Physics engine discussion

[Ben Logan]

Hmmm. I believe you, Vikingerik. I've been playing Timeshock a ton on PC and haven't encountered airballs. I'll watch more carefully! Cool info.

 

[dave950lam]

The one physics bug I like to see get fixed is the 'collide-o-drain', where if you shoot a ball that is almost SDTM, the ball you shot suddenly appears behind the flipper and drains.

 

[Tripredacus]

I have not seen any issues with the ball teleporting through the flipper on the PC version. The only thing I have seen (that I can confirm as being a bug) is the ball teleporting onto habitrails when the ball should be on the PF below them. One example I've seen this in is Theater of Magic.

 

[invitro]

Here's a quick line I copied from the TX-Sector Twitch thread, probably of interest to people reading this thread:

"Stern Pinball Arcade is going to release with the standard TPA physics. The 4.0 physics will come later"
http://digitalpinballfans.com/showt...itch-broadcast?p=240600&viewfull=1#post240600

 

[Ben Logan]

GIANT bummer. Jeez. What a letdown.

 

[invitro]

GIANT bummer. Jeez. What a letdown.

We warned you to not get too optimistic.

 

[Ben Logan]

Ha! You did indeed. Lesson learned! Hilarious, actually.

I look forward to buying new TPA games when FS revamps the physics significantly. Until then, I'll stick with Seasons 1-3. Boy -- money really is the bottom line with these guys.

 

[mpad]

Time is money, money is time.

 

[SilverBalls]

Well at least the Zaccaria app should hit Steam in the next two weeks with 38 tables. If the physics are the same as the latest Android version then it should keep us entertained for a while until the TPA physics are sorted out

 

[Ben Logan]

Those Zacc guys are super responsive to the user community. Amazingly so. Totally looking forward to their Steam release. And, their physics are damn good too.

 

[rehtroboi40]

Those Zacc guys are super responsive to the user community. Amazingly so. Totally looking forward to their Steam release. And, their physics are damn good too.

Day freakin' one buy for me. Loved it on the iPhone, but screen is too dang small and tapping on glass does not feel natural in pinball control. I'm excited for the Steam version.

 

[Ben Logan]

So we know the physics engine revamp is going to be delayed. Anyone have any idea regarding timeframe?

 

[yespage]

We don't know, we can only guess.

Based on what would be an appropriate interpretation (the labels would need to be misleading), it may be the difference between a flip after a catch verses a flip when a ball is falling towards the flipper. Elasticity is about how the impact of two objects (and their materials) affect each other and the transition of momentum between the two. If you have a ball that is in continuous contact with a flipper's surface, it is a launch which indicates a different type of physics than an impact between a ball that collides with the flipper.

The labels seem to imply static flipper as if the flipper hasn't been activated and the ball hits it, which to me wouldn't need to be called out of its own situation.

I always suspected that TPA's input resolution was coarser than 60 Hz, but never suspected it was so crude as to be deliberately coded into the flippers that way.

What I find odd is the physics aren't too complicated. You know the masses and can set the inelasticity of the impacts (based on what objects are hit) before hand. The ball's velocity and the angle of impact would be what control where a ball goes and how fast. It'd seem harder to go brute force as the code appears to be written. Granted, I haven't written code to do this (but I have written code), but it seems harder to go the route FS went.

 

[Ben Logan]

Cab mode was promised and never delivered upon... Until a third party hack rescued us. Is a third party Physics Hack possible? Man, that'd be great!