Visual Pinball
Encyclopedia
Visual Pinball is a freeware
video game engine
for pinball
tables and similar games e.g. pachinko
machines. The software is composed of an editor
and the simulator
part itself. It runs on Microsoft Windows
. The program is also able to operate with Visual PinMAME, an emulator
for ROM images
from real pinball machines.
A huge variety of user created Visual Pinball tables is available on the internet. Players can choose between faithful recreations of existing pinball machines with or without ROM emulation and original pinball simulations based on licenced themes or completely self-designed tables.
In February 2010, the source code of Visual Pinball was released under a MAME like license that allows free use for non-commercial purpose.
which controls the table gameplay. The editor uses Microsoft VBScript
for user programming. The game itself is written in C++
with the Active Template Library
for making ActiveX
controls. Visual Pinball runs on Windows 98
or newer.
In 2005, David R. Foley purchased the rights from Davis for modification of the suite for a full-sized pinball cabinet based on the Visual Pinball software. Chicago Gaming
purchased rights for licensed tables from Williams Electronics. The Visual PinMAME team and the Visual Pinball development community also joined in the effort to produce improvements to the suite product and a few tables. This project, known as UltraPin
, was acquired by Global VR
following the acquisition of certain assets UltraCade, and was discontinued in 2008.
In 2008, NanoTech Entertainment acquired the rights from Davis for the use & distribution of the engine for inclusion with its Pinball Wizard PC Controller. NanoTech also released Version 9 of the engine featuring many updates that had been developed between 2005 and 2008. Version 9 of Visual Pinball includes some major improvements but not full backward compatibility therefore some older tables still need version 8 to run properly.
In 2010, the source code of Visual Pinball was released.
animations) usually require the Visual PinMAME (sometimes referred to as VPinMAME or VPM) program in order to work. VPinMAME adds to Visual Pinball's system requirements and, like other MAME
s, uses image files of the actual ROMs from the physical pinball machines, executing them as simulations of the embedded CPUs, sound chips, and displays from the physical machines.
Visual PinMAME is a program (a COM
class) that works in combination with Visual Pinball (or in theory any other program that can make use of the COM class) that allows for 3D renderings
of actual pinball
table designs. Specifically, Visual PinMAME is for emulating
CPUs and the connected ROM
s used in modern pinball tables, as opposed to tables with solid-state electronics
/electro-mechanical mechanisms that contain no ROMs or advanced IC
s in their hardware design. Visual PinMAME displays the LED
s and/or DMD
of the machines in a separate window and also delivers emulation of the integrated sound chips. In order for Visual PinMAME to work properly with a rendered pinball table, it requires that table's ROM images. Without VPinMAME, Visual Pinball can be used to make original pinball and pinball-like games (such as pitch-and-bat baseball, pinball bingo, and pachinko
).
Visual PinMAME was written by the team of programmers including Steve Ellenoff, Tom Haukap, Martin Adrian, and Gerrit Volkenborn and was started March 30, 2001. The program is named after the original MAME
program for emulating arcade games. Visual PinMAME runs on top of the PinMAME software engine which again uses some parts of the MAME core. Visual PinMAME is written in C++
programming language.
HyperPin, VPLauncher, VP-Man, VPFace are different front ends for Visual Pinball that allow visually manage, launch and switch tables.
VPDisco is a DMD
program for original tables.
vpPlus is a set of extensions for Visual Pinball. The software includes network play, modal graphic image display, and decals which support both alpha transparency and animated GIF formats. It also has a chat feature.
Freeware
Freeware is computer software that is available for use at no cost or for an optional fee, but usually with one or more restricted usage rights. Freeware is in contrast to commercial software, which is typically sold for profit, but might be distributed for a business or commercial purpose in the...
video game engine
Game engine
A game engine is a system designed for the creation and development of video games. There are many game engines that are designed to work on video game consoles and personal computers...
for pinball
Pinball
Pinball is a type of arcade game, usually coin-operated, where a player attempts to score points by manipulating one or more metal balls on a playfield inside a glass-covered case called a pinball machine. The primary objective of the game is to score as many points as possible...
tables and similar games e.g. pachinko
Pachinko
is a type of game originating in Japan, and used as both a form of recreational arcade game and much more frequently as a gambling device, filling a niche in gambling in Japan comparable to that of the slot machine in Western gambling. A pachinko machine resembles a vertical pinball machine, but...
machines. The software is composed of an editor
Level editor
A level editor is a software tool used to design levels, maps, campaigns, etc and virtual worlds for a video game. In some cases the creator of a video game releases an official level editor for a game, but other times the community of fans step in to fill the void...
and the simulator
Computer simulation
A computer simulation, a computer model, or a computational model is a computer program, or network of computers, that attempts to simulate an abstract model of a particular system...
part itself. It runs on Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
. The program is also able to operate with Visual PinMAME, an emulator
Emulator
In computing, an emulator is hardware or software or both that duplicates the functions of a first computer system in a different second computer system, so that the behavior of the second system closely resembles the behavior of the first system...
for ROM images
ROM image
A ROM image, or ROM file, is a computer file which contains a copy of the data from a read-only memory chip, often from a video game cartridge, a computer's firmware, or from an arcade game's main board...
from real pinball machines.
A huge variety of user created Visual Pinball tables is available on the internet. Players can choose between faithful recreations of existing pinball machines with or without ROM emulation and original pinball simulations based on licenced themes or completely self-designed tables.
In February 2010, the source code of Visual Pinball was released under a MAME like license that allows free use for non-commercial purpose.
Design
Every Visual Pinball table includes two main parts: the "physical" playfield design and the scriptScripting language
A scripting language, script language, or extension language is a programming language that allows control of one or more applications. "Scripts" are distinct from the core code of the application, as they are usually written in a different language and are often created or at least modified by the...
which controls the table gameplay. The editor uses Microsoft VBScript
VBScript
VBScript is an Active Scripting language developed by Microsoft that is modeled on Visual Basic. It is designed as a “lightweight” language with a fast interpreter for use in a wide variety of Microsoft environments...
for user programming. The game itself is written in C++
C++
C++ is a statically typed, free-form, multi-paradigm, compiled, general-purpose programming language. It is regarded as an intermediate-level language, as it comprises a combination of both high-level and low-level language features. It was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup starting in 1979 at Bell...
with the Active Template Library
Active Template Library
The Active Template Library is a set of template-based C++ classes developed by Microsoft, intended to simplify the programming of Component Object Model objects. The COM support in Microsoft Visual C++ allows developers to create a variety of COM objects, OLE Automation servers, and ActiveX...
for making ActiveX
ActiveX
ActiveX is a framework for defining reusable software components in a programming language-independent way. Software applications can then be composed from one or more of these components in order to provide their functionality....
controls. Visual Pinball runs on Windows 98
Windows 98
Windows 98 is a graphical operating system by Microsoft. It is the second major release in the Windows 9x line of operating systems. It was released to manufacturing on 15 May 1998 and to retail on 25 June 1998. Windows 98 is the successor to Windows 95. Like its predecessor, it is a hybrid...
or newer.
History
Visual Pinball was first released to the public on December 19, 2000 by programmer Randy Davis.In 2005, David R. Foley purchased the rights from Davis for modification of the suite for a full-sized pinball cabinet based on the Visual Pinball software. Chicago Gaming
Chicago Gaming
Chicago Gaming Company, also known as simply Chicago Gaming, is an American gaming company that publishes arcade video games. The company was established in 2001.- Home arcade :* Arcade Legends II* Galaga & Ms. Pac-Man...
purchased rights for licensed tables from Williams Electronics. The Visual PinMAME team and the Visual Pinball development community also joined in the effort to produce improvements to the suite product and a few tables. This project, known as UltraPin
UltraPin
UltraPin is a Multi-Game pinball arcade game that holds 12 digital recreations of Williams Electronics real pinball games in a single pinball cabinet. David R. Foley had the original idea for UltraPin and began research on the idea in the beginning of 2000...
, was acquired by Global VR
Global VR
- History :The company was originally founded in 1998 starting in a garage with just four employees. On July 11, 2003 the company moved into its current facility. As of the move the company employed about 100 employees...
following the acquisition of certain assets UltraCade, and was discontinued in 2008.
In 2008, NanoTech Entertainment acquired the rights from Davis for the use & distribution of the engine for inclusion with its Pinball Wizard PC Controller. NanoTech also released Version 9 of the engine featuring many updates that had been developed between 2005 and 2008. Version 9 of Visual Pinball includes some major improvements but not full backward compatibility therefore some older tables still need version 8 to run properly.
In 2010, the source code of Visual Pinball was released.
Visual PinMAME
Modern pinball machines (especially those made after 1992 and using DMDDot matrix display
A dot matrix display is a display device used to display information on machines, clocks, railway departure indicators and many other devices requiring a simple display device of limited resolution...
animations) usually require the Visual PinMAME (sometimes referred to as VPinMAME or VPM) program in order to work. VPinMAME adds to Visual Pinball's system requirements and, like other MAME
MAME
MAME is an emulator application designed to recreate the hardware of arcade game systems in software on modern personal computers and other platforms. The intention is to preserve gaming history by preventing vintage games from being lost or forgotten...
s, uses image files of the actual ROMs from the physical pinball machines, executing them as simulations of the embedded CPUs, sound chips, and displays from the physical machines.
Visual PinMAME is a program (a COM
Component Object Model
Component Object Model is a binary-interface standard for software componentry introduced by Microsoft in 1993. It is used to enable interprocess communication and dynamic object creation in a large range of programming languages...
class) that works in combination with Visual Pinball (or in theory any other program that can make use of the COM class) that allows for 3D renderings
3D computer graphics
3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...
of actual pinball
Pinball
Pinball is a type of arcade game, usually coin-operated, where a player attempts to score points by manipulating one or more metal balls on a playfield inside a glass-covered case called a pinball machine. The primary objective of the game is to score as many points as possible...
table designs. Specifically, Visual PinMAME is for emulating
Emulator
In computing, an emulator is hardware or software or both that duplicates the functions of a first computer system in a different second computer system, so that the behavior of the second system closely resembles the behavior of the first system...
CPUs and the connected ROM
Read-only memory
Read-only memory is a class of storage medium used in computers and other electronic devices. Data stored in ROM cannot be modified, or can be modified only slowly or with difficulty, so it is mainly used to distribute firmware .In its strictest sense, ROM refers only...
s used in modern pinball tables, as opposed to tables with solid-state electronics
Electronics
Electronics is the branch of science, engineering and technology that deals with electrical circuits involving active electrical components such as vacuum tubes, transistors, diodes and integrated circuits, and associated passive interconnection technologies...
/electro-mechanical mechanisms that contain no ROMs or advanced IC
Integrated circuit
An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit is an electronic circuit manufactured by the patterned diffusion of trace elements into the surface of a thin substrate of semiconductor material...
s in their hardware design. Visual PinMAME displays the LED
LEd
LEd is a TeX/LaTeX editing software working under Microsoft Windows. It is a freeware product....
s and/or DMD
Dot matrix display
A dot matrix display is a display device used to display information on machines, clocks, railway departure indicators and many other devices requiring a simple display device of limited resolution...
of the machines in a separate window and also delivers emulation of the integrated sound chips. In order for Visual PinMAME to work properly with a rendered pinball table, it requires that table's ROM images. Without VPinMAME, Visual Pinball can be used to make original pinball and pinball-like games (such as pitch-and-bat baseball, pinball bingo, and pachinko
Pachinko
is a type of game originating in Japan, and used as both a form of recreational arcade game and much more frequently as a gambling device, filling a niche in gambling in Japan comparable to that of the slot machine in Western gambling. A pachinko machine resembles a vertical pinball machine, but...
).
Visual PinMAME was written by the team of programmers including Steve Ellenoff, Tom Haukap, Martin Adrian, and Gerrit Volkenborn and was started March 30, 2001. The program is named after the original MAME
MAME
MAME is an emulator application designed to recreate the hardware of arcade game systems in software on modern personal computers and other platforms. The intention is to preserve gaming history by preventing vintage games from being lost or forgotten...
program for emulating arcade games. Visual PinMAME runs on top of the PinMAME software engine which again uses some parts of the MAME core. Visual PinMAME is written in C++
C++
C++ is a statically typed, free-form, multi-paradigm, compiled, general-purpose programming language. It is regarded as an intermediate-level language, as it comprises a combination of both high-level and low-level language features. It was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup starting in 1979 at Bell...
programming language.
Additional software
UltraVP and Animated EM Backglass Solution allow the emulation of a pinball machine backglass; from the scoring reels, through to the lighting sequences.HyperPin, VPLauncher, VP-Man, VPFace are different front ends for Visual Pinball that allow visually manage, launch and switch tables.
VPDisco is a DMD
Dot matrix display
A dot matrix display is a display device used to display information on machines, clocks, railway departure indicators and many other devices requiring a simple display device of limited resolution...
program for original tables.
vpPlus is a set of extensions for Visual Pinball. The software includes network play, modal graphic image display, and decals which support both alpha transparency and animated GIF formats. It also has a chat feature.
External links
- Virtual Pinball Forums, official support site of Visual Pinball/PinMAME
- Visual Pinball at sourceforge
- Visual PinMAME at sourceforge
- Collection of free Visual Pinball programs and tables
- Pinball-Originals.com - Original works and original pinballs based on licenced themes
- PinballNirvana.com
- Video of a 46" LCD Visual Pinball Cabinet