48 replies to this topic

[settingsons]

Pinball FX2 Running in Virtual Pinball Cabinet - Windows 8

Here is a video of Pinball FX2 running in 'cabinet mode' in my Virtual Pinball cabinet under Windows 8.



Currently only one screen is supported by Pinball FX2 for Windowsx 8.  My cabinet already runs Visual Pinball and Future Pinball under Windows XP 32-bit.  I added a second drive with Windows 8 installed on it, and boot from this drive to play Pinball FX2 (screen is rotated in Windows 8 using Portrait mode display mode).  All menus can be navigated using the Virtual Pinball Cabinet buttons.

Each table has about 8 views some of which are locked not to scroll.  Initially I thought I would only ever use a locked view, however surprisingly I found that for most tables by using one of the discrete scrolling views like 'View 3' or 'View 7' it gives you a better feeling of depth and '3Dness' as the cameras hovers/floats a little over the top of the table.

In my opinion the tables are much more playable in 'cabinet mode' than on my Xbox in non-portrait mode as you can see the whole table.  The force flipper feedback also adds a lot to the experience.  The Pinball FX2 engine has superb lighting with shadows and reflections in real-time on the table surface and in the chrome rails, etc.  The video doesn't show off the quality which in reality is much better.

No stuttering or performance problems experienced - a great job by Zen.

Ball trails and arcade effects (floating scrores, etc.) have been turned off - of course .

[nebrunner]

That looks really nice!  Can you explain what the force feedback flippers do and what you had to go through to set them up (if anything)?

[settingsons]

That looks really nice!  Can you explain what the force feedback flippers do and what you had to go through to set them up (if anything)?

Thanks! For Pinball FX2 there is no additional work to add the force feedback in this setup as all that happens is one of two Siemens contactors fires on the press of a button using an Opticoupler. There is more info at the start of this thread that I just added which includes a link to the excellent Pinball Electrical 101 guide which explains the options.

The feedback effectively add a thump/thud when you press the flipper as felt on a real pinball when the solenoid fires.

Edited by settingsons, 27 December 2012 - 04:54 PM.

[nebrunner]

Got it, I misunderstood you, thought that Pinball FX2 had some sort of custom force feedback effects.

 

I looked up this program, it looks like it is free but then you pay per table?  

[settingsons]

They give you the Mars table free and then each table costs 2.49 euros. I didn't find a way to trial the tables but a patch is out soon so they may add that option.

To be honest I had a few FX2 tables before on the kids XBox but only occasionally played them, however in the cabinet FS plus the real flipper feeling it really adds something .

[oldskoolgamer]

This looks pretty awesome. BigBoss you are local to me I was the guy that emailed you about your P2K cab I need to stop by and checkout this on your other cab lol

[tetrafred]

I try it and it's really awesome but when i put my desktop on "portrait" mode to play Pinball FX2 and launch Visual Pinball after to play some table they are all on desktop mode 1900*1080.  In option i tell them to work on 1080*1900 but they stay on previous mode. Have you the same problem?

 

Thanks.

[settingsons]

Glad you got it working and like it Fullscreen. Actually I am not using VP under Windows 8 as I dual boot, so sorry I cannot help with that problem, however a solution for you may have been posted today on the Zen forums in a thread I started (I am allmodcons) by someone (markmon) who is handling the rotation manually I think using IRotate. He says he will post a tutorial:

https://forum.zenstu...n-Portrait-mode

[tetrafred]

Thanks Settingsons, i hope we can move the DMD everywherre we want in the future and perhaps with backglass. It will be great on three screen ^^