VP 8.1 update ?

[1234fd]

Quote from VPF:

[quote name='destruk' date='Oct 29 2010, 09:24 PM' post='82758']
[quote name='Tomcat Leader' post='82756' date='Oct 29 2010, 06:09 PM']Out of curiosity, is VP8 going to get an update, or is it pretty much a done deal?
BTW, thanks much for the updated ROM, Destruk.[/quote]
If you mean the VP8 table for Aaron Spelling, it is complete and playable.
If you mean VP8.1, I think that's a done deal unless someone wanted to start a dev team for it. The source for VP8.1 is in the same SVN as VP9, and requires the same ATL and DirectX.
[/quote]

Out of curiosity:
Anybody interested ?
Shockman ?
Bob5453 ?

My undersdtanding is that VP9 will be more & more cabinet & FS oriented when VP8 was more specifically directed to PC´s.
I might be totally wrong.

 

[tiltjlp]

So all we need are a few programming experts who like playing VP on their desktops and who aren't going to buy or build a cabinet. I have the time and the desire, just not the knowledge.

 

[bob]

It's over my head and I think SHockey said it's over his head too. VP is written in C+ or C++ or something like that. This is literally a different language and I only program at a 6th grade level anyway. I can drive a car, but I can't build or create a car from scratch. It would take a certain type of weirdo, who qualified as a software engineer, that would work hundreds/thousands of hours for free on stuff that would get you 10 thank you's and 5 attaboys. I could name you a couple of weirdo's, but you already know who they are.

 

[Shockman]

If I could do it, I wouldn't. I would make a better Virtual Pinball builder and also a player.

 

[tiltjlp]

Oh, if I could I would without question, since I have the time, and I could insure it would have the features us non-VPM authors need, as well as exporting an .exe table similar to F1. As Bob has said before, that would save our players from needing to install a program, and maybe broaden our appeal. Also, any version with the features I want, as well as the ability to produce a playable exe version would finally be worth paying for. I Have A Dream!!!

 

[Shockman]

I have made a few games with C++ but pinball is the hardest game of all to create. I have fiddled with the source code for VP8.1, but when they said at VPM that I would not even be able to link to my build, I pretty much gave it up. I did remodel the flippers and a few other things, but I never collected everything to actually compile it to test it. I mainly just looked to see if I could understand the structure and some of it I couldn't. I can tell you with experience, that in the right hands this is basic stuff. Some people could knock something off the to-do list every day to a week.

 

[sleepy]

What files are used for the flipper graphics and do they include the flipper physics or are the physics in another source file?

And I can only dream too!
This is a flipper I tried to make in the Art of Illusion modeler program.
It was a quickie and is not perfect.
I cut pasted the flipper from a VP blueprint.bmp, then in GIMP I connected the broken outline and used Bucketfill to fill in the background to result in a black and white pattern of the basic top view flipper shape, but without visual details.
Pretty much an outline shape.

I then used Inkscape > Import .bmp, highlighted the picture and then used Inkscape's Trace Bitmap > Edge Detect, and then saved the result as a Plain .svg file.

Then in Art of Illusion I imported the .svg using Tools > Scripts > Import svg paths. This takes the .svg file of the flipper and converts it to a flat object,
but AoI is not precise about placement of the object in the view window, so that takes some fiddling with. Then I selected the object and used Tools > Extrude to get the height. Afterwards, if I want detail shapes, I could model them as separate objects an and join them to the original flipper using Tools > Boolean Modeling. For the rubber I might be able to put a break in the flipper outline before saving it as rubber.svg in Inkscape, and then in AoI use the loop that occurs with a break in the flipper outline as a curve in AoI to then
make the rubber with Tools > Tube, but heh, I just thought of that!

I then added Material and Texture to the model, and Environmental Texture for the Specularity.

Note that I am nowhere near figuring out how to pin the axis of this flipper so it rotates from the base radius correctly.
Art of Illusion is a free Java-based modeler that uses simple component blocks for controls, similar to Visual Pinball, but does have a learning curve and is not perfect, though it can be fun. EDIT: The Import svg paths tool in AoI is a separate Script download and is not included in AoI by default. You can download the .svg script here:

http://aoisp.sourceforge.net/AoIRepository/Scripts/Tools/

http://aoisp.sourceforge.net/

 

[Shockman]

There is no graphics for the flippers they are modeled using math.

 

[Shockman]

I really like the way mekanimo does flippers.

YouTube - Creating a pinball game with Mekanimo Part-1 Flippers

 

[StevOz]

I can understand the various C source coding files, though this is not enough information. Without the tools to compile a final .exe and more importantly the manuals for MS direct X/.net and so on it's almost impossible to get a coherent understanding of how it all works together. Those various manuals/tools I'm referring to are not for free or readily available and make your less then average telephone directory look small, so you really need to be up with all that to make any real meaningful changes.

 

[1234fd]

Thanks for your answers.
Dreaming is costless!
:D

 

[Shockman]

If you can program in C++ and you understand this source code, you are very close, there I might even say, and you have a few options. You can learn the rest, and this should be the easiest part of your C++ learning, this is what I would most likely choose. You could hire someone, and I have considered this. But simplest and cheapest of all, you could join the dev. team, something that is just not for me.

 

[Shockman]

Of course the VPM team does not work on VP8 though. But I believe if someone was to develop VP8 in such a way that it played existing tables and had some of the features of 9 like the ball through the flipper fix, or higher res graphics, that that version would probably be welcome at VPF. You have to remember that it was me that suggested that, and what applies to me does not apply to you, or some of you would be banned as well.

It would be better in my opinion that if a dev. team was formed for the existing tables (pre VP9) that it be hosted here, even if VPF would not as they say allow links to it. I think if PN hosted a version of VP8 that worked with the VP8 tables with just a scant few of the features of VP9 the bttf fix and highres graphics, that might even play the desktop VP9 tables. I also think that such a version should be called VP1.0 because VP 8.1 is actually VP 0.8.9xxxxx, and in my opinion would leapfrog VPM's version.

I also think VPM would then have about the popularity of GoPinball. By saying they will not allowing links to better versions of VP, they are discouraging better versions of VP and are more akin to GoPinball now. Actually that comes from being banned for no good or clearly stated reason, but what comes around goes around.