27 replies to this topic

[arcadewarrior]

 hello to all:  I'm new at all this mame and everything else I'm not accustom. 

 

I have followed what the member has explained ( would be nice o know his name since I threw out his answer for vp installation process. but any way I downloaded the vp installaion folder ,click on extract all and then asks me to run or cancel  clicked on run and it gave me a folder with a pinball on it and thats it. and according to this member I'm suppose to have  8 or 9 sub folders inside the vp installation folder not a stupid folder with a pinball on it with nothing in it.  this member said once download the vp installation folder and put it into a temp folder suppose to read and follow the meassages. but I did not get any meassages. thats step one try to get the installation right. the member said to do this  and the installation does just the opposite.

 

I will be asking a lot of quesions  yeah if I stick with this and do not give up.  right now I'm thinking of given up.

 

and before any member ask me to read this and read that I did all that and then some.

 

arcadewarrior

[007]

http://www.vpforums....s&showfile=5162

[BobAlbright]

Well Arcadewarrior--chill out man. There are many good people in this forum that will help you. I looked at 007's reply and followed his link and what you will get is a full install of VP915. There is no 'just a pinball" in it. You will find 6 files in it including a "setup exe". I can assure you that if you follow the steps in the tutorial on this site that you will get it up and running. READ the forum's tutorial!

[GSGregg]

If you've forgotten the name of a replier, click on or hover over your username; an information box will materialize. Click on the 'Find content' button and you'll be shown all of your posts (or the topics in which they were submitted---you select this from the menu to the left) and you can look for something you recognize.

 Findcontent.JPG   149.75KB   4 downloads

 

Regarding your VP installation, I don't know what steps have been completed successfully, so I'll look at some of the questions you asked in your posts.

 

I think it's safe to say that most, if not all, new desktop tables are being made for widescreen 16:9 or 16:10 displays; any 4:3 tables that are played on a widescreen with 'Full screen' selected will have balls that look like eggs resting on their sides, in addition to the table looking very wide and the flippers looking long and skinny. Selecting 'Window' and a resolution with a ratio of 4:3 (1600x1200 or 1200x900, for instance) has the drawback of black bars flanking the screen image, but preserves the proportion / aspect ratio and the round ball image. However, if you object to the black bars more than you do the elongated ball, then retain the 'Full Screen' setting. VP is intended for fullscreen play, after all.....

There are 'widescreen settings' that'll turn up in a forum search, but since my monitor is a 4:3 (1024x768) I never had to look into them.

 

Your computer has plenty of horsepower, especially with no extra monitor or humongous playfield screen to feed.....

 

The only way I know of to download large packages of ROMS (No experience, of course) is from 'torrent' sites, and I've read/heard that you can't trust what they might send you. The extra work of DL-ing one at a time is a small price for proprietary content we get for free.....

 

7Zip: The one to use has to be one of the first two in the list, but I guess you're already set up with WinRar. I use the Extraction Wizard that came with XP, and grabbed 7Zip for the RAR stuff; works fine.

 

VPInstaller_1_0_3.zip: you mentioned putting VP9.1.5 into the Visual Pinball folder, so I assume you got this downloaded, extracted, and run.

 

VPinMAME installing v1.42: This is the file version of the Installation Program, referred to as setup.exe, and it works with whatever version of VPinMame (2.1, 2.3, 2.5 et al) is being installed. It is used in any later troubleshooting of VPM, so don't delete it after running it.

 

Two pinballs (902 and VPinball): I think you referred to the shortcuts to the two VP versions---VP9 and VP8---that Installer 103 put into the Visual Pinball folder as part of the Installation. You can have several versions of VP9---and their shortcuts---if you wish, but with backward compatibility, the current release (915) should be all that's necessary. VP8 stays (unless you absolutely don't want it) because there are/will be no further updates. You may someday find a table you like that hasn't been converted to VP9 yet.

 

Empty folder with a pinball on it: Which folder? Weird, but it does happen..... I DL'ed VPinMame 2.5 earlier, and got an empty zip-file; five minutes later, it DL'ed correctly.

 

 

Hope I've touched on things that help; time to quit typin' and start flippin'!

 

Cheers

 

GSG

 

 

 

[faralos]

there are literally hundreds of vp8 tables to be played

 whether or not they can be converted is another story though

   but they can still be enjoyed if loaded into vp8

 but this is why I don't give out advice when it comes to installs

 there are so may different variations when it comes to installing vp

and fyi I use a widescreen monitor without any weird image issues

Like the ball being egg shaped, etc, skinny flippers, etc....

[arcadewarrior]

hello to all who replied:

 

I have extracted the  vpinball915 full into a temp folder and has the following folders change log, freeimage.dll, instmsi A,setup,setup,visual pinball. can anyone tell me if I'm missing any folders. ok, this is the only folder that I got has some folders in it, even the vpinstaller 103 did not have any folders. for the vpmame 1.42 was empty also. even if I did get these 2 folders correct with the sub folders inside of them then what drag them to vp915 full? what about the freeimage.dll leave that alone or do I have to change that also?

 

I did read the installation tutorial  but I like the one on one method better in forums like this.

 

arcadewarrior     

[GSGregg]

I have extracted the  vpinball915 full into a temp folder and have the following folders change log, freeimage.dll, instmsi A,setup(.ini), setup(.exe), visual pinball. can anyone tell me if I'm missing any folders.

Nope; that's all of them. However, I'd hold off for just a bit.....
 

ok, this is the only folder I got that has some folders in it, even the vpinstaller 103 did not have any folders. for the vpmame 1.42 was empty also.

As I mentioned three posts back, I got a zero-kilobyte download of VPinMame 2.5, but went back a few minutes later and got the real deal; who knows what the self-solving problem was.....but the Installer_1_0_3 won't contain multiple files; it comes in a zipped folder, unzips/extracts to a plain folder, and opens to a pinball icon with the description, 'Setup' under it. When you click on that pinball, the Security Warning (Run-or-Cancel) box displays ***the name,'VPInstaller_1_0_3.exe'***. Only after VPInstaller_1_0_3.exe has run do you find---in Program Files (x86)---the Visual Pinball folder with subfolders (Doc, Tables, User, and VPinMame) and files, including EXEs for the two VPinballs, for which the desktop screen will now contain shortcuts. My 'XP' appearance differs from your '7', but here's a screenshot anyway:
   VPinballFresh.JPG   86.66KB   4 downloads

 

The 1.42 is the Setup.exe for VPinMame, and has no other content. It is included in the VPinMame folder that the Installer provided, and in subsequent VPinMame dot-zips (like 2.5).

 

***Edit*** above: 'Setup' is merely a description given to the Installer executable, which includes no file named 'Setup.exe'.

 

even if I did get these 2 folders correct with the sub folders inside of them then what drag them to vp915 full? what about the freeimage.dll leave that alone or do I have to change that also?

FreeImage.dll is part of VP9.1.x, and would be extracted to the Visual Pinball folder along with it, but if you've already extracted it somewhere else it can be dragged and dropped. I'm not sure about using the Full Install, though; I think it's intended more for those who don't want VP8 (those with cabinets can't use VP8, anyway) and Installer_1_0_3 will have already laid the groundwork. I would delete or repack VP915 Full Install and DL the Standalone EXE instead; your call.

 

Gregg

Edited by GSGregg, 21 November 2013 - 08:09 AM.

[arcadewarrior]

hello to you gs gregg:

 

 I have understood what you said . and for the vp8 and vp9 thats what I want. but then i  will need to update the vp103 to vp915 right? and free imiage.dll need to be upgraded also. I will also delete the full install of 915. where can I find the 915 stand alone exe as long it has all the files included I will dl.

 

 

 yeah gs gregg I like windows xp better that windows 7.

 

I lookded at my vp103 and has a grey screen with bunch of icons of the left side and then on top it has file, edit ,insert, table, prferances, window ,and help. all which  nothing is highlighted but no setup.exe I'm just want to get this straightened out first  getting vp103 and vp915 right and then tackle the next step.

 

ok I looked at my vp103 it has the files that you said it will have but it does not have setup.exe

 

arcadewarrior

Edited by arcadewarrior, 19 November 2013 - 10:38 PM.

[GSGregg]

Gray screen.....left-side icons.....is THIS (screenshot) the screen you mean?
 YAY! The editor!.JPG   66.06KB   4 downloads 
 If so, you already have VP installed; this is the editor. Click on 'Help' up top and then on 'About...' and the 'About Visual Pinball' info box will tell you which version has been opened. (0.8.9506 = VP8)
 

ok I looked at my vp103 it has the files that you said it will have but it does not have setup.exe

Setup.exe doesn't end up in the VP folder; it's still in the Installer_1_0_3 zip file and/or the folder to which it was unzipped.

To end some confusion: 103 is not a Visual Pinball version; it is the version of the Installer. VP is Visual Pinball, including all versions past, present and future. The updating will replace VP9.0.2 (delete or not, as you wish) with VP9.1.5 .

 

The Standalone EXE ("EXE Only") is in VP Downloads, the center part of the dropdown menu under Getting Started (probably where you got VPinMame 2.5) on the VPForums home page.

 

Next, if all has gone well; VPinMAME.

G

[arcadewarrior]

 hello gs gregg: the grey screen that you posted is what I have.

 

  you also said that 0.8.9506 is the vp8.  I just checked and I do have the vp8. vp9 I cannot find.

 

the 103 installer,  I need to check that out at this time I do not see a setup.exe but that does not mean its someplace I will let you know of that.  I just checked on that and I did not see that unless if its hidden someplace. I would think that it  would say setup.exe. 

 

the standalone exe I could dl to my desktop thats no problem. I will try to get the standalong.exe dl this weekend I hope. so stay tuned on that.

 

and for vpinmame,  I got the 2.5 version on my desktop. 

 

arcadewarrior

[GSGregg]

ok I looked at my vp103 it has the files that you said it will have but it does not have setup.exe

Still confused. By the above, were you referring to a page resembling the screenshot I posted in post #7? That is the Visual Pinball folder, also referred to as the VP folder (not the VP103 folder). I want to be certain we're on 'the same page' with folder- and file-names.

With that in mind, I have edited my comment in post #7; while VP915 Full Install and VPinMAME 2.x include 'Setup.exe' files, VPInstaller_1_0_3 does not. 'Setup' is just a description given to the Installer, which is named 'VPInstaller_1_0_3.exe' .

the 103 installer, I need to check that out at this time I do not see a setup.exe but that does not mean its someplace I will let you know of that. I just checked on that and I did not see that unless if its hidden someplace. I would think that it would say setup.exe.

I hope/think I have it right, now. Staying tuned.

Edited by GSGregg, 21 November 2013 - 09:03 AM.

[arcadewarrior]

 hello grgregg:  sorry about this gs gregg  until I get this right it will be a bumpy road for me after that it should me smooth sailing.

 

 yes the screen shot that you have in post #7 is what I have.

 

right now I'm re-reading the installation and set up guide and  cut it up into smaller segments and if I have any questions I will post them here. read below

 

now what they told me is download the installer103 and  then you need to update to the newest version which is vp915 standalone. so Im I looking for the words "vp915 standalone "to be downloaded someplace?  I thought I had the vp915 standalone but the version I have is vp915 minimal so thats wrong. once dwonloaded extract  vpinball915.exe and freeimage.dll into the vp folder. so the vp folder is the vp103 right? so I drag the vpinball915exe and freeimage.dll  over top the installer103 folder right? or can I just use the copy and paste method and paste it over the installer 103?

 

lets get this step done and then keep working from there. sounds like a plan to you?  

 

arcadewarior

[chas]

AW, dont give up.....there is a learning period for a little while.
try the 3click installer at irpinball.org in "downloads" on the home page,  then pinmame and 91xminimul from her in getting started......the 91xminimul is the stand alone.
install the 3click installer, pinmame and the 91x minimul into C/programfiles.
after installing everything open pinmame "setup" in C/drive/programfiles....look for paths....use the browse on each config to the correct folders.
after installing 91x minimul right click on the silver ball.....send to ----->desktop for the shortcut.

[GSGregg]

 yes the screen shot that you have in post #7 is what I have.

Excellent! Does the folder contain the two pinball icons VPinball and VPinball_9_0_2, as mine does? 
 

now what they told me is download the installer103 and  then you need to update to the newest version which is vp915 standalone. so Im I looking for the words "vp915 standalone "to be downloaded someplace?  I thought I had the vp915 standalone but the version I have is vp915 minimal so thats wrong.

Lament not, faithful warrior; 915 minimal IS the Standalone EXE. Ain't this fun?
 

once downloaded extract  vpinball915.exe and freeimage.dll into the vp folder. so the vp folder is the vp103 right?

Nope; 103 is the INSTALLER version, but we're through with that.
 

so I drag the vpinball915exe and freeimage.dll  over top the (Visual Pinball) folder, right? or can I just use the copy and paste method and paste it over the (Visual Pinball folder)?

The 915exe is compressed to a little over 40% of its normal size and probably won't work if simply dragged after the zip is opened (see screenshot).
 Extract First.JPG   90.84KB   2 downloads
Let's try something; right-click on the 915minimal.zip and see if the menu has 'Extract Files', or 'Extract All', or 'Extract Here'. If so, pick one and click on it. The first two should allow you to select or type in a destination; you want C:\Program Files (x86)\Visual Pinball (type exactly that, with all letters, symbols and spaces as shown). 'Extract Here' will extract the three files into the same folder/screen, probably at the bottom of the page. Drag them to the Visual Pinball folder. Wherever the files wind up, they are now decompressed and 915exe is ready to run.

The 915 minimal zip contains the two files mentioned above PLUS a newer copy of Changelog.txt, which explains all of the changes in VP9 up to and including 915; the old Changelog stops at 902. If you get a box asking if you want to overwrite/replace the existing Changelog.txt, answer Yes.
 

lets get this step done and then keep working from there. sounds like a plan to you? 

If anything fails to satisfy, there's simply more research to be done. We'll get it eventually.

[arcadewarrior]

ok this is  what I did I right clicked on the 915 folder click on "extract all" then opens up to the destination typed in the following c:\Program files (x86)\Visual Pinball then gave me an extract button had to click on that. no new folder on screen.  ok right now I'm stuck on this. right now I cannot do the following steps in your post.  I'm thinking its not all me most of the blame is on windows 7. if I use c:\users\owner\desktop\VPinball915minimal it will make me a new folder with the subfolders in it.

 

pinball warrior

 

if i was in battle I will be losing.

[faralos]

ain't vp a blast though?

 seriously once you muddle all thru those install packs

 you will find it to be well worth it  once you get it all working 

[arcadewarrior]

 yeah, for a newbe trying out anything new just getting use to the terminology and the steps to make it operational is a challenge itself.  also by the time I know  how to do all of this i will be a pro at it.

 

gsgregg: I got the folder and the 3 files inside it the changelog, freeimage.dll and the vp915. are these the files you are talking about?

 

arcadewarrior 

 

 

 

 

Edited by arcadewarrior, 23 November 2013 - 12:53 AM.

[GSGregg]

ok this is  what I did I right clicked on the 915 folder click on "extract all" then opens up to the destination typed in the following c:\Program files (x86)\Visual Pinball then gave me an extract button had to click on that. no new folder on screen.

But then, a little later:

 

gsgregg: I got the folder and the 3 files inside it the changelog, freeimage.dll and the vp915. are these the files you are talking about?

 

Yes, those are the three files contained in 915 dot-zip. As I just mentioned, they should be in the Visual Pinball folder after the extraction. Open the Visual Pinball folder and see whether those three files were added to it.

 VPinballFresh2.JPG   98.91KB   2 downloads

 

If not, we'll try something else.

Gregg
 

 

Edited by GSGregg, 24 November 2013 - 02:36 AM.

[arcadewarrior]

 hello gsgreg:

 

 I see the the screen shot you have it looks like windows xp in post no.18. I have opened the visual pinball folder and no 3 folders in there.

 

just an idea what if I make a "new folder" call it c:\visual pinball ( the main folder)and then copy and paste the visual pinball contents from the visual pinball folder and copy it into a sub folder under the main folder called visual pinball folder and then copy and paste the 3 pieces of contents from the 3 folders and paste them into the sub folder visual pinball folder. would that work? 

 

arcadewarrior

[GSGregg]

arcadewarrior; I don't know whether C:\ can be used as part of a file- or folder-name; I think everything on a computer is technically on C-drive anyway, unless there are other drives or partitions on which data is stored. I think creating a new main VP folder is unnecessary, and would result in a logjam of folders/files with the same name.

 

We know that you extracted the three files from the VPinball915.zip; we just don't know where they went. How about doing a search of your computer for VPinball915? (It's reasonable to assume that the other two wound up in the same folder) Once found, they can be dragged or copy/pasted into the existing Visual Pinball folder, and we can move on.

 

If  Search is something new for you, I think you just click on the Start button (actually, the authors of tutorials I viewed used 'Orb' or 'Pearl', rather than 'button') to get the Start Menu with the Search box, type in VPinball915 and click the magnifying glass icon. You'll probably get multiple results, based on how many times you tried this, that, and the other.....but if the files didn't simply evaporate, you'll find 'em.

 

Gregg

Edited by GSGregg, 24 November 2013 - 04:00 AM.