Bally WIP Recreation BAM FP CiRQuS VoLTaiRe v4 (Bally 1997)

[RwL]

Fantastic! It was always my hope somebody would create the DMD animations as my originals were very crude. A big round of applause to LtJazz for spending countless hours working on this table. Can't wait for the final, then GeorgeH can tweak lighting and physics.

 

[LtJazz]

I forgot all about this. It looks really nice! The DMD is cool. I never noticed it is placed on the backwall before which is just like the real table. It looks like you don't need a HUD. The ringmaster appears to move around more when it is raised than the real table but it looks good.

I actually planned to delete the 2 existing huds and replace them with an optional single hud which will be a clone of the DMD with the possibility of hiding it. Everyone will be able to choose to play only with the DMD or to activate the HUD in addition.

The physics looks like it may need some work. I could work on it if you wish or you might want to wait until JLou finishes his version of dynamic flippers to see if you like his flippers.

I am willing to add my version of lighting to it. I make the lighting switchable with several grades of light/dark.

I still have one last complex sequence to code (not yet implemented by VictorKPM or RwL) : the ringmaster battle. Then, I would have some checks to make sure that the game sequences controlled by a timer end correctly in the event of a tilt or a lost ball.

After that, I planned to ask for your help to optimize the physics settings and the global lighting. So your suggestion is welcome !

I could also add JP's menu system where we just figured out how to be able to change the menu during a game. The menu fills the whole screen so we pause the ball movement when the menu is open.

My mod of "Space Shuttle" has the switchable lighting and the latest menu system if you want to check it out.

I had also planned to add a settings menu when launching the table, but by integrating it into the DMD. I will study your proposal and try your "Space Shuttle" MOD.


Thank you for your interest

 

[Gimli]

I actually planned to delete the 2 existing huds and replace them with an optional single hud which will be a clone of the DMD with the possibility of hiding it. Everyone will be able to choose to play only with the DMD or to activate the HUD in addition.


I still have one last complex sequence to code (not yet implemented by VictorKPM or RwL) : the ringmaster battle. Then, I would have some checks to make sure that the game sequences controlled by a timer end correctly in the event of a tilt or a lost ball.

After that, I planned to ask for your help to optimize the physics settings and the global lighting. So your suggestion is welcome !


I had also planned to add a settings menu when launching the table, but by integrating it into the DMD. I will study your proposal and try your "Space Shuttle" MOD.


Thank you for your interest

Great work ! Thanks for picking up the torch !

 

[LtJazz]

Fantastic! It was always my hope somebody would create the DMD animations as my originals were very crude. A big round of applause to LtJazz for spending countless hours working on this table. Can't wait for the final, then GeorgeH can tweak lighting and physics.

Indeed, I spent a lot of time capturing the animations, cleaning them up (deleting the scores...), displaying them on the DMD and resynchronizing the game with the animations but it was worth it. As the DMD is on the playfield, it had to look as good as possible. To do this, I coded a new DMD manager (based on the "text" method of FP) which manages the display on 9 layers x 10 levels (same principle as layers in a drawing software). I also coded a scrolling effect (with less options than the scrolling effect in FP's "queuetext" method) and a shaking effect to animate messages, scores or bonuses. I also created several fonts compatible with the scrolling effect (because FP's "text" method suffers from a bug that I had to work around).

Currently, I have integrated around 90 animations. I had a lot of fun recreating the Amazing Roonie video game (now fully playable and very similar to the original) or the popcorn machine from the popcorn mania sequence (each popcorn being animated and displayed separately). The longest part was not integrating the animations linked to an event (for example when the ringmaster stands up) but the background animations that run in a loop during a game phase by displaying information (score , countdown, ...). There are 15 different ones in the game. I have 1 left to complete for the Ringmaster Battle sequence. Only fantasy : I created a "SPIN" animation which does not exist in real pinball because it is one of the 9 marvels and the game does not give any information on the countdown for this sequence (30 seconds to turn on SPIN and get the marvel).

In addition, I improved some sounds and I added many new sound effects or game sounds (made with Audacity) to improve the sound environment because many animations had no sound. Some sounds are not from real pinball but I made sure they are fun in the spirit of the game.

I hope you will all forgive me for these little fantasies

 

[LtJazz]

Great work ! Thanks for picking up the torch !

You're welcome !
Thank you for introducing me to the WPC EMU website and the gfx2dmd software. And thanks to @Gin for warning me that it would be a long slave labor

 

[LtJazz]

For information, here are the game rules of the ringmaster battle sequence ( => I am going to have fun...) :

---

3.2. Ringmaster Battle (RMB)

RM Battle occurs when you defeat the 5th ringmaster. First of all, it is
not marked on the playfield, unlike Frenzie, Razz, and Special, so you have to
know it exists. Once you defeat the 5th Ringmaster, another ball is kicked
into play, and your task is to defeat the Ringmaster. I'm not sure, but I
think this MB requires about 15 to 20 hits on the Ringmaster to ultimately
defeat him (you don't need the final, under-the-playfield shot however).
There is a short ballsaver. Once the ballsaver times out and a ball
drains, however, RM Battle does *not* end. Instead, the ball is
re-served into play, but as a penalty, the Ringmaster grows stronger, and
you have re-weaken the Ringmaster. Upon defeating the Ringmaster, the DMD
will go crazy (a la Scared Stiff), the game will award you 10M points, and
light an extra ball. If/when you defeat the Ringmaster, the flippers will
automatically go dead and both balls will drain.

Having both balls in play -- i.e., not having one trapped in the Sideshow
or behid the Ringmaster -- is essential to defeating the Ringmaster.
After about 5 seconds of not hitting the Ringmaster, he will take away
your most recent hit. After another 5 or so seconds, he'll take away
another hit, etc. If he takes away enough points, you will lose.
If and when you lose, you have to start all over again with Ringmaster
Frenzie. If you win, you cannot defeat another Ringmaster until you
have played Join the Cirqus; if you lose, you can keep defeating
Ringmasters until you beat him.

OTOH, if you want to rack up the score, parking a ball/getting a ball
trapped is the way to go, and then just go against the Ringmaster
one-on-one, and if he takes away hits, who cares? Just make sure that you
hit the Ringmaster often enough to keep yourself from losing! Including
the 10M completion bonus, I scored about 50-60M just on Ringmaster Battle
by getting a ball trapped. Eventually, after about 15 or 20 minutes,
the Ringmaster will give up and won't take away any more hits. At this
point, you are guaranteed to defeat the Ringmaster.

Completing RMB will award about 50M:
* 5M for starting RMB
* 10M for completing it
* About (varies on your skill of battle) 35M in the actual
battle.

Hits on the Ringmaster during RMB score 1M each.

An extra ball is available after *every* RMB victory.

If you start another multiball prior to starting RMB multiball, the
Ringmaster will recess back into his hole when he would normally raise
himself up for the "blow-up" shot. Starting RMB is then delayed until
after the present multiball(s) is(are) complete. In other words, the
Ringmaster Battle multiball is not stackable.

Ringmaster Battle takes precedence over everything else; nothing else
occurs. In other words, once you start Ringmaster Battle, nothing else may
start until you have defeated the Ringmaster. RMB may only be started if
the "Defeat All Ringmasters" marvel is not the last one to be completed,
because if it is, the game will automatically begin wizard mode without
giving you a chance to pound away on the Ringmaster. If you are
battling the Ringmaster and you spot the last remaining marvel (which would
normally start wizard mode), wizard mode does not start until RMB is
over. However, if you are still in the "hit the Ringmaster 5 times"
stage -- i.e., you have _not_ started the Battle itself -- and you do
spot the last remaining marvel, Join the Cirqus wizard mode
automatically starts, the Ringmaster goes back into his hole, and you
start over (provided you've completed wizard mode) at Ringmaster
Frenzie.

The logic for RMB has been rewritten in v1.3 ROM's. The Ringmaster is
MUCH tougher to beat, and he takes away hits at Warp Factor 9. So if
your game has 1.3 ROM's, expect _not_ to be able to defeat the
Ringmaster in Ringmaster Battle. This accomplishes two things: one, it
prevents you from just raping the Ringmaster for 1M/hit, and makes RMB
more of a wizard mode than the wizard mode!

 

[LtJazz]

Currently I have created 3 different color schemes for the DMD (using the 464.BMP file) :

"modified standard" color scheme
"WPC EMU" color scheme
"Cirqus Voltaire" color scheme

In the script I set the DMD with BAM to adjust to the color scheme :
' default "red" DMD color xBAM.SetDefaultMatrixBaseColor 19, 7, 7 PlayfieldDMDExt.SetMatrixColor 255, 88, 32 ' "wpc" DMD colors set 'xBAM.SetDefaultMatrixBaseColor 11, 11, 11 'PlayfieldDMDExt.SetMatrixColor 255, 207, 207 ' "CV" DMD colors set 'xBAM.SetDefaultMatrixBaseColor 11, 11, 11 'PlayfieldDMDExt.SetMatrixColor 255, 255, 255

But to change the color scheme, you must modify the 464.BMP file before launching BAM and FP.
It's not very "user friendly".

Do you know a way to dynamically load the 464.BMP file after launching BAM and FP ?

 

[GeorgeH]

...Do you know a way to dynamically load the 464.BMP file after launching BAM and FP ?

I don't know of a way to do it. Maybe you should ask @ravarcade. I have used it to make the unlit pixels black instead of dark gray which looks something like what you are calling "modified standard" color scheme. I have used the xBAM.SetDefaultMatrixBaseColor many times but there are a couple of other XBAM codes that I have never used. It looks like you have already found Step 3 of the following link:

BAM - BAM: Milestone Releases with Ravarcade's Instructions

BAM Update v289 https://www.ravarcade.pl/files/BAM_v1.5-289.zip https://www.ravarcade.pl/files/bam-setup.exe https://www.ravarcade.pl/files/BAM-OpenVR.zip - Bug fixes: lighting error in VR, New Renderer on objects in mini-playfield - Added iCom & PuP Plugins, see TerryRed guide...

pinballnirvana.com

You can have an image from an image list display on DMD full color:

hudDMD1Ext .FullColorBackground[/b] = True/False
dispDMD1Ext.FullColorBackground[/b] = True/False

Gimli did this on Monster Bash but he spent a great deal of time on it. He would be better at telling you the problems he had.

There is this resource:

Cirqus Voltaire (Bally 1997) colorization

Looks like I am going down the rabbit hole for this one. If you've played CV, you know the DMD is quite elaborate. Looking forward to the challenge, and stay tuned for updates! Here's an appetizer!

vpuniverse.com

You definitely need to get feedback from Gimli before you try doing it. It seems like the main problem he had was memory usage from having to upload so many images to the table.

 

[Gimli]

I don't know of a way to do it. Maybe you should ask @ravarcade. I have used it to make the unlit pixels black instead of dark gray which looks something like what you are calling "modified standard" color scheme. I have used the xBAM.SetDefaultMatrixBaseColor many times but there are a couple of other XBAM codes that I have never used. It looks like you have already found Step 3 of the following link:

BAM - BAM: Milestone Releases with Ravarcade's Instructions

BAM Update v289 https://www.ravarcade.pl/files/BAM_v1.5-289.zip https://www.ravarcade.pl/files/bam-setup.exe https://www.ravarcade.pl/files/BAM-OpenVR.zip - Bug fixes: lighting error in VR, New Renderer on objects in mini-playfield - Added iCom & PuP Plugins, see TerryRed guide...

pinballnirvana.com

You can have an image from an image list display on DMD full color:

hudDMD1Ext .FullColorBackground[/b] = True/False
dispDMD1Ext.FullColorBackground[/b] = True/False

Gimli did this on Monster Bash but he spent a great deal of time on it. He would be better at telling you the problems he had.

There is this resource:

Cirqus Voltaire (Bally 1997) colorization

Looks like I am going down the rabbit hole for this one. If you've played CV, you know the DMD is quite elaborate. Looking forward to the challenge, and stay tuned for updates! Here's an appetizer!

vpuniverse.com

You definitely need to get feedback from Gimli before you try doing it. It seems like the main problem he had was memory usage from having to upload so many images to the table.

I think LtJazz is wanting a BAM code for texture swapping the default color scheme image 464.bmp and perhaps Rav can enable this ?

I don’t think he is talking about full color images

 

[GeorgeH]

I think LtJazz is wanting a BAM code for texture swapping the default color scheme image 464.bmp and perhaps Rav can enable this ?

@ravarcade,

Can you help us with this?

George

 

[LtJazz]

I recorded another demo with the "Cirqus Voltaire" color scheme. There are a few game sequences that did not appear in the 1st demo : Strike-An-Arc multiball, Juggler1, Juggler2 and Juggler multiball (with the new magnet). I had to correct the script in accordance with the rules of the game and create additional sounds for these sequences.

The juggler sequence gave me a hard time because the animation starts with the capture by the magnet and ends with the capture by one of the 2 kickers. It really is juggling !
To relax, I had fun synchronizing the sound effects with the juggling.

 

[GeorgeH]

I love this table but didn't have the skill to do the work needed myself. It is so cool to see it being finished.

 

[LtJazz]

I love this table but didn't have the skill to do the work needed myself. It is so cool to see it being finished.

Not quite finished. But on the right track. I still have to do the Ringmaster battle multiball sequence then the final Wizard mode sequence (to "join the circus")... and eradicate the remaining bugs of course !

I won't integrate the Wizard mode sequence in v3 but maybe in a v4. It's a very complex sequence and I have to understand the rules. I have a text description (found on ipdb) and the videos I captured on the wpc emu website (very well done this site). I need to understand how it all fits together.

That's kind of what I did for the Juggler sequence. I modified the sequence by adding the missing magnet because the sequence coded in the script did not match the animation. As I don't know real pinball (unfortunately I've never played it), I try to put the pieces together like a puzzle.

 

[Gimli]

I recorded another demo with the "Cirqus Voltaire" color scheme. There are a few game sequences that did not appear in the 1st demo : Strike-An-Arc multiball, Juggler1, Juggler2 and Juggler multiball (with the new magnet). I had to correct the script in accordance with the rules of the game and create additional sounds for these sequences.

The juggler sequence gave me a hard time because the animation starts with the capture by the magnet and ends with the capture by one of the 2 kickers. It really is juggling !
To relax, I had fun synchronizing the sound effects with the juggling.

I just watched your video on my big screen tv . The DMDs look amazing ! Great job all around LtJazz. I like the easter

It’s gratifying to see the big beach ball and the Ring Master stuff that I helped with performing so well !

If george helps with Physics he can likely add bump maps to the Ring Master texture

Is that intro music from Tales of Arabian ?
You probably have all the tracks but
Here’s a link to Voltaire music

 

[AnonTet]

I think 've said this before. This one is probably the "most wanted" table I'd like to see working as it should in FP so it's a joy to see your work making it happen.

Thank you very much for this.

 

[LtJazz]

A few more demos (shorter) which this time use the WPC EMU color palette (inspired by the color scheme used by the website)

The Hiwire multiball sequence, modified according to the rules of the game found on IPDB and with which I synchronized some additional sounds

The Cannon awards sequence made by RwL, modified to synchronize it with the animation on the DMD and to continue with the ball lost sequence.

 

[LtJazz]

Is that intro music from Tales of Arabian ?
You probably have all the tracks but
Here’s a link to Voltaire music

I'm missing a few tracks. So it will be very helpful. Thank you @Gimli

 

[LtJazz]

To conclude the presentation : welcome to the Sideshow ! (still with WPC EMU color palette)

The amazing Roonie
It's a simplistic video game that can only be played on the DMD. The main difficulty was to calculate the speed of the scrolling obstacles and the duration of Roonie's jumps so that it was playable but not too easy. Another sequence for which I had no music or sound (so I had to improvise)

The hat trick

Popcorn mania
This is my favorite sequence (on the DMD). I spent some time there improving it little by little. With each target hit, the popcorn machine produces a new pocorn. The popcorns jump inside the machine. Gradually there are more and more. At 15 popcorns, it's the jackpot ! Each popcorn is drawn and animated individually. Not knowing what music corresponded to this sequence (now I know thanks to Gimli !), I added some music and some sound effects

Neon multiball (+ Extra Ball)
The sequence takes place in 2 parts (there are therefore 2 contextual animations which follow one another on the DMD). During the 1st part we play for an extra-ball and during the second part we aim for the jackpot. During this game sequence, all the lights are off except the neon. So, I changed the neon color for this sequence (the rest of the time it's green)

The cannon ball run
Based on the same animation (made by RwL) as the Cannon awards sequence on the translite. I just synchronized it with the camera movement and with the animation on the DMD. Again, I added some rather fanciful additional sounds...

 

[Gimli]

To conclude the presentation : welcome to the Sideshow ! (still with WPC EMU color palette)

The amazing Roonie
It's a simplistic video game that can only be played on the DMD. The main difficulty was to calculate the speed of the scrolling obstacles and the duration of Roonie's jumps so that it was playable but not too easy. Another sequence for which I had no music or sound (so I had to improvise)

The hat trick

Popcorn mania
This is my favorite sequence (on the DMD). I spent some time there improving it little by little. With each target hit, the popcorn machine produces a new pocorn. The popcorns jump inside the machine. Gradually there are more and more. At 15 popcorns, it's the jackpot ! Each popcorn is drawn and animated individually. Not knowing what music corresponded to this sequence (now I know thanks to Gimli !), I added some music and some sound effects

Neon multiball (+ Extra Ball)
The sequence takes place in 2 parts (there are therefore 2 contextual animations which follow one another on the DMD). During the 1st part we play for an extra-ball and during the second part we aim for the jackpot. During this game sequence, all the lights are off except the neon. So, I changed the neon color for this sequence (the rest of the time it's green)

The cannon ball run
Based on the same animation (made by RwL) as the Cannon awards sequence on the translite. I just synchronized it with the camera movement and with the animation on the DMD. Again, I added some rather fanciful additional sounds...

Wow !!!! Amazing work LtJazz.
I notice the default foreground dmd is orange and the dmdf is gold . It looks great but if you wish them the same , in addition to ravs code
For setting foreground and background colors of course you can start by setting the default dmd color from the table editor “translite “ view itself

 

[Gimli]

@LtJazz
Hi,
I am not sure if you have seen this little demo table by rav.
I found it and just added it to this link:

BAM - BAM: Milestone Releases with Ravarcade's Instructions

BAM Update v289 https://www.ravarcade.pl/files/BAM_v1.5-289.zip https://www.ravarcade.pl/files/bam-setup.exe https://www.ravarcade.pl/files/BAM-OpenVR.zip - Bug fixes: lighting error in VR, New Renderer on objects in mini-playfield - Added iCom & PuP Plugins, see TerryRed guide...

pinballnirvana.com

It uses these parameters:

-DispDmd1Ext.SetMatrixColor
-DispDmd1Ext.SetBackgroundMatrixColor
-DispDmd1Ext.FullColorBackground
-xBAM.SetDefaultMatrixBaseColor

It is also below.
Press the "d-l" keys I think to change color of dmd
and press the numpad keys ( up, down etc..) to change foreground vs back ground colors

 

[Gimli]

also likely you have check this out but there is a 300 mb file of Voltaire sounds here:

Cirqus Voltaire

Discover the pinball machine upgrades designed for Cirqus Voltaire

www.pinsound.org

and a few more here:

Cirqus Voltaire - sounds

 

[LtJazz]

@LtJazz
Hi,
I am not sure if you have seen this little demo table by rav.
I found it and just added it to this link:

BAM - BAM: Milestone Releases with Ravarcade's Instructions

BAM Update v289 https://www.ravarcade.pl/files/BAM_v1.5-289.zip https://www.ravarcade.pl/files/bam-setup.exe https://www.ravarcade.pl/files/BAM-OpenVR.zip - Bug fixes: lighting error in VR, New Renderer on objects in mini-playfield - Added iCom & PuP Plugins, see TerryRed guide...

pinballnirvana.com

It uses these parameters:

-DispDmd1Ext.SetMatrixColor
-DispDmd1Ext.SetBackgroundMatrixColor
-DispDmd1Ext.FullColorBackground
-xBAM.SetDefaultMatrixBaseColor

It is also below.
Press the "d-l" keys I think to change color of dmd
and press the numpad keys ( up, down etc..) to change foreground vs back ground colors

I just tried but I only get one color (the same one) for the background image (which is a character in a dmdf font) and the text that is displayed above. This is interesting for images stored as a texture but not for images stored to dmdf fonts.

 

[LtJazz]

also likely you have check this out but there is a 300 mb file of Voltaire sounds here:

Cirqus Voltaire

Discover the pinball machine upgrades designed for Cirqus Voltaire

www.pinsound.org

I actually discovered this website 1 month ago. But it is a commercial site and you have to register to download. I therefore ignored it because I don't want to receive commercials thereafter.

and a few more here:

Cirqus Voltaire - sounds

I went there a few weeks ago and downloaded all the files. It is the female or male voices that make the announcements in the game. The recordings are of good quality. I plan to integrate them into the table instead of the old ones which are of lower quality.

 

[LtJazz]

Wow !!!! Amazing work LtJazz.
I notice the default foreground dmd is orange and the dmdf is gold . It looks great but if you wish them the same , in addition to ravs code
For setting foreground and background colors of course you can start by setting the default dmd color from the table editor “translite “ view itself

I think it matches the color palette.

Initially, I set the gfx2dmdf software to use only 3 levels of gray to convert animations to dmdf fonts by reserving the lightest level of gray for the texts so that the texts are easily readable in contrast with the animations.
So when I change the palette to replace the 4 levels of gray with 4 different colors, one of the colors applies to the text and the other 3 to the animations.
I can fix it by changing the last color in the palette (red to gold for example).

 

[GeorgeH]

I actually discovered this website 1 month ago. But it is a commercial site and you have to register to download. I therefore ignored it because I don't want to receive commercials thereafter.


I went there a few weeks ago and downloaded all the files. It is the female or male voices that make the announcements in the game. The recordings are of good quality. I plan to integrate them into the table instead of the old ones which are of lower quality.

Here is the altsound package:

30.33 MB file on MEGA

mega.nz