Special Force
Bally, 1986Quoted from mvec:Another question about coils...
The one I spoke about above is an A-26-1200 and it has 3 lugs.
When I look up A-26-1200 coils, they all have just 2 lugs.
So confused
Mine is an A-26-1200. It has three lugs but only two of the lugs are being used (connected to wires).
I still think the issue is with the hostage switches. The pic shows the path of the hostage (red).
The first hostage rolls over switches 41 and 24 and lands on saucer switch 23.
The system recognizes the first hostage and play continues as expected.
The second hostage takes the same path and rolls over switch 41 and lands on switch 24 (hostage 1 is still in the saucer).
I can't figure out what switches 41 and 24 do, but the system doesn't recognize the second hostage. All three switches were tested and work during continuity testing. My guess is that these switches are supposed to perform some logic on the MPU board, but I don't know where, or if they energize a driver transistor somewhere.
capture (resized).pngDoes the ball at switch 24 physically rest against the ball in saucer 23? If so, I wonder if it’s landing in a position where it doesn’t fully close switch 24?
I apologize if you've already tried this, but have you put a ball in 23 and at 24 and then gone into switch test mode? If so, do both switches register?
Quoted from Nokoro:Does the ball at switch 24 physically rest against the ball in saucer 23? If so, I wonder if it’s landing in a position where it doesn’t fully close switch 24?
I apologize if you've already tried this, but have you put a ball in 23 and at 24 and then gone into switch test mode? If so, do both switches register?
I haven't tried that. Yes it does rest on the first ball. I will tonight. Thanks.
It turned out to be switch 24. I tested it by pinching the switch contacts together and it registered a short as expected. However, when I tested it by rolling over the switch it didn't register. the switch contacts were very dirty. Once I cleaned the contacts, everything worked.
Thank you frunch and Nokoro for all your help.
Awesome! Glad you figured it out.
What about that fuse blowing every so often? Is that still happening?
Nice work!! This turned out to be a few things, not what I imagine you were expecting when you first posted. Glad you persevered and made it to the finish line! Happy to be of assistance, and also thanks to Nokoro for keeping the help coming along. Victory is ours!
Enjoy!!! 
Yes, it definitely was a project, It seemed like every time something got fixed, something else came up.
I couldn't have done it without you guys. I learned a lot. Now I have the pinball bug and want to find another fixer upper.
Ever since I fixed (with help) my Special Force, I have been playing it a lot and love it.
However, all of my playtime revealed one more problem.
It has to do with the capture of hostages.
During play, it will capture and release them as expected and if you turn it off with captured balls, they get spit out the next time it is turned on also as expected.
The problem occurs under the condition where hostages are captured and the game ends. When this happens, I can't start a new game unless I turn it off and back on.
Anyone experience this?
use switch test and see if you get the two lock switches registering. They are under all the plastic trees, kind of a pain because you can't see, but you can adjust switches from the bottom.
The AUX lock switch needs to work as well. It detects a ball entering the lock area. 3 balls can get jammed up and the game will not work until you reboot and they clear. The aux switch should have a capacitor on it, make sure it has not gone bad.
Special Force is pretty good. If two the ramps fed back to the flippers and the collect weapon ramp had a diverter for pops vs inlane it would probably play a lot better. 4.8m or so default settings my best score. Been playing it a lot lately "testing" boards.
Anyone else notice that when two balls are locked the flashers for the pop bumpers are delayed? It still pops the coil immediately. A few other switches like advance weapon ramp will have delays too. It happens across multiple boards, so if its not in the software, something going on with my wiring that is making the software stumble.
One I am sure is a software bug... The advance weapon light should be on anytime the single drop protecting the 180 ramp is down. If you knock the drop down with a rocket, the light does not turn on, but it still advances the weapon anyways. Skill shots and half road ramp shots will advance weapon too when the light is off.
Quoted from Nokoro:So, it doesn’t spit out the captured hostages at the end of the game? If not, check the settings for Game Over Hold Captive Ball. See the manual:
[quoted image]
That did it. I didn't know there was such an option.
Curious though why there is such an option. Do you know?
Quoted from mvec:That did it. I didn't know there was such an option.
Curious though why there is such an option. Do you know?
I’m not sure why you would want to hold them, but I think most pins have that option.
Glad you guys got to the bottom of it! I've been thinking this one over and I think I understand the reason it's an option.
It sounds like it may be a feature to attract players--someone familiar with the game may see the captured balls and recognize a multiball would be easier to achieve with those balls already locked. (Enticing coin drops)
Or maybe it's intended for a player who ended the game with a ball or 2 locked as an incentive to drop a couple more quarters--to get that multiball they spent the last game setting up.
It doesn't seem very intuitive, but they also have a feature in these games where you can disable the kickers (aka slingshots, the bumpers right above the flippers)... So it seems if anything, they were trying to make these games adjustable to a variety of skill levels and some of the adjustments wind up making the game appear broken when it isn't. 
Glad you're enjoying the game!
Quoted from frunch:Glad you guys got to the bottom of it! I've been thinking this one over and I think I understand the reason it's an option.
It sounds like it may be a feature to attract players--someone familiar with the game may see the captured balls and recognize a multiball would be easier to achieve with those balls already locked. (Enticing coin drops)
Or maybe it's intended for a player who ended the game with a ball or 2 locked as an incentive to drop a couple more quarters--to get that multiball they spent the last game setting up.
It doesn't seem very intuitive, but they also have a feature in these games where you can disable the kickers (aka slingshots, the bumpers right above the flippers)... So it seems if anything, they were trying to make these games adjustable to a variety of skill levels and some of the adjustments wind up making the game appear broken when it isn't.
Glad you're enjoying the game!
This game is brutally hard with short ball times. I wonder if they had it on test and decided they wanted an option to turn of slings to get the average ball time up into a target area. The outlane setup with a chance to save may be an after thought too for the same reasons.
I knew it was too good to last. I have been playing my Special Force for months now and yesterday it broke again.
Now whenever I turn it on, it goes back to factory defaults.
It seems that there is a problem with the memory chips that store the settings.
Does anyone know which chips they are and where they are located so I can replace them?
...or could it be the battery. I don't know if it's the battery that keeps the settings in memory.
Thanks
Check the battery. When I trouble shoot I always start with the simplest explanation. A lot of your thread supports that. A loose wire, a bad spring, a dirty switch, a setting on board, a battery died.
Quoted from slochar:u4 6116 ram[quoted image]
Thanks
It's powered by the game's +5v when the game is on. It won't retain settings without the battery or memory capacitor. When you replace with what most people refer to as NVram, those use various means to keep their memory internal to the chip, so the external power is not required.
If you just replace the 6116 with a 6116, you need the battery/memory cap for backup.
Quoted from slochar:It's powered by the game's +5v when the game is on. It won't retain settings without the battery or memory capacitor. When you replace with what most people refer to as NVram, those use various means to keep their memory internal to the chip, so the external power is not required.
If you just replace the 6116 with a 6116, you need the battery/memory cap for backup.
Great explanation, thanks.
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