After a couple of years of trying I am happy to say I am now a member. I bought a machine that looks fantastic but I need to troubleshoot a couple of problems to get it up and running. One question right off the bat, I thought that my left ramp was broken as it has a gap in the left side but looking at photos of others I think it is supposed to be this way. I am just curious how the ramp is supported on the left side as it is just resting on the sheet metal bracket at that point and it can just float around vs. being screwed down. Photo attached, please advise if this is correct of if something is missing. I am also curious if the playfield is original, it looks absolutely perfect which had me thinking it was a reproduction but then i saw the Jan 1993 stamp on the edge and I am having second thoughts, perhaps this has never seen an arcade? I have attached a photo of that and the barcode on the playfield, if anyone has clues as to origin I would love to know. Thanks!

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Thanks Fifty , I will line those up (I did wonder what those holes were for on my Diner!). Here's some more shots. The cabinet is new with vinyl graphics vs paint but looks amazing. It has the Mike D hologram mod but I have taken it out, it is not getting power and the flippers are not working so I think there is a broader electrical problem to figure out. I'm sure I will have some questions on that. Another question (one of many), the black sockets in the backbox are mostly empty, not sure why, are these different than the white ones? Thanks.

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Hi, if you mean edge lighting, no, it was not working. The red light on top was working but not the lighting around the edge. I haven't tried to look at that yet or even if it is connected properly (theres a bundle of wires and a little box all zip-tied together). I will disconnect it for now until I get further. I have another thread on the go to help diagnose the problem (no success yet...) https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/no-flippers-but-work-in-test-menuwpc#post-6135882

I am happy to say I am now up and running with a beautiful machine! I thought I would share my troubleshooting experience with the VUKs. When I got the machine, the flippers were dead and the lower VUK was firing continuously, balls wouldn't load at the bottom or eject into the shooter lane, lights were out in the backbox. After fixing a couple of broken wires and reseating all the connectors, the remaining problem was then whenever the lower VUK fired, the machine would reboot and sometimes blow fuse F5. After swapping the wires on the VUKs, the problem remained with the lower one. I took the coil out, it looked new. I decided to order another and when I checked the manual I realized that the upper and lower coils were in the wrong place, ie the upper one was AE-26-1200 and the lower was AE-23-800. The manual says they should be opposite. On closer inspection I found that due to the bigger diameter of the yellow -800 coil, it was such a tight fit in the metal housing of the VUK that it was rubbing on the housing and over time had worn through the paper and wire insulation and was shorting to the bracket when it fired, hence the reboot and blowing fuse. I temporarily taped the coil while I order a new one, installed them in their proper locations and everything is working perfectly. The photos below show the -800, it's damage, and the green -1200 now in the correct spot with lots of clearance to the bracket. Thanks to everyone in the other thread here ( https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/no-flippers-but-work-in-test-menuwpc) who pointed me in various right directions through the process. Now to get the Mike D mod reinstalled and tested...

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I had a similar problem, check the wires on connector J604. I had a bad connection of wire J604-2 to the pin and it was causing tons of "static" on the display and eventually the display periodically going completely blank.

Hey Folks,
Every time my pop bumpers fire, I am getting a burst/pop of static through the speakers. It's volume follows the sound volume of the machine, ie. if I turn the volume up, the static is lounder, down it is quieter. I have only had the machine for a few weeks and not sure if I didn't notice it before but I can't unhear it now. Is this a common problem?

I checked the diodes, they seemed fine. I eventually disconnected that board altogether and it made no difference. Each pop bumper makes a slightly different sound as well, the one on the right being the loudest. After a bunch of messing around I have found that I get a similiar but fainter static sound when the sling coils fire and nothing from the flippers, outhole or the VUK's. I also noted that none of the coils have diodes across their terminals, I don't know if this is normal or could contribute. Any ideas?

Does anyone have info on the proper factory parts for the playfield trunnions on the Creature? A previous owner has jury-rigged mine but it's pretty poor, some rubber that is zip-tied to the pins. I can't find anything in the manual explaining these parts so I would appreciate any insight into the right parts and hopefully where I can find them. Thanks!

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For the inexperienced like me, where do folks get the artwork for reconditioned cabinets? That one looks amazing!

Bicycle spokes have worked pretty good for me.

As I was tinkering with my machine tonight, I noticed a small (~1/2"long) metal spacer screwed to the underside of the ramp that exits at the left inlane (the "right ramp"). It is just under the swimmer sticker on the whirlpool ramp. It is just suspended in space and doesn't screw to a post or anything else (see photos). Is this correct? That ramp is supported at the entrance and at the exit but is unuspported along its entire length. Everything works great, it just seems odd. Thanks.

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Here’s a question for the pro Creech players. How do you stop or control the ball coming down the right inlane? I can’t stop it and just have to try a moving shot and hope for the best. Not a successful strategy so far…

I am having an intermittent problem, when I first turn on the game, often the PAID rollover lanes do not register anything. I have tried manually activating all 4 of the switches and nothing happens. If I end the game and start a new one, all the switches work. If I power down and restart, typically they all work as well. All the switches work fine in the test menu. Thoughts?

One came up in Ottawa on Kijiji, check it out here:

https://www.kijiji.ca/v-toys-games/ottawa/creature-from-the-black-lagoon-pinball-machine/1580233356

I am having a strange problem with my Creature, today when I turned it on, it made a sound like a ringing telephone that lasted for about 10 seconds. It froze and was unresponsive. I cycled the power and this problem happened several times and then it booted and played normally. Now it is booting but still making the ringing noise. Any idea what this is?

Mission accomplished - thanks. Before I reseated the cables, after the telephone ring it was like the sound was playing at about 20% speed for other sound and music, very weird.

On the subject of lighting, is there a way to achieve proper dimming of GI LEDs on this game and maintain the chase light function of the ramps? I like the brightness of the LEDs but not the flicker when it is dimming. Reading about OCD boards it seems like they will kill the chase light effect but maybe it's been solved. Thanks.

I downloaded the latest .zip file but the date on the pin2dmd.pal file (which I think is what I have to copy to my SD card) says June 22, 2019. Is this correct or am I somehow getting the original file? Thanks so much for this work, I love the original and can't wait for this update!

UPDATE! I was looking in the wrong place (twice!), the correct file is here:

https://vpuniverse.com/forums/files/file/7707-creature-from-the-black-lagoon-64-colour-real/

Now to get it installed...

Thanks for the update, Slippi, it looks amazing!

For folks in Canada, see Dino here:

https://www.pinballrevolution.com/threads/pin2dmd-replacement-colour-led-dmd-panels-128x32-smaller-de-128x16-panels-and-larger-192x64-also-available.9685/

I got my display from him, plug and play with excellent install support.

I am having a problem with the left flipper sticking "on". I think I have traced it to the spring around the shaft shown in the photo, I think the coils of the spring are locking up when it is compressed (I think there may be two springs on top of each other). Checking the manual I don't see any spring in the diagram or parts list yet it is present on both flippers and also on my Diner machine. Is a spring needed in this location?

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I'm looking for some electrical troubleshooting help. I was having some spontaneous game resets (when flipping both flippers) that I was previously able to temporarily fix by reseating connectors J101 and J114. That was no longer working so following the Pinwiki guide, I replaced the header pins on those two connectors and repinned them with trifurcon pins. The pins on J101 were really rough looking. The reset problem is gone (yay!) but when I connected everything back together, I noticed that the GI lighting under both of the slings is not lit. I was tracing wires around and noticed a white-violet wire running to J119. When I touched J119 (which is on a bit of a jaunty angle like the header pins are bent downwards), both VUK's started firing. I was able to repeat the problem by wiggling J119. The GI lighting did not come back on (or flicker). I'm trying to figure out if there is any relationship between these two problems. I am thinking at minimum I need to replace header pins on J119 and repin that connector but I'm hoping for some thoughts on whether this relates to the GI lighting somehow. Note that my machine had Mike D's video mod which introduces a bunch of stuff down by the coin door interface board which J119 apparently feeds. Any advice out there?

Update - I replaced header pins and put a new connector on J119 which fixed the VUK problem. As I was plugging everything back in I found a broken wire on J120 which has now fixed the GI lights. The broken wire was from a previous repinning job someone did and they way over-crimped the pin, maybe with pliers, and did not capture any insulation in the outer part of the crimp. I am getting the feeling I should just repin all the connectors and be done with it but I would miss out on all the troubleshooting fun.

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I vigorously agree, with the latest Pin2DMD firmware to 256 colours the animations are amazing and the bugs of previous versions have been fixed.

Do you have the MRS (Magnetic Reed Swtich) from Sonic installed or are you trying to cover the original microswitch. The MRS is so small I didn't see the need for a cover (see below) although you still see the connector for the lights on the bowl. I'm not sure the Swinks cover will work on top of the microswitch as it looks like it needs to fit flush with the top of the bowl where the microswitch would mount.

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I am using the v5 ROM with the Mike D mod and it seems to be working normally. What behaviour are others seeing?

If you are good with soldering go with an NVRAM, get rid of the batteries for good!

Check out connectors J119, J120, and J115. I had problems with low voltage resets and with the VUK's firing spontaneously and redoing these connectors solved all the issues. I am running the Mike D video mod but nothing else.

Contact @dzorbas, he supplies PIN2DMD displays, I have put one in my Creech and AFM and they are awesome. He is very responsive and provides great after sales support for install etc.

It's an amazing upgrade to this machine, the latest animations and colour of the display are fantastic.

ColorDMD or PIN2DMD- amazing in this game.

I went right down the middle with purple caps and green LED rings and I think it looks awesome when the game is on or off.

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I have the Mike D mod and it works fine with the 5.0 ROM on my machine, maybe I just got lucky?