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Pinball FX
  PS4PinballUC  
  opened by paleface at 22:48:41 05/13/23  
  last modified by paleface at 12:27:18 03/05/24  
  paleface [sys=PS4; cat=Pinball; reg=NA]
           
Naming reboot, it's the one after Pinball FX3 (see entry 1591); not to be confused with the previous-gen Pinball FX (see entry 1172).
 

 
Finally figured out (had to resort to Google) that the Circle button toggles off the "animated toys"! Kept expecting that option to be on the Settings - Video menu. Shee-oosh. Well, at least it's there; some of those Williams tables were really ruined with freakish animated nonsense across the screen during gameplay--Indy and either Twilight Zone or Addams Family being maybe the worst.
 
Actually, I kind of like the "enhancements" with "toys" on in Monster Bash: the cabinet interior side art that comes with that setting is really nice, as are the colored flippers...and sheesh I even kinda like the animation they did of Igor, Frank, and the other characters at the top of the table--it's subtle and doesn't distract! Wish they'd been that respectful of the original tables with the rest of them; I have to turn it off in Creature, for instance, 'cause otherwise you have to sit through the creature rearing out of the water every single time you lose a ball! What the heck. And it's too bad you can't save it per table (I'd also like to be able to customize the LCD color per table, instead of just for all of them at once--another nice option, though; green looks good on MB!).
 
The only table I really seem to care about is Williams' Monster Bash (MAYBE Creature? don't like the layout nearly as much, though; and World Cup Soccer seems okay, I do like shooting goals--not so much the constant spinning ball sound and multiball flashers), and the lighting in the PFX rendition of MB is blown-out and kinda gross (but Creature's lighting is still nice!)! It looks like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzjeuJbehVs originally it was very close to the PFX3 lighting (which is lovely and smooth!), but maybe a little more subdued. So possibly to try to correct that, it looks like maybe with the May 5, 2022 game update to version 0.11.47645 ( https://digitalpinballfans.com/threads/master-list-of-issues-pinball-fx.14353/post-297044 ) they changed the lighting to its current blown-out look. Dang. I wish they could get it back to more like the lovely PFX3 look.
 
Still, the flipper physics improvements in PFX are amazing--the flippers actually have some give now! So you can do all kinds of light touch catches and things--I mean, in theory, if you're better than me--but they still happen to me sometimes by luck ^ _^--and the multiball interactions are really good, letting you get away with juggling multiple balls realistically on a single flipper and so forth.
 
The steeper playfield and wider outlines in Pro mode really seal it, those are the adjustments that should have been in Tournament mode in PFX3. Hm the flippers should still be wider apart.
 
OH. You can skip the useless MATCH FOR EXTRA CREDIT sequence at the end of each game if you set Settings - Gameplay - Williams Pinball Attract Mode to ON. Well that makes no darned sense (why don't they have a toggle for the Match sequence dip switch setting??), but whew at least it lets you skip it!! Huge thanks to @pinballwiz45b for the tip (check his channel, he's super-good at video pinball games and has great videos of them! He's also the guy putting in the work to track the game status and updates and bug fixes and stuff at https://digitalpinballfans.com)!
 
The UI in this reboot of PFX is terribly clunky and confusing. And I already found two bugs with it: if you mash X from the Match sequence you're stuck at the lounge/cabinet screen, and if you turn off Williams Pinball Attract Mode during the match sequence, you're stuck there. : P
 
  paleface 03:41:38 05/29/23
           

 
Extremely rough input delay comparison on my set-up between Pinball FX's Fish Tales on PS4, then Steam / PC, taken with 60 fps cell-phone footage. Input via a DualShock 4. To get the amount of delay, I play the video back frame-by-frame at 60 fps and count the frames between full button press and flipper response.
 
(To get to the controls that let you play this sub-60-second video frame-by-frame with the "." key on your keyboard and at 60 fps on YouTube, you may need to edit the URL from "/shorts/" to "/video/." Or maybe this link to it as a regular video, not a Short, will work: https://youtu.be/DgIfvGMmM_o )
 
This comparison is NOT scientific or conclusive and probably won't reflect whatever you get on your own set-up!
 
My PC is a mid-range gaming laptop from 2020; its CPU is well above the game's minimum spec but slightly BELOW the recommended spec, which is why I had bought the game on PS4 in the first place.
 
It was mostly to help me decide if I wanted to shell out all the $$$ to re-buy the tables to play them on my PC.
 
I counted a delay of ~ 4 frames on PS4 and ~ 6 to 7 frames on the PC.
 
In the PC / Steam version, I had Vsync off in the game's settings, started at otherwise medium detail, then tried low, then low with FPS set to "Unlimited," which is the version you see here--they all responded in about 6 to 7 frames.
 
I was surprised the response was better on PS4! Maybe the DS4 is cheating for Sony, I dunno. Or I just did something wrong on PC. OR the PC just isn't good enough. The DS4 was plugged in in both cases, and I had not set up bluetooth input for it on the Windows 11 laptop.
 
Sound was on on the PS4 version too, but routing to headphones, so it was inaudible.
 
Anyway, as far as I can tell, with this PC I have, I'm better off playing the PS4 version.
 
  paleface 21:41:14 05/30/23
           

 
Playing Dennis Nordman's table "The Party Zone" in Pinball FX on PS4!
 
Gosh, I like this table! Those looping return lanes are nifty. The whole nutty theme really grew on me. A good selection of nice shots here, and the synthesis of sound and lights/animation is so well done.
 
I had played a bit too much of Nordman's precursor table, Dr. Dude, in Pinball Arcade back in the day and couldn't bear the thought of more of that theme by the time PZ came along as DLC for TPA, so I didn't try it much or at all back then. I almost passed it up in PFX just due to the lingering burnout from TPA Dude but I'm glad I tried it here, it's so nice!
 
Gotta remember to switch to the last camera, Manual Camera, and also crank it to max altitude before starting the table--almost top down view that way, easier to see the table.
 
Totally missed that there's a right-side target bank; didn't really pay attention to that passage behind it, either. : o
 
@pinballwiz45b 's Master List of Issues for Pinball FX -- https://digitalpinballfans.com/threads/master-list-of-issues-pinball-fx.14353/ -- does include audio sliders like Voiceovers not being set up yet for "most" tables. He added https://digitalpinballfans.com/threads/master-list-of-issues-pinball-fx.14353/post-298109 that "We've seen some improvements over FX3, but there's still work to be done around the Yamaha and DCS sound emulation.there's still work to be done around the Yamaha and DCS sound emulation."
 
I noticed that even w/ Motion Blur & Ball Trails off, after-images linger behind the ball. https://digitalpinballfans.com/threads/master-list-of-issues-pinball-fx.14353/post-298111
 
Poking around the interface later, under "Progression" or something I found that I'd achieved the table award for The Party Zone: the game calls out one thing to do for each table to get the award for that table, and for PZ it's getting all the Party Animals into the Cosmic Cottage (or "CosmiCottage"), or something like that--so that's why the award icon has appeared under the My Tables listing for PZ.
 
New high scores I get appear in the leaderboard right away, that's nice--no waiting around to see where they rank (or having to figure it out manually in the interim ; ).
 
18,504,760 pts got me to rank 25 on the Pro leaderboard for PZ, gosh!
 
Had to swap the buttons around because I was annoying myself with the thudding sound of the empty plunger when impatiently mashing X. ; ) Silly you can't remap buttons individually, you can only cycle between pre-set button layouts. : P
 
Gotta remember to pick a good DMD color when I sit for a session with a table--yellow goes great on PZ. : D
 
  paleface 18:29:12 05/31/23
           
Pinwiz says the ball after-images are "the side-effect of Temporal Anti-Aliasing, or TAA. Most noticeable on the DMD using View 8."
 
Seems weird that they went with TAA over plain ol' FXAA if it's gonna leave ball ghosts all over. : P The PS4 version has no AA option settings at all, so it's stuck like this.
 
  paleface 20:39:29 06/03/23
           

 
Playing the Pat Lawlor designed table "No Good Gofers"!
 
The Pinball FX Pro mode table is brutally hard compared to The Pinball Arcade version and I whine and cry almost non-stop. I let the amusing "gofers" distract me constantly and as soon as that red hole light goes on with the ominous fast music I just drain ALL MY BALLS every time. EVERY TIME!!! = oooo
 
And I still can't really see that metal plate being in place to fling central ramp shots up into the air; I did at least sort of start to hear it crashing into place eventually.
 
MAN this table is tough, ooogh! = oo SDtM from the skill shot! SDtM from the trapped ball shot! Hard low deflection off the left rebounder! And on and on~~ ;_; ; D
 
Oh shoot, 3:4 my aspect cuts off the view of the plunger on the launch cam ("Williams Pinball Action Camera" :P). Hm. Oh well, my plunge strengths will be my own secret! ; D I don't think its worth widening the display for (which would shrink down playback on phone etc screens).
 
  paleface 15:13:39 06/11/23
           
Playing Hurricane in Pinball FX on PS4!
 
My video pinball playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZO3OPzPjIzNDMGo-ow5IWA3JRTHiRJC5
 
0:00 - flippin' an' flailin'
1:08:28 - left lane? ball locks?
2:32:30 - left flipper: Juggler & targets
2:59:00 - Million, pass to left, multiball
3:09:26 - shooting left bank?
3:58:15 - high score run
4:01:30 - Jackpot
4:03:16 - wrap!
 
Best I can come up with on Hurricane is:
 
- left lane (Ferris wheels), left bank (ducks--light Lock), middle lane (Comet), middle target (dunking--bonus multiplier) aren't really worth shooting for directly
 
- On left flipper: shoot mid-left lane (Juggler) if lit (Lock, Mystery Bonus, Jackpot), otherwise shoot right ramp and/or right bank buttons (cats--light Mystery Bonus)
 
- On right flipper: catch and pass to left flipper; if can't catch, shoot Juggler (mid-left) if lit, otherwise left lane (Ferris wheels)
 
If you know how (I don't really), you can nudge the ball either off or around the return ramp to make the Ferris wheels return kinda safe.
 
A fiendish/ingenious table, how it sucks you in with those easy middle and right ramp shots, and really gets you thinking once you realize yeah you can hit those all day and they sound cool but it isn't where the points are, how do you get the points? So then you start exploring and then you realize you've been playing for four hours straight. ; D
 
Skill shot worth a ton. Slingshot to outlane is really killer here! So is the music--like, the worst carnival music ever, which is something.
 
~
 
If you hit the X button too rapidly to restart a table, it soft-locks; I'm impatient so I'm doing this constantly. : P Today's new 1.06 update (after this recording) didn't fix it. The UI is so poorly put together, oh well.
 
There's a grinding noise when holding the plunger out at a new ball (hit this frequently, like 3:58:14 ).
 
Ah! Pinballwiz45b pointed out https://digitalpinballfans.com/threads/master-list-of-issues-pinball-fx.14353/post-298127 that the 4x light flickering was showing the bonus needed to light Extra Ball ( http://www.pinball.org/rules/hurricane.html ); but I was playing in Pro Mode, which omits extra balls, so eh that's a bit weird I dunno. I did get to 4x bonus at least once -- 2:33:12 -- and the 4x light stopped flickering and stayed solid; I don't think an Extra Ball indicator lit up (not sure where it would be; the player-created(?) Zen-linked guide https://zensite.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/WP-Hurricane-Pinball-Guide-by-ShoryukenToTheChin.pdf suggests it usually lights at the "(Right Inlane (Return Lane)"; the guides also say that it's usually 3x that's the first bonus level for lighting multiball.
 
  paleface 16:00:57 06/11/23
           

 
The flickering bonus level indicator for EBs IS mentioned in an "Extra Ball" section of the in-game table guide for Hurricane ("Extra Balls may be obtained from Mystery Awards, or Dunking the Dummy to achieve the flashing Multiplier value. Once available, an Extra Ball lamp becomes list at the inlanes and outlanes, and its position can be altered with the flippers. Simply roll over the lamp to collect the Extra Ball"). I'd skipped that section because I didn't think it applied to Pro Mode--and mostly it doesn't seem to, except for that flashing Multiplier value still showing.
 
The in-game guide shows big circular red lamps in both inlanes and outlanes lighting up for EB roll-over, and those definitely did not light for me when I matched the flickering Multiplier value in Pro Mode--so that's correct for Pro Mode (no EBs lit or awarded), it's just the flickering match-this-to-light-EB Multiplier that's confusing.
 
  paleface 23:03:07 06/11/23
           

 
Playing Space Station in Pinball FX on PS4!
 
Fantastic light (two sets of general illumination lamps means the whole table can go green when multiball is activated!) and sound sequences, lovely long shots, and delightfully straightforward play, at least in Pro Mode, where you don't have to bother with going for Extra Ball awards from the complicated multi-bank target system: instead, just shoot the upper right trap, light 1-2-3 on the top rollovers to activate a lock lane for multiball, get multiball going, and repeat!
 
I like the two sets of rollovers, too. ^ _^ Just a lovely table to play.
 
No skill shot on the table so I turned off the uh Williams action cam or whatever it's called.
 
The ball can sneak around the upper side of the pop-up target blocking the right lane, for instance from the left outlane kickback (56:35); it's a little hard to tell what's happening in real-time, almost feels like the ball went through the pop-up; but I'm not sure it's possible to have enough speed left on the ball to get all the way up the ramp after sneaking by the pop-up.
 
The pause menu table guide doesn't mention the lower-right spot target. (It toggles between randomizing Shuttle or Station rewards, according to the (player-created?) guide linked from Zen's site --https://zensite.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/WP-Space-Station-Pinball-Guide-by-ShoryukenToTheChin.pdf .)
 
The pause menu table guide is very unclear on how to light locks for multiball. (You light 1-2-3 on the top rollovers.)
 
The Zen-linked (from https://zenstudios.com/pinball-table-guides/ ) ShoryukenToTheChin guide says lock is lit for multiball when the game starts; that's true for Classic mode, but in Pro mode, lock is NOT lit when the table starts (this feels appropriate for Pro mode so I'm guessing this is a limitation of the STTC guide, not covering Pro mode set-up). (The STTC guide says it's for PBFX3, but Googling suggests Pro Mode existed in 3, although I'm not sure it worked the same way for this table.)
 
In attract mode during Pro mode, the score display says "Extra Ball at 1,900,000"; I didn't reach that score to be able to say, but generally Pro mode doesn't award extra balls, so that message may not apply. This may be a shortcoming of the way Pro mode seems to operate outside of table dip switch settings.
 
  paleface 22:15:44 07/05/23
           

 
Well I guess just shoot the left or right lanes when you have a catch, otherwise feed that center lane. Either way is pretty deadly if you miss. By the end I'd stopped going for the MEGA MENU mode where it wants you to shoot those side panels around the center lane--just too dangerous! I mean, there's a nice deflection shot off a panel and up the center lane, but I don't have that one down. : P
 
Kind of irritating how that Creature Feature or whatever light on the right ramp is flashing all the time. Maybe I should'a shot that ramp more to see if I could get it to stop. Didn't spend much time shooting the ramps really.
 
Was getting the three main shots kinda down-ish by the end (actually I was better at the center shot at first, before I started spending more time working on the left/right shots), but kept losing it as soon as I'd activate a special mode, aside from Move Your Car! Could probably just do better for now milking center lane and Move Your Car! over and over. : P
 
I THINK I started a two ball multiball at some point, but it fed the second ball in right down at the right flipper and I wasn't prepared for that. : P And I think I got to a jackpot mode once and then immediately drained. ; )
 
Right stick up at plunger shot zooms in to show the rollover lanes for the skill shot.
 
Playing CftBL on PS4 version 1.07:
 
- You have to enter your initials when achieving a new high score now, even if "Settings - Gameplay - Enter Initials" is set to OFF.
 
- The initials entry UI says "X" is "Confirm," but it's actually "[]"; X does nothing.
 
- Pulling the plunger back on CftBL makes two gross rasping sounds. They're probably the intended SFX playing--it's just a very grating sound that doesn't really sound like a plunger spring.
 
- The getting stuck in the UI if you press X too quickly when starting another game is fixed in 1.07! = D
 
  paleface 19:04:27 07/12/23
           
Going to switch to PC 'cause I want to get away from using the DS4, which I can't seem to use without annoying my darn old beat-up shoulder.
 
Can sorta use my arcade stick for the game but can't remap the buttons so the flippers are on separate rows and nudge is on the stick, which is pretty hard to use that way. : P
 
Did measure a few frames more delay on PC but with AA off and detail low it felt at least comparable to PS4, and kind of livelier somehow but anyway doesn't matter, can use whatever controls I want there (remapped keyboard or arcade stick w/ Joy2Key) so that's where I'm goin'. ^ D^
    
 
references:
· Pinball FX (X360)
· Pinball FX (PC)
· Pinball FX3 (PS3)

 
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