42 replies to this topic

[settingsons]

I know that, Vic. That's why a put a note in the release file. "... B2S - Backglass can be used with any resolution but it's optimized for resolution: 1280 x 1024..."
Which resolution have you set?
If it's not exactly 1280x1024, there could be pixel deviations, yes I noticed that. But if you set 1280x1024 for the 28" screen and still have deviations, so I wonder why.
I've noticed the problem on my other B2S projects too. Perhaps 'rosve' has a plausible answer respectively solution.
The back glass consists of several segments.
I think it may be due to the occasional odd pixel count of the individual segments. Could be that they need an even number of pixels to be scaled more correctly in any resolution.
I will consider in the next updates or new B2S releases.
Thanks for your remark!

Servus
Walter

Ahh that is it - thanks for the explanation. I had been using 1280 x 1024 up until a few weeks ago where I lowered it to 1024 x 768 to gain a bit of performance for a heavy hitting table. I just tested it with 1280 x 1024 and the 'image shifting' has disappeared. Gonna play this for a couple of hours again tonight

[gwjrabbit]

First of all, thank you for a great version of one of my favorite tables of all time, and certainly my favorite EM machine. The physics on the rubber platter just feel perfect, and the gameplay matches wonderfully. With the new code for doing solenoids and such, it's a real treat. I've put hours in on it already.

My only quibble (from having played a LOT of Fireball in real life) is that the skill shot is nearly unmakeable, where is in real life I don't think I've missed it in 20 years. I believe the issue is (and I can't really tell, because I find it nearly impossible to select things in the editor) that the top playfield isnt actually slanted upwards like it is on the real table, and is instead just flat playfield. this makes it super easy to shoot out the top of the playfield and not drop.

Other than that, if feels like a real (if pristine!) fireball to me. I'm not even sure how you'd make that upper playfield tilt the right way -- honestly, I'm in awe of all of you who get any of this working, much less THIS well on such an absolutely classic table.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[Aaron James]

First of all, thank you for a great version of one of my favorite tables of all time, and certainly my favorite EM machine. The physics on the rubber platter just feel perfect, and the gameplay matches wonderfully. With the new code for doing solenoids and such, it's a real treat. I've put hours in on it already.

My only quibble (from having played a LOT of Fireball in real life) is that the skill shot is nearly unmakeable, where is in real life I don't think I've missed it in 20 years. I believe the issue is (and I can't really tell, because I find it nearly impossible to select things in the editor) that the top playfield isnt actually slanted upwards like it is on the real table, and is instead just flat playfield. this makes it super easy to shoot out the top of the playfield and not drop.

Other than that, if feels like a real (if pristine!) fireball to me. I'm not even sure how you'd make that upper playfield tilt the right way -- honestly, I'm in awe of all of you who get any of this working, much less THIS well on such an absolutely classic table.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

To make the skill shot a little easier for you..change the plunger power setting from 41 to 30 inside the table script!
...at least that's what i did

[Pintrepid]

Just played like 20 games on a real one of these. do you have a non bs2 version. i dont have my cab set up yet

+
1234fd - "Any hope for a 4:3 &/or WS version ?"

There will be a WS version, unclewilliy and 1234fd.
Still some reels to do on the backdrop.


Servus
Walter

No hurry, take your time.
Thanks in advance.

I'll just have to say, I, too, am looking forward to the WS version. Let it cook until it's done. Then it'll be perfect when it's ready.

In the meantime, I'll just have to drool awhile over the Gameplay Vid at Pinball.org Fireball Gameplay Video

Curious .. you said before that you don't have a cabinet, that you play the tables on two screens, B2S mode. How do you get a vertical playfield to display on your horizontal monitor (as you do more than just play pinball at your workstation ). I would love to do the same .. playfield on my 23" WS, and the backglass on a 2nd monitor. I want to take VP from this 13" laptop and bring it to my big screen. How is that set that up in VP?

Thanks in advance for your patience.

-PeterM

[starman]

First of all, thank you for a great version of one of my favorite tables of all time, and certainly my favorite EM machine. The physics on the rubber platter just feel perfect, and the gameplay matches wonderfully. With the new code for doing solenoids and such, it's a real treat. I've put hours in on it already.

My only quibble (from having played a LOT of Fireball in real life) is that the skill shot is nearly unmakeable, where is in real life I don't think I've missed it in 20 years. I believe the issue is (and I can't really tell, because I find it nearly impossible to select things in the editor) that the top playfield isnt actually slanted upwards like it is on the real table, and is instead just flat playfield. this makes it super easy to shoot out the top of the playfield and not drop.

Other than that, if feels like a real (if pristine!) fireball to me. I'm not even sure how you'd make that upper playfield tilt the right way -- honestly, I'm in awe of all of you who get any of this working, much less THIS well on such an absolutely classic table.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

The skill ramp in my version has the height 30. That was a compromise.
I know that the ramp could be relatively higher (nearly the height of the ball).
But at this height, the plunger setup was disproportionately poor. Therefore, so I chose that height of 30.
I myself have always had different results, despite the same plunger setting.This is really hard to adjust.
Maybe it helps if you set to something like that:

Const IMPowerSetting = 37
Const IMTime = 1.1

Thanks, for your remark. For the next update I will take this into account.

First of all, thank you for a great version of one of my favorite tables of all time, and certainly my favorite EM machine. The physics on the rubber platter just feel perfect, and the gameplay matches wonderfully. With the new code for doing solenoids and such, it's a real treat. I've put hours in on it already.

My only quibble (from having played a LOT of Fireball in real life) is that the skill shot is nearly unmakeable, where is in real life I don't think I've missed it in 20 years. I believe the issue is (and I can't really tell, because I find it nearly impossible to select things in the editor) that the top playfield isnt actually slanted upwards like it is on the real table, and is instead just flat playfield. this makes it super easy to shoot out the top of the playfield and not drop.

Other than that, if feels like a real (if pristine!) fireball to me. I'm not even sure how you'd make that upper playfield tilt the right way -- honestly, I'm in awe of all of you who get any of this working, much less THIS well on such an absolutely classic table.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

To make the skill shot a little easier for you..change the plunger power setting from 41 to 30 inside the table script!
...at least that's what i did

Aaron, na-na-na! - Sounds a bit unsporting - with that setup almost all shots are skillshots.

Just played like 20 games on a real one of these. do you have a non bs2 version. i dont have my cab set up yet

+
1234fd - "Any hope for a 4:3 &/or WS version ?"

There will be a WS version, unclewilliy and 1234fd.
Still some reels to do on the backdrop.


Servus
Walter

No hurry, take your time.
Thanks in advance.

I'll just have to say, I, too, am looking forward to the WS version. Let it cook until it's done. Then it'll be perfect when it's ready.

In the meantime, I'll just have to drool awhile over the Gameplay Vid at Pinball.org Fireball Gameplay Video

Curious .. you said before that you don't have a cabinet, that you play the tables on two screens, B2S mode. How do you get a vertical playfield to display on your horizontal monitor (as you do more than just play pinball at your workstation ). I would love to do the same .. playfield on my 23" WS, and the backglass on a 2nd monitor. I want to take VP from this 13" laptop and bring it to my big screen. How is that set that up in VP?

Thanks in advance for your patience.

-PeterM

When I work on - or play FS tables I just turn my 24" monitor (playfield) 90°. That's it. Often I play even sideways, if I only briefly test a setting.

Servus
Walter

I know that, Vic. That's why a put a note in the release file. "... B2S - Backglass can be used with any resolution but it's optimized for resolution: 1280 x 1024..."
Which resolution have you set?
If it's not exactly 1280x1024, there could be pixel deviations, yes I noticed that. But if you set 1280x1024 for the 28" screen and still have deviations, so I wonder why.
I've noticed the problem on my other B2S projects too. Perhaps 'rosve' has a plausible answer respectively solution.
The back glass consists of several segments.
I think it may be due to the occasional odd pixel count of the individual segments. Could be that they need an even number of pixels to be scaled more correctly in any resolution.
I will consider in the next updates or new B2S releases.
Thanks for your remark!

Servus
Walter

Ahh that is it - thanks for the explanation. I had been using 1280 x 1024 up until a few weeks ago where I lowered it to 1024 x 768 to gain a bit of performance for a heavy hitting table. I just tested it with 1280 x 1024 and the 'image shifting' has disappeared. Gonna play this for a couple of hours again tonight

I'm glad it works now.

Servus
Walter

[starman]

Ok. In remembrance.
For those who want to play FS tables like this on a single monitor and want to see the scores.
You may find following as helpful:

SingleMonitor Thread

Thanks to rosve to make that possible.

Servus
Walter

[Aaron James]

first off , GREAT recreation Starman !!! Thanks very much.

Are any of you cabinet users having a problem with this B2S table not cancelling out of hyperpin?
This is THE ONLY table i'm having problems with. It's gotta be somethin with the script.
When i try to exit, the fireball backglass stays on the backglass monitor while hyperpin wheel still spins with new games.
Is it because the fireball.exe and table file name are different??? I've tried changing them both to the same thing, but it's not helping..and just causing errors with the table script.

Edited by Aaron James, 09 February 2012 - 03:28 AM.

[BamBam]

Fireball (Bally 1972) + B2S



Version: 1.0.0
Category: VP 9.x Cabinet Tables (FULL SCREEN)

Author(s): starman

Description:
This is "the" classic pinball machine from Bally (1972) with zipper flippers and lots of features.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fireball - FS + B2S - VP 9.12 - V.1.0.0 by starman
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Original table by Bally, June 1972 - 3,815 units produced
Design: Ted Zale
Art: Dave Christensen
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Features:

Zipper flippers (2)
Pop bumpers (3)
Mushroom bumpers (3)
Captive ball kickout holes (2)
Messenger ball
Standup target
Whirlwind spinner
Multiball - 2 or 3 ball
Left outlane kickback
Ball return gate
Skill ramp shot


B2S - Backglass can be used with any resolution but it's optimized for resolution: 1280 x 1024
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~

Special Thanks:
to rosve for the B2S tutorial -
to JPSalas and PD for the fading lights script -
to Rascal for the ball speed code -
to JamO for the "PAPA"- video link -

Thanks to everyone in the VP forums for their shared knowledge and experiences. Without you this table wouldn't exist in this way.

RULES
~~~~~
*Insert coin and WAIT for machine to reset. Insert coins for
additional players.

*Shoot the ball to ascend the ramp and return over the three rollover wires.

*Shoot the ball into the Odin and Wotan pockets.

*Release the captive balls by hitting the Release Fire Gods target or hitting Release Odin or Wotan bumpers

*Matching last number of score, with number which lights on back glass at end of game scores 1 Replay.

NOTE:
~~~~~
- The brown playfield light (PFOffL) should remain in the foreground.

- A lot off additional flipper images are enclosed in the zip file.
Each flipper set consists of five images: left down, left up, right closed, right down, right up.

If you want for example, orange flipper without imprint with white rubber.
e.g.: Left Flipper = fl_left_down .... load: orangewhitebrightfl_le_dn_blank_bow.png
Left Flipper = fl_left_up .......load: orangewhitebrightfl_le_up_blank_bow.png
Right Flipper = fl_right_cl .... load: orangewhitebrightfl_ricl_blank_bow.png
Right Flipper = fl_right_down ...load: orangewhitebrightfl_re_dn_blank_bow.png
Right Flipper = fl_right_up .....load: orangewhitebrightfl_re_up_blank_bow.png

KEYS:
~~~~~
press " R " -> rules
press " I " -> replay awards
press " S " -> game status
press " B " -> 3 or 5 balls per game (standard = 5 balls)

REPLAY AWARDS:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
3-ball-game:
1 replay awarded for a score of: 54,000
1 replay awarded for a score of: 68,000
1 replay awarded for a score of: 80,000

5-ball-game:
1 replay awarded for a score of: 38,000
1 replay awarded for a score of: 52,000
1 replay awarded for a score of: 64,000

HIGH SCORE: saved.

TILT PENALTY: ball in play

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

All graphics are in PNG format.

External programs used:

graphics:

View File

Submitted by starman, on Feb 6 2012, 11:49 AM

Nicely done. I love these older tables. Thanks.

[OuchTilt]

first off , GREAT recreation Starman !!! Thanks very much.

Are any of you cabinet users having a problem with this B2S table not cancelling out of hyperpin?
This is THE ONLY table i'm having problems with. It's gotta be somethin with the script.
When i try to exit, the fireball backglass stays on the backglass monitor while hyperpin wheel still spins with new games.
Is it because the fireball.exe and table file name are different??? I've tried changing them both to the same thing, but it's not helping..and just causing errors with the table script.

I had this problem with Starman's 4 Million BC table.

I know hyperpin needs the table names to end B2S

Here's how I fixed it.

Make a copy of fireball.exe and rename it fireball_B2S.exe and keep it in the tables folder.

Rename the table fireball_B2S.vpt

So in your tables folder you should now have

fireball.exe
fireball_B2S.exe
fireball_B2S.vpt

Leave the table script reading "True" (for some reason I don't know why)

The backglass now opens and closes in hyperpin.

Let me know how you get on

[Aaron James]

Thanks "ouchtilt"...that was EXACTLY the problem..and NOW IT WORKS!

I appreciate you taking the time to help me. NOW i can put it back on the cab ;

[rosve]

So in your tables folder you should now have

fireball.exe
fireball_B2S.exe
fireball_B2S.vpt

Leave the table script reading "True" (for some reason I don't know why)

The backglass now opens and closes in hyperpin.

Let me know how you get on

You should set the LaunchBackglass flag to FALSE to make it close down correctly when launced from HP.

Edited by rosve, 09 February 2012 - 07:02 PM.

[blur]

yup as rosve said - you have to set launch backglass to false in table script so that fplaunch will launch and close b2s

with what you did - you will have two b2s backglasses active all the time!

table name and exe name has to be the same and has to end with B2S

for example:
Fireball (Bally) (1972) (starman) (1.0.0) B2S.exe
Fireball (Bally) (1972) (starman) (1.0.0) B2S.vpt


by the way - starman - table really looks an plays great!

[Arcade4]

Just put this one on my cabinet Yesterday.
Works fantastic.
Thanks for all the hard work.

[OuchTilt]

yup as rosve said - you have to set launch backglass to false in table script so that fplaunch will launch and close b2s

with what you did - you will have two b2s backglasses active all the time!

table name and exe name has to be the same and has to end with B2S

for example:
Fireball (Bally) (1972) (starman) (1.0.0) B2S.exe
Fireball (Bally) (1972) (starman) (1.0.0) B2S.vpt


by the way - starman - table really looks an plays great!

Believe me I understand what your saying, but I tried the configuration you mentioned and changing the script to false.

This left me with script errors, unopened backglasses and many reboots because hyperpin had locked me out.

The way I've fixed it, B2S opens and closes and the table runs great, It just works. So I'm happy

Aaron James seems happy with it too.

If it ain't broke don't fix it.

[Aaron James]

yup as rosve said - you have to set launch backglass to false in table script so that fplaunch will launch and close b2s

with what you did - you will have two b2s backglasses active all the time!

table name and exe name has to be the same and has to end with B2S

for example:
Fireball (Bally) (1972) (starman) (1.0.0) B2S.exe
Fireball (Bally) (1972) (starman) (1.0.0) B2S.vpt


by the way - starman - table really looks an plays great!

Believe me I understand what your saying, but I tried the configuration you mentioned and changing the script to false.

This left me with script errors, unopened backglasses and many reboots because hyperpin had locked me out.

The way I've fixed it, B2S opens and closes and the table runs great, It just works. So I'm happy

Aaron James seems happy with it too.

If it ain't broke don't fix it.

Yeah...for some reason with Starman's table's and/or scripts..this is the only answer.

The way you guys described is DEFINITELY the way to do it for other b2s tables FOR SURE!

Like ouchtilt explained..for me and my cabinet (virtuapin)...this is the only answer for Starman's tables

Like him, i'm just glad its workin hehe

[chokser]

This table is awesome! He functions perfectly. One considers to the table that he with a lot of love was made.

Actually, all your tables are fantastic!! We can only hope furthermore to see wonderful pinball machines from You. Best in B 2S (waiting for Nova)

You a Star Man!

[Maxixxl]

Thanks for the Fireball, Starman! Good luck in future recreations =)

[TedB]

Had some fun with this table on my cab today, and realized I never gave it the credit it deserves. Fantastic table. I always consider Starman's tables to be one of the best examples of the extreme quality you can achieve with VP on a cabinet. Physics are spot on and the beauty of the playingfield and B2S backglass is stunning. Close to perfection.
If you are not really into EM tables, this might be the table to win you over. And then try Gator, Four Million BC etc...

[starman]

Thanks for the praise, Ted. I am happy if you like starmanized tables. I appreciate your oppinion.

Regarding the kicker issues I'll try to solve the "not-release-problem" which apparently occurs sporadically.

Servus
Walter

[TedB]

Regarding the kicker issues I'll try to solve the "not-release-problem" which apparently occurs sporadically.

Should the table automatically release the ball at the end of each game? If so, then it is an issue that not happens sporadically. That always happens, but I have no problem to release the ball again in the new game.