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play (or create) a 3D simulation of real PINBALL games on your computer for FREE!

straubs

Senior member
First, please don't crap on this thread, because if someone would've told me about this before I stumbled on it myself, I would be thanking them for months. :disgust:

Addam's Family screenshot. Keep in mind this is a working, 3D rendered game! Not 2D.
Twilight Zone screenshot.

I have like 133 tables I choose from. From The Addams Family and The Twilight Zone, to The Simpsons, PinBot, Funhouse, Whirlwind, The Who, you name it! This blows away any computer pinball game ever made and it's FREE! 😀

This thing is basically a homemade CAD program (a GOOD homemade one 😉) that you can also create new tables from scratch! Complete with VB scripting to make complex tables where the sky's the limit on what you can do.

Visual Pinball

PinMAME. Links Visual Pinball to the actual ROMS of real pinball games, much like MAME does to arcade game ROMS

Get your Pinball tables here

Another table/ROM site...nicely formatted

This is an open source project by a small group of people. Randy Davis is the master behind Visual Pinball.

Features:

Complete freedom over table layout. If you like, you can start with nothing but a blank table and build up your creation. Or, start with a preset table or edit an existing table.

Curved surfaces. Walls and ramps can have both straight sections and smooth flowing arcs, as simpy as dragging a few points around.

True 3D rendering. Tables come alive with realistic shading and shadows. Choose to view the table at any angle, at any resolution - a small window to play while multi-tasking or full-screen max-resolution for the complete pinball effect.

Shaped Lights. Flashing arrows, arcs, semi-circles; lights can be made into any shape you deisre, or choose a simple circle to quickly whip a concept up.

Complete freedom over rules. The amazing VBScript based engine allows you to have any event create any effect! Combine events to create complex tasks, and give your game a real plot.

All the pinball parts are here. Plungers, flippers, kickers, bumpers, ramps, lights, text displays, gates, spinners, timers, triggers, decals, and drop targets are all at your disposal. And any wall section can become a slingshot with the click of a checkbox!

Shape your objects any way you want. A tall, thin bumper with a wide overhang? A short, stubby flipper that spins all the way around? Not a problem, just do it.

Add images to your board. Add your own pictures to walls, floors, spinners, bumpers, and targets to give your game a distinctive personality. Choose any color you want for other parts like flippers, lights and text displays.
 
I too stumbled upon this one day and couldn't believe how well they emulated things. Addam's Family plays almost identical to the real thing. I play it on my laptop all the time 🙂 Anyone have a good place for getting roms? That shivasite or whatever went down and now i dont know where to get em...
 


<< Randy Travis is the master behind Virtual Pinball.

>>



I believe that you mean Randy Davis- Randy Travis is a little busy with his country music career to write much code 😉
 
Wow......I've got MAME and was just thinking the other day how nice it would be to play the old pinball games!

Thanks for the links!!
 
while I typically don't consider freeware to be a hot deal (yes, freeware IS a hot deal, but if we let freeware be posted in the Hot Deals forum, it would be flooded)...

THIS ROCKS


Between MAME and this, all of my retro-gaming desires can be fulfilled! 😀
 


<< I believe that you mean Randy Davis- Randy Travis is a little busy with his country music career to write much code 😉 >>




Heh, that must've slipped. 😀 I corrected it.
 
It's sad, because I'm nearly always up to date with MAME, but I never have checked this out. I just couldn't imagine it working that well. I even grabbed all of the tables off of USENET recently. This reminds me that I need to check it out.
 
I've been playing Visual PinMame since it came out about a year ago. It's freaking awesome! Not only do I get to play my favorite tables, I get to play tables that I've never seen before -- Cirqus Voltaire and Tales of the Arabian Nights come to mind.

Definitely a hot deal! 😎
 
Awesome post, thanks !

After years of paying too much for crappy pinball simulations, along comes a great one for free. Nothing will ever replace a real table, but this comes as close as possible.

Although I'm not quite sure how the term ROM would apply to a pinball machine? Excepting sound and display, there's no "memory" required, per se. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Any recommendations from anyone on the best tables?
 
My brother has been playing pinball with this program since it came out sometime last year. That said, you all do realize that the ROMs themselves are illegal, don't you? I don't care, but the mods might, and could well lock this thread.

RagManX
 


<< My brother has been playing pinball with this program since it came out sometime last year. That said, you all do realize that the ROMs themselves are illegal, don't you? I don't care, but the mods might, and could well lock this thread.

RagManX
>>



Pinball ROMS are NOT illegal -- you can actually download them from the manufacturer's website (williams, bally, etc...)!
 


<< Pinball ROMS are NOT illegal -- you can actually download them from the manufacturer's website (williams, bally, etc...)! >>



This is true. I went to the Williams/Bally website and you can get them from there. I was surprised as well 😉


Glad that a bunch of people liked the post. I wasn't sure if people would appreciate it or not, but like I said, if someone had told me about this before, I would've been ecstatic! 😎
 
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