Panthera (Gottlieb, 1980) VP8

VP8 Gottlieb SS Recreation Panthera (Gottlieb 1980) v5.01 JP 2020-01-28

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Solid State Machines

jpsalas

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Never a sunday without a release!

Well, I don't think I can keep up with a new release on every sunday, but here you have my version of Panthera.

I had never heard of this table before, and it turned out to be quite good. The sounds are annoying, and the way it turns lights on/off and sometimes not setting up the drop targets is also annoying, but those are the rules of the table (as far as I can see).

I wanted to use Gerhard's script, but at the end I rewrote the whole thing but I looked at how the Trough works on this table. I think I'll never understand how they get it the trough to work on the Gottlieb tables, maybe one day.

Enjoy the table. And since it was done in...cough, 4 days, so there may be some errors.

JP
 
Ohhhhh!
I'm impressed by the quality of this table!
Continue JP!!!
 
Great job, JP! You are truly turning into a renowned VP artist....1000% improvement over the previous table! Thanks!!:)
 
Well, each day I learn a little more. And this table was easy to do: Destruk send the manual, there was a lot of pictures of the table on the internet, and the table hasn't things that need to be done in VP, like animations, etc. It is a plain pinball table with targets, bumpers, flippers, just the type of tables I like most.

Speakeasy will be harder to do: first you have the fly away targets and second the spinner/roulette. So this table is going to take longer to make.

JP
 
If you don't mind me asking, how did you learn VP/VPM so quickly? Forgive me if it wasn't quick, but you seem to have picked up everything extremely fast. Which tutorials did you use? What did you read that helped? I think a lot of people who have played in the editor and never gotten very far (read: me) would really be interested to know how someone goes from zero to hero in just a few short weeks... ;)

(edit: spelling fixes)
 
I have to agree with you Ghostface. It does seem that jpsalas, and even Jamin7474 have mastered VPM a lot quicker than I would have expected.
 
Well, it all started last summer. I had been playing VP tables for a few years, but never tried to write my own table. So I decided to write my own. I started with Eala's Kiss, and I must say I didn't understood anything. But after 2 months I was able to code a few originals (Nemesis, Tru Calling...), tiltjlp remembers that, since he was a great help by pointing me to the tutorials at VP Originals and the ones in Pinball Nirvana. I read all the tutorials I found on those sites, and I played all the tutorial tables. I tried to follow the shiva engine, but I gave up. It was too big and complicated for me. Old tables from the 60's or 70's were much better. The code was short and the tables had few objects in them.

I always played the tables found in IRP, since I wasn't very fond of the VPM tables. I think the change from VP to VPM happened when someone wrote in the VP forums that he enjoyed much better the VPM tables, to know that he was playing with the original programming of the real table was the best for him. So I took a look at some VPM tables.I usually could not see what was going on with so many ramps and objects blocking the table. But later I found out that many tables were only written for VPM, and not all them were so full with objects, so I decided to try to make someting out of a table that had bad graphics. I chose Harley Davidson (Bally), and I played with the graphics and the code. I didn't changed the code, I did not understod a single line, but I changed all the graphics.

Then on the forums someone suggested that it was time to recreate the Taxi table, I think a few started it but nobody finished it. So I took the script that racerxme had done. And with a working script it was no problem to make the table. At the same time I added objects to the table, I had also to understand how the code works, and that's it. The rest you know.

I have been a computer technician sine 1984. I programmed a lot between 1985 and 1995, mostly assembler and C, but some Basic too. By then the internet had already started and I found that it was easier to get the programs from the internet than to write them myself. So I have never programmet under Windows, only under Dos. I helped my son when he was studying programming at the University, and I learnt a little Sun's Java. That was very different! My programming was the standard top down model, but Java was a chaos. Objects all over the disk, files all over. Now in VP the programming is quite easy to understand and to follow. Many authors write down many comments and that helped me a lot. The people here, and in VP forums, have been very helpfull. They sent me comments of how to improve the tables, pieces of code, examples, etc.

Well, that's all. Now I prefer to begin the tables from cero, because then I have to learn how they work, and how I can do it in VP. I have started with Speakeasy. At the beginning it looked very easy, but now I see that the spinner/roulette will need more programming than I thought. The fly away targets are also new for me. I can always use the script from the old table, but then I won't learn anything. And that's the whole point. Panthera was a plain table, it could had been an EM table. The script was also very easy to write. Ok, I have to admit that I had to look at the Trough routine of the old table, I'll never understand how that thing works. Sometimes the ball ejects, and then sometimes not. It is good to have other tables to look at how others authors have solved the problems.

I stop writting, now. :) Any other questions? :) (I promise I'll be short)

JP
 
That's a nice read.

If all that help you used would be available in german and code would be in german too :lol: , there probably would be a start. Only that language thing takes me any courage to think about to start.
 
Hi all!
I have updated Panthera to version 1.1
New in this version: DIP switch configuration, thanks to Inkochnito for the routine.
No other changes.

JP
 
Hello!

Just a little note. I have updated Panthera to version 1.2

New in this version (only graphics changes)

- rubbers (gray gradient)
- posts (red gradient....)
- bumpers (higher and looking more like a real bumper)
- new background (changed only the player score part)
- added some GI lights. There wasn't anything in the manual about GI lights so I added what I think it could enhance a little the table. Still I need to practice more with photoshop to get better results.
- added PacDude's fading lights. :)

This is the first time I use PacDude's fading lights. And I must say it was easier to add than I thought. Thanks to his explanations I was able to use it in no time :) Perhaps is not the best table to try these lights, but it was the table I started to change bumpers, etc., and I though "why not add the fading lights to it?". I see there is plenty of possibilities in his system, and by using walls (or reels) instead of lights you can add countless of effects. The lights can have different decals or may be made of several colours. Here, in Panthera, it doesn't show off what it can do, since I just took the VP lights and dimmed them, but it is a start. Now that I understand how it works it won't be a problem to add it to my other tables.

JP
 
Hello!

I have just uploaded version 1.3 of Panthera.
only one small change: the "shoot again" light was always on. I just forgot that light when I added the fading lights.

JP
 
Thanks for the update JP and all the best to you. :)
 
Thanks StevOz!
I just uploaded 1.4, I just forgot another light. I hope this is the last update :)
 
Yes, I was wondering about that other EB light, fun table and these SS Gottlieb tables sure have some funky sound effects.

Cheers JP, good until the last dropwall. :beer:

btw JP is this just a script change, if so attaching the changed script as a zipped text file, would save a lot of folks the need to download the entire table again, just a thought.
 
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