Building A Virtual Pinball Cabinet

[L33]

I was going to say get some decent tools for the job, but..... .

Great video - will be great for anyone else planning a build.

You might have read this already, but when you finally mount the TV in the cabinet remember to have the bottom of the TV on the left hand side, as VP FS tables rotate that way. The new version might allow adjustments but might be safe to go with the standard way.

Forgot to say...this advice was most welcomed because I nearly put the TV the other way round this week...if I had done it'd be panick stations right now

 

[mpad]

Sadly TPA is not able to rotate the display on it's own. So you have to rotate it to portrait before you launch the exe. Steam doesn't matter.
Generally for rotating use display.exe or Irotate. Nice little apps. I prefer the first one.

I would prefer the standard portrait view anyway, because I like to stand in front of my cab, not at the side.

So actually it is VP that is the pain in the ass here. VP does support portrait view, but apparently tables built to be launched in landscape, which is stupid but can't be helped.

Nomally you use a Frontend like pinballx, so you won't be bothered. Once properly set up everything will show in portrait. It is a pita for maintenance though.

Also be sure to check out noex free camera mod if you haven't. It allows for proper cabinet cam views and best of all can launch the dx11 exe directly.

 

[Tarek Oberdieck]

Sadly TPA is not able to rotate the display on it's own. So you have to rotate it to portrait before you launch the exe. Steam doesn't matter.
Generally for rotating use display.exe or Irotate. Nice little apps. I prefer the first one.

Best solution seems to write a cmd batch file with display.exe which rotate the display and then launch TPA. No more mouse trouble...

 

[SmoothBalls]

Just put my 44 inch Panasonic Viera plasma in rotate mode, man that thing was heavy, works a treat and looks stunning on PA and steam now. never going back to Horizontal mode

BackBuffer width = 1080
BackBuffer Height = 1920

 

[L33]

Cheers guys. I can't test everything yet with Tpa because my current comp isn't powerful enough. Pfx2 runs fine and I'm testing everything with that, but didn't want to put everything in only to find it wouldn't work properly for the others. I haven't purchased the Tpa tables yet as I have a feeling if cab support arrives there'll be additional costs, so I've been waiting, especially as dx11 won't work on mine either. But maybe I'll end up buying them all anyway now that PC comps are on ...dx9 though.

 

[mpad]

Look in the dx11 threads, a capable graphics card should cost no more than 60-80 bucks on eBay or 150-170 if you go fo new.

 

[L33]

Look in the dx11 threads, a capable graphics card should cost no more than 60-80 bucks on eBay or 150-170 if you go fo new.

I've updated my drivers and have just got dx11 to work. I'm currently working on a laptop so I can't update my graphics card. I'm hopefully getting a computer for the cab but gonna wait till all the graphics etc are done. So in the mean time I'm just experimenting...

However, normally I'm on the ps4 version of TPA and the graphics are excellent on that. I was hoping that dx11 was gonna look just like my ps4 but it doesn't even come close. I don't know if that's because of my graphics card or not...I don't know how graphics cards work but I was under the impression that if my computer graphics card allows me to play TPA then it'll also show how good or bad the graphics are...can a graphics card give a poor image even if the game runs ok on it? Does a graphics card actually make the graphics look better or worse? I've put all the setting on dx11 to the max and nothing changed graphically...

 

[SmoothBalls]

Maybe try adjusting your sliders, brightness down and led brightness up, not sure, i have a GTX 660 TI card on max and it looks stunning and that is a older card.

 

[L33]

Maybe try adjusting your sliders, brightness down and led brightness up, not sure, i have a GTX 660 TI card on max and it looks stunning and that is a older card.

I seem to have tried all possible settings but still looks rubbish...so I must be missing something. Ive seen a couple of other posts on here with similar issues but no solution published. It was just a worry that If I was to purchase a new comp and got the same image, I'd be rather disappointed. But like yourself, there are many saying the graphics are awesome...so I guess something may be amiss with my settings somehow. Hopefully I'll suss it out. PFX2 looks fine, so my Graphics card mustn't be as bad as i thought, but I think I'll wait until the cab graphics are on or I'll probably have to do everything twice.

 

[L33]

On the plus side.....

I managed to get Part 4 done. Theres not much going on in part 4, but I didn't want to leave anything out. Hopefully the link works below.

https://youtu.be/8De7oBjOByU

 

[Biff]

DX11 shouldn't look worse than PS4.
Could you please post screenshots of your PC Version. High or max settings preferred.

 

[L33]

DX11 shouldn't look worse than PS4.
Could you please post screenshots of your PC Version. High or max settings preferred.

What's the best way to do this? Should I just use the printscreen function of the computer?

 

[Buzz1126]

What an amazing build! Awaiting Part 4 with great anticipation. Here in the States, we have a show on the History Channel called, "How It's Made" and you put them to shame! It just goes to show how the correct tools and an inventive mind can accomplish anything. It's a wonder how the British allowed us Colonials to get away! Happy Fourth!

 

[Biff]

What's the best way to do this? Should I just use the printscreen function of the computer?

Yes, the Print key copies a screenshot of the entire screen to the clipboard.
Alt+Print makes a screenshot of the active window.
Then you can paste (Crtl+V) the screenshot into an image manipulation program like Windows Paint.

Alternatively, you can use the Windows "Snipping tool".


Now you can upload the image to postimage.org. It's free and you don't have to register.

 

[mpad]

Nice paint job!

PC graphics should look awesome. Here are good examples...
http://digitalpinballfans.com/showthread.php?t=10241

 

[mpad]

It is definitely the graphics card of your notebook.

 

[L33]

Yeah, think the graphics card might have something to do with it...Ive realised whilst trying to suss out taking a screenshot that the size settings are back to front. Id have thought they'd have swapped round when I selected portrait, but they didn't. I swapped them round and the image was no longer windowed and also looked a lot better. Still a little zig baggy but better. Im not sure if the 1366 x 768 settings are the best settings for a tv in portrait...not sure how to work that out.

But one things for sure, although dx11 does work on the laptop, everything is in slow motion

 

[SilverBalls]

Yeah, think the graphics card might have something to do with it...Ive realised whilst trying to suss out taking a screenshot that the size settings are back to front. Id have thought they'd have swapped round when I selected portrait, but they didn't. I swapped them round and the image was no longer windowed and also looked a lot better. Still a little zig baggy but better. Im not sure if the 1366 x 768 settings are the best settings for a tv in portrait...not sure how to work that out.

But one things for sure, although dx11 does work on the laptop, everything is in slow motion

Once you go to Full HD in portrait (1920 x 1080 32-bit resolution which is the most widely used setting for cabs) it will make a world of difference too. In TPA DX11 use 1080 x 1920 as the setting.

Progress is looking great!

 

[L33]

Once you go to Full HD in portrait (1920 x 1080 32-bit resolution which is the most widely used setting for cabs) it will make a world of difference too. In TPA DX11 use 1080 x 1920 as the setting.

Progress is looking great!

Changed it to 1080 x 1920 and already it looks better...DX11 works on my laptop, but it plays in slow motion, so Im guessing it means that the graphics card isn't up to scratch. Ive messed with the setting (max to min) and there is little difference to performance so I guess I'll just have to wait until Ive got the new computer before I start trying to set things up. But with the changes Ive made so far, it looks promising. The lighting and the graphics did improve big time with the changes I made so hopefully when all is sorted I'll be suitably impressed with the outcome

 

[L33]

It is definitely the graphics card of your notebook.

Definitely is the GC...and the rest of the 'associated parts'. Tried all possible settings, and it'll work fine when running DX9 and zero options. I thought that because the GC was a couple of years old, had 'Radeon' in the name and said 'HD' that it'd automatically be a half decent setup...apparently not Bottom line is...I can now play TPA with this setup, but without all the bells and whistles...