A new 4K VP Build

[Andy B]

Ok, here we go again…

After my successful 4k VP build of 3 years ago (couldn’t believe it was that long ago when I checked my camera roll - but a VP project during lockdown makes sense), I am going to do the whole thing again but this time using someone else’s HD build based on a Sega Baywatch as the starting point.

Picked up cabinet Sunday minus the playfield screen which I didn’t need as wasn’t 4K so agreed with previous owner he could keep that for a reduction in purchase price.

Had a first proper look at it last night so I could start to make up my shopping list.

Got plenty going on “under the hood” for me to get my head around. Although on face of it seems to have a lot of wiring and cables, I think I can figure out what’s going on down there.

The build I did back in 2020 used an KL25Z as the interface and accelerometer - this appears to be using an I-pac, which I am presuming does not have the nudge functionality so might swap that out.

Main thing that enticed me to buy was the solenoids fitted in there. My previous build did not have that feature. Something new for me to figure out. They all appear to be 12v solenoids connected to USB relay boards (again something for me to figure out!) though there is one "regular" pin solenoid on left hand side of cabinet towards front so not quite sure what that is (there's only one on left hand side not right so figure not flipper solenoids). What is a little confusing is the solenoids are labelled up as 12v but there's a switching power supply in the cab that is putting out 24V DC and the wires from that are running to those big "block things" one at each side of cab which I have absolutely no idea what they are - maybe some kind of "step down" to make 24v in to 12v? There is 24V and 12V written in Sharpie at various points in the cabinet.

On the cabinet, although it is decaled as a Sega Baywatch it looks like some kind of scratch build as it's done in plywood with wooden supports at the corners, not like anything I've seen before in a WMS or Stern.

Anyways, all I did last night was take out the hinged frame that the TV had been mounted to and start to make shopping list.

Old PC under specced for 4k so have ordered new build from local pc supplier. Spec as per photo.

Put new graphics card on list and then found a Nvidia Geforce GTX 1070 8gb GDDR2 in local CEX on way to parents’ house last night. Thought that was going to be harder!

In same CEX found 27” Samsung s27E330H for £69 which I will use for back-glass screen. One currently installed is only 24” and there’s way too much black cardboard bezel for my liking

Now comes the hard part of sourcing UHD TV which will fit cab. I remember this was a pain last time. From memory 42” and 43” screens don’t fit (shame as there seem to be loads of them about) and I ended up buying a 40” Panasonic TX-40GX820B. Of course 3 years on and the only one of those I can find is one on EBay but that’s in Sheerness and is collection only and way too far for me to travel. There was actually one on FB Marketplace being sold by someone local but I missed out on that by a day .

Will post a log and photos. First bunch of photos below.

 

[Andy B]

Mostly just ripping stuff out last night.

Big block things connected to 24v are contactors for feedback.

Only two of them in there so reckon they’re for flippers. All other feedback devices are 12v solenoids and a couple of real pinball coils - one for a bell, presumably for EM games and another all alone in base of cab towards front which I can only guess as being the knocker.

Have manually actuated the 12v ones to see what they sound/feel like and can’t say I’m impressed. Will see what they’re like when playing some games (that’s a long way off now I took old PC out) but may swap those out for more contractors (depending on what they’re like). Can see why there’s only a couple of contractors in there and rest are 12v coils though. Price.

Have ordered a refurbished JVC LT-40CA890 40” 4k TV from EBay which will fit height wise according to specifications.

 

[paulg100]

i tore down my VP build a couple of years back, ive got a bunch of parts from it still, all the contactors similar to above (would need to check if 12v or 24v cant remember), the board and plunger set up for analog plunger and tilt etc.

If you think anything may be of use let me know and ill have a better look and see what i have.

 

[Andy B]

Thanks!

I have just ordered a KL25Z with Pinscape pre-installed. Man have they shot up in price - when I bought one for my last build during lockdown it was £19.99 off EBay. This one cost me £50 including shipping from France. Going to use that for nudging and probably all other inputs if the I-pac that’s in it doesn’t work out right.

Would definitely be interested in the contactors if they are 24v and the plunger set up (presumably a real plunger attached to a linear pot?).

 

[paulg100]

yeah i have the KL25Z with pinscape installed, you could of had it for way less

Have a 32 button i-pac as well i think.

Yes plunger is in the housing with linear pot.

Let me have a rumage through tonight and see what there is and what the contactors are.

 

[paulg100]

OK these are probably the main bits,

Contactors are 12v not 24v

Shaker motor with Hbridge
LEDwiz
Ipac
And shooter housing with pot and freescape board for analog nudge and plunger.

Ive sent an image by PM so as not to clog up your build log.

 

[Andy B]

Playfield mount made.

JVC TV I ordered arrived smashed. Packaging was rubbish so not surprised. Refund applied for with no response from seller.

So, after 6 days of constantly searching Amazon, EBay and FB Marketplace I managed to get a 4k screen that fits.

Had to drive to Darlington, a four hour round trip to get it, but I might have been waiting weeks or months to get one the right size so needs must.

Panasonic Tx-40dx600b - 40 inch - fits excellent side to side but obviously got big gaps top and bottom. Have a custom made Virtual pinball acrylic apron left over from my VP build of 3 years ago so will fit that eventually.

Drilling the holes in the plywood playfield mount to line up with vesa holes on back on TV is a bit tricky - measure, measure and measure again is the key.

Didn’t have time to hook up new pc to it yet but menu picture looks nice

 

[Andy B]

Tidied up the insides, hooked up pc and new graphics card and we have 4k life in the old dog.

Next few days I need to mount the 27” monitor in the backbox and then I can dive in to the software side…the hardest part!

 

[Andy B]

All 3 screens in now.

Think the 27” back glass screen looks better than the 24” one that was in it originally.

Installed a couple of tables and played a few games directly through VPX which highlighted a few things for me:

1. The ipac in it is ancient - it has a ps/2 connector on it. Took me a while to find the correct version of the ipac keyboard programming software even from the Ultimarc website where it was hidden down some legacy downloads path! Even using that I couldn’t get all the buttons working (though they were all registering in the software - so I was clearly not doing the mapping correctly. Anyways did manage to get start button and flippers set up right so with those and keyboard was able to play a few games. I was planning to swap out the ipac for a Pinscape board anyway so will probably do that Sunday.

2. Displaying backglasses is gonna need some more work. Used to be you would go in each table’s script first time you ran it and edit one of the settings but reading in Vpforums you don’t have to do that anymore and so long as you have the b2s file downloaded, in same folder and with same file name as table they should all pretty much work straight out the box. Not so for me. They just weren’t appearing at all - another thing for me to tackle Sunday

3. Setting DMDs up correctly is going to be a new challenge for me. In my last build I had a pin2dmd in and I seem to remember it was a straightforward thing getting DMD images to that. In this machine I have a too big lcd screen so currently the DMD image is squashed up in top left corner of that so I’m going to have to teach myself how to resize and position DMD images correctly on that big screen and no doubt it’ll be different for each individual table.

As I said, did manage to upload a few tables and play some games though using a combination of keyboard keys and buttons on cab and was really impressed with results. Flipper buttons were working and was great to play a few games of ToM, TZ and Elvis (all tables I have had in past) and apart from looking awesome - even without me messing around with zooming and resizing etc. - they played really well too with no lag at all (which I was not expecting with the ipac being so old and with a ps/2 to usb connector on it).