PINBALL FX – CABINET MODE FAQ

Set up your cabinets with the help of Wagner’s Tech Talk!

What is a cabinet?
A cabinet is custom-built hardware for playing digital pinball games, especially Pinball FX3 & Pinball FX. In most cases, it is a PC with multiple displays connected and placed in a case that resembles a real arcade pinball machine.

What is Cabinet Mode in Pinball FX and Pinball FX3?
If you are planning to run Pinball FX on cabinet hardware, you have to turn on Cabinet Mode. This allows you to set up advanced graphical options within the game like main display rotation, moving the Dot Matrix to a second screen (if necessary) and displaying a Backglass image (see later).We will now explain Cabinet Mode in Pinball FX, for Pinball FX3 tips and FAQ, please scroll down.

What are the requirements of Cabinet Mode?
Download Pinball FX on Epic Games Store or Steam. You can also rotate your screen on Xbox and PlayStation if you go to Options – Settings – Video, but this is not considered cabinet mode.

On Steam and Epic Games Store: Go to Options -> Cabinet Support.

Once in, there are 3 tabs General / Dotmatrix Window / Backglass Window. Let us tell you more about each one:

General

Here on the first tab, you can “Activate”/”Deactivate” and “Reload Configuration” for Cabinet Mode.CabinetMode settings are stored in the “Settings.ini” file even if you edit the Dmx/Backglass window settings In-Game.

• The Settings.ini is located in “/FolderWhereTheGameInstalled/PinballFX/Mods/Cabinet/”

If you edit the Settings.ini while the game is still running, you can check your settings immediately with the “Reload Configuration” option in-game if CabinetMode is activated.

In PFX3 the game Orientation was part of the CabinetMode, now this is a general video option for all players and not necessarily connected to CabinetMode.This on PC, like on the console above is located in Options -> Settings -> Video Settings. 

Dotmatrix Window

The Dotmatrix Window will be highlighted if this tab is active.

You can Enable or Disable the extra Dotmatrix Window for the game. If the window is disabled then the Dotmatrix will appear in the game where it would be without Cabinet Mode.

The DotMatrixSize moved from Settings.ini to in-game. You can choose the DotMatrixSize in “Settings -> Gameplay -> Dot Matrix Size”.

Window Size:

You can customize the DmxWindow size in pixels. The old DMX AspectRatio is 4:1 and the new LCD aspect ratio is 16:9 generally.

Regardless of which Aspect Ratio and Resolution you choose the DMX will try to fit best to this window keeping its Aspect Ratio, so there should be no stretching of the picture or something other of the sort. 

With the “Adjust Window Size” button you can adjust the size with the arrow buttons on the screen, or use Gamepad/Arrow keys on the keyboard.

Height and Width option name is identical in the Settings.iniWarning: Width and Height can only be a positive number, the minimum is 1.

Window Position:

You can customize the Backglass position in pixels. The position coordinates are entirely based on your personal setup and your display layout in Windows settings. Having a negative coordinate for some monitors is possible. These coordinates always indicate the upper left corner of the window. So if you change the size, you may have to change the position too.

With the “Adjust Window Position” button you can adjust the position with the arrow buttons on the screen, or use Gamepad/Arrow keys on the keyboard.

Warning: It is possible to move the window where it will be hard to find it again, if this happens just reset the position to 0-0 by hand.

Backglass Window

The Backglass Window will be highlighted if this tab is active.

You can Enable or Disable the Backglass Window for the game.

There are 2 image types. One, which you need to name PFX.png will serve as the default background of your backglass.

The other type is table-specific images. Each table has a number, and you’ll need to copy your desired backglass images of each table into the mods directory. Name them according to the table number, such as ‘Table_29’ for Adventure Land. You can find a full list of table numbers below.

The images must be in PNG format

Mod directory: “/FolderWhereTheGameInstalled/PinballFX/Mods/Cabinet/”

Window Size:

You can customize the Backglass Window size in pixels.

Regardless of which aspect ratio and Resolution you choose the Image will try to fit best to this window keeping its aspect ratio, so there should be no stretching of the picture or something other of the sort. 

With the “Adjust Window Size” button you can adjust the size with the arrow buttons on the screen, or use Gamepad/Arrow keys on the keyboard.

Height and Width option name is identical in the Settings.ini

Warning: Width and Height can only be a positive number, the minimum is 1.

Window Position: 

You can customize the Backglass position in pixels. The position coordinates are entirely based on your personal setup and your display layout in Windows settings. Having a negative coordinate for some monitors is possible. These coordinates always indicate the upper left corner of the window. So if you change the size, you may have to change the position too.

With the “Adjust Window Position” button you can adjust the position with the arrow buttons on the screen, or use Gamepad/Arrow keys on the keyboard.

Warning: It is possible to move the window where you will not see it ever again, if this happens just reset the position to 0-0 by hand.

Instant mode/table start:

 This feature is currently WIP, we will share news when it will arrive. For now, we hope the UI will provide a smooth cabinet experience. 

How will Cabinet Mode be supported?
We are excited to mold and upgrade cabinet mode as we go forward and the Steam version gets comfortable on the platform! Please let us know about any requests or bugs anytime on any platform.

Does Cabinet Mode support real DMD units?
Yes, Cabinet Mode is now compatible with cabs that are equipped with real DMD units. Huge thanks to freezy – a toolbox for digital pinball and dot matrix displays.

How to get the update:

1. Download the DMD Extension from freezy here:
https://github.com/freezy/dmd-extensions/releases

2. During installation tick universal DmdDevice.dll will be installed on local hard drive

Can I start a table or game mode right away?
Yes, the command line start feature is now in Pinball FX. You can now use these lines for starting specific tables or game modes right away. If you right-click on the icon of the game and open Preferences then go to the General tab, you can add these behind the file name.

Or follow these instructions

For example: -Table 75 -GameMode Hotseat_2

You can find the table numbers below. And find the list of game mode commands here:

Classic, Pro, Hotseat_2, Hotseat_3, Hotseat_4, Practice

Will Pincab Mode be supported for all tables?
Yes, once unlocked Pincab Mode is available for every table in Pinball FX

Will PFX3 Pincab Mode change on Steam?
There are no plans to make any changes to PFX3 Pincab Mode on Steam.

List of Table numbers:
Wild West Rampage – 75
Fish Tales – 108
Sorcerer’s Lair – 33

Crypt of the NecroDancer Pinball – 161

Kong Pinball – 153
Godzilla Pinball – 158
Godzilla vs Kong Pinball – 160

Williams™️ Twilight Zone – 162

DreamWorks Kung Fu Panda Pinball – 139
DreamWorks Trolls Pinball – 140
DreamWorks How to Train Your Dragon Pinball – 141

Peanuts’ Snoopy Pinball – 146

Garfield Pinball – 145

Homeworld®️: Journey to Hiigara Pinball – 150
Borderlands®: Vault Hunter Pinball – 152
Brothers in Arms®: Win the War Pinball – 151

Star Wars™ Pinball: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back – 43
Star Wars™ Pinball: The Clone Wars – 47
Star Wars™ Pinball: Boba Fett – 53
Star Wars™ Pinball: Han Solo – 10
Star Wars™ Pinball: Droids™ – 58
Star Wars™ Pinball: Episode IV A New Hope – 12
Star Wars™ Pinball: Masters of the Force – 2
Star Wars™ Pinball: The Mandalorian – 136
Star Wars™ Pinball: Classic Collectibles – 137
Star Wars™ Pinball: Episode VI Return of the Jedi – 24
Star Wars™ Pinball: Darth Vader – 28
Star Wars™ Pinball: Starfighter Assault – 6
Star Wars™ Pinball: The Force Awakens™ – 88
Star Wars™ Pinball: Might of the First Order – 89
Star Wars™ Pinball: Star Wars Rebels™ – 77
Star Wars™ Pinball: Rogue One™ – 98
Star Wars™ Pinball: The Last Jedi™ – 103
Star Wars™ Pinball: Ahch-To Island – 104
Star Wars™ Pinball: Solo – 105
Star Wars™ Pinball: Battle of Mimban – 107
Star Wars™ Pinball: Calrissian Chronicles – 106

E.T.™ Pinball – 96
Back to the Future™ Pinball – 97
Jaws™ Pinball – 95

Jurassic Park™ Pinball – 100
Jurassic World™ Pinball – 101
Jurassic Park Pinball Mayhem™ 102

A Samurai’s Vengeance – 165
Verne’s Mysterious Island – 164
Wrath of the Elder Gods – 147
Grimm Tales – 155
Adventure Land – 29
Son of Zeus – 80
CastleStorm – 40
Secrets of the Deep – 66
Rome – 31
Biolab – 27
Pasha – 23
Sky Pirates: Treasures of the Clouds – 113
Pinball Noir – 123
Curse of the Mummy – 112

Williams™ Pinball: Star Trek™: The Next Generation – 163
Williams™️ Whirlwind – 168
Williams™️ The Addams Family – 156
Williams™️ World Cup Soccer – 157
Williams™️ FunHouse™️ – 134
Williams™️ Space Station™️ – 129
Williams™️ The Machine™️: Bride of Pin·Bot™️ – 148
Williams™️ Dr. Dude and his Excellent Ray™️ – 135
Williams™️ Medieval Madness™ – 109
Williams™️ The Getaway: High Speed II™ – 111
Williams™️ JunkYard™ – 110
Williams™️ Attack from Mars™ – 119
Williams™️ Black Rose™ – 118
Williams™️ The Party Zone™ – 120
Williams™️ Theatre of Magic™ – 117
Williams™️ Safe Cracker™ – 122
Williams™️ The Champion Pub™ – 121
Williams™️ Monster Bash™ – 130
Williams™️ Creature from the Black Lagoon™ – 131
Williams™️ Indiana Jones™: The Pinball Adventure – 133
Williams™️ Swords of Fury™ -149
Williams™️ Cirqus Voltaire™ – 127
Williams™️ Tales of the Arabian Nights™ – 132
Williams™️ No Good Gofers™ – 128
Williams™️ White Water™ – 124
Williams™️ Red and Ted’s Road Show™ – 125
Williams™️ Hurricane™ – 126

Hasbro’s MY LITTLE PONY – 138

World War Z Pinball – 154

Iron Man – 65
Spider-Man – 46
Blade – 45
Wolverine – 71
Fantastic Four -38
Captain America – 48
Doctor Strange – 30
Ghost Rider – 21
Thor – 7
X-Men – 59
Moon Knight – 49
Civil War – 1
Deadpool – 22
Venom – 73
Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy – 50
Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron – 78
Marvel’s Ant-Man – 79
World War Hulk – 56
Fear Itself – 5
The Infinity Gauntlet – 60
Marvel’s The Avengers – 17
Marvel’s Women of Power: A-Force – 93
Marvel’s Women of Power: Champions – 94