Houdini
American Pinball, 2017You're currently viewing posts by Pinsider rferullo.
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Quoted from konjurer:I posted the rules with the colors listed here
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/american-pinball-houdini-thread/page/55#post-4307469
and here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aE5RKe7v1XG6X0COCBoqWD1soqM6882SYVsa7aQvMMk/edit
I need to update for the new code!
Thank you very much!
According to Melissa at CoinTaker my Houdini ships on Monday. I'm very excited! The new code sounds great.
Topper - Got to figure out which topper to go with. I like both - Great American Pinball looks wider and fills the machine but the Modfather's looks brighter and can change colors. Will American Pinball offer yet another topper option someday?
Blades - The American Pinball store has interior art blades. Has anyone installed them? Is it hard to lift the playfield out enough? I'll bet it's VERY heavy.
Shaker - Anyone know when the shaker will be available?
Quoted from crlush:You could order it with them installed already, played one friday that had them they looked really nice. I installed a set on a Data East Simpson's and was pretty easy, check fitment before you remove backing and spray sticky side with dishsoap/water, let it drip off so it wont leak in bottom of cabinet and stick it on, and squeegee out soap with your hand or a bondo spreader, if you have a helper to hold playfield in different spots so you can get the bubbles out it helps. Was pretty easy for me on my first try and I suck at decals but the soapy water works great (just do it with the game unplugged).
Good advice - soap / water on the sticky side... thanks.
Quoted from Rdoyle1978:I know you got yours early I was talking to Rferullo
My game is supposed to ship today from CoinTaker. I'll buy the blades when the shaker is released and use the "wet" install method 
Quoted from Habeboo:Just wanted to post a few pics and video of our new Houdini topper. It features 2 levels and glowing, pulsating and color changing eyes. Houdini is a really unique looking game and I wanted to make a design that really accented the artwork properly....
» YouTube video
That is really awesome! I love the colors. Where do I order one?
Now can you get Houdini's eyes to follow me as I walk around the room?
Quoted from Ericpinballfan:Well, hows it going? Been playing all day?
It's great! I haven't spent as much time on it as I would like but I ran into 1 small issue. The scoop was kicking an extra ball into play when a ball went into the magic shop hole. I called tech support this morning and Barry was great. Turns out one of the opto relay boards had a lose connector. They are daisy chained from one board to the next. There were a few connectors that were lose when I checked the full chain.
Otherwise it's perfect. The playfield is so smooth - it's like glass. I had to increase the pitch because the ball was getting stuck at the end of the subway.
Filipper coils at 22. They shipped at 21 but it was hard to complete the ramp. Catapult to the trunk works every time.
I haven't changed any settings yet other then free play.
Quoted from BarryJ:Sooooo.....
Engineering wasn't to happy with my last skill shot fix! Who would think hammering next to the playfield would be an issue!?
Now to introduce the new and improved skill shot fix, guaranteed to let you hit all 3 targets "if you have the skill" or something like that.
Call me if you need help 833-API-HELP
**You will need one 3/16" post rubber, which you should already have lying around**
B
If this is Service Bulletin #3 - what was #1 + #2?
I made several adjustments last night. The game is playing MUCH better and a lot more fun!
#1 - Shooter lane skill shot. Opened the shooter lane to be able to make all 3 ESC targets and set auto-fire to go straight to the pops.
#2 - Right Orbit to Left Flipper. When I hit the right orbit the ball would come just to the tip of the left flipper and impossible to stop or catch. Now it goes to the middle of the left flipper and you can actually make the 2nd combo mission.
#3 - Upper Catapult missing the wire form. I put a few washers under the wire form in the back to raise it up but it wasn't enough so I just bent that sucker up and now the catapult can fire a stronger coil pulse and makes it 100%
#4 - Scoop Adjustment. Pushed the scoop to the right to guide the ball to the right flipper. I removed the plastic and loosened the screws to adjust it but you could just jam it over.
#5 - Key lane. The key lane was draining SDTM. I removed the plastic on the right side and bent the metal wire out to close up the key lane a little. Now the ball hits the left ball guide and goes to the right flipper pretty consistently. This was my attempt at a fix - not American Pinball.
Scoop Adjustment, Orbit Fix, and Skill Shot Adjustment PDFs attached
Quoted from rosh:Here is a little secret, when you shoot stage alley or key lane, the pops are disabled for around 100 milliseconds or until the first hit of skirt, then they go live, this makes those shots through the pops a touch easier as nip of the edge of one skirt does not hose you.
How long do you have to get he ball from the Stage Ally to the Stage to get 2x scoring for the illusion? Does it have to be a totally clean shot to get 2x? If it gets caught in the pops for a second or 2 you seem to lose the doubler.
Anyone else ever get a 2 ball Trunk Multiball? It happens to me sometimes. Then I might get a 4 ball Seance.
Quoted from bobukcat:I don't remember seeing this discussed before so I apologize if it was but I noticed that hitting the inside loop when lit for Bullet Catch does not award a Trunk Multiball lock, even if it lock was lit when you started Bullet Catch. Surely this isn't the intended behavior for balls one and two, right rosh ?
I've noticed that also.
Quoted from Frogman:While playing, got a blue screen and the pin rebooted. Don’t remember exactly what was going on - talking with a friend while playing. I’ll send the log files to AP, but I’m curious if anyone’s had this experience.
Yes - I have had a few reboots. I sent the logs each time.
Quoted from rosh:then I'll look for a couple of beta testers
You can count on me!
-Rob
Quoted from bobukcat:I had an amazing game going last night, ended up with 4X Milkcan Multiplier lit and SEANCE, Trunk MB and Man From Beyond all ready. Hit the inner loop to start MFB and Trunk, managed to free Houdini while hitting a couple jackpots and then blew it big time. I was so mad at myself but my score (first ball) went from about 200K to over 900K in seconds, I did end up with a new high for me of about 1.65M but I know it could have been SO much higher. I did cuss Josh at one point when I couldn't see what the hell was going on during that mad light show but it was all good natured cussing, I love this game! I've been tempted to install one of my PinStadium kits just to see how insane it makes it during that mode but I don't think the game really needs a lot of help in that department and I play in a pretty dark room.
I love the MFB mode and especially the light show when you get the 3rd ball into play. The call outs could be better to let you know another ball is coming and maybe a 1-2 sec pause before the ball is released because I often drain trying to gain control and there is NO ball save. It's hard to get all 3 balls going without stacking a MB but if you do it's very exciting! A little ball save when adding a ball into play would be nice
I just had an crazy good game. I have the game on 5 ball but for you 3 ball players I hit 4.1 M on my 3rd ball. Got to the FILM Binge (which is VERY cool) at the same time I hit 3rd lock on Trunk MB and my score jumped from 1.5M to 4.1M. I didn't know FILM Binge kicks another ball into play when you complete some shots. Not quite sure how or why but just keep hitting the blue shots.
I took some photos after the end of ball 3 and my last 2 balls totally sucked. Might have jinx myself by taking pictures
20180613_120025 (resized).jpg20180613_120025-1 (resized).jpg20180613_120336 (resized).jpg
Quoted from rosh:Five shots are lit, each representing one of the films, shoot that shot 3 times to earn what you scored during that film mode * the number of balls in play. This will then put another ball into play. If you can do all five movies, they reset now needing six shots to complete the movie. You can only add a ball once for each movie, but in theory you can get all six balls in to play and be scoring 6X the original film value. From a strategy standpoint, first go for one of the films you did poorly on to get the second ball into play before going for a better performed film so you have the multiplier. It will show on screen what you earned originally on that film. The shots for the films match with which shot was most prevalent or important in the film mode, e.g. Haldane which is all about the spinner, is the right orbit during the binge, Q is the left orbit, etc. Binge is probably a little too valuable points wise, but hey, if you can make it there . . .
That is pretty deep... I had completed all movies once and was working on round 2 when I drained.
I noticed you can't start Seance once in Binge. Is that because of the balls in play multiplier?
Movies are basically all I go for because they are pretty valuable and it's possible to get 3 completed to light the EB. If you are lucky enough to get the 7x EB and the Magic Shop EB you actually have a good chance of getting to Binge.
Quoted from WW2GURU:Speaking of countdown timers. It would be good if the countdown timer for a particular mode didn't start until the ball has actually left the scoop. Mine sometimes burns up almost 10 seconds as the ball struggles to get out over and over as the clock is running. I wouldn't classify that as part of the games difficulty. Seems the timer could be triggered by that switch down there yes?
Time is also burned when the ball is in the magic shop. But i heard the next code update will allow you to blow it off with the flippers.
Quoted from rosh:Timers stop when entering magic shop, upper vuk, etc. and then resume when exiting.
I'll try to capture some video of the timer running while in the magic shop. I can see the time on the Theater LCD tick away while waiting for the ball.
Quoted from bobukcat:Yep, FILM mode timers definitely run when entering the magic shop.
Thanks for the validation. I will still try and capture it on video.
Quoted from rosh:you guys need to stop hitting the booze before you play The timer stops when it is doing it is pulling stuff out of the hat. It is possible that a couple of the awards start the timer a couple of seconds too early before ejecting the ball, but it most certainly stops when it enters and during the animations of the hat pull. I just tested this on all five film modes.
I took the glass off and tested it with all 5 film modes and several movie modes last night, I could not recreate the issue - but I have seen it. I will keep a closer eye out for when it happens and capture some video and the logs. There must be some particular situation when it happens. I've seen it with and without the booze
Quoted from rosh:If it happens again send me the logs.
I haven't seen the magic shot timer issue yet but I did just lose about 10 seconds while locking a ball in the trunk. 1 ball in play with 20 seconds left on the timer and I hit the trunk lock. By the time I get the ball back only 10 seconds are left in the mode.
Still watching for magic shop.
I've got a few questions / issues for rosh :
- You can start Escape hurry-up in a Film mode but not in Theater mode. Why / why not?
- When in Trunk MB if you drain the 2nd ball and hit the Magic target shortly after with the remaining ball there is no ball save if the magnet shoots it directly to the outlane. Had this happen the other day. The first 2 balls drained and played both of the callouts for the drain - then I hit the Magic target while trying to get control of the remaining ball and it went straight to the outlane - no ball save.
- The inlanes / outlanes should always show your FILM progress. Several times there are lighting effects that black out the FILM letters and the ball is heading to a dark inlane. I don't know what letter is lit and what is not or don't have time to line up the correct letter cause I'm waiting for the lights to come back on.
- Anytime after ball 1 - press and hold start for 5 seconds and my game will reboot. Any reason why there is no restart option in the menu?
Quoted from rosh:You can with the exception of Bullet Catch, and Straitjacket
The magic stand-ups -- FYI, no ball save at all if set to 'low'. They will only do a save if you are in one ball play, so it is likely the game had not yet finished 'processing' the second drain, so believe there was still another ball in play, even when that one hit the outlane.
Lightshows can impact all lamp and there would not be much of an effect if some lights did not change with it, but typically they should return to their current state quickly (e.g. within a second of the show completing), is there a particular time you are seeing a delay in it updating?
The five second restart is not yet reliable in making sure the game stops clean, at a minimum it is not properly stopping music and not starting the new game, however, it should not reboot. After it ends, a second press of the tart button should then start a game, but still needs further testing to be sure it is a clean start. It was not meant to be live in the 18.5.4 code.
- I'll test the Escape hurry-ups in Theater modes.
- Escape is a good example of the light show. If you complete Escape there is a 2-3 sec light show in green but the ball is in play and could be heading for an inlane and you can't see what's lit and what's not.
- Good to know about the restart
Thanks rosh - It's an awesome game!
Quoted from rosh:Tricky, you want the lightshows so you know what is going on and that you have made shots, and we are talking about a pretty narrow window of time, so, I think this is a case where "hey, it's pinball"
Just thinking out loud but the completed lanes could be in a different color - like in the Needles and Thread mode. Also at ball launch they are out and if you go for a super skill shot and miss and hit the in / out lane you don't know what's lit and what's not.
rosh - a couple of system items:
- There is no interlock warning on the screen or sound played when the coin door is opened. Is that in the plans?
- Clear Houdini's Balls - I'll often get 2 balls kicked from the ball trough before auto-fire shoots them out of the shooter lane and sometimes they get caught up on each other. Any thoughts on tweaking the timing of this utility?
Let me know when you're ready for beta!
Quoted from rosh:I keep trying to get more stuff in. Got 100+ new voice calls a week or so ago, so getting those dropped in and just got a couple of updated animations thirty seconds ago, but I'll be drawing a line shortly. Currently doing testing of the Master Magician Mode (and adding voice calls). So, my hope is we will be doing beta testing next week.
Sounds awesome
Quoted from rosh:Not sure I understand what you mean completed color? Are you talking during a lightshow have outlanes a different color then the rest of the lightshow?
I mean if the green fade effect from bottom to top is running the inlane / outlanes that are completed would be in blue / teal.
Quoted from rosh:Having those lit during the skill shot would confuse a newer player thinking those are associated with the skill shot.
Ok - but maybe when you hit the flipper / lane change they could light briefly so you could lineup the shot?
Quoted from rosh:I like when I can just learn the rules of a machine organically, and then after I have the basics figured out, go read up to see what I am missing. A lot of the strategy and details of game play are easier to understand once you have a sense of the basic game play. Often though, you can't fully appreciate the game until you understand the rules.
The best part of something like this is being apart of the growth of the code and experiencing the evolution of the game... imo... later in life I'll be like "I remember when there was no master magician mode..."
It's also great to be able to provide feedback - some of which actually gets incorporated into the game! And it's exciting to get an occasional update and then play the snot out of it! It's like a whole new game sometimes. With 100+ call outs and new mini / major wizard modes coming I'm so psyched! Can't wait....
Quoted from CUJO:I have the same power issues if another pin is on
I see weird weird issues sometimes too once in a while. Like weak flippers during multiball. I'm going to move the plug to a direct wall outlet and keep the other pins off and see if it's any better. Thx
Quoted from Yelobird:Now on stage... The Houdini "Key Lane" 3D custom sign Mod! Give you key lane a personal touch of character. Each sign done to fine detail with fine wood grain, HH Houdini master key, and hand painted for a finishing unique touch. Easy installation that does not effect the original plastics. Shoot your key lane in style! The magic (Mod) shop is now open! Available and Shipping now via our website store at www.TheModCouplePinball.com
For all your Houdini mods, thanks for looking!
The Mod Couple
That's pretty cool but I actually removed the Key Lane / Stage Ally plastic. I found the ball was hitting it and getting rejected about half of the time. Now It's a much more reliable shot. Will it work without the original plastic?
Any thought of making a mod in an arch design to give the ball more clearance? It''s Stage Ally that was the real problem because the plastic sags down on the left.
Quoted from Rdoyle1978:There’s light bleed from the speaker grilles so this just buttons that all up
I need to jam some foam up in there! It's a little distracting.
Quoted from rosh:I originally wanted a female voice to get variety in the game, but I just did not love how it sounded, I felt a 'movie preview voice' would be better and needed to be different then the primary narrator
Is it you Josh? Is the new man's voice you?
I think there is a different forum for talking politics and I'm pretty sure this forum is for talking pinball.
Let's try and stay on a topic we all agree on - Houdini is awesome!
Quoted from joeraptor2003:Sorry to interrupt...
What do you guys think of this?
Joe
Www.pingraffix.com
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
Quoted from bobukcat:Yes, and I've also noticed that for many modes (Elephant, Grim Game, etc.) when you need to hit a ramp it you hit it slowly and it takes a while to get all the way down the ramp, sometimes with a nice nudge to keep it from dropping through the hole, it won't award the shot at all. This doesn't only happen during MB or when the ramp is lit for a combo secret mission shot.
and sometimes if you get rejected from the ramp and catch the ball just right on your left flipper it will roll up and hit the inlane switch and give you credit for the ramp You can see this more during a MB. It's sneaky...
Quoted from Strummy:These 2 Cliffies were most difficult to install so I took a couple of pics.
[quoted image][quoted image]
Nice - He's got the carbon fiber ones! Those will never lift and last forever. I also think they look better then stainless.
Time to order a set.
Quoted from BarryJ:Here are the installation instructions for the power supply also available on our website. click on the first page.
[quoted image]
Found it!
Quoted from BarryJ:Code for the $150 will come in the box
Barry - I did not see any code in the box. I double checked and nothing that looks like a website store code.
What should I do?
Thanks,
Rob
Quoted from BarryJ:You didn't get a little piece of paper with a QR code on it? That had your code on it.. For any reason it is lost, email me at [email protected] with your name and s/n of your Houdini and I will email you your code!
I found it! It had worked its way under the box flap. Thanks all set.
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Festus, MO