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Wanted: Idiots guide to playing pinball games on the PC

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crashwg:
Every time I come across a thread that talks about Visual Pinball, VPinMAME or the like I go on a quest to get it up and running but never can quite figure it all out.

Is there a step by step out there somewhere that any idiot could follow if they just wanted to play a game like Whitewater? <-My fav.

Let me just make it clear that I'm not asking for any files that some would consider illegal.  Just tell me the files I need and where to put them.
Oh and don't point me to any compilation discs that you can buy at walmart, that's not what I'm after.

mvsfan:
i dont really think this is what your talking about, it seems like you want some sort of virtual pinball emulator that emulates GNR pinball, for example.

i never heard of anything like that.

but their are a few really good video pinball games you can try. my favorite is pinball action.

Flake:
http://vpforums.org/index.php?automodule=downloads&req=idx&cmd=viewdetail&f_id=24

This tutorial worked for me. 

The tables are available for free download from this site as well.

Tiger-Heli:
I just got back into Video Pinball.

Definitely use the VP Install Pack from the tutorial. (Basic setup info here as well)

First thing I would try is installing a non-VPMame game - DisArm_a_geddon is likely one of the best ones.  Get it here.

You will want to copy it to the tables folder, open it in VP and under Video Preferences set desired resolution, Full Screen, and disable table caching.

For Whitewater, you need the table, and the rom. Should be ww_l5, I think.  Roms are also available on VPF.org, but you have to register, I believe.

Put the rom in the ROMS folder and the Table in the Tables folder.  The table should open and play.

If you only see the DMD (Dot-Matrix Display) and no table, see this thread.

That should get you up and running, but there is some additional fine-tuning if you want.

Press F6 with the table running to see the table/dip switch options.

Enter the settings menu - I think for WW, it is Coin Door Open (End Key) and then 9 to raise the background volume, then 7 will select or escape menus, 8 and 9 to go forward and 0 to select an option - this will allow you to set 5 balls per game, 1 credit per game, etc.  The guides here and here are for setting Replay Levels, but the same keys get you to most any of the setup menus.

You might want to move and resize the DMD to fit the backdrop - see this thread for that - I usually take a screen shot, find the area with the Crop function in Gimp, and set it in the registry, but eye-balling it works also.

That should take care of WW - this gets addictive, so when you want to add more stuff, you'll want a front-end - I like VP-Man, but for a cabinet, MAMEwah/MALA can be adapted well.

You might want to hide the startup and splash screens, and that is explained here.

Finally, you'll want some more tables - VP is a very ego-centric community, so I would never post this on a VP forum, but I find the best playing tables are JP Salas available here and here, the best looking (lighting) are Scapinos available here, PacDude here does a nice job with the aspect ratio and playability, and I also like Jamin and Lander (RIP) work on VPF.

FWIW, I tried Future Pinball, and much preferred VP, and there is much more released for VP8 than VP9 (and you need to run the table with the correct VP version, but VP-Man can handle launching VP9 tables with VP9 (but you have to tell it to for each VP9 table that you run).

Hope This Helps!!!


1UP:
Thanks for posting that Tiger Heli, I lost track of VP years ago, and all the old links are either dead or outdated.  Scapino's tables look really nice.  Lighting is so integral to the character of a pinball game, and that's what's sorely lacking on the Multipin and Ultrapin machines, both of which I tried this weekend at CAX.  Flipper vibration and interactive tilt features don't really mean much when the image of the table is almost unrecognizable.

Now I just need to find an Attack from Mars table...

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