3 replies to this topic

[Teamtechnic]

File Name: Cyclone (Williams 1988) directb2s 3 Screen

File Submitter: Teamtechnic

File Submitted: 29 Jan 2014

File Category: dB2S Animated Backglasses

Author(s): Teamtechnic
Manufacturer: Williams
Year: 1988

Directb2s backglass of Cyclone (Williams 1988) 3 screen version.

Background illumination added.

Animations  unchanged.

Commented on the post for any improvement.

Thanks and have fun.

Click here to download this file

[mjr]

FYI on the wheel animation.  With this B2S and the standard table scripts, the wheel animation doesn't work properly - when it's supposed to spin, it just twitches a bit, and it doesn't end up in the right place.  To get a nice smooth wheel animation that stops at the right place, make these changes to the table and backglass:

 

1.  Open the table in VP and edit the script.  Find the "Mystery Wheel" section and change the code so it looks like this:

     'Mystery Wheel
     Dim mWheelMech
     Set mWheelMech = New cvpmMech
     With mWheelMech
         .MType = vpmMechStepSol + vpmMechCircle + vpmMechLinear + vpmMechFast
         .Sol1 = 14
         .Sol2 = 13
         .Length = 200
         .Steps = 90                    '  <--- change
         .AddSw 41, 0, 45               '  <--- change
         .Callback = GetRef("SpinWheel")
         .Start
     End With

2. If you don't have the B2S Backglass Designer installed, you'll need to download and install it.  Do a web search if you don't know where to get it.

 

3.  Download my tweaked version of the Mystery Wheel graphic here:  https://www.dropbox....el New.png?dl=0

 

4.  Run the B2S Designer.  Use the File | Import menu to load the Cyclone backglass.  

 

5.  On the menu, select Illumination | Show Illumination Frames.  You should be able to see the mystery wheel now.

 

6.  Right-click in the wheel area and select "Mystery Wheel" (it should be the second thing on the menu).  Press the Delete key.  The mystery wheel should disappear.

 

7.  On the menu, go to Illumination | Add A New Illumination Snippet.  In the dialog, select the new mystery wheel graphic that you downloaded above, enter Mystery Wheel for the name, and enter 297 393 in the Location boxes.  Click Apply.  

 

8.  Make sure that your new Mystery Wheel item is selected in the Illumination box - if not, select it via a right-click as above.  In the Illumination window, click the Snippet Settings button.  Set the following in the dialog:

 

Snippet type:  Mech rotating image

Mech ID: 1

Steps per rotation: 90

Rotation step interval: 10

Rotation direction: Clockwise

Rotation stopping: Spin off

 

Click OK in the dialog once you have all that set up.

 

9.  On the menu, select Backglass | Create 'directB2S backglass file'.  This will create a new .directb2s file in your B2S designer \ Projects \ Cyclone (1988) folder.  Copy that to your normal VP Tables folder, and make sure it's named the same as your old copy of the .directb2s file.

 

That's it.  Now when you run the game and trigger the mystery wheel spin (by shooting the ball into the "spook house" feature on the table), the wheel on the backglass should animate pretty smoothly, and the clown's finger should be pointing at the winning number when the wheel stops.

 

Theory of operation:  The reason that the wheel doesn't work properly with the original VP/B2S files is that the B2S animation settings don't match the VP table settings.  So some of the changes above are just to get the two sets of numbers in sync so that the animation lines up properly with the internal model that the ROM uses when it spins the wheel.  But while we're at it, we can also make the spinning wheel animation look smoother by increasing the number of animation frames.  That's why we set the "steps per rotation" to 90.  That's as high as B2S allows; it would look even smoother if we could go higher, but 90 looks pretty close to natural.  The only problem with that change is that the old wheel graphic was expecting only 16 animation steps, and had the base rotation set up with that expectation.  With the increased number of steps, we actually want the wheel's base rotation to be turned one half "slot" counter-clockwise, so that the clown's finger ends up pointing to the middle of the winning number rather than the leading edge of the winning slot.  That's the main thing my updated graphic accomplishes.  If you use the old graphic, it'll still work, but the clown will always be pointing to the line dividing the winning number and the adjacent slot.  I also did a tiny bit of cleanup on the graphic to get it better centered, so that it doesn't wobble as much when spinning.

Edited by mjr, 07 July 2015 - 06:19 AM.

[ClarkKent]

That was done a long time ago by me. I though I uploaded the latest working dB2S with my own improved new backglass (I once owned the machine).

[rolandt800]

That was done a long time ago by me. I though I uploaded the latest working dB2S with my own improved new backglass (I once owned the machine).

 

ClarkKent, if not too much of a hassle, can you upload you B2S again. It would make it easier for a newbie like me to use...instead of doing the workaround.

Of course it would also be a good learning experience to use MJR's directions, but have not much time on my hand these days.