Just to add my 2 cents on the technical limitations/issues of a pincab. If you already know this, ignore this post. If you don’t, enjoy:
First and foremost, lag is both real but also subjective. IE: it’s real because it’s measurable but it’s subjective because some will tell you “I have no lag on my cab” while others will play the same cab and say “yes there is”. The effect of lag is perceived differently depending on several factors but also for pinball, if you go back and forth between real pinball and the pincab, the differences between lag and different physics are more noticeable. If you just stick to the pincab, after a certain amount of time, the brain compensates and you don’t notice it. I’ve owned real machines (still miss you Tron ) and I’ve had a pincab since 2012 and I’ve seen lots of real pinball players play on the cab. To date: The average pinball connoisseur notices it but with a certain adjustment, not so much.
- TV used for playfield
- PC specs
- windows settings
- extra bells and whistles (more on that in a sec)
- which simulator used, which version?
- other factor * (more on that at the end)
TV: obviously response time has a factor but also is the TV set in the proper mode? IE: Game mode? "Just Scan" mode? PC mode? Depending on the TV manufacturer, one mode may be better for you than another. Some TV's need the PC connected on one specific HMDI port (if using HDMI) to be able to get the least lag possible. I think VR has done a lot of good in helping both the consumer and developers (and hopefully TV guys) into making low persistence displays so that lag is near zero. GPU Driver support has reduced the effect of lag and I’m pretty sure it’s because of their need to support VR devices on the PC.
PC Specs: Well duh, the stronger the PC, the less likely there will be lag. There is a hardware limitation with using TV's that means there's a plateau that you won't cross (dependant also on all the other factors) so you won't get less lag by just having a great PC but a crappier pc with more intensive tables will create more lag. Strictly speaking of the GPU, I can only say putting in a NVidia 960 gave me noticeable less lag than the previous card I was using (570). This could simply be due to better driver, there's no clear cut formula but... it is what it is. My current specs are i7 @ 4ghz and an Nvidia 980. Keep in mind, this pincab PC also has a dual role: secondary VR pc so I wanted more muscle.
Windows settings: Within nvdidia display tool (and I assume AMD’s comparative control panel) there are settings you can set that can greatly reduce the lag such as setting the max frame latency. Also, ease off on the anti-aliasing settings
Extra Bells and Whistles: in my pincab, I have contactors, mech motor, shaker motor, LED lightings, etc. These are all connected through an LEDWIZ. These extra bells and whistles really are outstanding, def adds to the experience. However IMHO at the moment, I can attest there is a noticeable difference in lag, especially with the older Visual Pinball 9 tables. On Visual Pinball 10 (which has grown leaps and bounds in the past 18 months), performance is negligible in most cases. Specific to the LEDWiz, it's connectivity could be subject to varying degrees of performance depending on which USB port it is plugged in, so something I need to investigate further.
Which simulator used: There are many, each with their own benefits. For the sake of discussion on lag, I’ll leave the argument on which is better for another day and bring the limit further down by only discussing the free software available: therefore Future Pinball and Visual Pinball. Future Pinball games care be fun if one accepts the physics for what they are (more arcade than sim) but IMHO lag is worse. For Visual Pinball, there are 3 different main branches that people use on their pincab: VP9, VPPhysmod and VPX. None of these are compatible with each other, so if you are using the VP9 exe, then you have to play VP9 tables, same with physmod and VPX tables. Putting this back to lag issue, the best is the most recent which is VPX (Visual pinball 10) and lag is lessened with this release. Aside from several improvements to the source code, there is also a new “Exclusive full screen” option that absolutely makes a difference.
Other factors: If the backglass is too CPU intensive and your PC isn’t up to snuff, then that can induce lag. USB port conflicts, bad drivers (like any PC gaming, display drivers can be a headache), various internal settings within the Visual Pinball program itself, the way the table was built, mistaking lag for flipper settings, going nuts on anti-aliasing settings, etc.
Now that I’ve typed all of that, it’s not the nightmare you might think it is. I’m giving you the reality but that may not affect most of you. Many of these factors aside from the “toys” can interfere just as much with any pc gaming. The biggest thing to consider? Are you the type that will even notice it? Many don’t so I will repeat what others have said earlier, try before you buy however consider that the one you are trying, they may not have tweaked it as much as possible to reduce lag. If you try it, try one of the better known VPX tables , ask the gent if they’ve got it set to exclusive fullscreen and if they have LEDWIZ support (real flashers, LED’s, shaker motor, etc), ask them if they can disable them so you can test for yourself. If you don’t see a difference, or if it’s not that big a deal, then a pincab is for you.
YEs, this was wordy but IMHO I think it can be useful info for those interested. Carry on...