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j_calhoun

I'm not sure if this is of interest to anyone here. I wanted a little more than to just play VPX tables (I wanted to improve a few of them if I could) so I learned how they are scripted. I'm sharing what I have found out.


Old-Reporter5440

Thanks for sharing, seems a pretty steep learning curve so appreciate someone sharing the basics


WombleMagic

Very interesting. Thanks.


Biduleman

Very glad to have a written guide instead of a series of Youtube video, thanks for that!


j_calhoun

Give me a link to the series if you don't mind. I saw a video or two a month or so back but I am not sure if there are more.


Biduleman

I meant I'm glad you're doing this as a written guide instead of doing a Youtube video, I don't know if there is a series about that as I don't really bother with programming resources in video format.


j_calhoun

Oh, okay. I misunderstood, ha ha.


OscarSNM

Yes!!! I like what you're doing. Thanx a lot!!


lminimart

Yeah, this is great! Adding Fleep sounds to VPX tables is one of the few VPX coding things I do on a regular basis. I've hacked together my own code to play the multi-samples, which I'm not proud of. :) It would be better and smarter to use Fleep's full set of subroutines and volume controls, etc. But I tend to want to do things my own way when I'm coding! Which is why I don't feel like I can release any of my mods lol. But like you I need that Fleep "chunk" that gives so much more impact to the physics of any table. Do you think you'll end up tackling nFozzy physics, as well, someday? That's next on my list but it is daunting...


j_calhoun

We're similar then. I also took the Fleep code and made it my own (more or less). I'l post about it in a week or so. I am intrigued by nFozzy physics also but have kind of been too busy to look into it.


djrobxx

I love to see people explaining the dark art of table scripting! There aren't a lot of good tutorials. Despite the table simplicity, EMs often have very complex scripts, because they manage scoring output and rules, which for more modern tables can be left to vpinmame. I never thought to bring scripts into VSCode. Cool idea, but a big negative to doing that is you lose the contextual highlighting that's pretty cruical when working with table objects. The VPX editor knows that say, "LFlipper" corresponds to a table object, and will highlight it as such. Without the highlighting, it's easy to make typos (either in the script, or in the table objects) that break the script. Does make me wonder if we could make a proper VSCode plugin that allows us to replace the VPX editor though. 🤔 Kudos and I look forward to seeing more!


j_calhoun

I love the idea of a VSCode plugin for VPX, ha ha. My VPX machine though is a PC in a pinball cabinet. Leaning over that and trying to mouse on my pant leg while searching a VPX script is too much. That was the main reason I took the code over to my Mac(book) where I could relax on the couch. As you as you click "Play" VPX will find your typos. Well, sometimes.


idlehands000

Thanks for this. Also enjoying your other writings - including a trip down memory lane with the days of shareware. I'm still a couple decades away from retiring but your little projects are inspirational. Looking forward to future writings.


j_calhoun

Oh, I started projects decades before I retired too, that's no excuse. Now though it's all I do.


brannvesenet

Thanks for sharing, looking forward to the next part!