Are there any expected long-term disadvantages to having the monitor and amp on continuously, and if so can someone provide a link to this smart power strip?

no issues the amp will be in standby just like any other amp you might have in your house, just waiting for a signal to power back up. The monitor will go into standby/hibernation like your computer does.

Lots of smart power strips will do the job:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0006PUDQK/ref=mp_s_a_1_5

For ccc, I plugged the pc into the main port in the smart power strip. The pinball and all the computer components into controlled jacks. The smart power strip into the wall. Then I installed an arcade push button wired to the pc power switch under the cabinet where the power switch should go. Now you can power it in and off hitting they button. And you can kill power at the wall after. The bios in the pc is set to come on automatically on power failure if you want a wall phased switch to power things up.

Mark, you should be using a CSSC in your CCC!

http://scottdanesi.com/WP/?page_id=398

--Scott

Not familiar with the amp's power saving features. (It's... it's... it's not for me.) If it's the type that actually shuts down when a signal isn't present then the effect of having it be on all the time should be really negligible. If it doesn't have that feature then it'll be continuously on. It's a class D amp, so that wouldn't be all that terrible; a smidge of power and heat would be kicked off but nothing major.

Monitor being on all the time should also be relatively negligible. It *does* have power management (a.k.a. "energy star") so it hibernates whenever it doesn't see a signal. Again a few parasidic watts wasted over time, but nothing all that big.

To really fix the "I want to be able to kill only from the wall switch" problem properly, you'd need to use a UPS that supports monitoring via USB. A monitored UPS will shut itself off once the computer signals that it's down, saving the rest of the battery. Cheapest I could find in a quick search is http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.aspx?sku=664730 . (Can probably find something somewhat cheaper if you looked for sales, but outside of a model year refresh blowout I wouldn't expect < $50.) It's way too much battery for what the computer actually needs, but they only make them so small with monitoring.

If you got a UPS without monitoring the UPS would have to fully discharge each time you killed the power. That'd lead to a UPS that lasted a month, two tops. (UPS batteries really don't like being deep cycled that many times!)

I've started an instruction card. Here are my simplified rules. Any suggestions?

Skillshot: Shoot the lit value for 5X Super Skillshot

Multiball: Shoot ball up shuttle ramp, enable locks in heartbeat ramp, lock balls up shuttle ramp & start multiball

Jackpot: Shoot the shuttle ramp during multiball. 5 jackpots enables Super Jackpot at the scoop

Power Charge: Shoot the scoop during multiball to enable Power Charge. Hold both flippers to score Power Charge and increase bonus

Small Wheel Modes: Shoot the scoop to start a mode
Move Your Shuttle: Shoot the loops left to right
G-Force Challenge: Shoot right loop
Space Station Dock: Shoot the spinner
Fueling Frenzy: Shoot the jets
Return to Base: Shoot the left loop to light Extra Ball
Mission Control: Light rollovers to light Extra Ball

It's a pretty good start. Perhaps add to the modes:
Small Wheel Modes: Shoot the scoop to start a mode, halo lights show progress.

I wonder how much more will be added to the rules. We may need to rework the cards so the mode section just says to shoot the indicated shots to complete the mode.

You're going to need a larger apron to fit a card that big.

Here's what I have on my game currently, which reflects my understanding of the rules so far.

http://pinballmafia.net/temp/bop2.0_1091b.pdf

Darn so close to having it installed.
Shouldn't my power strip have the crimp connectors instead of a plug?
No big deal, I can go to AutoZone and get them. Just a bummer.

This is what I got. You might want to check your kits.

20150205_194700.jpg

If your machine has a service outlet inside, then you can just plug it up to that. I received an email back in Jan. asking if my machine had a plug inside or not.

Brad,
I apologize, this was my fault. I must have sent you the wrong surge protector. You can either get the crimp connectors yourself, or I can send them to you. Another option would be to install the service outlet in your machine while you have it open. Please send me a note.

Thanks man,
--Scott

You have a reimport.

I didn't even know you could install a service outlet if the machine did not have one. That's pretty cool. I see that marco has the part that just clips into the empty slot. I may do that when I "restore" my game.

Marco has it? I was looking everywhere but didn't see it. I ended up getting some from amazon.

Anyone suddenly start having ball trough issues on 2.0? On mine, it suddenly stopped recognizing when the ball had drained. Since 2.0 doesn't have a switch levels test(future update?), I had to go into 1.0 diagnostics where all trough switches were registering closed appropriately. All worked normally is switch edge test also, including in 2.0 diagnostics. I'm sorta stumped.

Does the trough work properly in 1.0?

I have that problem as well. I am finally going to receive my connector rebuilds today so I will let you know if it fixes the problem. I think it will because a lot of times a hard coin door slam will fix it (my tilt and slam tilt don't work either) and one time after multiball I had all three balls waiting to be kicked over so I took the back glass off and lightly touched my connectors and it started working again. Maybe the P-ROC is a little more sensitive to a crappy connector?

Actually, it did start kicking out 2 balls into the shooter lane again, but always recognizes when the ball drains.

That sounds like you may have a flaky switch somewhere in there that the P-ROC is not picking up properly. I would look around and check for any cold solder joints or switches that may be unreliable.
--Scott

is there a minimum switch closure time for it to register in the p-roc or software side? I had issues with 2 switches that worked perfectly in the original BoP and emulated 1.0 that were flaking in 2.0. Both would actuate normally with a ball rollover but an bouncing ball from the wireform or 100K skill shot would often not trigger correctly in 2.0, Both of these would actuate very late, with the wire almost all the way down to the PF in testing. adjusting the switch to actuate sooner, which would also hold the switch closed longer, cleared the problem.

Sounds like a switch test in BOP 2.0 would be helpful. Wonder how hard it would be for them to add. All we need is something that you go to that would make a sound when it's registered. This is good info. While putting my game back together I'm going to make sure to make sure all my switches activate fairly early in the stroke.

The P-ROC's matrix scan times are configurable, with minimum loop times faster than BoP 1.0. Debouncing is handled the same way as BoP 1.0. The switch circuits use a comparator with a 12v reference similar to the original CPU board. Switch states and state changes are stored in the P-ROC to avoid any bus latency issues, and they're sent as events back to the host for processing.

Software can of course add additional debouncing, but that's typically only necessary for ball bouncing (ie. ball settling in VUKs) and not for mechanical switch debouncing (with some execptions).

- Gerry
http://www.pinballcontrollers.com

Yet, if all 3 trough switches are appropriately registering closed, why doesn't the game end the ball?

I am not sure about that, but will definitely look into it. Interesting find.
--Scott

http://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/180-5008-01

Thanks Scott. It is hard to define what a flaky switch is when it tests ok in diagnostics.

You know what? I think they asked me that too a while back. I must have said yes, I have the service outlet and that is what I used. That was actually easier.

Scott, you didn't make a mistake after all.

She's alive.

Played for about an hour last night. I am really liking everything. I even played 1.0 and yes the sound was distorted some, but I really didn't see a much of a lag.

I did have one thing happen in 2.0 that I am going to try to track down.

It had to do with the sequence of locking the balls. Here is what I did...
Heartbeat ramp lock 1, shuttle ramp ball locked, heartbeat ramp lock 2, heartbeat ramp lock 3, shuttle ramp locked ball 2. At this point 2 balls were locked and the game hung. I repeated this twice.

If I did it in order, Heartbeat, shuttle, heartbeat, shuttle, heartbeat, shuttle then I was able to lock all 3 balls and go into multiball. I repeated this twice too.

I will double check the switches and see if something is flaky.

Sounds like the switch entering the face is flaky.

That's what I thought too but I checked all the switches in test mode and during game play and they all seem to be registering well.

It looks like the real issue is that the ball is not getting locked when it should. The ball rolls out of the face, stops then says locked and then the coil drops and releases the ball, but the game still thinks there is a ball there. It is pretty consistent.

I made a short video and put it on YouTube.

Curiouser and curiouser. My ball trough problem vanished just as mysteriously as it appeared. Will see how long it takes to come back....

Anyway to resize the DMD on BoP 1.0? It doesn't fill the entire screen when it pops up.

Well I installed new connectors and once I got the old ones out I noticed there was quite a bit of acid damage on them. When I got the game it had no boards so that may explain why the previous owner decided to remove them... Anyway with the new connectors everything seems to be working fine, the only problem I have is the occasional extra ball being kicked out. I am running the latest beta now (1.091) and I think I read other people having the extra ball problem so its probably on the radar already. I just use it as a free multiball!

It's running pinmame. You might be able to hook up a mouse, right click and show window border then resize. You might be able to go into regedit and configure the DMD position and size there.

It should fill the whole screen, the DP folks use some piece of software to blow it up to full size. Drop them a line, they should be able to sort you out.

Wasn't this a problem with the original version of software but fixed in 1.09 (most USA kits shipped with this though vs 1.08.

Good point, the very early releases had the little itty-bitty display...

it does not fill the entire display, it fills about the same size as the original displayin the 1.09x versions. The 1.08's were tiny

Just finished the alpha test of a stats display on my BOP2. I use a lightweight web server to read the existing database and serve the information.
Screenshot_2015-02-07-14-34-22.png

Future Pages:
Daily High Scores
Trophys Per Player

Limitations:
This is all it does so far
I am not good at art
The database is specific to the version, Newer releases will require an update to the path to read the db
The timezone appears to be set to dp headquarters, anything that displays a time will need to be adjusted to the local timezone
Several apps need to be installed to make this work.

If you are interested in more info let me know. Since this is a mod to an expensive product I wont be doing any sort of public release. If you are interested in adding this to your machine I can help and share.

Cheddar, an official version of similar functionality is very close to release. So maybe users should wait with your mod because the official one doesnt require a local web server and has some more features (though still basic at launch).
That's not to say I discourage custom stuff like this, nice job so far!

Cool, I'll wait for the release

You guys will not be disappointed!

As Koen said earlier, please be careful installing anything on these PCs as it could potentially have negative effects on performance.
--Scott

So porn is fine right?

Can you add an option to set your local time zone so the Times are displayed locally?

hey Cheddar!

nice Grand Champion Score

do you try to get me ?

would be cool to see the results at the BOP2.0 also

I haven't been able to get back there all week. I'm lucky if I can get into the high 20s. Now I have something to strive for. My heartbeat shot is really tight so that slows me down. I have never been great at the scoop shot either so I spend alot of time trying to hit those 2 shots and it is reflected in my recent scores.

I'll catch you soon enough.

he he!

ad city and country, then we would get a nice player list