That is a great mod for this rare game!

Indeed - the availability of color dots might just talk me into re-buying this machine.

While installing my Colordmd I broke the ribbon cable. I feel stupid, but just wanted to warn anyone else that the underside of where the ribbon cable is plugged into the existing dmd is hot glued to the circuit board. The glue is not initially visible. I should have realized it wasn't easily able to be unplugged instead of pulling too hard on it instead of investigating. Oh well, now I have to wait couple more days for a new cable.

The display didn't come with another cable? They used to always pack a longer one in - maybe that was for whitestar kits.

The glue situation on stern games is all over the map. I've had some where it's a huge glob, and others where they missed the connection completely and it's just a nub on the connector - definitely something to watch out for and be careful with.

thanks for the heads up, my color dmd comes today. went with the LED this time

Just got mine installed.. My display cable was hot glued as well, guessing since only roughly 500 were made they probably did it to all of them. Quick pry with a small flat head screw driver peeled it right up. Usual transfer brackets to new display, liking the LED over the LCD. Took a quick video with a crappy phone mount, but I got most of the screens to show up:

Thanks, toyotaboy!

This is such a tiny little club thread for such a cool game. Enjoyed my CSI while I had it!

I discovered the hot glue Stern used to seal the ribbon cables to the original dmds the hard way too. My first encounter was on Spider-Man, when I nearly broke the cable trying to pull it off, before realizing it was glued. Since then, I’ve added color DMDs to 8 or 10 Sterns from the late 2000’s to now, and most have the hot glue. I take needle-nose pliers and gently pull the glue off before removing the cable. It usually comes off in one piece. It’s pretty common in my experience.

I’m stoked to add a color DMD to my CSI this weekend. One of my all-time fav games. Great toys, great flow (despite some stop/go) and easy to follow rules. I’ve owned mine 2 years and I’ve never completed all 3 multiball modes in the same game to qualify the 50 million shot. I’ve finished 2, but I never seem to hit all the lit shots to finish all 3. The kicker is, each time you fail, it gets harder to finish the mode the next time around. Surprisingly difficult pin to reach the “wizard mode,” which sadly isn’t really that. Given that most high scores on Pinside are under 100 mil, that 50 mil shot is just huge!

Just picked up a CSI for a reasonable sum. Good condition just very dirty. I guess due to the centrifuge. Similar to my Tron.

Photo gives you an idea. Cleaning and LEDs and should come back up good. Had a few games and quite like the rules and features.

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Congrats on your new addition. CSI was one of my first pins, and we still love it. Good rules, fun shots, subtle humor and they did a nice job on the recent color DMD release. The images are much easier to see.

My pin gets dirty from that black rubber mat in the centrifuge too. I have a clear one on my Tron, which is much cleaner. I should put a clear one on my CSI too!

This pin seems simple at first, but it's not easy to complete all three multiball modes to reach the final bonus shot. I have completed 2 of the 3 modes, but never all 3.

Enjoy!

I have the clear disc in my Tron. Quite a fast ball now!
CSI is very chatty though. A lot of narration through the game.

Looking better now. Just side blades to fit.

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Looks good-great game, I love mine.

Anyone install pinwoofer with upgraded speakers on their CSI? Just curious if it improved the sound of this game very much.

I haven’t, but I have my Spider-Man right next to my CSI and just added a Polk subwoofer to that game, and wow, what a difference! That game calls for it more, with intense music and action. CSI seems like one of the more “chill” pins I’ve owned. It’s pretty laid back, with the puns and humor, and jazzy, I guess, music. I would be curious how much boosting the audio would add to it. I may add a sub to my Indy Jones (Stern) which has fantastic movie music.

Changed the T molding on my CSI...

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That looks great! Haven't seen many pictures of the art blades or the color dmd installed, so that's nice to see.

Indeed - the ColorDMD looks _great_. I've been (semi-)seriously thinking about getting another CSI just because of that; having the "RED" and "GREEN" and "BLUE" evidence all on the "screen" in orange always ticked me off.

They did a nice job on the color DMD animations for CSI. I always thought the photo award images were very difficult to discern. With color they are much clearer. It was well worth the cost to upgrade.

Does anyone know if there is a bug when you start fingerprint frenzy and then start centrifuge MB? My machine won't kick out another ball when the ball is trapped in the centrifuge.

I guess I'll tinker with it some more tonight. I don't think I have tried to start skull MB after fingerprint frenzy, so maybe I'll start there. Also try some switch and opto tests. Otherwise, the game has appeared to play as it should.

I am running V 2.4...yet the third line is very similar to what I'm experiencing...

V 02.3 / SYS. 1.52 - 06-August-2009
====================
- Fixed glitching problems with split-screen score display.
- Fixed 'credits' display effect (was not working well with split-score
screen).
- Fixed infinite points bug during centrifuge multiball.
- Fixed problem with background display and lamp effects not running
immediately after the start of a game (there was a small delay, perhaps a
tenth of a second).
- Custom message with flipper paging was not working properly on occasion
- Duty cycle left up post a bit stronger to keep it from falling down via
vibration

I have finally found the solution to my problem. Here is more detailed description that will hopefully help someone else.

I have recreated this multiple times now. Just to recap: I start fingerprint frenzy and then start centrifuge multi-ball immediately after. Then the post comes up and traps the ball in the centrifuge, it says "centrifuge multi-ball" and then it starts generating the jackpot points and never kicks out another ball for multi-ball. If I leave it, it will generate the jackpot points forever (which is why I thought the initial centrifuge multi-ball bug wasn't fixed.) The only way I can get a ball to eject from the trough for multi-ball is if I try and shake the machine to tilt. I also noticed that if I move the ball with my finger while in the centrifuge, this will start the centrifuge multi-ball sequence again and ejects another ball.

I started testing the optos at the entrance of the centrifuge. In switch test, the first opto (""entrance") tested normally. The second opto ("made") was making a rapid fire sound at certain points as my finger ran passed. I also noticed that if I put my finger over the hole where the opto was aimed, it would make the same rapid fire sound. So I unscrewed and lifted the plastic off the centrifuge and tested the optos again. This time they both tested as they should with no rapid fire. The only difference between the two optos was that the "made" opto had a led bulb next to the left-side opto. I removed the bulb and put a flex head in there and the opto stopped the rapid fire sound and now my problem is fixed.

I'm guessing the bulb was too bright and was creating to much light interference or maybe reflective glare off the metal guide of the centrifuge? Either way...

The culprit:

IMG_20210305_190550~2 (resized).jpg

Any CSI a owners here interested in a dust cover?

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Pinkitten do you have any other pictures of the color dmd with the smoothing effect? Color dmd is next on the list and I'm trying to decide between lcd and led.

Just added speaker lights and fingerprint covers.

IMG_20210306_140928 (resized).jpg

Did you check out the vid clips of the led and lcd versions on the color DMD website? They should have video of each. Just click on the CSI lcd or led DMD in the store and scroll down for the video.

I did check that out. If there is a difference in the videos then I can't really tell. I've also read almost all of the forum discussion. What I'm most interested in is the smoothing effect that you can apply on the LCD version and I thought it looked like you had that setting turned on.

I do, it’s the “scan” font setting on the lcd. I prefer that on almost all my pins. It looks pretty great on CSI, and the smoothing effect is cool versus the more evident dots on the led, but people like the led too. I have that one on my SS. If you wanna see a vid of my lcd screen before you decide, I can do that. PM me.

Covered up the back of that opto.

IMG_20210320_171131 (resized).jpg

Hey fellow owners. I have only had my CSI for about a month now but sometimes when the ball hits this fish paper it activates the centerfuge enter opto. Have you had this issue before?

I unscrewed and removed the centrifuge plastic which the optos are connected to and squeezed the optos together a little bit in switch test and they do not appear to have bad solder as I am able to flex them a decent little bit before they register.

I believe that it is possible that the optos are not very well centered in the metal entrance guide in the little holes. So just a little bit of flex will break the opto-beam when the fish paper is hit. That is a possible theory anyways.

Any solutions out there that anyone has tried and has worked?

20210818_174951 (resized).jpg

I've had that issue before and my opto was bad. It registered in test, but would intermittently trigger the centrifuge with any vibration in a game. I even reflowed solder to no avail. I would just replace it.

Thanks for the reply. My optos for the centrifuge register fine in switch test (I also removed the top centrifuge plastic and tested them). It only falsely registers with a direct hit from the ball to that outside fish paper which pushes on the opto board and causes it to trigger as it is breaking the beam with the board bending inward a bit. That is what makes me think it is not an actually an opto issue. Kind of a bad design issue with that fish paper and opto being so close to the skull ramp entrance that it is accessible to a ball hit.

Hello,

Could someone please be so kind as to post a pic of the Solenoid table out of the manual? The manuals on Stern's site seem to be missing that info.

Thanks!

Rob

Is this what you needed?

image.jpg

Yes Sir! Thank you very much, strange Stern cut all that out of their online manuals.

Regards,

Robert

Happy to now be part of the club!!
I was able to get a very nice example from a fellow Pinsider a couple weeks back, and so happy that I did.

I did change a few lights (changed out the clear cool white on the GI for frosted warm whites, and subtracted some blues and greens on the back panel a bit for some more frosted warm whites). Made a couple alternative translites for the game (from Scott at Game On Grafix) and am trying out this one now (seen here in pics). I like to make alt translates, but since there's usually the name of the game everywhere else, my personal preference is to omit the name on the translite and just use a picture.

Also, you'll see in the pics that the one empty hex post that helps hold the right fingerprint spinner...I capped it off with a 3/8" 6-32 screw, which gives it a more completed look (so strange Stern left it like that...). I also added a custom shooter rod and some new flipper rubber.

Anyway, This game is so fun and the shots are so different than any other game that I know of...a very unique game, and I'm loving having it in the collection!!
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I've got a few spare flipper coils 090- 5162-00 if anyone is looking for one. Not sure it is used on other games.

Question for you CSI owners out there.

So my question relates to the placards that are in front of the left (Suspect) and right (Fingerprint) spinner lanes that hold 1 flasher and 1 bayonet bulb each.
Specifically, my question relates to the bayonet bulbs under the flashers.

On my game, I notice that in attract mode, the bayonet lights underneath the flashers are on; however, when you start a game, they go off...ok, I'm not surprised by that.
During gameplay, when the ball goes through the spinner, the flashers flash. However, during gameplay, I notice the bayonet bulbs never come on.

On the right, when I'm in fingerprint frenzy, I would imagine that would be a fine time for the light to come on...and on the left, during suspect shakedown, I'd imagine that the light would come on then as well...but, neither lights ever come on during gameplay...

When the game is over, the bayonet lights come back on for attract mode.

Certainly this doesn't affect overall gameplay, just curious if anyone else has noticed this problem, and if so, if anyone has any ideas how to address it.
Of note, I have not encountered any other notable problems on this game, no error messages, and again, the light is getting ok power because it's on during attract mode.

Thoughts?

Follow-up:
Okay, so I pretty much watched the majority of all available videos out there of CSI gameplay. Turns out those bayonet bulbs by the spinners are just activated during attract mode, only. So...mystery solved.

While one would assume that they would utilize those lights during either fingerprint frenzy or suspect shakedown, it appears as though that was never coded, and thus they have no function at all during gameplay and again, are only activated during attract mode.

New custom alternate translite installed today! I really like the look and design. Thanks so much, ChipScott!

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If anyone is looking for one, I have NOS plastic set available.

Parts - For Sale

NOS CSI Plastic Set Archived

New (selling multiple, business) - “This is a complete NOS set of plastics for CSI. (803-5000-A2)”

2021-12-09

Pittsburgh, PA

SeymorGoldfarbJr

150

Archived after: 45 days

Viewed: 33 times

Status: Not sold: Decided to keep game

Looking for a Collector Quality CSI

I located a nicely upgraded HUO game with features I have never seen before on a CSI machine. In particular the backglass and speaker are completely interactive with the game. For example, when the microscope catches the ball and a color is selected, the backglass goes dark and the outer edge flashes the color selected. Speaker lights also follow the evidence color which makes it easier to track then just the microscope lens itself. Many other mods, but the one stated I have never seen before and I suspect was a homemade mod. Will likely be for sale later this year.

Very cool. Post a video!

Quick Image of the backglass when Green Evidence is selected. Also, Speaker lights follow the evidence.

vs220304-001 (resized).jpg

Blue and Red follow the same way.

vs220304-002 (resized).jpg

Also interactive throughout game. This is a quick image of when Skull MB starts and it goes dark. Obviously video is far more dramatic, but it looks like I cannot post video directly on Pinside and I do not use YouTube.

vs220304-003 (resized).jpg

Awesome custom interactive lighting!

Would like to see how it is tied into game, can you take pic of under pf and backbox?