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You might be thinking of trough eject. Default for me was 240 and I dropped it to minimum value of 176 w/o issues

Maybe what you're adjusting is the Trough Eject?

Look at the top of any page in this thread for "TOPIC INDEX" - click that. Click Keypost summary on the heading to sort by subject, then look on the index for the TECH:PLAYFIELD section for the ones that have to do with ball launch, etc. Click the one you want and it will take you to that post.

yes, that’s it… I dropped to 180 and no issues until recently.

When I do manual plunger (shooter rod?) - ball goes where it should “most” of the time. When it auto ejects it doesn’t anymore…

Anyone know how the upper playfield diverter works?

I mean I get how it pops up when you satisfy the requirements of hitting the targets and spinner and doing the loop, but sometimes when I drain I’ll see the diverter drop back down to its normal loopy position. I’m talking about times where I haven’t yet gotten any balls up to Area 51, so it’s not like I did any of those required things.

Does that mean if I had gotten it up there before draining that I could’ve started multiball with one solid hit? Funny… every time I do get up there it takes all sorts of flailing to get anything done.

Maybe there's confusion about the two settings:

Feature Adjustment 10: Trough Eject Power
This is an adjustment that loads a ball when it's time to play the next ball, there's a coil / solenoid that punches a ball out of the hidden trough beneath the apron up into the shooter lane. People usually set this lower to help avoid damage to the shooter lane from HAMMERING the ball into that area un-necessarily. This is set to something much higher from the factory but as a couple others have done, I have mine set to the minimum value of 176. The general process is to set this as low as you can while reliably loading a ball INTO the shooter lane each new ball.

Feature Adjustment 11: Auto Shooter Power
Based on your description, I think this is the one you want to play with, this is a power adjustment for how hard the auto shooter (launching a ball using the action button) fires the ball out of the shooter lane into play on the playfield. I currently have mine set at 240 as my machine is a little steeper and at 240 it makes the upper loop every time. I think the factory setting is something lower like maybe 212? If you scroll the value up and down the factory setting will always highlight for reference, so it's easy to go back.

Apologies if I'm misunderstanding your question?

Check to see that the forks on the auto launch mechanism are hitting the ball evenly and centered and that the ball sits evenly and centered in the shooter lane groove. You may need to bend or otherwise adjust them slightly. At least one person felt that the metal V section of the shooter lane was cockeyed cause it the ball to wobble. Oh and some have adjusted the curved wall that the ball rides against as it exits the shooter lane to better aim it at the ramp.

Check your coil stop on the auto plunger mech. I could imagine that if it fell apart, you wouldn't have the same strength coming out of that that you did just a couple days ago.

Your game is dirtier now too. That will affect the plunge consistency.

does anyone else have a problem where the ball jumps off the right ramp. (Mine will often (not alot but more than I'd expect)) jump over the right ramp while traveling off and land on the wireform next to it or near the overlord etc. wondering

1) if this is common and
2) if it is has anyone made any kind of ramp "guide" to stop it.

I might make something myself if nothing else exists out there but if someone else does, why re-invent the wheel?

1. Def happens to me but not thatr many times... maybe 5-6 total (over 2.5k games)
2. Didnt see the need. Returns the ball in a more controlled way off a failed ramp shot and avoids a drain!

I tried a lot, reattached the metal v section, changed the curved wall, played with the auto plunge coil power. But for me bending the forks of the auto plunger as also advised by Stern worked the best. Looking at the auto plunger it was just not correctly alligned, bending the auto plunger almost resolved that issue. Still think it should be better alligned by default.

Now if just that flipper dragging issue could be resolved...., still waiting for updates from support.
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ok, so mine looks like this by default (powered off) is your plunger always out that far?

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Fantastic - thanks for the explanation. I was absolutely (inadvertently) confusing what I was trying to get across but you cleared it up.

Adjustment 10: that’s what I dropped down to 180 based on the posts earlier in the thread

Adjustment 11: I just cranked it to 250 (max setting) and it’s getting up the ramp but not 100% like it was

But like someone else mentioned: game is dirtier than when brand new due to approx 200 games run through it.

Also, I was thinking I was at 6.8 but I may very well be at 7.0 so a combination of verifying proper or decreasing pitch ever so slightly and cleaning it might be a good solution as well.

Another post mentioned possibility of checking the coil stop. I’ll keep that in mind to look into as well.

I’ll also verify the metal V and check out the curved wall.

Thank you to all who replied… I was absolutely willing to search this thread (thanks for pointing out how to search WITHIN a thread!) but these answers have been great!

Thanks for

No it itsn't, I pushed it forward from below to make visible that it's crooked.

Is today gonna be the day for code update? My game has been sitting over a month now not being played.

I've officially joined the Foo Fighters club. My Premium arrived yesterday joining my 9 other pins. It's the first Spike 2 game I own. It came down to a choice between Foo, Godzilla and Venom and Foo won out due to playfield layout and theme. It certainly doesn't hurt that my wife is a huge Foo Fighters fan.

Fortunately, no cosmetic or mechanical issues out of the box (Jul 28 2023 build). I probably need to dial in a few things but we had a blast playing it last night.

Anyone else think the white flipper bats look out of place? I won't be changing much but this is one that might have to get changed. Anyone know a supplier with anything except yellow for the smaller flipper bat?

A few other observations

- The power supply fan is indeed a bit loud. It has a high pitch to it that I could hear in adjacent room.

- What keeps me coming back are the really satisfying smooth shots.

- It could definitely use more callouts. It would be nice if they included some band members but isn't necessary. With IC, it would be really cool if it could tell you when you are nearing an achievement, high score, avg high score, etc.

- I can see me wanting to move that IC scanner to the coin door. It's a bit distracting seeing that white panel all the time.

- Home Team is a simple but welcome feature for home users interested in IC.

- I really wish the game had more Foo Fighters songs. Would it have cost that much more to have 3 times as many?

- The speakers are far from ideal but I can live with them. I've got huge chunks of money invested in audio for a home theater and a music studio. I don't need to upgrade every pinball machine.

- It seems really odd that there is no lighting under the Bot target / Light kicker plastic. I might have remedy that.

I now join the long list of those anxiously awaiting a code update. I have no fear it is coming, after all this isn't even 1.0 yet. I just hope it is sooner than later and adds a lot.

These are 30 year companies with full-time designers. I can't believe things like that are overlooked. There are many other examples. I also hate looking up for information and it doesn't exist because of a cut-scene being on top of all information I need to know.

Tanio has mentioned that callouts are nearly always the last thing done in the process of making a machine. It's not that it's overlooked, it's just not added yet. The voice actor that plays the roadie has mentioned that with the amount of recording callouts he's done, there's a LOT more coming. I'd much prefer the gameplay code itself and scoring is balanced before callouts are added any day.

Put on some precision flippers, perform and look so much better.

I put red halographic flippers from precision into my premium and they look amazing (as I evaluate things visually).

John told me in a PM that he's play testing a solution that will include the upper playfield flipper that will be available in 2-3 weeks. He did say though that the only two colors he's going to be able to offer for that smaller flipper are blue and green.

I am putting these on today

https://www.wizardmod.com/product-page/foo-fighters-pinball-wizbats.

They ship from Portugal so it's a bit of wait.

Can everyone just STFU on asking this every single day. No one cares that you didn’t play your pinball machine.

Me too.

I sit and wait.....

I am a patient boy…

Not sure how long my game has sat. But I know it has 23 games on it and setting unplugged.

Is it a common practice for people to buy a game early and then turn it off and not play it until it has complete code? That seems...counterproductive?

I bought it to play it.... ok, if you're not having fun, sure.. wait for the code. but ti's a fun game already.

The upside of not being that great at pinball, I still have goals to chase on the current code.

I have other game that I can play in the meantime, and can wait it out or sale for a lost.
It's not my first NIB I've danced this two steps before.

I hear you, they are minimal in overall priority list, but it's been 200 days since release. The process to make the machine is over. Writing down and subsequently recording a list of very small sentences is like a 1-day task. I only had a few callout complaints. One of my pains is during modes when jackpot shots switch during the mode, every single light is flashing while my ball is coming down the inlane and I have no clue where the next jackpot is to think about aligning my shot.

At this point, I’m not surprised by anything people decide to do in this hobby.

Having a bad day are we?! A little pinside rage could get you into trouble.

Please pick up the phone

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It's just a bit odd to me to do so then repeatedly post about it on a forum in frustration. I would get it if it was an unknown - like trying to help a smaller new company that has no track record and the company never completes the code or something. Stern's got a pretty repeatable process at this point. To which of the two options: 1) buy the game after code has matured or 2) buy it before then and keep posting on a forum, one option seems more clear at affecting the desired outcome vs. trying to affect things out of our control.

Then again forums are largely for BSing and wasting time anyways.

It's not as simple as just recording them, you have to code those in, which takes time to make sure stuff like timing is right and also that it's not running over other parts of the code. If I'm not mistaken you're familiar with how software is made, so you should be aware that it's not as easy as just plugging something in and calling it good, especially with something like pinball where it includes physical elements like lighting, switches and mechs. Yes it's been a bit since release and the latest 'content' update, but even Godzilla took a few months to be as fleshed out as it is now.

As far as Jackpot rules/clarity, these are easily laid out in the rulesheet, it even includes the exact sequence it takes to get jackpots/light more/even light the supers. If you're struggling with that I'd suggest just reading that. In general the clarity on this is at least imo very easy to understand, there's some nuance but mainly it's just hit the red shots for MB jackpots and colored shots for mode.

I would just say, welcome to the internet. Everyone gets to blast whenever they want without recourse. I don’t understand it either, but you and I are in the minority. Haha

For me I dont have that with the right ramp, but sometimes with the left ramp / Pat Smear / the Van ramp. I dont really know what is happening, but somehow the ball will go partially up the ramp and somehow jump over the left wall and end up coming back down the Rami crossover ramp.

Strangely enough it happened to me 3x today!

blueish there was a drawing or picture/pictures explaining this! ent lanes and w loctite and JUST A DROP I still dont understand the manual plunge into different lanes would post a picture or pictures with drawings or a short videl speedexplaining it in slow motion or normal speed

Yeah, that purple score tower blocking the amount of your tractor beam haul pisses me off just like the scull animation in GnR that happens exactly when you have a second to glance up.

I've memorized a ton of the rulesheet, but I'm never going to memorize every shot order in all the cities even after reading the rulesheet. I think still having a way to know the next shot (including for the people that play at the bar and don't own/read the rulesheets) is a good idea. Tons of jackpot hits are also random during multiballs, so I'd say it's hard to know what the next Roswell mode jackpot is after 2 random jackpot hits. On top of that, you have the modulator drop target shot that advances you forward in modes, so it's hard to know or remember what the next shot is.

With code updates, hard to criticize if nobody knows the team task allocation. Hard to hold them to the fire if we don't know the extent of the updates or how much time is being invested. I'm enjoying the game as is.

You definitely have a point in terms of Roswell's clarity, but I almost feel like that's due to the random nature of how those are chosen. I do understand people's frustrations of a lack of content updates, but I guess I have more trust in the teams than others, because unlike some other companies, Stern has a relatively good track record in terms of finishing their games recently imo.

Have you checked the top plastic on that side, by chance? Seems impossible for the ball to do that if the "lid" (flat clear plastic) over the top and turnaround of the van ramp is intact?

It seems to do the jump much lower than the plastic roof area. If I had to guess Id say it’s like a third of the way up the ramp.

Most times I backhand that ramp from the left flipper, so I haven't seen that one on my machine.

Yet.

I too would like new code,but if code never gets an update I still keep this machine.I havent discovered everything yet and its fun as Heck

Just got Foo Fighters and love it so far. Fast as hell and one more game factor for sure.

I generally move mine to the coin door, but on Foo premium, the QR reader art is so integrated into the apron itself vs. a separate plastic that I'm gonna leave it alone.

I’m surprised about people wanting to move it. That light has never, ever bothered me at all on my games or when playing route games. Someone here covered theirs with a thin red sheet of plastic, which dimmed it but still allowed it to scan. That seems like a good option for someone who didn’t like the light or found it distracting. Moving it seems like a real hack, looks far worse than the factory setup IMO. Like modding just for the sake of modding. Of course I could say that about most mods I guess. Good thing people can do what they want to their own games. Kindof like car modding.

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To me it looks hacky to have asymmetrical art / a reader where there once always used to be art assets. This looks unobtrusive & out of the way. To each their own.

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