Than take that usb and plug it into my game before turning it on?

Yes delta so no don't put in the USB before powerup. Load from the menu after game boots up.

Got to the end of Into The Fire and noticed some really bad sound clipping while there. Not sure if that might have been an issue before cause I hadn't made it to the end w/ victory laps

I completely agree with those that suggested to increase the LOCK difficulty. I was already tired of this games as it was nothing but Smaug multiball and I never felt I got to a mode. I bumped the difficulty up a couple notches (not sure exactly how the locks changed) and now I spend WAY more time in modes than multiball. Still determining if this is a keeper for me, but the experience got instantly better with this one change.

Hey cheeks I don't have my game yet but am just curious to know what you changed. Is there actually a 'difficulty' setting in the game or did you have to change individual settings?

Thanks.

There's an individual setting for LOCK difficulty, it ranges from like 1 to 7 or so. It defaults to 3 or 4 I think, and I moved it up a couple notches. I only played a game or two so I'm not sure what exactly was different about the lock sequence, but for the first game ever I had the mode lit on the right ramp more often than the lock light on the same ramp. Was much more fun and diverse to play modes than endless multiball.

I'm assuming it's like WOZ so that you have to roll over the buttons more times to light each one.

Keith previously coded the ability to delay the mb start by using the fire button to switch lock from being lit and changing to "mode" instead.

Nope...I believe on regular settings they are normal for the first two multiballs (stacking locks ok), then you have to spell AND lock a ball before locking another (no stacking lock completions), then I believe the lock buttons go to toggle mode where they switch from off to lit every time each button is hit...light them all at the same time to light a lock (gets pretty tough to do). That will make achieving Arkenstone modes MUCH tougher because you have to play Smaug to get there.

U know u can postpone the lock , ya?

I use the postpone lock feature with the ring button as part of my strategy. I'll postpone locks until I have finished Beast Frenzy and usually complete my trip to Erebor before I challenge Smaug. Then during Smaug multi ball I'll usually complete a mode or 3 and of course Feast Frenzy starts as well. Then by the time I'm back to one ball Into the Fire will be ready to start.

But changing the lock difficulty makes ring button management way less frequent, which is better IMO.

This is exactly how it should be done. If the kickback fires & the next switch hit is the ball through then its obvious the kickback failed and a ball should be put back into play.

Well, I really hoped that they had improved the light show a bit in the new code. Just to be clear: It's already looking good. But for example the Wizard Modes could have a bit more going on in terms of lights. At least when you hit a super jackpot there should be a bit more visual feedback. Sth cool good looking. Or when you make it to Victory laps. What do you think?

And sth else: I once killed Smaug (small spoiler alert!) and with that last shot the knocker went off. That was great. It kind of was synchronized to the arrow hitting Smaug. It only happened once so I guess it was due to a Free play reward. But I would like to have that in the code. Similar to when you destroy the ring and the machine goes crazy. Sth like that would be great. The sound when you kill Smaug is much better in the new code.

In honor of this post, I just created a thread dedicated to Hobbit strategy! As a new Hobbit owner, I love the idea of all of the strategy with this game!

Any gameplay vids yet? They help a ton for updating the rulesheet...

I will see if I can record some gameplay tonight for you Tiemasc

Excellent. Thank you!!!

I'm running an old 1.10 version now. Can I just go to 1.90 delta version or do I need some other full boot file first? Tried looking at support help on JJP site but it references WOZ code numbers.

I did a stream last night and tonight of it, probably again tomorrow or Sunday. https://www.twitch.tv/iepinball/v/96203898

It's going to take a LOT to document all of the feeder modes. So many paths...

I think at the end of each mode it shows 2 or 3 icons for the feeder bonus.
If they are greyed out you haven't played them mode yet, if they have color in them, you have played them
So I dont think it will take that long, just need to play every mode

2 hours of Footage! I don't think i need to play now! Could you export to Youtube by any chance?

Was hoping to have a Five Armies game before uploading to YouTube. My game is playing so damned hard that I still haven't made it.

There's another 2 hours of footage from tonight! I made the main LCD display larger the second go-around in hopes that it'd be easier to see the feeder modes when presented.

After a 30 minute game I got into Battle of 5 armies, or did I?

NSFW language.

Just had my best game on the new code. Over 4 million, killed Smaug, got all 3 multiballs (got victory laps on barrel escape) and man the Battle of 5 Armies just goes and goes! I kept thinking I had finished it, but the last time I hit the super jackpot I think it required I hit like 30 or 35 beasts. And I did something I've never done in the game before, I was able to use the ring to save the ball when it was only one TINY small line. TOTAL LUCK but awesome to have nailed it! Great job on the code this is truly and epic pin!

Hey CTCMTP: Did your "book" screen go dark during the Battle of Five Armies?

Anyone else getting speaker popping frequently after the 1.9 update?

I get a little and had a little before too. It sounds like it is clipping at times to me.

Here is 30mins of gameplay. I don't have a proper setup so not sure how useful it will be

I've heard more clipping as well since the update.

More 1.9 footage:

It does sound like clipping, but I'm getting it a LOT - like every 10-20 seconds. SUPER annoying. Pre v 1.90 it was maybe a couple times an HOUR. I guess maybe I'll try playing with the levels of various audio, but because it seems to happen when drop targets are reset or popups come up, I'm not sure it's all just audio clipping.

Is there any way to spot Dwarfs other than hitting their corresponding stand-up target? This is always my 5th of the 5 categories to complete because I have difficulty hitting the Dwarfs at the far edges.

Nothing like that for me just a couple spots where it does it. When I lock the first ball for Smaug I get it and I forget the others. Sounds like you may have something loose?

I noticed some clipping for the first time today during Battle of Five Armies. It was the 6th time I got to play the mode and I got much farther this time. The clipping happened late in the mode.
Also, can anyone please confirm that they are seeing the same issue that I am during this mode? My "Book" screen always goes dark during this mode. It starts right up again after the mode finishes.

Yes, the screen is blank during it.

There's a spot dwarf mystery award and a way, I believe, to spot another via the newton ball.

Maybe I just need to go and rebalance the internal levels of the fanfare, music, callouts, etc. Maybe it was always there, but 1.90 just made it more noticeable. It seems like the software should have internal programmed limits to prevent clipping from making to the amp/speakers.

FWIW I have not adjusted any of the sound settings on mine, they are all factory.

I honestly don't know, not sure I looked up at the book at all. Next time I get to it, I'll definitely try and find out

I think I turned up the music or voice initially, but not much. I'll experiment (or maybe put it back to factory settings and see if that fixes it).

After turning down all the sound choices (relative to each other) it seems to have fixed it.

Rather than let the 4 sound areas be independently adjusted to levels that can cause major clipping, the game should give you 100 TOTAL "sound points" to distribute as you like across the sound categories, with the 100 being below the threshold where any clipping can ever happen. That way you can distribute them as you like and it will never ever clip. The way it is now is kind of mental.

That said, I did have a lockup (hard lock on the screen, machine unresponsive, but playfield insert lightshow still going on), and a ball trapped (probably from an airball) at the spotlight above the right targets. It's always something...

FalconPunch and Troz --> Thank you for the videos... they are helping immensely for figuring out the new rules... and details of feeder modes, how the bonuses are working, cleaning up mode specific details, etc.

Hi, this rule don't work for the mod "One ring "

1. Timer Bonus (not shown on total screen right now): Each second you
have left when you win a mode gets added to MULTIPLIABLE bonus.
The points earned are 1+2+3... for each second you have remaining.

I'm thinking I might wait for an additional week or two before I update to 1.9... just to see if an update to the update is provided.

Thoughts? Make sense?

I say update now and enjoy. It doesn't take long, it's a delta update so it doesn't wipe your scores or anything, and so far it seems to be fairly bug free...

You never know...it could be a couple weeks until the next update, or a couple months. I think it was about 2.5 months between 1.31 and 1.9.

There is no countdown timer associated with "The One Ring" mode... only a hurry-up point countdown so that makes sense (to me at least).

Just updated to 1.9 on my brand new machine after playing out of the box at 1.31 and it won't send an initial ball to the plunger. It does its check of all the drop targets and figures but doesn't cycle the ball. All 5 balls are loaded in the launcher. Any suggestions? Thanks!

On my new Hobbit after a few games it stopped loading balls, turns out it was a bad solder joint on the coil that came loose. Quick fix. Check all the wiring to make sure nothing came loose in transit.

Does seem suspicious it happened after the update but it may or may not be related.

My Hobbit has the latest code and is not very old (born on date of early August 2016). The LED strip in the backbox (to light the backglass) seems completely dead. The solder points look good and nothing else seems loose. Thoughts anyone?