pinballx settings Very cool bingo pinball simulation site

[ttrenkner]

For those who may not know, there is a large collection of beautifully simulated bingo pinball machines at http://bingo.joopriem.nl/  The author included settings that enable their use in a two-screen virtual pinball setup.

I would love to integrate this collection into my  PinballX setup, which has enough keys to accommodate these rather complex games, but I’m a complete illiterate when it comes to PBX settings, particularly parameters.  Does anyone out there know how to get these games to work with PBX?

i contacted the author, but he hasn’t yet had the chance to check out PBX, and though the question was raised a few years ago on this this forum, the topic was closed without anyone providing an answer regarding parameters. 

[Draco1962]

Sounds interesting. It may be possible to use x360ce or Xpadder, or similar key mapping software to assign buttons while on game.

Just so you are aware, some topics will be locked after being abandoned for a period of time to minimize replies to and the reviving of necro threads.

[joyrider3774]

basically what you need to ask the author if it does not exist yet. Is a way to launch a certain table / game using a command line parameter. looking at it i don't see such options and they all talk about usb serial connection to some micro controller to control it. Basically what you need is something like this "BingoGameroom.exe -Table BallyPalmSprings" So he needs to add Table parameter to launch the tables directly. I could not find this info on his site if it is supported or not so you might need to contact him about it. Using the tilt sensor i'm also not sure there are keyboard shortcuts for nudge left / right / top / bottom but can't say i see any joystick support and tilt sensors usually come up as a joystick device. IT might be able to work with joy2key but not sure how workable that is.

I don't have enough buttons on my cabinet to be able to use this and nudge on my cabinet is something i have not been able to get working correctly (pincontrol v1) so not sure i can use it all

[joyrider3774]

I looked some more at it it seems each table is situated in a seperate folder and is being launched using its own executable. so every table is a seperate program and you don't need gameroom.exe to launch the tables. It worked for me at least on my main pc.

So there is a way to to make this work using a batch file or simple autohotkeyscript that would just launch the correct executable. basically the executables filename without extention would be the parameter and you just need to start filename.exe in subdirectory filename. I think you only need the gameroom binary then to setup your keys etc

i'll have a play with it on my cabinet (even though i don't have enough keys). And will post the little script or batch file here 
 

[ttrenkner]

Thanks joyrider for addressing my question, which was what parameters (and perhaps other settings) would be needed to get PBX working with these games. I’ll get back to the author along the lines you suggest.

For now, I’m not trying to get too fancy with the input device. I’ll probably just use a keyboard.

Edit: thanks also for your follow up. I’m a beginner with all of this, but i’ll see  what I can teach myself and also look forward to anything more you find out. Thanks again. 

Edited May 18, 2019 by ttrenkner

[joyrider3774]

@ttrenkner if all games have their own executable and directory i think i can create a script to make it work with pinballx without the author having to change anything. am trying it now

[joyrider3774]

EDIT: this is outdated bingo game room added support for pinballx please read https://www.joopriem.nl/apps/help/BingoGameroom/help2.php?gotoAndOpen=6 how to set it up

---------------------------------------------

@ttrenkner i got it working on my setup.

Here's a database example for pinballx it only contains 6 or 7 tables as i could not download more at once (it has a limit of 6 - 7 tables per day). BingoGameRoom.xml

Here's the launch script. I included the executable as well as the autohotkey script. LaunchBingoGameRoom.zip

The script assumes default install location for the program and tables being "C:\Program Files (x86)\MyBingoPrograms" if this is not your install location you need to edit the following line in the autohotkey script and then recompile the script (by installing autohotkey, right clicking on the file and choosing compile) 

MainDir := "C:\Program Files (x86)\MyBingoPrograms"

The script also assumes your key configured to quit tables is ESC in pinballx if this is not your quit key  you need to replace the line:

esc::

with the key you are using leaving the two double points intact, you can look up your keys here https://autohotkey.com/docs/KeyList.htm 

I do have a problem but it's due to bingo game room itselve for some reason it does not automatically positon the backglass correcrly on my 2nd (backglass) screen i always have to activate the backglass goto preferences -> screens setup and choose save & exit to make it work. Have not figured out whats causing this with me. The other window ends up on my playfield well behind it. But this is not related to the launcher.

 

The launcher basically runs [Table].exe in [TABLE] subdir in C:\Program Files (x86)\MyBingoPrograms and assumes all games use this same system (an exe per game using same name as the games subdir). Since i have not been able to get all the tables i can not say if this is the case all the time. It's a very simple script.

The script also sends a return key after 2 seconds of launching the table exe to get rid of the nag screen it shows the 1st time you run a game. It is advice to run each table once to get rid of these nagscreens and perhaps you can remove the sending of the return key then.

Unfortunatly i don't have enough keys on my cabinet to run this but i'm able to use basic functionality by remapping my keys for left flipper right flipper left and right magnasave to the left /right / up / down key's so the game accepts this as input for nudiging. as it does not allow shift or control keys so you have to remap them. I added my remapping script as an example here BingoGameRoomRemap.ahk

 

this is how you set it up in other systems. if you want to use the keyboard remapping you have to add it in the launch before script which i did not do here only shows settings for the launcher. You also need to change the working path to your setup where (launchbingogameroom.exe launcher is)

 

Hope it helps or at least can get you going.

[joyrider3774]

Here's the full database but not sure if all 62 tables will work:
BingoGameRoom.xml

Here's a quick video of it in action on my cabinet
 

 

[ttrenkner]

joyrider, I couldn't believe it when I opened my pc this morning to find that you'd already got this thing working!  I'll report back as soon as I try it out on my own setup. Thank you sooooo much!

[ttrenkner]

Okay. I got it working too! I didn't even have a problem with my 4:3 backglass, which I set to stretch. You'll never know how grateful I am. I wiled away many hours of my misspent youth in diners and truckstops that had these machines, sometimes hidden away in the kitchen.

[joyrider3774]

Glad you got it working. I remember one of the simulated machines as well from the time my mother was helping in a local pub. Btw i downloaded some extra tables and not all of them are useable in a cabinet because some tables don't run fullscreen and can not have a rotated playfield. Seems they are some older versions of tables i think. Btw you can press s on a keyboard when playing a table and pinballx will take screenshot of both backglass and playfield.

[ttrenkner]

joyrider,

Just to let you know how well your program worked, Only one of the 53 two-screen tables (Nashville) failed in PinballX, generating the error message "An exception of class NilObjectException was not handled...." As you noted, (nine) others aren't set up for two screens. Pretty amazing! Thanks again!

Tom

[joyrider3774]

Nice thanks  Btw nashville works fine with me. Does it give the same message with you if you run "C:\Program Files (x86)\MyBingoPrograms\BallyNashville\BallyNashville.exe" directly in windows (from explorer.Exe window) could be the game executable itselve has a problem on your setup (thats how you can verify) But still even if it does error out on your end one table of the so many is fine  

I'll Upload my data to ftp then as well for others to use along with table and backglass screenshots 
edit: everything available on /-PinballX-/Other Uploads/Joyrider3774/BingoGameRoom

[ttrenkner]

joyrider, I fixed my Nashville problem, but I have no idea why it works. I had originally downloaded the entire BingoGameRoom to an external drive and simply copied the folder to the c drive program folder so it would work with your program without any modification. For some reason, Nashville didn't like this. I fixed it by deleting the copied Nashville folder on the C drive and replacing it with a new Nashville download that went directly into the c drive.

Meanwhile, I developed a new problem. I'm trying to set up a one-screen version of BingoGameRoom on a second pc to play the tables that won't work on my two-screen rig. While I can get the tables to play fine from the BingoGameRoom app and from their individual exe's, I can't for the life of me get them to work in this pc's desktop PinballX app. I recompiled your app and copied over everything but Nashville, which I again downloaded directly to the second pc. When I tried launching a couple of them from the PinballX Game List Manager to see if that would tell me anything, I got a "Game Not Found" message. The odd thing is that they did work briefly but stopped working when I moved them to a different location (and then no longer worked in the original location either). I've gone over and over my settings on your app and PBX and tried uninstalling BingoGameRoom and starting over. Can you think of any reason why PBX stopped being able to find them? Thanks. Tom

 

[simbamame]

Havent added to pbx yet but download the program and gave it a run, must admit i hadnt seen these before, maybe b4 my time lol but never less interesting.

[joyrider3774]

don't know it works fine for me. Must be something on your end but can't say what. I don't display a "game not found" message in the script and i don't think pinballx does either so check what process is showing that message using taskmanager.exe. Are you sure pbx is showing a game not found message ?

Verify program (main) location compared to the script and make sure you give the table name as parameter in pinballx. bingoogameroom main binary might need to be installed and it could be it has registry entries although a quick search did not show any to me but i did not look into details.

you also mentioned you recompiled the script. Did you install a recent autohotkey version when you did that and not some old version you had previously installed. The script uses A_Args[1] and it does not recognize this if it's and old autohotkey version. You could also try using original exe from zips above again to verify for this problem. Default install location is C:\Program Files (x86)\MyBingoPrograms

[ttrenkner]

Thanks again for taking the time to help me joyrider.  I'm fairly confident that one of those leads will solve the problem. After all, I did get it working initially. By the way, I noticed yesterday that four of the one-screen tables have now been updated to two screens, which leaves just five one-screens in the collection. At this rate, my problem will soon be moot. But I would like to understand both Autohotkey and BingoGameRoom better.

[Everly]

I have been tinkering around with installing some Bingo tables on my cabinet.  My issue is that I use Pinup Popper as my front end.  I have the LaunchBingoGameRoom executable and the xml file you linked in my working directory.  My problem is I can't figure out what the parameter flag I need to set to call the table.  Right now I am just trying to get the launching mechanic to work from a batch file.  After i get that working I can just use the same script in the launch window of Popper.  So my batch file right now is

      START /min " LaunchBingoGameRoom.exe " "BallyMagicRing"

Running this does nothing though.  Can I get some assistance on getting my syntax correct?

[joyrider3774]

49 minutes ago, Everly said:

I have been tinkering around with installing some Bingo tables on my cabinet.  My issue is that I use Pinup Popper as my front end.  I have the LaunchBingoGameRoom executable and the xml file you linked in my working directory.  My problem is I can't figure out what the parameter flag I need to set to call the table.  Right now I am just trying to get the launching mechanic to work from a batch file.  After i get that working I can just use the same script in the launch window of Popper.  So my batch file right now is

      START /min " LaunchBingoGameRoom.exe " "BallyMagicRing"

Running this does nothing though.  Can I get some assistance on getting my syntax correct?

The following works for me you have to add two empty double quotes in front if you use start and remove any spaces at front and end double quotes (you got some with launchbingameroom.exe)

START "" /min "LaunchBingoGameRoom.exe" "BallyMagicRing"

without the "" it saw ballymagicring as an extra executable to launch instead of a parameter with me

it's explained here https://stackoverflow.com/questions/17201507/how-to-use-the-start-command-in-a-batch-file (that's where i got the info when i started using start in batch files)

Quote

START regards the first quoted parameter as the window-title, unless it's the only parameter - and any switches up until the executable name are regarded as START switches.

I placed the batch file in same directory as where launchbingogameroom.exe was located. Also remember the script assumes default install location of bingo game room, if that's not the case with you, you have to adopt the script and recompile it. but it's explained in first post

testbingogameroom.bat

[Everly]

Excellent, that worked.  I can now launch Magic Ring by running my batch file, calling the LaunchBingoGameRoom.exe, which has the hard coded "BallyMagicRing" as the argument and the "q" button ends the table.  So now I will need to change the "BallyMagicRing" to the [GameName] so it will dynamically change based on the selected table.  Then as long as the q button kills the table and brings me back to my front end I'm set.  I'll report how it works.

[joyrider3774]

10 minutes ago, Everly said:

Excellent, that worked.  I can now launch Magic Ring by running my batch file, calling the LaunchBingoGameRoom.exe, which has the hard coded "BallyMagicRing" as the argument and the "q" button ends the table.  So now I will need to change the "BallyMagicRing" to the [GameName] so it will dynamically change based on the selected table.  Then as long as the q button kills the table and brings me back to my front end I'm set.  I'll report how it works.

i think by default in launchbingameroom.exe i have set ESC to be the quit key, it might be a good idea to change it to Q also and recompile, if you run into problems like the scripts keeps running.

Change

esc::
	Gosub killApp
Return

to (i have not tested it but i think it's correct)
 

q::
	Gosub killApp
Return

 

[Everly]

Ok, that got me EXTREMELY close to my end goal.  Using the Launch executable I was able to get a selected Bingo table to start and, more importantly, got it to close by using my Exit Emulator key (which is q in my system)  The last issue I have is that when the table closes the Popper Menu isn't waking up and coming back into focus.  It is still showing in the task manager, I just need to figure out how to bring it back to my active screen

Yes, I noticed in your first post I would need to do that and made that edit when I set my working directory.  Thank you for your awesome help Joyrider

[joyrider3774]

No idea how i can help with that might be something specific to popper menu and how it works. In pinballx it works but launchbingogameroom.Exe keeps running until it's killed or the quit key (default esc) is pressed. I also set that script as the executeable instead of bingogameroom's real exe (because each tabel is basically an exe that is run). Basically i wait for the script to exit it keeps running until bingo game room is quited. 

[Everly]

Yes, it is a setting I need to adjust in Pinup Popper.  I read in some of the author's documentation he has a ForceBack file used for this exact purpose.  I'ill research and let you know what I find.  Thanks again.

[joyrider3774]

Guys,

today i updated my bingo game room tables. The script still works with all the new tables. I also took screenshots for the new tables and the tables that have been converted from the old style to new style (allowing fullscreen playfield / backglasses).

Here is the updated table database with the new tables added (67 total):
BingoGameRoom.xml

The new screenshots for backglasses and table playfield are available on ftp ( /-PinballX-/Other Uploads/Joyrider3774/BingoGameRoom )

If you don't have access to the ftp you can still create these images your selve easily using pinballx, just launch a table and press S (default button) to take screenshots of backglass and table

I think on only 2 or 3 tables still needs conversion from the old version style to the new version style and i also noticed the author started adding in United tables, there is one already but he is requesting hires backglass / table images from other united tables, if someone has such table be sure to help the author if you can