I'm having a weird issue with the ball phsyics and friction.

[Fearmonkey]

I'm having a weird issue with the ball physics and friction.

This doesn't seem to be a table-specific issue either.
The ball seems to be ridiculously bouncy, like it's made of rubber or something. Even if it's moving slowly, if it hits a corner or rail or flipper it bounces back real fast. It's especially annoying when the ball is going towards an outlane. For example, on CV, the ball falls over the corner towards the right outlane and I nudge the table so the ball will go into the inlane. But it hits the post and then bounces back and forth a couple times (faster than the ball was traveling previously) and ends up in the outlane anyway. It's really frustrating.

On top of that there seems to be little to no friction on the table. One hit with the flipper and the ball is careening around the table a lot faster than I can track the ball. For example, on Arabian Nights, after I hit a Tiger Loop the ball exits the loop a lot faster than I can see it.

Another odd thing about this, is if a table has a secondary table, like the Lower Level of Black Hole, the ball physics and friction seem to return to normal. Or at least it seems that way to me.

This is making the game virtually unplayable for me. At least at a high level. I can still kick around the ball and "have fun", but I can't go after any Goals this way. It's just too inaccurate.

I have no video capability otherwise I'd post visual proof.

Anybody else having this issue? There a way to fix this? I've already deleted the game and re-installed multiple times and that didn't fix it. I thought there was a way to "restore factory defaults" but I don't seem to see a way to do that.

Thanks for any help.

 

[Sinistar]

Welcome to the forums Fearmonkey , can you post if you use a HD setup , TV and or HDMI cable ? This might be another case of latency with HDMI smoothing and video filters that we see reports about . It affects some people with various TV setups , but were still collecting info to narrow down the cause.

You say it does not occur with lower playfield tables , so Black Hole , that is a new factor . The Circus Voltaire has been a bug since it's release , they are still tracking what causes the balls to fly out to the side . Ever been to San Diego Comic Con?

 

[Fearmonkey]

Thanks for the welcome.

I have a Benq W1000+ projector that is hooked up to my PS3 via HDMI cable. The projector is displaying at 1080p and my PS3 is set up to output 1080p.

To clarify on the lower level playfield thing, it's my experience that while it's on the lower playfield, the ball physics seem to act like they should and then when it returns back to the upper playfield, it goes all wonky again.

And yes, I've been to San Diego Comic-Con. Next year will be my 23rd Comic-Con in a row. Gotta keep that streak alive.

 

[smbhax]

If your projector can display at lower resolutions, as an experiment you might try setting the PS3 XMB display settings to a lower max resolution (720 or even 480) before launching the game. TPA's physics are much more responsive at lower screen resolutions; flipper mechanics etc tend to act a little goofy at 1080 on the PS3, unfortunately.

 

[Fearmonkey]

I haven't tried that yet, but I will next time I start it up and see what happens.
So a lower screen resolution would affect something like the speed of the ball or the bounciness of it too? Not just the flipper mechanics?

EDIT: So I adjusted the resolution and it's a definite improvement, but the ball physics are still a little floaty, especially on Cirqus Voltaire. But those might be table-specific issues perhaps because some tables like Funhouse run very well.

It has definitely improved the hell out of Arabian Nights. I was finally also able to finish the Standard Goals. I could not get that Harem Multi-ball to save my life, and then once I made this change to the resolution I got it on my second try. And then I proceeded to crush 4 out of the 5 Wizard Goals in one game. Only have the "rescue princess" one to go.

Which reminds me, it never unlocked my Standard Goals trophy on the CV table. I have definitely beaten all the Standard Goals as I have already unlocked 2 Wizard Goals. Is there a way to fix this?

 

[Fearmonkey]

Well, this is weird. I started up the game again today and the ball physics and floatiness are back to the way they were. And I had my settings set at 720p. Just for grins and giggles I changed the display back to 1080p and started it up again. Ball physics were still messed up. So then I quit back out, changed my settings back to 720p and started up the game again. Didn't change anything. Ball physics are still the way I described them before. So now what?

FAKE EDIT: Just saw you suggested putting the resolution down to 480p. Hmm...I'll try that next time I'm playing. Just turned off the TV for the night. I'll let you know if that does anything after I give it a shot.

 

[Fearmonkey]

UPDATE: Just set my PS3 to 480p and it didn't improve it at all. So what else should I try?

And holy crap does my PS3 wallpaper look terrible in 480p.

 

[smbhax]

That's all I can think of, otherwise it's just the way the game is, although--aside from the flipper lag--for the most part the physics don't strike me as being that out of whack. Balls *do* come out of the Tiger Loop pretty fast, they can also shoot down the inlanes surprisingly quickly. You might try looking up Pinball Arcade videos on YouTube to see if they look like what you're getting.