PinballX from Hyperpin

[bclinton]

Hi folks - I am a long time Gameex user on a cab and a Hyperpin user for my pincab. About 225 tables. How hard is it to create a working Pinballx setup on the same pincab? I would love to take a look at it but didn't want to spend all the time I spent getting Hyperpin working

[zeenon]

Mr. President,

Take a look at the following doc: http://www.gameex.info/forums/topic/13735-calling-all-pinballx-gurus-and-smes-documentation-challenge/page-2#entry118254

especially the part about running HyperPin and PBX at the same time.

Z

[scrivy]

When making a decision to move from Hyperpin to PinballX, here is what to think about:

Hyperpin requires far more resources to run then PinballX. I have run tests on my cabinet system. I have an AMD Sempron 3200 ancient processor, 3 GB DDR ancient memory, GE Force GTX 560 TI graphics card. Except for the graphics card, my system is really poor. I have BAM (Better Arcade Mode) loaded for Future Pinball and this can decrease FPS as well. With Hyperpin, I was constantly struggling to get enough performance for many games. Now that I have abandoned Hyperpin, games that would not run smoothly, now run just fine. Embryon and Apollo 13 are now the only FP games that I can't run smoothly. For Virtual Pinball, depending on the game, sometimes I can run a back glass program and sometimes I can't if I experience stuttering. I just use PinballX with the option set in the XML to leave the backglass image on the second screen in my cab, and then I drag the DMD to the right spot. Before I installed PinballX, the stuttering problem with Visual Pinball games was really bad. Much of this problem has now cleared up.

Now for the simple answer to how easy it is to install PinballX..... Examine where the media and database files are in Hyperpin and now look over in PinballX. Notice the similarities and just drag and drop folders from one location to the other as follows:

Hyperpin\Media\Hyperpin\Instruction Cards to PinballX\Media\Instruction Cards

Hyperpin\Media\Hyperpin\Flyer Images to PinballX\Media\Flyer Images

Hyperpin\Media\Future Pinball to PinballX\Media\Future Pinball

Hyperpin\Media\Visual Pinball to PinballX\Media\Visual Pinball

Hyperpin\Databases to PinballX\Databases

If you have PINemHI score keeper program installed over in Hyperpin\ then put it over in PinballX\

Now for the major quirks between both systems:

In Hyperpin, you can have Future Pinball tables in sub-folders located in your Games\Future Pinball\Tables . You can't do this for PinballX. If you have set tables up in sub-folders, this will be the only time consuming problem you will have to set up PinballX. PINemHI did not work with sub-folders either so this is one more reason not to use them.

Below is a clip of what my Games\Future Pinball\Tables folder now looks like after the conversion with sub-folders removed and all the table files dragged out of their sub-folders and put in Games\Future Pinball\Tables.

Now fpl files are moved to Games\Future Pinball\Libraries. (get them out of the sub-folders)

Now fps files are moved to Games\Future Pinball\Scripts. (get them out of the sub-folders)

Notice that I have BAM XML and ZIP files in the same Tables folder by the same table name so they execute and replace the physics of the game when the BAM FP loader executes Future Pinball.

4 Square (1971 Gottlieb).fpt

4 Square (1971 Gottlieb).xml

24 (Stern 2009).fpt

24 (Stern 2009).zip

You can use the Game Manager.exe file in PinballX to edit your XML database files or just edit them directly in notepad. Be careful because the Game Manager has limitations on how many tables can be handled and you can overwrite your database and lose tables. Make an extra copy of it just in case you zap it out. If you use the Game Manager, your XML files will be converted and will look like this below. Notice how I don't want the backglass hidden because sometimes I don't use a backglass program in Visual Pinball but I just drag the DMD to the right place on the image. This option is available in Game manager that toggles "hidebackglass" to "False". This doesn't mean you have to use the Game Manager and it doesn't mean you need to convert your XML database files brought over from Hyperpin, but if you plan on having this additional feature, you will need to make the change.

<game name="Airborne (Capcom 1996)">
<description>Airborne (Capcom 1996)</description>
<manufacturer>Capcom</manufacturer>
<year>1996</year>
<type>SS</type>
<hidedmd>True</hidedmd>
<hidebackglass>False</hidebackglass>
<enabled>True</enabled>
<rating>0</rating>
</game>

In Hyperpin, you can take table and backglass snapshots and they will go straight to the correct folder and overwrite the original files. This does not happen in PinballX. You will have to go to your media screen grabs folders, rotate the table snapshot and move them both over to the correct folders manually.

In Hyperpin, you can drop to the table editor make a change, and then go back to Hyperpin. You can't do this in PinballX, but who cares if some features are missing but other better ones are available. Nobody wants so much bloat that now this is like Hyperpin.

UVP media and the UltraVPServer for Visual Pinball must still reside over in Hyperpin. Look here to see how to synchronize between both systems: http://www.gameex.info/forums/topic/14210-synchronize-visual-pinball-ultravpserver-in-pinballx/

I had some difficulties with servers not closing out in Visual Pinball when exiting a table. Check out this Jukebox article and you will find info about how to solve the server closing problem and also install DWJUKEBOX: http://www.gameex.info/forums/topic/14162-guide-for-installing-dwjukebox-for-pinballx-in-your-pincab/

There are many differences between Hyperpin and PinballX, but in general, PinballX has more features that overshadow what is missing. The wheel rotates very fast if you are not loading playable videos for each table. Each table preview can have it's own sounds plus you can have a default sound that plays in absence of the table version. Everything is customizable. I even have the wheel matching the color of my cabinet.

[nullPointer]

Wow, that's awesome scrivy! Thanks for such a thorough comparison!

[bclinton]

you've convinced me .... I will start tackling this over the weekend...