The tune in question is "Misty Mountain Cold". It would have been nice to include it in the game, but the licensing morass involved with it prevented its inclusion.

Although the tune is commonly (mis)credited to Howard Shore, it was written by David Long (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Long_(New_Zealand_musician)) in conjunction with Plan 9 (https://www.plan9.co.nz/).

I apologize for not seeing this thread earlier. This is a known issue and will be fixed in the next software release. (Dialed In had the same problem. Latest release fixes it.)

--Ted

Go into Diagnostics and get to the Dragon Head test.
Diagnostics->Full Menu->Tests->Device Tests->Dragon Head

Use the +/- buttons to move the head left and right. It is OK to gently move the head by hand. (Warning: Don't try to move the mouth by hand.) The limit switches should activate at either end of travel. If they are not activating, then check all the cable connections. It's much more likely that there is a connection problem than there is for the switches to be dirty.

Make sure the head is traveling smoothly side to side. If it is not moving smoothly, then you'll have to check behind and underneath the dragon mech to make sure the cable bundle isn't binding.

--Ted

Since both switches are out, that points to some sort of connection issue. Check the plug on J100. It's a 6-pin header. Follow it to make sure there isn't a broken wire.

You can also try wiggling the wire/plug while in Switch Test to see if either of the limit switches trigger. This would indicate a loose connection or broken wire.

--Ted

Yeah, it's too bad there aren't some better pictures of the dragon mech in the manual. The switches are on a circuit board underneath the head. There's a drawing of the board on page D-74 in the manual. It's labeled part #8 in the lower-left wire drawing on page C-46.

--Ted

OK. Now that I'm in the office, I can provide a photo. The red arrow points to J100. Also check the connectors at the other end of that short cable assembly. There is a power connector and a switch matrix connector. I've circled the switch matrix connector in the photo, but be sure to check both.

--Ted

dragon (resized).png

There are mechanical stops at each end, so the head will stop rotating. If the switches aren't working, the motor will continue to run for a while after hitting a stop, since there is no feedback to tell the game that the head is at a limit.

Is the center post installed on your game? If so, I suggest removing it. Or, at the least, taking the rubber off it.

--Ted

Based on the large number of "Down Retries", it looks like the switches on the drop targets are not working. The result is that the software thinks that the targets are always up.

Look for a loose connector on the ELF drop target bank switches. Check all the way back to the opto switch board.
--Ted

Check the switches in Switch Test. Manually raise/lower the drop targets and observe if they change on the display. Also check the Kili Spinner and Bag End switches; they are connected to the same opto driver board.

Here is what the ELF target switches look like when the drop targets are down:
hobbit_switches1 (resized).png

And here they are when the targets are up:
hobbit_switches2 (resized).png

--Ted

I suspect the reason that the coils aren't responding is because of the coin door interlock switch. There are two switches inside the cabinet by the coin door hinge. The top one is the interlock switch. You can pull it out to turn it on while the door is open.

From the your photo, I see that Kili Spinner and Bag End switches are OPEN. There is something wrong with your opto switch driver board for that entire column. Check the connectors on that board.

--Ted

I like to use Rufus for creating the ISO. It will also show you the MD5 checksum of the image. Only downside is that it's Windows-only.
https://rufus.akeo.ie/

2.00 ISO image MD5 checksum: a670ded221227353838f4c0ead04e741

After selecting the ISO file, click the check mark in the circle next to the SELECT button.

--Ted

This has been added for the next release.
--Ted

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

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

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

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

I did sprinkle in some more shaker motor in a few places. I'm glad it was noticeable.
--Ted

The flasher on top of the bumper is controlled by a coil drive. It isn't controlled like the regular LEDs on the playfield. From your description, it sounds like it is working correctly. You can test it directly in Coil Test. It is coil #47 "Left Pop Bumper Light".

By the way, the START button has the same sort of light. Coil #79 "Start Button Light". The spotlights are similar, coils #41 an #48.

--Ted

Hmm. This is most curious. The Smaug magnet code hasn't been touched in years. Double-check the magnet itself to make sure that the lugs aren't coming in contact with the metal ramp. (I guess it's conceivable that the magnet coil moves slightly when it is fired, then a short circuit to the ramp would keep it energized enough to stay in that position.)
--Ted

I suspect the switch is mis-adjusted. If it's showing up as an error, that means it's not triggering. In the Pop-Up Mechanism test, do you see the switch being triggered? The switch should go from white to green when you raise the beast.

hobbit_popup (resized).jpg

The mechanism will appear to function correctly, because the software uses that switch to confirm that the beast is up. If it doesn't see the switch, it will re-fire the coil the first few times the beast is raised.

I'm about a day ahead of you on this one. I already decided to work on this. I may put it on the main screen, though, because there's a lot of space available.

--Ted

The game will flag an error if it has to re-fire a drop target coil too many times (either raising or lowering). It needs to see a few successes in a row to clear the error.

Next code update will report the individual target(s) to help pinpoint the problem area.
--Ted

I suspect there's one target having a bit of difficulty either setting or resetting, and the switches are fine.
--Ted

So, the game looks for switches to be triggered every so often. If there is a switch that hasn't been triggered, then it reports it as a possible error. In the case of the plumb bob, if you never nudge the game then the switch won't get triggered. It also looks like your plumb bob weight is set very low, making the switch less sensitive. I'm not sure why you couldn't get it to trigger earlier, though.

For your drop targets, it looks like the E(L)F target is having difficulty knocking the target down. The number of "down" retries is very large. (Notice also that the number of "up" requests is low in relation to the other targets in the bank. This makes sense if the target is not getting knocked down as often as it should.)

Check the spring on that target, and make sure the target moves smoothly. The little actuator bar that taps the target to knock it down may need to be adjusted.

--Ted

One attempt only.

Timers are paused for certain things, like when the ball is held in a popper or making its way from the Smaug magnet. Timers are not paused while cradling a ball. This is a conscious design decision.

By the way, scoring in TABA is based on completion % of the modes, so it is not very lucrative to time them out.

--Ted

I plan on at least more release before we create the 3.00 ISO image. I don't have an ETA at this time.
--Ted

The timer expires when the ball hits the inlane switch. If it ran beyond that, then you'd end up switching the lit mode when flipping at the ball. Not too much can be done there.
--Ted

I was sort of hoping to get a release out a couple of days ago, but some other urgent things came up. I'm on vacation until the 30th. Maybe I'll be able to have something posted around Aug 2-3.
--Ted

Joe Katz and I are squeezing time in when we can to work on the last few changes for Hobbit, but there are some other games that are demanding our attentions right now. We didn't get an update out this week like I wanted. I would prefer to hammer through the remaining changes at this point, rather than cut another interim version.

--Ted (Who did dress up as "Red" one Halloween many years ago.)

Book display overlays appear in the three Arkenstone Modes and whenever Smaug breathes fire.

(And this use of the display is intentionally understated. It is book, not a TV.)
--Ted

Does the switch show as closed with the ball resting in the shooter lane? Sounds like there's difference between activating it with your finger and having the ball trigger it.
--Ted

You are looking for differences that are not there. Only four states are indicated on the hex icons:

unqualified
qualified
qualified and selected
played

--Ted

The only place where completing a mode is required is to spot one of the Arkenstone jewels in order to qualify an Arkenstone Mode. The "Book Mode" jewel is here:arkshard (resized).jpg

As you note, completion percentage affects scoring, and obviously "complete" - 100% - is the best result.

--Ted

There are two ways to light "Gollum Save": completing the inlanes, and via Mystery award.

A change was made in 2.95 to avoid lighting "Gollum Save" when it is not available to use - the most common case being during any multiball. The motivation for the change was to make the inlane completion behavior a little more understandable. Previously, completing the inlanes for "Gollum Save" during multiball would qualify the feature, but it wouldn't be lit until multiball ended. I didn't think this one all the way through - it's much more likely that the inlanes will get completed with multiple balls in play. I will revisit this.

For completeness, here are rules on completing the inlanes ("Light Mystery" lamps). None of this will happen during Arkenstone Modes or "There and Back Again".


- if "Mystery" isn't lit, light Mystery (lamps = blue)
- else, if Thorin isn't lit for "Collect Dwarf", light Thorin (lamps = orange)
[but not if Thorin hasn't been collected]
- else, if Windlance isn't lit, light Windlance (lamps = red)
[but not during any multiball]
- else, if "Gollum Save" isn't lit, light Gollum (lamps = green)
[but not during any multiball]


--Ted

I summarized the behavior in my original post. The inlanes light these items, in order: Mystery, Thorin, Windlance, Gollum. The first one in the list that is NOT lit will light. (Thus, if you collect Mystery before lighting Gollum, the inlanes will re-light Mystery. Also note that the Mystery target always gives a random award.)
--Ted

That is correct. In your scenario, the Light Mystery lamps will be green before you collect Thorin, then change to orange.
--Ted

Almost correct. It doesn't "start over from scratch", but the inlanes light the lowest one that is not lit. So, if you light Mystery, Thorin, and Windlance, then collect Mystery, Mystery will be the next one lit and after that Gollum will light.

It has always been that way. The difference in 2.95/2.96/2.97 is that Thorin, Windlance, and Gollum will not light if they can't be collected at that instant. (For Windlance and Gollum, they can't be collected during any multiball.)

Anyway, I changed it back to the previous behavior, so you can rest easy now.
--Ted

Is there a possibility that someone pressed the "mute" button on the coin door?
--Ted

There are no changes in that area between 2.99 and 3.00. Double check that you don't have a loose sound connection somewhere.
--Ted

If you are completing book modes such as "The One Ring", "Thief in the Night", and "Resurgence of Sauron" to qualify Arkenstone wizard modes, then you will find that the points received are much lower than before. You need to complete more difficult book modes to boost the scoring in the Arkenstone modes.

Look in Status Report ("Traveler's Journal") to see the TIER value for the book modes. (You need a third tier mode completed to score the same as before in the Arkenstone wizard modes.)

--Ted

Black Arrow edition also has a special attract mode video.

--Ted

Nothing has changed here. The "MULTIBALL" call out is triggered by the Multiball Start video, and it kills all other speech. Also, you should be hearing fewer mode call outs now when Smaug MB is running.

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 channel mixer default settings have been changed to bring the speech and FX in balance with the music. Since the gain is lower on the speech and FX, you are able to turn up the master volume to hear the music better.

music: old value=41, new value=41
speech: old value=66, new value=41
fanfare: old value=52, new value=35
fx: old value=52, new value=25

The already mentioned "game over Smaug" glitch.

This will be fixed.

--Ted

You must have made other changes as well. Based on your description, you turned "Replay" ON, and set "Score Award Levels" to 4.

For my tastes, that's too many extra balls. However, I pass no judgement on how others like to set up their games.
--Ted

I apologize for the disappointing experience with that crash. It was a very elusive problem to recreate before I could diagnose it. Can you please check the Error Log and confirm that it show a '9004' error code? (Full Menu->Reports->Error Log)

I will be packaging up Hobbit release 3.10 later today. It will be posted on the JJP Support site Monday morning.
--Ted

It is not available yet. I built a disk and tested it today. Assuming nothing urgent takes priority, the image will be packaged and posted on Monday.
--Ted

Unfortunately, we couldn't get "Misty Mountains Cold". The licensing for that music involves multiple layers of ownership rights, which was much too difficult to work through.
--Ted

I did turn it down, starting with revision 2.96 back in July.

Also, what do you do in that mode? I just check it off the list and keep going. Is there a victory lap /bonus period that you are trying to cash in points?

I just flail around mindlessly, because it seems to always happen at the same time something else is running.

(I know that's not really what you were asking...)
--Ted

Is there a chance that someone hit the "mute" button on the coin door? I know I've done it accidentally myself.
--Ted

Thanks for checking and reporting back.
--Ted