Building A Virtual Pinball Cabinet

[L33]

You should be able to support all configurations with your setup by just ordering the screens correctly in the nVidia setup. Might need a bit of experiementation though.
To change the table lighting, just hit Esc/Exit whilst playing a table, the menu will appear, scroll down to Options and in there are lighting sliders for the room brightness and bulb brightness. It remembers the settings for each table. The transformation particularly when playing in the dark is incredible.

I just posted some photos of the Cam/Cab Mod runnning in my cabinet here:

http://digitalpinballfans.com/showt...FreeCamera-Mod?p=222824&viewfull=1#post222824

Does look pretty good...definitely worth the effort setting it all up then.

 

[mpad]

[MENTION=4681]L33[/MENTION] you finally got the dx11 upgrade and didn't turn the lights down?
Go do this in an instant to enjoy the full glory!

 

[L33]

[MENTION=4681]L33[/MENTION] you finally got the dx11 upgrade and didn't turn the lights down?
Go do this in an instant to enjoy the full glory!

HaHa...seems like Im missing out Just finishing off some PFx images (taking me forever) but hope to log onto TPA in half an hour or so...fighting for survival in the Gold league! So I'll have to take a look at the lighting option.

 

[mpad]

Definitely!

Seems you already put some work in those fx2 images, but there are already a lot of them out there in the net.
Check out www.pinsimdb.org

 

[L33]

Finally got the cab set up to use the cab support provided by ZS. Now to attempt the Noex/Rob Mod! Already hit a hurdle...though Im no expert, Im assuming that the play field is stretched to the second monitor. Problem is, my second and third monitor is actually below the play field, not above, and my second monitor is actually my third monitor........

.......sorted. It meant that I had to re do the ZS setup, but thats fairly straight forward now. Reading through Robs PDF as I type...looks very professional Here goes nothing, as they say!

 

[L33]

[MENTION=4788]Robert Misner[/MENTION]

Robert, is the following possible...

Not sure if you've seen any of my videos on youtube...if you have then you'll have seen my setup which may help as I'm not the best at explaining things. Anyway, my cab is set up in such a way that the 2nd tv is the 'dmd' and the 3rd tv is the backglass. When I try running the mod it stretches across all 3 tvs (I've not properly set it up yet). Im wondering if its possible to stretch things in such a way that the dmd shows up on the second tv and the backglass image shows on the 3rd. Basically, the screen would be stretched so that the dmd gets positioned on the 2nd tv and instead of creating a 1920x1080 backglass image, it would be a specific size so that it would keep stretching upwards onto the 3rd monitor. Im pants at trying to explain what I mean...but if there is a remote chance this makes sense, please let me know. There'd be a bit of work involved but I'm happy to do this myself of course (perhaps with a little guidance)

 

[Robert Misner]

so right now NoEx's mod will stretch to a second monitor thats setup above the playfield in your monitor setup screen
Its currently configured to stretch 293 pixels. Im hopeful at some point 3 displays will work but I couldn't tell you if its possible right now NoEx would have to speak to that.

That being said. To start with I'd just work on getting the mod to work on the playfield and the backglass monitor first.
I think those two monitors need to be on the same video card(but maybe that wasn't as critical as we thought..but i'm sure it matters unless both are good dx11 cards).. do you have 3 displays all running off of one video card or are you using multiple videocards?

your playfield needs to be 1080x1920 and the backglass if you can 1600x1200 ...or as close as possible(just cuz artwork was sized for that resolution) Your dmd monitor can be beside or above or below as long as the backglass and playfield make a capital T shape with nothing inbetween. PinballFx will let you have the dmd monitor in a separate spot then the back glass, so both games can work like this.


Questions tho
what resolution is your dmd monitor(i'm presuming its a monitor and not a PinDMD?)
how much of the screen is covered by your grill cover? could you create a picture that is a checkerboard pattern that fills the whole screen and send me a photo of what you see thru the hole and the origininal graphic file? I could figure out what position your at from those two things

 

[L33]

so right now NoEx's mod will stretch to a second monitor thats setup above the playfield in your monitor setup screen
Its currently configured to stretch 293 pixels. Im hopeful at some point 3 displays will work but I couldn't tell you if its possible right now NoEx would have to speak to that.

That being said. To start with I'd just work on getting the mod to work on the playfield and the backglass monitor first.
I think those two monitors need to be on the same video card(but maybe that wasn't as critical as we thought..but i'm sure it matters unless both are good dx11 cards).. do you have 3 displays all running off of one video card or are you using multiple videocards?

your playfield needs to be 1080x1920 and the backglass if you can 1600x1200 ...or as close as possible(just cuz artwork was sized for that resolution) Your dmd monitor can be beside or above or below as long as the backglass and playfield make a capital T shape with nothing inbetween. PinballFx will let you have the dmd monitor in a separate spot then the back glass, so both games can work like this.


Questions tho
what resolution is your dmd monitor(i'm presuming its a monitor and not a PinDMD?)
how much of the screen is covered by your grill cover? could you create a picture that is a checkerboard pattern that fills the whole screen and send me a photo of what you see thru the hole and the origininal graphic file? I could figure out what position your at from those two things

Hi Robert...

Once Ive had a bit more of a play I'll have a better idea of where I am at.

Im running 3 monitors on one card (GTX970). Ive just had a temporary set back...i couldn't re assign the display numbers in nvidia, so i unplugged the backglass (which was number 2) and rebooted. The dmd (its a tv) then became number 2. I was trying to work out if I could stretch the play field so that the tables dmd fit in the 2nd monitor correctly. Couldn't suss out how to stretch things and decided to change the ini file backglass numbers. Problem was, when I started the game up, id put the backglass over the play field and I was then unable to access the buttons to switch the game off! So it was switch off at the plug job!

My theory is...if I can get it to fit inside my dmd monitor, then a custom sized backglass would actually stretch onto the 3rd monitor...or at least thats my theory. Im not the best when it comes to computers, so I may be completely wrong...but first I need to see if I can get the dmd to fit. If I manage this, I'll let you know. Be cool if it worked.

 

[Robert Misner]

3 on one is great it shouldn't be a problem its the order they stack in the driver section that matters.
you don't need to reassign the numbers in the nvidia controls just need to identify which is which. Ctrl+F4 will close the current window..or if all else fails control +Alt+delete and select taskmanager ..pick the program and hit end task.
Don't change the ini backglass stretch values.. it needs to be 293 to work with the rest of the instructions.(its connected to the playfield resolution and backbuffer values..change one you have to change all or it won't fit right)

Right now its not designed to stretch the backglass to a 3rd monitor..I can help ya get around that..but lets get ya going on two first before recreating the wheel.

don't wast time trying to fit in the dmd atm..I have an idea to address that we can experiment with but it will require more tweaking to see if it can work for you and others (i'll post a new RnD thread about it in a bit.)

 

[L33]

3 on one is great it shouldn't be a problem its the order they stack in the driver section that matters.
you don't need to reassign the numbers in the nvidia controls just need to identify which is which. Ctrl+F4 will close the current window..or if all else fails control +Alt+delete and select taskmanager ..pick the program and hit end task.
Don't change the ini backglass stretch values.. it needs to be 293 to work with the rest of the instructions.(its connected to the playfield resolution and backbuffer values..change one you have to change all or it won't fit right)

Right now its not designed to stretch the backglass to a 3rd monitor..I can help ya get around that..but lets get ya going on two first before recreating the wheel.

don't wast time trying to fit in the dmd atm..I have an idea to address that we can experiment with but it will require more tweaking to see if it can work for you and others (i'll post a new RnD thread about it in a bit.)

I tried CTRL ALT DEL...but it was hidden underneath the backglass Never mind...

Anyhow, not sure what I've done now...messed with everything ha ha... I'll have to try resetting everything. However, not sure what I've done, but currently the games dmd is set in my dmd tv...twice! One is the switchable dmd, the other is the stretched table. The switchable dmd is smaller than id like, and isn't central...not sure if that can be moved though. The stretched out dmd is moveable, but then the table moves...and I'm finding moving the table around quite mind boggling.

I'll probably just have a further play before I give it up as a bad job and just use the other monitor as you have. My thinking was, that if I could align the dmd in the monitor, then I could place an image like you have, over/around the dmd and make it so that its big enough to stretch onto the monitor above the dmd...I think it may work, but i reckon it all comes down to wether the dmd can be aligned first.

Just wish that FS would give us these options then it would save a whole lot of messing about!

 

[L33]

Well, kinda got it working...but now I've kinda reverted back to playing the game normally...

By altering the buffer sizes i managed to have the table looking somewhat real in proportion...and then switching the dmd on it aligned onto my second monitor...although it could have done with moving a little to the left/right. Problem I have found is with nvidia, you place the monitors on top of each other but I can't seem to find a way of 'fine tuning' them. If there is a way, then the dmd would line up perfect.

I wasn't able to stretch it to the 3rd monitor as well as the second, because the mod only allows you to select 1 monitor. I tried adding a comma to see if it allowed 2...maybe there is a way, but I'm not an expert.

I then created a png file...basically all it was was the shape of the dmd and the rest of it was black so it hides the rest of the monitor. Then I manually added a backglass image to the 3rd monitor.

I was gonna try and take a pic/video as for a moment it looked like the perfect 3 monitor setup! But then the game crashed. I rebooted, and the game wouldnt load. Then when it finally did load, it came up with a thing saying the camera mod had crashed. At that point I kinda gave up...

I'll have another try later maybe, but having recently set Pfx2 up using there cab support, I just can't understand why FS won't implement this. If Noex and Robert can get this far, and even I managed to get it looking somewhat like a 3 monitor setup, FS must be able to do this with their eyes shut. Im just completely baffled as to why they wouldn't.

Anyway...moan over. Back to survival mode for me...too close to the bottom of this league for my liking...not sure I could handle relegation

 

[Robert Misner]

LOL gotta love someone take a deep dive with no lifeguard

when ya have some free time message me I can help ya get it going if you want..
NoEx is working on a way to make this work on 3..just gonna take some more time.

 

[L33]

LOL gotta love someone take a deep dive with no lifeguard

when ya have some free time message me I can help ya get it going if you want..
NoEx is working on a way to make this work on 3..just gonna take some more time.

Ha Ha...thats me down to a T. But thats how I seem to learn best. Im gonna leave it for a while whilst Im working on another project, but I'll be back on it soon enough so I'll let you know how I get on. If all goes wrong, I might just stick with the 2 monitor setup for now as that seems to work well for others. Thanks for your time Robert...always appreciated.

 

[L33]

Is it me...or has something happened to the button mapping recently? (within the last couple of months)

I used to be able to play the cab 'mouse free' as everything worked with the cab buttons. Then something happened where the start button wasn't the default button...a I seem to remember farsight fixed the issue. Problem is, whenever I play a game and want to come back to the main screen, I can't get the back button highlighted. It used to be id press the relevant cab button to highlight the back button, but now this isn't possible. I have to select back with the mouse button. As I have nowhere to use the mouse, I'm forever trying to use it on my hand...which never seems to work. Now I'm finding myself using the wall...wife not impressed!

Just wondering if this is a known issue...or something I've done wrong in my setup, although I haven't altered anything since it last worked.

 

[mpad]

Just map the button to escape, both in TPA and your ipac. Works for me

 

[L33]

Just map the button to escape, both in TPA and your ipac. Works for me

I'm sure that's how it is set already...I'll have to check in the morning.

 

[L33]

Just map the button to escape, both in TPA and your ipac. Works for me

Doh! Double checked and realised the button was mapped to backspace...just remapped to esc and its back to normal. Cheers for that...I never thought to check it cause I thought I'd done it right. Lesson learnt.

 

[L33]

A few months ago I started this thread as a way of recording my progress as i ventured off on my Cabinet Build. Last night I had the pleasure of using the Noex mod to take my cab to the next stage...the stage it was originally built for. And I have to say that this mod is awesome. Im not great when it comes to computer programming, and once again this forum is a fountain of knowledge with plenty of forum members willing to help and advise. Ive still got a way to go regarding this new setup, but already I am more than pleased with the results.

I have a young son who loves playing on this cabinet, but struggles when playing certain games because of the dmd positioning. Because the cab is big, when he gets to video mode (on Harley Davidson for instance) I have to take over cause he can't see whats going on. Today he got to play the entire game himself because he can now see the dmd as it's positioned where a dmd is supposed to be. It was great to see the excitement on his face. This mod makes the difference to him being able to play the game properly. I feel like this is bringing a whole new audience to the pin-balling world. And not only does he want to play the real machine...he now wants a Harley! Ha Ha!

Im going to spend a few days working to get the cab set up for TPA and looking forward to getting it up and running in Full Cab Mode! Got to give credit to Noex and Robert...this is a fantastic mod and Im guessing that a lot of work has gone into making this a reality. Cant wait to get this setup properly and finally get round to making the video Ive been wanting to make since starting this project...TPA in cabinet mode! Great work guys! Really impressive stuff.

 

[L33]

Finally got round to making the Pinball Arcade Setup video. I started this project April/May I think, so I don't think its too bad that it took me this long to finish it. I say finish...there are still a few changes I'd like to make, but we'll see. Ive thought about making another speaker/dmd front...making it a little bit more flush, and perhaps with graphics rather that painted, but not sure yet. Someone also mentioned flashing LED's...not sure my eyes could take all the flashing lights...but Im sure that would look pretty good. Im guessing anyone who's ever built one of these is constantly changing things...its human nature

Just wanted to say thanks again for anyone who has helped...Ive never really gone so far as to name everybody, but looking back through this thread there has been a few names that have cropped up many times, so a big thanks to you all...any help now and in the future is always appreciated...and perhaps with the things Ive learnt, I may be able to give back to others, who, like myself, had no idea about where to start with building a virtual pinball machine.

https://youtu.be/6fJ9m-6tD_A

 

[NoEx]

Fantastic video and really nice cab! Glad to have helped bringing your project into reality.