Pinball FX (4) is EPIC Exclusive and Unreal Engine

[Narc0lep5y]

Thanks guys. At the end of the day, I think we all just want good pinball experiences. The Epic deal is pretty much done, unfortunately, so now all we can do is wait for it to play out and hopefully, we can influence enough of the development to bridge the already identified gaps between stores and users. If that fails we can at least protect ourselves by being aware, so our gaming and pinball passions aren't used against us.

 

[Pinballwiz45b]

I didn't post anything from this clearly biased subreddit (but it's existence also kind of confirms there's a problem) because the name of the sub - "F**kEpic"

If that doesn't offend you and you want way more detail with links, on why it's not just an installer, feel free to peruse the 2020 FAQ with tons of links if you want. I think some are a stretch but some are valid.

Link

https://tinyurl.com/y973mjzm because the swear word is censored in the above

 

[jaredmorgs]

Also Narc0lep5y, I really appreciated your very level headed counter argument to Epic Game Store, as you brought up a lot of very valid points especially regarding 'quality of life' features. Truly some good discussion points I know neither I nor Jared had thought of.

Chris beat me to it but I also wanted to give [MENTION=5223]Narc0lep5y[/MENTION] props for this post.

That was one of the most level-headed bits of discourse I've had the pleasure of reading about Epic since the announcement.

Thanks for taking the time to put your case forward.

 

[wilbers]

https://tinyurl.com/y973mjzm because the swear word is censored in the above

Blimey, thats a long read, and that is without clicking on any of the links in it.

So far the only Epic exclusive I would have bought if it was on Steam is Hitman 3 - the first one I got free with the last graphics card I got, and I even pre-ordered the second one. I'll buy it when it does come on steam, but part of the value of that is in elusive targets that will have already gone by then so its value is less than at launch so as I'll have waited so long by then I'll probably wait for the 50% off sale, so probably steam summer sale 2022.

Rocket League is the other one I should have bought the base version before it went off steam, just never got around to it.

Not 100% decided with Pinball FX, but certainly leaning towards the wait until its on steam option (+Android if they add more to the Williams app) unless purchases on Epic are guaranteed to be transferable to steam which doesn't seem likely that they would.

 

[curtis]

So, where's the new Pinball FX? I was under the impression it's to be released today, April 29. (based on Zen saying the Mandalorian table is coming to StarWars VR *and* PinballFX).

 

[shogun00]

So, where's the new Pinball FX? I was under the impression it's to be released today, April 29. (based on Zen saying the Mandalorian table is coming to StarWars VR *and* PinballFX).

Pinball FX doesn't even have a release date yet. The 4/29 date is just for Star Wars Pinball VR version.

 

[AcadDude]

We are still two or three coming soon announcements before it will even be coming soon!

 

[PinJimmy]

Well I have been playing Star wars VR today on the ps4 pro and I am not impressed with it at all.
It looks terrible compared to Pinball FX VR 2. It looks very blurry. I have been switching back to FX2 VR To compare and FX2 looks great compared to star wars VR. It really takes away to enjoy the new tables. I wonder how it looks on other VR platforms compared to FX2. But if you on ps4 dont waste your money on this just wait for pinball fx. Hope they dont mess up Williams VR like this.

 

[zmcvay]

Plays great on the Quest 2, at least for the 30 minutes I had to run through a few tables. Not sure how the Steam VR version looks. I had concerns running it on the headset hardware only, but so far it looks good compared to other pinball tables I've played on the Rift. Hope to have more time to play over the weekend.

Has an odd option to play while shrunk down and standing on the playfield. Fun for a few seconds, but can't imagine how you could actually play a game like that.

 

[curtis]

Pinball FX doesn't even have a release date yet. The 4/29 date is just for Star Wars Pinball VR version.

This is totally disappointing. Ignore this post, because rant starting in 3..2..1.. I liked what Zen has been doing with the Williams/Bally license, and eagerly awaited for more. Then, their pinball drought of 2020, news of acquisition, abandoning FX3, migrating to another exclusive store front, and further delays. I'm amazed at this, in a negative way. On the bright side, during their drought, I finally setup VisualPinball and couldn't be happier. Let's hope Zen has something amazing in-store with Pinball FX (4), besides gimmicks.

 

[PinJimmy]

Plays great on the Quest 2, at least for the 30 minutes I had to run through a few tables. Not sure how the Steam VR version looks. I had concerns running it on the headset hardware only, but so far it looks good compared to other pinball tables I've played on the Rift. Hope to have more time to play over the weekend.

Has an odd option to play while shrunk down and standing on the playfield. Fun for a few seconds, but can't imagine how you could actually play a game like that.

Good to read your version plays and look good but reading on the steam forum many others have the same issues with blurry and unsharp graphics same with the ps4 version. I thought they would be using there own inhouse game engine for their VR games and not unreal engine. Anyway, feels like I threw some money away today.

 

[zmcvay]

Don't have the Steam VR version, so can't compare. All the pinball VR tables I've played get blurrier towards the back of the table, that includes FXVR2 which I did originally buy via Steam VR. It doesn't look as sharp as playing it on desktop, but the 3D more than compensates for me. Certainly not a drop in quality from prior VR titles.

Playing on Quest 2 I was more concerned about response and physics, especially as that's dedicated hardware, and that end seems okay. Might have more thoughts as I have time to play. I'm liking the Quest 2 a lot as well. Really nice not to be tethered to my gaming PC when doing VR any more.

 

[TFHFony]

I haven't booted PinballFX3 anymore for a few months either. It's a shame how Farsight & ZEN have been able to kill all fun of playing Pinball on consoles.
I've bought all ZEN & Farsight tables twice. First on my WiiU, and again on my PS4. And I sure as hell ain't gonna pay for them again. I didn't buy the last two Williams packs anymore either. I refuse to pay money to a company that discrespects pinball and disrespects its users in such a blatant manner.
I've ended up with a censored game with various bugs and a non-communicative company that seems to think that all is fine since they already have my money,

On the forums you also only get a "We will look into that!" kind of replays, followed by months of silence. And as soon as the questions are a bit harder, ZEN will give an ear-deffening silence. Or at best a "Oops we're sorry and we will look into that", followed by a big nothing.

Not that ZEN will care, but I haven't spent a dime on their last products and won't spend any in the future either. I'll happily spend my money on a company that does care about its userbase.

 

[Firefox2000]

I have just refunded this on steam as it seems what Zen have done here is make the Mobile Oculus Quest version then port that to steam and sell it as a PCVR version with all the same mobile assets and nothing else, and it is just horrible, i could not refund this quick enough, and i fired up PBFX2 VR and it blows this mess out the water, so i have no idea why they decided that mobile VR port to PCVR was ever going to work.

I could buy it for the QII but i am ditching that whole platform for a Index as soon as they become avalible as i want to ditch FB completely.

 

[Dan]

Call me naive or stupid, but I try to avoid companies where Tencent is involved. Yeah, I know Chinese products and influence is almost unavoidable these days. What can you do?

 

[Pinballwiz45b]

Call me naive or stupid, but I try to avoid companies where Tencent is involved. Yeah, I know Chinese products and influence is almost unavoidable these days. What can you do?

Funnily enough, Epic is getting out-exclusive'd right now by Apple with Zen Pinball Party.

Regardless, it's more than that for me. Epic is loaded with privacy and security issues, which can't convince me to use their storefront. Yes, I did try Fortnite, but long term, I ended up not liking it and ended up deleting my Epic account. Safe to say, I won't be creating another.

Furthermore, if any of you guys are rebuying all the tables day 1, have fun with that. Epic's store STILL has no shopping cart, even after a few years of being in service.

 

[oqvist]

What launcher they use don´t really matter all that much in the end.

I don´t understand why the move is necessary if they aren´t going to support VR anyway. If they would merge pinball fx 3 with pinball fx vr they would have a real winner in my book and it would be a solid step forward.

I tried the early access FX and it´s obviously early access. But some things is not well thought through. It supports ray tracing but ray tracing introduce input lag it just take so much time for a 3080 to calculate real time reflections imagine then lesser hardware? Disabling that helps but it still manage to be less fluid then FX 3 while looking worse overall. Though looking past the ball it´s okay I guess but still I don´t really see the benefit here. I also don´t see how unreal engine 5 give the possibility for better ball physics?

 

[Scared Stiff]

What launcher they use don´t really matter all that much in the end.

I don´t understand why the move is necessary if they aren´t going to support VR anyway. If they would merge pinball fx 3 with pinball fx vr they would have a real winner in my book and it would be a solid step forward.

I tried the early access FX and it´s obviously early access. But some things is not well thought through. It supports ray tracing but ray tracing introduce input lag it just take so much time for a 3080 to calculate real time reflections imagine then lesser hardware? Disabling that helps but it still manage to be less fluid then FX 3 while looking worse overall. Though looking past the ball it´s okay I guess but still I don´t really see the benefit here. I also don´t see how unreal engine 5 give the possibility for better ball physics?

I doubt the Unreal 5 engine gives better physics, but the benefit (to Zen, not you or I) in switching was not having to maintain both the pinball AND the engine code. Now they don’t have to and can spend their development time on pinball instead of splitting their resources while the engine is someone else’s problem.

 

[Narc0lep5y]

I doubt the Unreal 5 engine gives better physics, but the benefit (to Zen, not you or I) in switching was not having to maintain both the pinball AND the engine code. Now they don’t have to and can spend their development time on pinball instead of splitting their resources while the engine is someone else’s problem.

I think FX is still UE4. I know UE5 is officially released now but I think Fortnite is the only released game using it. Just about everything else using UE5 is coming later.