CommentsI've noticed a lot of guys have trouble with the installation of BAM so I thought I would write these instructions for everyone. If you see an error, please let me know and I will change this posting. If you have knowledge that goes beyond what I wrote in step 15, feel free to post a reply to this topic that continues on with additional guidance.
Better Arcade Mode (BAM) provides three basic functions. 1) it manages the different versions of physics 2) it allows you to change lighting on the table and 3) it allows you to change camera views. The options for camera views are mostly used by guys that have pinball cabinets but you can use them on a desktop PC also (as I describe in Step 15). BAM also adds functionality that the original Future Pinball program does not have, like using custom balls, different sized balls and tilting miniplayfields. It plays 3D if your equipment supports it. There is also a version that supports using a virtual reality headset.
BAM used to be somewhat optional to use but it is starting to become more essential. There are some tables that must have BAM installed in order to play the table. The builders of the table you download will usually tell you if BAM is required to play the table. There are several tables where the function of the table may not be optimal but you can play it without BAM. For example, there is a version of BAM that has been released that extends the high score limits of tables specially coded from 2 billion to 922 trillion. The tables coded this way will play without BAM but the high score will be limited to 2 billion points. It may seem that 2 billion is a lot of points, but quite a few solid state tables can exceed that fairly easily because some tables award millions of points at a time.
I make the assumption that you have Future Pinball set up the way I describe in the "Basic Guide" section of "Help for New Members / Setting Up Future Pinball" on the following thread or at least have followed the directions on items preceded with the word "Hot!":
viewtopic.php?f=84&t=6054I wrote the directions to use the zipped version of the BAM program. There is also a executable version available,
"bam-setup.exe", from
http://ravarcade.pl/?en_download,16. You can install BAM with this and skip steps 1 and 2 below.
I have added a section named "BAM Tips and Tricks" near the end of this guide that has content unrelated to installation or set up of BAM. It is geared more to the usage of BAM.
InstructionsInstalling the Program1. Download the zip file from
http://ravarcade.pl/?en_download,16. There are a large number of files that you can download, but you want the one named
"BAM_v1.x-xxx.zip" which is usually the second or third listing from the top.
2. When you extract the zip file, it will create a folder called "BAM" that has everything in it. Don't change any of the BAM subfolders or other contents. Save the BAM folder and all its contents as a subfolder to your "Future Pinball" folder. Most of the guys save the Future Pinball program to a structure like the following:
C:\Games\Future Pinball\You would then create a subfolder for BAM as follows:
C:\Games\Future Pinball\BAM\Create a Shortcut3. Create a shortcut to the file
"FPLoader.exe" in the BAM folder. This will be the shortcut that you will use to launch Future Pinball and BAM. The location of the shortcut (or target) should look like:
"C:\Games\Future Pinball\BAM\FPLoader.exe"4. If you want the shortcut to have the same icon as your previous Future Pinball icon, right click on the shortcut and click on the "Shortcut" tab. Click on "Change Icon" and click on "Browse" and open the following file:
C:\Games\Future Pinball\Future Pinball.exeThen click on the pinball icon.
5. If you have been using Future Pinball, right click on the shortcut that you created in step 3 and select "Properties". Click on the "Compatibility" tab and use the same compatibility options you have used in the past. If you are using Windows Vista or Windows 7, add a check mark to the option, "Run this program in compatibility mode for". Then select "Windows XP (Service Pack 3)" from the pull down list. Then put a check mark in "Disable display scaling on high DPI settings". Put a check mark in the option for "Run this program as an administrator". The other options may be left unchecked. On Windows 8 and 10, most (but not all) of the guys use "Run this program as an administrator". Some need to use "Disable display scaling on high DPI settings" in order to make table look sharper. In some cases, tables may not look correct at all if "Disable display scaling on high DPI settings" is left unchecked especially if you rotate the display on your monitor. Note that if you place a check mark in the option for "Disable display scaling on high DPI settings", all of the icons on the main screen of the Future Pinball editor will become smaller than if the option is unchecked. Also if you check this option and use a high resolution monitor, the script may not show the left most portion of the line numbers. When the script is open, you can hold the "Ctrl" key down and then move your mouse wheel. You can reduce the size of the font and then be able to read the line numbers although this may make the font too small for you to read.
After you have the shortcut set up, double click it to open Future Pinball and then close it. Open Windows Explorer or any file manager and then open the following folder:
C:\Games\Future Pinball\BAM\Right click on the file
"FPLoader.exe" and select "Properties" and click on the "Compatibility" tab. The data from the shortcut should have transferred to
"FPLoader.exe" when you opened Future Pinball. Verify the data is the same as what you entered for the shortcut.
The "Black Font of Doom"6. Look at the date of the
"BAM.dll" file in the BAM folder. If the file is dated 7/11/15 or earlier, delete the entire BAM and download the latest version of BAM from the link above. It is not likely that you have a version of the
"BAM.dll" file that is this old unless you found a very old version that you are using. The later versions will fix the "black font of doom" bug described in the following topic on this forum:
viewtopic.php?f=84&t=5496You should know that this bug will only be fixed if you use the shortcut you created in the previous step, or otherwise open Future Pinball with BAM.
Handling XML Files7. This step provides information about the different ways you can set up XML files that are used to save physics settings. At the end of this step, you will hopefully be able to make a more informed decision on the method that you want to use.
At this point, you should read the "Notes on Physics" near the end of this posting before proceeding if you are not familiar with physics. The
"Future Pinball.exe" executable file has a single version of physics that is built into it. If you are using the
"Future Pinball.exe" file that was originally installed, it has Physics 1.0 built into it or some of the guys just call it the "original physics". There are other executables that are available for each version of physics that you can use instead of the original
"Future Pinball.exe" file. This is how each version of physics was originally used before we had BAM. Every time you played a table, you had to be sure you use the right executable. For example, if you wanted to play a table designed to use Physics 2.5, you had to be sure you opened it with the executable for Physics 2.5. This became confusing (at least to me). With BAM, you can preconfigure all your tables to use the correct physics and then you can forget about it. BAM provides *.xml files that have the exact same versions of physics that had been used in the old
"Future Pinball.exe" executable files. Configuring a table involves adding either an "XML" file of the designated physics or a "ZIP" file to your list of tables (see step 9 for "ZIP" files). BAM has an "XML" subfolder as follows:
C:\Games\Future Pinball\BAM\XML\The above folder has the contents listed below which changed on version BAM v1.4-189. The file names begin with "fp-p" which stands for Future Pinball Physics and then the version number of physics is listed after that. Physics 2.0, 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3 are new files added to BAM v1.4-189. These are just old versions of physics that had been lost. These versions of physics can often be used on a Physics 1.0 table and you can try them to see if you like them better than Physics 1.0. The
fp-p2.5 slamtilt rubbers.xml file is a slightly different version of Physics 2.5 which has 3 parameters for rubber material that are different from Physics 2.5. It should work on any table requiring Physics 2.5. The XML file for Slamtilt's latest version of physics has also been added that he calls Physics 2.7. Most Zendonius tables have a ZIP file included in the download of the table but the files are here in case you need them. Each of the XML files has the version of physics identified in the comments at the top of the file contents. You can open these files with the program that is included in all versions of Windows that is called "Notepad".
fp-p1.0.xml (This was named
fp-org.xml in versions prior to BAM v1.4-189).
fp-p2.0.xmlfp-p2.1.xmlfp-p2.2.xmlfp-p2.3 Version 1.xmlfp-p2.3 Version 2.xmlfp-p2.4.xmlfp-p2.5.xmlfp-p2.5 slamtilt rubbers.xml (This was named
FP slamtilt rubbers.xml in previous versions of BAM).
fp-p2.6.xmlfp-p2.7.xmlzedonius_v1_0.zipzedonius_v1_1.zipZendonius_v1.0.xmlZendonius_v1.1.xmlThe files in the XML folder are not used by the BAM program and are saved there for your use. You can copy these files and name them with the same name as the table and save them into your tables folder (I provide additional direction to do this in Step 8). When you do this, Future Pinball will ignore the physics that is contained in the
Future Pinball.exe executable but instead use the physics defined in the *.xml file. If a table does not have an *.xml file, then the physics that is built into the
Future Pinball.exe executable file is used. There is an exception where you can add a
"default.xml" to the BAM folder as shown:
C:\Games\Future Pinball\BAM\default.xmlYou can rename any of the *.xml files in the XML folder as
"default.xml" and save it to the BAM folder as shown above. BAM uses a priority system that is set up like this:
1) BAM uses the internal physics in the
Future Pinball.exe executable file when there is
no *.xml file or *.zip file associated with the table and there is
no "default.xml" file saved to the BAM folder.
2) When the
"default.xml" file
is saved to the BAM folder and there is
no *.xml file or *.zip file associated with the table, BAM uses the physics in the
"default.xml" file.
3) If there
is an *.xml file or a *.zip file associated with the table, BAM will use the physics in it regardless as to whether the
"default.xml" file has been saved to the BAM folder or not.
All of us probably have at least some tables using the original physics (or Physics 1.0). The other files are for the other versions of physics. At this point, you have several options on how to set up physics:
a) Use the internal physics of the original Future Pinball executable for Physics 1.0 tables and add "XML" files for tables that need the other versions of physics. In this option, the
"default.xml" is not saved to the BAM folder.
b) Use the internal physics of any one of the modified Future Pinball executable files for tables that use the same physics. Then add "XML" files for tables that need the other versions of physics including tables that need Physics 1.0. In this option, the
"default.xml" is not saved to the BAM folder.
c) Select to use any one of the modified Future Pinball executable files. You can rename any of the above *.xml files as
"default.xml" and save it to the BAM folder. This will change the default physics to whatever version that you want. The physics defined by
"default.xml" file will be used on any table to which you have not saved an *.xml or *.zip file. After you have saved the
"default.xml" file to the BAM folder, you can then add "XML" files for tables that need versions of physics other than the default. This option makes it so you will never use the internal physics of
Future Pinball.exe executable. It allows you to select the
Future Pinball.exe executable that you want to use without regard for the internal physics.
The decision you make on the method you use to manage XML files needs to be based on how many tables you have or expect to download in the future for each version of physics. You will need to add an XML file for each table,
except for one version of physics. Adding the XML files to each table is fairly time consuming so you will want to reserve this exception for the version of physics for which you have the most tables. At the time of this writing, I have about 1066 tables in my collection. Of these, I have 474 that are Physics 1.0, 400 that are one of the physics versions from 2.0 to 2.7 and then I have 192 Zendonius tables. So I decided to add XML files to all the tables, except the tables that use Physics 1.0. This distribution of tables in my collection is not too surprising since there are more Physics 1.0 tables on Pinsimdb.org that any other version of physics.
Option "
a" uses the original executable that was installed when you installed the Future Pinball program. It has a watermark and splash screen for Future Pinball that some of us don't like. This is a good option for beginners because it requires the least effort. The original Future Pinball executable contains the physics for Physics 1.0 so you won't need to add XML files for any Physics 1.0 tables. However, you will need to add XML files to all the tables that use Physics 2.0 to 2.7 and all the Zendonius tables.
Option "
b" is a good option if you have more tables of a particular physics other than Physics 1.0. It would save time adding *.xml files if most of your tables are of one version of physics. Most of us however probably have more Physics 1.0 tables than the other versions of physics. However, some folks may simply decide to download tables of only one version of physics because they only like that version. For example, you may only like tables that use Physics 2.7, so you would only need to use the Future Pinball executable that has Physics 2.7 internally. You would be able to add tables using other versions of physics including Physics 1.0 but you would need to add XML files to those tables.
I personally use option "
c". There are several good reasons to use this option. It allows you to select any
Future Pinball.exe executable that you want to use without having to consider what version of physics it uses. If you have a 64 bit system, you may want to use the latest version of the Zedonius executable. The 64 bit version allows the Future Pinball program to use more memory than the 32 bit versions and may improve performance. If you want to try the Zedonius executable, I suggest you click on the following link and perform Step 17:
viewtopic.php?f=84&t=6054&p=79588#p79588The "Physics 2.5R2" and later versions (including Zedonius) have versions with no Future Pinball watermark or splash screen. All of the of the Future Pinball executable files are available here:
http://www.pinsimdb.org/pinres/entry-16 ... able_filesIf you use option "
c", you need to decide which version of physics to use as a default. It is basically the same decision as choosing to use option "
a" or "
b". The only difference is you add a
"default.xml" file to the BAM folder which changes the internal physics of the Future Pinball executable to a different version of physics. This option worked best for me because I wanted to use the Zedonius executable file but I have more Physics 1.0 tables than the others. So I used the XML file for Physics 1.0 as my
"default.xml" file.
If you don't know which option you want to use, you could start out using option "
a". You should just add *.xml files to tables that do not use Physics 1.0. At some point, you may decide to use one of the other
Future Pinball.exe executables. You can then switch to option "
c" by renaming the
"fp-1.0.xml" file as
"default.xml" and save it to your BAM folder. Then you can replace
Future Pinball.exe with the executable that you want to use. There would be
no need to change any of the *.xml files that you had previously saved under option "
a".
8. After reading Step 7, you should have decided on one version of physics where you won't need to add XML files to each individual table. If you haven't decided yet, I suggest using Physics 1.0 because there are more of these tables posted on Pinsimdb.com. You will need to set up the physics for all the other tables that you have by adding an XML file for each table as described below. This can be a time consuming task but you will only need to do it once and never have to think about physics for the table again. It is important that you use the physics for each table as identified on
http://pinsimdb.org. For more information, see "Notes on Physics" near the end of this posting. Select the "XML" file listed in Step 7 that corresponds to the physics for your table. Copy the file to the following folder:
C:\Games\Future Pinball\Tables\Rename the "XML" file with the exact same name as the table. For example, on my list of tables I renamed the
"fp-p2.6.xml" file with the name of the table as follows where the first file is the table and the second file is the renamed "XML" file:
Iron Man ULTIMATE 1.04 Physics 2.6 hi-res.fptIron Man ULTIMATE 1.04 Physics 2.6 hi-res.xmlBe sure to save the *.xml file to your "Tables" folder and not the XML folder that I described in Step 7. Perform step 8 for all your tables except tables that use the internal physics of the Future Pinball executable for options "
a" and "
b" or the
"default.xml" file for option "
c". You need to use the *.xml or *.zip files that are provided in the download of tables that are identified as Zed Physics and tables that have custom physics (discussed in Steps 9 and 10). Any table that does not have an "XML" file or "ZIP" file ("ZIP" files are discussed in the next step) will either use the default that you previously set up or the internal physics of the Future Pinball executable.
Note: Once you rename the XML file, you can still identify the version of physics by opening the XML file using Notepad. The version of physics is listed at the beginning of the file in a comment. XML files that were included in versions of BAM prior to v1.4-189 do not have the comment.
Handling Zed Physics Files9. Nearly all of the Zed Physics tables that I have downloaded have a "ZIP" file included in the download that is named with the same name as the table. You can rename the table file as long as you rename the "ZIP" file with the same name. After you download the Zed Physics table, save both the table file and the "ZIP" file to the following folder:
C:\Games\Future Pinball\Tables\An example of a Zed table with the two files located in the above folder is:
Addams Family Gold 2.5 ZED Physics 1.0.fptAddams Family Gold 2.5 ZED Physics 1.0.zipBAM will use the physics in "ZIP" files that are set up as shown above. When the "ZIP" file is present, BAM will ignore the internal physics of the Future Pinball executable and also ignore the
"default.xml" file. If you add an *.xml file to the above list like
Addams Family Gold 2.5 ZED Physics 1.0.xml, BAM will ignore the *.xml file and use the physics in the "ZIP" file.
Do not extract (or unzip) the "ZIP" file. Just save it as is with out any changes as shown above. I do remember one table that did not have a "ZIP" file included in the download and I had to get it from
http://ravarcade.pl/?en_download,16. Version 1.0 of Zed (Zedonius) Physics is posted as
"zedonius_v1_0.zip" and version 1.1 is posted as
"zedonius_v1_1.zip". Whichever version you use, rename the "ZIP" file with the same name as the table as shown in the example above.
Handling Custom Physics Files10. Some tables have custom physics. These tables have physics that are specifically designed to be used for the table. Most tables that are posted with custom physics simply include an "XML" file and the "XML" file is saved with the table file as shown below:
C:\Games\Future Pinball\Tables\An example of a custom table with the two files located in the above folder is:
Creature from the Black Lagoon 1.3, Day, Custom Physics, Full Room.fptCreature from the Black Lagoon 1.3, Day, Custom Physics, Full Room.xml Some of the tables with custom physics have a "ZIP" file included in the download and are handled just like those with Zed Physics. After you download the custom physics table, save the "ZIP" file in the same way as the Zed physics files described in Step 9.
Some Settings in Future Pinball11. After you complete the physics setup, open Future Pinball by double clicking on the icon you created in steps 3, 4 and 5. Then open a table. Note that you can still open tables using the Future Pinball icon that was installed when you installed the program, but BAM won't open and you won't open them with the physics that you set up previously. Be sure to use the icon you created in steps 3, 4 and 5.
12. Before you start using BAM, be sure to set "Model Quality" to "High" on the Future Pinball "Video / Rendering Options" screen. Some Future Pinball users have had Future Pinball with BAM crash when this setting is not set to High where Future Pinball without BAM would not crash. So it is important to set "Model Quality" to "High".
Opening and Setting Up BAM13. Push the "Play the Current Table" button in Future Pinball to launch it. After the table loads, press "Q" or "`" (the key above the "Tab" key on your keyboard). This will open the "BAM Basic Menu".
Important: Any BAM menu shows the file it is using for the physics at the bottom right side of the screen. The file name is preceded by the path to the file. If you are using the
"default.xml" file, its file name and path will also be displayed there when you do not have a table associated with an *.xml file. When there is nothing displayed there at all, it means that you are using the internal physics of the Future Pinball executable. You can use this information to verify that you are using the physics file that you intended. If you don't see the *.xml file that you saved with the same name as the table, you probably didn't save the *.xml file with the exact same name as the table. If you don't see the
"default.xml" file when you do not have a table associated with an *.xml file, be sure you saved it to the BAM folder. It won't work if you accidentally saved it to the Future Pinball folder.
You should be aware that the default "HUD Toggle" key in Future Pinball is also set to "`". You will want to change one of these so you don't have both options occurring simultaneously. I kept the BAM menu key set to "`" but changed the "HUD Toggle" key in Future Pinball. You can change the "HUD Toggle" key by clicking on the "Preferences" key in Future Pinball and then clicking on "Game Keys and Controls". I changed the "HUD Toggle" key on this screen to "H" which I have found is not used on any of the tables I have downloaded so far.
I have found that the "Q" key is used on some tables. I changed it in BAM to the "Pause" key. This makes it so you can press pause while playing a table and it pauses the game and opens the BAM menu at the same time. You can make adjustments in the BAM menu and then press "pause" again to turn the BAM menu off and resume playing the game. If you want to do this, open the BAM menu and look for a menu item called "Redefine Keys". When using the Basic Menu, you will need to arrow down to "Options" and press "Enter". Then you will see "Redefine Keys". After you arrow down and press "Enter" on "Redefine Keys", you will see that either "Menu" or "Menu2" has a "Q" beside it. Highlight the option with the "Q" beside it by using your down arrow button and then press "Enter" on your keyboard. This will change the screen to a blue tint. Then press the "Pause" key on your keyboard and the "Q" will be changed to a number. Then you can exit the menu and you are done.
Using BAM to Change Lighting14. To change lighting effects on the table, press your down arrow button on the BAM Basic Menu to select a parameter you want to change and then use your right and left arrow keys to make adjustments. When I was using the Basic Menu, I only made adjustments to "Brightness", "Day/Night balance", "Light Reflections" and "Mode". You can arrow down to "Options", press "Enter" and access "Post Processing" which has controls similar to the picture controls on your television set. After you make changes to any of the parameters, the settings will be automatically saved to a file in the following folder using the table name as the file name and "CFG" as the extension:
C:\Games\Future Pinball\BAM\cfg\Using BAM on Pinball Cabinets, Rotated Displays and VR Headsets15. If you are using a desktop PC, this step presents optional information but useful if you want to be able to rotate your desktop monitor 90 degrees and play pinball in portrait mode on your screen. If you have a pinball cabinet or a headset, you will need to continue reading. I am used to computer systems having a single main menu with some secondary menus. BAM actually has three different main menu systems. There is the "BAM Basic Menu", the "Advanced Menu" and then there is the "Static Cam Menu" which has some additional similar menus. When I first started using BAM, I used it on a PC desktop and normally used the "Full Table 2" view in Future Pinball. I used the "BAM Basic Menu" to make adjustments to the lighting. If the "BAM Basic Menu" doesn't have enough parameters for you to adjust, you can use the "Advanced Menu". I however never used the "Advanced Menu" and was satisfied with the "BAM Basic Menu" when using a desktop PC with the "Full Table 2" view. The "Advanced Menu" has many more lighting options although you may find them confusing. The more advanced the menu you select, the more complex it becomes to use. If you are new to BAM, you may want to try these menus later but there is no harm in knowing they exist. The "Static Cam Menu" and the additional similar menus are normally only used if you have a pinball cabinet. The "Static Cam Menu" has the same lighting options as the "Advanced Menu" but adds ways to change how the table is displayed on your screen. Basically, you can create different views of tables. The screen shots below show the three main menus. I cut the bottom off of the screen shots so you won't see the information at the bottom of the screen that I mentioned in Step 13. Once you start using one of these menus, you shouldn't go back to a previous one unless you have decided to never use it again. The reason is that you can loose the data that entered on the "Static Cam Menu", for example, if you go back to the "BAM Basic Menu". For this reason, I suggest you open a new table in Future Pinball if you want to try out these menus. You can open a new table by opening the Future Pinball editor with BAM and clicking on the "File" pull down menu and selecting "New".
How to Change from the "BAM Basic Menu" to the "Advanced Menu"
a) While on the "BAM Basic Menu", use the arrow keys on your keyboard and arrow down to "Options" and press "Enter".
b) Arrow down to "Menu Type" and right arrow to display the "Advanced Menu".
c) The only way to get back to the "BAM Basic Menu" is to arrow down to "Copy settings to Basic Menu" and press "Enter".
How to Change from the "BAM Basic Menu" to the "Static Cam Menu"
a) While on the "BAM Basic Menu", use the arrow keys on your keyboard and arrow down to "Options" and press "Enter".
b) Arrow down to "Force Arcade Mode" and right arrow to change "No" to "Yes".
c) Arrow up to "Menu Type" and right arrow to display "Static Cam".
d) While you have "Static Cam" highlighted, you can right arrow to display "WiiMote Cam". You can continue to arrow right to display "Happy Cab", "Free Track" and "Track IR". You can arrow left back to "Static Cam" and arrow left one more time to "Future Pinball".
e) As I said before you shouldn't go back to the old menus unless you have decided to never use these new menus again. The only way to get back to the "BAM Basic Menu" is to arrow down to "Config" and press "Enter". Then, arrow down to "Copy settings to Basic Menu" and press "Enter". You will notice the "BAM Basic Menu" has changed. You can make it display the way it had been but you will loose any data that you entered on the previous menu. Arrow down to "Options" and press "Enter". Arrow down to "Force Arcade Mode" and right arrow to change "Yes" to "No". Then arrow up or down to "back to previous menu" and press "Enter".
The monitor on my desktop PC has a stand so that I can rotate the screen 90 degrees. I use the "Static Cam Menu" on my desktop when I rotate the monitor so I can use the monitor in portrait mode. This allows me to utilize more space on my monitor. When you use the popular "Full Table 2" view in Future Pinball, you only use about 50 percent of the space on your screen on a widescreen monitor. When you rotate the monitor 90 degrees, you can utilize 80 to 90 percent of the screen space on your monitor. You can also use less of an angle than is on the "Full Table 2" view in Future Pinball so you can see the back of the table better. I wrote a guide on how to set up BAM in this manner on the following thread:
viewtopic.php?f=84&t=5451I have posted a table, "Jupiter 1.0", on Pinsimdb.com that has directions and configuration files that will make this change easier to implement. The directions in the download include instructions on how to apply the configuration to other tables. The link above may still provide supplemental information:
http://www.pinsimdb.org/pinball/table-23461-jupiterI have tried the "Happy Cab" menu. It has similarities to the "Static Cam Menu" although it adds the ability to "sway" the table back and forth. Imagine a horizontal line going across the middle of your screen. The table can be set so it sways back and forth using the horizontal line as a fulcrum. You can make it sway quite radically although I doubt anyone would play pinball on it that way. A very slight sway back and forth does make the reflections and shadows change which adds interest to the table and you don't really notice the sway when you are playing a game. After trying it, I switched back to the "Static Cam Menu".
I have never used the other menus that I mentioned on Step "d" above. All I know about the "Future Pinball" option is it has some of the options as "Static Cam" and "Happy Cab". I don't have a VR headset and all I know is that BAM supports head tracking through the menus "WiiMote Cam", "Free Track" and "Track IR". If you have a headset, all I can suggest is to look through the "BAM Corner" option on the main menu of this forum and maybe try these links among others:
viewtopic.php?f=86&t=6131viewtopic.php?f=86&t=4947&hilit=freetrackviewtopic.php?f=86&t=3249Unfortunately, I don't have a pinball cabinet so I can't provide a guide on how to set BAM up on your cabinet. I have had one of the guys on the forum tell me that he set up his cabinet is the same way that I did on the thread linked above on how to rotate a desktop monitor 90 degrees. So you may find it useful. I am not aware of any other guide on this forum that tells you how to set BAM up on a cabinet. You may want to check out TerryRed's posting here who talks about his cabinet:
viewtopic.php?f=15&t=6083BAM Basic Menu
BAM Advanced Menu
BAM Static Cam Menu
BAM Tips and TricksUpdating BAM to a New VersionThe guide above shows how to install and set BAM up but what do you do when it comes time to install an update but still keep all your original settings? Well before you start anything, you need a backup. Every week I make a copy of the entire Future Pinball folder and subfolders along with many other folders on my PCso I use it for the backup. I wrote this for the non-VR version although the VR version probably works the same but I don't use it so I can't test it.
1. I unzip a new version of BAM to a temporary folder. Then I delete the following from the new version:
"default.cfg" file (If you have used the "Save as Default" option in BAM, the data is saved to this file so delete this from the new version)
"balls" folder (I have added additional custom balls to my old version and want to keep them so delete this from the new version)
"cfg" folder (This is just a blank folder in the new version and you need to keep your old files)
"xml" folder (see below)
I have added several XML files of my own to the "xml" folder that I keep. I don't want to delete them so I delete the "xml" folder that is in the new version of BAM (but then I'm the physics dude). If you have never added or changed anything in the folder of the old version, you may as well keep the new copy of the "xml" folder and delete the "xml" folder from your old version of BAM. You should probably check the contents of the new "xml" folder to see if something new is there. The contents of the XML files don't change very often but there might be new files included. For example, BAM version v1.4-189 added some new XML files that were not in previous versions. In fact, the content of the files changed slightly to include comments that reference the version number of the physics. Comments don't affect the function of the XML file but they help you identify the version number of the physics when you rename the file when you use it.
2. Then I delete the following folders from my old version of BAM:
"plugins"
"removed_plugins"
3. Then I just copy the entire contents of the new BAM folder and paste it into the folder for my old version and overwrite everything. This will update the needed files and leave all the files that you want to keep. I have heard that folks that use Windows sometimes have files get corrupted when they are overwritten. If you are concerned about this, you could delete all the old files that exist in the new folder before you copy and paste the new files to your old folder. I don't do this. I just overwrite the old files. My plan is if any of the files get corrupted, I'll just repeat the process and of course I have my back up copy if there any other problems.
How to Change Save Location for "Snapshot Utility"You can right click on the "bam.cfg" file in your BAM folder and use the "Open With..." function to open the file in Notepad. This is where the data is saved when you use the "Redefine Keys" option in BAM. It also has a section at the bottom that looks like this:
SnapShotPath =
SnapShotBackboxPath =
You can change this section to look like this to save snapshots to a BAM subfolder but you to manually add the folder names "snapshot" and "backbox" to your BAM folder:
SnapShotPath = snapshot
SnapShotBackboxPath = backbox
You can also add the full path to a folder on your PC. I prefer to keep the Future Pinball and BAM folders clear of any additional manual entries so it is less confusing when I have to install updates. I have created a folder named "C:\Games\Future Pinball Other Stuff\" where I save all the extra Future Pinball files like additional "Future Pinball.exe" files and these screenshots. I manually added these two folders:
C:\Games\Future Pinball Other Stuff\ScreenShots
C:\Games\Future Pinball Other Stuff\ScreenShots, Backboard
Then I changed the lines in the "bam.cfg" file to look like this:
SnapShotPath = C:\Games\Future Pinball Other Stuff\ScreenShots
SnapShotBackboxPath = C:\Games\Future Pinball Other Stuff\ScreenShots, Backboard
This is the only *.cfg file in BAM that you can edit with Notepad. The other *.cfg files look like gibberish when opened with Notepad.
How to Set Up Ball "Trails"One of the guys on the forum was unable to get ball "Trails" to work on his PC. I tried to help him but couldn't get it to not work on my PC. It turns out that you must use the "New Renderer" light system in order for it to work. I personally prefer "New Renderer" to the other light systems. It may appear a bit darker than the other light systems but you can open the option called "Postprocess" and adjust "Brightness" and/or "Contrast" to make it appear lighter. To turn "New Renderer" on, just go to the "Lights" option and use your right or left arrow key to select "New Renderer" on the option that is named "Light System".
High Score OverflowRavarcade published BAM version 1.4-183 which can change the point of high score overflow from about 2 billion points to about 922 trillion by simply adding a single line of code. High score overflow occurs when the score gets so high that it produces a meditation error on Future Pinball and you can't play the game any further. It puts an abrupt end to a great game. When Ravarcade announced the new version on this forum, he posted something that reads like the change can only be performed by someone who knows how to script. But it doesn't take very much skill to add it to most tables. There is a simple code that you add to the script but there are a very few tables where the script needs special modification to work correctly. You can look for occurrences of script that needs changing but it is easier to just test the table to see if adding the code works.
To fix a table, you just add the following to the script below the heading "Option Explicit":
Code:
' xBAM.FixScore
There is an easy line of code you can add to test it. Just add the following line of code below the line that says "Sub FuturePinball_KeyPressed(ByVal KeyCode)". After you add it, you just type the letter V one time while playing a game to add 900 trillion points to the score.
Code:
If keycode = 47 then ' V key
AddScore(900000000000001)
End if
If you don't get any errors after adding 900 trillion points, then the code worked and the table needs no further modification and you can delete the testing code above and save your changes. If you get an error, then the table will require some additional script changes. Learn more about it here:
viewtopic.php?f=86&t=6473Performance MonitorFuture Pinball provides a performance monitor that appears in yellow text at the top of the screen when you press F9 while playing a game. It is described in the Help Manual. I copied and pasted the content of it here:
"Pressing F9 on the keyboard will toggle the display of the performance counters in Future Pinball.
These counters show you:
Fps Rendering Frames Per Second. This values shows you how fast the Game engine is running. This value should be above 30 and ideally close to the refresh rate of your monitor. Adjusting the Settings in the Video Preferences can greatly affect this value. If your system is running too slow then you should reduce the complexity of the table via the video preferences dialog (link). The second number (in brackets) is the average FPS over the life of the game.
Ops The total number of Draw operations being performed by the Future Pinball rendering engine.
Tris The total number of triangles (or polygons) being fed into the Future Pinball rendering engine each frame. Adjusting the settings in the Video Preferences dialog will greatly affect this value.
Physics The Total Processor time (in milliseconds) the Physics Engine is taking on the current table over the last second.
The Graphics Card information is also shown. "
BAM version 1.4-162 adds much more detail to Future Pinball's performance monitor. It adds some charts and graphs to Future Pinball's existing performance monitor. Poor performance often results in a low frame rate and can cause stuttering. You can easily see if the problem is caused by the physics or the script. XML files for physics have a setting for FPS that you can change. Many versions of physics has this set to 256 and some are set to 296. If you set this any higher, you may get a low frame rate.
A problem in the script can be too many "eval" & "execute" commands. Whenever one of these commands runs, your antivirus program evaluates it for threats and slows your PC down. The only fixes for this is to either stop your antivirus during a game or change the script.
Ravarcade posted a topic on the forum about the performance monitor and provided interpretation of some screen shorts I posted that showed some problems:
viewtopic.php?f=86&t=6384I have also written a tutorial on stuttering that you can access here:
viewtopic.php?f=55&t=6201Creating Miniplayfields Using BAMFor those of you that create pinball tables, Gimli posted a video tutorial for creating miniplayfields using BAM. Click on the following link to open it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_cont ... fXxJncYMhsNotes on PhysicsIt is important that you use the physics for the table identified on
http://pinsimdb.org. The creator of the table has to adjust flippers, bumpers, slingshots, etc. to get the physics to work correctly. If you don't use the intended physics version, the table will probably not work properly. You can try a different physics on a table to see if you like it but the table may not work at all. If you use physics 1.0 with a table intended to use physics 2.6, your ball may not even have enough energy to exit the shoot when you play the table. ...But it doesn't hurt to experiment with different versions of physics, just be aware that some versions of physics won't work very well. The posting on
http://pinsimdb.org may have a tag that identifies the version of the physics. The version of the physics may only appear in the title or in one of the text narratives. If you don't use the correct physics, the table won't usually perform correctly.
The following is a link to a relatively new table using physics 1.0:
http://pinsimdb.org/pinball/table-7655-aerosmithSome tables especially older ones do not have any reference to the physics but they also use the original physics (or physics 1.0). The following is a link to an older table that uses physics 1.0.
http://pinsimdb.org/pinball/table-1748-medieval_madnessThe following is link to a newer version of this table that uses physics 2.6:
http://pinsimdb.org/pinball/table-4639- ... s_ultimateYou need to read the whole posting to be sure of what version of physics to use. This table says it uses physics 2.5 in the narrative but has no tags indicating the version of physics nor does it say anything about physics in the title:
http://www.pinsimdb.org/pinball/table-4 ... allica_vipThe following link goes to a thread on this forum that has more information about physics:
viewtopic.php?f=84&t=4373
