I posted this in the "Hobbit owners" thread too, but might be helpful here as well:

After the 3.0 update I made some adjustments in the menu. Just a few minutes later, during adjusting some coil and game settings both screens went dark. Game was still working, since after pressing the escape button I could start a game, but both screens were dead. I switched the game off and on and both screens worked again. Played a few games, no more screens that went Black.
Differences from 2.99 to 3.0 that I don't like:
At the start of Smaug multiball during a mode or other any other call outs the "MULTIBALL" call out from Gandalf is often not heard.
The overall sound seems to be much "softer". I need to set my standard volume at 22 instead of 18 to hear the same volume.
Call outs from Smaug seem to be even softer than before. Especially the ones that were already low volume or difficult to hear.
The already mentioned "game over Smaug" glitch.
I didn't save my settings so I readjusted everything as best as I could remember. I like clear and loud sound effects and speech, so these setting go way up: but even with these settings up very high (sound FX and speech go up to 15) the sound doesn't match the quality of 2.99. But maybe I need to adjust some other sound settings too. Some help is appreciated on how to accomplish this.

Summary: for now 2.99 seems better. How to de-update to 2.99? Is that possible?

During the second and third Arkenstone mode, but especially during botfa the callout "stage 1 complete" is heard at the same time as Azog speak his "orc language encouragements" to his troops. These callouts from Azog from one stage to the next make botfa a great experience and, according to me, this is ruined by the new "stage 1, stage 2, stage 3 completed" phrases.
These phrases go well with "into the fire" since no character speaks during the end of a stage. But during botfa it's annoying and not necessary, since Azog already introduces the next stages in a great way.
Solution: delete the "stage 1, 2, 3 callouts during barrel escape and botfa. If I remember correctly the callouts also overwhelm the "superjackpot" callouts during the Arkenstone modes.

Anybody please correct me if I'm wrong.

I already expected an answer like that and I hope a JJP programmer reads my post too.

Thank you for correcting me on the barrel escape callouts, since I wasn't sure about what really is said there when you go from one stage to the next.
I really appreciate you're going to adjust the callouts during botfa. Ruined sounds indeed a bit harsh, but I really prefered the way the callouts the way they were.
Again thank you very much for your understanding and I'm looking forward to the next 3.x update.

Another thing I noticed during barrel escape: stage 1 is all about scoring 15 barrel bumpers. The dwarf drop target help to decrease the number of hits.
During Stage 2 you must hit ramp-orc 6 times to advance to the next stage. No callout follows after you hit the last orc and you advance to the stage during which almost all shots and drop targets need to be hit. The popbumpers reduce the numer of shots. After completing this stage I remember the callout "stage 2 complete". It seems though you've already completed 3 stages at that moment. The next stage is about hitting dwarf and elf droptargets and it is the last before going into the final stage in which you can score victory laps only.
In short: maybe the callout "stage 2 completed" should be added after hitting the last orc and other callouts at the end of the next stages?

Your answer and explanation are highly appreciated. Thanks a lot for understanding and promise to adjust the code. Nice to read that the background music doesn't change but I can live with that. The sounds and callouts are what it's all about to increase the level of immersion for me and you really understand that. Thank you very much.

Is the 3.10 update available already? On the jjp website only 3.00 is available.