I tried PNG files - they are less compressed than the jpegs, but still need decoding. The total time to read from sd card, decode and then display to the screen is more or less the same as the jpeg files.

"There are some rom mods that use it both original board and Arduino add ins.">

Aha - I see......that's a nuisance (to me!)

So, I have got this far:
There is now a new parameter that you can set, which is called "Attract Mode Font" - this can either be 0 (zero) which means "Do not use the attract mode font feature", or it can be any of the fonts numbered 21-60 (these are the fast 'rendered' 7-segment fonts.

Currently, to detect if a game is in attract mode, the CMB display (Credit/Match/Ball-in-play), looks at the far right digit - if this is 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, then it assumes a game is in play (that is the current ball in play number), otherwise it assumes we are in game over/attract mode. I will happily look at other ways to do this, in the near future, but it must be derived from the score display data present at the score display - I don't want to have to string wires around the back box, trying to pick up lamp data signals, etc. That defeats my "Prime Directive" of "Simple Plug in Replacement" !!!

The CMB display keeps a track of the current mode, and if it changes, it sends a message to the 4 player displays to tell them the new game mode. The CMB display will switch it's own display to the "Attract Mode Font" if it is non-zero.

Each of the Player Displays P1-P4 will pick up the message, and act on it. i.e. if the game has gone into Attract Mode, and the "Attract Mode Font" (for that display) is non-zero, it will switch to using the Attract Mode Font. And if the game then comes out of attract mode, it will re-instate the last font used.

The reason I have left each P1-P4 display to decide whether to use an attract mode font at all, and if so, which one, is for total flexibility. e.g. you may want different coloured fonts on different players, when in attract mode - e.g. P1, P3 White, P2, P4 Red, CMB - Green.

Thank you for this - yes confirmed in my lost world - so that method wont work. I'm going to go back to looking for the HSTD itself, seems a better solution anyway

Spent most of the day working on the HSTD method, and it seems to be working pretty well.

The new code does this:
1. Get a score, if its the highest score, then its the HSTD.
2. If HSTD is being displayed then switch into a faster font (optional).
3. If the HSTD stops being displayed (after a few seconds), then we have dropped into a game, switch back to the prev font.

The testing overhead for me is getting ridiculous, there are so many permutations now:
a - different games
b - different game settings on the dip switches
c - different MPU's
d - 6 or 7 digit displays, or CMBIP display
e - whether SD card present or not
f - 61 different font settings (but really only 2 types - jpeg and rendered)
g - 4 different font movement settings
h - send and receiver modes to synchronise changes of font across all games in a display.

So, rest of today - testing.............

bingo!!! a really long day but i think i’ve cracked it all. tested in various games with various settings and swapped mpus between games as well.

I’ve also worked on a principle of “minor gains” and replaced the jpeg decoder for an ever so slightly faster one; found a new way to talk to the sd card, and speeded up the data transfer rate; pushed the tft displays up to a faster data transfer rate whilst still performing reliably. need some sleep now zzz

Tomorrow i’ll sort out the parts pricing as promised a few days ago.

Kit Prices:
======

Hey folks, I've got the parts all priced up. Works out around £32.80 - £34.80 per display kit.
So for a complete set of 5 displays = £164 for 6 digits and £174 for 7 digit.
I've included everything in the pricing EXCEPT for the Micro SD HC card. (I'm sure you can source these yourselves, if you don't have any lying around already).

Shipping from UK to USA - International Tracked & Signed for £23 (up to 750g weight), which is enough for 1 set. +£6 a set for each additional set, up to a max of 3 sets in one package.

PLEASE NOTE PRICING IS IN £ GBP, not US$ as I am in UK.

Kit comprises, for each display:
For the Display PCB:
1 X 6 or 7 way Display PCB with SMD FPC Sockets pre-soldered on
6,7 or 4 (for CMBIP) X IPS 1.14" 8 pin SPI TFT Display 135X240 Pixels ST7789
1 X Double 16p Right Angled Male Header pins
For the Controller PCB:
1 X Base Controller Board bare PCB
1 X Double 16p Female Header Socket
2 X 10p 3.96mm / 0.156" male header
2 X 15p Female Header Socket
3 X Dil 16p IC socket
2 X SN74HC165N Shift Register IC
1 X SN74HC595N Shift Register IC
1 X 2N4403 Transistor
1 X 10k Resistor
1 X 2.2k Resistor
1 X ESP32s Devkit Doit V1.0 Processor module 30 pin, with the ColourClassics Displays firmware pre-loaded
1 X Micro SD card reader board
1 X 15cm double Sided foam tape
Note: Micro SD HC Memory Card NOT INCLUDED

A Set of 5 will include for the Credit/Match/Ball-in-Play: A 6 way display board with just 4 IPS Screens (This is to keep costs down).

Spare IPS screens £2.50 each.

Anyone wishing to source components, screens themselves, I can provide the 2 PCBs for £6 a pair. The Base controller PCB is totally unpopulated, but the 6 or 7 digit display PCB will have the SMD, FPC connector sockets already pre-soldered to the board. Unfortunately again shipping from UK to USA is not cheap £8 economy (not tracked, so at your risk) or £20 fully tracked and signed. I can ship up to 5 pairs of boards for those prices. if you just wanted a single board pair to try out, the postage will be cheaper - £5.50 is lowest untracked.

Not taking money just yet, however I'd like an idea of interest, so I can go order the parts in bulk.

OK - I've ordered boards and parts to make up a few kit sets. Will be a few weeks before these arrive. Whilst I'm waiting I will continue to test, document and also start working on other software features for a future release.

Today plenty of game to game testing. For safety I tried full on max current draw using a test program to switch on all displays full white (max current draw) - on some games F3 4A blows.

On quite a few if my games i have 5A fuse in F3 as using the 5v line for other add on mods.

Lm323k 5v reg on SDB rated 3A, but with current limiting built in. so far none blown. ran my fathom (with 5A fuse) overnight and no fail, no overheat even with the additional display current draw. I’ll measure actual current draw next (need to hack a display to put ammeter in the circuit).

some games have a 5A regulator instead on the SDB (not 323k) so i’ll check if any of my games have that. fathom deffo 323k

My gut feel is to add in an additional 5v from the 11.9v, which necessitates changing F3 from 4A to 5A anyway (bridge rectifier can easily handle the extra current), but now wondering if it’s just ok to update F3 ? I think the answer lies in what max current draw these displays demand.

Each display unit is drawing a max current of 460mA. 5 Units in a std game = 2.3A.

Yes, medusa playfield display is a std 6 digit score display.

You can add your own jpeg fonts, but if you can find some images i’ll happily include them and resize them to fit the displays. pixel size is 135 wide x 240 high btw.

attract mode - the game flicks between hstd and last game scores. So you’d have to lose those being displayed in order to show something else. maybe i could make it so it switches between all of them???

Hi, quick answer. No. Sorry. i wish it could

why not: it takes longer to render an image on a tft screen. even if i render a number directly i’m still switching on 100’s of transistors individually in the tft display. compared to say just one cycle in a traditional display or led 7 seg display. each screen is 135 x 240 pixels. to render a full jpeg image is a lot of data to shift. then that X 6 or 7 digits!

yes it depends on image size, but the faster method is where we draw lines to the display to create the numbers - two formats currently, 7 segment style and also "dots". - I could maybe create another option which overlays one number onto another without clearing the previous - this would blur quickly......

The bally game code on many games seems to do weird stuff when it is outputing score data.

E.g. when a players score is flashing (on some games) to indicate it is that player turn and no score yet this ball, the bally mpu puts out the digit value, latches it into the display, but then a few cycles later it overwrites with a blank, and latches that in, before dropping the blanking line to actually display.

Then, even weirder one. I have noticed on fathom that if the player 1 score is blinking, and I have P2 game up, the P2 score data gets some incorrect data being latched into its display (again blanking is high so it's never displayed), then a few cycles later the correct value is latched in. As I say this only happens with P1 score is flashing. No idea why the game code would do something like this.

The data is displayed in descending order - digits 7 down to 1. Digit 7 being left most on the display.
Another really annoying thing I have noticed is that when it does flash a players score, I would have hoped that it starts blanking on digit 7, but it appears it can start the blanking on any digit at random. This makes it tricky to get a score - e.g. score might be 7,654,320 - but sometimes it will have blanked the 7 or 7 & 6 or the 3,2,0 etc. Makes my ability to pick up the current score a bit more difficult! It also makes it tricky to get a really nice solid blinking effect.

Aha. that explains it. I’ve just had to suck it up and deal with it.

It’s fascinating to grab a bunch of display output data and see what the game pumps out!!!

Current version of the firmware handles all these issues across a variety of games and mpus.

I’ve tested in Fathom, Medusa, Lost World, Fireball II, 8 ball deluxe, elektra, paragon and centaur.

New Pcbs have arrived. and so have 100’s of Ips colour screens
0DD2E0BB-4BFD-4554-A448-36D005798B43 (resized).jpeg
DD9A6E9C-0951-40B4-B7BD-43155F54DB5E (resized).jpeg
9B61C3CB-F8B8-4686-9351-561BE7C774B3 (resized).jpeg
5D88DAC5-BAA0-4129-A6E3-0DF6FD9F5742 (resized).jpeg

Still waiting for other components…….

Software still in testing and making minor improvements……..

will update once i’ve got all the parts ready to ship

a quick demo of render speed - each number displayed is being read as a jpeg file from the sd card, decoded and then sent to the display screen.

Parts have eventually all arrived. Almost ready to start shipping kits.

Via messaging on here, paypal for payment.

Hey folks – I am ready to ship initial sets of these as kits, and I really want to spread these out far and wide, and get as many people testing in as many different games as possible, so am offering to ship a full set of 5 display kits for £150 to include USA shipping. (Usual Price will be £187-£197). Limited to one set per person initially. You can have either a 6 digit or a 7 Digit set. I have 12 sets available initially.

Kit comprises, for each display:
-----------------------------------------
For the Display PCB: 1 X 6 or 7 way Display PCB with SMD FPC Sockets pre-soldered on
6,7 or 4 (for Credit/Match/BIP) X IPS 1.14" 8 pin SPI TFT Display 135X240 Pixels ST7789 driver
1 X Double 16p Right Angled Male Header pins
For the Controller PCB:
1 X Base Controller Board bare PCB
1 X Double 16p Female Header Socket
2 X 10p 3.96mm / 0.156" male header
2 X 15p Female Header Socket
3 X Dil 16p IC socket
2 X SN74HC165N Shift Register IC
1 X SN74HC595N Shift Register IC
1 X 2N4403 Transistor
1 X 10k Resistor
1 X 2.2k Resistor
1 X ESP32s Devkit Doit V1.0 Processor module 30 pin, ColourClassics Displays firmware pre-loaded
1 X Micro SD card reader board

Note: Micro SD HC Memory Card, and double sided tape, NOT INCLUDED

A Set of 5 will include for the Credit/Match/Ball-in-Play: A 6 way display board with just 4 IPS Screens (This is to keep costs down).

Optional Extras:
---------------------
Spare IPS screens £2.50 each.
Micro SD cards £2.50 each. (I will pre-load these with the jpeg Image files).

Jpeg images
----------------
I will make available a link to download the jpeg image files, to all customers, so you can populate your own Micro SD cards.

Self-assembly
-------------------
To assemble the kit, you will need to solder on the components, headers and sockets. The IPS Screens simply plug into the pre-soldered connectors, these are small and require delicate handling, I use plastic tweezers to insert the connector into the FPC socket.

Compatibility
========
Tested on my own games: Bally: Paragon, Lost World, Elektra, 8 Ball Deluxe, Medusa, Fathom, Centaur.

Other Bally games not tested.

Stern games not tested . Note: On 7 digit Stern games, you will need to bridge pin 11 to pin 12 on the large header on the base board (The one that connects to the game).

Any issues on other games, I will do my best to provide software updates to support more games, this is on a best endeavours basis and is not guaranteed.

5v Power Supply
==========
These displays make use of the 5v power supply in the game. They draw additional current, and you may need to upgrade the fuse and/or power supply in your game.

For safety I tried full on max current draw using a test program to switch on all displays full white (max current draw) - on some games F3 4A blows.

Each display has a max current draw of 460mA. So a set of 5 requires 2.3A.

On quite a few of my games I have 5A fuse in F3 as using the 5v line for other add on mods.

I have run my Fathom and Medusa or several weeks now, including overnight power on tests, with an uprated F3, 5A fuse and have experienced no issues. My SDB boards have the 3A rated LM323K Voltage regulator.

Another option is to provide an additional 5v power supply for the new displays. I can provide details on the easiest way to do this, if you require.

Ordering
========
Please PM me with your order:
1. Your Name
2. Your email address
3. Your phone number
4. Your Shipping Address
5. Which set you require: 6 Digit set or 7 Digit Set (4 X 7 digit + 1 X 6 digit)
6. How many spare IPS Screens (optional) £2.50
7. How many SD Cards (optional) £2.50

If I have enough stock, I will acknowledge order and will provide a paypal payment request.
if I'm out of stock, then I will add you to the waiting list.
Please pay friends/family to avoid paypal fees (much appreciated).
On receipt of funds, I will ship the kits and provide tracking info. Next post is Dec 29th due to Postal Strikes and the Holiday.

Build instructions are in this thread, Post #29 (although there are some additional components now, 2 resistors and a transistor).

User guide will be published soon, and it will be emailed to all customers anyway.

Many thanks,

Alan