Dang, blown PS? That's weird.

RotorDave is convincing me my PS is bad too.

I've had 2 resets in 589 games so far on my Aerosmith. He said there's an adjustable pot (not the Colorado kind) that possibly needs to be tweaked.

I loaded .81 on today and got some play in. I still have to contact Stern about my CPU board, but will do that on Tuesday. I had a lot of fun with the new code. I am still managing to get a lot of airballs though. One went right off the ramp and landed next to Groot. And here I had thought I managed to protect all the plastic that needed it.

1FA8E72E-3BD0-48FC-8B84-55F273E811A6 (resized).jpeg

People need to go through their distributors to get a cpu replacement. You won't get one direct from Stern by yourself.

Rob

Yikes!! Just had a reset during a game. Hoping it was a fluke and nothing like the last few posts about bad CPUs. I am a little concerned about some of the phase II modes. I think I just finished Sanctuary and I drained the ball, then as the ball entered the shooter lane- the screen had Kyln II...that one set me to pondering.I am still scratching my head about the mode II for Sibling- think it is a non winnable mode for 100 hits on an spinner that I have yet to see on my Pro.

The 2 new songs are a welcome addition to the game- just 2 songs was wearing thin.Still crossing my finger in hopes that "Come and Get your Love" is added.

I have completed all the modes during a 5 ball game,but as yet there does not appear to be a wizard mode. I usually stack the Hadron button to complete Groot and Orb, but so far I have not completed both in the same game.I've been playing this game almost exclusively and really enjoying it.

guessing there really is no difference currently btwn LE/Premium and Pro magnet usage right now. unless I'm not seeing something.

Ah, that might explain why myself & others have been ignored by Stern when requesting the two board repair kits (zip tie + capacitor).

Guess I will call my distro next week. My fear is I will order AFMr during that call lol. Maybe I will just send an email instead

Modern Stern games reset. That's the new reality.

Not sure if it's due to a defective board design or if the failure rate of the new board components are just sky high.

I say this because there's countless posts here by countless members stating their modern Stern games reset.

Within a few posts some guy with 82 plays on his game will reply "my machine never resets" but this reset shit is rampant & all over this forum.

Maybe it is the power supplies?

Time will tell (hopefully)

Me and the missies had a two player game on every pin in NYNY this morning. Going on layout alone as we couldn’t get that much into the rules on one game our favourite of the three LED screen games was GOTG with Aerosmith a close second.

18644F18-9898-4711-A01E-BDCFFE045BB8 (resized).jpeg

I wasn't ignored. Emailed Stern about those kits, got a reply the next day. They will send them to me when they have them available.

I've never gone back through a distributor for anything. Chas is very reasonable and if you know what the F you're talking about, he'll send you the parts.

Weird.

You're a new member with 1 machine & Stern replies to you because you "know what the F you're talking about"

Just a few posts above you are 2-3 people with 3-5+ years of history here & a collection of multiple Stern games but they end up ignored.

Hmmmmm... Either you're a shill or I need to switch manufacturers.

Question for you guys. My GOTGLE looks great except for one thing. The playfield has a slight wood grain texture to it. I saw this on my first SMVE playfield, but the replacement I got due to ghosting doesn't have it. My other stern games don't have it. It's over the entire playfield, but you only see it on part of it at a time. Depending on the light. It's bugging me because I can see it while I'm playing. It makes the art look a little blurry in the area around Thanos (the middle).

So here's my question(s). Do I make a fuss over this? Or am I being a whiner if I do? Is this common? Will this effect the life of the playfield art? Over time, the ball dimples may obscure the texture. Maybe adding some lighting will help it not to show.

Yes. Your playfield should look and feel smooth as glass.

I'd make a stink for sure. $9Kish with a nice faux-planked look? No way. Someone here had a new ACDC Pro with the same thing. Unsure how they resolved it though.

Guys I can see the ribbing on my Aerosmith, Family Guy & TSPP

It’s more visible on my Aerosmith because the clear is thicker & the LED’s are WAY brighter.

I turned down my back box lighting on Aerosmith to reduce glare on the glass & a side effect of that is I am now unable to see the ribbed texture of the playfield.

The actual surface of the PF is glass smooth & not ribbed. It’s the wood under the clear that has a ribbed appearance under certain lighting conditions at certain angles.

I’m not a Stern apologist at all but I don’t know if we’re all on the same page about what is going on here. Not all PF’s have this trait but many many games do & lots of folks are likely unaware it’s there IMO.

It's like anything. I haven't noticed, but I bet if I check, it'll bug me. Having said that, my NIB games, like ST, GB, KISS, and SW have the uniform "orange pee" dimpling from normal HUO game play. The first few dimples bothered me, but after the steel ball smashes down on that porous wood long enough and it looks "uniform", I've learned to accept it and just enjoy the games.

I wonder if the "planking-look" will remain after this process occurs...

I just double checked, and the ribbing/wood grain texture is in the top coat as well. I can feel it when I run my finger nail across. Maybe another coat of clear would even it out.

Dimpling doesn't bother me. I think it's pretty normal. It may even help this ribbing situation as time goes on.

That's definitely unacceptable.

What better place to ask about mod suggestion than here, linked topic below. Floating ideas need some owner input.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/guardians-of-the-galaxy-mods-pops-hookedonpinballcom

Eww, you can feel the ridges? Dat sucks, call your distro.

Then again the dimpling/orange peel may indeed make it a non issue.

The orange peel is super bad on my TWD if anyone cares.

Stern is using different wood. I can see it on my cabinet clear as day & although dimpling occurs on all games there are tons of low play HUO games out there & modern Sterns have the worst dimpling.

It's slight. But yes, I can feel it. I don't like the way it looks, having lines running through the art work.

My membership on Pinside dictates my entire history with pinball? GB isn't my first Stern.

I've gotten replacement boards for Star Trek 2 days after calling Chas.

Know what you need, be prepared, and Stern will accomodate.

I am having trouble loading new code .81 any helpful suggestions.? My LE shipped with .73.

So I contacted Stern today about my CPU board. I do need to order it thru a distributor because of the price point. The less expensive items they will ship directly to the homeowner. But the more expensive parts need to go thru the distributor so they can charge their account and then refund them when the defective part is returned.

But the problem is definitely my CPU board. I contacted my distributor right after the call to Stern and he has already ordered it for me. Thank you everyone for your help!

Here's a pic to try and show what I'm talking about. It's kinda hard to capture with my phone. But you can see that when the light hits it the right way it's very noticeable. When I'm playing, there's about a 6" X 6" area where I can see the ribbed texture over the art. This texture is over the entire playfield. Even in the pic, the parts that look ok, actually have it. It's just that the lighting is not showing it. If you zoom in, you can see there's a little depth to it.

IMG_1328 (resized).JPG

It's orange peel. Sucks a little, but it happens and your game will play fine.

Clear your USB card and it is like magic.

Meathead move on my part.

All good with .81

And that shaker was from?

If the fine vertical lines are also evident over the plastic INSERTS... it's simply sanding lines left over from the drum sander they use to level the entire PF after the inserts are glued in. It's not pretty and they probably could have used a less coarse paper to do the job (as with earlier BLY/WMS games) but what can ya do?

My LOTR shows this as it also has a thin CC. My TSPP and TWD have more of a glass like appearance as they have thicker clear that hides these lines.

So you may have one with thinner CC on it but with all the problems they've had after TWD with thick CC it may be a blessing.
I'd forget about it as there's not much you can do.

It is not over the inserts. Those are smooth. It seems that the wood wasn't sanded smooth enough before the art was applied. It's not enough to effect the ball at all. It just looks bad. It obscures the art when viewing at some angles. Most notably, when I'm playing.

It is the quality of wood they have been using on pfs for a while now. Less dense and in the screening/printing process it seems enough moisture comes in to raise the grain.

shakers have been an issue on many of the Spike system games. I honestly woudl leave the shakers unplugged till code is finished.

I play one on route and the right flipper got weak. I thought it was mechanical but maybe code related?

You liking it any better?

Most Stern games have some ribbing on playfields - well documented over the last 10 years. It's just woodgrain and would imply softer wood is being used compared to the 90's.

This is not uncommon. My SM had this and my IM does to some degree. It’s not planking and it’s not defective. It’s the grain of the wood. I’m sure many owners would notice this on some of their games. It’s not on all games.

All these new board reports are a drag. Are these boards made so cheaply that this will be a chronic issue? Or is this a bad batch?

Seems like way more board issues with Spike 2 over Spike 1 ?

Not sure why though.

Well that sucks. Pretty much why I've quit buying NIB. Not only have the prices become ridiculous for the amount of fun you'll actually get out of them but then there is the risk of playing "Stern Roulette". You never know what will come out of the box.
Might be up to specs... might be a disappointment.

Does anyone's LE use all 3 magnets?
Mine only uses 1?

My LE seems to only use one also and that "magna force" insert seems to only light in attract mode. My guess is the code for the 3 magnets is coming.

Are the laser cut siderails out to buy yet?
I can’t see them in STERN website?

thanks

So the current functional difference between pro and LE is spinners? (Pending code updates to support the 2 additional magnets)

The GOTG I played had only one magnet working with the new code .81. I must say the game is really fun to play. I was not excepting a good game to be honest with you. Great shots and nice Borg layout. Code is earlier so I am sure it will only get better. You can actually play a game without the ball draining unlike Star Wars that kicks my ass.

I lifted the playfield and only the top left magnet was warm.

what im curious to see is if when programed the magnets behave separately from each other, or if its going to be an all of them on type of thing, if its just all of them on, the two additional ones could more then likely be added to the pro and just daisied chained off the one already there.

I thought the same thing if there all on at once pro buyers will be super lucky

That only one is working currently seems like a pretty good indication pro owners won’t be lucky enough to have it be as simple as adding 2 magnets.

Plus there have to be extra MOSFETS and current handling capacity to drive them and it sounds like they are all being turned on individually in the logic.

The one magnet does a fast swirl and then releases the ball.

It is next to the left Groot hand.