Best sites for locating hi-res VP tables

[svtboy]

So, I've been browing around vpforums, pinball nirvana and irpinball looking for a clear understanding of which tables are available for VP9 that are set up as 16:9. Its a tough process as vpforums seems to be the best organized but in that case you have to download the table and load it up to see how the graphics look, and they are not rated. A lot of the VP forums tables are low res and look a little rough.

Does anyone have a good idea of how to go about locating the "best" tables for VP that are cabinet ready? I'm sure there are lots of good games but I'd like to get a few set up to play without spending hours looking through everything that is available out there. Thanks for the help!

[kingb33]

Any tables by Scapino, JPSalas & Groni, PacDude or Lord Hiryu are going to be of the highest quality. I think everyone in the VP community agrees with that pretty much. Of course there are individual exceptions, like Highrises and JP's spectacular Elvira & the Party Monsters v1.02 table and some others of course. But it's all based on taste and preference.

[svtboy]

Thank you for the info, and I have heard of a lot of those names but for example the Scapino tables located here (http://www.scapinosvpins.com/VisualPinballHome.htm). Only Mata Hari is a 16:9. I've seen the Elvira table, but not in 16:9, is that available?

[svtboy]

Hmmm, ok, the Elvira table is included in the VP tables pack on here. I guess I'll just work my way through that pack and pick a few of the good looking ones. I'm sure people will continue to comment on tables that work well for cabinets which will give me more places to look. Thanks.

[unclewilly]

you pretty much are limited to what is available at vpf in the 16:9 area. I have redone all of scapinos 16:9 tables for full screen cabinet view, they are in the vp9 mod tables. the only scapino cabinet table I haven't uploaded yet is eight ball champ. I just finished modding it for fullscreen view about 5 minutes ago so it will be uploaded soon.
most of the other tables are vp 8 tables and require some work to get them into fullscreen cabinet view. hopefully I can get permission to release lord hyrys tables. I have converted black rose and cactus canyon, I'm working on Guns and roses now.
aside from that we are pretty much waiting for authors to update their tables with better graphics, or for them to convert them to vp9.
if I had more time I would do all the nice looking tables, but I'm involved in too many projects right now and in the middle of moving to a new house.

[kingb33]

Hmmm, ok, the Elvira table is included in the VP tables pack on here. I guess I'll just work my way through that pack and pick a few of the good looking ones. I'm sure people will continue to comment on tables that work well for cabinets which will give me more places to look. Thanks.

Sorry i didnt know you meant VP9 tables specifically...i thought u meant just VP tables "in general"

[magostin]

uncle willy are you by any chance going to attempt converting CFTBL & twilight zone? from scapino.

magostin

[svtboy]

ahhh, the VP9 mod tables section, I wasn't aware of that. THe ones you've modded are very nice, I'm looking forward to grabbing those! Thanks for the new location to browse.

[unclewilly]

he needs to do 16:9 releases first due to the way he makes his tables. All his decals and reels are angle dependent. As soon as he releases a 16:9 spanned cabinet table i can convert it to fullscreen really quick. I figured out the mathe doing his other cabinet tables so it is pretty easy. I did eight ball champ in about a half an hour. It's just a matter of him doing the decal and reels for the top down view.

I'm working on the Lord Hyru tables now and i believe i can release them, as Flying Dutchman got permission from him to do the fullscreen conversions.. Black rose and cactus canyon are pretty much done, but there are still some parts of the tables where the ball sometimes get's stuck or maybe flys off a ramp. When i figure out these issues i will release them unless someone else wants to work on these small issues, i can make them available to everyone. They are very playable but occasionally you might get a ball stuck. I'm starting on his guns and roses now.

[rossicomputers]

unclewilly,

I wanna thank you for your faboulos job Xenon and Fathom.
Waiting for GNR, Black Rose and Cactus Canyon...


Keep the Good Job..


You're fantastic...

[el_timbo86]

I'm nearly finished with my t2 16-9 conversion. Just have to finish up a few more plastics and get PacDudes permission to MOD his already great table...

These were the only images i had...(My cabinet art seen here was inspired by the colors used in T2 [favorite table])

http://i374.photobucket.com/albums/oo189/el_timbo86/update.jpg

http://i374.photobucket.com/albums/oo189/el_timbo86/clean.jpg

http://i374.photobucket.com/albums/oo189/el_timbo86/changes.jpg

el_timbo86

[BadBoyBill]

Ya that conversion looks real good man, can't wait, hopefully you get permission, most of the authors have been really cool up to this point.

[greystoke24]

you pretty much are limited to what is available at vpf in the 16:9 area. I have redone all of scapinos 16:9 tables for full screen cabinet view, they are in the vp9 mod tables. the only scapino cabinet table I haven't uploaded yet is eight ball champ. I just finished modding it for fullscreen view about 5 minutes ago so it will be uploaded soon.
most of the other tables are vp 8 tables and require some work to get them into fullscreen cabinet view. hopefully I can get permission to release lord hyrys tables. I have converted black rose and cactus canyon, I'm working on Guns and roses now.
aside from that we are pretty much waiting for authors to update their tables with better graphics, or for them to convert them to vp9.
if I had more time I would do all the nice looking tables, but I'm involved in too many projects right now and in the middle of moving to a new house.

Great work with the conversions UW, we all apreciate it.
But just one question , don't understand the difference between "16:9" , "cabinet" and "full screen mod" tables. For me I would say it is all the same but apparently it is not.
Hope one of these days to start building a cabinet ( 42 inch 16:9 LCD + 20 inch back) and I'm testing tables on my dualscreen PC to see if what can bee achieved is wurth it but so far the results are not good...
Either tables give me problems, or it just doesnt look good.
So to start from the beginning ... which tables should I test ? The 16:9 ?

[unclewilly]

the 16:9's are built for a vertical span showing the backglass on the second monitor. The second monitor needs to be rotated for it to work. My cabinet doesn't support the spanning, so by making adjustments to the x/y scale and offset you make just the playfield part of the table show on the main monitor. Hyperpin at this point does not support the spanning, so you need to modify the x/yscale and offset for the tables to work in hyperpin. If your machine for your cabinet will support spanning you can try to set it up using the vp9 manual. I tried various times and could not get it to work. The 16:9 tables will work on the spanning without any adjustment, or that is what i have been told. The table download in this forum has about 50 tables set up for the fullscreen view that hyperpin currently supports. If you want to see some high quality FS tables go to the vpforums and look in the vp9 mod tables section. Download mata hariFS, XenonFS, and Fathom FS. I think those are by far the nicest looking vp tables. Your monitor needs to be at 270 rotation for these tables to work.

[Cameron]

That T2 is looking great. Has Pacdude given permission lately for table mods? I haven't seen any sign of him for eons.

[greystoke24]

the 16:9's are built for a vertical span showing the backglass on the second monitor. The second monitor needs to be rotated for it to work. My cabinet doesn't support the spanning, so by making adjustments to the x/y scale and offset you make just the playfield part of the table show on the main monitor. Hyperpin at this point does not support the spanning, so you need to modify the x/yscale and offset for the tables to work in hyperpin. If your machine for your cabinet will support spanning you can try to set it up using the vp9 manual. I tried various times and could not get it to work. The 16:9 tables will work on the spanning without any adjustment, or that is what i have been told. The table download in this forum has about 50 tables set up for the fullscreen view that hyperpin currently supports. If you want to see some high quality FS tables go to the vpforums and look in the vp9 mod tables section. Download mata hariFS, XenonFS, and Fathom FS. I think those are by far the nicest looking vp tables. Your monitor needs to be at 270 rotation for these tables to work.

Still not sure I get it ... (I'm not native English speaking maybe has something to do with it :-)
Is the only difference between "16-9 tables" and "Mod" tables he missing backglass, and the rotated DMD ?
I can do what I want with my monitors, so which tables do I need ?

[Cameron]

Well a mod table is just one that has been modified by someone.

The 16:9 tables are are formattted in "Ultrapin" style to be used in a dedicated cabinet.
They use a profile where the table and backglass are spanned across two vertical monitors. The pintable itself is in a 16:9 aspect ratio and fills the full screen. The backglass is the whole thing and animated like a regular one.

There is also another version that is FS for Full Screen. This one is like the 16:9 but it doesn't span across two monitors. When I say span, the video card is configured to have the 2 monitors act as one big one with the composite resolution of both of the monitors.

The FS mode can still work with two monitors so it is similar to the 16:9, but monitor 1 and 2 are treated differently. The pintable will look about the same as the 16:9 mode. FS works better when the 2nd monitor (the backglass one) can't be rotated.

I hope I have done a decent job explaining this.

[greystoke24]

OK thanks. I guess the best option are the 16:9 tables then. But I'll do some comparison test as soon as I find the time.

Hope one day all this will leed to building a cabinet ..
Allthough time is allways the big problem.

You guys seem to have one , could you tell me what you need besides : TV for playfield, monitor for backglass, PC and pinball "body"
?
My guess is its:
- buttons
- electornics to place in the buttons (microswitches?)
- "something" to connect pc and buttons
- ...?

My knowledge about the missing stuff if 0, sure there are sites with lots of info but time is what I miss to start digging in those.
So if some could give a breakdown in a "pinball cabinet for dummy's"-way , meaning "you need this an can buy it there" type of info
it would be a great help.

[BadBoyBill]

Well, I'd say besides the stuff you mentioned would be:

-IPAC or Ultimar HID which some people are testing for nudging purposes.
-Pinball Legs unless you make your own.
-Coin door if you plan to use one.
-I like the Smart Strip, you shut your computer off and it shuts everything else off.
-Lock down bar if you want your pinball to look more authentic.
-Playfield glass, probably custom depending on how you build it.
-Fans for your cab to keep the TV cool since they get hot.
-Buttons already come with cherry switches when you buy them. You do need wire.
-You could go all out and buy a Pinball Wizard controller, link at the top of the page if you want to have a real plunger to pull out and it already supports table nudging, some people have attacthed the controller to the front of the cab so they dont have to do any wiring.

Thats all I can think of for now.

[greystoke24]

Thanks, good thinking for the ventilators.
The idea would be to look for a broken pinball, and strip it.
So i guess I'd need ventilators, IPAC (some specific model?), buttons(model?) and wiring.
Where can you order that stuf ?

[Cameron]

The Ipacs are great. I have used them for 3 of my 5 mame projects. You should also check out
http://groovygamegear.com/webstore/
They have some really cool stuff too including another button interface board.

A great resource is www.arcadecontrols.com Their message board is THE place for DIY arcade projects. Lots of information and inspiration there!

The extra fans are a must. Try to get quiet ones or the machine might drive you crazy.

A wireless keyboard and mouse can be very useful.

The smart strip power strip is essential. You will regret not getting one of those. Especially if you have your monitor under glass.

Good speakers/ sound system are very good to have.

You can get really fancy with illuminated buttons and light controllers too.

I have one machine that I did that with. It is super cool.
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=54840.0

[Cameron]

Oh the Ipac is at www.ultimarc.com

[greystoke24]

Thanks.
I'll check them out.
I suppose at ultimarc they sell all, not just the Ipac right?
Do all buttons serve or do they need to be of some special type

[Cameron]

Ultimarc only sell their own IPac interfaces. Groovy Game Gear sells their own interfaces.
The Happ control buttons with the cherry microswitches feel best to me.

The Illuminated ones look super cool, but don't feel as good. Most real arcade machines in the states use the Happ control ones.

[greystoke24]

So you mean Ipac from ultimarc, and buttons form Happ ? The last being an other seller ?

[Cameron]

From the picture and description. the Ultimarc ones are probably Happ. You could send them an email and ask.

[greystoke24]

I'm a bit lost ... what picture and description are you talking about?
Was just asking for what I need: buttons (what model , where to buy), ...

By the way nice cabinet , wish I had the time...