66 replies to this topic

[TheMcD]

I say a trophy is fine. Trophies are awesome. Or maybe a title belt...

The McD

[rascal]

Rascal and Noah please check your messages I may have an idea on this issue

I didn't receive a message from you in PM or email.

[Noah Fentz]

I say a trophy is fine. Trophies are awesome. Or maybe a title belt...

The McD

I can see a trophies based on the tables won

[computerfrk1]

I can see a trophies based on the tables won

trophies are good

[computerfrk1]

It appears we have our table coding team now so now the next step which is figuring out details and types of tournaments and their lengths and so on.

[yogiholzer]

It appears we have our table coding team now so now the next step which is figuring out details and types of tournaments and their lengths and so on.

So who's the actual table coding team, please?

[computerfrk1]

So who's the actual table coding team, please?

Noah_Fentz
Blacky
Rascal (unconfirmed still)

[yogiholzer]

Noah_Fentz
Blacky
Rascal (unconfirmed still)

Thanks for that info!

[computerfrk1]

Thanks for that info!

You are welcome

[TRAVLOR]

Bob has hit the nail on the head!

I played at VPOH too and liked that I could choose any game on the list and play 3 or 5 balls and my score went against all others for the same game. Any table could be played anytime and as many times as you wanted.

Starting new each month the high scores go onto the bragging wall or whatever with the top 3 getting gold, silver or bronze icons in either or both categories, 3 & 5 ball.

You guys are doing good work and am happy to see you've moved here.

travlor

[Noah Fentz]

Bob has hit the nail on the head!

I played at VPOH too and liked that I could choose any game on the list and play 3 or 5 balls and my score went against all others for the same game. Any table could be played anytime and as many times as you wanted.

Starting new each month the high scores go onto the bragging wall or whatever with the top 3 getting gold, silver or bronze icons in either or both categories, 3 & 5 ball.

You guys are doing good work and am happy to see you've moved here.

travlor

Yeah, that's cool. That's how the high score section is going to be organized, except it's updated with every score submission. You'll be able to check real-time high scores all the time.

Tournaments, on the other hand, will be a separate and limited in duration.

[vati1]

One question.

Is it possible to play Visual Pinball Tournament over Kaillera Netplay?

Because i play sometimes with a friend arcade games over the internet with Kaillera.


So for tournaments it would be fine and 1 person could do the spectator.

[yogiholzer]

I always thought Kaillera was only for MAME, but I now had a short look here http://www.kaillera.com/ and now I think I was wrong. However, as far as I understand it needs to be implemented into the main application(s) and I'm nearly absolutely sure, that that won't happen ever. Sorry.

[JudgeX]

I always thought Kaillera was only for MAME, but I now had a short look here http://www.kaillera.com/ and now I think I was wrong. However, as far as I understand it needs to be implemented into the main application(s) and I'm nearly absolutely sure, that that won't happen ever. Sorry.

Why are you so sure that won't ever happen? Looking over the Kaillera SDK, it doesn't seem terribly difficult.

Step 1:
Add a "Netplay" to the file menu...

Step 2:
When Netplay is clicked, populate the list of games by calling kailleraSetInfos method and feeding it the listing of *.vpt in the tables folder (also used to chat)

Step 3:
Launch kailleraSelectServerDialog to get a list of servers and the interface for joining said servers....

Step 4:
This is the only hard step to implementing Kaillera...
In the code, you must call kailleraModifyPlayValues at every frame after you've gotten values from input devices...
basically you are handing the controls over to kaillera and telling it what was pushed, so that the server can buffer what was pressed when and by whom...

So you'd just branch off your state machine with an "if kaillera is being played do it this way instead", include your callbacks, etc...

There are two versions of MAME available on www.kaillera.com where the source code has been modified to include Kaillera (in inptport.c)...
The only reason I say this is difficult is because the input portion of Visual Pinball might not currently be 100% compatible, and might require a bit of conversion and re-conversion to get it to work...

Step 5:
Implement kailleraChatSend (simple).

Step 6:
Use the kailleraEndGame and unloadDLL functions.

I missed a couple minor steps in there, but, they are obvious ones, like including the kaillera files, and rigging the engine to start the same rom, etc etc, but all of this stuff is in the two open source MAMEs on kaillera.com, or the gens source...

I mean, to the guys that wrote and work with VP, this kind of thing should be almost trivial to do... it's really just taking advantage of a couple of callbacks in the SDK, and making sure that your control mechanism fits into the buffering system outlined in there.

If I had access to the source code of Visual Pinball, I'd actually give this a shot, since there are easy to copy examples sitting right there on www.kaillera.com and, I know C++...



Of course, it's possible that integration isn't possible based on the nuances of how VP might be built... but, it's also possible that the entire Kaillera implementation and initial testing could be knocked out on a lazy weekend... I don't know whether it's been tried or not... and I don't know if the devs are even still really working on things... I know that the author of Gens popped Kaillera into that emulator seemingly instantaneously between two updates...

I'll tell you this though, I'd love to play some multiplayer pinball online...

Anyway, sorry for thread necromancy... I just thought this would be good for "tournaments" and such, rather than just uploading NVRams, you can either use honor system between the two players, or have someone sit in and confirm the results of a game... so yeah..

Edited by JudgeX, 12 June 2009 - 03:50 PM.

[yogiholzer]

Thanks for your input, JudgeX.

I would really like to play VP/VPM online in multiplayer mode.

Not that I understand anything in the steps you named (ok, step 1 sounds relatively simple, but I was overstrained anyway), but I didn't mean the technical part here at all.

Visual Pinball isn't open source and I think it's nearly excluded, that we ever get it. I hope I'm wrong!

[yogiholzer]

Any news? Anything to report? What's the actual situation/progress? Or are the tournaments cancelled?

I just ask for all the people who are still waiting for the announced tournaments since May 2009. Please don't only answer: Stay patient.

[Noah Fentz]

It's all in development. These things take time, especially when more than one person is involved and they are scattered all over the world.

Be patient.

[computerfrk1]

I realize that this is taking longer than what we thought but please be patient I'm hoping too that it will be soon

[yogiholzer]

It's all in development. These things take time, especially when more than one person is involved and they are scattered all over the world.

Be patient.

I realize that this is taking longer than what we thought but please be patient I'm hoping too that it will be soon

Please don't only answer: Stay patient.

100% exactly the typical answers which I explicitly tried to avoid!

Why don't you just report about the plans and the development openly and deliver some real information? Why make a secret of it? If VPM isn't manageable, then it isn't. If the tournaments aren't manageable at all, then they aren't.

Your answers are nonsatisfying! Do you notice? Really?

(Personally I don't request tournaments available at VPF.org, but generally I like to be able to forward interesting informations about to answer e-mail requests from different friends from all over the world, which I recieve from time to time. If tournaments aren't and won't be available at all, then that's a fact I could forward. If tournaments are available soon, then that's a fact I could forward too. What's soon? Weeks, months, years, decades, centuries? Who are the people involved? Do they promise to deliver results? When? Why is it that hard to inform people at all? Do you know, that it's no drama, if there are no tournaments at all? Here I just try to find out facts. It's not my own interst, but I ask for people, who aren't active posting at VPF.org and/or don't have the heart to do.)

[Noah Fentz]

It's the truth, Yogi. nothing withheld.

Your attitude is unbecoming.

It's my project, and I will let you know when it's ready.

-Noah