Stern WIP FizX BAM FP Avatar (Stern, 2010) WIP

[GeorgeH]

I have started working on the Avatar table and recorded a video that shows the progress. I started with NitroNimbus's version of the table that he modified from TerryRed's version. Terry modified Slamt1lt's version to add DOFLinx. I recorded a voice over so this will probably be your first time to hear my voice.

View attachment Avatar_.mp4

List of Objectives

1. Added FizX physics full setup with the associated flippers, drop targets, bumpers, rubbers and slingshots.
2. Added color DMDs.
3. Added HUD Toggle Key that saves setting.
4. Added lighting mod and added Lighting Control Panel to the script.
5. Added switchable option for 3 or 5 balls per game that saves setting.
6. Added menu system with options for lighting, balls per game, HUD on/off, apron cover on/off, custom ball on/off and video on/off.
7. Added new textures on the table loading screen.
8. Added message that looks at BAM version.
9. Added shadow maps.
10. Added bump maps to the models of the amp suit and changed color.
11. Added DMD background color, ball/flipper shadows, ball configuration to the script and ray casting to the ball.
12. Edited game room floor and backwall.
13. Created overlay for the HUD.
14. Added new instruction cards and decal above the plunger.
15. Converted all textures to power of 2.
16. Added BAM code that allows the score to exceed 2 billion points.
17. Added custom side blades.
18. Added plunger pull special script.
19. Added HUD video to match the one on the backglass.
20. Adjusted the color/brightness of many objects on the table.
21. Reworked video added by NitroNimbus.
22. Added new flipper texture.
23. Improved resolution of playfield texture and removed glare from lenses on playfield inlayed lights.
24. Added custom ball that is switchable with a silver ball.
25. Added new backwall texture.
26. Added switchable apron so the plunger is either visible through the apron or covered.
27. Converted copter to hologram to illuminate it.
28. Added holograms to bumpers to illuminate them.
29. Added Lighting Tweaker by Gimli.
30. Added mechanical sounds by Fleep and coding by AnonTet.
31. Added Fleep's sounds to Smoke's rolling ball sound coding.

 

[GeorgeH]

Since there are not many tables available now because PinSimDB has been decommissioned, I decided to post my working copy of the table. I have fixed many of the visual problems on the table and it seems to play well. I think you will enjoy it.

This is a DOFLinx table so be sure to save the "DOFLinx.vbs" file in the download to your scripts folder here:

C:\Games\Future Pinball\Scripts

The "DOFLinx.vbs" file is a very old version so don't use it if you have a pinball cabinet but it will work fine for a desktop user.

If you play it, let me know what sort of changes you would like to see or any problems you have.

George

 

[xenonph]

I did not have a scripts folder included in my installation, so until I moved that scripts folder you included with package, into my Future Pinball folder, I got Meditation Error. (I guess the 2 in 1 BAM installer does not create a scripts folder.)
Looks and plays great!!
Love the sidewall images!!
Great job!!

Carry on.

 

[GeorgeH]

I did not have a scripts folder included in my installation, so until I moved that scripts folder you included with package, into my Future Pinball folder, I got Meditation Error. (I guess the 2 in 1 BAM installer does not create a scripts folder.)
Looks and plays great!!
Love the sidewall images!!
Great job!!

Carry on.

Yes, the installer does not add the folder so you have to create it. If you play FP very much, there will be other files that you will need to add there. I seem to remember a table that had the entire script saved to a vbs file.

 

[TerryRed]

One of my favorite tables.... and one of my favorite DOF updates I ever did for MX Leds.

It's great seeing it get more love.

 

[ronald71]

Great work, love your take on it ..
THX for the update...
next update FizX physics system ,, love that too.
Big thanks..

 

[AnonTet]

You know i'm a fan of your work :)

 

[GeorgeH]

Great work, love your take on it ..
THX for the update...
next update FizX physics system ,, love that too.
Big thanks..

I haven't started on the physics yet (or FizX?). It currently uses the flippers that NitroNimbus set up and my default XML that I use to start working on physics. I usually start out doing an assessment of what needs to change and then start physics but this time I just went ahead and fixed the problems I assessed.

By the way, I appreciate you guys not pounding me over repeating myself on the video about changing the lenses on the lights. Maybe my memory will serve me better next time or probably should follow some notes.

 

[Runner]

I haven't started on the physics yet (or FizX?). It currently uses the flippers that NitroNimbus set up and my default XML that I use to start working on physics. I usually start out doing an assessment of what needs to change and then start physics but this time I just went ahead and fixed the problems I assessed.

By the way, I appreciate you guys not pounding me over repeating myself on the video about changing the lenses on the lights. Maybe my memory will serve me better next time or probably should follow some notes.

Hey George, you are doing this for free, for yourself and all of us, so in my opinion, if anyone is not happy with something, they can keep it to themselves.

I for one didn't even notice that to be honest.

 

[GeorgeH]

I decided to try FizX to see how it works. I have discovered you need to have the same swing on all flippers for FizX, even the upper flippers. It has been my experience that the upper flippers sometimes need to have a swing larger that the mains when the target is higher up on the table than the upper flipper. ...But this table only has the two main flippers so that won't be a problem.

 

[ronald71]

WoW ...... you are really special.. in a good way. this gonne make the vpx (Bigus) version a run for its money.
thank you , thank you ... i can not say it enough.love your work..

 

[AnonTet]

I decided to try FizX to see how it works. I have discovered you need to have the same swing on all flippers for FizX, even the upper flippers. It has been my experience that the upper flippers sometimes need to have a swing larger that the mains when the target is higher up on the table than the upper flipper. ...But this table only has the two main flippers so that won't be a problem.

As far as I know and please someone correct me if i'm wrong, the only diference in whatever the number of flippers a table has is the starting position of said flippers. I mean, length of course differs but swing angle is always the same.

I suggest you start with the easy way and adjust the flipper strength on the FP editor slider. More strength = narrower shot and less strength = wider shot

If that is not enough code can be easily adjusted to accommodate specific flippers friction that impacts also how wide a shot is.

 

[GeorgeH]

As far as I know and please someone correct me if i'm wrong, the only diference in whatever the number of flippers a table has is the starting position of said flippers. I mean, length of course differs but swing angle is always the same.

The target of the upper flipper on Twilight Zone is higher than the flipper so the swing needs to be larger. You could change the start angle but then the flipper would stick out into the lane and may interfere with the game play. ...But as I said, this table only has the 2 main flippers and I don't anticipate needing to make the swing different so no problem.

 

[AnonTet]

I was just giving you known solutions for when the problem arises, should you need them.

 

[GeorgeH]

I was just giving you known solutions for when the problem arises, should you need them.

What you said is true for many tables but not all. There aren't many tables that have targets for upper flippers that are higher than the flipper. It helps too if the upper flipper is set at an angle in the design of the table. ...But the upper flipper on Twilight Zone is set to be parallel to the sides of the table and has to swing more than the mains. If you adjust the start angle, the flipper will stick out into the lane. I don't think adjusting the other physics parameters will help. It is like the angle of incidence equals the angle of reflection.

 

[GeorgeH]

WoW ...... you are really special.. in a good way. this gonne make the vpx (Bigus) version a run for its money.
thank you , thank you ... i can not say it enough.love your work..

Thanks! I just do this for a pastime. I am not really trying to compete with VP but if folks like it better so be it.

 

[AnonTet]

Unfortunately FP is just a simulation and with some weird stuff regarding physics. In any case, TZ has a solution as well :)

 

[GeorgeH]

I started adding FizX. I started with the flippers. There are quite a few parameters to adjust in the script. One of the more confusing ones is "AimOrientation". I tried using values from -10 to +10. This seems to change the direction of the ball to a trajectory that is shifted left or right. I tried a number of settings and settled on "0". Another confusing one is "AimRange". It appears to shift how wide or narrow the ball travels left or right. I tried several setting and ended up using "3". I wasn't sure about "BallKineticSensivity" either until I noticed that if set too high, the ball jumps up and down while rolling down the flipper. It seems to jump more when the flipper is raised so I used the ball roller to set the ball near the tip of a raised flippers and watch it roll. The point where there were no jumps is where I set it, which ended up being "3".

Adjusting all this stuff reminds me of when I first started learning about the parameters in the XML file years ago. At the time, I read about what some of the parameters did but none of it made any sense to me. So, I simply tried insanely high and low values and watched what happened when I played the table. This is why I always have said that I don't know anything about physics. All I have learned is how to make adjustments so the table plays the way I want. I plowed through FizX settings the same way. The final version of the "Jupiter Ascending" uses FizX. It has descriptions of each parameter in the script. I copied those over to Avatar but it didn't seem to help so I used my old experimentation method.

There is an 8K ball that you can install from FizX. It is quite heavy. I quizzed JLou about it and he sent me the XML that he normally uses with it. He set the ball mass to 8000 which is quite high. It makes me think that he wants to exceed the weight limit of the XML file. I am not sure if I will use the 8K ball but I will experiment with it.

Anyway, I have started adjusting the start angles on the flippers. I start out by adding some temporary overlays from the flippers to the furthest left and right targets as shown in the screenshot below. These overlays are the default width and about 450 mm high. Then I rotate them so they go from the tip of the flipper to the targets. After you do this, you can get an approximation of the angle needed by adding 90 degrees to the rotation of the overlay in degrees for the left flipper. Likewise, the approximation of the right flipper is to subtract 90 degrees from the rotation of the overlay. I currently have the start angles set to be 2 degrees lower than the calculation. I have found the approximation is usually within 2 degrees of being right. You have to fine tune the final setting by playing the table. I leave the overlays while making adjustments because it seems to help align the shots. I used the same overlays to help adjust the aim settings on FizX.

 

[AnonTet]

@GeorgeH

Unfortunately, Jupiter Ascending, If I recall correctly uses only Dfv2 (not FizX which is a combo of DFv2 and DPv1) and even that was an older version. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong as I don't keep up with everything.

The good news is the update in the future will only require tuning and you're on the right track from what I've read in your post. NICE JOB there.

I'm really glad you gave it a go and it's working. I'm posting Cosmic Princess v1.2 hopefully still this weekend so you can take the most recent stuff from there regarding XML and DFv2 Options (and much more if you want to venture into it). And of course you'll have to extract the most recent script about DFv2 at least to include in your table. I wan't to say you'd MIGHT want to include at least as an option the 8k polygons ball from CP v1.2 when I post it.

There's already a FizX package but JLou is on vacation and I don't want to share it yet before he comes back also because it is incomplete.

I will leave a link here to an early version of manual I've done that explains the options of DFv2 since people are wanting to start using this so it's a nice head start.

 

[GeorgeH]

@GeorgeH

Unfortunately, Jupiter Ascending, If I recall correctly uses only Dfv2 (not FizX which is a combo of DFv2 and DPv1) and even that was an older version. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong as I don't keep up with everything.

The good news is the update in the future will only require tuning and you're on the right track from what I've read in your post. NICE JOB there.

I'm really glad you gave it a go and it's working. I'm posting Cosmic Princess v1.2 hopefully still this weekend so you can take the most recent stuff from there regarding XML and DFv2 Options (and much more if you want to venture into it). And of course you'll have to extract the most recent script about DFv2 at least to include in your table. I wan't to say you'd MIGHT want to include at least as an option the 8k polygons ball from CP v1.2 when I post it.

There's already a FizX package but JLou is on vacation and I don't want to share it yet before he comes back also because it is incomplete.

I will leave a link here to an early version of manual I've done that explains the options of DFv2 since people are wanting to start using this so it's a nice head start.

Actually, JLou sent me a draft of Cosmic Princess v1.2 that he asked me not to post anywhere (which I didn't) along with other resources. I have been using it. I will check out your manual.

 

[TerryRed]

There isn't a proper / complete guide for adding "FizX" yet. (only AnonTet's for DFv2) FizX is also using DPv1, and also requires adding more items to the table as well as new changes to the table script for the new items, etc.. It's one of the reasons for using the name FizX to differentiate it. (compared to someone only adding DFv2)

There is a lot of information not yet documented (JLou is on vacation), and there are many solutions that can be used for unique scenarios.

This is one of the many reasons why I don't like using a centralized vbs or library file for FizX (or other things for that matter), as there are times where you will need to do things different on some tables, which require adjusting some bits of the FizX code. (not to mention if someone includes their own modded version of the vbs / library file with their table... this may mess up other people's tables). I prefer to have the code all directly in the table script.

For Sonic FizX (still in progress), I had to adjust a couple of things in FizX specifically for the upper flippers to make them work different than the main flippers so they played much easier. They are in a terrible spot for making the ManiaMode shot. Now all flippers play amazing without needing to use different angles, etc.

It won't always be a simple copy and paste for all tables (some are unique). But now we have way more options than before that can make all the difference. We just need to get to know how to use them. (I can add FizX easy now... but I still need help with settings).

I've also started adding the idea of FizX Profiles to Sonic and Star Wars... so that way the player can change between a few different profiles of their choosing instead of being locked into only one set of physics settings.

FizX will take time to get accustomed to when adding to tables... especially if you are used to adding DF1 flippers to a table. Ask @AnonTet and @JLou5641 ... its been an evolving process over the last week since I started adding it to Sonic and SW DSA GE, and improvements are being made regularly.

 

[AnonTet]

And it is not over yet Terry :D
But allow me to separate "physics settings" you mentioned that are to be used with FizX from XML settings that everybody knows and it is needed too.

 

[GeorgeH]

There isn't a proper / complete guide for adding "FizX" yet. (only AnonTet's for DFv2) FizX is also using DPv1, and also requires adding more items to the table as well as new changes to the table script for the new items, etc.. It's one of the reasons for using the name FizX to differentiate it. (compared to someone only adding DFv2)

There is a lot of information not yet documented (JLou is on vacation), and there are many solutions that can be used for unique scenarios.

This is one of the many reasons why I don't like using a centralized vbs or library file for FizX (or other things for that matter), as there are times where you will need to do things different on some tables, which require adjusting some bits of the FizX code. (not to mention if someone includes their own modded version of the vbs / library file with their table... this may mess up other people's tables). I prefer to have the code all directly in the table script.

For Sonic FizX (still in progress), I had to adjust a couple of things in FizX specifically for the upper flippers to make them work different than the main flippers so they played much easier. They are in a terrible spot for making the ManiaMode shot. Now all flippers play amazing without needing to use different angles, etc.

It won't always be a simple copy and paste for all tables (some are unique). But now we have way more options than before that can make all the difference. We just need to get to know how to use them. (I can add FizX easy now... but I still need help with settings).

I've also started adding the idea of FizX Profiles to Sonic and Star Wars... so that way the player can change between a few different profiles of their choosing instead of being locked into only one set of physics settings.

FizX will take time to get accustomed to when adding to tables... especially if you are used to adding DF1 flippers to a table. Ask @AnonTet and @JLou5641 ... its been an evolving process over the last week since I started adding it to Sonic and SW DSA GE, and improvements are being made regularly.

I have already gone on record that I think there are times when the swing of an upper flipper may need to be different than the main flippers. After studying things a bit, it looks like you must use the same BaseOmega and TipOmega for the mains as well as the upper flippers. I almost never end up setting the upper and main flippers to use the same omegas when I use Bob's and my dynamic flippers. So, I am doubtful that this will work. This stuff is not a concern for me at the moment because Avatar has no upper flippers, just the 2 mains. And then, I like to use Paolo's sound for when the ball hits the flippers but I don't see a way to add that either.

...But all this stuff are things that can be resolved. If it is not resolved, I suppose I can always use Bob and my flippers for the upper flippers and FizX for the mains. I was thinking I wouldn't be able to use my own XML while this stuff was being developed. It appears I am allowed to do that. I started with the flippers because I wasn't sure I would like it but it looks like I will. It is looking like I may be able to use the 8K ball but it looks like I may be able to create some XML setting that will work with it. ...So it looks like I will need to install other stuff in these folders that JLou sent me plus it looks like the drop targets need to be updated:

8K Ball
Bumper
Fleep Sound Hit Event (appears to still be a work in progress)
Librairies
Rubber
Slingshot

 

[AnonTet]

Yes, drop targets are still not done. I ported all (or most) of Fleep code into CP. I don't recall if all the sounds are in the pack you're sent but I believe they are. Check CP v1.2 and if in doubt PM me.

Yes you can use both systems. But why complicate it? As a matter of fact in much older version of DFv2 TZ worked so... and Addams family too if i recall correctly.

XML is not "locked" to DFv2. Feel free to explore as we're all far from unleashing FP physics engine secrets anyway. But we did find some things during all this time so I can only recommend to start with CP XML and go from there.

 

[TerryRed]

You can adjust / change the FizX code as you need (if you import all the code into the table directly instead of using an external vbs / library, etc). So if you want a different BaseOmega and TipOmega for each flipper, then just create unique DIMs for the flippers you want to be different and apply the settings you want for that.

The main flippers settings, are all pre-set for 6 sets of flippers for convenience.... but you can change it so that each flipper can have most of their own settings if you really want (in most cases not needed).

For what I needed with Sonic I just changed the name for FlipperStaticFriction FlipperKineticFriction for the upper flippers so they could have unique settings.

This eliminates the need for one flipper needing to be angled much different than another in the editor, etc. These aren't "FP" flippers anymore, and the forced super wide angles are a thing of the past now.