I had time to burn today so I opted to start working on the command center that I plan to use for all lighting, music, game power up, etc full smart room. With a project of this scale I figured the command center had to be special in some way also so I opted to go the Batman 66 route with a scale Shakespeare bust. (We call him Hedley Lemarr though!!) I started with an off the shelf bust from Amazon ($80), disassembled and needed to integrate a full Amazon Echo (Alexa) unit in stealthy like. Most of the parts just popped out no issues. Needed however to cut a very precise diameter hole to flush mount the Echo. As luck would have it I have an OMAX Waterjet so holding .001" is no issue. Cut hole and mounted with a few dabs of epoxy from the back. Ran USB out the back and the end result should prove fitting of a man cave fitting for fun. Project took maybe 20 minutes to complete but I think worth it.

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Haha awesome, post some pics up once complete in the new games room.

I take my hat off Yelobird... wow!

All that work on your new batcave but you didnt install batpoles? I wonder if installing poles to go from one floor of your house to another would violate building codes.

Seed planted.

Lol. I do have 3 poles down there but more for dancing and less sliding... Game room fitting of Batman for sure.

Pole dancing party at Yelobirds!

Make sure you put your labels up by the poles

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I'll have your name and private poll ready anytime to visit Doc! lol

Whoot in the club.

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nope.......you are not in the club until that game comes out of the box!

congrats!

Full playfield protector from Germany , playfield-protectors.com

Catwoman badge arrive today! Awesome work JP3335i!! This calls for a trip to Ace for some dark phosphate screws.... the chrome don't do it...

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Joined the club about a week ago! Kind of...

So yeah, why is the game turned off and with a note on it? Well, someone screwed up at Stern and we got a machine which is hardware-locked to USA, while we're over here in Europe. Oh joy...

Luckily Stern Support pretty quickly sent us a new MPU board, which we got yesterday.

But, why not a picture of the game working now, you say? Well, of course there was yet ANOTHER, even more impressive screw-up at Stern: The new MPU board we got was MISSING the connector pins for the display power (CN14). Yeah, the header pins are just not installed on the board at all.

So now we wait again...

Btw, do anyone know for sure where the 60/50Hz protection is implemented? If it's on the CPU sub-board, which seems likely, we should be able to swap that module between the MPU boards and get up and running. (Yes, I have asked Stern as well about this, but not received an answer yet due to the time-zone difference.)

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For Stern Spike games you need a unique MPU to between Europe to US? I just assumed the power supply was universal an you just switched out the power cord.

In the past I've bought Bally/William's DMD games that were re-imports from other countries and it wasn't a big deal to have them working in the US.

When the ball comes out of the left orbit be it via hold left flipper skill shot or normal play, what is the intended landing location ? Sling and Im supposed to nudge the crap out of it or is it supposed to come back to left flipper smoothly like deadpool ?

Yes, Stern has deliberately added a "zone protection", due to some distributors having sold outside their designated areas in the past. It does this by sensing the AC frequency: US has 60Hz, Europe has 50Hz. Use a game outside its region, and it will refuse to run. Unfortunately frequency conversion is not as easy as voltage conversion, so it's not trivial to work around.

If Stern's going to keep this rigid and user-hostile system going forward, they'd better get a proper test-rig for the European games at their factory, so they are tested in a realistic environment before being shipped out.

I asked a friend at work (who designs hardware for a living) about how he would go about designing a 50/60Hz + region lock. The answer was this:

1) "Incorporate a tiny step down transformer that is sampled by the microcontroller ADC. This will provide line frequency information."

There is a signal name called ADC_INT (ADC interrupt ?) this is connected to GPIO3_27 according to information in the schematics near the bottom of the EDM-1 page (rev E). (GPIO3_IO27 in NXP the data sheet)

2) "Use one of the GPIO pins (via a pull-up or pull-down resistor) to configure the board as a european or US board"

The data sheet for the onboard NXP application processor (MCIMX6U5DVM10AC) specifies that it has boot mode configuration fuses (and also pins that can override these fuses). Again - if we look at EDM-1 (rev E), we see that one of these boot fuses is referenced (but without specified usage in the schematic). This is BOOT_CFG2[0] (EIM_DA8)

Looking at the CPU schematic, EIM_DA8 is connected as an input port named EIM_DA8/7.7E, so it is reasonable to assume that there is a signal to this pin that is routed somewhere on the PCB. This pin is internally connected to a 100k pull-up, so I guess that a natural way of achieving hardware region coding during manufacture is by adding a zero ohm resistor between EIM_DA8/7.7E and GND somewhere_ on the board.

However, in addition to the boot option fuses, the NXP also has a BT_FUSE_SEL fuse that determines if the GPIO pins can override the boot option fuses. Even if the assumptions in this post are correct, everything depends on the state of the BT_FUSE_SEL fuse.

Just my two cents

Yes,and usually you want to try to go to the right orbit to lock balls in for multyball play! Or,hit penguin scoop to start modes!!

All games dimple in time, there is no such beast that does not dimple. Just keep hitting the start button and enjoy this wonderful game. Keep it waxed & clean change balls and rubbers regularly and it will last.

You can adjust it by removing the batgirl plastic on the left. Underneath it you want to loosen the lowest screw on the metal guide in order to have a little play. Move the guide to where you'd like, then tighten the screw.

Not sure how you made this work. If you bend the ball guide, it will not be aligned with the screw hole. So how can this work?

Also, I had my game on for a couple of hours last night and when I came back downstairs everything was off except for a red light from one of the boards. I could see red illuminated through the translite.

Tried to turn the power off but the red remained. Eventually it went out and when I powered back on, it was fine.

Anyone know what this is?

The guide on mine is slightly slotted at that attachment point. I get about 1/8" of play back and forth on the rail when that screw is loosened.

Hmmmm... Mine is just the screw hole, so not really any play. I bent the guide, but then had to push the bottom end back to screw in. It did make a small improvement that I notice when the ball comes down the guide with some speed, but a slower rolling ball will still hit the top of the sling and put it in immediate danger (usually going to the right outlane).

Maybe the hole isn't elongated, but there was a bit of play though, as the hole was larger than the screw. Slow moving balls still hit the top or side of the sling on my game, there's not really a good way to fix that.

Yea, seems like a bit of a design flaw from my perspective. But regardless, still an awesome game!

Hi all... I play bm66 since 3 weeks now. Im a bit disappointed with the code .. it is completely unbalanced !!

In this forum, you have been clearly happy with the code. And i have bought this pinball for that... But the game is broken : you do the same again and again at each party : bookworm then freeze. If you dont do that, your score is bad...

Im waiting more diversity... I return on my deadpool.... This game can be played with so many diversity.

Yannick

Thanks for stopping by!

Sorry for your disappointment. You should have played before you paid. BTW, I put up 12 billion without using this method.

I personally like the journey of each game. What do you do if you fail Bookworm on your first ball? I might go for Mad Hatter to try and get back to Bookworm, or maybe just do 3 Tuts to get the first wizard mode. I like this game because while there is an ultimate strategy for big points that's not the only strategy.

If you only play a pin to achieve the most points possible you really are missing out.

Getting to all the different wizard modes and objectives, playing it in so many different ways while playing things in different order is where BM66 really stands out, and not in playing it linearly the same way to maximize points over and over again.......

Lather, Rinse , Repeat may work for Shampoo, but it doesn't work in pinball......

@Yfichelle:
No you're not alone
The reason why I sold my b66... the unbalancing is really present and every wizard mode present now it's path is quite short to reach it..
The freeze/bookworm(/tut) importance is just too big. In which mad hatter, shame, egghead only get interesting once the others are completed
Will this be fixed...? Yes, it sure will! No doubt, but I stopped playing my game because of this. It stood there for the last 3 months..

Every high score table achievement gets even unbalanced with this because with bookworm/freeze combo you finally play it at a constant 3x and it outscores all the other attempts.
And yes you can try to ignore that approach and enjoy the game, but once I got past that 'content exploration' phase I wanted the strategic part to be as good too...balanced.

I give an example... Is there a reason to play ann egghead mode without completing freeze and bookworm first? My idea is no: it doesn't give you any benefit.. your obtained points in the mode are quite low, bonus doesn't carry over, etc... You only get a tv season completion.
If it would for example give you double gadget awards, then it would have a strategic benefit.

Fixing the frozen timers to 'slower' timers and adding a high value wizard mode for playing all minors and all 8 majors would fix all this. In which the value of that wizard mode would depend of how much minors were completed and how much major levels were played...

You can flame away all you want now, but this is a an honest opinion after lots of games and trying to approach the game in a lot of different ways.

What I did to correct this did not require bending the ball guide. There’s a post just at the end of the ball guide. The stern post rubbers are slim. Loosen the ball guide, replace the post rubber with a regular sized one, and the ball will exit the left orbit much better than before. Mine needs a little more tweaking, as I wasn’t happy with the initial fix. As you’ll see in the pic, I sliced a second post rubber and wrapped it around the first one, making it even wider. Then when you tighten the guide rail back in place, the ball should be hitting the middle of the left flipper. When I decide to put a little more effort into this, I think I’ll use the original slim post rubber (sliced down one side) as the second layer/wrap. That should still help the ball avoid the left slingshot, but likely not so far out on the left flipper.
Let me know if you have any questions!

TLDR: by using a thicker post rubber and/or adding another layer, it pushes the end of the ball guide out, just a little.

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I am attempting the atomic pile mod install. Any insight as to getting the 2 pin molex disconnected?

There is not a single person on the planet earth with small enough fingers to get in there.
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Edit i got it with 2 sets of needle nose. Not sure I’ll get the new wires plugged in though. I will report back with success hopefully.

And so I am clear. Do these 2 fromt “legs” just sit in the air as the new pile rests on the bat phone?

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At power up I am getting no light to the pile. Maybe during game play?
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Edit: nope.

Double checking my connections now.

Double edit. Doesn't work. Maybe at some point during gameplay? I’ll play a game i guess.

Triple edit: It flashes during some of the attract mode, so good enough.

It is my opinion that the tv should be removed during this install.

On a side note, has anyone had the nerve to change the rubbers on the spinning play field?

I just plugged my Atomic pile into the stock wiring. I didnt re route the line. Everything works. I just had a little extra wiring that i tucked under the pile. Am I missing something?

Installing mods is supposed to be difficult and make you question if you even want to keep the stupid machine.
You are robbing yourself of this crucial experience.

Yes it only works as the stock one during modes and per the instructions you are supposed to remove the TV if you want to install it. Looking great!

Yeah I am in business now!
At9mic pile, new plastic selector thingy, magnet decal. I am somewhere way over $1000 in mods. I am going to stop now.

A fair summary that I agree with. There's still a bit of polish that BM66 needs like jail graphics for minor villains and tweaking minor villain (Tut) insert colors (not using white which is Catwoman). Sorry to hear that you sold your game.

Rob

Yes and next to the bookworm/freeze balancing this:
- lots of light effects
- at minor completion and info screen what benefit is earned
- status info about which minors are played/completed and which benefits you have running
- egghead bonus value
- nr of gadgets available
- more crane variation
- a final wizard mode that directs you in a way to play all modes

No doubt all will be fixed!
I have MET and SW now in place so won't be bored

-

Good ideas.

I like the “slower timers” idea.

rd

Thanks David.. a lot of people dont have our opinion... But your analysis is exactly mine...

It will be fix soon for sure... I hope very quickly and all the people will say "oh great it is more balanced now !".

Well I got my shaker for Batman...but since I have my Munsters LE with a shacker I pulled one mount screw and compared with the ones supplied..., yup...1/4 inch difference.. how does that happen.... lol

How long does it typically take for you to get your pin. It’s going on 3 weeks and I have no update. This is my first NiB and it feels like an eternity

Depends on if your distributor had in stock or if they are waiting on Stern to build it / ship it. I ordered my Catwoman on day one and it was just under 3 weeks total for stern to build it, Gameroom guys to retrieve it and the ship to me in ATL. My original BM66 machine they had in stock and it was to my door in 3 days.

I would call your distributor, they should be able to contact Stern and get a better idea of schedule.