Request Beta of Pinball Arcade for PC?

[Mike Reitmeyer]

Wonder how long it takes from submission to Steam to get to us?

I didn't see any lists of requirements like the consoles have, so I don't think it'll be as painful as those are. From what I see, once we are released I imagine we'll be able to update with new table packs at the same time as mobile.

Would a 260GTX run this comfortably?

Should have no problems. It runs fine on our one test machine using an 8800GT


Another cool thing with Steam is we can update table resources to fix stuff in previously released tables with no problem. And our users won't have to download an entire table every time. Steam creates a difference patch and only patches the bytes that change. From my previous build to QA to this one I rebuilt about 10+ tables, and the download only took a few seconds (approx 7mb)

 

[Sean DonCarlos]

When Magicka was first released, it was very buggy - to the extent that the developers even released a "Mea Culpa" DLC parodying their own errors, complete with a new "Crash to Desktop" spell - but they were able to put out updates in rapid succession...I think there might have even been two in one day at one point.

Everyone I've ever talked to who has been involved in Steam has said that once you get over the initial hump of Steam SDK integration, it's pretty friendly as far as updates/patches/DLC goes.

 

[rob3d]

Mike is there a set of minimum requirements for the pc version?

I remember during the TZ PC beta my HTPC couldn't run the game at full speed, but I know it wasn't really optimized at that point.

 

[Mike Reitmeyer]

When Magicka was first released, it was very buggy - to the extent that the developers even released a "Mea Culpa" DLC parodying their own errors, complete with a new "Crash to Desktop" spell - but they were able to put out updates in rapid succession...I think there might have even been two in one day at one point.

Everyone I've ever talked to who has been involved in Steam has said that once you get over the initial hump of Steam SDK integration, it's pretty friendly as far as updates/patches/DLC goes.

That's good to hear. So far everything appears to point that way.

Mike is there a set of minimum requirements for the pc version?

I remember during the TZ PC beta my HTPC couldn't run the game at full speed, but I know it wasn't really optimized at that point.

We don't have a wide enough test range to give a good minimum specs here. Requires a DirectX 9 capable GPU with Shader Model 3.0. Using task manager it uses a little less than 500MB of ram on a few tables (I didn't check every one). So I would recommend at least 1GB of RAM. It was using 5-7% of the CPU at most on my Core I7 here.

When we did the TZ beta, I don't think we had resolution options, so it choose the highest resolution your GPU allowed for. The latest builds let you choose, so you should be able to drop it down a bit and run fine.

 

[rob3d]

That's good news thanks

 

[Sun Vulcan]

That's good to hear. So far everything appears to point that way.



We don't have a wide enough test range to give a good minimum specs here. Requires a DirectX 9 capable GPU with Shader Model 3.0. Using task manager it uses a little less than 500MB of ram on a few tables (I didn't check every one). So I would recommend at least 1GB of RAM. It was using 5-7% of the CPU at most on my Core I7 here.

When we did the TZ beta, I don't think we had resolution options, so it choose the highest resolution your GPU allowed for. The latest builds let you choose, so you should be able to drop it down a bit and run fine.

Will there be an option to turn off reflections?

 

[Mike Reitmeyer]

Will there be an option to turn off reflections?

Which reflections are you referring to?

 

[Sun Vulcan]

Which reflections are you referring to?

Ball reflection.

 

[Carl Spiby]

How are 16:9 and 4:3 resolutions handled? Are the table assets scaled correctly?

 

[Mike Reitmeyer]

Ball reflection.

There isn't currently an option to turn it off. Did you want to turn it off cause of performance or cause you don't like it?

How are 16:9 and 4:3 resolutions handled? Are the table assets scaled correctly?

The table assets are always the same, the aspect ratio is handled by the camera transform matrices. So the assets should look correct for 16:9, 4:3 and 16:10

 

[Carl Spiby]

Excellent.

Just hoping for something by the end of this week, I miss the dynamic lighting of the consoles.

 

[Sun Vulcan]

There isn't currently an option to turn it off. Did you want to turn it off cause of performance or cause you don't like it?

Performance. Maybe turning off can help a bit if You don't have a high-end specs.

 

[BigWeather]

Mr. Reitmeyer, is Virtual Pin support (output to multiple screens) still planned (post-release, of course)? I'm starting to look at cabinets -- has FarSight considered partnering with a manufacturer?

 

[boy-oh-boy]

my gtx 680 is warming up to be ready when the game will be released.we absolutely need the fantastic lightning system for our beloved pc hell machines
please show us that you can handle the powerfull hardware of our pcs.
continue your good work and i will support you untill i have sold my car....my wife..my dog...untill i have no more money left*hihi

hail to you from germany

boy-oh-boy

 

[Mike Reitmeyer]

Performance. Maybe turning off can help a bit if You don't have a high-end specs.

I'll add that if it turns out to be necessary. I'm hoping it won't be an issue for anyone.

Mr. Reitmeyer, is Virtual Pin support (output to multiple screens) still planned (post-release, of course)? I'm starting to look at cabinets -- has FarSight considered partnering with a manufacturer?

Yes it's still planned. Last I heard one of the guys here was looking into parterning or somehow getting us a cabinet.

my gtx 680 is warming up to be ready when the game will be released.we absolutely need the fantastic lightning system for our beloved pc hell machines
please show us that you can handle the powerfull hardware of our pcs.
continue your good work and i will support you untill i have sold my car....my wife..my dog...untill i have no more money left*hihi

hail to you from germany

boy-oh-boy

GTX 680 might be a bit too much for Pinball. I think you should send it to me and I'll send you my GTX 560. =) j/k

At launch we'll be supporting DX9. Higher end cards will get to enjoy really high MSAA, higher res textures, etc. A little after launch there is a plan to support DX11 which will have the full dynamic lighting seen in our PS4 demo. The artists have been working on setting up the lighting on each table so that we are ready for the PS4. All of that will convert over for PC as well.

There are also a few smaller changes we can do in general for PC that I think will give quite a bit of improvement.

 

[Sun Vulcan]

I'll add that if it turns out to be necessary. I'm hoping it won't be an issue for anyone.

Thanks Mike!

 

[karl]

Thanks for keeping us in the loop Mike. I can almost smell the pc version

 

[Jeff Strong]

Much appreciated, Mike.

 

[boy-oh-boy]

fantastic news mike. i am so happy that all the stuff for the ps4,specially the full dynamic lightning will be converted over to the pc.it looks so much better with it.this news i have to celebrate with an fine single malted highland whiskey from scotland.

cheers
Paddy

 

[DaPinballWizard]

Or spark a nice doob of Hawaiian.