Firepower Bmpr / Physmodv5 Hybrid Table

[jimmyfingers]

This is a Hybrid of my Firepower BMPR Mod from NFs / URs original Firepower table but blended with PhysMODv5 in attempts to get the best of both and make up a little for some nuances still with PhysMODv5 (Mod of a Mod).  In general, BMPR Mod tables (at least my versions of BMPR) are good PhysMODv5 staring points because, since the first PhysMOD versions, it's been required to modify table components and have higher elasticity and bumper / slingshot strength settings for example.  This has been something that I've been having to do in my BMPR Mods anyway because at the core of my modifications was increasing table friction to help the ball look weightier but using the actual BMPR routine to help compensate for the friction increases (and lower slope for lateral ball motion improvement).  Also, by doing these elasticity increases already with my BMPR mods, I had added / needed my dampening routines to the rubber objects groups for not having the ball bounce as hard / fast at higher collision speeds and these same routines are helpful in PhysMODv5 tables for similar reasons (although the new spin and friction models helps with this somewhat now too).

 

The flippers with PhysMODv5 are much improved with aim and interaction but backhands from the base / heel area of the flippers are a bit weak and have some difficulty representing the shots / angles that are attainable on comparable real tables / flipper setups (when keeping the flipper geometry - start / end angles - consistent with their real world counterparts).  This is an aspect that seems to have been mentioned by a few other people as well in the main PhysMOD topic / VP development topic.  These backhand / base shots are tougher when the ball is moving through the in-lane towards the flipper (especially with some speed) but also are experienced somewhat with the ball cradled and then shot from close to the base / heel.  In efforts to improve the backhand issue slightly the flippers are a little higher set for strength settings and I've crated a revised "FlipperDampener" routine and trigger size to assist with taking some speed off the ball but not doing so in the small area close to the corresponding flipper bases. However, unlike the previous routine(s), there is no alteration of trajectory disproportionately from the VelX and VelY values (i.e. does not mess with the nice aim of the PhysMOD flippers).

 

The BMPR routine used is based from the revised one implemented with the Centaur Table Fuzzel and I did.  It uses a faster timer but smaller values for the various augmenting equations, which themselves have been altered slightly in their formula (for side action, up table, and down table - MX, MYU, and MYD respectively).  It's mostly used in this table to allow for a lower table slope value that helps for more lateral ball movement that still seems not quite as realistic with PhysMOD alone as in the real world, especially for older generation SS and EM tables, despite the improvement from ball spin helping to carry the ball further than with native VP.  Would be nice to see if some of the future / proposed mass settings that were discussed ever can be implemented and the affects on the lateral motion / momentum of the ball.  Ultimately too, the way that rubbers interact with the ball on a real table (absorbing and compressing) would have some bearing on the angles / force of ball bounces and lateral game play aspects that maybe too some day can be incorporated into VP's physics

 

Other "helper" physics routines have been removed where possible and the original BMPR Firepower table had some for the left loop and top middle area that now are no longer needed thanks the the new physics of the PhysMOD v5  The rubber dampen routines I used have been modified to actually do the opposite at very low speeds and that is, with a currently crude implementation,.the ball actually gets a bit of a bounce boost for low speeds off of the rubbers.  This is to help mimic again the real life way that a ball can bounce frequently but minimally off of the top of a lane guide / rubber post but while not having to drop the PhysMOD table friction settings too low.  I have seen some tables released with very low PhysMODv5 friction setting and the result of any friction setting much below about .07 or .06 is that the ball is sliding much more on the table than actually rolling with the effects of ball spin on the PF itself becoming essentially nothing (this is easily observed on any table with very low PhysMOD friction settings by using the F11 key as you will see the ball move / pushed across the table but not have the green dots depict any rolling behaviour).

 

This tight relation with friction and ball spin / slide is another large part of the reason that the BMPR hybrid is helping out.  However, on this table I feel it's still a little "sticky" / tiny bit slow but not out of the realm of what someone's real Firepower table may be set to play as or in general for what a table of this generation would play like.

 

I've kept all the visuals identical as with the original BMPR Mod release except for enabling the built-in ball reflections and increasing the ball size to match better the table dimensions that were used (keeping it close so that better comparisons can be drawn from the two versions - and even the original from NF / UR).  Increasing the ball size can also have the appearance of slowing down game play / adding weight, which can help the look and feel at times but in this case may contribute to a little bit of the slower play.  I've come to think that it's not so much the ball size increase that seems to give it the look of more weight / less speed (even on VP9x tables) but more to do with the fact that a larger dimension / oversized table, which are the ones needing the ball size changes, requires the ball to travel further and as such while keeping the same space available on one's display effectively means the ball is not going as fast per inch of screen (a theory I'm still contemplating).  In any case, using the ability to increase the ball size seems to result in a heavier looking ball / slightly slower play.

 

Lastly, the big changes were in huge amounts of time spent trying to find the best blend of flipper settings for tricks and realism (not having the ball fly around the table from a flick or with a post pass that looks like it could rip the post off the table).  These refined flipper tricks and interaction were the subject of a video post I made last week that can be found here:

http://www.vpforums.org/index.php?showtopic=29166&hl=%2Bfirepower+%2Bbmpr

 

If anyone trying this table is not able to make some of the same flipper plays as in that video, especially the tap passes, then you may need to look at assessing / improving / overclocking your USB polling rate if your input devices are USB based.  I wrote another post on that topic here:

http://www.vpforums.org/index.php?showtopic=29207

 

It seems better to not post PhysMODv5 tables in the actual table release sections so, following a similar method, here is the link for a public download location:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/31270914/Firepower%20(PhysMODv5%20BMPR%20Hybrid).vpt

 

Enjoy and I hope people have a similar experience as I did playing this table that for me produced as close to the "real thing" as I've witnessed in VP to date.  Thanks too for the VP development team and the advancements they are facilitating from physics to graphics to ease of use.

[B2K24]

Thank You Jimmy for the very informative post.

 

Do you mind posting an actual PhysMODv5 build of VP from your Dropbox?

I'm confused about where to actually download it and the only information I can find is 1 build mixes registry settings and another keeps them separate somehow.

[gigalula]

Just tried it and I must say its really near to perfect... It's my own opinion but I like the way the ball react to flippers... Thanks

[jimmyfingers]

Thank You Jimmy for the very informative post.

 

Do you mind posting an actual PhysMODv5 build of VP from your Dropbox?

I'm confused about where to actually download it and the only information I can find is 1 build mixes registry settings and another keeps them separate somehow.

See this post over at VPF as it has links to everything PhysMOD:

http://www.vpforums.org/index.php?showtopic=28721&page=2#entry284632

 

Just tried it and I must say its really near to perfect... It's my own opinion but I like the way the ball react to flippers... Thanks

Thanks for the feedback, I think it's about as close to real as I've played in VP, however, even more tweaking with PhysMOD / VP10 physics is still required for the ultimate pinball simulation (some of the reasons and hopes from my perspective being in my first post above).

[thewool]

Hey there Jimmy, great mod and thanks for uploading!!!

 

Overall the table to me plays fast, but by that I don't mean unrealistically fast, just fast which is good. Like a well maintained table setup for a competition. The only element which feels a bit unnatural to me is the rebound off the 6 firepower targets directly in front of the flippers. On my setup the ball actually accelerates rather than have some speed shaved off from the impact. That aside I love it and am off now to play it some more... Cheers!