3889 replies to this topic

[Shockman]

I like the idea of finally having a designer instead of only having an editor with really no starting point without mass deletions in the editor and the script. I'm past need, but speaking for people that haven't opened the box yet.

 

I lost a bunch of fps this last build, but this system barely got by before anyway. Curious though what has changed. My off state lights in the maze have not been working but the hole was blue, now it's either black or invisible. I think I can get those working though. There are a few ways to do those.

 

Are there outside factors that would prevent a run-time for stand-alone? It was done in short order with VP6 (the first and unreleased VP7)

Edited by Shockman, 05 December 2015 - 04:11 AM.

[hmueck]

Hmuecks all-in-one VP installer is posted here:   http://www.vpforums....=32263&p=317033

 

The basic VPsetup.exe has been updated with VP10 beta 2419. But not the one with the tables included.

http://www.mediafire...3ib/VPsetup.exe

 

Hmuecks all-in-one VP installer is posted here:   http://www.vpforums....=32263&p=317033

 

how is it possible this file isnt in the "Getting Started" area....

 

Well, i sent it to Noah Fentz, he said he wanted to test it out and that was it...

 

[M4ttes]

Hello.

 

First of all, sorry for my bad english. I am from Germany.

 

You guys do a fantastic job here, thank you so much for those awesome Stuff (VP itsfelf and tables).

My wife and me are really enjoying it!

 

Since we you the new VPX for some tables, we have a little problem with the nudging (digital nudge. Button on the left and on the right).

 

In VP 9.9, the effect / the intensity (hope thats the right vocabular) to the ball is much stronger. When I do a nudge on the VP 9.9, the ball gets a real little "push to the side".

 

In VPX, the screen is "shaking", but it seems like it does't have too much effect to the ball (maybe no effect at all).

 

Is there a way to increase the nudge effect (maybe a global setting for all VPX tables)?

 

Thanks in advance and greets from Germany

 

M4ttes (and his wife)

[randr]

Maybe this has been mention before not sure. But since about 4 weeks ago I can't run some tables from desktop with script errors? If I put in tables folder it's fine but not on desktop. I even moved all vbs to scripts folder. Not a huge thing but I like to run table from desktop to test before I plop it in tables folder. What am I missing? A path setting?

[nFozzy]

Is there a way to get objects below the playfield to render?

[hauntfreaks]

here's something odd I seen in the last VPX build... maybe even the build before...

 

the VPX tables I run in my rig , for the most part play shutter free... but i have noticed every so often i'll see a slight slow down... but most times missed what the FPS #'s heres what i captured during testing...

this happens if i have vsync enabled globally (video performance) or within the table itself... also happens if i set the limiter to 60 globally or within the table itself...

 

you can see at most points in the video it is running around 60fps but at slowdown its jumping to over 200... even tho it shouldn't be going higher the 60 do to the settings.... ideas??

 

[fuzzel]

The fps limiter isn't a good wording for that option. It doesn't limit the fps to a given fps value. Maybe it should be renamed to "VSync over x fps". When you set the limit to 60 it means that on frames which are faster than 60 fps get an extra vsync to prevent tearing. If the fps falls below 60 fps no vsync is added to that frame to prevent stutter. So you won't see a locked 60fps in the debug output with that option. The fps calculation isn't just the speed how fast a frame is rendered, it depends also on the physics calculation. For example you have a table with a couple of high poly meshes which are collidable the fps would be high if VP must only render the meshes but as soon as the ball hits the bounding box of the primitive VP has to do the hit tests for every poly of that mesh. That extra calculation has an impact on the overall fps. On top of that there is also the texture caching done by the gfx driver. If the driver removes a texture for one frame for some reason and it has to be reloaded in the next frame you can expect to see fps drops too.

Is there a way to get objects below the playfield to render?

Yes you have to set an alpha mask on the playfield texture where you want to place your object. Just give it a negative height. The playfield is always at height 0 if you don't raised the playfield in the table properties.

[nFozzy]

The background shines through, but no objects show up.

[toxie]

Nowadays only non-static objects can be placed below the playfield and show up, sorry, but technical limitation to save some GPU memory in general.

[Brandrew]

 

that's a nice idea but unfortunately but do easy to add. I don't know blocky but the vbs script engine is a core component of VP because the whole MFC infrastructure supports it. Is blocky able to compile vbs code that is extendable?

I'll admit, I only suggested this because I was under the impression the Blockly could output to just about any major language, but apparently it's currently only Javascript, PHP, Dart, and Python.  It does generate code on the fly though.  And Blockly is open source, so if anyone were to ever create a vbs code generator for Blockly, then Blockly could be used.  Although Blockly specifically is browser based (though it is client side), so I have no idea about including it inside VP.  Though it might be offered as an add on.  How difficult would it be for a program to look at a .VPX file and get all the table objects?  One downside is that something like Blockly can't go backwards; it can't look at code and generate blocks.

 

I'm not asking the current devs specifically to do this, but how much work would it take for someone to add a bunch of objects to the editor such as AND/OR gates that automatically generate code when used and are just placed in the editor like a Timer is?  Is the editor built in a such a way that two objects are even aware of each other, like if I were create a "points" object, assign that object a value of 10, and draw a line from that to a bumper, it would automatically generate:

Sub bumper1_hit()
  Score = Score + 10
End Sub

Then I could add a SoundFX object, assign a value "ding", which is in the Sound Manager, And connect a line from that to the bumper and it would change the existing code to:

Sub bumper1_hit()
  Score = Score + 10
  PlaySound "ding"
End Sub

Like I said, I'm wondering if the current program is even capable of something like this, let alone someone actually doing the work to code it.

 

 

Patience my dear!!

It is on my to do list (I think!), I just committed to do the installer for newbies. If someone else gets there first so be it! But I'm here until they close us down

 

Edit:

Just to clarify: A middle ground, something like maintaining lists internally [I'm building them as you see!] of all objects then have something like:

Sub [Default_Bumper]_hit()
  Score = Score + 10
End Sub

And then in the event that additional code needs to be added, it would be done as you have described very well Mr Shoopity!

So that the following code would override the default behaviour:

Sub bumper1_hit()
  Score = Score + 10
  PlaySound "ding"
End Sub

Lots more spin off's to come before then though. I'm getting there like British Rail, We get there, just not on time!

Then the rest of drag and drop programming, and then program while you play, that's my agenda (pending urgent stuff!)

 

Another Edit:

Just had a quick look at Blocky language. "It's Object visualisation" is what I told my son when he had some homework, didn't know it was called blocky!

At the moment everything heavily based around the SciLexer, so it will be a little time for fancy jigsaw pieces, but when the colourisation of the code is finished it'll make at least a bit more sense.

Edited by Brandrew, 07 December 2015 - 07:23 PM.

[Ben Logan]

Hello.

 

First of all, sorry for my bad english. I am from Germany.

 

You guys do a fantastic job here, thank you so much for those awesome Stuff (VP itsfelf and tables).

My wife and me are really enjoying it!

 

Since we you the new VPX for some tables, we have a little problem with the nudging (digital nudge. Button on the left and on the right).

 

In VP 9.9, the effect / the intensity (hope thats the right vocabular) to the ball is much stronger. When I do a nudge on the VP 9.9, the ball gets a real little "push to the side".

 

In VPX, the screen is "shaking", but it seems like it does't have too much effect to the ball (maybe no effect at all).

 

Is there a way to increase the nudge effect (maybe a global setting for all VPX tables)?

 

Thanks in advance and greets from Germany

 

M4ttes (and his wife)

 

Hey M4ttes, 

 

The nudging is a lot less strong in VPX. The idea was that the VP9 nudging is more "fantasy" nudging, and that VPX is closer to the real world. I'm not in front of my VP machine right now, but if you poke around in the editor, you can find some settings that affect the nudge strength (I think both the visual effect, and the actual amount of nudge).

 

Good luck!

 

 

[M4ttes]

Thank you so much.

 

Well, I think I understand the intention.

 

I know, VP is a simulator and it should be as realistic as possible.

But I really like the VP 9.9 "unrealistic" nudge, so I will try to find a way through the editor.

 

Thank you and greetings from Germany.

[fuzzel]

rev2423 is up:

 

not a big update but the default physics of the default table were updated and also some code viewer/editor changes.

 

For every author porting a VP9/PM5 table to VPX should take a look at the new default table especially the physics settings for the playfield, flippers, rubbers and hit/drop targets.

[toxie]

Feature time, this time an update to the scripts (via a new file called 'controller.vbs') by arngrim, to abstract DOF, B2S, VPM and EM controller handling, here the header of the vbs file:

 

 

***Controller.vbs version 1.0***'

by arngrim

This script was written to have a generic way to define a controller, no matter if the table is EM or SS based.
It will also try to load the B2S.Server and if it is not present (or forced off),
just the standard VPinMAME.Controller is loaded for SS generation games, or no controller for EM ones.

At the first launch of a table using Controller.vbs, it will launch a popup window to setup whether to use DOF, and if selected,
there will be additional options if one uses a certain type of toy, and to determine whether the sounds will be replaced by DOF calls (mostly for EM tables).

Controller.vbs will also create a Controller.txt inside the user folder of VP, here an example of its content:

forcedisableB2S=0
UseDOFcontactors=1
UseDOFKnocker=1
UseDOFChimes=0
UseDOFBell=1
UseDOFGear=1
UseDOFShaker=1

If B2S.Server is setup but one doesn't want to use it, one should change the first line to forcedisableB2S=1


Table script usage:

This needs to be added on top of the script on both SS and EM tables:

  On Error Resume Next
  ExecuteGlobal GetTextFile("Controller.vbs")
  If Err Then MsgBox "Unable to open Controller.vbs. Ensure that it is in the same folder as this table."
  On Error Goto 0

In addition the name of the rom (or the fake rom name for EM tables) is needed, because we need it for B2S (and loading VPM):

  cGameName = "rom_name"

For SS tables, the traditional LoadVPM method must be -removed- from the script
as it is fully integrated into this script (leave the actual call in the script, of course),
so search for something like this in the table script and -comment out or delete-:

  Sub LoadVPM(VPMver, VBSfile, VBSver)
    On Error Resume Next
    If ScriptEngineMajorVersion <5 Then MsgBox "VB Script Engine 5.0 or higher required"
    ExecuteGlobal GetTextFile(VBSfile)
    If Err Then MsgBox "Unable to open " & VBSfile & ". Ensure that it is in the same folder as this table. " & vbNewLine & Err.Description

    Set Controller = CreateObject("B2S.Server")
    'Set Controller = CreateObject("VPinMAME.Controller")

    If Err Then MsgBox "Can't Load VPinMAME." & vbNewLine & Err.Description
    If VPMver> "" Then If Controller.Version <VPMver Or Err Then MsgBox "VPinMAME ver " & VPMver & " required."
    If VPinMAMEDriverVer <VBSver Or Err Then MsgBox VBSFile & " ver " & VBSver & " or higher required."
    On Error Goto 0
  End Sub

For EM tables, in the table_init, call:

  LoadEM

Finally, all calls to the B2S.Server Controller properties must be surrounded by a B2SOn check, so for example:

  If B2SOn Then Controller.B2SSetGameOver 1

Or "If ... End If" for multiple script lines that feature the B2S.Server Controller properties, for example:

  If B2SOn Then
    Controller.B2SSetTilt 0
    Controller.B2SSetCredits Credits
    Controller.B2SSetGameOver 1
  End If

That's all


Optionally, if one wants to add the automatic ability to mute sounds and switch to DOF calls instead
(based on the toy configuration that is set at the first run of a table), one can use three variants:

For SS tables:

  PlaySound SoundFX("sound", DOF_toy_category)

If the specific DOF_toy_category (knocker, chimes, etc) is set to 1 in the Controller.txt,
it will not play the sound but play "" instead.

For EM tables, usually DOF calls are scripted and directly linked with a sound, so SoundFX and DOF can be combined to one method:

  PlaySound SoundFXDOF("sound", DOFevent, State, DOF_toy_category)

If the specific DOF_toy_category (knocker, chimes, etc) is set to 1 in the Controller.txt,
it will not play the sound but just trigger the DOF call instead.

For pure DOF calls without any sound (lights for example), the DOF method can be used:

  DOF(DOFevent, State)

 

 

 

This will be included in the next update..

Edited by toxie, 08 December 2015 - 11:23 PM.

[randr]

Nice feature! Thanks guys.

[hauntfreaks]

is the controller.vbs not included in the download??

 

I know its included in some table DL's but not in the VPX beta??

Edited by hauntfreaks, 09 December 2015 - 12:38 AM.

[sliderpoint]

last line says "included in the next update"

 

-Mike

[hauntfreaks]

oopsy...LOL

 

my wife always says i never read anything to the end....LOL

 

thanks Mike...

Edited by hauntfreaks, 09 December 2015 - 12:49 AM.

[lizard]

How do i turn off the table shake when nudging. I am using an analogue nudging device and all tables are moving around the screen when i nudge. Is there a global setting somewhere for vp10 to turn it off. 

[sliderpoint]

HA!  I only know that because I just needed that file for some testing and did the same thing....  then went back and re-read it.

 

-Mike

 

 

edit for lizard:  preferences>video options,  I think set visual nudge strength to 0.

Edited by sliderpoint, 09 December 2015 - 12:55 AM.