I don't think that is a rendered pic. They would be mad to have not assembled and tested a few copies.

Also why would they got to the extreme lengths of creating such an effort hungry and detailed render when they can just take a pic?

If it is a render it is definitely no 5 minute job, with fingerprints and debris or whatnot on the apron, and some other giveaways. I seriously doubt the image comes from anything other than an actual camera.

Yeah, keeping an original running isn’t the issue. I know guys that have been more or less trouble free. But the protection circuit on the node boards is disabled, the led system is a little wonky with some flickering on flipper hold. The power supply they used is inadequate, original usb cables likely to be subpar.. All repairable or improveable stuff. It’ll be interesting to see what improvements can be used on original games.. i think it’s neat they’ll have the unique cabinet and possibly the playfield screen to boast over the new ones.

Something IS going on conserning "old" HP pinballs and parts availability:

https://www.gameroom.no/2020/12/need-parts-we-got-it/

IO Board 1.4C sounds good to me as a OG Alien owner...

That is great news... even if it just confirms ambitions. Someone going in and correcting the issues (like the over voltage circuit) on the i/o boards for old games would be a huge help. If people could retrofit some upgrades on old aliens that could be best of both worlds (even if its at a cost). The i/o board cost wasn’t insignificant at low volumes.

The only thing I can think of that I would like to see on my old ancient no good alien le , is
Some polish on the code with multi balls . Instead of just ending I would like to see a cut scene like the newt multi ball which says “you failed “ or something similar for turret multiball etc

What is "Turret MB"?? ... do you maybe mean Sentry Guns?

Yes that and ambush .

The code is pretty good now, but still far from complete or bug free I'd say. It seems pretty obvious now at this point there will be more updates for Heighway Alien and Full Throttle.

Are there any clips missing from the original? Sound or video?

I haven't noticed anything missing per say.

An example of bugs is the "Player 1" video animation running when it is player 3 turn. You know it is player 3 turn because of the score displays though. I have it on video. Also had the jaw stuck in a scream loop through to attract mode, until reset in the portal/menu. I think this was from an instant ball drain which rebounded from a Xeno hit that made "Two Xenomorphs to go" (which calls to the jaw for "scream").

If there is an Alien owner who is interested in compiling an actual list of bugs (with details like steps-to-reproduce), that could be beneficial info to provide the Pinball Brothers team.

I can start jotting down things I find onto a list for Alien. The game is onsite at the mo. Some stuff will get missed (due to public players) but also play will vary a bit which might help expose undiscovered less common stuff (like the multiplayer video bug).

Is there debug or log info produced by the code, that can be accessed or downloaded from the game? ... or will this only happen by running in some sort of "debug mode"?

I will bring the game back to the workshop soon, it will be easier there to identify and record bugs. ... plus we get to test (play) more !

I'm sure there would also be a FT owner or two about somewhere willing to record reproduceable bugs for that one.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/alien-pinball-official-game-thread/page/359#post-4041771

Cheers!

I remember trying for a bit after Brian released 1.4, but generally only play 1 or 2 player games and really couldn't catch any. His magic on that rev pretty much minimized the LED flashes (really only noticable if your watching for it and much less frequent.

Changing the 12v power supply to a proper unit, along with proper lacing of the USB cables really made a major change, and has kept this machine running fine. Believe Mike (@timebandit) had almost broke the oddities in the I/O board, causing the need to disable the protection circuit (it's been a while since that was discussed though).

Anyway - More Aliens for more to play is a good thing for pinball. There is no way even 200 of these are living in final release/ stable format, so excitement is genuine (classic sci-fi horror theme that appeals to many). I want to believe.....badly. Hope to see flipping games and actual manufacturer support soon.

Doubtful anyone (even Andrew) go into these things with malice, but rather, passion and belief in the product. Clarity should certainly appear in relative short term (year or 2).

You've never seen the Xeno Jaw go into an endless scream loop at drain, straight after 3rd last Xeno hit?

Does this reproduce on your game?

I'm gonna have a crack at reproducing it this evening when I get back from work.

I still doubt that future code updates will be provided for original aliens as well. If the rumors are true, there will be some changes in the technology (e.g. no more IO boards?). Additionally, game elements like the physical airlock or the additional magnet will change. All this will probably not make it so easy to provide the code 1 on new and old aliens.
Providing official code for the original Alien also means to support it in case of a bug - I can't imagine that Pinball Brothers can and will support the Highway Alien.(
What I could imagine is that PB releases the source code and the community can develop the code (maybe with the support of Brian and the approval of PB) further.
Any other opinions on this?

We will see. I believe the new firmware would have been redesigned in a way that the original code would run on it, why change for no reason and port or alter every bit of code? ... that makes no sense to me.

The interview only suggests code changes for physical playfield updates such as the chestburster, varying inserts and lit standups, and hypersleep locks. Meaning it has likely Not been changed for suiting different architecture. They only said Boards have been split up and made smaller for servicability. Also the LED and switches are SMD on the boards so no sockets.

Would not make sense to change the code for the same game, not at all really.

Also there is this:

2020-12-24-00-21-16.png

Which basically spells out that PB is supporting Heighway products. Same as for the last couple of years. I think non Alien owners might have missed that bulletin at tge time Heighway was collapsing.

So yeah, there's that too.

Come on man, Stern isn't a new company. U know ur getting ur LE.

People r giving refundable deposits to the distributor, I don't think anyone is sending money to PB pinball. If they do and it doesn't work out well then.....

208 (resized).jpg

You mean Spaceballs chest buster singing mode.

1D8B47A0-231C-4B96-9942-B04A7CC35916.gif

LOL ! ... Yes!!

Nope....I was very curious about that mech, reading about horrors with early versions while waiting on my direct preorder .
Took mine completely apart when I actually acquired a game, even though it was working fine. Already had the new metal gear and cased jaw stepper motor in hand, swapped it out. Used white contact glue ( hear transfer) for board heat sink, a touch of hot glue on the micro connectors. Mine came w the keyed metal servo gear. Checked everything, reassembled, and have never had an issue w it.
Was concerned at first ( back to the " no factory to call if I got stuck" thing), but it's really not hard to work on.

The tongue jaw mod would be a much easier thing if the recess in the nylon block was machined out to a squarer profile rather than the restrictive full radius arch that it currently has. Then the tongue jaw could be a simple bolt on mod!. Or better PB could Add that too!! ? @PinballBrothers

Sort of...

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/alien-pinball-official-game-thread/page/562#post-6016076

PB need to modify the nylon body. I had to take some out of it so there was room on the top half of the recess. No compromise on strength or substance, just would be one step more involved machining operation.

I haven't the capacity to make alot of these at all really, but anyone is welcome to take the idea and run with it. Problem with me making them also is that I machined out my head block in order for it to fit (not severely, just squared up the arch radius they have in there).

This is razorsedge upgraded tongue. Note that PB are improving the gearing but agree that we need something like this (assuming PB change the inner mouth)

Tongue2 (resized).jpg

Also the jaw here has had Significant alteration to the servo arrangement to get full jaw operation*

Nothing that couldn't be implemented with minor changes.

Includes a "servo saver" link, to guard against electronic or mechanical damage When there might be a switch failure or whatever (tongue can remain out while jaw tries to close). Also a counterweight because that thing is Heavy!

I implemented all this, as when I got my used Alien, the jaw was jammed against the standups and the servo controller board was blown. I didn't want it happening again.

I'd be happy for any/all of these concepts to be adopted into an LV

It's a great mod mate - clearly showing your skills

I was surprised how malleable the metal was for getting the bend on the inner teeth given how small this is. Certainly would be keen to get this mod on a new Alien if possible

Hubs has been looking at Heighway machine and really likes the look of it. We got on the list for the LV version yesterday. One of my favorite movie series! Too bad no Sigourney-that would have been awesome to have her on there. And now we wait....

Feasibly it would probably be some kind of plastic, but if they wanted to go to town for the LV they would fabricate from malleable 316 SS as I did, Polished!

Using the bespoke by hand method I did though would not be effective or feasible to make 500 metal jaws either. It would become 4 laser cut components, one small basic press die, then form teeth to shape, TIG weld, add grub screw, polish/finish. I electro-polished mine to finish, as they do with their new ramps etc.

That just looks great!!! Seriously want!!

Put me on list if you sell an upgraded tongue mech

The head needs modification to fit it... causes a dillema with that.

It could maybe become much smaller and fit without mods to the head, but I like the way the proportion came out, vs the ball and the head. Couldn't be happier. Make it small enough to fit and I think you would lose its presence.

Not sure I see anything in that notice having anything to do with future code updates for old Aliens. They only claim Support for some old stock mechanical hardware “the best we can” and some parts being interchangeable. Doubt they are going to code update 2 platforms from that announcement?

Yes! Exactly what this needs.

Yeah there will be some, how much is the question. You'd have to read a variety of past posts back in the relevant threads before you would "see".

Beside anything else, why would one be asked about compiling details of HW Alien known bugs in current 1.4?? ... a bug report.

I think you'll find it is the same (updated) head they have been selling for more than a year now, which is the same (I bought one recently). I wouldn't expect any change unless they *could* do something for this LV.

Agreed though bug fixes and continued code are somewhat different. Seems like some are expecting a gen 1 code completion which doesn’t seem like the case.

I think Alien will have common code to at least some degree, just because other ways make little economic sense (considering what they say their goal is).

Like +6months ago when new electropolished alien ramps hit the Freeplay store (among a bunch of other curious stuff popping up on mass)... you could tell what was going on.

Now it is the same suspect stuff with the code. Never fear we will find out how it really goes down in due time. They are into supporting OG customers though, I think you can be sure enough of that.

I really doubt the two codes are interchangeable especially since PB claimed that they reworked the machine from the ground up. You can't use a stern pro code on a stern premium machine despite being 95% similar.

Ok Lol

They did not say that, in essence.

It is the same game, would be the more accurate take... with about 4-5 updates to various hardware.

They aren't stern. Although what I am suggesting would be more like that. Separate Code versions would function to a degree on either or machine, but not given the unique feature differences. Either that or simple disable/enable settings for OG aliens. I'll wager they have not updated/changed the code much at all, aside from bugs fixes, and the new playfield hardware features. Oh and adding "Pinball Brothers" animations to the attract mode

The hardware would be intelligent to design so that it can run existing code, then updated. Makes sense economically.

This one is the Pro, the operators model. Look at the price! ... operators stand to make a killing!

LV will have PF screen

Listen to what they said on the super awesome pinball show, they essentially said that. Boards would not be interchangeable etc. It is basically a remake of Highway Pinball's version but not exactly the same. You can't use MMr code on an original MM game either despite being even more similar.

You're taking that out of context imho. They are referencing using the BOARDS in an original alien, not happening! . I can agree with that.

People are counting out alot that was Not actually counted out, by assuming and reading between the lines. I've listened more than 5 times through, analysing the specified words and sentences. Also remember "english is my 5th language" perspective. Lol

Have you listened carefully without preconceived notions? ... lets just say first couple of run through I was getting the same impression that you are. But I decided to take and objective and critical view subsequently... and no if anything they suggest minimal changes to code. Big changes to hardware (mostly just many little boards instead of three big ones.

It really depends on how they can separate the hardware (electronics, mechanicals) from the software code (& create a hardware abstraction layer as much as possible). There are ways to do this in software but will take rewrites of code to make this happen.

For example: New boards will require new software drivers. Also OS versions matter, etc. Of course hardware interfaces matter.

The other side is that they needed to have this in mind day 1 when they took things over to make the code versatile.

Additionally, This all needs testing on both Alien platforms etc. Keeping both working requires time & effort - which means cash!

If I were DP release the new game first.
Then if I had time, go back & make new code changes available to original games for $X upgrade charge.

From my experience- maintaining 2 platforms long term never works (especially for free). Now if owners pay for it different story.

Well I think this is kinda more like what I'm seeing... but remember, I don't think the hardware/firmware has actually changed that dramatically, to Avoid big code alterations top to bottom. The hardware was fine except the USB and the IO protection, solid when both are sorted. I think all they done for hardware is solve those issues, and create the new hardware so that it is code compatible .... instead of doing both Hardware And Software from scratch. It is surely more doable to rehash one than both.

Remember as well, there is already planned a new revision of the IO boards for OG Alien, I think you'll find this could tie in to some of what I am speculating.

Of course whatever way, Alien and FT will be some time after PB Aliens are well and truely out there.

I assume the computer will change too?
Assuming the original is no longer made. I am sure OS changes, drivers, compiling code on new computer all has impacts to some level.

The more I think about it- I would keep 2 game platforms.

And not integrate code to make 1 system. Keep separate with base code being updated in both (kind of a copy & paste).

And then charge for code updates out of the gate for the original game. Of course post launch of new game first.

Can still buy them right now

In fact the FT owners have code that only runs on the "utilux" presently... they would like to upgrade to the current PC, but I think that requires more code work than we're talking about between Aliens. I think PB are gonna do it though. Well, FT owners can only hope.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/alien-pinball-official-game-thread/page/562#post-6019450

Current orders. It's a strong PC, and not expensive. Asus.

Everyone including myself just ordering direct from manufacturer. But FT can't use them due to code.

The website quoted above for spare parts said limited stock - way I interpreted that is not good long term.

I would expect a computer upgrade coming.

I think that’s key. Limited stock support and Try to manage expectations. Similar to MMr I think this platform will take a new path. On the plus side 15k Aliens like TBL and old MM are over finally and this great game can see a new depth in the market to enjoy by all.