PacDude
Pinball Wizard
- Joined
- Sep 19, 2003
- Messages
- 889
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- Points
- 25
Centaur V1.0 has been sent to AJ's. It should appear there soon.
I'd attach it here, but it's like 5.2 megs, so that's above the attachment limit.
The table is available immediately at ShivaSite
Table Notes (From 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.
Table Specific Notes
==============
-This table is a brand new version of Centaur, unrelated to any other versions of Centaur 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.
- A special thanks goes out to The Destroyer for taking apart his real Centaur to get plastic scans and take photos and to Phoenixx for contacting him to get the photos. Thanks also go to Kristian for straightening the playfield out and to Bally for providing missing technical information and photos of his Centaur II. More thanks go out to Gerhard, Gaston and Crew for their previous table that I garnered some light table data from that wasn't in the manual I have.
- There are two backdrops available in the game. The default is "back_backglass" and is based on the backglass for the actual pin. The other is "back_room" and shows the table in a game room type environment.
- 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.
-There is a custom instruction card available. Select the blue decal object on the table on the right side and with options turned on in VP, change its image to "Instruction1C" instead of "Instruction1" to display it instead of the regular one.
-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.
Centaur Options Menu Settings:
-------------------------------------------------
Auto-Dip Switch Game Options - This is a listing of popular game setting options that are controlled by Centaur's dip switches, but organized here for you convenience by feature (modified layout of one by Inkochnito). You must reset the table with the F3 reset (or exit and restart the table) before any changes will take effect.
Note: This menu disappears and is replaced with the Manual Dip Switch Option Menu the next time you open th F6 option menu when the option for the full manual dip menu is selected.
Full Manual Dip Switch Options - When this menu is enabled with the appropriately marked option, it will appear instead off the Auto-Dip menu and shows a listing of all actual Bally Dip Switches (1-32) for the game that you can manually change. This allows you to access ALL possible dip switch options found in the Bally Manual for this game instead of just the more popular ones organized for you in the Auto-Dip Menu. It is like changing an actual machine's dip switches. Changes take place when you reset the game with the "F3" key or reload the table. See the Bally Manual to see all possible options and which dips to change to get them. You can find it at the IPDB here:
http://www.ipdb.org/files/476/Bally_1981_Centaur_Manual.pdf
Table Specifc Options:
-----------------------------------
Note that these options don't require a reset unless specifically indciated with a footnote in the menu.
Disable 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).
Disable GI Lights - This will force all GI (General Illumination) lights to stay on all the time (they will not change during the game) except for the Spider Trigger GI playfield lights, which are used in PD CPU mode and normally only flash as orbs are ejected.
Disable LED Panels - This will disable the LED-style scoring displays on the backglass and enable the VPM scoring window instead. Unchecking it again will restore the backglass style scoring displays.
Disable 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.
Disable 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.
Disable Ball Roll Sound - If checked, this will get rid of the ball roll sound found when the ball moves quickly through the middle of the table or back down the shooter lane. It may save a little cpu time as well.
Enable MultiBall Music - If checked, this option will start playing an MP3 music file during any MultiBall mode as long as at least two balls remain in play or the song ends. You must have an MP3 file called "CentaurSong.mp3" in the VP "Music" directory for this to have any effect. It can be any song you like, but you must relabel it to that name.
Enable PD CPU - This is a little known prototype after-market chip created for a Sci-Fi convention and when installed in Centaur, it's said to take the orb attacks to whole new power levels with bonuses to be reaped! See the rule description for this option in the Rules pane.
Rev History:
==========
V 1.0 - First Public Release
I'd attach it here, but it's like 5.2 megs, so that's above the attachment limit.
The table is available immediately at ShivaSite
Table Notes (From 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.
Table Specific Notes
==============
-This table is a brand new version of Centaur, unrelated to any other versions of Centaur 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.
- A special thanks goes out to The Destroyer for taking apart his real Centaur to get plastic scans and take photos and to Phoenixx for contacting him to get the photos. Thanks also go to Kristian for straightening the playfield out and to Bally for providing missing technical information and photos of his Centaur II. More thanks go out to Gerhard, Gaston and Crew for their previous table that I garnered some light table data from that wasn't in the manual I have.
- There are two backdrops available in the game. The default is "back_backglass" and is based on the backglass for the actual pin. The other is "back_room" and shows the table in a game room type environment.
- 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.
-There is a custom instruction card available. Select the blue decal object on the table on the right side and with options turned on in VP, change its image to "Instruction1C" instead of "Instruction1" to display it instead of the regular one.
-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.
Centaur Options Menu Settings:
-------------------------------------------------
Auto-Dip Switch Game Options - This is a listing of popular game setting options that are controlled by Centaur's dip switches, but organized here for you convenience by feature (modified layout of one by Inkochnito). You must reset the table with the F3 reset (or exit and restart the table) before any changes will take effect.
Note: This menu disappears and is replaced with the Manual Dip Switch Option Menu the next time you open th F6 option menu when the option for the full manual dip menu is selected.
Full Manual Dip Switch Options - When this menu is enabled with the appropriately marked option, it will appear instead off the Auto-Dip menu and shows a listing of all actual Bally Dip Switches (1-32) for the game that you can manually change. This allows you to access ALL possible dip switch options found in the Bally Manual for this game instead of just the more popular ones organized for you in the Auto-Dip Menu. It is like changing an actual machine's dip switches. Changes take place when you reset the game with the "F3" key or reload the table. See the Bally Manual to see all possible options and which dips to change to get them. You can find it at the IPDB here:
http://www.ipdb.org/files/476/Bally_1981_Centaur_Manual.pdf
Table Specifc Options:
-----------------------------------
Note that these options don't require a reset unless specifically indciated with a footnote in the menu.
Disable 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).
Disable GI Lights - This will force all GI (General Illumination) lights to stay on all the time (they will not change during the game) except for the Spider Trigger GI playfield lights, which are used in PD CPU mode and normally only flash as orbs are ejected.
Disable LED Panels - This will disable the LED-style scoring displays on the backglass and enable the VPM scoring window instead. Unchecking it again will restore the backglass style scoring displays.
Disable 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.
Disable 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.
Disable Ball Roll Sound - If checked, this will get rid of the ball roll sound found when the ball moves quickly through the middle of the table or back down the shooter lane. It may save a little cpu time as well.
Enable MultiBall Music - If checked, this option will start playing an MP3 music file during any MultiBall mode as long as at least two balls remain in play or the song ends. You must have an MP3 file called "CentaurSong.mp3" in the VP "Music" directory for this to have any effect. It can be any song you like, but you must relabel it to that name.
Enable PD CPU - This is a little known prototype after-market chip created for a Sci-Fi convention and when installed in Centaur, it's said to take the orb attacks to whole new power levels with bonuses to be reaped! See the rule description for this option in the Rules pane.
Rev History:
==========
V 1.0 - First Public Release
