.log

[Westworld]

> Can you both confirm that this problem doesn't occur in 2.1.2?

 

yes, that's what I did. Go back to 2.1.2 and all works fine again. Tried that several times, with 32 bit and 64 bit.

[freezy]

Y'all, BETA2 is released, please upgrade and report here!