1388 replies to this topic

[louizou]

hi captain,

i use unity's built in engine (based on physX)
Nothing to code about this , you add a gameobject to the scene , then a meshfilter and a meshrenderer to render it.
For the physics you can choose to add a collider (box, sphere, capsule, mesh) and eventually a rigidbody + a joint(fixed, hinge or configurable one).

FP is based on ms3d files and unfortunately unity doesn't handle this kind of file.
That's why i needed to convert the c++ milkshape importer to c# and my conversion is not perfect.

The difficulty is not to switch from one language to another, but rather to adapt the code to the way unity handles the 3d meshes and animation.

[CPSNine]

Very nice work louizou the video is awesome. As for the rest, one step at a time my friend, your are making very good progress.
Thanks again for your hard work on this project.

[louizou]

i'm trying to do my best

I've tested the table on my 4 years old pc (quadcore+Gforce 8800GT)

Works pretty well , GFX at the topmost !! only eats half of one cpu synced at 60 FPS !!

maybe with the future 3.5 version of unity and multithreaded rendering, it may accept tables like dark knight !!

OMG !

[FDSystems]

Impressionnant

[superballs]

Just amazing Louizou,

I'm in awe at how quickly this is all coming together.
I can't wait to see something, anything playable, even an older simple table just to show what can be done or how it feels.

My donation finally cleared, took long enough. I hate paypal lol

[Adzam]

I hadn't been to VP in a little while, I am a supporter but a quite one. Imagine my suprise when I stuble on this post

Have been coming back daily for the past few days just to read this thread.

The project seems to be maturing quite nicely, Congrates Louizou you are doing a great job.

Your time and effort is very appreciated, Looking forward to further exciting developments, regardless how small, Progress is progress.

$30 Donation made.

Thanks also to everyone else that makes this site what it is

[teppotee]

50$ donated.

Really looking forward for the first playable demo(no matter how unstable etc.) although I understand that it still might be a long way ahead.

Thanks for the constant progress updates. It's interesting to see how it all comes together and what the real challenges under the hood are.

[Themer]

A lot of new donations the past few weeks. What's the current amount we've collected? I guess we aren't far from the $ 1500,- anymore It's good to see new visual progress again louizou, keep up the great work!

Edited by Themer, 12 April 2012 - 07:55 AM.

[louizou]

thanks a lot to all of you , dear donators !

We must ask brian how high the pot is ?

I don't know when i'll be able to send the first tryable version .

Some things can change as there are some points i'm not totally satisfied with !!

[Syco54645]

I am floored by this! The progress you have made is amazing. Just read the entire thread! I realize it is a bit early to be considering this but will plunger and nudging be analog? I assume you will do this. Would be nice if keys could be configured in the player for all tables.
When you do release the source (no hurry, not trying to speed you along) please consider something like github or gitorious. This would allow easier contribution and you could control what makes it into the source.

Edited by Syco54645, 12 April 2012 - 02:18 PM.

[Michael2]

looks amazing

quick question,

will the DMD be able to be displayed on a third screen (like in vp)? I'm sure this is on every cabinet owners wishlist

Mike

[Syco54645]

looks amazing

quick question,

will the DMD be able to be displayed on a third screen (like in vp)? I'm sure this is on every cabinet owners wishlist

Mike

actually my wish would be on russdx's dmd board

[destruk]

Since the DMD board is compiled into PinMAME, I don't think unity3d will need any adjustment to use it.

[Arcade4]

looks amazing

quick question,

will the DMD be able to be displayed on a third screen (like in vp)? I'm sure this is on every cabinet owners wishlist

Mike

actually my wish would be on russdx's dmd board

The DMD board by Russ rules.
No way, I would ever go back to having a fake DMD on a monitor.

[DonRobby]

This is really awesome. You re the pioneer of making a next gen pinball simulation. Respect!

[Syco54645]

Since the DMD board is compiled into PinMAME, I don't think unity3d will need any adjustment to use it.

ah ok. i was unaware of exactly what files were modified by them.

[louizou]

I am floored by this! The progress you have made is amazing. Just read the entire thread! I realize it is a bit early to be considering this but will plunger and nudging be analog? I assume you will do this. Would be nice if keys could be configured in the player for all tables.
When you do release the source (no hurry, not trying to speed you along) please consider something like github or gitorious. This would allow easier contribution and you could control what makes it into the source.

The keys are already configurable at the start of the player and are saved by the app and reused a each startup
I hope they'll be configurable at runtime too .
Plunger will be driven by a single keyboard key or joystick button (called "Plunger")
And by another (driven by an analog joystick axis called "PlungerAnalog")
Both will do the same thing , co existing without any conflict(not finished yet)

This is really awesome. You re the pioneer of making a next gen pinball simulation. Respect!

Working all together , we'll bring pinball sim to higher spheres !! this is our destiny !!
Sorry, i've watched too must stargate episodes !! must have a break ...

[Syco54645]

I am floored by this! The progress you have made is amazing. Just read the entire thread! I realize it is a bit early to be considering this but will plunger and nudging be analog? I assume you will do this. Would be nice if keys could be configured in the player for all tables.
When you do release the source (no hurry, not trying to speed you along) please consider something like github or gitorious. This would allow easier contribution and you could control what makes it into the source.

The keys are already configurable at the start of the player and are saved by the app and reused a each startup
I hope they'll be configurable at runtime too .
Plunger will be driven by a single keyboard key or joystick button (called "Plunger")
And by another (driven by an analog joystick axis called "PlungerAnalog")
Both will do the same thing , co existing without any conflict(not finished yet)

beautiful. it will have exactly what i need. changing the keys at the start is all that is needed. i think after startup most would not fiddle with the keys. exciting times, makes me wish i knew unity so i could help. old job had us get into it, but unfortunately it was the other team of devs...

[DonRobby]

I'd say that's a nice slogan for the presentation of this project.
I also know some things that are also possible with Unity.

Creating sound in surround effect. When the ball rolls over a ramp it can be heared from the right place. I can also confirm that multiball effects ( like hitting the second ball ) or even hitting the glass can all be simulated.
Real life light sources for every light used in the table.
Shadows for every detail.
Great preset shaders to make everything look the way it should.
Normal map shaders to make an illusion of more depth without modelling it in full 3d so that the polygon count can be spared a little bit. (For example Escape from the Lost World with it s many rocky surfaces). However then you need some tools for making these normal map skins but those can be found for free on the web.
Building an interface where you can controll all these effects to give it an optimal gameplay.

All these things make it possible to make it a real next gen pinball simulation

You made an excelent choice with this engine. I've seen it s power at first hand and through many videos found on the web and although that has nothing to do with building a pinball table, it still gives me a good idea of what it s capable of. And if this experiment succeeds I also have some interest in following this coarse myself.

[louizou]

eh eh donrobby

It seems that your knowings about unity engine are pretty exact !!

Sounds can be used as 3d sounds , and the audio listener is attached to the camera.
For ball contact sounds, it will be possible to do almost everything you want as contacts are filtered by object type.
So the sound may be different if a ball hits a rubber, a surface, another ball , the glass, etc ...
And the volume of each contact sound, will be driven by the velocity of the contact.

The handling of audio samples is something i must seriously consider as i do not manage any fp sound at this time...Maybe the ramps will wait a little ...

For the lights , having only pixel lights ( real ones ) is not possible (too heavy ).
I use vertex lights which are less expensive and mixing it with a light halo does the job.
This is customizable by script , so it will need some tests, depending on the table simulated.

About the shadows... I've respected the constraints to get them and i can't see them at all.
This is not as important as lighting,IMO.So i do not care about it...

For the normal maps, i must look at unity's doc to know if it's possible to import them at runtime.
If so, that would be also a nice effect on giligan's island