(Topic ID: 85981)

Big Game Club - The Safari has started!

By Xenon75

10 years ago


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#751 4 years ago

I just had a thought about skillfully changing the cards that are lit up.

Anyway to make the lane behind the G,A stand ups do it? I feel if you make that shot it will usually get back to the flippers without hitting another switch that switches the cards.

Just a thought. Also, not sure if shatzing is possible on this game, but maybe the inlanes could be another option.

#752 4 years ago

Chuck everything is possible... I have the source code 80% commented for this game, and the parts that aren't aren't the ones needed to be changed, anyway.

Ever play free fall? Stern made it so you can change the lit line yourself with the flippers, but that was really confusing on mine so I turned that feature off. Shatzing is dangerous on mine you really risk the up and over. The lane behind the GA could work.

An interesting variation might be just to have the cards rotate via time. Now, that would be kind of trippy.... and if you ran over anything that also advanced the sequence, it would throw you off enough. Would encourage more selective shot making.

#753 4 years ago

That could be interesting, and not a bad idea. Time based.

#754 4 years ago

It would certainly make round 3 of the cards more achievable too.

#755 4 years ago
Quoted from chuckwurt:

That could be interesting, and not a bad idea. Time based.

After I posted that I thought to be even more evil you could have drops reset based on time, and you lose your card progress you would have gotten.... but that's probably TOO evil. I can see the posts now - "big game drops reset when they shouldn't on my new machine - HELP!"

#756 4 years ago

Haha. Yeah that’s a no go. But have the lit card change with timing that would be cool and caught some tense moments.

Only issue I can see is what if the card changes mid spinner rip? Will the value change mid rip?

#757 4 years ago

Anyone looking to leave the club in the Midwest, please let me know. Thanks.

#758 4 years ago
Quoted from chuckwurt:

Haha. Yeah that’s a no go. But have the lit card change with timing that would be cool and caught some tense moments.
Only issue I can see is what if the card changes mid spinner rip? Will the value change mid rip?

It should if I understand the way the multiprocessing engine works correctly. The value changing routine via time would be its own background thread.

I'm tempted to try this just to see if it works. It will enhance my understanding of the background os that's for sure.

#759 4 years ago
Quoted from slochar:

That's an interesting variation, never saw that one before. Does it just appear 35 or does it click the credits up one at a time with the sound effect as well? Any extra hardware in there, Tom Callahan/repair connection (retired) used to sell a kit that watched the coin lockout solenoid and when it was on to take coins, would just electronically flip the coin switches to avoid rom changes (I don't think he was impressed by rom hacks based on the way he described them).
Alltek has been pretty much a "no custom" from day one. He's got some stuff that's on ipdb and the freeplay bally of course, but doesn't support people burning their own version of his combo rom.... would void your warranty I suppose.
You have eprom burner? I am getting very low of eproms so have to keep all I have to cycle into my own games. You'd think that 30 of each type would be enough but I go through a LOT of development roms and I'm not into the erase one to burn one type of thing (I have an eraser that does 40 at once)

The Witch fires up with 35 credits showing. I am having some minor issue with the MPU with start up and some times only 10 or 5 credits will be displayed. After I use up the last credit 10 new credits will be displayed.

I do not have an eprom burner. I have not gotten that far in my pinball career yet. I stay busy rebuilding, or replacing needed parts; slowly restoring them to be as new as I can afford.

Other than whipping out the Hakko desolder gun and replacing board parts my electronics knowledge I the last frontier I am trying cross.

#760 4 years ago

Here is what I plan on rolling into the mod rom:

1) Max credits now 99 to free up dip switches for mods on/off
2) dip 19 is now freeplay on/off
3) extra 5k/line selectable for any ball 1,2,3,4,5
4) background sound dip 8 changed to match manual (on=bg on, off=bg off)
5) extra ball blinking will blink on next ball as well
6) timed card selection, lit cards move automatically on an interval. Change card still changes card.
7) All bonus removal (harsh!!)
8] only extra bonus removal (less harsh!!)
9) lane behind left standups will move card/can also light XYZ instead for short timer
10) switch test will show all closed switches similar to Williams' games instead of only the lowest numbered switch
11) a couple of factory hacks have been streamlined into the code (nothing noticeable to end user.... but it looks like they had issues getting the top saucer to clear when they were in development because they specifically check for re-entrancy!!)
12) 1-2-3-4-5-6-7 display during attract shortened drastically, scores from last game will show longer

Anything I missed? Any other suggestions? Maybe 5x if you get 3x from the cards AND complete big game?

Beta testers wanted, get your eprom burners ready! Get an eprom burner/eraser if you don't already have one. You'll need 2732 eproms as well unless your big game is jumpered for 2716s.... in which case I'd recommend you jumper it for 2x2732. If you have a newer weebly board with the 512 socket the software can be provided in that image as well.

#761 4 years ago
Quoted from slochar:

11) a couple of factory hacks have been streamlined into the code (nothing noticeable to end user.... but it looks like they had issues getting the top saucer to clear when they were in development because they specifically check for re-entrancy!!)

If this is what I think it is, it’s huge. If your saucer doesn’t get the ball out to the top lanes and falls back in, it will give you the saucer value again. No bueno. Hopefully this fixes that.

#762 4 years ago
Quoted from slochar:

Anything I missed? Any other suggestions? Maybe 5x if you get 3x from the cards AND complete big game?

How would this be indicated? Blinking 2x and 3x lights? I like it.

#763 4 years ago
Quoted from slochar:

Here is what I plan on rolling into the mod rom:
1) Max credits now 99 to free up dip switches for mods on/off
2) dip 19 is now freeplay on/off
3) extra 5k/line selectable for any ball 1,2,3,4,5
4) background sound dip 8 changed to match manual (on=bg on, off=bg off)
5) extra ball blinking will blink on next ball as well
6) timed card selection, lit cards move automatically on an interval. Change card still changes card.
7) All bonus removal (harsh!!)
8] only extra bonus removal (less harsh!!)
9) lane behind left standups will move card/can also light XYZ instead for short timer
10) switch test will show all closed switches similar to Williams' games instead of only the lowest numbered switch
11) a couple of factory hacks have been streamlined into the code (nothing noticeable to end user.... but it looks like they had issues getting the top saucer to clear when they were in development because they specifically check for re-entrancy!!)
12) 1-2-3-4-5-6-7 display during attract shortened drastically, scores from last game will show longer
Anything I missed? Any other suggestions? Maybe 5x if you get 3x from the cards AND complete big game?
Beta testers wanted, get your eprom burners ready! Get an eprom burner/eraser if you don't already have one. You'll need 2732 eproms as well unless your big game is jumpered for 2716s.... in which case I'd recommend you jumper it for 2x2732. If you have a newer weebly board with the 512 socket the software can be provided in that image as well.

This is awesome. My big game was bought rough, most plastics broke, inserts dropped and all cupped no back glass etc. Its now rethemed into Greyhounds the race home. (need some finish art). When i bring to shows i would love a free play dip switch. Because i rethemed it i also thought it was fair to put lighter williams bats on, really speeds up the ball.

#764 4 years ago
Quoted from chuckwurt:

How would this be indicated? Blinking 2x and 3x lights? I like it.

I like this, too. Seawitch has 1x, 2x, and 4x lights. All combos of these 3 lights gets you up to 7x bonus. No blinking. They just light up.

Obviously, BG can not have those options but with 2x and 5x lit you know you are on 5x.

The times card selection sounds is sounding interesting. Would add a new twist.

#765 4 years ago
Quoted from cottonm4:

The times card selection sounds is sounding interesting. Would add a new twist.

I agree. It will not allow the player much time to think when trapping up. And if the score auto decreases as the spinner is spinning and the card moves, you’ll have to hit it at the perfect time to get a full spinner rip with 2k value.

#766 4 years ago

Ah, That's right, the spinners are tied to the cards. I didn't think of that one. Maybe pause it while the spinner is going? (it's not like you're hitting drops on a spinner rip anyway). I don't like the idea of NOT getting your full spinner value. I've already implemented something like this in Meteor where the spinner will finish whatever it's doing if you happen to drain during a nice spinner rip (if you don't, the spinner could carry into the next player).

Stern themselves did this on Dragonfist and possibly other games after they realized they were blessed with the best spinners in the business.

I'm running out of dip switches... there will be a compromise on 5 ball games for the 5/k line bonus, you can only set it to balls 2, 3, 4, 5 (as factory). 3 ball can be set to 1, 2, 3. If there was any audit space free in the nvram I could put it up there like bally did with their later -35 games and you could set it to whatever.... but there's not and I'd rather not cut a swath through nvram just yet. That can get dicey.

#767 4 years ago
Quoted from slochar:

I don't like the idea of NOT getting your full spinner value.

Then just make the time interval change like full 5 count.

#768 4 years ago

Also. Is it possible to have the lane behind the GA targets be the ONLY thing that lights all 3 cards? Then if the time interval passes or you hit another change card switch, they move? That would be really interesting.

#769 4 years ago
Quoted from chuckwurt:

Also. Is it possible to have the lane behind the GA targets be the ONLY thing that lights all 3 cards? Then if the time interval passes or you hit another change card switch, they move? That would be really interesting.

I planned on having the lane behind the targets be the only thing that lights all 3, and it will just turn it off after some arbitrary time. I hadn't thought of the possible interaction of that with the other timed function if enabled, but I certainly will now. My intention was to light all 3 cards temporarily, and if you hit a change card.... too bad. The normal timed move won't happen until the all 3 card routines run out, if both are set to be enabled.... otherwise, you might get a really short timeout on the full 3 cards. I'm thinking you won't have time to hit one or 2 targets while it's lit, and if you think you're cradling up, you're mistaken. It's a pretty powerful thing to be able to light 3 numbers at once and I don't want it to become "the thing" like so many other games end up with. Gotta maintain balance.

#770 4 years ago

Totally agree. Can’t wait to test this.

#771 4 years ago
Quoted from chuckwurt:

Totally agree. Can’t wait to test this.

Since we are both fairly high on owning and playing BG, I am interested in hearing your opinion on the changes.

It just sounds like an already powerful game would turn into a very challenging and dynamic game to be playing.

#772 4 years ago

Yeah I’ll wait until I get some time on it, but my main gripes with the game were:

No really skillful way to light cards or spinner. That seems to have been addressed.

If EBs are off, there’s no real reason to hit the lane behind the standups. Now there is. Well you can set the special to award 100k(which I have), but having this extra wrinkle is really cool.

Bonus was too powerful since it never resets. Now there’s an option to have it reset each ball rewarding the player that plays consistently well across a full game instead of just one ball. This could be too nasty since it’s all or nothing. We shall see. But the possibility of 5x bonus is awesome and should balance this out. Again, we shall see.

#773 4 years ago

And the hits just keep coming....

Is it fair that earned extra balls get wiped if you tilt???

That's getting pulled out.

#774 4 years ago

Wow. Didn’t know that was in there. Fix that fo sho!

#775 4 years ago

I know it will never happen, but since I am wishing, why not?

Dragonfist has that spinner counter. I love that counter. I wish that could be incorporated on my BG as well as my other Sterns. But the back glass would not modify well, at all.

Although, if the game credits or the ball in play could be removed from the display it would leave space to swap in a spinner counter.

BG, with its 2 spinners would just have to have them both on one circuit. A decal would need made to cover over either Credits or Ball in Play. If we are on freeplay, losing the number of Credits would not matter much.

#776 4 years ago

Believe it or not, that's actually easy to implement. You just do something called blitting where you swap the info on the display for the info you want. I implemented this on my firepower system 7 rom by not only counting the # of spins (and the score) in the next player display, I also added a playfield multiplier that shows in the ball in play window. The same technique can be applied to big game.

It's been ages, but I think I did this with the old Lost Vegas conversion as well I know I was showing the bonus countup/down at ball end on another display.

I wouldn't scrape the backglass for this feature though, and there's no room to save the high # of spins like DF does. It would just be some silly eye candy.

It could probably go in the p4 display unless p4 is playing, then it could go in the p3 display. The score is already preserved so why not??

Or it could go in the ball in play display or the credit display (credit display might be confusing, though). The actual ball in play and credits are stored separately from the display ram. Big Game has 6-7 extra timed thread stacks available to add background stuff like this (the spinner would have to be on a timeout unless re-triggered, which is exactly how dragonfist does it). Only thing that might be confusing is if you managed to get both spinners going at the same time, would have to implement some kind of priority system there. Would be using the display ram itself to keep track of the spins, when the timeout expires, put the ball in play back there.

You need to get a hold of a cheap burner so these ideas can be implemented on your machine(s) without going to the rom burner guys.... $10/chip will add up fast when testing beta software. I sometimes go through 8-9 versions a session when there's either a nasty bug or some little tweaks to be done.

Eraser is about $20 on amazon, the burner is about $40, and the chips are 2-3 bucks apiece. Software runs on windows. Sadly the good version of the burner I use the TL866cs has been replaced with the TL866II which does NOT do chips that need >16 volts to program. Ideally, you would have a weebly board with the 512 socket in it, as the 866II can burn those, the chips are cheap, and there's only only chip to change. (I have ZIF sockets in all my games because I'm always swapping roms in and out, but for occasional swaps, that's optional)

#777 4 years ago

Spinner counters are implemented. Although unlikely, if you happen to get the right spinner and the left spinner simultaneously, (the right first), the right will count until the left is hit, then the left takes over. The left spinner stock already has a timeout built into it to wait until the spinner stops for a bit (because of the saucer scoring) so the right can take over again if you happen to hit it that quick. The # of spins will stay up on the ball in play display for a short while so you can glance at it and then go back to the ball in play.

The software is moving along nicely, only have to implement a dip setting for the remove all bonus option, and add the all switch test in.

While I was at it, I implemented a solenoid saver for the drop banks - if any of the drop banks are completely up it doesn't bother to fire the solenoid before launching the ball (similar to eight ball deluxe on a single player game not bothering to reset the 7 bank between balls).

#778 4 years ago
Quoted from slochar:

Spinner counters are implemented. Although unlikely, if you happen to get the right spinner and the left spinner simultaneously, (the right first), the right will count until the left is hit, then the left takes over. The left spinner stock already has a timeout built into it to wait until the spinner stops for a bit (because of the saucer scoring) so the right can take over again if you happen to hit it that quick. The # of spins will stay up on the ball in play display for a short while so you can glance at it and then go back to the ball in play.
The software is moving along nicely, only have to implement a dip setting for the remove all bonus option, and add the all switch test in.
While I was at it, I implemented a solenoid saver for the drop banks - if any of the drop banks are completely up it doesn't bother to fire the solenoid before launching the ball (similar to eight ball deluxe on a single player game not bothering to reset the 7 bank between balls).

Wow awesome. I was just playing DF at a friends place this weekend. I do have the ability to move windows on my game unlike the others. And I have a rom burner. Hmmm. Could be a nice YouTube video if you want a plug. Of course post expo.
Pic from last year only photo I have of it. Not in the car this year.

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#779 4 years ago
Quoted from slochar:

Spinner counters are implemented. Although unlikely, if you happen to get the right spinner and the left spinner simultaneously, (the right first), the right will count until the left is hit, then the left takes over. The left spinner stock already has a timeout built into it to wait until the spinner stops for a bit (because of the saucer scoring) so the right can take over again if you happen to hit it that quick. The # of spins will stay up on the ball in play display for a short while so you can glance at it and then go back to the ball in play.
The software is moving along nicely, only have to implement a dip setting for the remove all bonus option, and add the all switch test in.
While I was at it, I implemented a solenoid saver for the drop banks - if any of the drop banks are completely up it doesn't bother to fire the solenoid before launching the ball (similar to eight ball deluxe on a single player game not bothering to reset the 7 bank between balls).

There was one time that I had both spinners going at once. One time only. But perhaps since the one spinner can score up to 2000 points per spin, maybe make it the dominate spinner for a spin count makeover and the other spinner just spins.

#780 4 years ago

I’ve had both going lots of times. I used to try to do it all the time. Plus my spinners rip for days so it’s more feasible for most.

Spinner counter is going to be awesome!

#781 4 years ago

Changelog information:
big game

modified software v04

Changes from stock roms:

1)
Left and right spinner counts will 'blit' to ball
in play display. The left spinner has priority in
the case of both spinning at once. The high spin
count is not saved in any way due to nvram memory
limitations. The ball in play will return to the
display after a short interval.

2)
The extra ball blinking control normally switches
to a solid lamp on the next ball if not collected.

This now will blink on the next ball instead.

3)
The attract mode 7 digit countup has been sped up
slightly and the player score display will show
for a much longer period of time to make recording
of scores easier in a tournament situation.

4)
Tilting no longer removes earned extra balls.

5)
No more 'tilt test' in attract mode. (Previously
tilt would 'work' during attract mode)

6)
Built-in switch test will display ALL closed
switches, not just the lowest numbered one, to assist
in finding switch matrix issues. All closed switches
will show one at a time and each run through will end
with a zero flashing in the ball in play display to
indicate that the entire switch matrix has been scanned.

7)
On ball launch the drop banks are polled to see if
any targets are down and if none are, the drop reset
is skipped.

Changes related to DIP switches:

Background sound dip #8 changed to match manual.

Dip 8 on=background sound on
Dip 8 off=background sound off

Max credits always 99. Dips 18 and 19 repurposed.

Dip 19 is now freeplay on/off.

Dip 18 now controls a temporary lighting of all
3 cards once you roll over the lane behind the GA
standup targets. After a short time, the lit cards
will return to their previous state.

Dip 24, previously unused

On=Automatically change lit bingo cards per pattern
set by Dip 23 after a short time interval. Change
cards on playfield will still change the cards.
Off=No change from stock.

Dips 25/26 for max lines function changed.

On 5 ball play, manual description matches mod, you can
select balls 2,3,4, or 5 for the 5k/line bonus.

On 3 ball play, set dips the same way as for 5 ball
but subtract one, so you can set 5k/line bonus
on balls 1, 2, or 3. (i.e. set to '2' to get '1'
on 3 ball play)

Dips 15-16 HSTD credits now repurposed.

Dip 16 is HSTD award

On=award 3 replays
Off=novelty mode (HSTD still recorded, but no replays)

Dip 15 is now a bonus removal setting.

On=Remove all bonus ball to ball
Off=Leave bonus ball to ball (stock)

Dip 14, previously unused

On=Remove reserve bonus on next ball, if lit
Off=Reserve bonus carries ball to ball (stock)

#782 4 years ago

Oh yeah!

8E872B06-D70D-4BB2-873F-69CB291D880D (resized).jpeg8E872B06-D70D-4BB2-873F-69CB291D880D (resized).jpeg
#783 4 years ago
Quoted from chuckwurt:

Oh yeah![quoted image]

Chuckles, let us know how you like these.

#784 4 years ago

Got the new code in and testing now! First thoughts. The spinner counter is awesome.

Streaming this Thursday at 8pm so we can take a deep dive. Come watch so we can get Scott some good notes on anything that should be improved!

www.twitch.tv/SDTMpinball

#785 4 years ago

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/499086591

New code gameplay for those interested. May have found a couple bugs, but overall, I think it’s pretty damn fun. And completely adjustable back to stock rules if you want.

#786 4 years ago

Thoughts from watching the stream.... If people do not consider the credit display sacrosanct, I can very easily have the left spinner counter populate the credit display, and the right spinner counter populate the ball in play display.

I did indeed spot the bug where the timer fuzzed out for the card changes. Speculative that it was caused by the lack of thread space to run (the game can only process so many switches, and the timed routines are seen by the OS as virtual switches.... so it probably just discarded them. Physical switches take precedence in processing, and I think the columns are processed 0-4, then the virtual columns 5-7.) The thread itself is responsible for resetting its own timer, so if it expired and never ran, it would never try again (until the next ball, where the timer gets an initial setting by the ball launch routines.)

I think the timer for the triple card lighting is almost exactly what I was going for - it's a carrot for fast react flippers to try and get the triple, vs. the hold and shoot people. I will make it very slightly longer in the next rev so you have a chance to at least get something, but it'll help train you in getting that shot off quickly. Almost all the code I write for games includes some variant of this fast react rule somewhere.

Now, the bugs that you didn't spot but I did:
[1]
Triple was lit and left spinner rip into the saucer, triple expired as it should and turned the card to its previous value, but then it changed back into a triple. I think something might have overflowed into that timer and it's very possible the stock code uses the spinner display timer but doesn't have a routine attached to it (the saucer timer would be the suspect here). Not an issue since I can use another timer instead (there's about 8 free timers in big game). (The saucer uses a timer but there's no virtual switch code attached to it.)

The saucer should actually pause until all the spins are completed. This didn't happen... the saucer would score while the spinner was lazily spinning a couple times at the end. This is stock behavior, though, since a counter wasn't envisioned here. I was watching the spinner count and the score very carefully a couple times to make sure the spinner score was adding in unison with the counter - there's no way it really couldn't because the spinner code is literally now:

spinner entry->count the spin->determine if score is 200/2k (lamp lit) and score it.

[2]
The bonus resetting on the next ball, shows all your bonus then clears it as it launches the ball. It should be a little cleaner and not even show what you HAD. It's sloppy the way it ended up.

[3]
Reported as a bug but can't actually be one - the lack of lighting on the 3x lamp. Proven when you went into lamp test and it wasn't lighting.... the lamp test portion of the code just lights every single lamp. Also, when you earned the 3x and it paid it out, the code knew the 3x was lit since that's actually how the game knows to score 3x, just from the status of the lamp. There's no separate counter for this, so your lamp/led, socket, etc. is in play here.

[4]
Spins stayed on display after a quick drain until next ball start. Spins disappeared after a quick drain on last ball to match display.

[5]
There is a possibility that the bingo line bonus is NOT working as intended. Can you double check this? Dips 25 and 26 should be off.

I was pretty concerned something was wrong with the free play/credit display as you kept getting credits, however looks like you have your replay levels set to 30k, 40k, 50k with your knocker disconnected. Thankfully the 99 credits stuck as the "max" and didn't rollover to 00 which is what used to happen with sloppy coding. However, not a bug since I watched your score carefully to see the 30k start (most people set it to 10k when they do this)

[6]
You drained once with the triple cards lit - next ball, the triple card was still lit (but changed immediately on entry into the top lanes). This was actually pretty lucky you didn't get a random result as the card counter likely was set to an invalid value. This might also be related to the saucer triple re-light, if it turns out to not be the timer (which I'm almost positive it can't be but have to double check.) Although, the 'next value' in the card sequence is where I stuck the triple card data, so if the counter overflowed from 7 to 8 (it should never beit might have pulled the data from there. I'll double check that as well.

[7]
Not a bug and you didn't mention it, but the match display at bootup shows the version # of the software. '04' in your case. Ed's game has '05', and the next revision will be '06'. I skip the decades (10, 20, etc.) so it's not confused with the match display. I do this on all my software mods.

Planned updates:

5x is already in play, Ed Owens has that for his greyhound conversion game. His rom also has the triple card timer doubled but that's going to be nerfed in rev 6, I'm going to change the triple factor from $60 to $65 or maybe $70. He's testing this rev 5 this weekend.

Rev 6 will have the 5x if it's working and the following changes and possibly others:

1) spinner sanity re: drains/game over.
2) bonus display next ball fix
3) slightly longer triple timer
4) switches that change the cards will also reset the auto card timer (actually, it will just increase it a few ticks, this will both delay the NEXT card change very slightly, and also take care of the bug you ran into, at least if it happens again, the next card change will start the sequence again).
5) triple lit quirks will be quashed
6) Saucer and outhole will wait for spinner(s) to finish before counting bonus/big game letters.
7) Game over will wait until spinner to finish (should be taken care of by the outhole routine until you tilted)

Speaking of tilt, what happened when you tested it with the spinner display? Did it leave it and just time it out? I can see a timeout sanity check needing to be added for the spinner display - it's the same type of timed virtual switch that the card change is, and if it gets missed.... you got a very strange # on the display (at least until the next ball or spinner rip)

You had the Z card once lit with X as the pattern and it gave me a goofy idea to make the bonus multiplier match the card symbol - you got X on X, you got Y on Y, Z on Z.... it would have been neat in 1980 if they had actually done if this way. The way it's done stock is fine though so I'm not going to change that.

Finally, last mod will be
Game will autodetect if its running on a Weebly board, and if so will add top spin counts to the high score table, and possibly add in either a 'low score to date' (I have this on my night rider and it's hilarious to reset it before a party and award someone the low man of the night award), or keep track of 4 high scores. There's not a lot of room left in the rom to do this though unless I also take advantage of the expanded rom on that board - but then Andrew can't ship an extended rom variant with his board since I think the combo rom only can switch in 2x2732 sized images.

#787 4 years ago

Brilliant. Thanks Scott. Glad the video helped you.

#788 4 years ago
Quoted from chuckwurt:

Got the new code in and testing now! First thoughts. The spinner counter is awesome.
Streaming this Thursday at 8pm so we can take a deep dive. Come watch so we can get Scott some good notes on anything that should be improved!
www.twitch.tv/SDTMpinball

Nice video. I like watching you play. I love those 4 flippers. I'm still working on my post passes and lower flipper passes; It really help with the scoring.

What I am seeing in the new code looks like fun. I can see where all 3 bingo cards lit for a short time will ad a new twist to the game play.

I need to learn how to do this.

BTW: What are you using to get the green displays? I want.

#789 4 years ago
Quoted from cottonm4:

Nice video. I like watching you play. I love those 4 flippers. I'm still working on my post passes and lower flipper passes; It really help with the scoring.
What I am seeing in the new code looks like fun. I can see where all 3 bingo cards lit for a short time will ad a new twist to the game play.
I need to learn how to do this.
BTW: What are you using to get the green displays? I want.

XPin. They might not have the green ones anymore but I think they have white with colored gels you can use. Also the displays only look flickery like that on video. Look way better in person.

#790 4 years ago
Quoted from chuckwurt:

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/499086591
New code gameplay for those interested. May have found a couple bugs, but overall, I think it’s pretty damn fun. And completely adjustable back to stock rules if you want.

really nice video you shared, I love your machine the green displays are really cool as cottonm4 pointed out, I just replaced mine with pinitech dark red to matched the player #s those are white LEDS with red gel's they look great too, i did a lot recently with restoring the Big Game and I need to share photos but i'm still cleaning up some details or trying to find the time to . the new ROM is fun w/spinner counts is the display I see going back to ball count when not showing spinner counts?

#791 4 years ago
Quoted from Dragon:

I see going back to ball count when not showing spinner counts?

Yep!

#792 4 years ago

the credit display is only helpful in reminding me that the machine is not broken when hitting the play button again , but the ball in play is very useful in seeing where you are in relation to the game play . I feel it is relatable to the actual score itself . i.e. are you tanking in your play now or visa versa . so having it show the spinner count is nice but when not spinning having it be there for ball count is nice too and is a good balance of information

#793 4 years ago
Quoted from Dragon:

the credit display is only helpful in reminding me that the machine is not broken when hitting the play button again , but the ball in play is very useful in seeing where you are in relation to the game play . I feel it is relatable to the actual score itself . i.e. are you tanking in your play now or visa versa . so having it show the spinner count is nice but when not spinning having it be there for ball count is nice too and is a good balance of information

I agree, but you do need time to glance at the spinner count which is why it holds it for a couple seconds after the last spin before going back to the normal ball in play.

With a fair amount of rewriting I can wrangle 4 free ram locations that currently are utilized improperly (they are what would be considered a blinking of an unseen lamp which is used as a flag in the game.... i.e. they are meaningless and would never be populated.) I'm actually very surprised that with ram being extremely precious in this era of game that they didn't rework it way back when.... the fix is literally only a couple bytes..... BUT it has to be done in several routines.

I'd use 2 of these bytes to handle the spinner count instead of the actual display ram, that way it could change the display back and forth from the spinner to the ball in play instead of waiting until the end. I kind of like that way it is now, but I also like programming challenges, so I might look into this, but only after I fix the notes from above.

#794 4 years ago

Well I feel real bad about not getting this code in until today. But I finally got it. I did a quick game and love the spinner display. I also did a quick video. I noticed if I rip one spinner. I believe left and then the right it just displays 01. But how often will that happen.
I’m goibg to do some game play tonight. I have only one camera at the moment. Would you prefer just playfeild or try to get it all in but not perfectly clear?
Thanks for the opportunity and I apologize for dropping the ball with testing.

C52C5733-B917-4D5C-88B8-AA4C698ADA77 (resized).jpegC52C5733-B917-4D5C-88B8-AA4C698ADA77 (resized).jpeg
#795 4 years ago

The next revision is available. You should get with Scott and burn that. Haha

#796 4 years ago
Quoted from chuckwurt:

The next revision is available. You should get with Scott and burn that. Haha

Ahh. Pooo. Well I did finally get my burner reinstalled and out. So now it would be quick and easy to update.

#797 4 years ago
Quoted from chuckwurt:

The next revision is available. You should get with Scott and burn that. Haha

Guessing an original MPU is needed for this? Can this be ported to the Alltek or Andrew's MPUs?

#798 4 years ago
Quoted from RC_like_the_cola:

Guessing an original MPU is needed for this? Can this be ported to the Alltek or Andrew's MPUs?

Works fine on Andrews you just have to combine the rom differently.

Alltek is a different story - they don't share the format of their eprom. I asked a couple years ago and was told no. That's not to say it's too hard to figure out, but it voids the warranty.

#799 4 years ago
Quoted from Fortytwo:

Well I feel real bad about not getting this code in until today. But I finally got it. I did a quick game and love the spinner display. I also did a quick video. I noticed if I rip one spinner. I believe left and then the right it just displays 01. But how often will that happen.

Since there's only one display available for spins, I made a decision that if the right is the only one going, that's going to show, but the left being the more important shot that will take priority.

What you can do for the videos is run a video while you are playing and if you run into an issue clip that portion out or about 30 seconds on either side of it for review. Basically what was new on v5 was the 5x scoring and the much longer timeout (since re-shortened) of the triple card lighting. Erik has the v6 replacement which rolled all the small things I noticed from his video into the fixes. Most of them were really preferences of mine to make the results be more polished.

Originally I was only going to do a one off spinner count rom for Cotton I had no idea people were so into that. Probably should add it to other Stern games like meteor, stars, and nine ball.

#800 4 years ago

Meteor you would need a 3 digit spin counter for sure. Haha

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