"Twilight Zone ULTIMATE 1.02" losing balls

jakethesnake

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I wrote a post a few months ago now (I think) about a problem I'm having
with a FP table (I was told, of course, that nobody else had this problem, so
I'll write it again.

The "Twilight Zone ULTIMATE 1.02" (and "Twilight Zone 1.10") tables for
Future Pinball are among the coolest tables that I've ever seen, and boy,
is it fun to play. The toys are amazing. But I'm having a problem of balls
disappearing from the tables.

When I get two consecutive "ball saved" conditions, or when I'm vigorously
hitting a ball, it can just disappear from the table (I can do this on purpose
very easily when I try). The table considers it still in play because it does
not issue another ball at the plunger. No key has any effect. So, the table
just sits there with no way to continue! The flippers, nudge, coin desposit,
table display, etc…) still function, but the table must be exited <ESC> and
restarted to play again.

Does anybody else get this?

Now, I don't have BAM installed (the table seems to not need it, and my
old computer is still running Windows XP (yes still), and BAM can't run
on Windows XP. So I haven't tried out "Twilight Zone 1.03" yet.
 
This appears to be the same post I answered here:

 
PSDB is down yet again, and I don't see the table anywhere else to DL.

If you start up the ball roller (mouse), can you move the mouse around and force the ball to hit bumpers and slings? This might indicate whether the ball got temporarily stuck somewhere, or is indeed MIA. If it only got temporarily stuck, just hit the mouse button again and let it start rolling.

If necessary, I'd think about going in the script and adding a key to manually drain the ball. This might be done by placing the ball right in to the trough, or maybe just calling the ball drain subroutine would be enough.

I'm guessing there's some other little experiments like this one might try...
 
Re: Last words on "Twilight Zone ULTIMATE 1.02".

"If a ball is lost or stuck, you can press "Q" to get a new ball
in the plunger lane. But I have tweaked the table that much, so
that will probably never happen."

In "Gremlins (Mega Madness) - Rapid Loader 1.1", by rom & francisco666,
they've prepared their game for this condition.


I know that I'm not a member of this community; if I make a comment about
a table, I'm don't mean to be critical of your work. I'm a computer science
major (and musician) so I know how it feels when someone makes a comment
about your work (especially when they can't do it themselves). Just offering
my two cents worth of experience...

I wrote a post a few times about "Twilight Zone ULTIMATE 1.02". When I get
two (or sometimes one) consecutive "ball saved" conditions, or when I'm
vigorously hitting a ball, it can just disappear from the t-a-b-l-e and
another ball is n-o-t issued at the plunger ("I" can do this on purpose
very easily when I try). [Freezes (dead stop) the gameplay, but flippers,
nudge, coin desposit, game display, etc…) still function ??? The game must
be exited <ESC> and restarted to play again ???]

Now, @AnonTet told me [generally, not on this topic], "Don't sweat it.
It's software meaning it's never finished, it can always be improved and
it's never without bugs".

On this topic, you told me it's probably "VSync". Nope. Or BAM. Nope.
There is simply a b-u-g in the software. This condition does happen.
Remember, it's only software, not an assult on someone's person. (I don't
mean to condescend.)

If nobody wants to make a comment or look into this possibility because
of who's MOD is it, then that's OK. But NO one is infallible.

Take this for what it's worth
 
Can you make a video of it please?

In windows is as easy as using the gamebar that is active by default.

While in gameplay press WINkey+alt+r to start recording and repeat to stop (although I think that if you ESC the game the recording also stops)

You should see a little "flash" when the recording starts.

On the "lost balls" code there are a few tables with that but in any of them I could follow the code. I whish that features was easy to port.
 
@jakethesnake,
About the non-tech issues you raise:

You've said and done nothing wrong IMO. To me you're a member of this community as long as your participating, which is what you're doing here.

There's a Japanese saying I really like ("wabi-sabi") and one popular translation is "Nothing is ever finished, nothing is ever perfect, and nothing lasts forever." As a perfectionist at heart, that phrase brings me a lot of relief! But I think that's also what you're getting at above, so right on.

Authors / re-creators are also artists of a sort, and artists range from being very chill all the way to being very touchy. Just human nature I figure, so I wouldn't sweat it.

So carry on, sir. :-)
 
I have tested this table at least 100 times and have never had an issue with loosing a ball. Since I never lost a ball, I didn't write any code to add a ball. Adding a ball to a table is not usually a good idea because it can change the ball counts and mess up the game. I am sorry I can't help you.
 
I don't recall this issue either and I played quite a bit on this one which is why I asked for the video.
 
Re: Twilight Zone ULTIMATE 1.02 video that I made.

Hello, it's me again! I have a gameplay video that I recorded with
FRAPS. The ball disappears (lost) after one "ball saved" (yeah, I know,
impossible?). I tried to pan over to the plunger lane so you can see
there's no new ball in there. It's a shame I have to go through all
of this!

It's 800x600p, 5 min 41 s, no sound, mp4, and 35 MB in size. OK. I'll
try to attach this video. If you don't get it, let me know how else to
get it to you guys. Let me know if you get anything!
 

Attachments

  • Twilight Zone Ultimate Gamplay.7z
    35 MB · Views: 32
I noticed the art for the side blades is not loading. Side blades should appear on the side walls inside the cabinet like in the posted screen shot. It makes me think that your PC is running low on resources. Try opening the FP editor and click on the "Preferences" menu and then click on "Editor Options". Make sure all options on the page are unchecked. After you make any change, close FP out totally and restart. Then try playing again. At least, my PC won't load the side blades if "load images into table editor" is checked.
 
I had similar problems yesterday on some tables.
I did a backup of my future pinball folder, reinstalled it and everything when fine after that.

I had to move scripts and libraries to the new install folder, of course.

default.cfg, bam.cfg, settings, nvidia driver reset, windows reboot, nothing worked. So avoid losing time and just use ravarcade bam 2 in1 installer.
 
Now, I don't have BAM installed (the table seems to not need it, and my
old computer is still running Windows XP (yes still), and BAM can't run
on Windows XP. So I haven't tried out "Twilight Zone 1.03" yet.

Opps! I read this again. I thought you were playing my version which is 1.03. I don't think version 1.02 has side blades.

I still think you have a resource problem so try doing what I said in the previous post.
 
Re: Twilight Zone ULTIMATE 1.02 video that I made.

Hello, it's me again! I have a gameplay video that I recorded with
FRAPS. The ball disappears (lost) after one "ball saved" (yeah, I know,
impossible?). I tried to pan over to the plunger lane so you can see
there's no new ball in there. It's a shame I have to go through all
of this!

It's 800x600p, 5 min 41 s, no sound, mp4, and 35 MB in size. OK. I'll
try to attach this video. If you don't get it, let me know how else to
get it to you guys. Let me know if you get anything!
I tried also the table without a problem.
I have also used the easy mode with 5 balls.
After the 5 Balls are gone the game is over. The high score comes up and I have to enter my initials.
I start a new game. The ball goes threw. Ball is saved. A new Ball is starting directly from the plunger lane.
I use the latest BAM 341.

Which FP Version are you using. The Slamt1lt Mod needs 2.4-2.6.
Not sure if this works, have you tried in the fpRAM folder to delete the Twilight Zone ULTIMATE 1.02.fpRAM ?

Jens
 
Last edited:
Which FP Version are using. The Slamt1lt Mod needs 2.4-2.6.
Not sure if this works, have you tried in the fpRAM folder to delete the Twilight Zone ULTIMATE 1.02.fpRAM ?

Jens

You can also do that from table info menu in FP.

There's no such thing as fp 2.4-2.6 -And everyone should install FP from Ravarcade
 
Last edited:
You can also do tit from table info menu in FP.

There's no such thing as fp 2.4-2.6 -And everyone should install FP from Ravarcade
You are right but he use WIN XP and have problems to install bam on his older PC.
 
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I know but if FP installs there should be no reason for ravarcade to fail.

Still, even if you install vanilla FP at ravarcade you can download the zip with bam and simple extract BAM folder into future pinball folder.
 
I know but if FP installs there should be no reason for ravarcade to fail.

Still, even if you install vanilla FP at ravarcade you can download the zip with bam and simple extract BAM folder into future pinball folder.
You are right again but we don't know how old his FP installation is.
 
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One more reason to do a reinstall. I'm on win11 and even I had to do that.

FP has... issues :D
 
If you say so...
Here's another one: upgrade from xp.
 
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