PacDude
Pinball Wizard
- Joined
- Sep 19, 2003
- Messages
- 889
- Solutions
- 1
- Reaction score
- 13
- Points
- 25
I've sent my new Capcom BreakShot table to AJ's. Once validated, it will appear here:
http://www.vpforums.com/vptables/tables.php?ltr=B
BreakShot Table Info
===============
-Press F6 for Options Menu during the game
-I recommend if you feel this table is worthwhile to play and that you'd probably pay money to play it if it were commercial or if you'd like to thank the author, that you consider making a donation to a reputable charity. Remember that not everyone is as well off as you are to have a computer to play games on. Some people don't even have basic needs in this world like food and shelter. Obviously, this is just a voluntary request by the table author who'd like to see some good come out of his time that he donated for free to recreate this table for the pinball community. Even if you don't like the game, consider donating anyway. You'll feel better about yourself.
Note: The included Rules are taken from Wei-Hwa Huang's rulsheet.
Table Notes:
==========
-This table is a brand new version of Breakshot, unrelated to any other versions of Breakshot for VP. V1.0 is the first public release of this table. Note that like with all VPM tables, you should have legal copies of the rom sets to actually play the table. These do not come with the table and should NEVER be distributed with it. Use this product at your own risk. The author assumes no responsibility for this product's use or misuse thereof.
- There are three backdrops available in the game. The default is "Back_Glass" and is based on the backglass for the actual pin. The second is "Back_Room_1" and shows the table in a room (mod of a room image originally by "Bob") and the third is "Back_Room_2" and shows the table in a brickwall game room.
- There are alternate cabinet rails and lockbars included as well. Select the side rails in the table editor in turn (e.g. select the left rail's image and change it from "Left Rail Dark" to "Left Rail Medium" for instance) and change the images for them and then the lockbar decal image to match (there are currently dark and medium rails available with matching dark and chrome lockbars). It helps to have basic editor skills to make these changes. The dark rails are the default as that is what was on the actual prototype machines.
-Mods are allowed (as usual with my releases), but please label your tables as such, both in this table info section and the table and zip file names and leave my credits intact. I'd prefer you keep your own RevHistory file with a different name, but including the previous entries prior to your mod.
Note: This table uses VP "Reel" objects for animation and some lighting effects. They are known to sometimes not display correctly on some graphics cards and/or certain drivers. I've got such a card and have taken steps to work around this VP bug, but I can't be certain it will work for all PCs. Disabling DirectDraw acceleration in the Direct X prefs panel in Windows often solves the problem for most people, so you might want to try that if you see major glitches. Just remember to turn it back on when you are done or other programs may perform poorly. Using 16-bit color sometimes helps as well and usually results in smoother play anyway.
-The table looks best at 1600x1200 resolution, but may perform unsatisfactorily on slower PCs at that resolution. although disabling wall lighting effects (or eve sound) can help regardless of resolution.
Breakshot Options Menu Settings:
-------------------------------------------------------
Disable Menu:
----------------------
Menu At Start - Checking this will prevent the option menu from coming up when you run the table. You can still access it from the F6 key during the game.
All Lights - This will disable all lights and should help with slower computers since it requires less CPU power (although it's also not much fun without them). Note that this will turn off all table lights including GI ones unless GI Lighting is also disabled, in which case all the GI lights will turn on and stay on (not change state), but all other lights will remain off.
Fading Light Effect - This turns off the fading off light effect the table normally uses for most lights to simulate incandescent bulb cooling. Lights will immediately go dark instead of fading out. It will also use a bit less CPU power so the table should run a bit faster.
Yield Time - Turns off the Yield Time check in the script whereby Vpinmame 1.20 or greater gets yield time applied to it, which helps smooth the gameplay on most computers. Other (usually faster) computers will perform worse with it on and so it should be disabled if you get choppy gameplay. This requires an exit and restart for it to take effect. If you get choppy gameplay with it on and off you probably either have a slow computer or something else is wrong in your setup. The default yield value is 1 and can be found at the top of the table script. A setting of 2 sometimes works better on some computers, particularly if the computer is fast enough and there are sound hiccups.
Select Rom Set Menu
-----------------------------------
Check which VPM Rom you wish to use from this menu:
V1.3 - Production Rom (V1.03)
B1.5 - Beta (B1.05)
i1.2 Redemption (1.02i)
Unless the rom selection is made before the table begins (assuming the start menu isn't disabled), you will have to exit and rerun the table for the change to take effect.
Note: The 1.05 beta rom varies a bit in terms of gameplay compared to the rules listed with the table here and also has some different animations and a different choose your shot method. Note that even though it calls itself 1.5 beta it's actually beta 1.05 and therefore older than the production rom (i.e. there was also a beta 1.03 and that one was older than beta 1.05). It has been said that the beta versions are incomplete an unstable so use it at your own peril. I'm not sure what differences the redemption game has offhand.
Operator Menu
============
-The Capcom Operator Menu for this game is accessed with the "7" key and controlled with the flippers and game start key. From there you can you change any of the options you could change on the real game using the actual menus system for the real game.. In general, the start game key selects options, the flippers select options and pressing both flippers at once cancels or goes back a menu level. The "7" key exits the menu and returns to the game.
Known Issues
===========
-At the time of this writing, the Capcom driver's solenoid timing is not accurate and so many timings are simulated by estimates in the script. This affects the ultimate accuracy of the game, but gameplay should seem fairly normal for the most part. Likewise, the flipper solenoids are buggy and also cause delays and so they're not used. This would normally mean the flipper power doesn't shut off during attract mode and the operator test doesn't have any effect, etc., but I've implemented a partial work around so that the flippers at least go dead whenever the ball trough is full (e.g. attract mode). The VPM driver would have to be fixed/upgraded for these issues to be made truly accurate. In other words, the VP table is not the cause of the problem, but rather it attempts to overcome limitations in the VPM driver.
Rev History:
==========
V 1.0 - First Public Release
http://www.vpforums.com/vptables/tables.php?ltr=B
BreakShot Table Info
===============
-Press F6 for Options Menu during the game
-I recommend if you feel this table is worthwhile to play and that you'd probably pay money to play it if it were commercial or if you'd like to thank the author, that you consider making a donation to a reputable charity. Remember that not everyone is as well off as you are to have a computer to play games on. Some people don't even have basic needs in this world like food and shelter. Obviously, this is just a voluntary request by the table author who'd like to see some good come out of his time that he donated for free to recreate this table for the pinball community. Even if you don't like the game, consider donating anyway. You'll feel better about yourself.
Note: The included Rules are taken from Wei-Hwa Huang's rulsheet.
Table Notes:
==========
-This table is a brand new version of Breakshot, unrelated to any other versions of Breakshot for VP. V1.0 is the first public release of this table. Note that like with all VPM tables, you should have legal copies of the rom sets to actually play the table. These do not come with the table and should NEVER be distributed with it. Use this product at your own risk. The author assumes no responsibility for this product's use or misuse thereof.
- There are three backdrops available in the game. The default is "Back_Glass" and is based on the backglass for the actual pin. The second is "Back_Room_1" and shows the table in a room (mod of a room image originally by "Bob") and the third is "Back_Room_2" and shows the table in a brickwall game room.
- There are alternate cabinet rails and lockbars included as well. Select the side rails in the table editor in turn (e.g. select the left rail's image and change it from "Left Rail Dark" to "Left Rail Medium" for instance) and change the images for them and then the lockbar decal image to match (there are currently dark and medium rails available with matching dark and chrome lockbars). It helps to have basic editor skills to make these changes. The dark rails are the default as that is what was on the actual prototype machines.
-Mods are allowed (as usual with my releases), but please label your tables as such, both in this table info section and the table and zip file names and leave my credits intact. I'd prefer you keep your own RevHistory file with a different name, but including the previous entries prior to your mod.
Note: This table uses VP "Reel" objects for animation and some lighting effects. They are known to sometimes not display correctly on some graphics cards and/or certain drivers. I've got such a card and have taken steps to work around this VP bug, but I can't be certain it will work for all PCs. Disabling DirectDraw acceleration in the Direct X prefs panel in Windows often solves the problem for most people, so you might want to try that if you see major glitches. Just remember to turn it back on when you are done or other programs may perform poorly. Using 16-bit color sometimes helps as well and usually results in smoother play anyway.
-The table looks best at 1600x1200 resolution, but may perform unsatisfactorily on slower PCs at that resolution. although disabling wall lighting effects (or eve sound) can help regardless of resolution.
Breakshot Options Menu Settings:
-------------------------------------------------------
Disable Menu:
----------------------
Menu At Start - Checking this will prevent the option menu from coming up when you run the table. You can still access it from the F6 key during the game.
All Lights - This will disable all lights and should help with slower computers since it requires less CPU power (although it's also not much fun without them). Note that this will turn off all table lights including GI ones unless GI Lighting is also disabled, in which case all the GI lights will turn on and stay on (not change state), but all other lights will remain off.
Fading Light Effect - This turns off the fading off light effect the table normally uses for most lights to simulate incandescent bulb cooling. Lights will immediately go dark instead of fading out. It will also use a bit less CPU power so the table should run a bit faster.
Yield Time - Turns off the Yield Time check in the script whereby Vpinmame 1.20 or greater gets yield time applied to it, which helps smooth the gameplay on most computers. Other (usually faster) computers will perform worse with it on and so it should be disabled if you get choppy gameplay. This requires an exit and restart for it to take effect. If you get choppy gameplay with it on and off you probably either have a slow computer or something else is wrong in your setup. The default yield value is 1 and can be found at the top of the table script. A setting of 2 sometimes works better on some computers, particularly if the computer is fast enough and there are sound hiccups.
Select Rom Set Menu
-----------------------------------
Check which VPM Rom you wish to use from this menu:
V1.3 - Production Rom (V1.03)
B1.5 - Beta (B1.05)
i1.2 Redemption (1.02i)
Unless the rom selection is made before the table begins (assuming the start menu isn't disabled), you will have to exit and rerun the table for the change to take effect.
Note: The 1.05 beta rom varies a bit in terms of gameplay compared to the rules listed with the table here and also has some different animations and a different choose your shot method. Note that even though it calls itself 1.5 beta it's actually beta 1.05 and therefore older than the production rom (i.e. there was also a beta 1.03 and that one was older than beta 1.05). It has been said that the beta versions are incomplete an unstable so use it at your own peril. I'm not sure what differences the redemption game has offhand.
Operator Menu
============
-The Capcom Operator Menu for this game is accessed with the "7" key and controlled with the flippers and game start key. From there you can you change any of the options you could change on the real game using the actual menus system for the real game.. In general, the start game key selects options, the flippers select options and pressing both flippers at once cancels or goes back a menu level. The "7" key exits the menu and returns to the game.
Known Issues
===========
-At the time of this writing, the Capcom driver's solenoid timing is not accurate and so many timings are simulated by estimates in the script. This affects the ultimate accuracy of the game, but gameplay should seem fairly normal for the most part. Likewise, the flipper solenoids are buggy and also cause delays and so they're not used. This would normally mean the flipper power doesn't shut off during attract mode and the operator test doesn't have any effect, etc., but I've implemented a partial work around so that the flippers at least go dead whenever the ball trough is full (e.g. attract mode). The VPM driver would have to be fixed/upgraded for these issues to be made truly accurate. In other words, the VP table is not the cause of the problem, but rather it attempts to overcome limitations in the VPM driver.
Rev History:
==========
V 1.0 - First Public Release
