Details on PC Cabinet support for TPA

[mpad]

Yeah, you guys rock!

@jeff: you have a cab now?

 

[Robert Misner]

Ok I finished editing all my prefered backglass files and adding in the appropriate transparent section.
All are 1600x1200 all folders and images are named the same as the Free camera mod just to keep things simple.
I'll update my camera files to suit this setup next.

http://1drv.ms/1PWUzdf

and heres quick video showing how ingame ya can manually change from one backglass to another.

 

[NoEx]

Great job! To be honest i had already thought of displaying the DMD on the backglass screen by stretching the top of the game's window to the other screen exactly like you did but i just made a few tests and that did not work the way i expected then i gave up! I'm glad to see that you finally managed to do it!

"Pinball Arcade DMD display on 2nd monitor. This is currently integrated into our system and not available anywhere else"

Not anymore (This is exactly the method they used in their system, we can even see the camera moving behind the DMD @ 0:29 > https://youtu.be/Z7hbHlLheAg)

 

[shutyertrap]

Once you guys get this all figured out, I suggest starting a new thread with clear instructions in that first post. Then we can sticky it.

 

[Robert Misner]

ya it was a combination of resolution and back buffer settings that lets this work..the utility to create transparent always on top backglasses is really needed to not see all the background stuff like that video.
this could work on a 3 screen setup too honestly just make sure the dmd monitor is next to the primary one in your display settings

i'm hoping the launching of the utility and picking the background can be scripted into your mod and when loading camera files is triggered it could load the backglass folder..if possible it will be fantastic.

Anyone know where the games window size and position are stored? might be nice to be able to back that up and then restore if things get reset.

NoEx I PM'd you my skype info

 

[SilverBalls]

"Pinball Arcade DMD display on 2nd monitor. This is currently integrated into our system and not available anywhere else"

Not anymore (This is exactly the method they used in their system, we can even see the camera moving behind the DMD @ 0:29 > https://youtu.be/Z7hbHlLheAg)

 

[Naildriver74]

I can't get the time set on my TV, can someone help me

 

[mpad]

Once you guys get this all figured out, I suggest starting a new thread with clear instructions in that first post. Then we can sticky it.

And think it is time for a cab section or subforum now
There we could also post build threads and so on.
I asked gord, but maybe you mods can do sth about it?!!

 

[Jeff Strong]

Yeah, you guys rock!

@jeff: you have a cab now?

It's more of a bartop arcade cab, but I'm going to try to get some custom carpentry done to turn it into a bartop pin cab.

 

[Heretic]

3rd party cab support, thats soooo 10 posts ago. can we get back to blaming hollywood for ****e?

 

[L33]

ya it was a combination of resolution and back buffer settings that lets this work..the utility to create transparent always on top backglasses is really needed to not see all the background stuff like that video.
this could work on a 3 screen setup too honestly just make sure the dmd monitor is next to the primary one in your display settings

i'm hoping the launching of the utility and picking the background can be scripted into your mod and when loading camera files is triggered it could load the backglass folder..if possible it will be fantastic.

Anyone know where the games window size and position are stored? might be nice to be able to back that up and then restore if things get reset.

NoEx I PM'd you my skype info

Can't remember if you'd seen my cab or not, but the dmd is a second monitor above the playfield and another monitor above that one serves as the Backglass. For zen pinball I simply resize the dmd to fit the second monitor (as it is windowed behind the speaker panel) and the backglass monitor is simply a static JPEG image relevant to the game. Do you think your idea would work on my setup, ie the dmd can be resized to fit inside the cut out portion of the speaker panel or would it have to be placed on the 3rd monitor above where my dmd would normally go? ( hope that makes sense) I'm a bit confused when it comes to computer talk...

 

[Robert Misner]

Re: L33 If your dmd monitor is a monitor within windows yes it should work..basically when you go to your display properties your playfield and dmd monitors have to be vertically stacked in their orientation so that the dmd monitor is above the play field monitor.
that way if you move your mouse up the center of the play field it would seamlessly move from one monitor to the other.

I updated all the camera files for NoEx's mod again..just minor tweaks to better scale with this.
You can grab them here http://1drv.ms/1LdGAys
I tried supersampling and it works great as well except for the old old tables that the score is a scaling graphic(Black Knight, Genie etc) the scoring graphic gets really small when you supersample..but rest of the tables that doesn't happen.

I'm curious for two screen setup's like mine where your grill and dmd are on the same monitor as the backglass art, would everyone prefer the image is narrower but the dmd fits the graphic better? or prefer it fills the whole monitor wide but is stretched more?

Heres the example i used ST TNG for

The top pic fills thewhole screen but the dmd doesn't fill the dmd space since we can't scale the DMD
the second pic is narrow with 2 black bars on right and left but the dmd fits the center better.

Preferences? Thoughts?

 

[L33]

Re: L33 If your dmd monitor is a monitor within windows yes it should work..basically when you go to your display properties your playfield and dmd monitors have to be vertically stacked in their orientation so that the dmd monitor is above the play field monitor.
that way if you move your mouse up the center of the play field it would seamlessly move from one monitor to the other.

I updated all the camera files for NoEx's mod again..just minor tweaks to better scale with this.
You can grab them here http://1drv.ms/1LdGAys
I tried supersampling and it works great as well except for the old old tables that the score is a scaling graphic(Black Knight, Genie etc) the scoring graphic gets really small when you supersample..but rest of the tables that doesn't happen.

I'm curious for two screen setup's like mine where your grill and dmd are on the same monitor as the backglass art, would everyone prefer the image is narrower but the dmd fits the graphic better? or prefer it fills the whole monitor wide but is stretched more?

Heres the example i used ST TNG for

The top pic fills thewhole screen but the dmd doesn't fill the dmd space since we can't scale the DMD
the second pic is narrow with 2 black bars on right and left but the dmd fits the center better.

Preferences? Thoughts?

Ok cheers again. Once the comp arrives I'll have chance to play around a little, though it does look a little tricky to setup. Great work by the way.

 

[mpad]

I like the latter onecwith the right proportions better, but since square displays are pretty rare these days, I think stretched is the most convenient.
Looks great.

 

[NoEx]

Well well, i've had some time to spend tonight so i've downloaded the backglass images Robert Misner has kindly designed (thanks again, it saved me a lot of time!) and i've started to code all the automate process to display dmd and backglass on a second monitor, and i can say that it went better than i expected!

Here is my progress so far (don't mind the cropped backglass image, my second test monitor resolution cannot go up to 1600*1200):



As for now, almost everything is handled and fully automated by the camera mod, when you start the game, title and window border are removed to display it as a "fake" full screen game, then it's resized and the top part is extended to the second monitor, when you select a table, the camera mod displays the full screen backglass image on the second monitor which fits perfectly to the dmd size (no additional program is needed).

Please note that the main monitor resolution must be 1920*1080 and 1600*1200 for backglass monitor, i'll stick with these settings for compatibility purpose during the dev phase.

That's all for now! I'll probably post a video later once everything will be working properly, maybe next week!

 

[Robert Misner]

amazing NoEx!! Such great news!

 

[DaPinballWizard]

Wow. To say this news from FS disappoints me is an understatement. Feel like we have been lied to for years. I am done buying anymore tables for any systems until they support cab.

If NoEx and Robert Misner can come up with something, major props to them!!!

So done with FS and their bs.

 

[SilverBalls]

Superb stuff Robert and NoEx. That is super quick.

Like mpad I also prefer the correct proportions but tbh either is good. Just an idea for the future (although not now), maybe it's possible to use a b2s back glass which could be animated in the future (I think Robert suggested it before). Not sure if a transparent rectangle can be plugged into it though to show DMD. Again that is just a future idea in case NoEx needs to considered it in his coding.

BTW - if you are lacking any back glasses there are some hi-res scans here which are free to use from Chris's back glass collection. He photographed many back glasses in action with a hi-res camera. Eg: T2_new

https://www.mediafire.com/folder/171k6jbvc7v40/backglasses

 

[Robert Misner]

I'm not sure about B2S since it would require some triggered events hooks from within the program to trigger activation of things..without some kind of output i'm not sure..but it would be amazing (Cyclone is a perfect example of the wheel spinning)
but its possible to do video backgrounds now thru pinballx. and configuring the bottom third of the screen to be the camera mods overlay..and the top 2 thirds plays a video thru pinball x is totally possible already

Oh and awesome photos' gonna go see if i can find some better pics in that site

 

[SilverBalls]

I'm not sure about B2S since it would require some triggered events hooks from within the program to trigger activation of things..without some kind of output i'm not sure..but it would be amazing (Cyclone is a perfect example of the wheel spinning)
but its possible to do video backgrounds now thru pinballx. and configuring the bottom third of the screen to be the camera mods overlay..and the top 2 thirds plays a video thru pinball x is totally possible already

Oh and awesome photos' gonna go see if i can find some better pics in that site

I can't remember where I read it, but I think B2S can be made to cycle through a light sequence or animation. So although it wouldn't be controlled by the table, it would look 'active' whilst playing. I might be wrong. Again it is something probably for the future.

Thanks again for uploading all your work - will give it a go when return home in couple of weeks.