"Kirkland Signature" brand was named after Kirkland, WA which was the location of the corp headquarters initially. I am no lawyer, but it seems one could find clever ways to use the city name and not the Costco trademark to achieve the same result...

No kidding! 8-bit in Renton is getting one *eventually*.

Found my TNA had the same issue. I fixed it with high density foam tape;
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/total-nuclear-annihilation-cluball-welcome/page/147#post-5945367

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Well done Charlie. Two questions.

1) When the new parts are available, will new games be built with these going forward?

2) Do you plan a little play testing of your first prototype of the updated bushings to see if you can provide some kind of qualitative assessment between the two? Not that Pinside isn't the de facto truth for all and everything....but it sure would be nice to hear from the manufacturer the results of their own Pepsi challenge.

I am also curious if the whitewood or the early proto games have the flippers sitting lower than the production versions.

whoops. Pinball is easy... reading is hard.

#563 invoiced for options. Spooky's manufacturing speed has increased while my project completion speed has decreased. Time to get creative for game space. It's a wonderfully terrible problem to have.

I'm on the fence for the speaker LEDs. Is the glare when playing as bad as the the pictures/videos seem to show? I didn't have them on my TNA, so I don't have a good reference on what to expect.

For Houdini, the game was designed with flippers without EOS switches. All hold power was determined by software. Hold strength was a game setting, and I found that bumping this up to max cleared up most problems for me. On top of that, adding EOS switches was expected to clear up the remaining knockbacks that would occur only on the hardest hit. I sold my Houdini right after installing, so can't really be sure the problem went away completely. I not sure the severity with R&M as I am still waiting for my game, but for Houdini, a hard hit would cause an up flipper to completely drop and would not be usable again until the flipper button was released and re-pressed. This makes sense when you think without an EOS switch, only the flipper button gives an indication to switch to hold power. So my guess is, the R&M behavior is way better than what Houdini was out of the box.

Interesting, I never had this problem on TNA which is also the same hardware as R&M (and theoretically the same control software?).

Gerry, does the system design support the idea of adjusting hold power dynamically based on game events? I had the thought that total hold strength could be a combination of the base hold pwm value and a modifier value (either an adder or multiplier). The modifier would dynamically change based on game events. So for example in R&M, when the slam ring is triggered (or scoop), the modifier would jump and the total hold power would go up to deal with the impending force but only for a small time window. The modifier would have a fast decay rate to bring the total hold power down to the base. It might even be beneficial to have a negative modifier for mundane events to reduce temp build up even more; say when a ball is cradled for more than a couple seconds, or when orbits, ramps, locks, etc are detected.

I haven't studied the proc design or the API set, so I don't know if this is possible, or if it would all have to be implemented in software. If the latter, then I would worry about timing. Anyway, it would be a way to get max hold power with the least amount of power usage.

Sure, unnecessary for control, but a potential strategy to lower power consumption which should result in reduced coil temps. Overly simplified, if the majority of gameplay requires say 40% hold power to mitigate reflips, but a couple specific conditions require 100% hold power it seems you could significantly lower the average versus trying to statically split the difference at 80%. I'm making up numbers of course, but it should be straightforward to log total hold "on" time to see how much this approach could save.

Certainly off topic and happy to move to a dedicated thread if so desired. I don't seem to have anything better to do but obsess in the thread until #563 shows up at my door...

Ooowee.... #563 shipped out today.

It probably would have shipped a week or two ago, but I ran into payment delays.

I noticed a similar (but opposite) issue when watching this game stream. In this case the game sounds were fine, but the callouts stopped shortly after starting Roy and MB and immediately following "mystery is lit" callout. The callouts stay off for the remainder of the stream through multiple new game starts (link starts video at the start of the issue).

Nice! I enjoyed watching the gameplay. Thank you both for the stream.

#563 landed, thankfully unmolested by fedex. An interesting side benefit to ordering the coin box is that it is in a separate box that is strapped to the top of the game box which discourages any stacking hijinks!

I also see occasions where the ball goes to the garage when the portal isn't lit. I think this happens when the right oribit switch doesn't register correctly. I haven't done any adjustment to that switch since pulling the game out of the box. It is on the todo list.

UPDATE:
It turns out one of my EOS switch wires fell off, so the switch was not registering. This was the cause to my knockbacks, not the code update.

Same here. With the previous version, my flippers were dialed in perfectly. Zero knockdowns and plenty of power at lower settings. After the new update, I am having significant problems. I changed the settings to Aggressive and High hold strength. I thought that had cleared it up, but a fast return on the horseshoe knocked the right flipper from full up to full down and quivering. I made no other adjustments other than the code update. It's bad enough for me that after 15 minutes of playing I am going to revert back and wait to see how it pans out.

I did get to play the new mode a couple of times. I am really appreciative that the game continues to get significant additions. I did note, that there were no game sounds (switch hits, regular callouts, etc) during moonmen. I wasn't sure if it was intentional or a bug.

Are there specific steps to revert code versions? I rolled back to 0311 by the normal update method. While at first it boots and starts a game, when I go into the coil setting menu, I can see the 0405 hold adjustments. A couple seconds after paging through the coil settings, the game reboots. It seems like there are now pieces of 0405 that are still around in the game after reverting the code. Not great.

Thanks for the info Eric. I moved back to the April release to fiddle with it more. It turns out that one of the wires on my right EOS switch detached itself from the tab and the switch was inoperable. What an amazing and annoying coincidence that it happened on the first game after the initial code update. Go figure. After fixing that and with it set to aggressive/high, the flippers feel as good as they did previously. Yeehaw.

I have had my game for a couple weeks now and yeah, it is fantastic. Kudos to the Spooky team. This game makes me laugh like no other. I am happy to report mine did play really well straight out of the box. Of course the more I have played it, the more I found things to fine tune. It hasn't taken much to improve from good to great. Besides the typical ball guides and flipper adjustments, an area that I wanted to improve was the consistency of the ball launches. A small percentage of the time the ball would travel a bit too far up the loop and sort of rattle its way to the upper flipper which would pretty much kill any chance of a successful skill shot. Other times, the launcher wasn't able to get it out of the lane and it would roll back down for a relaunch. I did spend a good amount of time tweaking the launch wireform and adjusting the launch power settings. I could never get it quite how I liked it.

I ended up designing a little helper that replaces the black ball trap post that is installed on the rail. I thought some of you might find it interesting. Assuming there is interest, I'll end up adding it to my pinside shop and probably make the 3d files available on thingiverse. The current version is perfectly functional. The balls now land in exactly the same location and feed the upper flipper the same every single time. I was also able to bump the launch power up a bit, so balls get back into the game a bit quicker now. I am probably going to refine the design a little further and see about getting some purple filament

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Thanks for the thoughts. Honestly, I'm not that concerned with the plastic deforming or breaking. Material and design choices can prevent these type of failures. Also the end wire form ring still takes some of the energy. My main concern is the stress added to the screw and that it could eventually loosen and pull out of the wood. I did recess the screw hole so the mount screw would go deeper in the rail, but I will probably increase the base footprint to give more support.

Yep, I have had this problem too. For me it was dirty contacts for the spoon switch (like klr650 mentioned). You can test this by putting the playfield on the service rails, go into switch test and manually manipulate skirt or the switch blades directly. For me, the switch could be closed and not trigger unless I used extra force on the blades. In game, a slow roller from the top across the outer edge of the skirt wouldn't do anything, but a full hit from the side would be enough down force to trigger. After a quick swipe with my contact cleaning tool, it worked as expected. The interesting thing is that the problem came back after may another 40ish games. I used some contact cleaning solution and cleaned again. If the problem comes back I am going to try replacing with new contact pieces. It seems strange to me that the contacts are having difficulty conducting after such little usage.

If that was the culprit, wouldn't it be more of a problem with the EOS switches?

Good tip, I'll try that next opportunity. I use deoxit for chemical cleaning.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00I3G272M/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title

Right, never sand paper. I use the GC contact cleaner stick. Business card/equiv works fine too.
https://www.pinballlife.com/contact-burnisher.html

epthegeek - In Looks Who Purging Now, if mystery awards a grenade during the mode, how do you use it? It doesn't seem to relight the blue arrow for collection on the left loop. I think I am missing something.

Awesome, thanks! Yes I could see that the grenade count in the text at the the bottom of the screen went from 0 to 1, but I couldn't figure out a way to use it.

Is posting in this thread your preferred way to receive these kind of potential bug reports?

I ran across the lost sound fx bug on the latest code. Since the game didn't crash, does pulling the debug log help in troubleshooting?

epthegeek - I think I have another new bug to report. I still am not sure if this is the right place to report these, so I will also send this info to your email which I think is in this thread somewhere. Also, I am not sure if debug logs help at all when the game doesn't crash.

Summary:
During gromofolite MB, the scoop switch becomes inoperative and the scoop stops ejecting. There is no ball search and the game essentially is stuck.

How to reproduce:
I am not sure. I have seen this two times now and only on the latest code. In both cases I was running a mode (moonmen the first time, total rickall the second) and the MB simultaneously. For the most recent example, I started the MB and the mode at the same time (can't remember if this was true for the other time, but I think it was). The MB/mode started while in a dimension. In the recent example, I changed dimensions during as well. Sometime during play a ball would go into the scoop and then just never come out. The game continues to run otherwise. It's hard to remember exactly what's going on when it stops working, but it seems to me the ball getting stuck in the scoop coincides with draining a ball down the middle (no outlane switch triggers). So perhaps there is a scenario when both happen simultaneously, some kind of race condition is exposed. I can imagine this will be tricky to find.

Other Notes;
Since I had seen this before, I was a little more prepared to run a few experiments. While the game was stuck in this state, I pulled the glass off and tested a few other switches. They all worked fine. Thinking about it more, I probably should have confirmed that I was testing switches that share the same switch board to see if it was a serial communication loss with the whole board. I then pulled all the balls out of the game (this time I had managed to get 3 balls trapped in the scoop) and manually manipulated the scoop switch. It did not trigger. I then lifted the playfield and manipulated the switch from below, it didn't trigger. I went directly from game stuck to switch test and without changing anything, I confirmed that triggering the switch in the same way showed correct behavior in the switch test. I also went into switch test immediately after my first time seeing this bug and also confirmed the switch was registering as expected. To me this rules out flaky hardware.

This is a really good observation Gerry. I have a harder time with drop catches on this game. My thought has always been that the return springs seem stronger than other games and it messes with my timing. Interesting...

I mean, it is pure speculation on my part. I haven't checked anything to confirm. But it tickled my brain when Gerry asked the question. The last thing we need is another rabbit hole to chase

Yours are a bit higher than mine. On the left, I basically have it eyeballed so that the flipper rubber is right at where the alignment hole starts. The right flipper I have it maybe 1mm higher than that. This wasn't quite where they were from the factory. I dialed these in to prioritize the right orbit (from the left) and backhanding the right ramp (from the right). I am really happy with how my game shoots.

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Yeah, I have tried to reproduce several times with the glass off to no avail. When this shows up again, what kind of data would be helpful to collect? Do you have debug builds that log game state and switch changes?

Eric, I had a thought. Will PM you directly to keep the thread noise down.

Or when you lose a ball with the ball save on...."Hiding in the ball trough, bitch?" I laughed hard at that one. There is another that doesn't come up often; if you manage to get a 5-ball multiball, the game has to reload the portal. There is a great Rick callout when this happens

I used to restart new games before the match sequences finished (since they are non-skippable), but I realized I was missing far too many awesome end of game comments. I have since turned the match off so I get to enjoy them after every game. Seeing the look on my wife's face from hearing "That....was f***ing aweful" was priceless haha.

In the words of the great noobnoob...."Gaaawd Damn!"

Similar to this, there are times when I start Whirly Dirly (w/o MB) and the u-turn shots are not lit and do not progress the mode shots. This last time I saw this, after completed the mode, the u-turn then lit up both purple inserts (while in between modes). Shooting them didn't count for anything.

Ah, good to know. Although, I am pretty sure I did not have any balls locked. Even so it wouldn't explain them lighting up after the mode completed.

Stick it in the freezer for a bit and try to install it quickly?

It reloads itself next time you shoot the portal.

Is this while holding the flippers up they flutter, or are you saying you have your hands off the flipper buttons and the bats go up and down by themselves? I see the former, not the latter.

On free play at least, matches do happen and the awarded game callouts are played. I wonder if matching breaks when switched off free play? Pretty sure there's an audit for how many matched free games have been given.

I enjoyed Bowen's video. Does anybody know if those rule "cards" (used as video overlays) are posted somewhere?

epthegeek - Is disabling anti-gravity when the right flipper in use (and the launch lane switch too, I think) intentional?

Ah, thanks. I see it now in the 2020.08.10 code release notes.

Dang, this messes me up in MB, more than I would like to admit.

Possible to move the bend over portion to the other side of the post, tap new threads in the post through holes and use new screws from the backside?

It isn't clear to me what specific issue this attempts to fix.

Is the flippergate page new (link at the bottom of the code page)? https://soldmy.org/pin/rm/rm_flippers.html

There are a lot of good technical details documented.

Yeah, hooking up my scope to some spike coils is on my todo list.

Sure, but that doesn't mean you are getting the right info. I think it will be important to see the waveforms. We are sliding back into alt.flipper.nerd. We really need a dedicated technical thread for this topic, or feel free to continue via PM.

That reminds me.... for those with 3D printers, I finally uploaded my launch fix to thingiverse. It's an alternative to the updated wireform.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/aw-jeez-official-rick-and-morty-club/page/247#post-6223596
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4865438

My first test piece has held up just fine after hundreds of launches. I'll take some videos and create a new thread. I found some purple sparkly filament that as an added bonus glows in the dark haha.

I was going to suggest along the same lines; try TPU filament. You may not find the exact color you want, but it will never crack. Generic TPU is cheaper and easier to print than ninjaflex. If I get a chance to play around with it, I have some black TPU to try out.

Thanks for the positive feedback. I still have a video to post and will add it to my store. I have a full spool of purple sparkle ready to go.

The purple isn't a perfect match, but it does glow in the dark!

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Tap on the glass with your finger and find where the glass rattles. Then address those specific areas. For me, the wire wrap/fuzzy/anti-rattle tape at along the ends of the glass, plus 3 trimmed zip-tie ends under the glass channel each side completely eliminated any possible rattle for me. I like it so much, all my games now get this same treatment.

Man, you should let this go. You said your piece. Brow beating someone with your opinion over and over again won't change any minds. If you really can't find peace with this (like with something in the past on WOZ??) I suggest you write your own flipper code, validate it on a PROC test rig, take measurements and submit your solution to Spooky tech support.

My unsolicited opinion is that as the control code sits today, flipper behavior is as good as it ever has been. There may be coil heat built up as a trade off. Fans have proven to be an effective mitigation. It may not be perfect, but I am perfectly happy. If each owner would get a vote, I would say; leave the flippers alone and use every last second of remaining coding time on adding more game content and squashing the last few bugs.

Neat! Is that for the rest of the game, current ball, or just that next dimension only?

I am really happy to try this new option! Thanks for this.

Added: New setting to allow Antigravity while right flipper is on (may need larger fuse - use at own risk)

When Erik confirmed this was disabled due to over power consumption and popped fuses, I looked through the PROC datasheet and couldn't find it listed what the fuse value was for the driver board. It seems it is left up to the end application to decide what is needed to protect the components. From the PD16 datasheet: "Users should make sure to use a fuse with the proper current rating for their application"

@gstellenberg, can you comment on what the max current rating is for bankA of the PD16?

Yep exactly why I asked Gerry's to chime in on what the driver board can take. I am comfortable incrementing fuse values up to that number. Without extensive testing, I wouldn't expect Spooky to give any suggestion on this. I am just really happy that this option was added to experiment with.

Yeah it's a general question on capabilities of the PROC board, not Spooky related. Fair to say that the question should be asked directly an not necessarily in this thread's context. I am being sloppy with my terms to keep things from getting overly technical. I am comfortable in evaluating such things, but always easier to get the info straight from the vendor.

Oh! I totally skipped over this part of the release notes. I misread it as some kind of callout update;

Fixed: "my balls are stuck in the scoop, Morty!" is FIXED! HOORAY!

epthegeek Is this the ever allusive scoop no-op during MB issue?? That's fantastic!

Excellent. Well done tracking that down.

Is the loss of callout bug still floating around?

epthegeek I finally got a chance to try this out and the setting doesn't seem to change anything. With it set to "enable" the right flipper still blocks the magnet use. I did a power cycle in case the change wasn't picked up, but still no dice.

Is it too late to consider polishing a couple small audio rough spots?
1) in the schwifty adventure, when you fail; at some point after the call out "DISQUALIFIED" the audio level drops.
2) In Scary Terry, when you get the call out "He sure says Bitch a lot" you can hear Terry start to say something right at the end of the clip. That just needs like 1/4 second trimmed off.
Really nit picky stuff

Also, I have been meaning to ask; when you have a slam save, what happens when you spell s-l-a-m again? It doesn't stack another save and it doesn't seem to add points unless I missed it. Maybe each time it's spelled it could extend the length of the slam save grace period or something else beneficial? I like TNA's lane save rule that allows stacking of the ball saves with multiple lane completions. But for R&M I do think stacking slam saves would a bit game breaking.

Got it. Thanks for the explanation.

*Can be started at the scoop if you light mystery before starting the mode.

Wow....what a month for me to ignore this thread. Holy cow. What a nice surprise. Eric thank you. The extra work is very generous. Just in case it's not too late to submit more dimension ideas;

Joke's On You / April Fools dimension -

The scoop is always lit, but can only award mystery when in this dimension (no MB or mode progression allowed). BUT it will only select one of the many joke awards. Extra points if the thing described actually happens. Otherwise, maybe a laugh track (or if there was a clip of Rick laughing?) and a giant April Fools! splash display.

I think it would be worth a shot to try a disk repair USB. There are bootable Linux images that people have collected an assortment of disk tools. I'll have to dig to find which ones I have used if you need a suggestion. If you are already expecting to have to replace the HDD anyway, I can't see why it would hurt. If my game wasn't packed away at the moment, I would try to get you an image of my drive.