Big Bang Bar (Capcom 1996) VPW

This is just stupid realistic.. like.. a wholeee other level for virtual pinball. The other competitors out there (Zen..) with dozens of salaried developers, pay to play tables, investors etc., cannot even come CLOSE to this level of realism. And yet the VPW overlords do it again... and again.. for free! For the hobby and passion for pinball.

This whole hobby really shows what a community can accomplish when a few hundred very talented, very creative, and very passionate people come together to create or recreate something that they truly enjoy. What makes them have fun still and remember the good times, and to still have many more good times to come!

Greed really does ruin almost everything. The reason this community can create such amazing, detailed recreations is because every single creator involved WANTS to be doing this! They aren't doing it for a paycheck, whether they enjoy what they are doing or not. They ONLY do it because they love pinball! They have certain skills that can be put to use in many different areas needed for this hobby, meet incredible people along the way, and at the end of it all sit back and enjoy the fruits of their labor. Knowing they were able to recreate something that is BETTER than what a multi-million-dollar company can make with 5x as many developers. Every single creator here just oozes with passion and creativity. I'm only 35 years old, and this is by far the best, most fun hobby I've ever had so far. And I've had many throughout my life. This community is a big reason why. I feel like I know you guys, as distant friends..

All of that aside, not much to say about BBB except.. incredible, jawdropping, etc.. I really have no words for it.. besides all of the words it made me compelled to say above 😄

Sincerely, thank you VPW and all who were involved. I'll now be off playing BBB all weekend with my freshly upgraded cabinet!

Last year I had just started doing my thing, and then along came an author that grabbed my interest on day 1 with the release of an Nfozzy version of Fire! I had such a blast playing it, and admired the author for the attention to detail, and the way it was improved. That author was @Gedankekojote97, and while I could not pronounce his name well, I sure played his table quite often. Along came his next offering, and my jaw dropped with Big Bang Bar. Fast forward almost a year, and he is at it once more, teaming up with the incredible VPW team and creating the next level of VPX tables, starting with BBB!

Installation: This table is very demanding on textures (memory) and resources, and as such requires 64bit upgrade to run smoothly. As such, this table has a steeper curve than most installs, as you have to upgrade. I personally believed so much in this release, I decided to help make a tutorial for the 64-bit install, and hope most of you are playing this! If you have any issues, just post them in the comments and we will try and assist you.

Play: I don't think you are going to get any closer to the real thing than this right now. Shots are near perfection, the satisfaction of finishing the modes and getting those sweet lighting modes to activate  other areas on the table make this one incredible table to play. Capcom created an incredible game here, and it was shame only 11-14 remain.

Graphics: The new blender tookit from Niwak has allowed authors to stretch the limits of their imagination. Light mapping on the objects gives them a "I want to touch it" look, and the table really pops as the ball, and lights flow around the objects. This is simply amazing graphics, and a 1060 or higher may be required to get smooth play on the ball at 4K. I run a 2080ti in the cabinet, and this table is butter smooth at 120hz. @apophis is the glue that holds all the scripting together, and does an amazing job of optimizing this gem. @ClarkKent seems to know his physics, because I seem to have the most fun on tables he works on.

VR room and the new adjustable lighting is just insane! @Rawd is quite simply a master of his craft, and matures with each new release. Thanks to @leojreimroc for the awesome VR backglass, so shiny!

Conclusion: VPW puts out some awesome tables for sure, but this Premium release is one of the best darn iterations of a VPX table I have played, hands down. The upgrade is a consideration, but things were made easier with a guide and as always, community help. This table will become one of the main show pieces when your friends come over!

Also huge thanks to Jsm174, @toxie, @Sixtoe, nFozzy, and all of the incredible testers that helped make this table a reality! 

I've been fortunate enough to put some solid time into one of the original prototypes of this table, which was in unbelievably good shape.  Not many people get that opportunity until now.  Major and minor details - the team nailed it on this one.  The shots, flow, speed and difficulty are spot-on.  The only difference is the VP version is much prettier.  Another next-level piece of work that's come to be a trademark of the VPW team. The 64-bit guide is very easy to follow, and absolutely worth the effort. Reviews and pics won't do this masterpiece justice.  Happy hour every hour with this one, guaranteed!

what it looks like when you throw the best of the best at a table.... awesomeness!!

I love how gorgeous this table looks, and all the hard work everybody put in, it is a work of art.

BUT it may be handy (for non-tech savvy guys and girls, like myself) to issue a warning that:

-You need a powerful machine to run this table smoothly 

- You need to not only upgrade all the various parts (vpx, vpm, b2s, flexdmd, pinup, etc) BUT ALSO that this may disable most pup-packs... (as it does in my case).

You need additional software and tweaking to get the pup-packs working again.

That requires skills I do not yet have (and the pup-pack issue requires software that is not named or discussed) .

So, maybe with future big updates / table installation instructions it would be handy to indicate

1) the level of PC power needed, and

2) also the level of PC-skills needed, and

3) the possible problems you may run into with additional parts (like pup-packs and stuff).

This would be a good general indicator of the table and effort, up front.

I absolutely think the world of all of you guys and girls that make these fantastic tables for us; it is such hard work and you make me and so many others very happy.

It's just that these suggested 3 indications I mentioned above may have prevented me from installing all of this and getting in over my noob head (because of my lack of PC expertise, and having to solve issues I do not understand).

So, I am not knocking the table, and I understand that I may have sub-par PC skills and a mid-PC, which are both my own doing.

It's just that I would love more info up front about the possible implications.

Thanks for your sublime work, and also good to see that a lot of ppl are enjoying this wonderful table 🙏❤👍

Looks amazing!  Thanks VPW!

Also the 64 bit upgrade is well worth the effort.  Even though my cab ran well previously, it now runs with zero stutters and glitches since going 64 bit.  Feels to run everything effortlessly and with an extra smoothness.

Agree with @xenonph that 3/5 review is a disgrace for this table, not the table or devs fault your system isn’t upto it.  Use the previous version if your cab can’t handle it.

The standard at which VPinWorkshop holds these tables to has been a blessing to this community, and this recreation of Big Bang Bar shows that high standard. Given the extreme volume of reviews, I don't think I need to go through gameplay/lights/physics elements on bullet points.

I know there's been a bit of a struggle on forums about 32/64-bit and I'd like to give my observations:

• VPinWorkshop's Big Bang Bar works flawlessly with zero frame drops in-game on my 32-bit VPX setup. No visual faults either
• This table consumes a lot of RAM, just like VPinWorkshop said in their table Description
• I've crammed 32 GB of RAM into my motherboard, and use an 8 GB RTX 3060 TI
• I did test it with 64-bit VPX and initial load time was faster, but in-game performance was strangely not as good as 32-bit VPX

Please do not take these observations as "the lord's word" as there may be environmental factors contributing to the performance discrepancy between 32/64-bit VPX on my cabinet. I've chosen 32-bit as my horse to ride, and hope these points help!

I must say that since @Gedankekojote97 started with his updates on table physics and sounds he caught my attention and I was excited to see other people doing this. Then he joined VPW and I can tell first hand that the way and speed with which he learned to use Blender... just wow!
Awesome job guys, on a table I've always liked.
Thank you so much!

The 'hype' was the biggest one with this VPW table, so days ago I updated VPX following that excellent guide to improve my cab to the future requirements: 64 bits, at last.

All the work worths it, seriously. Not only for this table, wich is really awesome, but for all the other because all the systems feel now more oiled and the whole cab flows like a furious river: No more stuttering between DMD, flashers and backglass. It is stunning!

This table is incredible!.. but it's only the first of a new age that is coming to us in a wonderfull hobby that I enjoy more and more every day I spent in it.

THANKYOU DEVELOPERS!!! 🤩

Absolute master piece. Thank you so much for recreating this rare table so well. Kudos to the whole team!

Thirst!

Hard to believe what you guys have done with this software, looks more and more like an actual playfield in my cabinet. The lighting in VR is especially impressive, not only the virtual cabinet, playfield and sidwall reflections but the entire room lighting!! Very good stuff and greatly appreciated. 

I can't believe what I just played and how smooth it ran.  It seems every release tops the last one.  It's just an insane experience in VR with the RGB room and graphics so crisp it feels super close to being a real table.  Well done and thank you!

It looks real! Thank you so much for turning this amazing and rare table into a masterpiece. The upgrade is VERY MUCH worth it.

VPinWorkshop with another 5/5 project. As you expect from them, everything from the lightning, colours, gameplay and so on is perfect. I switched to the 64bit version of VPX and everything runs smoothly (VPWs GoT and Iron Maiden seem to run better in 64bit as far as I can tell).

Can't wait to see what is coming up next!

awesome table...works only 64-bit.

👌👌

This table looks soo real ! Plays great,

I have done no updates as to the 64bit, I am running 4 screen cab playfield 250x1440 BG 1920x1080,2 slim lcd

AVF Rate 144.  i5 6400 32gb ram GTX 2070 super, leds, no toys. 

Tables without PUP run AVF Rate 210+

Just saying that it does run fine through pinup [ It does take about 10 seconds to load]

THANKS for this Wonderful Table 😍

I have nothing to say that hasn't been said already but WOW! This is just amazing work and I can't thank those involved enough. You don't even have to play it to appreciate it because I've just been gawping at it in attract mode, watching all the little bits of colour appear on the rails, or the side blades or in the plastic tube. It's mesmerising, to be honest.

Thank you for the update, this has always been a favorite of mine to play. The theme and the colors are great and boy did you guys give it that extra pop! And updating to 64 wasn't even that bad. 

It plays absolutely fantastic. 10 stars! Keep up the amazing work.

Finally this table got me to update to 64bit. Costs: 2 sleepless nights. 🙂 But it is worth it.
VPX is a very old machine and the guys from VPW did everything to get more out of this.
The Step to 64bit is logical and let us get the best out of the old lady that is possible.
Also, this Step will be the final and last Step with the old machine. We can´t get the old horse much more faster, we´ll have to change the horse in the next step to something more modern.
Thankyou for that beautiful table.
Rating: 10 Stars
[Offtopic]
If anyone is interested in the history of that table:
https://www.polygon.com/features/2017/3/21/14937540/history-of-big-bang-bar-pinball

here you´ll find audio interviews with the creators:
https://pinballsupernova.wordpress.com/2018/01/12/news-when-pigs-flew-the-strange-history-of-capcoms-big-bang-bar-polygon/

It´s a strange story, guys...

You guys have once again made history of VP, BRAVO !

What a machine ! We don't even need the real one anymore and the VR ROOM is just insane 🤩

Thank you so much for this true glimpse into the Future of extrem pinball simulation 🙏

Thank you VPW for an incredibly realistic VPX table.

Also works on a 32Bit system, without updates to MAME 3.6 or other settings. My System: Ryzen 5 3600 and GTX 960. Slight ball stutter.

Will only update when I finally have a new graphics card.

Which do you recommend? RTX 3060 has a lot of ram, would that be ok? Or would you prefer a stronger video card?

You make my day!!!

Greetings from Germany

MichaRFM

Everything is top notch: the game, the lighting, the physics.
The new room by @Rawd is wonderful. The backglass by @leojreimroc is also a beauty.
And with VPX 64bit it works perfectly. When you see it in VR, you will be overwhelmed.
It's a great achievement by all involved.
So many thanks for this first class table. 🥰 Love it.

guys what can i say. The table is absolutely amazing. I initially had problems with the 32-bit version - the table wouldn't load: out of memory. I was also afraid to update to 64 bit. I'm still quite new and was happy that my installation ran without problems. I thought that if I now switch to 64 bit, nothing will work and I'll have to start all over again. But then I dared - and WOW - everything works perfectly - thanks to the super-made instructions. and I can now play Big Bang Bar. The table is just awesome. this brings the quality of the tables to a whole new level. I hope you will see more tables of this quality in the future. Respect and a thousand thanks for this great experience.

I am just very thankful for this technology and these people. The work VPW does is amazing, and while it was more than I thought it would be to get everything 64-bit set up (my own fault for not reading specific parts of the instructions closely, as they made one hell of an effort to provide support to us lower-end users), the table is just a giant step from where the other versions had been. The lighting, the physics, the Blender objects.... just all amazing work. I suspect that basically all my pinball for the next few weeks will be VPW between this, Iron Maiden, and the 2.0 version of Blood Machines.

Thank you, kind VPW people, for all that you do.