How To Install VP & VPM With the Visual Install Pack

Phoenixx

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How To Install VP & VPM With The Visual Install Pack

[Current Version: 8.1_1.59] [Version Numbering Reflects VP-Version & VPinMAME-Version]

Its really easy as can be.
The following five steps will tell you how to successfully install VP and VPM with the VIP.



1.) Run the installer, choose your Install Directory, and complete the basic install as prompted. After that, the GUI for the installation of VPM will open. Proceed with step 2.


2.) In the VPM Installer Window click the 'Install' button and press 'O.K.' when prompted. The message "VPM has been successfully installed" will be displayed. Close this Message and proceed with step 3.


(NOTE: The version-number displayed at the top of the VPM Installer GUI does NOT reflect the version of the VPM DLL that you are about to install!
So if you see something like "1.42" at the top, thats NOT the
version-number of VPM, but only the version-number of the Installer GUI!)


3.) Click the 'Setup Paths' Button and in the opening window press 'RESET'. All paths should be set to the install-directory now, which name is 'Pinball' unless you changed the default to something else. Uncheck 'Always run fullscreen on this display' unless you are using two monitors. Close this window.

(NOTE: The 'RESET' step is only a 'measure-of-precaution' in case the auto-path-setting has failed for some reason. The paths ought to be correct anyway. But it is VERY important to uncheck 'Always run fullscreen on this display' if you have only one monitor or you will only see a huge score-display across your entire screen when you start a table.)


4.) [Optional] If you like to configure the default behaviour of VPM as well click 'Setup Defaults' and take your picks. Close this window.


5.) Close the VPM installer GUI and the VIP installer.



And thats it, all thats left to do now is to put Tables and ROMs into the folders and you can start playing. (More on that below.)
Both the 'Tables' and the 'ROMs' folders are located in
the install-directory, which name is 'Pinball' unless you changed the default to something else.

To play a table launch Visual Pinball with the shortcut that has been created on your desktop. Then load the Table you want to play into the editor by choosing 'FILE/OPEN' in the tab-menu at the top. To boot up the table press the red 'PLAY' arrow in the icon-menu at the left, and after the table has finished loading add coins with 3, 4, or 5 (not numpad) for credits. Then press 1 once to start a 1-Player game, twice for a 2-Player game, and so on. As of VIP 8.1_1.59 you can also doubleclick a .vpt file-icon to
bypass the editor and start a table directly.




IMPORTANT NOTE REGARDING ROM AND TABLE FILES:
Tables and ROMs are always coming in compressed (zipped) form.
ROMs must NEVER be unpacked, you always put them as ZIP files (as downloaded) into the 'ROMS' folder.
Tables on the other hand MUST be unpacked. Since the Table-Zips are often containing more than just the table, the following procedure has prooven to work best.

1.) Unpack the Table-ZipFile to a folder on your desktop.

2.) Open the folder and move ONLY the file which has a .vpt extension into the 'Tables' folder. If you cant see the extension you can enable this in the Advanced Folder Options in Windows.
A Table file may also be recognized by its icon, which is kind of a blue/purple square with a grey/silver ball in the center.

3.) Although i said put only the .vpt file into the 'Tables' folder there is one exception to this rule. Some (though not many) Table-Zips are also containing a file with a .vps extension, which are additional script-files for the table. These files are the ONLY exception to the '.vpt-only' rule, so if you find one amongst the files of the Table-Zip move it into the 'Tables' folder as well, along with the .vpt file.
But be careful, these .vps files must never and under no circumstances be confused with .vbs files! (p vs. b) Those are two totally different types of files, and since the VIP already comes with all the latest
.vbs files available you should generally not mess with them unless you really know what youre doing! The reason why im mentioning this is because some Table-Zips, (especially very old tables), contain ancient versions of these essential .vbs files, and if one of them got into the 'Tables' folder by accident, (and overwrite the existing one), a lot of the newer tables would not be able to function anymore! (BTW, this is also one of the reasons why a Table-Zip should never be unzipped directly to the 'Tables' folder!) So again, make sure to never confuse .vps with .vbs, and do never move a .vbs file from a Table-Zip into your 'Tables' folder! The VIP automatically installs all .vbs files you need.

NOTE: The version of VIP that is available for download always contains the latest available files of everything, so the only thing that you as the user has to care about (besides the installation) is really only to move the .vpt (and occasionally .vps) files into the 'Tables' folder, and the ROM Zip-Files into the 'ROMs' folder. The rest will be O.K. (and up-to-date) as it is,...


For further questions just visit the forums.

VIP 8.1_1.59 by Phoenixx1771
Feb. / 23 / 2008

[Link to the download in the reply below]
 
Last edited:
Description updated and enhanced,...more details added regarding filehandling,...

Sep. / 18 / 2006
 
New Version Numbers inserted

Text slightly changed

Link To Download needs to be updated

Mar. / 11 / 2008
 
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