(Topic ID: 60398)

Metallica Needs A Snake Ball Save Option

By Hashman

10 years ago


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  • 33 posts
  • 23 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 5 years ago by Jabar999
  • Topic is favorited by 1 Pinsider

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#1 10 years ago

Snake spits the ball out straight down the middle 20-30% of the time instead of the hitting the left flipper. Machine is perfectly level and it seems to get worse the longer you play it. Very annoying. Have looked for a SNAKE BALL SAVE option in the settings but doesnt seem to be one.

Anyone else have this problem?

#2 10 years ago

nope-- has never happened always hits left flipper. 1/50 it may fly wide left but thats it.

#3 10 years ago

Sometimes the snake shoots it straight to the left outlane on me (LE).

#4 10 years ago
Quoted from Hashman:

Anyone else have this problem?

It did it on the pro I played at a pizza place, but never on my LE.

#5 10 years ago

It worked on a premium I played.

#6 10 years ago

Yeah always left flipper for me to, could you adjust the snakes head?

#7 10 years ago

Try adjusting the scoop under the playfield, or you might just need to buy a new one. It should never do this. Oh, and make sure the game is level.

#8 10 years ago

So Weird?? All these complaints about the game....mine has never suffered any of these? I don't understand? My snake has never sent the ball anywhere but the left flipper?? I really hope you get it straightened up! Perhaps they can write a ball save in the code for the snake much like the raptor pit in JP!

#9 10 years ago
Quoted from flashburn:

Try adjusting the scoop under the playfield, or you might just need to buy a new one. It should never do this. Oh, and make sure the game is level.

Agreed.... most likely the playfield is not level.

#10 10 years ago

I doubt its a playfield leveling issue. The ball comes out of the snake fast enough that it doesn't matter if its perfectly level or not. This is an issue with the kickout and it needs to be adjusted. It does not need a software change as you just need to fix your machine. I put a piece of the cloth side if sticky back Velcro on the plunger part of the kick out that hits the coil rubber coil stop. It's enough to take a slight bit of the range of motion away. This calmed my kick out slightly and it always hits the left flipper.

I'm not saying this is your fix. Im suggesting you play around with a few things including making sure the scoop is tight and even perhaps bending the roof of the scoop if needed slightly to tweak it.

#11 10 years ago

Mine does it every now and then when the ball comes out slower than usual. I think the ball is occasionally picking up backspin out of the scoop, then the drag basically veers the ball SDTM instead of at the flipper. Shouldnt require too much tweaking to remedy just havent gotten around to it here.

#12 10 years ago

FWIW, I haven't had any issues out of my snake scoop, either. Maybe it's because I can't hit that shot to save my life.

After about 600 games, my Tron scoop had issues with it hitting the right slingshot quite often. I tried the normal stuff; adjusting the scoop, making sure the plunger hit ball square, etc. The problem just kept coming back. What seems to have finally fixed it was cleaning the inside surface of the scoop that the ball rolls against. It was really not very dirty, but I could feel a small bump with my finger.

I agree with Markmon about the leveling. Most of us know to level our machines. It gets blamed for a lot of problems, but in my experience, it is not the real cause as often as it gets blamed.

#13 10 years ago

I have had some problems with the snake on my Pro shooting SDTM about 20% of the time. I adjusted the forward part of the snake under the pf (the small metal piece that has three screws) and the ball would hit the left sling shot. I adjusted the metal piece back a little and it goes back to 20% SDTM. So I adjusted back. At least the ball stays on the pf. One thing I have noticed is that the ball does not hit exact same location on flipper. There is about a 1" spread which means the ball can hit center of flipper one time and SDTM the next time. I agree with above comment that the problem seems to get worse when playing back to back games. I will try some of the above suggestions.

#14 10 years ago

I've also had the snake eject the ball straight to the left outlane several times. It takes a hard left turn, and I thought maybe the coffin magnet was pulling it?

#15 10 years ago

Yep. The ball goes SDTM and it's impossible to save due to the velocity and angle when it happens. Don and I talked about this on the podcast (which should go live tonight) and we both agreed that a very short, like a 1 second ball save would be perfect. Jurassic Park did it with the raptor pit shot, it would be a nice addition here.

#16 10 years ago

Thanks for input everyone. The machine is perfectly level as all my machines are. When it happens it does seem to be a slower eject and it's usually after Ive hit the snake a fair bit. Maybe something's loose. I'll check under the playfield and see if I can find anything or at least clean or adjust it. A ball save option would be awesome and an easy option for Stern to add you would think?

#17 10 years ago
Quoted from Hashman:

A ball save option would be awesome and an easy option for Stern to add you would think?

No...just deal with it. It's a scoop eject SDTM issue, documented a jillion times on a billion machines. You could work on it yourself, or wait for additional code to be implemented...which one you think is going to be faster

#18 10 years ago

Problem with a ball save is that it takes the skill of recovery for a normal snake shot away. If a ball save kicks in for every snake shot then drop catching or dead passing the ball is pointless. May as well bat the ball away randomly for a few seconds while the ball save is going.

#19 10 years ago
Quoted from Purpledrilmonkey:

Problem with a ball save is that it takes the skill of recovery for a normal snake shot away. If a ball save kicks in for every snake shot then drop catching or dead passing the ball is pointless. May as well bat the ball away randomly for a few seconds while the ball save is going.

Not if the ball save is 1 second or less. You couldn't make any shot, it's just to avoid the cheap drain. When it spits it straight down, it can ruin a great score that you're working on. Happened to me on Saturday at a tournament. I had one shot left to start Sparky, one shot left to start coffin, and I hit the snake. He spit it straight down the middle. It was ball 3 for me, and I left millions of points on the table due to something that is almost akin to a glitch.

#20 10 years ago
Quoted from Hashman:

Thanks for input everyone. The machine is perfectly level as all my machines are. When it happens it does seem to be a slower eject and it's usually after Ive hit the snake a fair bit. Maybe something's loose. I'll check under the playfield and see if I can find anything or at least clean or adjust it. A ball save option would be awesome and an easy option for Stern to add you would think?

Same situation on my Pro. On slower ejects is when it really heads for the middle. It seems that sometimes the ball does not "sit right" in snake. Sometimes the ball shoots out fast (which is good) and other times it comes out half speed. Like the plunger is not hitting the middle of the ball.

#21 10 years ago
Quoted from audihere:

I've also had the snake eject the ball straight to the left outlane several times. It takes a hard left turn, and I thought maybe the coffin magnet was pulling it?

Check the position of the left target at the right ramp entrance. It may be leaning just a tad left. If the ball coming out of the snake catches that target edge it will alter the trajectory. Try moving it back toward the right and see if that corrects it.

Over time those targets get hammered and shift. TRON owners suffer this at the Quorra shot entrance.

#22 10 years ago
Quoted from o-din:

It did it on the pro I played at a pizza place, but never on my LE.

It seems to do it more on the pro.

#23 10 years ago

I haven't seen this problem on mine. Out of snake is easy, into snake is hard.

#24 10 years ago

The only met I played did it at least 50%of the time , it was frustrating.

#25 10 years ago

I put a piece of the cloth side if sticky back Velcro on the plunger part of the kick out that hits the coil rubber coil stop. It's enough to take a slight bit of the range of motion away. This calmed my kick out slightly and it always hits the left flipper.

You're a legend. It's fixed.

Looks like the plunger was being a bit overzelaous. Lot of marks on top of scoop. I think it was hitting it TOO hard and the top of the scoop was slowing it down and changing trajectory. I put a small piece stick on foam between the bottom of the plunger and the rubber stop. The ball is a bit slower coming out but hits the left flipper EVERY time now. Jerry Fix but a fix all the same.

Looking at the photo I think I'll change the the stick-on pad to the rubber stop instead incase it decides to fall off and foul something up.

Either way. No more SDTM's from the snake

met-snake-fix.jpgmet-snake-fix.jpg

#26 10 years ago
Quoted from hollywood:

So Weird?? All these complaints about the game....mine has never suffered any of these? I don't understand? My snake has never sent the ball anywhere but the left flipper?? I really hope you get it straightened up! Perhaps they can write a ball save in the code for the snake much like the raptor pit in JP!

No problems with mine either
HAMMER works fine
DROP TARGETS good to go
OCCASIONAL drain from FUEL (gotta be ready for it)
SNAKE ALWAYS to flipper

#27 10 years ago

OK, SDTM fixed for you.

How about: Snake spits out ball, if next switch activated is the left outlane, save my figging ball

#28 10 years ago
Quoted from Hashman:

You're a legend. It's fixed.

In total agreement.

#29 10 years ago

Dave, you were sold a dud.

#30 10 years ago
Quoted from Hashman:

You're a legend. It's fixed.
Looks like the plunger was being a bit overzelaous. Lot of marks on top of scoop. I think it was hitting it TOO hard and the top of the scoop was slowing it down and changing trajectory. I put a small piece stick on foam between the bottom of the plunger and the rubber stop. The ball is a bit slower coming out but hits the left flipper EVERY time now. Jerry Fix but a fix all the same.
Looking at the photo I think I'll change the the stick-on pad to the rubber stop instead incase it decides to fall off and foul something up.
Either way. No more SDTM's from the snake

I'll be damn, it worked on my pro. The ball does come out a little slower but seems to hit the left flipper a lot more regular than before. Thanks.

#31 10 years ago

Good to hear man. Now to get on with playing this awesome game

#32 10 years ago
Quoted from hollywood:

So Weird?? All these complaints about the game....mine has never suffered any of these? I don't understand? My snake has never sent the ball anywhere but the left flipper?? I really hope you get it straightened up! Perhaps they can write a ball save in the code for the snake much like the raptor pit in JP!

It's almost like it's pinball, and every machine is slightly different.... oh wait....

5 years later
#33 5 years ago

Try tightening screw in roof of snake’s mouth. That metal piece always gets hit by ball on eject and if it’s loose it’ll affect kick out. Turn screw counter clockwise to tighten.

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