Visual Pinball? START HERE.

[@sailorkisser]

As a complete newcomer to both pinball and pinball emulation, holy moly you are a lifesaver! Every single other video I've watched assumes the user already know what the heck all this means. I'm just a random guy that stumbled into an arcade and decided I want to play pinball at home on my computer, not a hobbyist building cabinets. This was the clearest explanation I have found in one easy video. THANK YOU SO MUCH

[@SpaciesArcade]

Hey thanks for the feedback! Really appreciate it and I'm glad it was useful! Happy flipping 👍

[@mikeyfoofoo]

You are a brave man to try and pull it all together. It's a lot. It's also what makes it such a fun hobby.

[@sleepingpanda9513]

Don't usually comment but you are doing gods work. Thanks!

[@SpaciesArcade]

Thanks! I really appreciate your kind comment. Cheers! 🙏

[@2112ZOZ]

Super useful. Thank you for this. I am starting my VPin VR journey! Cheers!

[@SpaciesArcade]

Awesome! Thank you! Enjoy the journey!

[@locked01]

I wish I watched this earlier! Thanks so much Greg!

[@SpaciesArcade]

Thanks for the kind words. Cheers!

[@DanielBreitschaft]

Excellent visual explanation of the operating process and characteristics of each software. For a long time I have been looking for detailed information about these processes, mainly for installation and configuration on only 1 large monitor, I would really like to see the complete and detailed installation process by you, and if possible some explanations on the issues of how to change the position of DMDs, FullDMDs, Freezy ́s DMDs and BackGlasses to 1 monitor. Thank you very much!!

[@SpaciesArcade]

Thank you, I'll add that to my list! Cheers!

[@DanielBreitschaft]

I am very grateful and happy!! 👍

[@d1btd3265]

thanks for taking the complexity out of this. Really clear explanation!

[@SpaciesArcade]

Thanks for the feedback because I wasn't sure if i was being helpful or hindering! 🙏 Thank you.

[@AdamKnorr]

Thanks for this vid. I've been out of the loop for a few years and forgot how most of the stuff work 😂

[@Burnsy8709]

This vids really helped me it’s first time I’ve got everything up and running, I got to a point last night where I’m in vr looking at the tables WOW!!! Looks incredible only problem I’m having is I can’t play Quest 3 controllers don’t work and I can’t even get a game pad to work all that I can get working is keyboard controls

[@SpaciesArcade]

Great, I'm glad you got VR working! It really is something else! VPXVR will work with keyboard or gamepad input. If you can see your gamepad in windows (Type joy.cpl in Windows start menu). If it shows there then you should be able to see buttons being pressed when you press your gamepad. Go into VPXGL and go into the keys settings. There you can pull down the buttons list for each button assignment and select each gampad button. For the quest controllers you may be able to get them to emulate a controller. I don't have a quest 3 so unsure specifically how to do that, but if you can find out how then once emulated you would assign the buttons the same way. Hope this helps. Enjoy :)

[@Burnsy8709]

@@SpaciesArcade you’re awesome! Il try that later thanks! And yeah honestly I was like a kid in a sweet shop when that first table loaded up in vr it was great! So for future reference all I have to do is keep them 3-4 things you mentioned in the vid updated from GitHub and all will be good? Sorry for questions you’ve helped me more than enough

[@dizzaydrod]

Thank you!

[@TrevUk]

Awesome thank you. Ive played the heck out of the fx2 tables on my quest 2/3 and ready to set this up on my pc. Cant wait to play some of the classics 🫡

[@jgehbinv]

Does anyone recommend a gaming monitor to attach to a laptop? Specifically, I want to be able to rotate it, so width of monitor is vertical to simulate the pinball play space. Thanks!

[@hanjo77]

After watching your "LOTR" pinball video in the weekend, I desperately tried and actually managed to get some VPX files running but will still have some configuration to do and read some manuals to get proper control over them (BTW: How did you "lay" the carpets of Virtual Arcade Capsule in your virtual pinball space?). I might possibl try to reinstall using Baller Installer again after watching your video as it might provide some useful configs as my current installation does not seem completely stable yet... Thanks for this video and for even letting me think about VR pinball at all.

[@SpaciesArcade]

The carpets and any of the other room details are part of the Table file itself. If the table includes a VR room then it is VR capable and you get those elements automatically. Look for the VR tag when choosing a table to download - see my 2nd video on this: kzbin.info/www/bejne/j4jPpWqMmJuLmsU Thanks for commenting and enjoy VPX in VR - It's incredible!

[@hanjo77]

@@SpaciesArcade Thanks a lot, I now managed to get things running and thanks to your next video the biggest issue is my brain getting older and not remembering the machines I have played for real, but can live with that as there are hours of fun with new discoveries to come, thanks again for your excellent channel ❤ The LOTR might be part of the yet locked floors in the lovely Pasadena VR Arcade, I assume due to the floor textures - something more to possibly look forward to…

[@SpaciesArcade]

@@hanjo77 Thanks for the kind words....and yes, the day we have VPX tables integrated into ATC will be a very special day indeed! Thanks for sharing your thoughts and enjoy these amazing VR experiences!

[@nightowl360]

2 Questions: What do you recommend spec-wise if I want to buy a gaming laptop for the best visual pinball tables (I want a laptop for easy access to my LG TV. Question 2: If I want to dip my toes into VR, will the Metaquest 3 meet all my needs or is there a better solution out there? Thanks for all the great info!

[@SpaciesArcade]

1. I really can't comment authoritatively on gaming laptop specs because I haven't researched 'that world' and run my VR on desktoip hardware. However, for comparison I use a RTX3080ti desktop card with an intel i9-12900KF running just under 5Ghz. If you got an equivalent 4 series RTX card and a similar processor in the mobile laptop form factor then that would run PCVR applications like VPX very well. 2. The Quest 3 is the best all-rounder headset at the moment for the price and I do highly recommend it. The only reason I don't have one myself is purely financial and the HP Reverb G2 meets my current needs, however my G2 is superseded by these newer headsets including the Quest 3. The Quest 3 also has great Mixed Reality support, a large and growing developer/user base and side loading apps that you can play within the heasdet hardware itself (Although VPX can't be side loaded and needs to run off the laptop hardware) . Lots of benefits overall and if I was buying today it would be my choice.

[@nightowl360]

Thank you for the feedback! @@SpaciesArcade

[@DouglasPaterson]

This is exactly what I needed, thanks! I find the flow diagram really helpful to start to translate all this stuff. Could you add a link to download that table maybe?

[@SpaciesArcade]

Get all you tables through here: virtual-pinball-spreadsheet.web.app/ If you haven't seen my video on this see it here also: kzbin.info/www/bejne/j4jPpWqMmJuLmsU Cheers

[@DouglasPaterson]

@@SpaciesArcade just watched it, also excellent! Do you have a video on how to actually install tables and add them to the front end once all the software is installed?

[@baulzzzzzzz2278]

I just want to play these on my desktop the same way I play pinballfx lmao😂

[@simonwax7575]

Thanks for the great information. Can I run VR as part of my current cabinet type setup or does it have to be stand alone on a separate computer?

[@SpaciesArcade]

You can run them together! That's the perfect setup! I would do the same but my VR capable rig is not close enough to my Pincab. I believe you could do this off the one vpx install as the latest tables detect if VR is running or not. Alternatively (if you wanted cleaner spearation) you could setup another vpx instance in a separate folder and run that just for VR and use your other vpx folder for non-VR on the same computer. Enjoy! :)

[@nicolab1683]

Ciao, potresti fare un video su come configurare bam+ kinect ? Grazie

[@SpaciesArcade]

Kinect con BAM non mi interessa più perché è troppo complicato da configurare e fornisce solo 3D monoscopico. Utilizzo l'anaglifo monoscopico sul mio pincab, ma ora mi godo soprattutto il 3D steroscopico in VR. Quindi non ho intenzione di utilizzare Kinect/Bam. Grazie per avermelo chiesto. Saluti.

[@nicolab1683]

Grazie per la risposta e l'ottimo lavoro che fai. Saluti dall'Italia.

[@Burnsy8709]

You’re probably sick of me by now but you’re the only one giving me great help. Everything’s working now all is good except everytime I open visual pinball and change tables it opened steam vr 🤦🏻‍♂️ is there away to stop it going to steam vr home? I’m guessing you use steam vr because the fpsvr you recommended to me only works with steam vr? This is pretty much the last thing I need to sort out and I’m good 😃 hope you can help

[@SpaciesArcade]

Launch SteamVR, and go to the Settings menu. In there, head over to the Startup / Shutdown settings, and look for the 'Start SteamVR Home' option. Uncheck it and it should stop loading. 👍

[@Burnsy8709]

@@SpaciesArcade honestly cat thank you enough for all you’re help hope the channel gets the growth it deserves thanks very much mate

[@SpaciesArcade]

@@Burnsy8709 Thanks for the kind words! Glad you got everything sorted. Happy flipping! Cheers!🙂

[@tessie4204]

Someone should build an autoupdater for Visual Pinball. That would boost the community.

[@mikeyfoofoo]

The new version of the baller installer/pinup popper 1.5 does have an updater. It's behind some of the beta builds you need for VPW cutting edge tables though.

[@Burnsy8709]

Thanks for the vid, so basically do the baller installer then update the versions from get hub by copy and pasting the files In the install location?

[@SpaciesArcade]

Yep, 100%. When upgrading you can simply copy the vpx files over the top. With vpinmame updates, copy them over the top but then run setup and setup64 and select install from the menu for each and you are done.

[@Burnsy8709]

@@SpaciesArcade thanks for taking your time to reply mate appreciate it Looking forward to exploring your channel😊

[@ProjectReality64]

Can a vp8 table and rom work on vpx? Reason why im asking. When im downloading a table. I see some sites have it categorized by vp release

[@SpaciesArcade]

No, you would need to run vp 8 for a vp8 table. They are not backward compatible between major versions. If possible try and find a VPX version of the table you are looking for. 👍

[@Burnsy8709]

Hi again 😬, which vr launcher do you use? The better looking one says discontinued? Should I use the latest one. Also for some reason no matter what I’ve tried performance doesn’t show up at all so I can’t see what fps and latency I’m getting I push the button to bring it up and nothing shows I’m currently using the new launcher but only some tables have the scores next to them

[@SpaciesArcade]

For the front-end I'm still using the discontinued one. I'm waiting to see how the new one progresses but for now the old one still works fine. I use fpsVR (on Steam) when I'm monitoring and assessing fps, video memory and cpu usage in VR as it is full featured with real-time graphs etc so I can really see what is going on.

[@TheMrSnipey]

Every time I try and setup VPX I end up in the same loop. I get a table to work, download a new table to work and it says I need a different version of vpinmame. So I download that, but it breaks the first table. It's a never ending issue. I usually just give up in the end.

[@SpaciesArcade]

Yeah, it can be a bit painful to keep on top of it all but I think worth it, given the amazing tables that are available to us. 👍

[@mikeyfoofoo]

New versions of vpinmame haven't caused any issues for me. Are you talking about VPX versions? You can update the vpx components, keep the old VPX versions and launch which ever ones you need. I have at least 5 VPX versions in my vpinball install. Just name them what they are. vpx10.7, vpx10.8, vpx10.8GL etc. If you are using pinup popper, you can assign a different version in the game manager for each table.

[@simanad123]

bonjour quelle est les composante de votre ordinateur ? Merci

[@SpaciesArcade]

Intel i9-12900KF fonctionnant à 5Gz avec RTX 3080 Ti et 32 ​​Go de RAM système.

[@neccros007]

So what do I need if I just want to play pinball on my desktop PC??

[@SpaciesArcade]

Download and run the 'Baller installer' and follow the instructions. If that doesn't work out for you then seriously consider PinballFX. It is of course the paid option, but you pay for the ease of installation and ability to just play without any configuration or know-how. VPX is not a solution for those that just want to install and play pinball without any understanding of the parts. There are too many variables and either you take the time to understand them or you go the PinballFX route. If you just want to play pinball then PinballFX is likely your best option.

[@neccros007]

@@SpaciesArcade Do I need to do this on a blank PC? Or can I create a directory like regular MAME and just point to the roms??? I have an existing system with a bunch of emulators and other games and want to just add in VPX

[@SpaciesArcade]

@@neccros007 You can simply add it to your existing emulation pc. The baller installer will create all the directories for you. It won't conflict with any of your existing emulation setup.

[@neccros007]

@@SpaciesArcade Thanks... I cant seem to find the right link... seems there are a few different ones

[@SpaciesArcade]

@@neccros007 No worries. Use the beta build one as most of the newer tables need the beta builds. It's here: nailbuster.com/PUPAIO/PinUP_Popper_Baller_Installer_2311.exe

[@xombiemike]

Jesus. I've watched this 20 minutes and I have no idea what to do. I just wanna download whatever is needed for tables in VR. 😢

[@SpaciesArcade]

Everything you need to know is in the video. VPX is a community project made up of lots of different parts and different people contributing to provide various functionality. If you are expecting a single setup.exe then you're going to be disappointed (Although the baller installer comes close). I will summarise for you here what you need to do. If you don't understand the following instructions then this is exactly what the video is for. Good luck and I hope you get it going. Download the beta build baller installer (link is in the description). Follow the onscreen instructions to install. Get the latest 64 bit VPX GL release version from Github (currently 10.8.0 Release Candidate 4) and copy over the one installed by the baller installer. Copy the latest 64 bit version of vpinmame and run setup. Download a VPX table that is VR capable and download the separate rom file for it. Put the vpx table in the tables subdirectory and the rom file in the rom directory. Run the VR capable version of VPX ie: VPinballX_GL64.exe. Go into settings and setup your controller inputs, graphics and VR settings. Load the table you downloaded and click the play button to run it. You are now playing a VR VPX table.

[@xombiemike]

@@SpaciesArcade Well, I spent hours, but the best I can do is get a table to load and try and put roms somewhere only for it to tell me I'm missing files. This hobby is hard.

[@SpaciesArcade]

@@xombiemike Hop on to our Discord Server (Link in the description) and we'll try and help you out. 👍