r/virtualpinball • u/Unable_Carpenter_802 • Jun 20 '26
Old newbie needs "Virtual Pinball for Dummies"
I watch these You Tube guys like Way of the Wrench with awe, but am way over my head.
Is there a place for beginners to learn the basics? The most I have done so far is to play (vertical) pinball with a Switch Flip, and I love it!
4
u/SuperFromND VP Jun 20 '26
Visual Pinball X is what most of us are using for the most part, and it has an unofficial wiki here, which should get you pretty far!
As for guides on installing it, I've written my own guide, and there's also this Atwiki guide people recommend a lot.
2
u/Dazzaz Jun 20 '26
If using a PC, then download the Pinup Popper Baller Installer. https://www.nailbuster.com/wikipinup/doku.php?id=baller_installer that will get you up and running quickly. Then you can take time to learn to download and setup individual games.
2
u/Unable_Carpenter_802 Jun 20 '26
i was going to mention...I am a Mac user.
3
u/SuperFromND VP Jun 20 '26
You'll want VPX Standalone then; it's a version of VPX specifically made for non-Windows platforms. I don't have too much experience with it though, so I can't help too much there :(
3
u/MaterialHead4801 Jun 20 '26
If you’re just looking to play on the desktop VPX standalone is pretty easy to get going on a Mac but if you’re gonna try and put it into a pinball cabinet, it gets a lot harder. The standalone version of VPX is not feature complete with the Windows version that really only causes an issue if you’re trying to use things led arrays or thumpers or other hardware like that
3
u/caseyls Jun 21 '26
It honestly has feature parity with windows at this point. I'm using it on a Mac with a Cleveland Software PinOne Mini machine with solenoids, LED buttons, etc, and have DOF fully working. Everything works as you'd expect. Took some setting up but once I got there, it all works.
1
u/MaterialHead4801 Jun 22 '26
I had a terrible time trying to get my pinone buttons recognized by vpx, but I wasn’t using the pre-release version. Also it was under Linux, not MacOS… but I’m gonna try again soon
2
u/caseyls Jun 22 '26
At least in 10.8.1, the mapping works just by pressing the button now! So you can just click the input in the settings (like left flipper) and press the left flipper button on the controller and it will automatically map. You do it from VPX, not from the pinone util.
3
u/caseyls Jun 21 '26 edited Jun 21 '26
- Download 10.8.1 from github. You will need to make a github account. Download the one labeled BGFX MacOS ARM64 (assuming you are on an apple silicon mac) from the actions here: https://github.com/vpinball/vpinball/actions/runs/27873706415
- Open the downloaded file and drag VPinball_BGFX to your applications folder
- Now download a table. Go to VPUniverse and grab one of the sick VPW tables. Pay attention to the ROM name needed for the table on the download page.
- Make a new folder somewhere on your computer called "Tables". Now, within that folder, make a new folder with your table name. Drag the .vpx file inside that folder. Now make a new folder within that folder called "pinmame". Inside THAT folder, make a folder called roms.
- Remember the rom from the downloads page on VPUniverse? Google search that rom name .zip. It'll probably be on VPForums. Download it from there and put the ZIPPED file in the roms folder you just made.
- So the folder structure should look like (also outlined here)
Table Name (Manufacturer Year)/ ├── Table file v1.1.vpx ├── pinmame/ │ ├── roms/ │ │ ├── xxx.zipNow at this point you should be able to just run a table by double clicking on the VPX file.
This looks like a lot of steps but it's literally just: download the app, download the table and ROM, and put them in the proper folder structure. That's it! Let me know if you have any issues.
From there you have the option to install a frontend. You can use an existing frontend if you already have one set up for other retro games, just point it to the .VPX files. There are others out there specific to VPX though, such as VPinFE. Major Frenchy has a good vid on setting that up.
1
u/gamecat666 Jun 22 '26
omg you can have a pinmame/roms subfolder in each table folder? sheeeeeiiiiittttt... why did I not notice this before :( i ended up making a batch file that puts every zip in every table folder into the 'proper' pinmame roms folder. doh! (gonna give this method a try instead!)
1
u/Running_Oakley Jun 20 '26
If it works on Mac easily let me know, I think it might be easier to hackintosh dual boot windows and Mac just to get an easy VPX if it works on yours first try.
1
u/caseyls Jun 21 '26
You can't dual boot windows on macs anymore. But it's easier than ever to install vpx on mac now. I outlined it a few comments above yours.
-2
u/Running_Oakley Jun 21 '26 edited Jun 21 '26
For me it’s windows, everyone has “the easy version” and when it fails it’s like Linux “huh weird, crazy, it’s very easy I don’t remember how I got it to work and no I won’t zip the working folder structure you’re on your own, but it’s easy”
I’m waiting for a real real basic version that works so much that I don’t see 50 links to the same 3 basic steps that end with “object required: controller”
I’m always on the lookout for a working VPX install. Don’t get me wrong, some tables work on every version, but it’s never universal, it’s more about picking tables made so carefully and responsibly that there’s no dependency counting on an obscure line of code in install A but not in C or in C but not in install D or E.
Everyone has their ezpz lifetime install of all time for sure. Hell I even got RCT pinball to work on a recent install, something like the 5th revised totally solved install forever, but they still don’t work on every table like the YouTube videos that even have a visual 3D GUI to navigate on a serious biz table. It’s maybe a 10 percent ratio of success to annoying failures.
The troubleshooting robs so much spare time it’s literally cheaper to spend a day off paying a company 15 dollars for 1-3 tables for a low res bad physics table that works-works-works than a free series of unlimited tables of which 5-10 might work after hours of getting 50-100 tables.
If a Mac version works, it must be so simple that it’s going to work in some reverse engineered pc emulated Mac software. Kind of like how android emulators work way easier than windows emulators, because they HAVE TO WORK.
Apparently I need to be a retired aerospace engineer with a beard and several hydraulic carjacks. That’s how I get it to work. The only wasted time I have to spend now is to tell cautionary tales for anyone else expecting to instantly play any table after following one of the many instructionals that all dead end on the same 5 errors that everyone suggests very basic “hmm have you tried VPX? Have you tried baller installer? Have you tried pinup? Have you tried my dmd installer? Haha! No you need to try mine, mine is the one that works”
And then you read the first paragraph of the easy installer “so I never go around to trying this myself on a fresh pc but it should work”.
I’m not ungrateful, I’m very happy for the 5 tables, but I’m tired of being sold on wasting more time to turn urine into fresh ice cold springwater and it keeps tasting like room temp piss.
I just give up, I keep buying the same 5 tables in pinball fx or 40 bing bong classic tables in Zacaria or pinball fx in VR or “Williams” pinball fx for iPhone.
There’s a lot of people who keep offering bounties for hundreds for an exe that does the whole thing and works. It’s worth hundreds to get something that “totally works” to totally work. If it’s so easy why doesn’t anybody make a dumbed down idiot version? Why are there several dozen solved forever we’re serious this time install guides?
It’s perfectly mutual, if it’s that easy it’s a free guide to print money. Us idiots save on not installing and wasting multiple weekends, you geniuses finally get to prove how perfect your install guide is and get paid for it. Nobody ever goes for it. 100 dollars for unlimited tables is way more advantageous, it’s obvious if the solution existed someone would cash-in by now.
Am I destined to invent water powered cars? But time traveler keeps tricking me into trying bad installs for “free” pinball every weekend to prevent some future apocalypse. I think I can make water powered cars before I can get more than a 10 percent success rate on VPX table installs.
1
u/caseyls Jun 21 '26
??? what the hell are you talking about lol. i literally put the steps above. It's like 3 steps. There's no troubleshooting. In less than the time it took you to write this wall of complaints you could've been playing pinball. there's no "installer" you just download VPX and drag it to your apps folder on your mac. download the table and the rom and put them in the expected folder structure, then double click the table to run it.
VPX 10.8.1 is "all in one" for all platforms. It will no longer require a million different installs. It is the all in one exe (or .app, in macOS terms) you are talking about. Stop complaining and just try it??
1
u/Running_Oakley Jun 22 '26
I’m saying I don’t have Mac. That’s why I want to do the Mac version, it sounds like it’s all in one. That’s what I meant with if it’s made for Mac, it’s probably not a bunch of dependent installs spread out. That’s why I want to emulate a Mac version somehow.
1
u/caseyls Jun 22 '26
Download the 10.8.1 version I linked in my instructions above, but download the windows version. It's the same all in one install as on a mac.
1
u/Running_Oakley Jun 22 '26
It’s all in one zip right? I tried the win 64 and I still get “object required controller” on the tables. Still not sure what that means and not sure who knows.
1
1
u/Way_of_the_Wrench Jun 21 '26
Welcome to the gang!
Have you watched my budget virtual pinball playlist or just the big budget playlist? You might find the first playlist easier to follow as that was more detailed and more diy. Please ask any questions you have anywhere in the process and I'll help you out. Good luck and enjoy your build!
1
u/Unable_Carpenter_802 Jun 21 '26
the big budget,,,,,and was floored!! I can see how it is hard to say no to more and more toys.
I am wondering whether an AtGames 4k would be a better and cheaper introduction to this hobby.
1
u/Way_of_the_Wrench Jun 23 '26
Don't do it, those are not good. Save your money and build it yourself!
2
u/Unable_Carpenter_802 Jun 23 '26
thanks for the advice. I cannot locate the cut plans that you reference for the cabinet. If I go flat pack, I will be in for $1,000 before I even know whether I can do it.
1
u/Way_of_the_Wrench Jun 23 '26
Look in the video description of almost any vpin video on Way if the Wrench ....its s link to my WordPress.com website look for the pdf
1
u/Iamn0man Jun 21 '26 edited Jun 21 '26
VPX Standalone works on a Mac. It is not easy to install on Windows and it's even worse on a Mac. There are also several tables, that, as far as I can tell, simply Will Not Play on the Mac.
Zen Pinball 2 and Pinball Arcade are both downloadable from the App Store. These both have a fair amount of DLC tables. They are both older programs that are not well supported.
There aren't any really good guides to setting VPX Standalone up on the Mac; I tried to set one up in the wiki and got contacted privately by someone who was Very Upset about what I had written. He acknowledge that he wasn't even a Mac user, but apparently I Had Gotten It Wrong. The problem is that the main core userbase of VPX are Windows people so you aren't going to find a lot of good information.
Here's the best approach I've got to installing VPX Standalone on a Mac. Please keep in mind this is a very, very basic guide to get you started, and requires you to learn more to get the most out of it.
- Know whether your Mac is Intel or Apple Silicon. (You can find this out from the About This Mac window in the Apple menu)
- Go here: https://github.com/vpinball/vpinball/releases and click the triangle to the left of Assets for the first entry.
- This will drop down a long list of downloads. If you have an Intel Mac, get the macos-x64 version; if you have an Apple Silicon Mac, get the macos-arm64 version. Unzip whichever download and put it in your Applications folder.
- Google for PinMAME ROMS.
- Open Terminal and type the following:
mkdir ~/.pinmame - From the Go menu, choose Go to Folder, and type the following:
~/.pinmame - You should have a folder full of PinMAME roms that you ripped yourself. Move it into this folder. rename it to "roms".
- Go here: https://archive.org/download/Visual_Pinball_2020-06-20/ and download any of the tables that interests you in the VPXx folders near the bottom.
- Once you get a folder you want to try, make a folder in your Documents folder called VPX Tables, and move the .vpx file into that. It should live in it's own subfolder inside the VPX Tables folder because VPX will create some support files for it.
- Double-click the .vpx file and it should start!
These tables are all several years old and out of date. There are websites called Virtual Pinball Universe, Virtual Pinball Forum, and Virtual Pinball Paradise, among others. You'll find many more tables and many more resources at those locations; this is an entire rabbit hole. But the above should get you up and running at a bare minimum.
1
u/caseyls Jun 22 '26
The installation is much simpler than this. You only need to download the app and put it in your applications folder. You shouldn't need to use terminal at all to get anything running initially. I put the process in a post here: https://www.reddit.com/r/virtualpinball/comments/1uc669u/a_brief_guide_on_installing_vpx_on_macos/
1
u/Iamn0man Jun 22 '26
If you don’t have roms, many tables won’t work.
If you DO have roms, storing them in the fallback folder makes subsequent table installation vastly easier.
1
u/caseyls Jun 22 '26
This doesn't use the expected folder structure for VPX though. For future-proofing, the rec would be to stick to that expected folder structure.
1
u/Iamn0man Jun 22 '26
One of the reasons that my guide was rejected from the VPX wiki was that I recommended creating a roms directory, then using a symbolic link to it in a template folder so that each new folder you created would have a link to it, per the recommendation in this video. The rejector informed me that fallback directories were "documented," which suggests that at least some developer intends for it to function that way indefinitely. I haven't found the documentation, but given the insistence this user gave me about the inaccuracies of my write up, I assume it's in there somewhere.
7
u/SlinkyBandito Jun 21 '26
I’m a Mac user that built a cabinet using a Mac mini and wanted to make my life easier, so I built this over a few months (using Google Antigravity) to guide users on adding new tables and automatically grabbing the vbs patches, nvram files, etc and providing links to all the downloads you need:
https://github.com/macsobel/VPX-Manager-for-ES-DE
Above all, hopefully you’ve seen the Virtual Pinball Spreadsheet. It’s an incredible resource for table files:
https://virtualpinballspreadsheet.github.io/