Long story ahead of how I’m finally joining the Hook club!

Started off bright and early picking up a u-haul van at 7am and loading a pin from my basement (head removal-pain). Had a sale lined up at the pinfest show. The move and sale went well thanks to help from a friend. Then it was time to hit the floor and shop for that next pin. Saw a Hook in my area a couple weeks ago but a deal didn’t happen. Having done some research on it and seeing that code update by Chad, I was keeping an eye out for it on the pinfest floor and low and behold there were two! Both asking 2200. Worked a deal out with one of them for 1900. Looked like it was basically a refurbed machine. Has a new rotten dog board and new dmd. Some LEDs throughout. The seller I got it from was the nicest guy. Was happy with that and we loaded it up in the van. Due to unchangeable door constraints, I knew ahead of time odds are I’d have to remove the back-box. Get home and sure enough it won’t fit. Go to tilt the head up in the van to start unplugging and there wasn’t enough room to get the head upright! What a pickle. Couldn’t get it inside, couldn’t disassemble in the van. Resorted to throwing a tarp down on my lawn and doing the deed right there. Mind you it’s 10:30pm and my u-haul was due back at midnight! Holy hell, why are there so many connectors with this pin! Was tagging as I unplugged, made it A through Z and 1 to 18!! Finally got it unplugged (nightmare level task) and moved it inside the house, then slid it down the basement steps with the help of same friend. And that’s how it lies now (pic). Ran out quick and dropped the u-haul off with 30 mins to spare.

I sit here now, physically beat, mentally drained, anxious about having to plug all these wires back in over the coming days but overall excited. Wish me luck reconnecting everything!

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This game is already colorized for pin2dmd

So beautiful. Just got in a brand new hook playfield thats never been on a machine. Got a big project ahead of me in the near future. Thoughts on putting on a pf protector? Or not installing it at all?

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Stunning!

Beautiful,good luck with the swap!, I vote no on the protector

Nice indeed, your pic highlights some great artwork in the middle to back area that's largely hidden.

No to protector here too if for huo, perhaps consider if operated.

I agree. No protector.

A protector will be the only way to keep it totally minty, which might be good since this is the only new hook playfield I've ever seen. If properly installed you won't see a difference in gameplay. But it's yours to enjoy how you like and won't likely see much if any wear from home use with proper care.

Either way, I would definitely install cliffy protectors on the two scoops. Those will get wallowed out over time.

Looks great! Can you post some more pictures? Including close-ups?

Def going to be doing cliffys

I can post more pics when i open it back up for install. Would like to try and get a few other parts new prior to install

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That is irrelevant to the DMDMK66 project.

I'm happy to share my PinballSP DMD colouring with other Hook fans that get this Colour DMD (once available). What is holding me up is capturing the more difficult DMD events (Jackpot, Bangerang, Cannon, Clocks, Skull shot etc) using Visual Pinball which doesn't run well on my PC. If anybody can help provide more dumps from VPX, which are easy to output I'd appreciate it.

It's interesting to see the animations in detail, I've never noticed that the 3 skill shots are different and show the corresponding item on the ramp plastic.

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Great artwork! It looks incredible!!

 
I suggest you use the Visual Pinmame Debug mode. To do this press the ESC key and select the Debug Window option, the "Debugger" window will open.

In this same window you will see three buttons, one with the Play symbol, one for Pause and the third for Step by Step. To play, the Play button must be active, if you press Pause, the game stops, until you restart it again by pressing the Play button. The Step by Step button, is used to advance the game step by step according to the duration you select in the ms (field in the Debugger window), for example you type 1000 in the ms field, and press the Step by Step button, then you go back to the game and you will see how the game continues but only during the 1000ms (1 second) that you have selected, you can do this as many times as you want while releasing new balls on the playfield (pressing the left mouse button), this will also help you to dump the animations of the game.

This way it will be easier to dump all the animations of the game. I attached some screenshots of the Visual Pinmame Debug mode.

In the next firmware version of the DMDMK66, already with the 128x16 screen, I will add an option to dump the animations playing on the real machine, but I still think that the most comfortable is to use Visual Pinmame, to dump all the animations of any supported game .

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Has anyone had a problem where the drop targets dont reset after all 4 being knockedown. They will reset but not until you drain the ball

Yes. Do you hear the cannon firing at random times, triggering credit for a cannon hit as well. I had an issue where one wasn't registering, and then another registers several times when it is down. I think I have the one fixed that wasn't registering, but am still trying to figure out why one is still registering multiple times. I gapped the switch a little closer and cleaned the contacts, but there is still work to be done.

Makes sense. I'll get back and let you know once i fiddle with it. Thanks for the tip

Have you tried putting the pin in switch test mode to check the switches?

Probably a switch problem. The game will attempt to reset the Drop Targets in between balls whether they need it or not, this is why yours is resetting at that time. So I am guessing that your game doesn't realize all targets are down.

Anyone have any clue what could be going on here?

It sounds like transistor that has went bad causing a coil to make that noise. You need to raise the play field and investigate what's going on.

Thanks very much for the input. It's the whole "investigate what's going on" part where I'm stuck, unfortunately.

I've got the tools (multimeter, soldering iron, etc) but am not very skilled in using them. Are there any helpful beginner guides on how to determine where to stick my multimeter leads, and what results to look for?

I agree with hawkeye sounds like a mech locking on, what's strange is that the related fuse isn't blowing (wrong ratings maybe). First off I'd just inspect the machine for anything obvious (power off, unplugged), lift the playfield and see if any of the mechs have charred/burnt wrappers on their coils. After that though you're likely looking at board repair too, have a look at the PPB board (bottom left in backbox) as the related drive transistor may be obviously burnt out. Anything dodgy post a photo here.

It could be a diode has failed and will cause a coil to lock in on start up. I have seen that on a Hook.

I think it's something else. If you watch the video close, it seems the machine doesn't boot. Even with a lock on coil, the machine would go into attract mode. I would guess a bad bridge on the power supply

@kba78 is there a way to test for that?

Actually yes, check YouTube and search " how to test a bridge rectifier". Give you step by step instructions and it's pretty simple

I tested all four bridge rectifiers with the method detailed here:

and all tested out good.

I noticed after turning the machine on that the PIA and +5v lights come on and stay on, and the blank light never comes on. According to the manual, if the PIA light stays on, then there's a problem with "one of thee 6821 PIAs" but I don't know what those are. I suppose I'll do some more googling.

I also tested the 3 test points on the power supply board. The +5v tested at 4.1v. The +12v tested at 11.1. The -12v tested at -13.5.

I would change the bridge rectifier and all the electrolytic capacitors. Problem is that almost all these are tough to get out without damaging the board. If you are not able to solder, ChrisHibler would be happy to take care of it for you.

Also disconnect CN1 from the power supply and be sure there are no burnt pins on the board pins or in the wired harness pins. You will see a lot of brown discoloration on the white plastic if there is any.

If you want to go the route of a new aftermarket power supply, I suggest an Xpin board over Rottendog board anyday. Quality on Xpin is much, much higher.

https://xpinpinball.com/product/xp-de5047/

I agree with the X-Pin boards, hopefully Brett has resolved the +12v regulated power rail issues.

Hello everyone,

New to the board and to this thread. I apologize in advance if I ask any questions that have already been answered, but I haven’t yet gone back through all 36 pages of this thread.

I’ve had a Hook for close to 14 years. I paid $900 for it somewhere around 2005. It’s probably more or less original and still plays well for the most part but I would like to restore it. It has sat unused for the majority of the last 10 years... every now and again we plug it in and get it going. When I bought it I had one three-year-old kid and now I have three, 16 13 and 10, and would like them to be able to enjoy it more.

My biggest issue with it is that during gameplay, the sound cuts out. So that’s the first thing I would like to solve and was wondering if anyone has any suggestions on that. There doesn’t appear to be anything in the gameplay that triggers the cutout, and adjusting the volume doesn’t help - just produces static noise in the speakers when I turn the knob.

Past that, wondering if anyone had any suggestions on diving into this machine for someone who hasn’t worked on a pinball machine before. Everything besides the sound seems to work ok... there are some bulbs out, but a LED upgrade seems like a logical early step anyway, along with replacing all the rubber. But there doesn’t appear to be any cracked plastic or anything like that. Just wondering what are good resources out there to guide me through things like this, and what are other basic things that should be done while I’m in there.

Thanks in advance.

The first thing I would do is get a reading on the +12v section of the power supply board. This board is in the upper left of the backbox and has little loops in the upper right corner of the board to place your red probe in for +12v Unreg. and black probe in for Gnd (ground). Be very careful to not let the probes touch each other and short out the connection. There is also high voltage present on that power supply board so also be very careful not to touch any fuses or other metal items on the board with your hands or the probes.

My Hook is in historic downtown Saint Augustine FL @ South A Philly restaurant.
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It is 1 block for the bridge of lions.

I love when people color dots! This game was already done by vbobrusev for pin2dmd so maybe you can get the dump files from him, if they are compatible with SPs software. I actually plan to eventually color this game as well, but with a full redraw and conversion to a regular DMD size.

May need to make cuts to make it fit, I dont have a real hook, so Im no help for that.

Dont know if anybody heard yesterday but pinsound just announced the shaker kit that ties into there pinsound boards and are taking pre-orders. I ordered one for hook but wont be shipping til september. They are running $189.99 plus tax and shipping. I think its totally going to be worth it if you already have a pinsound board.

vbobrusev has kindly sent me more Hook 5 VPX dumps so I have more content to work with in the SP editor.

I'm very interested to see what can be done with Hook in 128x32, obviously the current speaker panel has a narrow "slot" sized for the 128x16 display, so it will need adapting and it's pretty thick metal too!

I think it would be doable

Hmm, the PinballSP DMDMK66 128x16 is essentially a 128x32 panel with half of the pixels on top and bottom unused. I wonder if Luis can write a firmware update to allow 128x32 bitmap frames to be used on 128x16 games?

Not going to turn this into a SPvsPin2DMD thing but pin2dmd already does this. I converted TMNT into an x32 game just like I'm going to do for Hook.

So now we need to see if it's possible to fit a 128x32 display in the speaker panel?

I'm sure Hook will be a goer to display 128x32 with some speaker panel modification, not sure on TMNT though as the DMD sits behind a window within that pretty mirrored backglass, I wouldn't want to be scraping that back. Not our problem though this is Hook club

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PinballSP has released a new version of the Magic Editor that supports importing animated GIFs (think movie clips as basis for animations!) which in due course should support the 128x32 resolution of the panel used for the 128x16 DMD. So we'll have a choice of 128x32 solutions for Hook.

I thought I'd do some research - so here's Lethal Hook 3
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The LW3 panel is approx 2cm higher, so the translite and bb lamp door would need trimming accordingly and the mounting posts repositioned upwards.

Alternatively, I think there is room to cut the existing panel too to widen the DMD aperture by approx 23mm either side.

I kinda like the quirky 128x16 DMD but what's possible in 128x32 colour could be awesome.

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I'm going to move the splinter light up section from where a DMD typically goes to where the DMD is, and then put the DMD between the speakers, if it'll fit. With your LW3 bezel there you have me second guessing my ability to squeeze a full sized DMD in the TMNT area (it looks as small if not smaller than Hook's area). I maybe have to route the wood at the top of the box to slide the glass up higher; which is something you maybe could do for hook to not trim the art down?

Good ideas there, perhaps the TMNT speaker panel is the same as Hook, the "flat" area that is recessed at the back to take the DMD is 115mm high, the current aperture 48 mm. Comparing with LW3 it would need to be approx 85 mm - which would provide an acceptable top/bottom margin of 15 mm once cut. (I guess you know what slot size you need for a real Pin2DMD)

I know this is all some time off but I'm already of a mind that I don't want to cut my original speaker panel. Cutting down the bg isn't a major issue as it's a translite not screened glass, also I have a Retro Refurbs alternate that could be trimmed.

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Furthermore, it should be possible to unstaple the Hook speaker grills and install them in the LW3 speaker panel.

I just released the pcb design for a 128x16 PIN2DMD drop-in replacement. Here are some pictures. Unlike in WPC machines the original power connector is able to provide enough amps to drive the panel which means it is a plug and play hardware installation.
Of course the available colorizations for checkpoint and TMNT and Hook are fully supported. I published the pcb design and pcbway.com ordering information free for everyone here https://github.com/lucky01/PIN2DMD/tree/master/hardware/EVO128x16
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Im interested in purchasing pretty stoked its plug and play. How do i go about ordering one up for hook