Hi guys!

Smaug #83 owner reporting for duty.

I'm absolutely loving the game, so much to do, so much challenge, and still loving the 4 pop-ups even after many games

I've found a few issues and bugs with the game (I'll do a video shortly so I can pass the info onto JJP)

My 2 biggest issues are :-

1) The wireform that returns to the far left outlane is terrible and does not reliably return the ball, it often either drops the ball on the side, or bounces it over the stop post (thus getting a ball drain instead of starting a mode quite often) - I've spent much time tweaking it, but it's just not working reliably, it's very flawed and should have been made with sides, like the other wireforms. Anyone know if JJP are making a fix for this, as long term it is going to be the most frustrating thing about the game.

2) After a few minutes of play, my playfield LED's will "lockup" and they will not return to normal operation until I have turned the power off and on again. What I mean by this is that the LED's will lock-on in random positions and random colours and stay stuck like that. Originally I thought it might be a software issue as it happened infrequently, but now it is happening all the time. Anyone any ideas? I have already re-seated all the cables to the usb board, and all the LED driver boards under the playfield, as well as the leads going back to the computer. Additionally, when the LED's lock up, I have tried jiggling the loom about, and it doesn't change, so it's not related to any lose connection as far as I can tell

Cheers guys

Luke

There is a new wireform then? Not seen any info about this

Thanks

Luke

Could you post a photo please buddy?

So things are not going the best with my Hobbit so far.

I'd like to make it clear, that I still do think it is a fantastic game (in theory) but there are a lot of annoyances making the ownership experience not so good right now. I documented a bunch of them in video below, is there a good way to share this info with JJP so they can look at addressing some of the issues?

1) Coils melting
There is clearly a bug with the pop-ups. If the switch triggers multiple times (because the "troll" target switches a little shoddy and vibrate back and forth quickly, even after multiple attempts to adjust them) then it keeps pulsing the power to the coils (so it seems) Eventually the coil melts, it's hard to tell there is even anything wrong, until it’s too late and you have a pop-up error it won't go down anymore.
My Warg melted after 24 games, and my Orc melted after 125 games. There should be a safety timeout in the software at the very least to stop it melting coils.

2) Balls falling off the far left wireform all the time.
This one seems like such a bad design, no idea why it doesn’t have sides like the other wireforms, which would make it so much more reliable. Trying to adjust this wireform perfectly is so frustrating. On mine, the ramp is bad and has a lip which causes the ball to ski-ramp off the wireform, over the ball save post, and down the drain

3) Ball hangups
On pretty much every machine I own, there are little clear plastics attached with angle brackets (either from the factory – or as operator service kits) that deflect balls away from areas in which they can get stuck. On Hobbit, there are a few places where the ball can hang (and have happened to me a few times) so it looks like we need some deflectors to fix them (I have some photos of ball hangs) I think they are made worse by the popups and drop targets sometimes launching the balls in the air.

4) Inability to “rescue” a ball mid game.
On most pins, you can “pause” by opening the coin door, removing the glass and then returning a stuck ball to the shooter lane (especially important in competitions) but on the Hobbit, when you close the coin door (in order to be able to put the glass back on) it immediately fires the ball out, so you can never save them.

5) Playfield lamps “freeze” or crash
During a long game, the playfield lamps will eventually freeze up (some on, some off) and will not return to working until the game is power cycled. I have been told to try swapping the USB cable ports, so I will try this when my game is working again.

6) Parts breaking or falling off
I am collecting a small number of screws of unknown origin in the bottom of my cab, again I am only on 125 plays, so this should not be happening already. Additionally I am finding bits of broken clear plastic appearing in the bottom of the cab (see video) - the source of these is the pop-up mechs, there is a clear plastic U shaped light guide under all the popups, these are clearly not strong enough and are smashing to bits. My first one dropped broken pieces into the bottom of the cab in less than 24 games. This part needs replacing/upgrading on all 4 targets

7) Lights crash if you perform a GI test
After a GI test, playfield lamps will not work at all until the game is power cycled. This is of course a minor issue for software.

8 ) Can’t set the time.
No matter how many times I re-set the time to the correct time in the menu’s next time I check , the time has changed +/- 2 hours. The minutes are always right but the hours change themselves and are never right.

9) Can’t properly disable broken features
If something breaks (see melted coils above) you can disable some of the mechanisms in settings, but there is no broken feature compensation, therefor, the game cannot be played properly and advanced to Into the Fire etc. This is more noticeable on my machine due to the length of time it has spent with popups not working, so therefor not fully playable

10) Rails under playfield do not line up
The rails (with black rubber stoppers) were clearly designed to line up with and “stop” on the lock down bar mech, but the rails miss the mech and are instead leaning on the cab. The problem with this is that it is going to over time damage the front of the cabinet

11) The popups can swallow a ball if they drop down when a ball is at the front (I understand this is going to be fixed)

Obviously these issues are of different levels of importance, but I would like to see some of the more frustrating problems resolved sooner rather than later. I’ve not had much dealing with JJP so far, so I will give them the benefit of the doubt, and assume they will fix things for now (unlike a certain other pinball manufacturer that is completely incapable of dealing with feedback)

Video links :-

Yep, most people are positive about JJP fixing issues, so as I say, I will give them the benefit of the doubt that it will all get resolved in time.

I know all about Stern's attitude towards their customers

It certainly sounds like I need to go over the whole under-playfield and tighten everything up. Not sure why there is a such a big problem with lose screws on these, as it is affecting local people as well, not just people that have had them shipped long distances.

My wireform is defective, as it does have 2 prongs that stick out too far (on the main two straights that the ball runs down) so I don't think any amount of adjusting mine will make it 100%, so needs a replacement.

I am interested to know if others are having the cracked plastics under the beast mechs, it can't just be me surely.

Also I have not heard of others getting melted coils as of yet?

I played v1.30p tonight.

I have to say there are certainly some improvements in the right direction and love that they are adding new features.

Nice to see the magnet lock being used now

"Hey why is the left orbit green, it doesn't normally do that"

+1 Ball on next mode

"Oh cool multiball modes!"

Just needs a fanfare adding to it now

I noticed that when I have the final lock lit, you can change the lock rollovers from red to green, so I imagine that does something related to the final lock, but I have not managed to light all 4 red yet, so will have to wait and see

As they are adding more multiball modes, I would however like to see them separate out the main multiball and beast multiball, or make beast progressively harder to get. It seems so easy to stack on beast multi-ball from the main multi-ball (and vice versa) so I always seem to have both running at the same time, which can make it feel a little over the top on the multiballs.

I noted the following minor bugs on 1.30p during my tests

1) If you right drain during the ball save timer, you can get both the automatic ball saver and the Gollum ball save chance at the same time.

2) If you have load arrows and are getting ready to hit the ring button for the skillshot, and a mode ends, it stops showing the skillshot so you can no longer achieve it

3) Some of the speech keeps repeating in a loop still "he says we'll blunt the knives, he says we'll blunt the knives" and "turn around don't come back, "turn around don't come back, "turn around don't come back" etc

There was another, but I forgot now, so never mind.

It's all good news until he tells you that if you have the bad wireforms, you need to pay for a new one......

I'm fairly sure it's not my fault that my game was shipped with a bad wireform now is it?

Can you share the reason then? It seems unfair, that just because I was assigned a lower serial number Smaug, I get the defective ramp, and people who were assigned a higher serial number Smaug get the re-designed ramp.

IF the original ramps are just fine, then they would not have re-designed them mid run

It's a bit of a kick in the teeth with all the other problems I have been having over such a short period of time.

I think it's important to note, while someone in the US might think "hey it's only 89 bucks", as I am in the UK, the extortionate shipping costs, plus customs fee, plus import duty would end up with the wireform costing $160-180

You've missed some of the previous posts about my ramp, installing a bumper will not fix the problem at all, I would need to take a grinder to my wireform as others have suggested to grind off the nubs that are sticking out and causing the ball to jump over the stop post

BTW who's done Barrel escape now? Very exciting! All the adrenaline of Into the Fire, but with different objectives (and like the blue colour scheme)

I agree, they look so much better than regular paper printed sideart

Standard flipper settings (can just about make the ramps with a clean shot - but I prefer a more difficult setting like that)
The broken guides happened before 24 plays, so they really are not up to the job