Visual Pinball GameEx Config help

[sman26]

Hello,

Running GameEx 11.52

Visual PinMAME 2.1

Visual Pinball is playing fine when running it outside of GameEx so tables and roms are working.

I know some people dump their roms in their tables folder but I just left them separate the standard way. I was also confused by some peoples configuration filter the .vpt files. When I do this no games show up in GameEx but when I filter the .zip files my roms come in they show up fine but just won't play...it will return to the game list page.

Could someone please take a look at my configuration and let me know where the problem is? Thank you.

[Emulator_25]

Enabled=True

STARTPAGENAME=Visual Pinball

TITLETEXT=Visual Pinball

StartPageLogo=Pinball

ROMFilter=*.zip

RomsInFolders=False

RomPath=C:\visualpinball\pinmame\roms

SnapPath=

WorkingPath=C:\visualpinball\

MapKeys=True

WaitBeforeKeys=

SendKeys=

ReplaceDash=True

ReplaceUnder=True

Capitals=True

RemoveBrackets=False

ShowDesktop=True

Debug=False

MAPFile=

AlsoLaunch=[apppath]\vpauto.exe

Command=../vpinball.exe -play -"[ROMPATH]\[ROMFILE]"

OLDatZip=C:\Program Files\OfflineList0.7\datas\n64_OL.zip

TitlePath=

BoxPath=

CartPath=

LaunchBefore=

LaunchAfter=

configFile=Visual Pinball V6

ExcludedFiles=

CustomBackground=

PlayMusic=

PCGame=

DATABASE=[Pinball] Visual Pinball

Import=

Export=

DumbyValue=

GamesIn7Zips=

PlayInScreenSaver=True

ManualPath=

ControlPanelPath=

InstructionsPath=

DontShowInfo=

PlaySelectionMusic=

SelectionMusicFolder=

UseDbName=

MergeSets=

TVAdPath=

MusicPath=

ImageNotFound=

[fRequEnCy]

Hello! So it seems that you are using zipped roms. This is fine but keep in mind that it is a registered feature. If you are a registered then let's move on. The reason the filter *.vpt is required is because that's the name of the filter needed to run the table file. Your roms weren't showing up before because your roms are *.zip files which makes sense why they didn't show on the list. So the setting you also need to change is Zip/7-Zip/GoodMerge to Yes. Natively, this emulator does not support compressed roms so this setting gives it that ability. So it unzips it and then can run it.

So steps are:

• Make sure you're registered!
  
• Change Rom Filter setting back to *.vpt in Emulator Setup
  
• Change Zip/7-Zip/GoodMerge setting to Yes in Emulator Setup
  

[Adultery]

Also:

WorkingPath=C:\visualpinball\

should be:

WorkingPath=C:\visualpinball\tables

and

Command=../vpinball.exe -play -"[ROMPATH]\[ROMFILE]"

should be:

Command=../vpinball.exe -play -"[ROMFILE]"

Scripts and tables should be in the "tables" folder or it may not work. If you can get it to run with the table files outside of the tables folder, then you need to remove the ../ before the executable, however I don't recommend this method. You can still try it though:

Command=../vpinball.exe -play -"[ROMPATH]\[ROMFILE]"

will be

Command=vpinball.exe -play -"[ROMFILE]"

[fRequEnCy]

Also:

WorkingPath=C:\visualpinball\

should be:

WorkingPath=C:\visualpinball\tables

and

Command=../vpinball.exe -play -"[ROMPATH]\[ROMFILE]"

should be:

Command=../vpinball.exe -play -"[ROMFILE]"

Scripts and tables should be in the "tables" folder or it may not work. If you can get it to run with the table files outside of the tables folder, then you need to remove the ../ before the executable, however I don't recommend this method. You can still try it though:

Command=../vpinball.exe -play -"[ROMPATH]\[ROMFILE]"

will be

Command=vpinball.exe -play -"[ROMFILE]"

Can you give me an instance where this doesn't work? Because I have my tables zipped and when I run the table from a different location than the tables directory, they run fine. Don't the roms include all necessary files to make the table run correctly?

[fRequEnCy]

sman26! Just run the following command-line and you should be fine with leaving your roms where they are. If you do run into problems then do as Adultery instructed, although I don't see how it shouldn't work.

vpinball.exe -play -"[ROMPATH]\[ROMFILE]"

[sman26]

Thanks guys.

By registered I wasn't sure exactly what you meant. I have a registered version of GameEx that I paid for.

This is my new config file. I was getting mixed messages from both. Now the games show up in the GameEx list using the .vpt filter but when I try to click on it, it doesn't do anything. Won't let me click it in the GameEx list. THanks.

[Emulator_25]

Enabled=True

STARTPAGENAME=Visual Pinball

TITLETEXT=Visual Pinball

StartPageLogo=visualpinball

ROMFilter=*.vpt

RomsInFolders=False

RomPath=C:\visualpinball\pinmame\roms

SnapPath=

WorkingPath=C:\visualpinball\tables

MapKeys=True

WaitBeforeKeys=

SendKeys=

ReplaceDash=True

ReplaceUnder=True

Capitals=True

RemoveBrackets=False

ShowDesktop=True

Debug=False

MAPFile=

AlsoLaunch=[apppath]\vpauto.exe

Command=vpinball.exe -play -"[ROMPATH]\[ROMFILE]"

OLDatZip=C:\Program Files\OfflineList0.7\datas\n64_OL.zip

TitlePath=

BoxPath=

CartPath=

LaunchBefore=

LaunchAfter=

configFile=Visual Pinball V6

ExcludedFiles=

CustomBackground=

PlayMusic=

PCGame=

DATABASE=[Pinball] Visual Pinball

Import=

Export=

DumbyValue=

GamesIn7Zips=True

PlayInScreenSaver=True

ManualPath=

ControlPanelPath=

InstructionsPath=

DontShowInfo=

PlaySelectionMusic=

SelectionMusicFolder=

UseDbName=

[fRequEnCy]

Thanks guys.

By registered I wasn't sure exactly what you meant. I have a registered version of GameEx that I paid for.

This is my new config file. I was getting mixed messages from both. Now the games show up in the GameEx list using the .vpt filter but when I try to click on it, it doesn't do anything. Won't let me click it in the GameEx list. THanks.

[Emulator_25]

Enabled=True

STARTPAGENAME=Visual Pinball

TITLETEXT=Visual Pinball

StartPageLogo=visualpinball

ROMFilter=*.vpt

RomsInFolders=False

RomPath=C:\visualpinball\pinmame\roms

SnapPath=

WorkingPath=C:\visualpinball\tables

MapKeys=True

WaitBeforeKeys=

SendKeys=

ReplaceDash=True

ReplaceUnder=True

Capitals=True

RemoveBrackets=False

ShowDesktop=True

Debug=False

MAPFile=

AlsoLaunch=[apppath]\vpauto.exe

Command=vpinball.exe -play -"[ROMPATH]\[ROMFILE]"

OLDatZip=C:\Program Files\OfflineList0.7\datas\n64_OL.zip

TitlePath=

BoxPath=

CartPath=

LaunchBefore=

LaunchAfter=

configFile=Visual Pinball V6

ExcludedFiles=

CustomBackground=

PlayMusic=

PCGame=

DATABASE=[Pinball] Visual Pinball

Import=

Export=

DumbyValue=

GamesIn7Zips=True

PlayInScreenSaver=True

ManualPath=

ControlPanelPath=

InstructionsPath=

DontShowInfo=

PlaySelectionMusic=

SelectionMusicFolder=

UseDbName=

Yes! By registered feature, I mean that you have a registered version of GameEx which you do.

Now that's a good thing that it's listing. I see you use a database. Perhaps you're clickin the wrong file to play? If your clicking on the first item, that's the title of the table. Scroll down and there will be the rom and try that one. If that's not the case then please give more detail (like which table, contents of that zipped file, etc.).

[Adultery]

Boy yours is way different from my setup. I put the table ROMs (like the DMD display stuff and the sounds etc that are actually built into a real table) in the Roms folder and the actual tables (the vpt files) and script (vbs) files in the tables folder. Then I make the tables folder the working path. Then if that's how you approach it you'll need to do this:

../vpinball.exe -play -"[ROMFile]"

You see, if you set your working path to aything but the folder your EXE is in, you need the command line to go up a directory.

If you made your working path "visualpinball" which is where I assume the EXE is, you won't need the ../ in front.

K, let me jump over to the cab and copy my config quick so you can see what I have (Just got done playing Addams Family so I know my config works for sure).

.:EDIT:. Here's my Visual Pinball INI:

[Emulator_17]

Enabled=True

STARTPAGENAME=VISUAL PinMAME

TITLETEXT=Pinball

StartPageLogo=Visual PinMAME

ROMFilter=*.vpt

RomPath=F:\Pinball\Tables

RomsInFolders=

SnapPath=F:\Pinball\artwork\Snap

TitlePath=

BoxPath=

CartPath=

ManualPath=F:\Pinball\artwork\Manual

ControlPanelPath=

InstructionsPath=

TVAdPath=

MusicPath=

WorkingPath=F:\Pinball\Tables

MapKeys=True

WaitBeforeKeys=

SendKeys=

ReplaceDash=False

ReplaceUnder=False

Capitals=False

RemoveBrackets=False

ShowDesktop=True

Debug=False

MAPFile=

AlsoLaunch=[APPPATH]\vpauto.exe

Command=..\VPinball.exe -play -"[ROMFILE]"

LaunchBefore=

LaunchAfter=

configFile=Visual Pinball V6

ExcludedFiles=

CustomBackground=Back - Visual PinMAME.png

PlayMusic=

DontShowInfo=False

PlaySelectionMusic=

SelectionMusicFolder=

PCGame=

DATABASE=[Pinball] Visual Pinball

UseDbName=

GamesIn7Zips=

MergeSets=

PlayInScreenSaver=False

ShowMostPlayed=True

RandomMostPlayed=True

CDCheck=

CDCheckFile=

CustomArtName1=Backglass

CustomArtPath1=F:\Pinball\artwork\Backglass

CustomArtName2=Playfield

CustomArtPath2=F:\Pinball\artwork\Playfield

CustomArtName3=Flyer

CustomArtPath3=F:\Pinball\artwork\Flyer

System=Pinball

Category=Pinball

Emulator=Visual PinMAME

Version=2.1

Rating=

DownloadUrl=http://www.gamesdbase.com/setupwizard/emulators/download/pinmame.7z

RequiredFiles=

Website=http://pinmame.retrogames.com/

Info=Emulator for the roms that Pinball machines use for scoreboard and display animations.

OLDatZip=

ImageNotFound=D:\Images\no_img.png

[sman26]

Hey guys. Sorry I'm getting a little confused now about they way it should be. Would it be okay to attached a few quick screenshots of how my Visual Pinball folder is laid out? Maybe that would clear things up and we can go based of of this? They are very small files.

(guess i can't insert images but here are some quick links)

http://img10.imageshack.us/i/54415247.jpg/

http://img691.imageshack.us/i/23920354.jpg/

http://img404.imageshack.us/i/99869496.jpg/

http://img145.imageshack.us/i/51321346.jpg/

I hope this helps.

[fRequEnCy]

Sorry to confuse you. You have 2 different people telling you 2 different things. Ignore my way and get your tables working Adultery's way for now. Until you get things figured out. It all really depends on your setup (where your roms are, type of files, etc.). You have your visual pinmame roms zipped and your visual pinball tables unzipped. So now that changes things.

[Adultery]

I didn't mean to step on any toes here (sorry Freq). I know Visual Pinball is extremely taxing to get set up just right, and I was working with the presumption that he started by importing the native INI file.

For me anyways, the DMD and tables won't load correctly unless I do it just this way:

[ROOT]visualpinball (vpinball.exe)

[/]Tables (script.vbs and table.vpt files)

[/]Roms (table roms zipped)

ROMPath=C:/vpinball/tables

WorkingPath=C:/vpinball/Tables

CommandLine=../vpinball.exe -play -"[ROMFile]"

Others with different setups may be right, but I've never had any luck doing this any other method than what's already in the preconfigured ini.

[sman26]

Hey guys...thanks for sticking with me.

The only thing I had to do to match what Adultery had I THINK was to back my ROM folder out of c:\visualpinball\pinmame and move it to c:\visualpinball but when I change my paths to yours my ROMs won't show anymore when I go into gameex.

I guess I'm still confused how every other emulator for the ROMs path you point to the "ROMS" folder but for Visual you point to the TABLES folder?

The way I'm reading your paths above Adultery is:

c:\visualpinball\ (vpinball.exe is here)

c:\visualpinball\tables (vbs and vpt files here)

c:\visualpinball\roms (zipped roms here)

I'll try whatever you think....unzip my roms or dump them in the tables folder or import a new ini file if you point where to get one, etc. I'm getting desperate.

Thanks again.

[Adultery]

Okay so the confusion seens to be in the roms.

Roms and tables are two different things here. Think of the table roms more as a bios rom for mame. These are required to play the table but don't include the actual table. Table scripts would be more like the mame rom you would select to play. You will need both roms (bios files) and scripts (visual basic script which contains the actual table and functions itself). Table scripts need to be unzipped.

[sman26]

I'm not sure if there is something more to it. The paths and things may actually be correct now and remember that this all works fine for me outside of GameEx but as you can see in the video link attached (turn up the volume) you can hear that I click on the game and nothing happens. I've imported a fresh ini file and started from scratch but that didn't do it either. Other emulators are working fine. I've even tried running a different .exe file in there beside vpinball.exe just to see some action of even a program won't load but nothing. Have you guys seen this? Does it for all Visual Pinball games.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vy89FH78Wpo

thanks.

[Adultery]

I think the best route to go here is start with a new install of Visual Pinball and we can take it from there. If you do a clean install it will put it under the Program Files folder (likely a default startup will help us get past the problem much quicker). If you don't change any paths from the default we can make an INI that will work for you based on your other one

This will also solve our miscommunication issues.

[sman26]

Thank you Adultery. I will play around with it tonight and see what happens.

[sman26]

Guys...thanks again for the help. I started over from scratch which isn't always the most fun thing to do and followed your ini file Adultery and it plays like a champ. Some of it had to do with me having the 7zip/zip option set to YES even though they were zipped i chose no and that seemed to help them play as well.

Thanks again for all you help.

[Adultery]

Glad to hear you got it working! Enjoy your pinball!

[helpman]

Hi there!

I just downloaded a pack of pinball tables, and they all work great alone... it's using an old visual pinball/pinmame/vplauncher and works great, runs great... using vplauncher.

The roms are some of them zipped, some of them in vpt format, and they're placed in folders inside the tables folder.

I setup gameex, set the working paths, and it won't display all the tables, just a handful of them.

Then I tried unzipping the tables and filter only .vpt, and now it displays all of them... but when I try to launch them it just does nothing. The screen blinks, I see a glimpse of my desktop, then goes back to gameex ??? what can I be doing wrong?

emu_5_dbcachemodified=10/07/2012 9:44:53

emu_5_lastnumgames=1186

emu_5_dbcachelastname=[Pinball] Visual Pinball

emu_5_dbcacheinicreated47=True

emu_5_cdcheck=

emu_5_randommostplayed=True

emu_5_showmostplayed=True

emu_5_playinscreensaver=False

emu_5_gamesin7zips=True

emu_5_pcgame=

emu_5_selectionmusicfolder=

emu_5_playselectionmusic=

emu_5_dontshowinfo=

emu_5_playmusic=

emu_5_custombackground=

emu_5_excludedfiles=;;

emu_5_launchafter=

emu_5_launchbefore=

emu_5_oldatzip=

emu_5_alsolaunch=[APPPATH]\vpauto.exe

emu_5_debug=False

emu_5_showdesktop=True

emu_5_removebrackets=False

emu_5_capitals=True

emu_5_replaceunder=True

emu_5_replacedash=True

emu_5_sendkeys={F3}

emu_5_waitbeforekeys=4000

emu_5_mapkeys=True

emu_5_workingpath=C:\games\arcade\emulators\VisualPinball\Tables

emu_5_controlpanelpath=C:\games\arcade\emulators\VisualPinball\Controls

emu_5_manualpath=C:\games\arcade\emulators\VisualPinball\manual

emu_5_cartpath=C:\games\arcade\emulators\VisualPinball\cart

emu_5_boxpath=C:\games\arcade\emulators\VisualPinball\box

emu_5_titlepath=C:\games\arcade\emulators\VisualPinball\title

emu_5_snappath=C:\games\arcade\emulators\VisualPinball\VPLAUNCHER\Screenshots

emu_5_rompath=C:\games\arcade\emulators\VisualPinball\Tables

emu_5_mapfile=

emu_5_configfile=[Mapping Off] Exit (Process Close)

emu_5_database=[Pinball] Visual Pinball

emu_5_romfilter=*.zip;*.vpt

emu_5_command=C:\games\arcade\emulators\VisualPinball\VPinball.exe -play -

[ROMPATH]\[ROMFILE]

emu_5_startpagelogo=Pinball

emu_5_startpagename=[Pinball] Visual Pinball

emu_5_titletext=Pinball

emu_5_info=Visual Pinball offers real time Pinball Development System. It allows you to design and play your very own pinball simulation

emu_5_website=http://www.randydavis.com/vp/intro.htm

emu_5_requiredfiles=

emu_5_downloadurl=http://www.gamesdbase.com/setupwizard/emulators/download/Visual%20Pinball.7z

emu_5_rating=

emu_5_version=9.1.2

emu_5_emulator=Visual Pinball

emu_5_category=Pinball

emu_5_system=Pinball

emu_5_enabled=True

emu_5_cdcheckfile=

emu_5_romsinfolders=True

[Emulator_5]

RomsInFolders=True

lastgame=

CDCheckFile=

Enabled=True

System=Pinball

Category=Pinball

Emulator=Visual Pinball

Version=9.1.2

Rating=

DownloadUrl=http://www.gamesdbase.com/setupwizard/emulators/download/Visual%20Pinball.7z

RequiredFiles=

Website=http://www.randydavis.com/vp/intro.htm

Info=Visual Pinball offers real time Pinball Development System. It allows you to design and play your very own pinball simulation

TitleText=Pinball

StartPageName=[Pinball] Visual Pinball

StartPageLogo=Pinball

Command=c:\games\arcade\emulators\VisualPinball\VPinball.exe -play -"[ROMPATH]\[ROMFILE]"

RomFilter=*.vpt

Database=[Pinball] Visual Pinball

ConfigFile=[Mapping Off] Exit (Process Close)

MapFile=

RomPath=C:\games\arcade\emulators\VisualPinball\Tables

SnapPath=C:\games\arcade\emulators\VisualPinball\VPLAUNCHER\Screenshots

TitlePath=C:\games\arcade\emulators\VisualPinball\title

BoxPath=C:\games\arcade\emulators\VisualPinball\box

CartPath=C:\games\arcade\emulators\VisualPinball\cart

ManualPath=C:\games\arcade\emulators\VisualPinball\manual

ControlPanelPath=C:\games\arcade\emulators\VisualPinball\Controls

WorkingPath=C:\games\arcade\emulators\VisualPinball\Tables

MapKeys=True

WaitBeforeKeys=4000

SendKeys={F3}

ReplaceDash=True

ReplaceUnder=True

Capitals=True

RemoveBrackets=False

ShowDesktop=True

Debug=False

AlsoLaunch=[APPPATH]\vpauto.exe

OLDatZip=

LaunchBefore=

LaunchAfter=

excludedfiles=;;

CustomBackground=

PlayMusic=

DontShowInfo=

PlaySelectionMusic=

SelectionMusicFolder=

PCGame=

GamesIn7Zips=False

PlayInScreenSaver=False

ShowMostPlayed=True

RandomMostPlayed=True

CDCheck=

BakSnapPath=C:\games\arcade\emulators\VisualPinball\snap

VideoSnapPath=C:\games\arcade\emulators\VisualPinball\video

EDITED: just installed another pack, which also runs great alone. it already has every table unzipped too.

If I launch a .vpt from the windows explorer it runs fine. If I load it from the file menu un vpinball works fine... if I set gameex debug mode and then run the .bat in data folder IT RUNS FINE! but when I try to launch it from GameEx it just loads (I can see the vpinmame popping out) then exits. Weeeeird :?

The bat file

C:

CD "C:\games\arcade\emulators\VisualPinball"

@echo.

@echo

@echo.

@echo.

@echo [APPPATH]\vpauto.exe

@echo.

@echo.

@echo c:\games\arcade\emulators\VisualPinball\VPinball.exe -play -"C:\games\arcade\emulators\VisualPinball\Tables\White Water (Williams) (1993)\White Water (Williams) (1993) (group) (mod by mkruce25 1.4xa).vpt"

@echo.

@echo

@echo.

PAUSE

c:\games\arcade\emulators\VisualPinball\VPinball.exe -play -"C:\games\arcade\emulators\VisualPinball\Tables\White Water (Williams) (1993)\White Water (Williams) (1993) (group) (mod by mkruce25 1.4xa).vpt"

[helpman]

Well, I just kept trying changing everything on gameex... it looks like it's fixed now.

I just removed the "also run" vpauto command and now it works fine.