I have always been interested in the prospect of re-themeing, and eventually building a pinball machine. I have always been intimidated by the programming. I consider myself reasonably intelligent, but really don't know anything about coding. I'm also not much of an artist, but I am decent at photoshop - so if I can find the artwork, I can apply it.

It occurs to me that if I just want to do a retheme, I could apply the artwork to this machine and call it done. After all, the System 1 ruleset is pretty shallow. For me, this is all about the learning experience for the Mission Pinball Framework. It is my hope that this thread will eventually become a valuable resource for anyone that wants to understand more about doing their own retheme / build.

More information about MPF:
https://missionpinball.org/

about the LISY1 and LISY80
http://www.lisy80.com/
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/lisy-a-universal-mpu-for-gottlieb-system-1-80-80a-80b

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Quick video of my first connecting of my LISY1 to my laptop

Edit: It was called to my attention that the "B2" light isn't controlled. I wonder if this can be configured....

I've had a bit of a faltering journey so far with this project.

I bought this Torch last summer in "Almost working" condition. So close to working in fact, that I made an attempt to repair the original MPU board. For those not familiar with this boardset, I will say that working on these is a perilous journey. I think I only made the problem worse.

To replace the main board (MPU) and get this pinball up and running, there were a couple options. The least-expensive choice is the Ni-Wumpf board. Named after the Knights who say Ni! of Monty Python fame, the Ni-Wumpf can be configured to any System 1 game by the dip switch settings. I've used them before, and it is an easy drop-in replacement that will make your System 1 game play exactly as it did with the original board. Readily available from several US vendors. Price (as of March 2018) $199.

A more expensive and more feature-laden option is the Pascal Janin board. Available as a single replacement board... OR... if you were going through the effort to getting a Janin board shipped to you from France, why wouldn't you spend the few extra Euros and get the all-in-one master board? Either way, the Pascal board has really great features, including a Skill Shot and Attract Mode. Neither were available on the original pinball machine. (Well, not totally true. The original System 1 attract mode was a blinking light behind "Game Over") Available 159 Euros (about $197 USD) plus shipping at the time of this writing.

While trying to decide, I did come across this thread
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/gottlieb-system-1-and-system-80-support-in-the-mission-pinball-framewo

I certainly don't mind that it was some assembly required. Also that it could be programmed with MPF, it was a win-win for value and functionality. Full kit 70 Euros (minus the Rasperry Pi, which is available locally for the $10-20 range) Total $93.46 USD.

So far, the assembly of the LISY1 has been the easy part...

Hey TopMoose thanks for chiming in! I've been following your Flash to Queen retheme with great anticipation!

I agree, I don't know how many modes this setup is really capable of. But working on attract mode is what I want to work on first.

No problem whatsoever. I certainly don't mind some lively cross-talk. I just don't want any drama

When I first installed the freshly built LISY board it worked for about 1 minute. I hadn't noticed that a pop bumper had locked on. I noticed it in the same second that the solenoid fuse blew. So, adjust that pop switch, pop in a new fuse (see what I did there?), and I'm back in business, right? ...Right?

Take two: New fuse, fixed the switch. Powered it on and the playfield was dead.

Take three: Reseated the connectors. Still no solenoids. At this point I was tired and irritated, and it would have been smart to just step away from it, and start fresh tomorrow. Instead, I started messing with the fuses, while the game was powered on. When I touched the solenoid fuse, every coil fired in quick succession. BAM-BAM!!! That can't be good.

On reset, the solenoids still didn't work, and now the display read "ERR 9" At this point, I seriously considered throwing this off a roof. Cooler heads prevailed.

After consulting with bontango, we diagnose the Sol & Lamps PIC chip got cooked. He offers to either email me the hex file for a PIC that I could source locally, or could send a new PIC for 5 Euro. I choose the latter.

Somewhat ironically, the entire LISY1 board kit took 7 days from Germany to my door. But after two weeks, I was still waiting for my replacement PIC. In the mean time, I had placed a Mouser order, which included blank PICs. I asked bontango for the hex file, which he had emailed to me. I finally got the replacement PIC. Unfortunately, it had been mangled during shipping.

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Luckily, none of the pins were broken, and after a half-hour of careful straightening with duck-bill pliers, I was able to install. But first, to be careful. I pull the solenoid fuse before I boot the machine.

Take 4: It powers on just fine. I shut it off this time (still being careful) and replace the fuse. I power it up annnnnnd... Error 9. No solenoids. Damn. So much for careful.

It didn't occur to me to examine the driver board. It had previous work done, but had checked out. At least, it checked out before I blew up the PIC chip. Now I take a closer look at the driver:

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Doesn't take a whole lot of diagnoses to see the issue here. That tip and the corresponding blocking diode both fried. Further testing shows that it leads to the dead leg on the PIC. I fix the driver board, and start down the garden path of PIC programming. How hard can that be? I have a PROM programmer that I borrowed from a friend. Unfortunately, it doesn't recognize the chip. So I buy a China-made PICkit 3 programmer....

I am well aware I am getting half-bucked to death by now. Then I spent several hours trying to get the programmer to work - without success. Now I was getting kicked in the balls too. I finally got it working when I downloaded a different PIC programming software. Finally!

Take 5 is it? Installed the newly programmed PIC and fired it up. I'm finally back to where I started a month ago...

I've been on a roll!

Put about 30 games on, and it's been solid. Also, I had acquired a non-working sound card on ebay (I lucked out, it happened to have the right PROM) - and tonight I got that working too! Here's a short video. Can you tell which pop bumper has been disassembled and cleaned up?

Couple updates:

Took a while for me to get Mission Pinball Framework up and running. Apparently, there is an issue with my HP laptop, and it's only with MPF. That laptop runs fire otherwise. Even after a factory restore, it would still not launch, or run MPF without crashing. After several weeks of head-bashing and hair-tearing, I started to make actual progress when I borrowed my wife's computer. Since then, I've been able to install and run MPF without crashing. I've also been able to connect to the LISY board wirelessly. I've even created an attract mode

I am scheduled to bring this machine to Allentown for Pinfest. It will be in the free-play area for both days. Proof of concept for the LISY1 MPU board.

The LISY1 has made it to Pinfest! Not running custom code yet, but has playing all day without issue.

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Great! But I think in your case, you will need the LISY80

One thing I would mention is the LISY board does take 35 seconds to boot. It's not a problem for me, but I feel it deserves to be mentioned.

But I think it would be awesome if you decided to try to program your Hulk with the Mission Pinball Framework. You could do all sorts of custom call-outs

Even the great NicoVolta stopped by to check out the Torch!

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Yeah, I was mistaken. Hulk is a System 1.

I don't know what is the difference between the LISY1 and the LISY80. Perhaps bontango could weigh in on that. Maybe it would work, if you wanted to program your own code from scratch. Don't know if the LISY80 would run the System 1 PROM.

I had thought about trying to install a LISY80 in my Torch. It was more about wanting to add a sound card, which was not supported for the LISY1. But as bontango explained, "not supported" really just meant not working yet. So I'll be installing the "JustBoom" sound card on mine. Just waiting for a few components.

Update on something from an earlier post:

The original Sys1 board would boot, but didn't work at all. Upon close examination, I found this Z6

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I tried replacing it but that flamed out too. Later I put the LISY1 board in it, and blew that one -- Twice! Before I realized that the driver board had some issues, and fixed them, and fixed the LISY for the third time. I guess the third time really is the charm.

I had since ordered another Z6, which I tried today. What-do-you-know... it works!

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