New Video card

[53kemper]

Heading out to buy a video card after work. Deciding between these two.

BFG 9400GT 1GB PCI-Express Video Card


PNY Verto GeForce 9600GT Video Card (512MB 256-bit GDDR3, PCI Express 2.0 x16, HDCP Ready SLI Supported)


Will be running FP and VP on an HP cab. Any one have an opion on the 2? I know 1GB would be better but the 9600 sounds like a better card.

[53kemper]

This one also looks really good for 100 bucks.

XFX GeForce 9800 GT Video Card - 512MB GDDR3, PCI Express 2.0, (2) Dual Link DVI, HDTV, VGA Support

[Rawd]

You really don't want the 9400. It's crap.

Go with the 9800 for $100.

[ThomasLund]

I bought the 9400 GT 1 GB for my cab, and it runs almost every table nicely in combo with an old Pentium 4 3.0 GHz.

The new monopoly table brings it down though, as well as choppy experience under flintstones multiball (when all lights turn on).

Otherwise its been great for the price.

/T

[Rawd]

I bought the 9400 GT 1 GB for my cab, and it runs almost every table nicely in combo with an old Pentium 4 3.0 GHz.

The new monopoly table brings it down though, as well as choppy experience under flintstones multiball (when all lights turn on).

Otherwise its been great for the price.

/T

I didn't mean to cut down your card.

I really can't understand how you guys are running these tables, when I am running a Quad core with a faster video card, and still seeing some choppiness on tables like TSPP and 3 Angels.

[wonderpuddle]

I've got a 9800 gt 512mb and it seems to work OK. I bought a 9400 GT 1GB before that and took it back, as I was only getting like 20 FPS on FP.

[kingb33]

Yeah I was thinking the same thing. It doesn't make any sense to me at all.


I didn't mean to cut down your card.

I really can't understand how you guys are running these tables, when I am running a Quad core with a faster video card, and still seeing some choppiness on tables like TSPP and 3 Angels.

[billpa]

It's not always about the memory size. For example, my 9800gtx+ is 512mb. But if I compare that with a 1 GB 9400 GT, it has a lot more stream processors (16 vs. 128), a faster clock speed and a faster memory interface. Greater amount of memory is not necessarily better but higher bit interfaces, and more stream processors usually are.

[53kemper]

Well I bought the XFX GeForce 9800 GT. Man what a difference a good card makes. The scren looks cleaner. Now the screen fills all the way to the edges. The table play is great. I no longer have flipper delay. I have a slim line Dell so I had to make some mods to the chasis to get the card to fit. I also had to buy a 650W power supply. The one I had was only 275W. Adjusting tables is 10 times faster. Life is good.

One issue. I lost sound. When the PC boots up I get the windows loading sound then when the pc is loaded and running there is no sound. Everything looks fine. Anyone have this issue?

Thanks

[billpa]

good choice. it is amazing what a good card does.

[Rawd]

Well I bought the XFX GeForce 9800 GT. Man what a difference a good card makes. The scren looks cleaner. Now the screen fills all the way to the edges. The table play is great. I no longer have flipper delay. I have a slim line Dell so I had to make some mods to the chasis to get the card to fit. I also had to buy a 650W power supply. The one I had was only 275W. Adjusting tables is 10 times faster. Life is good.

One issue. I lost sound. When the PC boots up I get the windows loading sound then when the pc is loaded and running there is no sound. Everything looks fine. Anyone have this issue?

Thanks

Ya, a good card makes a huge diference. Good choice.

Are you running onboard sound? Maybe you unhooked something when you installed your new power supply? Odd that you would hear sound at Windows startup then though... Does your new video card have HDMI out? Maybe the HDMI sound is cutting in somehow? Do you get sound through your TV speakers maybe?

I know that with my HDMI video card, I can run HDMI sound through the card, or the onboard audio straight out, but not both at the same time. When I try to run both, I will hear the Windows boot sound, and after that, it will cut out my pc speakers, and run through HDMI to the TV speakers.

Edit: Sorry, I had that backwards. It cuts out the audio to HDMI, and continues only through the pc speakers when they are both plugged in. To get sound through HDMI, I must unplug my pc speakers from the pc. (Not sure if this is related to your problem anymore then)

[53kemper]

No HDMI connection on the card. I will investigate today.

[53kemper]

Ok I did some trouble shooting and narrowed it down to FP. Sound works fine in all applications until I launch FP. Once I launch it no sound. After closing it I get no sound until I reboot.

[53kemper]

Figured out the problem. I had my sound running through the speakers on my 28" back monitor. when the game launches the video card would turn off the sound to the monitor. Not sue why it does that. I installed new speakers with a sub woofer. Back to playing tables now. The video card is awesome. It's improved game play 100%. I'm going to attempt to load up VP tonighta and see how those tables play.

[Rawd]

That is really strange. Not sure why that would happen. Glad you figured it out.

You are going to love VP. Get the Black Knight table that was just released, and join in on the league tourney.

[53kemper]

I'll try and get it running tonight. I ran VP on a laptop last week so I know I can get it working. Not sure I'll get the spanning figured out but we'll see.

Thanks Rawd

[53kemper]

loaded up some FS VP tables. Wow these tables rock. I like the way these play better than FP. But FP seems to look better. Still can't get my screens to span to play the other tables. Can you span VP with a horizontal back glass?

[wonderpuddle]

Can you span VP with a horizontal back glass?


My backglass is horizontal and I just use hyperpin to show the backglass for VP, meaning I don't need to span. If you are running HP, you shouldn't need to span any of the tables. Just set up HP so that the backglasses show horizontally.

[53kemper]

OK I tried that but I just get a black screen when I try and launch a table. Can't exit have to restart. I'll keep playing with it. Thanks. Now I'm not pounding my head trying to figure out spanning.

[Rawd]

Make sure that your Playfield monitor is set to #1, and your backglass is set to monitor #2 in your Windows preferences. And make sure that #2 is to the right of #1. Make sure that VP video settings are set to the proper resolution for your tv.

[53kemper]

I have it set up just like you mentioned. macine will show up and play if I launch it in VP but its side by side with the back glass. Its playable so I know it works. Just won't launch with HP. back glass shows up but play field is black.

[Rawd]

I have it set up just like you mentioned. macine will show up and play if I launch it in VP but its side by side with the back glass. Its playable so I know it works. Just won't launch with HP. back glass shows up but play field is black.

I think you may be running a 16:9 table, rather than a fullscreen (FS) table. When you launch a FS table through VP9, it should fill the whole screen, but you won't have a backglass. When you launch through HP, and you have the backglass and playfield images in the HP media folders, it should load up properly. Test with one of the newly converted tables in this forum (Simpsons, TZ, etc..)

Make sure also that you didn't rename the VPinball exe file.

Here is the link to TZ:

http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4421

[53kemper]

Yes I was trying to launch 16:9 tables through HP. I'm able to load FS tables manually through VP and they work great. So you saying if I launch an FS table using HP it should load fine and the back glass will also load? Will the back glass work? So can you run 16:9 tables using HP? Sorry for all the questions. Still new.

Thanks for all you help

[Rawd]

No problem. I was where you are about 2 weeks ago.

Ya, put your backglass and playfield images where they belong in the HP media folders, make sure that you have the cabinet.dll file from Vpforums in your pinmame directory. First launch the game from VP, and grab the DMD and move it to your second monitor. (This also allows you to click 'yes' on the legal agreement. This must always be done once, before loading through HP or you will get a black screen.) Then launch the table through HP, and press 'T' on the keyboard so that you can see your mouse cursor. Go back to your DMD on your second monitor and stretch it out (right click/show border), and place it where you want it. You can find some really nice backglas images that you dont have at Flying Dutchmans site. They have nice black areas to put your DMD.

http://users.telenet.be/backglassparadise.flyingdutchman/

Now, the next time you load the table, the DMD should be set to where it was. (This info is saved in the registry and can also be backed up).

The backglasses for VP9 are just static images with the DMD overtop. They are not as nice as the working FP backglasses. FVP is supposedly going to eventually bring in some nice working animated backglasses for VP. (Flying Dutchman has also made some animated backglasses that already work, but I have not yet spent the time to check those out)

!6:9 tables won't work unless you convert them to FS. I don't know much about converting them.

[53kemper]

Thanks Rawd. Now it's all making sense. I didn't understand that the back glass were static images. I think I'm going to stick with FP an HP and run my VP games manually. I played a couple VP games FS last night. Indiana Jones, Fathom, Flinstones, Xenon and MataHari. I dig the way these VP table flow. Feel a bit more realistic than FP. Game play is better.

Thanks for the help.

[Rawd]

Thanks Rawd. Now it's all making sense. I didn't understand that the back glass were static images. I think I'm going to stick with FP an HP and run my VP games manually.

How come? It's so nice to load them all from HP.

[53kemper]

OK I won't give up. I'll mess with it again tonight. Just to make sure we are on the same page, only FS machines will work with HP correct?

[Rawd]

Yes. Only FS tables will work with HP. 16-9 tables won't work outside of HP though either, unless you convert them.

My explanation to setup the backglass and DMD may have seemed long and confusing, but once you do it once, it is very easy.

Check out some of the Highly detailed FS tables like the new Simpsons Night mod, or Twilight Zone.

Like I said, I was where you are about 2 weeks ago. I spent ALOT of time organizing all the VP tables, and getting screenshots and backglasses for ones I didn't have using Fraps, and Photoshop, making all the wheel images I didn't have. I actually don't envy the organizing that you have ahead of you, but believe me, it is worth it once you have it all setup.

[53kemper]

Half the fun for me is getting this stuff to work. So I will keep at it. Cab is almost finished. Just waiting for some rails to come in.

[wonderpuddle]

OK I won't give up. I'll mess with it again tonight. Just to make sure we are on the same page, only FS machines will work with HP correct?

Hey man. Just to be clear, you can pretty easily convert 16:9 tables to FS. Read studmuff's reply in this post:

http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4088

After reading that, I was able to convert several tables to FS. It took a few minutes to figure everything out, and a few tables have decals that may need to be dragged off. But you can add a bunch of tables (i.e., Theatre of Magic, World Cup 94, Frankenstein, No Good Gofers, The Shadow, Sopranos, Tommy, Congo, etc.) just by following Studmuff's post. You'll then have to add the table to your database and the media images -- the backglass, table image, wheel and instruction cards to your system. But once you do that once or twice, it is really pretty easy. Let me know if you have any questions and I'll try to better explain how I figured everything out.

[Rawd]

I'd like to get No good Gophers and Tommy working. I converted World Cup Soccer and Congo, but I had to get UW to fix the DMD for me.

[wonderpuddle]

I'd like to get No good Gophers and Tommy working. I converted World Cup Soccer and Congo, but I had to get UW to fix the DMD for me.

Hey Rawd. Read this:

http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4088

It's all I used to figure out how to convert 16:9 to FS. I had to play around with a few tables, moving decals and the like. But once I got the hang of it, it wasn't too tough.

And I moved all of my DMD screens by altering the script. There are usually four or five lines at the begining of the script of most 16:9 tables that mess up the DMD placement. I delete most of those lines, change the rotation line from "=1" to "=0" (since my backglass monitor is horizontal) and add a line to pinpoint my DMD at the proper place right at the end of the table init sub. It was all trial and error to figure it out, but I eventually got it working. If you looked at whatever UW did for your world cup and congo, you should be able to do the same thing for Tommy, NGG, etc. It's not that hard. Time consuming, maybe. But not difficult once you figure it out.

[53kemper]

Very cool. There is hope.

[Rawd]

Thanks Wonderpuddle. I will look more into it.

... Is this thread about 53's video card anymore? :)

[53kemper]

Wonder that worked great. I'm at work and just tested Big Game on a test PC. Playied with the settings a little and the Playfield fits perfect. Hope this works on my cab.

[53kemper]

I was able to get 20 16:9 tables to go full screen. They all work great. Moving the DMD to the other monitor does not save after you exit. I'll have to play with that. I'm going to try a 3rd video card and see if I can put the DMD on it. Some machine sounds are really low. Will work on that. These tables are off the hook.

[billpa]

do you have the cabinet dll file? I believe that solves the DMD problem

[53kemper]

That may be it. I loaded it on my test machine but not on the cab machine. I'll try that. Thanks Billpa

[Rawd]

Ya, if you don't have the dll from the cabinet pinmame the DMD won't save. For the tables with low sound, hit 'End' to open the coin door, and then press 8 and 9 to adjust the volume. I find that if I go over 26 it starts to crackle.

Once you have all the dmd's where you want them, open up your system registry and go to:

HKEY_Current_User / Software / Freeware / Visual Pinmame and export the whole folder. That will create a backup registry entry for all of your games so that you don't have to move your DMD and say 'yes' to the legal agreement if you ever re-install on a new pc.

[53kemper]

Installed the file but it didn't change anything. DMD still don't stay.

[53kemper]

This is the file your talking about correct? Visual PinMAME Cabinet Build 2.1 I believe the cabinet file is in it.

[wonderpuddle]

Hey 53. I had the same problem with the DMD screen staying in place. Maybe it's the video card. Anyway, if you do a search either on here or on vpforums, you'll probably be able to find this solution better explained than I can explain it. I think I found it in a post that read something like "Surefire way to adjust DMD screen placement" or something like that, but here is what I did to fix it:

You'll need to edit the script of each table, which blows. But it was the only way I could get my DMD screen to go to the right place. Here is how to do it:

Open up a table, let's say JP's Star Wars. Click on the script tab and look for the table init part of the script (in this case, it reads "Sub table1_Init" but sometimes the table1 is replaced by the name of the table). Once you find that, scroll to the next "End Sub" in this case, around line 160. Then enter the following line, right before the "End Sub":

Controller.SetDisplayPosition -1020, 775, GetPlayerHwnd

Load the table and you should see the DMD screen. Your numbers will probably be different from mine, but that is where my DMD screen needs to go. I figured out my numbers through trial and error.

Anyway, hope this helps.

[Rawd]

That does suck if you have to do that. I wonder why it won't save for you?

My DMD's are almost always a different size and in a different place.

[53kemper]

I believe this is the coreect file Visual PinMAME Cabinet Build 2.1 It suppose to have the cabinet file in it. Is this correct.

Sound works. Thanks

[Rawd]

I believe this is the coreect file Visual PinMAME Cabinet Build 2.1 It suppose to have the cabinet file in it. Is this correct.

Sound works. Thanks

Yes, you are right. Rename or overwrite your old pinmame.dll file with it.


Edit: Or, I think extract the whole thing? Sorry, I can't remember now.

[53kemper]

It over road the other and it was much larger than original.

[Rawd]

It over road the other and it was much larger than original.

So do your DMD's save now?

[53kemper]

Still will not save. Tried a coupe restarts just to see if that would fix it. I keep trying to trouble shoot but then I start playing the tables. Got a little side tracked.

[ThomasLund]

I've found that sometimes VP/pinMame/something has written info into the registry and "locked up" the DMD position (happened for 2-3 tables). Going into the registry, deleting the entry for that table (look it up by ROM name) and then fixing the script - and THEN running VP to place the DMD helped me.

The script fixes typically included removing all code in the script that refererred to the DMD

But not as a general rule of thumb - just for those pesky tables

[53kemper]

Thanks Thomas, I'll check that out. I loaded Twilight Zone and the DMD moved and saved. Everything works perfect on that table. it must be a per table setting.