Do you ever get the chance to replay for Gems?

Yes, as long as you have the Soul gem in your possession, but if you lose the gem again - you also lose the Soul gem. 0.98 gives us a few chances to regain the Soul gem though.

I don't know what it was about this update, but I can't put a decent game together to save my life since putting it in! I have still only seen Thanos Attack once, and it was extremely short lived.

Thanos can inhale an entire satchel of Richards.

I experienced a similar issue. I was in a gem quest (reality I think) and had hit the tower shot. Lights out on the playfield, flippers dead, and the LCD froze with the ‘Ball 2 Locked’ on screen. The game did not recover for me, so I rebooted and it seems to be working ok for now.

Looks like a bug...this is pretty much what happened to me, except I think I had won reality gem (collect gem lit) then made the tower shot for Ball 2 Locked...game went dim, ball released from tower and reset after about 10 seconds. No issues since...I even intentionally made the tower shot with collect gem lit (albeit for mind gem) and it behaved normally.

I reckon it’s be fun to have the devil went down to Georgia as the music during the soul gem quest. And replace devil with Thanos!

Finally a good game and a successful fending off of Thanos Attack! I had no idea you had to defend each of your gems! I had two of them plus soul. I celebrated after successfully defending the first one, only to have it ask me to pick another one, and then the third! Managed to defend all three, and got a nice juicy victory multiball after. Must have been pretty good scoring as Thanos Attack ended up being about 1/4 of my entire score (I didn't do much after that mode).

So, theoretically, if you managed to win all five gems and THEN win the soul gem, would you have to defend all six during this mode???

Wow...what an awesome mode! Feels like a true wizard mode. Can't wait to get to the real one now.

Yeah! Exactly like me - I didn’t realize you had to defend all of your gems and I lost my third, the Mind Gem.

And then I lost my Soul Gem in Black Order Multiball!

I shall get revenge!

Really liking the newest update. Great light shows and I think the Thanos Attacks mode works well with the theme. Nice background screen with the sanctum. Good risk reward for the mode (bring in more gems, its a harder and longer battle but you can get big points).
I do think that the "Battle Thanos" light should light up when Thanos Attacks is ready (as you are battling him).

One thing I would really like to see is some polish to the Black Order Multiball. The background screen is boring and basic and takes you out of the theme integration.

Anyone been to the Final Thanos battle and can provide an update on the rules for it?

Changing out the coils for stronger ones doesn't actually address the problem - heat - they'll still overheat, it will just take longer. And, since they start off stronger, you run the risk of wearing/breaking playfield parts more, especially since the coil will spend most of its time in the stronger less-hot state in the first 30-45 minutes of a game session.

Ok, the Soul Gem putting the first shot on the right loop is starting to piss me off. If you don’t nail that first shot on first attempt it’s very difficult to retain control quickly enough without losing too many shots. What’s everyone’s strategy getting the ball to the left flipper from the lockout?

How do Pro’s start Soul Gem if it’s not through the subway?

Put the first shot up the Black Widow ramp and the ball is delivered to the left flipper for the orbit shot on the next flip. Whether it’s the first shot of the mode or the fourth shot of the mode the shot has to be made at some point. If you aren’t winning Soul Gem often, then just keep at it and you’ll start getting it. And play the challenge mode sometimes also. It’s been posted fairly often that playing that mode is really good practice for hitting the various shots in the game. Using one flip up the fairly easy Black Widow ramp to get it to the left flipper shouldn’t be a deal breaker for winning Soul Gem.

Yeh, I’ve been trying to do that out of the scoop, but it’s tough to get enough power since it’s such an early shot and a steep ramp. I’ll keep trying.

Other shots aren’t a problem - once I get that first right loop shot, I complete Soul most attempts.

I’m also playing Blue gem first every game to give me a “free” shot on that loop.

probably mist the post, but when exactly do you get this thanos attack??

A few observations on the new code, on the Pro.

I've also had the game freeze when hitting the tower shot with gem collect lit.

Soul Gem lit ready to start. Gamma Ray also ready to start. Started Gamma Ray then hit right ramp. Machine went into ball search with ball trapped on up post, thus releasing the ball. Was able to start hitting shots without flips counting down (until I hit the right ramp again).

Thanos attacks is frustrating, but great. My strategy is to try and start asap with only 2 gems (mind gem and soul gem), no point making it harder than it could be (Do you get more reward for defending more gems?). I make sure I place gems on BW ramp at BP orbit, as they give controlled feeds back. Defend Mind gem first, if you drain while doing so, spam the action button to defend it, that way you lose the Soul gem, which can be regained by hitting SJ in Black Order mb. (If you don't hit SJ you lose your Soul Gem if you had it anyway).
I haven't actually beaten TA yet anyway.

I have got to Battle Thanos and defeated him, and got to Super Victory laps, although no idea what exactly was going on in doing so.
When I got Super Victory Laps had all 6 balls and decent ball saver. It said jackpots multiplied by no. of balls in play, but nothing appeared to be lit. I hit a few shots then drained down to 1 ball. My score for SVL was just 1.5million!!! To add insult to injury it didn't even replace the default HS of 1million.

Flipper fade seems to gave got noticeably, and significantly worse. After 30 minutes it's noticeable, after an hour I cant make either ramp nor a full orbit consistently. It looks like PinMonk is getting another sale, although I begrudge having to by a non Stern mod to be able to play a full game without issue.

I'm guessing 0.99 will be coming quickly to fix the tower lockup issue, if nothing else.

Are you on stock flipper power (does AIQ let you adjust it? I forget...)?

Thank you for your impending patronage! And if it makes you feel any better, this isn't really just a Stern-specific issue. With the much better hold power management, and with the exception of a few titles, Stern Spike machines in general have less of a problem heating flipper coils quickly than Spooky or JJP. But all three main manufacturers have the flipper coil heating issue to varying degrees the longer a play session goes.

Oh, and Ministry of Pinball in Europe carries all the Pinmonk stuff now, so it may be cheaper and faster, all things considered, to order the Tibetan Breeze Spike kit from them. But I'm happy to ship to you if you order direct.

I ordered a set too! But I only comes with 2 fans and this table has three. Are folks only having issues with the bottom flippers and not the top?

New to this game.... what order are folks using for the gem quests?

Upper flipper is default lower power, don’t need much since the shots are closer, haven’t needed fan there.

I have the fans on only the bottom flippers. I'm sure there's probably fade with the upper flipper also but it hasn't impacted gameplay for me so having just the two fans has worked well for me.

Awesome y'all. Looking forward to getting my set and keeping things cool.

PinMonk - Any chance you think there could be fade in the Auto Launch assembly with AIQ due to overheating in the coil similar to the flippers? There are so many multi-balls and Wizard modes that I see fade pretty early and often. Wondering if you’ve seen that or have tested your fans out on that coil? I’d be happy to test one out for you if that would help

I have an early built LE and I recently discovered via the switch test that two of my subway optos were inverted. I think that I might not be the only one in this case.

In the switch test, when a ball entered the subway, I got this switch sequence:
9-SW-2 (Subway Enter Opto) -> 9-SW-5 (Subway Lock 3 Opto) -> 9-SW-4 (Subway Lock 2 Opto) -> 9-SW-3 (Subway Lock 1 Opto) -> 8-SW-9 (Subway VUK)

There was an inversion of the labels on the wires, so I corrected it and inverted the connection.

The switch test sequence with a ball is now:
9-SW-2 (Subway Enter Opto) -> 9-SW-3 (Subway Lock 1 Opto) -> 9-SW-4 (Subway Lock 2 Opto) -> 9-SW-5 (Subway Lock 3 Opto) -> 8-SW-9 (Subway VUK)  

20210131_192033 (resized).jpgoptos (resized).png

Thanks cooked71 - what did you connect the alligator clips to? Can it get connected to the Sanctum wiring so it runs on the same circuit and flashes when the top light of the sanctum normally would? Or is just always on? I’d love it if it would run the same light show that the sanctum would as you hit the spinner. Thanks.

Hay Peanuts - The factory had it right - you have it wrong now . When the ball goes down the portal = it's enter -3-2-1- vuk !

Pretty certain that they are adjustable, but I've left them on stock settings.

Didn't realise MoP stocked these, although with Brexit issues, it'll probably quicker and cheaper direct from you. (Plus, order went in before I saw this).

I've never seen such rapid fade with any other machine. It may well be because there are a lot more multiballs, so less 'controlled play' than other machines. I'll take a look at no. of flips compared to number of games in audits and compare to JP2 - to see if there is any correlation.

Certainly haven't had issues with JP2 or IMdn, nor any other machines to the same degree - even when they went to shows and were played for 12hrs straight.

If it makes you feel any better, Stranger Things is worse. It's the machine that started me down this road because the fade came on so fast and basically ruined the ability to backhand the left ramp within about 30 minutes.

And then there's Guns N Roses with record-setting 219.8F reading on the right uncooled flipper, destroying Spike peak temps by like 30F. Then THAT was beat by the temps on the almost-always-on left diverter on jjGnR that hit 219.9F.

karl-diverter-hot_2021_01_20 (resized).jpg

Had this exact same thing happen to me, where I was having a great ball, Reality Gem, then Thor Multiball and soon as finished, game froze, lights went out and game rebooted! Wow, was having a great game trying to get to battle Thanos and then poof, game gone. (Did Thanos snap his fingers? Lol)

In the end I couldnt use the aligator clips so I had to splice into wires that power the top Sanctum light. A little bit fiddly - would be easiest to use some of those instant splice connector things. I just cut and soldered the wires. The light does exactly what the original Sanctum one did.

Ill take a few photos when I get a chance.

This would be the best way to go (i dont know if these particular ones are the best, but thats the general idea):

https://www.amazon.com/Nilight-Terminals-Self-stripping-Insulated-Disconnects/dp/B07CP987BN/ref=sr_1_17_sspa
71xqXrrUv4L._AC_SL1500_ (resized).jpg

Anyone know if there is a place in this awesome thread that talks about adjusting the wireform that comes off the potbelly ramp to the upper flipper so the ball drops and goes along the ball guide to the flipper instead of dropping and trickling to the right away from the upper flipper?

I was reading your (and @lermods) previous posts on this subject and realized my mistake. Thanks!

I sincerely doubt it, but I haven't specifically tested it.

The flipper coils (well, and the left diverter on jjGnR) get very hot and fade because they're, large, almost always in use, and there's no time allowed for them to cool down, especially if you're a trap shooter. With the auto launch, the coil is relatively small and gets pretty long breaks (relatively speaking) between launches outside of multiball. Usually auto launch problems are a matter of the launch forks bending or shifting. There have been some posts showing that putting an E clip or clips to soak up the left-to-right slop in the forks and help keep them centered works to improve consistency and power. Karl DeAngelo's got some of the temp gauges right now for the jjGnR testing. Maybe when he's done on that, I'll see if he'll throw a probe on the AIQ launch coil before sending stuff back. I really don't expect the launch coil to be that hot on long sessions, but I'm open to surprises - there have been a few already on this coil knowledge adventure.

I haven't seen anything posted, but I had problems with that feed on my Pro.

The initial issue was the ball creeping round the up-post at start of modes, so I tried adjusting. This made the feed to the flipper worse when the up-post wasn't used.

It took lots of fiddling around to get it giving a good feed about 50% of the time and still get trapped by the up-post.
If I see it wandering away from the rail I shoot it back up the side ramp and see if that feed is better, it often is.

2 fixes that would fix this permanently:
Give the table a bit of a slope with the right side high. Not ideal as impacts rest of the gameplay.

Basically amend the end of the ramp so it no longer has the stop and drop like the feeds from the ramps but rather has a feed like the pteranodon ramp on JP2 that shoots up the ironman tower. This would give a feed similar to the tower drop but much slower. Obviously not really feasible to do at home.

For spike, there will also be a 3 flipper kit and a single bracket expansion kit to take your 2 flipper kit to 3 flipper. Initially I thought the upper flippers weren't a problem, but testing on Rick and Morty, specifically, disabused me of that notion with 180F+ temps on the upper flipper. So Spooky kits already have 2 and 3 flipper kits, and I'm working to go back and make that happen for Spike kits ASAP.

Basically, I'm learning as I go with these and as more real-world, long-session temp testing is done on more machines, the kits are evolving. The imminent JJP kit, for example, will have higher CFM fans because testing has shown the coils in GnR, specifically, are hard to keep below 140F cooled with the standard fans I've used for everything else and I'd like to see them stay around 120F or less so they're more in line with Spike and Spooky kit results.

If you're interested in the real-time temp testing with fans cooling the coils, I believe Karl DeAngelo will be doing a new twitch stream on jjGnR some evening this week with what will likely be the final fan configuration for JJP Tibetan Breeze kit, pending testing on the other JJP machines to verify the install. I'll ask him tomorrow if he plans to this week.

Awesome! I havnt noticed much weakness in my top flipper but just like being proactive and if I have to have the playfield up, mind as well install em all. Hahaha. Look forward to getting the set in hand and keeping em cool. Thanks again!

Clean your playfield with Novus 1, trust me on that one. Your balls will fly up the ramps.

Anyone else think the picture of Thanos in the opening screen makes him look like Grimace's brother, and not an evil entity? It doesn't even matchwhat he looks like on the playfield.

20210201_115640 (resized).jpg

Anyone else think the picture of Thanos in the opening screen makes him look like Grimace's brother, and not an evil entity? It doesn't even matchwhat he looks like on the playfield. [quoted image]</blockqu
Yes! Needs more Teeth and anger!

cooling kits are nice, but where are the expensive high performance coil kits with water cooling for the enthusiasts?
I guess there is no market

Zombie Yeti did the playfield and cabinet art. Stern commissioned some other artist to do the animations (possibly the artist from Disney's Avengers Assemble animated series).

It's a shame stern didn't have Zombie Yeti do the whole package, I'm sure it would have been amazing.

Hopefully, stern will improve some of the art/animations with the code updates. For now, it's up to us to improve the experience..
AvengersChillin (resized).JPG

New high score! Lost Thanos attacks and didn’t quite make it to Battle Royale Multiball or Battle Thanos in this game.

C78461C9-07F8-47E1-92E3-B1270CE35860 (resized).jpeg

So from a cradle with the ball on the right flipper - is anyone able to hit and make the Captian Marvel ramp ???

Yes. Keep the playfield cleaned and waxed. Check your playfield angle and level.

Edit: (oops didn’t think CM ramp at first...) backhanding the CM ramp is extremely difficult, but I have done it a few times. Usually has to be with ball off the flipper, just in front. I can backhand Thor most tries from a cradle though.

If long play sessions, PinMonk Pinmonk’s fans really help with fighting flipper fade.

as the delivery of my new AIQ is getting closer, I wanted to collect things that might come in handy..

Do you guys know the name of the tool used in the video shown above? I want to order it to have it handy, I might install a playfield protector (undecided) and this tool seems like a must have for adjusting the disc....

With that said, how many of you are running Playfield Protectors?

Not that I’ve seen. I’ve tried 2 things with mixed results:
1. I put a tiny tab of duct tape on the right side of the exit circle of the wireform. At 3o’ clock. Worked well. Looked ugly.
2. I’ve (tried) to adjust the wireform left so that it drops the ball next to the guide. I also tweaked the exit a bit to tilt towards that guide. This has not been as effective. I’m about 50% for a proper drop.

I may have to go back to number 1 pending a better solution. A solder bead instead of the duct tape might work, but I wouldn’t expect it to wear well.

Email Cliffy and get a full set of his protectors instead, keep the playfield clean, change out balls and wax couple times a year, that's a better option IMO.

I don’t think it can be done. The combination of the angle being slightly off and less power from a backhand shot would make it next to impossible without some modifications, like more powerful coils and tweaking of the ramp. I have backhanded the shot off the fly after a bounce pass from the left flipper a few times though.

Thanos Attacks is pretty cool, in my humble opinion. I love the addition to the game.

Sorry to break topic on new code but I know many have adjusted the Thor where digging into playfield. Mine is started to pool and now chip slightly. Looks like one nut holding it. How do I adjust up if that is the fix?