GALAXY 2021 - new code for a Stern classic

Over the past year and a half, I've been rewriting Bally/Stern early solid state pinball machines. I plug an Arduino into J5 so the machine can dual-boot between old code and new. I've just wrapped up GALAXY2021. It's available from GitHub now.

Before I forget - all thanks go to sethbenjamin (on pinside) who loaned me his GALAXY and gave me complete creative freedom to do whatever I wanted. Let me know if you have a Solid State game and you want new rules.

Video of game play features:

Why:
The early Bally/Stern games were great shooters that were limited by the software. I wanted to play new rules on my machine without altering the original hardware so I could easily remove my mod when I wanted to move the machine.

How:
The Arduino MEGA 2560 has a ton of I/O pins and has tons of space for code. I've written a library of functions for the Lamps, Switches, Solenoids, Displays, and different sound cards. With a simple daughter card, the Arduino can control the MPU. The daughter card plugged into J5 (when turned on) Halts the 6800, takes over control signals, a few address lines, and the data lines. Then, the Arduino operates much like 6800 except it's faster and has more code space. The hardware for this project is a bunch of wires and a few connectors. It can be built by hand, but there are also kits and Gerber files available for people who want a PCB.

The theory behind the mod is described on my blog: http://ikehamill.com/2020/03/21/replacing-the-m6800-with-an-arduino-nano/
Instructions are on GitHub pages: https://ballysternos.github.io/
!!!EDIT!!! links have changed:
Code is here: https://github.com/RetroPinUpgrade/SolarSystem23
Schematics are here: https://github.com/RetroPinUpgrade/ExampleMachine/tree/main/Schematics
Theory is here: https://www.pinballrefresh.com/blog/controlling-a-stern-mpu-100-with-an-arudino-nano

If you have questions about building/ordering boards, let me know. At the moment, I don't sell anything but I would be happy to help you get in contact with someone who does.

Machines:
So far, I've released
* Stars 2020/2021
* Black Jack 2020
* Trident 2020
* Meteor 2021
* Silverball Mania 2021

bluebomber created FlashGordon2021
All the code can be found here: https://github.com/orgs/BallySternOS/repositories?type=all

Parts:
For this build, I'm using the Arduino MEGA 2560 clone in a small form-factor.
* MEGA clone by ACEIRMC - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08M3WV6LX/
* Bag of headers - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MQ48T2V/
* Switch - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0799LBFNY/
* Connector for switch - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01DUC1O68/
* Wire for WAV Trigger - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0789F523N/
* WAV Trigger - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0108LU05A/
* 22 Gauge Wire for switch - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07RVLGCXK/

For a board, you can wire your own prototype, get a kit, or order your own PCB from Gerber files. Here are schematics and files (USE V3 FILES):
https://github.com/BallySternOS/BallySternOS/tree/master/Schematics

This mod works with the original MPU (Stern MPU200) and the Alltek replacement. At the moment, it doesn't work with Weebly MPUs.

GAMEPLAY
========
These new rules bear almost no similarity to the original GALAXY code. It's very much much mission based, where the original was just a matter of lighting and hitting things. To each their own. This is an alternative, but it's built so that the operator can easily switch back and forth and play the machine however they want.

Skill Shot: GALAXY2021 has one main skill shot - the top saucer. While waiting for the ball to be plunged, the game will loop rally music and the lights at the saucer will cycle. Landing the ball in the saucer awards 10x the value of the light when the ball lands.
There's a second (undisclosed) skill shot as well.

Missions: GALAXY2021 has 8 normal missions and 1 super mission. The eight missions are based on the planet lights on the playfield. Landing the ball in the GALAXY turnaround will select a mission based on how many GALAXY rollovers have been collected so far. From left to right, the missions have 1, 2, or 3 legs. They build in complexity and award potential. Finishing 3 missions lights Extra Ball. Finishing 5 lights Special. Finishing 7 starts the super mission (Sun Special). The number of completed missions is shown in the 1s digit of the score display.

Side Quests: At any time during non-mission play, a side quest can be qualified and started. The four side quests are Refuel, Pirate Encounter, Welcoming Passengers, and Collecting Cargo. Refuel is a spinner goal, Pirate Encounter is the star standups, Welcoming Passengers involves the GALAXY rollovers, and Cargo deal with the drop targets. Once a side quest is qualified (by competing goals related to the shots listed previously), it is started with the top saucer. Side quests come with +1X playfield multiplier. Stacking multiple side quests grants more time, and up to 5X playfield. Side quest timers are paused during missions, so carrying one or more side quests into a mission brings more scoring opportunities and also brings in any playfield multipliers.

Scores are scrolled to show scores up to 1 billion points.
Completing all the planetary missions resets the player's rank (shown in the 1s digit) so the player can repeat the process and never run out of gameplay.

The game features over 250 sounds, songs, and callouts. The soundtrack is replaceable and three soundtracks can be loaded at once and controlled through a coin door adjustment. All coin door adjustments are announced through the sound card, so the lack of display capability isn't as much of an issue.

Other features:
* Ball Save
* Progressive Saucer (increases in value temporarily each time you hit it)
* Drop target sharp shooter mode
* Scrolling scores
* Free Play
* WAV Trigger Sounds & Multiple Soundtracks
* Lots of flashing lights

This is all free and non-destructive. You can still play the old rules with the flip of a switch. If you put these rules on your GALAXY, please post a video.

This was the first machine I recoded where I didn't have to do a week of repairs before I could start. Such a luxury!
Good luck with yours!

Ben made a game play video that shows off the sound effect much better than my vid.

Ha! Thanks. Post a video if you get a chance. Ben and I are talking through some tweaks to make things a bit smoother. I'll post here when they're published.

Next machines: Stellar Wars, Supersonic, and Middle Earth (if I can get the thing working).

I'm up for whatever game comes my way (as you know). I don't have personal experience with Quicksilver but I was under the impression that people find those rules pretty good already? I think Bowen always plays for left drops. Maybe it's a little one note?

I'll be there.

I enjoyed the stream - hope that those bugs are squared away now.

EEPROM is a stock library that *should have* installed with the Arduino IDE:
https://www.arduino.cc/en/Reference/EEPROM
Do you have the board set properly?
Tools > Board > Arduino AVR Boards > Arduino MEGA or MEGA 2560

Can you copy/paste the compile error here?

The one you want is:
#define USE_WAV_TRIGGER_1p3

That assumes that you've reflashed your WAV trigger to at least version 1.3.
There are WAV trigger instructions that talk about reflashing at the bottom of this page:
https://ballysternos.github.io/install.html

Yes, that connector looks right.
If you compile for 1p3 and you don't reflash your card, background music won't play. I think that's the only downside.
If you compile for 1, the only downside is that background music might stop if the card tries to play too many things at once (music gets bumped).
Compile for 1 until you know the card is right (or if you don't have music).
#define USE_WAV_TRIGGER
//#define USE_WAV_TRIGGER_1p3

Gotcha - I just uploaded a fix for that compile error. When you have a second, get latest Galaxy2021.ino, compile for
#define USE_WAV_TRIGGER
and see if music works. Let me know -- thx!

Awesome - glad you like got it going! Post a video on YouTube if you get a chance.
I just went through the WAV Trigger update with a friend last night over the phone. I wish we could get rid of this step. I might start hunting for an alternative.

Did you buy a kit? If so, who did you get your board from? It feels like they should update their documentation (you're not the first to ask where to hook up on the Alltek).
Unless, of course, you were following my documentation from GitHub...

The single bing is just me putting the SB300 into a valid state and verifying that I can talk to it. That means that a good number of pins (most of them?) are good to go at least to the header on the front side of the board. With the flippers on, I would guess that the Arduino is not talking properly to the PIA chips. Could be VMA, R/W, IRQ, or any number of things. I would definitely check continuity between the Arduino pins and the J5 header (plug it halfway in and test solder joints). Better yet, if you're good with circuit diagrams, check Arduino versus U10 & U11 pins (data, address, etc.).
Are you using a 34-pin F header to pick up the IRQ signal from pin 34 of J5?
BSOSV3-Schematic (resized).png

Based on this picture, I would check out VMA & R/W. GND and CLK don't look great (at least in the pic), but I'm guessing those are working based on the behavior you described.

That's great news! I haven't written any code for the onboard sound (aside from that one beep). There is a noise generator and a couple of square-wave generators on the SB300. Making sound effects with those is a whole discipline that I haven't learned. slochar has documented and tried to explain how the original code does it, but I haven't dug in.

I have one more SB300 machine in my queue right now (Big Game). I might take a swing at sounds for that. But Galaxy really benefits from the callouts so your best bet is to wait for that WAV trigger and get it hooked up.

This re-write suffers from poor documentation! Here's a list of coin door tests/audits/settings
If you reprogram your Galaxy to latest, make sure you get the latest audio files as well!
Link for audio files: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FlPcCNtWVUEnNESh3lf867T1IfVJk6ec/view?usp=sharing
Adjustment prompts: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DaYjVuPgqq50uSR9Gg-7i6G6g4yI3FwP/view?usp=sharing
(the coin door settings are all announced over the Wav Trigger, so you shouldn't have to guess what each one is)

Galaxy 2021 Test/Audit/Parameters
00:01 - Lamps
XX:XX - Displays
00:03 - Solenoids
00:04 - Switches
00:05 - Sound
01 - Award Score Level 1
02 - Award Score Level 2
03 - Award Score Level 3
04 - High Score to Date
05 - Current Credits
06 - Total plays (Audit)
07 - Total replays (Audit)
08 - Total times high score beaten (Audit)
09 - Chute #2 coins (Audit)
10 - Chute #1 coins (Audit)
11 - Chute #3 coins (Audit)
12 - Free play off/on (0, 1)
13 - Ball Save Num Seconds (0, 6, 11, 16, 21)
14 - Sound Selector
15 - Music Volume
16 - Sound FX Volume
17 - Callouts Volume
18 - Tournament Scoring
19 - Tilt Warning (0, 1, 2)
20 - Award Score Override (0 - 7)
21 - Balls per game Override (3, 5)
22 - Scrolling Scores (0-no, 1-yes)
23 - Extra Ball Award (0 - 100,000) [only used for Tournament Scoring]
24 - Special Award (0 - 100,000) [only used for Tournament Scoring]
25 - Dim Level (2=50%, 3=33%)
26 - Rank Achieved to light Extra Ball
27 - Rank Achieved to light Special
28 - Rank Achieved to qualify Sun Mission
29 - Side Quest Start (0 - saucer, 1 - top pop & saucer, 2 - right "A" and saucer, 3 - any of the three)
30 - Galaxy kicker ball save (seconds)
31 - Save Mission Progress

Please provide feedback to whomever you bought the kit from!
I'm surprised -- I thought all the kit makers downloaded right before shipping, so if it's a problem with my code I'd like to know...

That's version 11, which is the latest code.
If you're not getting voice announcements of the last few settings, you should try updating the wav files on your Wav Trigger board (there's an SD card plugged in). The files are all here and they should all go on the card in the top-level folder:
Link for audio files: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FlPcCNtWVUEnNESh3lf867T1IfVJk6ec/view?usp=sharing
Adjustment prompts: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DaYjVuPgqq50uSR9Gg-7i6G6g4yI3FwP/view?usp=sharing

To update the code/sounds, there are two different things to be done:
1) re-flash the Arduino
2) copy new files to the SD card

Number 2 above is easy. Jut pop out the microSD from the WAV Trigger (red board), and plug it into a computer with an SD card adapter. The files all live in the top folder of the card. For Galaxy, you'll grab all the wav files from the two zips (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FlPcCNtWVUEnNESh3lf867T1IfVJk6ec/view?usp=sharing and https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DaYjVuPgqq50uSR9Gg-7i6G6g4yI3FwP/view?usp=sharing).

Re-flashing the Arduino requires having the Arduino IDE on your machine and involves several steps. troxel did a great video of the whole thing:

What's the version you have when you first boot the machine (what numbers show up in the player score displays)?

I agree with both of those sentiments to an extent. (especially the bonus countdown on Galaxy--it gets to me in videos)
I don't currently own either of these, so I encourage people to mess around with the WAV files on the SD card and find a solution.
If anyone comes up with a good way to host sound packages for these games (where people can contribute alternatives), that would be a welcome addition to the project.

Let me know how it goes.

I use Audacity (free program) to create/modify clips. The output has to be a WAV file that is 44100 Hz, signed 16-bit PCM.
Anything else and the WAV trigger won't play it.

That was such a fun project! Thanks again sethbenjamin for bringing that up and letting me work on it!

Awesome - see you then.

Sounds like I bug -- I'll look into it. I'm guessing that 14 is no longer the sound & soundtrack, but has been pushed out by coins per credit--that's the reason it would show 4 and 1. Which means the voice prompts are probably off as well.
Can you try to go to adjustment 17 (ignoring the voice prompts that tell you that 17 is "Callouts Volume") and see if that changes the soundtrack? That will help me understand the nature of the bug. Thx.

Please pull the new version when you get a chance and give it a shot.
https://github.com/BallySternOS/Galaxy2021

It should come up as version 2021 / 13 / 3 / 3
I've fixed the adjustment prompts and Coins per Credit settings.
Note: you'll also need to update the sound files on your SD card to get the new adjustment prompts

Most likely you need to either:
1) re-flash your WAV trigger board to version 1.3
or
2) change BSOS_Config.h to be compatible with the older version of the WAV trigger by commenting out the 1p3 line and uncommenting the USE_WAV_TRIGGER, like this:
#define USE_WAV_TRIGGER
//#define USE_WAV_TRIGGER_1p3

The first option is a much better choice, but re-flashing those things isn't particularly easy:
https://robertsonics.com/wav-trigger-downloads/

edit: this re-flash thing is the worst part about dealing with the WAV trigger. I've talked to Jamie Robertson about his utility, but it is what it is. The update is necessary to allow the background music to play without being supplanted by other sound effects, but there is a less than optimal workaround (see number 2 above).

I'm assuming you have lit LED(s) on the WAV trigger?
There's a tiny button on the WAV trigger. When you press it, the device should play one of the sounds on the SD card. Does that work?

Perhaps. As slochar mentioned, everything is controlled by the code. However, there are hardware dependencies, of course.
A video might help get to the bottom of the problem.
Here's a theory -- if you have an issue with J5, where the interrupt pin is getting intermittent contact because the board is warming up, I can imagine the problem you describe.
Here's why--Bally/Stern both used a special technique for slings/pops. If a switch registers as "closed", it could just be noise. So a valid closure for a switch is seen as "open" "closed" "closed". That's called software debouncing. This is described in Bally's Theory of Pinball (or something like that). It's the idea I copied.
However, for pops & slings, they wanted to be sure they had responsiveness, so they will activate the solenoid on the first sign of a "closed" switch, and then just hold on the solenoid if they see a valid closure of "open" "closed" "closed".
(the timing of this is based on the 120Hz interrupt from the zero-crossing)
If you have a sketchy connection to pin 34 (I think?), then you're not getting an interrupt every time, and you can experience weird behavior. Some of that weird behavior is getting the first solenoid response and then no follow-up solenoid because the switch appears to go back to open.
Questions:
Does it score those weak hits?
If you turn off/on immediately will the weak hits continue?
Any strange behavior of lamps/displays/sounds during the weak hits?
Can you post a video?

Thanks for the videos. If I'm understanding correctly -- this behavior happens after the machine has been on for some amount of time. When you start it cold, it operates okay, and then at some point the pops get weak and act like the 2nd video? If that's all true, I think it has something to do with the IRQ line, and is likely related to J5. Difficult to diagnose further from a distance. Any chance you could connect a jumper to R134 (if you're on an original board) to see if it's a physical problem with the IRQ line?

Forgive me, I said:
"closed" switch, and then just hold on the solenoid if they see a valid closure of "open" "closed" "closed".

I should have said:
"closed" switch, and then just hold on the solenoid *for a predetermined amount of time* if they see a valid closure of "open" "closed" "closed".

That's what my code does. In Galaxy2021.h, I have definitions for each of the "responsive" solenoids (pops & slings) to dictate how each of them behaves on seeing a "valid" closure. The solenoid fires immediately when it sees a "responsive" switch, and then hold on for a certain number of interrupts if it sees a "valid" closure, as described here:

instantaneous closure (resized).jpg

I suppose it's possible that Bally/Stern later changed their code to deviate from "Bally Theory of Operation"'s description of responsive/valid closures. I did not, and I'm not sure I see a reason to.

I don't do this.

A friend accidentally burned a solenoid in a Williams System 7 machine recently because a "Switch Solenoid Trigger" was gapped too tight and locked on. At his suggestion, in my Williams OS I now shut down the "blanking" if a special solenoid scoring switch is held on for too long (indicating that a triggered solenoid might be locked on).

Ah, gotcha.
That does make a difference in my thinking.
It still strikes me as a switch timing issue, given the way that the code works. I have a diagnostics program I can point you at. Maybe that will give us a better idea of what's failing...

If you can, this is the program you would run:
https://github.com/BallySternOS/BallySternOS/tree/master/MachineDiagnostics
You get the .ino, put it in a folder called "MachineDiagnostics" and then open it with the Arduino compiler.

Near the top of the file, you'll see a line like this:
#define BALLY_STERN_OS_HARDWARE_REV 4
Change that to 3, (I'm guessing you're running a Rev 3 board)
With the Arduino mounted on the pinball machine, and the machine on, plug the Arduino into a laptop (or nearby computer).
Note: I always test the USB ground against the pinball machine ground, or make sure that the computer isn't touching any metal on the pinball machine when I plug in. I've never had a ground fault failure, but I don't intend to. Maybe I'm just overly careful.

Under Tools > Serial Monitor, you'll pop up a monitor window. Set that to 115200 baud and watch the output of the tests that the Arduino conducts. If you post those results, perhaps we can get to the bottom of what's going on...

Thanks in advance!

Please turn off the test clock by changing this line to 0, like this:
#define GENERATE_TEST_CLOCK 0

Re-run and copy & paste the output of a full cycle (between the "going to try again" loops). I'm most concerned about the output below what you screen capped above.

The caps on the driver board shouldn't change any behavior.

edit: and thanks for posting the results!

Okay - thx for the screen cap.
The clock speed is registering correctly now. No issues there.
The problem is definitely related to the interrupts. It's not seeing (or resetting) the interrupts on the PIA for whatever reason. You're getting 0.2 and 0.4 for numbers that should be 120 and 320.
Since you have a replacement MPU, it seems like J5 should be fine. You may have a continuity issue on the Arduino board.
Next, with the Arduino installed on the MPU, I would test the resistance between one of the 6821 ICs (either one--there are two of them on the Alltek), pin 37 or 38 (they're connected), and the pin on the Arduino labelled "D2". There should be close to 0 ohms between the PIA (pin 37) and the Arduino (pin D2).

That's really odd. It seems like something is physically wrong with the Arduino interface board. Where did you get it? RoyGBev? Troxel?
How is your patience level for more debugging? I can send you some more things to check (because I'm curious as to how this is failing), but it must be frustrating to keep digging into the head of the machine.

Okay - I set up a Rev 3 board here on an Alltek so I could try to reproduce what you're seeing (I don't have a Galaxy at the moment, but I used a Bally Supersonic as the test machine).
I found an issue with MachineDiagnostics program (sorry about that!). It was incorrectly testing the interrupts. I've fixed the code and pushed an update here:
https://github.com/BallySternOS/BallySternOS/tree/master/MachineDiagnostics

Can you grab that and run it just to verify that your hardware is seeing interrupts correctly?
Thanks.
Assuming that the new version reports interrupts running at approx 120 Hz and 420 Hz, next I'm going to ask you to re-upload latest Galaxy (from here https://github.com/BallySternOS/Galaxy2021) and let me know what versions show up in Player 1-4 on boot.

Thanks

Ugh.
I'm glad to hear it.
We didn't do anything though!

All true. I've been thinking along those same lines--a board with buffered/protected ports and connectors/carriers/adapters for any machine. I would also de-multiplex the lines on J1 & J2 of Bally/Stern so that a shorted switch strobe doesn't glitch out the displays and lamps.

With original MPUs, my latest approach is to plug into the 40-pin processor socket, so that any 6800/6802/6808 machine can be done with one board (jumper for int/ext clock). Using that same strategy, a Z80 or 6502 board is not out of the question. I've sworn off doing a Gottlieb adapter though for a couple of reasons. The leading reason is because Gottlieb boards appear to be haunted (IMHO) and the ghosts travel through the Arduino and up into my laptop.

Tournaments/leagues is the best reason I've heard. People want to practice and play on stock code. I also think there is elegance in a non-destructive mod.

FYI - Sharpshooter is in the pipeline. It's just behind a lot of other titles at the moment.

Gotcha - makes sense. I was thinking of my recent versions, which have only been used in a couple of league nights to the best of my knowledge.

That's awesome!

You might have already been through these steps, but in case anyone else is having audio problems, I wrote this:

WAV Trigger Things to Check
1) The Load/Run switch needs to be in the "Run" position (blue circle)
2) The 5V jumper needs to be soldered (yellow circle)
3) The header (green circle) should be wired as 1=GND, 3=VCC, 4=TX from Arduino (RX on WAV Trigger)
4) For Rev 4 or greater, pin 5=RX from Arduino (TX on WAV Trigger)
5) The WAV Trigger should have a red light that flashes periodically
6) The SD Card (purple circle) needs to match these specs: https://www.robertsonics.com/microsd-cards-for-audio
7) When pressing the "Test" button (light blue circle) the WAV trigger should play a sound from the SD card
8) The Arduino code needs to point at the right port*
a) If your code base has AudioHandler.h, look for this line:
#define WTSerial Serial1
For Rev 3 and lower, replace Serial1 with Serial.
If you're using anything other than Serial1 with Rev 4, put in the right port (Serial2, Serial3, etc.)
b) If your code base has SendOnlyWavTrigger.h, look for the port definition in that file.

* In recent code, I've set reasonable defaults like this:
#include <HardwareSerial.h>
#if (RPU_OS_HARDWARE_REV<=3)
#define WTSerial Serial
#else
#define WTSerial Serial1
#endif
That code is meant to set the port to Serial for <= Rev 3, and to Serial1 for everything else. If you don't
see that code, you'll need to set the port manually as described above.

WAVTriggerBeauty (resized).jpeg

polishedball found a bug in the code's default serial port. I think it's fixed now:
https://github.com/RetroPinUpgrade/SolarSystem23

Don't forget to update the RPU_OS_HARDWARE_REV in RPU_config.h when you download new (this game still defaults to Rev 3)

Fantastic!

A number of people have done their own soundtracks. I wrote up some basic instructions recently which I will post below. The code current supports 2 soundtracks with 15 songs for each of the four "modes" (unstructured play, side quests, missions, and wizards). You have to program in the song length in seconds for each song.

Take the SD card out of the WAV trigger and put it in a computer. You'll see the songs for one soundtrack in the 700s and the other soundtrack in the 800s. You just replace those files with your songs.
Make a list of every sone you put in there and how many seconds each one is (so the game can switch between songs).
Then, in the ino file, you'll see some arrays defined:
unsigned short MusicNumEntries[2][4] = {
{6, 5, 6, 3},
{13, 5, 5, 3}
};
unsigned short MusicLengths[2][4][15] = {
{
{210, 185, 315, 270, 210, 230, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0},
{225, 180, 195, 230, 190, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0},
{265, 240, 280, 210, 175, 200, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0},
{220, 320, 160, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0}
},
{
{400, 280, 300, 165, 115, 200, 170, 230, 195, 250, 190, 195, 190, 0, 0},
{185, 250, 210, 130, 125, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0},
{190, 95, 110, 150, 52, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0},
{220, 320, 160, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0}
}
};

The first one tell the code how many tracks you have for different types of entries (for the first soundtrack, there are 6 unstructured play, 5 side quest songs, 6 mission songs, 3 wizard songs).
The second array (MusicLengths) tells the code the length of each song in seconds.
Song 1 for unstructured play is 210 seconds.
Song 2 for unstructured play is 185 seconds.
Song 1 for side quests is 225 seconds.
etc.

Don't forget - all songs need to be 44.1kHz WAV files or the WAV trigger will ignore or play them wrong.

The 15 was arbitrary. You can change this define and make it whatever: MusicLengths[2][4][15]

The length is specified in the MusicLengths array just so the code will know when to cut off one track and switch to the next. All songs are activated by the index. There's an array that tells the code the starting index of each type of song: {800, 825, 850, 875, 890}
I cut off the end if I thought it tailed off in a way that would slow down game play. There's that long held note at the end of Song Remains the Same that I clipped by setting the length to 320 seconds.

Schematics are here:
https://github.com/RetroPinUpgrade/ExampleMachine/tree/main/Schematics

For Galaxy, I recommend the Rev 4 for through hole. You don't have to solder in anything for the Wifi or OLED.

The code is here:
https://github.com/RetroPinUpgrade/SolarSystem23

Instructions are always a work in progress, so feel free to ask questions or review the wiki here:
https://pinballindex.com/index.php/How_to_Build_and_Install_on_Your_Machine

Troxel has a good video of building an older version, but mostly still applicable.

Yeah, dpannell with Flash Gordon, but I think you just found that thread.

Yes - all three use the same Arduino adapter. Just change the code, as you mentioned.

Yes, one of the differences in the newer versions is I combined everything in one folder so you don't have to get code from multiple places.
Just grab that one zip, put it in a folder with the same names as the ino file, and you should be able to compile it with the Arduino software. The one file you want to glance at is "RPU_config.h" to adjust for your board type.

I developed the library and his game code for the community. Specifically, this code was for my friend Ben who lent me his Galaxy for several months so I could reprogram it. No donations are necessary, but I do like to see videos posted when you get everything working.

Hi - I wrote some basic instructions on changing out the songs here: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/galaxy-2021-new-code-for-stern-galaxy-1980/page/4#post-7712209
The WAV trigger only plays tracks that are uncompressed 44.1kHz Stereo WAV files. More details about the WAV Trigger here if you're having issues: https://www.robertsonics.com/wav-trigger

The timing for the Galaxy kick out is dictated by the code.

Yes—the resistors are all needed. You can skip the headers for those, obviously, but the resistors aren’t related to the Wi-Fi & display.

I'm not sure -- I haven't used one that looks like that before.

Nobody that I'm aware of has worked on code for Bally KISS.
The RPU (formerly known as BSOS) adapters are all compatible with it though, so it can be reprogrammed.

Hi Dan,
There's not a setting for it, but it's pretty easy to modify in the code, if you're able to reupload to your Arduino.
Open the project, look in the "ino" file, and then search for "trackFade".
There are two lines like this:
wTrig.trackFade(CurrentBackgroundSong, ConvertVolumeSettingToGain(MusicVolume)-20, 500, 0);

Lines like this are dropping the music volume by 20 dB below the current MusicVolume (over the course of 500ms).

There's also a line that does a trackFade to put the volume back up:
wTrig.trackFade(CurrentBackgroundSong, ConvertVolumeSettingToGain(MusicVolume), 1500, 0);

Here, there's no "-20" on the volume, so it's putting the music back up to "MusicVolume" level over the course of 1500ms.

That's awesome!
You might consider swapping out that Rev 3 board for a Rev 4. It will get you all the hardware serial ports exposed, as well as i2c for communications. Just more options for IO.

https://github.com/RetroPinUpgrade/ExampleMachine/tree/main/Schematics

After making sure the machine has good grounding everywhere (measuring the Arduino ground versus the side rails, for example), I routinely plug my laptop into machines while they're running so I can reprogram without taking boards on/off. Be as careful as you need to be, but just know that it can be done...
Please keep sharing your progress!

Rev4 (resized).png

I'm guessing you were following the instructions for ordering the Rev 102 board? The Rev 102 has surface mount components on it -- that's why you would have to upload the BOM and CPL files.

You can get away with the Rev 4 (that works for Bally/Stern -17, -35, 100, or 200 and Alltek), which is all through-hole components and doesn't require BOMs or CPLs or anything like that. To order a Rev 4, you just upload the Gerber file (RPU V4 Gerber.zip), choose the quantity (PCB Qty), and then click Save to Cart. The boards are really cheap (5 for a couple of bucks), but the shipping will bring the price up a bunch.
They'll just be sending blank PCBs. You would have to solder in the connectors and resistors yourself.
If you don't want to do that, RoyGBev or Troxel might sell them already assembled -- I haven't checked to see if they're doing Rev 4 or not.

The new code doesn't use DIP switches for settings -- it's all through the coin door menus.
If you have the latest (2023, 14, 5, 4 in the player displays when you boot), then the game supports coins per credit.
The adjustments are listed here: https://github.com/RetroPinUpgrade/SolarSystem23

If you don't have latest, then you may or may not have coins per credit code on your machine. The fact that you're getting 5 for 1 suggests it's trying to do CPC, but if you don't have the menu option then I'm guessing you have an older version?

What do the player displays show when you turn on the machine?