Just completed another Sparky & snake full modification.

**CustomSnake&Sparky-2018 (resized).jpg

Fukkin deadly work dude! That snake is so radd!

lol. that sparky looks like he could be gritty's cousin
gritty (resized).png

That Sparky is off the chain. +1

Can you still get cabinet/head decals from stern? If not, anyone know where you can get them?

Check with your distributor.

If everyone complains this game is chopping wood than why doesn't Stern do an update to the code? I think it deserves it since this was the game that broke the mold.

When did this happen?

Years ago.
Go to, FIND IN TOPIC: type
Chopping. Click on find and see it's been said a number of times.

They did. Forget exactly when but it was not too long ago. New code made it easier to start some mb's and less hits to CIU modes.

Nov '18

I only included the first few lines of each update. Yeah, Lyman is a slacker.

V1.80.0 - November 16, 2018
===========================

- Reworked ball locked lamp effect.
- Captive ball extra ball #1 (default for auto setting) lowered to 10
hits (from 15 hits).
- Combo champion # of combos lowered to 10 combos (from 20 combos).
- Added new marker to The End Of The Line music for better shooter groove.
- One (lady justice) mode was not being restarted when a shot was made
during the mode. This has been corrected.

V1.7 - June 19, 2016
====================

- Timed modes (Blackened, Coffin Hurry-Up, Fuel, Lady Justice, Seek &
Destroy) were not being paused when the Crank It Up mode select was
active. This has been corrected.
- Changed combo scoring so 3+-way combos increase in value much more
quickly.
- Fuel lane now awards 1 blown piston for each lit light, instead of
1 blown piston for all three lit lights.
- Added speech to the "Enter Sandman" and the "For Whom The Bell Tolls"
modes.
- Synced knocker to run with replay/special effects.
- Added speech for chair guy fry ready (electric chair multiball).
- Added a speech call for snake lock lit.

V1.64 - April 23, 2015
======================

- Seek & Destroy mode has been changed so it now awards 1 cross,
1 snake, and 1 electric chair each time one of the main shots (left
loop, cross lane, left ramp, right ramp, right loop) is made when
lit. This allows progress towards lighting "Crank It Up" during
Seek & Destroy. This rule change also solves the problem of not
being able to light the snake to collect SNAKE letters during
Seek & Destroy, since only a shot on the playfield would allow this.
- Boosted Seek & Destroy scores from 750k to 1M (seek shot) and 375k
to 500k (regular shot).
- Added lamp status on the sparky lamps for electric chair multiball
and battery mode that indicate progress toward lighting the super
jackpot and completing the mode, respectively.
- Added art to the combo high score to date display effect in the
attract mode. Changed the font for the combo award and the combo
jackpot award.

V1.63 - September 2, 2014
=========================

- The 2x playfield multiplier is now paused during cross, electric
chair, coffin, and snake multiball start.
- Crank it up points selection was not scoring the points. This has
been corrected.
- Lady Justice mode start criteria has been changed. Ramp letters and
mode start are allowed as long as seek & destroy and any crank it up
mode are not running. (Previously, ramp letters were allowed during
multiball, but mode starts were not.)

V1.6 - June 5, 2014
===================

- Added "Blackened" (target) mode for collecting all of the band members.
- Added an adjustment to award extra coffins from the captive ball. The
default is "+1 W/ RETURN LANE" which will award 1 extra coffin if the
captive ball is hit within ~2.5 seconds of a return lane switch.
- Corrected some loop logic.
- Lowered 2nd+ combo extra balls from 100 combos to 50 combos. Lowered
the 2nd+ fuel lane extra balls from 40 pistons to 30 pistons.
- Skill shot and super skill shot lamp effects were (occasionally) not going
away when their respective awards were no longer available. (This was

V1.51 - March 17, 2014
======================

- Loop diverter post NOT activated from shooter lane when a ball is being
held on the cross magnet for super jackpot.
- Added "Blackened" and "Ride The Lightning" to the list of songs that
may be selected at the beginning of the game. These were the songs that
were chosen by Metallica fans.
See http://www.metallica.com/news/20140219-605356.asp for more details.
- Implemented an adjustment to vary the music that plays during Electric
Chair / Sparky multiball. The options are:

V1.5 - March 6, 2014
====================

- Mode jackpot value is seeded with the value of the points award, had
the player taken that award. Electric chair lamp effects no longer
requested if the feature cannot be advanced.
- Added lamp effects to seek & destroy mode.
- Added lamp effects for fuel mode.
- Added lamp effects for snake multiball.
- Top lane skill shot without the aid of the loop diverter post awards
2x value (so a non-post aided right top lane is 4x value)

V1.22 - August 13, 2013
=======================

- Fixed some issues with instant info. Cross multiball lit and electric
chair multiball lit screens were not clearing the display before
rendering their text. This has been corrected. Added a border to the
snake letter screen for instant info so it can be more easily
distinguished from the snake letter display effect that is run during
the game.

V1.2 - July 31, 2013
====================

- Fixed a programming issue with bonus that was causing the last frame of
the animating icons to not be displayed.
- Added an adjustment to change the grave marker type. The settings are
"NORMAL" and "R.I.P. TOMBSTONE". The user override for the "Middle
East" dip switch settings now specifies a "GRAVE MARKER TYPE" of "R.I.P.
TOMBSTONE". Bonus, instant info, and grave marker hit / multiball
display effects have been changed to support the new setting.

V1.16 - June 28, 2013
=====================

- Added free play check to attract mode radio.
- Added snake lock feature. This is available during any multiball.
Completing the guitar pick targets during multiball lights the snake
for a timed ball lock. Shooting the snake the first time locks the
ball and awards add-a-ball. While the ball is locked, all playfield
scores are 2X. Completing the guitar pick targets again while the

V1.13 - June 10, 2013
=====================

- Snake shot (eject) was awarding a snake letter when the snake was not
lit to score a letter. This has been corrected.
- Added a flasher lamp effect for Seek & Destroy (destroy) at the coffin.
- Fixed a problem with the initialization of the "seek" shots for Seek &
Destroy (shots were not being lit in the order in which the hurry-ups
were started/collected.

V1.06 - May 13, 2013
====================

- Reworked the cross code to allow opto hits to register as drop target
hits at the start of each ball and whenever the inline drop target
bank is reset.
- Added special for adding a certain number of band members (adjustable,
currently 3).
- Changed coffin multiball from 3 ball to 4 ball.

V1.05 - May 6, 2013
===================

- Modified "fanfare" sound scripts to duck the music.
- Replaced the coffin explosion sounds with better explosion sounds.
- Fixed a problem with the song select. If the song select was
interrupted as the needle was moving, then the music would not play

V1.04 - May 3, 2013
===================

- Added coffin artwork.
- Added fuel artwork.
- Added crowd chant sounds.
- Added art to fuel lane award.
- Cleaned up fuel lane speech.

V1.03 - May 3, 2013
===================

- Changed captive ball extra ball default from "AUTO" (26) to 15.
- Changed up coffin locks. They are now lit via the guitar pick targets
and are independent of collecting the band members.

V1.02 - May 2, 2013
===================

- Cleaned up cross multiball (super jackpot).
- Added an adjustment to allow partially lit shots to remain lit (not
reset) until all are collected. Added a lamp effect for the shot

V1.02 - April 30, 2013
======================

- Tweaked bonus attenuation sleep timing.
- Fixed inline drop targets so they reset correctly when there are drop
target hits left.
- Fixed blanked-out snake background. Changed cross multiball scoring.
features that highlights the lit shots for start hurry-up.

I consider chopping wood as hitting the same shot over and over. People who say MET is like chopping wood don't understand the rules. The coffin is technically the only shot you need to hit more than once to collect all four items for CIU.

Chopping wood is just lazy criticism imo. All pinball is repetitive and how you measure fun is subjective. What I like about MET is there is always something to shoot for to advance the game and it's not crazy complicated. My only criticism is seek and destroy. Fun mode but feels deflating once all the inserts clear out. You lose a ton of progress and difficult to build back up the inserts. My solution would be to keep the shot insert rewards after you complete seek and destroy. If you complete the hurry up for a shot a second time then you get twice the hit rewards for that shot. Maybe you would have to hit the shot twice to start the hurry up to make it a little more difficult the 2nd time around.

my MET premium was my first NIB title and probably will never leave. a very well rounded title with dirty donny's great art package, john borg's smooth and flowing layout and a fantastic rule set thanks to lyman's dedication to continually updating the code.

How's the reliability of your Metallica premium, is there anything that needs constant attention?
Thanks in advance
Ralph

I've had mine for three years (was used) and it's been great. I had a problem with the magnet board that would just stop after awhile and require a reboot. I replaced it (thanks, Chas... ) and it's been fine ever since. I bought a backup too just in case.

Recently I've noticed my snake doesn't always capture the ball - getting reflects more frequently - so i suspect i need to adjust something just not sure what yet.

And i occasionally get GI flickering during the skill shot. Don't think that's just the premium though, and reseatingb the cables seems to fix it.

Otherwise, no issues.

My LE has been basically trouble free when i bought NIB, 2015. Its blown the F7 fuse a couple of times, but other than that, I could not be more pleased.

I've had to correct an issue with one power cable (cold solder joint) leading to a board underneath the playfield, and re-tighten the coil stops for the flippers but that's about it in the 4+ years that I've owned it.

Moving things around in the shop and have a few mods that we are going to have a sale on. I have 3 Speaker panels and bone colored skulls for sale. $200 each plus shipping.

IMG_1641 (resized).jpg

met panel cam 004 (resized).jpg

Added some black mirror blades into mine

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Reseating connectors did not help for long. I began to believe the shaker motor was causing problems but it was only provoking them. Now at last I believe the problem is resolved (only time will tell for certain). Fiddling around under the playfield it became apparent that an insulated section of cable was a failure point.
suspect cable (resized).jpg
Cutting off the insulation revealed an inline component with a weak solder joint.
broken joint (resized).jpg
After repairing that I played maybe two games and it was glitching again! But this time I knew what to look for - another cable with the same problem.
another cable (resized).jpg
I sure hope that's the end of it...

I don't think its chopping wood either, must be people who played the old code. I do feel like the scoring could be worked on. It seems every high score hovers around the same area, should be more variety in the top scores.

Printed some crosses and installed the spotlight that are mounted on the slings in them.

20200913_223954 (resized).jpg

20200913_223959 (resized).jpg

20200913_223948 (resized).jpg

Very creative

A little while ago I took off the super ugly right ramp guard. With it removed I kept getting air balls, at least once per game, best case scenario they ended up in the shooter lane but sometimes they ended up in the right outlane.
Unfortunately something needs to be there to stop the air balls so I thought I’d try to make a nicer looking one from wire.
Looks heaps better!

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85AEB2CE-05B8-4DCD-925C-5A26C5E4FFD7 (resized).jpeg

Just reading the flyer for the LE. It states Borg’s signature is on the playfield under hard coat. Where on the playfield is the signature?

That should do it mate. I made a coffin to sit over the plastic.

Indeed it looks like printed.
BTW Met is by far light enough.
But i understand that it’s trendy to get blinded.
The newer Stern even doesn’t need to turn on, simply the PF colors will do these allone

Great attempt at humor in a second language. He didn't add any lights. He changed the housing to a cross. How in any language does that add more light?

I made a similar one for mine out of a thick coat hanger and painted it black. Works great.

Many owners including myself have removed the spotlights on the slings to better see the slingshot area/artwork. I went a step further and relocated the left one to the underside of the FUEL target and the right one to the underside of the scoop. I have never felt like the center of the playfield was dark on Metallica.

if you ever decide to make and sell those, please put me down for one.

Under the left flipper. Not sure why pics are sideways...

20200917_121418 (resized).jpg

20200917_121426 (resized).jpg

Here you go.

90d6eedde91bfe0b2760f04304fe6caf2e411974 (resized).jpg

Close up

90d6eedde91bfe0b2760f04304fe6caf2e411974-1 (resized).jpg

.

Question on Sparky Multiball: There have been times if you press both flippers at the same time, you eliminate sparky from going through his routine and shaking. Is there a reason that I can't seem to do this every time I play the game? It is pretty cool, but would rather just skip it during play.

I'm on the latest code and I have never been able to skip this. I would like to do so sometimes but it is not in the code.

Strange, I know I have been able to do this before. Was it just a an error?

Flippers won't cancel the Sparky routine. What's likely happening is that the flipper action is sometimes triggering some other playfield switch. Any switch closure will cancel the Sparky execution. If you install an external volume control, that switch will also cancel the routine.

I have a home made external volume control wired to the up/down volume. Changing the volume does skip the Sparky bit.

Thank you. Maybe it is related to my subwoofer then.

Same.

I told you, i am blinded already just from looking at the photos and videos of the newer Stern pins on FB ect.

Hah! I completely missed this, went to look and it very obvious now lol

hello everyone I have a big problem with my Metallica I just turned it on and the monitor shows me these two lines, also the shaker motor is always running .... please can you help me?

8DE43D92-CB96-466E-8991-53374A73BC99 (resized).jpeg

Sounds like the CPU is locking up for some reason. Turn it off and check the connections in the backbox and check the power supply levels.

Greetings Metallica Owners and Fans, have a question for the masses....

I finally took the plunge and am getting a Pinwoofer setup, I’ve read a few posts that say if you replace the stock songs with just about any normal quality, mainly stereo, that it will really improve the sound, is this true?

Has anyone tried this with either an upgraded speaker system, such as Pinball Pro or Flipper Fidelity and\or a Pinwoofer setup?

I’m familiar with PinBrowser so that isn’t a problem but before I go and replace all the songs and ensure the lengths match, etc. , I just figured I’d ask the experts as surely someone has tried this?

Thanks for any input and stay safe.

The tip transitor is probably gone on the shaker pcb that may also have taken out a transitor on your driver pcb. I dunno what could be causing the dmd issue.