113 replies to this topic

[TerryRed]

UPDATE - Aug 1 2025

 

 

A few years back, I started working on my own fan-made Silent Hill pinball video game. This was actually BEFORE the SH series was revitalized, so I was creating it at a time when we thought the series may be dead. I always joked that it may end up being the first new Silent Hill game in many years.

 

Well... I was clearly wrong, haha... and much has changed since then with the SH2 remake, and new SH games coming out. I had to take a long absence from working on my game due to health issues (stroke, heart surgery, etc) as well as another massive game I worked on until it was complete.

 

Well, this year I am back to working on Silent Hill pinball, and after playing the amazing Silent Hill 2 remake, it inspired me to redesign the game, and also make use of much nicer resources than I had access to before. This won't be normal pinball to say the least. There is so much I want to show you, but that will come as each Scene / section of the game gets completed.

 

This is strictly a "fan-made work of passion" that I do for fun in my free time. This is not a product, and I get no compensation of any sort from making this. Think of it like a fan-art video game.

 

 

Here is the current progress:

 

 

NEW! Nightmare Alley Gameplay!

 

https://youtu.be/YML...23roPdI5X8oUutd

 

 

WIP Teaser Trailer

 

https://youtu.be/HrG...5rAKqyNCDmcUGBD

 

 

Screenshots - New Foggy Town - Scene 1

 

Here's a peek at some in-game screenshots of the start of the game. Silent Hill is different than all other pinball games. There are aspects that will change as you progress through the game story. This includes the upper half of the playfield, the ramps, the bumper section, the middle open video display area, and more will completely change. The playfield layouts, and looks will change from the foggy town of Silent Hill to the hellish Otherworld. The cabinet artwork and coin door also transitions from foggy to rusty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Screenshots - Nightmare Alley - Scene 1

 

Here's some in-game screenshots of the Nightmare Alley level. When you follow the little girl into the dark alley, the game changes from the foggy town of Silent Hill into the dark hellish Otherworld.

 

The game goes completely dark and you only have your lighter to see. It creates a small flickering light source that follows your ball around. When you explore the playfield, the upper section will rotate and reveal things such as a wheelchair and bloody table. You eventually see the girl and try to follow her. Instead of a little girl, you find a horrific sight of a gory corpse entangled in barbwire! Suddenly you hear the horrible screams of the Grey Children and the entire playfield lights up to reveal the decayed, rusty, and bloody Otherworld!

 

While the layout (at this point) is mostly the same, the visuals have completely changed to rusty walls and industrial metal / fencing / barbwire everywhere... strange fabric covering unknown things, and a hole revealing hellfire below the corpse.

 

You will need to escape the Grey Children and progress to the next level. You have no weapons(yet). All you can do is RUN.... and scream!

 

The neat thing about FP's dynamic lighting being combined with normal maps, is I can make something like the walls look decayed simply by changing the model's colour / specular / normal maps on the fly. So I make the normal (bump) map height level very high which makes it look more rusty / decayed... without needing to change the texture or model. This can be done in realtime dynamically as well to make it look like something is quickly decaying in front of you.

 

I will eventually have full gameplay of the entire Nightmare Alley scene. Screenshots don't do it justice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

=========================================================================

 

 

THE OLDER POSTS FROM WHEN I BEGAN THIS PROJECT YEARS AGO STARTS IS HERE

 

 

=========================================================================

 

 

 

Silent Hill

I'm making this new "standalone" table based on the game series and the Silent Hill movie. My intent is to have progression through the main events of the movie, while having the things that make the game iconic.

 

- foggy town

- darkness

- flashlight

- different locations (alley, school, hospital, church)

- otherworld levels (rusty, blood)

- creepy monsters

- creepy sounds

- iconic Akira Yamaoka music

 

 

Silent Hill is my favorite game series, and I really wanted to get to look / feel / sounds of that in this table.

 

 

 

Sounds and Music

 

If there is one thing the Silent Hill series is known for, is the amazingly beautiful and disturbing sounds and music from the extremely talented Akira Yamaoka.

 

I bought every soundtrack I could get over the years. The number of sound files made for these games is crazy! Silent Hill 2 alone has many 100s of sound files. I'm going through ALL of them and the other games to find the sounds I need for Silent Hill.

 

 

 

While doing "research"... I decided to do some sound recordings from the games to use. I've only ever played SH2, SH3, SH4, Homecoming on my PC (which "today" is a real benefit with 4K, 60fps, Enhanced mods, etc)

 

Wow! Almost 20 years later, and I still have my original save game files!

 

Playing these now is like travelling back in time. It's awesome!

 

 

 

 

Silent Hill Textures

 

There's something freaky and cool about going through textures of a 20 year old game to use in a 13 year old pinball editor to be played on almost anything modern including a VR headset.

 

If anything, it makes me really appreciate the talent of texture artists, and how far ahead Team Silent was back then.

 

 

 

 

 

Monster models

 

I'll be adding many of the monsters from the movie / games. Most will be animated to some degree.

 

 

Straight Jacket

 

The "straight jacket / armless man" from the movies is tricky. I was able to extract the original model, but couldn't use the original texture as the UV wrapping info is lost with the extraction.

 

So with the help of a very talented VPX table author / modeler... he was able to fix up the model (half the polygons were flipped) and create a very cool looking texture to try to make it look more like the movie version (on the left). The model had a few slits in it, so he made them bloody looking, as well adding the cool bump mapped skin and veins! You can see how it will actually look in FP-BAM on the right.

 

The hard part will be figuring out how to animate this guy since he doesn't have "arms"...which makes using Mixamo for auto rigging and animation not possible, until I figure out another solution.

 

 

 

 

Grey Children

 

This is also a bit tricky because there are no detailed models to use from the original game as Silent Hill 1 was on PS1 which looks like this. 

 

 

 

So I decided to find other models that I could use that were close enough, and maybe distort them to look more like the movie version. Here's what I have so far on the left compared to the movie on the right. I found a Resident Evil monster model, used Mixamo to auto-rig it into a T Pose...then used Blender to sacle the head to be bigger and twist it a bit.

 

Yes, I know it looks more like Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13th Part 1 (when he jumped out of the lake)... but it's the best I can do unless a better option comes along. 

 

 

 

 

...and more monsters yet to come!

 

 

 

Foggy Town

 

Silent Hill the game and movie changes from foggy to the darkness / otherworld version of the same location. I "intend" to do the same for this table. How well that will work out we'll have to see.

 

This is where I am at currently with the foggy town look. This will be changing as you progress throughout the game.

 

 

 

 

 

Model Animations

 

When you are trying to animate an armless Silent Hill monster for RetroFlair 2... I needed to add "fake arms" so it can be autorigged (adding a skeleton) to allow for animation. I manually added the nurse monster's arms to the armless monster. Here's how it turned out...

Ha... they may be tiny, but it works! 

I was able to remove the arms after the autorigging was complete, and now I can add whatever animations I want.

 

 

Edited by TerryRed, 01 August 2025 - 09:00 PM.

[Wylte]

You should keep T-Rex arms in RF2 somewhere, as an Easter Egg

[Hawyer]

Amazing! I love everything Silent Hill, this is some serious endeavor and it's looking sick!

[HWurst]

I am not into FP but this looks amazing. I love the foggy setting in the first movie and loved the screenshot of it!

will definitely keep my eyes on this.

thank you for showing Terry.

[Cadorna]

Amazing work Terry! Thanks for showing us. Sadly that it is in FP and not VPX.

[TerryRed]

Amazing work Terry! Thanks for showing us. Sadly that it is in FP and not VPX.

 

 

Nothing sad about that at all. It's not on VPX because VPX simply is not capable of doing many things this table does.... nor does it have dynamic lighting, shadowmaps, FBX model and animation support, and the many BAM other features I use on this table. It's not because I don't want to make it on VPX.

 

Maybe one day VPE will provide the same toolset and capabilities as FP-BAM.

[wiesshund]

 

Amazing work Terry! Thanks for showing us. Sadly that it is in FP and not VPX.

 

 

Nothing sad about that at all. It's not on VPX because VPX simply is not capable of doing many things this table does

 

 

Neither is FP, that's all BAM the stuff you do i think?

 

You could do some of that in VPX, though i think it would be harder to do or more tedious at least

But the SpecialFX unit on loan from Lucas there?
Yea, that's not happening in VPX.

I would love volumetric lighting in VPX though

I understand it better than flasher tricks

[TerryRed]

 

 

Amazing work Terry! Thanks for showing us. Sadly that it is in FP and not VPX.

 

 

Nothing sad about that at all. It's not on VPX because VPX simply is not capable of doing many things this table does

 

 

Neither is FP, that's all BAM the stuff you do i think?

 

You could do some of that in VPX, though i think it would be harder to do or more tedious at least

But the SpecialFX unit on loan from Lucas there?
Yea, that's not happening in VPX.

I would love volumetric lighting in VPX though

I understand it better than flasher tricks

 

 

 

...and your point is? (vp vs fp battles are lame)

 

Yah lots of it is BAM stuff.... which is what most new FP tables have been using for years... hence me saying "dynamic lighting, shadowmaps, FBX model and animation support, and the many BAM other features I use on this table". It's still a "FP" table if it's using BAM.

 

When someone mentions "too bad it's not on VPX" on my "FP" table post... it's rather annoying and kind of rude. Hence why I explained "why" I prefer FP (there are many reasons). I'm sure other VPX authors wouldn't like it if I posted "too bad this stunning VPX table can't have dynamic lighting", or something along those lines on their table Topics.

 

I really wish VP could do the things I want... but it doesn't. That's all there is to it.

Edited by TerryRed, 30 May 2021 - 04:36 AM.

[wiesshund]

 

 

 

...and your point is? (vp vs fp battles are lame)

 

 

 

 

Huh?

 

Er what universe did that just come from?

[TerryRed]

 

 

 

 

...and your point is? (vp vs fp battles are lame)

 

 

 

 

Huh?

 

Er what universe did that just come from?

 

 

 

Sorry if I came out grouchy... it's just in the past years... some people have been really nasty about anything to do with FP, and it tended to go into pointless vp vs fp battles, etc.

 

I love both VP and FP... it's just FP-BAM does things I really love... and I get tired of seeing "too bad its not on VPX" type replies (though those are fewer nowadays, the more people see what BAM has been able to allow FP to do). I know most don't mean anything by it... but I hope they realize when I work for months on something.... it's not the kind of replies I want to see in my wip post.

Edited by TerryRed, 30 May 2021 - 06:24 AM.

[wiesshund]

I didnt say anything negative about FP, not really.
Just pointing out that it is the work of the guys making BAM where all the magic happens, BAM is pretty much what makes most of what you do visually possible

though i am still not quite sure how you dance around the object limit thing.

 

Shame the FP source is just not available to the BAM guys, be interesting to see what they turned out if they had all the keys to the castle so to speak.

 

FP does not suck, and technically one might say that at the time it ceased any development, it might have been superior to VPX

vanilla for vanilla if you do a fair comparison (FP stock to VPX 10.7 is not a fair comparison really)

 

But if someone thinks FP just super sucks, then i would say they are not trying it with BAM and they are not using BAM coded tables

that leverage it to improve things like physics etc.

 

Hell, even i have been able to apply BAM physics to old non BAM tables that i liked to make them play much better

 

And i still wish i could hijack BAM volumetric lighting for VPX use

I understand volumetric lighting, i dont understand flasher tricks to create the illusion of it, no good at those

[TerryRed]

There is only "one" BAM guy... and his name is ravarcade.

 

FP already had its own type of dynamic lighting before BAM came along. BAM however has a newer more modern renderer, which allows per-pixel rendered dynamic point lighting. The newer BAM dynamic spot lights are technically the same thing, they just use different math.

 

BAM has its own unique features... but it also completely opened up FP and most things can be controlled dynamically via script now....which makes it very powerful it one wants to use it.

 

VPX doesn't have any dynamic lighting (except for what you see on the ball).... so everything needs to use baked in textures to fake it. Its why you see many talented VPX authors become Blender masters. I would love to see the same thing done on FP, as with BAM we certainly can do that as well.... so imagine how good it would look combined with dynamic GI and flashers on FP.

 

The FP object limit is not a problem. If you use BAM then you can go above the 800 object limit (you just can't copy / paste objects from within the table once over 800, but you can add 1000's more new objects). I've only gone above it once with Star Wars DSA Epic Space Battles. BAM's more modern Custom FBX models (which I use alot in RF2 and SH) aren't seen as a "FP" object (BAM loads them as TGA files), and BAM actually handles then on table startup, which is why (like many other BAM features) they can be modified in realtime during gameplay.

 

Many people are very out of date in respect to their knowledge of what FP and BAM can do now (including most FP veterans).... especially in the last few years. Yes physics aren't as good as VPX (though with BAM, its opened right up... so smart math guys can do wonders now if they try). I think I've shown with RF2 (and will show more so with SH) that many things thought impossible are now possible with FP-BAM. 

Edited by TerryRed, 30 May 2021 - 07:51 AM.

[wiesshund]

oh, That's what i did wrong, i tried to copy a sub assembly and paste it out of the sub assembly table to where i was going to use it.

 

What do you build the FBX models in?

Not that i can build one, me and blender is like a 2 year old with play-doh

[TerryRed]

BAM can use OBJ and FBX models. It has a tool that converts them (with any animation it has) to a TGA file that FP can load. You just need to add the right BAM command in script to load the BAM custom model. Once the table starts then you can mess around with the model and Copy / Paste the new settings back into script (and you can control the animation in script).

 

I use whatever I need to use depending on the source model I'm modding. It can be Blender, Milkshape, XNALara XPS, Lightwave, etc.

 

I can do very basic modeling... but I too am still new to most of these apps (except Lightwave... but that was back in the 90s)

[Cadorna]

 

 

 

Amazing work Terry! Thanks for showing us. Sadly that it is in FP and not VPX.

 

 

Nothing sad about that at all. It's not on VPX because VPX simply is not capable of doing many things this table does

 

 

Neither is FP, that's all BAM the stuff you do i think?

 

You could do some of that in VPX, though i think it would be harder to do or more tedious at least

But the SpecialFX unit on loan from Lucas there?
Yea, that's not happening in VPX.

I would love volumetric lighting in VPX though

I understand it better than flasher tricks

 

 

 

...and your point is? (vp vs fp battles are lame)

 

Yah lots of it is BAM stuff.... which is what most new FP tables have been using for years... hence me saying "dynamic lighting, shadowmaps, FBX model and animation support, and the many BAM other features I use on this table". It's still a "FP" table if it's using BAM.

 

When someone mentions "too bad it's not on VPX" on my "FP" table post... it's rather annoying and kind of rude. Hence why I explained "why" I prefer FP (there are many reasons). I'm sure other VPX authors wouldn't like it if I posted "too bad this stunning VPX table can't have dynamic lighting", or something along those lines on their table Topics.

 

I really wish VP could do the things I want... but it doesn't. That's all there is to it.

 

No dude, I am not being rude with my comment or at least that was not my intention. I only mention that because my cabinet is built around VPX and not FP, just that.

[wiesshund]

 

 

 

 

Amazing work Terry! Thanks for showing us. Sadly that it is in FP and not VPX.

 

 

Nothing sad about that at all. It's not on VPX because VPX simply is not capable of doing many things this table does

 

 

Neither is FP, that's all BAM the stuff you do i think?

 

You could do some of that in VPX, though i think it would be harder to do or more tedious at least

But the SpecialFX unit on loan from Lucas there?
Yea, that's not happening in VPX.

I would love volumetric lighting in VPX though

I understand it better than flasher tricks

 

 

 

...and your point is? (vp vs fp battles are lame)

 

Yah lots of it is BAM stuff.... which is what most new FP tables have been using for years... hence me saying "dynamic lighting, shadowmaps, FBX model and animation support, and the many BAM other features I use on this table". It's still a "FP" table if it's using BAM.

 

When someone mentions "too bad it's not on VPX" on my "FP" table post... it's rather annoying and kind of rude. Hence why I explained "why" I prefer FP (there are many reasons). I'm sure other VPX authors wouldn't like it if I posted "too bad this stunning VPX table can't have dynamic lighting", or something along those lines on their table Topics.

 

I really wish VP could do the things I want... but it doesn't. That's all there is to it.

 

No dude, I am not being rude with my comment or at least that was not my intention. I only mention that because my cabinet is built around VPX and not FP, just that.

 

No such thing really

[JLouLoulou]

There is only "one" BAM guy... and his name is ravarcade.

 

FP already had its own type of dynamic lighting before BAM came along. BAM however has a newer more modern renderer, which allows per-pixel rendered dynamic point lighting. The newer BAM dynamic spot lights are technically the same thing, they just use different math.

 

BAM has its own unique features... but it also completely opened up FP and most things can be controlled dynamically via script now....which makes it very powerful it one wants to use it.

 

VPX doesn't have any dynamic lighting (except for what you see on the ball).... so everything needs to use baked in textures to fake it. Its why you see many talented VPX authors become Blender masters. I would love to see the same thing done on FP, as with BAM we certainly can do that as well.... so imagine how good it would look combined with dynamic GI and flashers on FP.

 

The FP object limit is not a problem. If you use BAM then you can go above the 800 object limit (you just can't copy / paste objects from within the table once over 800, but you can add 1000's more new objects). I've only gone above it once with Star Wars DSA Epic Space Battles. BAM's more modern Custom FBX models (which I use alot in RF2 and SH) aren't seen as a "FP" object (BAM loads them as TGA files), and BAM actually handles then on table startup, which is why (like many other BAM features) they can be modified in realtime during gameplay.

 

Many people are very out of date in respect to their knowledge of what FP and BAM can do now (including most FP veterans).... especially in the last few years. Yes physics aren't as good as VPX (though with BAM, its opened right up... so smart math guys can do wonders now if they try). I think I've shown with RF2 (and will show more so with SH) that many things thought impossible are now possible with FP-BAM. 

 

Hi @TerryRed . Maybe you see it on Pnball Nirvana, but I ( with help of some member ) began to work on FP physics ( and it's partly due to you and your work on pinevent table  ).. I make a big step. See "Rotational Charts" Topic. I'm near to resolve the aiming shoot and trick without any "script hack" or fake things. I have updated the "Dynamic Flipper routine". No need to use extra swing now. The last things I need to implement for flipper bats is the EOS. After I will work on general "physics". Ravarcade made some stuff that everybody ignore, and this is why FP table physics has never really improved.

Edited by JLouLoulou, 01 June 2021 - 03:00 PM.

[TerryRed]

 

 

 

Hi @TerryRed . Maybe you see it on Pnball Nirvana, but I ( with help of some member ) began to work on FP physics ( and it's partly due to you and your work on pinevent table  ).. I make a big step. See "Rotational Charts" Topic. I'm near to resolve the aiming shoot and trick without any "script hack" or fake things. I have updated the "Dynamic Flipper routine". No need to use extra swing now. The last things I need to implement for flipper bats is the EOS. After I will work on general "physics". Ravarcade made some stuff that everybody ignore, and this is why FP table physics has never really improved.

 

 

 

I have been watching that thread. I have to say... Whenever lots of math is involved my brain melts.

 

I've always said that ravarcade has opened things up for FP's physics to dramatically improve... we just needed smart guys to figure out how best to use it. On VPX... the newer physics you see from guy s like nfozzy / roth / JP,etc aren't automatic. You need to go through some hoops to get that level of physics on VPX tables. Much of the same can be done with FP.

 

I'm so busy with RF2 and Silent Hill it will be a long while before I dabble into newer physics solutions... but that's a good thing as that gives more time for it to be refined... maybe in time for when I finish RF2 and Silent Hill someday.

Edited by TerryRed, 01 June 2021 - 06:05 PM.

[JLouLoulou]

 

 

 

 

Hi @TerryRed . Maybe you see it on Pnball Nirvana, but I ( with help of some member ) began to work on FP physics ( and it's partly due to you and your work on pinevent table  ).. I make a big step. See "Rotational Charts" Topic. I'm near to resolve the aiming shoot and trick without any "script hack" or fake things. I have updated the "Dynamic Flipper routine". No need to use extra swing now. The last things I need to implement for flipper bats is the EOS. After I will work on general "physics". Ravarcade made some stuff that everybody ignore, and this is why FP table physics has never really improved.

 

 

 

I have been watching that thread. I have to say... Whenever lots of math is involved my brain melts.

 

I've always said that ravarcade has opened things up for FP's physics to dramatically improve... we just needed smart guys to figure out how best to use it. On VPX... the newer physics you see from guy s like nfozzy / roth / JP,etc aren't automatic. You need to go through some hoops to get that level of physics on VPX tables. Much of the same can be done with FP.

 

I'm so busy with RF2 and Silent Hill it will be a long while before I dabble into newer physics solutions... but that's a good thing as that gives more time for it to be refined... maybe in time for when I finish RF2 and Silent Hill someday.

 

it is possible that you are right. Maybe FP would still be a little lower, but I'm sure with the right person, VPX and FP would be very close, like PBFX ( with last table ) and VPX. I'm not a skilled man in script. But FP have great native tool without need lot scripting that could be great for VPX too! I try to make better phyics with little more script as today. I can make you a version of one of your pinevent table to test it if you want.

[TerryRed]

Monsters and monstrous model sizes!

 

So now that Silent Hill is a stand alone table... I have much more freedom to go crazy and add much more detail and many more models.

 

VPX models and FP standard models are old school in that they can only use a single UV wrap texture... so you never see complex models that are a crazy size in VPX or non BAM FP tables.

 

FP BAM however supports modern FBX models (what I use for animated characters and more). This means that the models can have built-in complex and multiple animations.... but also many different groups / sections of the model that can each have their own textures, bump mapping and more.

 

Any model from a "modern" PC game can be MUCH larger in size compared to any typical model found on virtual pinball tables.

 

I found some stunning Silent Hill models to convert from Dead by Daylight.

 

The Pyramid Head model alone.... when converted with all the PNG 2048x2048 colour textures and 2048x2048 bump map/normal textures adds up to 55 MB.... for "one" model. That's larger than the entire Silent Hill table (for now)! It works and looks great... but is a bit overkill for a model you don't ever get to see up close.

 

So converting all the textures down to 512x512 and jpg reduces the model to about 6 MB. You can't even tell the difference. When the table is done, I can always bump up the texture resolution if there is plenty of space to spare.... but tables can goto a max of about 240 MB before you are pushing it too far.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Adding Silent Hill literally to my Silent Hill table.

 

I have spent the last couple of weeks completely rebuilding my Silent Hill pinball table (as it's now going to be a standalone table). While the layout may look similar to what I showed in the RetroFlair 2 demo... I basically have rebuilt most of the table's layout and geometry with many changes, which requires redoing much of the table.

 

A huge change will be the addition of actual buildings, items and more from the Silent Hill games being added to the table.

 

I was able to rip some things myself...others I was able to get from other community sites for Silent Hill / deviant art,etc. Some from SH1 (on PS1), SH2 / SH3 / SH4 on PC.

 

Many of these buildings from the game never had complete tops / roofs to them as you never saw them in game, or they were covered by fog,etc.

 

I've had to modify and rebuild some buildings to make them fit or look good on the table in Future Pinball. I also added many little details to completely populate the table to look like a town of Silent Hill.

 

Details such as:

• Hydro Poles with wires going across the table
• fire hydrants
• trees
• stop signs
• garbage can / dumpsters
• cars / vans
• Texxon Gas Station
• Happy Burger
• Stores
• Midwich School (SH1)
• Lakeside Amusement Park Entrance (with Robbie the Rabbit)
• barricades / fences
• Woodside Apartments
• street lights used as flashers

The end result is looking very cool (and I haven't redrawn the playfield and plastics art yet)... but there is more being added.

 

The same will go for all other levels I'll be adding such as the School and Hospital and Otherworld / Hell versions. I'll be using props / items from the games to make this look unlike any other pinball game.