AlienFX Pidgin + Winamp plugin

I'm currently developing a Plugin for the Pidgin Messager and Winamp which uses the AlienFX to display events. The pidgin plugin is already working but the colors can not be set yet (they are hard programmed). If a few of you poeply would like to have the pidgin plugin too I would improve it and release it soon.

Furthermore I'm working on a winamp visualization plugin which uses AlienFX to display the beats. Currently the beat deteciton doesn't work porperly but I'm working on it. Who of you would be interested in this plugin?

I just wanted to know so that I know if the effort is worth it.

Finally I completely documented the protocol to communicate with the AlienFX device. It just needs some more polishing. I plan on releasing it soon. Who of you would be interested in that?

Regards Ingrater

P.s. I will be without internet for a few days so just don't wonder if I don't answer.

Edit: If you are searching for the download links: 3d.benjamin-thaut.de

Update 31.10.2010: I fixed the plugin. It does not longer crash winamp upon closing winamp or upon ending the plugin. Also it does now automatically detect which laptop is used, you don't need to hand edit config files any more.

Update 14.5.2011: Added support for the M17X R3 and M15X R3. Made sourcecode public: Download Sourcecode

Update 20.9.2011: Added support for a devices xml file. Which can be used by any user to add support for his laptop if it is not supported yet. See Anouncement post

Update 25.11.2011: New Alienware laptops now work using the devices xml file (m14x, m18x, etc)

Video tutorial: anthonydamasco was so kind to create a video tutorial on howto setup, you can find it here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware/419484-alienfx-pidgin-winamp-plugin-48.html#post6937571

Troubleshooting FAQ: >>> Troubleshooting FAQ <<<

 

id love my keyboard to light along with my music, +10000 if you can release one

 

I agree that would be amazing if this could be done. I am interested in seeing this happen.

 

i can't program but i am not scared of beta testing

 

lmfao im with moo ill be more then happy to beta test!

 

Id love my keyboard to "dance" with my music

 

If you have time, you should make a plugin that displays team colors and hit detection(red flash) if hit in a FPS game. That would be cool, not sure about hardware limitations tho, but considering it can pulse on the M15x when programed in alienFx with out a issue I don't know why it won't work.

 

each and every game works differently, a new plugin would need to be made for each and every game.

 

I support this project

 

ill use it.

 

I'm back. I haven't got a internet connection at home yet but hopfully won't be long until I have one. I've already got a working winamp plugin for my alienware mx15 laptop. It can display up to 400 bpms (theoretically). I also managed that the alienfx device is not crashing every 10 seconds (it was not made for displaying different colors this often) but I still have a few problems with the beat detection. I had to notice that it is not as simple as I thought it to be.

Another problem is that I only have a Alienware mx15 laptop. So I'm missing the information for the mx17 and alienware pc's (are there other laptops from alienware I did forget?). To fix this I need you guys to execute a small programm of mine which is collecting information about your alienfx device. After completion of this program you should please send me back the "results.log" file. The program does nothing evil. It simply tests all posible leds connected to a alienfx device and asks you if something has changed and what. The e-mail address to send it back to me is stated at the end of the program. You can download it here.
http://stuff.benjamin-thaut.de/alienfx-leds-tester.zip

The warning at the begin of the program is just that I get no troubles with the law in the case that something goes wrong.
If your alienfx device stops working while or after using the program you need to restart your pc to get it back up again (this hopefully doesn't happen). After the execution of the program all alienfxleds will be disabled. You need to reset them with the Alienware Alienfx Editor.

In case someone of you is interested in the pidgin plugin. It can be downloaded soon at http://3d.benjamin-thaut.de

@Game plugin
It would be really hard to write such a plugin because it would have to be done for each game seperately. Furthermore games are not designed to support plugins. This means a sort of hack would be necessary and there begins the really nasty programming stuff.

Regards Ingrater

 

I'm glad that I have an m15x then I'll test this thing out and see how it goes. But first I'll have to download winamp.
EDIT: where do I download the plugin for the AlienFX?

 

Waiting for the link too

 

The pidgin plugin is now online.

Regards Ingrater

 

Testing the notification works
Great work!

 

That's good to hear that it works. Too bad I don't use pidgin...

 

Start using it ;-)

 

Yup, I've started today
Just was waiting for someone to do something with AlienFX for a long time

 

After completing my winamp and pidgin plugin I will release the specs for the alienfx protocoll so hopefully some more people will do something cool with AlienFX.

 

I'm waiting for the Winamp one man! Best of luck for whats left on it

 

I need some poeple with a mx17 or alienwarepc to execute my small app which I described in this post. Otherwise it will be mx15 only...
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=5350660&postcount=11

So spread the word ;-)

 

It Doestn Work Theres A Dll Missing

 

I reuploaded the zip file. I hope with the right dll ^^

 

Downloading Pidgin right now

 

I just noticed that I have the "old" mx15. Just bought it half a year ago. So I also need someone with a new mx15 to run my program.

Regards Ingrater

 

We will have to wait for that... Some have already placed orders for the new M15x, but none have received theirs yet though.

 

I've still recieved no result.log files. Please help me:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=5350660&postcount=11

Thanks in advance
Ingrater

 

Ingrater, can you put up a small vid of your Winamp working with your plugin?

 

I can do that. Unfortunately I still have no internet at home so it can take a while. It should be online next wednesday.

There is a good message: I found a way to communicate with the alienfx device so it doesn't crash despite the fact that I'm sending in way to many commands. But still the beat detection is totaly inaccuarte. I have to work on this.

 

When I run the program, I get a message in the command window stating that "AlienFX Device not found"...

 

Then they have changed the device and or vendor id of the alienfx device and because of that the program can not find it.

Go to the windows device manager and then to input devices there should be one or more USB-HID devices. Right click -> properties. Then go to the details tab and select Hardware-IDs from the dropdown. Copy the info stated in this box into this forum. Please do this for all USB-HID devices.

It should look something like this

Code:

//First device
USB\VID_046D&PID_C047&REV_2720
USB\VID_046D&PID_C047

//second device (this is my alienfx controller)
USB\VID_187C&PID_0511&REV_0100
USB\VID_187C&PID_0511

Regards Ingrater

 

HID-Compliant consumer control devices
HID\IrDevice&Col02
HID_DEVICE_SYSTEM_CONSUMER
HID_DEVICE_UP:000C_U:0001
HID_DEVICE

HID\VID_413C&PID_8158&REV_0100&Col02
HID\VID_413C&PID_8158&Col02
HID_DEVICE_SYSTEM_CONSUMER
HID_DEVICE_UP:000C_U:0001
HID_DEVICE

HID\{00001124-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb}_VID&00020a5c_PID&0001&Col02
HID\{00001124-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb}_LOCALMFG&000f&Col02
HID_DEVICE_SYSTEM_CONSUMER
HID_DEVICE_UP:000C_U:0001
HID_DEVICE

HID\{00001124-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb}_VID&00020a5c_PID&0001&Col04
HID\{00001124-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb}_LOCALMFG&000f&Col04
HID_DEVICE_SYSTEM_CONSUMER
HID_DEVICE_UP:000C_U:0001
HID_DEVICE

HID\{84a1e9b8-12ba-4a9c-8ab0-a43784e0d149}_LOCALMFG&0000
HID_DEVICE_SYSTEM_CONSUMER
HID_DEVICE_UP:000C_U:0001
HID_DEVICE

HID-Devices
HID\IrDevice&Col01
HID_DEVICE_UP:FFBC_U:0089
HID_DEVICE

HID\IrDevice&Col03
HID_DEVICE_UP:FFBC_U:0088
HID_DEVICE

HID\IrDevice&Col04
HID_DEVICE_SYSTEM_CONTROL
HID_DEVICE_UP:0001_U:0080
HID_DEVICE

HID\VID_187C&PID_0512&REV_0000
HID\VID_187C&PID_0512
HID_DEVICE_UP:FF00_U:0001
HID_DEVICE

USB Human Interface Devices
USB\VID_187C&PID_0512&REV_0000
USB\VID_187C&PID_0512

USB\VID_413C&PID_8157&REV_0100
USB\VID_413C&PID_8157

USB\VID_413C&PID_8158&REV_0100
USB\VID_413C&PID_8158

 

Going through devices by type, I found this connected to USB HID devices.

HID Keyboard Device
HID\VID_413C&PID_8157&REV_0100
HID\VID_413C&PID_8157
HID_DEVICE_SYSTEM_KEYBOARD
HID_DEVICE_UP:0001_U:0006
HID_DEVICE

 

Thanks for your help. I made a new version of the leds tester and reuploaded it to:

http://stuff.benjamin-thaut.de/alienfx-leds-tester.zip

 

How long does it usually take to disable the LED's? The program's been at that stage for about 5 minutes now...

 

It should take a maximum amout of about 0.5 sec.
If it takes that long your alienfx device crashed. Maybe they changed the protocoll for the new alienfx device then I need to deciver the new protocoll too. If you ware willing to help me on this it is doable but very time consuming because its difficult if I don't have such a laptop.

If the program once gets stuck you need to restart your laptop to fix it.
You can try to restart your laptop and retry the program once or twice. If it still doesn't work they changed the protocoll too. Please close the alienfx tray bar icon before doing this. Otherwise it could lead to cross wirting to the device by my program and the alienfx software.

Unfortunately I will be without internet from now on until wednesday.

Regards Ingrater

 

Restarted and tried again. Didn't work.

Closed tray bar icon and tried again. Didn't work

Could it be because the LED's are on a fluctuating/rotating basis? Maybe setting all LED's to a single color would help? Edit - didn't work.

 

Sorry that I'm so late but here is the video I've promised:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqaJNZCOMXo

 

I dont mind this one too!
Im open for testing

 

Ingrater, Alienware released a new Command Center for WIndows 7 64-bit which I'm on now. The process updated the firmware of the LED's (I think). I tried doing your LED tester again but once again the LED's did not deactivate. I tried setting my theme to the original all-blue theme w/no animation in case that was it. Still didn't work...

 

Wow I fully support this project. I knew someone who tried this project and he couldn't do it because the little controler chip couldn't support alot of data being sent too it, read/write too slow. But you seem to have done it? Why isn't the kayboard not working though? I think if you tried doing it with the keyboard it wouldn't work.

Also, instead of making it flash for every bit of noise make it flash for the main bits - e.g. choose certain frequencies that occur alot.

Can't wait for the final result!!

 

@Lord_Zath
There is a possibilty to test if they changed the commands. But it takes some time and we should be in direct contact for example icq or msn. If you are interested send me your icq or msn per pm.

Edit: The keyboard doesn't flash because I don't have a alienfx keyboard. I'm also not pleased with the beatdetection results yet. I will work on that.

 

there is a new version of the command center (v2.0.10). i think you should also try this plugin with this version-drivers if it really matters.

continue your effort and thanks even for trying. alienfx has an option for access by 3rd party applications and this may mean something.

 

I don't use the command center or any alienware software at all. And I like to mantain this because then I could also release my apps for example for linux or mac. The CC also has restrictions I don't want to have. For example my self written alienfx editor can set an extra effect if the laptop is in standby which is not possible with the cc. I will release this tool soon it's already finished and stable but I need to write the readme / licence stuff before I can release it.

Edit: I still need someone with a m15x with alienfx keyboard who runs my leds-tester as I don't have a alienfx keyboard.

 

lemme know what i can do to help.

 

This is sounding more and more awesome. YOu could add a whole load of features, and even include a scripting engine (later one maybe). I would love to help design the interface i'm a pretty okay designer. I'm good with shiny black - which is similiar to alienware. It'll look sleek.

I have so many ideas for the project but I won't spam you with them

 

Well currently you can help my by running this app on a m15x with alienfx keyboard and sending me the results:
http://go.notebookreview.com/?id=525X832&url=http://stuff.benjamin-thaut.de/alienfx-leds-tester.zip

In the past hours I tried togehter with Lordr Zath to decode the new protocoll for the alienfx device the m17x is using. Unfortunately they are not using the same winapi calls as in the alienfx editor I have so I'm stuck for now. I also can't download the new CC because the german alienware site is currently broken. I will keep you posted if there are any news.

 

ok...will send it tomorrow

 

There is no new version of the CC for my laptop (old m15x) the newest version was already installed when I got it and this version doesn't support 3rd party apps.

 

Yeah talk about frustrating!

I'm going to format and install Vista tomorrow morning (my time) so I should in theory be ready to go when you're around. 7:30 pm your time was around 12:30 pm my time. Let's hope we can get this figured out