VP8 Williams SS Recreation F-14 Tomcat - 1.0 Released -by JPSalas v5.01 JP 2020-01-28

[jpsalas]

F-14 Tomcat - Williams 1987 - version 1.0

Comments from designer Steve Ritchie:

F-14 had a first-ever kickback device that fired the ball straight back at the flippers at very high speed, called the Jagov Kicker. F-14 was the first game with "Autosave", which meant the player could have the ball back if it drained prematurely [at the start of a ball], was shot down between the flippers by the Jagov Kicker, or drained during the onset of multiball, etc.


About THE VPM version:

First thanks to PacDude for his fading lights.
Thanks to _Zaphod_ & Nico for making their VPM version, since I didn't played the original, their table was a great help for me.
Thanks to btaylorstl for suggesting me to do this table.
All the pictures used are found on the internet and modified with photoshop.
It is completely angle independent.
The only reels used are for the back flashers and the beacons. If your computer isn't fast enough, the table can get a little slow when multiball and all the lights, and flashers, are flashing very fast.

Link to the Internet Pinball Database, to get the roms, manual, pictures, etc
http://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=804

Enjoy the table.

 

[StevOz]

Awesome release, fantastic graphics, plays well ,maybe too easy, though I think the real deal was fairly easy.

I didn't play the beta versions though those flippers just don't seem right. The swing arc is way to large at well over 60 degrees and the elasticity too low at 0.25, 0.4 or so is more realistic. A flipper arc of 58 degrees will allow good aiming in VP, real pinball flipper arcs are usually less, though VP doesn't aim to well with arcs of less then 56 degrees. They seem a bit long also, maybe why it seems so easy, 121 VP units according to Stein is the ratio length for Williams flippers.

Also noticed something strange going on when tring to enter initials for high score, it's hard to describe, initials don't move on with single key presses, it does scroll, though again it seems to scroll through incorrectly?

It is a great recreation, thank you, JP.

 

[jpsalas]

Yes, I also noticed the same points as you.
The reason I came up with those strange numbers is the way the table works: it's very fast.
Flipper elasticity: if I use 0.4 or even 0.3 the ball bounces too much when it comes down from the Yagov kicker.
Flipper angle: This is the best I could do to be able to shoot the front targets after the ball has come through the inlanes. You have just a few seconds after the inlane to hit the targets. Otherwise you miss the kill shot. I tried many angles, and this is the best I could find. But I guess the angles could be a little lower.
The highscore: yes it does works strange, I do not know the reason. Sure I wrote something wrong, or there's something missing in the script, I don't know. Maybe the controller numbers are exchanged? I remember a table where I had to exchange the numbers to get it right. I'll look into it.

JP

ps: I'll play a little with different flipper angle settings and I'll see if I come up with something more real looking but playable at the same time.

 

[jpsalas]

StevOz suggested me to change some flipper settings to get a more "real" look to the table.
These are the changes I came up with:

- change lower flippers length from 126 to 124
- change lower left flipper end angle from 56 to 62 (and from -56 to -62 for the right flipper)
- change the four flippers elasticity from 0,25 back to 0,3 (even 0,4 is more real, but I feel it bounces too much)

These changes makes the table a little harder to play, but not too much.
I'll add these changes to the next revision. In the meantime you may change them yourself.

JP

 

[jpsalas]

The highscore: indeed the flipper switch numbers in the manual are exchanged, this is why something strange happens when you enter the highscore. There are 4 lines that must be changed in the script (lines 161++)

I think I'll settle the flipper's end angle to 60 (and -60). Maybe not very real, but it plays very good.

It won't take long before I make the 1.01 :)

 

[StevOz]

Great, looking forward to 1.01, need that high score fix. :)

Thanks again JP

 

[jpsalas]

I have updated the table to 1.01. Just now it is only available on my site. The changes are only small tweaks to the flippers to make them a little closer to the real table, and I also added a missing ring on the plunger ramp.

I'll uploaded here in a few minutes.

JP

edit: it is uploaded now.

 

[jpsalas]

Hello!

There is a small bug in the new ring (see picture). Due to the ramp being very steep, the ring can't have the same size as the others. The strange thing is that the ball goes through the ring upwards, but if you make a weak launch then it stops by the ring.

I'll fix this in the next revision. Until then you can fix it by changing some values. The ring consists of 4 parts: bottom, left, right and top. To fix the bug you need to change the height of the ring:

..................before...............after
bottom.......35x15...............35x15 (no change)
left & right..65x35...............67x35
top.............85x65...............87x67

Have a good time :)

JP

 

[jpsalas]

Updated and uploaded version 1.02.

Just 3 small fixes:

- Fixed bug: lowest ring stopped the ball when coming back from a weak launch.
- Adjusted Flipper length and angle (and colour), so the table is not so easy (but still is easy).
- Adjusted walls so the ball gets kicked to the places as close as possible to the original.

JP