Analog Plunger Patch Request Topic

[DJRobX]

This is a new topic for people to request VPU patches for tables to add analog plunger support to existing tables.   Hopefully we can build up a nice library of patches for this! 

 

When making requests, please include a link to the original un-modified table that you're hoping to have support added for.     

 

 

[lightpin]

This is a great idea!

[ArkMalmeida]

Thanks for making this DJRob!  I'll be starting the process of going through the tables soon and this will be a huge help!

[ElRato]

Great idea.  I'm going through my cab tables now to help with the process.  I don't have links, but all tables were downloaded either from here or that other place that starts with VP, all are the Full Screen versions, and all should be current as of March of this year:

 

The Addam's Family

Alien Poker

Amazing Spider-Man (Gottlieb 1980)

Baseball (Gottlieb 1970)

Batman (Data-East)

Big Game

Black Pyramid

Brave Team

Checkpoint

Dark Rider

Devil Riders

Dr. Dude

Earthshaker

Faeton

Far Out

Fireball

Firepower

Firepower II

Flash Gordon

Four Million BC

Frontier

Future Spa

 

All I have had time to check so far, will add more later. 

[Dazz]

BTW - it is ok to mention VPForums.org here. We aren't the ones that are afraid of any kind of competition nor do we have issues with other sites...

[ArkMalmeida]

So what's the best way to do this?  I used to code for a living so I'm sure that I'm capable of helping out in building a library once I initially learn how to get a plunger going.  For those that have gone through the process already, do you have a standard plunger that you use for all machines?  A different one for each manufacturer, or era?

[DJRobX]

If you used to code you will have no problem with this once you figure out the different patterns. 

 

When you look at a table without plunger support, you have to figure out how the table's current plunger works.  It's never specific to manufacturer or era, it's more specific to the table author and how he/she prefers to implement the plunger on their table.

 

a) The most basic, easy tables are ones that use VP's built in plunger.  Only recently did VP's plunger start to look acceptable with the modern plunger object.   Usually it's some fat ugly gray thing.   If you see it all you need to do is check "enable electromechanical plunger" and you're done.   You may need to play around with mech strength value to make it feel right.

 

b ) The next stage are tables that use VP's built in plunger, but are checked to be invisible.    With these, again you can check "enable electromechanical plunger" to get the ball to launch - BUT - you won't see the plunger animate.     For these you'll typically want to enable a timer (usually in the plunger itself, set to 40ms or so), and then in the Plunger_Timer function, read the plunger position and adjust the animation frames to match.   There's usually a "ptime_timer" function on these that handle the plunger pullback, so you'll have some reference code to start with.   There are some gotchyas here depending on the type of animation used though - some animations were originally only designed to go from front-to-back so it takes additional code to make the plunger object seek to any arbitrary position.

 

c) The final, most complex type are those that use impulse plungers, and don't use VP's plunger at all.   There are two approaches to these - 1) Add an invisible plunger in the appropriate spot to where it will contact the ball, essentially converting the table into a "b" type above.     You'll still need to implement the animation code.    2) Add an invisible plunger object OFF the table.    Implement animations (as in type b ), but also use Koadic's plunger code that analyzes the position of your plunger and launches the impulse plunger when you release.  

 

General consensus is that the Koadic's code along with an impulse plunger produces a more predictable plunge.    I personally prefer the native launcher.  For me it feels a lot more responsive and natural, but I didn't figure out good settings for these until long after I'd used variant's of Koadic's code in most of my tables.  Implementing a native plunger where there wasn't one before also requires more trial-and-error to position it right and figure out the strengths.

 

I've given you the three major types of tables and how to add analog plunger support, but for B and C) table types there are also a bunch of different types of plunger animations.    It'll be easier to discuss those as you encounter them.

[ArkMalmeida]

Thanks DJRobX!  Great explanation and a good place to start.  I'll be digging in little by little this week to see how each table is implementing the plunger.

[SirCheddar]

I personally prefer the native launcher.  For me it feels a lot more responsive and natural, but I didn't figure out good settings for these until long after I'd used variant's of Koadic's code in most of my tables.

 

I agree with that. I like the native plunger object better, it gives better results when plunging softly. It gives much better results when people test the function of the plunger for the fist time, in my experience most people pull the plunger all out and inch it back to parking position. In this scenario the native plunger shows the right behavior and hardly nudges the ball while impulse launchers give it a kick and send it on the playfield.

[DJRobX]

Yeah I think the native plunger gets a bad rap because it can be fickle to position. UW's new fire table is a great example. Something's really off and I haven't found the perfect setting to make skill shots. It either is flat or hits the skill area at maximum speed.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Guest Blashyrk]

What's the status on this project?