Virtual pinball is not real pinball

[Doggard]

Tonight I’ve been playing tx sector on vpx vr
While playing I gave the ball a hefty flip, which bounced off something on the right hand side of the playfield. Which resulted in a air ball, which landed on the wire form ramp.
Some people will argue that virtual pinball is nothing like the real thing, and yes they are probably right, in some respects. But when you see realistic physics like that, where the ball behaves like it would on a real table, i think that’s bloody impressive, and extremely clever

 

[windoesnot]

Bonus points for playing TX Sector

 

[Marvello]

A new software patch adds chipping playfields.

 

[Itch]

A new software patch adds chipping playfields.

Only on sterns though

 

[Doggard]

Bonus points for playing TX Sector

Great game, would love to own one, one day

 

[Pop Bumper Pete]

It will depend on the table author
Someone recreated Eightball, the more you played it, the less bounce the rubbers would have, some lamps would burn out, and eventually the game just would not play
There is a Black Knight recreation that the ball would get stuck on the top of the upper right flipper, just like the real game
And then some authors would adjust the ramps so they were easier to make

 

[Fantazia2]

Only on sterns though

And JJP, its will be listed as a Mirco playfield optional slider in the settings menu.

 

[Wayne J]

A new software patch adds chipping playfields.

And flipper fade

 

[Rob zombie]

Relatively speaking, the physics simulation is the easy part of making a virtual pin as it's mostly taken care of by the game engine. There's not a lot of set up involved by the dev. You can thank the clever folks at Nvidia for PhysX or Epic for Chaos Engine.

 

[ChrisH]

Relatively speaking, the physics simulation is the easy part of making a virtual pin as it's mostly taken care of by the game engine. There's not a lot of set up involved by the dev. You can thank the clever folks at Nvidia for PhysX or Epic for Chaos Engine.

I don't *think* that's the case for VPX, it's pretty old school in terms of the running gear I think - a lot of the physics seems to be heavily CPU based.

The new (if it ever arrives) VP based on UE, then yep 100%

 

[Rob zombie]

I don't *think* that's the case for VPX, it's pretty old school in terms of the running gear I think - a lot of the physics seems to be heavily CPU based.

The new (if it ever arrives) VP based on UE, then yep 100%

It would be crazy if they're not using Unreal or Unity. Literally anyone can knock up a virtual pin with realistic physics these days just by watching a few YouTube videos to learn the basics. The only tricky bits are the rules, design and layout. Unreal has been free to use since 2014.

 

[stumblor]

It would be crazy if they're not using Unreal or Unity. Literally anyone can knock up a virtual pin with realistic physics these days just by watching a few YouTube videos to learn the basics. The only tricky bits are the rules, design and layout. Unreal has been free to use since 2014.

VPX isn't, but VPE will be, when it arrives.

Overview | VPE Documentation

docs.visualpinball.org

 

[Devorian]

Until you get the ball hitting the glass, getting stuck or perched perfectly on a post it will never be the same as the real thing.

 

[JT.]

Tonight I’ve been playing tx sector on vpx vr
While playing I gave the ball a hefty flip, which bounced off something on the right hand side of the playfield. Which resulted in a air ball, which landed on the wire form ramp.
Some people will argue that virtual pinball is nothing like the real thing, and yes they are probably right, in some respects. But when you see realistic physics like that, where the ball behaves like it would on a real table, i think that’s bloody impressive, and extremely clever

Is there a decent / simple noob setup guide for setting this up - just did a quick Google and it returned loads of forum posts on various topics but nothing that looked like a straight forward guide to setup/installation - ideally something where you double click an exe file and it installs itself ,rather than something needing hours of configuration and multiple programs being installed

 

[Fantazia2]

Is there a decent / simple noob setup guide for setting this up - just did a quick Google and it returned loads of forum posts on various topics but nothing that looked like a straight forward guide to setup/installation - ideally something where you double click an exe file and it installs itself ,rather than something needing hours of configuration and multiple programs being installed

I downloaded this a few years ago and used it when setting mine up, although I need to redo it at some point as doing a hardware upgrade.

 

[JT.]

I downloaded this a few years ago and used it when setting mine up, although I need to redo it at some point as doing a hardware upgrade.

Excellent, thanks for that

 

[Dex-Jay]

Until you get the ball hitting the glass, getting stuck or perched perfectly on a post it will never be the same as the real thing.

Absolutely! Whack bang on the glass! Ball hang and dirty switch so you have to shake the virtual machine and tilt out. That would be pretty impressive.

Oh, and "virtual wax" without it, it gets slightly slower, dirt build up and virtual coil fire and smoke....

 

[Fantazia2]

Absolutely! Whack bang on the glass! Ball hang and dirty switch so you have to shake the virtual machine and tilt out. That would be pretty impressive.

Oh, and "virtual wax" without it, it gets slightly slower, dirt build up and virtual coil fire and smoke....

Sounds like a good thing for a VR Virtual Pinball.

Having to remove glass to free a stuck ball, replace bulbs etc.

Lifting the playfield to replace coils, rebuilding flippers, using a virtual soldering iron.

 

[Devorian]

Lifting the playfield to replace coils, rebuilding flippers, using a virtual soldering iron.

I had a virtual machine with over 600 tables on it. It still takes plenty of time to maintain. I actually spent more time tweaking it than I did playing.

Don't think I would have another. It's good for broadening your knowledge of tables, but is no comparison to the real thing.

 

[Doggard]

It's good for broadening your knowledge of tables, but is no comparison to the real thing.

I would love nothing more than a room full of real pins, but unfortunately I have neither the space or the funds. For people like myself who love pinball, and need to scratch the itch, vpins are a lifeline

 

[SG1bsoN]

Tonight I’ve been playing tx sector on vpx vr
While playing I gave the ball a hefty flip, which bounced off something on the right hand side of the playfield. Which resulted in a air ball, which landed on the wire form ramp.
Some people will argue that virtual pinball is nothing like the real thing, and yes they are probably right, in some respects. But when you see realistic physics like that, where the ball behaves like it would on a real table, i think that’s bloody impressive, and extremely clever

That's my Mod of TX-Sector (I can tell by the shadows on the drop targets) glad you like it, many hours went into making it! Finally got to play a real one at Pinfest last year, would love to own one some day but vpx will have to do for now

 

[Doggard]

That's my Mod of TX-Sector (I can tell by the shadows on the drop targets) glad you like it, many hours went into making it! Finally got to play a real one at Pinfest last year, would love to own one some day but vpx will have to do for now

Props to you then sir, you done a fantastic job
It play’s tremendously, I’ve played a few tx”s in the wild, and it’s pretty dam close, even better in vr

 

[SG1bsoN]

@Doggard thanks i appreciate the feedback

Some of the tables that the rest of the VPW team are working on are going to blow people away when they're released... and then VPE will take the hobby to another level too when it's released, exciting times!

I've been working on recreating my own Hotline table for vpx... got it modelled in Blender and now need to get all of the assets into vpx

 

[dave]

But when you see realistic physics like that, where the ball behaves like it would on a real table, i think that’s bloody impressive, and extremely clever

You must have played future pinball. In that simulator you would have to use a "ceiling" and a wall in places, not only on a ramp, but to stop ball jumping on plastic and getting stuck to the point where an air ball too much and unrealistic.

I've been using the editor there again and it's handy for that but not rolling a ball around in because it's like rolling in gravy. They spend days making physics config hacks and still gravy.

This new Pinball FX4, don't know how new it is, because I had only caught wind of this weekend but they have moved to using Epic Games store, so they're using Unreal now. I don't have a VCab but it is supported.

It is the best work so far as far as a commercial williams simulator goes. The physics (Pro Mode) I think are the same as FX3, the only one I played there was Fish Tales but I've nearly bought all the williams games here, they are good.

When you go in leaderboards for Pro for example you should be seeing legit / realistic scores. To get into the top ten on some of them isn't even as high as a default grand champion.

Tournaments, events, leaderboards (cross platform), has a lot going for it, the added characters on the table does give it another edge but sometimes like Party Zone example where he's in the way you can just switch it off with a keypress. Medieval madness dragon flying over flippers in multiball gets a bit much but it's added challenge.

 

[wilbers]

You must have played future pinball. In that simulator you would have to use a "ceiling" and a wall in places, not only on a ramp, but to stop ball jumping on plastic and getting stuck to the point where an air ball too much and unrealistic.

I've been using the editor there again and it's handy for that but not rolling a ball around in because it's like rolling in gravy. They spend days making physics config hacks and still gravy.

This new Pinball FX4, don't know how new it is, because I had only caught wind of this weekend but they have moved to using Epic Games store, so they're using Unreal now. I don't have a VCab but it is supported.

It is the best work so far as far as a commercial williams simulator goes. The physics (Pro Mode) I think are the same as FX3, the only one I played there was Fish Tales but I've nearly bought all the williams games here, they are good.

When you go in leaderboards for Pro for example you should be seeing legit / realistic scores. To get into the top ten on some of them isn't even as high as a default grand champion.

Tournaments, events, leaderboards (cross platform), has a lot going for it, the added characters on the table does give it another edge but sometimes like Party Zone example where he's in the way you can just switch it off with a keypress. Medieval madness dragon flying over flippers in multiball gets a bit much but it's added challenge.

View attachment 197492

Steam announcement just made today, releases on 13th April (Epic purchases can transfer by filling a form in). Some cabinet support added at the same time, along with lots more tables - takes it to over 100 total.

Physics in FX has been improved from that in FX3.

 

[dave]

Steam announcement just made today, releases on 13th April (Epic purchases can transfer by filling a form in). Some cabinet support added at the same time, along with lots more tables - takes it to over 100 total.

Physics in FX has been improved from that in FX3.

Yes, Zen had a live stream on it which I had managed to catch a bit of. Cabinet support was in the other one (which was already there) but they support consoles with a portrait view now.

The physics are the same as FX3, they will bring the Fish Tales (free) back on the 13th and then do a side by side and you'll find not much different, they just updated the engine and ported over physic settings.

 

[GezTheHealer]

I got all the packs for pinball arcade on ps4 (great to learn all the rules) had a vpin for a while and it was good to try tables I’ve never seen in real life (big bang bar etc)

Using a vr headset with legs and buttons I think would be closest to the real thing as you can look down at the playfield and line up shots. The oculus one (which I think is a Version of pinball FX) was good but the free games were a bit easy and long ball times.

Looking forward to higher-res vr and seeing what they come out with next.

 

[StandUpAndFight]

Tonight I’ve been playing tx sector on vpx vr
While playing I gave the ball a hefty flip, which bounced off something on the right hand side of the playfield. Which resulted in a air ball, which landed on the wire form ramp.
Some people will argue that virtual pinball is nothing like the real thing, and yes they are probably right, in some respects. But when you see realistic physics like that, where the ball behaves like it would on a real table, i think that’s bloody impressive, and extremely clever

When I played Tron on VPX, I was always a little annoyed that when the left ramp return to the right flipper dropped the ball into the 2 inlanes above the U of CLU, sometimes it wouldn't drop into the U but would bobble about and go into the L lane instead. This is exactly the behaviour you get on the real machine. I have also seen plenty of stuck balls on other VPX tables, and I think I have seen the ball jump the flippers as well, probably about as often as you see it in real life.

 

[dave]

When I played Tron on VPX, I was always a little annoyed that when the left ramp return to the right flipper dropped the ball into the 2 inlanes above the U of CLU, sometimes it wouldn't drop into the U but would bobble about and go into the L lane instead. This is exactly the behaviour you get on the real machine. I have also seen plenty of stuck balls on other VPX tables, and I think I have seen the ball jump the flippers as well, probably about as often as you see it in real life.

There was a decent Tron graphics wise a little while back. At the time there was a Tron on site about a 50 metre walk so I was on that most nights.

For me to remember doing it I must've have spent over a day tweaking that versions physics to get it playing like the machine a bit more.

VPX horsehoe bends pick up too much speed, no staged flippers, rubber depending on height and friction settings do weird stuff like adding ridiculous spin, so there can be a lot of little hacks you need to do to tame it.

If you have a bank of targets center or a "yellow" rubber post set high friction then it will jump.

I made a Horse Racing ball roller in VPX that had the large rubber balls that used to bounce when roll over holes.

 

[Marvello]

Looks like Arcade Land are dipping their toe into the VR Pinball market. This would certainly help with space although I've never played VR pinball and VR on my PlayStation made me a bit queasy. You can add a monitor for arcade games too.



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