PinMame 2.1 Newbie

[omeed]

hello.

i've just downloaded and installed PinMame 2.1, but i can't seem to get the tables to work.
I downloaded some ROMs and copied them in the appropriate folder, but when i run the tables only this comes up, and i can't see the table and play.

i tested the roms and everything's ok ...i'm missing something here ...please help

 

[Petri]

Have you d'loaded tables too? Tables and VBS scripts to tables
folder.Make sure,if you have Windows vista,that you run VP as admin,
then double click the table and enjoy.

 

[TheMcD]

Oy, I know what you're trying to do. You're running PinMAME only, but you need Visual Pinball too.

Get the VIP from 'ere: Update: Visual Install Pack 8.1_2.1+NT - Pinball Nirvana Forums

Run that and it should set you up just fine. Then you get some tables from here in the "Downloads" area: http://www.pinballnirvana.com/UpDownload.html

After that you get the correspondant ROM (dunno where you got yours from, just get a table that you already have the ROM for) and run the table using VPinball.exe.

The McD

 

[Phoenixx]

Yes, PinMAME wont do it, you need VPinMAME and VPinball (and a lot of other files) to play tables. PinMAME only emulates the ROMs.

But like McD said, this wont be a problem since the Visual Install Pack will set you up fine. It comes with all the misc files you need and installs everything automatically where it belongs. After the installation is complete you simply put your table files (.vpt) into the 'Tables' folder and the zipped ROMs into the 'ROMs' folder. After that you can play away.

Only one thing: Since you have already installed PinMAME i recommend to uninstall that first and then check (if necessary correct) the paths when you install VPinMAME. So when the VPM Installer window pops up, (on Vista it has to be brought to the foreground by clicking on it since it stays under the main installer window for some reason), install the thing first, then click on 'Setup Paths' and then click the 'Reset' button. This will automatically set all relevant VPM paths to the subfolders of the 'Pinball' folder, which is the VIPs mainfolder. After that (and adding tables and ROMs of course) you should be good to go.

If you have any questions just ask. If you run into any trouble just tell us what doesnt work, what exactly you did, and what error messages there were. (If any.)

 

[omeed]

your help is much appreciated.

i installed Visual Install Pack but i can't find the tables i want.I'd like to play Attack from Mars and i downloaded the ROM from http://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=3781; any ideas where can i find the required table? as i checked IRPinball and http://www.pinballnirvana.com/UpDownload-req-viewsdownload-sid-61.html but without luck.

 

[Phoenixx]

Try here. (You have to look under VPM Tables.)

I recommend the JPSalas version, IMHO the most beautiful VPM table made to date.

(EDIT: I just see theres only JPs (and JPs&Gronis) version anyway.)

 

[omeed]

everything works fine now.

thank you for your help guys.

 

[Joe]

Yes, PinMAME wont do it, you need VPinMAME and VPinball (and a lot of other files) to play tables. PinMAME only emulates the ROMs.

But like McD said, this wont be a problem since the Visual Install Pack will set you up fine. It comes with all the misc files you need and installs everything automatically where it belongs. After the installation is complete you simply put your table files (.vpt) into the 'Tables' folder and the zipped ROMs into the 'ROMs' folder. After that you can play away.

Only one thing: Since you have already installed PinMAME i recommend to uninstall that first and then check (if necessary correct) the paths when you install VPinMAME. So when the VPM Installer window pops up, (on Vista it has to be brought to the foreground by clicking on it since it stays under the main installer window for some reason), install the thing first, then click on 'Setup Paths' and then click the 'Reset' button. This will automatically set all relevant VPM paths to the subfolders of the 'Pinball' folder, which is the VIPs mainfolder. After that (and adding tables and ROMs of course) you should be good to go.

If you have any questions just ask. If you run into any trouble just tell us what doesnt work, what exactly you did, and what error messages there were. (If any.)

you do not need uninstall pinmame vpinmame and pinmame can work from the same folder and use the same roms and other parts.

 

[Tiger-Heli]

I am having the same error as the OP was.

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<o></o>
First, off - I go back to the Nicky Special era, so I previously had VP 6.1 and VpinMAME 1.1 set-up and wrote a page on how to launch VP with a front-end, but I lost all my files in a hard-drive crash and am starting over.
<o></o>
Anyway - All I tried so far is installing your files and two tables - High Speed, Rescue 911 (and Dis-amageddon, and Mars Attacks - which are VP, but not VPM tables).
<o></o>
VP works great (on the VP tables) and VPM works great in test mode, however, when I try to launch either of the VPM tables, I only see the DMD display full screen and (on high speed) the sprite for the ball moving around, but I don’t see any of the rest of the table or the backdrop. (And it is so bad that I have to press Esc, Down, and Enter to quit, b/c I can’t see the “Pause/Exit To Windows Screen).
<o></o>
It is like VpinMAME if running in the foreground instead of in the background on the table backdrop.
<o></o>
Both the VPM tables did this.
<o></o>
Also, this is probably minor, but when I set up VP previously, I installed VpinMAME to a sub-folder (i.e. VP was in G:\Pinball, and VpinMAME was in G:\Pinball\PinMAME with sub-folders). Your install put everything in the G:\Pinball folder, but I don’t see a vpinmame.exe file - just vpinmame.dll and a G:\Pinball\VPinMAMETest\VPinMameTest.exe file.
<o></o>
What am I doing wrong???


Also, I could search, but I'm a bit lazy today - I tried to run the tables under the Nanotech VP9.exe file and they seemed to run a bit better (more of the lights shown behind the DMD). Are there still issues with running VP8 tables under VP9? (I can probably mod EmuLoader to run tables from either .exe with a batch file, but I don't think I can do it with VPLauncher.


Finally, VP9 says it improved command line options, but I didn't see a list of what these are (I'll likely search for that.


Thanks in advance for any help, and glad to see the progress that's been made in VP!!!

<o></o>
Thanks!!!

 

[Tiger-Heli]

I think I found the solution from this reply:

1.) Run the Setup of VPinMAME

2.) Press the 'Setup Paths' button

3.) Uncheck the 'Always run fullscreen on this display' box

I won't know until tonight, though!!!

 

[Phoenixx]

...Your install put everything in the G:\Pinball folder, but I don’t see a vpinmame.exe file - just vpinmame.dll and a G:\Pinball\VPinMAMETest\VPinMameTest.exe file.
<o></o>
What am I doing wrong???

Dont worry, nothing wrong here, everything as should be. The folder stuctures are integrated for simplicity and VPinMAME itself was always just a DLL, meaning merely the Setup Launcher was and is an executable. (VPinMAME Install&Setup.exe)

Are there still issues with running VP8 tables under VP9?

Yes and they are severe, probably unsolvable. (I found a perfect solution for a reliable dual-install though but thats another story.) I will spare you the details, suffice it to say that you should not run one sort of tables in the other version.

I think I found the solution from this reply:

1.) Run the Setup of VPinMAME

2.) Press the 'Setup Paths' button

3.) Uncheck the 'Always run fullscreen on this display' box

I won't know until tonight, though!!!

Rest assured, if you got a VPM Display in fullscreen then this is the ticket. If its still big after unchecking always run fullscreen simply do a rightclick/restore.

 

[Tiger-Heli]

The folder stuctures are integrated for simplicity and VPinMAME itself was always just a DLL, meaning merely the Setup Launcher was and is an executable. (VPinMAME Install&Setup.exe)

Great - All I had was folder names from the old install, so I had no good way to check.

(And as a command-line MAME user, the lack of an .exe bothered me.

Yes and they are severe, probably unsolvable. (I found a perfect solution for a reliable dual-install though but thats another story.) I will spare you the details, suffice it to say that you should not run one sort of tables in the other version.

This sounds simplistic, but basically all the tables I am interested in seem to be supported in VP8. AFM looks interesting in VP9, and I am wanting to try it, but from the screenshots, I like the VP8 version better anyway.

Most likely I'll just stick with VP8.

Rest assured, if you got a VPM Display in fullscreen then this is the ticket. If its still big after unchecking always run fullscreen simply do a rightclick/restore.

Will do - thanks for your help!!!

 

[Tiger-Heli]

Hmmmnn …
<o></o>
Sorry for hi-jacking the thread, but at least the OP’s question was answered first.
<o></o>
I made a lot of progress, but now I have a lot more questions (some unrelated).
<o></o>
First off, I did have to right-click and select restore to get the DMD sized properly - I’m glad you mentioned that.

I don’t remember before being able to drag the DMD and have the game remember its position on a per-table basis. I think last time I used it, I had to edit the table script to change it. Nice improvement!!!
<o></o>
I tried AFM in both VP9 and VP8. Interesting result - initially in VP9 I had a lot of blotchy purple graphics and four flippers at the bottom. I didn’t remember the screenshots looking like this and thought maybe my vid-card was incapable (FX5200). It turns out, I had the game set for fullscreen, but 640x480x16. Changed it to 1024x768 and it looked great.
<o></o>
It’s hard to pick a winner - I think the VP9 lighting effects better, but I think the overall table layout and look is better in VP8 and VP8 is just more “fun.†I guess I’m sticking with it - at least for now.
<o></o>
I have a question on Rescue 911 for anyone that has played the VPM version. The key feature of the game is a helicopter that picks up the ball and carries it across the playfield. All of the mechanics of the game work fine - the rod that lifts the helicopter raises, the arm that supports the helicopter traverses the playfield, but there is no helicopter and the ball is not moving across with the arm either (at least not visibly). Is this a very difficult thing to implement? I know you would either need a bunch of images of the helicopter at different angles or a 3D model of it, but compared to the shaking saucer in AFM, I would think it was within the realm of VP. Mainly I want to know if it’s a problem with my setup - I looked in the image editor and didn’t see a helicopter image, though. I am grateful for what’s been done on the table, and I’ve gotten projects 90% and quit and not even uploaded them (not VP-related), but … the author went to a lot of trouble to document the physics, I’m surprised this was left out ….
<o></o>
Not sure if this is related, or really what to make of it, but VPLauncher said this:
Date of VP data base: 1/28/2006
Date of FP data base: 2/8/2006
Versions newer than these dates are not considered. The following text should give you an idea, for which of your tables are newer versions available.
For your table Rescue 911 V1.0 of type VPinMame
there exists the following newest version(s):
Rescue 911 v1.0
<o></o>
(???)
<o></o>
I am currently running a 4:3 CRT display, but was wondering ‑ if I switch to a 16:9 display will the current tables “letterbox†or “side‑bandâ€? If so, that’s fine, as long as they don’t stretch.
<o></o>
Also, are there any other VP frontends that anyone would recommend besides VPLauncher. Basically, I like the way VPL just works, but would like more control of the viewing, more image types supported, and filters for say VPM and Non‑VPM tables and custom and recreation tables. I can do it with EmuLoader and get what I want, but it’s a mostly manual setup process.

EDIT - I'm going to look into MALA, but for what I want, I'll probably end up manually using EmuLoader.
<o></o>
Now the hard questions …
<o></o>
Maybe the wrong forum, but I downloaded Howard Casto’s VP-Launch5.exe from the Lazarus site, b/c I like not seeing the splash screens and the Exit menu. It works great when I launch a game from its test screen - however, when I tried to point VPLauncher to it instead of Vpinball, I get an Run-Time Error 52 bad file name or number, which I think is related to VP changing from the -play command to just play.
<o></o>
When I tried to run it from the command line with vp-launch5.exe play “AFM_2.2_JPG-PINS.JPG†nothing happened. No error message, nothing.
<o></o>
First question - How do I get this to work?
<o></o>

Second question - I know how to set Emuloader to launch a different command-line for each game, so if I didn’t want to use the wrapper, I could launch one table in VP9 and another in VP8. I don’t know how the wrapper gets associated with the VP emulator, so I’m not sure how I could use the wrapper to do it. And I’m not sure how to do it at all with VPLauncher - well, I could if I had VPL in one directory pointing to my VP8 tables and files and another copy of VPL in another directory pointing to the VP9 tables, but I don’t know how the wrapper would be associated with both files.
<o>
Maybe I need a different wrapper …

</o>

Edit - (not a quote, but I didn't see a strike-thru function) the second part is a non issue, I found a different wrapper here, and it allows you to specify an executable, so one copy for VP8 and a different copy for VP9 - don't know if it works yet, though.
<o></o>
Suggestions?
<o></o>
Thanks!!!!

 

[Tiger-Heli]

I think I figured out the command line problems.

It now seems to need to be vpinball.exe <dash>play <dash><quote>path<quote>

 

[Phoenixx]

Glad you figured it out. (I never use the CMD for such things so i couldnt be of much help here.)

An alternative to VPL? Try VPMan. Some say it has more options than VPL but i myself never used it so i can neither confirm it nor deny it.

 

[Tiger-Heli]

VPMan looks good!!!

Does anyone know about the Rescue 911 questions? Basically:

• Is the helicopter really missing from the game and not just some graphics glitch on my PC?
• Is it possible given the current physics of VP to add the helicopter and show the ball moving with it - given a good 3D or 2D model and enough time and effort, or is it more involved than that?

Thanks again!!!

 

[yogiholzer]

I guess I still never played the Rescue 911 table. On the version of the table that I have here (1.0) there's no helicopter visible top left (I just load the table and had a look).

I'm nearly sure it's possible to add the helicopter. Look at i.e. Jurassic Park. Be sure, I don't have a clue how to do that.

 

[Tiger-Heli]

I'll have to try Jurassic Park - it's on my list of tables to get.

As long as it is possible I imagine someone will figure it out eventually - they have with most everything else.

Thanks again for all the help!!!

 

[yogiholzer]

Look at the dinosaur (T-Rex) when the ball is captured.

 

[Tiger-Heli]

I am currently running a 4:3 CRT display, but was wondering ‑ if I switch to a 16:9 display will the current tables “letterbox†or “side‑bandâ€? If so, that’s fine, as long as they don’t stretch.

Okay, just tested the above (on a machine I probably shouldn't have, but I wanted to test something else), and the display did stretch to full screen, even though I told VP to run at 1024x768 and the Windows default is 1680x1050.

This machine can't usually make changes to the registry, though, so maybe it wouldn't do that if I had admin rights.

Is there some way to keep the 4:3 tables from stretching on a widescreen display (not on this machine, but if I change displays on my main computer)?

In other news - VP-Man is great, it also has the option to run any table under any version of VP, so you can have VP8 and VP9 tables in the same list and run them under the correct version (hint!!!).

Played Jurassic park and yes, it that works the helicopter should definitely be "do-able" It uses EM reels for the dinosaur, and that's about the extent of my knowledge/skills on it.

Any idea how best to try to get the helicopter added to Rescue 911?

Pingod, Destruk, and Joep did the original table, but I don't know if they are still active. And I hate to ask them "Could you add the Helicopter in, b/c if they knew how to, you would think they would have originally.

PacDude did the JP table, so he would probably know how, but I DO remember enough from the Nicky Special days to not suggest "Why don't you make a modification that fixes these other people's table?"

Suggestions?

 

[Phoenixx]

...the display did stretch to full screen, even though I told VP to run at 1024x768 and the Windows default is 1680x1050.

Is there some way to keep the 4:3 tables from stretching on a widescreen display...?

Its the monitor software that does that, hence the only way to fix this is to 'tell' your monitor not to automatically upscale the content to full width. But to be able to do so the monitor/driver has to support it. With some models it can be done via the drivers control panel and with others you can do it directly via the monitors OSD. If the function is not available in either then there is probably nothing you can do, though, most newer models should be supporting it,...

 

[Tiger-Heli]

Phoenixx - thanks - found it ...

For my screen:

Custom Scaling (select
models)
Selects the method on how displayed information on
the monitor will be formatted. Select:
● Fill to Screen - image fills the entire screen and
may look distorted or elongated because of nonproportional
scaling of height and width
● Fill to Aspect Ratio - image is sized to fit the
screen and maintains proportional image
● One-to-one (select models) - disables video
scaling, displays an image that is smaller in size
than the monitor’s capability and centers the
image on the screen in the active viewing area

And it's grayed out on my OSD, so I guess it's not a "Select Model". I'll just be sure to look for it in the monitor I get if I upgrade.

Thanks again!!!

 

[Phoenixx]

Glad i could help.

 

[Tiger-Heli]

Okay, can anyone give me a quick run-down on hidden switches in VP and VPM and how to access them?
<o></o>
I know in Arcade MAME, the tab menu brings up the dip switches (and sometimes toggling the Service Menu (F2) brings up additional menus.)
<o></o>
I found out from the forum here that F6 brings up VP table options and 7, 8, and 9 typically bring up VPM options that can be cycled with the “1” Start button.
<o></o>
But, for example, Attack From Mars says to Open the Coin Door switch to change settings, but nothing tells me what the coin door switch is or how to open it.
<o></o>
I looked at command-line PinMAME and it mentioned opening the coin door and said to see the keys.txt file for definitions, but there is no keys.txt file.
<o></o>
Also, for example, on the Williams games, the “8” menu has a setting for Balls/Play - 1 to 9, but then settings for “Install 5 Ball” and “Install Extra Easy” for example - what do these do?
<o></o>
Thanks!!!!

 

[Tiger-Heli]

A google search revealed "End" is the coin door button, and this page had lots of helpful info.

Also, for example, on the Williams games, the “8†menu has a setting for Balls/Play - 1 to 9, but then settings for “Install 5 Ball†and “Install Extra Easy†for example - what do these do?

Still need info on this - or anything else helpful anyone could share!!!