Table versions and authors

[JSpradlin]

I'm pretty sure I already know the answer to this, but is there a place other than when backing out of a table in VPX to the editor where the table version and author (and maybe creation date) are stored? I am going through all of my table to try to populate the information in Popper, and many of them weren't recorded when first installed. Now their names are generic ( ie. "24 (Stern 2009)") so the only way I can tell is if that info screen in the editor has been populated. Unfortunately some of those don't get updated by the people who update the tables. In those cases I either have to replace the table with the newest version, which I have to download. Or I have to try to guess which table I think I have, download that version of the table, and compare the sizes to see if they match.

[njk70]

Nope. You are correct many authors and modders don't bother to fill out the table info or make a note of their work in the table script. Considering how touchy people are with getting and giving credit to people's work you would think they would be a lot more careful to record this information in the actual files. It would be nice if the vpx editor made a date record of each time the file is saved so you could see some record of what real version you may have and whether you have modified it since you received it. But alas there is nothing like that, you just have to keep good records of the tables you get. I store mine separately in an archive directory so I have a copy of what I originally got and then make a copy of it to my cabinet.

 

 

[CarnyPriest]

Or cross reference against the virtual pinball spreadsheet. Not perfect either, but it may help especially if you don't edit the tables you acquire; then you also have the file datestamps as an additional reference. PinballY can add timestamps to the database for when you add a table. I thought Popper could do that too.

 

 

 

[JSpradlin]

Yeah. Popper does add time stamps; however, if a table came out in May of last year and another version in June, and I didn't install until August, that still doesn't tell me which version I installed. There are many reasons why the newest may not have been the one that ultimately was kept.

 

It is a drag though. Even if the untouched table file sizes were to be recorded somewhere (maybe VP Spreadsheet), that would be a huge help. Yeah I may make changes to a table but the majority of the time if I do make a change, it is probably something small like adding a few PuP launch lines. The sizes would be very slightly different. 

[CarnyPriest]

If the table is distributed zipped then you do have the original datestamp stored within the archive. POV and script changes can be exported to external files to be loaded when you want to play without changing the original VPX. Any other edits, yeah, you will have to make your own notes. It's not an easy hobby. Sometimes I manually add comments to database xml files if it doesn't look like the version will be easy to track. Don't know what other options you have if you are using Popper sql. I don't even bother tracking backglasses, PuPs, colorizations, altsound. It's a lot.