Virtual Pinball, Hyperpin Question?

[jgoucher12]

Hi all
sorry for noob question, but I am more of a "mame cabinet" person but just recently learning about this virtual pinball possibility..

can i ask, what is it? how does it work? lets say i was intersetd in playing the "lord of the rings" table. were would i even start? is it only made for those long 30+" screens or can i play this on my normal 22" widescreen that i use in my mame cabinet? 

is it just one installation file for the program itself? how do i "get" the games? just like mame roms?

again sorry for noob question just want to try this out pretty bad. THANKS

[Syco54645]

http://vpforums.com

That should help. You can play on what ever you want. I am making a cabinet for it though.

[PL1]

what is it? how does it work?

At their core, Visual Pinball (VP) and Future Pinball (FP) are physics simulators that attempt to replicate pinball tables.  The VPinMame program, used in conjunction with VP, allows VP to use the sounds, Dot Matrix Display (DMD) animations, etc. from the original pinball roms.

lets say i was intersetd in playing the "lord of the rings" table. were would i even start?

On VPForums.org, upper left, "Getting Started" download:
- Installation guide for Visual Pinball. 
- Essential Files (All of them)
- VP9 Full Install
- Visual PinMame 2.5

Follow the installation guide step-by-step.

is it only made for those long 30+" screens or can i play this on my normal 22" widescreen that i use in my mame cabinet? 

Tables that are labeled FS (full screen) are designed for vertically oriented widescreen monitors--the playfield completely fills the entire screen.  The backglass and DMD are displayed on a second (and sometimes third) monitor.



Tables labeled WS (widescreen) or 4:3 are designed to have the backglass in the background and the DMD to one side like this:

how do i "get" the games? just like mame roms?

LotR table by JPSalas

We aren't allowed on BYOAC to mention where to get ROMs, but it's not hard to figure out where the VPM ROMs are hiding.   


Scott

EDIT: Forgot to include a link to the Future Pinball Program.

It was originally developed as an offshoot of Visual Pinball.  It is much more plug-and-play than VP, but has fewer tables available.

FP does not use VPinMame/ROMs.  When emulating tables that originally had a ROM, the table's script handles the functions/stores the information.

Speaking of tables, you can get FP tables here and VP/FP tables here in addition to the huge collection on VPForums.org.

[jgoucher12]

wow that was a GREAT help.. TY and your custom pinball plunger tutorial was awesome.. How much did that all cost? i noticed the premade one you said was about $300?

is Future Pinball More "Hi-def" looking than Vpin? Thanks

[PL1]

wow that was a GREAT help.. TY and your custom pinball plunger tutorial was awesome..

Thank you.    Glad to be of assistance.

How much did that all cost? i noticed the premade one you said was about $300?

I never added it all up, but I had leftover kick trim from an old bathroom upgrade, an oak-print shelf, an old keyboard + mouse, and other bits and pieces from my hardware stash which helped keep the costs down a bit.  The gaming mouse was used, which saved quite a bit, too.

Part 7 of the build thread has a fairly complete parts list with links if you're looking to price materials.

Right now I'm working on a budget MAME/Pin Standalone which will cost considerably less. (current estimate is somewhere under $100 IIRC)  It will use an AVR/KADE encoder, 1 joystick, 6 buttons, 2 flippers per side, ball launch button, 6 LED admin buttons, and the experimental nudge circuit mentioned in the other thread.

is Future Pinball More "Hi-def" looking than Vpin? Thanks

It's not really a question of "Hi-def" since both programs can render at a variety of resolutions, including 1920x1080. (1080p)

IMHO more VP tables look like the original tables, whereas more FP tables look like video games.  There are LOTS of exceptions to this broad-brush overview, but that is the main difference that I noticed glancing through thousands of screenshots looking for tables to download.

Run both programs. 

They won't conflict with each other and some tables  are only available on one or the other.

If a table you want is available for VP and FP, it won't cost extra to download both versions and try them out.  See which you like better and delete the other one.


Scott

[clark5901]

Thanks for the nice post dear...