40 replies to this topic

[koadic]

This is the support topic for the tutorial PBW/Mot-Ion calibration and setup for VP 9.1.3+. Please post here if you have any questions or feedback.

[lizard]

Seeing your tutorial the other day i decided to have a go at setting up the nudge again. This part below is the only thing that was different to what i was doing(I was moving it every direction) and it seems to be consistently performing well now.

 

Step 2:

For X/Y axis calibration, steadily tilt the board 90 degrees on each axis. Tilt left/right for the X axis, and tilt forward/back for the Y axis. There is no need to shake the board as this will only necessitate the raising of gain values. When finished, go to the next screen.

The other thing i came accross was when trying to get tables to tilt some tables required different amounts of nudging before it would tilt.

I think it is worth noting that changing the value of     vpmNudge.Sensitivity = 5  in the script also has an effect on when it will tilt. This enables you to get a consistent tilt accross all tables.   

 

I also had to comment out three lines in T2chrome to get it to tilt. 

 

  If keycode = LeftTiltKey Then LeftNudge 90, .6, 40:Unstuck():If Nudge_Sound_OFF=0 Then PlaySound "nudge_left":End If:End If
 If keycode = RightTiltKey Then RightNudge 270, .6, 40:Unstuck():If Nudge_Sound_OFF=0 Then PlaySound "nudge_right":End If:End If
 If keycode = CenterTiltKey Then CenterNudge 1, 1, 50:Unstuck():If Nudge_Sound_OFF=0 Then PlaySound "nudge_forward":End IF:End If

 

Thanks Koadic for the effort with the tutorial and the other stuff you have been doing as well. I am finally at a point where i am happy with the nudge and tilt of the nanotech unit i just need to test the rest of the tables i have setup at the moment.

[JohnnyDoe]

This is great. i have yet to connect my Mot-Ion controller, cause I never got it to work.

I will give your tutorial a try and see if it will make me succeed.

[koadic]

Lizard, glad you finally have it working the way you want. As far as those entries in the table script, they should only be effecting digital nudge I thought and not sure why it has any effect on the analog nudge, but if it works, it works.

And JohnnyDoe, I hope this allows you to get it working to your satisfaction.

[JohnnyDoe]

I got my plunger to work at least. Always something. Now off to the nudging.

Could you post a screenshot of your DXTweak-values, just as a reference? And if so, which way do you have your board?

Thank you.

[studmuff]

I know I am going to get stuff thrown at me for asking this but any chance for a video tutorial? 

 

*Runs and hides from people throwing things*

[uberpinball]

I have my mot ion board mounted. I took it off to calibrate it in Windows, steadly turning it 90 degrees each way for x and y axis. Remounted it. It felt basically the same in response on tables, does nothing. I adjusted the gains in pref>keys and got it to a point where on some tables the ball just drained to the right constantly. So I recalibrated it mounted and basically had the same results.

 

What are you shooting for with the Windows calibration? Getting the x to stay steady in the middle of the square box?

 

And then I saw this DXTweak in the tutorial ana a post asking about it. Are you able to adjust your initial calibration with the tool to the point where you really don't need to calibrate it that accurately with Windows, just use the DXTweak tool to fine tune the rough Windows calibration?

[koadic]

With DXTweak2, you can basically recalibrate each axis individually by moving the center point and min/max settings. I have recently found another program that works a little bit better if you are using Windows 7... DIView (I believe it works on XP too, just haven't tried it). The interface is a little different, but it works as well as DXTweak2 does.

 DIView.zip   38.94KB   51 downloads

[uberpinball]

With DXTweak2, you can basically recalibrate each axis individually by moving the center point and min/max settings. I have recently found another program that works a little bit better if you are using Windows 7... DIView (I believe it works on XP too, just haven't tried it). The interface is a little different, but it works as well as DXTweak2 does.

DIView.zip

ty Koadic. I have XP running my cab. I'll try both. In your opinion, would you think i need to calibrate it again within Windows using your tutorial(removing the board again and rotating the board 90 degrees in each direction) and then use DXTweak2 or DLView, or just fire up DXTweak2 (or DLView) and start working with it on my already mounted board?

 

And given everything is mounted the same (level in the cab, normal orientation), would it be helpful if I asked you to post your DXTweak2 numbers so I can go from there? (if you still have them)

[koadic]

Here is a link to a basic table with a 0 slope...

http://db.tt/37iwTuoP

If the ball drifts left or right, try moving the centerpoint of the x axis until it stays still, and if it drifts up or down, do the same with the y axis. After you get the ball to stay in place after starting the table, you can then modify you min/max settings. The further away they are from the center, the more force you will need to use to get the ball to move, but regardless, try to set them an equal amount from center... you can always play with the gain settings in VP to adjust the force later.

[uberpinball]

So helpful, thanks so much Koadic.

 

Question, 0 slope table...it would make sense to calibrate to a 0 slope table, but are we talking about creating a new table in visual pinball that has no slope?

 

I assume that all recreations of old tables, like AFM for example, have the standard slope on them so to get a true calibration you need to create your own visual table? I believe you mentioned this elsewhere.

 

Here is a link to a basic table with a 0 slope...

http://db.tt/37iwTuoP

If the ball drifts left or right, try moving the centerpoint of the x axis until it stays still, and if it drifts up or down, do the same with the y axis. After you get the ball to stay in place after starting the table, you can then modify you min/max settings. The further away they are from the center, the more force you will need to use to get the ball to move, but regardless, try to set them an equal amount from center... you can always play with the gain settings in VP to adjust the force later.

Edited by uberpinball, 11 March 2013 - 07:13 PM.

[koadic]

The link I provided has a table ready to go for you... and it is only so you can calibrate it correctly... no other use. Provided the accelerometer is calibrated, then the other tables will work correctly.

If the up/down calibration is off, then on a table with a slope either the ball speed will be too fast or slow, which is why we want to calibrate it with a table that has no slope, to ensure that the accelerometer is perfectly level (or adjusted via calibration to make it so).

[uberpinball]

Ah, couldn't get to the link at work. Excellent. This will make things much easier. Wouldn't it be to everyone's advantage (ie add this as the norm in the tutorial) to just calibrate the board already mounted in the cab with Windows basic game controller calibration to get 'close' then just use the DX or DL tool and this 0 slope table to get it almost perfect?

 

The link I provided has a table ready to go for you... and it is only so you can calibrate it correctly... no other use. Provided the accelerometer is calibrated, then the other tables will work correctly.

If the up/down calibration is off, then on a table with a slope either the ball speed will be too fast or slow, which is why we want to calibrate it with a table that has no slope, to ensure that the accelerometer is perfectly level (or adjusted via calibration to make it so).

[uberpinball]

Koadic,
I'm looking good on the x and y axis using the DXTweak tool. One thing I found is I had to set the gains in visual pinball from 150% to 0 to accurately calibrate. So the Ball is standing still and when I nudge the cab I can see the DXTweak pointers moving along the x axis for left to right and up and pull for the y(up pushes the needle in the positive direction, pull in the negative).

Heres the issue, on the test table the ball moves up the table when I nudge right/left!! And it moves right/left when I nudge up. Ugh.

I have the mot-ion board mounted as directed, normal orientation, which is the USB port towards the back of the cabinet, sata port points towards front of cabinet with the cable connectors to the left. So its in the right direction.

Before I go changing the pref>keys axis settings, why is this happening? Ideas?

Edited by uberpinball, 12 March 2013 - 12:37 PM.

[uberpinball]

I used the rotate setting to 90 in pref>keys and still the same result...nudge left/right ball goes up.... I'm starting to think I have it calibrated to tight because I only have to set gain % in pref>keys to 20% and I get nudge. Need some advice...thanks.

[koadic]

Setting the gain settings to 0% effectively disables the accelerometer in Visual Pinball, so I would suggest leaving it around 150% for calibration. Is there any way you can just tilt your board and try to get the ball to roll around, that way we know the directional settings are correct? We can always rotate/flip/change axes if needed.

For comparison, here are my raw values from DXTweak formatted as Min/Center/Max...

X Axis 1597/1997/2397 (-400/0/400)
Y Axis 1698/2098/2498 (-400/0/400)

My gain settings in VPinball are about 400%.

Edited by koadic, 13 March 2013 - 11:47 AM.

[uberpinball]

Setting the gain settings to 0% effectively disables the accelerometer in Visual Pinball, so I would suggest leaving it around 150% for calibration. Is there any way you can just tilt your board and try to get the ball to roll around, that way we know the directional settings are correct? We can always rotate/flip/change axes if needed.For comparison, here are my raw values from DXTweak formatted as Min/Center/Max...X Axis 1597/1997/2397 (-400/0/400)Y Axis 1698/2098/2498 (-400/0/400)My gain settings in VPinball are about 400%.

This gives me some new direction. When you said try to get the mins and max as close to center as possible, I may have over done it because my settings are:

X> Min: 2020 Center: 2066 Max: 2100
Y> Min: 2020 Center: 2090 Max: 2150

With this I believe the physics are pushing the ball against itself making it wander wherever when I add some gain and may be why the x and y are not correct on the test table but right in the DXTweak tool.

I can tap the physically tap the board and get the reversed axis issue I described. But I'll try to 'loosen' my mins and max along with setting my gain higher to recalibrate.

Thanks.

[VampyreLegion]

With my Mot-Ion, i had to first mount the board and start windows cal, when it asks to move the axis, that is when I remove the board and start to tilt it, I try to get the cross hair to move around the whole square, to all corners. I found when i did this, it was much more stable when remounted,. instead of the cross hair giggling around it was more stable, it still moved but not much, I have the dead zone set to 5% in VP, but i need the gain at 1000 to make it work without having to beat up the pinball machine to nudge it.

 

Right now all the tables work great with Mot-Ion nudge... and this made a big difference in being able to save that ball, without having to think about pressing a button you can just react the same way you do on a real table

 

My biggest issues.... is with the plunger, I set the table to support it, but sometimes they do not show the plunger moving when pulled, but it still works, and some tables if i use the pull plunger first I am all set, but if you touch the digital plunger then the go back to the pull plunger the graphics of the plunger spring stop working, but the plunger still does.

 

one other issue I have seen on one table is the return speed of the pull plunger.... using the pull plunger the return speed is slow, but with the digital plunger it works fine, i do not remember the table name, but it was only one table.

 

So far i am happy with my Mot-Ion Kit, I think it is worth the money if you use the whole kit...

[uberpinball]

My biggest issues.... is with the plunger, I set the table to support it, but sometimes they do not show the plunger moving when pulled, but it still works, and some tables if i use the pull plunger first I am all set, but if you touch the digital plunger then the go back to the pull plunger the graphics of the plunger spring stop working, but the plunger still does.
 
one other issue I have seen on one table is the return speed of the pull plunger.... using the pull plunger the return speed is slow, but with the digital plunger it works fine, i do not remember the table name, but it was only one table.
 
So far i am happy with my Mot-Ion Kit, I think it is worth the money if you use the whole kit...

I have found this is because the tables are not coded to support the plunger completely. Try this thread from koadic

http://www.vpforums....ic=19663&page=1

[koadic]

 
My biggest issues.... is with the plunger, I set the table to support it, but sometimes they do not show the plunger moving when pulled, but it still works, and some tables if i use the pull plunger first I am all set, but if you touch the digital plunger then the go back to the pull plunger the graphics of the plunger spring stop working, but the plunger still does.
 
one other issue I have seen on one table is the return speed of the pull plunger.... using the pull plunger the return speed is slow, but with the digital plunger it works fine, i do not remember the table name, but it was only one table.

This all comes down to the scripting of the plunger/animation in each individual table. I have found that using the plunger object to directly hit the ball (with 'Mechanical Plunger' enabled) isn't necessarily the best way as the physical plunger doesn't move fast enough due to friction, therefore it can throw off the expected speed/force of the plunge. I have found it to work more consistantly with an 'impulse' plunger (a software trigger that sets the ball speed instantly) when power is adjusted to the amount of pullback when the plunger is released. In my scripting I have also gone in and set in a delay so the desired release point is used instead of a more recent reading that may be right before the plunger is supposed to hit the ball and throwing it off. Again though, this is only in MY version of the plunger scripting that I have built into my personal modifications of other's tables or my more recent mods and table builds that I have uploaded here. I also have a tutorial table available with all the necessary objects/images/scripting that can then be put into any other table.

And even with the thread linked by uberpinball above, I have improved upon it even more that those more recent posts.

Edited by koadic, 13 March 2013 - 12:47 PM.