Jump to content

Welcome home VPinball Refugees


Recommended Posts

  • Content Provider

@JFR1Yes I did see you talk to Fren about it but @gtxjoeand I were talking about fire button support and i saw that table.  Never heard of it before and it needs an update.

 

I would love to see all these guys bring the tutorials over here. I would love to get the sound stuff from you when you get time. Nfozzys physics too but I need the tutorial for that

 

i really defended Randr on FB but after a conversation with him today I don’t see him giving in any time soon.  I hate these fuckers sell the tables too but the argument that they are clogging the system is BS.  I have pretty much every table.  If I wanted to, I could clone my HD and start selling them and never bother VPB again.  The problem I see, this hobby has grown very large, maybe too large.  There are thousands on VPB alone and probably 3-5% give anything back.  I suggested he take all the members of VPB that have contributed and grandfather them into the “Club”, then make it an invitation based entry system so all these scammers and moochers couldn’t get in.  In 3 years, I would probably have invited 3 people in, 1 of which was @mlager8, so we can still invite quality people in and only ones we trust.  I know Matt isn’t selling hard drives and if I found out he was we could give him the boot


as a site owner, what do you think @Dazz. But it doesn’t matter anyways because he lost my business over there

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Content Provider

@JFR1  @bord I played Eager beaver today for the first time.  It’s been in my list to add and finally got around to it.  Reminds me a lot of Magic City.  The only issue I had to fix was the materials on the flippers but there is a chrome in the material list and they look phenomenal.  Really like that table too

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Content Provider

Hi Everyone...there is a way to see some of the forums post from VPinball.  Google search "archive wayback".  You can then search for the website VPinball.  The last good date it was crawled was February 13, 2021.  You can view the forum post that do not contain links.  You can see the file downloads and most of the images but...of course...you cannot download anything.  I am not sure how complete it is....but it may help.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, ARMYAVIATION said:

@JFR1Yes I did see you talk to Fren about it but @gtxjoeand I were talking about fire button support and i saw that table.  Never heard of it before and it needs an update.

 

I would love to see all these guys bring the tutorials over here. I would love to get the sound stuff from you when you get time. Nfozzys physics too but I need the tutorial for that

 

i really defended Randr on FB but after a conversation with him today I don’t see him giving in any time soon.  I hate these fuckers sell the tables too but the argument that they are clogging the system is BS.  I have pretty much every table.  If I wanted to, I could clone my HD and start selling them and never bother VPB again.  The problem I see, this hobby has grown very large, maybe too large.  There are thousands on VPB alone and probably 3-5% give anything back.  I suggested he take all the members of VPB that have contributed and grandfather them into the “Club”, then make it an invitation based entry system so all these scammers and moochers couldn’t get in.  In 3 years, I would probably have invited 3 people in, 1 of which was @mlager8, so we can still invite quality people in and only ones we trust.  I know Matt isn’t selling hard drives and if I found out he was we could give him the boot


as a site owner, what do you think @Dazz. But it doesn’t matter anyways because he lost my business over there

 

I suggested the invitation system around the time MB went down. If only members where given one invite each, I think it would actually be possible to keep the shitheads out. But, no one thought that was a good idea at that time. *sigh*

 

@ARMYAVIATION : You might be able to retrieve most of the tutorials you need by going here https://web.archive.org/web/20210213200724/https://vpinball.com/ - now, when a page is fully loaded. Just go to the browsers "File" and pick "Save page as". It will save the html and most of the required content that goes with it. I know it is not a perfect solution. But, it is kind of a working - workaround ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Content Provider

@Thalamusits too bad because it’s such a logical answer to the problem. It’s kinda like the political mess here in the US.  We have no money, people are out of work, and a dumbass president that is letting unlimited amounts of people in through the border and no screening.  Gonna lead to a mess, of course.  That’s what happened to VPB.  You don’t have a better site when you let everyone in, you just have a bigger one, and my wife always tells me, bigger is not always better, I have no clue why...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@ARMYAVIATION  I don't think the invite only solution you proposed will fix the issue.  I have only been in the hobby for two years, but I have seen many table authors come and go.  The advantage of having an open community is that you're able to attract others to the hobby and maybe one of those people will become content creators like yourself.  Even if all of the virtual pinball sites moved to the invite system, members would eventually share content outside of the sites.  You would also see people selling invites.  Kodi has a similar issue.  People sell hardware with Kodi software preinstalled with some third-party piracy add-ons as a device that you can watch all content for free.  Kodi doesn't allow them to do that or receive any money from those sales, but they look bad as an open-source community who condones/contributes to piracy.

 

On a personal note, if all of the virtual pinball sites were invite only, I and many others wouldn't even know about it.  I wouldn't have a cabinet.  I wouldn't be enjoying all of the awesome tables that people have created and shared.  My kids and their friends may have never given pinball a chance.  The youngest wouldn't have wanted to have his birthday party at Marvelous Marvin's Mechanical Museum so he and his friends could play real pinball for a few hours.  He didn't know much or care about computers either, but now he making little tweaks to tables for fun.  And that is all thanks to an open virtual pinball community.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That is bullshit. There is enough good people around to be able to keep the activity and fun alive. Newcomers would just have to upload to VPF or some other site. "That guy" would be taken notice of, and probably at one point get invited. If you are able to restrict the scums from getting hold of table and resources, they will eventually die away. But, right now - I can see that they already have too much good content to live of for years to come.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Thalamus  It's not bullshit.  I thought this was was a nice friendly open community and most people liked that.  I didn't realize that some people wanted to close the doors.  Not everyone has the skills to code or has the artistic ability to design tables, wheel, or backglasses.  So are you saying that if someone can't contribute to those things, then those people shouldn't be part of the community?  I'm not trying to be an asshole or derail this thread, I'm genuinely curious about your opinion on that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is a nice friendly community!!!  And it should be open to everyone.  Lately it has been about who you are.  The "Elites".  Who decides who gets a ticket to the new world.  If that's how it is going to be, shove your ticket.  

 

I came here to have fun and get into a hobby with good people.  Contribute what I can.  And that gets thrown in your face.  No wonder why people find it easier to just purchase packs.  Who wants to deal with this bullshit. 

 

Maybe Randr was right about "I feel this HOBBY has gone to a lot of peoples heads in a bad way! Its actually very sad to see and i'd even say embarrassing!"  I Kind of seeing where he is coming from lately.  

 

We are never going to get rid of the re-sellers. Never. We need to get over that fact and move on.  

 

Please be good to each other.  This is what this community should be about.  The people, not the content!!!!!

 

Just my rant.  Thanks for reading.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Content Provider

@ARMYAVIATION - right now, plans are up in the air as far as refreshing all of my tables (for those that got a chance to grab before VPB went down it changes gameplay immensly). I spent 3 hours thursday uploading updated tables (ony got to the letter K before I decided I needed a break) to find out 3 hours later the site was pulled. Let's just say it's not fun trying to upload nearly 200 tables anywhere. But you will find me here and at VPF. Eventually, I'll probably just dump my tables on a file share of some sorts with lots of popups and clickbait :) . 

 

-LM/Jeff

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Content Provider

@loserman76great to heard it.  I will get you the scans of magic city

 

to all the others, I understand @Thalamusbeing upset because I feel the same way.  The masses don’t make this hobby greater, they made it what it is, commercialized and in the spotlight to get taken down real quick.  Forgive me if I seem insensitive, it’s not my job to make everyone happy, to make people less depressed, to incentivize kids to play pinball more, it’s YOURS.  Just because I like guns and pinball games and flying, doesn’t mean that you should buy me a gun and a pinball game and an airplane just to make me happy.  We invited eneryone in, and a bunch of people fucked us.  4 years ago when Thalamus was around and you weren’t, he didn’t have this problem.  
VPF hosts any and all tables, good for them, but if I want a quality table I go to vpb, if I want a quality backglass I come here.  If I want a skittles table that has been updated 30 times and still looks like shit, I go there.  Why can’t we have a more exclusive CLUB, with all the best tables and only members who contribute, because you want them too, for free, and with no effort?????  That’s the American way and how’s that going for us??? We are so far in debt, our schools suck, we have the most people in prison of any country, but everyone is ......EQUAL.......

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Content Provider

I'd like to say hi to everyone here as well.  I've relatively new to the scene and mostly play VR now.  I've been doing a few VR conversions recently and hopefully will do more.  Glad to see things get moved somewhere!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@ARMYAVIATION  Since you called me out in public, I guess I have to respond.  I PMed you once in a response to your post to keep it from going off topic here.  I said my peace and was very civil about it.  A single response is okay, but multiple responses is weird man.  You can stop PMing me now.  There's someone like you on every forum.  That's why people like me don't post. 

 

Deathinclan pointed it out earlier, but you probably missed it, so here it is again.  The beginning of Randr's message was, "I feel this HOBBY has gone to a lot of peoples heads in a bad way! Its actually very sad to see and i'd even say embarrassing!"  I don't know personally know Randr, so maybe he wasn't specifically talking about you, but I would have to guess you're lumped in there. 

 

You can keeping talking, but I'm done with this man.  You're not worth my time. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Relax guys. What I've proposed isn't leaving anyone out, well, maybe for a short time until you get invited. But, there is no way around it. If you want to keep a few of your favorite authors around instead of them leaving this hobby. Some drastic changes has to be done to prevent the situatiation we're in right now. You come out like I'm a bad guy - geeeeez - get a grip. I'm simply suggesting a solution to a problem. I have no control over it. I'm have no powers in the deciding. You come at me like bees, because it would mean that you might, until someone can validate you as not being a scum is letting you in. Yes, I agree. It is fucking stupid, but, that is the only way I can see we are able to stop this fucking shit and I've even proposed it years ago.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Content Provider

and to one last point, i never called him out...... 

 

@Thalamus, i think i just need a drink tonight....

@loserman76 here is the first 3 plastic scanned from magic city.  i did it at 300dpi, with just the white background of the scanner.  let me know if you need it a different way.  I am still not done with my cab and thats what i design on so cant cut these out, but they are perfect. got lucky with this one.  Consider this my peace offering if anyone wants to invite me in the club...lol

Magic City 1.zip

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Content Provider

Gentlemen,

 

I admit...my contributions are small compared to others.  Many of you don't know me but I've been a member of these communities for almost 4 years.  At times...I was actually afraid to post anything for fear of ridicule.  I seen others chastised repeatedly on these forums for asking a simple question.  I have no idea...nor do I care if you believe my contributions are worthy or pure crap.  I do this for the fun of pinball and the joy it brings me personally.  I share what I do because I am just hoping to give back a little something to the community that has provide me with so much.

 

With that said....I don't agree with everything that has been said and I also don't have any fantastic idea on how to solve the problems that led to the shutdown of VPinball.  I wish I did. 

 

I do believe that everyone has a right to their opinions.  I believe everyone should be treated with respect no matter what their opinion is.  I believe there should be a system that protect the content creators from those that just download content and profit from their work.

 

The trick is how to identify those downloading to make a profit from those downloading because they are new and just want to learn the ways of the force.  Maybe this is a private invite only forum.  I don't know.  I believe that may help but it also may hurt.  Maybe a system like this where the table creators control who can and cannot download their tables.  This takes the work off of the forum moderators/owners and puts it on the table creators.  If the creator wants it open...that's their prerogative and anyone can download.

 

I mentioned a points system.  I noticed VPUniverse has reputation points and I like that.  My thought was this...if you provide content...you get points.  You use points to download content.  No points...no content.  Not all content is equal.  For example...a created table gives the highest points while simple forum post are the lowest.  Of course...not every created table is equal.  I know some make wonderful tables while others...well...we do our best.  But shouldn't this be encouraged.  I am sure those that create wonderful tables did not all start out this way.  It takes time and encouragement.  Not ridicule or being called out on forums.  Sometimes the golden rule applies...if you got nothing good to say...then say nothing at all.

 

Well...that's my two cents.  I am sure that these ideas will have issues.  I said at the beginning that I did not have any fantastic ideas to the issues at hand...and I meant it.  ?  Please feel free to ignore me if it pleases you.  I hope you have a blessed day and I wish nothing but the best for you...your family...this forum...and pinball.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
  • Create New...