Trying to Control Fx3 with legends pinball machine.

[Izzylm9]

Hi there, not sure if this is the right place to ask the question but I'm running pinball x as the front end to run fx3, visual pinball, future pinball and such. I believe every setting is setup correctly and my legends pinball controls runs perfectly through the front end and in each game besides fx3 games. When we load into fx3 the controllers don't work. We've tried x360, xpladder, joytokey, and these apps detect the controller and such but when it loads into fx3 it still doesn't work. We cannot use steam either because of the front end. I'm not sure what we are missing if you can help? Every video we watched everyone is loading and playing effortlessly lol... Thank you!!

[Mike_da_Spike]

If you install x360ce, it should work.

I have a legit fx3 from steam and I put x360ce in the directory and it works perfectly.

I don't have a legends pinball, but if you configure x360ce correctly it should work.

By the way, for Fx I set up the steam controller and it works fine with the front end. Fx3 is also launched via steam and not directly on my cab.

[Izzylm9]

Hi there thanks for the reply! Sadly we aren’t using steam as the fx3 game is running through the front end of pinball x. Steam is blocked off. But downloading steam and downloading fx3 from steam does allow for the legend pinball controls to work. But since our fx3 isn’t from steam this feature does not work anymore sadly. Thank you for the reply though once again! 

[Draco1962]

1 hour ago, Izzylm9 said:

 We cannot use steam either because of the front end. 

So are you saying that you are running a non-Steam version of FX3? The part of the statement quoted would lead on to believe that you cannot run the Steam version of FX3 which, unless not configured properly, would be no fault of the frontend - PinballX.

When requesting assistance, please be advised that it is a best practice ato attach (no copy & paste please) copies of your pinballx.ini and log.txt files right after you recreate the error condition - in this case, attempting to launch an FX3 table. This will make isolation of your issue quicker. Thanks.

[Izzylm9]

Thank you for your response. To clarify, we are not using Steam at all for FX3. Instead, we are using Xpadder, X360, and JoyToKey to configure the controls for our Legends Pinball machine. The controls are mapped correctly in these applications, and when we press buttons in these apps, everything works perfectly.

All other systems and games launched through PinballX have their controls functioning correctly, except for FX3. When we attempt to launch FX3 through PinballX, the game launches, but the controls from our Legends Pinball machine do not work.

As suggested, I have attached the pinballx.ini and log.txt files, recreated immediately after attempting to launch an FX3 table through PinballX. Any insights or recommendations you may have based on these files would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much :)!

PinballX.ini log.txt

[Izzylm9]

Sorry I believe these are the updated files from right after launching an fx3 game through pinball x. Thank you again for the help and time!

PinballX.ini log.txt

[scutters]

"PinballX - Version 4.77"

Please update PinballX, the latest version is V6.07. 

If problem persists after that it may just be a focus issue(?). Press ALT+TAB after launch and make sure FX3 has focus.

 

[Izzylm9]

Hello everyone,

So after about 5 months of trying to get FX3 to work with our controls, we finally managed to get it working. We added FX3 as a non-Steam game in Steam, right-clicked on it, and went to the controller layout to disable Steam Input. This made the controls work perfectly. We tested it by turning off and turning back on the system, Xpadder prompt up asking to run and I selected ‘run’ and went into steam and disabled steam input again and it continued to work for hours.

However, after turning off the system and trying to play again a (3rd time) about 5 hours later, the controls stopped working. The only difference I noticed this time was the prompt once again asking if I wanted to run Xpadder at startup. I chose 'Run' and this time selected 'Don't ask again'. Additionally, the option to go to the 'Control Layout' by right-clicking on the non-Steam FX3 game is no longer available, but the controller settings in properties still show the 'Disable Steam Input' option.

Does anyone have any insights or suggestions on what might be causing the controls to stop working this time lol? Any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you for everyone’s time!

[Draco1962]

Have you upgraded to the latest version of PinballX?

After upgrading to the latest version, if still any issues and changes made by you to your configuration, please attach updated copies of your pinballx.ini and log.txt files post error condition for review.

[Izzylm9]

Thank you for the responses. I have went ahead and downloaded the new pinballx version. I noticed the new one has 2 virtual pinball games to choose from. So would I need to try and copy all the files to this new one somehow? 

[Draco1962]

No, just install over the top of what you already have. The installer will update and add files as needed.

The 2 tables are virtual demo mockups only and not functional.

[Mike_da_Spike]

On 7/9/2024 at 1:45 AM, Izzylm9 said:

Sorry I believe these are the updated files from right after launching an fx3 game through pinball x. Thank you again for the help and time!

PinballX.ini 6.33 kB · 3 downloads log.txt 4.27 kB · 3 downloads

According to your log, your FX3 is not a legitimate FX3 install, but a piracy one.

7 hours ago, Izzylm9 said:

We added FX3 as a non-Steam game in Steam, right-clicked on it, and went to the controller layout to disable Steam Input.

This approach is completely incorrect.
Zen FX3 is a game available on Steam, and the only way to obtain the correct version of FX3 is to download it from Steam and utilize all its components. Adding a pirated version as non-Steam makes no sense—why would you launch it through Steam if you don't want to use Steam?

Here's a video how to install the legend FX3. Including all

After downloading it from Steam, you can use Joyrider's Fx3 launcher to select multiple game types as well. See the setup.
https://github.com/joyrider3774/PinballX_Launcher_app

If you continue to experience issues with your controller, please contact the retailer where you purchased it.

[Izzylm9]

Hi there,
Thanks for your reply! Let me clarify the situation:

Our Original Setup, Initially, we were running Pinball FX3 and other pinball games on our Legends Pinball machine through Steam, and everything worked perfectly.
After watching various videos about PinballX, virtual pinball, visual pinball, fx3… and other systems, we saw people accessing hundreds of games integrated directly into their systems. We decided to purchase and set up a similar system. While we had to fix a few things initially, everything eventually worked perfectly.

(Issue with FX3 Controls): The only persistent issue we faced was with the controls for the new FX3 setup (not through Steam). Despite trying various solutions for months, we couldn't get the controls to work.
We tried using various tools to get the controls to work, including Xpadder, JoyToKey, and x360ce. While all of these tools were working and detected our controls, they still didn't solve the issue with FX3 specifically.
As a last-ditch effort, we added FX3 as a non-Steam game and, experimenting with different settings, we disabled Steam Input for this non-Steam version. To our surprise and relief, this made the controls work after months of trying other solutions. This was not our initial approach but rather a workaround we discovered.

Even with this workaround, the controls stopped working again. Here’s a summary of our recent steps:
    - We disabled Steam Input for the non-Steam FX3 game, which worked initially.
    - After turning off the system and turning it back on, the controls still worked and we played all of our hundreds of games for a couple hours. Then we turned it off and about 5 hours later we went to play again and the controls stopped working.
    - We also noticed that the 'Control Layout' option disappeared from the non-Steam FX3 game, but the 'Disable Steam Input' option was still available in the properties.

We have Ensured Xpadder is set to run at startup. But just to see if anything would change we turned off ‘run at startup’ and we manually tried to start it just to see if it would work that time. But it didn’t so we’ll just switch it back to ‘run at start up.’ We Checked for focus issues by using Alt + Tab to ensure FX3 has focus.
Verified permissions for all relevant files and folders. We Re-added FX3 as a non-Steam game and disabled Steam Input again. We Looked into updating PinballX and transferring configuration files, though this introduced new errors.

We would appreciate anymore troubleshooting ideas and would appreciate any specific steps or suggestions you might have. We’re going to try in the coming days (due to a baseball tournament) to try using Joyrider’s FX3 launcher as a possible alternative. Also any insights on why disabling Steam Input for a non-Steam game temporarily fixed our issue would also be helpful. Here is also a link to a similar Pinball X system we have, except we bought it set up for us already for the most part.

(https://youtu.be/1Qdkf3Ei9mc?si=vONgta3cqlDNLnMx)

Thank you again for your time and assistance!

[Draco1962]

If I understand you correctly, you initially had Steam FX3 installed, but then later went to non-Steam FX3?

If that is accurate, was the Steam version uninstalled completely? The working/not working state woild indicate possible confusion between the two.

Have you successfully launched and ran FX3 outside of PinballX and using Xpadder? If so, what were the results?

[Izzylm9]

Yes, that is accurate. The Steam version of FX3 was completely uninstalled, and we didn't have Steam installed at the time. We only downloaded Steam recently as part of a troubleshooting step, where we added our FX3 as a non-Steam game to potentially enable the controls. This workaround only worked temporarily. Everything else runs off the new hard drive for PinballX. We have tried launching our FX3 outside of PinballX, but the controls still do not work, only the keyboard functions. 

Thank you for your assistance!

[Draco1962]

If the controls do not work outside of PinballX, then you must get that resolved first. There's no way to triage the problem through PinballX. 

Have you posted on any program forums for Zen Pinball FX3 itself? Also, have you considered X360ce? This would likely do better than Steam at converting to dinput and appears to be better able than Xpadder.

https://www.reddit.com/r/PinballFX3/s/kvRnUHmTYW

[Mike_da_Spike]

1 hour ago, Izzylm9 said:

Also any insights on why disabling Steam Input for a non-Steam game temporarily fixed our issue would also be helpful. Here is also a link to a similar Pinball X system we have, except we bought it set up for us already for the most part.

 

18 minutes ago, Izzylm9 said:

We have tried launching our FX3 outside of PinballX, but the controls still do not work, only the keyboard functions. 

It seems like there's a problem with the controller. It's not working properly, neither directly nor through Steam. I suggest you reach out to the retailer or reseller for help.

Why did it work for a while with Steam as a non-Steam app? I don't know. I know how to use Steam as a user and how to launch games.

[Draco1962]

24 minutes ago, Mike_da_Spike said:

 

It seems like there's a problem with the controller. It's not working properly, neither directly nor through Steam. I suggest you reach out to the retailer or reseller for help.

Why did it work for a while with Steam as a non-Steam app? I don't know. I know how to use Steam as a user and how to launch games.

My guess is using Steam to convert Xinput to Dinput and subsequent changes within Steam may have broken that approach.

The Reddit link I shared is to a Joyrider post regarding using X360ce for this.

[Izzylm9]

Hey Draco in response to you, we only have been working with fx3 itself. And all the new ideas we’ve tried haven’t worked still besides that random non steam input idea we had for some reason lol. And yeah I posted on fx3 Reddit but didn’t really get any feedback. And yeah after joy to key and Xpadder, we tried x360ce and once again like joy to key and Xpadder, the controls worked perfectly within the app, but once we load into fx3 it immediately doesn’t work control wise and I can see xpadder for example inputs working when I press buttons. Just won’t work controlling the game. 
 

And in response to mike, and yeah I assumed it was an error with the controller detection but when we run input tests and such, when we press a button it works each time. Just doesn’t work inside fx3 for some odd reason. I appreciate the feedback guys once again!

[Mike_da_Spike]

8 hours ago, Izzylm9 said:

Hey Draco in response to you, we only have been working with fx3 itself. And all the new ideas we’ve tried haven’t worked still besides that random non steam input idea we had for some reason lol. And yeah I posted on fx3 Reddit but didn’t really get any feedback. And yeah after joy to key and Xpadder, we tried x360ce and once again like joy to key and Xpadder, the controls worked perfectly within the app, but once we load into fx3 it immediately doesn’t work control wise and I can see xpadder for example inputs working when I press buttons. Just won’t work controlling the game. 

Did you setup and put the files for X360CE  correctly ?

you need for FX3 de 32 bit and version 3.2 (not 4.x !!)
the xinput1_3.dll from X360Ce needs in the same folder as Pinball FX3.exe with a good configured x360ce.in
You can use the 2 files from your Pinball Wicked/Zacaria Pinball/ Pinball Arcade or any other Steam pinball app.
This must really work 100% 
 

So my suggestion : remove the 'standalone' version of FX3. Download from steam, dont change any steam settings. Put the 2 files I mentioned from x360ce in the fx3 folder, launch fx3. Enter your personal cabinet key to fx3, and play.

Still not working ? Contact your reseller that your controller is not functioning correctly and you need support