[PINCAB] My Virtual Pinball Cabinet build

[Mike_da_Spike]

I received all parts within a week, but because of health issues, I was only able to spend just 1 hour a day to build and configure it.

I made 2 mistakes. When ordered the parts the 980 pro was on sale at amazon and only 30 euro extra than the 970 evo plus.
But at the time I realized, the sale was over. But 3300mbps isn't bad for a SSD drive as well.
2nd one was the case. 
Because it is in my cabinet, I ordered a cheap case.
According to the specs, the GPU should fit in it.
But was a hell of a job to get the GPU in it. Also the connectors for the leds etc. are all just behind a bracket, that cannot be removed from the case. 
So I needed to wire all when MB was not in the case and hope that all was fine.

Here you see a pic that the back of the GPU is a bit under the case and also the power connector of the card is a bit under the case

But spending some time, all fits in the case 

Next step is replacement of the PC (and monitor)

I bought a new W11 pro license (as my W7 and W10 keys didn't work during install) and installed Windows 11 directly on the SSD.
Added TeamViewer host and configured that only local could access it.
I removed via powershell some bloatware that is directly installed, installed latest drivers for chipset and GPU. 
And swapped the PC

Ok .. my cabinet is on the inside not as nice as some others have, but all is working.
I'm glad when I build the PC, that all my components (even external fans) has an external connector so I could easily disconnect everything and connect it again for the new PC.

This MB has around 12 external USB ports, so no need for an USB anymore.

In the meantime, I also bought a monitor to replace my TV.
I bought the LC-Power 39"
It is a QHD curved monitor with a refresh rate of 165Hz.
I was a bit afraid that a 4K tv would look better than a QHD monitor, but this was the best choice I made. (I should have this done much earlier)
The monitor support AMD's freesync. Enabling on TV and in the Nvidia GeForce settings, showed that the tv is also G-Sync compatible :

 

As the back case of the monitor was 'leaning' on my left flipper buttons, it didn't fit well, so I removed the back panel case of the monitor.

(Sorry for the blurry pic)

I forgot to detach 1 led strip of the back, so that connector is broken now  

After removing this, the panel is pretty thin and could mount it just above the flippers

This gives a better look and feel experience as the flippers on screen are almost on the same place as an physical table
As one if the exciters is next to my flipper buttons, it really feels if yo uplay on a real cab

Setting up VPX again and re-configured that it should use V-sync, runs almost all the tables at 165FPS

I thought that the curve would screw up the playfield, but that's not true. 
It looks a bit strange as most tables has ramps there, but if you get used to it, it looks pretty awesome.
And a huge difference between a TV and a monitor.

The viewing angle is much better. Colors are more real and the speed of the ball .. AMAZING !

My old cab had a I7 (7700) in it with a RTX 2070. All the Tables runs on 60HZ, but got a lot of times that I loose the ball out of sight, because it went so fast. I don't have this issue anymore.
I'm still in progress to setup everything, but I can play all my VPX tables, DOF is working, SSF is working (noticed that one excitor had a loose cable and fix that too) , PBX setup (setup all new start scripts), Pinemhi is working, Zen FX3 with doflinx is working and Zaccaria pinball is mostly working.

The only issue I have now, that one of my cats 'claimed' the glass to close the cab again ....

 My plan is to make a separate thread to show how I setup my cabinet with all my scripts and running PinballX as a front end

[Mike_da_Spike]

I finally got the cab closed again.

Because I was not able to remove the front frame of the monitor, I put some black tape on it to mask the white colored frame.

Intention was to brush it black, but this was a cheap and easy fix as well.

Time to play again 

[tthurman]

You did alright with the 970 Evo Plus, I bought two of them when faced with the same decision last year.

https://www.minitool.com/backup-tips/980-pro-vs-970-evo-plus.html

Everything looks really nice!  I hope you are doing well 

<edit> Linked the wrong review. 

[Mike_da_Spike]

1 hour ago, tthurman said:

I hope you are doing well 

Thanks buddy, getting slowly there.

[Mike_da_Spike]

A colleague of my bought a Oculus Quest 2 a couple of months ago and I was curious how that would look like for Virtual Pinball.
When he visit me one time, he brought the device with him, but without any pinball software, and just as standalone device.

I tried it for a couple of minutes and played a game of ping pong.
I wasn't really under the impression and because of my health issues , it gave me a lot of headaches.

But after long doubts, and reading a lot of articles and checking youtube video's I decided to buy VR glasses.
I read good things about the Meta (oculus) Quest 2 that is on the market for a couple of years now and decided to buy that device.

Although my health issues aren't solved yet, I tried the device and attached it to my cabinet with a special USB3 cable.
For testing I used a package called '10.8 VR-GL v603 opencomposite.32bit'
this is VPX 10.8 build with GL. This has a special section for VR.

The package uses opencomposite that can be used with the PC link version of the Quest software.

To get all setup correctly, you need some tweaks. But with help of people on VPforum and with my own VP knowledge, I came to a point that I really have the 'WOW' factor.

Setting the glasses the 90HZ, resolution to 3712x1872.

This really give me the experience that I'm standing behind a real pinball cabinet. As I use my own plunger, and flipper keys (and start button), it is more realistic as well.

I turned off the sound of the VR glasses and uses the 7.1 SSF sounds from my cabinet. This makes it more realistic as it sounds that the ball , flippers, bumpers are really at the position as they are.

As a video that can be created doesn't look like how I experience the VR, I only keep it with text.
A video looks  stretched and not nice, but putting on the glasses, let you get into a room with the table of choice and plays if you are actually stands in front of a real cabinet.

It maybe helps that I upgraded my system this year as well and that the GPU can render the VR output.

if anyone wants to try to glasses, feel free to reach out to me

 

EDIT : To use VR or cabinet, I use a batch file to switch registry keys and the DMD device.ini

• Visual Pinball requires different setting (for example, disable Directb2s in VR and no 'Force Exclusive full screen'
  So I created 2 registry files , that I can switch easily for cabinet use (all in my PinballX startup script) and VR use
• As I have a real DMD, the need for real DMD isn't needed in VR.
  In fact, most tables must have a virtual DMD to show in VR (even in full color with Freezy's DMDdevice.dll)
  I created 2 DMDdevice.ini's : 1 for cabinet and 1 for VR and switch them with the same start scripts
  The VR one has the real DMD disabled and set Virtual DMD enabled

[Mike_da_Spike]

OK. A small video of fish tales.

This is just what I see with one eye. Not exactly, as it looks a bit zoomed on the glasses.
Video was captures with 60FPS and the glasses where 90 FPS.
I really like the VR rooms.
TOTAN even looks more impressive.

You won't see it in this preview screen, but on VR you even have the DMD reflects on the playfield glass.

[Draco1962]

Impressive! 

[Mike_da_Spike]

19 hours ago, Draco1962 said:

Impressive! 

On screen it looks differrent than on vr. Vr looks really awesome.

I did some measurements to check what the load was on my system. As a reference table I used the Metallica table.

I also tried to use the vr wireless as well, and that works like a charm.

During gameplay i had the following on average::

Cpu 25 %

Gpu 75%

Network 70 MBPS

So for vr you need a pretty good video card (i have an rtx 3080).

Now i need a good frontend, as I need to manually switch tables and take the glasses off when using desktop.

 

[Mike_da_Spike]

After less than 2 years of switching from tv to a qhd curved mo itor, I have finally purchased a non-curved monitor that should fit within my cabinet.

The Asus Rog Swift PQ38UQ was on sale, and I was able to secure the last remaining unit.

This is the only 4k non-curved monitor with a 144hz refresh rate that will fit within my cabinet.

I intend to swap out my current monitor next week and will provide an update on the results.

Attached is an image of the box already.

I would like to express my sincere appreciation to @scutters for his prompt notification regarding the availability of the monitor last year. I am grateful for this assistance in facilitating the acquisition of this valuable asset, despite the subsequent impact on my financial resources. (Nah, just kidding. Scutterers has been helping me with my search for a monitor for at least 5 years now. So I'm really thankful for his help. Thanks mate!)

[Mike_da_Spike]

Due to health issues, I was unable to complete this thread about upgrading to my new monitor .
The Asus Rog Swift PQ38UQ is a 4K monitor with a 144Hz refresh rate.
Since the monitor cost around 1000 euros (discounted from the usual €1299), I was hesitant to remove the back panel.
Consequently, I had to install the entire monitor, which made the fit in my cabinet quite tight, and I couldn't slide it over the flipper buttons as with my previous monitor.
This led to a gap between the lockbar and the monitor, which I closed by adding a piece of wood that I painted black.

Shows the gap between the lockbar and monitor. If you look closer, you can see that the LED strip on the right was also removed. As the monitor was so tight, I could not add it to the cabinet without removing the LED strip


Inserted a small black wood strip to fill the gap.

Side picture showing my crocs as well  

lockbar, ledstrip and glass placed again.
Perfect !

PinballX displays perfectly, as does Visual Pinball. With VP 10.8.0's new POV setting called 'window', you can set the playfield from the user's perspective. It offers a more 3D experience when playing in flat mode. It's difficult to capture on camera, so you'll have to take my word for it.

The monitor has a lot of feature I would never use, bit 1 thing is handy. it will shows the FPS which is actually from the monitor

menu from monitor

Showing actual FPS on screen (too bad it cannot be rotated, but you get the clue)

total picture.

As I didn't like the gap between the user and apron/instruction cards (it was too big and the flippers felt too high), I'm adjusting all my tables to show half of the apron/instruction card for a more realistic experience. I also try to set up the tables within VPX to 100% scaling (not stretching), which displays the table at its real size on my monitor.

[Mike_da_Spike]

Even expensive monitors can have issues, and unfortunately, my monitor developed a red pixel during startup for around 10 minutes. After that, it disappeared. I called the ASUS service center, and they said I could send it to them. I had already gotten rid of the original box, but thankfully, a good friend and former colleague had a 43" monitor box that I could ship it in. I shipped it off for another surgery and received it back when I got home. Thanks to ASUS for being so kind to fix this, as normally pixels aren't covered under the guarantee.

it's the small red dot , just where my phone is. 
 

[Mike_da_Spike]

From one project to another on my cabinet.
More and more colorized ROMs came which were built with serum. Including the new .crz extension added to DMDext. My main problem was that my PinDMDv3 could not keep up with the scenes and scores, causing the scenes and scores to lag behind during gameplay. It started with the alphanumeric ROMs, but later I noticed it with other ROMs as well. I created multiple GitHub issues for DMDext, but it seems they went to the backlog.
I made some videos. Here’s a YouTube video of ATFM, showing the realDMD, virtual DMD, and the PinMAME DMD. You will see that the virtual DMD and PinMAME DMD are lagging behind the scenes and score, whereas the PAC files are showing fine."

After more than a year without a solution, I decided to swap my PinDMDv3 for a ZeDMD.
This new setup is based on the small ESP32 circuit board and flashed with its own firmware. The DMD panels should be compatible with the PinDMDv3. As the ESP32 circuit board costs only 6 euros, it wasn't an expensive extra to run some tests. Due to my fine motor skills no longer working well, I couldn't do the soldering myself, so I bought a shield that fits the ESP32 and allows the cable to plug into the LED panels.

t's been a while since I removed my backglass and do something with my "grill"


the 'easy' part. remove the backglass and get to the DMD back

The small ESP32 with shield. As the PinDMDv3 is powered via 5V from the PC, I left it as is. I just needed an extra USB cable as the connector from the PinDMDv3 didn't fit (it had an old printer connector, and the new one uses micro USB)

Just put the cable on top of the PC and works directly

Still one issue: how to get this working with PinballX?
I asked @Tom Speirs if it was hard to get the ZeDMD driver into XDMD so it would work with PinballX, as I wanted to try and make it work. But Tom had a better solution: he will add it to XDMD!  
And he did ! ZeDMD driver is now working with PinballX . Still some slight issues with it, but Tom is doing a good job on it !
 

[Mike_da_Spike]

"As this was working, I wanted to test more. When flashing the firmware for ZeDMD, I noticed it could be flashed as ZeDMD HD as well:265x128 pixels! How cool is that? Finally, those Sega games like Baywatch and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein on my real DMD and readable (not cropped). I ordered two 128x64 panels (p2) from AliExpress. Including shipment, it cost around 70 euros, still cheaper than the PinDMDV3.1 sold for 229 USD. To my surprise, those panels were delivered in one week. That's quicker than my local Chinese takeaway!

But the size of around 518 x 128 mm didn't fit into my cabinet. I searched for a box to mount them in and spent a long time searching the internet, but couldn't find anything. The only option I found was a 3D printable wall-mounted ZeDMD HD frame (3d printable wall mounted zedmd hd). I don't have a 3D printer, and the 3D schemas included too much. I just wanted the frame, not the boxes next to it. I checked online services for printing, but the costs were high, including the shipping.

When I watched a video on VPU of the ZeDMD HD, it looked like the DMD panel was way bigger than the backbox (or almost similar in size). But when I checked my backbox, my panels were much smaller.

I contacted him via discord and he said all was fine. he just had a smaller backbox that I have.

On a Dutch website where we discuss Vpinball, I posted: 'Who can print 3D for me and what will it cost?' A user named dizzytal responded quickly, offering to print it, although he lived on the other side of the country. I explained that I only needed the frame, not the box for the circuit board and power, and if possible, to print it twice so I could also replace one of my two goDMD clocks as one is looking worn out.

He printed it for me. I arranged the delivery, and within a couple of days, I received a well-packaged item, wrapped perfectly to prevent any damage during shipment.

it looks like a construction kit

It is a model kit ! Showing how the two 'A' marks on the pieces should be aligned and connected together.

the fronts of the prints looks pretty good as well

The construction is reinforced with three small bars for added stability

4x2 constructed.

This photo shows the inside of a printed frame for the LED panels. There is a type of cable duct where the power wires can run through, and the panels are held together with a bracket that also secures the flat cables.

and this is the final product.
The frame is around the 2 panels.

Unfortunately, I had a second print for my GoDMD clock, which is the same size as the ZeDMD HD panels, but because these are 64x16 panels, the screw holes are in a different place. So, I'm not able to use it  bummer

The frame is designed to hold a 3mm plexiglass, so I ordered that as a tinted one as well.
To power and connect the panel to the PC, I ordered two long USB cables. Both of my GoDMD clocks run on USB power.
Some people say it will work, while others disagree.
I believe not all the LEDs will turn white at the same time for an extended period, so I'll test my setup.
So 1 of the cables will be used to power the Led's and the other for getting the data(and power) the ESp circuit board.
To be continued

[Mike_da_Spike]

A minor yet significant update: I've tested the latest version of XDMD, which now enables zeDMD to function within PinballX. Kudos to @Tom Speirs for this achievement. It's likely that he will make it available shortly.

Following Tom's success in getting ZeDMD operational, I proceeded to flash the ESP32 for ZeDMD HD compatibility. Additionally, I've completed the DMD frame by installing tinted plexiglass.

Since I didn't create the small box next to the DMD frame for the power supply and circuit board, I simply used two zip ties: one to hold the circuit board and another for the cables.

You'll notice I utilized two USB wires; one is connected to the ESP controller for data, and the other is trimmed and attached to the connector to adjust the voltage from 5V to 4.7V.

The method I use to power the LEDs is definitely not best practice. If all LEDs are lit up, they could consume a significant amount of watts, and if the USB cable simply connected to the PC, it could potentially damage the power supply ! so be aware !

I've placed the ZeDMD HD on top, and this is its showing my wheel logo's (with year and animated company) within PinballX :

during gameplay I've now set that DMDdevice.ini should use a ZeDMDhd and the PinDMDv3 :

For alphanumeric displays, the PinDMDv3 was already adequate. However, the ZeDMD not only upscales the alphanumeric display twice but also enhances the font appearance, making it look better and more rounded.

However, the significant changes are evident with the new CRZ files, which feature 256x64 coloring (for 128x32 ROMs). Take, for instance, one of my preferred tables, GnR:

or even the games that are having a larger display by default and looks crappy on the 128x32 real DMD

Short video of attract mode Baywatch. Observe the differences between DMDv3 and ZeDMD HD.

or a non coloured roms , which have large display :


Or just an upscaled 128x32 shows fine during gameplay:


And now, with the lights turned off, the room is brighter and equipped with plexiglass.


Once again, a huge thank you to @Tom Speirs for integrating ZeDMD support into PinballX, and a heartfelt thanks to dizzytal for fabricating the frame for the P2 panels!
 

 

 

[Mike_da_Spike]

For those using PinballX with my FlexDMD plugin: I've updated it to support a resolution of 256x64 as well. You can download the latest plugin DLL from:

Navigate to the Plugin Manager, select the desired plugin, and proceed to configure it.

Enable the 'Use HD' checkbox.

Click 'Save & Exit'.

Upon launching PinballX, you will see:

And all your media will be processed in a 256x64 format. Only use this if you have 256x64 DMD or want to use it with the virtual DMD in higher resolution

A huge thanks to 'FlexDMD master' @scutters who made the most part to get flexDMD to work. I only added some other stuff