help with visual pinball please

[skitzes]

hello- i'm new and i searced for answers but couldn't really follow what i was reading, so...

i have visual pinball working on my pc and i use vplauncher as a frontend for it. i added vplauncer to the external apps section in the configuration settings and was able to launch from game ex. but after i shut down the table and return to the game ex menu, the pinball apps are still running in windows.

i have read alot of entries about a vpauto.exe- but i dont know where to find it or what to do with it etc. i do not know anything about editing scripts or .ini files as others have discussed so if that is whats needed please help me out by telling me step-by-step what to do- i dont even know how to access those files. i've only had the software for a few days and so far i love it and will definitely be registering but i really wanna get everything working so any help would be greatly appreciated. =)

thanks.....

[hansolo77]

vpauto.exe is located in the root folder: C:\Program Files\GameEx

It's a utility that automatically clicks on the dialogue windows for the warning messages about the ROMs. Unfortunately it's a little buggy and many people (including myself) have found that remains an active process after exiting the program. So you can either have the table running like you have it now, or you can use vpauto and have it always running. If it were me, I'd go with vpauto because it's small. It's just a little annoying to see like 25 of them in your taskmanager after you're done playing.

[skitzes]

ok i'm on the verge of figuring this all out- i'll write back if i have more trouble.

thanks again.....

[skitzes]

okay its all setup through configuration but game ex is not seeing my roms- i tried setting the "look in folders" to both yes and no with no change. any clues why?

if i copy the line "AlsoLaunch=[apppath]\vpauto.exe" to the external apps section where i configured vplauncher, will that work? that would be great. i guess i could just try it out right now but i am a little nervous messing with the .ini without someone telling me to! =)

[hansolo77]

I'm not sure.. I haven't played with any external apps, nor the vplauncher program. If GameEx isn't seeing your roms, make sure you have the rom filter set to look for *.vpt and have the rom path in your /tables folder.

[skitzes]

the romfilter is set correctly to look for *.vpt. are you saying that my roms folder needs to be a subdirectory in my tables folder? that would be odd. still confused and in need of help. =)

i think i might have made a mistake in the configuration under working path. i originally put the path to my tables folder. now i tried the path to vpinball.exe and that caused game ex to crash entirely. what exactly are they looking for in the working path line? sorry i know this is a dumb question!

[skitzes]

Okay- Thanks to HanSolo77 and some of the other threads I finally have it all working and here's what I needed to do so the next guy who runs into this problem has an easier time:

First i had to place a copy of my roms folder into my tables folder.

In the game ex configuration:

The rom path is actually the path to the tables folder (...\Pinball\Tables).

The working path is actually the same path to the tables folder, not to the vpinball.exe command.

I had to open gameex.ini file(...\gameex\config\gameex.ini) in notepad and make sure that the command line in the emulator 3(pinball) section read as follows(it originally had a different .exe listed and i had to change it):

Command=..\vpinball.exe -play -"[ROMFILE]"

Also make sure that this line is also present(it was for me):

AlsoLaunch=[apppath]\vpauto.exe

That should do it.

Thanks for everyones help- what a great community and incredible program!

May the Force be with you... Always.

[hansolo77]

May the Force be with you... Always.

LOL I'm glad I was able to help. Now if I can only get some help with MY issues. Hehe.

[headkaze]

Actually that line should be

AlsoLaunch=vpauto.exe

[ranzo]

Hello,

I managed to also run the emulator, but one thing :

When I start a pin, the screen will not be black and I can see the loading windows of Visual Pinball and PinMAME. Is there a chance to completly suppress all these screens so that I only see the Pinball when its finished with loading ?

Also, how can I configure the pinballs, e.g. set to Freeplay ?

[fRequEnCy]

When I start a pin, the screen will not be black and I can see the loading windows of Visual Pinball and PinMAME. Is there a chance to completly suppress all these screens so that I only see the Pinball when its finished with loading ?

To answer this question, I believe Tempest created a loader for such a thing. It can be found in the user submissions section and to make it even easier, here it is. I personally have never tested this but it seems like what you're looking for.

[ranzo]

I completely reinstalled my system and found another problem :

When I manual start a pinball via starting VPinball908.exe, then selecting the pinball and go to "Play", he will correctly start the pinball and he is also showing me the little DOT Matrix display on the left upper side. When I do the same thing via Gameex, this matrix is away...Another problem is that when I start the Emulation via Gameex, I only see in the BACKROUND the simulation and the active window is the Visual Pinball...so I have to use my mouse to activate the correct window to play...

What loader are You using...teh default loader in the gameex.ini file vploader, or the loader in the folder "VPinball_Loader.exe" ?

Any help would be very nice...

Bye,

André

[ranzo]

Hi,

I just used my old Image and additionally installed Visual Pinball and everything works fine. Just one last question :

The emulation is a little bit slow...which means that the ball does not roll smoothly...it chops around so that its nearly impossible to play the game...are theer any features which I can turn off to get a better simulation in Visual Pinball...

But on the other hand, I have a fast system : 1GB RAM, AMD Athlon XP 3200+ Barton...so its strange for me why the simulation is so slow...newest ActiveX installed...

Bye,

André

[Draco1962]

Hi,

I just used my old Image and additionally installed Visual Pinball and everything works fine. Just one last question :

The emulation is a little bit slow...which means that the ball does not roll smoothly...it chops around so that its nearly impossible to play the game...are theer any features which I can turn off to get a better simulation in Visual Pinball...

But on the other hand, I have a fast system : 1GB RAM, AMD Athlon XP 3200+ Barton...so its strange for me why the simulation is so slow...newest ActiveX installed...

Bye,

André

Andre,

Can you provide a copy of your gameex log file?

[Adultery]

Same problem over here with a nearly identical system spec. I'd be interested in knowing how you fix the lag problem too.

I should also note the lag only happens when I launch pinball tables from GameEx. They work just fine outside of it.

[GeorgeT]

Same problem over here with a nearly identical system spec. I'd be interested in knowing how you fix the lag problem too.

I should also note the lag only happens when I launch pinball tables from GameEx. They work just fine outside of it.

I fairly certain VP requires a pretty beefy GFX card. 1gig is recommended.

[B2K24]

Be sure HD render is checked so it uses your GPU

[ranzo]

Be sure HD render is checked so it uses your GPU

Sorry for my late response, but I was completly busy to pick up my first pinball machine : "Tales of the Arabian Nights" and its just a great pinball...

Where can I set that HD Render ?

I am using the Graphic card : ATI Saphire X1650PRO with 512 MB RAM and 8x AGP

Attached to that post is my gameex.ini file

So any help would be very nice...

Ahhh, and by the way : Happy new year !!

André

GameEx.rar

[ranzo]

Hi Guys !!

So, it was NOT my problem, it was a problem of Visual Pinball. They just released a new version : 909 and now everything works fine and shortly I can release the new Full MAME Installation Guide Version 1.9 !!

Bye,

André

[Adultery]

Snagging this. It's been awhile since my tables played correctly! Thanks!

[ranzo]

I would like to know one last point to really be happy...

When I start the pinball from Gameex, I will then see all these loading screens. Is there a possibility to completely hide these loading sequences ?

Bye,

André

[Adultery]

Seeing as "show desktop" needs to be set to "true", I'm afraid that answer is no... There used to be a "loader" that covered up the dialog with a graphic, but I don't remember what it was called or where I found it.

Perhaps a dig around the forums might turn something up...

[Draco1962]

Following is an excerpt from Loaders (Wrappers) By Tempest

Visual Pinball Loader:

This is a loader to hide the windows that open when VPinball is executed. Inside the .7z, you will find:

[Mapping Off] Exit (ESC+Q).ini - Advanced config (Copy to: GameEx\CONFIG\EMULATORS)

VPinball.ini - Emulator Config (Use the 'Import' Button - Make sure to check your paths)

VPinball.png - Image used to hide VPinball (You can use your own image, make sure it's named VPinBall.png)

VpinBallLoader.exe - Loader Program

If you already have Vpinball setup in GameEX,

Use: "C:\Vpinball\VPinballLoader.exe" "[ROMFILE]" "[WORKINGPATH]" as your Command, adjusting the path of course.

VPinballLoader.7z (758.27K)

[fRequEnCy]

Also already answered this to you previously in this very thread. Here ya go!

[ranzo]

I will check that out today and update the documentation and the package.

Another problem and question :

1. They key mapping are not really working : Means that I set the button "W" to add credits, but he does not accept that !! All other keys are remapped, but not that one

1. Must I really start every pinball to set it to freeplay ?

Bye for now,

André