This is what I did to add RGB undercab lights. Same process for a RGB strip on your topper.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/aw-jeez-official-rick-and-morty-club/page/228#post-6165855

Same for me, set both my lower flippers from 35 back down to the defaults (30) and was able to make the left ramp no problem and no knock-downs. Only played for about 10 minutes so I can't yet confirm if heat/flipper fade has been improved, but based on how strong the shot up the left ramp was, I don't anticipate any issues. Great job Spooky!

Update: after extended play (20+ minutes) the flippers fade to the point that the left ramp is impossible. And this is with vireland's fans. Hate to say this but I have to rescind my "Great job Spooky".

Flippers are great on the new code. It's a whole new world, good job everyone.

Thanks for the feedback. In regards to the Jerry, Summer, Beth, (and Morty) figures up close, there really are no other options right now if you want all 3 over the targets and the scale doesn't look too bad with all the closer figures being bigger and the further ones being smaller. I am not a huge fan of the style of the faces, but I like them for now until something better comes along. I added to the perspective view by using larger Meeseeks up close and smaller ones to the back.

The Pickle Rick is big, but I rarely notice him where he is and when I do, it brings a smile, so he gets a pass. Plus, with him standing up, he mostly blocks the exposed wire loom in that area.

And finally Scary Terry. He is the only smaller option I could find and just looks great. I toyed with other placement and nothing looked right. I know the scale is out of whack where I put him, but the location and lighting there with his sword hands over the ramp just looks too good. I justified the scale in my head because he lives in a dream world and can do what he wants. Freddy did some crazy things with his size back in the day, so figured Terry could do the same.

its also in key posts

Well, I tried to download the update last night...no luck. 6 hours of downloading and 5-6 Failed attempts...

all I ended up doing was burning all of my bandwith allowance for the month.

I really don't like modern technology.

I just got my machine, there was 2 bolts and some type of plastic protector in the box. What are those for?

Quick thought...I was also thinking about the solution for this "problem" via my 3d printer. Based on the stresses which could be applied to the actual bushing I was thinking that it might be a better approach to build a platform which lowers the whole flipper mech, bushing and switches by 1/8th of an inch or so. If you were to 3d print a "plate" of sorts that everything sits on top of wouldn't Spooky be able to continue using off the shelf parts in tandem with their new and improved playfields?

duplicate

The bolt and washer are to secure the backbox to the cabinet (you'll see a single hole in the bottom of the backbox behind the monitor to secure it).

It doesn't sound like you're USING modern technology.. may I suggest upgrading to 20lb test string between your two cans?

Seriously, get a satellite provider. Not the best for online gaming but you should get decent throughput on a long download. Or do as others suggest and run a laptop to a McDonalds or Starbucks. Unfortunately, release first, update later is the norm for pinball now; people want the games NOW and don't want to wait through the whole development cycle.

Such a "plate" already exists in the form of 8 thick washers you can shim the flipper mounting bracket with. Biggest issue is properly resizing replacement screws so the bracket is secure without poking the screws through the top of the playfield.

Ain't getting any more modern out here in the sticks!

I was hoping the long soak overnight would be sufficient, but didn't really expect success. I am gonna run a USB up to town tonight and see if I can get someone to load it up for me.

If tht doesn't work I am just gonna live on the 12/20 code.

I hear that! No service out by me either. Im 2 miles from the closest Verizon tower and that works for me (hotspot off my phone) but when I need to get any updates or use any heavy interneting I head into town.

The build and delivery numbers are jumping all over the place. Come on #707 !!!

Here is the flipper temp data I collected for my machine (running the latest release with default flipper settings for coil strength).

Played for ~90 minutes straight. The flipper temp displays are at 15, 30, & 45 minutes. The PinMonk spreadsheet contains all the probes I took.

From my perspective, once the flipper temp is over 150, the flippers feel sluggish. On my machine, this threshold was crossed after only 15 minutes of play. After 30 minutes, the flippers felt extremely weak @ 173.3. When I took the glass off, the PF was extremely warm (no surprise, but still worth noting).

Would be interesting to know what temp these flippers are rated to operate in @ full strength. My intuitive feel is @ 150-160 the power goes down by 20-30% and @ 170-180 the power goes down by 30-50%. Maybe vireland can add some insight on this. The game is still certainly playable, but the left ramp is nearly impossible to hit after 30 minutes of play. Notice that the upper flipper never got above 150, and it felt pretty normal. The lower flippers were struggling much more than the upper. Needless to say, if I were hosting a tournament, where machines can get 2-4 hours of nearly continuous play, the players wouldn't be happy!

IMG_3452 (resized).jpeg

IMG_3474 (resized).jpeg

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Image 3-12-21 at 1.07 PM (resized).jpeg

How fine the line is depends on the nozzle, though.

To his point, I agree that the update/fix approach of...well..everything is annoying these days.

I'm sure someone here could send code to you thru snail mail, but I'd suggest waiting to see if there's any bugs in the latest. We know it won't be the last version, and I think eventually they will be adding more features.

Just to confirm, you're not using vireland's fans, correct?

We have been using vireland's fans on ours while streaming. I didn't usually see over 130F on the right flipper and quickly drops to 115ish on the January code. Last night, I put the new code in and played, the right flipper settled at 130F. Initially the were very snappy and no sign of konck-downs. as it got up to 130, I could tell they weren't quite as snappy, but I was still able to hit my shots and still didn't exhibit knock downs or sticking, though that wasn't on stream.

For reference, coils were set to 32 and I measure both the lower left and right, in the middle of the coil biased towards the playfield. using thermocouples puttied to the coil. I removed the paper since I noticed that they weren't tight and had airgap between it and the coil. would act like an insulation layer and also keep the fans from blowing on the coil wire directly

The most interesting thing about this test is the small temp difference between the left and right side of the same flipper coil. After Luke said he saw a difference between coil sides I was intrigued. This basically confirms it. The difference isn't huge, but it's definitely there and pretty consistent.

Well, of course any good tournament host would make sure to have Tibetan Breeze™ coil cooling kits on their tournament games to provide consistent performance. It's the civilized thing to do.

EDIT: RIF. The 130F temp on the new code was the cooled max temp.

Interesting, so based on snaroff's testing, the fans knock about 50 degrees off. I'm also running with the fans but haven't had time to test the latest code for an extended play time. I don't have any sensors, so flipper fade for me would be subjective.

The standard fans I use in the SPIKE and Spooky kits tend to keep the temps around 110-120 with peaks maybe in the 130s, so about 50F off. The JJP kit will have 50% more CFM fans because the coils generate a LOT more heat. Those fans can knock up to 100F off temps.

I recommend (carefully) peeling the paper off your coils to expose them to the airflow directly

I won't have my GnR until the summer if I'm lucky lol! But I see another fan kit purchase in my future.

I can't see the paper acting as much of an insulator, but it is blocking the direct airflow. I guess without the paper the coil wires on the outer layer would benefit from the direct airflow. Interesting theory. Wonder how much it helps?

My problem is my OCD would kick in seeing bare coils lol!

This makes a lot more sense. For some reason I missed that 130F was your COOLED temp. So that totally dovetails with snaroff's uncooled temps showing about 50F more.

Think of it a bit like a double paned window. the airgap between the two plates help create an insulation layer, albeit the paper on the coil isn't as thick as glass, but anything helps especially if you are blowing air to cool it. You want to get the cooling right onto what is making the heat (I do a lot of lubrication and cooling stuff for my job)

As far as the OCD, Vireland's pretty purple coolers will block your view of the bare coil!

I don’t understand my computer,i install a 16 gb card and my computer shows it is like 2.87 megs and I don’t have a option for fat 32 just fat, all was good before today? And thoughts

(Assuming you're using windows)

Try using this program to format it to FAT32:

http://ridgecrop.co.uk/index.htm?guiformat.htm

(click on the picture on that page to download the program)

Per the flipper fans: do you guys recommend cooling the two main flippers or all three? Eyeing the Vireland kits (Pinmonk) and was debating the merits of each for RAM.

Yeah, I liked that the best of everything you've done.

As for the other stuff, it's your machine, you're supposed to do what you like. I was just pointing out what looks "off" to me, but there's way more right than wrong.

#512 new to the owners club as of 1 week ago. Works pretty much perfectly out of the box. Thanks to Spooky for a great game!

A couple of questions. First, what are the most essential mods for the game? Seems like there are a ton of options. What are the favorites? Any option to find the Meeseeks characters that seem to be sold out?

Also, does anyone know if 10 modes is the ultimate number (to match the adventures card) or is there a plan to add more adventures to add variety?

Thanks!

Three is the best solution, but if you want to do two, I would do both right flippers and leave the left. The right ones seem to need the most help.

The biggest mod for me was the quiet fan but the game is also in my home office and less than 5 feet from me all day.
It makes for awesome 10min breaks throughout the day but the fan was too loud at first for sure.

PinMonk replacement power supply fan and the blue crystal for under the ship.

And Magnetic reed switches for top loop if your game needs them.

Just want to point out for Spooky's sake that, unlike the knockdown problem that's now solved, the fade issue we're discussing here is NOT a Spooky thing... it's been around as long as PWM flippers have been around.

The center ramp on my Avengers becomes difficult to make once the flippers are hot, nearly impossible on a feed. Over half of our SAM games have flipper fans already, and this problem goes back to the LOTR days when the Ring would become totally unmakeable and Keefer had to program a single-ball version of the final DTR shot because flippers couldn't dislodge the ball in the original implementation.

I'm not saying it's not a problem, just not a Spooky problem. That steep left ramp and the flippers being aligned a bit upward at the factory exacerbates it a bit, but not a Spooky problem at the root. Aligning the right flipper to be even with the lane guide helps sweeten the left ramp shot, and I've found the right ramp can still be backhanded with a good shot.

I had thought about the washers but was concerned that leaving gaps in the surface of the flipper mech to playfield could produce unexpected results or introduce more stress on the screws and bolts.

On the replacement screws, I had assumed it would be easier to source the correct length of standard thread screws than to redesign a flipper bushing that the industry has used for 30+ years.

I could be way off, but I feel like reducing scope to screw length would solve the problem faster than developing new and possibly one-off flipper hardware.

Butter #507 In the house - Plays perfectly out of the box.

That's consistent with what I'm seeing...the new code runs ~30 degrees warmer, which is pretty significant (I switched back to "Original" and did some measurements to verify). I'm sorry, flipper heat of 146.5 (and the associated fade) after only 10 minutes of play isn't competitive. Sure, heat/fade isn't unique to R&M, but it's the worst I've ever encountered in my 20 years of collecting/playing (and this update makes it worse). With the 30 degree uptick, it sounds like even folks with fans will need to cope with heat/fade issues! Big bummer.

To be fair, Stranger Things gets very hot very fast. And these Spooky temps are bush league compared to jjPotC and jjGnR. The former of which saw temps of 249F before cooling was added.

Just chiming in to say the new flipper code is amazing. Have not done any flipper or eos adjustments from the factory, just installed and set everything back to default, very dramatic change overall.

Why don't you use the higher cfm fans for all games?

More expensive. I'm trying to keep the cost down, and the standard fan keeps the temps in check on SPIKE and Spooky well enough that they're below the threshold of fade except for maybe occasional spikes just over the line. For most people that's ok.

But, the standard fans are just completely overwhelmed with the crazy temps JJP throws at it, so I had to step it up until I could find a quiet fan with more CFM that also kept JJP coils below the fade threshold. First 20% more CFM (not enough), and finally 50% more CFM (which gives similar performance to the standard on SPIKE and Spooky - maybe an occasional spike over the threshold, but the vast majority of time well below the threshold of fade).

Here's the cooled/uncooled comparison graph from jjPoTC - as you can see, the temps uncooled are much more severe than R&M, and the 50% higher CFM fans took a whopping 109F off the temps, peak to peak. jjGnR is similar...

jjPotC-temp-compare (resized).jpg

Yea.. new code, night and day difference in the flippers. It feels like a completely different game now.

You usually run into this issue if you remove a usb stick without properly ejecting in windows. Here's the solution:
https://www.diskpart.com/articles/format-usb-to-full-capacity-7201.html

Lol thank you for posting this! I was having issues with an SD card burn on a Mac but I think somehow your link has steered me towards the solution more than 24 hours of Google searches has. Cheers.

Cool breakdown. What's the cost difference? Can the jjp ones be used on other games?

About $20 more for a 3 fan bracket kit (hard to say exactly because the JJP kit has some other items the Spooky and Spike kits don't have to make it work in all JJP machines. The fans and brackets will work, but the brackets will be blue instead of purple (SPIKE Red, Spooky Purple, JJP Blue). The bigger problem is the adapter for the power is specific to JJP and won't work on Spooky machines.

I guess I've been lucky...don't own any of those games! Since jjPotC production was halted, maybe the game had deeper engineering problems? 249F? Shit, at those temps for hours without fans, the PF might get scorched! Well, at least the knockdowns and stuck-ups are fixed on R&M.

Guess fans are in my future.

Is this still the procedure for code updates?