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Dedpin : 46" 46" 2 screen pincab build : an ongoing saga


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Good luck with the update. Yeah it can be daunting to have to basically pull apart your cab and start again with the software side. I recently upgraded my 2 year old cab with a new GTX 750 graphics card, updated to Windows 7 and added extra buttons for nudge. I wondered if I'd be able to get the software up and running easily as last time it took months. However you'll find that if you already have your Visual Pinball software configured and running and hyperpin setup it is actually fairly easy to transfer to a new windows image. Also on the bonus side I got to switch to a single graphics setup as previously I had to use the onboard graphics to get the 3 screen output.

 

So I say just do it! Visually the new tables are a leap ahead of some of the older ones. Unfortunately some of the VP9 physics are a bit off. I am still in the process of upgrading to PhysMod tables. I'm hoping that in a few months there will be a kick ass VP10 version up and running with some nice full screen tables. Hence why I decided to upgrade now so I was ready.

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I have been putting it off waiting for the last years of development to plateau so that I could settle on a configuration to end at and not keep chasing the power.

Seems to have settled nicely and shifted from needing CPU power plants more to needing beefy GPU's to handle the performance issues. Especially after the DX9 port.

 

With the way VP10 is headed it could take a while, but 2 main factors being the nudging and the ball shaping limiting personal view preferences, I've decided that PM5 is my goal now.

No matter how good VP10 ends up, these 2 factors are sounding like they are to stay as is and seem to be dividing the community. That said, it does look very nice and will be great, but I can't get past those 2 things.

 

Still debating whether to stay on xp, but looks like W7 will have to be the go. Also if the single GPU will handle the 2 big screens at high res. May still need 2 dedicated cards.

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I have been putting it off waiting for the last years of development to plateau so that I could settle on a configuration to end at and not keep chasing the power.

Seems to have settled nicely and shifted from needing CPU power plants more to needing beefy GPU's to handle the performance issues. Especially after the DX9 port.

 

With the way VP10 is headed it could take a while, but 2 main factors being the nudging and the ball shaping limiting personal view preferences, I've decided that PM5 is my goal now.

No matter how good VP10 ends up, these 2 factors are sounding like they are to stay as is and seem to be dividing the community. That said, it does look very nice and will be great, but I can't get past those 2 things.

 

Still debating whether to stay on xp, but looks like W7 will have to be the go. Also if the single GPU will handle the 2 big screens at high res. May still need 2 dedicated cards.

vp9.9 / dx9 should have actually made tables easier to run than before but I think OS plays a part. I found after moving to 99, I could play tables lag free, that I never could before like uw monster bash with all those a animated primitive models, but I'm on win7. That said there are some pretty amazing stuff being done in the 3d modeling side of things meaning greater grunt balancing out needs.

 

If it helps to give an idea My pincab runs 2x screens at 1080p and Im running win7, and a 2gb nvidia 660gtx (less than 200 clams) and I can run everything lag free. Cpu is a quad core q9550 which is pretty old as, is my ram... so it shows the gpu is the important bit.

 

If I was going from scratch now with 2 screens id go an i7 cpu, single nvidia 7 series gpu, and decent ram and I reckon you'd be right for years to come. But it would be $$, I reckon gumtree etc for a gaming pc that is close to the specs you are after as pc gaming geeks are always upgrading... could be the most affordable way too acheive it ?

 

The Dedpin was basically the high mark I looked to online, when putting mine together.... so I'm looking forward to seeing the Dedpin Next Gen :)

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I already have an I7 cpu. And I agree, the DX9 port shifted more to needing graphics grunt. It's sounding like I will need W7, more ram and GTX 760 (think they are 2 gig)

 

sounds like youre on the right track. i have same video card as you that will power two screens without issue.

use win7 64bit so you can load up the ram, switch system performance(in control panel) from visual, to performance and away you go.

 

on the vp10 front, i too am concerned that they wont resolve these issues and they are also a deal breaker for me. the new MB table looks pretty much the same as the old, aside from lighting tweaks and GUI changes, i cant see it being a huge improvement. If they cant fix the egg shaped ball, then its a step back in my mind.

 

i made a comment early on over at VPforums about development being focussed on desktop tables and i was shot down for it....if they had spent any time on developing and testing full screen this issue wouldve been identified much earlier....... wont say i told you so! They shouldve just skipped this version entirely and gone with DX11, platforms like timeshock look absolutely amazing.

 

anyway, wrt feedback, you definitely want something for flippers, slings and pop bumpers, i use 10 contactors in total and its amazing! i could never go back to playing without them, they just complete the experience, especially on older tables.

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vp9.9 / dx9 should have actually made tables easier to run than before but I think OS plays a part. I found after moving to 99, I could play tables lag free, that I never could before like uw monster bash with all those a animated primitive models, but I'm on win7. That said there are some pretty amazing stuff being done in the 3d modeling side of things meaning greater grunt balancing out needs.

 

If it helps to give an idea My pincab runs 2x screens at 1080p and Im running win7, and a 2gb nvidia 660gtx (less than 200 clams) and I can run everything lag free. Cpu is a quad core q9550 which is pretty old as, is my ram... so it shows the gpu is the important bit.

 

If I was going from scratch now with 2 screens id go an i7 cpu, single nvidia 7 series gpu, and decent ram and I reckon you'd be right for years to come. But it would be $$, I reckon gumtree etc for a gaming pc that is close to the specs you are after as pc gaming geeks are always upgrading... could be the most affordable way too acheive it ?

 

The Dedpin was basically the high mark I looked to online, when putting mine together.... so I'm looking forward to seeing the Dedpin Next Gen :)

 

What bells and whistles are you adding to your cab? If you don't have contactors, flashing lights etc then IMHO there is no need to go any higher spec than a decent dual core CPU, as most apps we use only require single core.

 

I won't go into detail here, but feel free to contact me if you want more info as I have done a LOT of research on this of late........

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Why not share your research for all to benefit ?

 

He already has an i7, wouldn't make sense to downgrade. I run an i5, 4gb ram, gtx760 and do not have any issues running DOF2 and B2S and VP through hyperpin, where it is known both softwares have memory leakes. I've researched this to death over the two years it took me to finish my build, there isnt much more to it.

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sounds like youre on the right track. i have same video card as you that will power two screens without issue.

use win7 64bit so you can load up the ram, switch system performance(in control panel) from visual, to performance and away you go.

 

on the vp10 front, i too am concerned that they wont resolve these issues and they are also a deal breaker for me. the new MB table looks pretty much the same as the old, aside from lighting tweaks and GUI changes, i cant see it being a huge improvement. If they cant fix the egg shaped ball, then its a step back in my mind.

 

i made a comment early on over at VPforums about development being focussed on desktop tables and i was shot down for it....if they had spent any time on developing and testing full screen this issue wouldve been identified much earlier....... wont say i told you so! They shouldve just skipped this version entirely and gone with DX11, platforms like timeshock look absolutely amazing.

 

anyway, wrt feedback, you definitely want something for flippers, slings and pop bumpers, i use 10 contactors in total and its amazing! i could never go back to playing without them, they just complete the experience, especially on older tables.

 

I don't have the 760 yet but will chase one up.

 

I play a lot of desktop and the ball was the first thing I noticed. I like to have my own table view. That was the beauty of 9xx and independent tables, changing the settings to suit the end user. (with a round ball)

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Why not share your research for all to benefit ?

 

He already has an i7, wouldn't make sense to downgrade. I run an i5, 4gb ram, gtx760 and do not have any issues running DOF2 and B2S and VP through hyperpin, where it is known both softwares have memory leakes. I've researched this to death over the two years it took me to finish my build, there isnt much more to it.

Good idea, I'd also like to hear more from your side on the force feedback and use of contacts, that's something I'm sure would help others. I'd love to do that on my cab eventually.

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Good idea, I'd also like to hear more from your side on the force feedback and use of contacts, that's something I'm sure would help others. I'd love to do that on my cab eventually.

I plan to do a heap of "DIY Tutorials" and put them into a section of my new website. It's just a matter of how to present it so visitors can find it easily and then work out the best way to present the info. Tips for Virtual Pinballing will be a big part of that as there is still so much to explore and share.

 

In the meantime feel free to PM, email or call me if you want to know something specific and I'll be happy to share.

 

Sorry for hijacking this thread Dedrok, you can have it back now!

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  • 1 month later...
@Dedrok looking at your backglass, looks a lot longer visible panel than mine. What numbers do you use in your screenres file ? I'm only using exactly half of my panel, but if it can be done to use more but without vertically stretching the backglass image ?
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From earlier in the thread

 

Changing the height value to 575 made the screen more of a 1:1 ratio

 

>>GPU rotated monitor settings

 

>>Backglass_Image_x =0

>>Backglass_Image_y =0

>>Backglass_Image_w =1280

>>Backglass_Image_h =575

>>Backglass_Image_r =0

 

From memory the B2S screen res text, I used a 1080 x 1080 (2nd monitor is full res 1920 x 1080).

 

I don't use Db2S yet so don't know if that makes a difference.

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

Just checked, I have a copy and paste txt file on my desktop of all settings and changes

 

>>B2S rotated monitor settings

 

>>The size and location of the backglass can be changed to fit different types of backglass displays.

 

>>Parameters n ScreenRes.txt.

>>Line 3, X size = 1080

>>Line 4, Y size = 1080

>>Line 5, Display number = 2

>>line 6, X position = 0

>>line 7, Y position = 0

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I will when I get around to it. Need to do a ton of upgrading.

Just need to get a couple of pins fixed and sold first to make some room.

 

Already have a heap downloaded and on a stick ready.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

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It's a never ending process really - I do an update every time I work on a new PC setup at which point I make a chart of every table I download and include whether it's new or an update, the type of backglass and what media files (if any) were also downloaded.

 

That gives me a kind of audit trail so if I find a particular table doesn't work properly, I can check back on my charts to find the most recent entry for it and sort it out from there. In some instances I've rolled back to a previous "iteration" of a table because it looked or played better than a newer one.

 

I very much agree with your sentiment of waiting until development settled down so you could choose which "path" to follow. Personally I have no desire to migrate to a version of VP that completely alters how nudging etc is handled!

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  • 5 months later...

It lives again. Dedpin had a corrupted registry or something and wouldn't boot at all.

 

Thanks to @JustAnotherRat :) for coming over and having a look and getting it to boot back to where it was before.

 

Now to troubleshoot the original problems it had.

 

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/09/14/d27f3e3cc05e56d71be7520bc177c940.jpg

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

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Finally worked out the rules properly on Monster Bash today, and after an hour plus of playing and 3.5B+ later, it locked up while putting my name in ..... aaaannnnd wiped that score.

 

So still has the occasional lock up and have to reboot.

 

So RAM maybe ?? Am running xp so 2 sticks of 2Gb ram.

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Check your computers BIOS to see if there is a RAM test built in. If there is, run it and see how you go.

 

If not (or if the RAM test comes up all ok), it might be a good idea to run something like BurnIn Test on the PC to see if it comes up with anything. The software loads the hardware up and reports back if something fails. You can set it to test your choice of components or just let it run multiple tests at once.

 

Happy to have a look for you at some stage.

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correct ... and it's more like using 3.5Gb of the 4Gb ..... so porting to Win 7 to up the ram is a must for the nice newer tables, plus a heftier card.

 

But that's all on hold for now. :(

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

Check your computers BIOS to see if there is a RAM test built in. If there is, run it and see how you go.

 

If not (or if the RAM test comes up all ok), it might be a good idea to run something like BurnIn Test on the PC to see if it comes up with anything. The software loads the hardware up and reports back if something fails. You can set it to test your choice of components or just let it run multiple tests at once.

 

Happy to have a look for you at some stage.

 

I will go and have a look in a minute .... Thanks for the heads up

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  • 3 weeks later...

I was thinking about this the other day. From what I have read recently, it seems that most feel that one 2GB graphics card will run the playfield and BG effectively. If you are still thinking that maybe your power supply isn't supplying enough power, maybe try disconnecting one of them and run it off just one for a while and see if you still get lock ups, if you do still get lock ups, try changing over the video card and try it for a while.

 

I still think load testing it may be a good option though as it might just highlight the fault without any stuffing around.... so you can probably ignore what I opened the post with.

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I was thinking a decent 2Gb card on Win 7 , but I already have a decent CPU with 2 1Gb cards.

 

I would love to pinpoint the problem 1st though as it runs most tables no problem barring the locking up.

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