Silent Hill

[TerryRed]

Silent Hill

I'm making this new "standalone" table based on my favorite game series and the Silent Hill movie. My intent is to have progression through the main events of the movie, while having the things that make the game iconic.

- foggy town
- darkness
- flashlight
- different locations (alley, school, hospital, church)
- otherworld levels (rusty, blood)
- creepy monsters
- creepy sounds
- iconic Akira Yamaoka music

The movie videos are not part of the table (yet). I only added them for this demo, as PinEvent will be the very last thing to add to the table when it's done (a very long ways to go).

Sounds and Music

If there is one thing the Silent Hill series is known for, is the amazingly beautiful and disturbing sounds and music from the extremely talented Akira Yamaoka.

I bought every soundtrack I could get over the years. The number of sound files made for these games is crazy! Silent Hill 2 alone has many 100s of sound files. I'm going through ALL of them and the other games to find the sounds I need for Silent Hill.




While doing "research"... I decided to do some sound recordings from the games to use. I've played SH2, SH3, SH4, Homecoming on my PC (which "today" is a real benefit with 4K, 60fps, Enhanced mods, etc)

Wow! Almost 20 years later, and I still have my original save game files!

Playing these now is like travelling back in time. It's awesome!







Silent Hill Textures

There's something freaky and cool about going through textures of a 20 year old game to use in a 13 year old pinball editor to be played on almost anything modern including a VR headset.

If anything, it makes me really appreciate the talent of texture artists, and how far ahead Team Silent was back then.







Monster models

I'll be adding many of the monsters from the movie / games. Most will be animated to some degree.


Straight Jacket

The "straight jacket / armless man" from the movies is tricky. I was able to extract the original model, but couldn't use the original texture as the UV wrapping info is lost with the extraction.

So with the help of a very talented VPX table author / modeler... he was able to fix up the model (half the polygons were flipped) and create a very cool looking texture to try to make it look more like the movie version (on the left). The model had a few slits in it, so he made them bloody looking, as well adding the cool bump mapped skin and veins! You can see how it will actually look in FP-BAM on the right.

The hard part will be figuring out how to animate this guy since he doesn't have "arms"...which makes using Mixamo for auto rigging and animation not possible, until I figure out another solution.






Grey Children

This is also a bit tricky because there are no detailed models to use from the original game as Silent Hill 1 was on PS1 which looks like this. :)



So I decided to find other models that I could use that were close enough, and maybe distort them to look more like the movie version. Here's what I have so far on the left compared to the movie on the right. I found a Resident Evil monster model, used Mixamo to auto-rig it into a T Pose...then used Blender to sacle the head to be bigger and twist it a bit.

Yes, I know it looks more like Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13th Part 1 (when he jumped out of the lake)... but it's the best I can do unless a better option comes along. :)





...and more monsters yet to come!



Foggy Town

Silent Hill the game and movie changes from foggy to the darkness / otherworld version of the same location. I "intend" to do the same for this table. How well that will work out we'll have to see.

This is where I am at currently with the foggy town look. This will be changing as you progress throughout the game.








There is MUCH more to do and see... I promise you, you haven't seen anything like this in virtual pinball before!

 

[wkrpcinci]

Love this and all these updates. So talented, thanks for this and everything else you contribute to the community.

 

[NateMac00]

This looks great, it could be it’s own table IMO, switching between day world and nightmare world. Love these games and the first movie is underrated. Plus it’s a movie where Sean Bean actually survives for once, so it’s an anomaly just for that.

 

[Wiesshund]

Banned.

Does your mommy know you are on her PC again there little missy?

 

[TerryRed]

Silent Hill - Nightmare Alley demo (RetroFlair 2 - Future Pinball)

Here is the first work in progress of the Silent Hill mode for my upcoming Future Pinball table RetroFlair 2.

Silent Hill is my favorite game series, and I really wanted to get to look / feel / sounds of that in this mode.

Keep in mind this is only the first part which is the Nightmare Alley opening. I didn't want to wait until the entire mode is done to show it off. That said, there is much more to come!

The movie videos are not part of the table (yet). I only added them for this demo, as PinEvent will be the very last thing to add to the table when it's done (a very long ways to go).

 

[GeorgeH]

I like the smoke effect. It must be a hologram that covers the whole playfield. The second part is a bit dark for me although my eye sight isn't very good.

It is like you are creating multiple tables out of RetroFlair. Version 1 seemed to have several tables in it also.

 

[Ian (WVP)]

Its gonna be more like playing an arcade game than a pinball game

 

[TerryRed]

When you are trying to animate an armless Silent Hill monster for RetroFlair 2... you need to add "fake arms" so it can be autorigged (adding a skeleton) to allow for animation. I manually added the nurse monster's arms to the armless monster. Here's how it turned out...

Ha... they may be tiny, but it works!

The arms will just use an invisible texture, so you won't even see them.

 

[TerryRed]

UPDATE

So.... I decided to make a major change.

Instead of having Silent Hill be a mode for RetroFlair 2, I'm now going to have it be it's own standalone table! I always wanted to do my own Silent Hill table, and given the size this would be when it's done, it makes much more sense.

Pros:

• Silent Table table is now stand alone, and can be completely "mature" in it's content
• RF2 was at 195 MB with the Silent Hill mode "so far" (the max I can go is around 250 MB). Now Silent Hill stand alone is only around 45 MB without RF2... so lot's more freedom for animations, music, sounds, models, and content.
• RetroFlair 2 will now have more free space for me to add another Gamez mode to it (to be announced at a later time)
• I'm going to make Tron Legacy and Tron Classic as separate Gamez modes on RF2

Cons:

• more work to do for both tables
• not sure which table will be finished first
• long time before either is "done"

I'm not sure if I will change the "main" mode's layout for Silent Hill much. It will most likely retain the RF2 layout.

 

[GeorgeH]

Makes sense.

 

[AnonTet]

Rf2 will still be awesome. Like you said, instead of just a mode you can have a full table with lots of goodies.

Makes sense.

 

[TerryRed]

Monsters and monsterous model sizes!

So now that Silent Hill is a stand alone table... I have much more freedom to go crazy and add much more detail and many more models.
VPX models and FP standard models are old school in that they can only use a single UV wrap texture... so you never see complex models that are a crazy size in VPX or non BAM FP tables.

FP BAM however supports modern FBX models (what I use for animated characters and more). This means that the models can have built-in complex and multiple animations.... but also many different groups / sections of the model that can each have their own textures, bump mapping and more.

Any model from a "modern" PC game can be MUCH larger in size compared to any typical model found on virtual pinball tables.
I found some stunning Silent Hill models to convert from Dead by Daylight.

The Pyramid Head model alone.... when converted with all the PNG 2048x2048 colour textures and 2048x2048 bump map/normal textures adds up to 55 MB.... for "one" model. That's larger than the entire Silent Hill table (for now)! It works and looks great... but is a bit overkill for a model you don't ever get to see up close.

So converting all the textures down to 512x512 and jpg reduces the model to about 6 MB. You can't even tell the difference. When the table is done, I can always bump up the texture resolution if there is plenty of space to spare.... but tables can goto a max of about 240 MB before you are pushing it too far.











Adding Silent Hill literally to my Silent Hill table.

I have spent the last couple of weeks completely rebuilding my Silent Hill pinball table (as it's now going to be a standalone table). While the layout may look similar to what I showed in the RetroFlair 2 demo... I basically have rebuilt most of the table's layout and geometry with many changes, which requires redoing much of the table.

A huge change will be the addition of actual buildings, items and more from the Silent Hill games being added to the table.

I was able to rip some things myself...others I was able to get from other community sites for Silent Hill / deviant art,etc. Some from SH1 (on PS1), SH2 / SH3 / SH4 on PC.

Many of these buildings from the game never had complete tops / roofs to them as you never saw them in game, or they were covered by fog,etc.

I've had to modify and rebuild some buildings to make them fit or look good on the table in Future Pinball. I also added many little details to completely populate the table to look like a town of Silent Hill.

Details such as:

• Hydro Poles with wires going across the table
• fire hydrants
• trees
• stop signs
• garbage can / dumpsters
• cars / vans
• Texxon Gas Station
• Happy Burger
• Stores
• Midwich School (SH1)
• Lakeside Amusement Park Entrance (with Robbie the Rabbit)
• barricades / fences
• Woodside Apartments
• street lights used as flashers

The end result is looking very cool (and I haven't redrawn the playfield and plastics art yet)... but there is more being added.

The same will go for all other levels I'll be adding such as the School and Hospital and Otherworld / Hell versions. I'll be using props / items from the games to make this look unlike any other pinball game.

 

[TerryRed]

Silent Hill (Future Pinball-BAM) - WIP

"Texture tiling, old school style"

Work is chugging along with my Silent Hill table. I have been completely redoing the main table, and have been transforming the table literally into the town of Silent Hill using actual models / assets / textures from the original Silent Hill games (20+ years old now).

I never thought I would see myself manually "tiling" textures for pinball plastics art, but here it is. It may look odd but this is a pic of the "town" plastics and apron without any models, etc.

Since BAM custom models work differently than normal FP models, you can't see them when generating a blueprint to use for creating the playfield / plastics art. So I had to manually "guess" where all the buildings / cars / trees / lightposts / powerlines / fire hydrants, etc would be in order to place all the texture tiles.... and even more so for the shadows for everything.

It may not look much on it's own right now.... but when you see the "new" table compared to the old RetroFlair 2 demo... I think your jaw will drop. Everything you saw previously has been either replaced or completely redone... and there is so much more to add. I'm loving how this is turning out.

 

[TerryRed]

Not exactly news to anyone reading this thread...but...

 

[TerryRed]

Silent Hill (Future Pinball - BAM)

New Table (Work in Progress) - Nightmare Alley, Armless Monster Scenes and features Demo

This is the first work in progress of my new standalone Silent Hill table for Future Pinball - BAM. For all the years I've been in this hobby... I always told myself, if I was to do my own table... it would have to be Silent Hill... my favorite game series.

Thanks to the amazing recent BAM updates from ravarcade (for Future Pinball), many of my ideas are now possible. So I've taken all I know, and have started to put it all into this fan-made work of passion.

I think you'll be amazed at how atmospheric and immersive pinball can be, and with Silent Hill this is essential.

I really wanted all the key ingredients included. Fog, Darkness, Lighter, Flashlight (dynamic light), Radio static, Otherworld, Rust, Blood, Decay, Siren, Creepy Monsters, visuals and authentic locations, items and music from the classic Silent Hill games

The next step...probably my favorite and the most daunting...is creating Scene 3 - Midwich School.

This work is purely made for my own enjoyment and education, and is my love letter to Team Silent, and all other Silent Hill dev teams that have poured their heart into this series. I hope, as a fan, I will do them proud.

Thanks to:

- Rom for the original layout used for the table
- Schreibi34 for the gorgeous insert renders
- Andrei Maraklov for help with the amazing Armless Monster model
- @ravarcade for the amazing BAM updates that make this possible
- Chris Leathley for Future Pinball
- @Gimli , @GeorgeH , @wild , @polygame , @shiva , and many others at Pinball Nirvanna for great examples and support
- SLAMT1LT, and other FP and VPX authors for great examples to learn from
- the entire VP community, who has been very supportive of my crazy work, despite it not conforming to "realistic" pinball

 

[mdkbot]

I'd say you nailed it !!! True artist.

 

[dvdedmen1]

Wow so much hard work. Amazing, did not know so much work was involved. Keep up the great work. Thank you so much looking forward to playing it.

 

[TerryRed]

Back to work on Silent Hill (PinEvent)

OK... so after a few weeks....I'm back at working on Silent Hill. My "hope" is to have it done for Halloween... but that may be too ambitious...especially if I need to add PinEvent when the table is done. When Silent Hill is done.... then it's back to work on RetroFlair 2. Let's just hope my work doesn't take me away from home up until XMAS holidays so I can get these done!

Now to work on the Midwich School Scene.

Playfield and Plastics

Silent Hill (and RetroFlair 2) are different in that they completely change up the layout, visuals, models, and textures for multiple Scenes as you progress. This is almost like creating art for multiple pinball tables, but its only this one table.

So far I have only the first two Scenes done which use the town and alley artwork. Now I need to do models, layout, playfield and plastics for Midwich School.

For the Town and Alley, here's the playfield and plastics art. It seems simple when you remove all the table components... but it's a lot harder than it looks when you are trying create something new that works on a new table that evolves and changes. Lots of trial and error.

In the mean time... here's a few pics to hold you over .

 

[Paolo]

Ok, my compliments, for the work you are doing on this, and how BAM uses .... I'm not a horror fan, indeed I hate ...... films, games, and all its context, but this is another story.

But that doesn't stop me from telling you, very Bravo !!

 

[HZR]

Holy cow. another cool pinball release, this looks cool as hell and one of my favorite movies!
wasnt a fan of the games though.

 

[LtJazz]

Impressive work, especially on the models design !

 

[TerryRed]

Silent Hill (PinEvent):

New look, multiple playfields, and first reveal of Midwich School's classroom and bathroom sections.

I'm back at it, adding more to Silent Hill (PinEvent). I'm now creating the Midwich School sections (and show a teaser of the classroom and bathroom), which required me to give the entire game a much needed makeover to the playfield. This was essential to allow multiple other playfields / ramps / wireramps, etc to be able to swap in and out between sections of the game. You've never seen anything like this (except on RetroFlair 2 of course).... and this is taking it to a whole new level.

No full gameplay of the new levels shown for now (just a preview)... but I can't wait to show you what I've come up with for the School Otherworld in the next video preview (when the Midwich sections are all done).

 

[Gin]

Wow.... Very impressive Terry! Thanks for sharing.

 

[rush2pinball]

I am blown away. This looks awescome

 

[TerryRed]

Silent Hill (PinEvent) - Bugging around with Creepers

I was stressing because I couldn't find a suitable 3d model for the "creeper" bugs I'm adding to my Silent Hill virtual pinball table I'm making in Future Pinball.

I found some great beetle FBX models with fully animated legs...but the bug looked nothing like the Silent Hill movie's bugs.

Using the video link below... I was easily able to use this pic from the Silent Hill movie concept art to create the model I needed.

With slight adjustments in Blender, I combined the new model with the beetle's animated legs (with complete skeletal animation) and I made some nice normal / bump maps... and it turned out great!

You'll love these new Creeper bugs crawling all over the table (and they don't like being hit). Just a small part of the creepiness you'll be seeing in Silent Hill.