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Steve Clement fdc27238fa - Added Slack, made Total BOLD 2016-01-01 20:33:28 +01:00
README.md - Added Slack, made Total BOLD 2016-01-01 20:33:28 +01:00

README.md

Level2VPin

Virtual Pinball Cabinet à la Level2

Bill of Materials (BOM)

PC Hardware

Graphics Adaptors

2 nVidia Cards, recent ones, no need for crazy expensive ones. GTX460 1GB at least.

Power-supply

You will need a 750W supply to be sure the system runs smoothly.

Mainboard

Robust and compatible Mainboard

Processor

Any Intel i7

Speakers

Mid-range 2-speaker setup. Or a Pinball Cabinet Kit

Approx. 99€

A complete Flipper Fidelity Sound System Kit

Approx 130€

Monitors

3 are needed in total

For the main playfield the thinner the screen, the better. Mainly because the flipper buttons need to be in the most natural position for game play.

Memory

2x8GB Ram

Disk

1xSSD Disk

Cabinet Hardware

Electronics

Fans

⚠️ The cabinet will become hot. Proper cooling is needed. Suggesting 200x200x20 fans. If you want to play it fancy, get fans with LEDs.

Approx. 20€ a piece

LED Flashers

These are high-powered LED elements and need passive cooling.

Approx. 10€ a piece

Nudge

Nudging a Pinball table is essential to good game-play.

Buttons

We will need quite a few buttons. From the 2 Flipper buttons, 2 Nudge Buttons to the Start buttons and maybe a plunger button. The following buttons have RGB LEDs pre-wired for the PacLED64

Approx. 84€

Plunger

Research if there is a digital "analog" plunger.

iPac

The iPac allows you to control arcade buttons, switches etc through USB. It acts like a keyboard and sends a keyboard signal. Latency is an issue and I would advise against rolling your own with an Arduino or Raspi.

Approx. 70€ from Ultimarc

PacLED64

The PacLED64 is an LED controller and lets you connect LED lights.

Approx. 70€ from Ultimarc

Alternative: LED-Wiz

A more universal piece of hardware that can control many different types of outputs, like solenoids, motors, lights etc.

Woods

Misc. Hardware (joints, legs etc.)

4 table legs 1 Coin door (Approx. 60€ from Ultimarc)

Glass

To make the experience more real adding a piece of tempered glass over the big play-field screen is recommended.

Software

  • Windows 7 Pro (To run XP compatibility mode) Approx. 160€
  • Visual Pinball
  • VPinMAME
  • PinballX
  • DirectB2S
  • Direct Output Framework

Build

Reference Pinball

We are very fortunate to have access to a real Pinball Machine. The machine in question is "The Who's Tommy Pinball Wizard" (January 1994). IPDB WikiPedia

Precision

Some DIYers suggest a precision of 3mm (for the main screen fitting for example)

Art work

Obviously the Level2 Pinball cabinet wants to be customized with beautiful Art-work. We would need someone to design the outer shell of the cabinet.

Resources

Biscuit joiner (Nutfräse)

Blogger detailing his steps in Building a cabinet

Virtual Pinball Forums and Software Resources

Fractions in inch to mm

Non-PC Part Vendors

iPac controllers, LED management and more

Connecting a real Dot-matrix to your PC

Virtuapin, commercial DIY Cabinets

Traditional pinball and arcade game parts

Pinball Repositories

OpenGL "Batman" Pinball

Pinball Mini for iOS using Cocos2d and Chipmunk (outdated)

Some notes on building a VPinball Machine

Helper tool to manage VPin ROMs

DirectOutput framework for virtual pinball cabinets

Rough cost-estimate

Item Price
PC-Hardware 2300€
Software 160€
Screens 2100€
Wood 1000€
Glass 150€
Pinball HW 700€
Tools 300€
Misc 120€
Total Cost 6686€

Comm channels

Slack