PBA : Free Camera Mod

[Rooter]

For those who are curious to see how the mod works in real conditions, here is a little video of live gameplay on my cabinet with proper top-down view of the table a.k.a cabinet view with static cam

It looks just like a PAPA video! Awesome!

 

[Kratos3]

It looks just like a PAPA video! Awesome!

Ummm....wow.

 

[mpad]

Yeah really. I really have no idea why farsight resisted to provide this cam view. I / we have been asking for years ( you can say that now).
This would have been so easy for them to do internally.
Thank god there are brilliant people like noex out there. And thanks for sharing.

 

[Pinballer]

Like many people im sure I had just about gave up waiting for a decent Portrait mode for TPA then just over a month ago a fellow pinhead rang to say someone had made there own Camera mod for it. so after reading this thread I immediately set about scratch building a table ready for its release.

A new Sammy 37 LED de-cased along with several sheets of ply and an old gaming rig fitted, the base was now a working prototype On the day we were hit with a double whammy, Bang! Farsight blessed us with a working DX11 beta so it seemed my birthday and xmas came at once \o/

So my question now is when will we see a release of this mod or any chance I can get a wip version for my project which is ready and waiting as the Farsights portrait mode although a welcome addition looks quite sucky in comparison to some of the example posts on this thread.

Thanks in advance Pinballer

 

[Nomorestalker]

Legit first thing I did was play it side by side with the PAPA video. glad to see this coming along.

 

[Haydon1976]

Any news on the release of this mod yet ?

 

[mrhorseshoe]

Nice, now I can buy that VirtuaPin cab I've been saving up money for! Hopefully this mod will be released sometime this year.

 

[Pinballer]

Nice, now I can buy that VirtuaPin cab I've been saving up money for! Hopefully this mod will be released sometime this year.

I'd hold ur passion if I were you! This mod won't let you display the score or back glass on 2nd & 3rd monitors so a VPincab would be overkill. I built a 3 monitor cab back in 2012 on the promise that Farsight was going to release something in the near future a year later I sold it with A full version of Pinmame installed and im glad I did.

Fast forward 2 years and I have just built another base but this time without a backbox on the promise of this mod. I only hope it will get some use this time sooner rather than later as all I seem to do lately is log into this thread several times a day (as I am sure most saddo Pinheads like me are doing)

Any reply with expected release would be appreciated NoEx

 

[NoEx]

I'll release the mod as soon as it's done i promise

I made a lot of changes these last days to the mod, i've completely redesigned the UI and i've implemented most of the things left on my "todo list before release" but i've spent much much time on the "3 views feature" 1moreastronaut asked me to add in the mod, i thought it would be easy to code but in fact it has been a real pain in the ass to make it work correctly among the other functions (and it's not 100% ready yet), but i'm finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel

My betatesters will probably be able to put their hands on the DX11 beta build of the mod by the end of the week, if no major issues are reported, it should be ready to be publicly released..

 

[The loafer]

Rock n roll!

 

[mpad]

Yes.
And Noooo. I'm on vacation starting Friday :'(

 

[Aurel]

Good news but as it's a only a "fan mod", why would you want to release only a 'finished' version? For a commercial used it's understandable, but it seems your mod is working for weeks now and waiting by many people for years, so why didn't you released it as it is?
It would be very welcomed even not fully working and polished, and you will still be able to update it after that every days if you want.
FS have finally released an open beta for TPA, I really don't understand why you won't for only a mod... If every devs were working like that we would be far to get any emulator or software on our computers...

Edit: Also please remember that FS should be working (I hope at least) on pincab support, so please don't wait until they release it to release your mod

 

[Locksley]

In the meantime can you post some info on the cam mod settings

I've been wondering about how your mod handles calls for Backglass viewing when there is a spinning wheel and what not going on. And if you allow camera change for zooming in on the plunge for the tables that need precision.

EDIT: Oh, forgot. How do you handle the DMD panel? Can we move it and/or resize it?

Either way, just being able to set up your own camera (now 3 settings you say!) is just absolutely great, even for us who don't own a pincab.

Looking forward to your release

 

[NoEx]

Good news but as it's a only a "fan mod", why would you want to release only a 'finished' version? For a commercial used it's understandable, but it seems your mod is working for weeks now and waiting by many people for years, so why didn't you released it as it is?
It would be very welcomed even not fully working and polished, and you will still be able to update it after that every days if you want.
FS have finally released an open beta for TPA, I really don't understand why you won't for only a mod... If every devs were working like that we would be far to get any emulator or software on our computers...

Edit: Also please remember that FS should be working (I hope at least) on pincab support, so please don't wait until they release it to release your mod

Because it's not ready yet, in fact the working version you were referring to was made to work on DX9 build only, i had to update it for the DX11 build it's a lot of work and it's not 100% ready to be used without issues. I prefer to spend some times adjusting things and release a finished version instead of releasing a 'not really finished' version and having to fix issues / bugs + generate a new beta build everyday because it's not working the way it should.

Furthermore, as i'm currently actively working on the way the cam settings files are handled and frequently adjusting things, making changes to the functions, imagine that i release a public version tomorrow and people start to create their own cam settings for their favorite tables, share them with each other on the forum, it's 100% guaranteed that the generated camfiles won't be compatible with the future builds of my mod.

In the meantime can you post some info on the cam mod settings

I've been wondering about how your mod handles calls for Backglass viewing when there is a spinning wheel and what not going on. And if you allow camera change for zooming in on the plunge for the tables that need precision.

EDIT: Oh, forgot. How do you handle the DMD panel? Can we move it and/or resize it?

Either way, just being able to set up your own camera (now 3 settings you say!) is just absolutely great, even for us who don't own a pincab.

Looking forward to your release

For now my mod doesn't handle calls for Backlass viewing, this is why i've recently added the possibility to save 3 different camera views and switch between them in realtime with Hotkeys, this way during gameplay, you can look at the backglass, at the table or adjust your shot precisely with just one keypress.

As for the DMD, when i started the development of the mod, i worked on a way to resize and move it on the screen but it won't be implemented in the public release build, maybe later if i got time, and once everything more important is done.
There is also a reference to an "External hook for live backglass display" at the bottom of my todo list but same as the DMD, it will come later.

 

[The loafer]

Take your time and release it when you feel it's ready. Your explanation clearly explains why it will be released only when you think it's ready and we are all good with that.

 

[nudnick]

Take your time and release it when you feel it's ready. Your explanation clearly explains why it will be released only when you think it's ready and we are all good with that.

Agreed

 

[mpad]

Indeed.

 

[NoEx]

The private beta testing of the DX11 compatible build of the mod has just started, if everything goes well it will be publicly released during the week.

 

[chinzman93]

Yes!

 

[Sir_LANs-a-lot]

Great News NoEx