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Bugger.  I'd been hoping it wouldn't be something along those lines, but I appreciate the insight.

Looks like the best plan of action is to reassemble it until I can find a replacement yoke and put it back on the shelf in the interim.  This problem aside, the monitor's in really good shape so is worth hanging on to.

Out of curiosity, does anyone know if there's a Samsung 15-ish inch TV yoke that might be a viable transplant candidate?  This one has the Samsung CRT, so I figure that sticking with the same manufacturer probably has the highest chance of success.

Hello everyone,

I am developing the advanced ESP32-S3 port of the OpenFIRE firmware. Building upon the solid foundation of the original project, the primary goal of this port is to provide a fully wireless lightgun experience. I have introduced native communication via the ESP-NOW protocol, which cuts the cord while maintaining the exact real-time responsiveness and zero latency of a direct USB connection.

I have just released version v6.2-beta2. The code is now 100% "Feature Complete" across the entire ecosystem (Lightgun, USB Dongle, and wireless Pedal).

What to expect in this release:
* Refined IR Tracking: Deep anti-jitter techniques and better rotation handling have been integrated. You will notice much smoother cursor behavior and rock-solid precision, even near the edges of the screen.
* True Wireless Freedom: Highly optimized ESP-NOW protocol for zero-lag communication.

Call for Testing:
Before labeling this as our final Stable release, I need your help to stress-test the system in real-world scenarios. While the protocol is heavily optimized, ESP-NOW operates on the 2.4GHz band. I want to gather feedback on how the system behaves in real home environments and arcade cabinets, especially under heavy Wi-Fi interference.

All technical details, flashing instructions, and download links are available in the official GitHub Issue here:
https://github.com/alessandro-satanassi/OpenFIRE-Firmware-ESP32/issues/13

Associated Hardware Project (PICON-AS):
Since this is a community of builders, I would also like to point out that if you want to physically build a battery-powered wireless lightgun to fully utilize this firmware, the release notes also contain references to the PICON-AS open-source hardware project. It includes all necessary 3D printing files and assembly instructions.

Thanks in advance for your help. Looking forward to your feedback on GitHub!

Hi everyone.  I have been using a powermate for a very long time successfully with Windows 10. Recently, I am guessing after an update, it stopped working. I am running PowerMate_v2.0.1. For some reason it is not listed under USB input devices, it is listed on COM5. When I try to update the driver, it is telling me that the best driver is already installed. I tried pointing to System32 folder, griffin folder, etc. with no luck.  Followed all recommended steps such as unplugging, uninstalling, etc. with no luck. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

Thanks jeremymtc! That's the sort of overview I was asking about. Metallica, World Cup Soccer and Black Knight 2K I also have. Of those, I've mainly played World Cup Soccer and the flow is really pleasing. There is a fairly recent update of World Cup Soccer, it may be worth checking to see if you're running that. I will definitely check out the rest of your list.

It's easy for the number of tables to get large. I think a regular cull of tables once you've tried them out is a good thing. I'm trying to keep to about 40 tables or less. They have to have the kinds of things you've mentioned to stay on my machine.



 

Any vpin builders have their favourite tables?  Tell me about them and why you like them.

Some recommendations:

Black Knight 2K - lots of highly technical shots especially on upper playfield, great playfield art and audio which channels kind of a Flash Gordon movie vibe.

Congo - table has great flow with various ramp and scoop shots, and some fun video mode minigames played on the DMD. The theme is kind of annoying and the property isn't a favorite, but the table is fun enough that none of that matters.

Guns 'n Roses - Not even a big GNR fan, but like above, table has excellent flow with really satisfying ramp loops and orbit shots, and a great 5-ball multiball setup. This one has been a party favorite.

Metallica - Again, not really a big fan of the group but table has good flow and fun toys. Ramp shot loops are difficult but very satisfying when you get them right. Some fun interactivity on DMD and selectable music.

Star Trek 25th Anniversary (Data East) - pretty simple in terms of gameplay, but yet again it's a table that rewards chained loop shots combined with precision shots into scoops to advance the play mode. Jame's Doohan's voice guides you through the game.

Star Trek: Next Generation - Great audio, great video presentation on DMD, great playfield toys, tons of game modes, combination of multiple easy and difficult loop and scoop shots. Really fun game with lots going on.

Viper: Night Drivin (Bigus version) - Really simple table in terms of playfield layout and gameplay, but the really neat and fun bit is the blacklight mode with glowing balls during the bonkers multiball mode.

World Cup Soccer - Flow flow flow. Pretty much what I like about many of the tables mentioned - really satisfying loops and orbits, precision scoop and saucer shots, fun toys (especially the saucer that kicks the ball into the goal), and a super fun audio presentation.

I've got about 160 games loaded on my vpin right now, and will be culling at least half of them. The funny thing is that I really only ever expected to run a dozen or two of the classics and keep the collection highly curated, but once dropped into the ecosystem I've been trying out new-to-me games like mad and have enjoyed quite a lot of them.

If you're building a 2+ player cabinet from scratch, my only recommendation is consider ADULT sized people, not children.   

On your average 24" wide cabinet - you may find yourself uncomfortably shoulder-to-shoulder with another adult.  I ended up making my 2 player cabinets like... 34" wide I think.  Nice and roomy for adults to play together.

what my "m2lagfix"-tool does

• check status of header; the tool won't do anything until status-2 is reached.
• received frames get buffered, sent to the emulator and (if enabled) a copy is sent to the "control tower"
• if the emulator does NOT respond within 64ms, the buffered frame will be sent to the emulator again.
• double-frames sent by the emulator will be split to get rid of "lost" frames.
• if no frame gets received in 256ms, we have a network stall. (nothing will be done)

each event gets noted in a log file. no response in 64ms = LAG; double frames = DOUBLE; network stall = STALL

Hi Sailorsat - apologies for digging up an old post but I've been going thru the code of the m2lag fix and just want to check if the version on the GitHub is the latest version of your vb code? 

I couldn't see anything in the code the handles the double frames condition (or writes something  to the log when it sees a double). Also the value for the stall condition seems different to your post (128ms vs 256ms unless I read it wrong)?

Do you recommend using the Throttle=1 line in the ini if using lagfix on all cars/ emulator instances? 

 I'm thinking it might be inadvertently causing some glitching in my setup which has lagfix running on each car

Eg when throttle = 1
 car 1 - emulator doesnt send a packet in 128ms, so lagfix detects a throttle and sends a dummy packet for car 2.
Car 2 - meanwhile lagfix on car 2 also realises it didnt receive a packet in 64ms (the LAG condition), so lagfix also creates it's own dummy packet  and sends it to the car 2 emulator
Car 1 - meanwhile car 1 emulator now sends a new 'real' UDP packet which lagfix then immediately sends to car 2.

If I've read the code correctly, is it possible that the car 2 emulator could receive a burst of 3x UDP packets in quick succession (possibly with conflicting information) when throttle =1 and each car has its own instance of lagfix?

Source code for lagfix link: https://github.com/SailorSat/m2lagfix

Lagfix is a smart workaround, many thanks for sharing the source code

A quick update to let people following know that GreenAntz v2.2 should be officially available from next week. I'm just waiting on some deliveries.

Even so, I've just sent some early v2.2 equivalent units out for keen gamers. I managed this by using the v2.1 PCBs and upgrading some components. Specifically, I changed the voltage regulator for a better performing part and tweaked it slightly to be even more consistent & reliable.

Thank you for your patience!

Enclosures will not be ready for a while yet -  keep following here for updates!

Attached: GreenAntz babies beginning their journeys to new homes.

UPDATE!!!

The v2.2 boards just arrived - earlier than expected! I will get busy putting a few units together now, and over the weekend.

Any vpin builders have their favourite tables?  Tell me about them and why you like them.

Some recommendations:

Black Knight 2K - lots of highly technical shots especially on upper playfield, great playfield art and audio which channels kind of a Flash Gordon movie vibe.

Congo - table has great flow with various ramp and scoop shots, and some fun video mode minigames played on the DMD. The theme is kind of annoying and the property isn't a favorite, but the table is fun enough that none of that matters.

Guns 'n Roses - Not even a big GNR fan, but like above, table has excellent flow with really satisfying ramp loops and orbit shots, and a great 5-ball multiball setup. This one has been a party favorite.

Metallica - Again, not really a big fan of the group but table has good flow and fun toys. Ramp shot loops are difficult but very satisfying when you get them right. Some fun interactivity on DMD and selectable music.

Star Trek 25th Anniversary (Data East) - pretty simple in terms of gameplay, but yet again it's a table that rewards chained loop shots combined with precision shots into scoops to advance the play mode. Jame's Doohan's voice guides you through the game.

Star Trek: Next Generation - Great audio, great video presentation on DMD, great playfield toys, tons of game modes, combination of multiple easy and difficult loop and scoop shots. Really fun game with lots going on.

Viper: Night Drivin (Bigus version) - Really simple table in terms of playfield layout and gameplay, but the really neat and fun bit is the blacklight mode with glowing balls during the bonkers multiball mode.

World Cup Soccer - Flow flow flow. Pretty much what I like about many of the tables mentioned - really satisfying loops and orbits, precision scoop and saucer shots, fun toys (especially the saucer that kicks the ball into the goal), and a super fun audio presentation.

I've got about 160 games loaded on my vpin right now, and will be culling at least half of them. The funny thing is that I really only ever expected to run a dozen or two of the classics and keep the collection highly curated, but once dropped into the ecosystem I've been trying out new-to-me games like mad and have enjoyed quite a lot of them.

I have two of the tables you mentioned Defender and Alien Poker. Alien Poker is one of my favs. I think I'd rather play two separate buttons than one stacked one for dual flippers though. I'm looking forward to setting those tables up as you've described, with the Magna save buttons. I'm fine with modding the scripts for VPX tables, I've already done a bit of that.

Yeah, the stacked leaf switch setup is really specialized so no surprise that many VP table script authors tie upper and lower flippers together as a default unless there are obvious special features like MagnaSave or the 'smart bomb' and 'reverse' inputs on the Defender table.


Scott

Last year while I was searching for a workaround, I found odd in the lines :

    // determine the scale factor
-   float scale_factor = target_font_height() * scale / one_to_one_line_height;
+   float scale_factor = std::min(target_pixel_height / float(raw_font_pixel_height) / options().font_rows(),
+                        target_pixel_width / float(raw_font_pixel_height) / options().font_rows());

that a division is made between
 target_pixel_width
and raw_font_pixel_height

if I understand correctly this expression the second line should be
target_pixel_width / float(raw_font_pixel_width) / options().font_collumns()

I don't know if  raw_font_pixel_width and font_collumns exist, i just put meaningful names

just an idea....