[SPA] Not playable due to performance issues

[Ecktown]

I don't have the greatest computer and hardware but The Pinball Arcade runs smoothly in DX11 (with the usual NVIDIA settings). Frankenstein in the Stern Pinball Arcade however runs in a slight slow motion making it unplayable as it just does not feel right. I guess this must be an issue of the game itself as the same table runs without problems in TPA. I have tried several settings in the NVIDIA settings - without success.

I don't know if I am the only one but I hope this will change with patches (that are desperately needed for so many things in any case) because the way it is now I am not going to buy one single table (even if I really want them all).

The Configuration Utility does not seem to work at all. If you change the settings and open it again the settings are again at maximum...

 

[hdc]

I am having the same issue. It runs too slowly on my laptop even though I have no problem at all playing it in TPA. I've also tried to tweak the configuration but it hasn't helped. Both Mustang and Frankenstein are playing the same way.

 

[inspector42]

Same here. TPA Runs great in dx11. SPA runs terribly, even with identical settings.

 

[Richard B]

Newer SPA tables like AC/DC and Mustang use SAM, and really new tables, like Ghostbusters, use SPIKE, which are more complex hardware, meaning they require more processing power to emulate than the older Whitestar based games, which is what every Sega Pinball and Stern-branded table released before World Tour Poker uses. To illustrate the difference, AC/DC uses the complete recordings of a dozen songs, while Elvis, one of the last Whitestar releases, uses half that number, and loops them after about the first minute or so. That's how much more powerful SAMs (especially recent ones, like ACDC and ST) are than the older tables. This need to account for more powerful hardware would naturally produce poorer performance on less-powerful machines, though Frankenstein is one of the older tables and therefore should not be an issue, unless SPA was designed to handle the more powerful tables, and thus handles the older ones inefficiently.

 

[Fungi]

Boy did I read the title of this thread wrong.

 

[dtown8532]

Apparently SPA is out on mobile. Wonder if that is playable.

 

[inspector42]

Tables are fast and smooth on iPhone 6s+

 

[CycOd3liC]

They play fine on my iPad Mini 4.

 

[Ecktown]

Both tables are equally bad with slowly moving balls. There is absolutely no difference between Mustang and Frankenstein.

Maybe it would help if the Configuration Utility would actually do something but of course this does not work at all.

 

[switch3flip]

Try to first launch config. utility, then change resolution from 1920x1080 to something lower, I try 1440X810 or 1280x720 but I don't know, maybe try even lower to see whats playable. Then press done then start stern pinball arcade. Then I also have to press alt+enter two times, after the game has launched, to make the game go full screen. Otherwise it lags real bad. I also have MSAA samples at 1 and window full screen. But that is by default. But the screen resolution I have to change in config utility before I start every game. At least I do so. Mustang seems to work for me this way at least, and changing resolution makes a difference.

 

[Ecktown]

I forgot about that. Thank you very much, you were right - at 1600x900 it runs smoothly. It's not ideal and does not look as good but at least I can play. I still hope that the improve this as I meet the minimum specs without a doubt and it should not be the case that you have to change your resolution.

Lowering all settings did not help at all for my normal 1920x1080 resolution. As TPA works without problems at the highest settings at that resolution I still think that this must be an issue of TSPA!

 

[switch3flip]

I forgot about that. Thank you very much, you were right - at 1600x900 it runs smoothly. It's not ideal and does not look as good but at least I can play. I still hope that the improve this as I meet the minimum specs without a doubt and it should not be the case that you have to change your resolution.

Lowering all settings did not help at all for my normal 1920x1080 resolution. As TPA works without problems at the highest settings at that resolution I still think that this must be an issue of TSPA!

Yeah regular TPA DX11 works great for me as well normally. By the way, for me I actually think it looks better to have nvidia settings on quality instead of performance and then in config utility lower resolution a little instead. The nvidia performance/quality difference doesn't do much difference in performance but very much in picture quality, IMHO.

 

[weirdproq]

TPA in DX11 works kinda slow on my laptop, but I can run DX9 real smooth on all machines (with slight slowdown in a tiny amount of areas, like the new Dr. Who Master table multiball.). I can't even get the Stern Pinball Arcade to run at all, I just get an error. I tried lower resolutions and it doesn't work. I'm confused as to why there's no DX9 support, considering that is close to what the mobile devices are using, or just above (graphics wise). I hope this and the keyboard support get resolved soon.

 

[Lord Boron]

Ran like crap at first, it after turning the setting down to "1" it runs fine.

 

[Iain]

Doesnt work for me either, too slow to play even with all the setting turned down.

 

[shutyertrap]

Remember, Stern Pinball Arcade does not run on the same specs as The Pinball Arcade. For years FarSight has said that they'd need more processing power to do modern Stern tables, and now that they are, they do! Same goes for mobile, where with iOS it's only going to work on devices that can run OS 10, and that might still be pushing it for the older devices.

 

[CycOd3liC]

My system is pushing 5 years old (home built) and it's definitely showing its' age but has no problems running SPA at all. Granted I am not a "portrait" player, just a big fan of Pinball, doesn't matter how I get it. Yes, this release is a train-wreck, but it'll get fixed. I can play it on IOS and XBONE until it's fixed. As others have mentioned, I have to finagle things a little bit to run properly. When I first start it, it runs in half a screen, but a couple of Alt-Enters and it fits the screen properly (1920x1080). Once the game is going, it's as smooth as gravy. I'm sure the DLC issue will be fixed within a week so life goes on.

 

[weirdproq]

All I would like is a DX9 mode so it's not as graphics intensive. I already got a second laptop just to play newer games and all of TPA's tables smoothly. I don't want to shell out more money for a desktop PC or another laptop with better graphics capabilities.

 

[EldarOfSuburbia]

All I would like is a DX9 mode so it's not as graphics intensive. I already got a second laptop just to play newer games and all of TPA's tables smoothly. I don't want to shell out more money for a desktop PC or another laptop with better graphics capabilities.

I'd say you're out of luck there. Just like with the mobile versions, where there is now a minimum spec requirement, it appears FS have moved on from DX9 support for SPA. Pretty much every major release in recent years has required DX11, this is no different.

 

[Crawley]

At some point there needs to be a cutoff of older hardware/software support or it just makes it that much tougher to keep supporting the old without being to develop for the new. For the longest time the software I work on had to still support internet explorer 6 because a few of the customers was still using it (crazy!). It was a pita to have to make sure the product was compatible with all these versions of ie and still add new features.

Finally last year we cut it off with only supporting the two most recent versions of ie and only the latest version of all other browsers. Made things a hell of a lot easier and we are able to do more with the new features that go in.

So spa just supporting dx11 and more powerful hardware seems like a good place to start doing it clean as it's a separate product. It's tough to expect them to support 4+ year old hardware/software on a new release.