VP9 VPdesktop execs

[pinhead1]

i looked here and online for explanations on what is the difference in VP9 DTexec 920 and 921.
nothing came up relative to what i was looking for.

 

[xenonph]

i looked here and online for explanations on what is the difference in VP9 DTexec 920 and 921.
nothing came up relative to what i was looking for.

You can find this info in the changelog.txt file located in your Visual Pinball folder.

Here is what it says for 9.20 and 9.21

VP 9.2.1 Changelog
------------------------
- this is the final release to be based on DirectX 7

- add "To Collection" to the context menu to assign a selected element to a collection
- add moving of single selected collection in the collection manager

- add CurrentAngle() function to the gate object

- add "Is Toy" checkbox to disable collision handling on mesh primitives completely.

- add collision detection to mesh primitives together with hit threshold and hit event

- add Z offset to the backdrop options. With this settings you're able to zoom in/out the table without changing FOV/Inclination/Layback settings
- add Z scale option to the backdrop options. With this setting you're able to reduce/increase the overall depth of a table.

- add table dimension manager for an easy way to calculate real table dimensions into VP table units and vice versa

- add a ball throwing feature to VP. To use it check "Throw Balls in Player" in the debug window (ESC -> "Debug Window") and by left clicking and holding the left mouse
button you create a new ball and it throws the balls in that direction you move the mouse cursor when you release the left mouse button. If you click on a non
moving ball you can reuse that ball and no new calls will be created. A right click on a ball will remove that ball from the table.

- add touch support for tablets (windows 8 and upwards)
current mapping:
upper left - add credit
middle upper left - left magna save/2nd button
middle lower left - left flipper
lower left - start
upper right - quit (press for 2 seconds to exit VP completely)
middle upper right - right magna save/2nd button
middle lower right - right flipper
lower right - plunger

- add Alpha-Flasher element. Use this element to add (additive) alpha flashers instead of abusing the alpha ramp element. The flasher is a 'dynamic' element, that means it is not pre-rendered
and it'll be updated every frame.
Limitations:
If 'Display Image In Editor' option is selected and the flasher is rotated the image won't rotate due to a DX7 limitation.
If the flasher is not an additive alpha flasher you can colorize the image with 'Color' if you don't want that effect set the color to blank white (RGB 255,255,255).

- add height offset to bumper element

- add additional (optional) parameters to PlaySound to increase/decrease the frequency, apply all the settings to an already playing sample and choose if to restart this sample from the beginning or not
all parameters are now: PlaySound "name",loopcount,volume,pan,randompitch,pitch,useexisting,restart
pitch can be positive or negative and directly adds onto the standard sample frequency
useexisting is 0 or 1 (if no existing/playing copy of the sound is found, then a new one is created)
restart is 0 or 1 (only useful if useexisting is 1)

- per table setting of adaptive vsync (-1 = default, 0 = off, 1 = automatic detection, anything else: refresh rate in Hz)
- change per table settings for AA, FXAA and ball reflection (-1 takes the default from the video preferences, 0 forces off, 1 forces on)

- tweak key input code to save one frame (or more?) of lag

- change the old 'Physics Max.Looptime' setting to 'Physics Max. Loops'
it allows to specify the maximum number of iterations spent in the physics update.
by setting it f.e. to 1, the rendered frame updates will -always- match the physics updates, everything above 1 allows for multiple physics updates per frame
(2, 3 or 4 can be good values for this, as it slows down the physics temporarily if the FPS drop below 50, 33 or 25 in these cases).

- import/export of global physics options sets
- import/export of local/table physics options sets (that could then be reused globally of course and the other way round)
Note that for local/table export the first found flipper is used to export the flipper physics settings (and for import all flippers will be assigned with the same settings)

- add optional ball trails/motion blur (also adjustable per-table)
- add script option 'DisableLighting' for balls to disable lighting. This also allows to change the color of the ball via 'Color' directly

- add enabled flag to flippers

- separate/new texture maps for the lighting of lights (more details) and bumpers (brighter)

- fix problem with DMD/VPinMAME window being hidden behind VP window

- secondary/backglass sound output (by DJRobX)
if a sound effect contains 'bgout_' in the name or '* Backglass Output *' in its path then it is played via the secondary sound output (music always)
this can also be done with existing tables by using the new 'To BG Out' button in the sound manager

- script editor updated to use latest scintilla (3.3.9)

VP 9.2.0 Changelog
------------------------
- alpha ramps can now select to trigger region updates (also via script: Toggle via UpdateRegions or a single one via TriggerSingleUpdate) to avoid having to use the refresh-light trick
- primitives can now select to trigger region updates (also via script: Toggle via UpdateRegions or a single one via TriggerSingleUpdate) to avoid having to use the refresh-light trick

- add 'real' 3D mesh primitives, these can be loaded via .obj files (for example exported out of Blender)
- add lighting option for primitives
- add sphere mapping to 3D mesh primitives (useful to fake reflections)
- add static rendering feature to primitives: if you set the 'Static Rendering' option, the primitive will be pre-rendered and you can't change any parameters from within the script. This is
helpful if you want to use 3D meshes for posts or toys which won't be animated at all.
- add static rotation for primitives (ObjRotX, ObjRotY, ObjRotZ) to change the basic orientation of a primitive. The old rotation/translation settings animate the primitive.
all rotation/translation settings can be used out of the script.
- rotation/translation of primitives can be changed from within the script with the properties .RotX, .RotY, .RotZ, .TransX, .TransY, .TransZ, .ObjRotX, .ObjRotY, .ObjRotZ
or for backwards compatibility you can use .rotandtrans0-8

- add configurable lightsources: point, directional, spot; these share the same coordinate system as the table geometry (angle/rotation/scale independent! setting the direction of a directional light to 0,0,0 restores the old behavior though)
note that DX7 is still vertex lighting based, thus all lit objects MUST feature reasonable triangulation, like f.e. huge walls (the playfield itself is triangulated 100x100)
look at the built-in default table to get a feeling for the setup of these lightsources
- add exact lighting option to table (if you experience lighting problems with dynamic ramps, primitives or the ball, please enable this)
- add shadow orientation. In the table options under Lightsources you can change the shadow orientation by adding a factor to X and Y. Doing that you can change the projection of the shadow on the table.
This is needed if you use the extra light sources to create a more real lighting/shadowing.
- add flag to walls and gates to disable lighting and shadows (to assist in using fully artist driven lighting)
- add flag to light objects to disable the lighting calculations when the 'On Image' is set (so that behavior is the same as when only using a color)
- add lightmap for light objects: If option "'On Image' Is Lightmap" is checked you can define a lightmap for the on image. If the light is switched on the lightmap is rendered together with the off image.

- add flag for alpha ramps to optionally use additive blending (to cope with 2D-lighting-hacks like halos/flashers)
note that in order to implement fake GI/lighting or flashers via alpha ramps you should follow the following guidelines:
1) if multiple alpha ramps overlap, then the drawing order (see below) and the height level of these ramps have to match, so that the lowest ramp gets drawn first, etc (make sure to move same height alpha ramps to slightly different heights first!)
2) uncheck the 'normal 3D stereo' to not have each 3D user have to do this on his/her own (please do this only for lighting or flashers!)
3) to go for maximum performance disable visibility or the alpha flag for turned off lights/flashers via the script

- add modern plunger texture mapping support and correct coloring

- add per-table sound & music volume settings (0..100% scaling of the global VP settings)
- add per-table software FXAA setting (only works if also enabled in the video settings)
- add per-table alpha ramp accuracy
- add per-table region updates and region optimization (-1 takes the default from the video preferences, 0 forces off, 1 forces on)

- add layering of table elements
- add selection dialog where you can select one or more elements out of a list of all elements in the table
- add easy selection mode if you right-click on an element in the context menu you can select those elements which are stacked under the mouse cursor
- add drawing order (via 2 modes: Hit and Select), you can move elements up/down in a list to change the drawing order
Hit: If you click on an element all elements which are over/under that clicked element are shown in the list box
Select: If you select a bunch of elements, then the selected elements are shown in the list box
- add editor panning feature. In the editor hold ALT and move the mouse and the view will change in the direction the mouse was moved.
It just reacts on mouse movements if you don't move the mouse nothing will happen.

- add reflection option for balls (configurable per table). If you enable this option the ball is mirrored on the table. With reflection strength you can define how much the ball will reflect.
If the value is too high the mirror effect will look odd.
- add fake antialiasing(AA) as a global option in the video settings and a per table setting
- add 8 sets of global physics options to tweak some of the table and flipper settings that can then optionally override the table settings (when enabled in the table physics options and/or the flipper physics options)
this enables quick changes to flipper and physics settings for a whole bunch of tables (for example to tweak for less input lag or adapt the ball simulation/'speed')
the 8 different sets can be used f.e. to tweak for different hardware generations or the manufacturer

- add additional (optional) parameters to PlaySound to set the pan and/or randomize the pitch of the played sound effect: Instead of PlaySound "name",loopcount,volume one can now use PlaySound "name",loopcount,volume,pan,randompitch
pan ranges from -1.0 (left) over 0.0 (both) to 1.0 (right)
randompitch ranges from 0.0 (no randomization) to 1.0 (vary between half speed to double speed)
so f.e. PlaySound "FlipperUp",0,0.5,-1.0,1.0 would play the sound not looped (0), at half the volume (0.5), only on left speaker (-1.0), with varying pitch (1.0)
look at the built-in default table to get a feeling for the setup of these parameters

- script editor updated to use latest scintilla (3.3.6)
- add multi comment/uncomment feature to the script editor
- add function list to the script editor

 

[pinhead1]

youre right....i don't recall seeing a changelog.....i'll look again and do a files search for 920/921 changelogs.
i have a few more q's with 920/921.....i'll look for the changelog first