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- Attack From Mars
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These items don't qualify as installation or setup instructions so I posted them here. Please post any ideas you have for things to add.
Updating BAM to a New Version
The 2 in 1 installer can be used to add BAM updates and not disturb your settings but this guide will show you how to update BAM using the BAM ZIP file and keep all your original settings. New versions of BAM are posted here:
New Versions and Requests for new Versions
Before you start anything, you need a backup. Every week I make a copy of the entire Future Pinball folder and subfolders along with many other folders on my PC so I use it for the backup. I wrote this for the non-VR version although the VR version probably works the same but I don't use it so I can't test it.
1. I unzip a new version of BAM to a temporary folder. Then I delete the following from the new version:
"default.cfg" file (If you have used the "Save as Default" option in BAM, the data is saved to this file so delete this from the new version)
"bam.cfg" file (This file has settings that you may have changed on the "Redefine Keys" menu)
"balls" folder (I have added additional custom balls to my old version and want to keep them so delete this from the new version)
"cfg" folder (This is just a blank folder in the new version and you need to keep your old files)
"xml" folder (see below)
I have added several XML files of my own to the "xml" folder that I keep. I don't want to delete them so I delete the "xml" folder that is in the new version of BAM (but then I'm the physics dude). If you have never added or changed anything in the folder of the old version, you may as well keep the new copy of the "xml" folder and delete the "xml" folder from your old version of BAM. You should probably check the contents of the new "xml" folder to see if something new is there. The contents of the XML files don't change very often but there might be new files included. For example, BAM version v1.4-189 added some new XML files that were not in previous versions. In fact, the content of the files changed slightly to include comments that reference the version number of the physics. Comments don't affect the function of the XML file but they help you identify the version number of the physics when you rename the file when you use it.
2. Then I delete the following folders from my old version of BAM:
"plugins"
"removed_plugins"
3. Then I just copy the entire contents of the new BAM folder and paste it into the folder for my old version and overwrite everything. This will update the needed files and leave all the files that you want to keep. I have heard that folks that use Windows sometimes have files that get corrupted when they are overwritten. If you are concerned about this, you could delete all the old files that exist in the new folder before you copy and paste the new files to your old folder. I don't do this. I just overwrite the old files. My plan is if any of the files get corrupted, I'll just repeat the process and of course, I have my backup copy if there are any other problems.
How to Change Save Location for "Snapshot Utility"
You can right-click on the "bam.cfg" file in your BAM folder and use the "Open With..." function to open the file in Notepad. This is where the data is saved when you use the "Redefine Keys" option in BAM. It also has a section at the bottom that looks like this:
SnapShotPath =
SnapShotBackboxPath =
You can change this section to look like this to save snapshots to a BAM subfolder but you to manually add the folder names "snapshot" and "backbox" to your BAM folder:
SnapShotPath = snapshot
SnapShotBackboxPath = backbox
You can also add the full path to a folder on your PC. I prefer to keep the Future Pinball and BAM folders clear of any additional manual entries so it is less confusing when I have to install updates. I have created a folder named "C:\Games\Future Pinball Other Stuff\" where I save all the extra Future Pinball files like additional "Future Pinball.exe" files and these screenshots. I manually added these two folders:
C:\Games\Future Pinball Other Stuff\ScreenShots
C:\Games\Future Pinball Other Stuff\ScreenShots, Backboard
Then I changed the lines in the "bam.cfg" file to look like this:
SnapShotPath = C:\Games\Future Pinball Other Stuff\ScreenShots
SnapShotBackboxPath = C:\Games\Future Pinball Other Stuff\ScreenShots, Backboard
This is the only *.cfg file in BAM that you can edit with Notepad. The other *.cfg files look like gibberish when opened with Notepad.
How to Set Up Ball "Trails"
You must use the "New Renderer" light system in order to use ball trails. I personally prefer "New Renderer" to the other light systems. It may appear a bit darker than the other light systems but you can open the option called "Postprocess" and adjust "Brightness" and/or "Contrast" to make it appear lighter. To turn "New Renderer" on, just go to the "Lights" option and use your right or left arrow key to select "New Renderer" on the option that is named "Light System".
High Score Overflow
Ravarcade published BAM version 1.4-183 which can change the point of high score overflow from about 2 billion points to about 922 trillion by simply adding a single line of code. High score overflow occurs when the score gets so high that it produces a meditation error on Future Pinball and you can't play the game any further. It puts an abrupt end to a great game. When Ravarcade announced the new version on this forum, he posted something that reads as if the change can only be performed by someone who knows how to script. But it doesn't take very much skill to add it to most tables. There is a simple code that you add to the script but there are very few tables where the script needs special modification to work correctly. You can look for occurrences of the script that needs changing but it is easier to just test the table to see if adding the code works.
To fix a table, you just add the following to the script below the heading "Option Explicit":
Code:
' xBAM.FixScoreThere is an easy line of code you can add to test it. Just add the following line of code below the line that says "Sub FuturePinball_KeyPressed(ByVal KeyCode)". After you add it, you just type the letter V one time while playing a game to add 900 trillion points to the score.
Code:
If keycode = 47 then ' V key
AddScore(900000000000001)
End ifIf you don't get any errors after adding 900 trillion points, then the code worked and the table needs no further modification, you can delete the testing code above and save your changes. If you get an error, then the table will require some additional script changes. Learn more about it here:
How to use Score / High Score with 15 digits and BAM
Performance Monitor
Future Pinball provides a performance monitor that appears in yellow text at the top of the screen when you press F9 while playing a game. It is described in the Help Manual. I copied and pasted the content of it here:
"Pressing F9 on the keyboard will toggle the display of the performance counters in Future Pinball.
These counters show you:
Fps Rendering Frames Per Second. This value shows you how fast the Game engine is running. This value should be above 30 and ideally close to the refresh rate of your monitor (usually 60 fps). Adjusting the Settings in the Video Preferences can greatly affect this value. If your system is running too slow then you should reduce the complexity of the table via the video preferences dialog discussed in my "Basic Guide" on Steps 8 and 12. The second number (in brackets) is the average FPS over the life of the game.
Ops The total number of Draw operations being performed by the Future Pinball rendering engine.
Tris The total number of triangles (or polygons) being fed into the Future Pinball rendering engine each frame. Adjusting the settings in the Video Preferences dialog will greatly affect this value.
Physics The Total Processor time (in milliseconds) the Physics Engine is taking on the current table over the last second.
The Graphics Card information is also shown.
BAM version 1.4-162 adds much more detail to Future Pinball's performance monitor. It adds some charts and graphs to Future Pinball's existing performance monitor. Poor performance often results in a low frame rate and can cause stuttering. You can easily see if the problem is caused by the physics or the script. XML files for physics have a setting for FPS that you can change. Many versions of physics have this set to 256 and some are set to 296. If you set this any higher, you may get a low frame rate.
A problem in the script can be too many "eval" & "execute" commands. Whenever one of these commands runs, your antivirus program evaluates it for threats and slows your PC down. The only fixes for this are to either stop your antivirus during a game or change the script.
I have also written a tutorial on stuttering that you can access here:
Setting Up Nvidia Graphics Card / How to Address Stuttering
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