Visual Pinball

[skim36]

Ok,

So I've been away and back several times since I built my cab.  I had Visual Pinball running under mamewah and everything seemed good.  Now a few years later I come back and Visual Pinball needs to be updated to run, not only that, but probably pinmame and the scripts as well as all the tables.  I had about 400 tables on there.  How often do you need to keep updating these things?  I realize the tables, scripts and even the programs are a work in progress...but it's alot of work to keep them up to date.  Just a mindless rant I guess....but I love pinball.  Anyone else have theirs set up different? 

[unclet]

It has been a long while, but I believe Visual Pinball does not expire but the "PinMame" application is the one which requires.  If you try playing a table which does not require "PinMame" (ie: no dot matrix displays required) then the table should run.

PinMame expires every 6 months (? need to confirm ?).  The reasoning is that if some of the pinball table owners (who have the copyrights for the table) decide they do not want their table to be emulated, then they can remove support for the table from PinMame.   After the latest released PinMame version expires then people will download this newer version of the application and fine that particular table no longer works.    The expiration timeframe is a way of controling which tables are currently available/supported or not.

I was told a long time ago that if you simply download a new version of the PinMame application and overwrite your old one then everything "most likely" will still work ..... except the tables which they removed and perhaps some new compatibility issue (if they exist) due to new upgrades added.

I think the expiration thing is quite annoying and I no longer play Visual Pinball because of it.  I do not believe table "emulation" is illegal so I do not understand why anything has to expire at all.   I have everything installed on my cabinet and do not like having to keep grabbing a new version of PinMame to make it work ..... even if it is only every 6 months.    I went through tons upon tons of table and verified they worked perfectly with my current setup to then discover none worked.  I would hate to upgrade and then have to retest everything again, although chances are most will still work.

[skim36]

I'm currently getting new versions of the programs.  I could try the current tables I have, but I'm sure some will no longer work.  It's been about 3 years since I installed everything in my cab.  I can get the new tables easy enough, but I see some tables I had a few years ago are no longer available.  Thanks for the info..

[unclet]

You can always check out "Future Pinball" as well ........ since you have been gone for a while, perhaps you have not seen it.

http://www.futurepinball.com/

[Lilwolf]

Yeah, keeping the tables up to date is a pain....  Especially when you have a large download just for some slight changes to the files.

Anyway, there was a version that had a timeout years ago.  The latest removed this, but there have been some script changes since (but I didn't think much). 

try and set your clock back to the release date of the version you have (I'm assuming you can fidn that date in one of the files or readmes)...  I think it will start working.

Next, you could look and try to find the very next version.... and not upgrade to the apsolute latest.  that might make the fix easy, but you would be missing out on the new tables.

last... upgrade them...  But do it one by one.  Giving you a chance to see each table again.  But this assumes you can upgrade you cabinet pretty easy.  But get the latest code... remove all the tables...  download one and play.... and dont upgrade more then a few at a time.  Great way to have new games.  (think Raz's release cycle...sure some complained, but if he hadn't, nobody would have played some of those old cps2 games)

[shardian]

I think the expiration thing is quite annoying and I no longer play Visual Pinball because of it.  I do not believe table "emulation" is illegal so I do not understand why anything has to expire at all.   I have everything installed on my cabinet and do not like having to keep grabbing a new version of PinMame to make it work ..... even if it is only every 6 months.    I went through tons upon tons of table and verified they worked perfectly with my current setup to then discover none worked.  I would hate to upgrade and then have to retest everything again, although chances are most will still work.

Rebuilding the table in virtual space, not so bad. Using original roms is the sticky point. However, most pinball manufaturers have made their roms freely available. Its the occasional stinker (cough...cough...Gottlieb...cough) that doesn't want their tables in pinmame. Well and Stern who still blesses us with new pinballs. I have no problem with their pins not being emulated.

[unclet]

I tried just changing the date back on my computer to get Visual Pinball working.  I could not keep that solution since changing the date backwards had an effect on other installed programs.  Some of them did not work correctly.  This was a very long time ago for me, but thought I would mention it here for something to be careful with.    Basically, if stuff no longer works, then change the date back where it should be.

I think it affected some programs which were installed months after Visual Pinball .... nto absolutely sure though ... too long ago for me to remember.

[headkaze]

Yeah, keeping the tables up to date is a pain....  Especially when you have a large download just for some slight changes to the files.

If your using torrent zipped tables you should only need to download the newer tables. Also PleasureExtractor helps extract tables to make the job a little less painful.

I believe there are non-expiring versions of Visual Pinball available on the vpforums site so you might want to have a browse around there.

[unclet]

I believe there are non-expiring versions of Visual Pinball available on the vpforums site so you might want to have a browse around there.

I believe there is a non-expiring version of "Visual Pinball"  but is there a non-expiring version of "PinMame"?  These are two separate things.    If there is, then where can I get a non-expiring version of "PinMame"?