2087 replies to this topic

[gtxjoe]

"Make a small invisible wall with a height of 8 units called 8h and then choose that wall (8h) as the surface for the kicker in the pull down in the kicker options."

 

For a temporary DX9 fix, can the kicker height be internally adjusted 8 units up from whatever surface the author has placed the kicker?

[kiwi]

 

 

One small thing for the next test: I added the possibility to supply an environment on wired ramps. Just apply an evironmap as image to a wired ramp. This can have some impact on released tables where an image was applied to a wired ramp but in previous versions VP just didn't use the image at all. So it could look odd then.

It is possible to change the diameter of the wire ramp ?
 
Thanks
 
Max

 

I can have a look into this. I think this won't be a big problem

 

Very well, thank you.
It is possible add the "CurrentAngle" function also for the spinner.

 

Max

[mukuste]

I think we should postpone adding new features until after the first official DX9 release. After that, everything is fair game, but for now achieving compatibility as far as possible should be the top priority so that we can get the official version out of the door.

 

 

"Make a small invisible wall with a height of 8 units called 8h and then choose that wall (8h) as the surface for the kicker in the pull down in the kicker options."

 

For a temporary DX9 fix, can the kicker height be internally adjusted 8 units up from whatever surface the author has placed the kicker?

 

You mean directly in the code? I could try that, though I'm not sure if it would have any unforeseen side effects.

[htamas]

I'd rather apply the workaround to those tables affected by the issue than do it across the board. As mukuste said, something else may get messed up and you don't want to fix things that don't need it.

Edited by htamas, 20 March 2014 - 09:17 PM.

[gtxjoe]

Yes.  We could beta test it for side effects...  Take it out if it causes problems

[kruge99]

I think we should postpone adding new features until after the first official DX9 release. After that, everything is fair game, but for now achieving compatibility as far as possible should be the top priority so that we can get the official version out of the door.

 

 

"Make a small invisible wall with a height of 8 units called 8h and then choose that wall (8h) as the surface for the kicker in the pull down in the kicker options."

 

For a temporary DX9 fix, can the kicker height be internally adjusted 8 units up from whatever surface the author has placed the kicker?

 

You mean directly in the code? I could try that, though I'm not sure if it would have any unforeseen side effects.

 

Kickers on ramps that are used to create a ball MAY be negatively impacted by implementing this in the source code.

 

 

Best Regards,

Todd.

[melon]

"Make a small invisible wall with a height of 8 units called 8h and then choose that wall (8h) as the surface for the kicker in the pull down in the kicker options."

 

For a temporary DX9 fix, can the kicker height be internally adjusted 8 units up from whatever surface the author has placed the kicker?

 

But if you make this, do it only in the kickers wich are in the playfield (property "surface" is empty), otherwise it would have side effects for sure in many tables.

[gtxjoe]

Hmmm, could this height adjustment be applied to the rendering portion only, but not applied to the physical aspect?    

[kruge99]

Hmmm, could this height adjustment be applied to the rendering portion only, but not applied to the physical aspect?    

 

Probably not.  Take my High Speed recreation as one example, I use kickers on the hideouts to create a ball on the wire ramp above, so that it rolls down towards the flipper when multi-ball starts.  If this is implemented, the ball will be created above the ramp and appear to 'drop down' onto the wire ramp as it rolls down towards the flippers.  It will look strange.  In other instances like Black Knight or Pharaoh where the ball is 'kicked up' to the upper playfield when the ball is plunged, it would potentially appear above where it's supposed to when it is created on the upper playfield.

[fuzzel]

 

Speaking of which, I just put in the depth bias field for all relevant objects, so I hope someone gets around to wiring it up to GUI and file I/O soon!

Will add it this evening or tomorrow.

 

Done! You can set the depth bias now and the value will be also saved/loaded

[mukuste]

Fantastic! This should mean that with the next release, people can start fixing the remaining depth bias issues (like the lights on Whitewater for instance).

Hmmm, could this height adjustment be applied to the rendering portion only, but not applied to the physical aspect?    

 

Yes, that would be the best approach since at least it should only create some visual glitches at worst, but not break the gameplay on any tables.

[kruge99]

Fantastic! This should mean that with the next release, people can start fixing the remaining depth bias issues (like the lights on Whitewater for instance).

Hmmm, could this height adjustment be applied to the rendering portion only, but not applied to the physical aspect?    

 

Yes, that would be the best approach since at least it should only create some visual glitches at worst, but not break the gameplay on any tables.

 

Well that means every table which uses a graphic plunger made up from "balls" will need to be adjusted... I'm afraid to count them all.

[mukuste]

I'm not familiar with that technique, can you give an example? Is it what you described in your previous post or something else again?

[kruge99]

I'm not familiar with that technique, can you give an example? Is it what you described in your previous post or something else again?

 

Take a look at Sinbad that Pinuck and I recreated, we used kickers with the image of the plunger pieces (applied to the ball) to simulate the plunger graphic animation:

 

http://www.vpforums....s&showfile=5293

or widescreen desktop

http://www.vpforums....s&showfile=5294

 

This is an example where kickers used on the playfield were used to create an animated plunger.  I'm assuming that moving the kicker up 8 units (or there abouts) might make the images applied to the balls interfere with the plunger cover.

 

(the previous e-mails were other/different examples where having the kicker 8 units higher would have the ball appear above the plastics where it is kicked 'up' to an upper playfield on dual playfield tables like Black Knight and Pharaoh.)

[ClarkKent]

I still wonder what causes the distortions on some textures of Roadshow.

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•  2.png   22.06KB   10 downloads
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[luvthatapex]

There are different techniques to do the animated plunger and are not difficult to code.

You could always replace the kickers with alpha ramps like many tables have done before and this becomes a non-issue.

 

 

I'm not familiar with that technique, can you give an example? Is it what you described in your previous post or something else again?

 

Take a look at Sinbad that Pinuck and I recreated, we used kickers with the image of the plunger pieces (applied to the ball) to simulate the plunger graphic animation:

 

http://www.vpforums....s&showfile=5293

or widescreen desktop

http://www.vpforums....s&showfile=5294

 

This is an example where kickers used on the playfield were used to create an animated plunger.  I'm assuming that moving the kicker up 8 units (or there abouts) might make the images applied to the balls interfere with the plunger cover.

 

(the previous e-mails were other/different examples where having the kicker 8 units higher would have the ball appear above the plastics where it is kicked 'up' to an upper playfield on dual playfield tables like Black Knight and Pharaoh.)

 

[mukuste]

I still wonder what causes the distortions on some textures of Roadshow.

 

Looks like Lighting Enabled?

[DJRobX]

 

There are different techniques to do the animated plunger and are not difficult to code.

 

 

Or just use the Modern Plunger object.   (Another shining example of something not really well documented, we badly need a wiki for VP)

Edited by DJRobX, 20 March 2014 - 11:19 PM.

[kruge99]

In my humble opinion, fixing a kicker that cuts a locked ball in half with an invisible wall is a lot easier than having to replace a plunger animation and script it.  But to each his own I guess...

 

 

There are different techniques to do the animated plunger and are not difficult to code.

You could always replace the kickers with alpha ramps like many tables have done before and this becomes a non-issue.

 

 

I'm not familiar with that technique, can you give an example? Is it what you described in your previous post or something else again?

 

Take a look at Sinbad that Pinuck and I recreated, we used kickers with the image of the plunger pieces (applied to the ball) to simulate the plunger graphic animation:

 

http://www.vpforums....s&showfile=5293

or widescreen desktop

http://www.vpforums....s&showfile=5294

 

This is an example where kickers used on the playfield were used to create an animated plunger.  I'm assuming that moving the kicker up 8 units (or there abouts) might make the images applied to the balls interfere with the plunger cover.

 

(the previous e-mails were other/different examples where having the kicker 8 units higher would have the ball appear above the plastics where it is kicked 'up' to an upper playfield on dual playfield tables like Black Knight and Pharaoh.)

 

 

[DJRobX]

 

In my humble opinion, fixing a kicker that cuts a locked ball in half with an invisible wall is a lot easier than having to replace a plunger animation and script it.  But to each his own I guess...

 

 

The problem is that the invisible wall thing isn't that easy for people without a lot of table editing experience.    If we had a "one checkbox" fix it would be better if possible (much like the fix we're doing for bias adjustment).   Having a basic object working doing its intended function should come before "creative misuses" of it.   

Edited by DJRobX, 21 March 2014 - 12:10 AM.