How To Install Visual Pinball&VisualPinMAME

Phoenixx

Starfleet Member
Site Supporters
Joined
Sep 24, 2004
Messages
962
Solutions
4
Reaction score
167
Points
50
Installing VisualPinball and VisualPinMAME to have it really working is not exactly easy, but then it is not necessairily hard either.
I've already done most of the work for you by creating the Visual Install Pack (VIP), which is why i recommend to use the VIP if you are uncertain about what you need and how to set it all up, etc..
The VIP is also your best choice if you want to save yourself some time by getting a "all-in-one-download", instead of getting the single parts from various different sources, and also if you rather like to have something which installs everything automatically where it belongs instead of puzzling it together yourself.
Read about the VIP and how to install it in the thread "How To Install VP&VPM With The Visual Install Pack". If you want to use it you can download it from my signature or in the download section of this forum.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

However, i said i recommend the VIP, but i will tell you how the "regular" way goes for completeness sake anyway.


First a list of what you need:
---------------------------------

1. VisualPinball.
You can find it in the download-section on this site for example.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

2. VisualPinMAME.
It can be downloaded at the PinMAME homepage under downloads at www.pinmame.com

NOTE:
------
Make sure to get the latest binary for Windows and do NOT download PinMAME by accident, if you want to play VPM tables!
You need V-PinMAME in order to play VPM tables!
And while youre there anyway, do also download the various samples on the download site there, to have sound in some Stern and Bally tables.

(For more details on PinMAME&VPinMAME refer to the thread "How Does VisualPinball/VisualPinMAME Generally Work?" in this section.)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3. The Visual-Basic-Scripts. (.vbs-files) Samples and Fonts.
The latest pack of .vbs-files can be found at www.vpforums.com/vptables/tables.php
You will also find a "Samples" and a "Fonts" pack there, so download them too, while you're at it, because you need them too.

NOTE:
-------
(Various versions of VisualPinball can be found there too, so you could actually get everything from there, except VPinMAME.)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



O.K.,...Thats about what you need,...maybe you slowly begin to see why my Visual Install Pack is preferrable.;)


On with the InstallationProcedure:
---------------------------------------
First you have to run the setup.exe of VisualPinball.
This will install the program itself and also create the VP main-folder with the various subfolders that you need.

After that, you have to unzip the .vbs-files-pack into the folder called "Tables", which is located in the just created VP main-folder.

Next you unzip the samples-pack into the folder called "Samples". (What a surprise.:-))
The samples from the PinMAME site are also going into this folder.
Create that folder in the VP main-folder by yourself if it isnt already there.

Now copy all fonts from the fonts-pack to your "Windows/Fonts" folder, located on your OS partition. (Usually C:\)

After that, unpack the VisualPinMAME archive to the VP main-folder, and run the setup.exe from there.
Check and verify your paths, and setup the default settings to your like.
Now you have the basic installation done.


But it still isnt worth anything without tables.
You can get tables (and ROMs) at various places, for example you can go to www.vpforums.com/vptables/tables.php again for VPM tables and ROMs, or you stay directly here. (NOTE: No ROMs here!)
Refer to the thread "How Does VisualPinball/VisualPinMAME Generally Work?" in this section to learn more about the differences of VP and VPM tables.

Now that you have tables and ROMs, do as follows:
-------------------------------------------------------------
Unpack the table-zips to any folder on your desktop. (See note below as to why.)
After that, open this folder and pick *ONLY the files with a .vpt extension (these are the table files).
Now move *ONLY these .vpt files into the "Tables" folder, but do NOT put them into any subfolders, because the tables MUST be in the same directory as the VBS files in order to work!
So make sure that your "Tables" folder does NOT contain any subfolders, but *ONLY files with .vpt and .vbs extensions!

(*If there is a .vps file (NOT .vbs!) in a table.zip then put it into the "Tables" folders as well. These VPS are some kind of 'helper-files' and needed by a few tables. Do not confuse them with the VBS, which are already present in the "Tables" folder! The VBS are most important and must not be touched!)

NOTE:
--------
It is neccasairy to unzip the tables to a folder on your desktop first, because some of the table-zips contain older versions of the needed .vbs-scripts (which youve put into the "Tables" folder before), and since you do not want them to get overwritten by an older version by accident, you must not unzip the table-zips directly to the "Tables" folder.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Next you put the ROM-zips into the "ROMs" folder.
ROMs must NOT be unzipped so leave them like they are.
No further action is required.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


O.K.,...done so far,...
Now you finally open the VisualPinball-Editor with the VPinball.exe, which is also located in the VP main-folder.
In the upper tab-menu, choose "Preferences" and then "Video-Options" to set your preferred screen resolution first.
To play a table, open "File" then select "Load", and then choose from your available tables.
The table will be loaded into the editor now, and you can start it by pressing the "Play" button.
If you did everything right, you can now play VisualPinball.:-))
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Again,...all this can be done automatically with the Visual Install Pack, so there is actually no reason why one should bother with this massively unneccessairy (and doubtlessly confusing) procedure in the first place.


Questions? Suggestions?
Feel Free To Post In The Q&A Section Of This Forum.
 
i got it,i only have one question,does the "sound roms"goes into the "music"folder or in the "roms"folders?im asking cos all of my tables works fine this way,but scared stiff gets a little "freezing"for a second,specially the sound,im doing it wrong?please!!thax a lot to all the people who works on the tables!!!!!!!
ps:q bert rom anyone?
 
With VPinMame tables that use two files, the .vpt table file and the NameOfRom.zip ROM file, the NameOfRom.zip file goes inside the (usually) C:\...\...\vpinmame\Roms folder, and ALWAYS KEEP the ROM files in the Roms folder ZIPPED. Do not unzip the ROM, so there is no sound ROM file that is separate from the ROM.zip file. They are always kept zipped and together.

If you have a Visual Pinball-Only table with a separate sound.mp3 that is Not a VPinMame table and the .mp3 is a .zip download, then you will need to unzip the .mp3 files to the (usually) Visual Pinball\Music folder.

You will know when the table is a VPinMame table when you click Play in the Editor and see the VPinMame "Do you own this game (ROM)" message and the VPinMame splash screen. These pop-up screens do not appear when starting Visual Pinball-Only tables.

One reason why Scared Stiff might freeze is because it uses a Lot of CPU to generate the graphics and will slow down on slower computers with small RAM memory or slow video cards, so if the table version has a menu to turn off light effects/effects then try that, but if you have a current high end XP/Vista or Windows 7 computer with a large video card and large system memory, then try Right-Clicking the Visual Pinball.exe or Shortcut > choose Properties > the Compatibility tab and try enabling Compatibility Mode to XP or Win 2000 or Win 98.

Look! There's QBert now!
 

Attachments

  • qbquest.zip
    11.4 KB · Views: 399
With VPinMame tables that use two files, the .vpt table file and the NameOfRom.zip ROM file, the NameOfRom.zip file goes inside the (usually) C:\...\...\vpinmame\Roms folder, and ALWAYS KEEP the ROM files in the Roms folder ZIPPED. Do not unzip the ROM, so there is no sound ROM file that is separate from the ROM.zip file. They are always kept zipped and together.

If you have a Visual Pinball-Only table with a separate sound.mp3 that is Not a VPinMame table and the .mp3 is a .zip download, then you will need to unzip the .mp3 files to the (usually) Visual Pinball\Music folder.

You will know when the table is a VPinMame table when you click Play in the Editor and see the VPinMame "Do you own this game (ROM)" message and the VPinMame splash screen. These pop-up screens do not appear when starting Visual Pinball-Only tables.

One reason why Scared Stiff might freeze is because it uses a Lot of CPU to generate the graphics and will slow down on slower computers with small RAM memory or slow video cards, so if the table version has a menu to turn off light effects/effects then try that, but if you have a current high end XP/Vista or Windows 7 computer with a large video card and large system memory, then try Right-Clicking the Visual Pinball.exe or Shortcut > choose Properties > the Compatibility tab and try enabling Compatibility Mode to XP or Win 2000 or Win 98.

Look! There's QBert now!
HEY HEY!many thanx for all the useful information(i felt i knew bout the scared stiff thing,just needed an expert point of view!):special:!and extra thanx for the q`s rom!:salut::salut::cheers:
 
Forum activity
Help Users
You can interact with the ChatGPT Bot in any Chat Room and there is a dedicated room. The command is /ai followed by a space and then your ? or inquiry.
ie: /ai What is a EM Pinball Machine?
  • No one is chatting at the moment.
      Chat Bot Mibs Chat Bot Mibs: Beers is our newest member. Welcome!
      Back
      Top