64-bit VPinMAME with a 32-bit Visual Pinball

Technical code : BITNESS_MISMATCH_VPM32

What it means

Every ROM-based table will fail to start — the opposite bitness mismatch from the usual one.

Why it happens

Only a 64-bit VPinMAME is present, but the Visual Pinball executable in use is 32-bit — a 32-bit program cannot load a 64-bit COM server.

How Pincab Toolbox detects it

The free scanner checks the following:

A 32-bit main Visual Pinball executable is present, no 32-bit VPinMAME binary exists, but a 64-bit VPinMAME does.

What to do

Your Visual Pinball is 32-bit, but the ROM engine (VPinMAME) is 64-bit. They cannot talk to each other: none of your ROM tables will start.

You have two options. The second one lasts longer.

PATH A — put VPinMAME back to 32-bit (quick)

  1. Copy your whole VPinMAME folder elsewhere as a backup.
  2. Download the 32-bit VPinMAME build (github.com/vpinball/pinmame, Releases), the one WITHOUT "64" in its name.
  3. Fully close Visual Pinball and PinUP Popper.
  4. Replace the files in your VPinMAME folder.
  5. Right-click "Setup.exe", "Run as administrator".

PATH B — move the whole cab to 64-bit (recommended on a recent machine)

  1. Back up your whole Visual Pinball folder.
  2. Install 64-bit Visual Pinball in a SEPARATE folder, leaving the old one alone.
  3. Keep the 64-bit VPinMAME you already have.
  4. In PinUP Popper, point the emulator path at the new folder.
  5. Test two or three tables you know well before concluding.

Check your own pincab

Pincab Toolbox is a free Windows scanner for Visual Pinball X and PinUP Popper. It finds and explains problems like this one. No account, no telemetry.

Download for free

Covered: Visual Pinball X (10.x) and PinUP Popper. Not covered: Future Pinball, Pinball FX, Visual Pinball 9 and the other frontends (PinballX, PinballY).

Other problems

All problems