VPX Desktop Pivot POVs

[TR2N]

 

Hi guys,

 

i am really new to Visual Pinball since some month now and i am very grateful for the talents that are providing so great tables, and of cause for Visual Pinball itself! It´s bringing back so much great memories and it became an almost daily obsession! 😅

 

I am playing on a desktop right now, one landscape display for the external DMD and one display in portrait for the playfield, no backglass or anything else:

 

I also built a pinball controller myself to get a more authentic experience (there will be a cab some day for sure but i need my money for the real life lately.....😉).

Buuut, i am messing with POV settings lately. I started with the landscape desktop mode for the tables, but i don´t like how much space of the screen is not used by the table - but the immersion is great! I changed to portrait one day (camera mode) and adjusted the tables to nearly fit the whole screen, but because of that the tables feel flat because of this POV. Right now i am trying to fine tune to a more immerse perspective but it really depends and differs from to table. I am trying to hide the lock bar and aligning the perspective on the left lane corner to get perspective. But i am curious what others do in this circumstances. 

Especially wide body tables are not so easy to set up, so i often reduce the table width a little bit to get mostly everything from the table on the display.

What do you think guys? Are there any no gos etc.?

 

Thank you and kindly regards!

 

Update: Done POVs

Edited July 19, 2025 by TR2N

[bthlonewolf]

It's really about personal preference. The screen (of course) isn't the same aspect ratio of most pins, and even then, you have standard vs widebody. Widebody tends to be a bit easier to set up as the aspect ratio is closer to a 16:9 monitor. Some prefer to stretch the width to fit, others prefer to crop the apron, etc. I prefer to not crop the apron, but that usually means some of the screen is not used. There really isn't a right way, it just boils down to what you like best. Your POVs look pretty decent to me, though.  And as you've seen, on some tables, I change the angle slightly because of ball visibility in the back.

[Calafati]

"I also built a pinball controller myself to get a more authentic experience (there will be a cab some day for sure but i need my money for the real life lately.....😉)."

 

Very likable statement and professional looking self-made equipment 😁👍

It is the same situation with me. Someday I will realize that, too - its a typical when-the-children-are-out-of-the-house-project!!! Then I will have a little money again just for me 😂

 

And - as we say here in Germany: anticipation is the greatest joy 👊

 

As I cannot see wether this feature is already included in your box: do you already have shakers/exciters mounted? I realized this upgrade in the last days and it leads to a more than noticeable haptically feedback in my forearms and wrists (I am using a keyboard only). Then you cannot only see and hear what happens but in addition you can also FEEL whats going on with the ball.

 

Just in case you did not already mounted that. It catapulted me in a very satisfying position between the two worlds of having a full equipped virtual cab and playing in desktop mode with only optical and acoustic feedback.

 

 

[TR2N]

17 hours ago, bthlonewolf said:

It's really about personal preference. The screen (of course) isn't the same aspect ratio of most pins, and even then, you have standard vs widebody. Widebody tends to be a bit easier to set up as the aspect ratio is closer to a 16:9 monitor. Some prefer to stretch the width to fit, others prefer to crop the apron, etc. I prefer to not crop the apron, but that usually means some of the screen is not used. There really isn't a right way, it just boils down to what you like best. Your POVs look pretty decent to me, though.  And as you've seen, on some tables, I change the angle slightly because of ball visibility in the back.

Thank you for your input! Yeah, i also noticed that POV settings may vary from table to table and on one day i like it, on the other day i re-adjust it a little bit (again). 😅 In the end these are always just micro nuances changing.

 

15 hours ago, Calafati said:

"I also built a pinball controller myself to get a more authentic experience (there will be a cab some day for sure but i need my money for the real life lately.....😉)."

 

Very likable statement and professional looking self-made equipment 😁👍

It is the same situation with me. Someday I will realize that, too - its a typical when-the-children-are-out-of-the-house-project!!! Then I will have a little money again just for me 😂

 

And - as we say here in Germany: anticipation is the greatest joy 👊

 

As I cannot see wether this feature is already included in your box: do you already have shakers/exciters mounted? I realized this upgrade in the last days and it leads to a more than noticeable haptically feedback in my forearms and wrists (I am using a keyboard only). Then you cannot only see and hear what happens but in addition you can also FEEL whats going on with the ball.

 

Just in case you did not already mounted that. It catapulted me in a very satisfying position between the two worlds of having a full equipped virtual cab and playing in desktop mode with only optical and acoustic feedback.

I now this sentence, i am from Germany too. 😉

In the moment there is just a simple Zero-Delay-Encoder inside my controller, what do you use (something PinScape-compatible i guess):

 

Yeah, some feedback would be very nice but maybe i will upgrade my box sooner or later with a proper controller board. For now a big subwoofer is mounted under my desk. 😂

Edited April 24, 2025 by TR2N

[Calafati]

Hi again und ein HERZLICHES HALLO 😊,

 

to be honest: I do not use any kind of pinball-specific hardware up to now. Although this would make sense, looking at your excellent setup 👍.

 

I already have a similar project in mind, just with the difference that I will go the way to imitate as close as possible the hand position you have when you stand and lean yourself on the machine a little. So it will look very strange but hopefully will give me exactly that feeling 😂. In combination with that I will mount the flipper-buttons, also the ones for magna-save-use and for sure to buttons to push the machine from both sides. Is there already a built in physically push & tilt-sensor or do use the one the system emulates?

It seems that the component you used should give me all the possibilities the corresponding hardware (plunger, buttons, magna save, start- and coin-button) needs, does it?! Can you give me an estimated price overview for all the buttons and the little mainboard, at least just a rough one?

 

Yes - the subwoofer under the desk makes sense - here some details on my setup (see pictures enclosed).

2x 100W-Rockwood-Shakers (each 20€), 1x Nobsound amplifier (you can connect this directly via USB, but I do not use this option, therefore I think that there exists a cheaper solution also = 40 €) and the cable.

 

Curious to hear from you.

Einstweilen viele gute Grüße

Klaus

 

 

Edited April 24, 2025 by Calafati

[TR2N]

Sorry for my late reply, we were on the road the last days. Will write you a PM. 

[griffindodd]

Adjusting player Z in Window mode will give you the most impact on the depth of the table. As people have pointed out before keeping the apron will result in either a slightly stretched X axis, or you can pull it in a little at the sides depending on preference. It took me a lot of trial and error to settle on settings that balanced out depth, scale and screen usage but once you get something you like it becomes pretty easy to apply it to most tables.

 

Also make sure you aren't moving your physical playing position too much, even couple of inches difference in your eye-height with relation to your screen and angle will have significant effect on the perceived depth. 

 

I try and aim for a visual depth of about 20cm at the back of the playfield, hard to capture on camera, even here this picture looks flatter than standing in the play position.

Edited May 23, 2025 by griffindodd

[TR2N]

So, I screwed a lot on my Pivot desktop 16:9 POVs lately. If someone wants them I can upload the ini files here. 

 

The goal was to get a descent and realistic looking perspective, using as much space as possible, and to get a good gameplay at least. The DMD is located on my second monitor in my case.

Some work was done using suggestions from Claude Ai, feeding the context with pictures and dimensions / settings from different tables. 

 

Here are some examples:

 

 

 

More examples here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/fcaNKNNFGvCtk6fTA

Edited July 19, 2025 by TR2N

[GeorgeH]

I agree that a portrait view looks good on a desktop PC.  I don't know if you are interested in Future Pinball but your set up reminds me of the set up I create for all my table mods although I don't have a pinball controller like you have.  I have a single monitor so I create a version of the table with a view that has a portrait shape but includes the DMD at the top of the screen.  I add it to every table I post.  I posted a link to my last posting below.  The downloads include other versions of the table but look for the version I call "Rotated Display".  I always include a screen shot of it on every posting.  I am sure it would look good on your setup.  I wrote a guide on how to install and set up Future Pinball that I linked below also.

 

My guide is here:

 

https://pinballnirvana.com/forums/threads/georges-installation-and-setup-guide-for-future-pinball-and-bam-beginners-start-here.20851/

[TR2N]

Including a pivot desktop preset is very clever! 🙂

 

Hmm, maybe I will try to use the DMD also above the playfield. Worse a try. Thank you for your input @GeorgeH! 

Edited July 19, 2025 by TR2N