Tutorial How good is your hardware for pinball?

[AnonTet]

Recently I had a problem testing a new physics method that allows for some cool stuff in Future Pinball (see video below).

The problem was that I was able to use the keyboard, but using my control panel was impossible to do the tricks and control the ball. I could not believe that using leafswitch buttons and an ultimarc ultimate i/o board could be worse than my keyboard.

I then found this LINK. It measures the debounce latency of your buttons/keyboards and to put things in perspective, the absolute lowest I could make with my control panel was 48ms. With my keyboard I can consistently go <20ms. And here was the problem.

Fortunately, it was just a bad config on my part for the board in my control panel and the video below was already done with it properly configured.

Now, I can't exactly say what the above limit will be for this new code but 30ms (finger in the air educated guess) might be it.

So, feel free to test and be sure that lower is better and can explain the performance also in other software you use but it is a given it makes a difference in pinball sims

This link allowed me to understand what was wrong with my setup when I reported problems earlier.

Silverline is, use that link and if you can't do what I showed in the video, chances are your input hardware might be the issue.

/edit there was a video here but it went away/

Explanation:
- 7s: Live catch
- 10s: beatiful art :)
- 18s: keep the ball in the flipper :)
- 21s: almost got the post pass
- 28s: Now i got it
- 30s: tap pass
- 50s: Not a skill but ball rolls through the slingshot and it is not kicked (@JLou5641 thanks for the reminder on the SlingshostThreshold)
- 1:13s: the basic deadflip
- 1:15s: the rolling pass (or flick pass) then repeated from opposite flipper

Drop Catches area also possible but not in the video because I forgot about that one.


/edit2

/edit
Found an app that can, apparently, measure the polling rate of your keyboard. Good to check see if what the manufacturer says is true. I'll leave the current v0.4.0 attached here in case the project goes away.

To use this app unzip, run press start recording on top right corner, click some keys - seems there's a minimum times you have to press - then stop recording. Go to "Analyze" and you can see the Delta Graph (don't ask) and you can click the "polling rate fitter" which will add a comment on the side of that menu. Example: my wireless RF cheap keyboards samples at 125Hz and my Razer at 1000Hz

 

[TerryRed]

I was able to get around 42.

I'm using a Razor mechanical keyboard.

 

[AnonTet]

Too high Terry. At 48 I had issues. It's 6am... i haven't slept so this will be my last post for the next few hours.

My razer ornata v2 results. Mechanical or not, the "controller" inside has the final word. Mine is actually an hybrid (mechanical and membrane).

But apparently, there are "gaming" keyboards that only have the name. You are not the 1st case I know with a Razer that had unexpected results!

 

[JLou5641]

Ahaha, I test my Gamer laptop, and i can't go under 23ms.... ahahaha... Meanwhile my "poor" lenovo "no-Gamer" keyboard at my work, i easily go under 15ms... Manufacturers insist on the gamer side with a low response time and latency, but it has no interest if the debounce cancels all the profit by a very long debounce....And they never talk about debounce "latency"

 

[TerryRed]

Yah, I got this keyboard because it was on sale while I was away on a military course, and needed a new keyboard desperately :)

Normally, for my pin cabinet or any gaming, I never use keyboard controllers (except for PC gaming). Always a gamepad type controller connected to buttons,etc.

 

[GeorgeH]

I haven't noticed this posting until AnonTet told me about it. I can't go below 7 ms with my Monoprice wired gaming keyboard. I presume that is good. I used to have a wireless which had a terrible lag. It is what drove me to get a gaming keyboard.

 

[AnonTet]

7ms is awesome

 

[GeorgeH]

7ms is awesome

I only got 7 one time but had several 8s. My keyboard is really old and was one of the cheaper gaming keyboards at the time I bought it. I am surprised how good it performed. Monoprice used to have good equipment for a reasonable price. It's probably still true.

 

[AnonTet]

And you have the reverse too. "Gaming" is overrated and usually cheap is... well, cheap for a reason. But there are gems out there like that keyboard.

 

[GeorgeH]

I looked at the back of it. It is a Monoprice MP-GBL9 with cherry red keys that I am pretty sure is not made anymore.