Us guys in the uk that ordered lvs should be getting ours Tuesday to. Excellent timed deliveries from pinball brothers at opposite ends of the world it seems!

Will post pics of mine when arrives, setup etc to join the party

The wait is over

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Question, is the shaker on at power up getting fixed soon? Kind of a bad power on effect!!

Also, it seems lv games ship with a load of cables for target lamps unplugged? Because they are not yet coded in. Strange decision, why not just leave them plugged in ready for awakening in code later. I want to plug them in but now I’m wondering if there’s a reason they aren’t?? Are other lv games like this to??

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Anybody know what the actual electronics receiver part is for the little Opto board in use on these games? I've got a few issues with my game out of the box, can't really play it currently because the right ramp /reverse ramp opto is non working.

I took it apart to have a look and found this.... No receiver opto on the board!!! and doesn't look like it was ever soldered on there

I should say pb support is very good and they are super quick to reply and help and get parts ready to ship out to you, but that doesn't help me play my new game this weekend!!

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Any tips making flippers feel stronger , other then settings coils adjustments. Set mine at +40% but not sure if the settings do anything?? Seems the same as +10%

Also should lv owners still change the flipper switches to stern ones? Does this help with strength? Especially orbit shots /tip of flipper shots feel weakest.

It’s also like nothing seems easy to shoot. Can’t put my finger on it, the hyper sleep lock shot is super hard!! Only ever made 1 lock in a game so far. Cool mech though

Checked my flippers and they were all pretty tight to the bushing with no play so adjusted with a std gap. Also seemed to take a couple of hard reboots to get the coil strength changes (+40%) to work. Flippers feel pretty good now. Also the flipper switches on my lv are already the double leaf stern ones.

Can make the outer orbits ok now and that’s key i’ve found to feeding to the upper right flipper. Can now lock balls to the hyper sleep ramp ok. The mb mode is great !

Pitch is 6.5 degs

High score so far (factory settings, other than 12sec ball save):

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A few things i think need tweaking software wise are:

1) quicker autolaunch on ball saves/multiball launches
2) movable upper lanes lamps
3) speed up/cancel option on animations for mode start/mystery awards
4) improve catch logic of right flipper magnet, seems abit random
5) upper right life cycle lamp doesnt always light from lane shot

Thanks for the reply and info, appreciated . I understand what you are saying re the lanes, but i still miss lane change ha ha. I will look at the settings re the Chestburster Lane Difficulty, useful to know.

Hey tommy,

This is a standard drive image cloning tool for linux called Clonezilla, nothing specific to pinball os. What i would try is a new SSD if you want you game up and running again quickly. Just plug in a fresh one and give that a go. Unlikely the ram for the motherboard is faulty, as you wouldn't get anything if that was the case.

Possibly the SSD drive has failed or some sectors can't be erased/permissions issues etc which might explain the original fault to. Any SSD of same size or larger should work

Great news, so the idea to just use a new ssd drive sorted it ok?

I’m all sorted now and fully up and running. New opto set arrived and installed . Right ramp now working fine

Loving the game, really great modes and atmosphere. Sound, graphics, art all top notch

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Some adjustment/hardware discussion regarding eddy switches...

I am seeing repeated missed shots on certain places during game play. I will try to explain in more detail below.

1) Upper right lane (chest buster lifecycle shot)

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The shot works ok if the ball moves on the red line, but on the yellow line it is missed. Also if the shot is very fast on the red line it is missed. Purple circle indicates sensor position on pcb/playfield. (Chestbuster lifecycle is set on easy - 1 switch)

2) upper left inner loop (Super jackpot shot)

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A fast shot on the red line misses the shot. A shot on the yellow line does not award the inner loop shot. (Is this correct?) Seems a bit harsh.

I have tried to adjust the board for the upper right lane switch/eddy sensor but there is no adjustment on the pcbs. There are just screw holes with no tolerence. Also to me it seems like the sensor is in the wrong place really, it should be lower on the lane nearer the magnet/flipper end.

I am wondering if they need to make a firmware update to allow better detection on fast shots?? I think i also saw it on a fast drain down the left outlane. Any other owners see these switch problems?

Software Bugs (newly found)
- 2 balls drained together down the left outlane during sentry guns and the ball saver was on. Only 1 ball was returned and the mode was ended.

Because you’d expect a lane switch to work in either direction so that the chestburster lifecycle shot when set to easy /1 switch it can be achieved either way.

A shot upwards on the far lhs misses also so the eddy switch is too far over to the right and too high in my view

And v fast shots miss any position so there’s some timing issue for switch reads, needs to be quicker

Nah, you can still miss the shot shooting it upwards as i said if the ball is too far to the lhs or the ball is to fast…

You need all the help you can get with that chest buster shot to as upward shots are almost impossible to aim for

Outer loops do feed to the pops with the up posts whrn loops are not being used in a mode but yes it’s random if it feeds the lane afaict. I’d love to know how people reliably achieve the chest burster life cycle shot

Also, Good to know the super jackpot loop shot missed isn't just me When you nail it and it doesnt count, its a real bummer !! ha ha

Ok explain this. The sensor is also used to sense the ball rolling down the lane for a right magnet helper grab to assist a hyper sleep lock shot, except it doesn’t always grab it because again if it rolls on the lhs of the lane it isn’t detected. How can that be correct? The sensor needs moving to be in the center of the lane and alittle lower down or they should have used an opto for the lane switch

I’ve had a couple of freezes and lock ups to on v2.6 where it rebooted. I guess they will squash these bugs as more updates come out. If there’s a way to send logs I’d be happy to do it to. Not looked into that yet.

So, my list of tweaks/bugs & notes so far software wise after playing for a few weeks now:

2 lock up crashes - anyway to provide logs ??

Bugs/ Software feature tweaks

- 2 balls drained together in sentry guns down left left outlane when ball save was on. only gave 1 ball back and ended mode
- Ball drained left left outlane on sentry guns lite was lit for save didn’t save and ended mode
- Inner left orbit shot misses shots if very fast shot especially on super jackpot but also on 3rd arrow shot for modes - maybe firmware update needed or software bug?
- Chest burster shot doesn’t always award lifecycle even on easy seems abit random and direction of ball upwards doesn’t always award it .
- Upper right magnet doesn’t always catch ball for hyper sleep lock helper
- Centre magnet catch for alien is hit and miss (already mentioned alot by the other owners and fixes already in works)
- No flipper press to speed up /cancel animations
- No lane change (mentioned that was designed intentionally this way, maybe add adjustment option or expand lane change rules??)
- ‘Not bad for a human animation ‘ on low scores? Thought would be only used on Grand Champ and HS entry scores
- Improve the info shown on the mini display. Seems to just be showing closed airlock doors for quite long periods on the game. (unless i am just not looking at it when i should be!) Was expecting more info on what things are needed to complete features etc and more info during modes etc

Other things/Ideas

- Jurassic Park Nedry ‘ah ah ah’ quote on tilt warning is cool and a nice easter Egg
- Adding a bonus/extra feature/speech quote for left ramp, right ramp and then airlock scoop in a row (to start mode) would be nice. Extra award etc

I just got told on my support ticket that the magnet grab for the upper right flipper and the chest burster lane is only supposed to work 50% of the time?? WTF... How can that be right. I just don't agree. How are you supposed to know when its going to grab the ball and when its not. There is no light or screen alert or anything asfaik.

I still think the board on my game was screwed in the wrong place meaning there is too much of a gap on the lhs and the ball can sneak past the inductor and not register. I posted about this before but am here again as its doing my nut in!! This is bit of a road block for getting save newt currently and also when locking balls for hyper sleep lock.

I'm gonna end up having to take the board off, fill the holes in the underside playfield and reposition the board at this rate, as there is zero adjustment on these boards just screw holes no slots for anything

For anyone interested here is what happens. Yellow arrow is where the ball misses the switch, red arrow is where it works ok. purple circle is the switch position currently where the board was screwed in

10K and i'm having to reposition boards..

chest burster lane switch issues (resized).jpeg

The magnet in the flipper lane is a helper item. that's why its there and was added, ie to help you get a shot up the hyper sleep ramp. It makes zero sense not to have it work each time the ball comes down the lane, or a way to enable the feature and a lamp to signify this.

Its already on easy and i tested the switch in test mode before i ever wrote my first message. There is no way the ball is supposed to be able to move down the lane and miss the switch registering...

And yes there is plenty of opportunity for them to screw the board in the wrong place underneath..

Thanks for the reply. What you mention makes total sense and is logical. I believe i need to move my board slightly to get the switch in a better position where it will not miss the ball in any situation. Its just a shame the boards don't have any adjustment built in. They are just screwed in place which means human error can align them alittle bit off.

There certainly is some misunderstanding going on here. I wish i hadn't bothered saying anything and just stuck to the support tickets tbh.. I've no idea why someone seems to be thinking i'm gonna get a large drill out ?? Whatever

All i've said is that the pcb board with the induction switch soldered to it, isn't in the correct place, as far as i can tell and there isn't any adjustment on the pcb ie slots instead of screw holes to allow minor repositioning , so to realign the SWITCH to the correct place and stop missed ball events, the screw holes for the pcb would need to be filled first. I thought maybe others may have seen this type of thing with pcbs , or this would be useful for others to know about.

Maybe this will help explain it, but this is my last post to try and explain it... See how the holes for the t-nut are not centered and too far to the right, meaning the switch is then too far to the right and the ball can sneak past on the lhs of the lane and not be registered. Human error when installing it..

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Ok, so i have now successfully resolved my chest burster lane random detection.

For me it was important to make sure that with the factory default settings of chest burster lane easy, the lane will detect every time it is supposed in either direction of ball travel within the rules framework stated here by ferret

"Make sure "Chestburster Lane Difficulty" is set to Easy. (Hard requires both the proximity sensor and the standup at the end of the lane, which can be, well, hard. Easy requires only the prox sensor.)"

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I know some believe that when the ball moves downwards in the lane it should be random as to when the lane detects, or it should not do so, but i believe this makes the game too hard and almost impossible to move through the save newt mode on purpose (ie actively shooting this) as the progress is often halted at this shot. Also it makes game play confusing for the magnet detection rules, as most shot attempts for a hyper sleep lock come from a downward ball travel. I believe that the positioning of the proximity switch was placed in the wrong place and too far to the right. Realigning the pcb board with the proximity sensor on does help, but does not cure the issue completely. (There is a small amount of adjustment (around 5mm) that you can move the board left and right ,up and down, within the confines of the playfield cutouts etc.)

So my solution was to make an extra lane guide to neatly fit and extend the current lane guide near the bottom/lower jet. There is no distruption of the bottom jet action or upwards shots in the lane. The extra guide serves to just move the ball over to the rhs of the lane as it moves downwards and trigger the proximity sensor properly. I have been trying out a few proto pieces (3d printed in white for testing only) and the difference is pretty amazing. The rules in place now make total sense and attempting hyper sleep locks is much more controllable. Also save newt progress is greatly improved.

I will print the final piece in clear and attach it to the existing lane guide vertical side edge with alittle double side tape. The next part of this project will be to make a full guide replacement for both pieces in one, where you can just swap the guide out if you want to.

I am happy to share this 3d model with anyone with a 3d printer who fancies trying it out and seeing if it improves your game. I don't want to start another 'discussion' on lane rules, but if you want to try it out and see for yourself, then drop me a pm.

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I am happy to print and ship them to anyone, but i am in the uk so the shipping is usually around £15 min tracked for small items. I was thinking of mainly offering printed parts once i have a full replacement guide that you can swap over.

Yeah wait for the full one is probably best i would think where shipping is involved. I will also be able to tweak it alittle more to. Not to go off tangent, but yes it was good to help cleland out with that. and yes, that is me. I use the name myPinballs Electronics mostly these days and work on all sorts of pinball and arcade hardware & software projects. Been doing it full time for just over 10 years, but collecting for 30 plus.

Full replacement guide ready to test. Literally 2 screws to remove to replace. (And remove the pop cap and plastic)

Had a few more games earlier with the prototype extenders. Got Hyper Sleep MB and Sentry Guns together for the first time. Was great And can make it to Save Newt in a more timely manner now to, no more road blocks or frustration getting stuck unable to complete it. Soo much better

Interestingly enough i've never had an issue with the vent shot on the far rhs. Can make it fine with the upper left flipper or a rebound of the upper right flipper bat back side.

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Welcome fellow lv owner . These are the 2 main things i really want sorting out for the next update. They mentioned they would be sorted in the last update but no cigar. The RGB standup lamps will really add to the atmosphere and modes i think so looking forward to that one. Theres alot you can do with the system.

I was told by pinball brothers not to plug the lamp connectors in yet and to leave them unplugged . Seems strange as i thought it wouldn't harm since i guess they are still uncoded, but i did as i was told and let them along (for now)

The fact the firmware board powers on with the shaker output enabled is really annoying. And i wish they would sort that asap. Doesnt feel good when you switch it on.

I also hope they improve the shaker integration and also the beacon lamp use.

Yes, pm me if you want one/more details . I can ship them worldwide no worries

Yes it also helps with all shots from the upper right flipper i have found. I'll get some more pics of it installed, but you can read about why i created it here to:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/pinball-brothers-alien-remake-owners-club/page/181#post-7063319
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/pinball-brothers-alien-remake-owners-club/page/182#post-7067172

It makes the magnet operate more reliably for stopping the ball as the sensor isn’t missed any more, therefore making shots from the upper flipper easier to aim. Like the hyper sleep ramp, inner loop, scoop etc

For those interested, some more pics of the full guide replacement installed.

I added a link on my site to order one, if you want to try it out. https://mypinballs.com, at the bottom of the page.

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Thanks Glad that it is improving your enjoyment of the game. I am happy to refine as i get more feedback.

As mentioned by Waxx the pops all work fine. there's certainly no 'nerfing' as the guide was designed to make sure they all work the same as before

--superceded by post #9790

I think you are both missing the point somewhat... If you can reliably shoot the chestburster lane upwards from the lower flippers, or upper left then you won't need this mod i would think as the sensor would be activated anyway, but for most people (myself included) most access to the chestburster lane, pops and the shots from the upper right flipper (hyper sleep lock, vent loop, airlock) come from the ball entering from a loop shot then upper lanes and pops downwards, or a rebound in to the pops from the lhs and then down the lane. Please educate me if you can shoot the chestburster lane upwards 'all day long', i would love to see a video of that...

Therefore what i was suggesting earlier was the pop bumper activity (from my experience) has not been effected at all.

I guess the fundamental thing here is that we don't agree on the chestburster lane issues, which is fine. We can have differing opinions and still enjoy the same games. But i do find it odd that you comment on things you haven't actually tried out, or experienced . It would be better just to have a more open mind in my view.

Sharing some info on the new playfield flasher mod that i am making. Will be available to other interested owners. (Will start a new thread for the progress on this, like my other projects, but wanted to share here to for info).

Made a prototype setup of it today using the parts i had available whilst i wait for the first prototype pcbs to arrive. The flasher board is a modified and expanded design based the stern super bright double flasher board replacements that i have been making for a number of years. they use camera leds in them which give a really great flash.

The premise is 2 regular dome flashers (or maybe smaller curved top ones) mounted on a pcb that mounts on top of the airlock scoop display unit. They run in tandom from the lv output for the beacons flashers, so you can get some flasher action tied to the game modes etc on the playfield. This is step 1. I may expand and see if i can get some other hooks in there to, such as when the ball ejects from the airlock etc, but concentrating for now on getting this solid, robust and factory looking. (I will also see what i can do for standard owners if the beacon enable line is not used there.)

Made a loom that splices into the existing wiring so no permanent changes. Runs off the enable for the beacons and has its own control of flash speed. The enable line is a solid enable. Ie they don't currently pulses the beacons, just turn them on and off. The flashers then flash for the length of time the beacons are on. Just played a few games and its really cool in sentry guns etc. Hopefully they will add more beacon code which this mod can take advantage of.

A quick pic of my prototype testing. Please note this is just quick and dirty testing, not anything final yet. It was just a protoyping day!

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And a video of them in action during attract mode

https://www.instagram.com/p/CidEJcNoYLc/

and a manual test in the service mode

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cicsbfro7_P/

A pic of the first prototype pcb

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Hope you all like the idea and progress

Following up on my interactive flasher mod for the airlock area that i have been working on.

See original post here from a few months back: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/pinball-brothers-alien-remake-owners-club/page/199#post-7135439

I got my proto boards in and am assembling one today to see how it looks. Board fits to top of airlock assembly. Will be hopefully Workington this mod more in the new year if i get some time. Been busy this last few months on other projects.

My plan is still to get the flashers to interact with different events in the game like eject from airlock etc aswell as with the lv beacons (which is what they trigger from currently. If standards can use this trigger to then cool). Also they could be driven independently/alternating to for some other effects. Currently though they both drive together like the topper beacons.

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Assembled board for testing

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If there are other features/lamps/events that you think it would be cool for this to interact with let me know and i will see what's possible in 2023.

After upgrading to firmware 0.71 and software 3.1 everything was good for 1 game. Left in attract for awhile and then half the playfield boards (lower half) stopped working…

No amount of downgrading or reseating connectors made any difference until I unplugged all cables from the black box under the playfield. (Support said a factory reset could also fix this but I haven’t tried that)

Game plays much better now inc flippers and xeno but I really don’t need the stress of half the playfield boards stopping working after an upgrade!! Jesus Christ!

And the shaker still comes on at boot stupid!!!

Shaker still comes on at boot on 0.71/3.1 aswell. Wish they’d sort this out once and for all . It’s well annoying..

On mine, still comes on but not as long. Not sure whether that’s the same on other lv games or not. Seems some people get different results after updates as I haven’t had any xeno issues so far

Anyone with an LV game able to confirm if their 5th target led lights up now with the v3.1 software and also if you have a cable plugged in to this cross board plug. Mine is still dark, the other 4 work ok.

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My actual 5th target cable from the target itself is plugged in

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Thank you for posting this. God knows why they didn’t include these with the lv games , but it seems they are shipping them out to distributors separately. Bizarre! Im gonna make one to fill the gap whilst I wait.

I ordered some 4 pin and 5 pin to bare end ones and gonna splice them together whilst I wait for my official one to be sent

See here:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0811GVDBH/ref=pe_27063361_487055811_TE_dp_1

It’s total madness that they forgot to include these in the first place!! My lv was not a cheap purchase!!

Yes I think so, I haven’t got mine yet but I can report back when I’ve tried it no worries

To follow up on this, my amazon parts worked a treat and now i have a working 5th target rgb lamp. One thing i noticed straight away though is the 5th lamp doesn't flash with the others at the skill shot ball start. Man, i wish they would check stuff. Works ok when you hit it, ie it lights up red.

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Thanks for the reply. I thought it just looked bit strange when the other 4 are lit and it could still be achievable from ball pass and left flipper shot, but as you say much harder . I thought maybe the skill shot for weapon could be light a weapon corresponding to the target hit, ie 5th target would be ball save etc as the further to the rhs the harder the shot and that corresponds to the weapons order to. instead of Any Weapon Target: Awards the next Weapon.

Side note, Enoying the weapons game rules much more since the latest update and the target leds. Happy New year to all involved to

Noticed a small bug with the 5th target lamps. If they are hit and lit during a ball, they do not clear at the start of the next ball and stay lit until the skill shot mode is finished/cleared ie when all weapon lamps are cleared. If the target is not used in the skill shot then it should be turned off when the others start to flash at ball start.

You may want to see my posts here

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/pinball-brothers-alien-remake-owners-club/page/181#post-7063319
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/pinball-brothers-alien-remake-owners-club/page/196#post-7118726

I made an alternative lane guide to help with chest burster lane detection aswell as helping with the hyper sleep lock shot. I have had it on my game for awhile now and it makes a massive difference. Quite a few people a using them now to and have given me good feedback.

Some pics of my new all in one flasher board installed. Works from the LV beacon triggers, but could run from any ground signal. Also planning on making it more interactive from target hits and spinner hits with individual left and right flash action. I am moving house soon so alien is now packed away but i will get back to this once i'm settled in my new location.

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quick video like before

https://www.instagram.com/p/CtzUZUkoCkG/

I don’t think SV’s have the lv beacon trigger enabled so you can choose some other switch to ground instead. The target activations will work the same though

Even better then, makes the wiring loom std fur all

Honest report and very polite. I'm not sure i would have been that forgiving. Things like this really do need sorting out. Why on earth PB didn't do some decent location testing first to check all their mechanics is really stupid. And does a slim downed cheap flipper plate really save you that much money, come on... Bullet proof flippers are the no1 thing guys to get right for location, everyone knows this..