491 replies to this topic

[Themer]

Today I tried to add the TiTimers object, but more objects are missing, like other timers and primitives. I think it's easier to upload the whole table, so we're sure we aren't missing anything.

[Shoopity]

Maybe at some point, but I get the impression not right now.  I've reached out a couple times and one of his replies was "Yeah I'm kinda pinballed out so to speak."  This is how I see it, Bill Paxton Pinball was more of a hobby; something he was doing for him so when he worked on it, he was doing it for him.  AMH is commercial product, so there's a bit more pressure there; and since he's not a pinball maker by trade, he worked on it in his free time, including times he may not have been that inclined to.  Plus, with it being commercial, the production value was higher which means more work.  E.G. in BPP, all of the sounds and music were just rips from movies and TV.  All 800+ call-outs in AMH were recorded, edited, and post-produced.

Today I tried to add the TiTimers object, but more objects are missing, like other timers and primitives. I think it's easier to upload the whole table, so we're sure we aren't missing anything.

Are you sure you grabbed the most recent table from the first post?  It should be over 100 megs.  I'm downloading it now to make sure the version there is the version I think it is.

[luvthatapex]

I tried the script update too and its missing other things besides TiTimers. Can you just upload your current WIP and replace it with whats there? You've done a great job so far with the table and I played this at expo and am very interested in playing your new version. Keep up the great work!

[Shoopity]

Yeah, I'll upload the most recent table and the most recent code (Go re-download from the first link, both the table and the script, although the table already has the most recent script).  with the most recent code there's obviously more stuff enabled, but still bug riddled.  From simple things like not declaring variables, to things like the Door VUK still isn't working (but you can still disable the kicker in the editor if you don't want to have to restart the table.  But many more switches are now active like the ORB and GLIR (though the lights for them don't work), and the Spirit Guide works (as far as I can tell).  I haven't done much trouble shooting, e.g. forcing the table into a certain mode, or forcing the spirit guide to pick a certain reward to make sure it's awarding to correctly.

 

I know on the first ball it doesn't tell you which skill shot was picked (and with no DMD, it's impossible to tell); as far as I can tell, that's how it supposed to be, I'm assuming because there are other quotes and sounds going on during your first ball.

[luvthatapex]

ok, I redownloaded the table and its working again. nice work on the color changing ghost and the opening/closing door. Very cool to flip this one again, and I'm looking forward to your next update. Thanks!

[arngrim]

quick test with dof and it's of course working, with or without backglass, so when it is ready i can force feedback it

[Shoopity]

OK, I updated the code.  Just copy/paste the code from the link in the first post in the script in the table.  I really tried not to touch the table since the last upload, but I did; however I undid what I did (for example, I put the target bank targets into a Collection, but then I un-did that)... mostly.  If you run into any script errors, let me know.

 

Still haven't implemented all switches, but:

It's possible to play a full Hospital mode (at least the main objectives of completing that mode)

I think it's possible to play a full Prison mode

If you put a kicker in the middle of playfield, between the Bar and Fort lights, and call it "KiTest1", you can test stuff out by using the middle row of keys (A through ;  ) as well as V and B to make all the main shots (keep in mind, many switches still aren't hooked up).  I have it set so when these "thrown" balls hit the drain they just disappear, but sometimes they don't and the game thinks it's a regular ball.

I think the rollovers work, but using the flippers to move them doesn't yet.

The ghost is much more active, but still doesn't do everything he's suppose (like he doesn't seem to get bored yet)

The door is pretty active, but still not 100% (like, it doesn't close after Prison mode for some reason)

Edited by Shoopity, 11 December 2014 - 12:19 AM.

[Themer]

Awesome how you're progressing, going to check the code out later this week!

[s1500]

I just met the guy who did the mafia ghost voice 2 nights ago. Pretty cool of Ben to OK it all AND give you the resources to do it. 

[Shoopity]

OK, I've uploaded the most recent version.  I also went ahead and uploaded a version with no sound, so you can export the sounds from the older tables and import them into the most recent table.

 

I think I might call this the first official Beta version.  As far as I can tell, all the modes are in (except the final demon).  I honestly haven't "played" too much since I added in the Test kicker; here's how that works:

Add two credits as with most table (number 5), then start a game as normal (number 1)

Push the T key to "hold the ball in your hand"; DO NOT DO THIS before starting a game, or you'll get an error and have to restart.  You have to "hold" the ball because a bunch of stuff doesn't happen if the ball is sitting in the shooter lane.

Now you can "throw" the ball around the table.  You can use the Debug window's throw ball feature if you want, or you can use the following keys:

A: hits the wiki target

S: Left orbit (all the way to the basement)

D: Tech Target

F: Door/Left VUK

G: Left Ghost target (certain modes require specific target like bar mode, some don't like Hospital)

H: Middle Ghost Target

J: Right Ghost Target

K: Up to the bumpers (to advance Bar or Fort)

L: Hellevator call button

;: Hotel/Hellevator ramp

': Psychic target

V: Right "orbit"/balcony

B: Scoop

 

The only way to hit the orbs is to shake the table after using S for a left orbit shot and forcing it to be weak (there's no tilt yet, so shake away), or by using the throw ball feature (or just by throwing balls like crazy and hoping they collide with each other).  The only way to miss the balcony shot is the same (it's funny if you come back down the ramp, it has a screeching sound effect and it always makes me picture some cartoon character stopping, or Arnold S. in True Lies when he tries to jump a building with a horse).

 

I need to go through the code again, line by line, and start uncommenting things I initially commented out, but later put in (references to subs that I'd comment out just because I wanted to play a mode, commenting out functions because I hadn't figured out how to implement them, etc.).  But, I definitely need some bug hunters for me.  As with any pinball game, to test every single possible shot in every single possible mode is a daunting task.  If you find a bug, perceived bad behavior, etc. please tell me.  If it's a crash, please make sure to make a note of the line the code throws and if you can, remember what modes you were in at the time.

Edited by Shoopity, 17 December 2014 - 05:02 PM.

[luvthatapex]

Wow very cool! Can't wait to try the new changes.

[Shoopity]

PLEASE NOTE:

I have not updated the link or file yet, but I will

 

I haven't abandoned this project.  I'm currently working on implementing UltraDMD.  It took me a couple days to realize I didn't really have to build scenes that way I had to with HyperDMD (maybe you don't with HDMD, but I was under the impression with the little work I've done with Hyper is that you need to build scenes); as great as the documentation is for UDMD, it's not complete and it's lacking in examples.  I'm not complaining at all since, as I understand it,  that program is just a hobby for the programmer.  Here are some screenies:

 

 HyperDMD3.jpg   101.21KB   21 downloads  HyperDMD2.jpg   99KB   20 downloads  HyperDMD1.jpg   105.95KB   23 downloads

 

This one's gonna take some time; unless someone comes with a better idea, here's what I gotta do:

• I have ALL the animation scenes from Ben Heck in the form of avi files (as well as BH's proprietary .vid format that's used in the machine, that was generated by a program he and his team created that took a series of bitmaps); I run that AVI through VLC with the Scene Filter turned on, capturing every frame and generating a PNG.
• I open all those PNGs in GIMP as Layers
• I Export from a GIMP a .gif
• I can then use that gif in UltraDMD as a background for a scene

 

I realize UDMD can make an animation from a series of images, but making a gif will save you guys on a download size

Supposedly UDMD can run videos; I haven't been successful in doing so but regardless, for an example, one avi from BH might be 2 megs in size but is only 200k as a gif (and that's not even an optimized gif).  All of the AVI total just under a gigabyte.

I just plotzed... there are over 1,000 of these animations.  I'm pretty sure there's not 1,000 calls to animations in the code, but there are random animations as well as some animations that are different depending on the situation.  E.G. there's only one line of code to call the Spirit Guide animation, but it has to match the actual award, of which there are 18 possibilities.  I don't know if I'm going to have to convert all these or not.  I think there are some on-line converters I could try.

Oh yeah, don't worry about the screen caps.  The DMD looks crappy due to my reducing the image quality; it looks awesome in real life.

 

Also, I really need some bug hunters and people who like to make things look pretty.  I am in no way opposed to this being a group a project.  Anyone will to help, please let me know what you want to help with.

[freneticamnesic]

I can help visually and with gameplay mechanics. I wanted to do this table but was turned off of it by all the code that would need to be done. I know someone who is getting AMH, hopefully soon, and can get good reference photos and make sure everything looks good.

 

If you talk to gtxjoe I think he can help automate your video conversion, just based on what he did with the future pinball primitive collection

edit: I can help much more after I finish VW, otherwise I'll never finish lol

[Shoopity]

Yeah, some things I need verification on, like if that's how it's suppose to behave.  For example, for the speed of the ghost moving, I found the fastest speed and the slowest speed I could find in BH's code and tried making it equivalent to what I saw in the videos; however I now have a feeling that there's probably limit on the physical motor.  So it wouldn't matter if you told the motor to move at a speed of 255 or 1000, it's gonna move at the slowest speed possible.  And because the code was written by different people at different times, one coder might use 1000 and another coder might use 255, but they're the same speed.  However, in my code, 1000 is a whole lot slower than 255.  I know for a fact I had to change the speed of the ghost moving during a minion fight.

 

Also currently, I think the ghost doesn't really do anything until the first mode is started; e.g. when you shoot the left "orbit", he looks left, then right to sort of follow the ball.  That doesn't happen until the first mode gets started.  Is that normal, or did I miss something in the code?

Edited by Shoopity, 16 January 2015 - 11:05 PM.

[freneticamnesic]

I do not remember, his friend had one I played for a while but wasn't paying attention to that stuff. Just make a list of the stuff you're not 100% sure of for now and when I get a chance with the machine again I'll try and answer it all.

[BigBoss]

Why not let us just grab the sounds off the spooky pinball site and drop the sounds folder in?

[freneticamnesic]

BigBoss he has all that stuff now

[Shoopity]

BigBoss, if you download the the table in the very first link of the very first table, you'll every sound in the game, straight from BH himself.  I did, however, make the sounds mono and reduced their quality which brought their total file size from 500+ megs to 70 megs.  I also made the table available without the sounds so you don't have to download the sounds every time I release a new version.

[Shoopity]

OK, the original post now has links to the UltraDMD table.  Make sure you download the GIF pack and put that folder inside the same folder as wherever you're launching this table from.  See the UltraDMD thread for help installing it (it's really pretty easy/minimal).

[UltraPeepi]

Sorry I am so late to the party on this one.  Shoopity PM'd me about the WIP.  I downloaded the latest and it already looks amazing.  The animations look good too, even though he is currently having to work around a bug.  I am going to do everything I can to make sure Shoopity can match the original DMD experience.

 

UltraDMD v1 was designed so original table authors could build tables with DMD support, including scoreboard and some basic to intermediate DMD scenes and scene sequences.  This build is likely to go beyond the v1 design goals.  I am going to try to make sure the UltraDMD is not the limiting factor in making this the best build it can be.