Hey Guys -- I hate to ask another rookie question, but here goes. I've got an external sub pinwoofer kit. That kit has a black wire and a red wire, but the Alien pinball machine sub has two other colored wires (I want to say green and purple). Anyone know what to connect to what? AKA, does black go to purple?

There's a post in front of the upper right flipper. The original games had a very short post which barely connected. It would break the hole. We were sent longer posts. The newer games shouldn't have this issue. However....this post takes a ton of abuse. It is recommended you at least put a washer under it. I'm questioning if that is even enough.

Upper right flipper that feeds hypersleep has a post installed at flipper tip.. discussing its length and any potential damage to playfield from many, many, many direct hits. Discussing installing a washer to shore it up a bit.

I was going to see if anyone could help point me in the right direction for this issue. I'm having a problem where when the scoop shoots out the ball and I have the left flipper up that it will knock the flipper completely down to it's original position. I ran across this on a Stern I owned because of a bad coil stop. I looked under and it doesn't seem to be bad. Any recommendations? Big thanks in advance.

Game arrived! December 2021 build with 2.4 code already installed. All connections were solid and all mechs secured under the hood. Didn’t need any adjusting. Everything works as it should. Absolutely no issues out of the box! May adjust the scoop and Mother eject power, we’ll see. So far Xeno grab is about 66%. But when the magnet doesn’t catch it is because of a glancing blow. Direct hits catch. I can make the hypersleep ramp, but boy is the sweet spot for that shot tiny. Sound is good. Lights cool. Only 2 small complaints. The lockbar beats out Spooky and Haggis as the worst. Man is it sharp at the edges and really tight to get into place. The other complaint is the legs. Everything else on this game is beautiful (even chrome leg bolts). But the legs are ugly. Full and look like they came from a well used 80’s game. Seriously, they look like the were pulled from a used game. But who cares. In space, no one can hear me complain about my legs. This should be encouraging news for later SV builds and the LV’s. Because this beast has NO issues (knock on wood).

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No SV. I was told my game was ready in October and paid, then was told two weeks, two weeks, two weeks, two weeks, any day, bad weather, two weeks, any day, and then finally got told it would ship tomorrow, and then I actually got shipping tracking.

open a ticket with Pbros.. there are others here who have had this hold issue.

Does it have an EOS? Is it gapped too widely?

PB Alien doesn't have EOS switches on their flipper mechs

I would love it if you could share what the fix is when you find it. I'm having the same issue.

Well... that's going to be a problem then unless they just up the hold power right (if they can without burning up the coil)? Otherwise there's no way for the flipper to know it's been knocked down.

Go into settings and coil adjust. Left flipper +30%.

Not all games need EOS switches or dual wound coils - they are s/w controlled and modulate the power to the coil to ensure they don't overheat.

https://docs.missionpinball.org/en/0.54/mechs/flippers/eos_switches.html

I submitted a ticket so I'll let you know what they say!

I'll try this out! Thank you!

I suspect that increasing the flipper power will also increase the hold power to avoid this scenario, however I'm interested to hear what Cato has to say regarding this matter.

It is interesting that there are spots to plug in flipper EOS switches, but obviously PB believe that they weren't necessary to address the knock down issue

Alien EOS connectors (resized).png

I’m having the same issue and increasing the coil power will not help because the coils will overheat much quicker, and wow these coils get hot!! Last Tuesday I had a few friends over and we played a lot of Alien and at a certain point we had to stop because the the flippers had absolutely no holding power anymore. The coils were extremely hot which made me decide to remove the plastic wraps around the flipper coils. This will not solve the issue but it will take a little bit longer before they overheat. I don’t understand why some pinball manufacturers think that EOS switches are not needed, they are there for a good reasons. American Pinball made the same mistake with their early builds of Houdini, they came out with an EOS- and capacitor kit to solve their flipper power issues. I’ll also put in a ticket so that PB knows this is not a single machine issue in my view this is a design issue. At least I’m very happy to see there is an option to plug in EOS switches. Let’s see what the response will be from PB.

I am surprised someone has not tried to install a set of eos switches.!maybe worries about blowing something up.

Set the power to the airlock kickout to -50% and see if this helps. It still should have enough power to shoot the ball(s) out without any problems.

I dont think there is code written in the pin to support them if you did. this is an issue that Pbros is aware of.. It is not going away i fear anytime soon.

There has to be accompanying code you can't just magic EOS switches in.

And duh, yeah I know they're not necessary to set hold power but they are necessary for the game to know if the mech has been forced back down under hold power.

FYI, on my December build, all the coils were in flipped position, so I didn’t have to do the coil fix to avoid shorts. The drop bank works and wires aren’t in a threat to short. Spinner switches were good. Xeno grab is more like 30% after more plays. Hoping once the targets get broken in it will increase the grab.

you may want to play with the magnet power a bit too.. more strength, more pull when you hit the target?

What option does this? I saw magnet “fling” and hold time. Didn’t see a strength option. Did I miss it?

Yes there's a strength option.

Also, regarding the EoS topic. These newer systems don't use them, right or wrong. I personally am not a fan of the direction this is going, but once it is finally dialed in (it's all code), it works well. Had similar issues on R&M and went round for months trying to resolve with the programmer. They eventually did get it dialed in. I am not clear if Alien is using the a similar or completely different function.

I personally have not had any issues with knockdown on it.

picking one up this weekend. curious how heavy Alien is? Same as a stern or more like TZ

Lighter than TZ.

Not sure on exact weight.

Sure felt heavier than a Stern. More like an American Pinball

2nd lightest machine I own next to IMDN.

I tried this and I was having the same situation. dyopp21 was correct and Pinball Brothers is reporting the same thing.

Here is what Pinball Brothers said:
You can void this problem adding from 20% to 40% power to the flipper coils.

Did Pbros state if by adding this extra power, you are adding extra heat which over time will reduce flipper strength or is it just a known that this will occur?

Hey Guys....

I've had this problem with v2.4 system update that PB hasn't been able to reproduce yet and I'm trying to figure out if anyone else has seen the same problem with 2.4? So far, it seems to be just my machine.

When Ambush mode starts, the center magnet grabs the ball for half a second, but then releases it. It seems like a programming issue, but I've been told that this is not happening on other machines with 2.4. Has anyone else seen this issue?

So far, I've reset to factory defaults, re-imaged the hard drive, and replaced board 10 (board that controls the Xeno). This behavior seems consistent every single time.

I've also downgraded to 2.2G system update. When my machine is on 2.2G, everything works just fine!!! Magnet grabs ball and holds onto it like it should. WTH????

Super hard to fix when PB can't even reproduce it, so I'm hoping someone else has seen this.

Thanks!

Yes, I also had reported this and was told to up the magnet power. I did, and it doesn't do it as often, but it has done it occasionally.

EDIT:
So apparently when I reported it, it was on 2.3. I honestly haven't played enough lately to know if it persists in 2.4d.

This is what was said at the time:

About the 2.3 update. Before we had the range of +-25% and this has been increased to +- 50% and we also are handling the difference 50hz or 60hz, now, so the best way to test the 2.3 update is to do the.: service mode -> actions -> factory reset.

and redo the adjustments, but I would recommend to test with default's first, and the mother eject is perfect here in Norway (50hz) at -25%

let me know if that change the magnet back to holding the ball.

Yeah I wonder how many people are playing for extended periods with the power settings increased - if the coils are overheating causing people to either add fans or stop playing then it's not good and really needs PB to address it. Hope that tickets are being raised so that they know the extent of people seeing this issue

THat is what i did.. added 3" dc fans to external power supply. i have 3 installed. 1 that covers both lower flippers and 1 at each of the uppers. Not an issue with overheating, but the occasional hard eject from airlock will fold a flipper...

Quick question. My alien is shipping and is anyone making art blades for it yet?
Dana

Almost there!! Hoping can hack my way through one game before the adjusting and tweaking begins. Here we go…

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Unboxing is fun isn't it!

Mine looked and was boxed perfectly. I have a few issues I need to address but doesn't seem anything major.

I have been so busy can't get back to the game I waited a year for....sucks!

Anyway let us know how it is please.

one company is.. in france. i will PM you.

I think adding fans is a good idea if playing for long extended times, Stern games suffer from this issue a lot apparently. There are good options on pinball life, or you can get the same units locally here in Australia.

I haven't had any issues myself but never had a game with no eos arrangement either. So I fitted some just as a precaution.

I paid in full mid October. Still no game and been getting the run around from Melissa for months. Anyone else having to wait this long?

Lol just caught up on this thread. I’m not alone apparently. Annoying but is what it is. Had same problems with Lebowski.

Increased magnet power to +30% and now 100% grabs so far. Magnet power adjustment is under coils.

Unfortunately typical.

I do understand the supply chain is tough but then why ask people to pay in full 4-6 months in advance. Is this the new normal?

Ok where to begin! Somewhere in these posts you’ll see me ask the group in May (after placing order in Feb) “i only have space for 4 pins- do you all think I have time to get one more machine and keep it for 1-2 months then sell by time Alien arrives?”. Well we know how that ended- I probably owned 4-5 more since then in the “Alien slot”. But important thing is it’s here now. Many of you kept me sane while I waited like many of you for 12 months to receive Alien from PB. I enjoyed seeing the updates and hearing about early adopters having to go through some heavy fixing but mostly staying positive. So thank you. I’ll post some updates and hopefully helps those of you waiting and then some questions (many of which probably have been answered before and I undoubtedly took screen shots of but if someone has quick answer or thought again here even better).

First of all, it’s freakin awesome. It feels so unique which I love. Having owned 15 Sterns and 5 JJPs or so I def wanted to mix something new in. The theme is incredible. The bass, sound and experience is immersive. I am def an Alien movie fan but even my wife played a few games and was like “damn this is creepy- please keep the lights on”. The call outs and background creepy music is amazing I felt and feel drawn in incredibly so. Btw I had never even played an Alien (HW or PB) so this is all first glimpse.

So in a totally random order or comments…

Delivery- not a scratch on the box. Everything was packed extremely well- legs, box etc- all tight in there and well done. November 2021 build so presumably one that was lost for a while at docks. Box appeared to not have any weird or obvious issues like warped cardboard or water stains etc.

Inspection- in absolutely perfect shape with one exception- the lockdown bar has little dot like dents. It’s subtle, I’m not super crazy about stuff like this as I do like machines to look good but I’m 90%+ about the playing part. I suppose I will open a ticket to ask for a new bar.

Cab- it’s simple but I love it. If you love more art then this prob not the can for you. The agg/face hugger on bottom front below Launch button is great looking- green really pops off dark background and feels like the egg is literally just popping.

Main translite is ok- but Jakusu translite is so well done- just installed this. He was also super easy to communicate with. Always a potential adventure to send 100s of dollars to people you meet on internet but this was a breeze and I received package well protected etc. Thank you Jakusu!

Legs Bolts- start of thread seems very deep. I used the little plastic washers to protect the legs and made it barely fit for some of them- but easy enough to get on.

Back box- I like the snap latch over bolts- easier.

Pops - I saw some people said not registering most of time. Mine are registering but 2 need like direct hit and barely fire so may tweak these.

Auto launch- 30-50% of plunges fall back down into shooter lane. I played with coil strength but still needs some adjustment. Open to suggestions/settings.

Spinners- arrived bent properly - they work fine.

Far Right Outlane to inlane- surprises me everytime even though I’ve owned IJ. Super fast plus that part is hidden from view so makes interesting.

Flippers - I get what people been talking about- my wife and kids remarked immediately too. Def an odd feel. They are almost too sensitive. Feels a little cheap but maybe that’s not fair. Gotta get used to it. You also can’t microflip to activate only upper flippers because only one leaf. I’ve seen lots of comments on these so will play around with them. Maybe just bending back the leaf switches so not so sensitive. The flipper power def feels weak to me. I turned all up +20%. Hopefully this doesn’t overheat excessively. I plan to take off plastic on coils and add little fans under playfield like others have done. For example if you aim for the orbits I feel like I’m flipping with a pool noodle. It doesn’t have to be snappy like stern but still would like to play around with this to get bit more pop. Def feels more like JJP in this regard.

Upper ramp- I’ve hit this once in like 15 games. Not sure yet if it’s timing or a tiny sweet spot or weak flipper but seems really hard to achieve. Need to diagnose more. Also find that back loop to left of airlock hard to hit. Gotta play better I guess. Any advice on ramp?

Xeno- had like one capture in 15 games so clearly not doing what should be doing. I don’t know when it’s supposed to grab other than ambush (I think) so gotta learn rules then diagnose. (Manually she grabs it on a lighter hit to targets).

Shots- Nothing feels obvious on flipper shots- must learn (I’ve owned 15+ sterns and always know how to make a shot with some learning like helipcopter shot JP or DP SNKT shot…this machine so far feels like I am guessing a bit in terms of where on flipper to flip vs trajectory. Airlock is easy but anything outside middle I need to play more to understand if this is real or just imagining.

My god there are so many things to shoot at- so many targets. Awesome.
I find the shot to left of upper right flipper very hard to hit (others agree?). The magnet there does work very well to stage ball.

Light show is amazing- it’s all green and crazy immersive with purple then changes to red white and blue

The sound is incredible- best ever owned without a wooofer or speaker upgrades. The nature of the sounds with heavy bass I think helps- but yeh this is awesome.

Super dark playfield I think a UV light may work. I know others have done some adjustments. Agree it’s Alien so should be dark and creepy- but I’d like to be able to play in dark and for me personally it needs a bit more light to do that. In a lighted room it perfect- looks great.

There should be tiny lights on left vent ball return with acid marks! They look so cool ok bottom but hard to see. Is anyone missing the vent shaft at all?

Gameplay- I have no idea what I’m doing yet. I don’t want to learn too fast as I tend to get bored of games. Any advice on adjusting difficulty? Without sounding like a a hole, i am a pretty decent player tend to beat most games on factory settings and I don’t want to progress too far too fast in Alien. It seems very easy to start modes - in first 15 games I usually started 2-4 modes per game plus 1-2 MBs. Any advice on difficulty adjustments appreciated!

Overall very happy. Was able to play right out of box and now have to do some dialing in like most machines.
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The flipper strength thing is interesting. I had to turn my flipper power down because while they 'feel' light and weak, they definitely are not. I was throwing balls into the glass bouncing off things.

Glad everyone is enjoying getting their games. I know there was a lot of hesitation over quality and concern over the wait.

The people who have already installed the alternate translite set, what are you using to attach the back one in place? I was considering making a 3 sided wooden frame but maybe that is overkill.

thats what i did.. worked perf.. little double stick so its not permanent

A few questions for my sanity.

Is there a sound to the ball launch in game?
When you fire a ball does the game make a sound?

Also what are the graphics on the screen that relate to the launcher being pushed? Any videos online i can look at?
I seem to remember a ship firing it's rockets and launching down to the planet from the Nostromo. Not the Marine drop ship but the one in Alien 1.
Thank you.

Spent a lot of time today dialing in my game. Now it plays very smooth. Pitch is at 6.4. Initially it was 6.8. Now I can hit the hypersleep ramp easily. Hardest part was dialing in the spinners. Got the right orbit guide to feed right flipper so can repeat the orbits. So far so good. Now I am considering pulling the trigger on mirror blades and patiently waiting for the apron and beacon mod. The tracker mod is waiting in the box for the new apron.