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Calling all PinballX Gurus and SMEs! Documentation Challenge

Draco1962
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Draco1962 GameEx God (Top Rank)

Draco1962

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Greetings! I know that there are quite a few of you that have setup and are running PinballX successfully. I am sure you are aware that we don't have quite a bit of documentation for the total n00b (which would include myself as I a do not run a pincab or any pinball software at this time - subject to change, however).

On behalf of "the management," I would like to lay down a challenge to our PinballX gurus, SMEs (Subject Matter Experts) to create some documentation for our members to assist them in launching their own successful PinballX installations.

Obviously, there is some need for documents that cover:

- Initial PinballX installation and setup

- Setup Future Pinball within PinballX (with and without B.A.M.)

- Setup PinMAME/Visual Pinball within PinballX

- Setup Pinball FX2 within PinballX

- Setup Pinball Arcade within PinballX

- DMD setup

- Etc.

... I think you get the idea. I think this will be a great thing for the community and help those new to pinball have a greater opportunity for success!

zeenon Ultimate GameEx Guru!

zeenon

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Draco,

Great idea, what form do you see this being in? MS Word? A picture is worth a thousand words so I'd like to take a screen shot of each setup screen and write some explanation under it.

Z

Adultery GameEx God (Top Rank)

Adultery

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I would be very interested in this. I admittedly don't have PinballX set up on anything, and if I had this type of documentation in my arsenal I could get up and running without worry about the learning curve, which based on my experience with VP is probably quite sharp.

Not to mention it would help me as a staff member to be able to assist new users, which I'm unable to do currently.

That being said, early props to any of you who pitch in on this project. The community on the whole would greatly benefit, and I'm sure Tom would be grateful.. :)

Adultery GameEx God (Top Rank)

Adultery

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@ zeenon:

MS Word would do just fine, but I forsee the final project as a PDF being easier to navigate.

zeenon Ultimate GameEx Guru!

zeenon

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Great, I'll try to have a draft by tonight (EST) of at least the PBX framework and what I don't cover maybe other users can contribute to.

Z

Draco1962 GameEx God (Top Rank)

Draco1962

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MS Word is fine for initial and final drafts. Screen captures along the way only help to enhance and provide a visualization. Keep the format simple, in key sections, and step-by-step within each. Once a final draft has been submitted, we can easily convert to .pdf format via CutePDF or the like. Please be mindful of not documenting how or where to obtain ROMs in keeping with the forum rules!

I have created a thread here as a pinned repository for the final drafts of the various member contributions.

zeenon Ultimate GameEx Guru!

zeenon

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Just started, but this is what I had in mind........

Draco, Can you give me the ability to upload .docx files?

Download the attached and change extension to .docx.

Z

rev .16

Draco1962 GameEx God (Top Rank)

Draco1962

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Tom will need to enable that if possible. You can upload them as a compressed file in zip, rar, or 7zip.

BTW, I moved your post to the topic in the General forum so we can flesh out the details there and reserve the Pinned topic for the final products.

Draco1962 GameEx God (Top Rank)

Draco1962

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Is there any interest in setting up a wiki than can be used as a setup guide for all of these tools plus a general FAQ hub?

I have spoken with Tom regarding a wiki and that is something we may be looking into setting up in the foreseeable future.

Draco1962 GameEx God (Top Rank)

Draco1962

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Comments?? Not finished but I think it looks pretty good ;)

attachicon.gifpinballxr.25.pdf

Now I just need my 1.69 bug fixed :)

Z

Z - Thanks! I am looking forward to reviewing it in detail (although from what I have read thus far, it looks pretty good!). Please review the PinballX Documentation thread. I have attached a PinballX template created by nullPointer which will provide a more unified approach, order and consistency for all submissions. If you wouldn't mind using that it shouldn't take much time to convert your document over to it. Let us know if you need assistance.

Eventually, we hope to setup a wlki (thanks, aitf311 for the suggestion) along with a document repository and/or converting the submissions to a web page.

Again, thanks for jumping in and getting things started!

zeenon Ultimate GameEx Guru!

zeenon

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I converted the original doc over to the template. I'll do some more adding when I get get home tonight.

Z

Draco1962 GameEx God (Top Rank)

Draco1962

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@Z - I don't see much wrong with this. There are a few formatting issues to clear up (which we can do upon submission of your final draft) but, otherwise, looking fantastic!

@Tom - can you advise what video formats are supported for the loading video in PinballX so that Zeenon can update his draft? Thank you!

zeenon Ultimate GameEx Guru!

zeenon

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Ok guys here it is, I think I've touched on most of the features within PBX and even gave some real world examples.

I've never configured MAME inside PBX so if someone would like to put together instructions for that it would be great. (leave out anything to do with acquiring ROMs)

Tom can fine tune some of the things I highlighted in yellow, like how many start up images does PBX support, does it select the files at random or in order, etc.

Z

PinballX_S2F_Documentation rev 1.0.zip

Draco1962 GameEx God (Top Rank)

Draco1962

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Ok guys here it is, I think I've touched on most of the features within PBX and even gave some real world examples.

I've never configured MAME inside PBX so if someone would like to put together instructions for that it would be great. (leave out anything to do with acquiring ROMs)

Tom can fine tune some of the things I highlighted in yellow, like how many start up images does PBX support, does it select the files at random or in order, etc.

Z

Thanks! Configuring MAME to run via PinballX would be a great separate document, as well as emulator and PC game specific programs. This is a very good and much needed start!

zeenon Ultimate GameEx Guru!

zeenon

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Draco,

Just to be clear when I say configuring MAME inside PBX, I talking about the functionality Tom has already added to PinballX to support MAME. Which I think should be added to this doc at some point.

http://www.gameex.info/forums/topic/13601-166-released/

Configuring MAME/emulators outside of what Tom has done in 166 is way outside the scope of a PinballX guide. If people want to go down that route I think GameEx is the solution.....period. :)

Z

Draco1962 GameEx God (Top Rank)

Draco1962

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I think you may have misunderstood me. Keep in mind I do not run a pincab, however, use of the word emulator is somewhat loose, and was meant to be inclusive of the various pinball programs, such as PinMAME, Future Pinball, etc. I see what you are saying about the MAME functionality within PinballX. My thoughts were a separate but related guide for those that may want to add it at a later time with the intent of a pure pinball focus for your document.

zeenon Ultimate GameEx Guru!

zeenon

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No problem, I have a cab, so even though I tried to gear it toward desktop AND cabinet setups, I tried to stick to 100% pinball (but there are a few members that love the mame addon for PBX). I enjoyed putting the document together.

Z

Tom Speirs GameEx God (Top Rank)

Tom Speirs

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Thanks so much Zeenon. Ill check this out shortly and get back on the specifications. I am happy for you to cover MAME and Pinball FX etc. There are only finite other systems and games that are good on a pincab so like I said happy for it to be covered.

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zeenon Ultimate GameEx Guru!

zeenon

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Anytime!! Thank you for taking care of US and providing two great front ends!!!!!

With that said, this is the first draft, turn comments on in word and send me any corrections. If you would like me to expand on anything let me know.

Z

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