49 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 ^^

[settingsons]

Hello!

It has been a few years now since I was active in these forums. I do pass by and read stuff every every couple of weeks or so, but with all the other stuff that goes on in life with kids, etc. I have only been a bystander.

 

It's great to see the community is as active as it was when I joined about 10 years ago!  The developments in VP (now VPX!) on both the Physics side and in the Graphics department are incredible, and the DOFLinx stuff just adds so much to the cab experience!   When I built this cabinet back in 2011 the tables we could play in cabinet mode were impressive, but when I see what can be played in the last few years the experience just gets better and better.

 

I can see a lot of 'old faces' are no longer active, but there are a few familiar names I have seen popping up here and there.  I am sure a lot of those 'old faces :)' are probably like myself and just keep an eye on the scene. 

 

I have used my cabinet continuously since I built it at least a couple of times a week.  Well worth the initial 2000-2500 euros investment and a few months of effort to build it!  So for anyone considering a build I would so go for it!

 

 

I haven't updated this thread for a long time now, but will do over the next few weeks.

 

Over the last few years I haven't  changed the original Core i7 CPU but I have added more RAM, SSD drives, and upgraded to Windows 7 64-bit.  The cabinet plays VPX mostly, some VP9, Pinball FX3 Williams tables, and the Zaccaria Steam tables.

 

I have a real DMD thanks to russ's PinDMD2 which I got quite a few years back (started with a PMDDMD1 as well).  I use freezy's DMDExt to get a real DMD in FX3 and Pro Pinball.

 

I added a zebsboard's LED lightbar which is awesome, so now enjoy real lighting using the excellent DirectOutputFramework / DOFLinx. Thanks to SwizzLizard / DDH69 / Angrim / mjr and anyone else involved in that.

 

I recently switched to PinballY and love the fact it is so well documented and is open-source.  Would recommend that to anyone who hasn't tried that.

 

There are so many other people to thank and there are many more I can think of, however just want to mention JP Salas (the Godfather of VP), fuzzel / Toxie for their outstanding VP/VPX work.  Thanks guys!

Edited by settingsons, 30 January 2020 - 11:20 AM.