General Question About Modding Existing Rules

[Krentz]

I’m just getting started looking into creating and modding tables. I have watched a few tutorials about how to use the editor, edit tables, access the scripts, etc., so I’m wanting to dive in on a project. The first project I am wanting to do is to modify the rules for Gottlieb Genie to match the updated Pascal board rules since I have one of those and prefer the updated Pascal rules and lighting effects. However I have hit a bit of a wall.

 

Looking over the script that was included with the table I downloaded, I see a lot of code for physics, code for flippers and key mapping, code for sounds, but I don’t actually see the game logic anywhere. Am I looking in the wrong place? Is the game logic controlled by the ROM? It’s pretty difficult to modify a ROM, right? Are there way to “override” game rules through the script? How to people write game rules for custom tables?

 

Clearly I lack understanding for how these things work, so any info or links to help me learn is appreciated! 

[LynnInDenver]

Yeah, for a game like Genie, it's going to be tough because it's a black box... you'd be better off reconstructing the rules entirely in VPX and ditching the ROM.

[Krentz]

Ok cool, I didn't realize that ditching the ROM was an option. I will look into some other games that have the rules in the script to get a starting point.

 

Are there things in the ROM that I would need? Are the sound effects in there somehow? Or is that all in the VPX file and I can just throw the whole thing away? Thanks!

 

Maybe another option is to ask Pascal if I could get the ROM from his board? Is that a thing that would make sense to him? Is the ROM that VPX uses the same as what they put in the... uh, chips? I barely know how board development works. 

[GeorgeH]

I think it will be quite a task to code everything from scratch.  There is a Future Pinball version of the table that has no ROM:

 

https://pinballnirvana.com/forums/resources/genie-gottlieb-1979-bam-mod.7993/