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Pinball Gold PackA rushed release?... (+ a little FAQ)(19 posts)(19 posts)
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Posted February 26, 2011
high rated
Hey guys,

I'd like to address several points in this post - hopefully being helpful to the others too.
First of all, it looks like this particular release (Pinball Gold Pack) was, unfortunately, rushed - not only there are no bonuses or even manual downloads, some of the games included are missing some elements (like another user has mentioned, Pinball Illusions does not include the CD music) and the games are not configured correctly in DosBox. I'm wondering if the GOG team is going to address some or all of these issues, but until they do, here's a little FAQ to help resolve possible problems:

Q: I used to play the game with the "Shift" buttons, but the GOG versions don't allow me to use Shift to control flippers!

A: In each folder where you installed the game ("fantasies_tables", "dream1_tables", "dream2_tables", and "illusions_tables"), there is a file called "mapper.txt" which is used to map keys in DosBox. That file is missing a mapping for the Shift keys for some reason. In order to fix this problem, delete or rename this file in all above-mentioned folders. (alternatively, remap the shift keys back in DosBox if you're a power user of DosBox - though if you are, you're probably using your own customized DosBox to play these games instead of the one that comes with the GOG installer anyway :)).

Q: I'm running Pinball Fantasies in high resolution mode and the ball sometimes becomes hardly visible/invisible.

A: This is because the game is incorrectly set to use maximum CPU cycles, which doesn't work well with Fantasies in DosBox. To correct this, go to the "fantasies_tables" folder in your game installation and open the file dosboxPFD.conf with your text editor of choice. Inside, find this line:

cycles=max

and change it into this:

cycles=7000

This setting should also work fine with Pinball Mania and Pinball Dreams 1/2 by the way in case you have any issues (such as e.g. skipping sound or disappearing ball) in those games as well (edit dosboxDREAMS1.conf and dosboxDREAMS2.conf in the respective folders if you need to).

I sincerely hope the GOG Team will notice these issues and correct them permanently by updating the installer. I'm also hoping (though I know there might not be much hope for that) that the Illusions CD tracks will be included, and at least the game manuals will be provided among the bonus content.

The Pinball Gold Pack is an amazing release, personally I was waiting for these super classic pinball tables to appear here for a very very long time (my old floppies are long dead XD), I'm sorry to see that the release was a little rushed yet I'm very happy to finally get a chance to buy these games again as a digital download and play them! :)
Post edited February 26, 2011 by Agetian
Posted March 18, 2011
Bumping up a great post. I'll try these solutions out.
Posted March 27, 2011
I agree that this is a badly botched release, and having bought it, I'm somewhat less forgiving. It's well below the standards that we've come to expect from GOG and it's all the more an insult that games of this age have been put at a $10 price point.

It really does not feel that the GOG team has even bothered to test the games properly. I've had to tweak the conf files to get some of the games working satisfactorily.

The absence of the CD tracks in Pinball Illusions is an enormous disappointment. Worse still, it seems that the CD version has just been ripped and some minigame soundtracks are missing altogether from Illusions.

How much effort would it have required to link directly to the Pinball Fantasies and Pinball Mania executables instead of the menu of the compilation that it was so blatantly ripped from?

There are no manuals (which, for those who remember the old Amiga manuals, contained first class instructions for the tables), no extras, no soundtracks (even I could create an MP3 from the MOD files in the folders)

Finally, why was the far superior Deluxe version of Pinball Dreams not used? For the record, there are usually a few copies going in eBay.

Honestly, for five games priced at a level that is usually reserved for more recent games, I expected a hell of a lot more.
Posted March 29, 2011
I still have Pinball Illusions as an original Disc here and tried to get it to work properly with DosBox.
It worked except for one thing: the CDMusic-Tracks are still being played while playing the Table. Usually, if I remember correctly, the Ingame Music consists of MOD-Tracks, the only CD-Tracks to be played was the stuff for special actions of the Table ...

But DosBox just doesn´t kept the Music Tracks from being played, so you have a horrible interference from MOD- and CD-Tracks. Maybe CD-Tracks were left out for that reason...
Pity is, that the tracks for the special Actions are now also gone. Maybe it´s possible to make the CDMusic-Tracks empty and leave the "Specials"-CDTracks?

For the Rest I agree totally: Confugaration of this Package is "sub-optimal" and the Manuals could have been included.

But that´s the only Game i´m not 100% satisfied with I bought from GOG and I´m still glad they released it, though, cause my Floppies of Dreams & Fantasies are long gone and it´s almost impossible to find the Deluxe-Versions at a reasonably price here in Germany!

Hopefully they release Slam TIlt, PsychoPinball, Extreme and Epic Pinball, too.
Another great Flipper was BALLS OF STEEL and the additional almost unknown DEVILS ISLAND PINBALL...
Have them all, but I think many Pinballers would love them!
Posted April 01, 2011
avatar
Agetian: Hey guys,

I'd like to address several points in this post - hopefully being helpful to the others too.
First of all, it looks like this particular release (Pinball Gold Pack) was, unfortunately, rushed - not only there are no bonuses or even manual downloads, some of the games included are missing some elements (like another user has mentioned, Pinball Illusions does not include the CD music) and the games are not configured correctly in DosBox. I'm wondering if the GOG team is going to address some or all of these issues, but until they do, here's a little FAQ to help resolve possible problems:

Q: I used to play the game with the "Shift" buttons, but the GOG versions don't allow me to use Shift to control flippers!

A: In each folder where you installed the game ("fantasies_tables", "dream1_tables", "dream2_tables", and "illusions_tables"), there is a file called "mapper.txt" which is used to map keys in DosBox. That file is missing a mapping for the Shift keys for some reason. In order to fix this problem, delete or rename this file in all above-mentioned folders. (alternatively, remap the shift keys back in DosBox if you're a power user of DosBox - though if you are, you're probably using your own customized DosBox to play these games instead of the one that comes with the GOG installer anyway :)).

Q: I'm running Pinball Fantasies in high resolution mode and the ball sometimes becomes hardly visible/invisible.

A: This is because the game is incorrectly set to use maximum CPU cycles, which doesn't work well with Fantasies in DosBox. To correct this, go to the "fantasies_tables" folder in your game installation and open the file dosboxPFD.conf with your text editor of choice. Inside, find this line:

cycles=max

and change it into this:

cycles=7000

This setting should also work fine with Pinball Mania and Pinball Dreams 1/2 by the way in case you have any issues (such as e.g. skipping sound or disappearing ball) in those games as well (edit dosboxDREAMS1.conf and dosboxDREAMS2.conf in the respective folders if you need to).

I sincerely hope the GOG Team will notice these issues and correct them permanently by updating the installer. I'm also hoping (though I know there might not be much hope for that) that the Illusions CD tracks will be included, and at least the game manuals will be provided among the bonus content.

The Pinball Gold Pack is an amazing release, personally I was waiting for these super classic pinball tables to appear here for a very very long time (my old floppies are long dead XD), I'm sorry to see that the release was a little rushed yet I'm very happy to finally get a chance to buy these games again as a digital download and play them! :)
How to edit the cfg? It does not allow me to save/overwrite the cfg.?
Posted April 02, 2011
I just bought the game because of the promo and with Pinball Fantasies and Illusions i have trouble mapping the keys. the problem is they put the flipper keys on ctrl which wouldn't be a problem except for the fact that when you press a flipper button the flipper stays up like an asshole. so you have to double tap the button every freaking time. I was able to fix this in all but fantasies and illusions cause all the other games actually key mapping inside the game.

Please help.

*Edit* I guess dreams 2 also has the problem mentioned above which means thats 12 tables that are unplayable to me. I know there is most likely an easy way to fix this but I don't know what it is.
Post edited April 02, 2011 by deshadow52
Posted April 03, 2011
@ wormholewizards: Hmm, perhaps the files are read only? Try unchecking the read only attribute on them first if it's there.

@ deshadow52: Removing the 'mapper.txt' file in the game folders will return the original mapping which will allow you to use 'shift' keys instead of 'ctrl' keys in the game. If you want to create a custom mapping you should use the DosBox's mapper facility (accessible with Ctrl+F1 while in DosBox) - please check the DosBox manual for instructions. :)

Hope this helps!
Posted April 04, 2011
avatar
Agetian: @ wormholewizards: Hmm, perhaps the files are read only? Try unchecking the read only attribute on them first if it's there.

@ deshadow52: Removing the 'mapper.txt' file in the game folders will return the original mapping which will allow you to use 'shift' keys instead of 'ctrl' keys in the game. If you want to create a custom mapping you should use the DosBox's mapper facility (accessible with Ctrl+F1 while in DosBox) - please check the DosBox manual for instructions. :)

Hope this helps!
Do you know how to custom mapping DosBox using controller?
Posted April 04, 2011
Thanks everyone for the helpful information. I was thinking about buying this since it's part of the current promo, but I won't be getting it now due to the problems this release seems to have. In particular, the missing audio tracks are a deal breaker for me.
Posted April 04, 2011
The issues mainly you can tweak the .cfg by yourself, It doesn't take much time. I only tweak the resolution to make sure the game is stretch fullscreen (1280x1024) for all of them except for Pinball Illusions because this one it work without problem with surface graphic setting and delete the mapper.txt file to enable "shift" button to work. Though i agree the lack of music in Illusions especially in special mode make the game feel a bit weird. The only thing i can't get to work right now is make the games support my controller because i feel more comfortable sitting further from my screen.
Posted April 04, 2011
avatar
wormholewizards: Do you know how to custom mapping DosBox using controller?
Umm, I haven't touched it myself much, to be honest... But it shouldn't be difficult to figure out, or perhaps you can ask the guys at the DosBox forum at vogons.zetafleet.com to help you if the manual won't be too helpful. :)
Posted April 04, 2011
avatar
wormholewizards: Do you know how to custom mapping DosBox using controller?
avatar
Agetian: Umm, I haven't touched it myself much, to be honest... But it shouldn't be difficult to figure out, or perhaps you can ask the guys at the DosBox forum at vogons.zetafleet.com to help you if the manual won't be too helpful. :)
So dosbox really support/allow controller?
Posted April 04, 2011
avatar
wormholewizards: So dosbox really support/allow controller?
Umm I'm fairly sure that I saw options to enable joystick support. :)
Posted April 04, 2011
I notice gog.com is using dosbox version 0.72. The latest version of dosbox in their official sites is 0.74. Is there any way for me to install my gog.com games using dosbox version 0.74?
Posted April 06, 2011
avatar
wormholewizards: I notice gog.com is using dosbox version 0.72. The latest version of dosbox in their official sites is 0.74. Is there any way for me to install my gog.com games using dosbox version 0.74?
Yep, I actually simply installed DosBox 0.74, configured it to use the game folders, and I'm just running the games using the latest DosBox and my own custom configuration instead of with the stock DosBox 0.72 and a suboptimal config for it that gog provides. :)
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Pinball Gold PackA rushed release?... (+ a little FAQ)(19 posts)(19 posts)
(19 posts)