timeframe on dx11

[Shaneus]

Regardless of advanced lighting or not, Jeff brings up an excellent point on overall support for TPA on PC. Where's the tournaments (something that should be easy to implement outside of FS' infrastructure on Steam, if they were wary of taking the load themselves)? The updates on oft-promised (at least, as of a short while ago) cabinet support? Any kind of update to physics that would at least bring it in line to other pinball sims like VP and even Zaccaria on iOS? The emulation of Firepower and Black Knight?

I used to play TPA heaps on PC, but now it's really hard to get excited about it. When the only update is content and the backend has literally not been improved since the start of the year (never mind the issues still to be fixed with other tables such as emulation and graphics glitches), it no longer becomes easy to look forward to another release.

Hell, in a TPA thread on a gaming forum I frequent, the only talk of TPA (even when a new table is about to be released) is of missing features or buggy versions. There's more real pinball talk in there than virtual, which is amazing considering a real machine costs thousands vs. TPA costing exponentially less.

Help me maintain my enthusiasm, guys. Because I'm really, REALLY struggling here

 

[MonkeyGrass]

Help me maintain my enthusiasm, guys. Because I'm really, REALLY struggling here

Wish I could!! FS has made it quite clear with their resource allocation that they care much more about casual mobile gamers, than the real Pinball/VP community.

I guess it doesn't occur to them that the true pinheads are the ones who would support this app across multiple platforms, if only it looked/played as well as the free, unlicensed FP/VP stuff out there.

I'm right there with you - sitting here with a monster quad core Xeon server and 50" TV that is waiting for TPA cab support.

Collecting dust...

 

[TomL]

I guess it doesn't occur to them that the true pinheads are the ones who would support this app across multiple platforms, if only it looked/played as well as the free, unlicensed FP/VP stuff out there.

What you're proposing would put FS quickly out of business. FS employs people, has nonzero expenses, has liabilities to cover, license holders to negotiate with.

It's just apples to oranges.

 

[Jeff Strong]

I don't believe for one second that adding more features would put them out of business. In fact it would increase their sales...after the long delayed PC release and questionable support since then, one can only dream of what could have been with better management, especially since they said the initial sales were good...but oh well. I'm becoming a broken record and I've moved on for now. At least we have VP on PC...:/

 

[superballs]

oh and let me just throw in that all nvidia mobile processors from here on fully support dx11, and it has been confirmed dx11 support will not be nvidia exclusive, so basically every android and apple flagship is going to be able to use this as well... so farsights got a whole lot of work to do if they want this up to date on everything

DirectX is a Microsoft API, it's not an open standard like OpenGL,

How will any non windows mobile device ever support it?

 

[superballs]

Back on topic.

The only point I'm trying to make is that TPA is a video game and I enjoy it, DX11 or not, and I have no plans on abandoning it simply over lighting.

Tourneys would be nice, and cab support would be nice as well.

I can say I've not played much TPA the past couple months, but it's more that I'm kind of pinballed out and I've been on a bit of a retro gaming kick lately. Even new lighting and cab support would probably suck me in for a few games before I moved on to something else for the time being.
Not to say I'm done with pinball or TPA, but not even VP or the prospect of Timeshock's eventual arrival has me particularly excited.

 

[pm1109]

I hardly ever play TPA on PC anymore.If we had DX11 on it that would definately inspire me to fire up my PC more often.Definately spend more time playing it on mobile devices like my IPad these days

 

[Xanija]

After having had the pleasure of playing TOTAN on a real table last weekend again, in a pinball museum with almost no ambient light, I wish DX11 lighting would result in anything close to that experience. But I'm sure it's not remotely possible, although I'd love to be wrong.

 

[MontanaFrank]

Back on topic.

The only point I'm trying to make is that TPA is a video game and I enjoy it, DX11 or not, and I have no plans on abandoning it simply over lighting.

Tourneys would be nice, and cab support would be nice as well.

Superballs, I totally agree with your point. I am fully disabled and feel so appreciative that with a few clicks of a mouse and a game controller, I can enjoy the pinball tables from my past and able to play recreations of pinball machines that I've never played before.

Yes, I do wish that FarSight Studios would implement some additions that we all want; on the other hand, I wouldn't have experienced the many hours of bliss that the TPA has provided.

Thanks FarSight for bringing me great joy and delight from playing The Pinball Arcade.

 

[SilverBalls]

After having had the pleasure of playing TOTAN on a real table last weekend again, in a pinball museum with almost no ambient light, I wish DX11 lighting would result in anything close to that experience. But I'm sure it's not remotely possible, although I'd love to be wrong.

The Pro Pinball chaps have certainly achieved that and that can be seen from the cabinet video posted online - the lights slowly fade in and out and you can see the filaments in the bulbs if you look close enough.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=EjR1CPKZios

Having said that they are using pre-rendered technology which takes a long time to develop.

However some of the latest VP table have superb lighting and when played in the dark are pretty close. The lights gradually fade in/out and that adds untold realism. Farsight should be able to do this, however from the PS4 videos it doesn't even look like the like gradually fade. They seem to be a straight on or off. Maybe someone with a PS4 can confirm.

 

[MonkeyGrass]

What you're proposing would put FS quickly out of business. FS employs people, has nonzero expenses, has liabilities to cover, license holders to negotiate with.

It's just apples to oranges.

That's ludicrous.

Putting out quality software and sticking to your advertised release schedule (or even within a couple MONTHS of it) is bad for business? Really?

Damn, I've been doing it wrong for 20 yrs!

 

[smbhax]

However some of the latest VP table have superb lighting and when played in the dark are pretty close. The lights gradually fade in/out and that adds untold realism. Farsight should be able to do this, however from the PS4 videos it doesn't even look like the like gradually fade. They seem to be a straight on or off. Maybe someone with a PS4 can confirm.

The lights in the PS4 version don't feel quite like a binary on/off, somehow; I dunno, I'd be surprised if they couldn't do a fade with their current lighting engine if the ROM called for it. I'm not savvy enough to know of a spot in the current tables where there should be a nice long fade now to look for it though.

 

[superballs]

The lights in the PS4 version don't feel quite like a binary on/off, somehow; I dunno, I'd be surprised if they couldn't do a fade with their current lighting engine if the ROM called for it. I'm not savvy enough to know of a spot in the current tables where there should be a nice long fade now to look for it though.

Dx9 is capable of much better lighting than tpa currently has. The lighting in future pinball is a great example

 

[Alex Atkin UK]

The Pro Pinball chaps have certainly achieved that and that can be seen from the cabinet video posted online - the lights slowly fade in and out and you can see the filaments in the bulbs if you look close enough.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=EjR1CPKZios

Having said that they are using pre-rendered technology which takes a long time to develop.

Holy crap though, it looks like a real table in that video, so glad I supported those guys.

Hopefully with it being pre-rendered it will still run well on my lowly Atom tablet.

As for photo realism in Pinball Arcade DX11, I would have thought the PS4 build could do it which is why I do not hold out much hope for it on PC. I expect it to look the same as on PS4, although perhaps some clever modder will tweak the shaders for better visuals once its launched.

I would love to see GearVR support for the Android build too, but I doubt very much THAT would happen if they don't even have the resources to get the promised PC features released to a much bigger audience than will have GearVR.

 

[DanBradford]

Hi Frank - i just noticed your signature and was a bit perplexed by it: "If you are not playing "The Pinball Arcade", you ain't playing real pinball!" - don't you mean "If you ARE playing "The Pinball Arcade", you ain't playing real pinball!" ?

sorry, i don't mean to have a pop at you, i just wondered if you ever played on real pinball machines. the thing about a real table that can never be emulated is the fact of a heavy ball that you physically hit, and with that random element thrown in. kids will come back again and again for that while their games consoles gather dust ..... one day.

on a real machine, that magic silver ball sometimes frustratingly hops over your flipper or takes a magic bullet airball angle, or hits the glass, or gets spin on it, or changes direction when it hits a rollover target or an edge of mylar at slow speeds. i love TPA, it's a fantastic digitised version. but the map is not the same as the territory dude.

 

[MonkeyGrass]

Hi Frank - i just noticed your signature and was a bit perplexed by it: "If you are not playing "The Pinball Arcade", you ain't playing real pinball!" - don't you mean "If you ARE playing "The Pinball Arcade", you ain't playing real pinball!" ?

sorry, i don't mean to have a pop at you, i just wondered if you ever played on real pinball machines.

If you bothered to read his post, and not just his sig line, you would have likely noticed that Frank is fully disabled, and unable to play "real" pinball machines. Therefore, TPA is as close to the "real thing" as he can likely get.

 

[MontanaFrank]

Hi Frank - i just noticed your signature and was a bit perplexed by it: "If you are not playing "The Pinball Arcade", you ain't playing real pinball!" - don't you mean "If you ARE playing "The Pinball Arcade", you ain't playing real pinball!" ?

sorry, i don't mean to have a pop at you, i just wondered if you ever played on real pinball machines. the thing about a real table that can never be emulated is the fact of a heavy ball that you physically hit, and with that random element thrown in. kids will come back again and again for that while their games consoles gather dust ..... one day.

on a real machine, that magic silver ball sometimes frustratingly hops over your flipper or takes a magic bullet airball angle, or hits the glass, or gets spin on it, or changes direction when it hits a rollover target or an edge of mylar at slow speeds. i love TPA, it's a fantastic digitised version. but the map is not the same as the territory dude.

Dan, my signature is fuzzy and I admit I'm horrible in grammar. I thank you for bringing this to my attention. Yes I've played real pinball, check my outdated profile again. You visited it awhile ago. What I was trying to convey is that I am happy to have licensed video recreations of pinball tables that were part of real pinball machines that I played in the past. Plus, I get to check out tables from real machines that I haven't played before.

 

[DanBradford]

Monkey grass - thank you for being Frank's keeper. He doesn't need it though. I was pretty clear in my choice of words.

Frank, I enjoy your posts and was not attacking you, as you realised. I was only reacting to the syntax as it annoyed me like '110%'. I probably should have just kept my mouth shut!

 

[mpad]

So now that xbone is almost done and ps4 season 2 is around the corner, it means that all tables should be ready for the advanced lighting now. I really hope FS can make it for Christmas and bring the great lighting to the pc.
Anything else would just fuel the theory of a PC has to stay ugly ban by the consoles.

 

[Biff]

(...) I really hope FS can make it for Christmas and bring the great lighting to the pc.

I can tell you what you get on Christmas:

Our staff is currently on vacation. The development in advanced lighting will continue mid-January.