Quoted from slochar:
Extra ball fix is in beta test right now for DF. Added a couple other options, one to carry the bonus ladder over, one to step the bonus up like the original software did before the first fix.
The first fix where the description didn't match the manual might have been a bit hasty - it could be interpreted in two ways, especially after disassembling the code. The text in the manual reads "The bonus points are acquired by knocking down individual drop targets" - which led me to believe (10 years ago or so) that the awarding of a bonus step on only the lit X bank was incorrect, leading to the first fix (on ipdb) of adding a bonus step regardless of which drop bank was lit.
Of course, there are other ways to build bonus NOT covered in the manual - lit standups award them as do the inlanes.
Back on track, there is also code in the original software to ALWAYS add a bonus step on a drop target, AFTER 7x is lit. So, with the first fix in place, if you got 7x, you would get TWO bonus steps per drop. That's called me introducing a bug.... I'm PRETTY sure I got IPDB the updated version after that, with JUST one step per regardless of multiplier max status. However, the fact that it was coded like that means that I now think that they INTENDED it to only be on the lit bank, and just neglected to stick it in the manual. The manual was probably type set ages before the game went into production. Hence, why I added it back into the code via a dip option (I eliminated the max credits option, it's always 99, to get some free dip switches.)
So, what OTHER things do owners think should be considered for the code? I think carrying the bonus ladder over is an interesting variant, because you can still turn off the bonus multiplier carrying over but still reward the player for doing well. (The bonus multiplier ends up trumping almost anything else if you carry it over and get 5x-7x and rip the spinner, there's where your points are going to come from. If you carry the ladder over instead there's more incentive to keep shooting the drop banks down).
The extra ball bug happens because the game has too many ways to add balls (this was later stern and the 'add-a-ball' option frenzy, which in certain combinations can totally break Split Second - it's possible through an innocent setting of dip switches on SS to get endless extra balls). The fix essentially removes extra balls, but needs to be tested as well with extra balls disabled, specials enabled, so that you can still get specials. That I am still working on.
Oh, and the end of game animation/sound effect where you can't actually restart the game in the middle, has been eliminated. That one always drove me crazy, because as all dragonfist owners know, it's not like the game takes more than a minute or 2, and you want to drop kick the credit button and fist again.
Oddly, the playfield plastic everyone has that's broken was intact on mine. Moot point since CPR can repro them on demand now.
I'm seriously considering adding a drop bank sweep bonus like flight 2k has, but not actually SCORE anything extra - just make that cool 25k completion sound from Big Game (I love that sound). Oh, and do SOMETHING about the horrible background sound. The thump-thump-thump component of it isn't too bad, but the pacmany-type siren sound has gotta go.
Oh, and speech, but only if I have an extra VSU100 laying around.....
