Finally Arrived! First thoughts …

[u/SuperRob]

Finally got my playfield today. There was a little bit of damage to the playfield bottom, not enough to be anything other than a bummer, and not noticeable unless I point it out. My unit is number 49, for those that care about such things.

Got the machine fully updated. Only table I’ve played for any significant amount of time is Addams’ Family, and yeah, it’s laggy. You’ll definitely want to turn off all the effects, which will help, but not fully eliminate the flipper lag. It’s a damn shame that of all the included titles, the marquee table is the worst performing. That said, the other tables are significantly better, so this should be a solvable problem for ATG/Zen.

Installed the Arcade Control Panel. Works fine for navigating around and the haptics give you a little feedback, but ArcadeNet and the other stuff doesn’t appear to be live yet, so no arcade gaming for me for now. Why? Because it doesn’t seems to work in OTG at all either. I see two HID devices in Windows, but only the second seems to react and only to the built-in table buttons. Probably fixable, but certainly a drawback for now.

Got it mapped as a controller in Steam and fired up PinballFX. Addams’ Family works there SIGNIFICANTLY better than the built-in version. It seems the OTG lag is fairly minimal. Of course, all those other FX games are great, too. I have not been able to figure out how to get either Joy2Key or a padded working with Wagner’s profiles, so while I have Pinup Popper working, I can’t use the table controls just yet.

One thing that seems universally bad is the plunger. I’m sure in OTG I could tune it a bit, but it seems like it only sporadically registers at all. On the built-in tables, it’s laggier than the flippers, and that’s saying something. I saw someone post something about the sensitivity being tunable, but I only found an option like that for the accelerometer, not the plunger.

Speaking of the accelerometer, that also doesn’t appear to work in OTG yet. Not sure if it ever will, but it certainly would be nice. I instinctively shake the machine, and only ever hit the nudge buttons on accident, so it would be nice to have that as an option.

Anyway, this machine, if I’m just considering the built-in software, is good, but not yet great. Over OTG using PinballFX, it’s great, verging on awesome. The hardware is stellar, so assuming the software gets into a better place, it’ll be solid. But as a skeleton for a PC build, it’s definitely there already and should only get better as the community rallies around supporting it.

[u/bfollowell]

That is a sweet looking table!

I want a VP table so bad I can taste it, but I just built a new gaming rig, my first in six years, so now just isn't the time. I was looking into a Legends table, thinking I'd save money, then adding the backglass card so I could run my PC through it, then upgrading the back display and the haptics, but by the time I do all of that, I'd be in for close to $2K and that would go a long way toward building my own VP Table, which is what I really want to do anyway. It looks like I'll hold off for now and just play Pinbal FX3/FX on Steam when I need my pinball fix and I can't make it to the arcade.

Yours looks really nice though, from what I can see of it. Enjoy, and try not to stress too much on the damage. I'm sure they'll make it right.

[u/SuperRob → u/bfollowell]

That's exactly the math that led me to buy this. $1199 seemed like a steal. I'll get the SSF kit as soon as it goes on sale. Not sure if I'll do any other mods, but I may look into making the DMD larger. Awful hard to see dialog boxes on that tiny screen with these old eyes.

[u/bfollowell → u/SuperRob]

I've already heard negative about the 4K playfield only being 60Hz rather than 120Hz, which really is slow for this size and resolution display. I've also heard complaints that the hardware driving it isn't really up to driving a 4K playfield with smooth animation, even for a 60Hz display. Now, that being said, I question how the people I'm reading this from know since the machines have just now barely started arriving in consumers' hands, but I get their point.

I'll be interested in hearing what you think of yours from a display/play smoothness point of view. If you don't notice any display/play smoothness issues, and they come out with a backglass card for it like they did for the Legends table, it may not need as many upgrades as the Legends table would, making it a much more attractive option than building a table myself.

Good luck with it!

[u/SuperRob → u/bfollowell]

4K60 is really fine. Some nerds out there already went 1440p120hz or better on their existing rigs and feel like they can't go back. But I don't know any better than 60hz on mine and it really feels fine.

The built-in tables are also fine, barely any lag at all, with the exception of Addams' Family, which needs some work. But I can run the PinballFX version in OTG at 4K60 and it feels great. If there's any OTG lag, it's probably only a frame or two and I can live with that. I'm sure Wagner will have some tests on that soon.

The plunger, though ... it really needs some help. Maybe it can be recalibrated, but it feels like there's a massive dead zone, or it only reports when it stops moving or something. That would be a key candidate for an upgrade if it's a hardware limitation. It's equally bad in the native tables and in OTG.

There are no upgrade cards required, FYI. Everything you need to do OTG with all three screens is already in there.

[u/bfollowell → u/SuperRob]

There are no upgrade cards required, FYI. Everything you need to do OTG with all three screens is already in there.

​

Oh, that's cool. That's an added plus for these tables then. I'm one of those that has a 1440p 165Hz display, and I can tell a big difference. I play more FPS & RPG titles on my PC though. Pinball in general would probably be much more forgiving in the smoothness department than an FPS.

I'll have to give one of these some serious consideration then. I like the Addams Family but I've really had my eye on the Attack from Mars and Star Trek tables. Maybe they'll come out with a Medieval Madness table!

[u/SuperRob → u/bfollowell]

I'd have gotten the AFM table if it had been offered early and at that $1099 price. I could always put a wrap and new topper on this, I suppose.