A toolbox for digital pinball and dot matrix displays.
This project aims to connect digital pinball games with the physical DMDs that are widespread in the community. It also comes with pretty monitor output, supports frame-by-frame colorization, and can even stream over the network.
- Features
- Install Instructions
- Usage
- Configuration
- Breaking Changes
- Troubleshooting
- Reporting Bugs
- Manual Installation
- Game Names
- Build Instructions
DMD Extensions adds real DMD support to the following games:
- Pinball FX2 through frame grabbing from screen
- Pinball FX3 by reading the DMD texture data from memory
- Pinball FX by officially supporting
DmdDevice.dll
(thanks, Zen!) - The Pinball Arcade by Farsight, through grabbing the DMD texture from memory
- Pro Pinball Timeshock through their message queue
- Visual PinMAME through
DmdDevice.dll
- Future Pinball through using Macro's FP Intercept that sends DMD frames through a pipe.
The command line tool can also display image files on the DMD device and render frames to bitmap files. Many features like this are described in the command line options below, so have a close look at those as well.
Currently supported hardware displays:
- PinDMD v3, full RGB support
- PinDMD v2, 4 bit (16 shades) support
- PinDMD v1, 2 bit (4 shades) support
- PIN2DMD, full RGB support
- Pixelcade, full RGB support
- ZeDMD / PinDMD v3.1*, full RGB support
* The display from VirtuaPin marketed as PinDMD v3.1 is a ZeDMD under the hood.
DMD Extensions includes a complex shader with awesome effects for monitor users. For more info, find the documentation here.
DMD Extensions supports high-resolution rendering of segmented alpha-numeric displays:
Documentation how to enable and customize this feature can be found here.
DMD Extensions includes support for Serum colorizations, as well as the VNI/PAL/PAC format, originally used on PIN2DMD devices.
Colorization is enabled for most games, including Pinball FX(3), The Pinball Arcade, and Visual PinMAME.
DMD Extensions can also receive frames from the network and output them to any device. Likewise, it can stream frames from any source over the network. Documentation of this feature can be found here.
Additionally, DMD Extensions can act as a web server where any number of clients can connect to, and see the DMD in real time in the web browser.
Most of the time, your DMD will match the resolution of the game, which is 128x32. There are however two cases where scaling comes into play.
- The game has a different resolution than 128x32. If the resolution is higher, the frames will be scaled down,
using scaling algorithm defined by the
resize
option (stretch, fill, and fit). If the resolution is lower, the frames will be centered on the DMD, with black borders around it. - You're using a high-resolution DMD, like a PIN2DMD XL or ZeDMD HD, running at 256x64. In this case, frames can be be scaled up, using either a "doubler" or "scale2x" algorithm. Note that your physical display must be at least double the size of the source frame size.
The above mainly applies to hardware displays, which are limited to a fixed resolution. However, it's also possible to
upscale frames to the virtual DMD. In order to do that, set scalermode
so to either doubler
or scale2x
.
Download the installer and run it. A few notes:
- The installer will overwrite any existing
dmddevice.dll
in your VPM folder if you choose to install it (existing INI files are untouched). - If you're on Windows x64, you probably want to install both 32 and 64-bit versions. They can live happily next to each other.
- The reason for installing both versions is that your VPM is probably 32-bit,
so you'll need the 32-bit
DmdDevice.dll
and if you're usingdmdext.exe
with the 64-bit version of Pro Pinball, it will only work with the 64-bit version. - However, if you don't have Pro Pinball, just 32-bit will do fine, and if you don't use VPM then just 64-bit will do fine as well. And if you're on a 32-bit Windows, then just take the 32-bit version.
- The installer will add the install folder of
dmdext.exe
to thePATH
environment variable, but only if the platform is the same:- DMD Extensions (64-bit) on Windows x64 is added to
PATH
- DMD Extensions (32-bit) on Windows 32-bit is added to
PATH
- All other combinations aren't added to
PATH
- DMD Extensions (64-bit) on Windows x64 is added to
- The installer will set the
DMDDEVICE_CONFIG
environment variable to the location of yourDmdDevice.ini
. That means from wherever you launchDmdDevice.dll
(or rundmdext.exe
with--use-ini
), the sameDmdDevice.ini
will be used. - If you re-install and your VPM installation folder changed since the last
installation, a new
DmdDevice.ini
will be copied to the new location (if it doesn't exist), and theDMDDEVICE_CONFIG
environment variable will be updated accordingly. - During installation, when a feature is deactivated, that means the installer
couldn't find the host program. For VPM that means that you haven't registered
VPinMAME.dll
. For Pro Pinball it means it's not installed via Steam, and you'll need to select its installation folder manually.
If you don't trust the installer and want to do it manually, see below.
- Open a command prompt ([Windows]+[R],
cmd
, [enter]) - Type
dmdext test -d auto
[enter]
You should see a test image on your DMD as well as on a virtual DMD.
- Enable cabinet options in Pinball FX2
- Resize the DMD to:
- Width:
520
- Height:
136
- Width:
- Move the DMD to somewhere hidden like off-screen or behind the playfield
(usually at
0
/0
). - Open a command prompt ([Windows]+[R],
cmd
, [enter]) - Type
dmdext mirror --source=pinballfx2 --no-virtual
[enter] (orpinballfx3
for FX3) - Start Pinball FX2/3
For further tweaking, see options below.
The DMD from Pinball FX3 is pulled directly from the memory.
- Open a command line prompt ([Windows], type
cmd
, [enter]) - Type
dmdext mirror --source=pinballfx3 --no-virtual
[enter] - Start Pinball FX3 and play a game.
It doesn't matter whether Pinball FX3 is started before or after dmdext
, and
it works with or without cabinet mode.
Note that while the current memory grabber code should also work for future
Pinball FX3 versions, we obviously can't guarantee it. If a new version breaks
dmdext
, you should still be able to fall back to the legacy screen grabber
that is used by Pinball FX2 by using the --fx3-legacy
flag.
Since mid June 2023, Pinball FX officially supports DMD Extensions through DmdDevice.dll
. Note however that Pinball FX
runs on 64 bit, so it's technically DmdDevice64.dll
, which comes with the 64-bit version of DMD Extensions.
If you don't have Visual PinMAME installed, you'll have to set the DMDDEVICE_CONFIG
environment variable to point to
DmdDevice.ini
, given you keep DmdDevice64.dll
in the same directory.
To do that:
- 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 toDmdDevice.ini
as variable value.
If you have done that, or you do have VPM installed, simply enable the external DMD in Pinball FX:
- Start Pinball FX
- Open the settings menu (gears icon at the top right)
- Choose Cabinet Support
- Choose Dotmatrix Window
- Under Dotmatrix Window, select External DMD Device.
For customizing games in DmdDevice.ini
, see this list of IDs for all supported games.
For TPA we're pulling frames off the DMD texture from TPA's memory.
- Open a command line prompt ([Windows], type
cmd
, [enter]) - Type
dmdext mirror --source=pinballarcade --no-virtual
[enter] - Start the DX11 version of The Pinball Arcade.
- Select and start a game (only then it starts mirroring, during attract mode it doesn't, even though TPA does display the DMD).
Currently re-running dmdext
while TPA is running doesn't work and will be
addressed soon.
Also note that currently only 128x32 DMD games are supported, that means no EM games neither Frankenstein which has a different resolution.
If you happen switch tables often and the last DMD frame gets stuck on your DMD
when changing to an EM game, you can use the --idle-after
option to clear the
screen.
In version 1.2.1, Barnstorm Games added support for external hardware through a message queue. To get it running, do the following:
- Make sure you have
dmdext.exe
in yourPATH
- Copy
ProPinballSlave.bat
to the Pro Pinball installation folder (usually at%PROGRAMFILES(X86)%\Steam\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Pro Pinball Ultra
) - Add the following command line parameters when launching
ProPinball.exe
:m3 dProPinballSlave
Note that this currently works only with the 64-bit version of Pro Pinball. 32
bit binaries will be provided with a later release. If you want to change the
options (e.g. show the virtual DMD), edit ProPinballSlave.bat
and adopt
accordingly.
VPM introduced the possibility of delegating DMD rendering to an external DLL. The main motivation is being able to ship a single build instead of having to release multiple binaries for multiple DMDs.
Be sure to use at least PinMAME v3.4. You can download the latest version here.
Copy Future Pinball/OpenGL32.dll
to your Future Pinball folder, i.e. where
Future Pinball.exe
is located. Now, you can send frames to your DMD by running:
dmdext mirror -s futurepinball
Note that:
- The
-q
toggle works here, so instead of killing the process you could make it exit automatically when the table closes. - With
-g <name>
, you can set the game's name, which will, when used along--use-ini
, read the game-specific settings.
For more details check out TerryRed's guide here.
DMD Extensions can also play videos and images. Here are a few examples:
dmdext play -f "ACDC (Stern 2012).gif"
dmdext play -f "Tron Legacy (Stern 2011).png"
DMD Extensions can send unprocessed frames and scene events detected by supported colorizers to Pinup Player, which is then used to trigger videos.
To enable event triggering, you'll need a recent version of dmddevicePUP.dll
and dmddevicePUP64.dll
. You can download the latest version
here.
Then, enable the Pinup Player output in DmdDevice.ini
:
[pinup]
enabled = true
DMD Extensions can be used in PinballX, the frontend for virtual pinball cabinets. In order
to do so, copy DmdDevice64.dll
to the PinballX's installation folder, and delete or rename PinDMD.dll
. Then, activate
the DMD output through the Settings app, and you should be good to go.
DMD Extensions can also dump frames to disk. This is needed when colorizing a new game, since both the Serum as well as the Pin2Color editor use them as the basis for the colorization.
Visual PinMAME has a built-in frame dumper, which is enabled when the dmddump
folder exists, and both Use external DMD
and Show DMD Window are active for a ROM. However, this doesn't work for the DMD rendering of alphanumeric games.
Dmdext's frame dumping not only works for those games, but can also be used to dump frames from Pinball FX and all the other games where VPM isn't involved.
To enable it, update DmdDevice.ini
:
[rawoutput]
enabled = true
For dumping frames through dmdext.exe
, use the following command line:
dmdext mirror -s <source> --dump-frames
The frames will be dumped to the dmddump
folder, which is located where PinMAME is installed. If PinMAME isn't found,
a dmddump
folder is created in the current working directory. Existing dump files are appended to.
Note however that the frame dumper needs a source that provides a game name. Tested sources are:
- VPX/VPM
- Pinball FX
- Pinball FX3
- The Pinball Arcade
- Pro Pinball Ultra (add
--dump-frames
toProPinballSlave.bat
)
Since DmdDevice.dll
is called by VPM, we can't pass any configuration
parameters to it. Instead, we use DmdDevice.ini
which must be located
in the same folder as VPinMAME.dll
or at the path where the DMDDEVICE_CONFIG
environment variable is pointing to.
Note however that it's also possible to make dmdext.exe
use the ini instead of
command line parameters (using the --use-ini
parameter).
You can also tell dmdext.exe
to read the output configuration from DmdDevice.ini
instead of passing them as command line arguments. The options are described below.
The output are described by block below.
Command Line | DmdDevice.ini | Description |
---|---|---|
-r , --resize |
[global] resize |
How to downscale SEGA 192x64 or other high-resolution games to smaller displays. Can have three values:
|
--flip-x |
[global] fliphorizontally |
Flips the image horizontally (left/right) |
--flip-y |
[global] flipvertically |
Flips the image vertically (top/down) |
--colorize |
[global] colorize |
Enable or disable frame-by-frame colorization (inactive in VPX bundle) |
--plugin |
[global] plugin{n}.path[64] |
Enable a third party plugin. See Plugin Configuration |
--plugin-passthrough |
[global] plugin{n}.passthrough |
Enable the plugin to always receive frames. See Plugin Configuration |
-d virtual --no-virtual |
[virtualdmd] enabled |
Shows a virtual DMD that renders on the computer screen somewhat nicely |
--virtual-stay-on-top |
[virtualdmd] stayontop |
Virtual DMD stays on top of most other windows |
n/a | [virtualdmd] ignorear |
If true, allow free resizing of the virtual DMD, otherwise the aspect ratio is locked to the DMD's. |
n/a | [virtualdmd] useregistry |
If true, read the virtual DMD position from VPM's registry. |
--virtual-position |
[virtualdmd] left top width height |
Position of the virtual DMD. Command line takes in all four in the shown order, where the last (height) is optional. |
--virtual-dotsize |
[virtualdmd] dotsize |
Scale dot size. Use 0.8 for previous default setting. |
-d pindmdv1 |
[pindmd1] enabled |
Enables the 2-bit pinDMD display. |
-d pindmdv2 |
[pindmd2] enabled |
Enables the 4-bit pinDMD2 display. |
-d pindmdv3 |
[pindmd3] enabled |
Enables the RGB24 pinDMDv3 display. |
--port |
[pindmd3] port |
COM port, e.g. COM3 . |
-d pin2dmd |
[pin2dmd] enabled |
Enables the RGB24 PIN2DMD display. |
n/a | [pin2dmd] delay |
Delay in milliseconds to wait after loading a palette. |
-d zedmd |
[zedmd] enabled |
Enables the RGB24 ZeDMD display. |
-d zedmdhd |
[zedmdhd] enabled |
Enables the RGB24 ZeDMD HD display. |
-d zedmdwifi |
[zedmdwifi] enabled |
Enables the RGB24 ZeDMD WiFi display. |
-d zedmdhdwifi |
[zedmdhdwifi] enabled |
Enables the RGB24 ZeDMD HD WiFi display. |
--zedmd-debug |
[zedmd] debug |
Let any ZeDMD show its debug informations. |
--zedmd-brightness |
[zedmd] brightness |
Change any ZeDMD brightness between 0 and 15. |
--zedmd-rgborder |
[zedmd] rgborder |
Change any ZeDMD RGB order between 0 and 5. |
--zedmd-scalergb24 |
[zedmd] scalergb24 |
Scale pure RGB24 content on ZeDMD HD. Default: true. |
--zedmd-wifi-address |
[zedmdwifi] wifi.address |
Connect to ZeDMD (HD) WiFi using this IP address. |
--zedmd-wifi-port |
[zedmdwifi] wifi.port |
Connect to ZeDMD (HD) WiFi using this port. Default: 3333. |
--zedmd-wifi-ssid |
[zedmdwifi] wifi.ssid |
Configure ZeDMD (HD) WiFi to use this SSID. |
--zedmd-wifi-password |
[zedmdwifi] wifi.password |
Configure ZeDMD (HD) WiFi to use this password. |
n/a | [video] enabled |
Enables creating an .avi video from the DMD frames. |
n/a | [video] path |
Path to folder or .avi file. If a folder is given, it will create a file named after the current game. |
n/a | [browserstream] enabled |
Enables streaming the DMD in real time to your browser in your LAN. |
n/a | [browserstream] port |
Port of the web server to listen on |
--pinup |
[pinup] enable |
Enables output to PinUP. |
--scaler-mode |
[global] scalermode |
Use to upscale all frames. Can have three values:
|
--scaler-mode |
[global] vni.scalermode |
Scaler mode for VNI/PAC colorizations. Note: This only applies to 256x64 colorized content files. Can have two scaling modes:
|
--skip-analytics |
[global] skipanalytics |
If true, Don't send anonymous usage statistics to the developer. More info here. |
You can also override all options per game by using the game's name as section
name and pre-fixing options with the name of the section (apart from [global]
options, which aren't prefixed). For example if you have a PinDMD2 and don't
want to use it for Baywatch which has a different resolution, you would create
a section like this:
[baywatch]
pindmd2 enabled = false
virtualdmd enabled = true
virtualdmd left = 2500
virtualdmd top = 800
virtualdmd width = 1024
virtualdmd height = 256
This is also useful if you just want to fit the virtual DMD onto different backglasses which have slightly different positions.
Also note that dmdext can retrieve the DMD's position from VPM's registry
setting. That means you can use VPM to position the DMD and dmdext will take
the same setting for each game. This behavior can be enabled using the
useregistry
option.
Input options only apply to dmdext.exe, because the DLL is called externally from VPM where no configuration is necessary (apart from enabling it in VPM).
The following parameters are valid for all of dmdext's commands:
Parameter | Description | Default |
---|---|---|
--use-ini |
Path to DmdDevice.ini to use instead of command line options. If no path is provided, the DMDDEVICE_CONFIG environment variable is used as fallback. If just DmdDevice.ini is provided, dmdext will look for it in the current working directory. |
none |
-c, --color |
Sets the color of a grayscale source that is rendered on an RGB destination. | ff3000 |
-q, --quit-when-done |
Exit the program when finished, e.g. when Pinball FX2 doesn't receive any frames anymore. | false |
--quit-after |
Exit after n milliseconds. If set to -1, waits indefinitely or until source finishes when -q used. | -1 |
--no-clear |
Don't clear screen when quitting. | false |
-o, --output-to-file |
If set, writes all frames as PNG bitmaps to the provided folder. |
Note that all options of dmdext.exe are also available via command line:
dmdext --help
dmdext mirror --help
dmdext play --help
dmdext test --help
The mirror
command has the following additional parameters:
Parameter | Description | Default |
---|---|---|
-s, --source |
Required. The source you want to retrieve DMD data from. One of: [ pinballfx2 , pinballfx3 , pinballarcade , propinball , futurepinball , screen ]. |
n/a |
-f, --fps |
How many frames per second should be mirrored. | 25 |
--idle-after |
Wait for number of milliseconds until clearing the screen. Disable with 0. | 0 |
--idle-play |
Play this file while idleing instead of blank screen. Supported formats: JPG, PNG, GIF. Animated GIFs are supported. | none |
--position |
screen - Position and size of screen grabber source. Four values: <Left> <Top> <Right> <Bottom> . |
0 0 128 32 |
--resize-to |
screen - Resize captured screen to this size. Two values: . | 128 32 |
--grid-spacing |
screen - How much of the white space around the dot should be cut off (grid size is defined by --resize-to). 1 means same size as the dot, 0.5 half size, etc. 0 for disable. | 0 |
--propinball-args |
propinball - Arguments send from the Pro Pinball master process. Usually something like: ndmd w0_0_0_0_w m392 . Will be set automatically when called through Pro Pinball. |
|
--fx3-legacy |
pinballfx3 - If set, don't use the memory grabber but the legacy screen grabber, like Pinball FX2. | false |
--colorize |
Enable or disable frame-by-frame colorization. Supported on pinballfx3 (memory grabber) and pinballarcade . |
false |
The play
command has the following additional parameters:
Parameter | Description | Default |
---|---|---|
-f, --file |
Path to the file to play. Currently supported file types: PNG, JPG, BIN (raw). | none |
The test
command just outputs a single image. This allows you to test different modes and resolutions without having
to start a game.
Parameter | Description | Default |
---|---|---|
--format |
The frame format. One of rgb24 , gray2 , gray4 , coloredgray2 , coloredgray4 , coloredgray6 . |
rgb24 |
Examples:
dmdext test
dmdext test --format gray2
The ZeDMD library (zedmd.dll
) is bundled with DmdDevice.dll
and dmdext.exe
.
However, you can also replace this library with a newer version if you wish.
To do that, download the latest DLL from here and place it alongside
with DmdDevice.dll
or dmdext.exe
. Note that this might break compatibility, so check your log if ZeDMD suddenly stops
working.
This is the default maode for ZeDMD. You don't need to configuire anything except setting enabled
to true
in
DmdDevice.ini
for [zedmd]
or [zedmdhd]
.
BUit in case you have multiple devices or run into issues with the auto detection and other USB devices attached,
you can set a conctrete COM port to use in DmdDevice.ini
using port
.
Alternatively ZeDMD could be flashed with a firmware that provides a WiFi mode.
In DmdDevice.ini
there're special devices named [zedmdwifi]
and [zedmdhdwifi]
to use it.
To run the ZeDMD in WiFi mode it needs WiFi credentials to establish the network connection.
These could also be set once via the DMD Extension.
Run dmdext.exe -d zedmd --zedmd-wifi-ssid YOUR_SECRET_SSID --zedmd-wifi-password YOUR_SECRET_PASSWORD
.
At the next start, ZeDMD will display the IP address it obtained from you WiFI network in the top left corner.
This address has to be added as wifi.address
to DmdDevice.ini
.
You can also perform that configuration without dmdext.exe
using this multi-step process:
First you have to add the SSID and the password in the zedmd section of DmdDevice.ini
using
wifi.ssid
and wifi.password
. These will be submitted to ZeDMD the next time you start DMD Extensions.
Once done you should quit DMD Extensions.
Now you have to remove wifi.ssid
and wifi.password
from DmdDevice.ini
.
At the next start, ZeDMD will display the IP address it obtained from you WiFI network in the top left corner.
This address has to be added as wifi.address
to DmdDevice.ini
.
ZeDMD will store the WiFi credentials internally! So ensure to erase them using one of the processes described above before giving your ZeDMD to someone else!
If you are a PC monitor user or have an RGB display (PinDMDv3, PIN2DMD, Pixelcade or ZeDMD), you can enable frame-by-frame colorization for games that are supported by the creators of the virtual pinball community. This means that the DMD will be rendered in color, with up to 64 colors per frame.
There are two natively supported formats: Serum and VNI/PAL/PAC (originally only available for PIN2DMD displays). Additionally, dmdext supports colorization plugins from third parties.
All formats keep their files in the altcolor
folder, which is located in the same folder as VPM (usually
Visual Pinball\VPinMAME\altcolor
). In this folder, every game has its separate folder, which contains the colorization
files.
Depending on the source, the game folders and colorization files are named differently:
- In VPM, the game folders are named after the ROM name (e.g.
cp_16
for Champion Pub). - Serum files can be named anything, but must have the
.cRZ
extension. - VNI/PAL/PAC files can be named anything, but must have the
.vni
/.pal
/.pac
extension. - In Pinball Arcade and Pinball FX3, the games have different names. Scroll down for a list of game names at the time of writing.
For example, a structure for Champion Pub for all games and all color formats, could look like this (note that if both
a .cRZ
and VNI/PAL/PAC files are present in the same game folder, the .cRZ
file will be used):
altcolor
├── cp_16
│ ├── ChampionPub.cRZ
│ ├── pin2dmd.pal
│ └── pin2dmd.vni
├── ChampionPub
│ ├── ChampionPub.cRZ
│ ├── pin2dmd.pal
│ └── pin2dmd.vni
├── BALLY_Champion_Pub
│ ├── ChampionPub.cRZ
│ ├── pin2dmd.pal
│ ├── pin2dmd.vni
└── 121
├── ChampionPub.cRZ
├── pin2dmd.pal
└── pin2dmd.vni
Not about Serum: The library that does Serum colorization (serum.dll
) is
bundled with DmdDevice.dll
and dmdext.exe
. However, you can also replace this library with a newer version if you wish.
To do that, download the latest DLL from here and place it alongside
with DmdDevice.dll
or dmdext.exe
. Note that this might break compatibility, so check your log if Serum suddenly stops
working.
Enabling colorization plugins is done through the plugin.path
setting in DmdDevice.ini
, or through the --plugin
command line option in dmdext.exe
. Additionally, you can specify the plugin.passthrough
option, which will send
frames to the plugin independently of the whether a colorization file is present or not. This is useful for frame
dumping.
DmdDevice.ini
example:
; load plugins
plugin.0.path = C:\Visual Pinball\VPinMAME\pin2color.dll
plugin.0.path64 = C:\Visual Pinball\VPinMAME\pin2color64.dll
plugin.0.passthrough = false
You can add up to 10 plugins. The first plugin which has a colorization file present or passthrough enabled will be used.
Command line example:
dmdext.exe mirror --source pinballfx3 --colorize --plugin "C:\Visual Pinball\VPinMAME\pin2color.dll" --plugin-passthrough
Note that the --plugin
parameter needs to point to a DLL with the correct bitness, i.e. 64-bit dmdext.exe
would need
the 64-bit version of the plugin.
Also note that without passthrough
enabled, the plugin is disabled if no colorization file is present.
Depending on the source, enabling colorization is different:
- In VPM, enter setup, open the ROM's game options and enable Use external DMD (dll) as well as Colorize DMD.
- In Pinball Arcade and Pinball FX3, use the
--colorize
option when runningdmdext.exe
.
Colorizations in the VNI/PAL format or the plugin are able to emit selected frames at 256x64, which is twice the normal size. In this case, all frames will be rendered at this resolution. Frames that aren't provided at 256x64 will be upscaled. In the native VNI/PAL/PAC colorizer, you can choose which upscale algorithm to use.
- For the command line, use the
--scaler-mode
option. The default isdouble
. - In DmdDevice.ini, set the
vni.scalermode
option.
- In DmdDevice.ini, the
[zedmd]
has been split into[zedmd]
,[zedmdhd]
,[zedmdwifi]
,[zedmdhdwifi]
. - ZeDMD HD devices don't use their built-in scaler anymore when attached to DMD Extension. They now leverage the common
scalermode
setting. - ZeDMD firmware versions before 3.6.0 aren't supported anymore.
- Removed --scale-to-hd in favor of --scaler-mode. Set scaler mode to
none
if you want to disable scaling.
- In DmdDevice.ini, the
[ZeDMD]
has changed to[zedmd]
. - ZeDMD firmware versions before 3.2.0 aren't supported anymore.
- Data types in configuration files are now culture invariant. Meaning if you are running under a Windows UI Culture such as German
which normally represents decimals with commas instead of periods you will need to change your configuration file (such as
DMDDevice.ini) to use periods for decimal data. The most common example would be those users who are using
dotsize
setting in your DMDDevice.ini. This was done to standardize the format of numeric data accross different languages. - Hardware DMDs aren't probed per default anymore, unless you specifically set the destination. For most people that means that
you'll need to provide the
-d
option when runningdmdext.exe
. - If you are a PinDMDv3 user and are using colored ROMs, you'll want to upgrade your firmware.
Some users reported heavy flickering when running via PinballX. Seems that this is linked to the desktop settings. This seems to help:
- Go to My Computer
- Click on Performance Information and Tools on the bottom left
- Click on Adjust Visual Effects at the top left.
- When the Performance Window pops up, click on Adjust for Best Appearance. All the boxes should automatically get check marked.
- Click on Apply, and then OK to get out.
Thanks to xman72!
Try boosting how fast dmdext grabs the frames. For example, for Pinball FX2, try:
dmdext mirror --source=pinballfx2 --no-virtual -q --fps 60
Default is 25, which seems too slow for some games.
Thanks smoke007 for the tip!
DMD Extensions comes bundled in two versions: A library which is loaded by VPM
called DmdDevice.dll
, and an executable, dmdext.exe
for all the other
applications.
The executable ignores DmdDevice.ini
because it's configured through command
line options (that is, unless you specifically tell it to use a config file
with the --use-ini
option).
Use VPM 3.1. If you can't wait there's a beta build here.
Thanks to djrobx for the fix an all others at #52 for reporting.
When you override High DPI scaling in the host app (e.g. vpinballx.exe
),
dmdext is put into a different coordinate system, so your DmdDevice.ini
's
position settings are applied differently. This can lead to wrong positioning
or complete off-screen rendering.
Thanks to outhere for the tip!
This can happen if your system doesn't have the needed Visual C++ Redistributable installed. You can download it here.
Thanks Jewer76!
Try unchecking "backglass bring to front" by right clicking the backglass (source).
Thanks wiesshund!
Make sure you include the application log, in its entirety. You can usually find
it at the same place you copied your DmdDevice.dll
or dmdext.exe
. However, there
are two premises for the log to be created:
-
You need a log config file. If there's no log config file, no log is created. The log config file is called
DmdDevice.log.config
for bothDmdDevice.dll
andDmdDevice64.dll
, anddmdext.log.config
fordmdext.exe
. They must be at the same place as the DLL and EXE respectively. -
The user running the host app must have write permissions to the log folder. Per default that's the current working directory. If you have copied the DLL to the
Windows\SysWOW64
folder, you don't have write access. In this case you need to write the log elsewhere. You can do that by editing the log config file. The format of the log file is XML. To change the log file location, find this line:<target xsi:type="File" name="file" fileName="DmdDevice.log"
And change the
fileName
attribute to somewhere you can write, for example:<target xsi:type="File" name="file" fileName="C:\Users\youruser\DmdDevice.log"
For problems with DmdDevice.dll, specially with coloring, set the log level to
Trace
and reproduce the problem. You can do that by editing DmdDevice.log.config
and changing:
<logger name="*" minlevel="Info" writeTo="file" />
to
<logger name="*" minlevel="Trace" writeTo="file" />
If you have a crash, please also include which OS/bitness you're using. If it's
about the DLL, let us know where you copied the DLL and which host application
you're using (VPM's setup.exe
orvpinball.exe
, also which version).
You can post bugs at VPUniverse, or preferably here.
- Download the .zip archive,
copy its content to your hard drive, preferably in your
PATH
, and unblock the.exe
file (right-click, properties, unblock). - Download and install the Visual C++ Redistributables for Visual Studio 2017.
- If you haven't already, download and install the .NET Framework 4.7.2.
If you want to use DMD Extensions with VisualPinMAME:
- Copy
DmdDevice.dll
,DmdDevice64.dll
,DmdDevice.ini
andDmdDevice.log.config
into your VPM folder (usually atVisual Pinball\VPinMAME
). - Run the VPM setup
- Click on Test, select the game and click on Game Options.
- Enable Use External DMD and optionally disable Show DMD.
You can also set this as the default by selecting Default Options in the VPM setup, however note that games that you've already configured won't be affected.
Title | Pinball Arcade | Pinball FX3 | Pinball FX |
---|---|---|---|
AC/DC | ACDC |
||
Attack From Mars | AttackFromMars |
BALLY_Attack_from_Mars |
119 |
Big Buck Hunter PRO | BuckHunter |
||
Big Hurt | BigHurt |
||
Black Rose | BlackRose |
BALLY_BlackRose |
118 |
Bram Stoker's Dracula | Dracula |
||
Cactus Canyon | CactusCanyon |
||
Champion Pub | ChampionPub |
BALLY_Champion_Pub |
121 |
Cirqus Voltaire | Cirqus |
BALLY_Cirqus_Voltaire |
127 |
Creature of the Black Lagoon | Creature |
BALLY_Creature_from_the_Black_Lagoon |
131 |
Cue Ball Wizard | CueBallWizard |
||
Doctor Who | DoctorWho |
||
Dr. Dude and his Excellent Ray | DrDude |
BALLY_Dr_Dude |
135 |
Fish Tales | FishTales |
WMS_Fish_Tales |
108 |
Funhouse | FnHouse |
WMS_Funhouse |
134 |
Ghostbusters | GhostBustersStern |
||
Gladiators | Gladiators |
||
Harley Davidson | HarleyDavidson |
||
High Roller Casino | HighRollerCasino |
||
Hurricane | Hurricane |
WMS_Hurricane |
126 |
Indiana Jones: The Pinball Adventure | WMS_Indiana_Jones |
133 |
|
Indianapolis 500 | Indy500 |
||
Jack·Bot | JackBot |
||
Judge Dredd | JudgeDredd |
||
Junk Yard | JunkYard |
WMS_Junkyard |
110 |
Last Action Hero | LastActionHero |
||
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein | Frankenstein |
||
Medieval Madness | Mediev |
WMS_Medieval_Madness |
109 |
Monster Bash | Monster |
WMS_Monster_Bash |
130 |
Mustang | Mustang |
||
No Fear: Dangerous Sports | NoFear |
||
No Good Gofers | Gofers |
WMS_No_Good_Gofers |
128 |
Party Zone | PartyZone |
BALLY_Party_Zone |
120 |
Pistol Poker | PistolPoker |
||
Red and Ted's Road Show | RoadShow |
WMS_Roadshow |
125 |
Rescue 911 | Rescue911 |
||
Ripley's Believe it Or Not | Ripleys |
||
Safe Cracker | SafeCracker |
BALLY_Safe_Cracker |
122 |
Scared Stiff | ScaredStiff |
||
Space Station | WMS_Space_Station |
129 |
|
Starship Troopers | StarshipTroopers |
||
StarTrek | StarTrek |
||
StarTrek: The Next Generation | StarTrekTNG |
163 |
|
Swords of Fury | SwordsOfFury |
149 |
|
Tales of the Arabian Nights | Totan |
WMS_Tales_of_the_Arabian_Nights |
132 |
Teed Off | TeedOff |
||
Terminator 2: Judgment Day | Terminator2 |
||
The Addams Family | AddamsFamily |
156 |
|
The Getaway: High Speed 2 | HighSpeed2 |
WMS_Getaway |
111 |
The Machine: Bride of Pin·Bot | BridePB |
148 |
|
Theatre of Magic | TheaterOfMagic |
BALLY_TheatreOfMagic |
117 |
Twilight Zone | TwilightZone |
162 |
|
Whirlwind | WhirlWind |
168 |
|
White Water | WhiteWater |
WMS_White_Water |
124 |
WHO dunnit | WhoDunnit |
||
Whoa Nellie! Big Juicy Melons | WhoaNellie |
||
Wipeout | Wipeout |
||
World Cup Soccer | WorldCup |
157 |
|
World Tour | WorldTour |
- For
dmdext.exe
, take the bitness of your OS. This is important for Pro Pinball, where the bitness of the binary must be the same as dmdext's. - For
DmdDevice.dll
, we now recommend using the 64-bit version (i.e.DmdDevice64.dll
).
- Download and install Visual Studio 2022
- The unmanaged exports library needs MS Build tools, which come with .NET 3.5. Install Instructions
- Recommended: If you want
DmdDevice.dll
automatically copied to your VPM folder after build, point theVPM_HOME
environment variable to your VPM installation folder. - Clone the repo:
git clone https://github.com/freezy/dmd-extensions.git
- After cloning the repo, you'll need to restore the DllExport
dependency. There is a script that does it for you. Go into the cloned repo and run:
DllExport -action Restore -sln-file DmdExtensions.sln
- Open the
.sln
file in Visual Studio and build the solution.
If you want to build the installer, you'll need the WiX Toolset v3 and its Visual Studio Extension.
Then there is an issue with Fody third party addin that may give you an error ith the $(IntermediateOutputPath). If this occurs, simply close Visual Studio and re-launch the DMD Extensions project and the issue will go away. Reference
- NoEx for the excellent TPA grabber code, as well as the Pinball FX3 memory grabber.
- Tom Speirs, Lucky1, CarnyPriest and Russdx for their help on the DMD code
- Lucky1 for instructions and details about the coloring features and Pin2DMD support.
- DJRobX for helping with the dynamic coloring, better performance and much more.
- mjrgh for debugging and optimizing stuff.
- Adrian Page from Barnstorm for his help setting up the slave correctly.
- Funkyman for 64 color support, 256x64 scaling options, bug fixes and code cleanup.
- To Zen Studios for their support and for making Pinball FX!
Finally, thanks to JetBrains for their awesome tools and support of the Open Source Community!
GPLv2, see LICENSE.