jwt27 wrote:

Yeah it's a maybug.. If it's on schedule it should be gone by tomorrow 🤣

We're being overrun with these here at the moment.

jwt27 wrote:

Found another bug... http://imageshack.us/a/img534/4755/img4184xq.jpg

🤣! 😀

I'm reminded back years ago when I had a Iomega Ditto Easy 3200 3.2GB tape drive -> http://jasonwilliams400com.startlogic.com/sno … 6DX4-100_07.jpg . I had the entire contents of both of my hard drives in that old PC backed up to about 4 or 5 of the tape cartridges that tape drive used.

These tapes cartridges were not cheap either... about US$25-US$30 a pop IIRC.

Anyhow, I used to store the tape cartridges in a hardshell case for safekeeping, and one day decided to pull them out for inspection.

A colony of black ants had created massive nests in EACH one of my tape cartridges, and they were TOTALLY ruined <aarrgghh>!

It was the damnedest thing... the only thing that I could figure is that they were somehow attracted to the magnetism of the tapes (?).

Maybe someone can answer this question for me (see attached pic):

What is the function of that little counter at the top-right of Microsoft Pinball Arcade's "Baffle Ball" table? I've occasionally seen it set to "1", but I have NO idea what it does/means.

P.S. Sorry about the crap quality pic... for some weird reason, I can't seem to take a decent screenshot of ANY of the MSPA tables (???).

rfnagel wrote:

Maybe someone can answer this question for me (see attached pic):

What is the function of that little counter at the top-right of Microsoft Pinball Arcade's "Baffle Ball" table? I've occasionally seen it set to "1", but I have NO idea what it does/means.

P.S. Sorry about the crap quality pic... for some weird reason, I can't seem to take a decent screenshot of ANY of the MSPA tables (???).

Example 2 in attached screenshot... after a finished game with a decent high score, and that top-right counter NOW displays "3" (???).

...and yet another example (see attached screenshot). I swear, that top-right counter makes *NO* sense to me whatsoever (and that top-right counter NOW displays "0")!

I've seen that but never really thought about what it was for.. is it some sort of multiplier maybe?

and speaking of ants... I once saw a whole colony of ants march out a 230V wall socket here. They kept swarming around it for a while and after an hour or so they all went back in. Haven't seen them ever since.

jwt27 wrote:

I've seen that but never really thought about what it was for.. is it some sort of multiplier maybe?

I'm not thinking so... In my "example 3" pic, I had three red balls in the red pocket (which would have been a doubled (x2) score for each of the three red balls), yet that top-right counter displays "0".

This is really a weird thing, as I can't find ANYTHING on the Internet refering to it. The included help file that comes with the game is unfortunately ALSO useless (it makes NO mention of that top-right counter at all).

P.S. I topped the leaderboard for the "Baffle Ball" table over at CyberScore with my "example 2" pic 😀 Bear in mind, that was SHEER LUCK 🤣!

jwt27 wrote:

and speaking of ants... I once saw a whole colony of ants march out a 230V wall socket here. They kept swarming around it for a while and after an hour or so they all went back in. Haven't seen them ever since.

I'm thinking that they must be attracted to the electrical current (and/or per my previous post, magnetism). A weird thing of nature indeed 🤣!

I think I know what it is. It's the number of games/coins you have left.

From the help file:

You win a free game for the following scores: · 4,000 · 5,000 · 6,000 […]
Show full quote

You win a free game for the following scores:
· 4,000
· 5,000
· 6,000

jwt27 wrote:

I think I know what it is. It's the number of games/coins you have left.

From the help file:

You win a free game for the following scores: · 4,000 · 5,000 · 6,000 […]
Show full quote

You win a free game for the following scores:
· 4,000
· 5,000
· 6,000

You are absolutely correct, sir! Many thanks for clarifying that! 😀

I swear, I poked around in the help file for I don't know how long, but didn't even realize all of the additional info for the specific tables in the "Tips" section.

gawd, these pinball games are driving me CRAZY!!!! AAAAIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

Well, either I was pretty good at Pinball Pro The Web, back in the day. Or else I would say, getting over a billion in that game. Was pretty easy. But I got more than 1.000.000.000 in that game I just mentioned, back in the day (16 years ago, holy shit I feel old now).

One pinball table from one game that is driving me crazy... the "Humpty Dumpty" pinball table from Microsoft Pinball Arcade. I have managed to slowly climb up the leaderboard for that table here -> http://www.cyberscore.me.uk/chart/98073 .

But, after playing my ass off (for I don't know how long), I only managed a 2nd place tie. If I could have held on to that last ball for another few seconds, I WOULD have been in 2nd place (pushing the other guy into 3rd) <aarrgghh>!

My brain simply doesn't "work around" that pinball table... what with it's screwball side-placed flippers and such 🤣! Table nudging IS the KEY to attaining high scores on that table, and the way the flippers are situated on that specific table ALWAYS screws with my head (as to which flipper to press, in conjunction with which way to nudge) 🤣!

(EDIT) Gottlieb *SHOULD* have named that table "SCREW BALL" (instead of "Humpty Dumpty") back in the day 🤣! 😀

(DOUBLE EDIT) @WolverineDK,

You should request for "Pro Pinball: The Web" to be added to the scoreboard charts over at CyberScore 😀 Hehe, another one that I'm sure I'll always be LOW in the scoreboards 🤣!

P.S. FWIW, PopCap Games' old puzzler "Alchemy Deluxe" has been added to CyberScore (requested by your's truly) -> http://www.cyberscore.me.uk/game/1278 😀

rfnagel: Yes, if I had the game. I played it at school(back then). When I had the chance 😀 And no I do not have the particular pinball game. But I still have fond memories of playing it 😀

Hehe, don't y'all wish that Epic Pinball looked like this? <grin> 😀

Visual Pinball/pinMAME tables look photo realistic

And here's a video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1-kb0K8Iho

And here's a cabinet for playing your virtual pinball games on

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9GgoV6dAp4

sliderider wrote:

Visual Pinball/pinMAME tables look photo realistic

Hehe, yeah, but the point was how much better that the "Retro Pinball" (for iOS) graphics are compared to the old DOS Epic Pinball 😀

rfnagel wrote:

(re: Balls Of Steel) BTW, this probably won't help me with my sorry scores (as much as I suck LOL), but I DID just recently noti […]
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(re: Balls Of Steel) BTW, this probably won't help me with my sorry scores (as much as I suck 🤣), but I DID just recently noticed one thing that was screwing up my "feel" for the game.

In most PC pinball games, the "nudge left" and "nudge right" keys are REFERING to:

"nudge FROM the left" and "nudge FROM the right", respectively.

In other words if I hit the "nudge left" key, that would be akin in real-life pinball to me PUSHING the pinball table with my left hand, FROM the left TOWARDS the RIGHT, and in essence JOLTING the pinball table to the RIGHT.

Almost all PC pinball games that I've ever played function like that.

That being said, Balls Of Steel is JUST THE OPPOSITE... "nudge left" means to nudge the BALL LEFT, and "nudge right" means to nudge the BALL RIGHT.

TOTALLY SCREWY in my book 🤣!

Anyhow, I simply redefined the keys to "/"="nudge left", and "z"="nudge right", and NOW it finally "feels" to me the same as the other PC pinball games 😀

Preface:

What started this whole schmear was from a YouTube video that I watched of someone playing the Knock Out pinball table, and attaining a CRAZY high score... ON THE FIRST BALL! After watching the video, I realized that... Hey! Wait a minute, *I* CAN'T make the ball nudge in those directions that the guy was in the YouTube video!

Hmmm... it appears that the SAME thing applies to Microsoft Pinball Arcade. The left and right nudging in the game really felt screwball to me. And nudging is a MUST for high scores for the older era tables... Baffle Ball, Humpty Dumpty, Knock Out (ESPECIALLY for Knock Out!), and Slick Chick.

Now, that being said:

When you nudge the table using the "Nudge from left" control, the table actually shifts to the right on your monitor. And, when you nudge the table using the "Nudge from right" control, the table actually shifts to the left on your monitor.

You can also hear the audible "clunk" sound effect when doing this, panned from the respective stereo speaker when using these controls ("Nudge from left" sound in your left speaker, as if you PUSHED the table with your left hand to the right, and vice-versa).

NOW the problem:

Apparently in Microsoft Pinball Arcade, when you nudge the table from the left TO the right (using the "Nudge from left" control), it "SLIDES" the table "UNDER" the ball TO the right... which ACTUALLY MOVES the ball TO THE LEFT on the table (and vice-versa)!

TOTALLY screwy in my book!

When I "slap" a REAL pinball table with my LEFT hand TOWARDS the right, the rightwards *INERTIA* of the actual "slap" will MOVE the ball TO THE RIGHT (and NOT to the left).

Anyhow, the same applies to Microsoft Pinball Arcade as Balls of Steel... I simply redefined the keys to "/"="Nudge from left", and "z"="Nudge from right", and NOW it finally "feels" to me the same as the other PC pinball games (although the panning of the two "clunk" audible effects sound weird).

I suppose in actuality, that Microsoft SHOULD have named the two controls "Nudge BALL Left" and "Nudge BALL Right", as well as swapping the panning of the "clunk" sounds; would have made a helluva lot more sense... well, at least to ME 🤣! 😀

P.S. Another Microsoft Pinball Arcade tip:

The default keys for the left and right flippers are the LEFTSHIFT and RIGHTSHIFT keys.

And, the default keys for the ADDITIONAL left and right flippers (for the "Haunted House" pinball table) are the A and ' keys.

Configure the additional flipper controls to the SAME keys as the regular flippers (LEFTSHIFT and RIGHTSHIFT) for easier gameplay control when playing the "Haunted House" pinball table 😀

P.P.S. Hehe, BTW, on the Baffle Ball, Humpty Dumpty, Knock Out, and the Slick Chick pinball tables you can launch MULTIPLE balls on the tables, one right after the other 🤣! After the first ball enters the playfield, simply pull back your plunger control, and launch the next ball 😀

Are you sure it's inversed? Try catching the ball with a flipper and nudging the table left and right. It does seem to go the right way for me, same as with Epic Pinball.

However I did lose the ball a few times because it went the wrong way after a nudge. But then the nudge action in MS Pinball is pretty weak anyway. On BOS the inversion was much more noticable.