Mine occasionally does the same but I don't worry about it. Probably happpens because the flipper is turned up a bit too high.

Where do you download the code updates? I think I’m going blind…

https://pinballbrothers.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/80000956738-alien-delta-game-update-2-8-

Is it only 400kb?

Made two games today without issues, so I will make some more games and see.

If it happens again I will go back to 2.7

No, it’s less.

The code updates on this thing are amazingly fast. Usually a minute or less.

Has anyone had issues on v2.8 in single player mode? I played at least 30 games with no issues on single but had people over playing last night on multiplayer had flippers freeze until it reset and had the ball stuck in the mother saucer until it eventually reset. These problems happened several times, so went back to v2.7 and everything is fine.

Keeping an eye on 2.8. The second game my airlock was not registering and I the game would not start after sitting for an hour. 2.6 seemed a little more stable for me.

The only issue I've had in 2.8 was after a long play session when the ball drained it seemed like it locked up for 5 seconds or so, but it came out of it on its own. I left the game on all day and didn't have any lockups.

I believe all of my boards are revision A and B (I agree I think some of these issues are board difference related).

See my post #9374

....yesterday sometimes both 2 right Flippers stop working for a few seconds or game freezes or launch button didn't work.

These issues happened on some games on 2.8

Never happened on 2.4, 2.6 or 2.7

Today I played some games without any issues on 2.8

Not sure, if I should go back to 2.7
Never had any issue on 2.7

Curious if you’ve put on multi-player games without issues?

Haven't since 2.8 but I can do some this weekend.

I froze 2.8 starting Self Destruct and submitted a bug report.

tested multi.. had left flip crap out for a second right after a muther scoop eject... right as i was lining up orbit shot, press button, NOTHING and a drain. omg.
will monitor, will send a log file each time it happens to Pbros.

Just a note about flippers going out.... If you've been monkeying with your apron like I have, it is possible that you inadvertantly bent a button switch or tweaked it. When the switch isn't making perfect contact, it can give the symptom of a flipper intermittently going out. I did this myself. Since bending the switch back, it has been fine.

Other then my drop target issue I have not had any other issues or lock ups in 2.8, but have not had any multiplayer games yet.
Interestingly enough I went back and installed 2.6 to get the LV attract video and had a lock up within the first 2 games

I love this game! In spite of the myriad of issues we have all had to deal with and problems we are still fighting… when it comes together, my God does it come together. What an experience!

Proper timing and usage of weapons can easily triple the length of your game. It’s difficult timing and planning it correctly but when you do it’s a life saver.

I’ve been getting more and more successful using the weapons right at ball drain to keep the game alive.

Use the shotgun to start ambush at ball drain

Use smart gun to start hypersleep multiball and grab your extra ball right at ball drain

Flame thrower- right at ball drain to keep going.

If you keep the multi balls ready to activate the weapons become very useful in keeping the ball alive and helping you get deeper into the game.

What’s your weapons strategy?

0D0B6EDF-57FD-4567-880B-A8854672DA45 (resized).jpeg

100% my strategy..lol

Well, stop your grinnin' and drop your linen... I am happy to report that we're back up and running! The issue was indeed the cabinet controller box. Swapped in the new one and it worked right away! So happy to have it back!

Played 4 - 4 player games in a row, no issues to report. Even beat Find Newt which was a first.

I DO have an issue that I never had before 2.8. I have to boot my machine 3 times before the main monitor will stay on. I know this is an issue that others had, but I thought it was fixed. I only had it 1 time in the past, but now it is nearly every time I boot from cold.

On 2.8, LV version. Was just in the middle of sentry guns and game locked up. Balls stuck in the scoop and muthur. Countdown stops, no button response. Tried to get into the menus and game rebooted.

I have yet to see any lockups with 2.8.

I have seen that "main screen won't come on" issue once or twice recently... it seems like it happened when I powered up after I powered off in the middle of a game.

As for my drop targets, I did like Baggerman said and pulled the drop targets out of the machine, sanded down the rough surfaces, and it seems like they are pretty reliable at the moment. I'm still monitoring, but I'm thinking you guys were right and that it was just the mech catching on a rough edge or something like that.

I basically had three tiers of players in mind when thinking about the weapons design:

- Novice: doesn't even know weapons exist. The weapons just passively give some extra bonus points, cool.

- Intermediate: knows weapons exist but doesn't optimize their use -- just jam the Launch button when draining (at least on the final ball) and hope to have the game extend.

- Advanced: uses weapons carefully ... like you say, this can be a huge boost to your score and game length:
--- Pistol (Advance Bonus X): save it for a ball when you've won a couple movie scenes. (Especially Self Destruct or Loader Battle, if you want to really milk it.)
--- Shotgun (Spot 2 Xeno Hits): save it until you drain when you know you have 1 or 2 Xeno hits left for Ambush.
--- Smart Gun (Spot "Best" Shot): save it until you have a tough shot needed, like the Hypersleep ramp or Vent 3 for a Super Jackpot and/or Extra Ball, or maybe Hypersleep ramp lit to start Hypersleep MB on an imminent drain.
--- Pulse Rifle (Start 2x Playfield): save it until you've got a big movie scene + (Ambush / Hypersleep / Save Newt) + Sentry Guns stack.
--- Flamethrower (Start Ball Saver): save it until the ball is draining and you've got no other weapon that can help you. The timer on this is short (2 seconds, I think) so you need to be sure the ball isn't taking its time rolling around the apron.

Makes me very happy seeing players in that third category.

My strategy with the add to always shoot ramps to build ammo for Sentry so when i start a mode, multiball, i can stack em up. Keep banging on APC targets in stacked Hyper/Sentry multi...

Yes it's tiny.

No change to flipper strength. It happened from day 1.

Will try some foam tape maybe and will inspect the wire form.

Followed this advice and set my drop target back to factory power and so far have not had any resets miss.. will be keeping an eye on it..

One thing to note I noticed before taking the plate off the plunger had a lot of play back an forth which could have created binding, when I reinstalled I pushed the plate toward the mech when I tighten the screw which seemed to help with the back an forth slop of the plunger

Ok I've taken a video of the issue with my playfield rail. I don't know why I can't get this thing to lock in, but I'm worried I'm going to break the damn back board trying to get it to lock.

If anyone can explain what I'm doing wrong I'd appreciate it. I feel like a dummy, but I've hurt my back trying to get it to go over the stoppers, or even rest on the stoppers

Im not sure if i am seeing this, but when you lift the playfield up, pull the whole playfield ALL the way forward which includes the ramp up. When the bottom rails with the notch hit the rail with the tab, then you begin to lift the playfield up to vertical ensuring the bottom rear rails with notches are up against rails with tabs as you finish lifting.. from what i see you are not fully forward yet.

The backboard of the playfield does not rest on anything.. the leverage and binding of the bottom rear rails on the tab rail on machine hold the playfield in place.

Teas

F31C8A7E-5285-4A3D-B291-13E2D82E08F3 (resized).jpeg

I'm giving up on Alien. If someone is looking for one that's dialed in hit me up. All the lock ups and random freezes means the machine is constantly off on location and just isn't suitable for commercial use until these issues get ironed out. It's sad because the game itself is so amazing when it works. I just gave it my all and now need to put something more reliable out.

Machine - For Sale

Alien (Standard) Archived

As is - “Looking to trade my Alien standard for Godzilla premium or sell for cash. Game is rock solid electrically and mechanically. Please review the alien owners thread to see all the i...”

2022-08-21

Akron, OH

Deez

7,800 (Firm)

Archived after: 5 days

Viewed: 1178 times

Status: Not sold: Decided to keep game

Makes sense, I wouldn't even try to put one on location. I love the game but agree with everything you said.

In the video I do pull it all the way forward until it hits the stoppers. It's near the end of the video. Problem is, when I begin to lift, the playfield slides back down the incline. I actually hurt my back trying like hell to keep the playfield at the top of the incline while I lifted it back towards the backbox.

Also, just so you know, support sent me a video, and the end of the playfield rail is supposed to sit on top of the tabbed stopper, not in the U bracket. Note, this is from their video, it's not my machine

Capture (resized).JPG

Do you have a link to their video?

I've uploaded it to youtube. As you can see, they do it differently and lift from the bottom and it seems to slide very easily up and down the incline. Not so much with my machine.

Wut? LOL. Had zero idea THAT was how they intended it...

My game has been down a month now. PB is responsive though. Have sent me two boards they figured would help but neither helped. Still get an I/O connection error when trying to start game. Not happy

Everything running fine. Install 2.8, now ball launches fail 2/3rds of the time (underpowered?), then work on the second try. Just the first thing I’ve noticed. Does not occur on saves or multiball. Anyone else see this?

I’m having that problem as well. Having to restart the constantly from freezes as well. How do I go back to 2.7?

Seems like a reasonable price for someone, that's for sure. If I needed one, I'd snap it up.

I recently saw mine lock up again, even with System Update 2.8.... so I would agree with fatdirk... it probably isn't going to fare well on location until PB can get that sorted out. I had my game on all day last week, so I was optimistic, but I think there is still some pesky bug that is causing attract mode to freeze. When it happens, my flipper buttons are responsive, but the coin door buttons, start game, and launch buttons are unresponsive. After a restart, everything works fine again. I reported this lockup... I'm not clear if taking a log after a power-up would even be helpful for troubleshooting this issue, but I guess I'll do that if it happens again.

One really good thing is I haven't seen it lockup during a game any time recently... So that is pretty nice.

I had my first in game reset today. Single player game, first ball, had save newt ready to start and ambush, hit the xeno target and the game shutdown and restarted itself. This was the first time it happened while playing. I didn’t have any of these problems on 2.7.

As for the lockup you described, that is almost guaranteed if I walk away from the game or chose not to play it very soon after turning it on. It’s the only game in my collection I simply can’t leave on currently.

Are the people having the lockups on 2.8 SV or LV or both? I'm SV and haven't had any yet - even leaving it in attract all day.

Watching right to the end of this video - you pull the playfield all the way up till it hits the stoppers, but then when you tilt it back you are not keeping it on the 'flat' part. When you tip the playfield up 90degrees make sure you are still pulling the base forward so it is on the 'flat' part, at the end the metal should be under the tabs. When the playfield it at 90 degree it shouldnt be on the inclined part at all

At the very start of your video, take that position and slide it 2 more inches forward, up 'on top' of the flat part.. so close!

If you watch PBs video though, it looks like they actually pull the pf rail up and over that tab. Have never done that.

Per my own conversation with support, just load 2.7 over 2.8. They said to go back you just load the previous version. I haven't tried it yet (my issues took me in another direction), but that's what I was told.

Yes... just installing a previous version works fine. I've done it hundreds of times in testing over the past year.

I joined the club today. Got to play about 10 games before my alien head motor smoked itself. Ball launcher power got really weak, not making the ramp. Then both right flippers went out. I tried rebooting and still got nothing from those coils.

I turned it off to hunt for fuses, didn’t find anything wrong. Lowered the pf, rebooted again, ball popped out of the trough, but still couldn’t make it up the ramp. I tested the flippers, which flipped a couple times. Then smoke started pouring out of the alien head. Wtf.

WTF is right. I'm anxious to hear a follow-up of what the solution was for this one! I've never heard of anything like this before. Maybe that smoke is a hidden easter-egg. Pretty cool mod!! haha Well, I'm thinking the solution will be simpler than it seems right now.

After my lockup in attract mode earlier today, my machine has sure been working perfectly. Played for a couple hours tonight with no issues whatsoever (including my drop targets). One thing I noticed is I was still on 0.57 firmware from a past troubleshooting and I downgraded back to 0.56 like the SV is supposed to be officially. I also set the presets to SV... the installed presets were "Home"... whatever that is. Not sure if that could make a difference when it comes to the attract mode lockup... but will continue to monitor.

I don’t know what firmware is installed but it was running Rev. 2.6 for the code. Already losing sleep over this. Jeez.