Odd technical question for you guys. Considered posting in a general tech forum but in case it’s oddly specific to BKSOR, I wanted to ask here

Messing with the settings again, I noticed it showed me a “TECHNICIAN ALERT: Left Flipper EOS switch”. I googled this a bit and learned that the EOS is the switch that changes the flipper button from the high voltage of the initial press, to low voltage when you hold the flipper.

Sure enough when I went into the menu for Diagnostic->Switch Menu->Switch alerts, then cycled through til I got to Left Flipper EOS, it showed OUT OF SERVICE when I selected it. I was simply able to change the setting to IN SERVICE. Now the “Technician Alert” is gone.

For what it’s worth, I checked the right flipper EOS and that is set to In Service.

Is this really odd? I assume that BKSOW isn’t supposed to have the left flipper EOS set to Out of Service?

Did you physically inspect the EOS to make sure it didnt break off or anything?

Well, thank you for making me double check. I think it is NOT CORRECT! Look at the permanent space between the two contacts, when the flipper isn’t pressed.

You think they’d test these things. I’d imagine this is not a healthy problem to have, as its messing with low and high voltage.

Also a WARNING for you guys with premiums and LE’s. CHECK YOUR CATAPULT PLASTIC little black screws. I played a Premium at the arcade before I bought mine, and while playing it, both screws came out and the plastic went flying. Now MINE just dropped the darn right screw and I can’t find the stupid thing anywhere. This is only after about 20 games. I’d advise everyone to remove and dab some blue locktite on them and reinstall before it’s too late.

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Got the EOS fixed up like a charm.

While hunting for my missing tiny black catapult plastic screw (can NOT find it anywhere), I found this random loose screw in the cabinet bottom. It was totally missing from the apron/catch. Ugh.

Another question. Anyone apply the playfield protector sheet that Stern included in the bag? I’m tempted to do it but it looks like a huge pain where the one part curves under the shield and back by the VUK.
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Never found the catapult screw. FYI, they are 4 size screws, coarse thread, pan head. Had to spray it black. Locktite is your friend.

You know I was thinking about that too, but I had little hope due to the amount of work involved.

Then I had this idea: They could use the good old videogames/boardgames tricks of having variations of the same monster using a different color. You know when they have a green goblin (easy), blue goblin (medium), red goblin (hard) etc. They could re-use the same animations & models, but re-render the video using a different shading/color for the monster. They could have a "master" hell hand (Green), or a "master" Lava Beast with Cyan Lava, etc. They could have matching inserts color that pulse and you have to shoot only when it's lighted. I think it could be nice to add "levels" for monsters using those kind of tricks.

Had a particularly bloody battle against Mr. Meanness this evening using the HOOKED flipper toppers.

First test install; just experimenting ... easy enough to undo/redo.
My apologies for the bad shadows, reflections and jitters in the quickly-snapped pictures - they look much better in person.
Still, a work in progress.

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Spelled out knight for the first time tonight. Even hit the drop target that had KNIGHT MODE blinking at it. Then of course draino. GuessI also would have had to hit that same shot again and get the castle VUK. Some day I’ll get it.

Put the shaker motor, Flipper Fidelity, and speaker lights all on now. The shaker motor helped me out by rattling free my lost catapult screw! Bonus!

Not overly thrilled with the FF speakers. I can hear good amounts of bass if I lean down or walk away from the cabinet, but it’s a bit flat and tinny while playing. Set everything to their recommendations except I put some bass back into the backbox speakers. It was just way too sharp and thin. Needs more tweaking I think.

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I bought the light set from Doug and it is simply awesome. Took about 15 minutes to install. The instructions were very clear and easy to follow. The speaker lights along with the acrylics Doug developed are a must for BKSOR. An exceptional mod.

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Rule/bug question. Today I had a situation where the machine went fairly dark (ie like some special mode or something) and just the lightning bolt in front of the shield was blinking green. However, the shield was down. I smacked it numerous times and it did nothing. No shot anywhere on the game seems to change the situation.

It seemed almost like a bug, since it was just blinking at the shield but it wouldn’t lift. I did repeatedly hit the lock (mini shield) target to the right of the shield and it did nothing (as expected since no light was flashing for it).

Once the ball drained, the machine came more to life and seemed to be normal and have lots of shots available to do stuff.

Was I in some sort of odd mode, or is this likely a bug that needs addressing?

I have had this happen before on mine, not sure what shot causes it to happen. Also the entire playfield will turn on all the red lights only, which I actually enjoy at times.

I did notice the red looked nice lol. Anyway, hopefully Steve/Tim/stern reads this, or maybe we should submit the official bug via email?

Anyone have Flipper Fidelity and sound settings they’re happy with?

Installed the Flipping Fantastic Big 10” kit and initially set it to his recommended sound settings. To me, it felt supper tinny and “thin” out of the backbox with very little noticeable bass from the cabinet.

All of the “grunt” from Steve/BK’s voice disappeared as all the bass was filtered out of the backbox speakers, but the frequency of the vocals also gets filtered out from the cabinet sub. It was very sharp and crisp but not thick and full, of that makes sense.

Played with a few settings and put the cabinet sub back to 240 hz which allowed me to perceive noticeably more bass. Also took the backbox bass from 0 to +6 to stop it from being so cuttingly thin.

Overall still not thrilled. One thing I noticed is that I hear/feel very little bass from the cabinet while playing, but if I step a few feet away from the machine, the bass is a lot stronger. Naturally poor acoustics and speaker positioning in the game causes that, I suppose.

Any word on the topper yet?

Only "new thing" I recently spotted is that if you check out Pingame Journal's BKSOR Behind the Curtain video:

you'll hear Tim mention the topper - and get a glimpse of it in early development (scrub ahead to 16:25 and watch for it in a few seconds. But the entire video is really worth watching, so be sure you do!) Looks like more LED flames coming on both sides of what I presume will be an animated 3D Black Knight head per Steve's comments a good while ago. This one is definitely on my to-buy list if they continue along those lines.

Haven't heard much about the side armor in a while either. Then again, I hope that's because they're redesigning it. Those first pics looked like they were phoned in and were not appealing to me at all, thus they are definitely not on my to-buy list.

Joined the Club yesterday after a long wait for my premium Lovin it so far. The game is great fun and all the shots are super satisfying. Not a drain monster either. Owned a bk2000 for 20 years previously so this game is something special for me! So glad Stern created these.

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My first thought on ideas for the next code update would be to make more use of the optos up on the upper playfield. I see and have shot fairly often 3 different loop shots. Would be nice to have some reward/rule layering for these types of loops aswell as the traditional one .

On my diagram (sorry for the quick rough drawing!, need to get back playing, lol!) The white and blue arrows are loops without code (other than 30 points!) the yellow one is the regular loop.
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Also, it would be good to have some reward/alternative use for cycling a ball in the castle lock when lock isn't lit and i'd also like more use of the lock down bar button. Different colours for other stuff aswell as magna save. Nothing feels better than hitting that button!

Definitely agree on the “top loop”. Annoying to bang that shot out 4-5 times in a row and have it give you 0

Anyone else have problems with the lock target on the pro being a drain machine? I'm getting ready to dump the game because it's unplayable.

I always backhand the target, and 80% of the time it drains. And it's always different. Left outlane, right outlane, sdtm.

Infuriating.

Learn to play it better, don't blame the machine. Yeah she can be a killer and that's what makes it so great.

Change your pitch just a bit (either steeper or flatter). It can help sometimes!

Topper screenshot

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I assume it will be a little more finished when it is released...

I noticed in the video from post 1216, Tim states they programmed the knight so his eyes change color. Mine is always red when his eyes light up. Does anyone have the eyes changing color?

I usually have my back legs pretty high but with this pin they are all the way down on all four and its still fast as hell but shot are more manageable, so yeah it could help too.

They change on my LE.

Make sure you are using the new code.

I am using the new code. I have an LE. Any other ideas? I will call Stern this week

Mine are always red but his chin/mouth changes color

Usually I'd say the same thing, but I actually know what I'm doing and that's why it's so frustrating! It's sitting next to BSD and I'd rather play that monster every time over BK.

Great ideas. The blue arrow is definitely a very makable shot. I haven’t tried much of that white arrow loop. They could also add some neat combo rules. I think the main problem with adding additional loop rules is that there’s no inserts to guide you. I guess there could be some text on screen, but it’s unlikely they’ll do anything fancy.

Any word when the next code update will be?

I had a pro and the eyes did change. I sold it when. My le was ready and was disappointed to see the eyes are always red. I'm running 1.0 .
Also I have noted my castle fire is more of a wave pattern rather that random, I was told there have been reports of variances they are looking into.

Hope some of this will be addressed in new updates.
Looking forward to my topper.

Pretty sure eyes are always red on LE ?

I just checked mine is the same. The eyes are always red, But below that it does change color just as newtoit stated. I wonder if the code update screwed that up?

Eyes never were RGB, just the mask

Haven't seen it mentioned anywhere here that I recall, so I'll just ask (and ask advance forgiveness if I missed it): does everyone's Knight raise and lower his shield three times at the new game start - just on Player 1, Ball 1 - regardless of how many credit were rung up/players will be playing? Mine does, but that's the only time it happens.

I never really thought much about it before but it's suddenly begun getting on my nerves ... to the point that I started wondering if it is NOT supposed to do that and I might have something wacky going on. If it is intentional, is it being done as an effect to make the Knight appear "threatening" or "ready to fight the player(s)" at game start and/or demonstrate to the potential first time player that the shield raises and lowers? Seems to be three unnecessary rapid wear-increasing firings of the shield up/down mechanism if it is being done on purpose.

Mine does that. I never noticed it before latest code update tho. I thought it was only when you first boot the machine and start a game. But yeah, pretty sure it's intentional so the knight look intimidating.

Also from the near the end of the video @ 18:54 is a large Black Knight head that I assume is for the topper.

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Yes: only after power-on with the first press of the start button that starts a game - I wasn't very clear (headed) when I posted that last (k)night.

Glad to know it is intentional and there's nothing wrong with my game, but I personally think it's another candidate to add to the list of suggested adjustments so owners and operators can enable/disable it as they prefer.

Any playfield issues on this title?

I know of at least one game on route with minor issues around sling posts. It doesn't have star posts at the slings so the issues are going to be less regardless.

I'm already seeing bubbling around the posts around the center ramp. It'll eventually chip off, I'm sure.

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Pro, Premium or LE?

If others see this, post your model too. It may provide some (hopefully and admittedly) small data we can analyze as to what, where and/when it is/was happening.

I’ve got bubbling just starting around a post on my LE. I have three new sterns and this is the only one showing any clear coat issue

Another quality control thing for people to check.

Kept looking through the rule guide for why the black knight target only counted one out of every two or three hits, but couldn’t find anything.

Finally looked up close and sure enough, the target was mounted so that the right side was jammed into the post rubber just to the right of it. So the target could only physically register if you happened to hit it hard and way on the left side.

Corrected the target and much better now! It actually counts when I hit it.

Before and after pics

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Ok, need to check mine.....

Im looking to upgrade my back box speakers what have people used ?
I've hooked up powered subs to all my games but i would like a little better sound from the back box.
i am thinking about doing this on my iron maiden as well. Are there any people have used from amazon or a stereo shop ? Or pinball specific ?
Thank you...