Is it possible to play multiple versions of VPINMAME?

[WaRcLaWz]

I am having issues with VPINMAME 3.6 922 on one of my favorite tables, Medieval Madness. Simply, after updating from 822 to 929 the Medieval Madness table will only allow one castle to be destroyed, and then afterwards the drawbridge will never drop again.

 

Is there a way to have multiple versions of VPINMAME running on the same computer, where I can assign certain games to use certain versions? I really don't want to revert back to 822 because the last 3 killer VPW tables require it, or so they say anyway.

[FlatStick]

I would also like to know this but I suspect the answer is no.

 

I have the same problem with Medieval Madness (everyone does), and a similar problem occurs with Metallica as well (different reason but still amounts to broken in newer VPINMAME), when qualifying for casket multiball the ball doesn't get locked by the magnet and the  hammer doesn't hammer the ball into the sub playfield, and so, you can never reach casket multiball.

 

Apparently VPW have been working hard on an update to their version to get around the Vpinmame changes, but it's been months.

[Cliffy]

2 minutes ago, FlatStick said:

I would also like to know this but I suspect the answer is no.

 

I have the same problem with Medieval Madness (everyone does), and a similar problem occurs with Metallica as well (different reason but still amounts to broken in newer VPINMAME), when qualifying for casket multiball the ball doesn't get locked by the magnet and the  hammer doesn't hammer the ball into the sub playfield, and so, you can never reach casket multiball.

 

Apparently VPW have been working hard on an update to their version to get around the Vpinmame changes, but it's been months.

Speaking to what you want to do, no. There can only be one COM connecting vpinmame to vpx. Now, you can have a 32 bit and separate 64 bit versions and you might consider that is an older 32 bit version will run the table as you prefer, leaving the rest to run 64 bit. Otherwise you would need to create batch files to swap versions in and out.

[FlatStick]

1 hour ago, Cliffy said:

Speaking to what you want to do, no. There can only be one COM connecting vpinmame to vpx. Now, you can have a 32 bit and separate 64 bit versions and you might consider that is an older 32 bit version will run the table as you prefer, leaving the rest to run 64 bit. Otherwise you would need to create batch files to swap versions in and out.

Thanks for that. So I don't know if this is exactly what you mean, but I just tried MM using VPX 10.7 32 bit as an alternate launcher in Popper and doesn't make a difference.

 

But I suspect that there's more steps to your suggested work around that I'm missing.

[Cliffy]

yes you were suggesting an older version of vpinmame , not vpx

[FlatStick]

50 minutes ago, Cliffy said:

yes you were suggesting an older version of vpinmame , not vpx

Oh sorry, when you said separate versions for 32bit and 64bit I thought you meant VPX, I thought that odd, but I get it now.

 

So how would you go about setting this up so that specific tables run 32bit (and presumably a compatible version) of vpinmame, while the rest of the library runs 64bit latest version of vpinmame? (If this is what you're saying can be done)

[Cliffy]

2 minutes ago, FlatStick said:

Oh sorry, when you said separate versions for 32bit and 64bit I thought you meant VPX, I thought that odd, but I get it now.

 

So how would you go about setting this up so that specific tables run 32bit (and presumably a compatible version) of vpinmame, while the rest of the library runs 64bit latest version of vpinmame? (If this is what you're saying can be done)

that is what can be done but for ease of use you should have a frontend so you can tell it to run so and so game in 32 bit. All you need to do is find the vpinmame version that the game did work with. I suppose same with vpx if that's an issue. just replace the vpinmame dll in the pimame folder with the one you like and tell the frontend this game emulator is vpx 10.8 32 bit or whichever.  This, of course, assume the table you want to run doesn't require 64 bit. 

You can also use jarr3's Vpinballx.Starter with or without a front end. It's highly configurable and probably could do the automatic vpinmame.dll swap in the background. Once closed it copies back the original dll. Look it up, it's very cool

[robertms]

4 hours ago, FlatStick said:

I have the same problem with Medieval Madness (everyone does)

 

For Medieval Madness there is a script fix for the drawbridge issue. I believe it was @apophis who fixed it for the Gedankekojote97 version. Of course that doesn't address the Metallica hammer issue, but I thought you should be aware.

[tjaf]

11 hours ago, robertms said:

 

For Medieval Madness there is a script fix for the drawbridge issue. I believe it was @apophis who fixed it for the Gedankekojote97 version. Of course that doesn't address the Metallica hammer issue, but I thought you should be aware.

Are you sure that fix works for the recent vpinmame versions? I think the script fix was proposed a while ago and at least for me it doesn't seem to work with the latest versions of vpinmame on that Gedankekojote version of medieval madness. 

 

Edit: just to be sure we are talking about the same script fix. I am referring the script in the link below, which for me no longer seems to work. If you know of a different script fix, please do share 🙂

 

https://github.com/Nicals/vpx-standalone-scripts/blob/f8bc117b3acc169759d529ff0c4f1baaa74b3918/1455577933_MedievalMadness_Upgrade(Real_Final)/1455577933_MedievalMadness_Upgrade(Real_Final).vbs

Edited July 29, 2024 by tjaf

[tjaf]

@Cliffy As far as workarounds go, your suggestion is brilliant. I just tried it for Medieval Madness and it works. Awesome suggestion. In case others want to try this:

 

0. Understand you are about to downgrade the 32bit version (if you have it installed) of VpinMAME. Only do this if you are sure you don't need a recent version for any other table. I only run the 64bit version of everything. I was not using 32bit at all, so in my case I am fine to downgrade it to only run Medieval Madness.

1. Make sure to backup your whole VPINMAME folder.

2. I downloaded Vpiname 3.5. Maybe other versions work, I am simply reporting what works for me. (https://github.com/vpinball/pinmame/releases/tag/v3.5-217-bd54096). Choose the Main.Download-VpinMAME3.5.zip

3. Unzip the file in a temporary folder.

4. Now comes the tricky part, only copy over everything from the 32 bit version into your VPinMAME, don't copy over anything that has 64 in it's file name. You can ignore text and log and ini files. I copied the following:

- Bass.dll

- Setup.exe

- PinMAM32.exe

- libpinmame-3.5.dll

- VPinMAME.dll

 

I am not sure if this was needed, but I also copied over the 32 bit files (DMDdevice.dll and 32bit subfolders) in the DMDext, PIN2DMD, PINDMD1, PINDMD2 and PINDMD3 folders.

 

5. Run Setup.exe and click on install. Verify it is indeed showing VpinMAME v3.5

6. If you use popper as front-end, open the games manager, and use an alternate launcher to launch a 32bit version of VPX. I did it with VPX V1.07 (but maybe more recent versions of 32bit VPX also work).

 

 

If all goes well, this will run the 32bit version of VPX and hence also of VpinMAME for this table, while all your other tables can just use the more recent 64b versions. In any case, if something weird happens, you should be able to just copy back your backed-up (see step 1 😀) VPinMAME folder (don't forget to rerun Setup.exe)

 

I only tried Medieval Madness (clean fresh download, no script modifications) and the drawbridge seems to work as originally designed. I haven't tried Metallica yet.

 

Thanks again @Cliffy for the great suggestion.

[Cliffy]

Glad you're up and running. Now there are other tables that require 32 bit vpinmame. All hybrids like Baby Pacman, Granny and the Gators, Caveman.  So, 32 bit still needed anyway

[tjaf]

Ah, I do not yet have discovered those tables.

 

Anyway, I can also confirm now after a quick test, that this also works for Metallica. @WaRcLaWz. @FlatStick So if downgrading VpinMame is an option for you, I confirm that v3.5 seems to allow us to play the Medieval Madness and Metallica tables properly.

[WaRcLaWz]

2 hours ago, tjaf said:

Ah, I do not yet have discovered those tables.

 

Anyway, I can also confirm now after a quick test, that this also works for Metallica. @WaRcLaWz. @FlatStick So if downgrading VpinMame is an option for you, I confirm that v3.5 seems to allow us to play the Medieval Madness and Metallica tables properly.

 

Your suggestions and instructions are much appreciated, thanks!