I struggled trying to get HP to work with my db2s tables. Every time I'd exit a table, it would crash. The tables all worked fine running from VP, but crashed from HP.

I tried all kinds of script tweaks- nothing worked.

I dragged and dropped everything into pinballX, used the same files, XML, etc and it worked flawlessly.

I like the look of HP, but the crashing was a pita!

Just checked at VP Forums and they have 421 fullscreen cabinet tables and 108 B2S fullscreen cabinet tables for a total of 529 just at their website. Not counting the 80 desktops that I've converted, that means I've loaded 361 of the 529. That leaves 168 tables that I'm not interested in for several reasons: original tables that I don't really like, some with terrible graphics, etc.

I've been playing pinball since '71, so definitely have an appreciation for the old EMs.

Pro Pinball:
That's good to hear . I have increased my original pledge 4-fold to get me alpha/beta testing status. Looks like contributions are slowing up now although they are promising more good news soon - hopefully new videos.

Pinball X/Hyperpin 2:
I also recently switched from Hyperpin to PinballX which is superb. Hyperpin was great but I had it for over 2 years in the cabinet and wanted a fresher look. PinballX allows bespoke favourite lists which you can name yourself (eg: Electro Mechancal, etc.) and also bespoke wheels, etc. The author Tom is really quick to add new features when requested, so I donated to him too for his excellent work. I will certainly check out BBB Hyperpin 2 when it comes out but unless it offers something significant over PinballX I doubt I will change.

I had a lot of FP tables also mainly for Popotte superb EMs however over time I have gradually removed most of them really due to the physics. There are now so many HQ HD VP EMs with working backglasses by the likes of Pinuck, Starman and rosve all with great physics that I find it hard to play with FP physics nowadays. Pinball Arcade should also hopefully have a few EMs in the PC version over time (only Big Shot so far), so once they add portrait mode that will be great.

With Pro Pinball, Pinball Arcade and Visual Pinball, Virtual Pinball has never been so good .

I have 144 tables in my virtual cabinet.
Most of them are VP tables.
I have a few FP tables like Tron and Family Guy that you just can't get anywhere else.
But even though I run the latest 2.6 physics engine they still don't compare to VP.
I know there are people out there that just can't get enough of FP, but I just don't get it.
So much good stuff coming out with the new Unity pinball project, Pinball Pro, Pinball Arcade, and all the Zen pinball tables.

For those with hundreds of tables installed:

How do you add them?

I've setup my list mostly one at a time, editing the XML file by hand each time..... Is there an asker way? It seems like it would take a LONG time doing it my way to setup another 100 tables....

Yes, there is a program called pinscreengen that will automatically take a screenshot of the playfiled and make an xml file for every table in your folder all at once.
I forget where to get it, but you should be able to search it out.

Wow... thanks... gotta try that tomorrow.

Also just started playing with HyperPin Table Manager.

Hopefully between these utilities i can jack up my number of playable tables...

Also add mine by hand, tried the PinScreenGen, but couldn't get it to work (forget what the problem was, quite a while ago). If no media pack available, I use "Print Screen" key to capture the screens, then resize the images in "Paint" and save as .png files. Have searched and found backglass images online, then modified to use also. The worst part is when the "wheel" images aren't available. Then I find a decent image of the games name, crop out and resize the name, open it up with "Gimp" (freeware Photoshop clone) and blow it up to 800% or more to clean it up at the pixel level. Some wheels take 10 minutes, some take 45. But, I have full art packages for all tables this way, think I've made about 100 wheel images now. Being anal sucks sometimes.....
(PM me if you need any specific media files)

Yesterday I spent several hours downloading all the new, much smaller playfield videos. 248 of them installed, what took up almost 16G now uses 2.6G. I have a 64G solid state hard drive, went from about 3/4 full to 1/2 full now (with 750 games). Todays chore is to start downloading all the new backglass videos and then all the direct B2S backglasses. I just started using the dB2S backglasses recently and only have tested a couple of the backglass videos, which work great. Aaackk, just looked at the quantities. 216 dB2S and 267 videos, that's about 480 files to download, unzip, rename, and install. Final task will be to install all table instruction cards and fliers, only have about 10% done now. Might be done with these final touches in a week or two.

Randy

YIKES... THIS is what I was afraid of

where did you get the more compact videos?

Here is the download link for Pinscreengen I found this morning.
It has always worked flawlessly for me.
http://www.vpforums.org/index.php?showtopic=17835&hl=pinscreengen

You can take screen caps of the playfield and backglass from inside of Hyperpin, no need to print screen and edit. Will drop them with the right name in the right directory too. I think the playfield cap is from pressing "o" and the backglass is "u", but that's just from memory.

I believe that "input lag" is actually what causes the delay that many people refer to. This isn't something that's usually noted in specs, especially for TV's. You may want to do some extra digging if you're interested in a TV to make sure that the input lag is as low as possible.

THere are two delays in virtual pinball. The first (as you mention) is the TV delay. Some tvs are worse than others, but any with "Gaming" mode will be fine. In fact, many without gaming mode are fine.

The second lag is input lag which is the accumulation of delays in the keyboard encoder, PC hardware and software. There is very little that can be done to overcome this lag, but your brain is very good at accommodating it. What does happen with this lag is there are circumstances on a real machine where something unexpected happens and you can save the ball at the last second where on a simulator, this minor delay kills your save.

Got all my videos from VP Forums download section. Didn't see the older, larger ones there anymore, I think they overwrite them with the new ones. Old ones were between 50-100Kbits, the new ones are 5-10Kbits, with no loss in quality.

Craig, I'll send you a PM, you should get a pop-up message as soon as you enter this webpage. Or just click on "My Pinside" link at the top and you should see a "Pinsidemail" tab. Or, the easiest way is to hover your mouse over my avatar and click PM.

I've been trying to clean my shop first to make my mini-cab more fun to build. I bought an IPS pf monitor, and will be using a flat lcd as the BG monitor. I like the idea of a mini-pin, because I just didn't want to dedicate one of my 7 slots to a virtual pin (at least, not yet). I also didn't want to use a dedicated PC, so I'll be attaching it to a different pc as a sort of peripheral.

I plan on using a usb 360 controller, and fixing a plumb-bob to the joystick to achieve analog nudge. I think that will work pretty well, but it will be interesting..

I hope to have my shop clean enough to get going on this in the next week or two. If anyone is interested in the analog nudge, I can post my findings.

The Pro Pinball developer said pledges giving alpha / beta access should get game in early October, otherwise December before everyone else. A good reason to upgrade maybe

"Exact Alpha testing dates will depend a bit on platforms. But early October should be possible for all the current platforms".

New Pro Pinball physics will handle ball spin. The programmer said this:
"Actually, the original version of Timeshock! did have a 2D spin model. BRUSA and FJ both had 3D spin models. Of course, to go one better the ULTRA version of Timeshock! we will have to create a brand new 4D spin model. "

Pro Pinball Glass off mode video released!
Exclusive to kickstarters feature

[video=youtube;__Yi3vCZH_s]

[/video]

xp or win 7 works the best for vp

I started with Win 7 on mine and went to XP quick!! Runs much better!

I'm going to build a VP cabinet this winter. The best build to date that I've seen has been this Big Bang pin.

http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/forum/showthread.php?13146-Big-Bang-Pin-46-30-15-6-LED-Widebody-(custom-artwork-bezel-less-deep-playfield)

He uses a "slim" led samsung tv. The model number starts with un40... These will fit in a wide body cabinet, with no bezel. They can be found used for $500, since I plan to de case the tv a warranty is useless.

I am die hard fan of winxp.
Here's a long (30+ mins) video log of a previous cab of mine