directx (fast) no longer working

[AEN007]

19April2010

Greetings.

All of sudden for some unknown reason, DirectX (fast)
NO LONGER works on one of my three XP laptops.
The SMP video display is just black.
DirectX (slow) works. OpenGL works ...

I would like to find out how to correct this error condition,
so I can once again use SMP with DirectX (fast).
I have no idea what has happened ...

Any helpful replies/insights appreciated.
Thank you.
Regards,
AEN
Æ

[Talldog9]

Have you tried reinstalling DirectX?


Also try Win+R ---> Run ---> dxdiag

Check the different tabs for listed problems in the 'Notes' windows. Ensure everything under the Display tab under 'DirectX Features' is enabled. Also use the 'Test' buttons.

[AEN007]

25April2010

Greetings.
Thanks for the reply, but ...

... I had already tried the dxdiag &
ran the DXFeb2010 redisributable - all to no avail.

DirectX (fast) is equivalent to "overlays", I believe.
VLC no longer works on this XP laptop with overlays nor does JetAudio.
Every player works as long as "overlays" is not selected.
That was not the case before.
I know of nothing that I did related to this problem.
I would like to find the/a solution ...

Any helpful replies/insights appreciated.
Thank you.
Regards,
AEN
Æ

[Talldog9]

Open your smplayer config file. scroll down to the Advanced section and find colorkey. What does it say? verify that it says the same thing in the prefs dialog.

I just now am experiencing the bug that I've had before on a previous XP install. The first time it happened I had just changed the colorkey in the prefs and after a reboot it had a mind of its own. The colorkey would always be one step behind. For example I would open a video and all I would see was the white colorkey. After changing the colorkey option in the prefs back to the original blackish it would then play fine. After another reboot it would just show the blackish colorkey until I changed it back to white. Reboot again and it would need changed back to blackish again and so on.
The issue would include all other DirectX (EDIT:DirectX W/overlays&HW accel.) players on my system.

The issue presented itself originally after I changed the colorkey but now it manifested itself on its own after double click opening an associated avi. Oddly enough the issue went away while I was testing it for this reply.

This leads me to believe this all is some bug with colorkeys. Another thing to be noted is the fact that on my previous xp installation when this issue occurred the settings file for smplayer had a corrupt colorkey in it several times before it did the one step behind thing. It had something like 2 zeros and nothing else on the line where it should have had 6.

IDK if this is a known bug or not but I will check all the bugs and see if it is.

[Talldog9]

No listed colorkey bugs.

[Talldog9]

OK, I've just experienced it again. The colorkey was set to f0f0f0 in both the settings file and the prefs but the directx overlay was being drawn to a pure white overlay. Changing it to 000000 would have allowed it to be displayed. Upon running smplayer with the exact same video a second time it drew the overlay to the correct color, f0f0f0.
The third time, with the same video, it drew it to the correct color, still f0f0f0, but after changing it mid-playback to ffffff it just displayed a black screen and in the colorkey selection I could tell it was still drawing the overlay to f0f0f0.


The 4th time, I ran SMPlayer from the executable, played the same video which was still in the playlist and it just showed the black colorkey. The overlay was still being drawn to f0f0f0.
In the MPlayer log I noted the following-

<vo_directx><ERROR>UpdateOverlay failed
<vo_directx><ERROR>Overlay:x1:0,y1:0,x2:1280,y2:1024,w:1280,h:1024
<vo_directx><ERROR>invalid rectangle

And in SMPlayers log-

'<vo_directx><ERROR>Overlay:x1:0,y1:0,x2:1280,y2:1024,w:1280,h:1024'


EDIT: A weird thing is I haven't been able to reproduce these log messages even with the same circumstances. Very unusual...

[Talldog9]

See if your s/mplayer logs mention

<vo_directx><ERROR>UpdateOverlay failed
<vo_directx><ERROR>Overlay:
<vo_directx><ERROR>invalid rectangle

And/Or any other <vo_directx> entries.


ALSO

Setup SMPlayer to use directx fast and play a video so as to create a blank window. I assume you're using the default colorkey setting in SMPlayer?

With the video playing go to the preferences->Advanced->Change colorkey

In the Windows color selection window click on the black under 'Basic colors'. You should now have a slider on the right side of the window that goes from black to white. Make sure the slider is over top of the blank window of the video that is playing.
Perhaps you can see some of the video somewhere on the slider? If so move the slider until you can see the video play in the little color preview window.
Remember the color preview window has to be over top of the video window for the overlay to play on it.

If you can't see any of the video overlay playing on the slider, with the color preview window over top the playing video, slowly move the slider from top to bottom. If you find the correct color with the slider you will see the overlay of the video playing on the color preview box.

If you haven't found the color yet make sure to test white and the default colorkey color (RGB: 010101, 020202, 030303 or 111 222 333).

Of course this all is assuming you are using the default colorkey in the smplayer preferences. It is something like 010101, 020202 or so.



If you find the color tell me what it is and what you had it set on. Also check what it's set to in smplayers settings.

[AEN007]

27April2010

Greetings.
I certainly welcome the replies.

It will take some time to catch up with the postings.
I will also be going "on the road" this weekend, so
next week at this time I'll probably still be catching up.

Anyway ...
I've never touched the Colorkey before. I have no idea what it is/does.
On XP laptop I (with this overlay problem)
in Prefs it was #020202, & in the smp.ini it was 20202.
On XP laptop G (without this overlay problem)
in Prefs it was also #020202, & in the smp.ini it was also 20202.

I use SMPportable. Ever since going from 0.6.8 to 0.6.9,
I've had just one problem after another with SMP ...
Anyway, I copied the SMP directory from G to I, and ran SMP from that directory -
with the same black screen result.

I did not have enabled "Save SMPlayer log to a file"
nor "Autosave MPlayer log to file" but do now.
ERROR is not found in the MPlayer.log.

When I put the color window over the SMP window on G,
the video shows in the color preview window like you describe -
but of course not at all on I.

The SMP overlay window is all black.
The VLC ovelay window is bright yellow.
The JetAudio overlay window does not even open ...

I don't know what has triggered this overlay problem ...

Any helpful replies/insights appreciated.
Thank you.
Regards,
AEN
Æ

[AEN007]

27April2010

Greetings.

OK ...
I have now found the color code, but
why/how did the necessary color code change and
how do I reset the color code to 020202?

The color code I now need on I is a default color code for one of my XP theme colors.
I have my XP theme colors set exactly the same on all three XP laptops.

Talldog9, I've rarely had such a positive forum posting experience.
Usually I post my question;
receive no helpful replies or someone replies & says, "Search the forum ...";
then I solve the problem myself & post to say so;
then someone posts and says, "Well, what's the answer ..."

I would still like to know
why/how did the necessary color code change and
how do I reset the color code to 020202?

Any helpful replies/insights appreciated.
Thank you.
Regards,
AEN
Æ

[Talldog9]

What is the color code? In hex decimal or just the name is fine. Maybe there is a pattern... EDIT: I mean what is the color that the overlay shows on?

I still experience this problem which is good as I will not stop until I solve it. I will post here when I do.