New release: v2.2.0 BETA2

[Cliffy]

20 minutes ago, MikeDASpike said:

@Cliffy You did a lot of testing, but was that only initial startup of the rom and check if that was in color ?
My sfight2 starts up with color, but starting the game, a lot of scenes are White sprites (wanted to say black and white, but black is just a turned off led)
Same for cp_16. Sometimes it shows fine, but sometimes not.
Street Fighter 2 is the one that when starting the game it directly shows a Black/white scene for the throwing part

Most I played at least one ball to check pup triggers. I just fired up sf2 again and yes you're right. after the first scene it loses color for that same scene later on. it seems to do that for different events too, sometimes it will have full color, sometimes only grayscale. It seems like the dmd is unable to keep up with the changes happening. The scoring colors always seem to stay in color though. Good eye Mike

[MikeDASpike]

27 minutes ago, Cliffy said:

Most I played at least one ball to check pup triggers. I just fired up sf2 again and yes you're right. after the first scene it loses color for that same scene later on. it seems to do that for different events too, sometimes it will have full color, sometimes only grayscale. It seems like the dmd is unable to keep up with the changes happening. The scoring colors always seem to stay in color though. Good eye Mike

My eyes are too old  , but it happens a lot of time for me.
i don't know how the triggers for the scenes works, but think you are right. Looks like it misses the palette trigger to get it colorized and just shows a clean (non colored) one.
But I don't know how it technically works.
it's hard to see when playing, but I only noticed it with VNI/Pal colorized roms

[lafester]

3 hours ago, Cliffy said:

rename or remove the pin2color.dll's in vpinmame folder. make sure you have a newer version of dmddevice.ini

What is the best way to update dmddevice.ini? 

[MikeDASpike]

1 hour ago, lafester said:

What is the best way to update dmddevice.ini? 

Good one, what I did (bit thats just me), was only copy the next part to the bottom of the global section . (So just before 'virtual dmd' section

Quote

 

; VNI colorizations can contain 256x64 frames for 128x32 games. this defines
; how the frames that aren't replaced are up-scaled. doubler or scale2x.
vni.scalermode = doubler

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

; 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

 

and added the vni key to it

[Cliffy]

8 hours ago, lafester said:

What is the best way to update dmddevice.ini? 

exactly as MikeDaSpike showed if you have a fully loaded dmddevice.ini already. If you've never aded a bunch of custom positions and styles to your ini then just unzip the fresh one thats included in freezys zip

[lafester]

10 hours ago, MikeDASpike said:

Good one, what I did (bit thats just me), was only copy the next part to the bottom of the global section . (So just before 'virtual dmd' section

and added the vni key to it

Sounds good, thanks! 

[nagaidevil]

17 hours ago, Cliffy said:

No but Freezy has fixed this and checkpoint being all red. We just need to await the next release which shouldn't be long at all

Freezy submitted the 2.2.1 release last night right? Github only has release from last Wednesday I believe. Is there a link to the newer version you've been testing @Cliffy?

[lafester]

39 minutes ago, nagaidevil said:

Freezy submitted the 2.2.1 release last night right? Github only has release from last Wednesday I believe. Is there a link to the newer version you've been testing @Cliffy?

https://ci.appveyor.com/project/freezy/dmd-extensions/builds/47837511/job/vy1vegsmsxonmls9/artifacts

[Cliffy]

1 hour ago, nagaidevil said:

Freezy submitted the 2.2.1 release last night right? Github only has release from last Wednesday I believe. Is there a link to the newer version you've been testing @Cliffy?

he's testing a couple of things still so I'd wait until he announces a new release. some in between builds *can* break other things.

[Thurman8tr]

I'm certain this is a dumb question, but what is a/the vni key?

[nagaidevil]

1 hour ago, Thurman8tr said:

I'm certain this is a dumb question, but what is a/the vni key?

shhh.... we don't talk about that

[nagaidevil]

1 hour ago, Cliffy said:

he's testing a couple of things still so I'd wait until he announces a new release. some in between builds *can* break other things.

Great. I'll chill out a bit and wait patiently. Last thing we want is more breaking with all these betas running around in our machines 😅

[lafester]

36 minutes ago, nagaidevil said:

Great. I'll chill out a bit and wait patiently. Last thing we want is more breaking with all these betas running around in our machines 😅

 

These are fine for testing, but hopefully 2.2.1 is out soon... facebook is full of confused users. 

 

 

[lafester]

2 hours ago, Thurman8tr said:

I'm certain this is a dumb question, but what is a/the vni key?

read post #1 2.2.0 final thread. 

[Cliffy]

49 minutes ago, lafester said:

facebook is full of confused users. 

Say it isn't so

[Terranigma]

2 hours ago, Thurman8tr said:

I'm certain this is a dumb question, but what is a/the vni key?

 

1 hour ago, nagaidevil said:

shhh.... we don't talk about that

 

I have been following the threads but I have not looked at the actual implementation of this yet. If possible, an independent 3rd party who knows how to code may be able to explain in private. I would appreciate an unbiased explanation, if anyone can provide that please contact me.

 

In regards to asking questions on here that shouldn't be talked about, if it can't be openly discussed then it probably shouldn't be on VPU, or linked from VPU. As I don't have the answer to this specific question, I can't say if it belongs here or not. 

 

I know a lot of people are asking for a complete guide to installing and running VNI and PAC files, so it is important we work this out before that is finished. Once done I will be linking the guide in the forums for everyone which should hopefully cut down on some questions.

 

Thanks

[MikeDASpike]

6 hours ago, nagaidevil said:

Freezy submitted the 2.2.1 release last night right? Github only has release from last Wednesday I believe. Is there a link to the newer version you've been testing @Cliffy?

These releases are snapshots. 
Some kinds of beta. Not a final release, just to see if it fix any issue

 

1 hour ago, Terranigma said:

I know a lot of people are asking for a complete guide to installing and running VNI and PAC files, so it is important we work this out before that is finished. Once done I will be linking the guide in the forums for everyone which should hopefully cut down on some questions.

I don't think that the VNI.Ley is something we don't talk about.
What I understand it is only for Vpin and not for PAC to FSQ files (for real pins)
The VNI key i sblank in the DMDdevice.ini, but Freezy added it to the post 

 

So for users who want to migrate from an older Freezy, or Lucky1:

Check if you use Vpinball with 32 bit or 64 bit.

Download the latest release from Github (https://github.com/freezy/dmd-extensions/releases)
C86 is for 32 bit Vpinmame and X64 for 64 bit.
If you never install it, just MUST download the MSI. If you upgrade, you can still  download the MSI, but also can download the zip.

 

When upgrading, the DMDDevice.ini needs to be adjusted. Open the dmddevice.ini with notepad and copy the next part to the bottom of the global section . (So just before '[virtual dmd] section)

; VNI colorizations can contain 256x64 frames for 128x32 games. this defines
; how the frames that aren't replaced are up-scaled. doubler or scale2x.
vni.scalermode = doubler

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

; 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

behind the vni.key, paste the key that was mentioned in the link I mentioned earlier

 

in the Vpinmame directory you only need dmddevice(64).dll , DMDdevice.ini and the DmdDevice.log.config  for correct working within Visual Pinball
Rest of the files are for DMDext.exe and are mostly for TPA, Pro-Pinball, FX3 etc. See for full list and how to use it : https://github.com/freezy/dmd-extensions

 

if you always use the zip file and never install from MSI, it is recommended to make a system environment variable.
This is for non Visual Pinball programs to keep just 1 dmddevice.ini (and even DLL) 

To create a system system environment variable:

• Press the [Windows] key, type "env" and select Edit the system environment variables.
• Click Environment Variables....
• Under System variables, click New....
• Enter DMDDEVICE_CONFIG as variable name and the full path to DmdDevice.ini as variable value.

 

NOTE : The following files could exists when you upgrade from Lucky1 dmdext fork, make sure the following files are deleted from your Vpinmame directory.
When you didn't have Lucky1 dmdext but the files exists, delete them

• pin2color64.dll
• pin2color.dll
• serum64.dll
• serum.dll

I hope this make sense 
English is not my native language, so sorry if sentences or words are incorrect
 

[nagaidevil]

3 hours ago, Terranigma said:

 

 

I have been following the threads but I have not looked at the actual implementation of this yet. If possible, an independent 3rd party who knows how to code may be able to explain in private. I would appreciate an unbiased explanation, if anyone can provide that please contact me.

 

In regards to asking questions on here that shouldn't be talked about, if it can't be openly discussed then it probably shouldn't be on VPU, or linked from VPU. As I don't have the answer to this specific question, I can't say if it belongs here or not. 

 

I know a lot of people are asking for a complete guide to installing and running VNI and PAC files, so it is important we work this out before that is finished. Once done I will be linking the guide in the forums for everyone which should hopefully cut down on some questions.

 

Thanks

Heyyy...sorry what I said was meant to be a joke. I should have made that more clear. My sincere apologies 😅

[Terranigma]

7 minutes ago, nagaidevil said:

Heyyy...sorry what I said was meant to be a joke. I should have made that more clear. My sincere apologies 😅

No need to apologise. There are some people making a tutorial and it will be posted here. Just need to make sure it doesn’t contain anything that’s not allowed here, and yes I do understand that the key has been posted in the initial post.

[nagaidevil]

A personal thank you for all you've contributed to the colorDMD segment of the hobby @Terranigma
Your work is invaluable

[Ginsonic]

2 hours ago, nagaidevil said:

A personal thank you for all you've contributed to the colorDMD segment of the hobby @Terranigma
Your work is invaluable

+1 Thanks to all of you, your work is much appreciated! 🍻

 

[halen]

Now I have all colorize roms working on visual pinball.

 

 I'm trying to work for pinball fx3 but I'm not successful.  Before the  upgrade to frezzy 2.20 pinball fx3 colorize works for me on PinballX with this command line:

 

mirror --source=pinballfx3 --virtual-stay-on-top --fps 60 --virtual-position 2195 580 805 130 --colorize

 

After reading the freezy/ dmd-extensions the new command would be:

 

mirror --source pinballfx3 --colorize --plugin "D:\Pinball\Visual Pinball\VPinMAME\pin2color.dll" --plugin-passthrough --virtual-stay-on-top --fps 60 --virtual-position 2195 580 805 130
 

When i run Pinball FX3 with the new command line Serum colorize works like a charm!!

 

[15] 2023/08/22 14:14:48.303  INFO | Process found, starting capturing...
[15] 2023/08/22 14:14:48.303  INFO | Reading DMD data from Pinball FX3's memory at 25 fps...
[15] 2023/08/22 14:14:48.303  INFO | Frames coming in from Pinball FX3.
[10] 2023/08/22 14:15:35.171  INFO | Found Pinball FX3 game: BALLY_Champion_Pub
[10] 2023/08/22 14:15:35.235  INFO | [serum] Found 0 triggers to emit.
[10] 2023/08/22 14:15:35.235  INFO | [serum] Serum colorizer v1.6 initialized.
[10] 2023/08/22 14:15:35.235  INFO | [serum] Loading colorization at D:\Pinball\Visual Pinball\VPinMAME\altcolor\BALLY_Champion_Pub\BALLY_Champion_Pub.cRZ...
[10] 2023/08/22 14:15:35.235  INFO | Switching Converter (Passthrough) switching to Serum
 [5] 2023/08/22 14:15:58.227  INFO | Terminating DMD data capture from Pinball FX3
 [5] 2023/08/22 14:15:58.227  INFO | Frames stopped from Pinball FX3.
 [5] 2023/08/22 14:15:58.227  INFO | Waiting for Pinball FX3 process to start...

 

But for PAC files:

 

[16] 2023/08/22 14:09:56.123  INFO | [serum] No colorization found at D:\Pinball\Visual Pinball\VPinMAME\altcolor\BALLY_Attack_from_Mars\BALLY_Attack_from_Mars.cRZ...
[16] 2023/08/22 14:09:56.123  INFO | [plugin] Determined pin2color.dll path from assembly path: D:\Pinball\Visual Pinball\VPinMAME\pin2color.dll
[16] 2023/08/22 14:09:56.123 ERROR | [plugin] Error loading plugin at D:\Pinball\Visual Pinball\VPinMAME\pin2color.dll.
[16] 2023/08/22 14:09:56.123  WARN | Error initializing colorizer: No PAC key found. Set it in DmdDevice.ini under vni.key. System.ArgumentException: No PAC key found. Set it in DmdDevice.ini under vni.key.
   at LibDmd.Converter.Vni.VniLoader.LoadPac(String vniKey)
   at LibDmd.Converter.Vni.VniLoader.Load(String vniKey)
   at LibDmd.Converter.Vni.ColorizationLoader.LoadVniColorizer(String gameName, ScalerMode scalerMode, String vniKey)
[16] 2023/08/22 14:09:56.123  INFO | Switching Converter (Passthrough) switching to Passthrough

 

I have the pin2color.dll and pin2color64.dll in my folder D:\Pinball\Visual Pinball\VPinMAME.

 

My dmddevice.ini:

 

; the key to decrypt PAC files, in hex.
vni.key = xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (The Key)

; 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 = D:\Pinball\Visual Pinball\VPinMAME\pin2color.dll
plugin.0.path64 = D:\Pinball\Visual Pinball\VPinMAME\pin2color64.dll
plugin.0.passthrough = false

 

Freezy can you help me???

 

 

[Djfraleo]

You need to write the vni.key value. 

 

You should find it at first page of this thread.

[buffdriver]

I'm kinda late to the party, but here goes...

 

The latest beta build causes PinballFX tables that use alphanumeric displays to crash immediately upon loading.  I've verified this with Dr Dude, Space Station, Bride of Pinbot, and Funhouse.  VirtualDMD tables work just fine, including colorization.

 

I've cloned the current DMDExtentions repository and built the DLLs--same issue.

 

If you need logs, please advise how to configure to get the needed info.

[halen]

I wrote the key just didn't show in the text.