Please Help! New member and Atgames VP owner! Thanks!

[Wavemaster1]

Hello all, new to the forum and this new age of VP. I just purchased a Atgames Legends Pinball machine at Sam's Club (on sale after christmas, stashed in the back, open in parts on a flat cart w/ a small bag of bolts & key, for a killer deal)! Got it home, put everything together, with no instructions and soldered a few wires. Fired it up and worked perfect! Pretty stoked, I must say for what it is! Way better than expected as I've owned the OG Dracula, Tales from the Crypt, Frankenstein, Freddy and Elvira (and a few more; had to sell them due to 4 expensive daughters!) coin op pinball machines in the past.

 

So here's my dilemma.. I was searching for a Dracula pinball upgrade for my new Atgames VP and found one on youtube at Digital Victory channel. The cool dude got back to me and said his Atgames pinball Legends is connected via OTG mode and a PC for the Dracula game. He also suggested I come here to check things out.

 

I looked around this site and couldn't find it and finally found Mary Shelley's Frankenstein 1995 v1.22.vpx (yes!) and downloaded it to my PC. I cant for the life of me open it! Tried many programs with no luck!

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated on how to open the file and how to connect my PC to the Atgames pinball machine!

 

Thank you so much in advance! Please go easy on me, I'm new to forums.. Smile!

 

Take care!

 

 

Edited December 30, 2022 by Wavemaster1

[Dazz]

I'm not familiar with the AtGames machines, but we have a forum for it.  Not sure if it's very active or not.
 https://vpuniverse.com/forums/forum/171-arcade-1up-atgames-legends-modding/

As far as running Visual Pinball... Search Youtube and watch a couple videos.  There are several different pieces or software required.  You need Visual Pinball, PinMAME, ROM, and the Table at a minimum. Starting fresh; I'd strongly suggest downloading the Pinup Popper Baller Installer.  Install that as it will get all of the different required pieces of software installed and running quickly.

https://www.nailbuster.com/wikipinup/doku.php?id=baller_installer

[Wavemaster1]

Thanks for the reply and info, I really appreciate it!

 

This is a lot take in and way more than I anticipated.

 

I was on ebay and saw a guy selling over 300 games for this Argames pinball for $199.00. Also saw a guy on craigslist selling total setup, installation and over 400 pinball games for $549.00.

 

I did see on this websites disclaimer that any games sold is illegal and ripping off creators and I will never go with that option now that I know!

 

I will do my diligence and hopefully make it happen myself! Big Smile!

 

Thanks again for your advice and help as I do appreciate it! I need all the help I can get!

 

Take care!

 

P.S. My 2 younger daughters are loving this pinball as well! Stoked!

[xenonph]

3 hours ago, Wavemaster1 said:

I was on ebay and saw a guy selling over 300 games for this Argames pinball for $199.00. Also saw a guy on craigslist selling total setup, installation and over 400 pinball games for $549.00.

 

I did see on this websites disclaimer that any games sold is illegal and ripping off creators and I will never go with that option now that I know!

 

That is exactly why that disclaimer is posted.

Why pay for something that is free?

I bet alot of people feel like idiots when they find out everything they just payed alot of money for, they could have gotten for free.

Not only that, but there are many in this community who are dedicated to helping others with any problems they come across.

All for free.

Best community ever!!

Carry on.

 

[goodtwist]

3 hours ago, Wavemaster1 said:

I will do my diligence and hopefully make it happen myself! Big Smile!

Welcome! Glad you are stoked! As mentioned by others stay away from all those rip-offs.  This is the best video I know of for getting this FREE  collection of software "VPX" and a front-end  "pinup popper" installed.

 

[Dazz]

People see those paid drives and large pack downloads as a way to get started quickly… packs are fine for other ROM driven hobbies, such as MAME where you just drop a folder in and go. Pinball is a completely different beast. Pre-installed drives and large pack downloads complicate things quite a bit. It’s much more difficult and overwhelming dealing with any amount of files. Each table really needs to be configured individually and everyone’s setup can be different. There is no “one-size fits all” when it comes to pinball simulation.

 

I’ve been in this hobby for 20+ years with pinball simulation… I know the software quite well and know how to setup tables. To this day; I don’t work with more than a handful of tables at a time. 
 

Save yourself the money and headaches; stay away from Pre-installed setup and pack downloads. Download only the files needed to setup one or two games. Get them setup and running then add games on an individual basis.

[hcj13]

Look for Wagner tech talk on YouTube for tutorial on OTG with Atgames for VPX install. Major frenchy also is modding an atgames with YouTube videos

[Wavemaster1]

I want to say a BIG thank you to all of you that have responded! I appreciate it more than you know!  You guys are so helpful and cool! I really do appreciate it! I'm going to give it a go and make it happen(I hope..) Can't win if you don't play! Also a big thanks to all that have created this content, games, information and made it available for everyone to enjoy! Huge props to you all! I so want to play Dracula again! Happy New Year!!!

[marccy1138]

Stay away from the pack folks. I started with Pinball Emporium when I got my ALP. It has a pack but candidly I didn’t learn anything until I went on my own in pinup popper, etc. pack folks are making money off of creators who do this as a hobby (I didn’t know what I didn’t know back then but I definitely understand now). The hobby has a tough learning curve but the community always has folks willing g to help! 

[Curse]

16 hours ago, marccy1138 said:

Stay away from the pack folks. I started with Pinball Emporium when I got my ALP. It has a pack but candidly I didn’t learn anything until I went on my own in pinup popper, etc. pack folks are making money off of creators who do this as a hobby (I didn’t know what I didn’t know back then but I definitely understand now). The hobby has a tough learning curve but the community always has folks willing g to help! 

 

I started with Pinball Emporium as well and ended up learning how all that worked so I could start adding my own tables. Eventually, I bailed out of all that in favor of Pinup Popper, started over, and from there a whole world opened up to me. So I would say in my case, PE got me interested in what vpin was all about, then actually inspired me to dive deeper into the hobby and try better alternatives. I have learned an absolute TON in the past few years. I would recommend the OP look into Pinup Popper and watch a Wagner Tech Talk on how to get that setup with the Legends Pinball Cab. If you are going to invest time into learning the hobby, you might as well do it right! It can be overwhelming at first, but hang in there because it is absolutely worth it and this community is THE best.

Cheers and good luck Wavemaster1!

[Freeeagle50]

I just recently bought an ALP watched all the Wagner Videos, Nail Buster, Way of the Wrench ect. Installed the Pinup Popper Baller Installer and when I download a table or what I think it is a table from this site and try to open the files in baller installer I always get some kind of error message BS2 or what ever. The computer I bought is a brand new gaming computer with windows eleven. I have been trying to download tables for about 2 weeks now and still nothing. It is getting very frustrating and about throw in the towel. And yes I have been shutting off the Antivirus program and frequently rebooting. Any help appreciated. Thanks in advance

[Hompie]

On 1/20/2023 at 4:23 PM, Freeeagle50 said:

I just recently bought an ALP watched all the Wagner Videos, Nail Buster, Way of the Wrench ect. Installed the Pinup Popper Baller Installer and when I download a table or what I think it is a table from this site and try to open the files in baller installer I always get some kind of error message BS2 or what ever. The computer I bought is a brand new gaming computer with windows eleven. I have been trying to download tables for about 2 weeks now and still nothing. It is getting very frustrating and about throw in the towel. And yes I have been shutting off the Antivirus program and frequently rebooting. Any help appreciated. Thanks in advance

Im in the same boat...

[JoeBowler]

Hello, I too have recently got an Atgames Legends Pinball (ALP) this past Christmas.  I was able to get the virtual pinballs to work with my ALP.  Let me see if I can help you.  Figure out where you two are getting stuck at.

1.)  Can you view your computer on your Pinball machine?

    You've properly connected an HDMI cable and an OTG USB cable between the Pinball machine and your PC?
 

2.)  You've downloaded the baller installer from the Facebook group or the Discord Virtual Pinball Chat group?   Then ran the baller installer program with your antivirus disabled and still had an Internet connection?

 

3.) You followed Wagner's tech talk ALP Pinup Popper Baller Installer Setup (VPX/Future Pinball) Instructions?

    Note: I did this step while connected to the pinball machine and configured it per the instructions (Did you install joytokey?)

        After this initial setup you can install additional tables without having to be connected to your pinball machine.  Only connect when you want to play then on the machine.

 

4.)  If you've done steps 1 to 3 can you view and play the 2 included games?  Leprechaun King and Retroflair - BAM Edition?

 

If you've gotten this far you're doing good and got through the initial setup.

 

Installing a new table can be very easy but.... they're not always easy 😞 .  In it's simplest form, you download a VPX table from here (You have to sign up though) ; unzip and copy the filename.vpx and filename.directb2s to the tables folder (C:\vPinball\VisualPinball\Tables)  Then you have to use the PinUP Popper Config program to configure it.  Plus, you have to ensure you add it to your playlist (Playlist Config button, then your new pinball game should be on the right side column.  Click on <-- Add Game(s).

 

Unfortunately this is a little bit simplified but is the gist of  it.  Take a look at Wagner's instructions here.

 

In addition to those 2 files I mentioned above, many times you will also need the rom file.  That's usually a separate download.  Usually the page for the table download tells you what rom you need.  In addition when you try and start the game you'll get an error that will tell you the name of the rom that's missing.  In addition to needing the tables rom file some games will have additional files, such as media or music files that will need to be put in a specific folder for the media and music.   Iron Maiden is a good example of this and the media files are included with the table download.  Also, the Iron Maiden table doesn't require a rom download.   (This might be a good table to setup as your 2nd table.)

 

For you first table install I suggest the Pink Floyd table.  It includes the .vpx file and the rom file.  The rom file goes in this folder (C:\vPinball\VisualPinball\VPinMAME\roms)

 

Let me know if you've gotten this far and we can pick up the troubleshooting from here. 

 

Regards,

Edited February 24, 2023 by JoeBowler