So this is interesting. My ball is launched straight and centred in the shooter lane. The end of the metal ramp is above the orbit guide rail, so it's not getting caught there at the last moment. Yet when it hits the playfield it just bangs straight into the left orbit guide and ricochets over to the other side. Not sure what I can do here - game is levelled.

Shooter lane view:

Played view:

Ok sorry for all the vids, I think it's the end of the ramp that tilts to the left, hence the ball suddenly firing toward the left orbit guide. It sticks up at the right, but if you push that down then the orbit's right rail will protrude, so I guess I'll have to try raising the left side a little to compensate. It's slight, but I reckon this is the issue hey.

Yea I kind of feel like that is what the shooter problems have been as from all my testing the ball seems to shoot fine from the shooter lane, but once it gets past the little ramp it will rattle in that lane

I just put some foam under the short side (left side) of the ramp and it sits higher now. It’s almost worse now lol. Hmmmmm.

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This is what I did. I made new holes. I know not everyone wants to do this but for me it was necessary and its much much better now.

Can anyone point me to who makes the UFO Mod I have seen on a pic or two in this thread? It sort of looks like the UFO mod for GZ by Stumblr but it is in the back right corner of Elvira.

Any owners still experiencing resets? I thought Stern fixed it with an update recently but one occurred to me when you skip the mode start video.

I got a machine from the run in March. I was experiencing occasional resets, but they seemed to have stopped not too long ago (knock on wood).

These shooter lane protectors are back in stock at Mezel Mods. I just ordered one for my EHOH and also got some for my Godzilla and Deadpool.

PersonX99 was the Pinsider who I got mine from. Looks like the add is no longer listed but you could hit him up and see

FlopTube thanks

Keyword search "UFO" in this thread. There's a couple detailed descriptions. I just ordered parts to do it myself.

Post #8678 is good. Sorry, but I don't know how to link directly.

I added some lighting improvements to Elvira. They all work well with the game's lighting changes and effects. Subtle, but improved. Brings out the artwork.

Cool white strip in the trough tied to lower GI.

Sunlight white strip in the back tied to upper GI.

Spotlights on the lower ramps tied to lower GI. Painted the 4-SMD housings black. Blends in nicely.

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https://www.amazon.com/UFO-Cow-Abduction-Bovine-Light/dp/0762493410/ref=sr_1_1

Think I’ve cured my shooter lane issue. It seemed to be curving left at the last minute so I put some acrylic I had from another mod onto the left side of the shooter lane toward the end. Just blu-tac for testing but it’s launching without rattling in the orbit now. I’ll probably print something a little less crude but this is working a treat now.

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So, I finally installed that gizmo prior to the stream Wednesday. At first, I didn't think it was working because the shaker was squeaking. However, after a few minutes, I realized I didn't hear the squeak anymore. So, I guess it works? (For the record, the weights are in default position and usage is set to maximal.)

Trough light and two spotlights added. Would be great to get the middle of the playfield a bit more lit but don’t think I’m up for pinstadiums…

I wish Stern would tie the insider connect light to the GI. When every light is off, it’s still blinding me (I usually play at night in the dark). Think I’ll move it to the door.

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Interesting. I guess you’d have to keep testing it to be sure but sounds like it helped. I’ll probably get one and give it a whirl

Hello house of horrors owners.
I was asked if I'd consider making one of my "deluxe" "easy to install" armor for house of horrors.

I put up an interest thread yesterday night

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/elvira-hoh-deluxe-armor-interest-thread#post-7589526

looks like we have about 5 of the 10 needed people interested to do it.
if your interested please check out and reply to the thread.

For those of you unfamiliar with my product here's some pics of existing "snap on" armor as well as a prototype cut for the shape of the Elvira armor and the original stern armor that will serve as inspiration. Though I"m going to try to make the armor "3d" with cuts and varying layers of add on material and it won't be a direct copy (probably no spider, the web will be similar but different I may add some other figure or art to replace the spider etc.

I'm also taking ideas for what people would like to see on the armor besides the shape and a spiderweb.

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Add me to the list of owners that were able to fix their VUK aiming by moving the plastic subway underneath that popper assembly to line it up better with the hole. Before adjusting mine wouldn't even think of hitting any of those targets, now it's 100% smacking the top one in the bank of 3.

Thanks to all who figured this out and shared it here!

Quick gameplay question: When the ball enters the lock beneath the trunk from the playfield (as opposed to the ramp), sometimes it locks the ball, but sometimes it just kicks it back out. I think I've even earned an item by locking a ball under there, even with the trunk still closed. What is the method to the madness?

It counts as locking a ball and earning an item. But this doesn't work if you got a mulitball going like from wild women or such, it will just spit the ball back out and doesn't count.

It's just the sneaky way of getting into the trunk without having to open it.

When the skull is lit on the ramp it means a mode is ready, correct? One more shot up the ramp and it should start? I feel a few times I’ve felt a mode is ready to go and I send a ball up the ramp only for it to come back around and have to shoot it again to start. Switch issue maybe or am I missing something?

Yes, when the skull is lit and a window on the house is flashing then a mode is ready. At that point the diverter behind the house should be up so the ball will go into the subway behind the backboard.

When you say the ball "comes back around", where exactly is it going? Is the diverter staying down so it's going out the left orbit? Or is it exiting from the subway into the pops?

I feel like it’s done both. Only happened a few times and I’m not really paying attention because I figured a mode would start. I’ll try to keep a better eye on it

Is the skull light staying on? Cause it flashes when you make a qualifying shot to advance to the haunt, but the skull has to stay lit to be active to start the house.

To add to the GF vs Elvira conversation:

Very different games as others have said. From the 12 or so games I put on GF, I think it is JJPs best game to date and shoots well. GF is harder than Elvira and is more complicated as far as rules go. The multi-balls are plenty in GF

I’d be interested in seeing something gargoyle or film reel related to go with the theme.

My shooter lane is still worthless. The routing does not line up with the ramp, however the ramp can’t really move any further left. Also one of the ramp screws came nicely pre-stripped despite not looking like it. That was one soft as hell screw. Anyway, it doesn’t move left (hits the lane posts), it doesn’t line up. Barking up the wrong tree here?

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Perhaps the wrong tree, my original build does not line up either and I never did anything to it. I can’t recall what all I did early on to fix the ball rattle but I believe I realigned the shooter and turned the gate at the top 180° .

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Thanks - I have flipped the gate which helped - I’ll mess with the shooter a bit more, it looks dead center so I haven’t adjusted it - maybe it needs to be off just a bit to account for the routing.

You can also check the autoplunger and shooter aren’t interfering with each other by using the autopluger button while holding the shooter rod back.

So those who have issues with the shooter plunge, does your auto plunge shoot just right? Cause I get rattle when I plunge myself, but when the auto goes off, it's always shooting smooth and strong without any rattle at all.

Mine was always good with the auto plunge but terrible manually. Well when I say terrible, if I manually plunged at full strength it was fine, and if I did a super soft plunge it was fine, but a medium plunge to hit the back door would never make it and just rattle then dribble down the right orbit.

My two changes were that plastic channel I put on the left of it toward the end, and the gate reverse. It's now good 95% of the time.

Can someone please explain the gate reverse method? Tried searching the thread with no luck.

This is the gate reverse post:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/elvira-s-house-of-horrors-the-owner-s-club/page/222#post-6933214

My auto plunge works well maybe 7/10 times, manual plunge at various powers is always a clunk fest, even with the shooter aligned perfectly. It’s a mystery to me - and having had several other Stern games with this same shooter lane ramp configuration and no issues, I feel like it should be easy to solve.

Thanks Allibaster

I installed a shooterlane protector. Its a long one with a tip reaching into the metal fork. The protector improves the transition alot and since then my plunge is totally fine.

The misalignment is the same as in the above pictures. The routing of the shooterline is not aligned with the metal part...

Which one did you buy?

My house ramp keeps getting stuck on my right gargoyle stand when it raises and cannot lower.

I’ve seen a few mentions of this but cannot find a fix.

My distributor has contacted Stern but in the mean time does anyone have advice on if they had this issue and how it was fixed?’ I essentially can’t play as every time the ramp raises it gets stuck.

I'm also having the shooter lane issue. It seems that it veers left as it goes up the fork, slams into the left side, then hits the right wall (a slow motion vid showed me this). I've tried recentering the fork ramp, but it doesn't seem to do anything.

I too was going to try and lift the left side of the ramp to see if that helps first, but that doesn't look like that is the actual solution. I don't have a 3D printer, so I have to find something similar to what our Aussie friend did above and put something on the left wall (essentially making a more narrow path for the ball) and see if that helps. I'm not sure what to use yet, so hoping I can find something...

This is similar to what Rush did on my LE and had to use the inner loop mod fix that NinjaCamp made and put that in the shooter lane and that fixed it (maybe I can reach out to them and see if buying one will fix this as well), but this is worse imo.

Inexcusable that shooter lane issues are now a thing in these new games.

What the proper way to adjust a standup target? They all work fine, but as you can see in the pic below, the end target is crooked and not aligned properly with the other 2, even the middle one could use a little adjustment.

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This was a problem earlier on in production. The fix was to add a small nylon washer to the right side of the ramp to center the mechanism better. Do you have the washer shown in this post?
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/elvira-s-house-of-horrors-the-owner-s-club/page/22#post-5333500

I had similar problems with my shooter lane and put in the plastic protector from pu-parts/mezel mods and it definitely helped the transition to the metal fork which is not aligned on my machine. I was still having inconsistent plunges. I just stumbled upon what I think may have be another factor, playfield alignment. I adjusted the plunger rod as much as possible by repositioning the shooter housing bracket but couldn't get the tip to be exactly in the middle of the ball since the protector adds height to the lane, but the tip was also off left to right as well. Forgive me if this has been mentioned, haven't seen it, but there is a little play sideways when you put the playfield back into position after raising it, I was able to push the playfield towards the right side of the cabinet as far as it allowed and that was just enough to center to plunger tip on the ball and has completely solved my issues. I now have good plunger power and can modulate it without problem. BTW, my auto plunge was always fine. not sure if this will help anyone but seems to have been the cure for me.

I'm curious. For those with newer builds, does you game have the brackets that Stern used to use to center the playfield. It seems as though they've been left off newer games.
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Edit: *** If not, I would suggest ordering the left and right switch plates and installing them. You'll need screws, too. ***

Build 2-22-23, not on mine.

I'm finding myself with more and more questions about the rationalization of the manufactures nowadays. I have read about how a lot of folks (with photos) saying their Stern builds are getting sloppy, misaligned shooter lanes, sloppy & crooked welds, etc.; is this what we should expect get for a $2000 price increase?

Should a little PR be expected now that we hit this $10k price point on premiums? They have their "Stern of the Union Address"...say something about these quality issues. I suppose once they acknowledge the build issues, the only way out would be a very expensive recall or replacement parts. I don't think its fair for them to expect someone to pay $10k then do their own repair. I expect that on a used machine.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to completely poop on Stern, they have good IP contracts, they crank out the numbers, they are being innovative (insider connect) but they seem to be ignoring a major component why we are pinball fans...we love the mechanics of it all and the careful thought and construction of the machine. The intricacy is a thing of beauty. I have 8 of their machines and 2 more on order. At the moment I intend on going through with my orders because I have a long relationship with my distributor and I respect them. I just think if this goes on, I'm tapping out of Stern...maybe I'll just buy used at least they'll be cheaper and I can verify they don't need fixing before I pay for it.

Lets call a spade a spade, from the silence, it doesn't look like Stern cares anymore.

I wonder just how many people that go on their rants about lack of manufacturing QC and swear their done purchasing any further products from said company actually stop contributing financially. I think that FOMO is just too powerful.

Stern will care when people stop buying games. Has that happened yet?

**chirp**. **chirp**

Can you post a photo of where these are installed? I know I had them on some of my other Stern games but they aren’t on my EHOH and I can’t remember where they go exactly.