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[37"/24"/15"] - '77 Bally Power Play "Donor" Visual Pinball Build
mwong168:
I have my pinball project which I started a few weeks ago posted on the HS forums so I am going to post a copy of it here in case some of you don't make your way over there. I spent some time to create screen shots that hopefully someone new to this will find helpful and save them time by learning from my mistakes. I might have to split this into multiple posts as I have close to 60 detailed screen shots...so here we go!
First you will need to grab these files shown above. I got almost all of them from this installation guide on the VPforums.org under the "Experts" section:
http://vpforums.org/index.php?automodule=downloads&req=idx&cmd=viewdetail&f_id=2990
Then for the VPinMAME cabinet DLL file I got it from here:
http://www.vpforums.org/index.php?automodule=downloads&req=idx&cmd=viewdetail&f_id=967
Next step was I extracted the vpsetup8_1_1.zip to a temp folder and then ran the installer by double clicking on the file VPSetup8.1.1.msi:
Then just follow through the wizard and keep on hitting next as shown below:
Now for this step the default location is C:\Program Files\Visual Pinball but I installed mine right on the C root folder. This is better if you are running Vista or Win7 cause anytime you make any changes, copy files or run anything from C:\Program Files, windows is constantly asking you are you sure and stuff like that unless you totally disable UAC which I don't recommend. Up to you if you want to install for yourself or everyone.
Visual Pinball has been successfully installed and now onto installing VPinMAME. Going back to your list of files from the beginning, extract the file vpinmame_22.zip to where ever you installed Visual Pinball, in my case it is C:\Visual Pinball.
mwong168:
Then extract the file VPinball907.zip which contains the latest version of the Visual Pinball executable to the same folder.
Then extract the file VPVBS3_32.zip to the subfolder under your Visual Pinball folder called tables, so in this cause it would be C:\Visual Pinball\Tables as shown below.
Now you have to install some fonts and this can be done in many ways and this may or may not work for you but I extracted the file vpfonts.zip into the C:\Windows\Fonts folder. If this doesn't work then extract it to a temp folder and then copy and paste it to the folder manually.
Then copy the file s3250u3.zip to the C:\Visual Pinball\samples folder. Very important you do not extract to this folder and keep the file zipped.
Then extract the file bally_6803_gts3_nvram.zip to the C:\Visual Pinball\nvram folder.
Now here is where the actual setup of VPinMAME actually starts. Go to your Visual Pinball folder and look for setup.exe
Now the setup can go one of two ways depending on your phyiscal monitor setup and availability. If you aren't using Visual Pinball in a cabinet then you can proceed by running setup.exe or else you will need to replace the VPinMAME.dll with the cabinet version of this. You can make a backup of the file or else just rename the file extension from .dll to .old and then extract or copy in the file from this link (same one as above, for those lazy to scroll up):
http://www.vpforums.org/index.php?automodule=downloads&req=idx&cmd=viewdetail&f_id=967
Now in order tell if you did this properly when you run setup.exe and click on the Install button you will get a dialogue box that looks like this for the cabinet version, note the 3.00 version number:
If you are not installing the cabinet version of the VPinMAME.dll file it will show version 2.2 like this:
Now once you have sorted out which version you are installing click on Yes to proceed, the screen shot below shows me using the non cabinet version but the settings I will point out apply or work for both cabinet and non cabinet setups. I believe the main difference between the two DLL files is that the cabinet version remembers the DMD size and monitor designation.
Now check the default folder locations just to make sure the roms, config, tables, etc paths are all correct. Make sure Always run full-screen on this display is unchecked and Allow write access to Game Settings and Controller settings is checked.
Now this step here is what killed me the most and I lost a lot of sleep over this. Make sure you have the Display set to Default! THANKS RAWD!!!
If you don't and later when you drag your DMD over to your 2nd or 3rd monitor and notice is is black or frozen and when you drag it back to your main playfield it works again this will most likely be the reason. The other one would be using the wrong Nvidia driver. I am using 182.50 for my 250GTS and 8800GT.
This is pretty straight forward and leave all defaults.
Almost there, now both Visual Pinball and VPinMAME have been installed and setup properly to work in a cabinet!
mwong168:
Open up Visual Pinball and make sure you setup your Video Options under preferences as shown below and make sure you pick the correct resolution in 32bit or else you might not see any flippers :)
Now go get your favorite table and rom to start playing. I am going to use The Simpsons Party Pinball.
Now take the The Simpsons Party Pinball.vpt file and copy it to C:\Visual Pinball\Tables folder. I renamed the file to look clean and match my XML configuration files for HyperPin which I will explain in my later posts. Then copy simpprty.zip to the C:\Visual Pinball\Roms folder. Make sure you don't rename it and keep it zipped. You can change the file name but then you will have to find the reference in the table script so always leave the default naming for any roms that you download from ipdb.org.
Now I have to mention a point here if you are running Vista or Windows 7 is make sure you right clicked on the VPinball.exe and ran it as an Administrator. I have forgotten to do this and for some reason the table wouldn't load or you get an error even though you have all the required files for the table. A simple way so you don't forget this is to simply right click on the
Once that is done, go to the Table menu and select Play or hit the F5 shortcut key to start the table. Now you might can an error that looks like this:
Don't freak out or get pissed like me, it either means your video card sucks or the table doesn't require HD rendering. To turn it off just uncheck it or if you don't see it click on the options button on the left to display the panel.
If all goes well you should get prompted with this "nag" screen, check off Yes I am and click OK.
Now we are talking :) Notice the DMD on the top left corner, resize and drag it out of the way or to your 2nd or 3rd display.
Now here is some advanced information on how to manually change the size and position of the DMD using the windows registry editor. If you are not familar or comfortable with working with the registry then I suggest you stop reading.
Click on the Start button and select Run. Type in regedit to open the registry editor.
Navigate yourself to the tree node HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Freeware\Visual PinMAME. Everytime you run a table once for the first time it will create a subfolder usually the same name as the name of the rom. In this case we have a simpprty for The Simpsons Party Pinball. I have highlighted the attributes for the DMD size and position.
To change these values simply double click it and the window above will appear. Make sure you check off decimal when keying in your coordinates or size. 100 in decimal is 64 in hexidecimal. This is only if you want to change the DMD position or size for all of your tables without having to actually load them in Visual Pinball and VPinMAME. Now when you drag the DMD when the table is loaded it will save these settings in the registry if you are using the cabinet version of VPinMAME.dll. Also another thing to look for is some tables in the script the size or coordinates are hardcoded which will reset everytime you start the table so check there is you notice the size or location of your DMD is not saving.
Now lets say you have loaded all your tables and setup your DMD the way you want it. To make a backup of all these settings right click on the Freeware node shown above and select Export. Now select a location and filename you want to export to.
Now to show you how this works I have deleted the Freeware node as you can see above.
To restore my settings I simply double click the file I exported earlier.
Don't worry about these nag screens from Windows, you will get them regardless if you are running XP, Vista or 7.
Once the registry keys have been imported you will get a message like this to let you know.
Now if you go back to registry editor and tree node HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Freeware\Visual PinMAME you will see the Freeware and all subfolders have been restored.
This pretty much covers all the setup I did to get Visual Pinball and VPinMAME working. Here is my hardware specs for reference and everything is running at stock speeds:
Intel® Core™2 Duo Desktop Processor E8400
ASUS P5K Deluxe Black Pearl Edition
8GB OCZ DDR2 PC2-8500 1066MHz "Reaper" (4 x 2GB)
XFX Nvidia 250GTS + BFG Nvidia 8800GT
Samsung 750gb SATA HD
HP 15" LCD @ 1024x768 (DVI)
Samsung 24" LCD @ 1920x1080 (DVI)
Vizio 37" 1080p LCD @ 1920x1080 (DVI to HDMI)
mwong168:
First you will need to down the HyperPin setup file from here:
http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/forum/downloads.php?do=cat&id=70
Now run setup_hyperpin.exe to start the installation process.
Again I think I mentioned this before to install it on the C root folder instead of say C:\Program Files to avoid any stupid Windows Vista or 7 UAC pop ups.
This step here is optional if you want the installer to create the shortcut or not because it doesn't work but I will show you further down how to fix it or else you can create the shortcut manually yourself.
HyperPin has now been installed successfully (sort of).
To fix the shortcut on the desktop, right click on it and go to properties.
The reason why the shortcut doesn't work is because the Start In folder is blank. That is why when you double click on it the first time nothing happens and when you do it again your screen goes black.
Put the location of your HyperPin folder, in my case it is C:\HyperPin then click Apply and OK.
Now go to your HyperPin folder and there should be a subfolder called Settings. Inside there is a file called settings.ini, double click to open it and it should look like what I have above. Pretty straight forward and if not there is nice documentation provided with HyperPin. All I had to change was the folder locations for both Visual Pinball and Future Pinball.
This next step if you read carefully can save you a lot of grief and time. Under the Visual Pinball section notice there is a line for the Exe and Vpinball.exe. Do not change this because it won't help or do anything.
Instead go to your Visual Pinball folder and delete if you plan on running the latest version of VP or rename the file.
I renamed mine from Vpinball.exe to Vpinball.old. You might not be able to rename the file extension like how I have my windows setup so you can just rename it to Vpinballold or something different.
Now rename Vpinball907.exe to Vpinball.exe and it should work just fine in HyperPin. If you changed the Exe line inside the settings folder to Vpinball907.exe it wouldn't work cause it must be hard coded to look for Vpinball.exe. If you do what I mentioned above and your table still doesn't load in HyperPin it is most likely because you didn't launch it initially in Visual Pinball first to get by the nag screen once and for all. That is the only pain with VP tables is you have to do this once and then it gets saved in the registry but also good cause it gives you a chance to move the DMD and size it without having to go through the windows registry.
That's about it for setting up HyperPin and sorry if some of it seems pretty straight forward but I someone will find both of these write ups helpful. Just keep in mind all the sore points I stressed out and you should be fine :) Good luck!
mwong168:
Alright now that I have finished both write ups, if I am missing a step or to mention anything let me know via PM and I will revise it to avoid any confusion.
Now onto the beginning of my VP cab journey. A few weeks ago I was reading over some of these marvelous builds such as BBB, H4CKER, 1up, Rawd and many others and was undecided on whether I wanted to the cab around my main playfield LCD or find an old gutted or non functioning pinball cabinet. After doing some research on pinballlife.com I quickly saw how fast things add up for legs, bolts, lock down bars, etc... I was at $287usd shipped and that didn't even include the glass and many other components.
I searched my local craigslist and saw one vendor called DC Amusements, which is about an hour north of me, selling many functional pinball machines so I thought I would email him and see if he had any old cabs that weren't working. Later on that day he emailed me back saying he had some machines that were not functional and needed a bit of work for $200 but came with everything I needed. My choices were between:
1977 Bally Power Play
1972 Bally Monte Carlo
1972 Williams Honey
Fast forward a week later I went with my good friend's Toyota Matrix to check each one out and in the end I decided to pick up...
The reason being was that it was already missing the backglass which I didn't care for since I would have trashed it anyways and also made a deal with him to knock another $50 off if I let him keep the playfield for parts.
Chicago Blackhawks vs Canada? They couldn't think of one Canadian hockey team eh? I'm sure it was more to keep licensing costs down :laugh:
So in the end $150 got me everything shown above which was great cause not only did it save me a lot of money but time. Also another big bonus is this cab was built to last from pine where as if I built my cab from scratch it would have been with MDF like my other projects to just keep costs down.