Bally WIP Recreation BAM FP CiRQuS VoLTaiRe v4 (Bally 1997)

[LtJazz]

@Gin

WPC Emu Debug view

neophob.github.io

Did you try this link I just noticed it has a “dump dmd” command and the file apparently can loaded into the pin2dmd program ?

Hello @Gimli and @Gin

I took a look on the link above. It seems easy to make a dump for pin2dmd. Then I looked for what we could do with the pin2dmd program. It seems that it's not possible to convert a raw dump file to text format (in order to open it with DMDPaint). But it' possible to convert animation in GIF format (which is readable with DMDPaint) :

---

2.3.3 Export Animation as Gif​

Save the selected animation as animated gif image.

---

I'll try later when I have more time.

Good news : I find a way to replace the hologram DMD on the playfield by a vertically oriented "true" DMD (not a HUD one). You just have to place a standard FP playfield DMD (oriented horizontally) in a BAM miniplayfield and rotate the miniplayfield 90 degrees. I tried and it works fine. The advantage is that the animations and messages of the DMD are no longer displayed in the foreground of the playfield objects as it occurs with a hologram.

 

[Gimli]

Hello @Gimli and @Gin

I took a look on the link above. It seems easy to make a dump for pin2dmd. Then I looked for what we could do with the pin2dmd program. It seems that it's not possible to convert a raw dump file to text format (in order to open it with DMDPaint). But it' possible to convert animation in GIF format (which is readable with DMDPaint) :

---

2.3.3 Export Animation as Gif​

Save the selected animation as animated gif image.

---

I'll try later when I have more time.

Good news : I find a way to replace the hologram DMD on the playfield by a vertically oriented "true" DMD (not a HUD one). You just have to place a standard FP playfield DMD (oriented horizontally) in a BAM miniplayfield and rotate the miniplayfield 90 degrees. I tried and it works fine. The advantage is that the animations and messages of the DMD are no longer displayed in the foreground of the playfield objects as it occurs with a hologram.

@Gin
I have never learned the process either but if DMDpaint accept gif that opens other ways.
I was experimenting with the online link above and using snagit video capture which let me define a “region” of my screen (ie where the dmd was playing) and it saves as gif. I will check that out

 

[Gimli]

@Gin
@LtJazz
Yikes just tried DMDpaint and it crashed with everything I tried even loading working DMDf's
Seems archaic

 

[LtJazz]

@Gin
@LtJazz
Yikes just tried DMDpaint and it crashed with everything I tried even loading working DMDf's
Seems archaic

I tried too but it didn't read the raw dump file I recorded using the link you gave us. So I didn't try further.

 

[Gimli]

@Gin
@LtJazz
Yikes just tried DMDpaint and it crashed with everything I tried even loading working DMDf's
Seems archaic

@Gin
@LtJazz
It almost seems easier to use an overlay running jpg captures of DMD frames like I did with the color DMD in Monster Bash.

 

[LtJazz]

@Gin
@LtJazz
It almost seems easier to use an overlay running jpg captures of DMD frames like I did with the color DMD in Monster Bash.

So if we make video records (not dump) of animations using the WPC web site, it won't be worth converting them to dmdf files ? Would it be just as good and easier to convert them to jpg ?

 

[Gimli]

So if we make video records (not dump) of animations using the WPC web site, it won't be worth converting them to dmdf files ? Would it be just as good and easier to convert them to jpg ?

If you have jpg images you can run them in an overlay instead of a dmd. And then for score use the DMD.
Here is a gif that I downgraded the resolution on

 

[Gimli]

@LtJazz

Here is another demo gif just using the screen resolution

 

[Gimli]

BAM can run gifs but unfortunately there is a destracting lag.

 

[Gimli]

@Gin
@smoke
@LtJazz
@NitroNimbus
@GeorgeH

Gin I am no way trying to usurp you and look forward to any help you give. And you know WAY more about this dmdf mystery than me.

Here is what I understand about the mysterious and mystical endeavour of importing DMDf's into Fp.
1. You can magically dump the complete rom file from PinMame into a txt file or Raw file or whatever
2.Then you wave your wand , chant and offer a few incantations to the point of having individual frames loaded into the first dos program
ever invented called DMDpaint and make sure the resolution is correct
3.The next stop is gfxDMDf where you can load each frame and assign them to the those designated to the Alphanumeric Grid (32 -whatever)
4.Then you export to DMDf and load into FP

Here is what I am trying with some success but the final resolution may or may not be sufficient.
1. use the online Rom Emulator cited above and choose the appropriate buttons that trigger a specific animation
2.Capture that animation in GIF sequence using Snag it
3.Use online Gif editor to set proper resolution and extract the frames as individual Gif files
4. Import them as a batch into gfxDMDf and export as DMDf.

Stay tuned for the results....

 

[Gimli]

Here is the Slideshow dmdf

 

[Gimli]

CanonFired

 

[Gimli]

Wow

 

[LtJazz]

Many thanks, @Gimli

It works very well. I tried your method this morning by doing the following :
1. I open the WPC website and I launch the Cirqus Voltaire emulation that I pause
2. I zoom out the web page to have all the control keys and the DMD on the same screen
3. Then I run the OBS software to take a window video capture
4. I limit the video capture to the part that emulates the DMD. Like Cirqus Voltaire's DMD is 128x32 (4:1), my capture area is also 4:1 ratio. It includes all the pixels of the DMD and nothing else.
5. I set the video output so that OBS records this area with a 4:1 aspect ratio
6. I start recording (in high quality MP4 60p) then I resume the emulation on WPC
7. Once the recording is done, I open VLC (in administrator mode !), I select and configure the video scene filter in the settings and I play the MP4 recording => VLC automatically saves the video into JPGs in a folder (then do not forget to unselect the filter in VLC if you intend to watch a movie !)
8. I load the JPGs in FP to build an image list which will be used to display the animation on the DMD

As the images were captured precisely in 4:1, the result is very good on FP's DMD configured at 128x32.

I just have two things left to do :
1. To lower the resolution of the recording and therefore of the JPGs to limit their size while keeping the same display quality (currently I capture in 764x191 : probably too much for a pixelated image)
2. To find the best frame rate to configure in VLC to limit the number of JPGs to load in FP. VLC allows to save 1 image every 'n' images of the video ('n' being configurable). I tried with n = 1 and it is too much (60 JPGs for a second of video). I don't know what is the frame rate in the ROM. I will do more trials to find the right value. For example, if the ROM contains 15 frames per second, I have to set 4 in VLC (60/4 = 15) to get the same animation quality.

I will keep you informed.

 

[Gimli]

Many thanks, @Gimli

It works very well. I tried your method this morning by doing the following :
1. I open the WPC website and I launch the Cirqus Voltaire emulation that I pause
2. I zoom out the web page to have all the control keys and the DMD on the same screen
3. Then I run the OBS software to take a window video capture
4. I limit the video capture to the part that emulates the DMD. Like Cirqus Voltaire's DMD is 128x32 (4:1), my capture area is also 4:1 ratio. It includes all the pixels of the DMD and nothing else.
5. I set the video output so that OBS records this area with a 4:1 aspect ratio
6. I start recording (in high quality MP4 60p) then I resume the emulation on WPC
7. Once the recording is done, I open VLC (in administrator mode !), I select and configure the video scene filter in the settings and I play the MP4 recording => VLC automatically saves the video into JPGs in a folder (then do not forget to unselect the filter in VLC if you intend to watch a movie !)
8. I load the JPGs in FP to build an image list which will be used to display the animation on the DMD

As the images were captured precisely in 4:1, the result is very good on FP's DMD configured at 128x32.

I just have two things left to do :
1. To lower the resolution of the recording and therefore of the JPGs to limit their size while keeping the same display quality (currently I capture in 764x191 : probably too much for a pixelated image)
2. To find the best frame rate to configure in VLC to limit the number of JPGs to load in FP. VLC allows to save 1 image every 'n' images of the video ('n' being configurable). I tried with n = 1 and it is too much (60 JPGs for a second of video). I don't know what is the frame rate in the ROM. I will do more trials to find the right value. For example, if the ROM contains 15 frames per second, I have to set 4 in VLC (60/4 = 15) to get the same animation quality.

I will keep you informed.

Loading Jpgs into image list is what I did for color DMDs on Monster bash and that can be done using Overlays not DMD's

If you wish DMDf you need to take your images (if use Gif format, I am not sure about JPG) and import them into gfxDMDf set it to 128 x 32 in both the source and target areas, set the DMD "color" toggles and "export as DMDf" file

 

[LtJazz]

Loading Jpgs into image list is what I did for color DMDs on Monster bash and that can be done using Overlays no DMD's

If you wish DMDf you need to take your images (if use Gif format, I am not sure about JPG) and import them into gfxDMDf set it to 128 x 32 in both the source and target areas, set the DMD "color" toggles and "export as DMDf" file

@Gimli
Actually, it's possible to display JPGs based animations on a DMD this way :

MyDMD.AddImageList 1, "MyList"

> To associates the images list with the DMD

MyDMD.QueueText "[il1][sf1][ef30][rf10,30]", deNone, 5000, False

> To play the animation (il1=list1=MyList) from image 1 (sf1=start frame 1) to image 30 (ef30=end frame 30) then repeat the animation from image 10 to image 30 (rf10,30)

The animation plays background and it's possible to display text or score messages in front on the same DMD. Just like on an HUD DMD (overlay)

 

[Gimli]

@Gimli
Actually, it's possible to display JPGs based animations on a DMD this way :

MyDMD.AddImageList 1, "MyList"

> To associates the images list with the DMD

MyDMD.QueueText "[il1][sf1][ef30][rf10,30]", deNone, 5000, False

> To play the animation (il1=list1=MyList) from image 1 (sf1=start frame 1) to image 30 (ef30=end frame 30) then repeat the animation from image 10 to image 30 (rf10,30)

The animation plays background and it's possible to display text or score messages in front on the same DMD. Just like on an HUD DMD (overlay)

Oh ya I guess I remember that now that you show me. Rav also has enable other coding stuff for DMD's . Like setting fore ground and background colors etc...

I remember trying that in Monster Bash but the resolution looked bad and I wanted full color ( I
imported another author's color frames with his permission ) so I used overlays.

We can compare the jpg technique to dmdf technique that most authors have used in the past.
Image lists can be cumbersome where DMDf can contain many frames in the same DMDf

And there may or may not be a cpu issue as well ?

 

[LtJazz]

Oh ya I guess I remember that now that you show me. Rav also has enable other coding stuff for DMD's . Like setting fore ground and background colors etc...

I remember trying that in Monster Bash but the resolution looked bad and I wanted full color ( I
imported another author's color frames with his permission ) so I used overlays.

We can compare the jpg technique to dmdf technique that most authors have used in the past.
Image lists can be cumbersome where DMDf can contain many frames in the same DMDf

And there may or may not be a cpu issue as well ?

I will try to compare the result between dmdf and JPGs on the RWL table. And I will post screens captures in this thread.

Before that, I must replace the Holo DMD by a 'true' 128x32 DMD included in a miniplayfield.

 

[Gimli]

I will try to compare the result between dmdf and JPGs on the RWL table. And I will post screens captures in this thread.

Before that, I must replace the Holo DMD by a 'true' 128x32 DMD included in a miniplayfield.

I enclosed zips of the DMDf's I created in the posts above so you can try those as well ?

 

[Gimli]

oops maybe I didn't I will add the dmdf's later as a zip
doh !!

 

[RwL]

I thought I would jump in and say Gimli and LtJazz have made some real progress concerning the animation for either an overlay or DMD display.
My personal experience in the past when running .JPGs animation in the background on a DMD with a text font running on top was a lack of sharpness for images in background as Gimli pointed out. The pixel detail in Gimli's above examples looks really good considering the methods he employed to achieve this. Bravo!!
I am curious, is the ROM dump used to generate the animation on screen in your browser app. not your typical Orange and Black palate.
Just asking because in above example I see a color palate being used. Any Idea how many minutes worth of video the rom dump is.
Geez, if its more than 5 min this could translate into 4200 + images if calculated @ 14fps.

BTW, Gimli I really enjoyed your essay on "mysterious and mystical endeavour of importing DMDf's into Fp."
Made me laugh so hard, I could have peed on myself - because what you say is so true and frustrating.
Later,
RwL

 

[Gimli]

I thought I would jump in and say Gimli and LtJazz have made some real progress concerning the animation for either an overlay or DMD display.
My personal experience in the past when running .JPGs animation in the background on a DMD with a text font running on top was a lack of sharpness for images in background as Gimli pointed out. The pixel detail in Gimli's above examples looks really good considering the methods he employed to achieve this. Bravo!!
I am curious, is the ROM dump used to generate the animation on screen in your browser app. not your typical Orange and Black palate.
Just asking because in above example I see a color palate being used. Any Idea how many minutes worth of video the rom dump is.
Geez, if its more than 5 min this could translate into 4200 + images if calculated @ 14fps.

BTW, Gimli I really enjoyed your essay on "mysterious and mystical endeavour of importing DMDf's into Fp."
Made me laugh so hard, I could have peed on myself - because what you say is so true and frustrating.
Later,
RwL

Ya I was peeing myself writing it
i did make dmdfs but my wife has barricaded me from my laptop as we have family for Canadian Thanksgiving .
So you have to wait with baited breath…but I do think it is pretty passable to the untrained blind eye

 

[Gimli]

@NitroNimbus
@RwL
@LtJazz

I updated the links zips above with the DMDf's I created
and here they are in one file:

 

[Gimli]

Here is demo I was playing with a couple of years ago using some of Rav's DMD code

It is using LtJazz technique of image lists

Press "B" on keyboard to cycyle choices.


View attachment DMDcode.mp4

 

[Gimli]

Here is my DMDf's in action.
They look quite good I think

View attachment bobdmdf.mp4