Where does one get v1.8?

http://pinball-tournament.servegame.com/indexe.html

Based on the address that Rob request I forward the card to, I think it's coming to you next.
Should be going in the mail today.
Hope it works as well for you!

AWESOME - Thanks RCA!

Just picked up a RFM. Wow, what a great game. Going to hang onto it for a while and try to mod the hell out of it. Saw some spinning space ships that look really cool. This is one hell of an under rated game. Let's keep this topic alive!

the motorized spaceship mod was really cool looking, but I couldn't see myself investing $250 for something that wouldn't be easily repairable, so I opted for bill ung's lighting kit instead (which was $100 cheaper)

http://www.ufopinball.com/RFM-LED/features.htm

For anyone who hasn't yet installed the Ultimarc video amplifier and does not want to hack up their existing video cable, I found that getting the "VGA Breakout Cable" (http://www.ultimarc.com/store/section.php?xSec=11) simplifies the operation by providing a compatible Wells Gardner connector - just clip off the VGA end of the breakout cable, strip the wires, and connect to the video amplifier screw-down terminals.

For those who are lazy, like me, this reduced the whole operation down to 20 minutes whereas constructing a new monitor connector might have taken me more than 30 minutes alone.

None of this helps Ducksan owners, though.

^^^^ Very nice observation!! The "more info" tab for that cable goes to some other product, or I would totally have bought that. I made my own per some YT video tutorials - no way was I going to hack the original cable. But for what you suggested, definitely worth ordering along with the video amp!

For anyone looking for a translite, I found that pbresource.com and user name "wellarmed" on Pinside have translites. I purchased mine from "wellarmed" and it looks great - big thanks!

Anyone have a external sub hooked up? I was thinking it should sound pretty good but wanted to hear some feedback before purchasing one.

I installed a 6.5" car woofer and I am not wanting for any more bass. I am sure that an external sub would be even better, but I am more than happy with the result from an outlay of $15.

As booming as the stock system is, I don't think I'll get a bigger sub. I am 100% pleased with the stock system.

I replaced all three speakers as follows: http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/pinball-2000-speaker-upgrade

As one of the very few stereo sound pinball machines, I felt obligated to upgrade the speakers. For $35, the improvement was significant.

I finally changed mine over to LEDs this past weekend. I thought I liked the incandescent look, but I think it looks great now and blends in better with all the other LED machines. A few of the wedge bulbs on the boards were giving me issues not wanting to work with any LED bulbs, so I think there's about 20 incandescent lights just for that reason, mostly in the saucer lights, but they blend well enough.

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OK, OK...you're all convincing me to actually start work on mine....!

Different strokes for different folks. I normally install LEDs in all my machines. But the light fading effects on RFM are so awesome with the most recent software that I actually ripped out the LEDs and reinstalled incandescent bulbs.

Huh. Just finished LEDing the inserts on mine last night. All worked correctly with cheap LEDs from Pinball Life. Some sockets seem to be "polarized" and I had to reverse the LED to get it to light, but no issues other than that.

The entire row of saucer lights, the green 3 beams above the modes, and a couple others close to those wouldn't work with my cheap Pinball Life ones (which I had trouble with in my NGG backbox so I tried rotating them to no avail,) some Comet 2 LED and 1 SMD, and even a Cointaker I took out of my Spider-Man. I was working with it on/running and the playfield up after so many failed attempts, and finally gave up before I sprained a wrist trying not to get electrocuted.

Are you sure the wire ends of the LEDs are making contact with the metal terminals of the bulb holders? If the wire ends are "bunched in" and not spread out, they will not make contact with the metal in the bulb connectors and the LEDs will not light up. Some are indeed polarized, but for none of them to work leads me to believe something else is going on.

I've LED'd mine and here's the LED's that I would STRONGLY suggest:

LED the Martians Flashers in GREEN - This is freakin Awesome. For my game the left and right Martians have different socket - One is 906 and the other is 89, so be sure to verify your game, as many games will have different sockets.

LED the spotlights - I used purples and the Mars planet and the Martian on the PF have this "fake UV illumination" I love the use of this purple. The left spotlight is pointed at the Right Martian, the right is pointed at the Left Martian. The upper spotlight is pointed toward the ramp.

This is definately, one of the last games that I have had reservation of LED'ing. I am pretty happy with it, other than some bad flickering in some spots..... I would do it again, but can understand this being a more "purist" incandescent game with the P2K.

Everything was touching and working fine from what I could tell. I could take the same bulb in the same wedge holder thingy and move it to a different board/location, and it would work fine. I will probably go back and work on it again to see what's up, but right now I have a broken JP and a brand new LAH to poke on.

Boogies, I will have to try your purple ideas. I have actual UV bulbs that are both high-powered and flex, so those might look awesome. I did put purple under the SOL insert and 2 outlane 'name credits' inserts just to give it a little something different, and really like the way it blends the blue and red playfield colors in that area. I also want to change out the rubbers to colored and see what that does.

I'll try to do a vid s o on, so peeps have an idea of what it looks like before buying

Speaking of lighting, here's another quick and easy mod: replace the existing fluorescent bulb behind the translite with a warm-white bulb from your local hardware store (I purchased a Philips). You need a "T8" 18-inch tube.

The translite has lots of red and a warm white bulb makes the reds deeper in tone. You could also get a warming tube (http://www.pinballpal.com/warming/), but I think a warm white bulb gets 50% of the benefit with less hassle.

Hey RFM fans, if I can only get one mod right now which is better? The led martians (red eyes) or the led saucers?

Of course it's up to you. But if I were to do one or the other, I'd go for the martian eyes. I think those add more.
(Disclaimer: I do not have either)

I have the saucers, and they are pretty awesome (light patterns - NOT the ones where the saucers actually spin).

No experience with the martian eyes so cannot comment.

Sure looks nice though.

Well i'm in (sort of), machine is on the way and can't wait to get hold of it, will post some pics when the mother ship arrives

Just put them both on a credit card and save the shipping costs!

Mines getting shopped out by my tech right now, too. Starting to get excited about getting it when I read threads like this. Mine will also have the SWep1 playfield so I can swap out from time to time.

Nice tip, thanks.

The Mother ship "landed" today and for the money i paid i'm really stoked ($2900 Aus dollars). The machine is in quite good condition, not the best i've seen but surely not the worst. Cabinet is in good shape, no broken plastics/ramps, decals still good, translite perfect and the playfield is excellent apart from a little wear around the stroke of luck hole. After playing it all afternoon i have noticed that sometimes it has a quick glitch in the volume (very brief, bit like static, but louder than the regular volume) but apart from that it's all good. First order of business is to update the software as it's still running version 1.1 and then some Leds all round. Not quite taken with the yellow T- moulding so might change that too. I did come across a mod site once that were selling Led saucers with a multiple choice of patterns for the green Led's but cant seem to find it again!!. Anyone got any ideas for mod's, etc??

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That might just be the "knocker" sound that replaces the real knocker. Does it happen at extra ball award? It's really obnoxious and I hate it.
Congrats on the new game!

Yes it could be, can it be turned off??

Thanks for that tip Nosro.

Would something like this be a good option if it could be found in an 18" length?
DO NOT BUY THIS! This bulb is 4' long. Just thought it was really cool to take more heat off the machine and the translite. Any thoughts on this?

http://www.amazon.com/BestLed-Warranty-Equivalent-Fluorescent-Replacement/dp/B00K2IWDIC/ref=sr_1_7

This could be a good inexpensive alternative to dull the light coming your current fluorescent.
http://www.amazon.com/DC-Fix-3460276-Self-Adhesive-Window/dp/B007B9PQ5W/ref=sr_1_10

Or you could try tinting film. Just wrap it right around the light bulb.

@Pinfidel - I installed an LED tub in my RFm and it looks great, however now I can see all the light holes I have. I have to see what I can do about those.

The picture posted shows the tube in the back ground. I have NUCORE with an LCD monitor. The connector in my hand powers the unit.

Be aware that the original mounting brackets for the T8 buld will force the LED TUBE to shine straight up instead of out towards the translite. I purchased new ones from Lowes and "zip tied" them on. Eventually I will secure them with #6 screws.

I like the TUBE as the light will not degrade the translite.

I have the purchase information if you want me to post it.
LEDTUBE-56.jpg

@ Mancave - I agree, you should replace that yellow T-Molding with something else. You can get most primary colors at http://www.t-molding.com/store/home.php?cat=7 for .50 a foot.

You can add green superbands, post sleeves, cabinet leg protectors.
You can replace the speakers with some car audio.
You can install an LED kit from Marco (http://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/LAMP-LEDKIT?S_CAT2=MIDWAY)
You can install a saucer mod from Marco (http://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/LED-RFM)
You can install an LED T-8 tube
You can install a cliffy
You can install LEDS for Martian eyes
You can install a video amplifier (http://www.ultimarc.com/vidamp.html)
You can install plastic protectors (http://www.pinbits.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=13_53)
You can add a topper.

There is also a rotating saucer mod, but that might be over the top.

Plenty of ideas to work with...

I REALLY like the idea of the LED tube. It would be great if you could post a link for everyone who may be interested in buying one to see.

How's about my idea of wrapping the tube with the "Pearl Self Adhesive Window Film" in my previous post with the Amazon link? That will not only filter the light, but with the different facets so to speak in the film, it may also redirect it in multiple places and disperse the light that shines through even better.

Any thoughts?

I'll be back on in a couple hours. Gotta run some errands. Looking forward to reading responses. Thanks all!

http://www.ufopinball.com (same as the link from marco's that arpman listed above)

I picked up a set of LED'ed eye martians, but I'm not happy about the way that the guy did the wiring. I've got a couple of extras to fool around and am going to see if I can't run everything internally. I hate the fact that most of these guys performed a rear side lobotomy, removing a huge chunk out of the head and then either ran the wires straight out of the back of the heads or pigtailed the exposed wires before running them through the bodies.

I just realized I was running 1.1 roms all these years. Updated mine yesterday with windows XP. Worked like a charm. Used a $5 null cable I got from amazon. Lowered the Baud rating on the update software and worked without a hitch.

Anyone have a set of head decals for this game for sale? Just need the head ones, they did a crappy job from the factory on applying them.

You might have trouble applying the adhesive to the tube. Those lights might break, so you might want to look at: http://www.buylightfixtures.com/light-plastic.aspx

There are several colors. I dont know if they protect the translite, but you can at least change the color.

Another Saucer mod: http://www.pinballbrasil.org/component/option,com_remository/Itemid,34/func,fileinfo/id,2081/

You see the video here:

This mod simply mirrors the the signals of the center saucer and can be a cheap DIY project.

Thanks arpman for your tips and the links. I understand what amplifying something means but i'm just curious as to what benefits the video amplifier has?

@Mancave - I dont have a video amplifier as I have NUCORE and an LCD, but a video amplifier will sharpen the picture on the original CRT. You can watch this video on you tube.

OK, being new to this machine i'm not familar with it's quirks as yet. If i leave my RFM turned on for a length of time the monitor seems to turn itself off (goes dark, even if i start a game). The game still plays as per normal though and if i turn the machine off and back on, the monitor comes back on as per normal. Is this some kind of power saving feature?? or is my monitor or something else going dodgy??. Any help would be greatly appreciated, even to the point of some Home Brew Honey Bourbon Hand Out's

Well, I bought the tube. It should be here in a few days thanks to Amazon Prime.

Now, because I am an ANAL SOB, (LOL) I took a nice RFM, and decided to make it perfect. I have stripped the entire cabinet down, I bondo'd all imperfections, sanded it baby bottom smooth and painted the whole thing inside and out with 2 coats of paint. I'm now waiting for the decals to be made and shipped to me. After I install them, the game cabinet will look mint. I also took all the hardware and painted it with a black metallic fleck paint to give it a cool, spacey, Mars look, feel and effect. They really came out nice and I'll try to get some pics up soon.

Right, scratch part of my question on the previous post, there is Definitely something wrong with the monitor or associated parts. I dont know enough about this machine to track it down though. It does this :- after turning the game on and the initial boot all seems fine, sometimes there is a clicking noise and this manifests on the screen as what i can only describe as "Ripples", after a short while (and the time varies), the screen goes dark. Nothing is affected with the game play so it's all about the monitor. It's almost like a dodgy starter in a fluoro!! Anyone had this problem before??

That's my mates old game, it is a very tidy example, had a bit of wear around the pop bumpers from memory.

The first thing to do when experience monitor problems is usually a full chassis cap kit. That solves like 75% of all monitor problems. After that, I'd replace the flyback.

Good luck.