Thoughts on Visual Pinball? (Hope this is allowed to ask)

cspacefan

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Thoughts on Visual Pinball? (Hope this is allowed to ask)

I hope this is not against forum rules given it's an emulator question, but has anyone here tried out Visual Pinball? I dabbled a bit a year ago and I'm getting back into it now. I have read their site and forums and have some rudimentary questions, stuff their own forums go into far too much detail for. I am wondering if any KLOV folks have tried these programs out and might be able to give me the "Coles Notes" versions of answers.

I noticed they now have 16x9 tables instead of the old 4x3 tables they had when I first got into it. This makes me wonder if they have worked on a way to get the idea of Ultra Pin (which was cancelled in 2008) achievable using just your regular PC and a couple of monitors.

And before anyone asks, yes I have searched their forums.

What I'd like to ask our forums, for those of you who have tried this cabinet table idea, is how do you like it? Is it worth pursuing? From what their forums say, it sounds like you need a fairly high end computer and there seems to be a whole bunch of problems getting the table to display on the 16x9 screen in front of you and also getting the backglass / DMD to display properly on the second upright monitor above. And then there's buying a Pinball Wizard controller as well on top of that.

As I mentioned earlier, I do have the program running on my computer and it's a lot of fun. Then again, there's only a dozen or so tables I like. So is going to all this extra cost and work (and potentially headache) really that enjoyable? Or am I wrong and the multiple display works easily? How much does a decent refresh-rate widescreen LCD monitor go for these days?
 
Rob Craig made an EXCELLENT mini pin emulator using this technology. You should be able to find some stuff about it on Google.
 
Future Pin is all the rage now. Alot of newer pins are availble in FP now, and it is a far superior pinball simulator than VP.

I have a local friend who is putting the finishing touches on a Future Pinball cabinet with Hyperpin front end. It is inside a Gutted bally Playboy cabinet. It is at his workplace though. I can't wait to go down there and see it someday.
 
I have it installed on my mame cab. It's fun to try out some tables and learn some rulesets. The graphics are pretty crappy, future pinball looks better and is simpler to use. Don't think I'd EVER build a fullsize cab for one...it's fun on the mame cab though :)
 
I built a full size cab back in 2006/2007. I still play it almost daily. It used to be a pain in the ass (time consuming more than anything) with VP6, but now that 9 is out, it is a cakewalk. All the tables created now are even created with cabinet in mind (for the full size and 16-9 tables). In VP6, I had to change the scripts for every single table I wanted to load and play on the dual screen. I had 250 tables finished on my cabinet and was happy with it until I saw what was coming out on VP9. Now I am done with tweaking about 200 tables on VP9, and have purchased the Nanotech hardware (not the pinball wizard), plunger and analog nudge and tilt (I used to use a three tilt bob setup.

Unlike the other comments here, I like VP a thousand times better than FP. I am more interested in the emulation of actual tables than fantasy tables. I am not a fan of ball tracking emulation either. I like the idea of playing all of the real tables and learning their rules, and then when I encounter one in the wild, I don't have to spend a ton of time and money to figure out what I am actually supposed to do.

My VP Project (writeup from the construction days of 2006/2007)- http://redonkulus.com/wiggum/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=50&Itemid=147

Photo Gallery- http://redonkulus.com/wiggum/index.php?option=com_morfeoshow&task=view&gallery=31&Itemid=168
 
Tim, it is high time you took another look at FP. I thought the same thing as you, but FP is up into the DMD titles now.

My buddy with the FP table showed off Cyclone for the demo video he sent. Another local guy has a cyclone. He says the FP cyclone plays very close to what a real table does.
 
I haven't messed with the FP stuff in well over a year, but I may look at it again as time permits. I never write anything off as I think all the different stuff out there is cool in it's own way. The two things that have always bothered me in FP were the physics and the camera perspectives. I am sure they have both progressed over this time period and it will be something I will revisit at some point. Visually, FP is stunning.
 
I do like VP better for the REAL tables available (I prefer to play original tables by far), but I also like future pinball for the better graphics and cool original tables like 3 angels, dead hunters, road girls, flame reaper, the hungry dead, lunch takeout, etcetc
 
Unlike the other comments here, I like VP a thousand times better than FP. I am more interested in the emulation of actual tables than fantasy tables. I am not a fan of ball tracking emulation either. I like the idea of playing all of the real tables and learning their rules, and then when I encounter one in the wild, I don't have to spend a ton of time and money to figure out what I am actually supposed to do.

Yeah I looked at FP but I also want to emulate actual pinball tables (I just don't have room for them) so VP still appeals to me.
I watched some videos on YouTube by a guy called clickersnappergeorge who got a sweet setup going but it looked like he needed to modify some scripts and do a little visual basic editting to make his DMD displays show properly. I don't want to go into that level of work. I would just like to put some (real) tables into an emulator and play.
Right now I am doing the old 4x3 thing but it would be pretty cool to have a 16x9 table and a separate backglass monitor (providing I can still find a 4x3 monitor).
 
If you download the 16-9 tables from VPforums, setup your monitors (resolution/rotation) as described in the VP9 readme, and have similar hardware (Geforce card, etc.), there will be no changning of scripts required, it will be pretty much plug and play.... I had to change each table to match the settings of my particular machine (I don't display full backglasses, nor is my monitor that displays DMD rotated.....
 
Among the emulation community, VP9 is considered to be the best for physics, and available real tables, where as FP has the best graphics engine, but iffy physics. FP also has some negative history behind it as well, with the original author whom was a previous contributer to the FP series (Chris Black), commonly getting upset and doing odd things. His most recent outburst was the removal of the forums off the FP website. FP also has a built in timer that will expire at some point. I believe it was 2011. FP also will never support PinMame.
 
I'm toying with the idea of making a dedicated machine for running either Future Pinball or Visual Pinball 9 but I am worried about the minimum spec requirements. Right now I really can't rationalize putting a high-end gaming PC inside a box for the sole purpose of emulating pinball tables.
Having said that though I know netbooks are coming down in price and if I can slide one of those inside the cabinet for pinball purposes and then use it in my living room for other needs, that might actually make sense.
But would Future Pinball or Visual Pinball 9 run decently on a netbook? Even a higher-end one?

Anyone know at what point these two emulators run too choppy? I imagine multiball would get very bad frame rate issues on anything but a really expensive netbook.

Anyone know who has looked into it?
 
I mocked up the cabinet I want to build. It's only going to use a 22" widescreen for the playfield and a 15" screen for the backbox/DMD. I want it to be small so that it fits in the same amount of space as a normal arcade cabinet. I already have several full-sized pinball machines, so making this small and putting it in with my arcade cabinets would probably make it more unique and attractive.

Pincab.png
 
Actually working on building one with a friend of mine. He isnt into pinball much, he is more into building mulitcades. However when I told him about this he was very interested. Actually scored a free cabinet off of CL to build it in. Now to learn all the ins and outs of the computer setup.
 
Actually working on building one with a friend of mine. He isnt into pinball much, he is more into building mulitcades. However when I told him about this he was very interested. Actually scored a free cabinet off of CL to build it in. Now to learn all the ins and outs of the computer setup.

Excellent. Keep me in the loop as to how it goes. What speed of machine are you going to use to run it?
 
Excellent. Keep me in the loop as to how it goes. What speed of machine are you going to use to run it?

Don't know yet. This was originally a "future" plan. Till a free cabinet fell into our laps. We hadn't even started researching the details till sunday. Hell the cabinet is still in my car. Once we get this figured out more I will try and post a build up thread.
 
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