Synchronize Visual Pinball UltraVPServer in PinballX

[scrivy]

This information below assumes PinballX is installed in "C:\PinballX" and Hyperpin is installed in "C:\Hyperpin".

As I transition from Hyperpin to PinballX, it has been my goal to make the installation that I have in PinballX be fully compatible with what still has to be installed in the Hyperpin folders. This creates a problem needing solutions. For example the "UltraVPServer.exe" is installed in "C:\Hyperpin". It has to be there and won't run in the PinballX folder. Locations of the UVP files, back glass files, and database xml files must be in located in Hyperpin. Likewise, the UVP files are located in the folder "C:\Hyperpin\UltraVP". They must reside here. Similarly, the backglass file that it goes with it resides in "C:\Hyperpin\Media\Visual Pinball\Backglass Images" and my "Visual Pinball.xml" file has to be in "C:\Hyperpin\Databases\Visual Pinball".

It is very irritating when installing a new Visual Pinball table to have to deal with two folder structures and two databases. "UltraVPServer" won't load a UVP backglass when its supporting files are not in the right places.

I have come up with a solution for this. It is not the only solution as there seems to be a "symlink" (symbolic link) solution as well that someone else has implemented. For me, I don't want to deal with Hyperpin anymore and I want transparency. When I install a table in PinballX that uses UVP, I want it to be automatically installed in Hyperpin so the back glass will work.

Here is my solution:

Create a folder in PinballX called "C:\PinballX\UltraVP". Copy all of your UVP files located in "C:\Hyperpin\UltraVP" to this folder just so you will have a complete set in its new location. From now on, this is the only place you put your UVP files. You just want your UVP installation in PinballX to look like the way it does in Hyperpin.

Create a batch file called "UltraVPServer.bat" with these lines it:

XCOPY C:\PinballX\Databases C:\Hyperpin\Databases /E /Y /D
XCOPY C:\PinballX\Media\"Visual Pinball" C:\Hyperpin\Media\"Visual Pinball" /E /Y /D
XCOPY C:\PinballX\UltraVP C:\Hyperpin\UltraVP /E /Y /D
C:\Hyperpin\UltraVPServer.exe

Take this one step further if choose to do so and utilize a batch compiler like the one located at jitbit.com and turn your batch file into an executable. Place this batch file or executable in "C:\PinballX".

Going forward you put your UVP files in "C:\PinballX\UltraVP", all of your media files in the appropriate folders in PinballX, and you install your new table in "C:\PinballX\Databases\Visual Pinball\Visual Pinball.xml". Execute the batch file or the compiled batch file on first run before you try to play the table, and it will copy everything over to Hyperpin and then run the "UltraVPServer" that is in Hyperpin. Close out of the server, and then execute the table.

You will notice that this batch file copies all media files and all database files to Hyperpin. It does have one disadvantage in that if you were to delete a file in PinballX, it does not delete the same one over in Hyperpin. It does not synchronize so if any other programming gurus are out there that can solve this problem, please post your solution. Maybe add to the batch file script so it can compare after the copy what is in the copied folders that went to Hyperpin and if they don't match PinballX, then delete them. What is the best solution you have found for this? Is there a better solution that will run using scripting and be compatible to every version of Windows?

When I installed PinballX and saw how much less resources it required as compared to Hyperpin, there was no way to go except forward. All of my media files and database files were copied over to PinballX and now the plan is just to keep the two synchronized so UVP will work.