I removed all the balls powered the pin on for 10 mins powered off put the balls back in turned it back on and same issues....

So it sounds like the problems are related to getting the node board updates to propagate.

Here is a theory. The node boards are wired in series and the updates start at the ones closest to the CPU and propagate down to the ones furthest from the CPU. It sounds like the ball trough is furthest down line and people are having problems with it.

If it were me I think I would temporarily hook up the node board that didn't update (the one that's causing issues) into the position at the front of the chain. Power up the game. Give it a few minutes and see if the node board will update. Then attach everything back how it should be and see if that solves it.

Spike games are a PITA sometimes to update. It's one area they really need to improve upon.

I recall we were having a launch party on KISS and we were all scratching our heads trying to update it. And all of us have years and years of owning and even routing games. We called Stern and they were actually telling us what brand names of flash drives would work. Really? Any flash drive that is formatted correctly should work.

Now, I will say I was able to update my GOT a while back with zero problems. But SAM was easier and more reliable.

Turn off game, take out all the balls, reboot game - leave on for 10 minutes.

Reboot one more time, add balls.

There are tons of bootleg flash drives that do not adhere to the proper standards.

Look on the Canon camera forum for how much trouble they cause if you want thousands of examples.

Don't buy them from ebay - ever.

Only get them from Amazon (sold by Amazon) or B&H.

Even Bestbuy had a bunch of bootleg Sandisks.....

I get what you are saying but we were using flash drives that had previously been used to flash SAM system games with no problems.

Tried again as you stated and still same problems... Now when i turn the machine on the game doesn't start when I press the start button it flashes and takes about 20 seconds to finally start a game... Odd

I have never had any trouble with either of my spike games when it comes to updating,lucky I guess

Just updated with no problems whatsoever.

I wonder if any of you guy's SD cards are those bootleg ones that Stern got stuck with?

If you re-wrote them with a larger image than the original, they crashed hard.

Care to shed a little light on your playing technique? 1.3 billion on only ball 2??!! Really?? I see almost no nudging and a baffling smack to the side to make the spinner spin? I don't mean to call BS on your score but I can't think of another word to describe it at the moment.

The smack is to get a better feed dropping down the right side (so the ball doesn't hit the sling), not to "make the spinner spinner".

Just downloaded the new code. Guess I got lucky. No issues at all. The game is much better than it was with the beta code. Look forward to the code implementing the cities. This game will only get better and better.

If this is the "major overhaul" of the code that took 9 months, then Stern needs a "major overhaul" of the coding department.

That's a shame. Was there some drama I missed?

I think it's pretty obvious that it was not worked for 9 months. I like that the grid was actually used for something in this release where before it did really nothing. I played a premium today and when the ball was locked it kicked out right away, exactly like the pro. I don't know why it was doing that but I told my friend about it who owns the game.

Rob

Lots of growing pains with SPIKE for sure. Both software and hardware.

Rob

Any computer guys, please feel free to chime in.

With SPIKE, what was the purpose of using the flash drive (that little disk thingy)? When I first got KISS, Stern had to send me a new one of those. With SAM games, never had or even heard of a problem like that.

The SD card is where the game "lives" on the SPIKE system.

Picture it like a solid state hard drive of sorts.

No more EPROMs to store game code

Installed the update... everything worked fine. However, I did notice that now when I turn the machine on, the magnet motor does not test... but it does work in-game for LG multiball.

Thoughts...

I really like the options for collecting instruments now. The only option I changed was to leave instruments lit from ball to ball.

Being rewarded for completing the grid adds a lot to the game, IMO. I did knock it down a notch and set Grid multiball to one completion of the grid. The Grid multiball light show on the Premium/LE is incredible. Also, Paul's "Heaven's on Fire" intro fits the start of Grid Multiball perfectly.

I like the added sound effects for switches. Could be a little louder, though.

I like Paul's new (or more frequent) call-outs during LG multiball. The call-outs when you press a flipped button between games are pretty funny too. "THIS AIN'T NOW HEE-HAW MUSIC!" hahaha It also seems like the jackpots are a little easier to get during LG multiball.

As for issues...

The music cuts when I achieve certain things during the game. Sometimes getting a jackpot during a multiball causes this.

"Love Gun" restarts a few seconds after it initially starts the first time when I achieve LG multiball.

Sometimes it seems inserts that should not light will light for a second and go out.

Wishes for next code release...

More call outs and DMD animations of course. The more, the merrier.

Add a skill shot.

I would love to see the other songs get the "Lick It Up" and "Hotter Than Hell" treatment with regards to DMD fonts and animations... i.e. your score drips saliva for "Lick It Up" and is on fire for "Hotter Than Hell." Actually, I would like to see more interesting fonts for a lot of DMD text.

Demo mode would be nice.

Use of cities somehow. I think I hear more call-outs when you select cities now, though... more things like Paul or Gene yelling "LOS ANGELES!" at different times. I don't remember that many call-outs just yelling the city name before.

The 2X, 3X and Colossal inserts used for both playfield scoring and bonus scoring.

Add the extra ball insert lighting to the multiball light shows!

All in all, like mentioned in the other thread, I think this update was a great step in the right direction.

Good reading..
I uploaded the code Friday night successfully, but haven't really gotten into it yet as I've been super busy last few days.
First glance--seems the major changes, like all the good features of Kiss, take time to achieve.
Off the bat, game feels similar.
Play awhile, and the changes will really come out.

I'm really looking forward to the cities being involved.
The possibilities could be endless (like GOT and GB seem to be).
Stern is really making up for 2007-2009 these days (see codes unfinished/abandoned: CSI, WOF, 24, IndyJ4)...must give credit where credit is due.

i'm revising my thoughts on the new code after making a couple of adjustments in the settings. Its AWSOME. I normally keep all my games in default settings but i was getting so frustrated with the new code that I made two changes that made a huge difference in enjoy-ability to playing it. First i lowered the song completions to light the playfield multiplier from "2' to "1". all of a sudden i felt like i was truly making progress when i finished a song (its not exactly super easy to complete a song especially if your using a cliffy on the scoop). the second thing I did was to change the instrument rule to "lights all instruments". You still have to complete every shot then do it a second time to make progress to Heavens on fire. Once i did this the game seem to make much more sense and everything seemed obtainable. But the most significant part is that it made going for song completions a huge risk/reward scenario. Do you go for another song completion before a super mode/multiball and risk draining/losing your multiplier? The modes can also become very lucrative - on one game i started super ramps with 5x running for 4,500m per ramp shot. It was ultra satisfying.
There are still some annoying stuff in the new code - the lane sound effect is awful, it reminds me of the multiball start of Sopranos. Another issue is the ball save light coming on during multiball but isn't really on. Locking the ball in genes mouth during multiball and getting 1x scoring (wtf is that?). anyways- just wanted to give my two cents worth after playing it a bunch.

How does the multipliers work?
I had 3x lit on the playfield, and i thought when it runs down the bonuses after you drain is where it would be 3x. But it still said 1x, why is that?

They are now play field multipliers, not bonus.

From the read me:
- 2X, 3X, Colossal inserts are now used as playfield multipliers instead
of Bonus X multipliers.

Hello,
how to start the mission "GRID"?

So the multiplier from demon multiball is the same?

From the read me:

- Added a wizard mode for completing the GRID (Heaven's On Fire):
- Qualify by completing the GRID a number of times; currently 2
(adjustable).
- Shoot the scoop eject (BACKSTAGE PASS) to start.
- 4 ball multiball.
- Complete the GRID to light SUPER JACKPOT at the Scoop Eject:
- ROW #1 (KISS) - shoot all KISS targets
- ROW #2 (ARMY) - shoot all ARMY targets
- ROW #3 (POPS) - shoot right orbit to light the pops; hit each pop at
least once
- ROW #4 (INSTRUMENTS) - shoot instruments. The right ramp (if lit)
will spot one of the instruments.
- The STAR targets may be completed for add-a-ball, once per super
jackpot.

It stacks.

From the read me:

- Added a ball lock rule during Demon Multiball:
- Shooting both lock targets lights the Demon lock.
- Shooting the Demon when lock is lit (first time) starts 2X playfield
scoring (adjustable, default=20 seconds).
- Lighting the lock again and locking a second ball (before the timer
expires) starts 3X playfield scoring (adjustable, default=20 seconds).

- Finishing a song (adjustable) lights 2X, 3X, 5X (2X+3X), Colossal (10X)
playfield multiplier for the rest of the ball.
- Max playfield multipler is set at 15X.
- Playfield multiplers can be combined and are advanced via:
- double scoring (2X)
- demon multiball lock timer (2X, 3X)
- completing song(s) (2X, 3X, 5X, 10X)

Thank you but how to launch GRID?

What is GRID?

Changed a few settings as well, and definitely a huge improvement. I was one light away from lighting the grid, and have to leave for a bit, but I will be back this afternoon KISS pinball, oh yes, I will be back.

Shoot the scoop when GRID requirements complete.

The 4 rows of 4 inserts right in the middle of the play field.

From the read me:

- ROW #1 (KISS) - shoot all KISS targets
- ROW #2 (ARMY) - shoot all ARMY targets
- ROW #3 (POPS) - shoot right orbit to light the pops; hit each pop at
least once
- ROW #4 (INSTRUMENTS) - shoot instruments. The right ramp (if lit)
will spot one of the instruments.

I had changed a few settings to make getting a few of the new features easier and just went ahead and changed another one after the advice above and it makes the game a lot funner and opens up the potential for some big scores with my skill level.

Actually, it's hit the switch in the left most in-lane to light (flash) the faces in the right orbit; shoot the right orbit to collect any flashing faces.

I might have missed this, but what are the colors on the grid tied to?

Update worked fine on my KISS Pro with an 8 GB Thumbdrive I just bough at Walgreens for $3. I gotta re-read the release notes it looks like so I can see all the new changes and finally get to wizard mode

The Cities do exactly what they did before.

Anyone else notice that the music almost seems to pause when the hurry up sound effect hits? Also I noticed that the Love Gun intro will sometimes start over during multiball. This is stuff I noticed on the first couple games. Why didn't Stern notice this?

Well since he's the Michigan state pinball champ for 2016 and this was on location at a bar I call not BS. Aaron is one the most knowledgeable players at understanding all the intricacies of getting huge scores on modern sterns and talented enough to be able to put up monster scores.

The slap is a common technique to nudge the ball away from the sling. Then he does a live catch after the slap. During multiball he's got 4 balls on a flipper and does a great cradle separation twice. Did you even watch the video?

Thanks for the info. Thats a simply amazing score. I stand corrected and apologize regarding my previous post. Well done!!

Any KISS owners have invisiglass or PDI glass on their machine?

If so, how is it in cutting down the glare from the playfield?

I've used H2test to verify many flash drives. If you think your card has a problem try it.
https://sosfakeflash.wordpress.com/2008/09/02/h2testw-14-gold-standard-in-detecting-usb-counterfeit-drives/

I do. There's glare?

So, with this new code, there are currently 5 different multiballs, correct?

1. Demon Multiball
2. Love Gun Multiball
3. Wizard Mode: GRID Multiball Heaven's On Fire
4. Wizard Mode: Rock City Multiball
5. Mini-Wizard Mode: KISS Army Multiball

And still no skill shot or DMD game? Can't wait to see if that ever changes!

Correct.

Where do you guys get your PDI glass?

So is there a new add a ball feature during demon multiball? Just fired her up for a quick game during lunch and noticed I could light lock and if I shot lock it kicked another ball out.

Do any of the multiballs use all 6 balls?

Updated on the weekend, tried a couple solid games today....
I see a lot more going on with the scoring and lighting effects, the game goes further in its scoring opportunities for sure....seems faster as well. I've only played 3 games on new code, but like what they've done (so far). Looking forward to next update, there is still some work to be done, but at least now its fun to play.

Pinball decals.

Order now, the next shipment is in June.

I had 5 balls on the playfield in one of the multiball modes, but haven't seen 6...yet?