14 replies to this topic

[qcol]

Hi

 

I have cabinet with two monitors. In windows I set it in such a way that I have Playfield at the bottom (1440x2560) and Backglass at the top (1600x1200).

This is the most intuitive way for me and it is very comfortable to use.  

 

Unfortunately, most of the cabinet versions are made for 270 degrees. Changing the rotate option from 270 to 0 does not help, of course, because you need to set the other options accordingly.  

 

Is there any key that allows you to calculate data for settings from 270 to 0? 

 

I found xml files:

...but it works only with VPX, what about 9 version? It doesn't work, even if I enter XML data manually. 

 

Its' very hard to complete working cabinet tables: full screen + rotation 0 (

 

[BorgDog]

I think the over under windows monitor thing is going to cause issues, you'll want them side by side, playfield on the left. I have two monitors portrait mode.

 

I haven't done vp9 in quite some time, and some tables that use certain reel objects you just can't rotate to work in portrait mode, the rest are fairly straight forward, you are basically swapping X and Y axis, offset is the only thing that doesn't translate great if I remember right.  once you do a couple it goes pretty quick.  but like I said, I stopped using vp9 when there enough vp10 tables out so I had plenty to do, of course if your favorite is only available in vp9 then you need to make it work.. or build it in vpx.

[qcol]

Maybe I don't understand something. Please correct me where I make a mistake. 

It seems to me that the most natural layout (cabinet mode) in Windows settings is the layout:

 

Blackglass - horizontally (top)

Playfield - portrait (bottom) 

 

After all, this is how a cabinet is built.

Thanks to this position in Windows, the mouse cursor moves naturally from top to bottom (and vice versa). 

 

So why are all tables set in 270? 

By placing the screens next to each other horizontally, we position them unnaturally (in fact, they are one below the other). It's hard to control the mouse cursor. 

 

Another thing is that e.g. FX3 has no problem with it.... in "Cabinet mode" options I set the roatation 0 and everything works as needed. So why is it so complicated in VP? 

 

Most of tables I downloaded now looks like this:

 

 

I don't know how to solve this problem, I like the VP tables very much (often more than FX3) but it's so difficult to run them in "cabinet mode". 

[BorgDog]

Most, not all, tables are built with 270 because at one time that was the only way it worked and a lot of people have been around a long time and don't want to change all the tables (hundreds of them ) on their cabs, so they just keep building them that way.

 

I don't recall which pieces/add-ons/whatever don't work with the monitors stacked, I've not tried vp with them that way and have gotten used to moving my mouse sideways to go to the other monitor.  Until you run into an issue with it go ahead and keep it the way it is. I don't use FX3 so can't comment about that, I currently just use VPX.

 

Basically if you want your cabinet setup that way at this point in time you will have to learn how to config the tables that come a different way and do it for each as you set them up.  Like I say it's not that hard once you've done a few, and honestly even if a table comes in the same orientation I usually adjust the view anyway to my preferences.

[qcol]

I guess I'll give up and don't have to adjust the table settings manually.  I just set the Playfield horizontally 

I will have to get used to mouse movements. But do you have to get around from the side of Playfield in order to be able to work on it?....

I still don't understand why it's so difficult... Can't VP simply adjust the windows settings on the fly? For example, when starting the table it rotates the image horizontally for the duration of the game, after leaving it returns to the portrait setting.... 

 

Thank you for your explanations! 

[jpsalas]

Maybe iRotate is something for you. It'll make the transition from landscape to portrait as easy as a hotkey:

 

https://www.entechta...il/irotate.shtm

 

I know people have been using this program to be able to run PBA with PinballX. I do not have any cabinet, so I can't be any more help to you. But take a look at iRotate, It is free for personal use.

[gtxjoe]

I assume most of us stand on the left side of the cabinet to work on it, so mousin around is not a problem.

Another option a lot of us use to maintain the PC is to control it remotely using Remote Desktop or Teamviewer from the couch or desk

[Mustang1961]

Maybe iRotate is something for you. It'll make the transition from landscape to portrait as easy as a hotkey:

 

https://www.entechta...il/irotate.shtm

 

I know people have been using this program to be able to run PBA with PinballX. I do not have any cabinet, so I can't be any more help to you. But take a look at iRotate, It is free for personal use.

 

I can confirm this statement, I use iRotate since I am operating my BG monitor in portrait- and the playfield in landscape mode. When you have this layout and you want to play VP & FP under PX you must turn views. You can do this automatized in PX (reaching or leaving a system).

 

more information:

 

http://forums.entech...hp?topic=6946.0

 

good luck! Christian.

[qcol]

iRotate or remote control - these are the solutions! Thank you for your suggestions! 

[mrjcrane]

Qcol, like you I do believe that when vpX is in a cabinet the most intuitive way to orient the Playfield primary monitor and manage the apps and OS is as you have described (Playfield oriented in Portrait mode). Like you I set my OS to portrait display mode so when I drop out to the OS and need to edit a table I am already in 1080 x 1920 so I don't have to crank my head sideways, fight the mouse or stand at the side of my VP cab to do any administrative tasks. I've concluded I will never set my OS to Landscape so I am rotating all FS tables from 270 to 0 degrees and resizing the x-axis to something close to 1.3 or 1.4 and sometimes adjust the Field of view to somewhere between 10 and 25 depending on the table to make it look right in a pinball cabinet. Then I never touch the original design of the "Desktop Display Mode" and that is conducive to Landscape play on a desktop PC or singe monitor system.  You will get faster at the 0 degree table conversions. You are also correct that FX3 and Pinball Arcade can both support a 1080 x 1920 "Portrait" config and I have my cabinet set for that. This is another reason why I leave my cabinet and OS oriented in Portrait Mode so it handles muti-platform better (vpX, FX3, PA, Future Pinball, MAME, SNES, Video Jukebox, Itunes, Pandora and so on).

 

With JP's recent release of Ghostbusters Slimer 2.0 it was more willing to be rotated from 270 to 0 degrees and now the DMD is oriented correctly in my cabinet with a 0 degree rotation of his new table. Thank's JP. 

 

It is like one of the other posters said, there is so much prior content where the FS tables were designed in 270 degree mode so it would be a nightmare to convert all the old tables 1 by 1. I do however have a proposed solution below.

 

At some point I would like to approach the vpX Dev team and suggest the idea of adding a 4th display mode in the Backglass\POV Menu in VPX and call it "Portrait" for cabinet owners like you and myself who leave the OS and all Display Settings for the Play Field in 1080x1920 mode. "Portrait" mode would use a simple algorithm to flip and squash a normal 270 degree "FULLSCREEN" table into a 0 degree Portrait table. Dev team, I'll volunteer to be a beta tester if you write an algorithm or if you want to contact me for details. Thanks everyone for all your tables and contributions on everything always.

Edited by mrjcrane, 14 September 2019 - 07:13 PM.

[JLPicard001]

There is also a small program called Display that I have used.  The nice thing about it is that you can run it via command line so on your front end you can rotate whichever display you require rotated without the need to use a Hotkey.  Google it and you can download it and learn about the parameters for it.  There are a couple like the # of the monitor the degrees.  The other nice thing is to rotate it back, you just add toggle to the end of the parameters and it just toggles it back to how it was.

 

1. Download Display

2. Extract to C:\Display\ (or a folder of your choice)

3. Open cmd, and write in the path to display.exe - C:\Display\display.exe\ -listdevices (this will show you all of your screens, letting you choose which one to rotate)

4. Choose which device (screen) you would like to rotate by their index number.

5. Create a .bat file using notepad. (Open notepad, write the lines shown below, save as "all files" and write ".bat" after name of your choice)

6. Write C:\display\display.exe -device (number of your device) -rotate 90 /toggle

7. If the "90 (degrees)" is the wrong screen rotation, just change it to "180" or "270".

8. You should be done now, and you may edit the shortcut or/and add it to your Taskbar by creating a new Toolbar.

->The nice thing about this way, is that you only need one shortcut and not multiple-<

Edited by JLPicard001, 10 September 2019 - 01:43 AM.

[mrjcrane]

Howdy, I may be in the minority here, but in general for my cabinet deployment, I put the O/S in portrait mode for the playfield because I like to stand facing the cabinet for any admin tasks, table modifications or anything else I need to do. The tradeoff is that I have to rotate all 270 degree (Fullscreen) tables back to 0 degrees then do some manipulations to the X & Y scaling to make the tables look right. Yes this is more work to reconfigure all vpX tables but since I have FX3, Pinball Arcade, Future Pinball and so on working well in Portrait mode, I prefer this uniform approach with a portrait oriented operating system. I only mess with the FS table, I don't normally mess with the Desktop Table because I realize that is the one most developers typically or initially develop for. I love JP's tables, I just have to tweak them a little to work in my cabinet. So my thanks to all the table developers and contributors.

 

On my wish list for vpX v10.7, I would wish for the developers to add a 4th video mode (call it "custom" or "portrait"), but the main functionality would be that it could rotate a 270 degree table back to 0 and do just a few simple rescale adjustments of the X and Y axis; or just leave it as a mode where I can define my own table dimensions and not mess with the originally designed Desktop or Fullscreen table dimensions.

 

Feel free to contact me if you want any tips on how I configured my Portrait oriented VP cabinet, happy to help; any time.

Edited by mrjcrane, 07 October 2019 - 06:19 AM.

[JLouLoulou]

Hi all,
there is no need any program to use vpx un portrait mode for PF. I use VPX and Pinup popper with portrait mode for PF and Landscape for BG since beginning. All my Fov table are rotate 270 to 0. make sure you have tick cabinet mode under screen resolution in option, and change value 270 to 0 in backglass setting for fullscreen mode.
i have made a default Fov file, but i am back at home only tomorrow. So i you want, i can post it

Edited by JLouLoulou, 07 October 2019 - 05:42 PM.

[mrjcrane]

JLou, Merci beaucoup, Je vais étudier ce que vous avez suggéré.  En général, je préfère garder mon système d'exploitation et mon espace de jeu en Orientation Portrait, puis adapter tous les espaces de jeu et toutes les plateformes de jeu à l'utilisation de cette orientation. L'avantage de cette approche est que si j'ai besoin de modifier une table de jeu dans vpX, elle est dans le bon sens lorsque je suis en mode conception. Et je n'ai jamais besoin de rester sur le côté du meuble de jeu pour administrer des tâches de niveau opérationnel. Je fais face à la console de jeu directement, à tout moment, sur toutes les plateformes. Ceci est juste ma préférence personnelle. J'apprécie vos suggestions et je vais les essayer. Thanks JLou, I hope my translation is correct. I do like keeping my O/S and all game platforms forced to comply with a portrait oriented playfield, across all game platforms and applications. Will try your suggestions soon. - mrj.

[JLouLoulou]

Hi @mrjcrane, 

 

This is exactly for the same reason i configure my cab like this.

So your translation is correct loool.

Keep us informed