297 replies to this topic

[Darkfall]

It seems to do fine as a backbox display, so I'm not too worried about it - but I sure noticed the difference when I switched to the Philips for the playfield.

I finally have both displays in the cabinet now. I need to make a couple of little brackets to hoist the backbox display upwards a couple of inches to fit into the slot I made for it in the top of the backbox, but it's perfectly playable as it is. I did have to get a couple of right angle HDMI adapters, though, so I didn't have to bend the heck out of the cables. I also had to put the backbox display in upside down from how I'd planned due to clearance issues with the subwoofer (the display is thinner one one side, so it was able to clear the subwoofer). I just had the video card drivers flip the screen for me, and all was well.

I'm down to needing glass, side rails, and installing my backbox door (and fans)...oh, and art.

I have a sneaky suspicion that my LEDWiz is a little screwed up, too. It sometimes doesn't fire the contactors, and my flipper buttons like to change colors while playing - especially if there's a lot of flasher activity on the topper. I might have slightly cooked the LEDWiz when I was working out the issue with the contactors causing things to freeze...or I have crosstalk on the wires somehow, even though I separated power as much as I could - and I can't see how that would cause the LEDWiz to trip or not trip outputs incorrectly. I may need to replace the thing and see what happens.

[Darkfall]

Over on the HyperSpin forum, there has been some talk about nudging options. Blur mentioned using an analog game pad turned upside down, with some weight on it, as a nudging option. Rascal has been working on this previously, and Blur brought my attention to it. I got all excited about the idea of being able to not only nudge a little or a lot, but in any direction. Being able to just bump the table with your hand for a small nudge, or shake the whole table for a big nudge sounds awesome.

It requires a modification to Visual Pinball to make it essentially treat the game pad as a Pinball Wizard (it checks if a Pinball Wizard is connected, and if it is, it'll use it - but if it's not, and a game pad is found, it'll try to use the pad's analog stick for nudging).

I managed to get Visual Pinball to compile successfully (wasn't too painful - the instructions were pretty clear). I'm going to grab myself a game pad and fiddle with it. It sounds like the holy grail of nudging - we'll see how it behaves when it's all said and done *grin*.

The instructions to compile Visual Pinball and what to modify are here.

Edited by Darkfall, 15 September 2011 - 09:44 AM.

[bladexdsl]

sounds way too complicated for me i'll just stick to trying to get my crappy ball bearing nudges to work

[Darkfall]

Hi, guys,

I just returned from Ottawa today and picked up a Logitech F350 gamepad on the way home from the airport. I fired up the custom build of Visual Pinball and played with the analog nudge. It works amazingly well!

I'm psyched about putting it in the cabinet with some weight on the stick to better pick up on the nudging motion, so I can see how well it works in a live situation. Looks very promising, though!

Also, I've released my solution for dealing with the LEDWiz setting and clearing when browsing via HyperPin and exiting tables. You can find the official support thread (and the link to the files) here.

Edited by Darkfall, 19 September 2011 - 08:28 AM.

[DedRok_V]

Nice work...now we just need some pics / vid of it together.....is it there yet....almost.

[Darkfall]

Nice work...now we just need some pics / vid of it together.....is it there yet....almost.

Yeah. I need some new photos. I've been remiss on that front - too busy with other things, I guess. Soon, though!

[DrJoeC]

I love all the detail in your build. I had similar problems with EM causing ipac and ledwiz errors. I moved the ipac and ledwiz further away from the contactors and that worked well. I also considered moving the ipac and ledwiz to the back screen area.

[Darkfall]

I love all the detail in your build. I had similar problems with EM causing ipac and ledwiz errors. I moved the ipac and ledwiz further away from the contactors and that worked well. I also considered moving the ipac and ledwiz to the back screen area.

Thanks, Joe. I may be experiencing some cross talk with the LEDWiz, or the LEDWiz is slightly screwed up. I haven't figured out which yet. I haven't really spent any time fiddling with it to figure out what's going on - but I will this week, I expect.

In the meantime, I have new photos (finally!)


Browsing in HyperPin. No glass yet, though. I called about glass today - less than $140.00 for both pieces in tempered glass. Not bad.


Playing Scared Stiff B2S. Awesome table - especially with the spinning spider on the backglass. It's epic!


A quick shot inside, so you can see the brackets that hold the playfield display snug against the slots. You can see my cheapie contactors in there, too. You can see part of the replay knocker on the far left - I just bent the bracket and screwed it perpendicular to the side, so it knocks right against that big piece of plywood that is the entire side of the cabinet.


Another shot inside. You can see where I've notched the cross member to make room for that heatsink on the display, so it doesn't get broken off again *laughs*. Damn thing!


Here's the mounting of the backbox display. You can see my custom aluminum "L" brackets along the bottom edge of the display, holding the display up tight against the top of the backbox ceiling. It's quick and dirty, but gets the job done.


Here's the mounting of the backbox display at the top. A couple of pieces of aluminum stock screwed into the backbox ceiling holds the top of the display tight against the back of the backbox face, so there's only a tiny gap between the display and the glass.

I'll probably order glass tomorrow, so I may have it this week - or early next week, at the latest. Then I can put in my glass guides and side rails, which will stop the lockbar from wiggling around. Once that's all done, I'll work on the coin door open/close switch and fiddle with the gamepad analog nudging (I've been playing with it already, and it looks very promising - but I've yet to actually install it in the cabinet).

[bladexdsl]

looking good at least you got the stupid scared stiff b2s to work...

[maxxsinner]

Looks great Paul. That sloted ducting is a god send to make everything neat.

[DedRok_V]

Looks great Paul, how you liking the big BG..... great isnt it.

That angled HDMI, is that an adapter...... something else I need to sort out.

I see you taped the boards to the back of the monitor..........I just unplug them all after everything is set up.

Edited by DedRok_V, 21 September 2011 - 03:40 PM.

[dreamaholic]

Looking fantastic!

I'll be following your analog gamepad install with great interest...

[Darkfall]

Looks great Paul. That sloted ducting is a god send to make everything neat.

It sure is, Ben. It's almost cheating! *laughs*.

Looks great Paul, how you liking the big BG..... great isnt it.

That angled HDMI, is that an adapter...... something else I need to sort out.

I see you taped the boards to the back of the monitor..........I just unplug them all after everything is set up.

The dual 46" setup is everything I expected it to be. It's freakin' awesome!

My boards didn't unplug - they might under the metal cover, but I never took it off to check. I figured I might want it at some point, so I left it there so I can't lose it *laughs*.

Both displays use a right-angled HDMI adapter. One has a 90 degree, and the other is a 270 degree (since it's HDMI port is upside down for that display). They're cheap. $10 or something. HDMI cables don't like to be bent aggressively (they're sort of delicate), so the adapters are definitely recommended.

Looking fantastic!

I'll be following your analog gamepad install with great interest...

Thanks!

The game pad stuff is coming. I'm pretty excited about it, so it might end up being the next thing I do - being able to nudge better will be awesome.

[wizo]

Mate you have inspired me to do one myself, what do you guys on the forum think of these as suitable for PF & BG???????

Sony - KDL46HX800 - 46" 3D Full HD BRAVIA LCD TV


best regards

Greg

[Darkfall]

Mate you have inspired me to do one myself, what do you guys on the forum think of these as suitable for PF & BG???????

Sony - KDL46HX800 - 46" 3D Full HD BRAVIA LCD TV


best regards

Greg

I'm glad you're inspired! Join the fold, be one of us. Be. One. Of. Us...Be. One. Of. Us...err...sorry - my cult days flash back sometimes.

...anyway...to your question:

That's a nice TV, but the 3D capability is probably money spent on a feature you won't use. The 3D doesn't work when you rotate the TV sideways, like you'll be doing, and just about nothing on a PC supports 3D TVs at this point (except some Blu-Ray enabled DVD playback software).

Many are using the Samsungs, since they're readily available and have the features to turn off most of the video processing for maximum frame rates, which reduces lag between what you see on the screen and your inputs. This is often called Game Mode for that very reason - you won't be hitting the flipper too late to save your ball *grin*. Samsung isn't the only TV with this type of feature, but it's one of them.

That being said, my TV doesn't appear to have a game mode, and it seems ok to me. I haven't noticed it bothering me - but maybe that's because I don't know what I'm missing *grin*.

[DedRok_V]

my TV doesn't appear to have a game mode, and it seems ok to me. I haven't noticed it bothering me - but maybe that's because I don't know what I'm missing *grin*.

Ha, your BG screen has the game mode on it.

[wizo]

I only picked the sony's as they were fairly cheap at $669 each, I'll look around a bit then thankS mate

[bladexdsl]

if your prepared to pay a little more its worth getting an led not only do they look far better than lcd but they will run a lot cooler too reducing heat in your cab.

Edited by bladexdsl, 22 September 2011 - 11:06 AM.

[Darkfall]

my TV doesn't appear to have a game mode, and it seems ok to me. I haven't noticed it bothering me - but maybe that's because I don't know what I'm missing *grin*.

Ha, your BG screen has the game mode on it.

True, though it's not doing much good in the backglass, I wouldn't expect.

[DedRok_V]

If its 3D, it would be LED, but that seems too cheap to be 3D, more like just LCD.

Edit just checked, dick smith has them and it says in the title 3D, but nowhere in the description. Probably has the dodgy 3D setting where it tries to fake it

Edited by DedRok_V, 22 September 2011 - 12:43 PM.