Zen has listened to me on the issue of random rebounds.

[Zaphod77]

I noticed a funny thing. sometimes i rewind to save an outlane drain, and then it goes down the inlane without me needing to do anything.

This proves that a rebound involved in the drain was randomized.

I've been saying all along that this is the right way to cheat on digital pinball physics to make them feel right.

And Zen finally decided to actually do it. And you know what? the tables play GREAT. They are unpredictable in the way that a real game is. Random factor on standups and slingshots. less of a random factor on rubbers. none or VERY small on the flipper rubbers. none on metal. Tweak each rebound place for the game until it feels right.

Take note, digital pinball makers. This is how it's done.

 

[Crazy Newt]

I'll sneak one more reply in before the forum closes.

I was putting together a new gaming Z690 chipset PC, but I totally wrecked (bent the substrate) my CPU i9-12900K by overtightening the cooler, and I am travelling soon, and don't have the time or patience to get it up and running this week. However, I have an older motherboard with an Z370 chipset, and I was able to drop my new RTX 3080 ti card into to replace my 2080 Super graphics card. I still have stutters with ray tracing enabled, and I have the card running at reduced power levels (70% max voltages), but I can get 120 FPS locked with everything maxed out and ray tracing disabled. It is very smooth now, with only a few very minor hiccups here and there, and the physics are wonderful. I only play tournament level with the Steam version of FX3, but the classic physics with the new Epic version of FX are really good in the most recent early access release.

Still, the classic physics are generally way too easy and I get bored and lose focus with the long games. I hope that the much tougher tournament physics will be introduced soon. I'd rather play a 5-10 minute game that kicks my butt over a 30 minute or longer marathon game. I'm sure there will be a ton of kinks to work out, but as it plays now I do notice the more natural game play that does not feel quite so much like being on rails with perfectly repeatable results.

It is getting better.