328 replies to this topic

[arngrim]

Click on publish

[BilboX]

video not working, tagged private video

Sorry about that. It should be ok now.

[hotdp]

It looks great.

I have noticed in the alpha(and new video) That the flipper sound, sounds very "strange/clipped" when pressing and releasing the flipper fast. Is that something that can be fixed? 

[BilboX]

It looks great.

I have noticed in the alpha(and new video) That the flipper sound, sounds very "strange/clipped" when pressing and releasing the flipper fast. Is that something that can be fixed? 

Good point. Due to the same source: releasing sound is played as soon as user release, even if on is not finished. Can definitely be fixed yes => bug list. Thanks!

 

EDIT: Was general to solenoids. Corrected for Pre-Alpha2 .

Edited by BilboX, 28 January 2014 - 02:08 PM.

[Pinball999]

I really love what I see here!

 

But I'm not a big fan of the bloom effect, and noticed that it's a bit difficult to make very small adjustments with the cursor in the editor.

Would it be possible to make the cursor less sensitive, or even better, use numbers instead?

This way, we could share our settings with precise info, instead of saying "my cursor is almost 3 quarters to the left".

What do you think?

[BilboX]

I really love what I see here!

 

But I'm not a big fan of the bloom effect, and noticed that it's a bit difficult to make very small adjustments with the cursor in the editor.

Would it be possible to make the cursor less sensitive, or even better, use numbers instead?

This way, we could share our settings with precise info, instead of saying "my cursor is almost 3 quarters to the left".

What do you think?

Values will be displayed on next version. You can already have "precise" number by directly editing the option file (config/options.ui.puo): standard xml file. But be carefull there!

[Slydog43]

wow this looks like it is coming along nicely.  Can't wait to see how it looks in cab mode.  Love the customization possible with pre alpha 1 and only assume it will continue. Thanks guys

 

Play more pinball!

[toxie]

looks like visual pinball is clearly the most beautiful of them all..

 

(but honestly, Unity would even look greater in addition if the bloom and playglass reflection would be reduced a lot in this video)

[chepas]

Itching for editor

[Arcade4]

Thanks for the fantastic video.

Why, no music in the Pinball Arcade version?

 

Also any chance of getting a video with no playfield glass?

I would never use a playfield glass option anyway. I like my tables to look as crystal clear as possible. And when I get this in my cabinet I certainly do not want to look through two pieces of glass. lol.

Thanks for all the hard work you have put into this program.

[arngrim]

34 likes to have B2S and DOF support

 

http://www.vpforums....=26236&p=251591

 

not bad huh, perhaps we can have even more

 

for info, this is the best scared stiff vp version, gi8 version by jimmyfingers, that went out 2 years ago, and is still one of my best tables i have on my cab

 

http://www.vpforums....s&showfile=6042

 

i will do later a video to show the capabilitites of b2s and dof with it, i modded the table to have the gear motor with the spider spinning, and fading lights with the 5 real leds, hope to be able to have that with unity one day

[ClarkKent]

I just watched the comparison video and I have to say that the most realistic experience is provided by Unity 3D. The ball just "feels" like a real steel ball. Heavy but very agile, reacts different on different material. Briefly: feels most realistic.

 

And there is one very important - maybe the most important thing: it seems that the ball can precisely be controlled by the flippers like on a real table! Reproducible shots, expectable behavior of the ball and natural ball control. That's the biggest drawback on every other pinball simulation that the ball can not be controlled that realistic with the flippers. Not on VP and especially not on FP. TPA is just a fun game so I do not consider it a simulation.

 

So if Unity3D Pinball can provide a stable 60 fps on a regular configuration with medium settings I think this will be the biggest bang for the VP community!

[Carny_Priest]

Would be good to include a video clip of the real table during play as a another point of comparison. I'm so used to playing VP that I'm not sure what the action on the real table looks like! I don't play the real tables enough.

 

Still, very impressive. Thanks.

[jimmyfingers]

Angrim beat me to the punch and, despite the GI8 MOD version being my own work, it is definitely the best one to use for a more fair comparison of the 4 simulators as far as lighting at least is concerned. The GI8 version (desktop one exists too) is more detailed with full 8 level / 3 section controlled lighting via the ROM (albeit done with image swapping than actual light interaction / intensity changes in real-time). That is something that I don't think any of the other versions currently have displayed, however, I hope with Unity3D Pinball that that's just a matter of table building / coding as it works with the ROM / Pinmame so should be able to get the pertinent GI8 information / levels.

 

As far as the table and updates, first, the recent rendering / texture and image quality changes that you demonstrated a couple weeks back (January 16th) with help from ravarcade are fantastic! At first it might seem subtle but looking at the two pictures, the latest is so much better, cleaner, and even the angle of the flippers is improved (was really exciting to see that update). Also, with this latest video, I really like too how the ball in general looks and the weight and physics on it's own that appear to be very realistic (steel like). The reaction with some of the objects and rubbers I don't think at this point is tuned ideally as some rubbers look fairly inelastic and provide little bounce.  On the pre-alpha release, the ball would even stick a little to the flippers on the TAF table. I imagine those attributes are simpler things that can be adjusted easily once an editor comes out. One of the biggest things is the ball movement and spin and it looks like that is great! The table sounds seem pretty good too aside from the oddity around the solenoid as previously mentioned above.

 

One thing I've noticed in the videos dating back a little bit is some issues with the flippers. Maybe in this video the flipper power curve options / tweaker aren't in play and has it looking more like before that function was added but, as and example, at 7:45 of the video the left flipper gets just the tip of it on a backhand flip at the upper part of it's stroke and it launches the ball like it's been shot out of a gun / unrealistically hard.

 

I think the flipper curve editor is wicked and helps a number of things with the complex interaction of the ball and flippers of a pinball table.  Currently with what's available in your pre-alpha, some great flipper physics aspects are working nicely such as light post passes and even the momentary tap that allows flipper passes that aren't using the post (light tap / momentary power while a ball is rolling down toward the drain). That was amazing to see the latter one possible and the whole flipper curve idea I think might be one of the things that makes this simulator the best of the best. That being said, I think other curves are needed than from what I saw currently available in the editor at the time of the pre-alpha, like a power curve representing the strength of the flipper (and how it diminishes) from the base to the tip. A second similar aspect would be a curve to represent the strength in the flipper, depending on how early or late it is in it's rotation / swing (close to the beginning / end I believe should be a little weaker than middle points). There is definitely something needed though as the shot at 7:45 demonstrates, but hopefully it can be easily added with the foundation you've already laid with the premise and beginnings of the curve editor for at least the time to strength values already available. Eala made a similar point back in the main thread after the curve editor was initially demoed regarding the curve options for "proportional to the distance towards the tip". http://www.vpforums.org/index.php?showtopic=16056&page=57#entry244328

 

Don't get me wrong, really great and exciting stuff to see here and huge appreciation for all your work and seeing it through to where it is. I was even hesitant to write / post anything to the contrary or critical but I believe that if you're making this to be great, the flippers need to be a priority / focal point as, after all and outside of nudging, they're the entire aspect of how we interact with the pinball / game. With that, the feel and how they look over the time playing real pinball becomes very familiar and also the thing that will seem quite unfamiliar or unnatural if it deviates enough in a simulation.

Edited by jimmyfingers, 29 January 2014 - 03:09 AM.

[BilboX]

Would be good to include a video clip of the real table during play as a another point of comparison. I'm so used to playing VP that I'm not sure what the action on the real table looks like! I don't play the real tables enough.

 

Still, very impressive. Thanks.

That's right. And this is one of the very few available "near" home (50km ).

 

JimmyFinger:

- regarding, "GI8", that's right, I may not have took the perfect VP table. But maybe you did not watch very well, because UP version has full 5 strings GI linked (with all 8 values for the first three lines, as backglass ones are always "on"): look closer at 5:30 when I make this hugly move and loose the ball . There pay attention to GI under the flipper lanes (which I find amazing with the backlighting by the way ) => it is dimmed down, all ROM controlled. I should make some GI test video but I can assure you this is working.

 

"The flipper viewing angle" on the cab capture is now tunable so you will be able to configure it at will. It will be automatic in future release when we will include head tracking...

 

For now, flipper curves can "handle" the "motor" power only. There is two curves, mixed, to control it: one for Force relative to flipper pressing time (and a different one releasing time) AND one to "dim" force according to fake "solenoid stroke", aka, flipper angle. But this last one is very subtle for now and I will let you tune it .

 

Regarding PhysX, implemented in Unity3D, I won't hide you that it is gonna be hard to tweak some aspects you pointed. Although I see it can be done to "tweak" flipper force regarding where the ball is hitting (I agree, 7:45 is a PITA), some other are far more "touchy", like bounciness or friction. Those last ones are correctly handled but I doubt it will be easy to make it vary in real time according to some parameter. Please, note also that adding more and more "curves" in physics loop will at some point slow it down... However, it will always be "optionable" .

 

I agree nudging and flippers are the only way to interact with flipper (along with "debug shot" now ). And our nudge system still needs a lot of work but there is something, like fake "full table" nudging... you will see by yourself.

 

The last updates I made (more "bug correction" and optimization) seems to provide a better overall physics reactivity. A point has to be noted here: video slows down a little simulation so way to have it in your hands . But as graphics are not yet very optimized, you still need a good configuration to get the maximum of it.

 

The "Pre-Alpha 2" is imminent, but documentation writing, specially for the "editor parts" is taking a loooooot of time...

 

Two words now: play real table to compare and... keep donating .

[BilboX]

Hi. This is a video showing what will be new in Pre alpha 2, highly focused on editor functionnalities (but not only):

 

Here is the current changelog with, for some topics, a time description to jump directly in the video:

 

This video shows some aspects/features of the pre-alpha2 version of Pinball Unit3D, coming soon. Here is the current change log (links for aspects showed in this video):

Pre-Alpha 2:

------------

 

* Major Features (Player)

 - Asymetric frustrum for better cab visual quality (thanks to ravarcade for his help on this)  10:10

 - Launching resolution window removed (fullscreen resolution now in combobox in options menu)

 - Joystick plugin to use Direct Input

 - Camera Editor: Let you configure your cameras for all tables or specific tables

 - Cab player position adjustable 10:22

 - Overall Physics Optimization

 

* Major Features (Editor - post FPT editor)

 - Table Explorer: 0:38

   . Scene tree View 0:48

   . Transform Editor (Translate/Rotate/Scale using gizmo or text boxes) 1:37

   . Material Editor : change shaders propriety 2:30

   . Collider physics Editor: Change some physics propriety like Bounciness and Friction 5:26

 - Curves Editor: Fine tuning of different game aspect, like flippers behaviours 6:54

 - Physics Tuner: Realtime global physics TESTING (not saved) 7:54

 - Memory monitor: Usefull tool to detect memory leaks while scripting 7:45

 - Slot Explorer: see in real-time rom slots activation (Lamps/Solenoids/GIs/Switches) 8:32

 - Debug shot: Used to send balls in realtime (like IRL)to test while scripting 2:24

 

* Minor Features 

 - Main menu key ("Esc" by default) is now customisable

 - Configuration file can now be chosed by command line

 - Better GUI Events handling

 - Debug verbosity: avoid huge log/performance hit when playing

 - Group boxes state (opened/closed) of options menu is now saved

 - New option to hide gameroom

 - Slider values are now displayed

 - In multiscreen, GUI is now displayed on the screen where the mouse is located

 - Script details when loading

 

* Bugs

 - Clipped Flipper sound bug corrected 0:24

 - RealFullscreen starting bug corrected

 - Useless Post effect antialiasing removed

 - "X" key for debug curves disabled

 - Cab options were not saved

 - Extractor bug on XP corrected

 - TimeScale hidden on HUDFPS

 - Mainlight "steppy" bug corrected 9:53

 

 

I hope you like it and that we will reach our donation goal (2 licences) to be able to release it soon.

Thanks for watching!

Edited by BilboX, 29 January 2014 - 11:23 AM.

[evilantal]

Will there alse be a single button to exit the player?

At the moment you have to press Esc and the click on Quit with the mouse.

To be able to use it from a frontend (PinballX, Hyperpin) a single Exit key/button is critical...

[Slydog43]

omg, that might be the coolest video I have ever seen about virtual pinball.  This should really change the world!, well at least the world of computer pinball.  Thanks for the update, can't wait to play with it.  applause now

[Pinball999]

Hey Bilbox,

What about putting the Donation info in your signature? This way, the newcomers would immediately know how to proceed?

 

Cheers.

[perplexicon]

One thing I have noticed about the ball movement is that (and can be noted if you check out this 'real table' video  )

 

...the ball seems to be kind of 'dampened'... like it runs out of horizontal momentum quicker than it might do in the real world? Not sure if it's a "needs to be more bouncy" thing or what, but it feels a bit too heavy? Maybe this is a thing with the physics being 'scaled up'. I dunno, very subtle stuff, it doesn't seem to be pinging about the place as much as I would expect though.

 

Looks great though, amazing work

Edited by perplexicon, 29 January 2014 - 01:53 PM.