getting started

echo54

Pinball Nudger
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hi, having trouble getting started. from ir pinball i dwnld the visual install pack. I got the ball icon on my desktop. I then dwnld. a 70's table. quick draw. I opened that and the game seems to come up but wont play. what the heck am I doing wrong here.
 
What happens if you hit F5 or the red "Play" icon on the left?
 
Nothing happens with f5 or really any key. The "play" button changes the screen from what looks like a place where i can alter the table to the game. But nothing gets it running.


I hit the start visual pinball on the desktop. then clik file and some games i dwnld come up. Select a game and it appears on the screen but wont play. The screen that comes up when i hit that start ball almost looks like it is to build a game??

I did this years ago and went through hell trying to get it working, but did. When that hard drive went i never did this again for years.. same result though..
 
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Oh, okay. The table is running, then.

So: press "5" to insert coins, then "1" to start the game. "Enter" for the plunger, and shift keys for flippers.

You can see the key setup from the editor, and change it if you like. Go to "preferences," then "keys" from the drop-down menus.

I checked that table on VP8, btw.
 
Not sure if it is running. I did try all the numbers. The letters too and the f's. Nothing happens at all.
 
If you see an image of the table the way you'd expect it to look if you were playing it, then it's running.

Now, possibly it's lost focus for some reason and your system is displaying it in the background. That could be a reason the keys aren't working. That's a system issue.

If that's the case, you could mouse over the image and click on it to activate it. Nothing would immediately happen, but the table should regain focus. As an alternative, you could hit ALT-TAB a few times to cycle through your running programs, just so you could bring it back to the active table.

Try playing with those things, then hitting the keys mentioned earlier.

If that doesn't work, please let me know what your VP version is. You can check that by going back to the editor and choosing "Help" and "About" from the drop-down menus.
 
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I will try those things now. One thing I did notice is the size of the game on my screen. It is a ways back when I had this working on a different computer but the game itself was much bigger. It used to cover most of the screen now maybe just around half..
 
Those buttons did nothing..
I have this file
Visual-install pack 8.1 - 2.1 +NT - 3c (1) exe.


I am using win 10 pro..
 
Okay, same OS and same VP as me. Hmm...


1) How did you quit out of the running table, btw? If the "escape" key worked for that, then I guess one key is indeed working.

2) Do you happen to recall any details from the previous time you got this sorted out?


Anyway yeah, this issue actually rings a bell from many years ago. Let me see if I can dig something up...
 
Okay, try this one--

Right-click on VP when first starting up and choose "run as administrator."

Then load the table from inside the editor, and try running it again.
 
to exit i just x-ed it out. the table does not fill the screen. I will try the administer thing..


Running under administrator did nothing different..
 
Am i messing up the way i place these games when downloading. it says place them in the visual pinball tables directory. I dont see where I have that..
been a while. I picked up this computer solely for this pinball stuff. can't quit.. lol
 
Oh, so you're running in windowed-mode, not full screen? Just FYI-- you can change that in the editor's options. In fact, you might as well try that and see if it helps.

Remember, if the escape key and nothing else helps with exiting from play mode, you can always ALT-TAB or hit the WINDOWS key to regain control. Then you'd right-click on the VP app and manually close it.

Anyway, to answer your Q-- some things (like ROMs) matter a lot where they're placed, but most VPT files shouldn't matter at all.
 
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how do I get into full screen?? Thanks for the help btw....appreciate it..
 
You're welcome.

Preferences / Video Options
 
well I have no clue what happened. i went in and opened harlem globetrotters and all of a sudden the playfield stated blinking. I hit 1 and it worked. Put up a game and played..

quick draw also worked.. full screen works as well..
I guess this would fall under gremlins?? I did nothing different..


For now I better stick to the older easier to load and play games..
tackle the ones that need a rom also another day.. Thanks a million...!!!!
 
Good to hear!

Full-screen ahead, baby. :)
 
Got a lot of what I had stored years ago back. 20 of my favs or so.


Can not get Fast Draw, or Capt'n Fantastic going. Seems to be nothing there??


Great games though. A blast from my past and no repair bills..
 
echo54 said:
Can not get Fast Draw, or Capt'n Fantastic going. Seems to be nothing there??
Uh... you're not giving me much to go on there, mate.

More details would be helpful, including which versions of those tables you're trying to run.
 
Sorry bout that.. Was really just saying I got a lot downloaded. I did just try captain fantastic again. On ir pinball in the 1970-1979 games there are 2 versions of it. i downloaded them both. Both load the table and immediately come up with a script error box. When you clik on anything there in that error box it just exits the table..not the end of the world but I do remember that being a great game..
 
Checked them in VP8. The Greywolf version is working fine for me.

The other version requires the VPMidi plugin, which stopped being compatible with newer VP versions IIRC. But you can give it a shot if you like: http://www.pinballnirvana.com/forums/downloads.php?do=file&id=3343

Another way to work around that is to comment out the script routines that call VPMidi. It's not as hard as it sounds, actually.

Also, at some point you might want to look around and see if your favorite tables got remade for VP9 and VPX. They would most likely look and play even better than these older versions.
 
What is vp8?? a download??
 
Visual Pinball version 8. From inside VP:

Help / About
 
I have been getting all my games through IR Pinball site. irpinball.org

I just now found a VPinball site..I will have to look around..


I thought we were using the same program , Visual-install pack 8.1 - 2.1 +NT - 3c (1) exe.
 
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