Portrait mode on PC? (Update: Now Available)

[Mike Reitmeyer]

Patch with Portrait has been released. Stuart can explain how to set it up if anyone has issues.

The season purchasing is in but the store pages may or may not be "released" today as I'm not sure if Valve is still at the office. So those might not show up until tomorrow.

 

[DaPinballWizard]

Should I buy this? Will it be the same as the cabinet version or will they be separate?

 

[Stuart Webster]

When you launch the config utility, you can choose an adapter (monitor) number. This lets you run fullscreen and fullscreen window modes on other monitors. The resolutions listed are the supported fullscreen ones for the selected adapter.

Also, the cameras in portrait are a little broken -- the flippers are currently cut off in most views. The fix has been implemented and will release when we have a stable build.

 

[DaPinballWizard]

Sweet. I will just beta test my 3 tables until we get an answer. Want to purchase both seasons again but still holding off.

 

[Rainman]

When you launch the config utility, you can choose an adapter (monitor) number. This lets you run fullscreen and fullscreen window modes on other monitors. The resolutions listed are the supported fullscreen ones for the selected adapter.

Also, the cameras in portrait are a little broken -- the flippers are currently cut off in most views. The fix has been implemented and will release when we have a stable build.

I have trouble setting up fullscreen mode. I'm playing on my notebook and I've setup Adapter 1 but the resolution still shows 1366x768... no way to "rotate" the tables. Am I doing something wrong here?

 

[Sashh]

Thanks for the portrait mode, just two thoughts:

1) it would be nice if screen orientation could be changed ingame permanently, currently it's a little tidious to change it myself to 10:16 every time I want to play and then switch back to 16:10 after the game.

2) view angles on 10:16 could be a little better. I use 1050:1680 and only 1st view provides good enough angle to see the bottom of the table when flippers are not on the very bottom edge of the screen.

Both of these are relatively minor, but I would love to see portrait mode improved to behave and look as good as portrait mode in FX2. Keep up the good work guys, now I will be seriously interested in buying Season 1 when it goes on sale

 

[jkonami]

I'm having the same issue I had with the last build. I can launch the configuration utility but then when I try to launch the game, it crashes before it does anything (splash screens, menus, nada). Same issue where checking the cache integrity says two files are a mismatch, I then let it fix, crashes again upon launch and the two files are once again mismatched. Last version it spontaneously fixed itself without my intervention. I then played it normally for days until this new version where it has regressed. Nobody else is experiencing this?

 

[Termbro]

Portrait mode is bugged on 16:10 monitors. Game crashes at startup. Will the next patch fix that?

 

[infernogott]

I doesnt really work on my Pivot 4:3 Monitor with 1200x1600 resolution. I can't see the flippers on most camera angles.

 

[Stuart Webster]

Portrait mode is bugged on 16:10 monitors. Game crashes at startup. Will the next patch fix that?

It's not crashing on my 16:10 monitor -- did you run the config app after rotating your screen?

 

[Termbro]

It's not crashing on my 16:10 monitor -- did you run the config app after rotating your screen?

It worked. Thanks. But now I got the blur bug. Everything looks like it got mip-mapping or something. I got an ATI card...

 

[SilverBalls]

Definitely a great start Stuart - many thanks.

I rotate my XP screen using Nvidia control panel and set to 1080 x 1920 in config.

I tried about 10 tables mostly from Season 1 and can see flippers in all of them I tried except Funhouse which was zoomed in too much. Maybe I have been lucky, but the ones that worked included MM, Pinbot, BOP, CV, Taxi, Space Shuttle, Gorgar, BigScore, Genie, Black Hole, Centaur, Flight 2000. Some views are better than others - it's a pity the selected camera is not saved per table as we need to keep changing it when we play.

Although some may say they want a more top down view, actually some of the layed-back views are pretty good. This way the ball appears more lifesize. Personally I think these views are better than those in PB FX.

I am not sure of the feasibility but could we be able to set a custom view with static camera. All that would need to be saved is the camera position per table. Also if this facility could show the saved view coordinates then people could share the views. This way the community can do all the tweaking. Just an idea.

Need to play some more. Cheers

 

[priested]

Definitely a great start Stuart - many thanks.

I rotate my XP screen using Nvidia control panel and set to 1080 x 1920 in config.

I tried about 10 tables mostly from Season 1 and can see flippers in all of them I tried except Funhouse which was zoomed in too much. Maybe I have been lucky, but the ones that worked included MM, Pinbot, BOP, CV, Taxi, Space Shuttle, Gorgar, BigScore, Genie, Black Hole, Centaur, Flight 2000. Some views are better than others - it's a pity the selected camera is not saved per table as we need to keep changing it when we play.

Although some may say they want a more top down view, actually some of the layed-back views are pretty good. This way the ball appears more lifesize. Personally I think these views are better than those in PB FX.

I am not sure of the feasibility but could we be able to set a custom view with static camera. All that would need to be saved is the camera position per table. Also if this facility could show the saved view coordinates then people could share the views. This way the community can do all the tweaking. Just an idea.

Need to play some more. Cheers

Same here (ref flippers) and agree with everything else. These views are very good and better than Zen's. On my rig, Zen's ball and table elements are too small - likely because they go with a more overhead view. It's like it is zoomed out too much. Makes it not as realistic looking. Cudos on these views and the portrait effort overall. It looks great.

Now please confirm that we can buy this without having to worry about rebuying the tables in a separate app for cabinets. I would even go for an add on similar to the current pro mode or, better, as an addition to the current pro mode.

Once again, great work!!

 

[Lobotomy]

Ok, I got my portrait view, so now you got my 87$ for season 1+2, sale or no sale coming!
But I sincerely hope that my money is not in the trashcan when the "real" cab version is coming and I have to buy the tables again, since it is still on the same platform!

 

[JTenebrous]

Really loving these portrait views and was totally thrilled to see this feature implemented so soon! In addition to agreeing with other requests here regarding saving the table view per table, and allowing for custom cameras to be set by the user, I would also like to request a *working* ball launch view for every table - this has been an issue that has bugged me since I bought the PS3 version a couple years ago. With this new Portrait Mode patch, Twilight Zone, e.g., finally has one decent launch view (I can pull back the plunger AND gauge a correct skillshot at the same time - amazing! Almost like real pinball :/ ). The point is, I don't want my screen to be 3/4 filled with low-res arcade floor texture or, indeed, filled with the coin insert box on the front of the pincab (as describes 2 of the 3 current default launch views), when the camera could easily be adjusted to see both the plunger position accurately as well as a sizeable portion of the playfield. Again, refer to Twilight Zone in portrait view - works great there (except you can only pull the plunger back until the mouse cursor hits the bottom of the screen, so you have to be really careful where you "grab" the plunger to give yourself enough clearance to get the skillshot).

 

[Klopek]

It worked. Thanks. But now I got the blur bug. Everything looks like it got mip-mapping or something. I got an ATI card...

Not sure what you mean about blur but you should turn off post-processing - that screenshot is jagged a mess. Look at your flippers.

 

[mattfl]

Installed it on my cab tonight

1280x1920 works great

The hyperpin porition is my backglass which I guess there isn't support for yet?

If they can fix all the little bugs this would probably replace visual pinball/future pinball in my cab.

 

[seattlemark]

Can someone please tell me the steps to set up the portrait mode. For example I see in the Configuration Utility "1920 x 1080", but I don't see the "1080 x 1920". So I'm not sure what I need to set up in Configuration Utility, what (if anything) I have to do on my PC itself other than rotating the monitor, and what I have to do after bringing up a TPA table.

Please provide the above answers for:
1) when using just 1 monitor
2) when using 2 montiors

 

[mattfl]

Can some please tell me the steps to set up the new portrait mode. For example I see in the Configuration Utility "1920 x 1080", but I don't see the "1080 x 1920". So I'm not sure what I need to set up in Configuration Utility, what I have to do on my rotated monitor, and what I have to do once in TPA itself.

Please provide the above answers for:
1) when using just 1 monitor
2) when using 2 montiors

You need to set your monitor to portrait mode in the windows settings, then the resolution will change in TPA to match it.

 

[MontanaFrank]

Stuart, thanks for all your hard work and the perfect timing of getting the portrait mode update out today. The Higher Powers were so nice to me today. My best friend and called me up and asked me to come over and pick up an old monitor he had. He said that he wanted to give it to me because his monitor had a pivot feature and thought that would be just great to play TPA.

Couldn't believe it; but when I got home and downloaded the HP monitor manual, it said that the monitor supported 1920 x 1200 definition. After some research, I found that it equal 1080i resolution or similar. That will work great with my Cybertronic computer. I tried it out and I actually felt like I was playing a real machine. I could even see the "B-A-T" rollovers on EatPM. That hasn't happened before.

Thanks again for this fast turn-around Stuart. You and FarSight deserves a great big "Hoorah" for this. I look forward to the next update. I don't mind what I call minor bugs in this build, because the next build is sure packed with a lot of new features. Plus, there's the big Direct X 11 update in the near future. The "Candy Store" gets bigger and bigger.

What a day for TPA players. Huzza