visual pinball

[bearded]

this is a real masterpiece.  you can play just about any of the old pinball tables on your system.  my favorites from the past are star trek tng, whirlwind, scared stiff, bride of pinbot.  you can even design your own table!  i want to make a  :ff: table.
it takes a little work to put everything together, the software is scattered over the net.  you have to have the latest visual pinball, then the version 8 executable.  then you have to get pinmame, and various patches.
it's really worth it, if you are a pinball wizard.

[lugaru]

Are there any guides or sites that make it easier?

I think I tried this a few years back and just couldent bring myself to do all the work involved, althought I am a slightly more patient man now.

[bearded]

http://irpinball.ztnet.com/files.htm
this is a good place to start.  it will most likely set you up and has 2 tables, one of which is a tutorial table.
if you get that much going, pm me for more.  i really would like to get some ppl here involved, there are some good ff tables that could be made.  think, a block of ice that if you hit with your ball enough, frees manbot, ergo, multiball!  or a wall in front of a ramp, wall has pentagram on it.  hit the wall to 'open the portal' and lvl up alchemiss.
everytime you free manbot, or shoot the portal ramp, you lvl them up, a sort of seperate score.  hit the targets to get power ups, etc.

[crimsonquill]

I had some minor experience with Visual Pinball.. as I tried to make a pinball game for the Drew Haye's Poison Elves (http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/brad/pe/p.elves.html) guild that I was part of. Never finished it because while I completed the actual table itself the coding melted my brain for months on end because I never could get it working properly.  :banghead:

I've since gotten addicted to another pinball emulator called Future Pinball (http://www.futurepinball.com/) which is like VP but full 3D and slightly easier to code with but I've not tried making any tables with it yet.

- CrimsonQuill