12 replies to this topic

[rickeb]

I hear this term a lot, and the option to turn it off sometimes appears before a table loads. What does it stand for, and what is it?

[jpsalas]

GI stands for General Illumination. So the GI lights use to be those lights under the plastics.
In some tables they turn on and off very often, and since it involves turning many lights and walls on and off, they may slow down a table, that's why some tables has that option.

[xio]

Tried to search the forum with General Illumination (G.I. doesn't work) but I didn't find many informations about adding GI to a table, can anyone point me to some posts about how to use this technique in VP ?

 

I've looked into some "GI tables" : they do have multiple stacked lights that often cover the whole table, but I can't understand how this is supposed to work and what visual effect it's meant to do.

[hmueck]

General illumination (or playfield illumination on Gottlieb tables (Stargate )) is a number of lamps that all are turned on at the same time to bring some light to the table. Since these lamps usually light up nearly all parts of the playfield, the stacked lights cover all the table. VPinmame supports GI only for some MPUs (pinball computers) - maybe even only one: Williams WPC.

Exerpt from the old .vbs documentation:

 

GICallback

Function to update GI lamps. Only WPC games have special GI circuit
Callback function must take two arguments
StringNo:          GIString that has changed state (0-4)
Status:          New status of GI string

 

OIder machines can dim the lights in four steps, newer in eight steps.

No support from VPinmame for Gottlieb System 3. On some MPUs the GI is controlled by a solenoid (e.g. Pinbot).

 

Summary:

to enable GI in a table, find a solenoid for GI or use the GIcallback routine.

Edit the playfield in Photoshop and add the many GI lamps. Save with 4 to 8 different levels of brightness.

 

Trivia: vpinmame has a bug: GI level 7 and 8 are identical.

[xio]

Thanks hmueck for your reply.

 

If I understand what you're explaining, I must follow these steps in VP :

- create 8 pf images with the under-plastics lights at different levels

- I already have 4 pf objects for "normal" lights, so that makes 12 pf loaded in the table

- create 8 lights that cover the whole playfield, each one with a pf image of first step

- find the solenoid that handle GI in the table manual

- "link" this solenoid to the 8 light objects

 

Is that right ?

 

I've looked into the I500 table yesterday, and it wasn't one light covering the whole playfield, but divided in 3 or 4 parts (can't check right now, I'm at the office). Why is that division needed ?

 

Anyway I'll study more tables to clear my mind, as it's not easy to understand (not "natural"). Dynamic light that would affect table objects according to their position (so you could place lights under the plastics) would be awesome

Edited by xio, 05 December 2012 - 01:01 PM.

[faralos]

FP has that effect in its editor meaning

you CAN make a light that  casts its light out over the play field

in vp however we must fake this using either numerous play fields

or plastics or lights themselves all on top of each other and scripted to 'turn on' at different times

that's why not too many of us put them into our pins
it's time consuming and a real pain in the arse

especially in computers like mine that may have a problem handling fading lights

but it DOES make the pin look more realistic

when I do it I use Gimp2 and its 'Dodge' and 'Burn' tools

to either lighten or darken a plastic or play field for lighting techniques

tedious yes but at times I really want that effect in a pin

not too often but sometimes!!

[hmueck]

If I understand what you're explaining, I must follow these steps in VP :
- create 8 pf images with the under-plastics lights at different levels

Depends on the table. Most of the time it's only 4 pf images for four GI levels/fading lights.

- I already have 4 pf objects for "normal" lights, so that makes 12 pf loaded in the table

Also depends on how the table looks like. On the Stargate table, there are not only normal inserts that light up, but also normal parts of the playfield that light up. In that case it will double the no. of playfields needed. 4 lamp pf with GI on, 4 lamp pf with GI off. Or 8+8.

- create 8 lights that cover the whole playfield, each one with a pf image of first step
- find the solenoid that handle GI in the table manual
- "link" this solenoid to the 8 light objects

 

Correct.

I've looked into the I500 table yesterday, and it wasn't one light covering the whole playfield, but divided in 3 or 4 parts (can't check right now, I'm at the office). Why is that division needed ?

Some divisions are for the flashers. Maybe it was easier for him to divide the GI also?!

Anyway I'll study more tables to clear my mind, as it's not easy to understand (not "natural"). Dynamic light that would affect table objects according to their position (so you could place lights under the plastics) would be handsome

As Faralos said: FP has this dynamic light sources. VP will probably not get them anytime soon.
The GI solution with several lights is just the basic light version. Look at Scapino tables. He recreated the table in a ray tracing software and created emreels with the raytracing pictures. This will not only put light on the plastics/playfield, but also on the other table objects.

[Herweh]

General illumination (or playfield illumination on Gottlieb tables (Stargate )) is a number of lamps that all are turned on at the same time to bring some light to the table. Since these lamps usually light up nearly all parts of the playfield, the stacked lights cover all the table. VPinmame supports GI only for some MPUs (pinball computers) - maybe even only one: Williams WPC.

Exerpt from the old .vbs documentation:

 

GICallback

Function to update GI lamps. Only WPC games have special GI circuit
Callback function must take two arguments
StringNo:          GIString that has changed state (0-4)
Status:          New status of GI string

 

OIder machines can dim the lights in four steps, newer in eight steps.

No support from VPinmame for Gottlieb System 3. On some MPUs the GI is controlled by a solenoid (e.g. Pinbot).

 

Summary:

to enable GI in a table, find a solenoid for GI or use the GIcallback routine.

Edit the playfield in Photoshop and add the many GI lamps. Save with 4 to 8 different levels of brightness.

 

Trivia: vpinmame has a bug: GI level 7 and 8 are identical.

 

Since I have seen these infos about GI strings, hmueck, I wanted to tell I detected one "strange thing": VPinMAME is sending these no values from 0 to 4 for the illuminated GI strings. The pin tells me he is sending values from 1 to 5.

Detected yesterday at "Hurricane" in the config menu of the table during the "General Illumination Test": The table is activating the GI string '1', VPinMAME is sending a '0'. And so on, till string '5' and VPinMAME gives a '4'. Pretty important and a bit strange when I try to access the correct GI string with my backglass server, expecting a '1' and receiving a '0'.

Does anybody know anything about this issue? Bug or feature ?

[xio]

I'm trying to find how to add GI in Twister (Sega) : there's no solenoid in manual that handle GI. 

 

So I should use something like

Set GICallback = GetRef("UpdateGI")

 

The thing I can't understand is, how/when will it be activated ??? I've looked into all tests in rom menu, but nothing look like a GI control.

 

All the GI tables I find are williams ones, maybe it means I simply cannot add this effect into a sega table ?

Edited by xio, 08 December 2012 - 02:18 PM.

[jimmyfingers]

Ok, there's a few things that have been stated incorrectly here and / or misleading.  First off, 8 level GI only exists for WPC tables which is why you only see it on them and is accessed with the GICallBack2 function (Set GICallback2 = GetRef(subroutine_name). 

 

Second, the reason tables can and do have 3 zones for WPC 8 level is that those regions or controlled differently and has nothing to do with flashers but all GI related events.  If you look at the diagnostics in a WPC game that supports it you'll find that the lower, center, and upper sections do different things or on some tables, as with I500, it's left, right, lower.  I think there can be other variants but 3 zones because the tables that have them do different things with the GI in those 3 zones (and again with 8 levels of intensity).  This doesn't change the need for more than 8 levels of PF GI drawn images, you just need to cut the light objects up and handle good / proper dissection points in the editor and properly code them into the routine you've used for the GICallBack2 (8 Level aware) option.  

 

Third, there is no point ever worrying about more than 4 levels (off, b, a, on) for any table that is not a WPC and those ones can utilizie the fading lights routines to simulate fading but it is not exact where one level precisely will be picked and handled by the ROM.  However, with what Herweh is saying I'd like to see what tables and using what routines he was able to get numerical level readings for GI that were in the range from 1 - 5 as I've never seen that so maybe more on 4 level needs to be clarified. 

 

Fourth, unfortunately there is no ROM based handling that has been discovered / emulated for Sega/Stern Whitestar based tables and as such any GI elements would have to be done by hand and mapped to other events occurring.  UW and oooplayer1ooo have done this on a few of their tables but is a lot more work and isn't exactly what the real game "actually" does but maps certain other events to try and give a good approximation or GI experience in general despite this emulation shortcoming.  I think it might even be more than the emulation as people have stated they cannot find the solenoid for some of these tables in the schematics / manuals so I believe the problem may start there.  One interesting note I just discovered recently about one table using a work around approach was that the LW3 table actually does support "real" solenoid GI emulation and didn't necessarily need the work around.  I'm not sure if oooPlayer1ooo just thought it was not there because it was around the same type as other machines that don't have it or just wanted to control the lights the way he wanted as he's also made zones which the real game doesn't have so would have to be forgone if the ROM based options was used.  But the solenoid is actually supportable for LW3 and a ROM based GI controlled version is possible which I might ask him at some point if I could MOD.  

 

And lastly, when working with GI it’s not a bad thing to just start with an ON and an Off image to check the coding, see how it looks and that what you want to do can be done decently.  I draw my lighting in a way that can be easily expanded to 8 levels afterward, but I start generally with how the “ON” looks.   Start simply and save time on the drawing with the ability (layers / opacity / fill) to alter afterwards as don’t get bogged down on machines doing multiple layers you can’t use. 

 

I hope this helps somewhat and Herweh, if you could expand on what tables / ROMs you saw 4 level parameters that would be appreciated as I’d like to do some tests and still learn more myself on this topic.

Edited by jimmyfingers, 08 December 2012 - 08:04 PM.

[xio]

Thanks (again ) JF for clarifying out everything. What you're explaining confirm that I cannot use the "WPC GI" in other tables, and that was exactly what was confusing me.

 

I think the workaround you're talking about is what UW did in his TSPP nightmod ? He made a great work on it, and the result is beautiful while non-ROM controlled, so it's too bad I didn't understand yet all the scripting events. As it's probably the only way to add GI in Twister, I'll have to understand every level. And I'll also look at LW3, didn't check this one.

[hmueck]

I watched a Twister video - you will not be able to emulate the GI behaviour completely with the table script. It's turning on and off with different events and also using "flickering effects".

While having the same problem with Stargate, i had it easier, because the GI was only turned off when the ball is in the pyramid. So i connected the GI with the "game over solenoid" and put in a special routine when the pyramid trough is hit.

Other tables just turn the GI on when the game begins and turn the GI off when the ball is lost.

[Herweh]

Jimmy, maybe I was not clear enough. I was not talking about the value of a GI string, I was talking about the number (the id) of the GI string. Let me explain it with a sample "Hurricane". Here is the GI declaration of the manual:

 gi.png   20.57KB   14 downloads

 

There are 5 G.I. strings from 01 to 05, the numbers 01, 02 and 04 are the backbox G.I. strings.

When you get into the DMD test menu and enter the "General illumination" test this test skips thru all 5 G.I. strings. So while the DMD displays the start of the test of G.I. string 1 and steps thru the values from 0 to 8 VPinMAME delivers me the G.I.string number 0 with the values from 0 to 8. The values are fine but the number isn't matching, it's the real string number minus 1.

 

Hurricane is just an example, I have seen this already at T2.