Theatre of Magic Magnasave

[Klopek]

Hello,

It's been a while so perhaps I'm forgetting something very obvious. How do you use the magnetic save feature near the outlanes of Theatre of Magic?

I'm not seeing it referenced in the controls and none of the buttons seem to activate it. Perhaps you need to earn it and I'm forgetting the details?

Edit: It just triggered automatically. So maybe I don't remember this game at all and it's an automatic feature. Doh. Sorry.

 

[vikingerik]

It is an automatic feature, it senses when the ball is near. There's some set of targets to hit to relight it once used, I forget offhand, but check the rules in TPA and it'll tell you.

 

[ZREXMike2]

Not to jack yer thread Klopek, but I see no other talking about the new pack. I bought this for ToM, and it is not even the same layout as the old TPA table with the box in the middle, the ball speed is insane, the choice of starting a trick or points is messed up compared to TPA, you can't mute the voiceover, that dumb wand seems to hold the ball from shooting unless you pull the plunger. Just not anywhere near what I was expecting. I won't pass judgement on the other 2 tables in the pack as I know some of you like those, but this is the first table pack I gotten from TPA or Zen that made me want my money back.

Edit: oh, the flippers on the Zen layout of ToM are further apart, too. They took a great table and sucked the fun right out of it.

 

[EldarOfSuburbia]

Not to jack yer thread Klopek, but I see no other talking about the new pack. I bought this for ToM, and it is not even the same layout as the old TPA table with the box in the middle, the ball speed is insane, the choice of starting a trick or points is messed up compared to TPA, you can't mute the voiceover, that dumb wand seems to hold the ball from shooting unless you pull the plunger. Just not anywhere near what I was expecting. I won't pass judgement on the other 2 tables in the pack as I know some of you like those, but this is the first table pack I gotten from TPA or Zen that made me want my money back.

Edit: oh, the flippers on the Zen layout of ToM are further apart, too. They took a great table and sucked the fun right out of it.

Pretty sure you're misremembering the location of the trunk (I don't see how it can be in any different location - it's not directly in the middle, it's left-of-middle; the ramps take up most of the right-middle of the upper third of the table.

Otherwise - it's too fast? Yep, that's a real ToM.

 

[ZREXMike2]

Yeah, you seem to be right Elder. Still, the other stuff I mentioned like the wand and ball speed are different on Zen. Oh well, fire up the 360 and play ToM on TPA I guess.

 

[jaredmorgs]

Yeah, you seem to be right Elder. Still, the other stuff I mentioned like the wand and ball speed are different on Zen. Oh well, fire up the 360 and play ToM on TPA I guess.

The wand that you're referring to is part of the enhanced graphics package available on Steam and mobile (if you have unlocked it on mobile).

You can toggle the enhanced effects on and off according to your personal preference.

Theatre of Magic as it appeared in the pinball arcade was one of the very first tables released by Farsight studios as part of the pinball arcade franchise. The way it behaves in Zen's Williams Pinball Collection is far closer to reality than farsight's implementation ever was.

 

[Citizen]

the choice of starting a trick or points is messed up compared to TPA

How so? I haven't had any trouble with selecting my skill shot bonus in FX3.

Edit: oh, the flippers on the Zen layout of ToM are further apart, too.

https://www.ipdb.org/images/2845/image-22.jpg

There's the flipper area of a real TOM. Looking at the flipper area in FX3 (Nintendo Switch, Classic Singleplayer, Arcade physics, enhancements off), I'm not seeing the problem.

As others have already mentioned, the trunk is in the correct place, the wand is optional, and the speed in FX3 is much more realistic.

 

[ZREXMike2]

Thanx guys. I stand by my statement as far as ball speed. I'd rather have bought some other Zen pack. Still 10 bucks is nothing to get in a twist about. Too bad they don't have demo mode like TPA.

 

[shutyertrap]

Thanx guys. I stand by my statement as far as ball speed. I'd rather have bought some other Zen pack. Still 10 bucks is nothing to get in a twist about. Too bad they don't have demo mode like TPA.

If you don't like the ball speed in Zen mode, wait till you try it in Arcade!

As others have mentioned, this is how a real ToM feels, not how TPA has it. Now it's fine for you to prefer that, but know that FarSight got it wrong while Zen has it oh so right. Was this the first Williams pack you've bought from Zen? Because while you might be a bit off put now, give it a bit more time. In Zen mode (what they call single player as opposed to 'classic single player' which is the new WMS physics) the ball has fewer random variations of bounce, the rubber are a bit more subdued, and the flipper angles are the same as in TPA. Watch the ball speed closely when it dribbles out midfield and comes back to the flippers; you'll see it start slow and then accelerate as one would expect. Go back to TPA and you'll see the ball always maintains the same speed until it makes contact with another object.

Once you get used to some of the new (and correct) angles the ball trajectory has, you'll start enjoying longer games again. You've got muscle memory from TPA and you need to retrain your brain. You may not have bought the pack for the other 2 tables, but maybe dive into those since your perception might not be so tainted, and then come back to ToM. Or go ahead and give the classic single player a whirl and experience what a real table would act like, and then go back to Zen mode. It'll seem much more friendly afterwards, believe me.

 

[ZREXMike2]

got all 3 packs. thanx trap, you know i value your opinion and help.

 

[Crawley]

Champions Pub is definitely a surprise of how good it is. I loved the concept of the table since I love the Punch Out games. Tried to like it in TPA but as mentioned the outlane drains were terrible and it felt unfair when playing. Not sure I got past 3 fighters in TPA.

 

[ZREXMike2]

disabled enhancements, wand still there.

edit: okay got it. musta took it a minute to kick in.

 

[trash80]

disabled enhancements, wand still there.

Start the table, and press the key (Y on the keyboard) or controller button (B on an Xbox gamepad) that toggles the Williams extras and an electrical graphic will move up/down the table adding or removing the Zen enhanced graphic elements.

There is no way to disable them in the options menu.

 

[ZREXMike2]

Start the table, and press the key (Y on the keyboard) or controller button (B on an Xbox gamepad) that toggles the Williams extras and an electrical graphic will move up/down the table adding or removing the Zen enhanced graphic elements.

There is no way to disable them in the options menu.

yes there is, in the controls menu. playing it, starting to have fun, whipped it, love the cracking sound when you win a game. i take back the mean thing i said about wanting my money back. for some reason it still takes full power on the plunger to get the ball to launch, but it must be a timing thing, as i've got it to launch once with the button.

edit: nope seems you are right trash, went to play again, wand was back. so i went to controls menu, set the visuals to b button and it toggles the wand on/off. thanx man.

 

[trash80]

yes there is, in the controls menu. playing it, starting to have fun, whipped it, love the cracking sound when you win a game. i take back the mean thing i said about wanting my money back. for some reason it still takes full power on the plunger to get the ball to launch, but it must be a timing thing, as i've got it to launch once with the button.

No, there really isn't. In the controls menu is where you can change and choose which button to use for the toggling of the effect, but there is no way to disable the enhanced graphics via any menu setting.

What controller are you using and what platform are you playing on? I have not personally experienced, nor heard of anyone else having difficulty launching the ball in ToM.

 

[ZREXMike2]

No, there really isn't. In the controls menu is where you can change and choose which button to use for the toggling of the effect, but there is no way to disable the enhanced graphics via any menu setting.

What controller are you using and what platform are you playing on? I have not personally experienced, nor heard of anyone else having difficulty launching the ball in ToM.

i set the visuals to off setting but it didn't work but for one game, went to play again wand was back. xbox1 controller.

my dumb ass finally figured the ball launch out, you must HOLD the a button, this gives you time to get the trick you want as well. will get back to you on timing a skillshot, haven't figured that out yet. shoryuken will have a guide out soon, i bet.

 

[trash80]

i set the visuals to off setting but it didn't work but for one game, went to play again wand was back. xbox1 controller.

Again, there isn't a "visuals to off" setting in the options menu for the enhanced Zen graphics, you must toggle them by pressing the key assigned (should be B by default on your controller). And the game should remember how you left the table and keep it set that way for you, but the tables in the previous packs still require you to toggle the enhanced graphics off each time you start the game when playing in Zen physics (Single Player) mode.

The Williams elements you can disable under the UI/Streaming section are not for the enhanced graphics.

 

[ZREXMike2]

Again, there isn't a "visuals to off" setting in the options menu for the enhanced Zen graphics, you must toggle them by pressing the key assigned (should be B by default on your controller). And the game should remember how you left the table and keep it set that way for you, but the tables in the previous packs still require you to toggle the enhanced graphics off each time you start the game when playing in Zen physics (Single Player) mode.

The Williams elements you can disable under the UI/Streaming section are not for the enhanced graphics.

sry trash, there is an off setting in the controls menu (on xbox1), but it does not seem to work. skillshot is making the trunk shot, what i been referring to as trick, sry.

 

[shutyertrap]

shoryuken will have a guide out soon, i bet.

Or if you own TPA, you could just look up the instructions for ToM. Or you could watch any number of YouTube video tutorials on best ways to play ToM. Or you could ask any number of us here on the forum! So whaddya wanna know?

 

[ZREXMike2]

Or if you own TPA, you could just look up the instructions for ToM. Or you could watch any number of YouTube video tutorials on best ways to play ToM. Or you could ask any number of us here on the forum! So whaddya wanna know?

i'm good trap, had just forgot the trunk shot was the skillshot. thanx tho, the table really turned out to be great once i got to playing it.