VPW’s stance on table packs

[Frank_Enstein]

Signed as well. 

I would kindly appreciate it if people restrained from paying for table packs or in any way supporting the folks that steal tables we build for the love of the community, in order to make personal profit. 

At the end of the day it just discourages creators from doing the work

[pacboy]

Respect.

[iaakki]

Signed

 

Edit: VPW's purpose was not ever to make releases. Aim was to help and assist other authors to be able to make better releases with better quality. So it is a bit weird why this is needed, but surely no one should take benefit from others work. 

[freezy]

Signed

[LordTheRon]

Fully agree! Collecting tables and going through some hardship to get everything up and running was a big part of the fun for me. It lead me to meet so many great people in this community. People have been incredibly helpful and now I'm able to help out others. The quality of the content these creators produce has been absolutely amazing. Every time something new release I'm in awe with the talented people this community has. 

 

Big thanks to all creators.

[neil81992]

First of all, I assume that anyone who has been involved in this hobby for any length of time understands the immorality and futility of paying for table packs. If you end up paying pack providers money for something that's available for free online, then you're either naive or an idiot. And the continual updates to tables and VP software ensure that purchasers of said packs will immediately have out-of-date resources and miss out on the ever-improving software available from that point on. I assume table packs are purchased by people completely new to the hobby who are under the illusion that VP emulation is incredibly complicated. The reality is that it's not - and the tinkering is also half of the fun.

 

Secondly, It's disappointing to read some creators feeling unappreciated and disillusioned by those who enjoy the benefits of their hard work and aren't creators. I, for one, am hugely appreciative of all creators and the work involved, and forever indebted for the work that is shared for free (as well as all the updates and continuing support). I try and give a little back by contributing to the site, donating beer money when I can, and trying to leave likes and reviews when possible. I can tell by the comments that I'm not alone in appreciating everything that the hugely talented creators provide and I hope that creators do understand that their hard work is leading to great joy for lots and lots people across the globe. 

 

We live in a world where there are always going to be those who are selfish and ungrateful, and those who won't think twice about trying to make money off the back of other people's hard work. I would just implore all the talent in this community to focus on the enjoyment they get from the hobby, and from the hundreds and hundreds of people who lives are being made that little bit better due to this hobby and your creations.  

[Schlabber34]

It's not so much about feeling unappreciated, it's more like the feeling that you have been robbed! This also goes for sideblade mods, "lighting enhancements" and "more realistic physics". What do those people think? That a VPW table was done by a bunch Bowling players who once saw a pinball table in a comercial? If i do a table i make sure that at least 2-3 owners of real pins and turnament players test the table and give feedback. And you think your physics are better? 10hrs for a sideblade mod with "enhanced lighting" compared to 300+ hrs for the original creators and they get a "Great mod! Exactly what the table needed! Plays and looks so much better!"? Fuck no! And i don't even care if it's updated through the patching system.

 

For all of you who want to do a mod out there, do it like @burger did. Ask for permission to update the original table and work your butt off like Burger did to make it a 2.0 version including VR! That's a mod!! He had the idea and worked with me on my table and let me upload it under my name. I can remember my first try to sell HauntFreaks a lighting mod of one of his tables. From this day on i knew the unwritten rules of modding! 🤣

 

And yes, selling table packs could easily be the end of this hobby. And then we would be forced to go underground.

 

 

 

1 hour ago, neil81992 said:

First of all, I assume that anyone who has been involved in this hobby for any length of time understands the immorality and futility of paying for table packs. If you end up paying pack providers money for something that's available for free online, then you're either naive or an idiot. And the continual updates to tables and VP software ensure that purchasers of said packs will immediately have out-of-date resources and miss out on the ever-improving software available from that point on. I assume table packs are purchased by people completely new to the hobby who are under the illusion that VP emulation is incredibly complicated. The reality is that it's not - and the tinkering is also half of the fun.

 

Secondly, It's disappointing to read some creators feeling unappreciated and disillusioned by those who enjoy the benefits of their hard work and aren't creators. I, for one, am hugely appreciative of all creators and the work involved, and forever indebted for the work that is shared for free (as well as all the updates and continuing support). I try and give a little back by contributing to the site, donating beer money when I can, and trying to leave likes and reviews when possible. I can tell by the comments that I'm not alone in appreciating everything that the hugely talented creators provide and I hope that creators do understand that their hard work is leading to great joy for lots and lots people across the globe. 

 

We live in a world where there are always going to be those who are selfish and ungrateful, and those who won't think twice about trying to make money off the back of other people's hard work. I would just implore all the talent in this community to focus on the enjoyment they get from the hobby, and from the hundreds and hundreds of people who lives are being made that little bit better due to this hobby and your creations.  

 

[bhampster91]

Signed

 

I'll chime in I'm not a creator. I'm new here.  I certainly would like to build a table someday and share it. I discovered the VPX a few months ago and was in a mad rush to build a cab for my kids to play when they were home on holiday break.  It was already December when I started unpacking my flat pack and I stressed a lot about having to order parts late.  It was a mad dash to the first finish line making something play-able. I benefited a ton from this site and VPForums and Pinball Nirvana as well as many tutorials online. 

 

I have seen something like the table pack problem with Mame.  A lot of people don't mind selling things that don't belong to them.  I have a Ms Pac Man 40th Arcade 1up that I modified but not for thousands or games just for a few I am nostalgic about. Probably around 50 total. 

 

I'm really enjoying VPX and I hope to continue to be able to find and update tables. 

 

Greed rules most of the world these days so good luck to all. 

 

[Lotso]

14 hours ago, hauntfreaks said:

I'll say what I been saying for years.... the hobby should go underground.... there might be, 200ish people that deserve anything creator , create... 99.99999999999% are just leeches.... and deserve nothing, at all....IMO

Proof: heres the easiest way to see how the general community feels about any of this.... 99.99999999% dont give a fuck.... go on VPF.... go to a bogus upload that was stolen from someone that didnt want there stuff on VPF..... then read the comments.... then you will see how... close to all the community cares less.... I'll save you all the time... they dont give a fuck... its all give me... give me.. give me.... no matter how i can get it for free...   truth hurts... facts dont lie... 

"Proof: here's the easiest way to see how the general community feels about any of this.... 99.99999999% dont give a fuck.... go on VPF" 

 

Even easier, just look at how many commenters are supporting members?  I would be curious to known how many VPU actually has. Not saying everyone needs to be one, but says alot to me.

[RepairDan57]

Please don't wreck the best hobby I ever had! I love pinball. This is the next best thing for me.

[PopArt71]

For me, part of the fun in this hobby is browsing this site, downloading all the good stuff and then spend a sunday to install it all.

I don't see the fun in an all-in-one package. Plus I like to know the creators behind it, how else would I know that HauntFreaks, VPW, Wildman, LoadedWeapon, UncePaulie (just to name a few, but I love y'all) are the names to look for. The names that spell quality, involvement and creativity. You know the feeling when you see a new VPW upload, don't you? 😛

 

So, boo to these sellers of AIO packages. People, please get involved in this community...don't just grab and run. It will be more rewarding, I promise.

 

And THANK YOU to all the creative creators (lol) out there to keep this hobby fresh and entertaining for (hopefully) many years to come! 

[teisen]

Fully supported!

There's no way to thank you enough for all the dedication and hours spent on this work... my sincerest thanks!

[Curse]

The way I see it and what I tell people is, if you want to play the cool pinball stuff that all these awesome creators make for the love of pinball, you better be willing to invest the time into learning things, or you will inevitably crash and burn. I know a lot of you here are super talented, so it may seem like it's easy at this point, but learning the systems, the quirks and just how things function together in general, from a usability standpoint is still quite a hurdle for a lot of new players, regardless if they are able to run something like Baller to get it up and running in a more convenient way. Things will break for sure or just not work right for a million different reasons and then those packs you "bought" won't really matter all that much. So if someone ever tells me they found some "guy" selling a pre-made set up with a bunch of tables included, I tell them if you are not willing to learn for yourself, to understand how things function, then you might as well just burn your money now because your pinball experience will be short lived. 🤣

Edited January 5 by Curse

[rkader]

There's really no better way to put so all that's left for me is to follow the herd and sign it ipsis verbis
 

[Morpheusx74]

I totally agree ! 

 

Those assholes selling packs / making money of other ppls creations should be stoned.

 

I would hate to see it go underground, since I am in no way capable of doing amazing V-pin / VPX stuff like you guys, But I sure would understand.

 

In the meantime : Forever grateful for what you guys and Pinball-lovers like you give to the community, including ppl like me who are not tech-savvy at all 🙌 ❤️🤘

 

 

[BostonBuckeye]

Signed.

 

I fully support this. I want to take this chance to thank all of the creators for all of the amazing work you do. I have never nor will ever buy or sell table packs. I didn’t even realize this was becoming a problem. I hope everyone has a Happy New Year!

[Dazz]

I don't think I really need to state my stance on the issue... I believe that everyone here already knows what my stance is. This is something that I've been battling for over 30 years, ever since my early days with MAME and HyperSpin. I have been personally attacked and drug through the mud by people that think they have the rights to bundle/sell community created content. This site has reports that run daily, it shows me who is downloading what, the number of files someone is downloading hourly/daily/monthly. Systematic downloading of files is a great identifier of those that are abusing the systems and those that are possible seller/bundler accounts. There are several other things that I can do in the background, but overall it takes everyone in our community to educate the un-informed.  

The community has my whole 100% support.

[LaughingElephant]

16 hours ago, hauntfreaks said:

nah.... no way it would ever cease to exist... it would come down to a select group of people, and no outsiders that havent been extensively vetted.... anyone caught breaking the rules, GONE no questions asked... fuck the rest of everyone else 

I mean how many years will this have to come up... I've been fighting the good fight for over a decade.... and its never going to stop as it is....

like the saying goes.... “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results” ~Albert Einstein~

I always like your tables, and your encouragement to donate to charity. 

 

People in general are...pretty selfish.

 

Thank you and all the creators for what the work you do ❤️

[jrockrat]

We are blessed that all these content creators provide all that they do for this hobby. It blows me away with what we get to enjoy. Every time I show my setup to someone and show how amazing the tables and software are, people are amazed. I've called out "pack sellers" or people selling setups fully loaded whenever I see them. I try to make sure that people understand that those that do that are thieves. I don't have any great abilities when it comes to these tables but I have tried to contribute with some loading videos, etc. just to do what I can where I can to contribute to the hobby. Thank you to all the content creators. 

[sonicbox]

Mi respeto total para los creadores de este maravilloso hobby!
Por mi parte creo que el 50% de la diversion esta en instalar, configurar, optimizar, actualizar una y otra vez el hardware y software, no se me ocurriria pagar por algo que es gratis y pasar a llevar a los que trabajan en hacer realidad este juego que me lleva a la infancia y me da horas y horas de diversion junto a mi familia y amigos.
Muchas gracias a todos los creadores y respeto eterno! 

 

[UltraMagnus]

So I like many others got into from playing Zen pinball about 15 years ago and I had first heard of Future Pinball, Which I had a hard time setting up and eventually that that led me here to VPX. I was amazed at the quality of everything and couldn't believe that it was all free. If you guys had charge the money I probably still would have purchased quite a few of the same tables that I was able to obtain for free simply because the community is about sharing Why else would you guys do this you guys could have your own exclusive behind the scenes ring only share with each other but you're spreading the joy of pinball and it has gotten me through some extremely rough times and it has taught me a lot about The immense Talent, Dedication effort and for some of us like myself that lack a lot of scripting and computer skills A huge learning curve but in the process of getting everything up and running I have learned a lot not only about pinball but the behind the scenes stuff and I learn new stuff every day and keeps me on my and honestly there were times in the very beginning that I was extremely tempted to just throw in the towel and start looking on eBay for a pack seller But I the contempt that not only all of you would have felt for me doing so but I also would not have respected myself in doing so. I thank each and everyone of you in this for providing me with not only the beautiful artwork awesome sounds and incredible physics but for teaching me something new every single day is like Christmas I come here and I check my notifications at least five to 10 times a day every time I a new I can't explain the excitement and joy That I feel. So even though a lot of you don't know me my name is Chris I hope to get to know you guys more over the next few years and I will be learning as much as I can behind the scenes and hopefully I will be able to also provide And contribute in any way possible one day!

[KiwiBri]

100 Percent agree  @VPinWorkshop

 

 

 

[xenonph]

On 1/4/2026 at 2:00 PM, VPinWorkshop said:

VPin Workshop does not support acquiring our tables through pre-downloaded table packs, especially when any fee is required. Tables and related resources in this community are created by volunteers who collectively spend thousands of hours producing high-quality content and sharing it for free. If you pay for that content in any form, you are being scammed. You are paying for freeware while bypassing and disrespecting the creators and the community that make it possible. Any pack seller claiming otherwise is exploiting the system for personal gain.

 

Virtual pinball is now more accessible than ever. In the past, setting up a system required significant time and effort. Today, tools like Baller Installer can get you running in minutes, and countless tutorials exist to help with basics such as downloading and installing tables. Learning these simple processes keeps you up to date, involved, and invested in the hobby. We encourage everyone to put in that small effort and to help others do the same. Pack sellers can only exist if pack buyers continue to support them.

 

Thank you for supporting the community.

 

This has always been the communities stance on people who sell table packs or preloaded cabinets.

There is always an idiot out there trying to make money on the communities work.

Like @Dazz says he has been battling this for 30 years.

Remember that one idiot from Australia who sold preloaded cabinets, and he ended up ripping alot of people off.

I actually contacted the person who made the bass.dll that VP uses, and explained to them that this person is making money with your bass.dll, which is prohibited.

Not sure if they did anything, but was only thing I could think of to maybe help stop this idiot.

 

If someone does find one of these idiots sites, it is best to not share the link in forums.

No need to help advertise for them.

 

Long live the community!

Carry on.

[hauntfreaks]

12 hours ago, bhampster91 said:

Signed

I'll chime in I'm not a creator. I'm new here.  I certainly would like to build a table someday and share it. I discovered the VPX a few months ago and was in a mad rush to build a cab for my kids to play when they were home on holiday break.  It was already December when I started unpacking my flat pack and I stressed a lot about having to order parts late.  It was a mad dash to the first finish line making something play-able. I benefited a ton from this site and VPForums and Pinball Nirvana as well as many tutorials online. 

I have seen something like the table pack problem with Mame.  A lot of people don't mind selling things that don't belong to them.  I have a Ms Pac Man 40th Arcade 1up that I modified but not for thousands or games just for a few I am nostalgic about. Probably around 50 total. 

I'm really enjoying VPX and I hope to continue to be able to find and update tables. 

Greed rules most of the world these days so good luck to all. 

as for mame... its just like VPX in one way, it should NEVER be sold.... as for mame having packs to download for free, I have ZERO issues with mame having those ...personally I have DLed tons of mame packs

heres the difference,.. mame are large companies files, that 99.99% are defunct games, that were built in the 70's,80's,90's... they were bought and paid for many many many years ago... so FUCK those old ass companies 

VP is a different animal all together, what we build are pretty pictures that are playable, the end.... nothing more.... BUT WE ARE JUST PEOPLE DOING WHAT WE LOVE, AND SHARE IT FOR FREE....

many of you might not remember the dickbag that was on shark tank hocking VP cabs, that were loaded with out content.... the cabs were stolen designs from the community.... so this has been going on for the 12yrs I been around

this also goes for most of the hardware sellers that jumped on the bandwagon to rape VP users with this absorbent prices.... before someone screams CAPITALISM, fuck off.... so anyway this goes deeper then just packs...

[Dazz]

35 minutes ago, hauntfreaks said:

as for mame... its just like VPX in one way, it should NEVER be sold.... as for mame having packs to download for free, I have ZERO issues with mame having those ...personally I have DLed tons of mame packs

heres the difference,.. mame are large companies files, that 99.99% are defunct games, that were built in the 70's,80's,90's... they were bought and paid for many many many years ago... so FUCK those old ass companies 

VP is a different animal all together, what we build are pretty pictures that are playable, the end.... nothing more.... BUT WE ARE JUST PEOPLE DOING WHAT WE LOVE, AND SHARE IT FOR FREE....

many of you might not remember the dickbag that was on shark tank hocking VP cabs, that were loaded with out content.... the cabs were stolen designs from the community.... so this has been going on for the 12yrs I been around

this also goes for most of the hardware sellers that jumped on the bandwagon to rape VP users with this absorbent prices.... before someone screams CAPITALISM, fuck off.... so anyway this goes deeper then just packs...

MAME and console ROMs are different from what we do for one reason... The only effort that anyone does for MAME or console ROMs is dumping the ROMs.  I've personally dumped hundreds of arcade boards and game carts over the years. Dumps in which are still being shared and used today. People should NOT be selling them, but bulk downloads of those I see no issue with. Many of the companies are gone, and/or the consoles are long obsolete.

Pinball simulation is a completely different beast... It takes hundreds of hours just to do a single re-creation. The people in our community that create this content spend their own time collecting resources, re-drawing, 3d modeling, coding, etc.  None of which are necessary with MAME/Console ROM collecting.