Zaccaria Direct Launch for PBX

[joyrider3774]

2 hours ago, BrandonLaw said:

Also in current news...anyone else see the 99 cent 27 table drop on Steam? Don't mind if I do.

I had bought that pack initially but i find it dangerous, i played those tables and they are imo not so great and it gave me a bad impression of zaccaria pinball. I had not figured out at that time i could test the other tables for free. But luckily there was a sale going on so i still went through and bought the platinum pack and was happy to see the other tables (especially remakes) are good. So don't bias yourselve on that retro pack. Also it could be you can already own those (retro) tables if you own the normal tables but not sure should check ingame + steam forums i saw something about that there (edit see: https://steamcommunity.com/app/444930/discussions/0/1752358461531371239/ )

44 minutes ago, BrandonLaw said:

Proof of concept  (Which correlates to Draco's already put together Docklets) for cutting and cleaning text, recoloring images, and sharpening if needed in which there will be a regular, and a 'Retro' tag that was recreated from the in-game tags to look similar.  They will be much larger as these were sized down for the post.

 

They look great too me, thanks keep it up

[GAH1068]

6 hours ago, BrandonLaw said:

Proof of concept  (Which correlates to Draco's already put together Docklets) for cutting and cleaning text, recoloring images, and sharpening if needed in which there will be a regular, and a 'Retro' tag that was recreated from the in-game tags to look similar.  They will be much larger as these were sized down for the post.

 

 

 

 

 

Looks great, can't wait to see more.  I am using the defult Zacarria MFN image right now and it looks ugly in my playlist.  LOl.  

I bought the platinum pack ages go but never really played until I got it running from a front-end.      Not a fan of the retro tables but for a buck you really can't go wrong.  Nice thing about platinum package is tables are half-prices for new ones. 

[hawkeyez88]

Wait which tables??? And yes please!!! WOW those look awesome!

[joyrider3774]

1 hour ago, hawkeyez88 said:

Wait which tables??? And yes please!!! WOW those look awesome!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/974400/Zaccaria_Pinball__27_Retro_Tables/ 

but do note this

[Draco1962]

13 hours ago, BrandonLaw said:

Proof of concept  (Which correlates to Draco's already put together Docklets) for cutting and cleaning text, recoloring images, and sharpening if needed in which there will be a regular, and a 'Retro' tag that was recreated from the in-game tags to look similar.  They will be much larger as these were sized down for the post.

 

 

 

I like these! Can you provide copies of the Retro lable in .png with transparency. Also, is there a Remakes label? I am currently working on an alternative wheel set that is different than the Mega Docklets project I started a few years ago. 

Also trying to source the following text logos in .png with transparency:

Clown
Fire Mountains
Winter Sports
Zankor
Pool Champion
House of Diamonds
Mystic Star
Spooky
Star's Phoenix
Strike
Aerobatics
Circus
Combat
Moon Flight
Lucky Fruit
Universe
Supersonic
Cine Star
Wood's Queen
Nautilus
Red Show
Tropical
Granada
Top Hand
 

[Carny_Priest]

text logos with transparency. 32assassin has several on VPForums. And he might have updates in his collection at hyperspin forums.

https://hyperspin-fe.com/profile/2831-32assassin/content/?type=downloads_file

For what was missing, I created some by pulling from flyers and backglass images and copied them to the FTP.

Media/Zaccaria Pinball/Wheel Images

Quality of source images for some of these was poor around the time the app was first released so the result was not great either. 

This work is free to use by the community without attribution. All sources are trademarks / copyrights of their respective owners. This is to be privately used in front-ends or for other non-commercial (or at least non-profit) pinball-related applications. I hold no responsibility for their misuse.

[Draco1962]

I will check them out. Thanks!

[BrandonLaw]

Ok, here's what I'm finding out quickly as I like to work in higher resolutions:

1.  Artwork on the web is basically non-existent, so I am using the in-game screenshots to gather art.

2.  It needs A LOT of cleanup.  This process takes the most time.

3.  Some concepts for the docklet, just aren't great or fit correctly from old table-art like this.  So what I am doing is taking the art from the table itself instead of the backglass.  Check the image below.  This particular piece took around an hour altogether and is completely from high-res screen grabs and touch-ups. 

 

Let me know what you think about having a bit of table in some of these if needed.

 

As far as the naming conventions...when I finish, which may be 2023:) I am going to have all .PNG's named as they are in the xml.  I am going in alphabetical order of xml for peace of mind.

 

 

[BrandonLaw]

10 hours ago, Draco1962 said:

I like these! Can you provide copies of the Retro lable in .png with transparency. Also, is there a Remakes label? I am currently working on an alternative wheel set that is different than the Mega Docklets project I started a few years ago. 

 

Tossed the Retrolablel.png for you in /-PinballX-/Other Uploads/BrandonLaw/Zaccaria   Keep in mind I just created that...it's not perfect, but gets the job done when zipping through the wheel.

So, my hard drive hates me as I save everything in it's own file, so if I am cutting out and re-imaging the text logos for the bottom of the docklets, the cutout is saved within the photoshop file for that docklet.  If you want the PS files, no prob.  I can upload them as I go along?  I would rather finish and dump the pngs and provide the PS files at request as they can chew up space.

[BrandonLaw]

Beastmaster for example...Totally needed to recreated and touched. I even horizontally squish some images a bit as old art is 'plumpy' making noses stretch and people look goofy.

I'm not delighted by it, but working with what I've got.  I'm just going to do each one new as I've been doing if that's cool with everyone?  Here is a before and after of some sharpening.  I'm sure it would be tough to notice on a cab, but I would know:)

[Draco1962]

Good work! May be best to continue the artworks convo in the Zaccaria Mega Docklets thread in the Media Projects subforum.

Waiting until you can dump all of the pngs for the bottom logos when done is fine. Thanks for picking up the additional docklets!

EDIT: I knocked these together on www.flamingtext.com - Retro logo and years 2016-2020

retro.zip

[GAH1068]

@BrandonLaw - Looking great to me so far!     

[halen]

Okay. This script is working like a charm. But I have a stupid question. How i do for the Zaccaria backglass to display in full screen?

[GAH1068]

Not really anything that can be done.   Their cabinet support is fairly limited so the quality of the backglass are low and aren't full screen.

[GAH1068]

See upate in first post regarding automatic playfield rotation (optional)  on startup 

[Draco1962]

11 hours ago, GAH1068 said:

See upate in first post regarding automatic playfield rotation (optional)  on startup 

Did you see this on Steam?

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1579397113&fbclid=IwAR37XuNN32wp_ZPtoz3HbXi1MTeozpslDjKeo9gmXTSTJfOvomUb4Wge8hk

[GAH1068]

Yepz  Saw on Facebook as well.  My script does it without changing the launch properties in stream.  Basically doing exact same thing 

[Draco1962]

Just thought I'd throw it out there in case someone does that manually and runs your script - could flip it 180.

 

[halen]

is it possible to run Zaccaria Pinball without steam? I dont want to start Zaccaria and update steam . I know that is possible to config steam to offline, but i want to start Zaccaria directly. The script works if i change the line :

RegRead, SteamDirPath, HKCU, Software\Valve\Steam, SteamPath

Run, "%SteamDirPath%\Steam.exe" -applaunch 444930

 

To Run, C:\Program files x86\Steam\Zaccariapinball.exe

[GAH1068]

I don't see a reason why that won't work.   All you should need is to change that line in your script and compile.    Nothing else should need changed.

[joyrider3774]

7 hours ago, roccodimarco said:

Hey guys, I’m not new to the whole PinballX, I have been using it for a few years now no problem. However; I’m running into trouble with this one. I’m sure I’m missing something very basic, but I can not get the games to appear in PinballX. 

 

In the games manager, the games are there via the xml file, but when I launch PinballX, none of the tables show up. It’s been a while since I added a new program to PinballX so maybe I’m missing something?

I’m running the game off of steam in offline mode, and I’m not sure where to set the table path at, and the working path. 

Any insight would be great, I’ll keep messing around and hope I stumble onto something in the mean time. 

Did you add the zaccaria pinball system and set it to enabled in the other emulators section (there's a screenshot somewhere in this thread to set it up in pinballx) ? Also make sure (but i did not verify if it's needed) that your game database is named the same as the system folder (or vice versa). but i'm not sure if it's a requirement. The folder name for the database you defined in the emualtor section (basically the system's) name should math the folder in the database folder of pinballx for zaccaria pinball.  If you want it to show up in the lists section just create a group xml linking directly to the single zaccaria pinball games database that's what i did to be able to select zaccaria pinball tables only. Otherwise they show up in the all games sections

[roccodimarco]

4 hours ago, joyrider3774 said:

Did you add the zaccaria pinball system and set it to enabled in the other emulators section (there's a screenshot somewhere in this thread to set it up in pinballx) ? Also make sure (but i did not verify if it's needed) that your game database is named the same as the system folder (or vice versa). but i'm not sure if it's a requirement. The folder name for the database you defined in the emualtor section (basically the system's) name should math the folder in the database folder of pinballx for zaccaria pinball.  If you want it to show up in the lists section just create a group xml linking directly to the single zaccaria pinball games database that's what i did to be able to select zaccaria pinball tables only. Otherwise they show up in the all games sections

I have it enabled, but maybe you can help me with this.  I'm running the game off of steam, so would I direct pinballx to the steam folders?  Also, where can I see the game database from steam?  I tried to search to match up, but was unable to find where steam put the game list. 

[GAH1068]

My script for table launch is already configured for Steam.   Nothing needs to be changed in steam.   This is all just PinballX configuration.    There is a Zacarria.XML file earlier in this thread that has all the tables (except maybe the last one or two released) that you can download and use.    You need to go into PinballX settings.   Go to Other systems and make sure you have one setup for Zacarria and confirm it is enable.d    It doesn't matter what number.    I would name it Zaccaria as well otherwhile the XML file you download will need to be named the same.    Just copy the .XML file to the PinballX\Database\Zaccaria (or whatever you call it) directory and it will have all the games added to PinballX.  You will still need to add Playfield, Backglass or Wheel images but the games should be launchable.

Make sure to download AutoHotKey (free) so you can compile your script files.   

[roccodimarco]

2 hours ago, GAH1068 said:

My script for table launch is already configured for Steam.   Nothing needs to be changed in steam.   This is all just PinballX configuration.    There is a Zacarria.XML file earlier in this thread that has all the tables (except maybe the last one or two released) that you can download and use.    You need to go into PinballX settings.   Go to Other systems and make sure you have one setup for Zacarria and confirm it is enable.d    It doesn't matter what number.    I would name it Zaccaria as well otherwhile the XML file you download will need to be named the same.    Just copy the .XML file to the PinballX\Database\Zaccaria (or whatever you call it) directory and it will have all the games added to PinballX.  You will still need to add Playfield, Backglass or Wheel images but the games should be launchable.

Make sure to download AutoHotKey (free) so you can compile your script files.   

Thanks.  I'm starting to think I missed enabled on Pinballx.  I will check tonight, thanks for the help guys!  Also, this is going to sound really dumb and I'm sorry upfront, what exactly am I using the AutoHotKey for?   What do you mean "complie script files"?  

[GAH1068]

The launch script in the first post is written in a enhanced scripting language called AutoHotKey.   It is an all purpose scripting language that many utilities in the  Virtual pinball world are using to automate things.   Think like a .bat file but a ton more powerful.   Using AutoHotKey you can take an script and compile it into a running executable.     This executable is used many times in the Launch Before/Launch after scripts in PinballX for example.       The LaunchZaccaria script I worked was written entirely in AHK.   From there you compile it (right click the AHK script and select compile) and an executable is generated.