Never heard of that one. Is he a crime fighter maybe?

Previously played feeder modes affect the end-of-ball bonus. There are four quantities that factor into the bonus amount for playing a mode:

Bonus amount is the first item multiplied by the sum of the other items.
--Ted

I take it if you have completed the map mode (100%), and restart it you will get 100% of the map position in the mode bonus algo - instead of it's current location after resetting - correct?

Did they say when the code will be available?

So your saying "Don't talk to people that own the game and like it, only listen to those who don't like the game."

Think that statement says enough. There is no pin everyone likes. Not sure why you can't get this.

--Kevin

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/details-new-hobbit-code/page/2#post-4481492

Loaded new software. DEFINATELY new stuff all around from callouts to sounds to screen shots. Excellent improvements. Tell the haters they missed out. .

Family is loving the updates and more call outs. Great additions and things to help the player know what to do and if/when modes are completed.

(sweating like a pig)

Ok, played some games, started into the fire...

Excellent improvements. Lights guide you way better than the previous version. It's very colorful! Love the new ring button colors! You can just glance and know what the ring button will do, depending on the color. Very cool.

Is it saying "The Arkenstone" too much?

New callouts, volume is a little low on the Smaug voice?

Love the ball-save audio.

I did get a lower volume Smaug speaking when I think he should not have. Not sure.

What a release. Thanks JJP!!!!

(going back to play now)

Loved playing one good game before heading to dinner. Is there a coin door save?

Twice know the insert lights have locked up during play. The game plays fine but the insert lights are frozen.

Ted, PMed me directly last night on this issue. Seems it may have been a loose USB cable connection that was causing the lock up problem. Reseated the cable and all good for the last 6 games.
Thanks Ted!!!!

Played a lot and I haven't seen that issue. Hm.

JJP: Thanks for fixing the high score toggle with the flipper buttons during attract mode! Also loving the new high score "slots". It's great.

I also love the 3...2...1 audible count.

Something I noticed too … maybe it's supposed to be this way now in this version, but when not in a mode both ramps and the right hole spear inserts are always solid red. Is that by design?

We have to get used to the blue verses purple ring button light. We'll get there, but we keep thinking the blue is purple.

We like the star ratings for the book modes, but one suggestion for the future … could you (JJP) add the star rating to the top or bottom of the small book LCD screen when the mode is in the queue to be played. I don't think most people will remember which modes are what stars except for maybe the extremes. That would help with setting up which book mode we should setup to play. Not important, but would be helpful. [We always want more, don't we. ]

The new code is great and refreshing our interest to play the game in different ways. Thanks JJP!

The Bilbo, Gandalf, and Radagast arrows are now lit as follows:

Qualifiers unavailable: off
Qualifiers available and not spotted: blinking red
Qualifiers available and spotted: solid red

Adding the tier/star rating to the Book display page for each mode is a good idea. I'll put it on the list of things to do.
--Ted

I was hoping I could sneak that mention of the map percentage by everyone without having to go look it up.

Map works like this:

--Ted

Love the new code!!!!
Couple little things I noticed.

“The Arkenstone” seems to be randomly mentioned every once and a while during the multiball fanfare video when Smaug chasing bilbo down the stairs. No big deal but felt out of place.

Also noticed that Smaug doesn’t talk anymore after your game is over. No more “I think our little game ends here” comment. Maybe I just need to play more games. Not sure how often the algorithm triggers Smaug’s post-game comments.

Seriously great great work JJP team!!!!
Thanks for always taking care of your fans/customers!
-Ran

I also miss the louder Gandalf "MULTIBALL!" call out to start smaug multiball and miss Smaug talking to me after the game ends. Other than that, I am loving the new code. But my games are so much shorter as I'm trying to complete harder modes!

+4 from this family agrees

Wow what a code update! JJP went all out with this one. I've only played a few games on the newest code but everything just feels more complete, meaningful and cohesive then before. The new callouts, animations, audio queues and visual indicators are excellent.

As others have said here's a few things I would like to report.

1. Smaug interaction at end of game is gone Why? This is such a cool thing to see at the end of most games. I really miss seeing Smaug turn at the end of the game once in a while and saying "I think our little game ends here" or "That is a pity".

2. During the Smegal ball saves mode I notice that if a save is not made Smegal saying "Its our, ours!!!!" gets cut off right at the end. This occurred in older code revisions as well.

Also, does beating the mode qualifiers spot an Arkenstone mode attempt or complete one for you when the option is enabled? I hope it's spotting an Arkenstone mode attempt meaning it lights an Arkenstone mode to try versus having to light by repeating the standard 5 qualifiers. Can anyone confirm?

Incredible update of course. Congrats to Keith and team. Many things I love about it, but two questions:

1: Is there a way to have the ring button not flash? Don't see it in Settings. Makes sense for it to flash when you're going after points, such as purple. Does not make sense to flash when it's simply an option, such as to postpone your lock or mode. Wish there was an option to make it solid during these times. It's a bit distracting to be flashing all the time.

2: Also not sure why one mode is already qualified at the start of the game. Again, I don't see the option to turn this off. Would rather qualify for Bilbo/Gandalf/man/dwarf, etc, than to have one mode automatically enabled at the start of the game.

Might be missing the settings of course.

And yes, hope and suspect that Smaug talking to us at the end of the game will come back. Maybe a glitch in the update that wasn't caught? I can't imagine they took it out intentionally.

But again, super excited for the update!

We've been playing this morning and love it!

I am getting a "HOBBIT DROPS" malfunction on startup - but I have no idea what that is. There are no HOBBIT drop targets, and no coils called hobbit drops, so I have no idea how to test or service.

Anyone else get this error?

I got a bunch of errors on startup after the update.
I re-ran the update and everything stabilized.

My brother updated our game and said the same happened to him.

Nice work JJP. This code update is fantastic!

My machine got stuck on the purple screen when rebooting after the update. I let it go for about 10 minutes to be certain then rebooted. After that, It was fine.

I have the same error report. Everything works fine.

AMAZING update JJP!!! it was long overdue, but you guys smashed it in terms of absorbing the community's feedback and weaving it into the gameplay.

Too busy enjoying it to provide detailed feedback but will do so in time

Cheers JJP and TH owners rejoice!

Just realized that not everything is working fine as stated two posts above: my upper right flipper is making small moves without me pressing the button. sometimes it's playing by itself. Not sure it is related to the "hobbit drops" error.

I suppose you could adjust the right flipper button leaf blade switch so it doesn't do that. There are two leaf blade switches on the right flipper button. The one farthest from the side of the cabinet/flipper button, is for the upper right flipper. Yours is too close together.

LTG : )

wow just played my first game, light show is incredible!

Maybe re-run the update.
I had dragon head error, he would just shake and not move.
I had tilt Bob error and s couple more.

I re did the update and they all went away.

Thanks. I am going to try that.

Silly question but did they put a camera in the hobbit for the live stream the camera angle looking at the players seems the same as pirates .

We used a camera on a boom. Later in the stream Eric moved it to show the Book display. (We had hoped to capture the feed from the Book display, but didn't get all the components needed in time.)
--Ted

Love the update the mode completion percentage is much loved update. Only thing I have found is in one mode it says avoided red shots right and left loop however just hitting the spinner ends the mode - reason it mattered is an entire loop shot is a more aggressive miss then just a spinner.

Just got 2mil, 160 beasts and 20 modes on the new code! Tried to work the feeder modes and Arkenstone qualifying modes but that will be a skill that may take a while to learn. Never cared about how many modes/beasts I've completed before. I do wish there was an easier way to see which modes are Bilbo modes, Gandalf modes etc. I want to start focusing on collecting sets of modes. Would be great if they were color coded to easily see which are which. Won't be long before someone gets to TABA, I wasn't even close and I was getting pretty excited. I think it's doable if you just focus on starting modes and let the other stuff happen naturally.

No issues with the code that hasn't already been outlined. It would be nice to be able to stop the automatic Journal page turning. Is there a way to change that in settings? I can't focus on the pages fast enough before they roll to the next page. Gameplay is so cool and each game is so different when you focus on the modes.

Yeah, "Mirkwood" is a mean mode. The game scores the loops on hitting the spinners, which makes sense when it's a "good" shot, but is harsh when it's a "bad" shot.

I'll ponder this one a bit.
--Ted

Not unique to your game. Just verified it here. I'll look into it.
--Ted

Thanks for streaming the new code. The game looks great!

I was one of the vocal guys asking for more code. My biggest complaints were that there wasn't a reason to beat anything (other than score and one mode to qualify an arkenstone mode) and that each arkenstone mode has the same qualifiers.

Although those aspects haven't changed in regards to advancing through the game, the new mode weighting adds some easy to understand risk vs reward to the modes, There and Back again gives you a reason to play all the modes and the new high score tables give extra incentive to beat things.

I really like all the polish that's been done, ie. Smaug speech, lighting effects, book display information, etc..

The ability to actively see feedback going Into v3 is simply amazing - Even if your bug / suggestion does not make it the end product is just a great process thanks Ted and all of team JJ

Maybe one suggestion would be to add a couple of harder settings to beat Smaug, if they're not already there (I can't remember).

Hard - kill power to lower flippers when windlance is fed. Keep track of any balls that go in to the trough to feed back into play if shot is missed.

Extra Hard - same as above but leave the "W" target down. Must hit the hole without knocking down any other targets to kill Smaug.

Hey, if anyone had previously changed the audio settings to the ones I recommended, I advise changing them to the new stock values. The audio is balanced pretty well now, and if you have my old settings on there with the new code, some callouts might sound too low.

In arkenstone mode, at the end of each stage, the sound "jackpot" has disappeared. So it is more difficult to see that the stage is ended. Have you the same problem ?

And good job fot the update ^^ its very better like that ^^

Their instructions are perfect. Took about 2 and a half hours. Just took it super slow. Hardest part was pounding the rivets on since I don't have a rivet press. I had been procrastinating but it was a lot easier than I expected, just a lot of steps. Now the ramps are smooth as better. Also, gotta be very gentle with the 8 optos. I used a small flathead screwdriver to gently pry the off.

It took me 45 minutes total my first time.

Used the Hanson hand die and a small block of wood.
Dremeled off the bottom if the rivet.

The whole repair took about 15 minutes with the proper tools.

20 mins after that without changing the flaps for waxing.

What's with the new ramps I'm getting a nib will I have problems ?

No.
Early games had soft steel flaps.
Newer games have hardened spring steel flaps.

Jjp sent out a free replacement kit to anyone wanting better flaps.

Phew! Thanks