Young Frankenstein (gabrom) V02[Visual Pinball X Original]

[fourbanks]

Okay, just woke up for the day. I'll work on getting FlexDMD properly installed today.

Looks like I need to install something from Freezy too, for it to work.


Btw, you did say you tried contacting the author, right? ("Gabron" was it?)
And the subject was about improving or modding the table, right?

If so, I don't think there will be a problem with uploading the original table here, alongside a newer version with the fixes we come up with. The important thing is to contact author and make clear that if they want the table pulled, we pull it immediately. I've done that with a handful of tables myself without issue.

Main thing is to be polite, respectful, and let them have the final word.
Authors tend to respond super-favorably to that approach.

I have asked Gabron about fixing the table but have had no response back as he is seldom online, and I don't think he's coming back as he hasn't been back to his table download thread for 6 plus years now

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

@fourbanks
Okay, I downloaded the two packages. Now I need to put them in the right places, plus I think there's some kind of registration needed for FlexDMD.

Unfortunately, the two teeth that just got worked on have developed a pretty serious infection over the last couple of days. I hope to get back to the dentist tomorrow to get it sorted.

So I'm slowed way down at the moment. Cheers.

 

[fourbanks]

@fourbanks
Okay, I downloaded the two packages. Now I need to put them in the right places, plus I think there's some kind of registration needed for FlexDMD.

Unfortunately, the two teeth that just got worked on have developed a pretty serious infection over the last couple of days. I hope to get back to the dentist tomorrow to get it sorted.

So I'm slowed way down at the moment. Cheers.

FlexDMDUI is the folder to make sure flex DMD is registered correctly. Hope your teeth improve with a good antibiotic.
No rush take your time OK
i did try to update flex DMD to the latest build, but that didn't work says it coulden't find whatever, so I just leave things when working in future

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

FlexDMDUI is the folder to make sure flex DMD is registered correctly. Hope your teeth improve with a good antibiotic.
No rush take your time OK
i did try to update flex DMD to the latest build, but that didn't work says it coulden't find whatever, so I just leave things when working in future

Since I'm at the install stage myself, I'll check this out and give you my results.

I'm ready to murder someone over this tooth-pain-clusterfluff.

 

[fourbanks]

Hope you're feeling better now

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

Hope you're feeling better now

It is, thanks!
Emergency appt cleared things up a lot, and I'm just off painkillers now.

So you mentioned above you had an issue with upgrading the package.
Let's get that sorted, too.

Anyway, on my end--
from what I've read, I unzip the two packages in specific places, and it's not quite like how things work via a standard "install EXE." Sound about right?

It's like 11:52PM where you are, right?
If you're a night owl, planning on staying up a bit later, let's work on this tonight..
Not sure if I'm going to be around tomorrow (SAT in the States)

 

[fourbanks]

It is, thanks!
Emergency appt cleared things up a lot, and I'm just off painkillers now.

So you mentioned above you had an issue with upgrading the package.
Let's get that sorted, too.

Anyway, on my end--
from what I've read, I unzip the two packages in specific places, and it's not quite like how things work via a standard "install EXE." Sound about right?

It's like 11:52PM where you are, right?
If you're a night owl, planning on staying up a bit later, let's work on this tonight..
Not sure if I'm going to be around tomorrow (SAT in the States)

I'm not around myself today much

 

[fourbanks]

How are we doing now, hope your mouth is better. What plans have we got for this table with regards the scoring?

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

How are we doing now, hope your mouth is better. What plans have we got for this table with regards the scoring?

Thanks, yes; pardon my slackitude, matey.
Gonna be up late, tonight?

Anyway, I'll try to install the two packs right now and report how things go.

 

[fourbanks]

Thanks, yes; pardon my slackitude, matey.
Gonna be up late, tonight?

Anyway, I'll try to install the two packs right now and report how things go.

Thanks, Isaac :)

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

Finally back. Pardon the late reply.
So couple things--

- I'm frankly paranoid about installers, and vastly prefer to extract zips instead (scanning them first, of course). This also means that there's a little more work needed via this method, such as manually editing config files.
- In terms of "more work needed," the key file to edit for VPM seems to be "DmdDevice.ini" as per here.
- After reading up a bit on this stuff, it seems like installing both DMDext x64 and X86 is highly recommended.
- These two install packs, plus FlexDMD, seem okay to drop in the VPM folder.
- VPM also needs to be updated to latest version.

You had mentioned an issue above, @fourbanks, so on your end, I'd recommend double-checking the above to make sure you're good with all that.

Me, I'm try to carefully make sure I've done everything right, then I'll fire up the table and see what happens. More later..

 

[fourbanks]

i have it all up running correctly now so just waiting for your comments in regard to the table scoring and anything else I might have missed

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

Okay, FINALLY! getting back to this.
- VPM successfully updated & FlexDMD installed.
- With DMDExt, I dropped the x86 in to my VPM folder, then overlaid it with the contents of X64. Hope that didn't bork anything up, but the FlexDMD installer is happy, and the demo table runs fine.

And now...
The YF version I downloaded from you now runs, but the DMD takes up over a third of the overhead screen. EDIT: Oh, okay. I guess you just manually resize it to fit your resolution. Makes sense.

EDIT2: Whoof. The layout of this machine ain't the greatest. Reminds me of Inner City Life with both the right & left alleys blocked by ramps & stuff.

So right now I'm testing the center ramp on the original version. Does it really have a problem?
So far I'm not even able to hit it.

EDIT3: Hang on, the dimensions of the center "habitrail" ramp are only 47x47x47.
How's the ball supposed to fit in there, anyway? (and yes, I manually moved the gate out of the way)

EDIT4: About the points system you mentioned-- Looks like they are expressed as variables P1, P2, P3 & P4. Weird thing is that it looks like he's often subtracting points from one's score. Could that be the cause of the points resetting on each new ball..?

 

[fourbanks]

Okay, FINALLY! getting back to this.
- VPM successfully updated & FlexDMD installed.
- With DMDExt, I dropped the x86 in to my VPM folder, then overlaid it with the contents of X86. Hope that didn't bork anything up, but the FlexDMD installer is happy, and the demo table runs fine.

And now...
The YF version I downloaded from you now runs, but the DMD takes up over a third of the overhead screen. EDIT: Oh, okay. I guess you just manually resize it to fit your resolution. Makes sense.

EDIT2: Whoof. The layout of this machine ain't the greatest. Reminds me of Inner City Life with both the right & left alleys blocked by ramps & stuff.

So right now I'm testing the center ramp on the original version. Does it really have a problem?
So far I'm not even able to hit it.

EDIT3: Hang on, the dimensions of the center "habitrail" ramp are only 47x47x47.
How's the ball supposed to fit in there, anyway? (and yes, I manually moved the gate out of the way)

EDIT4: About the points system you mentioned-- Looks like they are expressed as variables P1, P2, P3 & P4. Weird thing is that it looks like he's often subtracting points from one's score. Could that be the cause of the points resetting on each new ball..?

i don't understand his thought process of how the points stack up, so I'm at a loss on that point

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

I took a quick scan through the rules, but didn't see mention points deduction stuff.

Gabrom also seemed to be saying this is an unfinished version of the table, so maybe it makes sense that a bunch of stuff should kinda be broken.

As for the center ramp, I tried manually enlarging it to 60x60x60.
Then I started up the table, ran the debugger (press "D"), checked "ball control" and with the mouse was able to bring the ball up the ramp about halfway before it dropped through the upper part without the guide.

My back's killing me, so I'm gonna lie down for now.

 

[fourbanks]

I took a quick scan through the rules, but didn't see mention points deduction stuff.

Gabrom also seemed to be saying this is an unfinished version of the table, so maybe it makes sense that a bunch of stuff should kinda be broken.

As for the center ramp, I tried manually enlarging it to 60x60x60.
Then I started up the table, ran the debugger (press "D"), checked "ball control" and with the mouse was able to bring the ball up the ramp about halfway before it dropped through the upper part without the guide.

My back's killing me, so I'm gonna lie down for now.

funny you say that my back is bad long term with Sciatica

 

[fourbanks]

We will need to understand how this table scores in order to improve it further

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

laying on the couch now typing on a half-broken keyboard
three more thoughts--

1 - i presume the rules document should address scoring, but i just skimmed it earlier looking for something else. feel free to give it a look.

2 - have you been able to activate all the playfield lights that run up the left side?

i presume that when you light them all, the mini-table frank mode begins, and the gates drop which close off all the ways to get the ball up there

i tried hitting all the targets i could using the debug tool, but i couldn't get about 1 or 2 of the lights to display

3 - btw, matey, do you know how to place temporary pins in the middle of all the various paths where the ball gets sent to the drain?

the 'pins' would just be walls with height of about 50, and x and y = about 5

that way you can keep playing one ball indefinitely and test out all the events that should be possible to trigger in this game. later on you can simply delete the pins when done testing.

 

[fourbanks]

laying on the couch now typing on a half-broken keyboard
three more thoughts--

1 - i presume the rules document should address scoring, but i just skimmed it earlier looking for something else. feel free to give it a look.

2 - have you been able to activate all the playfield lights that run up the left side?

i presume that when you light them all, the mini-table frank mode begins, and the gates drop which close off all the ways to get the ball up there

i tried hitting all the targets i could using the debug tool, but i couldn't get about 1 or 2 of the lights to display

3 - btw, matey, do you know how to place temporary pins in the middle of all the various paths where the ball gets sent to the drain?

the 'pins' would just be walls with height of about 50, and x and y = about 5

that way you can keep playing one ball indefinitely and test out all the events that should be possible to trigger in this game. later on you can simply delete the pins when done testing.

i don't Isaac know anything about the pins
i haven't being honest gone any further than trying to understand how the scoring works plus the removal of the ramps so the ball no longer gets stuck

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

i don't Isaac know anything about the pins
i haven't being honest gone any further than trying to understand how the scoring works plus the removal of the ramps so the ball no longer gets stuck

Okay... I've spent a lot of my time trying to help you out on this stuff, and I don't regret that in the least, but we can't have you just saying "I give up" about this or that.

This is YOUR project, matey.

 

[fourbanks]

Okay... I've spent a lot of my time trying to help you out on this stuff, and I don't regret that in the least, but we can't have you just saying "I give up" about this or that.

This is YOUR project, matey.

Iv'e not given up just the fact at the moment i just want to address the scoring first before going on to the next step

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

Iv'e not given up just the fact at the moment i just want to address the scoring first before going on to the next step

Okay.
Then please re-read what I said above.
I gave you a bunch of ways in which you could help me investigate.

 

[fourbanks]

Okay.
Then please re-read what I said above.
I gave you a bunch of ways in which you could help me investigate.

I'm afraid I only can do the basics in the editor and beyond that I'm lost
i have asked a couple of experts in vpx who create tables to have a look but have stated and i quote (the table is far too complicated to fix)
so i'm going to leave it OK but continue to reach out to see if this table can be fixed correctly at some point by someone else

 

[fourbanks]

I'm afraid I only can do the basics in the editor and beyond that I'm lost
i have asked a couple of experts in vpx who create tables to have a look but have stated and i quote (the table is far too complicated to fix)
so i'm going to leave it OK but continue to reach out to see if this table can be fixed correctly at some point by someone else

i have asked another table creater to look at the table just to fix the scoring and will let you know if he can

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

Okay, that's cool.

We will need to talk about all this.
And we should talk about various expectations.

(But I really can't guarantee anything, and TBH, I hate things being put on me)