100 replies to this topic

[wiesshund]

Does anyone know if there is a line in the script that tells me when the plunger is pulled all the way back? In other word if I wanted to light a light, when (and only when) the plunger is pulled back to its farthest position.

You can yes, kind of.

 

take a look at heavy metal, not the classic version

 

Look where i track the plunger position to decide if the analog plunger should trigger the video on pull and release.

 

you can do a same routine, and get the position oof the plunger

and tun on a lamp if the plunger position is more than a given value

 

you can output the plunger position to a text box to see what the values are

you probably want to trigger it a bit before full pull to allow for variance in people's analog plungers

 

I would give you code but not near desktop

[Fusionwerks]

I think this project is going to get back burnered. I need help with a lot of stuff on the table, and until I can nail down some basic stuff, I don't feel right handing it off to anyone.

I'm bored, frustrated, and frankly, I see the tables that are rolling out, and it just frustrates me more to see some people crank out awesome tables and I have been stuck working on this for a year now. Where do they find the time?

IDK, I'm just in the dumps with the whole project. I always want whatever I work on to be an original, but maybe I need to step back and do some re-skins, and gather my passion again.  

[wiesshund]

I think this project is going to get back burnered. I need help with a lot of stuff on the table, and until I can nail down some basic stuff, I don't feel right handing it off to anyone.

I'm bored, frustrated, and frankly, I see the tables that are rolling out, and it just frustrates me more to see some people crank out awesome tables and I have been stuck working on this for a year now. Where do they find the time?

IDK, I'm just in the dumps with the whole project. I always want whatever I work on to be an original, but maybe I need to step back and do some re-skins, and gather my passion again.  

 

Dude, it took me over a year to do the stupid haunted hotel table
and it has a ROM, which made things way worse. 

[Fusionwerks]

ok, so i decided to try to push through my BS and continue this project. I have decided to add a mode with Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum as 2 drop targets that you hit like the trolls in MM. I got them added, dropping, resetting, figured out the texture, etc, but when i start the table i get mixed results of the way they are displayed. Here are 3 different examples:

 

Target UP In normal cabinet view (notice the strange way it reflects white rather than the texture and the weird reflection on the insert light):

Target DOWN in normal cabinet view:

 

Target UP In "test desktop" view (all seems right)

Target DOWN in "test desktop" view

 

Target UP In "live editor" view (seems right)

Target DOWN in "live editor" view (WTF is THAT?)

 

Does the live editor just render things that way? If so that's fine, but why is it displaying white (and not the texture) in my cab view?

Edited by Fusionwerks, 07 November 2023 - 03:46 PM.

[Cliffy]

Thats a crazy reflection alright. Maybe it doesn't matter in live editor so much, as long as the vp player renders it correctly? Hopefully some of the big brains here can help with that. I'm just happy to see you're back on it! whew

[Fusionwerks]

Yes, I'm trying to get back to it. Yeah, it doesn't matter to me how the live editor renders it, but it is still a strange reflection in the cab view too. Maybe its some settings I have messed up? I think I might need to start asking questions outside of my WIP. I have been avoiding Discord, although it seems there is a lot of good help there. Anyway, I lost my mojo for a while, but it was spurred again, when I had some success with the 3d models that were killing me. I have some smoothing out to do on some parts of the Tweedles. Working on The Mad Hatter, The Queen, and the White Rabbit next.

Edited by Fusionwerks, 08 November 2023 - 08:37 PM.

[unclewilly]

You need a playfield mesh with holes cut for the target that should fix that reflection issue. You could probably turn down the reflection strength a little as well. It looks like a mirror in the screen shots.
Reflection strength is in the table properties.
Building these is frustrating. If it makes you feel any better. The first completely built by me table, took me almost 2 years to make. It was the original future pinball version of bad cats. Almost 2 years and it was only a release candidate because I never finished coding all the rom options by hand.
Also remember. A lot of these table authors have been around for years. Jp has been here forever. I started back in 99 early 2000. And a lot of these tables are produced by teams of people. The vpw tables have so many hands in them it is amazing they can pull all the seperate work together.
Just leave it for a while and come back fresh.

[Fusionwerks]

You need a playfield mesh with holes cut for the target that should fix that reflection issue.

I already have a Playfield Mesh with the holes cut out. But I don't know maybe are they not big enough?

 

You could probably turn down the reflection strength a little as well. It looks like a mirror in the screen shots.

It was set to 25, and I backed it down to 10. I need to look at some other tables and see what the average strength is set at.

 

And thank you for the support, I have good days and bad days, but I will not give up!

[wiesshund]

Unless it exists in playmode do not worry about it

[Fusionwerks]

Unless it exists in playmode do not worry about it

well it does. if you look at the first screenshot, I don't know why it reflects white, and not the texture.

 

BTW, are the Roth drop targets stuff worth the extra effort? I mean can anyone really tell the difference in the animation and physics?

[wiesshund]

I thought you said this was down in normal cab view

?

 

​

[Fusionwerks]

I did. It's the up position in cab view that's f'd up

[unclewilly]

Judging from that screenshot something is going on. Is that light insert in front of the target a light object or a primitive?

[wiesshund]

I did. It's the up position in cab view that's f'd up

 

Odd.

 

That is not the behavior i generally run into

[Fusionwerks]

Judging from that screenshot something is going on. Is that light insert in front of the target a light object or a primitive?

It is a normal light object.

[Fusionwerks]

here's a new question:

if I had a music file that was lets say 1 minute long and I started a timer that was set to exactly the same length as that music (60000?), can you call certain events to happen at certain time intervals? in other words, if I wanted to flash a light at 35 seconds, can you keep the timer running but call the event sub at 35000? if so, how do you script that call?

[wiesshund]

here's a new question:

if I had a music file that was lets say 1 minute long and I started a timer that was set to exactly the same length as that music (60000?), can you call certain events to happen at certain time intervals? in other words, if I wanted to flash a light at 35 seconds, can you keep the timer running but call the event sub at 35000? if so, how do you script that call?

set a timer with an interval of 1 second

 

 

dim counter

 

sub timer_timer

if counter = 0 then playmusic "song"

counter = (counter + 1)

 

if counter = 35 then do some event

 

if counter = how ever many seconds the some was then counter = 0 : me.enabled = 0

 

end sub

Edited by wiesshund, 09 November 2023 - 11:31 PM.

[Fusionwerks]

thank you, it was a good start, but i modified it a bit:

I have a timer named MusicTimer set to 1000ms, that is disabled and will be enabled when the wizard mode starts.

 

Dim counter

counter = 0

 

Sub MusicTimer_Timer

    counter = (counter + 1000)

    Select Case counter

        Case 10000

            ' Do something at 10 seconds

            light032.State = 2

        Case 20000

            ' Do something at 20 seconds

            light032.State = 0

        Case 30000

            ' Stop the timer at 30 seconds

            MusicTimer.enabled = 0

            counter = 0

            scoretext.text = "timer stopped" 'for testing purposes

        Case Else

            ' Do nothing for other cases

    End Select

End Sub

 

This works, but maybe somebody can tell me if this isn't the best approach. By using the select case method i find it easier to specify exactly when i want events to happen. I am trying to create a light, flasher, and DOF show that will sync with the music for the final wizard mode. also by using Milliseconds in the script, i can fine tune the timing better

Edited by Fusionwerks, 10 November 2023 - 01:43 AM.

[wiesshund]

i just gave a rough example

you have to tune it as needed

[Cliffy]

Yes, I'm trying to get back to it. Yeah, it doesn't matter to me how the live editor renders it, but it is still a strange reflection in the cab view too. Maybe its some settings I have messed up? I think I might need to start asking questions outside of my WIP. I have been avoiding Discord, although it seems there is a lot of good help there. Anyway, I lost my mojo for a while, but it was spurred again, when I had some success with the 3d models that were killing me. I have some smoothing out to do on some parts of the Tweedles. Working on The Mad Hatter, The Queen, and the White Rabbit next.

Great help here on VPF, Pinball Nirvana, VPU and absolutely on Discord as well. Get it where ya can,man