[Tuto] Pinball Arcade Loader

[vpxpinball]

I don't understand how this can be done if using a front end like pinup it pinballX . When the table loads if the number of players was already selected then it would be possible to go directly into the table and have it start without having to hit enter. 

Maybe I am doing something wrong ...(most probably) or don't understand.... How to select multiple players without having to enter back into the settings gear to chose the amount of players. 

I am trying to use this launcher in combination with a front end that would allow to chose  table then the  screen would pop up like in pinball fx3 launcher. Then you select the number of players and it takes you directly into the table and the the games can be started. 

 

Not sure if this is possible so I reached out Terry to ask him and he said it can only be done if the command line has an option to chose amount of players then the interface can be used. 

The only way that I am able to get it to multiple players is to go into gear icon after starting table which I can't do from a pinball cabinet. 

 

Thanks

[ducon2016]

1 hour ago, vpxpinball said:

I don't understand how this can be done if using a front end like pinup it pinballX . When the table loads if the number of players was already selected then it would be possible to go directly into the table and have it start without having to hit enter. 

Maybe I am doing something wrong ...(most probably) or don't understand.... How to select multiple players without having to enter back into the settings gear to chose the amount of players. 

I am trying to use this launcher in combination with a front end that would allow to chose  table then the  screen would pop up like in pinball fx3 launcher. Then you select the number of players and it takes you directly into the table and the the games can be started. 

 

Not sure if this is possible so I reached out Terry to ask him and he said it can only be done if the command line has an option to chose amount of players then the interface can be used. 

The only way that I am able to get it to multiple players is to go into gear icon after starting table which I can't do from a pinball cabinet. 

 

Thanks

 

Ah ok I understand, you WANT to add a custom screen to pick the number of players BEFORE you launch the table. Basically what is desirable for you is to have a behavior like PBFX3. I understand now, I am surprised because I do not like this behavior. For example often I start playing a table, people see me play and then want to join. I like being able to do that without quitting. I will see what I can do, not sure I can do it but we will see.

[vpxpinball]

 

Thanks that would be great . then it can easily  be used in a front end and pinball cabinet.

 

 

Fingers crossed...Thanks again

[cvtof]

Le 21/07/2020 à 9:05 AM, cvtof a dit :

Hello,
I have tried my folder is not write protected, and pinballarcadeloader is ok for administrator, but, I get this message, 'Could not load exe',
I write
PinballArcadeLoader.exe "D:\Hyperspin\Emulators\The Pinball Arcade\PinballArcade.exe" StarTrekTNG
Thank you

I found, it can be useful
do not put space in the folder containing pinball

[Yardley]

Thanks for this, it works great! Question, any idea what the table name is for Black Knight? Not Black Knight 2000, the original Black Knight. 

 

EDIT: found it!

Modifié le 8 août 2020 par Yardley

[ducon2016]

On 8/8/2020 at 3:45 PM, Yardley said:

Thanks for this, it works great! Question, any idea what the table name is for Black Knight? Not Black Knight 2000, the original Black Knight. 

 

KnightEmu

[Manson976]

@ducon2016

 

WOW this is amazing cheers...

I was using CAM MOD too messy many features I would never use,

but this is STRAIGHT TO THE POINT.. Loading the tables works flawlesy

 

Is there any part of the code you could add to start the tables rather man clicking the OK/CONFIRM??

[ducon2016]

On 8/16/2020 at 4:39 AM, Manson976 said:

Is there any part of the code you could add to start the tables rather man clicking the OK/CONFIRM??

 

On 7/25/2020 at 2:54 PM, vpxpinball said:

Thanks that would be great . then it can easily  be used in a front end and pinball cabinet.

 

Fingers crossed...Thanks again

 

Check the first post, I updated to 1.5 with two additional options to address that

 

    5. If you do not want to see the table introduction text and jump right away into the attract mode add HIDETEXT to the end of the command line
    6. If you want to start the table with a number of players add PLAYERS=2 or PLAYERS=3 or PLAYERS=4 to the end of the command line

 

Example command line:

       PinballArcadeLoader.exe "YourPath\PinballArcade11.exe" GhostbustersStern FixCamera=5 CUSTOMBALL HIDETEXT Players=2

 

[Manson976]

22 hours ago, ducon2016 said:

 

 

Check the first post, I updated to 1.5 with two additional options to address that

 

    5. If you do not want to see the table introduction text and jump right away into the attract mode add HIDETEXT to the end of the command line
    6. If you want to start the table with a number of players add PLAYERS=2 or PLAYERS=3 or PLAYERS=4 to the end of the command line

 

Example command line:

       PinballArcadeLoader.exe "YourPath\PinballArcade11.exe" GhostbustersStern FixCamera=5 CUSTOMBALL HIDETEXT Players=2

 

Cheers once again can't truly express in words how great this is..

Rock hard ride free. \m/

[PolybiusExtreme]

Am 6.9.2020 um 23:36 schrieb ducon2016:

 

 

Check the first post, I updated to 1.5 with two additional options to address that

 

    5. If you do not want to see the table introduction text and jump right away into the attract mode add HIDETEXT to the end of the command line
    6. If you want to start the table with a number of players add PLAYERS=2 or PLAYERS=3 or PLAYERS=4 to the end of the command line

 

Example command line:

       PinballArcadeLoader.exe "YourPath\PinballArcade11.exe" GhostbustersStern FixCamera=5 CUSTOMBALL HIDETEXT Players=2

 

@ducon2016 Thank you for this Loader!

Can you change the command lines like this:
PinballArcadeLoader.exe "YourPath\PinballArcade11.exe" FixCamera=5 CUSTOMBALL HIDETEXT Players=2 GhostbustersStern
Because LaunchBox don't like the commands after the the gamename

[eathearty1]

22 minutes ago, PolybiusExtreme said:

@ducon2016 Thank you for this Loader!

Can you change the command lines like this:
PinballArcadeLoader.exe "YourPath\PinballArcade11.exe" FixCamera=5 CUSTOMBALL HIDETEXT Players=2 GhostbustersStern
Because LaunchBox don't like the commands after the the gamename

Create a bat file per game with your command line and add bat to launchbox as game, no emulator and it will load directly to game see example

 "D:\emulators\PinballArcade\PinballArcade11.exe" ACDC FixCamera=4 CUSTOMBALL HIDETEXT Players=2 

[PolybiusExtreme]

vor 20 Minuten schrieb eathearty1:

Create a bat file per game with your command line and add bat to launchbox as game, no emulator and it will load directly to game see example

 "D:\emulators\PinballArcade\PinballArcade11.exe" ACDC FixCamera=4 CUSTOMBALL HIDETEXT Players=2 

thank you, but i dont want to create 100 batfiles

[ducon2016]

1 hour ago, PolybiusExtreme said:

@ducon2016 Thank you for this Loader!

Can you change the command lines like this:
PinballArcadeLoader.exe "YourPath\PinballArcade11.exe" FixCamera=5 CUSTOMBALL HIDETEXT Players=2 GhostbustersStern
Because LaunchBox don't like the commands after the the gamename

 

Create a batch file Run.bat

PinballArcadeLoader.exe "YourPath\PinballArcade11.exe" %1 FixCamera=5 CUSTOMBALL HIDETEXT Players=2

and you call: run.bat GhostbustersStern

Modifié le 9 septembre 2020 par ducon2016

[Krakatoa]

Anyone have a link to the tables?

[sirleirbag23]

Hi, i want to ask if anyone could make it work with cabinet mode on the Stern Tables, all the rest of the tables works good with cabinet mode except for banzai run i think, but the stern tables launch on cabinet mode but the backglass is black, if i activate the 3rd screen i can use the dmd but the backglass is still black on those tables. Any fix for this? 

[ducon2016]

8 hours ago, sirleirbag23 said:

Hi, i want to ask if anyone could make it work with cabinet mode on the Stern Tables, all the rest of the tables works good with cabinet mode except for banzai run i think, but the stern tables launch on cabinet mode but the backglass is black, if i activate the 3rd screen i can use the dmd but the backglass is still black on those tables. Any fix for this? 

 

What command line options do you use?

[Bonilhoedu]

Le 23/03/2020 à 21:46, ducon2016 a dit :

PINBALL ARCADE LOADER
v1.5 - 2020/09/06

 

Download here: Pinball_Arcade_Loader_v1.5.7z (full source code is included as usual)

 

History:

    2020/09/06 - 1.5 - Added option to hide table introduction text, and to change the numbers of players automatically

    2020/05/07 - 1.4 - Added option to load custom ball textures, and close the game by pressing Escape

    2020/05/06 - 1.3 - Added optional command line option to fix camera in place

    2020/05/05 - 1.2 - Minor fix for tables that recently stopped working

    2020/03/25 - 1.1 - Minor fix for tables throwing internal exceptions like ACDC and Star Trek

    2020/03/23 - 1.0 - First release tested with versions 1.61.10 to 1.71.25

 

Description:

    Pinball Arcade Loader is a simple loader to load and jump directly into the table you want to play instead of having to navigate the UI manually every time you launch it. It is similar to another project TPA Camera Mod but do things differently: it loads tables faster without ever displaying the underlying UI or UI navigation, and does not play sounds. However this loader does not allow you to edit camera settings yet. Also TPA Camera Mod only works with the latest version of Pinball Arcade, whereas this loader supports many different versions. And finally, this loader does not require tedious, hard to follow configuration files, just run the command line and you are done. If your version of Pinball Arcade does not work, just send me a private message.
    
Credits:

    Ducon2016

    Sean Barret for stb_image.h (https://github.com/nothings/stb)

 

How to use:

    1. Right click PinballArcadeLoader.exe => Properties => Compatibility tab => Make sure "Run this program as administrator" is turned on
    2. Run in command line: PinballArcadeLoader.exe PathToYourExe NameOfYourTable
       Example: PinballArcadeLoader.exe "C:\Pinball Arcade\PinballArcade11.exe" StarTrekTNG

    3. If you want the camera to be locked in place add FixCamera=4 or 5 or 6 at the end of the command line. Other numbers are at your own risk.

    4. If you want to use custom ball textures, make sure BallAlbedo.png and BallShiny.png are in the same folder as PinballArcadeLoader.exe and add CUSTOMBALL at the end of the command line

    5. If you do not want to see the table introduction text and jump right away into the attract mode add HIDETEXT to the end of the command line
    6. If you want to start the table with a number of players add PLAYERS=2 or PLAYERS=3 or PLAYERS=4 to the end of the command line

 

Example command line:

       PinballArcadeLoader.exe "YourPath\PinballArcade11.exe" GhostbustersStern FixCamera=5 CUSTOMBALL HIDETEXT Players=2

 

Greetings in Alphabetical order:

    Argon Le Fou
    Boomslang
    Dendy
    DJExpert
    FlyBit
    Houb
    Mohkerz
    Stooz

 

License:

    The loader is provided as is, and we take no responsibility whatsoever for anything that would happen if you use it. If you have any issue or are not happy with a feature: either do not use the loader, or help us improving it by taking part in the coding effort and share it back with the community. The code and loader can be considered public domain, so do whatever you want with it as long as it is legal.

 

Tem como fazer igual no pinball fx3 

How to do the same in pinball fx3

[sirleirbag23]

En 22/10/2020 a las 13:13, ducon2016 dijo:

 

What command line options do you use?

Hi, i want to make clear that i had NO PROBLEMS with PinballArcade11, is just that i try your loader with PinballArcadeCabinet.exe, and it works excellent, but the stern tables dont run with it, i mean, they run, but not show the backglass (maybe this is a game issue, not the loader), so i tryed to make 2 different type of files to launch your launcher with the tables, on the tables that support backglass i launch the cabinet, on the stern tables, the dx11 version, but that gives me a issue when i change from one to another the screen goes to my 2nd screen instead of the first... and i have to change it manually. 
I would love to explain better to you, if you can send me a message or reach me in discord: Sirleirbag23#0247 (im in the coinops group and will be including pa on a build today also, you can check my channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3rz_I4QLZHhJjkg5hXnoAw/)
Thanks in advance. 

[ducon2016]

4 hours ago, sirleirbag23 said:

Hi, i want to make clear that i had NO PROBLEMS with PinballArcade11, is just that i try your loader with PinballArcadeCabinet.exe, and it works excellent, but the stern tables dont run with it, i mean, they run, but not show the backglass (maybe this is a game issue, not the loader), so i tryed to make 2 different type of files to launch your launcher with the tables, on the tables that support backglass i launch the cabinet, on the stern tables, the dx11 version, but that gives me a issue when i change from one to another the screen goes to my 2nd screen instead of the first... and i have to change it manually. 
I would love to explain better to you, if you can send me a message or reach me in discord: Sirleirbag23#0247 (im in the coinops group and will be including pa on a build today also, you can check my channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3rz_I4QLZHhJjkg5hXnoAw/)
Thanks in advance. 

 

Thanks that helps. What happens if you don't use my loader with PinballArcadeCabinet.exe? Do the stern tables show backglass?

[sirleirbag23]

hace 9 horas, ducon2016 dijo:

 

Thanks that helps. What happens if you don't use my loader with PinballArcadeCabinet.exe? Do the stern tables show backglass?

No, they dont even show on the table list... all the stern titles are on the table selection but no tables under those... I dont know if you can make a fix to show the backglass... im not asking for that cos it might not be possible, but maybe you can force the launcher to launch the game on certain screen only? like a monitor=1 or something like that? cos doesnt matter what i select on the pbaconfig.exe for my main screen or whatever... if i launch another table with cabinet properties, when i go back to the table with the pinballarcade11.exe, the stern ones, they show on the second screen again and i have to resize them and drag them to the first screen again

 

[oroborus77]

@sirleirbag23

Hi !

You can maybe try this to fix some weirds issues with Stern tables:

 

With regedit  try to modify the line of "at91jit" by 0 instead of 1 in the Visual PinMame folder. 

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Freeware\Visual PinMame\"Id of the table"\

 

If doesnt works remember to set it back to 0

[sirleirbag23]

hace 4 horas, oroborus77 dijo:

@sirleirbag23

Hi !

You can maybe try this to fix some weirds issues with Stern tables:

 

With regedit  try to modify the line of "at91jit" by 0 instead of 1 in the Visual PinMame folder. 

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Freeware\Visual PinMame\"Id of the table"\

 

If doesnt works remember to set it back to 0

Sorry, but, is not that for Visual Pinball?

[ducon2016]

12 hours ago, sirleirbag23 said:

No, they dont even show on the table list... all the stern titles are on the table selection but no tables under those... I dont know if you can make a fix to show the backglass... im not asking for that cos it might not be possible, but maybe you can force the launcher to launch the game on certain screen only? like a monitor=1 or something like that? cos doesnt matter what i select on the pbaconfig.exe for my main screen or whatever... if i launch another table with cabinet properties, when i go back to the table with the pinballarcade11.exe, the stern ones, they show on the second screen again and i have to resize them and drag them to the first screen again

 

 

Sorry I cannot do that if it is not working without the loader.

[sirleirbag23]

hace 3 minutos, ducon2016 dijo:

 

Sorry I cannot do that if it is not working without the loader.

but can you force it to launch on a specific monitor? add that feature to the current loader?

[sirleirbag23]

En 26/10/2020 a las 15:49, ducon2016 dijo:

 

Sorry I cannot do that if it is not working without the loader.

Hi man, sorry to botter you, do you know if its possible to force the launching of pinball arcade to a specific monitor? maybe adding some sort of command to your loader?

[ducon2016]

9 hours ago, sirleirbag23 said:

Hi man, sorry to botter you, do you know if its possible to force the launching of pinball arcade to a specific monitor? maybe adding some sort of command to your loader?

 

No sorry, try freeware to control that: https://helpdeskgeek.com/free-tools-review/best-dual-monitor-software/

[MarcosRH]

Good night.
Has anyone managed to put Pinball Arcade on Pinup?

[bonky0013]

Merci, ça marche nickel

Serait'il possible de lancer les tables en tate ? (vertical) sans devoir mettre le bureau en portrait ?

Modifié le 24 novembre 2020 par bonky0013

[tkmachalko]

.

Modifié le 29 novembre 2020 par tkmachalko

[Ctoufo]

@ducon2016

Thank you for this excellent launcher, I love it!

Starting on the table without seeing this horrible menu, I dreamed about it, and you made this dream come true :-)

Would it be possible to manage the position of the DMD, without going through the cabinet mode executable.

I don't like the cameras this mode uses, and my Geforce GT 730 runs in slow motion.

[bonky0013]

Oups, je poste au bon endroit me suis trompé ce matin ^^

 

Je sais pas vous, mais avec un .bat et le logiciel rotate display toute les tables sont bien en vertical (bien mettre la définition verticale par ex 2160x3840 ou 1080x1920....)

Si il y en a d'intéressé, je posterais le .bat pour l'exemple.

Que c'est bon de retrouver les sensations des flips c'est bluffant

Je crois que je vais me faire mon propre flip avec dot, mais avant tout bien se renseigner car j'ai un peu vu tout et n'importe quoi

[sirleirbag23]

Hi, i want to share my experience with this Loader:
It works excellent in arcade mode, but it also works for Cabinet Mode.
This is the List of tables working in Version 1.71.19 of PinballArcadeCabinet, Some will work with 2 screen configuration(backglass/dmd all in one) and almost all of them in 3 screen configuration(separated dmd and backglass, but can be set in the same screen as backglass)
PinballArcade_CabinetMode_Tables.xlsx

https://www.mediafire.com/file/1fzyowmu98gci7u/PinballArcade_CabinetMode_Tables.xlsx/file
 

Thanks for the work of the people who made this! If you want help configuring something take a look at Argcade Channel on youtube or on discord. 
Again, thanks!

[wizshaw]

Hey Guys..

Is there a certain version that works with Cabinet mode? The tables launch. But only to Desktop mode. Where the window is squeezed into a small area.

Willing to pay somebody for their time. (Im using the cracked version of the game. 1.71.26 is my version. I think Cabinet mode is 1.71.19

 

I always end up with this screen. No matter how its launched. Landscape, Portrait. Ive tried modifying the PBA settings a million different ways. 

Im baffled how people are having success with this. As I said. Willing to pay somebody for their time.

I even have 3 different versions of the game now. Same result. 
 

Modifié le 23 janvier 2021 par wizshaw

[wizshaw]

OK... something is def up with my version of pinball arcade.

I went and grabbed the version that was posted on back-ups.me... and its still doing the above. I dont think its anything that I did. I blocked all the exes with a firewall etc.

 

Any new imput would be stellar about now.

[vkdawg]

ducon2016!!

 

WOW!! After days of struggling to get FreeCamMod to work how I wanted, I stumbled upon your PinballArcadeLoader.  AMAZING!! You have made life SO MUCH more simpler with this incredible loader!!!

 

Thank you for putting this together.

 

After playing most of the morning, I did have a few questions (and requests) for you -

 

When I first load into a game, the cursor does not appear to have "focus" on anything.  I hit my assigned "enter/select" button, but nothing happens.  I have to move left/right (flippers on my pinball cab), but that goes into the ball selection.  It's not a huge deal, I just have to choose a ball every time because it doesn't start "focused" on the "Start" button.  Is there a way you can force it to focus on the "Start" button so I don't have to go left/right and choose a ball first?  The only parameter I'm using is HIDETEXT, but I tried it with and without, and both ways there is no focus on the "Start" button when a table loads up.

 

Secondly, is there any way to "disable" the exit on Esc feature?  My frontend (PinballX) handles that, and I'd like to be able to Esc into the menu if I'd like to. 

 

Lastly, is something happening to block out the secondary display monitor?  With PinballX, I like to have the backglass video continue to play when I'm playing Pinball Arcade.  Even if I don't "Hide Backglass" in PinballX, it seems like the PinballArcadeLoader is blacking out the secondary display, thus just blacking it out instead of allowing PinballX to play the backglass video.

 

These are pretty minor things, but I would be elated if you could address these. Please let me know your thoughts.  If you were able to provide a way for these three scenarios work better for me, it would put me over the moon! 

 

I created an account here just so I could post to thank you for this incredible contribution to the virtual pinball community!

 

Thanks,

vkdawg

[ducon2016]

On 2/6/2021 at 9:26 AM, vkdawg said:

When I first load into a game, the cursor does not appear to have "focus" on anything.  I hit my assigned "enter/select" button, but nothing happens.  I have to move left/right (flippers on my pinball cab), but that goes into the ball selection.  It's not a huge deal, I just have to choose a ball every time because it doesn't start "focused" on the "Start" button.  Is there a way you can force it to focus on the "Start" button so I don't have to go left/right and choose a ball first?  The only parameter I'm using is HIDETEXT, but I tried it with and without, and both ways there is no focus on the "Start" button when a table loads up.

 

Secondly, is there any way to "disable" the exit on Esc feature?  My frontend (PinballX) handles that, and I'd like to be able to Esc into the menu if I'd like to. 

 

Lastly, is something happening to block out the secondary display monitor?  With PinballX, I like to have the backglass video continue to play when I'm playing Pinball Arcade.  Even if I don't "Hide Backglass" in PinballX, it seems like the PinballArcadeLoader is blacking out the secondary display, thus just blacking it out instead of allowing PinballX to play the backglass video.

 

1. I am not changing anything for focus, I am not dealing with the window or anything. I recommend you use autohotkey and activate the game window

2. The source is provided, just disable the code that exits with esc and recompile. You can use the free vs2017 community edition for that. It takes few minutes to download and install, and the modifications you want should be easy to do.

3. Again I am not doing anything to any displays or screen. Maybe you can find a way to restrict pro pinball to one screen but not with dxwnd or something like that

[vkdawg]

5 hours ago, ducon2016 said:

 

1. I am not changing anything for focus, I am not dealing with the window or anything. I recommend you use autohotkey and activate the game window

2. The source is provided, just disable the code that exits with esc and recompile. You can use the free vs2017 community edition for that. It takes few minutes to download and install, and the modifications you want should be easy to do.

3. Again I am not doing anything to any displays or screen. Maybe you can find a way to restrict pro pinball to one screen but not with dxwnd or something like that

 

Thanks for the reply!

 

I'm not really sure I understand anything you said, but I appreciate you responding.

 

I guess I'll just use it as is.  Still better than FreeCamMod, even if it's not doing 100% of what I hoped.

 

Thanks for making it!