356 replies to this topic

[fuzzel]

Hi all,

 

this little tool is meant as an alternative to Hyperpin. Hyperpin is a great frontend for virtual pinball cabinets but because it's based on an old
version of Flash it has some really annoying performance issues on Windows 7/Vista 64bit. So I decided to create a new frontend

Features:
- small and simple to use (PinSelect uses the same database as Hyperpin)
- fast startup
- PinSelect always shows the last table played on startup
- filtering of tables (you can filter for: all tables, VP/FP tables, favourites, EM/SS tables, alphanumeric, manufacturer and table release decades)
- small amount of memory usage
- view is portrait only

Requirements:
 - Microsoft .NET 3.5 or higher
 - a proper installation of Hyperpin
 - FPLaunch (for the best experience I suggest the latest FPLaunsch atm v1.295 WIP10)

 

Download it at: https://sourceforge....ects/pinselect/
 
PinSelect was developed for cabinets and for a playfield resolution of 1920x1080. It is possible to use different resolutions but I haven't
tested them in all combinations.
At the moment PinSelect isn't able to play Hyperpin videos you can only use it with the normal static Hyperpin media packs. I hope I can
add videos in a future release. I didn't include the option for showing flyers/instruction cards use the latest FPLaunch for this.
The filtering/sorting is done on the description name. If you use the standard media packs you should be fine, but you should check if
your descriptions don't start with a prefix or a number as this would result in strange behaviours if you select an alphanumeric filter.

 

Have fun with it

fuzzel

 

Changelog

--------------

v1.88     - database editor introduced (start PinSelect with parameter /edit)
              - database loading reworked
              - minor fixes
 

v1.87    - nudge/letter jump buttons jump to the next filter section in the filter menu
             - wheel bar texture changed (thanks jasonsmith!)
             - position of table file name and description can be set in the settings.ini file
             - various bug fixes
 

v1.86     - use Exit_HyperPin and Shutdown setting under [Exit] in the settings.ini to configure the exit menu
              - add support for shortcut on exit by holding the exit key for a defined time
              - crash fixed if no working directory was defined for startup/exit program
 

v1.85     - fixed the typo of favorit(e)s. The favourites.xml files are renamed to favorites.xml please update the file name in the database folder
              - the filter screen can be accessed through the exit menu too now
              - aspect ratio fixed for flyers
 

v1.84     - fixed the issue that Starting_Genre wasn't used from the ini file: define here All Games, Visual Pinball, Future Pinball or Favorits
                to start PinSelect with the desired filter
              - Startup/Exit Program fixed to behave like in HP
 

v1.83     - flyer mode added, use the Flyer-key to show the flyer images, flipper buttons switch through all available images for the selected table
              - Startup/Exit Program from HP settings.ini will be called if defined
 

v1.82    - option added to show table filename/description under the wheel
             - database bug fixes
 

v1.81    - last played table option changed
 

v1.8     - attract mode added
            - wheel bar shows up to 5 icons now
            - last played table can be started from the exit menu
            - now you can enable/disable FP/VP games with the Show_Game option in the settings
            - VP/FP image paths are read from settings.ini
            - DebugMode option added
 

v1.72    - focus issues fixed which were introduced with 1.7/1.71
 

v1.71   - fixed issue with left/right shift key codes defined for hyperpin
            - WaitForTool option added
 

v1.7     - PinSelect.exe.config removed. Configure PinSelect through Hyperpin settings.ini
            - support for an addtional external tool added (experimental)
            - Letter-Jump-Option changed. It's only possible to jump to the next/previous letter with extra keys
            - optimized scrolling speed on icon wheel
 

v1.61   - fixed barTexture.png to ps_barTexture.png

 

v1.6     - added support for playing background/table music
            - backglass offset option issue fixed
            - bug fixes         

Edited by fuzzel, 22 May 2013 - 07:46 AM.

[blur]

great job fuzzel, will test it asap

 

so do you have long load and exit times on wn7 and did you had them with original hp?

Edited by blur, 09 April 2013 - 11:09 AM.

[fuzzel]

yep with the original HP I have the complete package of annoyance: 30-60 seconds delay on startup and loading tables, after loading a VP-table VP is terrible slow if I wait

around 20 seconds longer I can actually play the table. Exiting VP and go back to HP the whole "fun" starts again...so that was the motivation to write my own small frontend

for my cab. I saw that a lot of other people have the same problems I have and so I released it, I'm really curious how stable my small hack (and it's really a hack ) actually is

[gamefixer]

Very interesting. I've got a Win7 64 bit rig in my cab so I'll give this a shot when I get a chance. My most common annoyance with HP is the loss of focus. Drives me mad...

[Slydog43]

What language is this written in?  Are you going to add features to this?  This sounds great, Thanks so much.

[maceman]

VERY THANKFUL for this!!!  I will try it when i get a chance next, but really looking forward to an alternative to try out.

I am on win 7 64 and share many issues, so this will be nice.

Thanx for your work!

Maceman

[fuzzel]

It's written in .NET 3.5. What features do you like PinSelect should support?

[luvthatapex]

Interesting and very small and light I am giving it a try now.

 

How do you scroll through the tables? (I use the left and right shift keys now in HP).

and how do you exit? I noticed the E key takes me to the main menu, but can't exit the program...do I have to customize the cfg file?

[bosvrucht]

its nice to have an alternative.  Instant compatibility with hyperpin is nice, but dont let it stand in the way of progress. 

[fuzzel]

Interesting and very small and light I am giving it a try now.

 

How do you scroll through the tables? (I use the left and right shift keys now in HP).

and how do you exit? I noticed the E key takes me to the main menu, but can't exit the program...do I have to customize the cfg file?

 

ah the first bug I havn't tested it for shift and control keys...will update it asap

[hmueck]

I unpacked PinSelect in the Hyperpin folder, started it and this error messages appeared:



EDIT: Then it looks like this:



EDIT2: I have put two tables in my .xml file already, that i didn't install yet (no wheel/table/backglass image yet). When i remove those two tables from the xml, the first error message still shows, but then the program starts.

EDIT3:
HyperPin says i have 408 tables. PinSelect says i have 199. In the list of manufacturers, longer names overwrite names on the right of them.


EDIT4: With the fading in and out of the wheel image, it takes much longer to scroll through a lot of tables. A function to jump beginning letter to beginning letter would be nice (show table starting with a, press button, show the first table starting with b, ...). But i think you don't sort the .xml file alphabetically, so this won't work.

Edited by hmueck, 09 April 2013 - 02:41 PM.

[gamefixer]

It's written in .NET 3.5. What features do you like PinSelect should support?

 

Well, theres the obvious, support for play field movies (maybe not just .fv4 but .mov and .avi?). 

[luvthatapex]

Did you copy the favourites.xml to your future pinball and visual pinball db folders?

 

for example: C:\Hyperpin\Databases\Visual Pinball and C:\Hyperpin\Databases\Future Pinball

 

 

I unpacked PinSelect in the Hyperpin folder, started it and this error messages appeared:

Edited by luvthatapex, 09 April 2013 - 02:31 PM.

[fuzzel]

Here is version 1.1 (see first post). It fixes the problem that you can't use shift and control keys for navigating.

 

NB: you need a proper installed Hyperpin setup, that means you need backglass, playfield and wheel images for all tables you added to your database,

otherwise you get an exception like hmueck faces.

I unpacked PinSelect in the Hyperpin folder, started it and this error messages appeared:



EDIT: Then it looks like this:



EDIT2: I have put two tables in my .xml file already, that i didn't install yet (no wheel/table/backglass image yet). When i remove those two tables from the xml, the first error message still shows, but then the program starts.

EDIT3:
HyperPin says i have 408 tables. PinSelect says i have 199. In the list of manufacturers, longer names overwrite names on the right of them.


EDIT4: With the fading in and out of the wheel image, it takes much longer to scroll through a lot of tables. A function to jump beginning letter to beginning letter would be nice (show table starting with a, press button, show the first table starting with b, ...). But i think you don't sort the .xml file alphabetically, so this won't work.

 

Well the filtering is somewhat tricky because I don't want to add multiple filter pages which makes it quite confusing navigating with just two keys (flipper keys). You can reduce the manufacturer names to

reduce the overlapping...

The tables are sorted in the database but to jump from one letter to another would require two additional keys and my cab doesn't have those But I think it's a good idea to add this anyway...is noted

It's written in .NET 3.5. What features do you like PinSelect should support?

 

Well, theres the obvious, support for play field movies (maybe not just .fv4 but .mov and .avi?). 

I can try that...I would like to support all existing hp videos so people can use them without converting all videos, but I afraid there is no other way

Edited by fuzzel, 09 April 2013 - 02:43 PM.

[luvthatapex]

ok, I just tried 1.1 and can't get the shift keys to move between tables. I get one table (the default FP table) and nothing else. I don't get any VP tables and my hyperpin is fully configured for 328 VP tables.

 

If I press escape key it doesn nothing, but if I press "e" it takes me to the main menu and no other keys work. I have to CTRl-ALT-DELETE to get out.

 

Can you change it so the left shift and right shift change tables, and the ESC key takes you to the menu where the shift keys move through the menu items and ESC takes you out of the program. This is how my setup works now in HP and I like it!

[fuzzel]

ok, I just tried 1.1 and can't get the shift keys to move between tables. I get one table (the default FP table) and nothing else. I don't get any VP tables and my hyperpin is fully configured for 328 VP tables.

 

If I press escape key it doesn nothing, but if I press "e" it takes me to the main menu and no other keys work. I have to CTRl-ALT-DELETE to get out.

 

Can you change it so the left shift and right shift change tables, and the ESC key takes you to the menu where the shift keys move through the menu items and ESC takes you out of the program. This is how my setup works now in HP and I like it!

change the PinSelect.exe.config file as follows:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<configuration>
   <appSettings>
      <add key="UpKey" value="161" />
      <add key="DownKey" value="160" />
      <add key="StartKey" value="13" />
      <add key="ExitKey" value="27" />
      <add key="InfoKey" value="53" />
      <add key="PlayfieldIsScreen" value="0" />
      <add key="BackglassIsScreen" value="1" />
      <add key="PlayfieldBottomFaces" value="right" />
      <add key="LastPlayedTable" value="" />
   </appSettings>
</configuration>

[luvthatapex]

ok that worked! Now ... is it possible to ONLY show VP tables? I don't want to show FP tables.

[fuzzel]

yes you can select the "All Visual Pinball" filter. Or remove all game entries in you Future Pinball database.

[Slydog43]

I think jumping to the next letter using other keys (like magna save like HP) would be great and hopefully faster than HP.  HP scrolls through each one fairly fast, but a jump to the next letter would be great.  Also for people that don't have 4 flipper buttons, how about holding down a flipper button to start the letter scrolling like in HyperSpin (great feature I think).  Also I'm at work now, so I can't test this out, how about a short video of your cab using this interface.  Thanks again

 

 

I thought of another feature, how about some customizable text displayed at the bottom to tell the user what keys to press (Like HyperPin, but maybe more customizable, like multiple lines, scrolling, color, etc)

Edited by Slydog43, 09 April 2013 - 03:52 PM.

[chepas]

Actually good news to see a new frontend that can be updated. As soon as you can support most things that hyperpin does allready I will jump ship.

 

Win7x64 here with hyperpin, but don't have any losing focus or slowness.

Edited by chepas, 09 April 2013 - 04:11 PM.