PinballX was created at the end of May 2013 and is in active development.
Download PinballX here.
For support, and to get involved please head over to the PinballX forum.
LAV Filters are the recommended solution to support video playback and you can download LAV filter codecs here. If you are still using Windows XP download FFDSHOW here.
To add your tables use the included game list manager.
PinballX will benefit from a multi core CPU and a quad core is recommended if using multiple displays.
PinballX includes high score features thanks to PINemHi by Dna Disturber.
Online and remote access features are available at GameEx Online.
A Lite version of PinballX is also included specifically designed for windows tablets.
Modern and higher end hardware is highly recommended for pinball cabs with two or three screens due to the demands of multiple high resolution videos and constantly loading high resolution artwork. However, PinballX itself does not demand much itself and the lite version requires next to nothing to run.
Note: PinballX is not free for commercial use. You should contact us before including or using PinballX with your products.
I spent about 40 hours trying to implement another video playback solution without lots of work because NVidia recently broke VMR 9 support. I thought I found another solution via ChatGPT which was the first time I tried it. It looked amazing but it gave me absolute horseshit over and over. How AI is replacing coders seems hard to believe. It seemed hopeless when experienced people need help. I tried Direct9Ex with DXVA2 and media foundation which it completely lied about. I also tried the same but not hardware accelerated which was valid but It did not work because the current Microsoft codecs don’t support RGB output.
Although also legacy DirectX9Ex with FlipEx seemed like a good move on its own and I have it working well, then had problems recreating the device which is a big issue for a front end. I have this code done if I find a solution. Maybe waiting for DWM to be ready or somehow resetting it could be a solution.
FFMpeg may be a way to go for video playback and should perform well, and I may try that
Of note both AMD and Intel previously removed or broke VMR 9 support but then put it back. Which is why there was already a fallback in place
PinballX and GameEx do have the option to switch to a more legacy video solution and normally this is automatically detected. However, Nvidia neglected to tell the operating system they removed VMR 9 support so the automatic fallback was not working. Maybe they are using AI coding too!
Also of note when questioning the Brave search AI if there were issues with the solutions ChatGPT it gave the correct response.
I can recommend the Brave AI.
With these two new versions of GameEx and PinballX I check for Nvidia driver versions, so it is now again automatic as it was with intel and AMD.
This release also correctly identifies physical CPU cores.
I assume I fixed it and not Nvidia or Microsoft but full screen exclusive mode is fixed and working in GameEx so this may resolve issues in PinballX.
No fancy animations or paging but secondary list menu now supports unlimited items and scrolls.
Fixes GIF support.
(Also applies to GameEx.)
- Updated documentation thanks to Mike_Da_Spike. - Promo, tutorial and gameplay videos support streaming via .url shortcut files. - Fixes some executables running under .net 6 instead of .net 8. - Fixes checking for new version. - Crushed PNG images, saving a few MB.
Supports streaming Promo, Gameplay and Tutorial videos via internet shortcut files (.url).
Trimmed binary sizes again after fixing DirectInput issue.
Significantly reduced the size of the executable. This should result in faster startup time and performance.
In my opinion and by my standards an application like PinballX should be able to stay up and running for months. Even when running as 32 bit. After a month of soak testing on my cab I tied down a memory leak to bass.dll. I rolled back to an earlier version and hopefully this is now resolved. It is in my soak testing,
Also included latest .net 8 runtime in installer.
.net 10 LTS coming next year by the look of it. I would expect this to be Windows 11 only but I still plan to keep support back to XP for you remaining crazy diamonds, using the appropriate frameworks and libraries.
Fixes Visual Pinball exit and GameEx Online.
Just a little update. PinballX lite was not working. PinballX Lite removes quite a bit of code including support for multiple displays.
More performance updates.
I attach a little video of start-up speed on my laptop. (Ignore the framerate it is captured in software).
I am constantly trying to optimize PinballX and GameEx but i am quite surprised how fast PinballX starts up on my laptop. its a fast modern laptrop but does any other front end beat this?
To allow old Windows versions whilst supporting the latest .net runtime - Windows 10 and 11 will now run PinballX under .net 8. The .net 8 Windows desktop runtime will be installed as part of the setup.
Full screen exclusive mode is fixed and back. (Full screen windowed = false)
Can specify the hardware encoder to use or software for video recording.
- Volume keyboard controls now work within front end.
- Video and screen grab recordings now work even when displays are not set to hidden.
- Uses DirectX screen grab for backglass and fixes display numbers.
- Fixes setting wrong PinMAME DMD height,
- Significantly faster launch and exit from tables.
- Fixed running on Windows XP (yes it still works).
- Removed duplicate file installs and old files from installer resulting in much quicker install time.
- Fixes hang on startup on some systems caused by checking for zedmd.
- Updated .net 6 desktop runtime.
- Improved detection for non working system vmr 9 and fall back to sample grabber.
- Improved interaction with Visual Pinball frozen windows.
- Improved launch and exit table timings.
- Visual Pinball 10.8 support. - Full screen exclusive mode has been permanently disabled. - Fixes PinballX hanging with Visual Pinball in some cases.
Native zeDMD support all working good in PinballX. Thank you @Mike_da_Spike for his testing and everyone else who helps me out around here!
zeDMD/PinDMD 3.1 support (not tested).
- Fixed and faster ini file reading.
- Updated PINemHi by DNA Disturber. http://pinemhi.com/
- Updated .net 6 x64 desktop runtime.
- Fixes video playback and other issues when running at high display frequencies.
- This release uses the main GameEx video playback and bass audio code for future cross platform versions.
- It may have slightly better performance playing videos on multiple displays.
- Upgraded to latest .net 6 desktop runtime.
- If upgrading from previous version and have any audio or video playback issues, please report
- Updated to latest .net 6 desktop runtime.
- Fixes for latest PinMAME and and window detection (thanks Mike_Da_Spike).
PinballX was developed by Spesoft and Headsoft
