Strongest human

Head-2-Head gameplay in the US of A

Strongest human

Postby bargoen » Wed Sep 07, 2016 12:23 am

BigRaceUSA head-to-head
Or H2H, sounds like a formula.
Human against Human.

Anyone who would like to try making head2head working?
So we can play a few games? survival of the fittest.
I did that about 15 years ago with a friend, at my home(local connection) 2 pc's connected via the game.
And probably also via "Internet TCP connection" my pc connected with a friends pc over the internet without any need for the official lobby.
But I'm not completely certain if I played H2H via the internet, my memory is vague about that, lets say I'm 70% certain.

I play for host, you are a client.
This is how it works:

1) I send you my IP address to your messagebox in this forum.
2) Startup your game,
3) When you see your pinball table then
4) press your Escape or Esc button
5) A menu pops up, select head-to-head and enter.
6) A window pops up, click on "friendly" in the direct play area.
7) A new window pops up,
....choose "Internet TCP/IP-connection for direct play"
....Then click on configure, choose "Client Only"
....Then click next.
8) Two windows pop up
....One window needs a computername or IP address.
....Enter the IP address I've send you.
9) In the second window you have to enter a name, any name you wish.
....If everything goes according to plan, you will also see my name, select my name and click on connect.
....Now the race can start.

However, one thing is very important, I have tried several versions long time ago, no direct connection possible with them, but one of the oldest version, 1.01 works perfect.
I searched for several weeks for a solution till I installed the old version, problem solved.
So both PC's should have version 1.01 installed in order to make direct play possible.

Which is very easy, and installing the old version is only once needed, your records and settings are not touched, they stay the same, cause the installler checks for missing files, and installs only what is missing, BigRaceUSA.exe, version 1.01 is only 725kb
So when you later want to play a normal game you only have to activate you updated version, all records and settings are the same as before when you played H2H with the old version.

Here how it's done,

Go to the folder where BigRaceUSA is installed, the name of the folder is "Pro Pinball"
Change the name of "BigRaceUSA.exe" into "BigRaceUSA.normal"
Now go to your CD and start it or double click on AUTORUN.EXE
This tries to start the game, which it can't, so you get a window that ask you if you want to install the game again.
Click yes or OK, then it installs version 1.01 provided that you have that one on cd.

You can check the version you have installed when you start the game, then go to the options of the game, and click on "credits" use the right flipperbutton to go to the next pages till you are at the page with the version number.

If you don't have this old version, I could send it to you.
Then you only have to copy or to drag it to your install folder.


Later on you can rename BigRaceUSA.exe into BigRaceUSA.h2h
And BigRaceUSA.normal into BigRaceUSA.exe
Now you can play the newest version as before with all records and settings intact.

For playing Head-to-Head direct play you do it in reverse.
Rename BigRaceUSA.exe into BigRaceUSA.normal
Rename BigRaceUSA.h2h into BigRaceUSA.exe

But not sure if it all works, we only used this method with WIN98 second edition, now we have WIN 7, 8 and 10
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Re: Strongest human

Postby bargoen » Fri Sep 09, 2016 1:45 am

Head-to-Head again.
When connected with the host you have to select a name and click on "connect"
I think this means more names are possible with which you can connect and play a game, otherwise there would be nothing to select.

So, for example, if I have a host, and 5 people connect with that host everybody will see 6 names to choose from.
Me and 5 others, if someone selects a name and connects then the selected one will get the question if he/she wants to
accept the challenge, only if the selected one clicks yes/ok the game starts, not sure if it's possible to chat as a group as was possible in the official lobby, but doing a little chat is possible with the connected one in between rounds.
In the official lobby 8 people could connect simultaneously, chat and play, not sure what the max could be in this way.
This comes close to the official lobby without the ladder.
I'm not certain about the multi connection thing, but it looks like it's build that way, only a test will tell if and how it works.
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Re: Strongest human

Postby bargoen » Wed Sep 14, 2016 4:09 pm

For anyone who's new to Propinball.

Maybe you don't have a manual, and, cause of that, not aware of the possibility of playing head-to-head against CPU.
It is possible to play against the computer(CPU) very handy for practice and experiencing the beauty of head-to-head.
Also a way to find out impossible shots or bumps that can be used for normal gameplay, cause when playing head-to-head you automatically try sometimes things out cause of time pressure, or you find something out of an accident, in h2h there's always time pressure which leads to creativity.
There are three levels that can be played against CPU,
easy, normal or hard.
Each game has three rounds, each round is unique in how things go.

When playing over the internet against a person then two games are the minimum and three games the maximum, each round takes 100 seconds maximal, it's a mixture of speed, tactics, precision.
In normal gameplay speed is not very important.
Mental control/endurance plays a role as well when many games are played, one after the other, nevertheless it's a fun game.

When playing against CPU, you play one game of three rounds.
Then, for another game, you must activate head-to-head again as described below.


How to activate head-to-head against CPU?

Start the game as usual, and go to the table, but don't start the game.
Press the button you use to shoot the ball into the playfield,
Called plunger button? hold it for about 3 or 4 seconds, head-to-head will popup in the area where normally the points and other things are shown, it starts with head-to-head "normal"
If you release the plunger button and press it right again then head-to-head "hard" will come up, if you release and press again you will see head-to-head "easy"
Release and press once again and you will see head-to-head "normal" etcetera.
If you made a choice what level you want to play, press the start button, now the head-to-head game starts.
As long as you play games against CPU at the same level, all played games are memorized, so if you played 10 games on normal CPU it could show (you)4-(CPU normal)6, if you change the level all starts from zero.
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Re: Strongest human

Postby bargoen » Fri Sep 16, 2016 8:02 pm

I tried to figure out my h2h strength.
There's no score ladder as used in the official lobby.
Which was a score ladder that used similar calculations as to how chessplayers are ranked on strength.
I used the results against CPU, and only look at win-loss.
I mostly play 10 games in a row against CPU normal or hard.

% of games played that are won by me:
CPU Easy: 100%
CPU Normal:70-90%
CPU Hard:30-50%


My goal of course is to score 100% against CPU hard.
I have the feel that CPU hard adapts to my strength during a series of games,
making it difficult to reach a score higher than 50%.
Could as well be a loss of concentration, precision or speed.
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Re: Strongest human

Postby bargoen » Mon Sep 19, 2016 12:45 pm

%$#)** After squeezing out the last drop of resistance out of my brain I lost from cpu-hard with 9-1, not my day.
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Re: Strongest human

Postby bargoen » Sun Oct 09, 2016 5:52 pm

Against CPU hard, about an hour ago, I won here with 7-3, a record for me.
However, I can't remember how I played against CPU hard 10 years ago.
I have the feeling I play better than ever, maybe just a feeling.

The first round is almost always a problem for me to win, it is a race to get as many points as possible and shoot the ball in the taxi in the end, CPU normal and hard are better in this round, the points gathered here are important in case you lose the second round, and/or become fourth/fifth in the third round.

In the second round I am able to stop CPU normal and hard dead in its track, by activating the airbag fast and in a strategical way, getting back the upper hand in the round.

In the third round the last 5 or 10 seconds are very important, you can be strong most of the time, but if you don't shoot the ball in the taxi during the time when it's open, then you can lose the whole game in the last 5 or 10 seconds, so it's paramount to be able to close one or two cars in the last seconds, Zen is important here.
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Re: Strongest human

Postby mortuus » Mon Mar 06, 2017 3:47 pm

lol look whos talking? i could beat u with my 1 thumb eyes close dude :mrgreen:
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Re: Strongest human

Postby bargoen » Tue Mar 07, 2017 1:39 pm

I doubt that, I use six fingers that play as on a piano a beautiful melody. ;)
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Re: Strongest human

Postby bargoen » Fri Jun 30, 2017 7:07 pm

Isn't it possible to resurrect the lobby? so people can play this unique game(headtohead) it's not the same as a normal BRUSA pinball game, the same table yes, that is the only comparison possible, even a lobby without a ladder system would be sufficient.
It's about the fun and thought exchange, and to keep this game alive like a small group(headtohead) did in the past, the forum is barely alive, while we are waiting for things to come there could be much more fun, the intention of a game.
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Re: Strongest human

Postby insx » Mon Jul 03, 2017 12:43 pm

I guess the Pro-Pinball people would have to either reinstate the server at the current address or patch BRUSA to look to a new address. I would be very surprised to see it.
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