Idiot Starting VP table/cab - from dream to finish

[Smeghead]

Ive been deciding whether to get an older PB table or whether to get an empty shell and put a plasma TV in it and use Visual Pinball to play multiple games.
I have it on my MAME cab and I love playing my favorite games- Addams Family, Elvira, Gilligans Island, StarWars Trilogy, Medevil Madness, Whirlwind etc

I think the Visual Pinball cab is within my capabilities but have a few concerns.
Is a plasma TV going to blur when the ball is moving fast?
What size should I look for? Whats the standard pinball table width?
Ive had a few answers about splitting up the software to send the DMD screen and background to a seperate screen but still dont quite understand. I need multiple video cards right? I once saw a pic where ONE screen had both background and DMD display on it, that doable?

Most important, doing things this way which games can I play this way and which can I not?
If I cant play at least Addams Family like this I dont think ill bother.

[Dazz]

You really need to check out the HyperPin forums. Between there and VPForums.org you can find answers to anything related to digital pincabs.

I would not recommend using a plasma TV.  They tend to give off more heat as well as plasma shouldn't be laid on their back.  They have a thin piece of glass that covers the screen and has been known to start sagging and eventually crack. 

In a standard, non-widebody cabinet you should be able to fit a 37".  Some say even a 40" de-cased will fit into more modern standard sized cabinets.

You can get away with a 2 screen setup (backglass/DMD shared) using 1 video card with dual output.  I think for performance reasons it's best to have the playfield on a dedicated 1gb card. 

As far as software goes, you can get away with just using Visual Pinball.  You can move the DMD to whatever screen you want by simply dragging the dmd window.  For backglass right now you need to run UVPServer.  However, in a future update the backglass options will be added to VP.  The best solution is using HyperPin.  HyperPin is a front end that is used to launch your tables.  It has built in backglass support and will display the backglass of the table being played, toss in UVP server and you can have backglasses that have rombased lighting and scoring displayed on the backglass.

My cabinet is based off a Widebody cabinet.  I'm using a 42" LCD for my playfield, 32" LCD backglass and 19"LCD for the DMD.  I'm using 2 video cards.  nVidia 250 GTS 1gb for the playfield, and nVidia 9800 GT 1gb that runs the Backglass and DMD.



As far as games....  I have 150 tables on my pincab as of right now with new pins being released on a regular basis.

[Smeghead]

I may go with a plasma initially, just because I can get one for like $200 instead of $600 for a LCD
Ill probably end up with the problems you mention but then ill upgrade

Ive been trying all day to get the screen separated on a test bench setup but ill keep pluggin away thanks for the advice

I wasnt able to drag the DMD window using just VP though. Do I have to unlock or something?
-EDIT NM I used the VP9 version and WAS able to - cool
NOW - to find out how to separate the backdrop and we are cooking with gas

[Dazz]

NOW - to find out how to separate the backdrop and we are cooking with gas

What do you mean by separate the backdrop?  You should be using Full Screen tables, not 4:3 or 16:9, but Full Screen.  Full Screen tables do not have backdrops/backglasses added to the tables.  You ave to add them separately and HyperPin is the only program that will currently display them unless you setup UVP.  However, UVP still requires the HyperPin folder structure and edits to the table script in order to work.

[Smeghead]

I mean i want the edge of the playfield to be the edge of the screen like every real VP cab ive seen

What I have now has everything around the edges of the table
If this were in a real pin cab the playfield  would be scrunched up
I can post a pic if im not explaining this well -
or is this simply just not a full screen table? If not then ive never seen one   

[Dazz]

That is a 4:3 table.. Not a Full Screen table.

The tables you want to download are located here.

[Smeghead]

Thanks!
I guess I need to pay my dues to download them all    

EDIT - some good success, downloaded the Fullscreen versions of some of my fave tables and their respective ROMs
Was able to get a little feel of how its going to be
Only question would be, how do you make it really fullscreen instead of just a 'Windows' window stretched to the max (where you see the explorer frame)
How do you make the windows go back to exactly the right place next time? The Piname DMD screen seems to do this but the table doesnt but like I said, maybe using the fullscreen setting is the answer and my video card is just wierd (nvidia GeForce 8600 GT  1GIGmem)
The answer to this question might be to select fullscreen in VP, i know my video card is wierd because when you use another monitor is stretches the screen instead of giving you another screen to use like most do.
Anyway, even If this is as good as it gets this is GREAT, certainly enough to inspire me more to keep on with the project, calling an arcade repairer tomorrow hopefully he has a junker table to sell me.
Sad to see Elvira and the Party Monsters not available yet  




Pretty happy with my learning progress today, thanks for being patient with the stupid questions

[Dazz]

In the Visual Pinball video settings, select Full Screen.

[Smeghead]

Yeah thats what I thought, its my lame video card making that not an option the way it does dual screens as one really wide one instead of two separate areas.
Thanks

[Smeghead]

Cant bothered to post in multiple forums, im updating it here

http://www.alterna-uo.net/pinmame