An image of the SD could be made with 'dd' on linux/max that could be written back out as is -- from an original update SD card.

Yup. That's how I would do it. But that isn't friendly enough for 1,000 LE owners to deal with.

Marc

or even the tools to make / dump an ISO to USB keys.

Well I just made a disk image of the original sdcard and wrote it to another microsd card, tested on a friends MMR. and it worked! However the file is 2.5gb compressed, so my dropbox account won't hold it.

Have you tried zipping the image?

Yes it's 7.8gb unzipped.

Hahaha. Ok thanks anyway
I just noticed you already mentioned the file was compressed, sorry.

Free google drive account is 10g so maybe create an account and load it there?

At this point, I'm going to wait for CGC and see what they do. It's easy to always assume the worst, but I tend to side with reason and reality. If 1.5.5 was their GM for MMr, they would have released it. Since we are all reporting that the Date and Time bug isn't yet fixed, they are likely still working on it. Also, given that they appear to be shipping out SD cards for updates, it makes sense to get it right the first time.

Marc

Ok, lets try this.

1) Download this file: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9ZImdZr3-d4cHNIRjdjTUdLYnc/view?usp=sharing
2) Unzip the file. You will have 2 files. A) The image and B) Win32image writer program.
3) Install the Win32image writer program.
4) Insert a microsd card in your computer (at least 8GB)
5) Run the Win32Image writer program.
6) open the boot.img file from step 1.
7) click on write at the bottom. It takes about 10 minutes.
8) insert the microsd card in your mmr and power on. Wait until fully complete.

Edit: file removed at the request of PPS.

Cannot download it. Says it is blocked by SmartScreen ?

Don't use Internet Explorer, downloading fine with Goggle Chrome.

I use edge....don't have chrome. Thanks

Lordanubis, have you tried it ?

Just downloaded it, I don't have a microsd card to test it out.

Ok, if anyone tries it, leave us your feedback. I will trie this tonight. Too much snow here right now....

As much as I'd love to try this, I'm not willing to take the risk. CGC doesn't yet have a proven track record for repairs on these, and I'd hate to brick the game somehow and be left high and dry since it was done "unofficially"

It worked perfectly !! Big thanks to Iceman5000 !! It goes from 1.0 to 1.5.5. Instant free tearing, no doubt on that.

Very cool of you to share this, but sad that you had to.

Glad it worked! But I understand why it not easily downloadable like STERN updates. It is a huge file, and you have to have be somewhat tech-savvy to create a bootable microsd card. This simple step could overwhelm any support desk.

I agree with you.

At worst you would "brick" the cpu (beaglebone black), which is available from numerous suppliers for $55.00 or less. But I completely understand the concern. Just for the record it has worked for at least 5 people that have tried it so far.

So updates firmware/software versions are done via microsd not USB? Also there's no microsd in the card slot when the game ships?

Not sure if it's just the micro card I have or if it's all cards. I tried to copy it to an 8 gig card and the software says it's not big enough. Think I have a 32 at home will try tonight.

If you brick the BBB, how do you get a bootable MMR image onto it?

To be honest, the tearing isn't that bad to risk this. To get color, sure, I understand.

Correct.

With a bootable microsd card.

I played like 5 games in a row and so far, no issues. I was a little bit concern but its a original of what we should have by CGC. Since they don't answer at all, and the fact that we wait and wait with this machine, I'm happy that honest people in this community help us.

So thumbs big up to you Iceman5000

Now time for some

It's pretty ridiculous to have software/display issues on an $8k device and get zero response a week after opening a support ticket. Especially when there's a fix available. Granted, the issues are minor, but the lack of professionalism is disconcerting.

Specially when they tell you that they have an update for you, willing to ship it fast, then no respond after all. Even if I had the SD card in my hand, I would not feel safer with that lack of communications.

At least between us, we can share and explain our experience. And all that without any $dime$ on the line.

Colorization should be free and that's it. They got bad to worst in this adventure. Some of us are still waiting after years and they expect us to pay....I'm out for sure, will not encourage this at all.

When CGC told me they were shipping me an update, it wasn't until I ask for a tracking number (a week later) did they actually send it to me.

Just did the update to mine and it worked great! It wasn't too bad for me to figure out, and that's coming from a guy who when asked if I had a PC or a MAC by the guy at best buy, I actually said neither, it's just a regular laptop! That guy must have been an idiot coz he sure had a dumb look on his face!

Thanks Iceman! I had no response to my ticket after Lloyd submitted it to them as well.

CGC better get on top of this. Should have been them overseeing this. It should not be the community resorting to things like this to get our games updated.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not bitching at Pinside. I applaud you guys for getting things done.

Placed a ticket yesterday mine finally started acting crazy. Screen issues , date and time say like Jan 97 or something like that :/

Dear CGC customer:

Please note that we have distributed on a limited basis a beta update version. We have not massed distributed the final release. As a result of some feedback from the beta test, we have made some additional changes to the firmware. We intend to mass distribute this concurrent to the release of the color display kit because there are additional files that will need to be added that are NOT on the beta version. I am being told that this is expected to happen in February. Thank you, Doug Skor, Chicago Gaming Company.

woohoo!

Can't wait

Great news...but my suggestion is to really improve on communication. It shouldn't be as a result of complaints on a public forum and a leaked upgrade that we find out. And to find out by a post on here is just not great PR. My own opinion would be to actually focus on responding to submitted tickets in a timely manner and making a public statement that you are aware of issues, are beta testing a fix, and a major update is coming.

Good news on the colour DMD front.

Just been told by my distro that the UK machine haven't come with power leads. WTF?!? $10k and they decide to save $2 on not supplying a vital component. Now I can get a lead easy enough but this really is taking the piss. The coin mech thing was cheap but to be honest how many people needed them? A power lead though is surely part of the bloody game. Why not take it to it's logical conclusion and not bother with balls. Probably could save another $2 there.

Will they try charging for the SD cards when the software is complete?

Well that's an interesting take on obtaining CE approval. Make it impossible to power up!

February now.....ok.

Wow, reading this sure shows me I have no grasp on todays technology...some of these posts read like they are in a different language.

Can you rip the bandaid off and give us a price?

Latest post from CGC here cleared some things up for me, but it still leaves me wondering a bit on just where/how one is expected to officially learn of the update(as well as color dmd update). It's certainly not handled like Stern, where all updates would appear on their product page.

I mean, important information such as post #84 doesn't even appear on the PPS forum where there is a dedicated support thread titled software updates, and instead is buried here.

I honestly don't know where the official place for information on latest updates on my MMr is supposed to be.

Here's a thought, how about allowing owners to subscribe to an email list for news updates. Then when a software update is released and/or some milestone is reached, or some other such worthy news that would really be nice to share with your valued customers, it would be a simple matter to send out a mass email newsletter. Done.

Thanks iceman for making it possible to enjoy the beta while we wait for the final version! Your instructions worked perfectly. The improvement to the video and sound is noticeable.

Dear CGC customers:

In our beta test, we had two out of twenty people reporting that they had experienced the date and time issue. While we have been unable to recreate this again here at our facility, we are trying to find the source of the issue that is being reported. While the software update corrects the reported problems, we are being very deliberate in our efforts to correct all issues before we make an official release. As mentioned in an earlier post, we are planning to release the software update concurrent with the optional color display upgrade kit in the month of February. Once the software update is available, we will post it on our website for everyone to download. Thank you, Doug Skor, Chicago Gaming Company.

Doug:

I received the beta software as well and it fixed nearly all the problems but am still having issues with the date/time (like it's losing days).

I'll open a ticket if necessary, again.

Doug, the update is really appreciated. Thanks a lot.

Dear CGC Customers,

No need to open new tickets on software issues unless for some reason you discover something wildly new an unique. We are all familiar with the screen tearing, sound, and time and date issues. Everyone will have access to the update once we have finalized the software version. In the meantime, enjoy your games. Thank you, Doug Skor, Chicago Gaming Company.

Doug,

I now have steps to reproduce. Please contact me directly through PM.

Marc

The funny thing is, this is actually accurate behavior. The original games would lose time/days if they weren't turned on often enough. NGGs "daily" high score will last weeks if you only turn the game on once in a while. I'm not sure if the emulation is relying on the original WPC clock.... if so, my advice to CGC is to use the clock in the hypervisor OS (that the user can set once and should remain accurate), and use it to somehow reset the emulated WPC clock data on each powerup. Probably too hard to recreate the menu entries and make a macro, but if you can find the time/date in the emulated RAM, you can possibly just overwrite it there.

I copied my SD card in the Spike system using this technique. I did it for a backup of the image in-case the SD card went bad in my Kiss pinball. I would have an image to restore from. I made a video showing the process. Maybe this can help with duplicating the SD card if anyone needs to.

www.PinballSupernova.com

https://pinballsupernova.wordpress.com/