SmartDmd : DMD interface with colors, upscaling, network and more !

Work in progress on Shrek

Not finished but expected not to take very long anymore

A video on gameplay

I'll test the Side Channel setup on MET this weekend and report back.

Until then........

Replay.png

Installed a Smartdmd in a batman BdK on just a single pallet

Wanna see how that looks?

The best part is that it only takes 2 minutes to do a single color palette SDMD

No flashing required. So, you can have a "sigma" unscaled display with whatever 16 color shades you want and customize it in a matter of minutes.

Yep. As I used an used LCDdisplay the overall cost were around USD 190. Only display was used, rest was new. And yep, you need to do a little DIY when mounting the display but that isnt hard to do at all.

With a new display (original LG) cost would be around USD 200-220. To cut down on shipping it is advised to order 2 LCDdisplays in 1 go (at least in Europe). Than you move towards the USD 200.

Here's a look at the adapter panel I'm prototyping for the newer Stern machines:

MET SDMD.jpg

These will be cut on a CNC and come with a new acrylic glare guard.

Testing the new side channel mode:

SIde Channel.jpg

Nice

looks like only 4 colors

Serial side channel is up and running!

No more sprite frame limitations

MET and ACDC just got a whole lot better, with a little TLC of course.

Now SmartDMD can support up to 255 unique color palettes for any frame used in the game's ROM

Wanna see Sparky in green?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=21&v=kZJTDF7pIxM

being able to adjust color yourself is nice

Does anyone have experience with smartdmd in data east large display pinball like baywatch or Frankenstein or maverick ?

Coming Soon

spiderman apron.JPG

Still have some more work to do, but it's progressing nicely

and why we need a apron for smartdmd ?!?

Options are nice right?

Besides, I'm working on something else for my SM back box

Oh...that could be awesome - put the "DMD" on the apron where a player might actually SEE it while playing...and leave the backbox open for...for something I'm not creative enough to think of.

Finished the apron design:

Spiderman SmartDMD.png

Now it's time to start working on the LCD hardware and electronics layout. Here's our first stab:

SmartDMD System .png

Here's a look at what 255 color palettes enables:

Blackened Super Jackpot.png

MET now has 60+ palettes (and counting). Thank you Oga

Wow, nice work

Hi Rensh,

I've figured out how to get all of the scores to display in a fixed user adjustable color using a designated "Score" Palette

Any ideas for tweaking the 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 and 9, adding slime or something along those lines? I could color the numbers similar to the Metallica Ramp Letters?

That Looks freaking awesome, Great work

For those wanting to try out the new serial sidechannel mode and prefer to buy via Ebay, I can conform that this one works

ebay.com link

Cables can be bought at

ebay.com link

As you can see the new serial sidechannel mode only sets you back approx USD 5/pinball . Also very easy to modify existing cable already there for in-frame coloring.

Can also tell you that with Shrek the new serial sidechannel unfortunately does not work (yet at least). So try to compile the firmware first with serial sidechannel activated. Only if you get no error messages it is usefull to continue. Apparently the Commhex17 patch is (currently) not compatible with Shrek firmware. Shrek dates of 2008

Note to all SmartDMD users - MET 1.64 is now available. Currently, Metallica is using more than 100 color palettes with over 400 unique colors. There's still more work to do, but 90% of the game is now fully colorized. Here are some sample dots:

Mystery.png
Pops.png
Coffin.png
Extra Ball.png
Fuel.png
Grave Marker MB.png
Sparky Multiball.png

Lady_Justice.png

More MET 1.64 dots:

Guitar Picks.png
Blackened.png
Blackened Riders.png
Blackened Super Jackpot.png
Hurry Up.png
Seek & Destroy 1.png
Replay.png
Ball Drain.png

A few more for good measure

Score Digits.png
Battery.png
Enter Sandman.png
For Whom the Bell Tolls.png

great work like always guys.
okay simple question. wpc games. whats the challenge in making them do color? and what will it take to make it happen?
my friend tells me u can maybe calculate the frame and just replace each frame with a color one? possible?

maybe even contact the person behind wpcedit and get some input... ?

The ssc Metallica is Killer. Mike did a Great Job !

Thanks. I'm tweaking all of the Sparky JP animations next. Then I'll be down to just reworking the Snake stuff, Special, and End of the Line animations.

Then I'll go back and rework ACDC from scratch, Ugh.......

Oh, and I told Rensh I'd do a Green Sparky text file for his MET

Thanks I will than

And yes, the work of Mike is AWESOME

Only did a few games till now but what I saw was very impressive !!

Do you or anyone else ever finish x-men? I just picked one up with DMD issues and am looking at different options and if this is done I'll probably end up going for it!

some video footage of Mike D great work

Made Sparky myself green to match my game

Only starting at around 7:30 it loks like blackened and special are not correct

I was wondering the same.....

Does anyone know if the SmartDMD adapter works with the Raspberry Pi A+?

http://www.newark.com/raspberry-pi/raspbrry-moda-256m/sbc-raspberry-pi-model-a-256mb/dp/93X7446

Seems to be a more smaller footprint and feature set that should be great for a pinball application (also less on price).

Anybody have any issues with SmartDMD crashing when trying to update over the network? I was just trying to set different backgrounds. If I do this twice the program crashes and asks me for the smartdmd login. When I reboot, smartdmd will not automatically start and asks me for smartdmd login. Only way I can get smartdmd up and running again is if I reflash the memory card.

Using 4.42. Running over n wireless. And I was just trying to switch between the ACDC bitmaps already on the SmartDMD image.

Using a 32GB micro SD card. Maybe that is the issue?

I am having issues with this SmartDMD setup on my Bally Corvette. The DMD display on my monitor flickers?! The monitor itself doesnt flicker just the colors on the dmd image that SmartDMD produces has a flicker type effect and when it flickers it shows a different color than it suppost to for that split second. Here is a video I made to show my issue if someone can give me a hand:

Here is my SmartDMD config:
4d49bdab29fe316d3d793b5d11a2a2ea.png

Here are the resistors I used for the adapter:

IMAG0096.jpg

Oh that's bad.

wow... hmmm... just posting that I noticed that I purchased the 1/2 watt resistors besides the 1/4 watt Is that the issue that I am getting? Either way, I know what i gotta do next.

But wouldnt that just make another area a different color?! How would that make the colors make a "flicking" to them if they are set to another color on the palette?

I dont recall seeing yellow.. so you might be right on that but.. wouldnt that just mean 2 sections would be black?
*Nevermind.. as you see in my video.. there is all the colors from 0, 1, 2, 3... Including yellow*

I already took my adapter board apart to have it ready to replace the resistors. Had it apart before I saw you said i'd be fine. I'll have another test tomorrow.

Well.. the video doesnt do a good job to show... When it has that issue, its not really changing to black. It seems like its any color on the palatte it changes to. Here is a spot on the video that i went frame by frame to capture it well.

Normal look:
8964e1659d870b62381b53b708283899.png

When it had that flickering look to it:
d60b61110fa22c808f803f2c1aa49e0d.png

Those frames are about 27 secs into the video.

i had also problems at my T2 with different colors.

the scrolling credit text changes between 2 colors ?!? looks