Help SSF in FP

[graf]

Is it possible to get SSF working in FP ?
if so is there any instruction on how to do it ?

 

[TerryRed]

FP only supports Stereo.

The only option is to add Pinup Player (pup) support to a table and create an SSF pup-pack and mod the table to trigger it, etc.

Tutorials? No.... but.. as far as the table script is concerned... you can use the following to add pup support to any FP table... but you still need to add the pupevent triggers throughout the table, and create a pup-pack with the sounds,etc. This also does not include the ball rolling sound support.

You also need to disable the mech sounds on the table if you dont want both SSF and FP sounds playing at the same time. These are the hurdles I needed to cover when I add PinEvent to a table... but that goes way beyond what I'm going to post here.

===================

' ********** Add Pinup Player support to a Future Pinball table **********

' - this can be copied to the script of any Future Pinball table under Option Explicit
' - this will add support for Pinup Player, but does not include support for PUPDMD framework
' - this is NOT the same as the features of a PinEvent table, nor does this use or require the PinEvent vbs files
' - DO NOT use the name PinEvent when using this code to add PuP to a FP table (PinEvent = TerryRed table and pup-pack releases only)


'/////////////////////// iCOM BAM PLUG-IN - USE COM OBJECTS ////////////////////////////

' The iCOM plug-in for BAM must be installed and enabled in the BAM Plug-ins menu!

' This will allow programs such as DOF, Pinup Player, and more to work directly with Future Pinball.

Dim icom : Set icom = xBAM.Get("icom") ' "icom" is name of "icom.dll" in BAM\Plugins dir

Function CreateObject(className)    
   Set CreateObject = icom.CreateObject(className)
End Function

'///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////


'//////////////////// PINUP PLAYER: STARTUP & CONTROL SECTION //////////////////////////

' This is used for the startup and control of Pinup Player

Dim usePUP
Dim cPuPPack
Dim PuPlayer
Dim PUPStatus
PUPStatus=false

Sub PuPStart(cPuPPack)
    If PUPStatus=true then Exit Sub
    If usePUP=true then
        Set PuPlayer = CreateObject("PinUpPlayer.PinDisplay")
        If PuPlayer is Nothing Then
            AddDebugText "PUP is not installed"
            usePUP=false
            usePUP_SSF=false
            PUPStatus=false
        Else
            PuPlayer.B2SInit "",cPuPPack 'start the Pup-Pack
            PUPStatus=true
            AddDebugText "Start PUP"
        End If
    End If
End Sub

Sub pupevent(EventNum)
    if PUPStatus=false then Exit Sub
    if usePUP=false then Exit Sub
    PuPlayer.B2SData "E"&EventNum,1  'send event to Pup-Pack
End Sub


' Usage: pupevent(EventNum)

' EventNum = PuP Exxx trigger from PuP-Pack

' Example:

' pupevent 102

' This will trigger E102 from the PuP-Pack


'///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////


'////////////// START PUP-PACK ////////////////

usePUP = true               ' enable Pinup Player
cPuPPack = "FP_PUP_PACK"    ' name of the PuP-Pack / PuPVideos folder for this table
PuPStart(cPuPPack)          ' check for PuP - If found, then start Pinup Player / PuP-Pack

'//////////////////////////////////////////////

 

[graf]

Thanks for the information. I will try it just need to find time when the family will let me do it :)

 

[TerryRed]

Well.... a typical good table can have up to 100 SSF sounds in a pup-pack... so the sounds files need to be created and added to the pup-pack in WAV format with their position on the table added... then you need to correlate that with the table script commands you are using, and the objects on the table,etc. It can be a crazy amount of work to do it "right".

 

[graf]

so if all i want to do is to make the sound for the bumper , then i can assign a bass sound ? if I connect a amp with a bass shaker in it I can get the haptic sound feed back ?

 

[TerryRed]

SSF = mechanical table sounds played in the 4 surround channels (on a 7.1 sound card) and positioned where they are on the table... or played on a secondary sound card (5.1).

You connect the analogue line output from your sound card on your PC to whatever amp / shaker / transducer / speaker you want to use.

 

[graf]

I need to play around with this.

 

[GeorgeH]

I don't get why you should have 7.1 sound for the mechanical table sounds only. The rest of the sounds have to be stereo at best and are most likely simulated stereo because they are usually extracted from ROMs that are mono. To my thinking, the table would sound best if everything was in stereo if you can't mix everything in 7.1. It seems to me that constantly switching back and forth between 7.1 and stereo would be confusing and would sound better if everything was in stereo.

 

[graf]

The only way to do it is to test it. I think 7.1 so that u can assign special speaker for each sound.

 

[GeorgeH]

The only way to do it is to test it. I think 7.1 so that u can assign special speaker for each sound.

I have read people do that but doesn't it sound odd when the mechanical table sounds is the only sound that is produced on the special speakers?

 

[TerryRed]

I don't get why you should have 7.1 sound for the mechanical table sounds only. The rest of the sounds have to be stereo at best and are most likely simulated stereo because they are usually extracted from ROMs that are mono. To my thinking, the table would sound best if everything was in stereo if you can't mix everything in 7.1. It seems to me that constantly switching back and forth between 7.1 and stereo would be confusing and would sound better if everything was in stereo.

SSF is intended for cabinets only.

You don't use 7.1 for SSF only.

For proper SSF you need either a 7.1 analogue sound device, OR 2 analogue sound devices.

==== Option 1 =====

7.1 audio output

Front Left and Front Right = FP game sounds only. No mechanical sounds.

Surround Left, Surround Right, Surround Back Left, Surround Back Right = SSF table mechanical sounds only

===== Option 2 ====

2.1 audio output of first sound card / device = FP game sounds only. No mechanical sounds.

5.1 audio output of 2nd sound card / device = SSF table mechanical sounds only

 

[TerryRed]

When using 7.1 sound card only

 

[graf]

wow that is great diagram :)

 

[GeorgeH]

Interesting. I thought I must be missing something. Where do you get the 7.1 sound input? All the ROMs I have seen only have mono sound.

 

[TerryRed]

Interesting. I thought I must be missing something. Where do you get the 7.1 sound input? All the ROMs I have seen only have mono sound.

7.1 sound output from your "sound card" in Windows.

SSF output makes use of all 7.1 channels. You can specify the x / y position of the sounds manually in the pup-pack within the forward / rear / left / right space of the speaker channels, just like any typical PC game (but we only use the surround and rear channels for SSF). For PinEvent tables, they also use ball rolling sounds that change with the position of the ball (not just front left / right like FP's ball rolling sounds from smoke).

 

[GeorgeH]

I saw a video of a table once. I guess the mechanical sounds are what drives the tactile exciters which makes it feel like the tables objects are actually moving like I saw in one of the videos. From what I saw in the video, you don't hear the sound so much as feel it in your fingers.

 

[TerryRed]

You hear and feel the sounds. it just depends on how the audio was setup...and the range of the transducer / shakers used.

 

[TerryRed]

The abyss inside my cabinet shows you where I have my transducers.

 

[Popotte]

Interesting. I thought I must be missing something. Where do you get the 7.1 sound input? All the ROMs I have seen only have mono sound.

Data East have stereo sounds.

 

[GeorgeH]

Data East have stereo sounds.

I haven't reworked the sound on any Data East tables yet. The ROMs on some tables have surprisingly bad sound like Creatures From the Black Lagoon and Funhouse. I happened to find better sound on both tables. Some people are never happy, someone on Pinsimdb complained about the quality of Rudy's voice on Funhouse after I was done. Obviously, he had never played the original table.

 

[TerryRed]

Almost all older tables have bad quality sound samples.

 

[GeorgeH]

Almost all older tables have bad quality sound samples.

I wonder why that is. It seems that good sound would sell the table. Costs maybe?

 

[TerryRed]

I wonder why that is. It seems that good sound would sell the table. Costs maybe?

It was the limitations of the tech they were using, especially in the 80's and 90's. So it was lower sound sampling quality as a result... not by the choice of the table creators / sound guys.

Stern was pretty late to update their tech as well. Even Tron Legacy only has mono sound for the music and sounds and samples ay around 22000Hz which is sad, when you consider even CD's are typically sampled at 44100Hz and stereo. Stern didn't exactly have much a reason to update since they didn't have any competition until JJP came along. Then finally Stern updated their system with much better sound and replacing DMDs with LCD monitors and animation.

 

[Popotte]

Stern was pretty late to update their tech as well. Even Tron Legacy only has mono sound for the music and sounds and samples ay around 22000Hz which is sad, when you consider even CD's are typically sampled at 44100Hz and stereo. Stern didn't exactly have much a reason to update since they didn't have any competition until JJP came along. Then finally Stern updated their system with much better sound and replacing DMDs with LCD monitors and animation.

Competition is always good for the consumer. But Stern still has some progress to make regarding the quality.