Support File BAM The Importance of BAMing All versions, through v.1.5-36x and beyond

[Isaac Sauvage]

I noticed we didn't have a Better Arcade Mode link in our FP resources section, and so decided to officially add one. (here)

For the resource icon, I used a BAM logo image I found in a Major Frenchy video. Sound okay? I can certainly change it to something else if needed. EDIT: Updated it to the official BAM install icon. The Major Frenchy icon is now attached for archival purposes.

Bonus pts if table authors who link to BAM want to use PN's link as a 'click-through' install. That will have the added benefit of helping our site track the number of new BAM installs.

Note: These posts split from this thread, where they were temporarily sheltering.

 

[GeorgeH]

Not quite sure what the right thread would be to post this, but I noticed that we didn't have a BAM link in our FP resources section, and so added one. (here)

I also cleaned up some errors in the description text, and for the resource icon, used a BAM logo image I found in a Major Frenchy video. Dunno if that's a good idea or not, but I can certainly change it to something else if needed.

If table authors who note that BAM is required in their tables want to point users to that link, it will have the added benefit of helping our site track the number of new installs.

You might want to add a reference to the BAM/FP 2 in 1 installer. It installs both BAM and FP with a singe exe file:

https://www.ravarcade.pl/files/FP-BAM-setup.exe

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

You might want to add a reference to the BAM/FP 2 in 1 installer. It installs both BAM and FP with a singe exe file:

https://www.ravarcade.pl/files/FP-BAM-setup.exe

My sense was that when they follow the link, that's one of the first things to immediately stand out.

Feel free to edit the resource entry as you see fit, though. You know this stuff a million times more than I do, but I just wanted to help keep the ball rolling, etc.

 

[GeorgeH]

My sense was that when they follow the link, that's one of the first things to immediately stand out.

Feel free to edit the resource entry as you see fit, though. You know this stuff a million times more than I do, but I just wanted to help keep the ball rolling, etc.

I updated it. We have been trying to promote it because it prevents some problems during installation.

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

I updated it. We have been trying to promote it because it prevents some problems during installation.

Great! I've also edited the entry slightly such that users are encouraged to first follow the site-redirect download link. As stated earlier, it will help PN track the number of BAM installs generated by us.

For that same reason, it may be worth going back through the last couple months of FP resource entries and substituting this link for direct links to Ravarcade's site. To help with tracking the installs.

Btw, as a mod, you should also see a "downloaders" button on any resource entry, including this one.

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

@NitroNimbus
@TerryRed
@wild
@polygame
@shiva

Just wanted to let you guys know that I went through the most recent 100 FP uploads and made the edit mentioned above in the resource entries. That included one or more of your tables, gentlemen, and I hope you don't mind. Specifically, where BAM was linked as an offsite install, I substituted FP's official resource entry, which of course still goes to @ravarcade's site. The point of making that small change is to help Pinball Nirvana track how many users from our site installed BAM.

I don't expect authors to remember to use the PN BAM link, but if you do, you can use the following code where you'd mention "BAM" as a hotlink:

[url=https://pinballnirvana.com/forums/index.php?resources/bam-better-arcade-mode.5680/][b]BAM[/b][/url]

In a larger sense, this is one small part of helping us track downloads and FP activity, with the aim of welcoming as many more FP users and authors as are interested in being here.

In fact, I don't recall the topic of "welcoming" coming up for a while, but it seems good to keep in mind. For example, maybe there's other things the site could be doing to be more welcoming. Or maybe it would help if folks wanted to spread the word that there's an active group of FP devs here working on projects and advancing the state of the art. (any takers?) As for myself, if there's anything I can help with, please let me know.

I also want to thank @Gimli Gloinson, @SLAMT1LT / @ULTIMATE Pro Pinball and of course Rafal for participating in our site this year and sharing all your good works. Again, if I can do anything to improve the user / site experience, please let me or staff person of choice know!


@Paulo,
I really like the way you used the QUOTE command in your resource entries to condense long sections of text. It makes the whole entry much more readable IMO, especially when you have a long section of text. Also, just wanted to say I enjoyed your classic NES tribute table, plus your other originals. Cool stuff! You know originals are really my thing, in case anyone was wondering. :)

@GeorgeH,
I didn't update any of your resource entries because most mentions of BAM seem kinda buried at this point. Or else you were specifically recommending the 2-in-1 link, and I didn't want to confuse people.
Ah, and a side note-- I'm quite impressed reading through many of your entries... seeing the amount of detail and background you put in to so many of them. It makes for pretty interesting reading, even when I haven't even run the table yet(!)

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

BAM BAM!

 

[GeorgeH]

Cool! I didn't know yoiu intended to use it this way.

 

[Paolo]

I really like the way you used the QUOTE command in your resource entries to condense long sections of text. It makes the whole entry much more readable IMO, especially when you have a long section of text. Also, just wanted to say I enjoyed your classic NES tribute table, plus your other originals. Cool stuff! You know originals are really my thing, in case anyone was wondering.

I thank you, I will post other originals, if you liked the others, I thought you had some resentment with me, I have not seen your "like" in my posts lately, but I'm glad that you somehow thought of me.

so.... I have to use that string "BAM in blue", to direct people to Bam latest version, ok,no problem for me, seems like a great solution.

whatever is good for the site, welcome?

PS: I remember that "child" has the strength of a Jedy.

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

I thank you, I will post other originals, if you liked the others, I thought you had some resentment with me, I have not seen your "like" in my posts lately, but I'm glad that you somehow thought of me...

I have no reason to be resentful. I did address some issues in private messages, but that was months ago. For the record, I prefer to take care of things right away rather than let bad feelings build.

As for not commenting / reacting much in yours or others' project threads in recent months, it's mostly a case of me spending more time on my own projects here, of which I have many. TBH, it's also true that if someone shows interest in one of my projects, that naturally makes me more inclined to show interest in theirs.

Lastly, when my PC is better able to run FP & BAM properly in future, I'll definitely be catching up with many more tables and projects.

.

Thank you also for being willing to link BAM via the PN link! That will certainly help us.

 

[GeorgeH]

You idea is working. We are up to 17 links to Raval's site.

 

[NitroNimbus]

Hi Ike,
Mate just wanted to say thanks for providing us FP fans with an excellent website!
I am so glad we made the move here, cheers!

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

Hi Ike,
Mate just wanted to say thanks for providing us FP fans with an excellent website!
I am so glad we made the move here, cheers!

Thank you also for the great tables, Nitro! :D

 

[GeorgeH]

I have to agree with Nitro. This site is so much better than GoPinball. I go back there occasionally and it is sad to see it a spam magnet now. When we left, the site looked like it was going to crash but that got fixed. The administrators planned to upgrade the forum and PinSimDB and created a test site. I don't know why they aren't doing anything with it now. I am still releasing tables on PinSimDB. It still works reasonably well although the comments get quite a bit of spam. I sent a message to the Nalex but he never answered back.

 

[AnonTet]

Hi Ike,
Mate just wanted to say thanks for providing us FP fans with an excellent website!
I am so glad we made the move here, cheers!

I'm glad I moved here, quite recently to, and I only have good thing to say about it.
Also, If I wasn't here I wouldn't be able to say, for the first time ever: "Thanks for all the spam" :D

Updating old tables is a major job to which I'm grateful. So, starting alphabetically, thank you for Abra Ca Dabra and... all the others following it.

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

@NitroNimbus,
Thanks for adding all the recent mods, mate!

I went ahead and edited your links to Ravarcade's site with our official PN BAM link, which helps us keep track of how many 'PNers' install or update BAM. It's the very subject of this thread, so just read above if you want to know more.

In future, if you feel like using our pass-through link to help us out, here is some useful code:

[url=https://pinballnirvana.com/forums/index.php?resources/bam-better-arcade-mode.5680/][b]BAM[/b][/url]

Which turns in to this: BAM.

I also looked up who the authors and co-authors were for your most recent upload, Three Angels, and added them in the description field. Unfortunately, unlike PinSimDB, this forum software only allows one author to be officially credited. So you have to manually add the others in the resource's description field.

With mods in particular, it's a really good idea to credit the original authors, so if you feel like adding that info to your other recent entries, I would most certainly appreciate it. :)

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

I'm glad I moved here, quite recently to, and I only have good thing to say about it...

Nice to hear, AnonTet!

As someone still quite the FP noobie, I don't have a good idea where on the 'Net might be a good place to reach out to other FP enthusiasts (besides GoPinball). Would you have any idea on that, by chance?

Now that a handful of quality FP authors are posting and releasing tables & guides here, it seems like a great opportunity for FP fans & users to interact with them. For example, to ask questions, request features, and maybe receive guidance in becoming FP authors themselves.

I'm just not quite sure where and how to reach more of these people.

 

[Paolo]

I have no reason to be resentful. I did address some issues in private messages, but that was months ago. For the record, I prefer to take care of things right away rather than let bad feelings build.

I agree with what you say, it also applies to me.

As for not commenting / reacting much in yours or others' project threads in recent months, it's mostly a case of me spending more time on my own projects here, of which I have many. TBH, it's also true that if someone shows interest in one of my projects, that naturally makes me more inclined to show interest in theirs.

Your thinking seems logical to me, but are your projects tables?

Lastly, when my PC is better able to run FP & BAM properly in future, I'll definitely be catching up with many more tables and projects.

I posted a new (so to say) new here .... but it's a table from a few years ago ...... original table that uses only the standard version of FP, you shouldn't have any problems playing or trying.

Thank you also for being willing to link BAM via the PN link! That will certainly help us.

Thank to you for making it possible.

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

Your thinking seems logical to me, but are your projects tables?

Only once in a while. More usual is that I'm creating my roundup articles, or working to add more classic VP tables to our database, trying to create useful writeups for them.

That's on top of being a PN administrator / moderator, and I try to do a good job with that stuff, too. I also like to brainstorm ways in which we can reach more people, like in this thread, or in the staff area, where George has helped me out.

Thanks again for all your wonderful contributions here, Paulo. Your work has directly helped the site and the FP scene IMO.

 

[AnonTet]

Nice to hear, AnonTet!

As someone still quite the FP noobie, I don't have a good idea where on the 'Net might be a good place to reach out to other FP enthusiasts (besides GoPinball). Would you have any idea on that, by chance?

Not even the foggiest. Actually, not even gopinball counts. Was the first site I've been to but as soon as I looked at the spam I new it was just collecting spiderwebs.
A shame really, because some stuff should probably be preserved.

But if even me knows about this place, I'm sure there are other that can arrive here.
And probably a few are just lurkers.

 

[NitroNimbus]

Hi Ike,
Mate I have a suggestion to get more FP and VPX people coming here. Csepregi Ivan has a pinball youtube channel
and posts new tables as soon as they are released. Maybe you could invite him and ask him to add links to tables that are posted here.
Don't know the guy at all but certain he also makes VPX tables, cheers!

Csepregi Ivan

Welcome to my channel! Instead of introductory text now, I'd rather start with who I would recommend my channel first: - If you like pinball machines - If yo...

www.youtube.com

 

[GeorgeH]

Hi Ike,
Mate I have a suggestion to get more FP and VPX people coming here. Csepregi Ivan has a pinball youtube channel
and posts new tables as soon as they are released. Maybe you could invite him and ask him to add links to tables that are posted here.
Don't know the guy at all but certain he also makes VPX tables, cheers!

Csepregi Ivan

Welcome to my channel! Instead of introductory text now, I'd rather start with who I would recommend my channel first: - If you like pinball machines - If yo...

www.youtube.com

He has posted quite a few videos of FP tables in the past but I think he gets all of them from the PinSimDB site.

 

[fastdraw]

on this subject.
black (Christopher Leathley) had written a post on the gopinball forum. to congratulate Ravarcade of bam. anyone have the link?

c'est si compliqué de créer un éditeur de pinball pour un programmeur ?
car visiblement christ a utilisé que des projets open source (libre)
openGL, Newton...et des moteurs 3d free existe (ogre3d par exemple) et des fichiers sans copyright.
qu'il a du assemblé pour en faire un programme cohérent.

trad. google :
is it so complicated to create a pinball editor for a programmer?
because obviously christ used only open source projects (free)
openGL, Newton ... free 3d engines exist (ogre3d for example) and files without copyright.
that he had to put together to make a coherent program.

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

Hi Ike,
Mate I have a suggestion to get more FP and VPX people coming here. Csepregi Ivan has a pinball youtube channel
and posts new tables as soon as they are released. Maybe you could invite him and ask him to add links to tables that are posted here.
Don't know the guy at all but certain he also makes VPX tables, cheers!

Csepregi Ivan

Welcome to my channel! Instead of introductory text now, I'd rather start with who I would recommend my channel first: - If you like pinball machines - If yo...

www.youtube.com

Contacting Youtube reviewers does sound like a pretty good idea. That particular guy's FP reviews aren't immediately obvious, but I do see a playlist of them here.

I can also kind of see how having the awesome PinsimDB repository can be a double-edged sword. In other words, having all that load of content in one place is obviously great, but it also encourages people to just swing by and grab tables without necessarily following the WIP threads and getting involved at a more significant level. To just remain blind consumers, so to speak.

Seems like we would almost have to wait for the occasional PN-exclusive (I think George and maybe Gimli contributed some), then send out notices of such to various reviewers. Yet I'm still not sure people who'd head over here to grab such tables would be interested in staying and participating in the threads.

So yeah, seems like kind of a tough nut to crack.

 

[GeorgeH]

on this subject.
black (Christopher Leathley) had written a post on the gopinball forum. to congratulate Ravarcade of bam. anyone have the link?

c'est si compliqué de créer un éditeur de pinball pour un programmeur ?
car visiblement christ a utilisé que des projets open source (libre)
openGL, Newton...et des moteurs 3d free existe (ogre3d par exemple) et des fichiers sans copyright.
qu'il a du assemblé pour en faire un programme cohérent.

trad. google :
is it so complicated to create a pinball editor for a programmer?
because obviously christ used only open source projects (free)
openGL, Newton ... free 3d engines exist (ogre3d for example) and files without copyright.
that he had to put together to make a coherent program.

GoPinball only shows 2 posts for Black. Maybe the old ones were archived. This topic shows he liked the Kinect Head Tracking:

GoPinball.com • View topic - Given I have to post.

Pushing the Pinball limits...One pixel at a time

gopinball.com