Initial D Pinball Stage 1.4 for VP9

[Neo]

Hey all,

I'm in the process of updating my Initial D table to VP9, and I started making enough changes that I figured I ought to bump the version. Currently I'm making this for the new VP9 but if I do get enough requests I can see about making the non-VP9-specific changes to the VP8 table. I'll still keep the VP8 table around even after I get this one done.

Most of the changes are cosmetic, though I did add a working analog tachometer to the playfield that works alongside the light-based one in the backdrop. The display has been modified (gone is the persistent ajckpot display, and the mode clock has been moved up a line, so the status display is reduced to a total of four lines. The score display now alternates between showing the ball in play/credits and the current replay or high score (I've seem some newer Stern pintables do this). There are some in-progress graphical changes (I found a better image for the left ball-return, plus I'm converting the text-based decals to images. Persionally I think the image-based decals that have only text look better), and there are some persistent little display issues I keep running into. It seems VP9 handles text boxes differently than VP8. With the issues I'm having here, if I ever convert BGC 2035 (and the 20+ layered text boxes I use for its display system) to VP9, that's going to be even worse...

Take Care

 

[Neo]

Updated screenshot. The analog tach is done (might do some fine-tuning but for now it's working), rebuilt the backdrop so I can move the light-based tach (which I also did), changed some of the decals and I'm in the process of changing all the text-based decals to images. It's coming along...just got some image work still to do as well as a couple of persistent display issues. I'm using layered text boxes for the displays and I've already noticed that VP9 treats these differently than 8 does, so I have to put in special script code to fix it. If I ever convert BGC (and the 20+ layers of text boxes I use for its display) to VP9 that's going to be even worse lol.

 

[bob]

Looks really nice, I can see you've spent a lot of time on this pin.

 

[faralos]

i didn't know you could ever layer a text box, wouldn't they overlap and cancel each other out?

 

[Neo]

i didn't know you could ever layer a text box, wouldn't they overlap and cancel each other out?

You can layer text boxes, and I did so quite often in VP8. For what I was doing VP8 handled the text boxes perfectly fine. What VP8 does is whichever text box was the last updated (text value, changing a property, or whatever) it would bring it up to the front.

For the 20+ textboxes I had layered on top of each other in BGC2035, I had script code in place to tell the table which group of text boxes to show based on what events were being triggered, and it would bring those up to the front, display what it needed to display, then go back to whatever it was displaying before when the message timer fired. It was my way of doing up a DMD-type display system since coding a proper DMD in VP is currently beyond my ability.

In Initial D I don't layer text boxes as much (the score display at the top goes form the single large text box to four smaller boxes when you start a 2 to 4 player game, and there is a mode clock I overlap into the status display. I also have something overlaying the ball/credit displays that shows the current replay score (some Stern tables do this).

The only thing is VP9 seems to handle text boxes a little differently than VP8 did (why they changed it I'll never know), and in order to to do the layering like I've done, you'd have to put in script code to make the display you want to show refresh and come to the front because merely updating the text going in it doesn't always refresh it like it should. It's an intermittent issue which makes it a bugger to fix. I've still got some fine-tuning to do with the display in Initial D VP9, but I think I've got a lot of the kinks out.

Anyway, here's the latest screenshot. All the text-based decals are now images, and there are a few more text-based images I added. I'm thinking of adding a VPM-style operator menu system to Initial D so folks can see game statistics and set options like they would for a real DMD-era machine. Stats are currently accessible in both the VP8 and VP9 versions by pressing "S" and they're displayed in a series of VBScript message boxes. I have such a system in BGC2035 (complete with the keypress tones I recorded when I was running a VPM table), and it seemed to work pretty well there, though it took some time to put in the script code.

Take Care

 

[faralos]

I always thought that the dev. would have made a list with the numerous changes/omissions that were changed from vp8 to vp9. this would have helped so much as there are a few other things that you will find out as you make the transition from 8 to 9. why the good things were changed/ left out is beyond me. maybe in order to streamline the coding, better certain things had to go. but, good luck with the text box issue...

 

[Neo]

Here's the newest screenshot. I spent some time making a couple of new backdrops (there will be at least three that folks will be able to select from in the editor).

I am still considering putting in the operator menu, though I haven't really worked actively on this for a little bit with the Harry Potter VP9 table I started. I did go ahead and add the nudging code Shockman drew up to better help with the funky VP9 nudging, and it seems to be an improvement.

 

[druadic]

Neo;

Geebus; is this an original? WOW. I wish I could work like this with VP! Excellent job; hope it plays on my system with all those graphics! I can't wait to see this one! Great job Neo!

If I had to script this I would have to hang myself! I can only imagine how much is going into the scripting alone! YIKES!

d

 

[Neo]

Many thanks. Initial D is one of my all-time favorite anime series, and one that deserves a high-quality table, and also deserves an update to VP9.

And yeah, scripting Initial D was a challenge (battle modes with different-colored balls zipping around, and the targets behaving differently depending on which mode you're playing and which ball hits them). The good news is this is just an update of Initial D Pinball Stage to VP9 (initial release was way back in 2003), so the script is pretty much done unless I decide to add the operator menu, though I still have some display quirks to address (which I will once I pry myself from the Harry Potter VP9 table).

Take Care

 

[Neo]

Still plugging away at this one, and it's close to being done. I hope to have it ready to release in about a week or so.

Got the operator menus coded and nearly have them fully working, so the little bits of text that showed how to access the stats and switch the music are gone. Those are now in the operator menus.

In an effort to get the backdrop as clean as I can, I went ahead and took out the song title text from the backdrop. I'm also changing some of the in-game messages and reformatting the display to make it look good on both WS and 4:3 monitors (not the easiest of tasks lol). When released there will be three backdrops available, selectable in the VP editor.

Take Care

 

[faralos]

looking so sweet! I love the dark table image. and all those neat custom goodies don't hurt either!