(Topic ID: 154089)

AMH Version 23 Discussion

By benheck

8 years ago


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  • 287 posts
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  • Latest reply 7 years ago by genex
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There are 287 posts in this topic. You are on page 1 of 6.
#1 8 years ago

Brought back a spare AMH from Benton and will be doing a big V23 code update later this spring.

In this topic, I'd like to learn about bugs still present in V22, and what new features you might want added.

On my To-Fix list already:

Fix credit dot getting stuck on
Make jump shot count towards Theater regardless of mode
Fix the missing light on Photo Hunt by re-writing that entire mode
Fix missing score values during End of Ball display
Make sure ball search will still occur during a Tilt event
If tourney mode = ON, during Skill Shot alternate between all 4 scores and Skill Shot animation
Add menu option to disable the Scoop Eject Ball Save during a multiball

On my "Wish List":

Add sub-wizard mode that lights if you at least START (not finish) every Ghost Boss.
Use slings to grow a "GLIR Rollover Value" to add risk/reward to lower PF action
Alternate songs (selectable in menu) during Ghost Battles.
Add in some more recorded, but unused, dialog
Add option to Advance War Fort / Bar Ghost with any shot up middle (instead of pop counts)
After a mode is completed, the shot just gives a "Ghost Catch" bonus. Maybe do more with "dead" shots?
Keep track of most minions beaten, most photos taken, etc and have initial entry for those as well.

#2 8 years ago

wish list?

combo leads to bonus multiplier? seems like the "orb" lanes are really only hit during a skill shot as most of the time the left orbit goes directly past them into the hellevator scoop.

#4 8 years ago

STTNG has some cool Easter eggs.

I'd like to see a flipper button combo that allows one to play flappy ghost before start button is pressed.

Would be cool to throw a few cows in the game. Maybe a secret bonus or something for hitting 4 jump ramp shots in a row.

#5 8 years ago

Sounds amazing thank you Ben!

#6 8 years ago

I second the idea of way(s) for more bonus X beyond o-r-b lanes. Perhaps the easiest would be more ways to light award an orb letter. For example, X hits (pops, after qualifying bar or fort)or finish mode or defeat a minion awards one ORB lane/letter. Today, in v22, the bonus multiplier is almost unobtanium/ not a feature.

#8 8 years ago

color dmd fix

#9 8 years ago

Trouble some things:
- The VUK on my doctor ghost saucer doesn't always make it up on to the habit trail, if it is rejected and doesn't land back in the saucer then it goes SDTM. I'd like to see a ball save option like flippy and the scoop that if the VUK kick is followed immediately by a drain switch in single ball play then ball save.

- Delay ball search modes during cut scenes, I have ball search set to like 6 seconds and it often kicks in before cut scenes finish sometime screwing up the mode like doctor, prision, bar.

Thoughts/Ideas:
- I like the center shot counts x number of hits(adjustable in options) toward Army/Bar Ghost plus pop hits.
- Would love to see a Ghost Party mini wizard mode for having started all the ghost battles but not finishing them. Might need to add strobing ghost light for ghosts started, solid for ghost defeated.
- After defeating a ghost allow the ghost to be defeated again as it will add to the ghosts defeated bonus plus the ghost caught bonus? or go star trek triple ghost deep.
- One of the minion ghost can be the cow ghost from the backglass.
- I don't like that Photo Hunt can over ride certain Ghost modes.
- I like the mini score boards minion master, shutterbug, jump champ.
- Would love to see color DMD support/upgrade.
- I don't like that the Magnet release can lead to a STDM drain. Not sure that a pulse kick kinda release would help but when you finish a ghost mode like theater and then it just drops it down the middle it's so frustrating.

I'll have to play some more and jot down some notes.
Thanks Ben for the continued support on this.

#10 8 years ago

Is that lighting mod for the ghosts on the back panel ever going to come about(matching the ghost for modes)? Not sure if that mod is necessarily code related but believe you had talked about doing this in the past Ben?

#11 8 years ago

Will this be the final update? Thanks

#12 8 years ago
Quoted from benheck:

If tourney mode = ON, during Skill Shot alternate between all 4 scores and Skill Shot animation

regardless of tourney/competition or normal play mode, I want to be able to see all 4 players current scores before launching my ball.

For example when playing for fun on route it is nice to see where you stand before plunging your ball. Compeition happens most commonly in regular mode as I only change settings to tourney when running a bigger event.

For ball search, first thing to always have it do is fire the pop bumpers a few times in rapid succession. The most common balls stick is still at the pops. Copncentrate the initial action in that area to get the game moving again/ quicker than waiting on multiple ball searches.

I have other code ideas but best to discuss when we meet up.

#13 8 years ago

Awesome, Ben! Love your dedication to the game. This type of commitment for even a small run of games is what will endear the community to Spooky.

#14 8 years ago

YES if tourney=on the skill shot will alternate between the graphic and the four scores.

Think that's the biggest reason to use a bigger display - just leave all four scores on there always!

#15 8 years ago

I've been seeing what I think are pretty consistent multiplayer ball tracking bugs, such as only two balls or no balls being launched for hellevator, or the ball ending immediately after stacking hellevator with a mode after draining the ball in play before the others are kicked out.

These might also be attributable to trough power issues, but they seem to crop up much, much more frequently when playing four player games.

If also like an option to disable the ghost loop opto and drop bank and compensation for a non- working opto or drop servo.

#16 8 years ago

I want a sneaky pool bonus. When you defeat a minion and are able to squeak in 1 more hit post kill but before the bank comes back up. Make this something cool and drop in an easter egg for doing it.

#17 8 years ago

oh yeah, while you are at it, get colorDMD to work and upsell it to all 150 owners. I would easily drop an extra $100 (plus the $400 for the colorDMD) to make my AMH into color.

That is 15k in you pocket Ben

Maybe even work out a deal in advance w ColorDMD guys to get a prearranged discount price so you can then upsell the displays to owners and make a little extra. Pretty much a promissed sell of 120-150 units if you were to colorize.

#18 8 years ago

Ben, didn't you say something about adding a mode where the games lighting goes really dark or maybe you were going to do that with an existing mode? Maybe something where just the ghost is lit and maybe a couple other things? Or was that just a weird dream I had?

Chris

#19 8 years ago

New sub-wizard mode would be really dark and you have to make shots to find ghosts.

#20 8 years ago

Love that idea!

-1
#21 8 years ago

tilt warnings need better priority and need to slam through in your face when they happen. Competitively a tilt warning should come immediate from switch closure and let you know to chill quick.

#22 8 years ago

ok cool. I was going to say....... I have some crazy dreams sometimes but if BenHeck is inside my head at night.......I have issues!

#23 8 years ago

From the gameplay videos I've seen and my memory of the few times I've played the game, it seems like I remember a small amount of flicker in the insert lamps. Maybe it's just my imagination, though.

This evening I took a look at the code, specifically the ISR that controls the lamp matrix. I modified it to run on a similar board I have here. I don't own a game, and I haven't tried to compile the full game source, just the lamp matrix ISR. I could see a small amount of flicker on my test setup.

Then, I rearranged a few things and was able to get rid of the flicker on my test setup. The new code can run at about 1/3 the speed of the original with similar performance. I'd love to know if it makes any noticable affect on a game, especially since I have a RZ coming in about a year.

#24 8 years ago

The ISR could run faster but I don't want to change anything in the timing this late in the game.

If I personally did another game I'd probably ditch the matrix and use Aarons Neopixels.

#25 8 years ago

From the v22 thread. this bug needs attention:

Playing war fort the ball drained before I completed. On next ball war fort was awarded on the large insert but war fort was also flashing in the center lane. I started prison ghost and the large war fort indicator went out.

I've had similar issues with War Fort in v 22--that is, draining before completing but then War Fort being awarded on the large insert, then that light either staying on or going out eventually.

Also from v22 thread,

When extra ball was lit and flashing, hitting it did not award an extra ball during multiball. I cant remember if it was hellavator multi or a ghost multi. When multiball ended I hit it and it did award an extra ball.

Also, the SDTM from the magnet is extremely frustrating....need a setting for a pulsed release.

#26 8 years ago
Quoted from benheck:

The ISR could run faster but I don't want to change anything in the timing this late in the game.

I totally understand not wanting to change it now, especially if there have been no complaints. Maybe it's just my imagination, and it can't actually be seen in a game.

The ISR isn't running faster, though. It's still running at the 8kHz rate. The main change is that rather than looping through all 8 columns at PWM 1, then again at PWM 2, etc. it's looping though all 8 PWM levels before changing columns. The main benefit is that it doesn't need the no-ghosting gap as often since the column isn't changed as frequently.

For example, with current code, every third time through the ISR changes the column.

Column change rate - 8000 / 3 ~= 2667 Hz
PWM step rate - 2667 / 8 ~= 333 Hz
Frame rate - 333 / 8 ~= 42 Hz

Especially at the low brightness levels, I can easily see this on my test setup.

With the modified code, it uses one pass through the ISR for each PWM level, then a no-ghosting gap, then starts working on the next column.

PWM step rate (every time) - 8000 Hz
Column change rate (plus no-ghosting gap) - 8000 / 9 ~= 889 Hz
Frame rate - 889 / 8 ~= 111 Hz

Quoted from benheck:

If I personally did another game I'd probably ditch the matrix and use Aarons Neopixels.

That's definitely a better approach.

Sorry for the digression. It's just a small project that I got interested in.

#27 8 years ago

The code change that allows you to see all 4 scores alternating during Skill Shot has been given a very special variable name

RE: light column driver, I'll give that idea a shot!

IMG_20160311_143243873_(resized).jpgIMG_20160311_143243873_(resized).jpg

#28 8 years ago
Quoted from benheck:

RE: light column driver, I'll give that idea a shot!

Not that you couldn't write it in 5 minutes yourself, but here's my code (just the changed ISR).
http://ledocd.com/software/herg_pinheck_lamp_driver.txt

1 week later
#29 7 years ago

Noticed this zero bonus bug in v22 last night when we streamed: https://secure.twitch.tv/freshpoetic/v/56252023?t=01h12m33s

Andrei had a pretty good ball and it showed some elements of bonus but total was 0...

#30 7 years ago

so we watched it again and it looks like it did add the bonus but still showed the total bonus as "0"

3 weeks later
#31 7 years ago

I've finally got some time to work on the AMH update.

Sub-wizard mode... Should just starting every ghost battle be enough or is that itself even too deep?

Could make enabling it shallower but not sure where to draw the line.

#32 7 years ago

I think that's a good way to do it Ben.

#33 7 years ago

I think that's perfect!

#34 7 years ago
Quoted from benheck:

I've finally got some time to work on the AMH update.
Sub-wizard mode... Should just starting every ghost battle be enough or is that itself even too deep?
Could make enabling it shallower but not sure where to draw the line.

like I say for all things, "make it user selectable"

I think you are on point with the complete all docors thing for a sub wiz-mode. So 6? doctors would be default.

What are you thinking will happen during teh sub-wizard mode.

Really looking forward to checking things out after the brainstorming session yesterday. I think we stumbled on some other really fun additions and stoked you are making these!

I am pretty busy but happy to stop over and test/provide feedback when you are ready Ben.

#35 7 years ago
Quoted from Euchrid:

Awesome, Ben! Love your dedication to the game. This type of commitment for even a small run of games is what will endear the community to Spooky.

Fantastic committment to coding Ben. Sorry to digress a bit but ... the caliber of coding on AMH is compatible with what people buying JPOP's 3+ titles were expecting. In spite of the promised low production numbers, people were thinking those games would be programmed with code fit for a top 100 pin. As JPOP's fraud was being revealed, some questioned the saneness of expecting the same level of coding for low run games. Some said it was just not feasible to reproduce without having an army of support, while others were beating themselves up for secretly knowing that the coding on a game set for 13 units would not be that polished and for sending him money anyways. Now, flashback to 2015. 150 people received AMH games that were programmed to the level of a top 100 pin.

That's right - they received their games, played them and the results are spectacular. So this proves that you CAN produce a pin with great programming on ANY size run IF you know what you are doing AND you have a vision of where to lead. Building pinballs may be hard, but don't let anyone tell you that one can't be programmed well.

#36 7 years ago

OK keep the bug reports coming, I'm hoping to finish off this update by beginning of June.

#37 7 years ago
Quoted from benheck:

I've finally got some time to work on the AMH update.
Sub-wizard mode... Should just starting every ghost battle be enough or is that itself even too deep?
Could make enabling it shallower but not sure where to draw the line.

How about complete X number of doctors instead of just starting them? Similar to Hand of the King. That way we don't have people timing out modes. Any rule that promotes timing out modes should be avoided IMO.

-Jay

#38 7 years ago
Quoted from jrobinso99:

How about complete X number of doctors instead of just starting them? Similar to Hand of the King. That way we don't have people timing out modes. Any rule that promotes timing out modes should be avoided IMO.
-Jay

agreed! timing out sucks!

alternate would be to code in so trapping the ball stops any timer, but I am not a real fan of that either.

#39 7 years ago

Agree but am ok with trapping stopping timers

#40 7 years ago

The only mode that times out is Photo Hunt.

The rest go until you lose your ball.

#41 7 years ago

I seem to notice that if I tilt on the last ball, there is no tilt message, just goes to the match screen.

Mini-wizard sounds like a great idea - start all but not finish is probably more worthy just completing a few.

Keep the flipper attract option in the code please - I need it due to a fuse problem.

#42 7 years ago

Just realized something about the attract flipper.

digitalWrite(LFlipHigh, 1);

Instead, would using the coil command instead on a low power setting help with the fuse issue?

I also wonder if there is conflict with the natural flipper button where someone could hit the left flipper button and somehow cause high coil to stay on longer than expected.

#43 7 years ago

Is it possible for the magnet to throw the ball back rather than just dropping it when the war fort ghost fires back at you?

#44 7 years ago

Ah good point. I'll put that on the list.

#45 7 years ago
Quoted from FawzmaGames:

Just realized something about the attract flipper.
digitalWrite(LFlipHigh, 1);
Instead, would using the coil command instead on a low power setting help with the fuse issue?
I also wonder if there is conflict with the natural flipper button where someone could hit the left flipper button and somehow cause high coil to stay on longer than expected.

Thanks for looking into it. Don't need it for regular play, nice if you don't know that ball is coming back though.

#46 7 years ago

I'm a bit out of the loop as to what went into 22 (as I'm still running 21), but did a magnet "fling" get added after defeating a Minion? My poor Minion has been neglected when I play due to SDTM drops from the magnet.

#47 7 years ago

How about an award or mode for successfully completing all three skill shots? It would give you a good reason to attempt all three.

#48 7 years ago

Magnet release "fling" is on my list. Probably a menu option.

I like the skill shot idea! Maybe getting the third one would double the value (meaning you'd try for the hardest one last since it's worth more)

#49 7 years ago

I need to get you an RGB DMD to play with! At least getting color selectable shades that you could trigger between modes, etc. could be pretty fun.

We were talking to a guy managing an AMH on location and he thought it would look cool.

Aaron
FAST Pinball

image_(resized).jpegimage_(resized).jpeg

#50 7 years ago
Quoted from benheck:

I like the skill shot idea! Maybe getting the third one would double the value (meaning you'd try for the hardest one last since it's worth more)

This sounds great!

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