Visual pinball some tables the scores are minimized or wont stay top

[Montell]

I am at the end of the rode for trying to figure this out. Typically when you talk to pinball people they are not running dekstop mode, and not on one monitor in 1920X1080.

 

Does anyone know why some visual pinball tables, such as addams family the score is minimized and wont stay on top? Using big box and rocketlauncher, not sure where else to turn. I am trying to use exclusive full screen,  but unchecking that does not help, on some tables its fine and i can see the score, and other tables it wont stay on top and is minimized.

 

Can anyone help.

[JoeViking245]

Most likely it's not minimized.  It's 'behind' the playfield.

Sometimes you can hold Alt and then press Tab until you get to the DMD, then let go of Alt, then click the playfield and the DMD will stay on top. Exit the table and restart it and it'll be there.

Other times, do the Alt Tab thing, click and hold the DMD window, "wiggle" it around with the mouse a little, let go of the mouse button then click the playfield.  You may need to right click the DMD window, select Show Borders, do the wiggle thing, right click and select hide borders and then click the playfield.

[Montell]

8 hours ago, JoeViking245 said:

Most likely it's not minimized.  It's 'behind' the playfield.

Sometimes you can hold Alt and then press Tab until you get to the DMD, then let go of Alt, then click the playfield and the DMD will stay on top. Exit the table and restart it and it'll be there.

Other times, do the Alt Tab thing, click and hold the DMD window, "wiggle" it around with the mouse a little, let go of the mouse button then click the playfield.  You may need to right click the DMD window, select Show Borders, do the wiggle thing, right click and select hide borders and then click the playfield.

 

Thanks for the reply, the addams family I had to edit the table and drag the score screen down onto the area, for some reason it was floating way to high.

I just picked a random one like 24 (table based on tv show) this one is similar but in exclusive full screen the score will not stay on top. If i unselect exclusive full screen it will show up. But theres a performance hit not using exclusive full screen, and some tables dont launch properly using rocketlauncher if you dont use this option (for example addams family sits in my taskbar and a bunch of windows are  open but minimized) Yet 24 works fine without that option selected.

 

But I have no idea why 24 i cant get the display to stay on top or show up in exclusive full screen. Theres nothing like adams family to show it in the editor (the score that is), and when i drag it or select it just goes back to in behind.

 

Alot of tables are working fine, but theres some problematic ones driving me crazy.

Edited June 26, 2022 by Montell

[sundogak]

I have never quite been able to track this issue 100% and like JoeViking245 said, sometimes alt tabbing eventually fixes. But I have had some that something is obviously "pulling" the DMD back behind the main screen window. 

Option 1: there is a pup pack utility that can use to z-order the running DMD back to top (don't have to use PUP Packs, but it was designed to help with same issue there).  I have had "mixed" success with this and can be non-intuitive to setup initially.  

Option 2: This option always "works" to fix DMD not on top.  If willing to put in some minor table editing, you can fix the code in the table to embed the DMD as part of the main table display.  The main thing you lose by embedding the DMD is if you are using Freezy's DMD and/or full color mods because you are using Visual Pinball's built in DMD process versus an external DLL. The embedded VP DMD is also limited in color flexibility (4 options).  Once you figure out, the general principals apply to any table you want to embed the DMD into the desktop. Oddly, this coding is present in many tables, but the authors have tended to "undo" much of it on assumption most are not running in desktop mode (even though there is code to say "embed DMD on desktop, else turn off".  

Step 1: Open table in editor. In this case I will use the table 24 by Stern.  Click on the icon that looks like a pinball table that toggles to backglass view.  Most times, you will not find the DMD text box, or they have drug off screen.  To make one go up to "INSERT" in the menu.  Click insert "Textbox".  You can quickly place it anywhere/drag size (don't worry about placement, will fix later)

Step 2: Now make sure you click on the text box so highlighted (shows below in shot below).  You will see the "position" options at the right. I typically just use 25,25,290,84 or something similar to place DMD on upper left.  You can adjust but most DMDs are similar size once get hang to it.  

The most important item here is that at bottom right under "STATE" you will want to type "DMD" (no quotes) in the box labeled text.  Basically, that tells VP that the Textbox is to be used as a DMD.  Now you have told VP where the DMD is placed so next is to adjust some code.  If you look at tables done by JPSALAS he almost always uses the proper embed "DMD" code since he is on desktop.  So, you can use them as examples as well. 

Also, you can adjust the "brightness of the DMD by the option on the right called "Text color" .  Setting at higher than 1.0 makes brighter DMD.  Also, if want DMD to be colorized, need to click on the little box in the Text Color option and make white (most times it is "orange").  If like orange, can just leave it as is.

Sometimes just doing the above will work since the code is in the table, just the text box DMD was purposely removed. In the case of 24, most versions I have seen have the code already in it so don't have to change/add.  If run table and don't see DMD, then proceed to next step.  The code that is doing the embedding is the text below in red for 24 (click on Scroll icon on left panel to bring up script window).  

Step 3:  In the case of the table 24, all of this code is already in the table. But for others, if the block isn't present at all (do search for "DMD") then typically add near the first 100 lines of code (i.e., beginning) after you see the first set of "DIM" variables.  I would work on a duplicate of your table so in case mess stuff up can go back. Below basically says set variables for (DIM commands) then if in desktop mode display DMD, if in cabinet mode, don't display DMD. 

Dim UseColoredDMD
Dim VarHidden

If DesktopMode = True Then 'Show Desktop components
  UseColoredDMD = true
  VarHidden = 1
Else
  UseColoredDMD = False
  VarHidden = 0
End if

Sometimes have found that some tables will only work if substitute all references to UseColoredDMD variable with one of the following (in order of what found typically works):

• UseVMPDMD
• UseDMD
• UseVPMColoredDMD 

After you do the above, the DMD is fixed on the desktop and cannot be moved around but also will not move under the main window. It is part of the main screen. The other benefit is that if you use JoeViking245 video plugin for VPX that it will record the DMD as part of the video.  

Edited June 28, 2022 by sundogak

[divetravis]

SUNDOGAK,,, Thank you for taking the time to answer this!!! Not only was I able to get my table working but I learned something in the process. 👍👍🏆🏆