Empty NVRAM file
What it means
This table is likely to boot to a black screen or freeze instead of starting fresh.
Why it happens
VPinMAME reads this file to restore saved state at boot — a 0-byte file gives it nothing to read, which some ROMs handle worse than others.
How Pincab Toolbox detects it
This ROM's .nv save file exists but is exactly 0 bytes.
Automatic repair
Repair, included in the Pincab Toolbox licence, can fix this one for you. Your files are backed up first, and the fix can be undone.
What to do
This ROM's save file exists but is 0 bytes. VPinMAME can read nothing from it: the table may boot to a black screen.
- A 0-byte file almost always comes from a power cut or an abrupt cab shutdown while the table was writing its scores.
- Open VPinMAME's "nvram" folder. The exact path is in the Diagnostic tab.
- Find the file named after the ROM.
- Rename it by adding ".empty" at the end, rather than deleting it.
- Start the table again. VPinMAME creates a fresh file on its own: the table restarts with factory settings and the real machine's original scores.
- Your old scores on that table are gone; there is no way to recover them from an empty file.
- To avoid a repeat, always shut the cab down properly rather than cutting the power.
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 freeCovered: Visual Pinball X (10.x) and PinUP Popper. Not covered: Future Pinball, Pinball FX, Visual Pinball 9 and the other frontends (PinballX, PinballY).