7 replies to this topic

[RustyCardores]

About a month ago something changed in my Pincab and after months of smooth game play, my pinball experience was smashed by the dreaded stuttering ball problem.

 

I was using the latest update to Win7 on a 2.85ghz quad Intel processor, 4Gb RAM, Geforce 670, an SSD to feed a quality Samsung 40 inch monitor in Game Mode and a 28 inch backglass. A system that should have no trouble what so ever providing smooth game play.... (which it did for months)

 

But something changed and I have no idea what??  VP would stutter (both regular VP and PhysMod) but FP and FX2 would be as smooth as silk.  For weeks I chased the issue, tweaking flasher rates in some tables (AFM), trying every combination of setting between video card and VP, updating all drivers (and rolling back some), but I could never fully get rid of the darn stutter.

 

So yesterday I bit the bullet and upgraded to Windows 10 and like the song says.... "All my troubles seem so far away".  The upgrade was near seamless and everything, EVERYTHING (even AFM) is buttery smooth!

 

The only issue I had, was that Win10 won't open a "run as administrator" app at startup. So this meant I would have to start PinballX manually once Windows had booted.  I got around this by using an Auto HotKey in the windows startup instead. This file need not be set as "admin" and it does the PBX start for me.

 

If there was anything to complain about, I would say that "I think" PinballX is a little slower at switching tables. But to me that is a small price for smooth game play.

 

So there you go, who would have thought that Windoze would be a fix for a change?

 

I hope this provides a little confidence to anyone considering the Win10 upgrade ....but all the same, Backup before you do. Win10 has a roll back feature, so essentially does a backup for you. But take an extra backup anyway, just in case something crashes mid update and you are left hanging.

 

Cheers

 

Rusty

Edited by RustyCardores, 20 October 2015 - 08:43 PM.

[freneticamnesic]

Rusty, stuttering balls?

 

[RustyCardores]

Rusty, stuttering balls?

 

lol  Thanks, but my balls are flowing freely now.

 

(besides.... I tried it, but the fans in my cab blew it everywhere! hehe)

[RustyCardores]

I was asked about using Auto Hotkey to get past the 'PinballX-Windows Startup-Run As Admin' problem.  Here's is how I got around it....

 

Set PinballX to 'run as admin' as normal.

 

Install AutoHotkey from http://www.autohotkey.com/

 

Write the following small .ahk script file using Windows Notebook or any standard text editor

 

Run, C:\PinballXX\PinballX.exe 

 

Obviously you will need to adjust the above .exe location based on where you have the PinballX.exe file stored on your computer.

 

Save the text file as whateveryouwant.txt and store it on your desktop.

 

Now go to the file and simply edit the name to whateveryouwant.ahk  (Windows will give you a "may not function" type of warning here but that's ok)

 

Now go your Windows Start/Program menu and find AutoHotkey. You should get a few dropdown options here....  select "Convert ahk to exe"

 

This will open Auto Hotkey at the convert function. Here you simply feed it the location of the .ahk file you stored on your desktop and then give it a location for it to store the new .exe that it will create.

 

Now that you have created the .exe, double click it to make sure that it runs PinballX.

 

If it worked, place it in your Windows StartUp folder and reboot windows.  Windows should now start PinballX automagically after it opens.

[numiah]

Interesting topic to follow.

I too have stutter on a beefy cab. Only in my case it happens after 15 mins of play and exists only for a minute to disappear again.

After roughly 10-15 minutes it's back to haunt me some more

Must be some kind of process/service in the background I guess, but I have no clue on how to determine which one.

Glad you got it solved on your end!

Edited by numiah, 26 October 2015 - 04:52 PM.

[RustyCardores]

Interesting topic to follow.

I too have stutter on a beefy cab. Only in my case it happens after 15 mins of play and exists only for a minute to disappear again.

After roughly 10-15 minutes it's back to haunt me some more

Must be some kind of process/service in the background I guess, but I have no clue on how to determine which one.

Glad you got it solved on your end!

 

What version of Windows are you operating?  If 7 or 8, the upgrade to 10 is free and there is a rollback feature if you don't like like it. (make a separate backup all the same)

[TT11]

Altering Maximum Pre-renderred frames down from '2' to '1' stopped my (slight) stuttering ball issue......

[RustyCardores]

Altering Maximum Pre-renderred frames down from '2' to '1' stopped my (slight) stuttering ball issue......

 

My cab ran perfectly at 4 for ages prior to whatever caused the stuttering. Stripping windows back to the basics, lowing rendering quality, lowering pre-rendered frames, turning off AA you name it, made no difference.

 

But you are right to mention it, as the first ports of call in any effort to resolve a stutter problem should be v-sync and pre-rendered frames IMO.

Edited by RustyCardores, 27 October 2015 - 08:29 PM.