Multiple FX Pinball announcements today, plus first looks!

[zmcvay]

Yeah, I don't like the Money=>Tickets=>Table Purchases at all unless there are options to buy exactly the amount of tickets I need to cover the purchases I want, and even then it's usually just a way to obscure pricing. And while I appreciate the fact that tables are cheaper if you buy more tables at once or right after release, it just encourages binge purchasing.

But I'm not upset about it at all. I have Pinball FX3 on my PC, Playstation and Switch. I've got the full collection of tables on PC (minus Indy) that I slowly added over the last several years. Hell, I still play Pinball FX2 on occasion when I want to boot up the tables that didn't make the FX3 switch. None of those are going away. If Zen has put the work into solid physics and visual upgrades as well as back end improvements, then I am all for rebuying tables over time.

I'm not sure what I'll purchase when it goes live tomorrow, but I'll try whatever free tables they have available first and that will influence my decision. Almost certainly I'll pick up the three new Zen tables, Noir and the Mummy especially look like fun. I want to get Indy on my PC, so that's a lock. I'll likely get the Mandalorian and Classic Collectibles. I enjoy playing those in VR, but I don't always want to play in VR. Other than that? Depends on how much I like the improvements from FX3 to FX. But I'm almost certainly not plunking down $125 for the whole day 1 roster unless I'm blown away. I certainly don't need to rebuy things like Biolab.

 

[Narc0lep5y]

Gotta wonder how the ticket system will play with storefront sales. You can’t wishlist a table if it’s not purchasable on the egs storefront. They are certainly pushing wishlist for the main fx title on every video so Its clearly important to them. I guess we’ll see if they have an alternative to that soon enough.

I also don’t see how you bring in new users through a sale if you have to log into the game to see what tables are on sale. They could put ticket packs on sale but if you’re not a current player those have no value to you either. Sales would basically be only to the current user base and that’s not conducive to growing an already small market.


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[Iga_Biva]

I was expecting price increase for a new system but this system with tickets is horrible. Idea of Pinball Pass is good but pricing is way too high.

Both things created such a negative wave against Zen that it will take a lot to remove bad feeling that many have at this moment - just check Reddit or other forums. You cannot find single one which approves new model. There are some which are saying that they will buy tables anyway but vast majority of comments are negative. This could be compared only by announcement event of original XBOX One, which was real disaster.

I was also expecting bigger discounts for people which already have FX3 tables, at least 50%. Now, i don't think that I will buy again any table that I already have, unless it is so much better than FX3 version like FX3 versions were better than TPA ones.

 

[zmcvay]

Didn't have much time to mess with it, but seemed to run fine on my PC, looked nice. Only played the free Mummy table so far. Amused that buying all tables is exactly 13 more tickets than the largest bundle of purchasable tickets.

I could play tables in Portrait mode fine, but the main interface didn't handle it well. Will play around with it more tonight.

 

[yespage]

When you get more time to play around, please elaborate on the "looked nice" part. I think FX3 looks "nice". I personally need a serious wow improvement to consider this.

 

[zmcvay]

Didn't notice any obvious problems right away is what I meant. But the program itself is free as are two rotating tables, so you can check easily yourself. I haven't put any money down yet either.

 

[pinballmonster]

A side by side comparison of FX vs FX3. I too think of it as a small but nice upgrade in visuals.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoCcx2jiTEY

 

[Crazy Newt]

How are the pro physics? Going to check it out later tonight.

 

[Crawley]

The physics do feel a bit different. Like the ball is heavier. I played Safe Cracker in Pinball FX for awhile then switched over to FX3 and noticed the ball was a lot quicker/lighter in FX3.

I want to check what the FPS is on Pinball FX but not seeing a way to enable it in Epic Games launcher. I'm getting 120 fps in FX3 and wondering if like 60 or something in Pinball FX which might be one reason the physics seem different.

As far as graphic changes, for the Williams tables at least, it's a pretty minor upgrade. Would really need a side-by-side comparison. Going from one app to the other you'd be hard pressed to call out the differences. I can say that turning on/off ray tracing does make a change to the lighting on the table - typically darkening the table a bit. You can see the change by just switching that option on/off even when looking through the transparent menu. It's not a huge difference though - maybe makes the table look a little less flat and the balls a bit more reflective.

The sound of the Williams tables are a bit low compared to the rest of the table sounds. I didn't see a way to turn up just the ROM sounds. Can still hear everything, just want it louder. So hopefully that would be address at some point.

I'm sure one of the YouTubers will do a comprehensive look at the differences between the apps. But I think people will be happy with FX3 until new Williams tables start appearing in PinballFX.

 

[karussellbremser]

Would like to support it, but I currently have so bad input delay with my wireless Xbox controller....it's much worse than on FX3, making the new game currently unplayable for me.

 

[pinballmonster]

I wouldn't characterize this launch as a disaster, but it does seem riddled with problems at every turn.

The concerns and criticisms about pricing are shared on every platform I've seen: YouTube, reddit, steam, etc.

Also, the technical issues seem serious. Players on higher end systems are experiencing overheating, flipper lag, poor FPS, performance hits when turning on RT, HDR not working properly, etc.

There are still bugs in FX3/mobile but they seem relatively minor in comparison and some of the more serious issues were immediately identified and solved quickly (funhouse cabinet mode).

There is definitely something very wrong internally with the company.

 

[Crazy Newt]

Would like to support it, but I currently have so bad input delay with my wireless Xbox controller....it's much worse than on FX3, making the new game currently unplayable for me.

What video card are you using? Nvidia has a few options that might help.

 

[karussellbremser]

Thank you, yes I'm using Nvidia but what helped was simply turning Vertical Sync off in the in-game video options. Now the lag is acceptable.

 

[BostonBuckeye]

Didn't have much time to mess with it, but seemed to run fine on my PC, looked nice. Only played the free Mummy table so far. Amused that buying all tables is exactly 13 more tickets than the largest bundle of purchasable tickets.

I could play tables in Portrait mode fine, but the main interface didn't handle it well. Will play around with it more tonight.

How did you get it to work in Portrait mode? All of the in-game resolutions look to be for Landscape mode. I thought the game would automatically make the adjustment if I launched with my monitor rotated to Portrait, but this is not the case. Also, how do you turn off the special effects? I don't see anything listed under options.

 

[zmcvay]

How did you get it to work in Portrait mode? All of the in-game resolutions look to be for Landscape mode. I thought the game would automatically make the adjustment if I launched with my monitor rotated to Portrait, but this is not the case. Also, how do you turn off the special effects? I don't see anything listed under options.

Just got home and rechecked. I started the game in Portrait mode, it reset my video options from this morning, but Portrait mode resolutions were available. Just picked up Indy at least and was able to play that in portrait as well.

It's pretty obvious the game isn't set up fully for portrait yet though, the tables I played were fine, but the UI isn't handling it well for the main menu.

 

[BostonBuckeye]

Just got home and rechecked. I started the game in Portrait mode, it reset my video options from this morning, but Portrait mode resolutions were available. Just picked up Indy at least and was able to play that in portrait as well.

It's pretty obvious the game isn't set up fully for portrait yet though, the tables I played were fine, but the UI isn't handling it well for the main menu.

I was able to navigate the menu after launching the game in Portrait mode, which wasn't easy since everything is squished vertically and I couldn't use the mouse, and go into options to look at the resolutions available. They are for Portrait mode, but for some reason the game still doesn't run properly in Portrait mode for me. I also was playing Indy.

 

[BostonBuckeye]

I was able to now get it launching properly in Portrait mode. However I am only getting around 56 fps where as in Landscape mode I was getting around 75 fps.

 

[BostonBuckeye]

If anyone has performance issues just switch from Full Screen to Borderless Window mode. Now the game is running very well for me. Physics definitely seem different to me from FX3.

 

[Narc0lep5y]

Played the two free tables AFM and Noir, Free version limits you to classic mode for both so I couldn't test arcade physics. Not buying anything here since it doesn't transfer to Steam.

Graphics are slightly better, i like the full dmd on Noir but noticed my GPU and case fan was blowing rather loudly during gameplay which hasn't happened in a while. GPU runs at about 60C on FX3 with no fan noise and i was hitting 72/73 C with all fans blowing at full. 1440p high everything with RT (10600k + 3080 & 32gb)
It's early access. I expect some things especially with an Un-optimized Unreal Engine, as I've seen that in other early access UE4 games that I've played. They aren't cooking my GPU this hard though, so that's one to watch for immediate improvements.

Leaderboards are locked to table owners so you can hit 1th place (yes that's the way it's displayed) on your local high score but it wont go online unless you own the game. Using that logic you can kind of track who's bought (and played) tables so far.

The most interesting thing (to me) on the leaderboards was the Arcade mode leaderboards on the Williams packs. ToM had 4 players total on the arcade mode leaderboard, vs 38 in classic mode. AFM 6A, 53C. MM 5A, 47C. Indy was the biggest so far of the Williams titles with 10A, 67C.

Curse of the Mummy seems to be the most popular Zen Original at 10A/100C. I don't know if that 100 is a viewing cap or not. Every other Zen Original table was under 100 entries and there's no second page so I'm assuming for now it's not. Most of the older classics only have 20 or so entries which makes sense that the newer tables get the first plays and purchases. And Arcade physics isn't the thing for this crowd so far either.

...and my GPU is at 78 degrees now and I'm still in the menu. Just alt tabbing out to record leaderboard numbers. That's concerning for long play sessions. Definitely my biggest concern with this build so far.

 

[kimkom]

GPU runs at about 60C on FX3 with no fan noise and i was hitting 72/73 C with all fans blowing at full. 1440p high everything with RT (10600k + 3080 & 32gb)
It's early access. I expect some things especially with an Un-optimized Unreal Engine, as I've seen that in other early access UE4 games that I've played. They aren't cooking my GPU this hard though, so that's one to watch for immediate improvements.

Valid concerns indeed.

Out of interest, what frame rates are you getting at 1440p with your RTX 3080?