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Hi everybody, It's a pleasure to present my little side project I've been working on over the last three years. Some of you might remember this thread at VPF. Thanks for all your feedback, this here is the first result! https://vpdb.io Shouts to Tom Speirs who supported me all those years and who generously sponsored a beefy server to host VPDB on. Thanks also to all the testers who gave valuable feedback recently and of course the courageous authors who already uploaded some content! Note that VPDB is still in beta. If you encounter any bugs, please post them in this forum, or even better if you're on GitHub, here. If you have comments or suggestions, let me know about them as well. By the way, VPDB is free and open source and comes with a public and documented API. So if you're a dev, get creative!

I made this reply to another thread and figured it would be better served as it's own Topic. How Future Pinball "should" be setup with a new clean install for a cabinet: -install Future Pinball from the setup file you get from the Future Pinball site -copy your FP tables (*.fpt) to the Tables folder (NOT in their own self-named sub folders!) -if your table needs a different version of physics (2.4,2.5,2.6,2.7, Zed, Custom, etc), then just copy the needed .XML (*.zip for Zed) to your Tables folder and rename it the same as your table -copy any table Library files (*.fpl) to the Libraries folder -install BAM (Better Arcade Mode), it should be in the "Future Pinball \ BAM" folder -don't change or rename any files in BAM folder! -you can replace the Future Pinball.exe in the "Future Pinball" folder with another version if you want. I use SLAMT1LT's version from his site as it does default to 2.7 physics and has no watermark. Keep the original for backup. -unblock ALL *.exe and *.DLL files within Future Pinball, BAM, and Pinball X (Win 8 , Win 10) -Future Pinball.exe and FPLoader.exe are: set to "Run as Administrator", and "disable DPI scaling" -launch your FP tables with FPLoader.exe in the BAM folder -setup Pinball X to launch FP tables with FPLoader.exe Configure Future Pinball with these settings. This is a MUST, for complete compatibility with all tables and BAM / Cabinet use! Use these EXACT settings. (You can your change screen resolution and anti-aliasing if you want, and rotation to 0 if you have your playfield screen set to Portrait in Windows.) Also don't forget to set your Backbox resolution. FP doesn't really correctly enable vsync, so if you want you can disable that IF you enable it in your graphic card's driver settings for Future Pinball. -make sure you have "Load Image Into Table Editor" disabled (unchecked) in the "Preferences \ Editor Options" menu. This is important as you will get crashes and other strange things happen when you launch some tables! -when running a table from the FP Editor directly (no frontend), ALWAYS load only one table at a time, and ALWAYS close FP and re-open it after exiting a table! This won't be an issue when launching a table from a frontend like Pinball X. By doing the above, you will have Pinball X use BAM to launch your FP tables, and BAM will use the appropriate physics file for your table if there is one...otherwise BAM will default to whatever the "Future Pinball.exe" uses (in my case, SLAMT1LT's 2.7 physics). Then when the table loads, press "Q" and you can adjust the size, layout, render type, etc of each table to your liking. BAM is simply amazing! BAM notes: -New Renderer (Light System) is the nicest looking for lighting, etc....but is also more graphically demanding. Change to "FP Original" if a table runs slow for you -new version of BAM fixed reflection limitations with FP, but also makes the ball look wierd with "FP Original" when in a rotated "cabinet" view. It looks fine in desktop view though. -ambient occlusion can really kill your fps. You're probably better off disabling it. ======================================= DOFLinx: (Future Pinball specific stuff) My setup for my cabinet with DOFLinx: -install the VPX all in one installer. (Installs the B2S server and all needed files. Yes it installs Visual Pinball 10 too, but you don't have to use it. This saves you some work) -install DOF R3 and confirm it's working -I install DOFLinx in the DirectOuput folder. This will allow DOFLinx to see DOFLinx.ini automatically. You can install to a different location, but you must configure DOFLinx to see where your DOFLinx.ini is located,etc... -copy the DOFLinx.vbs file to the "Future Pinball \ Scripts" folder. Create one if doesn't exist. -configure the DOFLinx.ini for your cabinet setup! (consult the DOFLinx guide for more info) -unblock ALL *.exe and *.DLL files within the DirectOutput folder or wherever you installed DOFLinx (Win 8 , Win 10) -all *.exe files are set to "Run as Administrator" within the DirectOuput folder, and all DOFLinx *.exe files as well -I have DOFLinx always running in the background with the startup of Pinball X. I HIGHLY recommend that you do this as it's how DOFLinx was designed to run, and it will save you alot of headaches. You have been warned! ===================================== DOFLinx.ini : (This is updated as of version 5.0) Sections of interest (in the DOFLinx.ini file) for Future Pinball tables modded to work with full cabinet support. (Consult the DOFLinx guide to configure your entire DOFLinx.ini file! Not just these sections) FP_LINK_WAIT_TIME=50000 - add this "FP_LINK_WAIT_TIME=50000" if it's not there. This is the max time DOFLinx tries to establish a link (FP Link) with your FP DOFLinx modded table, before it defaults to its "key to output" type function. You change the time to a higher value if your computer takes longer to load some tables. FP_ATTEMPT_LINK=1 -this is needed if you want DOFLinx to attempt to establish the FP Link with FP DOFLinx modded tables Cabinet Toys: The following is your cabinet toys setup. Anything with a # in front of it will be ignored. Make sure you put a # in front of any device you don't have in your cabinet. (I don't have a shaker or gear motor) Consult the DOFLinx guide for more info on how to configure this section. These are the solenoids for flippers, bumpers, etc. Make sure they are configured for your particular setup, device, ports, etc. LINK_LF=101,25,8000,255 LINK_RF=102,25,8000,255 LINK_LS=103,75,1000,255 LINK_RS=104,75,1000,255 LINK_ML=105,75,1000,255 LINK_MC=106,75,1000,255 LINK_MR=107,75,1000,255 LINK_BL=108,75,1000,255 LINK_BC=106,75,1000,255 LINK_BR=110,75,1000,255 This is the blower fan, shaker, and gear motor. (Note, I don't have a shaker or gear motor) LINK_FN=111,75,9999,255 #LINK_SH=111,75,9999,255 #LINK_GR=111,75,9999,255 Strobes and Beacon LINK_SR=116,ON,0 LINK_BK=132,ON,0 Start, Launch, Fire button (you can add coin, exit, etc) LINK_ST=114 LINK_LB=115 LINK_FR=113 RGB Flashers. These are configured with the Red port of each RGB flasher. LINK_FLOL=129 LINK_FLIL=126 LINK_FLCN=123 LINK_FLIR=120 LINK_FLOR=117 This section deals with RGB_OUTPUT devices. As far as Future Pinball DOFLinx modded tables are concerned, this is the RGB under cabinet lighting. Note: if you have any RGB_OUTPUT device configured the same as a RGB flasher, then the RGB flasher will be used when a FP DOFLinx modded table is launched! RGB_OUTPUT=117,120,123,126,129 -I use my flashers for other programs, not just Future Pinball and Pinball FX2, so that's why my RGB_OUTPUTS are configured the same as my RGB flasher ports. -RGB_STYLE, RGB_TRIGGER, RGB_MIN_TIME all effect the RGB_OUTPUT....but for FP DOFLinx modded tables this will only have any effect if the table modder chose to use these features. All of the above cabinet toys settings are also used for the Pinball FX 2 full cabinet support features of DOFLinx as well (correct me if I'm wrong DDH69!). That about wraps it up as far as DOFLinx and Future Pinball modded tables are concerned. This doesn't cover the other sections of the DOFLinx.ini, or all the other numerous features that DOFLinx has.... but it should help to answer A LOT of the questions I get.

Add somewhere in the Game description field an entry displayed in the Releases that indicates what emulator and version(s) of VP or Future Pinball support the given table. This will help those new to the scene identify what versions they need to have installed in order to properly play the table. Also, have similar sort and filter options.

Introducing VPDB. With three years in the making I am pleased to introduce to you VPDB. VPDB is a collaboration between developer freezy with sponsorship from Spesoft/GameEx (creator of the PinballX and GameEx front ends). Completely free to its users and contributors for the foreseeable future, VPDB is an innovative new project where people can share their digital pinball table recreations and everything else related to virtual pinball. With this project comes innovation and change. We need your support to make it a success as without users and contributors it is nothing. However, if you cannot give that please at least respect the effort, time and skill that has gone into this project. We have tried to do something pretty cool here out of passion for the digital pinball community, and it's just the beginning: VPDB comes with an open API that allows any application to plug-in easily. The website is just the first example of what's possible. There is more to come! https://vpdb.io (We are still in beta phase but ready for you to come over and use). View the full article

Nice work Terry, these guides will go a long way to making setup smooth for others. Thanks for the time you invest making these

Oh, you better believe it. This competition has over a hundred. And we aren't even scraping the surface of how many really good retro games there are. MO

I hope you don't mind that I moved and Pinned this in the FAQs, Guides, and Feature Requests subforums. Great job by the way, as always!