[GUIDE] Setup Zen Pinball FX and Pinball M in PinballX (steam version)

[Mike_da_Spike]

Finally Zen studio added direct table launch to his latest Pinball FX .

This guide will  make it easy to setup FX direct table launch from your PinballX installation (without using @joyrider3774 his awesome table launcher file).

If you didn't have a FX setup system in PinballX, open PinballX settings (otherwise skipp this part):

Go to 'Other Systems'

Select the first free slot to add a new system :

Create a new system with the following settings:

name/Folder : Pinball FX
Enabled : Yes
System Type: Custom
Working Path: C:\Pinball\steam
Table Path: 
Executable: Steam.exe
Parameters: -applaunch 2328760 -table [TABLEFILE] -GameMode Classic
Process to monitor: PinballFX-Win64-shipping.exe

(Where working path is the path of your steam directory)

 

if you play PinballFX in cabinet mode and PinballX is started in landscape mode, you need to rotate your screen within Pinball FX to rotate 270 degrees :

Now that we have a system setup, we need a database file file that has all correct entries in it.
Attached is a Pinball FX.xml file that was created on the 9th of June, with the tables till that that.

Place this file in your PinballX\Databases\Pinball FX folder 

Now you can launch Game Manager or Database manager to add @joyrider3774 his media he created
 This result in something like this :

If you found all the media, you can launch PinballX and launch Pinball FX with Direct table launch :

If you have a real DMD, don't forget to change the DMD option within the cabinet settings for FX (set External DMD):

@freezy did a great job with Zen studios to have his dmddevice integrated in this softwrae.
When setting this setting, it works directly for me :

It should be possible to use the altcolor, but didn't get that (yet) to work)
I got Freezy to work with Colored VNI and pall, buit I needed to update my DMDdevice64.dll in my vpinmame\dmdext direectory (not sure why it looked at that
See freezy/dmd-extensions: A toolbox for virtual pinball dot matrix displays. (github.com) for altcolor directory names

here's a small demo, launch a table directly from PinballX

EDIT :

Because I already have all the backglass images in PinballX, I disabled the Backglass images within Pinball FX

 

To show the backglass from PinballX during game play, you can uncheck the "Hide Backkglass" in game manager :

Or via Database Manger, uncheck "Hide Backglass during game" 

As this is time consuming, you can also open the PinballFX.XML file and replace

<hidebackglass>True</hidebackglass>

for 

<hidebackglass>False</hidebackglass>

Don't forget to save the database file !

SETUP CABINET BUTTONS:

a small other thing . 
I use X360CE for 'translating' my Pinscape buttons (and plunger) to an Xbox 360 controller.
it is free and working. I still use an older 3.x version, as this doesn't need to run constantly (and causing double key presses)
The only thing I needed to do is to copy the following 2 files to the following steam directory : ..\Steam\steamapps\common\Pinball FX\PinballFX\Binaries\Win64

x360ce.ini
xinput1_3.dll (64 bit version !)

The X360CE.ini is my default ini file, I use for all my steam apps, but be aware you need xinput1_3.dll 64 bit 9and not the 32 bit as you maybe use for other games!

FX Launcher 

To setup a direct table launch, for differrent modes or multiplayer, I modified @joyrider3774 his PinballX launcher, to use for FX

The files are in FXLauncher.zip

Install instructions :

• extract the files from the zip to your harddrive
• Modify PinballFXLauncher.ini where needed (Steam path, keys and button settings). See https://github.com/joyrider3774/PinballX_Launcher_app for all settings
• Update PinballX system :
  
• and enjoy !

Edit :

If you want to setup Pinball M , you can use this tutorial as well, but just use the following for your custom system :

For Pinball M :

name/Folder : Pinball M
Enabled : Yes
System Type: Custom
Working Path: C:\Pinball\steam
Table Path: 
Executable: Steam.exe
Parameters: -applaunch  2337640 -table [TABLEFILE] 
Process to monitor: PinballM-Win64-shipping.exe

(Where working path is the path of your steam directory)

 

 

Pinball FX.xml FXLauncher.zip Pinball M.xml

Pinball FX.xml Pinball FX_128Tables.xml

[joyrider3774]

hey @Mike_da_Spike i have not updated or created anything new. Just wondering, i can easily rename my media that is in my github to the numbered names, should i upload those to a "Pinball FX" directory in the official place on ftp ?

Btw you don't need an external program to rotate playfield anymore, you can do it in the ingame settings 

[joyrider3774]

@Mike_da_Spike small typo in your database, fantastic four is 38 not 8

[joyrider3774]

I just uploaded my renamed media to the ftp to the "official location" this means you can use both game manager and mike's database manager to download the data from FTP and they will 100% match because i used the numeric game names. So it will be very easy to download the media.

see '/-PinballX-/Media/Pinball FX' directory on ftp

I uploaded:

for wheels i uploaded Tarcisio, logo and docklet wheels, but took the docklet wheel as 100% match

However it seems the names i took for the tarcisio and logo wheels do not show by default in mikes database manager but you can untick this option to see them :

 

Game manager should be able to download these also but i did not test it.

 

Table Audio is incomplete, i have not tried extracting table audio from pinball FX i know there is a way some people did it already with beta versions, but the game's data files are aes encrypted so we need the decrypt key. Also i did not do anything yet for the 3 newly released tables so their media is currently missing also

[Mike_da_Spike]

9 hours ago, joyrider3774 said:

Btw you don't need an external program to rotate playfield anymore, you can do it in the ingame settings 

Thanks ! Wasn't aware. Updated first post and added a new screenshot.

8 hours ago, joyrider3774 said:

@Mike_da_Spike small typo in your database, fantastic four is 38 not 8

Another thanks ! Modified XML and re-added to first post

7 hours ago, joyrider3774 said:

I just uploaded my renamed media to the ftp to the "official location" this means you can use both game manager and mike's database manager to download the data from FTP and they will 100% match because i used the numeric game names. So it will be very easy to download the media.

Thanks for that as well. Thats makes it a a lot easier to download.
'the location is right, only not sure about the naming, but for now, it will give a perfect match !
Good job @joyrider3774 and thanks for all your work on this

I got freezy colored DMD to work as well, and added some extra info in the first post

[joyrider3774]

3 hours ago, Mike_da_Spike said:

Thanks for that as well. Thats makes it a a lot easier to download.
'the location is right, only not sure about the naming, but for now, it will give a perfect match !

Yeah i was not sure about the names as well, but i think game manager searches on table name so i think i had to use the numbers for it to find them. I don't know why zen went with the numeric way, but i figured if they 100% match it would be fine

 

About the database, in the database i had i had also added "release year" and i used the date of availability listed here https://pinballfx.fandom.com/wiki/Pinball_FX_Wiki so not pinball FX release year, but year it first appeared in any pinball FX games, but for the williams tables i took release year of original table. I will see if i can somehow add them to your database as well and then it will be easier to add them when new tables release, as the years are kinda needed if you want to generate the topper videos (i use), using your other program

[Mike_da_Spike]

1 hour ago, joyrider3774 said:

Yeah i was not sure about the names as well, but i think game manager searches on table name so i think i had to use the numbers for it to find them. I don't know why zen went with the numeric way, but i figured if they 100% match it would be fine

 

Well, 1 thing I know. With these numbers, we dont have issues with table with mars in it😄

1 hour ago, joyrider3774 said:

About the database, in the database i had i had also added "release year" and i used the date of availability listed here https://pinballfx.fandom.com/wiki/Pinball_FX_Wiki so not pinball FX release year, but year it first appeared in any pinball FX games, but for the williams tables i took release year of original table. I will see if i can somehow add them to your database as well and then it will be easier to add them when new tables release, as the years are kinda needed if you want to generate the topper videos (i use), using your other program

Nice. I'm waiting for VPSDB. They will properly add the tables as well and than we can auto import them with more data. But for now, it would be a nice to have if you can add it

[chadman]

Thanks for the guide!  I just got  mine figured out and then saw this.  It looks like you can output this now directly to pinDMD3, but I have been using it for some time already.  I still need the dmd to display on my backglass for those newer tables that won't display right in my pindmd3.  So I have been just mirroring what's displayed on the backglass to the pindmd3. 

[Mike_da_Spike]

I used the mirror function as well, but through dmddevice.dll it shows much brighter for me.

And you can use the colored files as well, for a 64 colored dmd.

[Mike_da_Spike]

Thanks to @joyrider3774 his PinballX launcher, I added to the main post a modified launcher for FX

 

I hope that Zen will come up in a next release to launch the challenges as well from the command line.
Those could be extended to this file
 

[Mike_da_Spike]

Updated the XML.
1 table was missing and now all tables has the correct values for description, manufacturer, year and type

[joyrider3774]

On 7/29/2023 at 7:10 AM, Mike_da_Spike said:

I hope that Zen will come up in a next release to launch the challenges as well from the command line.
Those could be extended to this file
 

Thanks for this, There used to be more game modes listed, i think all were accessible at least at the time i tried them out it and i could run all challenges but there was a typo in 2 game modes and they asked me not to disclose those 2 until they fixed it in a patch. I see they fixed the typo's now but I just tested it out and it seems they block the other game modes now so probably they are still working on it and don't allow running those until finished. Also "Pro" does not seem to work it always starts classic but Practice does work. You can see in what game mode your if you pause the game, it will list it at the top then. I'm sure the other game modes will arrive in a patch sometime soon, if takes them a while i'll ask someone from zen i talked with earlier related to these game modes (who asked me also to wait until disclosing the other names because of typo's). 

 

 

[Mike_da_Spike]

3 hours ago, joyrider3774 said:

Thanks for this, There used to be more game modes listed, i think all were accessible at least at the time i tried them out it and i could run all challenges but there was a typo in 2 game modes and they asked me not to disclose those 2 until they fixed it in a patch. I see they fixed the typo's now but I just tested it out and it seems they block the other game modes now so probably they are still working on it and don't allow running those until finished. Also "Pro" does not seem to work it always starts classic but Practice does work. You can see in what game mode your if you pause the game, it will list it at the top then. I'm sure the other game modes will arrive in a patch sometime soon, if takes them a while i'll ask someone from zen i talked with earlier related to these game modes (who asked me also to wait until disclosing the other names because of typo's). 

 

 

Thanks buddy,

I tried a lot of command line parameters to get the challenges workes, but no luck. I thought I tested pro succesfully. Guess i didn't. 

Btw. I created a feature request on github for your launcher. Not sure if you've seen it yet 

[Cindyh]

On 10/06/2023 at 06:57, Mike_da_Spike said:

Merci ! N'était pas au courant. Mise à jour du premier message et ajout d'une nouvelle capture d'écran.

Encore un merci ! XML modifié et rajouté au premier message

Merci pour ça aussi. Cela facilite beaucoup le téléchargement.
'l'emplacement est bon, seulement pas sûr de la dénomination, mais pour l'instant, cela donnera un match parfait !
Bon travail@joyrider3774 et merci pour tout votre travail sur ce sujet,

j'ai également fait fonctionner le DMD de couleur gelée, et j'ai ajouté quelques informations supplémentaires dans le premier message

super et enorme boulot merci mais dans la database il manque kung fu panda 

[Cindyh]

bonjour super et enorme boulot merci mais dans la database il manque kung fu panda 

[Cindyh]

le dmd on ne peut pas les avoir en couleur sur fx3 jai deux ecran pas de dmd officiel

[Draco1962]

2 hours ago, Cindyh said:

le dmd on ne peut pas les avoir en couleur sur fx3 jai deux ecran pas de dmd officiel

Per forum guidelines, please post in English. Thank you.

[Mike_da_Spike]

7 hours ago, Cindyh said:

le dmd on ne peut pas les avoir en couleur sur fx3 jai deux ecran pas de dmd officiel

Fx3 or fx ? On both the dmd is working perfectly in color with latest freezy.

7 hours ago, Cindyh said:

bonjour super et enorme boulot merci mais dans la database il manque kung fu panda 

Table 139 is Kung fu Panda. It's indeed wtrong in the xml. I will upload a new xml when I'm at the pc (as I have wheel images, i didn't noticed it)

 

And please post in English 

[Cindyh]

hello and thank you for your answer c what freezy would you have a tutorial stp for dmd in color fx3

[Mike_da_Spike]

1 hour ago, Cindyh said:

hello and thank you for your answer c what freezy would you have a tutorial stp for dmd in color fx3

Read the first post. It contains a link with the colored names in it. With this link : https://github.com/freezy/dmd-extensions#game-names

Its for getting tpa,  fx and fx3 games to get colorized 

[lm_shaker]

Hi All; 

Could someone re-attach the PinballX Games Database File for Pinball FX ("Pinball FX.xml"). 

It's no longer attached to the thread, and there are no examples of how I can manually create the entries.

Thanks! 

   - Mark

[joyrider3774]

@Mike_da_Spike here are the other game modes, they seem to be working now and they had enough time to fix the issues so i'm telling them now. I've gotten these directly from the exe and i tested the challenge modes, they seem to be working (again) now at least if i tested them with biolab table

 

Challenge_BallLimited -> 1 ball challenge
Challenge_TimeLimited -> 5 minute time challenge
Challenge_DistanceLimited -> distance challenge
Challenge_FlipLimited -> flips challenge
Hotseat_2 -> 2 player hotseat
Hotseat_3 -> 3 player hotseat
Hotseat_4 -> 4 player hotseat
Practice -> practice
Pro -> pro mode (not sure if this one works but it was in the exe)
Classic -> classic mode

[Mike_da_Spike]

Awesome. Thanks @joyrider3774.

I didn't checked yet, but are the same working for Pinball M ?

[joyrider3774]

13 minutes ago, Mike_da_Spike said:

Awesome. Thanks @joyrider3774.

I didn't checked yet, but are the same working for Pinball M ?

direct table launch does not seem to be implemented yet in M at least i could not get it working with the FX commands

[Mike_da_Spike]

1 hour ago, joyrider3774 said:

direct table launch does not seem to be implemented yet in M at least i could not get it working with the FX commands

I just tested it as well.
Although my assumption is that they used the same engine (code etc) of Pinball FX, I'm not able to use Freezy's dmd as well (no option in the menu)
and indeed, direct table launch doesn't work (why do they give tables id's ?)

I hope this would be fixed soon.

Anyway.I updated the FX launcher with the gameplays as @joyrider3774 mentioned.
Big thanks for the params and thanks for your work to the community 

So it should now look like this :