DIY Virtual Pinball - Visual Pinball

WHY DO I NEED VP AND VPM SOFTWARE, TABLES AND ROM SETS TO PLAY VISUAL PINBALL?

While electromechanical (EM) pinball machines run with relays, switches and motors only, Solid-state (SS) pinball machines contain a 'micro-processor unit' (MPU) which, like any computer, requires an operating system and data to work, in 'real life' these bits and bytes are programmed into one or more (P)ROM chips plugged to the MPU.

VP and VPM cooperate to recreate the SS pinballs: VP controls the EM part, e. g. most of the playfield objects, while VPM emulates the MPU functions, using a zipped ROM set file that contains images of all the real ROMs of the particular table, and creates the score display (LED or DMD).

Rule of thumb:

EM tables are VP tables, don't use ROM sets and only require Visual Pinball for playing.

SS tables are VPM tables, need at least one ROM set, VP and VPM for proper function.

VP & VPM INSTALLATION

The installation will result in the parallel installation of different versions of Visual Pinball: VP8, VP9 and VPX. While VP9 and VPX include many enhancements, and almost all new tables are being created and have to be played with these versions, there's still a huge amount of tables available which were created and have to be played with VP8, an older 'mature' VP version. Generally, for a proper function you have to make sure to use the correct VP version with each table you download, either VP8, VP9 or VPX. VPX ist special in such a way that VP8/VP9 tables won't run at all with VPX and vice versa. See further explanations throughout this manual.
Visual PInball is still developing, the provided links lead you to the latest installer or standalone versions. Right now these are VP 8.1, VP 9.9.1 (or 9.9.2 with the VP Installer) and VPX 10.1.0.
It is highly recommended always to use the latest VP versions, as these may solve issues and drive the latest tables.

INSTALLATION USING THE VP INSTALLER:

In this chapter the term VP folder will describe the folder or directory on your harddrive where you install VP and VPM. The default path of this VP folder is C:\Visual Pinball, but at the beginning of the installation you can specify its location on your hard drive. You may want to write down its path for later reference, because you will add files into this VP folder later.

The new VP Installer includes all the necessary programs and files (except the pinball tables and ROM sets themselves) to run VP and VPM tables.

Remark: VP Installer vs. VIP (Visual Install Pack)

VIP is a VP/VPM installer package provided by other sites that deal with Virtual Pinball. We can't endorse the usage of the VIP for several reasons:

• the VIP installs outdated versions of VP and VPM and has to be updated manually - this is not covered here

• the VIP creates a different folder structure, compared to the VP Installer. This may cause issues if you use the VIP for a fresh install but decide to use the VP Installer later.

• The installation instructions in this guide only apply to an installation using VP Installer.

Follow the VP Installer link, press "Download", confirm messages and download VPX1setup.zip, unpack the contained VPX1setup.exe, execute it, read and follow the messages, and you're almost done!

The VP Installer will set up different Visual Pinball executables, VPinMAME 2.7, various folders and collections of necessary files inside the VP folder as well as VP specific fonts, Microsoft's DirectX and .Net, UltraDMD and B2S (if necessary). The latter two are extensions of Visual Pinball for multi-monitor setups.

Be alerted that at the beginning of the DirectX setup, which is part of the VP Installer, there will be a proposal to add the 'Bing Bar' to your Browser. It's up to you if you want it, but be sure to deselect the click box before you proceed if you don't want it...

Once the VP Installer has finished, open the VP folder and do the following:

- right-click each VPinballxxx.exe file inside the VP folder, go to the "Compatibility" tab and choose “Run as administrator” from the context menu.

- in the same place check "Compatibility Mode" and choose "Windows XP (SP 2 or SP3)" from the drop-down menu. Confirm and exit.

- Windows 7 users may want to disable the Aero theme while VP is active, to speed up their computer: right-click each VPinballxxx.exe file inside the VP folder, choose 'Properties', from there go to the "Compatibility" tab and select "Disable desktop composition". In the VPX editor this setting was added to 'Preferences' - 'Video Options' as well.

Now you can download pinball table files from the Visual Pinball Tables -> VP8/VP9 Desktop or VPX sections of our site, unpack them and add them to the Tables folder(s) inside the VP folder - further explanations follow below.

There's a valuable resource, created and maintained by ta2686: the Alphabetical Listing of VPM tables w/Links to Tutorials gives you an overview of the tables that have been emulated in VP/VPM. Thanks to ta2686 for it!

Download the ROM sets that you'll need with VPM tables from here. These stay zipped and are just added to the ROMs folder (inside the VPinMAME folder). Further explanations below.

Congratulations! You have just finished the installation of Visual Pinball and VPinMAME!

Continue for explanations about VP/VPM tables and ROM sets and the basic configuration of your installation.

VP/VPM TABLES, ROM SETS,...: WHERE DO I PUT ALL THAT STUFF?

Tables:

• We already said in the beginning that this tutorial only explains a single 4:3 or 16:9 monitor setup, so, after this installation, you can only play tables from the VPForums' ‘Visual Pinball Tables -> VP8/VP9 Desktop Tables' or 'VPX Tables' sections (or from other pinball sites). Full size (FS) tables, like found in the 'Visual Pinball Tables -> VP9 Cabinet Tables' download section, require at least a 16:9 monitor with 90° clockwise rotation, and preferably a 2nd monitor for a separate DMD, plus some tweaks in the installation setup.

- since it is highly recommended or, in case of VPX even mandatory, to play each Visual Pinball table with its related VP version, you may want to create separate Tables folders for VP8, VP9 and VPX tables in any place on your hard disk.

The Desktop Tables are divided into 3 segments:

- Recreations: these are VP recreations of real existing pinball tables from the known manufacturers. These may be VP or VPM tables.

- Originals: do not resemble a real pinball table, but were created after the VP author's own layout ideas. Originals are VP tables, because ROMs only exist for real tables.

- Mods: you take a recreation or original table and apply a change (layout, graphics etc.) to get a mod. Make sure to get the author's permission first!

• Tables come as zip or rar files, you have to uncompress these. 7-Zip is a freeware tool that can handle zip and rar files.

You may find the following file types inside the zip or rar file:

- the table itself is recognized by its file extension .vpt (VP8 or VP9 tables) or .vpx (VPX tables). That’s the three letters/characters after the dot in the filename, the same extensions are used for both VP and VPM tables. Add the vpt or vpx file to the correct Tables folder (see recommendation above).

- Visual Basic scripts (extension vbs): have to be put into the Scripts or Tables folder. A bunch of vbs files has been added to the Scriptsfolder during VP installation. Tables may come with table-specific VB scripts.

The VP Installer has taken care of all necessary scripts for VP9 or VPX. If you wish to also play VP8 tables, you have to follow these additional steps:

a. Go to the VBS Scripts page, press 'Download', 'Agree&Download' and download the file vpvbs3_43.zip

b. unzip all contained files only into the dedicated VP8 Tables folder

c. Explanation: the core.vbs file that was installed by the VP Installer has been made for VP9/VPX and will create an error message when you start a VP8 table: Object doesn't support this property or method: 'mSlingBump(...).Slingshot Threshold'. By the described procedure Visual Pinball will use the older core.vbs file from the tables folder rather that the one from the Scripts folder.

- Fonts (mostly ttf, True Type Font) are added to the Windows fonts folder. Use the fonts installation procedure that's appropriate for your Windows version.

- music (.mp3 files) go to the Music folder inside the VP folder.

- .hta files are rule sheets that are used by the main table and go to the correct Tables folder.

- .nv files have to be copied to the NVRAM folder, by default it is inside the VPinMame folder.

- .cfg files have to be copied to the cfg folder, by default it is inside the VPinMame folder.

- screenshots (jpg or other graphics format) may be copied to the Snap folder inside VinMAME folder, or any place where you want to store your screenshots. We recommend to give each screenshot exactly the same name as the corresponding table (except the extension of course). Later, if you decide to use e. g. the VP-Man front end, a link of each screenshot to the correct table will be created automatically.

- Few tables come with further additional files. There may be a note explaining where these have to be stored.

• Tables were created either with VP version 8, 9 or X. You have to run each table with its proper VP version. VP9 tables will hardly run with VP8 (due to new commands only available in VP9), while VP8 tables may run with VP9 (but, for example, in VP9 the ball has a slightly larger diameter compared to VP8, so a VP8 table played with VP9 may suffer from balls getting stuck on the playfield).

VPX tables won't run at all with VP8/9 and vice versa.

It is a good practice to maintain different Tables folders to identify VP8, VP9 and VPX tables.

• Be aware that an author may have added folder information when he compressed a table, so depending on the way you uncompress it may end up as a file within a subfolder of the Tables folder – in this case, in order to be able to play that table, you have to manually move the .vpt or .vpx file up to the Tables folder level. Delete the (now empty) subfolder to clean up.

ROM sets:

• ROM sets are zip files which contain one or more ROM files. ROM sets have to be kept as zip files and go into the roms folder, inside the VPinMAME folder. Your roms folder should only contain zip files!

• You find the latest and well-tested ROM sets in the Downloads section here at VPF. There are other sites offering ROM sets as well, but be aware that that you may encounter outdated ROM sets that can cause error messages at table start.

• Each VPM table requires at least one specific ROM set, but there may be more that one ROM set per table available for download, e. g. different languages or ROM versions (that may even be selectable at table start) require different ROM sets.

We recommend to download all available ROM sets for a table and add them to the roms folder.

• On each table download page you'll find a link ROM: link to ROM on the right hand side, just click it to download the correct ROM set.

• If you can't find the ROM set that way, here's an easy way to determine the ROM set you'll need for a specific VPM table: If you start a table and VPM doesn't find the correct ROM set for it, it will stop and open a Game Info window, the line ROM set name tells you exactly which ROM set is expected but missing, so you can download and add it to your roms folder. The line ROM directory(s) tells you where VPM expects it to be - verify that this is the ROMs folder you chose during VPinMAME setup, and put the ROM zip file there. Next time you start the table it's gonna work.

• For advanced VP users, another place to find the ROM set name(s) is the table script: open it in the VP Editor and search for the line cGameName = "xxx_yy". Inside the quotes you see the name of the ROM set used in the game. Now you can look it up in the Downloads section at VPForums and add it to the ROMs folder.

Attention: Searching inside the script may not work out if the author provides the choice of several ROM sets at table start, the ROM set name is not defined in the main table script, or the table was locked by the author to prevent modifications.

• A front end like VP-Man can help you identify the necessary ROM set for a table. It scans the main script and lists all ROM set names found there. VP-Man comes with many other useful features: you can organize your table collection, assign a VP version and a screenshot to each table and use different table folders (really useful for parallel usage of different VP versions!), and much more.

• You can only download VP tables if you are a registered VPForums member. You are entitled to use 5 download 'slots' (each slot represents one table file download, ROM sets don't count) within 24h. Corrupt or cancelled downloads won't be reimbursed - you'll have to retry next day.

To get rid of this limitation, you may consider to subscribe and become a supporting VPForums member.

BASIC CONFIGURATION OF VISUAL PINBALL AND VPINMAME

Before you play the first pinball table you should once launch each VP version you installed and check or apply the following settings in the editor:

• VP 8.1: Preferences - Video Options:

- choose Full Screen, your monitor's native resolution and the color depth.

- you may want to uncheck the 'Cache Rendered Table' setting, otherwise a rendered image of each table you start will be saved to your harddisk, occupying disk space.

• VP 9 or X: Preferences - Video Options:

- choose your monitor's native resolution.

• all versions: Preferences - Security Options: Make sure that 'Always create controls' is checked.

• There's a whole lot of other settings in the different menus! You'll get used to them with time.

• Aspect ratio in VP9 or X: nowadays there are at least three different aspect ratios used in desktop monitors: 4:3, 16:9 and 16:10. During table creation the author chose one of them for his table. While VP8 tables use 4:3, many VP9/X tables already use 16:9 per default. If your monitor doesn't match the VP table setting, the table looks distorted and the ball appears egg-shaped...

To adjust the aspect ratio according to your monitor specs, do the following:

- open the VP table in VP editor

- on the left click 'Options' and 'Backdrop', this opens a menu on the right hand side of the editor

- on the right, expand 'Colors & Formatting' (VP8 or VP9) or 'Graphics & Camera' (VPX)

- Use the 'Y Scale' value as the orientation point and adjust the 'X Scale' value to get the correct aspect on your monitor. The factor for conversions between 4:3 and 16:9 is 0,75, either you multiply the present X Scale with it to change the table from 4:3 to 16:9 or divide it by this value to change from 16:9 to 4:3.

Between 4:3 and 16:10 the factor is 0,833.

• For proper VPinMAME function check the following settings:

- double-click Setup.exe (in the folder where VPinMAME was installed) to open the application's window

- verify that the message 'Visual PinMAME version 2.7 is currently installed on your computer" is displayed at the top of the window

- click 'Setup Paths...'

- verify that the folders paths (ROMs, cfg, nvram, Samples) match your setup

- verify that 'Display' is set to '(Default)'

- verify that 'Always run full-screen on this display' is unchecked

(the last two settings define a single-monitor setup and would have to be modified if you use separate monitors for playfield and score display)

- Click 'OK', then 'Quit'.

B2S FUNCTION

The 'directB2S' option consists of various pieces of software to display the pinball table's backglass on a separate monitor. Even if you only have one monitor, you are able to play VP9 or VPX tables that were written with directB2S, provided that you configured directB2S properly. After the VP Installer has finished its job, you'll find in the Tables folder some files that start with 'B2S...' and a Readme.txt. The following procedure is partly taken from this Readme file:

Rightclick the 'B2SBackglassServer.dll' and click on 'Properties'. Maybe you'll find the following text on the 'General' tab:
"This file came from another computer and might be blocked to help protect this computer". Click on the "Unblock" button.
Everyting is fine when you are not able to find this text.
Right-click the 'B2SBackglassServerRegisterApp.exe' in the Tables folder and choose "Run as Administrator", then start it by a double-click. Now the B2SBackglassServer.dll should be registered.
This finishes the installation of directB2S, you can download and play tables with directB2S backglasses from now on. A complete tutorial on directB2S for a single-monitor setup is found under this link! Thanks to xenonph for it!

HOW TO START A TABLE:

If you followed the installation, you will have VP 8.1, different VP9 versions and VPX in your VP folder. For your convenience the VP Installer has created assignments between VP versions and tables:

a double-click on any VPX table (extension .vpx) will launch VPX, load and start the table

a double-click on any VP8 or 9 table (extension .vpt) will launch VP9.9.2, load and start the table

While these asssignments are fine for VP9 and VPX tables, VP8 tables are special: because they also have the extension .vpt they are launched with VP9 as well, which can cause issues due to differences between the VP versions.

To play VP8 tables properly you have to launch VPinball8.exe inside the VP folder, load the desired vpt file and start it.

VPX files won't run in VP8 or 9 and vice versa.

Of course you can use the 'VP selection method' for all your tables: just open the correct VP version by double-clicking the correct application from the VP folder, load a table and start to play.

With several VP versions installed in parallel it is essential to know what VP version each table was created with; you may consider to separate all your tables in different Tables folders, as said before.

A front end like VP-Man can assist you with a built-in feature that lets you define a default VP version (e. g. VP 8.1) that is generally launched with any table but gives you a tool to assign a different VP version to each table that requires it (e. g. VP 9 or X tables). Be aware that VPX tables won't show up in VP-Man unless you change their extension from .vpx to .vpt! Since Fartian, the author of VP-Man, stopped the development in 2010 it can't show VPX files (of course renaming the extension will break the assignment between VPX and VPX tables...).

An attempt to launch VPinMame (VPM) itself is of no use, only VP can interpret the vpt file. VPM will be launched automatically and perform its tasks as soon as VP encounters the corresponding commands in the vpt table script.

KEYBOARD LAYOUT:

In the VP Editor click on 'Preferences - Keys' to see a list of the most common in-game keys (since VP9 the default key list was enhanced). Press F2 while you play a VPM table for a more detailed list.

The default keys on the main keyboard are:

1 - start new game

2 - buy-in extra ball (if applicable)

3, 4, 5, 6 - add credit(s)

Left and Right Shift - Left and Right flipper button

Enter - pull&release plunger. The longer you hold it before release, the higher the ball launch speed

Down Arrow - used in some tables (e. g. created by Scapino) to set the plunger strength, then press Enter to launch ball

ESC - pause game, show 'exit' menu

A and ' (near Return key) - Left and Right MagnaSave or

Left and Right CTRL - Left and Right MagnaSave

Z - Left Tilt

Spacebar - Middle Tilt

- (Dash) - Right Tilt

B or O - add a ball to the trough. This is useful in case a ball gets stuck on the playfield and you want to continue the game

T - 'hard' hit on the table to release a stuck ball, may cause Tilt!

VP Tables from the 1950's and 60's may use these additional keys:

A - lift ball to plunger (simulates the good old 'manual ball lifter')

S - start new game

Function keys (while running VPM tables):

F 1 : VPinMAME settings

F 2 : key assignment list

F 3 : VPM restart (after nvram config change or first VPM table start)

F 6 : table options (ROM selection, features etc.)

F11:video RAM usage

Advanced VP users: Access the VPMKeys.vbs file inside your Scripts or Tables folder to look up or modify VPM key assignments.

NEED HELP WITH A PROBLEM ?

If you followed the above instructions to the point, re-checked everything, browsed through the Installation Support and VP Help Center forums and you still can't get Visual Pinball to work properly or want to report any VP-related problem or ask a question, feel free to post it here at VPForums. There's a lot of friendly members around who are always willing to help!

Just some things we ask you:

post in the correct forum: that's the 'VP Help Center' (link above)!
specify your problem! The more information you provide in the first place, the easier and quicker somebody will be able to help you. "It doesn't work" just doesn't work...
if applicable, add a screenshot to describe your problem. Use a file format that uses up as little disk space as possible (e. g. jpeg) but is still readable.
if applicable, list your PC's specs like OS version, CPU, memory and especially graphic card details
be patient! Answers may take time!
and - please mind your wording: what goes around, comes around... (buzzword: 'netiquette')

TIPS & TRICKS

• "Sticky Keys" in Windows (the function is in different places in all Windows versions - you'll find it...): In Visual Pinball by default the Shift keys control the flippers. Windows will misinterpret the repeated pressing of either Shift key and pop up a window during play asking if you want to turn on Sticky Keys - while you try to sort this out the ball is most probably lost. To disable that setting permanently, go to Start->Settings->Control Panel->Accessibility Options (or 'Ease of Access'), and under Keyboard find 'Sticky Keys'. Uncheck it. Go to 'Settings' from there and uncheck 'Use Shortcut'. Confirm and exit.

• Folder locations

The

- Tables

- ROMs

- NVRAM

- cfg

- samples

folders don't necessarily have to be located inside the VP folder. The Tables folder(s) may be anywhere on your hard disk, for example on another partition or drive, even on a USB stick to take with you. The other four folders listed above may be moved to different locations as well, provided that you define the new path to them by launching the Setup.exe tool inside the VPinMAME folder. This opens the "VPinMAME Installation Program" window. Click 'Setup Paths' and edit the path(s) to point to the new folder location(s).

In contrary to that the Music folder has to stay inside the VP folder. It contains mp3 files that may have been included in the table zip or rar file you downloaded and will replay while you run the table.

• Factory settings restored - bookkeeping totals cleared': press F3 if you see this message on the DMD after launching a VPM table, or if you are requested to restart.

• Graphics card hardware and drivers

Manufacturers are constantly developing new drivers, so it is hard to give recommendations here, but it is vital to check their sites for new releases and consult VPForums to see if any incompatibility or problem was found by a member.

You should only download drivers from the manufacturers' official websites.

The graphics card's video RAM size should at least be 1 GB, but 2 GB (or even more) is highly recommended.

• Message 'Could not create texture offscreen surface' at table start:

Usually a problem of the graphics card - it has run out of video RAM space while rendering the table.

Problematic configurations include

- Motherboard-embedded graphics solutions

- 'Shared Memory' graphics solutions

- dedicated graphics cards with insuffiicient amount of video RAM.

Possible solutions or workarounds:

In the VP Editor, Preferences -> Video Options

- reduce the screen resolution and/or color depth (32 bit -> 16 bit)

- run VP in 'Window' mode instead of 'Full Screen'

Change settings which are only available in VP9 or X:

- open the VP9/X Editor

- in 'Video Options' try to reduce the 'Max Texture Dimension' (observe the remark about file types, restart VP)

• DMD covers the whole screen and/or messages like "Error creating D3D device, Error Code 88760082 ":

Go to the VPinMAME subfolder inside the VP folder, run Setup.exe, click 'Setup Paths...', make sure that Display is set to 'Default' and 'Always run full screen on this display' is unchecked.

• DMD is hidden behind playfield or playfield is hidden behind VP Editor at table start:

- right-click each VP application in your VP folder and choose 'Preferences'

- from there click Compatibility, check 'Compatibility Mode' and choose 'Windows XP (SP2 or SP3)

- confirm and exit

This setting is especially recommended when you use a front end (VP-Man or else).

• Error message: "Object doesn't support this property or method: 'mSlingBump(...).Slingshot Threshold'"

most probably you're trying to run a VP8 table after installing VP with the new VP Installer. The VBS scripts that have been installed, mainly the script core.vbs, are 'too new' to support VP8. Here's what you do:

a. Go to the VBS Scripts page and download the file vpvbs3_43.zip

b. unzip all contained files only into the dedicated VP8 Tables folder

Now VP8 will use the (older) core.vbs file from the Tables folder rather than the one from the Scripts folder to launch the table.

• Setting replay levels

To set the replay levels in a table, follow these links:

Replay levels for non-DMD tables

Replay levels for DMD tables

or use the new Excel sheet, sorted by table name, that will lead you to the correct tutorial.

• Setting balls per game

To configure the balls per game, follow these links:

Balls per Game in non-DMD tables

Balls per Game in DMD tables

or use the new Excel sheet, sorted by table name, that will lead you to the correct tutorial.

These tutorials and the Excel sheet are provided by ta2686. Thanks!

• To use different VP versions in parallel: Download the VP version you want to add from here. Unzip the contained VPinballxyz.exe to your VP folder. Do not overwrite an existing version that you want to keep. You can put as many Visual Pinball executables there as you like and launch each of them separately, either from your file manager (i. e. Windows Explorer) by double-clicking the desired VP exe inside the VP folder, or by creating links to each VP executable on your desktop, or by adding them to your front-end.

According to your Windows version perform the steps regarding Administrator rights and Compatibility described during the installation to finish the addition of VP executable versions.

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