I’m with the majority here in that I feel exactly the opposite. My AFMr is the first game I’ve owned and now when I go out and play various sterns on location, they feel kind of cheap and clunky to me. Even the premiums. Could be the HUO vs routed machines, but I’m not sure I’d ever purchase an NIB stern, considering.

Update to my previous comment. Do not buy the stud posts listed in my previous post. They do not work. They are 6-32 at the base and 8-32 at the stud. The proper size for AFMr is 8-32 on both the base and stud.

I ended up purchasing these.
http://www.planetarypinball.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Session_ID=50314b04c98246911dd9072bf3ec226b&Screen=PROD&Product_Code=PPS-02-4425-1

The stud is a little long for the needs of the plastic protectors, so I had to Dremel them down a bit to the proper size.

Also, there are a couple ball guides that hold the plastics as well. So while I was purchasing the posts, I purchased the following ball guides as well.
http://www.planetarypinball.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Session_ID=50314b04c98246911dd9072bf3ec226b&Screen=PROD&Product_Code=PPS-04-10275
http://www.planetarypinball.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Session_ID=50314b04c98246911dd9072bf3ec226b&Screen=PROD&Product_Code=PPS-04-102742

These come with welded bolts that hold the plastics on. So I took a Dremel to those as well to remove. I then installed a longer 8-32 bolt (and had a friend tack weld) that was the correct size for the protectors + plastics.

I get that I probably went above and beyond, but I now have plastic protectors with washers/nuts and the top of the bolt is flush with the nut in all cases. Pics below.

Just wanted to post for others that may be a perfectionist as well.
IMG_4149 (resized).JPEGIMG_4150 (resized).JPEGIMG_4151 (resized).JPEGIMG_4152 (resized).JPEGIMG_4154 (resized).JPEGIMG_4155 (resized).JPEGIMG_4156 (resized).JPEGIMG_4157 (resized).JPEGIMG_4158 (resized).JPEGIMG_4159 (resized).JPEG

So since your plastic protectors are thicker than the standard bolt that means your plastics are now elevated higher than normal. Does that in turn mean that your wireforms are now raised higher at the base, meaning your ball returns to your flippers are now slower?

I didn't change the bolt at the wireforms as it was plenty long. This question would pretty much apply to anyone who has installed protectors. That said, I played for about an hour last night and if there is a difference, I didn't realize it.

That said, there's also usually a "rattle" of the ball when it comes to the inlane anyhow (was there prior to the plastics as well). I've tried doing a slow-motion video of the drop and it is dead center. The issue that I'm seeing is that due to the momentum of the ball coming down the wireform curves, it is unpredictable, and doesn't always drop straight leading to a rattle.

Question, if I swap out the beaglebone will that wipe out my settings and high scores?

After 6 months of owning the machine I finally got to RTU yesterday for the first time, I was so excited about getting there that I was flailing around in the multiball and apparently didn't get the 5 billion required to Rule The Universe Better luck next time, Tex you're going down someday soon

I have owned this machine for about 4 months. I can't seem to break much about 2 billion and have yet to get a high score.
Need some point scoring strategies

Watching Bowen's video helped me a ton (link below). I can consistently get around 5b, but 9b is my high. My typical strategy is to get by the first 2-3 saucers, then use multiball or martian attack to get by the next 3-5. Then look for total annihilation and whatever else is available. Though, saucers are my primary goal until I get to Attack Mars.

My other question, I have yet to get video mode?

Get super pops (count down the pop count to 0) then the next stroke of luck you get will be the video mode. You can use saved martian bombs (like smart bombs that wipe out everything) with the ball launch button in the video mode.

Wow that is cool. I have played the video mode many times, but never realized it was related in any way to super Jets.

Ditto. Thanks for that!!

This is also a good write-up.
https://papa.org/2009/12/tournament-approaches-attack-from-mars/

Noticed something kind of odd with my machine the past few days... if I leave it on for a long period of time the volume gets progressively louder. The actual volume setting in the menus remains unchanged, but if I play the game after leaving it on for a few hours it will be about twice as loud as when I play after first powering it up?!

Has anyone else ever seen or heard of anything like this? Have not reached out to distro/CGC yet but kind of worried there might be a short/feedback somewhere.

I feel like the default built in high scores on these old Bally/Williams DMD games were set much higher than the newer stern games

Has anyone experienced the knocker stop working when the extra ball graphic occurs? It has done it twice now on me and first time a reset of settings fixed it. This time nothing but it tests fine and fires during match graphic at end of round.

What CGC firmware (not the Bally ROM) do you have?

I noticed (in a split second) some colour blending when the score is shown after each ball (when bonuses are added to the score). Anyone else notice this? It’s only happened once, but it was enough to get my attention. Will keep an eye on it to see if it’s a regular thing or a one off.

It's apparently due to the crappy way they're colorizing the video (compared to ColorDMD's way). If you slow-mo the video, the shifting and blending is all over the place. But be warned, once you can see it in slo-mo, you'll never UN-SEE it in regular speed. Bugs me all the time now because I was dumb enough to slo-mo it and accidentally train my brain what to see.

I need a MIB mind wipe wand now

PS: Thank you for your explanation. I thought I was going nuts. Never noticed till now.

I’ve found that, for me, the best opportunity to rack up points is to get super jets activated, go for total annihilation and concentrate on Getting as many shots as possible into the orbits/pop bumpers while looking for an opportunity to hit that center orbit/ball lock shot to collect the annihilation jackpot. Seems like I can get at least a billion nearly every time if I don’t choke. 3 billion is my best with that strategy.

If you have the little PC board for it too, I think so.
And the chip.

I never updated my software when I got my NIB machine. All I did was put in the new PIC chip. Is there anything in the updated software worth it?

V1.0.0 RELEASE NOTES

This version includes the following enhancements and bug fixes:

1) Addition of Strobe Light adjustment, adding a brightness setting.
2) Addition of Ramp Diverter coil strength adjustment.

LTG : )

You'd need the small board for it. And the right IC on the driver board.

LTG : )

Anyone else's ball lock VUK occasionally lack the power to put the ball on the wireform? I've tried max settings, but it still about once a game doesn't have sufficient power. Should I weaken the coil spring, or has anyone else came up with a good solution?

CGC posted a video about what is going on here and how to fix it. I can't find it on YouTube but know it exists and will find it!

You have to slightly bend part of the VUK assembly from underneath the table. Sounds worse than it is

Yep, its loose or hitting the side and bouncing back down.

Bend the direction the thumb is pushing slightly.

LTG : )

leftpbend (resized).JPG

CGC did :

https://www.dropbox.com/s/pjnidctcncvd7zw/Popper%20Alignment.mov?dl=0

LTG : )

Excellent. I'll try this. Thanks all!

I have bent my VUK like in the video till I can't bend it no more and still not always popping out. Some times even takes 3 to 4 pops . Also power set to max.

Anything else to try. I have put a ticket in and they told me to bend it more. It has no where to go!

I had a similar situation and fixed it like...

ffee0e8cbb52f3bb196630c8a266a67b73e1bb6e (resized).jpg

Please be sure the rubber grommet is there at the bottom of the bracket where the plunger rests, isn't worn, or sticky and holding the plunger briefly.

LTG : )

Does the assebly needs to be removed to do this?

Is the video from chicago gaming bending ot straightening the bracket. Because mine looks a bit crooked after their procedure..

Thanks

I removed the assembly to square the seat on mine, I think it would be difficult to do without taking it out. Before this fix it would misfire many times before eventually kicking out. I rarely have misfires after doing this.

I don't think the CGC fix helped mine because the ball would still rattle around in the VUK instead of kicking up/out.

Ok, just for kicks I decided to straighten the bent bracket (bent by following the CG video) the best I could without removing it. Just played 6 or 7 games without one misfire!

What was really interesting was how easy it was to fix or straighten the bracket with one finger. Maybe the softness of the bracket metal is the problem. Is that it deforms after a while and the problems come back.

You want to get the updated pic yes. Otherwise some of the settings in the menu can cause issues with your game. I got a new CE end of last year and it had the updated chip, not sure on the LE run dates. Just open her up and verify.

Other than a new chip, there isn't a ton to look for other than just general wear and tear.

Have a really weird issue that I can't begin to figure out since it seems like the software is failing badly (not even sure how that would be possible.)

About once every five or six games I will drain (well after ball save) and instead of the bonus sequence and the ball actually ending the game launches all 4 balls one after the other. If I let all 4 of those drain, the ball ends and I get the bonus sequence. Everything in the trough seems fine and the game seems to "know" it launched 4 balls. No clue at all

I know this sounds insane, but I can get video of it.

Maybe shooter lane switch isnt registering.

Adjust it higher or see if its dragging on the wood.

Check if the plunger that shoots the ball up the shooter lane, if it's hitting the shooter lane switch.

LTG : )

Maybe check that the front playfield hangers are down in their front slots if the playfield is sitting high in front?

Sorry, but I don't understand what that has to do with the shooter lane switch

To be clear, all of the balls get plunged still during the current ball since it has not ended yet for some reason. There is no bonus or end of ball awarded after the drain of the "real" ball and then all four get launched. Why would it be trying to plunge balls after a drain in the first place? The ball saver is long-expired when this happens so it isn't that.

Please open a help desk ticket with Chicago Gaming Company and we will be glad to help you find out what the problem is, and get your game back up playing 100%.

You can open your ticket here: https://www.chicago-gaming.com/support/helpdesk

Ryan

Just Joined the club! #45LE

Congrats on the new game!

Good times a comin.