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Pinball Arcade Guide (New Method)


Retro_Rage

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Hey everyone! I just figured out an extremely easy way to launch Pinball Arcade game directly to the table that I have not seen anywhere else on the forums. Most posts refer to the old camera mod thing that never really worked for me and was kind of an annoying work around so I found another one that is much simpler, to the point and just works. I figured that I would make this into a bit of a Pinball Arcade guide to help out noobs as well. So here I go.

1) Download the launcher attached to this post and extract it into the Pinball Arcade install directory. Quick disclaimer: I did not create that launcher but the license in the file states that the auther released it as public domain, so it should be good to go. After all, the place that I obtained it from would probably against rules anyway :). I did scan it and it is completely safe. Your Pinball Arcade directory really depends on how you installed it. Usually its in Program Files. Right click PinballArcadeLoader.exe, select properties and select the run as administrator box. Click ok to close it.

2) Download the ROMS file from this post, extract to any directory and import to LaunchBox like usual. These are not actual ROM files but just empty files with the correct names. Basically, just renamed txt files. I'm just sharing the hard part so nobody else has to. I personally just extracted the folder into the Pinball Arcade install folder as well to make it simple.

3) Add a new emulator and fill it out exactly as the picture below. Make sure to select the launcher as the emulator and type out the path again with " in the Default command line parameters as well as selecting the right boxes. Make sure the sample command box looks exactly like the picture (obviously with different paths). Also make sure to put Pinball Arcade under Associated platforms and check the box for default like normal.

946621271_Screenshot2020-08-02201853.thumb.png.4289cbfe5c6024cbedfb622c73d2e8f1.png4) Start playing the tables! If everything was done right, it now simply launches directly to the table with no other app running in the system tray or other garbage. To finish off just search the downloads section for the correct media although it may have to be renamed. Hope this helps some other people.

Edit: Because of the access required from the launcher it seems like LaunchBox may need to be started as administrator to start properly. Let me know if anyone can get it running without it. I'm still kind of playing around with it.

 

Pinball_Arcade_Loader_v1.4.7z Pinball Arcade Roms.rar

Edited by Retro_Rage
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12 hours ago, Retro_Rage said:

Edit: Because of the access required from the launcher it seems like LaunchBox may need to be started as administrator to start properly. Let me know if anyone can get it running without it. I'm still kind of playing around with it.

Running LB/BB as admin is not recommend as it can have consequences on other emulators/games as well as other possible issues. We have seen it numerous times cause more problems.

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Yeah running as admin will cause many emulators to need elevation when being launched, not good if you have a setup without a mouse or keyboard, it also completely stops dragging and dropping of roms to import working as well. Just two things that will break when running as admin.

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12 minutes ago, Retro808 said:

Running LB/BB as admin is not recommend as it can have consequences on other emulators/games as well as other possible issues. We have seen it numerous times cause more problems.

Not to sure if it's actually needed or not. I'm sure it will work without admin one way or the the other. Just was a minor issue that I ran into after I wrote that so figured I'll add it on. To me it doesn't really seem why it would be needed. I'll play around some more tonight. That really wasn't my point of the guide though lol.

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13 minutes ago, Retro_Rage said:

Not to sure if it's actually needed or not. I'm sure it will work without admin one way or the the other. Just was a minor issue that I ran into after I wrote that so figured I'll add it on. To me it doesn't really seem why it would be needed. I'll play around some more tonight. That really wasn't my point of the guide though lol.

Understand completely. It was a good right up for sure.

Just wanted to make sure to highlight that one piece is something we recommend users do not do. 

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  • 4 months later...

i got it working after i updated to the latest version.

But I have run into a problem. when pinball arcade is in full screen I only see a black screen with cursor and the sound from the game. in Windows mode, script is on top of the game, so I have to press alt+tab. which is not optimal on an arcade machine. 

when i start the game normally this is not a problem.

i use windows 10 and nvidia graphics card 

Edited by Henrik
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  • 1 year later...
On 12/15/2020 at 3:58 AM, Henrik said:

i got it working after i updated to the latest version.

But I have run into a problem. when pinball arcade is in full screen I only see a black screen with cursor and the sound from the game. in Windows mode, script is on top of the game, so I have to press alt+tab. which is not optimal on an arcade machine. 

when i start the game normally this is not a problem.

i use windows 10 and nvidia graphics card 

Did you ever find a solution to this issue ?  I have the same problem with a black screen and just the cursor when running in Big Box.  Everything works fine when starting up a table in  Launchbox desktop.

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4 hours ago, Brainz said:

Did you ever find a solution to this issue ?  I have the same problem with a black screen and just the cursor when running in Big Box.  Everything works fine when starting up a table in  Launchbox desktop.

Try with the PBA Configuration Utility (Display DX11) and set Window Mode to Full Screen instead of Window. 

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  • 4 months later...
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  • 2 months later...
On 5/27/2023 at 6:44 PM, Truest1 said:

Amazing Work on this. Having an issue with a few tables. most work perfect but a few load to a black screen and just says (Goal 1 Compleate ) then that goes away. any fix for this?

Helpful to know which tables and a screenshot since never seen an error page like that for TPA. Also indicate if using Steam as client or not.

Edited by sundogak
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  • 1 year later...
  • 4 weeks later...

So I just finally set this up in my launchbox and I had the same blackscreen with cursor only issue and then windowed mode with all the other stuff showing issue. Tried for the TPA player other method and it worked, however there was no way around a UAC pop-up for it. Long story short, I came back to this and realized that I had not checked the box for "attempt to hide console on startup" box when setting the loader up as the emulator, and that completely fixed the issue. Working great now. 

TLDR; use the loader method, make sure to check the boxes exactly like the photo from OP for setting up the emulator.

Hope this will save someone else the hour and a half I spent about to pull my hair out before finally figuring out the user error, lol.

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