(Topic ID: 50742)

Pinball-Browser : Customize your game !

By oga83

10 years ago


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There are 5,562 posts in this topic. You are on page 74 of 112.
#3651 3 years ago

But if dont want to change any vids... can i still change the songs without downloading those two programs?

#3652 3 years ago

Yes, you can change musics/songs in Sounds tab. You don't need ffmpeg or ffprobe to modify sounds

#3653 3 years ago

Once ive finished importing songs and put in the pin... will the vids remain the same?

#3654 3 years ago
Quoted from oga83:

Pinball Browser supporters,
I have some bad news. A couple days ago, Stern made some modifications to stop Pinball Browser from working. Again.
These modifications have clearly no other goal than that, and have no benefit for the user.
The nature of the changes are technical. New encoding techniques, changing how sound files work...actions that are specifically designed to make it difficult to modify a game. None of these changes are for the benefit of the owner of the game.
Stern is spending significant developer time on keeping their customers from modifying their games. Looking at these changes they've made, I'm actually surprised this is their focus, rather than features and game code updates that the players of the games really care about. From a risk/reward standpoint, they are also increasing the risk of introducing bugs in the code with no reward for it.
I still don't understand why they want so badly to stop PB.
I'm not their enemy, I've only played fair with them. I've always discouraged or made it difficult for copyrighted materials to be shared or distributed. I've never included functions to change things like the regional limitations (US/EU), to reset the lifetime audits, change the game rules or other things like that...
It is clear that it's easier for them to throw sand in the wheels of PB than for me to keep PB working. That must be their goal.
I have to warn you all that one day will come where it won't be possible to adjust PB and you won't be able to customize your games anymore. To prevent that, I suggest that
all of you write to Stern
about this unnecessary actions against PB. I would like to work with them! At a minimum, I need to understand what their issue is with a customer modifying their own machine. If a person buys a Ford, does Ford make all the bolts in the car tamperproof so you can't swap out a part? Is there some licensing issue that we don't understand?
Hopefully, they will engage directly with us on this.

I just emailed them after realizing all of this by way of opening JP 1.01 today and finding your post. There's nothing in the release notes that leads me to believe this update has much of a benefit to the gameplay itself. It just looks like some bug fixes, slight tweaks to mode scoring, and wording changes in menus. I have spent hundreds of hours over multiple months crafting customized callouts and music and was literally about to finally share a demo video of the work--work that I was so close to finishing. The fact that I can't move forward and am probably just going to have to call it quits is somewhat devastating. Hopefully others have emailed Stern as well.

#3655 3 years ago
Quoted from timlah79:

I just emailed them after realizing all of this by way of opening JP 1.01 today and finding your post. There's nothing in the release notes that leads me to believe this update has much of a benefit to the gameplay itself. It just looks like some bug fixes, slight tweaks to mode scoring, and wording changes in menus. I have spent hundreds of hours over multiple months crafting customized callouts and music and was literally about to finally share a demo video of the work--work that I was so close to finishing. The fact that I can't move forward and am probably just going to have to call it quits is somewhat devastating. Hopefully others have emailed Stern as well.

I feel your pain! It's a mod on my machine, why not go after those selling these mods versus taking away the ability for the home hobbiest to trick out the machine to their liking..I thought the same thing about the update... Very little, almost seemed just to get the PB blocker software out there

#3656 3 years ago
Quoted from Dantesmark:Once ive finished importing songs and put in the pin... will the vids remain the same?

Yeah, if you change song, video will remain same.
I recommend you should create copy of your IMDN firmware, and make modifications on one of two because every modification you make on Spike firmware is immediately written to the file due to spike firmwares being huge

#3657 3 years ago

I am leaving my game at version 1.00 with the custom music and callouts. I see no reason to install 1.01 as there is really nothing new added

#3658 3 years ago

You may want to download current game codes, in case they get updated to not work going forward.

#3659 3 years ago
Quoted from mzhulk:

I am leaving my game at version 1.00 with the custom music and callouts. I see no reason to install 1.01 as there is really nothing new added

This looks deliberate on Sterns part, especially the fact there is no QUICK update option on the 1.01 install...I though all .spk files I used in the past gave the option, this one is FULL only... So it's forcing a full overwrite

#3660 3 years ago

For some reason, Stern only mind when we change sounds.
They do not mind when we modify videos; I can tell because they didn't disable video edit feature on latest codes

#3661 3 years ago

Does anybody have a list of video locations for Elvira's house of horrors?

#3662 3 years ago
Quoted from fooflighter:

This looks deliberate on Sterns part, especially the fact there is no QUICK update option on the 1.01 install...I though all .spk files I used in the past gave the option, this one is FULL only... So it's forcing a full overwrite

I'm really sure Quick was there for me... Pro anyway.

#3663 3 years ago

Damn - was hoping to modify 1.01 JP with custom sound. Hoping PB is back for 1.01.....

#3664 3 years ago
Quoted from oga83:

The nature of the changes are technical. New encoding techniques, changing how sound files work...actions that are specifically designed to make it difficult to modify a game.

Just to be clear, can I continue using PB with all prior versions of game code that do *not* have this new PB-twarting encoding? If, for instance, I have an old SAM game, can I safely use PB as long as I don't update my code to a version with this new encoding? And do you expect Stern will bother to add this encoding to *all* of its updates going forward? If there's a MET update, say, in a year, will it have the new encoding to beat PB, or is this limited to SPIKE?

#3665 3 years ago

They only do changes for sounds on Spike2 firmwares Jason_Jehosaphat . They released 1.85 code for IM on March 31, and PB can open it sounds. I guess that is because Iron Man was old SAM game, and because they do not make SAM games anymore.
I have a plan how to convince Stern to stop preventing us to change sounds on Spike2 games. I'm 90% sure it'll work, but first I have to see if you and other people want to hear my plan

#3666 3 years ago

I'm all ears

#3667 3 years ago

Talk to me.

#3668 3 years ago

Doesn't look like Stern is waiting around... Hopefully this applies to other games as well if they were blocking things for a reason and are going to open things up to legal modification... I'm just thinking of games like Skyrim for the PC, Bethesda sponsored the modding community, not only did it grow the product, it made it hugely popular... Time will tell, curious to see tonight with Black Knight

Screenshot_20200409-145807_Facebook (resized).jpgScreenshot_20200409-145807_Facebook (resized).jpg
-1
#3669 3 years ago

Great!
So here's my plan how to convince Stern to stop silencing sounds in new firmwares: *Text removed because Stern may see it

#3670 3 years ago
Quoted from fooflighter:

Doesn't look like Stern is waiting around... Hopefully this applies to other games as well if they were blocking things for a reason and are going to open things up to legal modification... I'm just thinking of games like Skyrim for the PC, Bethesda sponsored the modding community, not only did it grow the product, it made it hugely popular... Time will tell, curious to see tonight with Black Knight[quoted image]

Yeah, it's not fair, Stern doesn't like when we modify sounds by ourselves, but they built Alternate music for Black knight! It's like they used Pinball Browser, right?

#3671 3 years ago

I answered to your PM message

#3672 3 years ago
Quoted from pinballfan2000:

Great! So here's my plan...

So how do you know if anyone of us works for Stern? This is pretty much a free and open forum. I'm sure Stern employees monitor this thread. Unless everything goes underground it will be next to impossible to prevent them from getting the same info we all share.

There has to be a better way...

#3673 3 years ago
Quoted from pinballfan2000:

Great!
So here's my plan how to convince Stern to stop silencing sounds in new firmwares: So next time I message Stern, I'll beg them to stop silencing sounds for firmwares in PB, but I'll also have to use lying. I'll say that we won't modify our games anymore, but that's not right, we'll still modify our games! We can all keep modifying our games, we just need to keep videos with custom music or videos away from Stern. For example, we can share custom videos and sounds on google disk, like you did fooflighter . Stern can't see something we upload on google disk, unless we share with them (Don't share videos with Stern)
I hope plan will work, and I hope you agree with this plan
Remember, you can still modify your games! Just don't share with Stern, and we'll be alright

Well, you have to realize, Stern is a business, they don't agree to virtual non written verbal agreement contracts. They get nothing out of open sourcing their software... But everything, financially, down the road (is read DLC) for keeping things under wraps. Unfortunately, I think it will always be a clandestine affair of modding software... All the begging in the world won't change things.

#3674 3 years ago
Quoted from dzorbas:

So how do you know if anyone of us works for Stern? This is pretty much a free and open forum. I'm sure Stern employees monitor this thread. Unless everything goes underground it will be next to impossible to prevent them from getting the same info we all share.
There has to be a better way...

I hope Stern didn't read this thread

Quoted from fooflighter:

they don't agree to virtual non written verbal agreement contracts.

Oh, I didn't know
In that case, I'm not even going to message them about PB codes

#3675 3 years ago
Quoted from pinballfan2000:

I hope Stern didn't read this thread

Oh, I didn't know
In that case, I'm not even going to message them about PB codes

Oh they're reading it

Yeah, they'll just say that modding software will void your warranty, something along those lines

#3676 3 years ago

Why would stern need to use PB when they create the firmware! They can modify the source as much as they want how they want.

#3677 3 years ago
Quoted from fooflighter:

Yeah, they'll just say that modding software will void your warranty, something along those lines

Yup

#3678 3 years ago

Stinks about what's going on, but understandable if Stern wants to protect the licensed assets. I'm curious about that Dead Flip stream and will check it out.

Edit: The alternate soundtrack can just be enabled in the test menu, under "Feature Adjustments". Not sure if this was a recent addition or has been in the code all along.

#3679 3 years ago

Alternate soundtrack was added in 1.01 version

#3680 3 years ago

Many of these posts are missing the main point: It doesn’t matter at all whether Stern wants to support or not support unauthorized mods to the firmware if the games are based on licenses from the movie and music industry. These are the two most paranoid intellectual property industries on earth when it comes to disallowing any unauthorized use or modification of their material. Stern is not in the driver’s seat in that relationship, and in all likelihood they are contractually bound to protect the integrity of the materials to be used in only the ways that were approved by the licensor, including replacement with something not originally included or approved. God forbid someone should insert some kind of fanfic video of a different clip in SW of Salacious Crumb being, well, salacious. It would sully the good and wholesome name of Star Wars forever on some unsuspecting child. This is the way the licensors think about the spectrum of possibilities.

I tend to believe that the notion of DLC, while well grounded in the video game industry, has yet to really become any sort of reality in the minds of Stern. If they want to go there, then in order to avoid rampant piracy they will have to go whole hog down the DRM route of checking and enforcing that the unit machine in question is licensed for the DLC, encrypting code and content, digital signature checks, the whole nine yards. Which is a whole lotta work and infrastructure, and not their core competency.

#3681 3 years ago
Quoted from CrazyLevi:

This attitude is exactly why Stern has no choice but to implement these measures.
It’s been abused. People are trying to monetize it. Stern is at huge legal risk if they don’t try to stop it. Clearly, they should have acted earlier, as you can see the sense of entitlement on display.

And I'm sure you're going to be the first one in line when they start adding DLC to their machines. "Want some new modes? Just PayPal us $99.99 for an unlock code". "Using your game in a tournament and want to remove the randomization? Just send us $59.99 to enable tournament mode". "Add some extra tracks to your new Iron Maiden machine today, for the low price of $24.99".

#3682 3 years ago
Quoted from Spyderturbo007:

And I'm sure you're going to be the first one in line when they start adding DLC to their machines. "Want some new modes? Just PayPal us $99.99 for an unlock code". "Using your game in a tournament and want to remove the randomization? Just send us $59.99 to enable tournament mode". "Add some extra tracks to your new Iron Maiden machine today, for the low price of $24.99".

$100 for a mini wizard mode at half the jukebox on AC/DC would be an awesome deal. Please Stern take my money. Those prices would be the best mods in pinball.

#3683 3 years ago
Quoted from Spyderturbo007:

And I'm sure you're going to be the first one in line when they start adding DLC to their machines. "Want some new modes? Just PayPal us $99.99 for an unlock code". "Using your game in a tournament and want to remove the randomization? Just send us $59.99 to enable tournament mode". "Add some extra tracks to your new Iron Maiden machine today, for the low price of $24.99".

You miss the point entirely.

Any official DLC would be approved and sanctioned by a licensee. If stern wants to try to go this route, good for them, it’s within their rights as long as the licensors sign off. Really doesn’t haven’t anything to do with the immediate issue of them nerfing pin browser.

Stern is legally
Responsible for protecting the IP they license. That’s why they are being forced to shut down these pirated software mods being sold out of tents at pinball shows. The profiteers ruined it for everybody by raising the profile of these “mods” and exposing stern to legal jeopardy.

#3684 3 years ago

Ive edited the .raw file for IMDN from Sterns website, all good. Now what? Do I need to convert it to an .IMG to then put on the SD card?

Edit: Ok, found you need to use this to burn the image to an SD card: https://www.balena.io/etcher/

#3685 3 years ago

For some reason, this pop-up message has started to appear when I try to open any firmware:

Pop-up message (resized).jpgPop-up message (resized).jpg
#3686 3 years ago
Quoted from pinballfan2000:

For some reason, this pop-up message has started to appear when I try to open any firmware:[quoted image]

It's hard to help over the distance, but it seems that like the error message is stating the file is either not accessable or another program has opened the file.
d:\audio\pinball-browser.xml
this can have serveral reasons.
Having open 2 times of pinballbrowser?
I would try first to restart the pc. And then as first thing try to open a firmware.
If error is till there, try to find the file d:\audio\pinball-Browser.xml, see if you can open it, see if you can modify it with an editor (notepad) after you have created a copy of the file.

If the file is not there maybe create the folder and a blank file

i hope this helps.

#3687 3 years ago
Quoted from cabal:

It's hard to help over the distance, but it seems that like the error message is stating the file is either not accessable or another program has opened the file.
d:\audio\pinball-browser.xml
this can have serveral reasons.
Having open 2 times of pinballbrowser?
I would try first to restart the pc. And then as first thing try to open a firmware.
If error is till there, try to find the file d:\audio\pinball-Browser.xml, see if you can open it, see if you can modify it with an editor (notepad) after you have created a copy of the file.
If the file is not there maybe create the folder and a blank file
i hope this helps.

Hi cabal
I just restarted my PC, and error still appears.
I tried to open Pinball-browser.xml file, but Internet Explorer says that xml page cannot be displayed
Thanks for trying to help me, do you have any other plans I should try?

#3688 3 years ago
Quoted from pinballfan2000:

Hi cabal
I just restarted my PC, and error still appears.
I tried to open Pinball-browser.xml file, but Internet Explorer says that xml page cannot be displayed
Thanks for trying to help me, do you have any other plans I should try?

i just had a look into the pinball-browser.xml file.
It should open with ie. Maybe it got corrupted.
I would download a new version of Pinball browser. Create a new folder and unzip it in there.
Put in the ffmpeg things if you use it.
and start completly fresh. It starting from a fresh folder should ask again for license and hopefully it will start.

#3689 3 years ago

I just unzipped PINBALLBROWSER703.zip again, and error still appears

#3690 3 years ago
Quoted from pinballfan2000:

I just unzipped PINBALLBROWSER703.zip again, and error still appears

could you maybe try to rename the Pinball-Browers.xml file?
is the error still with D:\audio\pinball-browser.xml?

it should now point to the new different folder.
If you only overwrite the files in the Folder with the zip it will not fix it.
The pinball-browser.xml file is created on the first startup of the Program.

i am getting out of ideas now.

#3691 3 years ago

Yep, it's still error with pinball-browser.xml
When I rename Pinball-browser.xml, which text I should replace it with?

#3692 3 years ago

pinballfan2000 Your Pinball-Browser.xml file is corrupted or locked by another program.
Close Pinball-Browser, delete this file, and make sure it's not here anymore.
Start Pinball Broser again and a brand new xml file will be created.

#3693 3 years ago

oga83 it worked!
Thank you very much!!

#3694 3 years ago

cabal although your plans didn't work, thank you for trying to help me!

#3695 3 years ago

oga83 I have another question
I know that Undersampled 2x sounds mean that sounds are recorded in lower quality, but what does "Undersampled 3x" means?
In wof0500l.bin (which is WOF with Spanish speech), bunch of sounds are Undersampled 3x, and empty and unable to play
Is that because Stern blocked Spanish speech or because Undersampled 3x sounds are not supported?

Undersampled 3x (resized).jpgUndersampled 3x (resized).jpg
#3696 3 years ago

I'm having an odd issue when importing sounds scripts via macros. When I import a sound (WAV mono in this case) that is slightly shorter in length than the original. PBrowser is throwing a "dB spike" which is making the sound clip at the end. When I do a manual, single importof the same file to that same script location (no adjusting, starting a '0') there is no issue. Only when using a macro does this happen.

I understand when the imported sound is shorter than the script location length, a "a blank space" gets added at the end. I'm fine with that. I have faded out the end in order to prevent when the longer script location is played, but this issue is negating that.

Does anyone know why this is happening? Please don't tell me I have to always adjust my wav to fit each script length. The reason I'm doing shorter is because for any given sound that is played there is anywhere from 2-7 script lines for that sound. That's why I'm using a macro. I take the shortest version of that script line as a baseline, and make my replacement sound fit that length. I then use the macro to replace all 2-7 locations with that single file.

Example of the macro line format I'm using: SoundScript,0x897,"C:\[file path]\[filename].wav",

This screenshot shows the same sound.
Top = The tail of the sound I am importing (notice nicely faded out to 0).
Bottom = The resulting problem sound file exported out of PBrowser (notice the "dB spike" added after the fade to 0).

2020-04-12_10-37-50 (resized).png2020-04-12_10-37-50 (resized).png
#3697 3 years ago
Quoted from pinballfan2000:

Undersampled 3x sounds are not supported?

Never seen undersampled 3x sounds before. 3x means that each sample is played 3 times.
I'll have a look at it when I have some time.

#3698 3 years ago

timlah79 Which game and version is it ?

#3699 3 years ago
Quoted from oga83:

I'll have a look at it when I have some time.

Great!

#3700 3 years ago
Quoted from oga83:

timlah79 Which game and version is it ?

JPLE 1.00.00

I think I may have figured out what's going on + a workaround. When I check the macro generated after a single import, I see it appends some position, duration and other params at the end like:

SoundScript,0x897,"C:\[file path]\[filename].wav",0,1831,100,0,10000

If I then run the problem macro format (without the appended, to reproduce the issue):
SoundScript,0x897,"C:\[file path]\[filename].wav",

Then turn right around and run the appended one after, the issue is corrected in that script location.

So in summary I guess my workaround is to add that appended information to every macro line. I take it all can remain the same except for the 2nd param which I now see is the ms duration of the imported file. I did just find a program that will read a folder of my WAVs and spit out their ms duration. So I guess I'll leverage that,some Notepad++ and regex wizardry to generate my macros in that format moving forward.

It does suck to have found this out now. I have already imported hundreds of new sound files. But things could be worse .

oga83 Would you consider what I've found a bug or expected behavior? What do you think of my workaround?

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