The General Loader 2.0 version of VPX Standalone has been released to the beta testers yesterday after a few weeks of internal testing. The old General Loader 1.0 version has been officially retired and I'm no longer releasing updates for it.
The AtGames firmware that's been in beta for the past month or so still has issues and AtGames has yet to release any updates. VPX Standalone is ready, but will not be released until the firmware it requires is released publicly. I'm hopeful we will get a beta with all the reported issues fixed soon so we can have a public release finally after all this time!
I also realize that I didn't post my earlier update from July 6, 2026 which I posted to Facebook, so here it is:
VPX Standalone update July 6, 2026
AtGames has released General Loader 2.0 into beta. I've reported multiple issues with General Loader 1.0 in various forums stating the reason VPX Standalone can't be released publicly. AtGames has apparently been following (their spies be everywhere) and has implemented the most critical block features.
Work has begun on porting the codebase to the new General Loader 2.0. For the technical, there's not really an SDK per se needed to make apps for the 4KP, but their sandbox permission model severely restricts an apps ability to do basically anything. So various workarounds were implemented to bypass this security, which obviously isn't great for a public release. I've had to roll these workarounds back and rewrite the code to work with the restricted permission set without removing features in Table Manager and VPX itself.
As of today, Table Manager and VPX have been ported to General Loader 2.0 and I've released it to the team. There are also notable changes to the permissions for the GPU and we can now take advantage of hardware acceleration so we're currently working on doing this in VPX. We have a ton of tables now hitting 60fps (max on the 4KP) and the GPU changes are looking promising for increased performance of PUP packs.
The team has been a bit burnt out lately waiting for these General Loader 2.0 changes to finally roll out and dealing with the haters and negative comments that it's not released yet. So it's been a bit slow getting everyone back into working on it, but it's happening.
And just a reminder, we still don't have an HDP machine so only the 4KP is supported. Developing something like VPX requires modifying the hardware to debug what's happening since there is absolutely no logging when things go wrong... you're flying blind if you don't have a modified cabinet. I appreciate all the offers to test on the HDP, but that's just not going to work.
Anyway, we're getting close. Please do not enroll in the beta in anticipation of getting VPX working. I've reached out to AtGames and I'd like to coordinate the release of VPX with the public release of the new firmware (there are issues that should be fixed).
My original plan with the software focused primarily on the shutdown sequence. I use Home Assistant, so I planned to send a webhook to Home Assistant to trigger an automation that would wait a specified period and then cut power when the ALU was shut down from the RCADE interface. That was easy and worked, no problem. As I thought about it, though, what if a user didn't know about the shutdown and just pressed the button? Or what if I wanted to reboot instead of shutting down? What if someone who wanted to do this mod didn't have Home Assistant?
The answer was to move all the logic onto the Shelly and the ALU. Big thanks to the team who work on RCADE for all their support and for making such an awesome system that makes all this possible.
To handle the button press and shut down or reboot:
I added a Python webhooks server to the ALU that starts on boot. On the Shelly, I have 2 scripts.
One script is for sending the call to the ALU to shut down or reboot (single-press shutdown, long-press reboot).
The other script is a server to determine if the ALU has requested a shutdown from the UI. This is what was happening originally on Home Assistant.
The files needed for all this can be found on GitHub.
Release has been pushed back from July 4 to latter part of August it seems, but what can we expect. Will updated tables for the ALP HD basically be the same as the 4K release? Or are we talking massive physics and visual upgrades?
I've been using Legends Unchained for a while, but over the past year I've-
Discovered OpenFire Lightguns and
Gotten a BitLCD
That's prompted me to put a lot more love into my ALU. Before I got the BitLCD I had made a little "mini-marquee" with a Pi and a Small screen. It would load the marquee and then switch to display the control mapping for the game once the game was started. I put that project on Github. Full disclosure, while I have some software development background, this is still heavily vibe-coded as that hasn't been my job for almost 20 years. I've gone through it all as I did it, but if that bothers you, you should know.
When I got the BitLCD I wasn't happy with having to pull the USB anytime I wanted to make changes, so I modified the project to use the BitLCD for the marquee and the small LCD for the control map. That's not on Github yet since I've got to go through and do a test run for install instructions. It's a big difference in how it works. I also made custom boot screens for the two screens. I'll update this post when I get the Github uploaded.
This then lead to making a theme for Legends Unchained. I'll upload that later too.
All that is the backstory though to what this post is about. While I was doing all that work I got annoyed by two things.
Having to go up and down the stairs whenever I wanted to check something I changed.
Not having the machine power off after shutdown.
While there's a limit to what I can do to fix #1 (can't really screen or VNC into Legends Unchained), I can fix #2.
Legends Unchained allows you to run scripts for various events. That's what I use to update the marquee and control mapping screens, as well as launch the screensaver on the two screens. One of the script events is on shutdown. That means I can trigger something to actually turn the machine off when I shut down.
Knowing all that, I decided to figure out the hardware. I had asked about this in the Legends Unchained Discord a while back and then followed up with Claude. I spent a lot of time talking to Claude about this idea and how best to implement it. The hardware I ended up with was
- 22mm 12V momentary power switch
I went with a 12V so that I could just split the power off the ALU's power, and it's the same size as the original power switch.
- Shelly 1 Gen 4
Also powered by the same 12V and able to handle the small load that will come through what was going into the original switch.
I split the power from where it comes into the control deck. That feeds the Shelly and the new power button LED. The power button's LED are the red and black wires. The blue is the Common, and the green is NO.
From the 12V supply, the Red goes into the Shelly's 12V. The Red from the button also goes in there. This will allow them to share the power. You can also connect them in a dozen other ways, but I was trying to keep it as simple and compact as I could. I wasn't able to do that with all the ground wires.
The black from the 12V supply goes into the L on the Shelly (in a DC application, this is ground). Also needing to connect to this are the ground from the button LED, the ground from the original switch, and the Common from the new button. That all couldn't fit into the Shelly, and I had to daisy chain them together with some lever nut connectors I had on hand.
The red and yellow wires from the original ALU Switch go into the I/O on the Shelly. I used quick-connects so that I didn't need to cut the original wires.
A poor job at diagraming.
With it all connected, I secured it upright (upside down once the panel was reinstalled) with some hot glue. Here are some photos. I'll put the software side of things in a separate post.
New Button in place. I slid the metal locking ring down and then just screwed it in. Board back in placeAll wired up in a rat's nest of wires.All lit up
Hey, so I upgraded my firmware from the stock factory one to v5.70 and all of a sudden the ArcadeNet server doesn't connect anymore. Previously it worked fine ( it told me to subscribe to a paid plan despite having one ) - and now it just doesn't work at all, doesn't load anything except zaccaria tables.
I've done server connection, switched to wired ethernet, even tried at a friends place incase my network was bad, but no luck there either.
Received this Alu free because it stopped turning on. Looks like control board fried. Plan to gut it and use the ipac2. Is there a way to test if the screen works? I plugged a new power cord directly into screen and the only thing that works is leds for top cabinet.
Will this work if that display board is bad as well? https://a.co/d/0dMTXhiv
I've been out of the loop since like 2023 and own 2 of them. Onesauce amazed me with the performance and I heard Coinops has been retired. I never tried Legends Unchained but has anything else happened? I remember hearing about a follow up 4k cabinet but I guess that never came to fruition.
I decided to abandon the built in software and connecting pinup popper through the OTA connection so that I could get a smoother experience and I am glad that I did. I had to buy a cheap amplifier to power the backglass speakers and little subwoofers at the front. I also had to rewire all the buttons to a usb controller that I was already using for some add on buttons.
The screen is this one: https://a.co/d/04sNWN8C and once out of its case, it fits perfectly where the old screen was only upside down so I had to flip the orientation in Windows. I also have the Dayton ssf mod kit and plunger mod from etsy. I also built a 2 screen backglass cover that fits on over the existing backbox. My next mods will be to build that into the backbox and remove all the existing atgames gear from inside
I bought a micro 2nd hand and the previous owner had purchased tables. I did a factory reset and expected the tables that aren’t stock to be deleted. After the reset they are still there. Any idea how to delete them? Thanks!
I have a Micro on the way and have been getting some minor accesories for it. I wanted to ask any owners if cooling is an issue on the stock machine, or if it would extend the lifespan of the machine. Just want to protect my investment, but dont want to drill holes in the machine If the fans aren't all that. Thanks!
I have the TMNT HDP table with the Pinball Net subscriotion. Usually I get the free codes every other monday, but i haven't received anything since the Dr Suess table on june 23rd. Has anything changed or do I need to submit a ticket?
So, going through what the wife is classing as midlife crisis number 10, and building a gaming room. Planning on picking up the Legends Ultimate here in the UK, and just wanted to see if anyone has some good pointers on best software to use with it to run things like SF2 etc.
Not loving the idea of having to pay on top another 99 quick to play via the BYOG, so wondered is it possible to skip that, downgrade firmware etc. As you will have gathered completely new to this system so any advice gratefully appreciated.
I'm trying to find the cheapest option for a PC that will run Pinball FX on my ALP HD. Pinball FX Classic runs just fine on my current setup (Dell Inspiron 3250, stock) but FX doesn't. Any suggestions? Here's the requirements so no one has to look it up, but I'm a complete dummy when it comes to computers so I'm not even sure what to really look for. Feel free to talk to me like I'm a toddler about this.
I installed R-Cade on my legends ultimate machine and everything is working fine.
I decided to hook up a PC to the HDMI and USB port on the machine to run some more graphic intensive games.
The HDMI is working however the control deck is not getting picked up as a controller. When I move the stick while it will always just perform those actions in R-Cade, even if im not on that channel.
Is there a way to get it so that my control deck will be recognized on the PC when I switch channels with my current setup, or do I need to factory reset my arcade cab so that the original firmware is on it and it should behave from there?
Doesn’t seem to have a restock notification for newly built machines, considering buying a used one.
I see a couple a little distance from me but thinking to check them out.
Question, is there any “bad” versions to avoid or be aware of?
I see one that looks like it has slightly different games listed on the front such as Aladdin.
Concerned some older versions might not have games that are available now or it’s not able to run like COX or Legends Unchained or if certain parts might be bad or doomed to fail and might not be able to replace or very expensive.
Is there a version to check or they all basically the same and doesn’t matter?
Any advice on what I should ask about to check out in person would be appreciated.
I purchased a drive on amazon awhile back that has a bunch of mame roms on it. I am thinking of buying the Legends Gamer Pro for the arcade controls. Especially the trackball. I understand you can add games using the BYOG functionality. Will that work with the roms I already have?
