Alex Atkin UK
New member
- Sep 26, 2012
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HOWTO: Use the Duo Pinball controller on PC
I bought a Duo Pinball for £12.59 off Amazon, a fairly simple Bluetooth device that simulates two flipper buttons and a plunger. Its normally only compatible with Pinball HD Collection on iPad but as I have just bought an Asus Transformer Book T100TA and it runs Pinball Arcade well enough (with everything off except texture filtering, which still looks better than on PS Vita), I figured it was worth a look.
I am happy to report that with my very first functional C# application I have made the Duo Pinball compatible with PC. Its mapped to left/right shift for the flipper buttons and space bar for the ball launcher.
While the plunger is technically only digital (its just pressing and releasing a button) what actually happens is pulling down on the plunger presses the space bar, after releasing the plunger it hits a button internally that triggers releasing of the space bar. This feels surprisingly authentic as it means the ball is hit at exactly the time you would expect it to in relation to the plunger returning to its home position.
Tips:
Map space bar to Menu Select in keyboard configuration in Pinball Arcade. That way when you get a hiscore you can select the letters with the flipper and okay them with the plunger.
Drawbacks:
Lack of nudge support, as naturally the iPad would have this built-in but as far as I am aware neither Pinball Arcade or Pinball FX2 support motion sensors on PC, even if you have a tablet with motion sensors in it like I do. (I could be wrong as I noticed Pinball FX2 does support touch screen controls, even the Steam version)
Known Bugs (keyboard version):
If the application is closed while a button/plunger is still being held down then that key will remain held. Simply press the corresponding key on your keyboard a few times or (if possible) launch the application again and the key presses will be reset.
Known Bugs (Xbox Controller version):
I had one occasion where I was playing Pinball FX3 Windows Store version and when it lost the controller it wouldn't find it again without relaunching the game. Not had this happen on Steam version.
On rare occasions the flippers can stick or fail to register.
Analog plunger doesn't register that well if you try to be slow and precise, it doesn't seem to release properly. Although this might actually be a bug with Pinball FX3 as I've experienced the same when using a controller where letting go doesn't react as if I let go of the plunger and so doesn't hit the ball hard enough to launch.
Changelog:
1.0 (2013-12-30) - Initial release
1.1 (2014-01-03) - Typo fixed where it said "Flippers Released" instead of "Pressed" when you held both fippers.
Added code to automatically reconnect after 280 seconds idle as Duo Pinball goes to sleep after this time.
Added code to check carrier on the serial port so it automatically tries to reconnect if you go out of range of bluetooth or replace the batteries.
1.2 (2014-01-04) - Added icon and window title.
1.3 (2021-12-13) - Switched to VigEm Xbox 360 Controller emulation enabling analog plunger support.
Download:
Download from my website. You will need .NET Framework 4.8 installed.
I bought a Duo Pinball for £12.59 off Amazon, a fairly simple Bluetooth device that simulates two flipper buttons and a plunger. Its normally only compatible with Pinball HD Collection on iPad but as I have just bought an Asus Transformer Book T100TA and it runs Pinball Arcade well enough (with everything off except texture filtering, which still looks better than on PS Vita), I figured it was worth a look.
I am happy to report that with my very first functional C# application I have made the Duo Pinball compatible with PC. Its mapped to left/right shift for the flipper buttons and space bar for the ball launcher.
While the plunger is technically only digital (its just pressing and releasing a button) what actually happens is pulling down on the plunger presses the space bar, after releasing the plunger it hits a button internally that triggers releasing of the space bar. This feels surprisingly authentic as it means the ball is hit at exactly the time you would expect it to in relation to the plunger returning to its home position.
Tips:
Map space bar to Menu Select in keyboard configuration in Pinball Arcade. That way when you get a hiscore you can select the letters with the flipper and okay them with the plunger.
Drawbacks:
Lack of nudge support, as naturally the iPad would have this built-in but as far as I am aware neither Pinball Arcade or Pinball FX2 support motion sensors on PC, even if you have a tablet with motion sensors in it like I do. (I could be wrong as I noticed Pinball FX2 does support touch screen controls, even the Steam version)
Known Bugs (keyboard version):
If the application is closed while a button/plunger is still being held down then that key will remain held. Simply press the corresponding key on your keyboard a few times or (if possible) launch the application again and the key presses will be reset.
Known Bugs (Xbox Controller version):
I had one occasion where I was playing Pinball FX3 Windows Store version and when it lost the controller it wouldn't find it again without relaunching the game. Not had this happen on Steam version.
On rare occasions the flippers can stick or fail to register.
Analog plunger doesn't register that well if you try to be slow and precise, it doesn't seem to release properly. Although this might actually be a bug with Pinball FX3 as I've experienced the same when using a controller where letting go doesn't react as if I let go of the plunger and so doesn't hit the ball hard enough to launch.
Changelog:
1.0 (2013-12-30) - Initial release
1.1 (2014-01-03) - Typo fixed where it said "Flippers Released" instead of "Pressed" when you held both fippers.
Added code to automatically reconnect after 280 seconds idle as Duo Pinball goes to sleep after this time.
Added code to check carrier on the serial port so it automatically tries to reconnect if you go out of range of bluetooth or replace the batteries.
1.2 (2014-01-04) - Added icon and window title.
1.3 (2021-12-13) - Switched to VigEm Xbox 360 Controller emulation enabling analog plunger support.
Download:
Download from my website. You will need .NET Framework 4.8 installed.
Last edited: