39 replies to this topic

[rob046]

It does it on my computer too. Had to change inclination to 50. VP914.

 

cmd.

 

Even on the 2.03 I just released?  I thought I made some changes that would fix this problem.  Its frustrating to try to fix a problem you can't duplicate.  What graphics cards or drivers are those of you with issues using?  I'd like to know how or why this happens to some people.  For those that do have the problem, I would suggest to just lower the table a by increasing the y-offset a little bit.  That way the view doesn't have to get altered.  In fact, if you just change y-offset from 20 to 21, does that fix it?  Please check for me.  But remember to revert the inclination back to 47 first.

Edited by rob046, 13 March 2013 - 12:00 AM.

[Bob5453]

Nice job on this table Rob.

BTW, I play widescreen tables on a 27" monitor, but add the db2s or old B2S to them and then have a 21" 4x3 monitor above my widescreen playfield with a working backglass. I feel this is the best of both worlds as I am not really a FS fan, I think those of us that have played visual pinball for years just prefer the desktop view. Problem is, FS just seems to kickass with most new people and has created a snowball effect to where desktop users are not really in the loop anymore, just the fact that you now need a monster pc and graphics card to really appreciate a decent resolution and smoothness on these newer tables is enough to keep newbies away even if they get everything installed right to start with. I know you always say there are more desktop users, but look at the download numbers for this table, more FS downloads.

[rob046]

Nice job on this table Rob.

BTW, I play widescreen tables on a 27" monitor, but add the db2s or old B2S to them and then have a 21" 4x3 monitor above my widescreen playfield with a working backglass. I feel this is the best of both worlds as I am not really a FS fan, I think those of us that have played visual pinball for years just prefer the desktop view. Problem is, FS just seems to kickass with most new people and has created a snowball effect to where desktop users are not really in the loop anymore, just the fact that you now need a monster pc and graphics card to really appreciate a decent resolution and smoothness on these newer tables is enough to keep newbies away even if they get everything installed right to start with. I know you always say there are more desktop users, but look at the download numbers for this table, more FS downloads.

 

You are probably right.  VP has probably scared off many of the casual users who would fire things up on desktop.  Or sometimes those users jump right into FS on a rotated monitor because they just assume that is the best way to do it, without giving desktop a chance.  & people just might not really know the pro's & con's of each.  As you know, with the right setup, desktop can be pretty killer & you can kind of get the best of both worlds on it.  I also understand that some people just prefer FS no matter what screen its on, which is fine.

 

VP has gotten better, but also more complicated, & yes, of course it can require expensive hardware to run every table maxed out, & even then that still might not be enough!  That FOR SURE, right there, takes out a large chunk of potential desktop users, & no longer a ton of great originals these days that those with weaker computers back in the day would enjoy to no end.  I think people forget just how rich VP was back in the day with sooo many great originals.  It is now all geared toward more dedicated users.  & many dedicated users like to have cabs.  It is kind of sad if you think about it, even though I luckily know how to have a great desktop setup. 

 

Sad for all those who have given up on it or just can't keep up with all the crazy different files & mass of different info found on this site.  Its enough to makes a noob's head explode!

Add to that, some authors don't even make desktop versions anymore.  So all that combined, its no wonder why desktop users are losing interest.  I do think that certain changes to VP could bring more desktop users back, but at this point I don't know if any devs even want to bother with anything that is desktop only related.  Also, it is hard to even fit in around here as a desktop user.   & if I have trouble, I can only imagine how a noob would feel.  But I will say that the desktop users still downloading tables... you know they are committed users who know what they are doing.

 

So I do hope VP can grow into something more user friendly again.  I try to turn somebody onto it, & its a tough sell.  They say "OK, great, now where do I go & how do I do it".  I say, "nevermind".  Because I don't have the time to try to explain it.  In summary, yes desktop numbers have dipped for sure, but its no surprise when you consider all these things.  With my point being that I don't think we lose desktop users because FS is better than desktop, but rather all these other reasons.  I don't blame them.  It's nobody's fault.  Just the way things have gone these days.  It might all change again.  Really excited to see what might be in store for future VP updates, or maybe even all new software.

Edited by rob046, 13 March 2013 - 04:23 AM.

[cmd]

It does it on my computer too. Had to change inclination to 50. VP914.

 

cmd.

 

Even on the 2.03 I just released?  I thought I made some changes that would fix this problem.  Its frustrating to try to fix a problem you can't duplicate.  What graphics cards or drivers are those of you with issues using?  I'd like to know how or why this happens to some people.  For those that do have the problem, I would suggest to just lower the table a by increasing the y-offset a little bit.  That way the view doesn't have to get altered.  In fact, if you just change y-offset from 20 to 21, does that fix it?  Please check for me.  But remember to revert the inclination back to 47 first.

 

I am using XP Pro Sp3. GeForce GT 240 1GB with 306.81 driver @ 1920 x 1080.

 

With inclination of 47, y-offset of 21 makes the glitch look different, but 22 looks good.

 

Thanks for the help!

 

cmd.

Edited by cmd, 13 March 2013 - 05:25 AM.

[rein1969]

thank you for the update, much better ganeplay and a better lightshow...awesome!

[rob046]

I forgot to put the sizing info on this table, for those not on 16:10...

Table is 16:10 aspect ratio by default, for...
4:3 set x-scale in backdrop to 1.087
16:9 set x-scale to .815

[gaz999]

Played a couple of games, first of all a fantastic update and the table looks great, just like the real one.

 

Psychics: the ball is a bit too heavy perhaps but fine gameplay

 

Sound: backgroundmusix is too low comparing to the loud voices 

 

End of game sequence (with the rolling music notes) is 10 times too slow and don't match with the organmusic

 

hope these are some helpful tips of this wonderful new mod, awesome table, well done!

 

The ball feeling too heavy is actually a side effect of the larger ball size (see table description).   It was actually a lot worse, but I thought I cancelled out a lot of it.  I think I say in the description the physics aren't quite as dialed in as they might be on other mods I do, but still pretty good.  I already took off some gravity to compensate a bit, & honestly I kind of think a heavier feeling ball is somewhat nice as VP often has too light balls.  So maybe that is why it feels heavier to you in comparison?  Though maybe I'll try lowering gravity even further.  But again, just keep that in mind.  I'm still pondering all this myself, so more feedback would be great if anybody has it.

 

See the FS thread regarding changing volume.   This is pinmame related, can't be changed from the vpt file.

The end of game sequence is also a pinmame issue that is out of my hands.  Luckily you can still just exit the game or start a new game while this is happening.  You can also add credits during this freeze up.  So its not a game breaker.

Thanks for the feedback

I tried using the tild (~) to adjust the sound after clicking the score DMD as per the instructions in the zip file but nothing happened.

Am I doing something wrong?

By the way which FS thread are you referring to?

- Gaz999

Edited by gaz999, 16 March 2013 - 10:25 PM.

[rob046]

The txt file in the zip basically says the same thing you'll find in the FS thread & in the description here.  When you right click on the DMD, yeah just hit that tilde key.  Then you should see these white slider settings appear on top of the score display, then follow the directions from there.

If that isn't working, I'm not sure what the issue might be.  Cuz it actually should be pretty simple to do.

[lolo33]

@gaz999

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by lolo33, 17 March 2013 - 02:06 AM.

[LMTR14]

the table tells me I need a "de.vbs 3.37 or higher" file, where can I get this? tx

[chepas]

the table tells me I need a "de.vbs 3.37 or higher" file, where can I get this? tx

 

http://www.vpforums....ads&showfile=17

[mijo]

Thanks for this great work! Now, this isn´t probably the best place to ask but... I'd like to know, why when i disable "hardware device rendering" the organ (the lid) doesn´t animate (it always appear to be closed), nor the plunger (it never goes down), but both things work (you still launch the ball from the plunger and the ball still goes inside the organ). Isn´t there a way to make both things work without hardware device rendering?

 

The question i ask is because VP doesn´t play nice with my NVidia card, and on my intel hd 3000 i get better performance when this is off. I´m on a Laptop (i7, 6gb RAM, gt 525m/hd3000, Win 7 home premium x64). Thanks in advance.

Edited by mijo, 13 May 2013 - 10:36 PM.

[rob046]

Thanks for this great work! Now, this isn´t probably the best place to ask but... I'd like to know, why when i disable "hardware device rendering" the organ (the lid) doesn´t animate (it always appear to be closed), nor the plunger (it never goes down), but both things work (you still launch the ball from the plunger and the ball still goes inside the organ). Isn´t there a way to make both things work without hardware device rendering?

 

The question i ask is because VP doesn´t play nice with my NVidia card, and on my intel hd 3000 i get better performance when this is off. I´m on a Laptop (i7, 6gb RAM, gt 525m/hd3000, Win 7 home premium x64). Thanks in advance.

 

I don't know.  I can't even test without hardware device rendering checked because its a big mess!  I think it is pretty common for there to be issues with animating alpha ramps without hardware rendering enabled.  & both the plunger & the organ use alpha ramps.  I know it sucks, but I have to build according to my own system & to what works best on most people's systems.  Have you tried anything else to improve performance when hardware rendering is checked?  Such as decreasing the alpha ramp slider in video preferences?

[mijo]

Yes, i have tried decreasing the alpha ramp slider but, for some reason, it presented a stranger behaviour. Overall, it was smoother, but when it stuttered, man, those were stutters! jajaja. Oh well, the pain the pain. Well, I'll keep playing with hardware rendering. Also, there´s FP POTO table, and I quite like it (i'm a sucker for pinball graphics, but not so much in-game. I love to turn free camera on and just take a look at the artwork and the table design itself), but I don´t know, I like VP version a bit more (gameplay wise). I've only played a couple of times on a real pinball machine (about 20 years ago) so I don´t know about pinball physics, but your table just "feels" right. I just wish it was more fluid on my system.

 

Anyway, thanks for the help, I´ll keep on playing (and fiddling a little with VP options, maybe i improve gaming experience).

Edited by mijo, 14 May 2013 - 04:21 AM.

[IPJball]

Hi,

I keep getting this error after I launch the ball to start multiball.  It crashes it every time.  What can I do to make it run fine? 

This is really driving me nuts, how do I fix this?

Here is the part of the script it shows me:

It also says the ball radius is wrong or something.

Please help! 

I am using your most current version of Phantom of the Opera too.

Please help!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 If ballStatus(B1) = 1 and ballStatus(B2) = 1 Then  ' If both balls are active...
   bDistance = int((TotalVel(B1,id3)+TotalVel(B2,id3))^(1.04 * (CurrentBall(B1).radius + CurrentBall(B2).radius)/50))
   If ((baX(B1,id3) - baX(B2,id3))^2 + (baY(B1,id3) - baY(B2,id3))^2) < (2800 * ((CurrentBall(B1).radius + CurrentBall(B2).radius)/50)^2) + bDistance Then
    If ABS(baZ(B1,id3) - baZ(B2,id3)) < (CurrentBall(B1).radius + CurrentBall(B2).radius) Then collide B1,B2 : Exit Sub  'added z axis collision detection here
   End If
  End If
  B1 = B1+1            ' Increment ball1
  If B1 = ubound(ballstatus) Then Exit Do     ' Exit loop if all ball combinations checked 
  If B1 >= B2 then B1 = 1:B2 = B2+1      ' If ball1 >= reset ball1 and increment ball2
 Loop
 If ballStatus(0) <= 1 Then XYdata.enabled = False   ' Turn off timer if one ball or less
 If XYdata.interval >= 40 Then B2BOn = 0 : XYdata.enabled = False ' Auto-shut off
 If Timer > xyTime * 3 Then B2BOn = 0 : XYdata.enabled = False ' Auto-shut off
 If Timer > xyTime Then XYdata.interval = XYdata.interval+1 ' Increment interval if needed
 End Sub

[rob046]

Ah, sounds like you need newer VBS files.  Grab the latest from here.  I added a ball sizing code that is only supported by newer core.vbs

[IPJball]

Hi,

Thanks for getting back to me fast.  Sorry but the problem is still exactly the same, I downloaded the newest vbs scripts, and it didn't fix it at all.

Any other ideas?  Please help!

Thanks!

[IPJball]

Should I upgrade to Visual Pinball 9.1.5?  Would that make any difference?  Please help!

[kiwi]

Should I upgrade to Visual Pinball 9.1.5?  Would that make any difference?  Please help!

Yes, absolutely.
With VP912 I have the same problem, with VP915 works perfectly.

 

Max

[IPJball]

THANKS SO MUCH MAX!  It worked perfect after I upgraded to VP915!  Solved, thanks so much!