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Quicksilver

A classic Stern table with custom ROM integration, physical kicker conversion, and specific troubleshooting for vintage hardware emulation. Development spanned from late 2024 to mid-2025.

Build Notes

Physical Kicker Conversion

Converting a VPX kicker to a physical saucer:

  1. Delete the VPX kicker object
  2. Replace with physical hole mesh
  3. Edit playfield mesh in Blender to create hole opening
  4. Replace kicker script with physical hole handlers
  5. Tune kickout behavior to match real table

Requires a playfield image (PSD or any format) to rebuild the mesh. May need tuning after conversion for stuck ball issues.

Scripting

Classic Stern Ball Trough Setup

The drain kicker's InitSw first parameter must be the drain switch number (not 0), and the drain kicker must be enabled in VPX:

Set bsTrough=New cvpmBallStack
bsTrough.InitSw 0,33,0,0,0,0,0,0  ' First 0 should be drain switch
bsTrough.InitKick BallRelease,90,5
bsTrough.Balls=1

Sub Drain_Hit:bsTrough.addball me:RandomSoundDrain Drain:End Sub
Sub BallRelease_Unhit:RandomSoundBallRelease BallRelease: End Sub

SolCallback(10) = "bsTrough.SolOut"

Custom ROM

Quicksilver uses a custom ROM (quicksic.zip) with modified rules including free play mode, spinner counters with special awards, drop target sweeping award, and spinner sound swap. Requires PinMAME v1122 or later. The custom ROM is a child set -- still needs parent quicksil.zip.

Custom ROM available at: VPUniverse

Troubleshooting

Standup Paddle Animation and Registration

Standup paddles not animated -- they must be added to the movables collection. If paddles don't register hits, check if the ball is hitting adjacent posts instead of the paddle face. Extra ball ROM setting may be disabled by default -- check service menu if QUICK letters don't blink for extra ball.

Bumper Skirt Animation Workaround

If bumper skirts were forgotten from the movables collection and release is imminent, let physical skirts be used instead of baked animation. Skirts don't move much on real machines anyway. Proper fix: add skirts to movables collection during development.