Congrats!

Should we do the updates in order or can we skip 8.1 and go right to 8.5?

Pretty sure you can just go straight to the latest. AP doesn't do JJP-delta-style updates.

I’ve been following and playing Houdini for a bit now including CAX last weekend.

Did I just read that new code dropped and in less than 48 hours the man works Sunday to polish it?

Ok enough already, Sold.
Im getting one.

Bar none best customer service you will ever find!
Buy with confidence!

He even posted and answered questions on his vacation days. Rosh, I wouldn’t do that at my job.. but I also don’t work for AP!!

Yes go straight to 18.8.5, in fact, 18.8.1 is no longer available

Bugs in code is on me, when they create real problems the least I can do is try to resolve them quickly. Issues are going to happen, testing misses things, it’s my first game, I make mistakes, etc. I believe it is how you respond when things go wrong that defines you.

You should blame all the slacker beta testers!! Just KIDDING!!! lol I do wonder how Josh can put in as many hours and effort as he does unless he is a chain smoking drinker. lol Rather impressive guy and company.

Got the glass off again!!! LOL

Haha the beta testers must have been slacking off. They had one job - fail.

I installed the lc1200. And ran it for 4 days.

It did not adjust the voltage at all, as my lowest voltage over the weekend was 116 volts.

So as suspected, the LC 1200, though I imagine it is an excellent line conditioner, it is not Suited for my minor brownouts that effect gameplay.

I sent them back to Amazon free shipping, though it was a dismal failure, it was low-risk at best.

So back to square one.

That's a bummer to hear, I apologize for thinking that they would take care of your issue.

I called the power company in my case nve.

They guarantee power between 110 and 125 volts.

They also said that the manufacturer is supposed to make and sell equipment that runs properly at 110 volts. In this way everything I purchase should work properly and have no problems during its duty cycle.

This gave me some ideas to think upon.

It seems to me that pinball machines should be set to run at 110 volts and not change their characteristics if the voltage goes above 110 volts.

In this way one can adjust settings the way they say fit, and any voltage fluctuations would not alter the outcome of the settings they made.

I imagine that this is what the power supply daughter board is all about.

I have a prepaid Houdini coming from Game Exchange Colorado.

My question is, should I buy the variac and set it to 115 volts, which is my nominal voltage that I have seen. Or should I acquire the daughter board which is being worked on at API instead?

I wonder what voltage the lab is set at when building and testing the Prototype machines at API.

If it were me I would run them on a variac set at 110 volts.

I'm pretty sure this is the case. And no fault lies with API.

I'm confident there is no fault with the machine in fact it has nothing to do with the quality of the machine or any pinball manufacturers products.

It's really just a matter of settings.

I have it in my mind that if I adjust settings on my pinball machines, I would like those settings to hold for the duration.

But as most of us have seen when the power from the wall changes it also changes the outcome of your settings.

I just think it would be good to find something to address this issue.

I further believe that this power fluctuation issue is what causes poor gameplay at trade shows and some operators locations and even in some people's homes especially in outlying areas, or like me living at the end of town.

Sorry to interrupt...
What do you guys think of this?

Joe
Www.pingraffix.com

That is absolutely a thing at shows - you hear guys talking all the time about how their machines play better at home, and flippers are low powered because of power issues.

Damn it Joe... I don’t have any more money !! Lol
That looks friggin’ awesome!!! - any way to slow it down? I could see that potentially being distracting during gameplay

I've been corresponding with Tripp Lite tech support to see which of their products WILL keep line voltage at 120. I'll let you know what I find out. I also told them their spec sheet for the LC1200 should DEFINITELY mention that it won't kick in until the power gets down to 111v.

That's cool but if the idea is to use it in a light-box / frame wouldn't it be better to use the version that doesn't have middle cut-out for the display?

I like the lettering sequence, but I'd bring all the items at once, then the curtains then audience (instead of audience/curtains). Also, is fade possible with EL panels, or just on/off?

That's good to hear it'd be nice if they had something that would work. It's also disappointing and misleading that they use the term continuous 120 volts.

I purchased one not too long ago when the talk was going on here and I feel like it has helped. In brief testing before I installed it on my game I would see lack of power affect my Houdini at times(typically when a lot of other things in my house were running or super hot days where demand for AC was likely high in area). In testing my power before I installed the Tripp Lite LC1200 it seemed I got a lot of readings around 115V, sometimes a little lower directly from my power outlet. Now granted we haven't been having 100 degree days like we were about a month ago lately. With the box in it is consistently reading 120-125 now and in limited time I have played my Houdini on it I have not noticed power problems at all that affect the game play that I was consistently experiencing before. I definitely hear the box clicking and doing things at times. Again limited sample test here but it seems to me it is indeed helping regulate my voltage better and I don't think I am dropping below 111V at least not that I have seen.

I had 18.8.1 code in and pin was OK. I just tried twice to put in 18.8.5 and now I have nothing. Pin will not boot up. It flashes from blue to black screen. When I put the stick in it was done in a second but now there is nothing.

Do you have a stick with 18.8.1 still?

I would suggest going back to 18.5.4 and then after a successful reboot into that version then go to the latest.

Had the same issue ... Started from scratch re did the download and ensured my USB drive was clean ... Worked for me the second time !

Running equipment on a variac would almost certainly void the manufacturer's warranty. Bump the dial (dog, kids, gremlins) and it fries things. You almost certainly have to wait for a solution AP condones if you care about your warranty.

Balcer, Kugler?

When and where can I purchase this,
Cheers
Trevor

Tips on updating game code....I’ve updated Sterns and JJP pins in the past. Getting ready to update Houdini for the first time. Wondering what to expect? Per the website I will power on and insert usb. Any quirks I should be aware of?

Thanks I’m advance

Was trying to say “Thanks in advance”. Stupid autocorrect!

I think it's pretty cool Joe but will you have a "warm" setting? It looks very blueish. I like the idea - just not the hue

Never mind. That was one of the easiest and trouble free updates I’ve ever done. Well done

Nice!! The only issue I’ve ever had is where the game will not read my USB drive. I found one that works and just use that exclusively now.

sounds likes the download was corrupt, try downloading it again, re-updaing.

I contact Cyberpower about the "Continuous" 120VAC line voltage with their Cyberpower CP1500AVR UPS.

This was their reply:
Thank you for contacting CyberPower Tech Support.
This unit does not adjust the voltage unless it goes below 100 or over 140.
If you need your voltage to be locked in at 120 no matter what the input voltage, then you need a double conversion unit. These are a very different class of products usually used only in corporate server room environments. The closest equivalent product is the OL1500RTXL2U.

https://www.cyberpowersystems.com/product/ups/ol1500rtxl2u/

These are $635 on Amazon so that idea is out...
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss

Can anyone supply a picture and mfg/model number for the 48V PS in Houdini? Thought I would look for a possible upgrade.

Details of how it connects in would help. Thank you

The power company in my area says it's the responsibility of the device manufacturer to regulate the power it requires.

This seems fair enough.
Since they guarantee the lowest power to be 110v.

All that the device manufacturers need to do is regulate the maximum power consumption to 110v.

It does seem odd that pinball machines regulate power to a certain degree but are affected by voltage drops of 10v or less.

I'm looking for a cost effective solution for this.

I thought AP was working on a possible voltage solution for the catapult? Is this still happening AP?

Its not just API. It's all my games.
AFMr and WOZ are also greatly affected as well as my older B/W titles.

I really like the way on the new games I can adjust coils on the fly when the power drops but it's a hassle during the summer with multiple games need attention.

And the power changing from 115v at 5pm to 120v at 9pm.

It's ok on a regular day but really tough when having a pinball get together. And my games play poorly until I adjust them.

Is the Stage Front Eject working for anyone? I calibrated the stage again but haven't seen it work yet, it tries occasionaly but at least quickly realizes it isn't working then closes the door and drops in down into the subway so it's no biggie (and certainly the least of my Houdini related issues right now), just curious if it works for anyone else?

Thanks to all for the suggestions. Third times a charm! I downloaded the new code and it worked. Not sure what happened before. I like the new code. Houdini is in the house!

Yep, works for me - it hadnt worked before so I was surprised when it actually ejected from the stage the first time!

I'm hosting a tournament on Sat, and I noticed game times on Houdini can be fairly long. Any suggestions on how to reduce the game times while still keeping the game fun and fair to play?

Thanks.

How long is long?

I assume you're on 3-ball. Reduce ball save times, and make EBs harder to get in the settings. Open up the left outlane a notch; people will lose balls immmediately. Also raise the back legs 8 or 9 threads. This will make the game significantly harder, although it will also result in a lot of cheap drains

Just drop the wall voltage below 115 and the games will only take 2 minutes. JUST KIDDING!!!! With all the recent posts just seemed funny in my goofy head. As #Rdoyle1978 said just go for lower saves or none. Move or remove the exit posts and if your adventurous raise that game up to say 6.5-7 degrees and the'll be done before they start.

Why make game harder? If you leave on default settings it will still be the hardest game there. When I've played on default, I did not enjoy it because there were few successes. Number of games I've completed five missions, five films or five magic shop visits to start mini wizard mode - zero (game set to 5 balls but I have fun).

Best goals for beginner are to start a film or mode and then start trunk mb or seance mb to run with. It is also possible to complete outlane ball saves on either side once lit. Remember you want the game to be fun for your guests, not knock their di@ks in the dirt.

long post ahead (resized).jpg

I thought it might be good to give some background on the stage. The first concept for the stage was that it would be a single element that would rotate, almost like a pie with a slice missing, where the ball would be, and as it did so a curtain would appear, and as the ball was rotated to the back it would drop through a hole and down to the subway.

I did not love this since it would be clear that it was rotating the ball away and that would not quite have the right impact. So, I told Joe what I wanted was for there to be a curtain that we could open and close, and when closed, then turn it and drop the ball, and that we could have a second section with a captive ball so we could make it seem like the ball disappeared an re-appeared. Which he thought might be possible, I then said in a perfect world be cool to make it disappear, re-appear and then be able to kick it back out. Joe’s first reaction was ‘not going to happen’

We then brought in the mechanical engineer who was going to design the mech. I described to him what I wanted and he figured out than rather then rotating it, we could have the floor drop out. He used a captive ball for that, since that was in the original concept. While there was no guarantee, he felt that it might work that it can push the ball out. In initial testing I was able to push it our with high reliability and started coding with that in mind.

At one point I said we can probably lose the captive ball and just have a ‘floor’ that we can raise and lower (since I can lower the ball and bring it back into view), but at that point making those kinds of changes were not feasible.

Although I have thought about having the captive ball up and having the player hit it, I decided that was not worth the risk of it potentially damaging the mech. So the captive ball really gets little use in that regard. Other then confusing people who think a ball is trapped in the stage.

Then a few hours before expo, when they had finished the first production samples the eject of the ball was not working. When I went to go see why I saw they had changed the floor of the stage, where it was now coined to create a softer lip in the back. Let just say I was extremely vocal in that a change was made without me being notified, to which I was told that was always the plan, to which I responded, news to me, and that is not what I had been working with for months. But at that point here was no way to change it, since all the parts had been made. The real problem is the coining created a lip that prevents the ball from smoothly moving around the captive ball and rolling out. Filing down the lip was not feasible since it could result in rusting. Some quick attempts, hours before expo, to get around that failed and I shelved it for expo and for quite some time. That is when the setting was added and defaulted to off.

Recently I decided to take another crack to get it to work, and while not 100%, on my machine it works probably 70% of the time, so that is why I indicated that you might want to try the feature. The main downside is while it will handle the failure and send it to the subway, if that happens, you can lose a couple of seconds off the timer.

It is certainly possible, I will make more of the illusions to go back to my original ideas on the ball disappearing, reappearing and then coming back out. I believe now in one mode I do that now, can’t remember.

So, now you know the rest of the story.

I suggest trying to calibrate again, and make sure the game is level side to side. If it still does not work, send me a video and I'll see if there is anything else I can suggest. Filing down the lip that the ball can catch on, on the right side could help, but that can create other issues, like rusting.

You are ready for tech support. American Pinball should hire you.

LTG : )

I suggest turning on the Tournament Setting, which will remove extra balls, and also remove randomness from the game, e.g. the magic shop awards will go in a set sequence as will the cops. I think magic points will also be the same for each player.

I would then consider lowering the ball saves that are adjustable. Maybe not the start of ball, but the others.

Opening the outlanes can be done, but that is a little more work and not sure it buys you enough.

Thanks for all the feedback on tweaking the settings for tournament play. I'm going to adjust the recommended settings and see how it plays. I want to preserve the fun, of course.