77 replies to this topic

[flupper1]

Several suggestions to try:
- dont use enhance the application setting in the AA mode in the nvidia settings
- do use force exclusive fullscreen in vpx settings (this usually fixes stuttering)
- try changing max texture dimension in vpx
- dont know what CAS does but switch it off in vpx
- switch of screenspace reflections and ingame AO (but should already be off due to the table settings)
- you could try to switch quality SMAA to another AA method as a last resort in vpx

[Pmax65]

Very thank you Flupper1 for still taking care of my issue.

 

As said last week I'm busy at office these days, but as far as possible (maybe in next weekend), I'll surely try your interesting suggestions (interesting and very cryptic to me , because I never entered the world of the 3D gaming computer graphics before).

As I'll do that, I surely inform you about the results.

 

In the meantime, have great days.

 

Massimo

Edited by Pmax65, 18 January 2022 - 12:55 PM.

[chepas]

Nice, only just played it couple of days ago, well done, never been a fan of whirlwind though unfortunately , the Pat games never last for me but if this is someones dream game then they are as close as they're going to get to the machine.

 

The documenting the build that was a good read, thanks, it's been a while since I read the ramps documents, I haven't made any but I will be using that when I need to make some ramps, I will give baking some flippers a go at some point.

 

I have started to bake GI and flasher now, I won't do 4 stage though, it gives a better than standard light effect in VP though, miles better and doesn't take me too long to do a game with 6 flashers, GI.

 

Have you uploaded some parts here? Even those bumper cap would be nice to use, I'm after some in red lol.

[Pmax65]

Hi Flupper1,

I followed all you suggested and it works effectively with most tables, you aimed to the target again  
But with some tables I have to disable "force exclusive fullscreen" in vpx settings otherwise VPX doesn't get the ROM file and warns with the usual "Machine '########' (##############) terminated before initialized, check the rom path o rom file!"

That happens for example with your very nice table "Tales Of The Arabian Nights". When I remove the "force exclusive fullscreen" the table returns to works but the FPS fall down, the ball returns to stutter and the DMD screen position and size are reset to default.

With Whirlwind instead everything works really great, the ball moves smoth and the flashes have no issues.

 

Do you know if there is a way to avoid that "machine terminated before initialized" issue?

 

Thank you very much again.

 

Have a great weekend.

 

Massimo

[flupper1]

Massimo, maybe this helps?
https://www.vpforums...showtopic=43888

[Pmax65]

Hi Flupper1,

thank you very much for supporting me in this issue, it was a direct draw issue indeed (I can't figure out why this leads to that "machine terminated before initialized" error, but it was the culprit).

I already read that topic, but since I use Windows7 and when I configured the cabinet I read someone else who suggested to enable it, I have now all the tables with ddraw turned on.
I tried VPtools, but it resize and reposition the DMD too, and since I have some tables with the DMD not placed into the 3rd monitor because the table requires it on the backglass or the playfield with a specific dimension, I decided to plan a system register table by table ddraw editing.

 

Thank you again.

Have great days.

 

Massimo 

[wiesshund]

(I can't figure out why this leads to that "machine terminated before initialized" error, but it was the culprit).

 

 

Because it crashes VPinMAME right out from under VPX

VPX wants exclusive full screen and then VPinMAME comes along trying to do directdraw and the screen is already in exclusive use

and Ka BOOM!

[hitman2304]

Superb recreation but the table itself is pretty boring and not really fun to play. Anyway great job, it really shows capabilities of latest VPX.

[Pmax65]

Hi flupper1,

I'm back because I finally decided to don't enable the "Force exclusive Fullscreen Mode" VPX option because it was a "thorn my side" since it made impossible or very difficult to have windows operative for eventual editing.

More, other tables (those using FlexDMD for example) didn't work no more on my cabinet, so I delayed the solution to this issue until this morning, because despite all the other tables were playable setting the "FPS Limiter/Vsync" to zero, this one was really bad with all those flashes with the vertical lines artifact.

 

 

So, as said, this morning I investigated what it was happening with that Vsync signal enabled.

 

Contrarily to what suggested here https://vpforums.org...showtopic=38683 I had the three monitors working incredibly well using three different vertical scan frequency which are prime numbers among them when the  "FPS Limiter/Vsync" is set to 1 and without having the damned"Force exclusive Fullscreen Mode" enabled.

 

It suffice to set them to different frequency to highly reduce the stuttering indeed, but since NVIDIA GPU has a tool to adjust the vertical scan rates for any monitor, I set the Table monitor to 59Hz, the backglass monitor to 61Hz and the DMD monitor to 53 (those are the closer prime numbers around the native monitors 60Hz Vsync signal) and "voilà" everything magically works incredibly well.

 

I'm writing this to anyone who is still experiencing that nasty issue and because I also fixed a boring issue in this table that happened to me all the first times the ball passed on the "Skyway Tool" ramp.

In details: the first time the ball rolled down between the two bridges with the "Skyway Tool" sign, it stopped for a little when the Gi lamps turned off for a while.
It could be something related to the loading of that rendered image from the zipped VPX archive, since I solved it calling the two callback subs SolLowerGI and SolUpperGI (only the SolLowerGI was the culprit indeed, but I preferred to activate both) to turn on the light when the first time the SolRelease sub put the ball in the launch lane and returning them off when the ball is positioned in front of the plunger using the sw59_Hit() sub.
 

Attached to this message you find the table script corrected, In case you want to embed the fix, just search for the FirstRun variable that I added to make it.

 

Have a great day and an Happy Easter.

 

Massimo

Attached Files

•  Whirlwind (Williams 1990).txt   219.96KB   10 downloads

Edited by Pmax65, 19 April 2022 - 12:28 PM.

[Wahreez McDermot]

This is one of my all-time favorite tables. I became addicted to it over a decade ago when I was working with my mother in the church bookstore. I was helping her setup a Point of Sale system.

 

There was a lot of downtime, so I took my PSP with me and Whirlwind was one of the tables included in the game released by Farsight.

It looks absolutely hideous, but 13+ years ago it looked good enough to me and it was a lot of fun.

 

This was the first pinball table where I actually learned the ruleset. Previously I would just randomly knock the ball around the table and aimlessly hope for something to light up.

 

I recall putting quarters into pinball machines as a child and being disappointed when all the lights turned off after I put my money in. I felt like I was being scammed, lol.

 

Thanks so much for this release and all the time and effort put into it by everyone involved. I read the "making of" pdf and the amount of work put into this is just incredible.

You can easily differentiate between something that is produced solely to turn a profit and a living breathing work of art. One that was obviously made with love and care and the utmost attention to detail.

 

Thanks for attaching the script to your post Pmax65!

[MancNeil]

Hi Flupper. Thanks so much for your work on this beautiful table - amazing!

 

I have one quick question that I hope someone can provide advice on how to fix. Everything plays well and sounds great - except there is an overly loud sound fx on each flipper release. The initial flipper sound when pressed is fine but it is the sound generated when releasing. Any idea how I could reduce the volume on this particular sound as its very offputting! Any help would be much appreciated.

 

Many thanks  

[AXEL314]

Incredible table, thanks many! Looks to surpass anything Zen has done with Williams in FX3

[OooldGreeeg]

I'm absolutely blown away by the quality of your tables, flupper1 !!!

 

However, this table is giving me some issues in VR: the backbox and room are not appearing / all black. I'm using VPX 10.8 beta 1 GL version and PinMAME 3.5. Your TOTAN table works just fine for me. Any ideas how I can troubleshoot? I'm new to all this.

 

Again, I can't believe how good these tables are. I was playing on Whirlwind even without the working backbox and all that -- so good.

 

Pic of issue:

https://imgur.com/a/kTtOW2P

Edited by OooldGreeeg, 17 June 2023 - 08:52 AM.

[gear323]

I'm absolutely blown away by the quality of your tables, flupper1 !!!

 

However, this table is giving me some issues in VR: the backbox and room are not appearing / all black. I'm using VPX 10.8 beta 1 GL version and PinMAME 3.5. Your TOTAN table works just fine for me. Any ideas how I can troubleshoot? I'm new to all this.

 

Again, I can't believe how good these tables are. I was playing on Whirlwind even without the working backbox and all that -- so good.

 

Pic of issue:

https://imgur.com/a/kTtOW2P

Are you sure you have the VR room enabled?  The table does not come with VR enabled by default.  You have to edit the table script to enable it.    Below is the code you are looking for in the Whirlwind Script. 

 

 

'************** VR Options **************************************************************************************************************

Const VRRoom = 1 '0 = Off, 1 = VR Room On

Const VRFlashingBackglass = 1 '0 = Static Backglass, 1 = Flashing Backglass  

Const Glass = 1 '0 = Off 1 = On - VR Glass scratches

'****************************************************************************************************************************************

[OooldGreeeg]

 

I'm absolutely blown away by the quality of your tables, flupper1 !!!

 

However, this table is giving me some issues in VR: the backbox and room are not appearing / all black. I'm using VPX 10.8 beta 1 GL version and PinMAME 3.5. Your TOTAN table works just fine for me. Any ideas how I can troubleshoot? I'm new to all this.

 

Again, I can't believe how good these tables are. I was playing on Whirlwind even without the working backbox and all that -- so good.

 

Pic of issue:

https://imgur.com/a/kTtOW2P

Are you sure you have the VR room enabled?  The table does not come with VR enabled by default.  You have to edit the table script to enable it.    Below is the code you are looking for in the Whirlwind Script. 

 

 

'************** VR Options **************************************************************************************************************

Const VRRoom = 1 '0 = Off, 1 = VR Room On

Const VRFlashingBackglass = 1 '0 = Static Backglass, 1 = Flashing Backglass  

Const Glass = 1 '0 = Off 1 = On - VR Glass scratches

'****************************************************************************************************************************************

 

 

That worked! Thank you! I didn't have to do that with the Tales of the Arabian Nights so didn't know it was a thing, thought it just detected that I had VR enabled in preferences. 

[SPARKY70]

hi, im just checking out this table for the first time.

 

it looks great , but i am having 2 issues.

 

the upper flipper is not responding. i see that there is a staged flipper option, and i believe it is off. i only have 1 flipper button per side, and need it to operate together with the bottom flipper.

here is mt script:

'RightMagnaSave could be used by changing the following line (but will interfere with the LUT changer, so disable that):
'keyStagedFlipperR = KeyUpperRight
'to
'keyStagedFlipperR = RightMagnaSave
Const StagedFlipperMod = 0         '0 = not staged, 1 - staged (dual leaf switches)

 

 

 

also, i have the direct b2s backglass running, but the dmd is NOT hidden, so i see 2 sets of scores.

 

usually i would set dmd to hidden, but not sure what to do here:

 

    .GameName = cGameName
             If Err Then MsgBox "Can't start Game " & cGameName & vbNewLine & Err.Description:Exit Sub
            .SplashInfoLine = "Whirlwind Williams 1990"
            .HandleMechanics=0
            .HandleKeyboard=0
            .ShowDMDOnly=1
            .ShowFrame=0
            .ShowTitle=0
            .hidden = desktopmode

 

all help is appreciated... thank you/sparky

[xenonph]

hi, im just checking out this table for the first time.

 

it looks great , but i am having 2 issues.

 

the upper flipper is not responding. i see that there is a staged flipper option, and i believe it is off. i only have 1 flipper button per side, and need it to operate together with the bottom flipper.

here is mt script:

'RightMagnaSave could be used by changing the following line (but will interfere with the LUT changer, so disable that):
'keyStagedFlipperR = KeyUpperRight
'to
'keyStagedFlipperR = RightMagnaSave
Const StagedFlipperMod = 0         '0 = not staged, 1 - staged (dual leaf switches)

 

 

 

also, i have the direct b2s backglass running, but the dmd is NOT hidden, so i see 2 sets of scores.

 

usually i would set dmd to hidden, but not sure what to do here:

 

    .GameName = cGameName
             If Err Then MsgBox "Can't start Game " & cGameName & vbNewLine & Err.Description:Exit Sub
            .SplashInfoLine = "Whirlwind Williams 1990"
            .HandleMechanics=0
            .HandleKeyboard=0
            .ShowDMDOnly=1
            .ShowFrame=0
            .ShowTitle=0
            .hidden = desktopmode

 

all help is appreciated... thank you/sparky

With stagedflippermod set to 0, (what you showed above) the upper flipper should be working with the lower flippers.

 

You can change

 

.hidden = desktopmode

 

to

 

.hidden = 1

 

and see if that helps,

[SPARKY70]

thanks xenon. i got the extra dmd off now..

 

as for the upper flipper, that is how my script is currently, and upper flip is not working.

 

is there any thing else i should look at?..

signing off for tonight... thanks///sparky