OK. I pulled the playfield out to it’s last service position and disconnected the bottom pin from the vertical bar behind the backboard so that the motor would run unencumbered by the ship. I moved the ship by hand and it moves freely and smoothly with no problems.
When running the recalibration the motor labors and doesn’t complete the recalibration. Slowest success is around 3 or 4 when unencumbered.
So I’m guessing that it’s somehow not getting enough power. (The motor and controller board are brand new as of yesterday). Unfortunately I’m no good with electronics. I’m good with a solder gun and have a meter, but have no clue how to use the meter other than to check continuity. I don’t really understand voltage, amperage etc. I guess I can try to trace the wires and re-flow the solder. Any suggestions?

While diagnosing with Jim at JJP support, we came up with the hypothesis that it’s a bad opto. I’ve ordered one - stay tuned!

Went through the settings and saw one of them that caught my eye: “first multiball with spyglass” under black pearl multiball. Default is 2, but I’ve never noticed the spyglass feature when qualifying that multiball...

Any ideas on what this is?

I was cleaning under the Dauntless today and found this cool artwork. You'll never see it unless the Dauntless is removed. Cool Easter Egg!

20200730_183311 (resized).jpg

Aye matey - 'tis cool to be sure!

But it be under the Endeavor on my game.

Oh, my bad. I just know it as the "other ship" LOL

Just wondering if any in this club ever picked up a proto game with the original disk design? Did any of those ever get out to the general public? I’m guessing no, but I’m often wrong.

I know the Seattle Pinball Museum has one.

Yelobird mentioned it in this thread I believe. Those games have earlier versions of software. Later versions of software won't support the original discs.

LTG : )

There Might be one of those in my basement arcade....lol. I thought everyone had 2 of this awesome game?

Need to replace my ball set, what should I put in this machine (fairly new to the hobby) Any care/maintenance I should do on the balls prior to putting them in there and/or regularly?

There will be varying opinions, but I buy these in bulk from Titan

https://www.titanpinball.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=57&product_id=69

True. Forgot about the earlier software. Just surprised I don’t see them more often. Usually people love the proto stuff.....other then just Yelobird.

There was one at Level 257 for a while. It was always off. Lol

I got some clarification on this from the man himself, Keith Johnson. Apparently, even at 10K you still need a Skull hold or the value reverts back to 1K on the next ball. Also some more info on how Henry Turner actually works.

keefer

"Yes, Henry Turner.

BTW the skull value increases that happen DURING a chapter are based on the shot hit, not on a color. Generally speaking, the “harder” a shot is to make the bigger the skull value increase. It behooves you to try and shoot the outside shots first so the inner shots are way more valuable.

Skull values only hold when they say they are held. (Except one character, I think Angelica, always gives 1 free hold if you drain as her.) It’s very possible to lose your maxed-out Skull. By default, though, the game does its best to try and hold your most valuable skull first (unless you’re in a chapter, then it prefers the chapter you’re in).

A Tia Dalma shot adds the most during a chapter, 750, so if you’re Henry, she’ll add 1500."

Gotcha. So your free 10k holds are a bug

I thought that was the case. I knew I remembered draining without a skull hold and losing my built up 10k before. It's especially awesome when you have it at 10k, the wizard mode lit and then drain without a skull hold.

Im looking for the HMS mod for my pirates. If a anyone is selling their game and/or willing to give up their spot, PM me and let me know your price.

No, you're wrong. I was just mistaken about having no Skull hold.... geez...

Won't say its common for all but I had a similar issue after Many games played. For me I replace both coil sleeves and haven't had an issue since? My guess is they started to heat up and grab or warp grabbing the plunger. Just a guess but that worked for me and a new set of sleeves from PinballLife and I have been good so far. Good luck.

My theory on this is plunger is steel. Sleeve is plastic. After several months of play the inner part of sleeve becomes “not smooth” anymore. This causes a little bit of friction. This coupled with the possibility of heat ( like yelo mentioned) causing the sleeve and plunger to expand at different rates Making the friction of an older sleeve more noticeable. I would clean mech and replace sleeves and everything should go back to nice and smooth

Also a little hack I learned while shopping my f-14. You can buy a bulk pack of the longer sleeves and then use a old plunger and a pipe cutter to cut down to size.

I had this problem on my game after about 50 plays. Upper left flipper got really sluggish. Upon inspection I found the coil sleeve was too short and it was also cracked at the top. I replaced it with the correct one from the manual, plus a new plunger. It's been solid ever since.

The flippers on my Hobbit seem to get weaker during some consecutive intense multiballs. I bought these mini RC motor fans to see if I can adapt them to the flipper coils. I thought that it was worth a try. TBD when I get some time to tinker with it.
20200805_121234 (resized).jpg

I had the same problem with the upper left flipper on the main playfield. I couple times, I changed out the coil sleeve, coil stop, and even the coil itself ...still had issues. I then got I a rebuild kit and changed everything out. I've had no problems since then, it always seems strong now. It was weird, but cured me.

Kinda weird, since LOTR had the same issue

Any news on code updates? Starting to think about moving this game out. It's so fun, but I am having a hard time getting over how they've just abandoned it.

Abandoned it? Where do you get that from? Keefer said in an interview with bro that the code is coming.

How recently did he say that?

I listened to a podcast just within the last several weeks where Keefer was saying the new code would only be released when the final wizard mode was complete. He went on to say that won't be soon because he is very busy with JJPs current projects.

For all Practical purposes yes I would say abandoned. It been what 15-16 months since an update. Meanwhile basic things like preset difficulties are still missing. COVID downtime would have been the perfect time to polish and finish up some things. Correct me if I’m wrong but the game that came out after pirates is more complete at this time. The next game they release will probably be more complete than pirates. And Keith will have something new to work on and push us back again. It’s a never ending cycle.

We are being punished for not being more understanding and empathetic

I think this always just comes down to sales... No Pirates left to sell, so the fuel to push code forward dries up.

Or Keith is lazy

Far from that.

The powers that be have him working on 5 games. Blue tooth stuff. And no way on knowing what he has to get programming started for future titles.

He's one of those unsung heroes that doesn't get the praise and credit for what he does.

LTG : )

Bluetooth should not be hard to program. It is not a new technology. Why is bluetooth even being programmed? It would be easier to do a hardware wetup directly off of the headphone port on the front. a momentary switch to activate search for bluetooth device. a led that blinks when searching and solid when paired. You could prolly hop on amazon and find a bluetooth device for under 30 bucks strip it down and wire in a switch.

I would care about coding on future titles when JJP can at leaast put forth an effort to complete Potc. When Stern releases a new machine I find myself looking up as much as I can about it and whether I think it will be fun. I still have no idea how Wonka works and could care less about future titles. I still maintain what I said a year ago that any company can go bankrupt at any time and the longer we have to wait the more chance it will never come. Nothing JJP has done in the past 6 months has told me they are doing good as a company. They cant even do a successful teaser "innovation is coming." When next year?

I'm guessing it's not his decision to make.

Remember, Hobbit got worked on, again and again, as inventory was sitting around. Push the code, push the units out the door!

I'd say the same regarding Dialed In, but that seems more consistent with Pat Lawlor and how code seems fleshed out for his two games...ish, at launch.

As a developer, I love it when non-developers make ignorant statements like this.

And I would say its ignorant to assume I have no experience. I have stated before I went to college for a year for..wait for it... computer programming. I have also done some small projects with raspberry pi's and 3d printers. In fact with a quick google search

http://people.csail.mit.edu/rudolph/Teaching/Articles/BTBook.pdf

This book targets the computer programmer looking for an introduction to Bluetooth and how to
program with it in Linux. It assumes no previous knowledge of Bluetooth (you may have never even
heard of it before picking up this book), but does assume that you have experience with either C or
Python

77 pages to explain how to program bluetooth into linux. Please explain to me what is hard about programming a protocol that is almost 20 years old? I bet you could do a mark zuckerburg a college student for 500 bucks and have bluetooth done in a couple weeks. Just make sure he doesnt have family at stern or cgc.

The reason why Wonka seems more complete is because it was shipped/released with "complete" code. They added bells, whistles, call outs, lights, and tweaked things, but the basic code was complete. Pat wants all new games shipped with 1.0 code minimum. That's why they are busy with future pin code to keep that goal. Keith said in that same recent interview that Pirates is not abandoned.

Wifi and Bluetooth are spare time work for some of the code guys too it seems. That's okay ... I am glad that all of the JJP pins will get that code added when they can get to it.

Now find a book “Pinball Wizard Modes for Dummies” and your problems are solved!

Tried to ignore the "Bluetooth is easy" thing, but...

Hardware integration is a pain in the butt. It is WAY different from programming software. Plus, JJP has to pick a hardware module to use, then plan for integration and then buy 100,000 of them for installation. If they pick one that hasnt been tested
Thoroughly, or
Is constrained/missing certain features, they are screwed.

Bluetooth has about 10 different possible implementations, 6 versions in the stack, not including Bluetooth LowE, the stupid new Apple high speed implementation, and a confusing backchain update to Bluetooth Classic.

We dont know what JJP is doing with BT, is it for audio? For data updates? They are likely building on the implementation started with DI, which as a previous owner, I can tell you was super fun, but not really
Playable - more a curiosity than anything. And it probably was just an exercise for the team they just decided to release for kicks.

That said, the biggest hurdle the team likely faces is that they are integrating into a huge pile of existing code which was never intended to integrate this way. Plus as Lloyd said, if Keith is working on 5 (really?!) games at the moment, it's damn hard to get stuff done,
You're always switching gears.

Still, Multimorphic added Bluetooth -AUDIO- to the P3 (I dont believe it does data Transfer which is a whole other ball of wax). I'm getting one of those later this year so I'll find out more.

I don't doubt Keith is working hard on these games, and he HAS said the game will have one more
final update - to include the final wizard mode, character changes and Bluetooth, hopefully some other surprises.

But all This is conspiring against POTC ever really being finished. I heard Keith's comments on Buffalo Pinball, and it sure didn't sound positive to me. He basically said "it'll get done when I have time someday, and you Shouldn't worry about it since
Most people Can't get to The end of the game anyway". Ok...

If it was the only game he's working on, it would have been done long ago, but the longer it takes, the more likely this "final" release date becomes a vanishing point.

Now here's a thing: I've had my game packed up for 3 months now, haven't played it in forever. Once I crank it open maybe I'll feel differently, it's a pretty awesome set of code.

For those that somehow dislike the game because it’s “not complete” then sell it for a huge profit and quit complaining. There are tons of people interested in getting one so be thankful you are one of the lucky ones to own one of, if not the best pins ever. Personally I’d take POTC incomplete over any “complete” game out there. You wouldn’t even know it was “incomplete” if it wasn’t labeled version .99 and weren’t told there would be a final wizard mode. Keep making kick ass games JJP!

A chance to explain why im wrong but revert to an "insult". Not sure if I can trust a guy whom scammed a free playfield after telling everyone there was nothing to complain about then proceeded to sell his machine

Thanks for attempting to explain. I still have a hard time believing that integrating bluetooth is that difficult. From what we know bluetooth is just for audio and wifi is for updates. maybe they are doing other things with the bluetooth that we do not know. I could see integrating other stuff into the bluetooth possibly being difficult but audio alone is a hard sell.

No the huge led in between the flippers thats says break the curse and the manual for the machine did that for me.
*edit its not a led it just says break the curse by flippers

Ok here's why you're wrong. One year of CS class in college doth not a programmer make.
That's like trying to say brain surgery should be easy because you watched season of ER.

There are a million things you're glossing over.

- New user interface code has to be crafted to guide the user through the pairing process.
- How does the game handle the audio, is it simultaneous with the speakers or does it replace them?
- Does the audio stay in sync with the gameplay?
- Does the bluetooth stack have any ill effects with the existing code that need to be worked around?
- Can the game code handle the paired device being taken away gracefully?

I didn't "scam" anything. JJP very graciously sent me a playfield for my LE. I still contend that once you conceal the issues, it is not a game-ruining thing. I sold my LE because a very close friend made me a very good deal on his CE, which I helped unbox myself when new. It was an offer I could not refuse. I did not profit on the LE sale, I paid the kindness I received forward.

In fact, when I sold the LE I emailed Jack to cancel_ the LE playfield request, but I ended up getting one anyway...the order was probably in queue already. I will find something positive to do with it for someone who can use it.

And yes the CE has playfield issues too. Chipping around sling posts hidden by the star post/washer fix, and there was some lumpiness around the Tortuga scoop which I flattened with the playfield iron (thanks @yelobird) before installing cliffys. I will purchase my own CE playfield at some point as a backup and I intend to pay full price for it.

GnarLee you and I have never really gotten off on the right foot. I hope that someday post-COVID we can meet up at TPF for a beer or something. I suspect we probably agree on more than we disagree on.

And by the way GnarLee I think it's impressive as hell you've been able to reach the Break the Curse mode.

Putting myself in your position, having a once-in-a-lifetime game and meeting all the required goals only to have the reward missing would be a bit of a disappointment for sure.

I wish I were a good enough player to have this problem.