452 replies to this topic

[death69inc]

pretty sure I have just about every table released still dont have a vp cab lol. not sure about pup packs..... Sucks its gone.  

[cheynespc]

Feeling glad i got my hook pup pack a few days ago but sad to see vpinball gone , my project log as well :[

[oooPLAYER1ooo]

Sad.... its hard to explain but I totally understand his feelings. I had the same feelings

Edited by oooPLAYER1ooo, 02 April 2021 - 01:08 PM.

[roccodimarco]

Sucks it’s shut down. I hope randr sticks around though. He was a nice guy in the community who was there with help and suggestions. Super cool dude, hope he comes back around and doesn’t leave all together.

[jino0372]

I'm sad but I understand Randr point and his position.  I hope Randr see my post because I want to personally thank him for all of the years he has hosted VPinball.  His contributions to the hobby were tremendous and VPinball will be heavily missed.  With VPinball gone...we are all mourning the lost of an old friend.  Some like me are still in shock and denial.  Some have moved on to the anger stage and many are depressed.  Time heals all and....in time....my hope is the community will get stronger from this.

 

I believe we need to band together and develop a method to stop the poaching.  I have some ideas...one is a point based system.  As you contribute you gain points.  Points allow you to download content.  So the more you contribute....the more you can download.  Contributions can be forum post or content.  Another deals with the Visual Pinball installers.  These should only be made available to contributors.  If you cannot download the software...then the tables are useless. 

 

The bottom-line....there is nothing that can be done with he content that has already been released to date.  It is out there and will be available forever and shared amongst the poachers via FB, Torrent, etc.  I am thinking about new content and the next version of Visual Pinball.

[death69inc]

sucked when monsterbash went dont but vpin really sucks

[nikolafeve]

It's not just a few bad apples. A quick google search will give you a good number of places selling fully loaded cabs. Here's a few.

https://creative-arcades.com/
https://www.inthenewage.com/
https://custommulticades.com/
https://www.gameroomshop.com/
https://primearcades.com/

Anyone that profits off selling someone else's work without their permission is a lowlife.

sorry but they sell the hardware not the software. and a lot of people interested in vpin don't have the technical knowledge to build the pc and software as us. be honest guys, to have a really good working vpin cab, u need to be a real geek at least on the software side. vpx is not easy as pinball fx (but really far superior as u know). It's great to have a bigger community even if some new guys in the party are not geek as us and buy their fully loaded machine from websites, maybe in the future they will become table creators thank to that. very bad move from vpinball.com with no alert, imo disrespectful for all author who uploaded their stuffs on the site

[danomyte]

Thanks Randr.  Thanks to all the other big heavies out there as well.  To many to list which is a compliment to how great the community was/is.  Anyone that was in it for a hobby knows who they are. Gonna miss the knowledge base/conversation as much as the tables.   I have a lot of other hobbies outside pinball.  I obviously have a virtual machine  but also have real machines.  I have always said “the best folks I ever met just genuinely trying to help one another are in pinball (all things pinball)”  Still holds true.  Like everything in life a few bad apples spoil the barrel and nothing lasts forever.   Why is it the smartest animal on the planet the most self destructive?  Strange. 

 
 

Peace on earth and stay well my friends. 

[TNT2]

Very very sad day. 

 

But I agree with some of the other posters. Thank you randr for giving us so much. I loved my time on the site and would check in weekly. Had a lot of fun over there. Thanks randr and all of the other folks at vpinball.

[tgx]

There was a post on social media awhile back that he was getting distressed over the proliferation

of virtual cabs. It had to cost him a pretty penny in bandwidth once PuP became popular. Sorry to see

the site go but he did allude that he was getting fed up with the current state of affairs.

[evileman]

Indeed a super sad day. Part of me is still hoping its an April fools joke. I was merely a humble member with nothing to contribute but thanks and appreciation. Sites like this VPF, VPU , Vpinball made my dream of having my own pinball machine a reality. (Cue up Sublime song thanx from 40oz. To Freedom) THANK YOU randr, moderators, authors, members, frontend developers, dB2S makers, PuP makers, wheel makers, media makers, rom coloring, and all the rest!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[watacaractr]

Hey guys, I apologize if this is the wrong place to post, but as a small contributor/designer, I just had to post this. This comment really pissed me off. I won't say where or who, but this was said about "designers" in a FB community. "Oh, by the way, most Vpx tables only work if you use a pirated rom. Did the paint by numbers table "designers" pay the original table creators for the use of their roms and art work.....". Are you fucking kidding me? Paint by numbers???! Do these people realize that emulators make arcade games, like Super Mario Brothers, work with roms? The game already comes this way. Real pinball machines are mechanical and have to be re-created from scratch! Whether it's someone updating the original or re-creating tables like Flupper or any other awesome designer has done, it takes a lot of work!! I, myself have been working on a newly themed table for 7 months now and not sure if I even want to release it because of assholes selling packs with their pre-built cabs. Sorry for venting here but with the Vpinball site gone, it feels like someone pulled a third of the rug I was standing on out from under me. Just my two cents.

[mofstedahl]

To bad, I understand the why. But at the end of the day there is a strong community that understands the software and the scripts. We all have vpx and with that software you can build or learn to build your tables. Create your own content, pup packs whatever...isn't that part of the hobby?
As long as there is a forum to exchange ideas and info the hobby still exists. Just my opinion.

[ICPjuggla]

I left the hobby for similar reasons as I saw this coming years ago.

I just want to take the time to thank Randr for all he’s done for the hobby. He’s a great guy and I consider him a good friend! I wish him the best.

[Ben Logan]

Randr posted a YouTube video a few weeks ago. He walked over to the pincab and said something like, “Haven’t turned this thing on in months. Let’s see if it still powers up.” He wasn’t being cynical or sarcastic — just matter of fact.  Hadn’t seen it as a sign of deep sadness with the state of the hobby at the time. But, it was obviously a change from his usually joyful videos. I totally understand his decision. 

[Badazzwi]

It's not just a few bad apples. A quick google search will give you a good number of places selling fully loaded cabs. Here's a few.

https://creative-arcades.com/
https://www.inthenewage.com/
https://custommulticades.com/
https://www.gameroomshop.com/
https://primearcades.com/

Anyone that profits off selling someone else's work without their permission is a lowlife.

sorry but they sell the hardware not the software. and a lot of people interested in vpin don't have the technical knowledge to build the pc and software as us. be honest guys, to have a really good working vpin cab, u need to be a real geek at least on the software side. vpx is not easy as pinball fx (but really far superior as u know). It's great to have a bigger community even if some new guys in the party are not geek as us and buy their fully loaded machine from websites, maybe in the future they will become table creators thank to that. very bad move from vpinball.com with no alert, imo disrespectful for all author who uploaded their stuffs on the site

All of the sites I listed sell fully loaded cabs. They have games lists posted on their sites. Games that I can assure you they did not create and don't have permission to include in their product. Visual pinball and pinmame that are required to run these game are also not to be sold. I didn't include any sites claiming to sell only hardware.

You do realize that is why randr ultimately took the site down so I see no reason to defend those companies. It sucks but he had every right to do so. He did it all for free and we were lucky to have him.

I am not great with computers but I took the time to learn an managed to setup my own virtual pinball cab. Yes it took a ton of time and frustration but I enjoyed it and I still enjoy it. Vpinball played a huge part in helping me create my cab. A wealth of knowledge for anyone to use. If I can do it anyone can. If you really don't have the time or capabilities then ask a friend for help or move on to something else that better suits you.

I'm not upset with the people that buy these cabs as they don't know any better. It's the ones that knowingly look to profit off others hard work without permission to do so. That imo is uncalled for.

[watacaractr]

Again guys, I'm sorry but this is the mentality of some people in FB Communities after concerns of actual hobbyists commenting on losing VPinball. "All the discussion on various posts seems to indicate that there are two equal groups. One that wants to play tables without all the hassle, and one that is stuck into thinking you must do this the hardest way possible. I will advocate for the hassle free way for those that don't want the drama.  Spend more time playing tables and less time dealing with the software. For those that think the hard way is the only way, have fun with that.  I will be busy playing tables while you waste your time tracking everything down and figuring out how to make it work" It is people like this that are going to ruin this hobby. And that's all she wrote.

[Karlor]

Well I still think that after some time he will come back or the site will in some way. Idk its hard to give something like this up forever, just needs some time to chill and maybe let some of this BS blow over...

 

Also I don't think hed let all the peoples work go to hell, he probably has backups or something and just doesn't feel like messing with it right this moment or transferring it to someone else so they can take over.. sometime playing dead works wonders

 

SO how do we win?.. Unfortunately the same flame we would use to burn them is the same flame that will burn us..  so we need to do what these professional "protestors" do.. attack the POS.. no no no, not what you think the 'point of sale"... do NOT include the IP owners, we need them to stay asleep.. as the same argument will be reversed and used on us immediately..

 

Find who these creeps are doing business with and cut them off from using payment methods.. contact web host of their sites and report that they are being cunts... that sort of thing..

 

If you REALLY want to get nasty find out who they are then use FB to call them racist/sexist or the like then maybe after they get a taste of it they'll just piss off into the sunset..

[Bladeof]

Very sad today, but I understand Randr's feelings. Many Thanks to Randr and all Mods and Authors at Vpinball. I truly feel blessed to be part of this community with all these very talented people who spend their time, hard work and resources providing outstanding content, knowledge, and help to our community for just the love of the hobby. All that is asked of us is saying a simple Thank You. To ALL Devs, Authors, Contributors, Site Providers and Forum Question Answerers... THANK YOU FOR ALL THAT YOU DO. Your Work and Time is Very Much Appreciated. THANK YOU

[Ben Logan]

One of the saddest parts about doing things the “hassle free” way as a user, is that you have no idea about all the love, creativity, talent and just plain hard work that went into the tables that come pre-loaded on your turn-key ready cab.. You don’t even know who created your table, much less have had a chance to follow a WIP thread, give constructive feedback and cheer the dev or dev team onward. It’s just a flat, hollow experience to buy a preloaded cab in comparison with really participating in the community, perhaps helping in small ways yourself. 

Edited by Ben Logan, 02 April 2021 - 05:31 PM.