Support File DMDExt Guide (for Future Pinball) by TerryRed

TerryRed

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Favorite Pinball Machine
My Virtual Pinball Cabinet
Future Pinball doesn't natively support displaying it's DMD on a separate window or on a real DMD for cabinet users.

Until now, the solution to this was to use FP-Intercept (for real DMD only), or to use FutureDMD to display on a virtual DMD. While both solutions did work, there were limitations and quirks with each. For years, Visual Pinball, Pinball FX3/2 and The Pinball Arcade have been using DMDext (freezy) to display their DMD to a real DMD or a virtual DMD.

Now thanks to the work of MrMoose74 and freezy, Future Pinball can now join the fun with DMDExt!


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Video demo:







This guide is now completely updated and renamed as the DMDExt Guide (for Future Pinball)

- I now have all my guides and tutorials in PDF format
- this new guide has been created to be used with the FP and BAM Essentials AIO package
- all my guides and tutorials are now only included with the FP and BAM Essentials AIO package



You can download the FP and BAM Essentials AIO package (and DMDExt Guide) here:




A video tutorial that walks you through this guide can be seen here




Chapters

00:00 Start
01:25 DMDExt - What does it do?
03:14 Guide walkthrough
06:50 How to run DMDExt with FP
08:00 Copy dmddevice.ini to FP folder
09:04 dmddevice.ini settings
11:46 Run DMDExt - set it's position and size
13:16 Styles - window and settings (always appears on PF screen)
16:15 Test DMDExt with Sonic Pinball Mania
17:52 FP must be run in windowed mode to access Styles window
18:34 Test different Styles presets
22:22 Run FP and DMDExt with BAT file
23:45 Setup Popper to run DMDExt
31:04 Test launching FP table and DMDExt from Popper
33:03 Closing
 
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All Pin2DMd, PinDMD, PinDMD2, PinDMD3 owners.... please let me know if the commands above work for you!
 
Nice thanks Terry for the writeup I will have to check it out. I am assuming this does not affect vpx at all.
 
Nice thanks Terry for the writeup I will have to check it out. I am assuming this does not affect vpx at all.

This uses the dmdext.exe, not dmddevice.dll

Just be sure if you have settings in your dmddevice.ini already for VPX.... backup that file before updating to DMDExt 1.9 (don't replace it when updating).
 
Added a FAQ



****** FAQ ******

Some tables like Tutenkham, Ghostbusters and others show nothing on the DMDExt DMD, and show nothing on the FP Backglass in game. How do I get them to work?

  • some table authors only added code in the script for the HUD DMD (Desktop).
  • you need to change it so that name of HUD DMD (for desktop) is used on the Backglass / Translite DMD.
  • on the Translite Editor, rename the HUD DMD to something else, and rename the DMD on the Backbox to the original name used for the HUD DMD
  • now it should work

Some tables have a slim DMD (128x16) which won't display anything on DMDExt
  • on the Translite Editor, change all DMDs to 128x32


On some tables like Robocop, the background image looks corrupted on DMDExt, or on others like Superman it isn't visible at all on DMDExt
  • this is normal and can't yet be remedied. This has nothing to do with DMDExt, but more the OpenGL.DLL used for FP with DMDExt


I can't get tables with Gas Segment (alphanumeric) displays to work on DMDext
  • for Future Pinball tables, only the "DMD" can be displayed on DMExt


I still have problems getting anything to display on DMDExt with FP
  • having FPLoader.exe (BAM) or dmdext.exe set to Run as Administrator (or not), or the wrong settings for either in this regard may prevent DMDExt from being able to access and mirror the Future Pinball DMD
  • ideally you shouldn't need to have either set to Run as Administrator for everything to work correctly. This will depend on your system's security settings
 
USER ERROR - DELETED
 
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All Pin2DMd, PinDMD, PinDMD2, PinDMD3 owners.... please let me know if the commands above work for you!
Hey Terry, thanks again for all your work. About to try this for my pindmd3. Sort of a newbie and just making triple sure that this opening code for FP popper settings goes at the very beginning of the settings?
 
All Pin2DMd, PinDMD, PinDMD2, PinDMD3 owners.... please let me know if the commands above work for you!
I had to use this parameters to make to work in pin2dmd
start /min "" "dmdext.exe" mirror -s futurepinball -g "[GAMENAME]" --use-ini="C:\Visual Pinball\VPinMAME\DmdDevice.ini"
 
DMDExt v2.2.0-BETA1 update

(dmdext-v2.2.0-x86-beta1.zip) on 32 bit Windows only!
(dmdext-v2.2.0-x64-beta1.zip) on 64 bit Windows only!

  • download the x86 (32 bit) version at the DMDExt site if you have 32 bit Windows (DO NOT use the 64 bit version with FP)
  • download the x64 (64 bit) version at the DMDExt site if you have 64 bit Windows (DO NOT use the 32 bit version with FP)
You may need to click on Assets to see the file downloads for v2.2.0-BETA1

I have seen some problems running 32 bit dmdext.exe on 64 bit Windows. This normally should work, but some users (and myself) have reported crashing issues using the 32 bit (x86) version with FP. Everyone using a 64 bit Windows (should be mostly everyone by now).... try using the 64 bit dmdext.exe with FP


I have also updated the first post / guide to reflect changes of how best to use DMDExt with FP.

- use the newest 64 bit version of DMDExt on 64 bit Windows (don't use 32 bit x86 version)
- install dmdext.exe, DmdDevice.ini, OpenGL32.dll in the main Future Pinball folder
- change your drive letter and path to where your FP folder is (where we now have dmdext.exe installed for FP)
- use a simple dmdext.exe command that will use DmdDevice.ini in the FP folder
- all dmdext settings for FP are now configured in DmdDevice.ini (this includes virtual dmd, and real dmds)


FP and BAM Essentials AIO

I have also included DMDExt 2.2.0-Beta1 files (only those used for FP) in the "FP and BAM Essentials AIO.zip" file

 
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I updated my DMDExt page!
  • all DMDExt files needed are now included with the new FP and Essentials AIO package (1.2 or higher)
  • this includes a new DMDExt_FP.BAT file that makes it easy to setup and use DMDExt with FP!
  • DMDExt_FP.BAT can be used to manually run DMDExt on its own (without a front-end)
  • use DMDExt_FP.BAT to run DMDExt to setup the global settings for size / position of the DMD window (if using virtual DMD)
  • Popper examples have been updated
  • Baller Installer examples (recommended for Popper users) has been updated on my Baller Installer FP Tips page
Everyone, PLEASE make sure you are using the updated DMDExt files I include with the FP and BAM Essentials AIO 1.2 package and use the updated Popper examples for FP on the Baller Installer FP tips page if you don't already have a working setup with DMDExt and FP!
 
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DMDExt with Future Pinball mega video and tutorial

Seeing all the struggles some people are having trying to understand how to use DMDExt with FP, how BAT files work, how command line apps work, and how Popper's launch script works... I had to do something.

This video covers:

- what a PinEvent Lite table is
- what DMDExt is
- what DMDExt's features are
- why you need DMDExt for PinEvent Lite tables on a cabinet (or for normal FP tables)
- what is needed to use DMDExt with FP easily
- how to get it working with a front-end easily
- how to change settings / position "per table" (using a front-end)
- how annoyed I get when I make the same dumb mistake in a video over and over
- how "I'm doing it LIVE!" because the power kept going out!

 
hey terry, thank you for all the work you do!

the BAT file works great!

when i ass the bat file to my run before in pinbally, everything hangs up and i have to force quit to get back to the desktop. i can’t figure this one out!

any thoughts are appreciated!
 
hey terry, thank you for all the work you do!

the BAT file works great!

when i ass the bat file to my run before in pinbally, everything hangs up and i have to force quit to get back to the desktop. i can’t figure this one out!

any thoughts are appreciated!

No idea, as I don't use PBY.

The BAT file was intended for use with no front-end or to setup / configure DMDExt.

I do remember having similar issues with PBX when I last used it MANY years ago. I got around that by converting to BAT to an EXE and running that. (I don't know what has changed since then with PBX).
 
thanks for the reply. converted to an exe, still behaving the same way.

i also tried the command line as suggested but i keep getting a file not found with pinbally but the files are all still there.

i’ll keep plugging away :)
 
This guide is now completely updated and renamed as the DMDExt Guide (for Future Pinball)

- I now have all my guides and tutorials in PDF format
- this new guide has been created to be used with the FP and BAM Essentials AIO package
- all my guides and tutorials are now only included with the FP and BAM Essentials AIO package



You can download the FP and BAM Essentials AIO package (and DMDExt Guide) here:




A video tutorial that walks you through this guide can be seen here




Chapters

00:00 Start
01:25 DMDExt - What does it do?
03:14 Guide walkthrough
06:50 How to run DMDExt with FP
08:00 Copy dmddevice.ini to FP folder
09:04 dmddevice.ini settings
11:46 Run DMDExt - set it's position and size
13:16 Styles - window and settings (always appears on PF screen)
16:15 Test DMDExt with Sonic Pinball Mania
17:52 FP must be run in windowed mode to access Styles window
18:34 Test different Styles presets
22:22 Run FP and DMDExt with BAT file
23:45 Setup Popper to run DMDExt
31:04 Test launching FP table and DMDExt from Popper
33:03 Closing
 
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