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Rooter's Pinball
TopJimmyCooks:
--- Quote from: rooter on March 20, 2012, 09:42:41 am ---
. . . . I bet you could pull one off for . . . a total of $599.
--- End quote ---
$599 :laugh2:
Left out a few things: backglass monitor? dmd monitor or dmd plus controller, 2nd vid card? bg glass, speakers?
Interested to see how the first multiball game runs with a $200 pc. >:D
[/pinballjim mode off]
Just giving you a hard time. Let us know how it really turns out cost wise. I know from experience how this type of project can scope creep and snowball on you in a hurry! :cheers:
rooter:
--- Quote from: TopJimmyCooks on March 20, 2012, 03:51:50 pm ---
--- Quote from: rooter on March 20, 2012, 09:42:41 am ---
. . . . I bet you could pull one off for . . . a total of $599.
--- End quote ---
$599 :laugh2:
Left out a few things: backglass monitor? dmd monitor or dmd plus controller, 2nd vid card? bg glass, speakers?
Interested to see how the first multiball game runs with a $200 pc. >:D
[/pinballjim mode off]
Just giving you a hard time. Let us know how it really turns out cost wise. I know from experience how this type of project can scope creep and snowball on you in a hurry! :cheers:
--- End quote ---
Well, pulling one off and having your dream system are two different things. You don't need to have the backglass or DMD monitors at all, you could just put artwork up there. You can get PC speakers for $8. People have been running FP and VP for years. A $200 computer today cost $1-2000 5-6 years ago.
--- Quote from: pinballjim on March 20, 2012, 04:50:05 pm ---I've got several decent, used pinball machines I'd sell for less than $599. :P
--- End quote ---
Really?! Where do you live? :)
PIZZ:
--- Quote from: TopJimmyCooks on March 20, 2012, 03:51:50 pm ---
--- Quote from: rooter on March 20, 2012, 09:42:41 am ---
. . . . I bet you could pull one off for . . . a total of $599.
--- End quote ---
$599 :laugh2:
Left out a few things: backglass monitor? dmd monitor or dmd plus controller, 2nd vid card? bg glass, speakers?
Interested to see how the first multiball game runs with a $200 pc. >:D
[/pinballjim mode off]
Just giving you a hard time. Let us know how it really turns out cost wise. I know from experience how this type of project can scope creep and snowball on you in a hurry! :cheers:
--- End quote ---
Depends how much you want to spend. To run most VP and FP tables you need at least a dual core with a decent graphics card. A while ago I built a basic 32" pincab I tore down that cost me less then $400 using stuff I had already. If I were to build one now id want to go all out though... widebody 40" LCD, full chrome and everything
rooter:
--- Quote from: pinballjim on March 21, 2012, 09:00:08 am ---
--- Quote from: rooter on March 21, 2012, 08:51:26 am ---Really?! Where do you live? :)
--- End quote ---
San Antonio.
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=115884.0
--- End quote ---
I would definitely take Spy Hunter off your hands if I had a way to get it to Delaware. I'm having trouble finding decent prices on anything around here.
rooter:
Multihead: The Good, the bad, and the Ugly
The Bad
I'll start with the bad. My machine was running flawlessly with my NVidia GTX 460. I was hoping to use my motherboards on-board video as the third output for my DMD. However, my motherboard disables the on-board video when you plug a PCIE card in and there is no setting to change that. On a side note, I have learned that I shouldn't put the DMD on the slower video card, every thing runs better if you put your back glass on the slowest output. Anyway, since my motherboard doesn't have two PCIE slots, I picked up a GeForce GT 520 PCI card. Everything seemed great at first, all my monitor identities were set correctly off the bat, which is very lucky thing. The really bad part came when I actually ran VP and FP, the frame rates were completely unacceptable. With only the PCIE card in the machine, I could run FP on maximum settings at 60fps (my monitors refresh rate). Anything less than 60fps and I can see a wobble in the ball. The game is playable, but gives me a headache. I was getting 20fps on FP and what looked like 20fps on VP (I don't know how to check FPS in VP). My solution, and the one I really wanted to do in the first place, will be to install an LED DMD. I just didn't want to drop $300 on the display and another $80 on the controller (which isn't available now, and I don't know when it will be).
The Ugly
Windows F- :angry: -King 7. I spent an entire night struggling and cursing this. Hopefully this will same people from going through the same thing. There is no way to change the identity of your monitors in Windows 7. You can reorganize your screens and set which monitor will be your default monitor, but you can not change the actual identity of monitors in Windows. This is a huge problem with full screen games as they start rendering on identity 1, regardless of where you layout your monitors in Windows. If you have two screens with the same output type, DVI for example, and you need to switch identities, you can just switch the monitor plugs around. If you are like me and aren't set up to use identical output types, you are kind of stuck. My playfield display accepts VGA and HDMI. My playfield screen looks horrible when connected with HDMI, but looks great with VGA (huh?), so I am using a VGA cable. My backglass display accepts VGA and DVI. For some reason, the max resolution I can use on my backglass monitor via VGA is 1680x1050. If I use DVI there, the max resolution is 1980x1020. Because of this, I was using a DVI cable.
Now here is the problem. Every time you plug in a new display, Windows 7 will redetect all of your displays. Even if you boot up with only one display and then plug in a second monitor, your initial displays identity can change from 1 to 2 if Windows detects the other monitor first. Here is the trick, Windows 7 detects monitors in the following order HDMI -> DVI -> VGA. Since I was using DVI on the backglass, and VGA on the playfield, the playfield would always use identity two. My solution was to use a VGA cable to connect my backglass monitor. I lost some resolution on the back glass, but at least everything is working again.
The Good
I'll end this on a positive note. I found an application called iRotate. It's great! It can change the orientation of your monitor from the command line. To use Hyperpin, you need to leave your monitor in regular landscape mode. I find this annoying because I like to stand at the front of the cabinet and see everything right side up in portrait mode. Hyperpin will allow you to run a command on start and exit. I use the commands below to rotate my monitor to landscape mode before Hyperpin starts and return it to portrait mode when it exits.
C:\program files\iRotate\iRotate.exe /1:rotate=0
C:\program files\iRotate\iRotate.exe /1:rotate=90
Sorry for the impenetrable wall of text, if you just wanted to watch the cab build, but I'm sure someone will benefit from this.
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