Default to Old Renderer always?

[GuyMan]

I have an old future pinball cab I made about 11 years ago with hardware that was old even then. It ran fine on the old renderer but now I am using the new version with BAM. I can set it to never allow the new renderer in BAM menu but every time I run a table it defaults back to new renderer, which halves the framerate for me (from 50-60 to 25-30)

 

Is there a way to change this behavior?

Edited July 10, 2024 by GuyMan

[GeorgeH]

BAM saves the light settings when you change them on a per table basis.  Each table has its own settings that are saved.  The setting is saved to the *.cfg file and the file can be copied from one table to the next.  However, a table author can add some code to the script like the following:

 

            xBAM.Lights.EnableNewRenderer             = TRUE
            xBAM.Lights.MainLightLock                 = FALSE
            xBAM.Lights.SetMainLightPosition                 0,    483,    667
            xBAM.Lights.SetMainLightProperties               1.67,   .31,   0.92,  .12
            xBAM.Lights.SetMainLightAttenuation              1,      0,      0.6
            xBAM.Lights.SetOtherLightsAttenuation          0.93,      0,      18
            xBAM.Lights.EnablePostprocessing          = FALSE
            xBAM.Lights.SetPostprocessing                    1,      0,      1,      1
            xBAM.Lights.SetPostprocessingForNewRenderer      1,      0,      1,      1,    1.95,      1,      1,      1,    0.2

 

As you can see on the first line that "EnableNewRenderer" is set to true.  The only thing you can do is to search the script for this content and either delete it or add your own.  I have experimented with FP Original and found the following settings don't look too bad:

 

xBAM.Lights.EnableNewRenderer = False
xBAM.Lights.MainLightLock = FALSE
xBAM.Lights.SetMainLightPosition 0, 650, 800
xBAM.Lights.SetMainLightProperties 0.5, 0.5, 1, 0.1
xBAM.Lights.SetMainLightAttenuation 1.6, 0, 0
xBAM.Lights.SetOtherLightsAttenuation 2.0, 0, 0.3
xBAM.Lights.EnablePostprocessing = FALSE
xBAM.Lights.SetPostprocessing 1, 0, 1, 1
xBAM.Lights.SetPostprocessingForNewRenderer 1, 0, 1, 1, 1.3, 1, 1, 1, 0.2

 

FP Original does have limitations like it does not support spotlights.  TerryRed has spotlights on just about all his tables so he never uses FP Original. Does this help?

[GuyMan]

It does help! I'll look into the scripts.

 

I guess I'm just confused why in the table when you set new renderer to never allow it actually always allows haha. In fact a lot of settings dont seem to save. I set the brightness to "Day". I save to table xml and make sure to hit Q to exit BAM menu first and it doesn't save anything. It does seem to save scaling tho.

Edited July 11, 2024 by GuyMan

[GuyMan]

Something interesting I noticed is if I save a table as default (including renderer) it will save that renderer option but I still have to go in BAM and hit RESET TO DEFAULT and it resets renderer (and everything else) to my settings. It just won't reload that default when I start it. 

 

About to try your suggestion, just wanted to note that!

[GuyMan]

On 7/10/2024 at 9:54 PM, GeorgeH said:

BAM saves the light settings when you change them on a per table basis.  Each table has its own settings that are saved.  The setting is saved to the *.cfg file and the file can be copied from one table to the next.  However, a table author can add some code to the script like the following:

 

            xBAM.Lights.EnableNewRenderer             = TRUE
            xBAM.Lights.MainLightLock                 = FALSE
            xBAM.Lights.SetMainLightPosition                 0,    483,    667
            xBAM.Lights.SetMainLightProperties               1.67,   .31,   0.92,  .12
            xBAM.Lights.SetMainLightAttenuation              1,      0,      0.6
            xBAM.Lights.SetOtherLightsAttenuation          0.93,      0,      18
            xBAM.Lights.EnablePostprocessing          = FALSE
            xBAM.Lights.SetPostprocessing                    1,      0,      1,      1
            xBAM.Lights.SetPostprocessingForNewRenderer      1,      0,      1,      1,    1.95,      1,      1,      1,    0.2

 

As you can see on the first line that "EnableNewRenderer" is set to true.  The only thing you can do is to search the script for this content and either delete it or add your own.  I have experimented with FP Original and found the following settings don't look too bad:

 

xBAM.Lights.EnableNewRenderer = False
xBAM.Lights.MainLightLock = FALSE
xBAM.Lights.SetMainLightPosition 0, 650, 800
xBAM.Lights.SetMainLightProperties 0.5, 0.5, 1, 0.1
xBAM.Lights.SetMainLightAttenuation 1.6, 0, 0
xBAM.Lights.SetOtherLightsAttenuation 2.0, 0, 0.3
xBAM.Lights.EnablePostprocessing = FALSE
xBAM.Lights.SetPostprocessing 1, 0, 1, 1
xBAM.Lights.SetPostprocessingForNewRenderer 1, 0, 1, 1, 1.3, 1, 1, 1, 0.2

 

FP Original does have limitations like it does not support spotlights.  TerryRed has spotlights on just about all his tables so he never uses FP Original. Does this help?

Hmmmm. Tried to open the cfg files under BAM>cfg with notepad and visual studio but it is not a readable. It's just random symbols when it opens 🤔

 

Another thing I noticed is that older tables default to the old renderer and newer tables default to the new renderer....

 

Edit: OOOOH the table script. I see it. Digging in!

 

Edit 2: Seems to be working! Thank you!

Edited July 12, 2024 by GuyMan

[GeorgeH]

On 7/11/2024 at 2:50 PM, GuyMan said:

Hmmmm. Tried to open the cfg files under BAM>cfg with notepad and visual studio but it is not a readable. It's just random symbols when it opens 🤔

 

Another thing I noticed is that older tables default to the old renderer and newer tables default to the new renderer....

 

Edit: OOOOH the table script. I see it. Digging in!

 

Edit 2: Seems to be working! Thank you!

 

If the table has the script I mentioned, it will override the settings in the BAM menu. 

 

You can't edit the cfg file but it has the lighting settings in it.  You can copy the cfg file from one table to the next.  If the table that you copy the cfg file to has the script I mentioned, the script will win out so you have to delete it.