30 replies to this topic

[wiesshund]

Yes wiesshund. The vpm visible lock uses 3 kickers and 3 triggers, where the ball is held in the kickers so 3 balls can be locked and released by a solenoid. All my tables that uses lock use this system. But this is not easy to implement if you haven't done that before.

It is the same with captive balls. Many new authors add captive balls to tables by letting the ball rest between two walls, thus generating a lot of collisions, which may slow down older computers. The vpm routines also include a captive ball, which also uses a kicker to keep the ball from generating collisions while it is resting.

Hmm

Is that needed if you are just locking a ball in a kicker?
cause i just have a single kicker.

I have not make any tables where a ball appears to be captivated by something else, like a post or gate or wall etc
They are just held by a kicker itself, and nothing collidable the ball can touch when it is locked

[jpsalas]

You can use a single kicker if there is only one ball that must be locked. But on this table there are 3 balls that need to be locked, and you'll need 3 kickers, so you'll need the vpm visible lock, otherwise you'll need to write a lot of extra code.

[wiesshund]

You can use a single kicker if there is only one ball that must be locked. But on this table there are 3 balls that need to be locked, and you'll need 3 kickers, so you'll need the vpm visible lock, otherwise you'll need to write a lot of extra code.

Silly as it sounds, i like extra code
I do ball troughs and drop targets etc in long form
I know what they are doing that way cause i can see what is going on

 

You probably do not because you have only done about 12,000 times more tables than i have

[cyberpez]

I like building it out also.  Makes more sense to me.

 

Interesting about the collisions.  I've never noticed it making that big of a difference in framerates. (in this case)  I'd assume he would see the same effect on King Kong.  It uses the same setup.

[jpsalas]

It all depends on your computer. An older cpu will struggle with such tables.

[wiesshund]

I like building it out also.  Makes more sense to me.

 

Interesting about the collisions.  I've never noticed it making that big of a difference in framerates. (in this case)  I'd assume he would see the same effect on King Kong.  It uses the same setup.

 Depends on how much fidgeting is going on, so the exact physical makeup of the ball trap will account for a lot.

 

Want to see FPS tank?
drop a ball into a super tight circle of really rubbery pegs

 

I went to grab a rubber and peg once, i though i selected just one, but it selected the entire group
so when i pasted 4 or 5 copies, it pasted copies of all the pegs and rubbers

the collisions were enough to tank frame rates and lag the table to hell on ball launch because
the ball launches into an area that has a number of pegs and rubbers that get hit alot, so it was suddenly 5 times the collisions

Edited by wiesshund, 08 September 2021 - 11:17 PM.

[Emre]

I like building it out also.  Makes more sense to me.

 

Interesting about the collisions.  I've never noticed it making that big of a difference in framerates. (in this case)  I'd assume he would see the same effect on King Kong.  It uses the same setup.

 

I'd really appreciate that. I tried to remove the primitives and added the visible lock but keep getting script errors that i don't know what they are meaning. This is one of my fav tables and i don't wanna quit on it.

[wiesshund]

 

I like building it out also.  Makes more sense to me.

 

Interesting about the collisions.  I've never noticed it making that big of a difference in framerates. (in this case)  I'd assume he would see the same effect on King Kong.  It uses the same setup.

 

I'd really appreciate that. I tried to remove the primitives and added the visible lock but keep getting script errors that i don't know what they are meaning. This is one of my fav tables and i don't wanna quit on it.

 

 

It would probably help to see a demo table, that has nothing in it, but a visible lock, so you could see how it is put together, and coded

without having to discern it from a lot of other table code

 

I get the concept, but do not quite get the single code object representing it all

i can envision how to code it by hand

[Emre]

After many failed attempts i solved my issue. I couldn't manage to add a visible lock though. Since @jpsalas mentioned about collision, i started to check every single element that has collision tag and found a timer called CollisionTimer which is set 1. I set it to 100 and boom, it's fixed. So thanks @jpsalas for the tip.

[jpsalas]

Just be aware that not all the tables use a collision timer, as it is not a needed timer and it depends of the author. But those faster timers can also cause a lot of trouble. Nice that you fixed it. If you want to know more about the vpinmame "visible lock" you may check my bttf vp9 table, as I used it there.

[wiesshund]

Just be aware that not all the tables use a collision timer, as it is not a needed timer and it depends of the author. But those faster timers can also cause a lot of trouble. Nice that you fixed it. If you want to know more about the vpinmame "visible lock" you may check my bttf vp9 table, as I used it there.

 

I have found that, the biggest difficulty for people trying to learn from another table is

a) trying to discern what are important parts for the thing they want to know about and what are not
b) trying to discern which code they are actually needing to look at

 

Any way you could make a little table that like has nothing but a plunger and a shooter lane that drops right into a visible lock that just loads up 3 balls, then dumps them out into the drain
might make it easier to understand.

 

I would do one but i have not used that function
I could only show someone how to do it the long way around, since i think i understand what it is doing, but that would defeat the purpose of them figuring out how to use the short form