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Spit Balling Ideas for my New Build in the Future


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It looks at though I've sold my Virtual Pinball, it wasn't up for sale but someone was keen to buy it so I thought it might be an opportunity to build another but with a few differences.

 

My biggest fear with building a new cab is the ever concerning lag. I have pretty much an unnoticeable amount on my current build and don't want to go backwards. One of the upgrades in my new cab to my current one is that I want to go with a 4K screen. I see TCL branded ones (https://www.thegoodguys.com.au/tcl-43-inches-p715-4k-quhd-android-led-tv-43p715) quite cheap and my current screens are TCL and they have been perfect but I know nothing of these 4K ones. Samsung screens seem to be used by a lot of people and I see that they are in general more expensive than TCL (https://www.thegoodguys.com.au/samsung-43-inches-au8000-4k-uhd-led-smart-tv--ua43au8000wxxy). Is the difference in price just the name or is there more to it? I also need to work out how to ensure that they turn on when the PC is powered up and see what control over what they display at that time.

 

Another possible change is what to do with the DMD. My current build has a Pin2DMD which is awesome for 90's games but a lot of newer creations use an LCD. Should I go both? If so do I put the DMD under the glass a-la Cirqus Voltaire or is there a better option?

 

 

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  • 1 month later...

JAR, How are you going with your build? I run a 4K monitor which has a 60Hz refresh rate and It looks and plays nice. Higher refresh rates are supposed to make it easier to track the ball on quicker tables which is seems to be the major advantage of going for a higher end playfield. The graphics card is crucial. I talked to Chris Wigg a few months back and he said there was a company that was trying to sell him square monitors designed for the backglass and DMD. Chris thought that they were too expensive and that getting a Standard UHD TV and mount it portrait and extend into the cabinet is all that is needed . Not sure where the speakers go in Chris's design but I outboard my backglass speakers to keep the backglass compact around the monitor frame. I have a larger set of logitech speakers in my cab but it is overkill. I also have the smaller Logitech 2:1 set and this set is more than adequate for a pin cab. The details of all my equipment is in my design summary document including lots of pictures of the build. See Linked file. Having the bass and volume adjustments on the side of the backglass and this is handy to balance sound and fault find. Regarding Start up of screens and amplifiers I have access to these to turn on and off including a hole in the side of the cabinet to access the playfield 4K monitor on off and toggle controller and a hole in the backglass monitor support board to do the same. I have only needed to do this once on the playfield to adjust the colour settings. Still it was handy to avoid dismantling the cabinet.

With the new Flex DMD and Freezy the PIN2DMD colours are more vibrant and have more tones. Like you Im not sure if Id go this way again or go for the two screen setup.

Re cabinet material I'd use a Russian birch form ply because it has a perfect black smooth finish and is super strong to drill into the end ply. (No painting or filling and takes stickers without prep.) If you use MDF it has to be high density MDF.

I'm more than happy to discuss any aspects of my build.

RussT Virtual PinballMachine Buildv2.pdf - Google Drive

Edited by RusstyT
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Thanks RusstyT. My build is on hold a while before I even start as other life things are in the way but I am still researching and planning when time permits.

 

I was considering buying a 4:3 screen for the backglass but figure that most people do artwork for widescreen these days so in trying to stay true to actual, I might find myself distorting the images so I'll probably just end up widescreen there. I did build a mini cab for my sister a while back with a backglass screen in portrait and I made a bezel that went around part of the screen so it looked like a square screen and a DMD but it was all the same screen.

 

 

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As far as cabinet material, my previous build was ply as it was lighter. I like that the virtual can actually be lighter than a real pinball machine however it did take a lot of sanding and multiple coats of paint with more sanding before I put the decals on.

 

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Thanks RusstyT. My build is on hold a while before I even start as other life things are in the way but I am still researching and planning when time permits.

 

Yeh, Its a big task. I approached VPX lag the same way as Bolt Bait did in a post on VP Forums (Google "latency with VPX virtual pinball" & Ignore the link below as it doesn't work for some reason). I use the same i5 processor and a 750GTXi graphics card and don't have lag issues with a 4K playfield and HD backglass. Regarding the playfield screen I think Yogo bought a bargain that doesn't turn on automatically when the machine powers up which is one of the reasons some builders go for Samsung (Dare I say it that I learnt that from Dave from Retro play when I first started looking into Virtual Pinball). If you find a bargain TV that doesn't power when you start your machine its not the end of the world. I'll post a couple of photos of how how I can access the manual on off and screen toggles on my cab. My LG Monitor has this auto sync feature that I can't use with my Nvidia graphics card so I can't get the best out of my playfield. For this reason I wouldn't go for LG. Nvidia graphic cards seem to be more compatible with Samsung.

It seems quite odd to me that perspex is commonly used as a cover for the playfield and backglass because it distorts with temperature, scratches easily. I used 4 mm toughened glass to maintain the clarity that a 4Kplayfield offers. It's easy to clean, doesn't scratch or distort. ( Cost $80)

I also run the power to my cab through an uninterrupted power supply/ power conditioner to help protect the cab during brownouts. Sudden dips and recovery of power is a common mechanism for destroying electronics.

There is a plywood place near where I live who can cut out a flat pack cab from a CAD drawing & I was thinking at one time about doing this and making the drawings available but no two builds are the same due to different screens that are used. The carpentry side of things is more my strength and I'm happy to help if you need it. I have some cabinet making equipment including table saw, jointer, thicknesses, bench mounted router and a compound mitre saw.

 

cheers and all the best.

 

these are photos of my playfield and backglass screen on off toggle switches

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https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjk0eSq1I7yAhUBVysKHTXKBhUQrAIoA3oECAYQBA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vpforums.org%2Findex.php%3Fshowtopic%3D42587&usg=AOvVaw3jswek4zWeGPW6OI1fY7Jb

08F09890-7E5F-47A7-9E50-3444C01E924D.thumb.jpeg.9e4fa353ce6b89221339da5ba9d3ff59.jpeg

08F09890-7E5F-47A7-9E50-3444C01E924D.thumb.jpeg.a0fdf8060fb3f36c3f2e469ace718148.jpeg

Edited by RusstyT
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