Glad you approve of my bowl and plunger changes
Sorry bout the centering issues and stuff with the file I sent you, as it was just a quick(ish) edit to incorporate the changes I made so I could send you something before I went to bed. You can get rid of 2 more alpha ramps if you want to go back to the original bowl lighting, I just prefer it predrawn on the decal like I did. If you would like, I have the layered photoshop file I can send you to mess around with different transparencies and stuff (make lights a little stronger/softer, etc.).
As far as the drop walls go, I have found that changing layer order only works for the next time you run the table, then they go back to the order they were before... I think what I had found was the 'off' image was sometimes checked as droppable, but should be left unchecked (and maybe moved back just a hair) to not occlude the droppable images. As far as keyboard shortcuts go, I don't think there are any for bring to front/send to back. Whenever I need to mess with a group of walls/objects, I just usually 'translate' them somewhere off the playfield and 'translate' them back when done.
One thing I have found though is ramps are much more angle independent when dealing with layback than walls are, but the issue was that for any kind of animation, you needed to use alpha ramps which apply a performance penalty on the table if there are a lot of them, which is why I did some experimenting and found using gates instead give almost all the benefits of ramps without the performance hit. The problem comes in where sometimes gates just don't work right and won't display due to other issues (like if any part of them are off screen, etc.). Done properly with gates and/or ramps, it is a much easier transition applying layback than with using walls.
EDIT: also, if anyone wants to, feel free to utilize my reworked plunger animation method, as it has the benefits of the alpha ramp plunger without any of the performance hit... some info if creating from scratch: color of gates needs to be pure black (to allow transparency), needs to be set noncollidable, uncheck 'supports', 'length' = width / 'height' = length, open/close angle set to 90, rotation 0 and image applied on 'back' of gate (for normal image orientation), and you will need to create a wall or something to use for the surface height of the gates; for example with this plunger, I created a wall called 'PlungerHeight' with a top height of -100 (gates had height of 145.2) to put final image height at 45.2; if the plunger needed to be longer, the wall height would have to go lower to compensate and vice/versa. With this method I am able to utilize a full 26 step plunger animation (0-25) without any performance hit compared to the AR plunger.
The centering thing was no problem, once I noticed it, an easy fix. I went & added this plunger to the desktop table as well, & due to the -100 surface the gates sit on, that made the table appear smaller there as well & I had to compensate by increasing x & y scale & then adjust y-offset. Also, you are right you can't get too crazy at least in desktop mode in regards to y-offset. Push the table too far down & the plunger will vanish, but I was still able to push it down almost as far as I wanted to. Good enough at least.
So that is maybe a slight downside to this gate plunger system, or at least something you need to remember to account for. But otherwise I really like it, especially for tables like this that can use an extra fps it can get. Thanks again for that.
Also, if you see this newest update, you'll see I did use your code then I used my own decals on it but with the same idea. This does kill 2 birds with 1 stone, I like it. It both frees up some fps & also allows more to be done with the lamps. Because with that area now being alpha ramps, it is more glitchy & harder to work with when putting lamps under it like it was. With how it is now, I think the bowl is looking great & if I even want to spend more time on the bowl lamps then I can update them in mere seconds now on the table.
I also added an alpha ramp to the top front part o the bowl for the new ramp border. Before with that part being solid, what you saw under them was somehow the PF, regardless of if drawn to front or back. So this is much better. It sucks up a few fps, but it really improves the overall look of the bowl.
With draw to front/back, I should get a better understanding on this. Again it never used to be something I'd worry about. However, the stuff I sent to back... I then saved, closed out
VP, started it up again, opened the table, & the ordering was the same as when I saved it. so it all seemed to hold. You are saying it doesn't for you? One thing I did notice though is that when you draw something to front/back the table doesn't act like its been changed. Meaning you can hit X on the table to close it out & it won't ask you if you want to save. I save it anyhow, & it seems to hold. To find out if it is changed for everybody else, I guess you guys will just need to find out. If all the flashers are firing (you know if they are because plastics turn really white), then I guess this can be saved.
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