I don't see 2.96. Am I missing something? Went to support-downloads-Hobbit. Shows delta 2.0>2.01

This sounds like an initialization issue with the communication to the I/O board. For example, the game checks the plumb bob tilt switch at power up to make sure it isn't stuck closed.

Check that the USB cable to the I/O board is seated at both ends.
--Ted

Meant to check last night but is the bug fixed whereby a lit ball save followed by a left outlane drain doesn't always give another ball? Instead the next ball is put into shooter lane and counted as the next ball. Same question regarding shooting right ramp when a lit load arrow insert does not divert ball and is dropped in the outlane to drain instead?

I had a similar issue earlier. I think there's some web content caching happening somewhere. I refreshed the page a couple of times and eventually the new content was displayed.
--Ted
hobbit_download_screenshot (resized).jpg

Cleared cache and it showed up...Thanks!

Will do thanks!

Excellent and very quick update Ted, Thankyou.
Sure do miss that Dwarf Horn

You're welcome. I miss it, too. I might install it as a ring tone on my phone.
--Ted

I liked the dwarf horn myself but hey it's a community not a pin just for me. Ha ha ha

It's still in there, but only in one place, and it alerts you to a shot from the upper flipper.
The sound will play when the ball exits from the pop bumpers and either of these two shots are lit:
- Captive ball (lights kickback)
- One of A-R-F target for a Barrel Kick

--Ted

Ha ha ha you took the bait you said no more talking about the horn see what I did - ha ha ha.

I’ve just put it as ring tone on my phone!
Can’t wait to go to work tomorrow and hear it on the hands free sitting in traffic with the windows open !
The Hobbit is a game that just keeps on giving Ted

Anybody tried the dongle adventures on TH? Doesn't the stick unlock a timed game with certain objectives? Maybe Ted can comment on it's deployment on TH / any improvements with the code update?

A couple of issues

1) Bilbo insert not lit red at game or ball start. It starts blinking after I have played a mode and continues appropriately until the ball ends. Then not lit or flashing until mode played again.

2) on the stream, as after a mode ball lock or sneak in, Eric said th ast if you hold the right flipper, ball will exit right VUK and if hold left flipper ball will exit left VUK. I can't get this to work. Am I wrong or is there a setting to enable this?

Anyone else with these issues in 2.96?

15313521856913595982898169067775 (resized).jpg

I checked the USB cable and found that the slack in it was tied up very tightly in the harness with its bundled loops crushed and flattened hard. It looked nice but raised some concerns.

I checked the cable while flattened and got 100 ohms but, continuity was good

I removed the cable and straightened it out and made graceful loops to take up the slack, got 3 ohms on the meter.

It probably wont affect the circuit too much, but the assemblers might need to be updated on proper wiring or USB and Data cables.

No more plumb tilt error, hobbit drops error gone for now.
Dragon head error persists but is inconsistent and does clear after running tests.

The game has 536 plays on it.

I will probably have to inspect the right limit switch (it seems to respond differently than the left, slightly flaky) on the dragon head as there is no binding at all.

The head does shudder in the center sometimes during startup.
I dont know what causes the shudder.

I'm not sure Hobbit has this. If available the dongle would have to be purchased from Jersey Jack Pinball in New Jersey.

If you put it in your game. And if you turn it on. And if you ever turn it off. BACK UP YOUR SETTINGS FIRST.

I put it in my WOZ to learn for tech support. Turned it on. Hey cool. Turned it off. And settings were MUCKED UP ! Monkey disabled, couldn't insert more than one credit and play one game at a time. And who knows what else was all F'D up. I got tired of discovering new things not working and did a factory reset and then tried to remember all the regular adjustments I'd made.

Backing up settings would have be way easier. Turn Pindemption off, reinstall settings. Done.

LTG : )

My turn for a big JJP thank-you, this update is amazing.
I’d also like to see another setting on the “journey status update screen for: “advance only with flipper press”
The mode info screens have too much info for me to take in in the 20 seconds, I’d like to flip through at my own pace.

Thanks again, amazing work, great game even better, always been on board

Can someone explain what makes this code update so good? Does it prevent the long playing super boring mb all day long? That was my biggest complaint as it's a beauty with the sounds to match

All of the above.
Although I've never seen the game to be boring, a little multi-ball heavy perhaps.
The points are all mode based now so you have to play the modes, multi balls mean less at this point.

Although in any game I guess you could mindlessly say hit the same ramp over and over again all day long.

In any game you get out of it what you put into it.

All I can say is with these last two code updates the game has really blossomed into something more world class. I'm really very excited about the next few updates it should push this game over the top just like code updates did with Wizard of Oz.

You can now prevent the stacking of Smaug and beast multi ball. Significantly reduces the super long MB.
A lot more information available to the players for what to do. This has helped me a lot. It does not feel like one big ball bashing game. I can now process the information better to know what to shoot for and I am seeing far more of the game depth already.
Modes are more important and more in play. I am seeing and hearing far more in the mode play.
More Smaug call outs.

"Although in any game I guess you could mindlessly say hit the same ramp over and over again all day long."

So true. Watch pros play Whitewater in a tournament. They make one of the greatest pins out there into a two shot snore fest. Hobbit is now as much an adventure as you want to make it with no two games ever the same.

Seriously? Can somebody confirm this?

I tried that a few times and I didn't find that functioning that way either. I think it is still random.

I can

Didn't know this feature either until JJP mentioned it at the last stream.
But since then, everytime I tried it worked just fine.
As soon as the ball drops in the book lock mode sink hole, hold down left or right flipper button, until the VUK shoots the ball as prefered.
If you're fast enough pressing and holding the desired button everything is working as promised
Don't know how much time there is to chose the direction before the system randomises it.

Btw, hello everyone
I'm new to the community and this is my first post in this forum.

The game shown in your photo has MAN qualified, and Flashback lit. Shooting the right ramp will start the mode, not add the Bilbo qualifier. Thus the Bilbo arrow lamp is off.

(If I were to change it to spot Bilbo before starting the mode, then it would randomize the lit mode, which would be confusing. And we don't spot qualifiers while a mode is running.)

--Ted

You have to be holding a flipper button as the ball triggers the switch at the entrance to the back tunnel, because there isn't much time to decide where to divert the ball. If no buttons (or both) are pressed, the ball is directed to the side opposite from the previous trip.

This functionality has been in the code for over two years, by the way.
--Ted

Hmm, I must have missed that page in the instructions

What a Game! Sooo much happening

LOL Same here! I didn't know! Wow. That's cool. You can line up shots a lot more this way. Interesting.

I missed the instructions too.

Yeah, well, I threw that in as a "hidden" feature, but I guess it was too subtle to be easily discovered.
--Ted

Omg Ted,
You do subtle too ? (Que Dwarf Horn Sound ).
Are you going to be steaming tomorrow?

No, his office is air conditioned.

LTG : )

With Kim? :

Running 2.96 code and ..... where did mode locks go? I changed prevent mb overlap to yes and then installed one of the presets. Since then no mode locks. Is there a setting to adjust?

Yeah that’s a setting now. Maybe the pre-set you picked turns it off?

I thought I read some rumors that 3.0 is being streamed today? Does anyone know if that's true?

I am told that the plan is to show Pirates today. I'm not sure where the Hobbit 3.0 rumor started, but because of all the feedback we still have a few last things to put in.

--Ted

Cool. Thanks Ted!

Been away on vacation and just got to download and play a few games on the new code. What great additions have been added. Takes the game to new levels. Thank you Ted.
Question anyone: I see that mode starts are qualified immediately and also right after completing or playing a mode. I looked at settings and this is default. Was it always like that?

You're most welcome.

With "Book Mode Difficulty" at the default setting of '4', a mode qualifier is added at ball start. Starting a mode removes its associated qualifiers. Neither the default setting, nor the behavior has changed from 2.00.

--Ted

POTC is being streamed or steamed today 9pm uk so I think that’s 3pm eastern and 4pm central. But forgive me I’m just a tourist

Had some similar audio problems as other have listed. No voice call-outs, low volume etc.

I removed the ground loop isolator that I had installed early on for popping and hum.

Problem went away immediately.

Hobbit drops still plagues the startup on this code.
Running tests for 9 cycles doesnt always clear it.

The game plays perfectly in spite of the listed error with no drop target issues.

Other than this little annoyance the game is light years ahead of where it was.

The dwarf horn is thankfully way better implemented now in 2.96.
Im actually using it as intended to look for shots from the upper flipper!

Could use some meaningful call outs to guide us during Smaug mulitballs and mini wizard modes. Its pretty chaotic and having a spotter or game call outs helps out a lot.

Can wait for more updates!

4pm Eastern and 3pm Central

LTG : )

And as mentioned, this will be POTC not TH. Clock is - t minus 30 minutes.

check_switch_26 and JJP Team - 2.96 code is excellent! and I thank you.

There is an omission which I've mostly held my tongue about, but I am bringing up now in hopes in will be embraced and implemented. It is probably easy to do and it impacts players strategy in a big way. Heck you can claim it was planned all along, just get it done, please. You guys are JJP software engineers and there is little you can't overcome. With the change I'd say the code was perfect and I can see you continuing to sell many thousands more TH over the years.

To Do - 1) add mode lock save option in menu and 2) display # balls in mode lock on the screen display at all times. So if you locked 2 mode balls and started Smaug MB, when it's over you currently start over at zero balls locked for a mode. With proposed changes the saved # of balls whould be displayed and once you start a mode those balls would get added into play. Right now strategy is limited to working towards either ramp locks or mode locks but both doing both are a waste of effort. Also now you can't readily see the # of balls saved in mode lock.

Item #2 is already in the works. I'm just trying to decide how to place them on the screen.
hobbit_mode_balls_locked (resized).jpg

Item #1 will take some thought. If I understand you correctly, you feel the mode balls locked are "wasted" because you would have had a multiball during the mode without them because of the Smaug MB, so you'd rather save them for the next mode.

With your suggested change, you'd be forfeiting the chance at Treasure Hunt at the end of the mode and multiple balls in play.
--Ted

P.S. Reminder that I'm keeping tabs on things here: Hobbit software 2.95+ discussion.

Seeing all kinds of new things this code is so deep. Saw a light at Radagast and hit the shot it told me I completed the MAN modes and gave me a free Akenstone. Also like the Arkenstone callouts! Master code.
By the way, having trouble going from 2.95 to 2.96. Anyone else? It's just a delta upgrade right?

Ted,

Unable to post to 2.95 thread so offering suggested improvement here. Grace period for restarting a timed out mode is my favorite new feature. It really adds fun trying to restart a mode during the short window before it expires. Currently the insert associated with mode goes dark after mode ends. Problem is there is no indication that mode can be restarted or where to shoot. This is exhilarating now because it is a secret, but if you didn't know the rule, you'd be left in the dark. Suggestion - have the insert light blink during the grace period instead. This gives all players the info they need to know and maybe will create extra excitement for them trying to restart a mode during a short timed period.

I have a suggestion I hope you will consider. Many times I have triggered the "extra ball by hitting the roaming target" feature while locking a ball or starting smaug multiball. Would it be possible to pause the roaming target when this occurs? Currently, you lose a lot of time waiting for the ball to return to the flipper from the lock.