I just posted about my Mantis protectors here https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/mmr-protectors-mantis-or-cliffy

A letter? I didn't get that just a manual, no warranty registration card either.

I wonder what support will be like in 5 to 10 years time when things really start happening?

IMO 5× default is good, I don't get it every game but I guess I get it around every 10 to 20 games. More often would make it boring.
I am a huge defender fan and I don't think that there is much resemblance. But I do think for a pinball it's a decent video mode. I get the extra ball about 2 thirds of the tries and finish it just over half the time so I think the difficulty is spot on. I like that you can use troll bombs also.

I rate it as better than DrWho video which is too easy and long and gets boring but not as good as fishtails video which is cool.

1. Watch the 4min mark of this video where he hits the side of the cab to stop the ball from hitting the right sling while it's rolling down the right orbit. I don't like to hit the side of my cab like that so I just nudge from the front which is less effective and the ball often just touches the bottom of the right sling but doesn't trigger it, I can usually keep ball control.

I assume that touching the sling from the right orbit is authentic to original gameplay and is intended to make the game slightly harder.

My eject from castle on the left orbit loop is not as smooth as this machine and often bounces down the left loop making a live catch difficult sometimes, this can be corrected with a slight nudge, but it did seem to take a smoother path when I first played it. I'm not sure why this is I will look into it.

3 Catapult....I just posted a thread about this issue on PPS forum http://www.planetarypinball.com/forum/index.php/topic,577.0.html

I don't know about your Castle SDTM issue, perhaps you are a noob player?

I have an issue with my Castle roll over switch not registering about 1 in 10 shots, seems the roll over wire doesn't sit up through the plastic very high. I have tried bending it but was a bit hesitant to be too aggressive and don't think I actually got it to sit any higher. I wanted to remove the switch to bend the wire but one of the screws was obscured by something, I will have another look when I get more time.

Also my balls don't exit the wireforms as smoothly as on the video, which slows the ball down a bit probably making gameplay slightly easier. I'm going to see if I can line mine up better to get the ball to retain more speed.

These are just small niggles and tweaks though, awesome game I'm really enjoying mine DOUBLE SUPER JACKPOT!

Could you please add a couple of pictures showing how you wired it in and mounted it?

Thanks for that SuperPinball.

Yep..........I consider myself a reasonably good player and have played heaps of different pins over the years but my MMR was also kicking my butt when I first got it. I drained down the side outlanes sooo much that I ended up closing the gap a bit from factory (middle) and then I felt like I was cheating and it quickly became too easy so I reset them to factory.

Then I started trying to play a more controlled game instead of on the fly gameplay I practiced live catches and dialled in my aim and now my high score is just over 200mill. I have not completed BFTK yet but I have started it twice and I have got barnyard multi once but I still find the catapult shot too difficult and risky to go for in most games.

If you try to play on the fly and brick shots and get out of control you will quickly drain balls as they fly off the slings.....once you get control and slow it down you will start cranking up the scores, I like that it rewards good play Also go for the extra balls which are quite easy to get on a good game I would get about an average of 3 extra balls.

Looks great, is that the new replacement playfield you got?

Have you installed your new speaker panel yet?
I just got an new original one for mine and some better speakers.
I'm not going to install until tomorrow but had a quick look and wondering how you remove those metal retainers on the speaker covers? They have to be removed as the new panel doesn't come with covers but it looks like the retainers will be a PIA to get off and will probably be wrecked in the process. What will I replace them with if this is the case?
Anything else I should be looking out for doing this job?
I am already going to follow the advice in the other upgrade speakers thread.

Thanks for the replies, I will look for the push-nut retainers locally, I checked at Pinballlife 10 of them will cost me $1 then add $46.50 for postage to Australia and then the currency conversion and I am up to about AUD$65 I just checked again hoping my panel came with new retainers that I had not noticed but it didn't.

WTF is up with postage from US to AU these days? I bought stickers recently and the postage was $30 they would fit in a standard envelope

Anyway not looking forward to this job, I will start with the jewelers screwdriver and hopefully not need to resort to the smash them off method. But if I do smash them off I will now feel better that I'm not the first, I do agree that the old panel will be useless now but I can't bring myself to just bin it especially before my new one is successfully installed.

Wow looks OK .......so that is the same playfield that you said multiple times that you would not accept anything but a total replacement for ???

It's such an INCREDIBLE turn around that you are now so happy that they will send you some diffusers instead and that we should all also be happy with that.

Yep....I seem to be not letting that slide...something doesn't stack up and I'm a man who must see balance.

Hmmm....did you note that in my post I was not in any way rude to you?

This will be my last word on the matter and I will move on but first in reply to the above I must stress that it was you who started a whole thread full of many complaints about the insert issue and MANY times you stressed that you would not be happy with anything but a playfield replacement.

I feel that you personally greatly inflamed the issue and stirred many people up to complain about it and submit tickets, including myself.
I am not letting the issue impact on my enjoyment of my machine and never stated that I was, I do very much enjoy my game and am very grateful. But I do feel that we should be compensated and I don't really think the diffusers will be sufficient. I think it will still be not as good as the darker print, perhaps giving the color upgrade for free to those affected would be a good move or something more than just a partial fix. It is not just me thinking that you got something that I didn't that annoys me (I did think that as did others, I accept now that you state you didn't) it's also the fact that you changed what compensation or correction you would find acceptable so dramatically and seem to feel that others should now also fall into line and be accepting of the diffusers if they improve the issue. I feel that you in a way made yourself the spokesperson for this issue and I suppose I now feel disappointed that you don't seem to want to fight for what I would consider a fairer compensation than just getting diffusers.

I replaced my speaker panel today, took quite awhile, I found when I removed the display that the clear perspex cover was held on by another 12 bastard push nuts making 28 of them in total. As the plastic mounts are quite weak I found it impossible to remove the push nuts without breaking them as Vyzer2 did I just attacked them after breaking the first one but it was still a slow process.

While I was at it I installed my upgraded speakers as per the other thread.

Both the panel with logo and the speakers are nice upgrades, but to be honest I would suggest that Drewblood's sticker is a much easier and cheaper solution than replacing the panel. I would have gone for a sticker instead myself if I had not got the panel for free

Congratulations, I have started BFTK twice now but not completed, the first time I got the same score 209mill.

I didn't know that the start mode stat was there I will have to go through my stats. Will be interesting to see how many games I have racked up in the 4 months I have been playing. My free game is up to 90 mill now with default settings.

Good stuff erak, I would like to do this mod in the future. Could you post some pics and guide to wiring it up when finished? I have seen guides to fitting the LEDs but none for wiring it to an MMR. Also are the LED kits for the Trolls available anywhere? I have found one site that is sold out and another that doesn't have an order link and didn't answer my email.

Well for me deciding between MMR / GoT / Hobbit it was partly the color that pushed me to purchase the MMR that I was already slightly leaning towards.

It was stated on PPS forum two weeks ago that we should know the price in a week and release in two weeks......so far no price......PPS must be even more shitted off with them than we are.

Mine was in the middle from factory, there is a thread about it.

See here https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/mmr-did-you-tighten-up-out-lanes#post-2460944

Also more in the high score thread
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/whats-your-best-score-on-mmr-le/page/2#post-3078190

What is standard behaviour for the right orbit switch below the pops? when the ball comes down through this switch sometimes it makes a sound effect and sometimes it doesn't. At first I thought the switch wasn't registering, but I checked it with the glass off and it seems to register every time, I just can't work out under what circumstances it makes the sound or not. Is it silent when the ball leaves the pops but makes a sound for a loop or failed partial loop?

Spent a couple of hours today changing the rubbers on mine for purple Titan silicons, took much longer than expected some are difficult to get to and it takes some disassembly. Still sort of unconvinced, I do like the purple, but I liked the original black also. Anyway I wanted to change them so I could keep the game cleaner and not have black rubber tracks appearing every week.

I ordered all the correct sizes EXCEPT for the outlane posts which have the rubber with the tiny hole.

For those should I order the 7/16 O.D. rubbers on the Titan website? they seem to be the closest has anyone used them? I would hate to make the outlanes more difficult than they are

In reference to the sound clip above.......That is very cool, I'm not sure but it sounds like a different voice actor to the other game call outs? I doubt that it is an obtainable mode that no-one has found after this many years playing. I think it's more likely a game mode they recorded the voice for but decided to leave out of the final code.

Would be nice if someone could hack the code in the future to include this mode for MMr and the swear tracks. But I doubt we will be able to update with hacked code after we are forced to install our new security chips to get the color update.

Good luck trying to ring them from Australia (like me) I stayed up late but by the time it was 9am there I was pissed and couldn't work out the international code Probably a good thing as no-one really wants a drunken angry Aussie ringing up at 9am

Ask them about the f*&%in colour update release date and price and the bug fixes as well.

PPS has stated a few times that to get colour people will need to purchase a chip from CGC that will be posted out via snail mail for you to install.

Throw three cows with the catapult before starting the mode and you get save the cows.

Could someone please tell me do all the parts of an MM flipper rebuild kit fit my MMR ?

(I'm not at home to check my manual and reading it on my phone sucks)

Thank you

I have 1200 plays on it which is more than I play my other pins but not enough to normally need a flipper rebuildkit.

I found my right flipper started sticking briefly in the up position only rarely which made troubleshooting difficult.

Then I noticed that one of the allen bolts had fallen out of the coil stop letting it get slightly out of alignment. So I lined it up and replaced the bolt and it still sticks occasionally. I pulled it apart and cleaned and checked everthing and couldn't find any problems. The end stop has a very slight mark where the shaft hits as you would expect but isn't mushroomed or badly worn.

Anyway as I have been unable to fix it I'm going to install a rebuild kit. Fingers crossed that fixes it.

Thanks for the tips about sticking flippers I will report back with my findings when I get a chance.

I'm back with my flipper sticking up problem. I took it apart and checked and cleaned and made sure all the adjustments were correct including using the supplied tool for gap to the bushing and couldn't see any problems with wear of the original parts that IMO could have been causing it to stick sometimes. put it back together, checked the EOS leaf switch gap, cleaned the button optos and had a game. Still sticks sometimes.

So I started installing parts from the rebuild kit I ordered, replaced the sleeve and end stop and shaft, still sticking, so moved on and replaced the bushing (what a pain had to remove the whole assembly from the playfield) and rechecked the gap etc etc. Seemed ok, but then stuck again. I have been going over the advice in this thread https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/flipper-sticking-up-stern-star-trek and I saw someone posted that movement of the coil in the mounting (loose fit) could be a problem so I checked mine and the left did move slightly more up and down between the end stop and the top bracket. So I undid the top bracket and moved it about 1mm down and retightened, the coil now felt snug with very little movement between the bracket and end stop.

Turned it on and first flip the flipper stuck up so I loosened it off again, but now the flipper goes straight up full power and stays there as soon as the coils get power. When I open the door it goes back down, it got warm but not too hot to touch, seems like something electrical is going on now

From bad to worse.

Thanks I will try unplugging my flipper opto board tomorrow and see if the flipper stays down.

Thanks for this advice, I swapped them over today and played for about an hour without it sticking. I still feel I need a couple more hours play to prove it but it's looking good so far.

I can't really see how swapping them could have fixed it. I had already checked the opto and cleaned it reseated the connection and checked that it wasn't getting stuck on anything. If there is a fault with it why does it work on the left side?

Anyway fingers crossed that I'm not back next week posting that it's sticking again.

I found they increased my air balls and I didn't like the feel of the flipper rubbers. Just a personal preference I found that I'm a traditional rubber bloke.

I get video mode about every third game, once you can do multiple ramps and change the inlanes then spelling fire 5 times is not really that difficult. Getting the extra ball in video mode is easy, I'm disappointed on the odd occasion that I don't get it.
I have only ever got Cow Video mode a couple of times, same goes for Barnyard multiball, they are much harder due to requiring multiple catapult shots and correct picks.

My strategy (on default settings ) is to play to get as many extra balls as possible as quickly as possible then go for whatever else has not been completed along the way.

Can anyone please post the different lengths of the correct and incorrect plungers so I can check mine?

I have always felt that mine stopped quite low but assumed it was correct, perhaps it isn't.

Could you please post some pictures of the tape and where you use it? Mine rattles and I have been unsuccessful so far using some soft foam draft stop tape to try to stop it.

Recently I had a games meet at my place with about 30 people entered into the pinball comp spread over 12 pins (not all my games).

To my horror my Castle Moat Bridge failed to lower in the first comp game, the issue was quickly tracked down by the experienced pin techs there, the largest cog on the mech was spinning on the shaft. This seems like a very poor design destined to fail a simple spline on the shaft or a square section would stop this problem.
Mine is fixed with glue and seems to be holding up, I would possibly replace the cog but I can't see it for sale anywhere and it would just have the same issue anyway. (pic shows the glue on shaft)

Edited to better describe - Moat Bridge (not gate)

20171121_163502[1] (resized).jpg

I just submitted a ticket and edited my post to better describe the problem, it's the Moat Bridge that is not lowering - the castle gate is working fine.

Will be interesting to see what they come back with as to me it seems to be a design flaw, I would prefer the shaft to have a spline, but they won't be able to supply that.

Yep I searched this issue and found no other people having the same problem so obviously it's not common, still it would never happen with a spline or square like other pinballs have in similar mechs.

Ticket answered, apparently this has only happened to 3 other machines (I wonder how many also had it happen but didn't report it?) and "there is no more robust solution"

I think what he meant was that CGC don't have a more robust solution, other games do have a better design for these shafts and cogs but MMR does not.

It was suggested that I contact my distributor for a spare part, I think I will do that and store it away in case this gets worse in future.

Yes I agree I did get unlucky, but I was the unlucky victim of a poor design.

Copying the poor design of that part just because that is the way the original was is not a great decision by CGC IMO, nor is it a good excuse. It's still a great machine, this would not be a deal breaker for anyone, but clearly CGC was remiss in not upgrading this particular part to be as reliable as other games with similar mechs that have splines on the shaft. I image MANY original MM games have had this part fail over the years if some HUO remakes are failing already.

The techs looked at the slipping cog in my game all could not believe that it had been made that way with the cog just pushed onto the shaft.

I don't want to go on and on about it, it's just the lack of acceptance of any fault by CGC in this case is frustrating, I expected such though.

Finally completed Battle of the Kingdom tonight after 2 years of play
It's about the fifth time I have made it to that mode but the first I have got through. It was very close, 5 times I ran out of time and just as the mode finished and the lights went out I made the shot and the mode continued, even happened on the final shot into the castle. Made it very nerve-wracking and exciting

20171214_205110 (resized).jpg

Mine has the uncensored F word and the call out volume boosted for all callouts.

The call out volume fix was promised over a year ago but it seems CGC decided not to bother.

What makes you think that? Mine is a MMR-LE and it's running modded code that has the uncensored F word and the call out volume boosted for all call outs.

If you read a few posts back it was described how to do this and there is more info if you search the forum. I didn't alter the code myself a clever and generous forum member who I won't name did it a while ago.

No MMRs will have the uncensored F word unless they have modified code loaded, CGC could easily give us the option to turn it on or off and to turn the callouts up independently of the music and sound effects but they obviously don't want to.

Fair call ☺

From memory I don't think there was an option to choose MMR when I updated my games list. I have a couple of others to add so I will get onto that thanks for the heads up.

Yep my right one is a PITA and the ball will touch the top of right sling without activating then the bottom of left also without activating and SDTM. I nudge to try to stop it but I should not have to, I have adjusted the right guide but it seems to just go back after a number of games. If I bend it out further the ball will hit the edge on a right loop.

Seems the only solution would be to move the guide and the post, but that isn't gunna happen.

I did that to mine but you can only bend it a couple of mm or you will have a big gap between the post and the guide. Then a lane shot can hit the edge of the guide which is not good. I also found that the guide seems to go back to its original position after a few weeks of play and the problem comes back.

Recently I raised my rear legs increasing the playfield angle slightly. This helped but I still have some balls hit the top of right sling and go SDTM. This is a difficult adjustment to get right and has caused me plenty of frustration.

Mine was bypassing the switch sometimes on the side like that so I stuck a strip of foam tape on the inside next to the switch to keep the ball over. Also mine was occasionally bouncing over the switch so another bit of foam tape on the roof fixed that.

The license holder actively hunts down anyone selling anything with Williams on it including stickers so that they can sell more $100 speaker panels.

I recommend The King of Pain!

You could drill a hole between the flippers and stick a post in there.

I asked on Facebook and PPS said current MMR owners would not be left behind. So I assume an upgrade kit will be available for the RGB GI.
With shipping and currency exchange rates for Australia it might be more than I am willing to pay though.

I have not played MBr but I have played the original a few times and I have MMr, in my opinion, MMr would be a better home game because the rules are a bit deeper and you will probably take longer to complete the wizard mode.

Problem with my tower, seems the ball is dropping trough too quickly for the solenoid to stop it. I checked that the switch above the solenoid is working and it is good. Everything seems fine but the ball is falling through there quicker than it used to and I can't see why?

Is the solenoid supposed to trap the ball every tower shot? from memory it does because the tower is only opened up when you save a princess and it's stopped so you can see the animation.