Ugh to Virtual Pool 4...

G

Gorramjayne

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I was laid up indoors for a few days last week and decided to give Virtual Pool 4 a try.

Well, I got back on a real-life pool in a low-stakes money game earlier this week. Holy crapballs, nothing looked right to me at first! A few days of Virtual Pool managed to cause a breakdown of a lifetime of pool instinct.

Worse than anything, I wonder if VP4 under-values throw in its models... once I got my brain re-oriented to seeing real pool balls and not the virtual ones, I missed several cuts with follow and stun that I would usually be 99% sure to make in my sleep.

Luckily I only finished down 1 game in a race to 9, otherwise that 'low stakes' game could have cut into my drinking budget. But I had to try to plan every run hitting draw on almost everything, since firing shots in with draw was the only way I had any confidence in what I was doing, because Virtual Pool had totally screwed with my head.

NEVER AGAIN.

I'm uninstalling. I may even microwave my hard drive just so there's no traces of that game that might accidentally give me bad ju-ju. I'm finally back almost to normal but it was terrifying looking at a shot and not feeling locked into it, or worse, thinking I had the shot dead, only to execute as planned and watch the OB swing wide. I've never experienced that before, that was deeply rattling.

Anybody else ever encountered this? All I can say at this point is maybe VP4 can help a new player experiment with physics on shots his stroke can't reliably execute well enough yet to practice it for real... but for any player with their game more or less in order, I'd stay well away from this game. I can't believe how much it screwed with my game in such a short amount of time. Maybe it wouldn't be as bad if the game had photo-realistic graphics and you could play with full 3D glasses to have a normal sense of depth, but for now I have to say pool is definitely a game better left to plain ol' reality. Harsh lesson learned.
 
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Awh come on, you just wish you had the stroke that you do on VP4 :-) I know I did back when it was VP3.
 
VP4 has helped my game a lot. Mostly with aiming and patterns. I know it's helped others as well.

Maybe you aren't as good as you thought IRL?
 
Yeah I used to use Vpool to help teach. The physics are pretty darn good.

I wonder if it would run on a tablet?
 
DJ14.1 said:
Yeah I used to use Vpool to help teach. The physics are pretty darn good.

I wonder if it would run on a tablet?
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Try pool break 3d billiard snooker. It is just as good as v pool and runs great on a phone or tablet. Free and awesome physics engine

Sent from my SM-G900W8 using Tapatalk
 
I must be the only one who can't make a ball in this game. Maybe I aim from a small offset or something. My feel and aim are comletely off in this game, and my high run is 30 something...What a joke. Can't control my draw shots, can't make the tough shots..Whenever I try to stun draw or stun follow, the cueball comes back like a rocket or spins forward like it had an engine. There seems to be very little throw, and the pockets are acting a little strange as well.

The one thing that is entertaining to me is to watch the computer (best players) play insane one pocket shape shots on routine layouts. That's actually quite fun to watch.
 
Straightpool_99 said:
I must be the only one who can't make a ball in this game. Maybe I aim from a small offset or something. My feel and aim are comletely off in this game, and my high run is 30 something...What a joke. Can't control my draw shots, can't make the tough shots..Whenever I try to stun draw or stun follow, the cueball comes back like a rocket or spins forward like it had an engine. There seems to be very little throw, and the pockets are acting a little strange as well.

The one thing that is entertaining to me is to watch the computer (best players) play insane one pocket shape shots on routine layouts. That's actually quite fun to watch.
Click to expand...


That was pretty much my experience, it took me a day or two to be able to pocket balls reliably, for some reason aiming on a flat monitor required a totally different mental setup than shooting real pool balls and then when I went back to shooting real pool balls my wires were crossed... I do think there's too little throw.

AI is a little... strange. 'Novice' misses almost everything just lobbing bricks off-target and crashing into every ball on the table. Then the next level up misses position plenty but then when they get out of position just banks shots with a 95% success rate, or will cut shots all the way up the table even with the CB and OB nearly frozen. The 'shark' and 'professional' AI strategies look nothing like how real professionals would play, looking more like a trick shot exhibition and skipping the obvious dependable pattern.Since this is no substitute for table time, I think they need to put some real work in on the AI for this to be of any use understanding how high level players plot their runs.
 
Straightpool_99 said:
I must be the only one who can't make a ball in this game. Maybe I aim from a small offset or something. My feel and aim are comletely off in this game, and my high run is 30 something...What a joke. Can't control my draw shots, can't make the tough shots..Whenever I try to stun draw or stun follow, the cueball comes back like a rocket or spins forward like it had an engine. There seems to be very little throw, and the pockets are acting a little strange as well.

The one thing that is entertaining to me is to watch the computer (best players) play insane one pocket shape shots on routine layouts. That's actually quite fun to watch.
Click to expand...

It helps if you're a little tech savvy and know how to set up your mouse properly in the in-game settings.

Sounds like you're not so I would recommend watching this video

In it, Malcom Clarke, one of the best Virtual Pool players (he's in the game) explains the settings that he uses. He also plays a race to 11 vs a computer opponent with a camera on his mouse so that you can see the "stroke" that he uses.

And here's a little video of him playing IRL. He's the left handed player. I'd say he's pretty good.
 
Straightpool_99 said:
I must be the only one who can't make a ball in this game. Maybe I aim from a small offset or something. My feel and aim are comletely off in this game, and my high run is 30 something...What a joke. Can't control my draw shots, can't make the tough shots..Whenever I try to stun draw or stun follow, the cueball comes back like a rocket or spins forward like it had an engine. There seems to be very little throw, and the pockets are acting a little strange as well.

The one thing that is entertaining to me is to watch the computer (best players) play insane one pocket shape shots on routine layouts. That's actually quite fun to watch.
Click to expand...

Haha yes! Some of the best computer players are totally ridiculous to watch.

I have owned Virtual Pool, Virtual Pool 2, and Virtual Pool Hall (which are the 3 before VP3 and VP4). I've never tried VP3 or 4. However, on the original game there was a money back guarantee if it did not improve your real pool game. Assuming the physics are similar, I thought the game was totally awesome. Furthermore, I found that the way I aim in the game is exactly how I aim in real life. Since all of my real life pool know how is based on study and hard facts more than intuition and feel, it was a pretty easy transition for me back and forth between the two. I'd be very curious to see the ways I could use this on league night to help my teammates!


KMRUNOUT
 
My buddy, who developed and owns this game, is a very good pool player. Steve Chaplin "Tall Steve" so he has strived for the most realistic pool playing effect possible. I don't have the game but I am supposed to be a player.
 
Gorramjayne said:
That was pretty much my experience, it took me a day or two to be able to pocket balls reliably, for some reason aiming on a flat monitor required a totally different mental setup than shooting real pool balls and then when I went back to shooting real pool balls my wires were crossed... I do think there's too little throw.

AI is a little... strange. 'Novice' misses almost everything just lobbing bricks off-target and crashing into every ball on the table. Then the next level up misses position plenty but then when they get out of position just banks shots with a 95% success rate, or will cut shots all the way up the table even with the CB and OB nearly frozen. The 'shark' and 'professional' AI strategies look nothing like how real professionals would play, looking more like a trick shot exhibition and skipping the obvious dependable pattern.Since this is no substitute for table time, I think they need to put some real work in on the AI for this to be of any use understanding how high level players plot their runs.
Click to expand...

Obviously, since they are modelling "ideal" conditions, things like "cling" and other such factors do not have to be taken into account. So many times, the computer will punt in shots with stun at an angle, that would invite a cling in a real life situation. Playing this game invites introspection into ones real game to see why things are easier or better when played a certain way, because the computer doesn't play anything like a top player.

Also I think that the computer is mostly concerned with getting close to the object ball, which will lead to the top computer controlled players playing short-side shape on many shots. The long shots are very tough in this game. They are obviously modelling the game from a margin-of-error sort of standpoint, like a mathematician or a physicist would. A player in real life, on the other hand, would tend to miss shots that are in an unfamiliar place on the table or has an awkward angle where they have to worry about scratching or running into another ball, while they would routinely knock in long shots that may be harder on paper. The computer, obviously, has no way to understand such concerns. Most human players would also have difficulties with the extreme spin shots with control, like the computer is doing.


A winning strategy against a computer opponent up to the "pro" level, is simply leaving them long shots. Only the very best computer opponents are any good at all on those, especially if the shots have any cut angle to them.

On the other hand, the computer can routinely spin the ball with extreme english, 2 or 3 rails, hitting a spot on the rail between two balls, then having the exact amount of spin to get the right angle out with perfect speed out to a precise spot on the table. No human opponent, apart from a world class 3 cushion player, has this sort of control, especially not when the speed needs to be controlled as well.
 
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TATE said:
My buddy, who developed and owns this game, is a very good pool player. Steve Chaplin "Tall Steve" so he has strived for the most realistic pool playing effect possible. I don't have the game but I am supposed to be a player.
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I have the game and can say that it is as realistic as it can get. Granted there's no substitute for the real thing but it comes close.
By the way Tate, he is now known as Savanna Slim.
 
I was playing VP4 every day until my excessive overuse of my mouse arm started acting up again so I have been giving it a break. But I can say its the most realistic pool game you will ever play and I agree with the others who said that overall it has helped my game. I am one pocket player IRL and that's all I really tried to play in VP4 so not only do I think it helped with aiming and stuff, it also helped me with my moves, defense and strategy relating to one pocket.

Good stuff...
 
I really struggle with that game eventhough I love it. I have to mess with the settings more to have the perfect FOV and power sensitivity I think.

Somehow its much easier it aim in real life than in that game....
 
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