It has to be a pitch and leveling issue, this never happens to me; do you you the PinGuy app for leveling?

You can adjust the power of the ball launch in the setup. Find a setting that stops the bank off the targets then directly to the left outlane. I did it on mine and no more drains.

I was playing earlier and got hyperspace multiball. One ball, two, then three! That is a new record for me! Would four be possible? Yes, hit hyperspace ramp with the forth ball, bu no sooner did I hit the ramp and all 4 dropped out of the trap door. The hyperspace video coninued to play for a while. Is that correct or something wrong? I hit all 4 balls in quick succession.

Happens. This is a complex mech...no matter what pinside says. Pinball is full of variation. If someone doesn’t like that, they can use virtual pin. I like the real stuff. Sometimes you win, sometimes you don’t. What I love about pinball is the skill, but the randomness...you might just get f#!ked.

Not a bug. You only have so much time to lock balls in the loop. You can extend that time by hitting left orbit or right ramp. Once time (hurry up) is over, then balls dispense to the playfield and you are in hyperspace multi ball where you can collect jackpots. Think of it this way, phase one is lock balls to establish the number of balls in play, phase two is the multi ball proper. Once I had Endor multiball running with Tie fighter multiball and hit the hyperspace hurry up that destroyed the death star and initiated hyperspace multi ball and victory multi ball at the same time. Because I was hitting ramps and loops during victory/Tie multi ball, the hyperloop ball just stayed in the loop the whole time...it was epic. Man I want to have that moment happen again.

Is there a way to adjust the fork hight? I have read comments on challenges hitting the hyperloop ramp and some comments on backhanding it. On mine there just isnt enough power to get it up the ramp when backhanding. Pretty much need a clean straight on shot from the right flip. I noticed the ramp trajectory seems to be pretty high and I am thinking it could be lessened and might have a better chance of getting it all the way up the ramp and still clear the landing. I already raised the game angle (less ramping), and that really did not help too much.

The adjustment is not in the fork height, but in the receiving ramp that the fork leads into. The height is adjustable. If the flippers are losing power over time and you were able to backhand the shot before, then maybe it's the flipper strength.

Has anybody come up with a outhole protector? I notice that the edge of the playfield where the ball returns to the trough is wearing heavily and needs something like a Cliffy protector but can't find anything out there.

Not sure where you mean. The shooter lane after the lockout, or under the apron at the entrance of the trough (as the ball drains). If it’s the shooter lane, try a nudie (I had trouble with the first one, but he modified it and it works great). If under the apron, I haven’t had a problem with mine.

It's the drain. Where the ball goes through the playfield to the trough. I emailed Cliff and he is fabbing up a prototype for me. Meanwhile, I made a very rough temporary one.

IMG_20180615_084531 (resized).jpg

Didn't Stern modify the outhole the last few games to address this issue? It has an extra ridge.

I don't know about any of that, just that the front of the slot was getting hammered and the clear coat was chipped away on the bevel and a crack that was on it's way to becoming a large chip was forming. The balls bounce off the back of the out hole rail and into the wood. A protector is needed here.

So it appears that my right outlane "may the force be with you" gate will interfere with the shooter lane when the gate is open. Sometimes the ball strikes it enough on an auto-plunge that the ball just floats out onto the field and drifts down directly to the flippers. There is also wear on the butt of the gate where this happens.

I have tried unscrewing and reseating. I have also tried making the bend a little closer to 90 degrees on the gate to have it be more squarely seated when screwed down all the way.

These have helped, but when I place my finger on the gate during an auto-plunge, i can still feel some small amount of contact from the ball.

Anyone else have this problem? Thinking about calling Stern for a new gate...

Thanks

Had the exact same thing. Game played perfect for first 3 months. Then when ball drained during ball save and if the "force be with you" gate was swung open, the auto-plunge struck the bottom of the gate pivot and barely squibbled out into the playfield. I unscrewed and re-tightened and tried to bend it out of the way as I tightened it and it's been fine since.

Unfortunately I still do not feel good about the remedy and I'm anticipating the issue returning.

We did. At first I thought it was because the gate screw had come loose. Ours turned out to be the auto plunger adjustment. If the auto plunger shoots the ball straight up the shooter lane, the ball does not hit the return gate.

Auto plunger...Playfield can be up and out of the machine. Without the ball in the shooter lane, fire the auto plunger by hand a few times to make sure that it centers itself. In the shooter lane, slowly move the ball down towards the autoplunger. As the ball starts touching the two prongs, the ball must touch to two prongs evenly. If you can manage it, evenly spaced on the ball helps too. It cannot touch one side first and then the other. It has to be even so it launches the ball straight. You will notice the prongs will already be bent. Usually you only have to bend one prong to get this right. If you think you have it right, take the ball away, fire the auto plunger by hand a few times and check. Once you like it, turn the machine back on and check. If the machine in on and you put a ball in the shooter lane, machine will fire the auto plunger. You do not have to go in to test. When you are happy with this then check the plunger.

Plunger. make sure the playfield is all the way down and sitting exactly where it should as if you were going to put the latch bar back on. The plunger should not be touching the ball, the ball should be resting evenly on the auto plunger. Push on the plunger slowly until it touches the ball. The plunger should hit middle, just top of dead centre. This is so when you plunge the ball, it fires straight up the shooter lane with top spin. The are 3 no2 phillips head screws on the plunger. If you loosen all three, you should be able to move the plunger around enough to get the adjustment right. If you cannot, you will need to remove the two locating screws that hold the plunger in the machine. Once you have the plunger in the right spot, you can replace those 2 screws so the plunger does not move any more.

Good luck.

Thank you for this great post. After a quick glance this morning, I am almost positive the auto plunger is the problem. I will explore more tonight.

Thank you for sharing your insights.

My pleasure! I have received far more help than I have given out on Pinside. Good to help out in return.

Good Luck!

Two very concrete questions:

1. Where is the ball supposed to be returned to when shooting the orbit clockwise?
2. Where is the ball supposed to be returned to when ejected from the mystery hole?

I am aware of HOW to make adjustments, but want to clearly understand the goal of the adjustments.

A full speed clockwise orbit should land on the left flipper. Same for the eject hole.

My myste hole returns at a rocket fast speed headed STDM to drain. Are there an adjustments I can make to slow it down and slightly change the angle of return?

mystery hole has a setting for the strength. stardard is set to 40 and it can be reduced. at 20 it falls out onto the right flipper for me. not as intended and still refuse to use that "wirkaround" for myself...

You need to loosen and then turn the scoop so it is square with the hole.

For me, a full speed clockwise orbit lands on my right flipper but where is it "supposed" to go? Well, I don't know about that, though it sure feels good to hit the fork ramp after a fast orbit shot with the right flipper.

Eject hole is definitely the left flipper; Steve Ritchie confirmed that in a Q&A.

Thank you - do you have a link to that Q&A? Would be great to save in my files

https://www.facebook.com/sternpinball/videos/10156068154799244/

46 minutes in Steve Ritchie answers the question on where the ball should go after the right eject and how to potentially adjust it.

Info Anywhere else besides facebook? No account.

Unfortunately I can't find it anywhere else but even without logging into facebook I was able to view the video. It asked me to log in and I clicked on 'not now' and I was able to view the video just fine.

Just after 48 minutes in Steve Ritchie also talks about how to make an adjustment to make the Fork Ramp Death Star shot easier on the Premium/LE. I made the change a few weeks ago and I must say it has been THE biggest 'quality of life' improvement I've made to the machine.

I found that my rail above the fork ramp was set too low by default and that was causing way too many death star shot rejections, as the ball was hitting the bottom of the rail. So I loosened the screw on the bottom left hand side of the Death Star and lifted the rail.

pinballaddicted actually wrote a bit about this on page one of this thread:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/star-wars-le-problems-and-solutions#post-3978670

And as Steve Ritchie said in the video, there is a sweet spot on each machine, for me I've had no issues since lifting the rail as high as I could (so long as there is enough clearance for a ball to go through of course). I even added another set of washes on all the points that hold up the Hyper Loop rail so as to make lifting the rail into the Death Star easier.

I highly recommend this adjustment to anyone getting frequent death star shot rejections on the Premium/LE.

Quick follow up. I bent the prong over like you suggested. Worked like a charm. Thank you.

Hey everyone,

This looks like the best thread for problems/solutions. I've read/searched through and didn't find a solution. My Death Star isn't closing properly (upon testing or in game). I trimmed the notches on the back side, and it will close manually now, it would catch before. However, when it's fired (and opened) it doesn't spring back closed. It'll stick about 1" open. Looks like the left side goes where it should, but the right side doesn't rotate all the way back. Is there an adjustment somewhere? Not sure if the rod holding that half can be adjusted, or if i need to bend the spring to have more force.

Hopefully someone else has encountered the issue and has a solution.

Thanks in advance!

I haven’t done this, but I’ve read others have adjusted a thumbscrew in the bottom side of the deathstar. Look at the manual and it should show this.

Don't go bending springs. There are two links that connect each half off a common plunger. One of mine came off completely and when I reinstalled it and adjusted/tightened the set screw it worked properly.

Thanks, i'll see about taking it apart and checking everything. Looks like there are some set screws on that shaft, so i'll check those first. I printed out the 2 pages from the PDF just so it's easier, even though i have the manual.

Disconnected the linkage and everything worked great. So I put it back together and to get it loose I had to move the assembly back on the shafts a bit and then everything moves freely and the Death Star closes ok.

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I noticed that after upgrading the code to 1.05 that the backbox screen will blank out momentarily every so often. Has happened maybe 4 times now. Doesn't matter what is going on in the game.

I haven't updated yet, but I'd double check the connection from the board to the screen. Maybe the cable isn't seated 100%.

I updated yesterday and I noticed this also. The audio has brief pauses as well.
It’s very short but noticeable, especially for someone who plays it frequently.
1.06 here we come!

You're correct about the audio lapses. I forgot to mention that. I fired off a bug report to Stern.

For a while now the MEZEL MODS Force target illumination is causing an overcurrent alarm on my lower left playfield on node board 8. After clarifying with my distributor this is caused by tightened overcurrent limits since one of the latest SW releases (currently im still on v1.04).

My distributor has suggested to connect the mod to the red or blue LED, as there it's not as tight yest, however, the mod feeds off a white LED which would screw up my lighting...

Has anyone else experienced this?
Any useful concepts to work around it?

I am having issue with hyperloop speed. It will not even make it all the way around once. It just started happening. I was running .03 and just update to .05 and it is still happening. Any thoughts?

Make sure all your magnets are working. Check the connections and use the service menu to help.

Honestly I would not recommend any mods that tie into power supply. The node boards are very sensitive on this title, and you could damage the node boards by sneezing too closely(literally). I really want to add a shaker motor but I am concerned I may have issues with vibration and end up having a faulty node 8 or 9. My warranty is almost up, so I need to make a decision of whether or not to add a shaker. It is like playing Russian roulette. Anyone else have issues after shaker install?

It's not Russian roulette. In Germany the distributor is legally obliged to provide 2 full years warranty regardless of his deal with the manufacturer and i bought this mod from the official stern distributor. I'm relaxed.

The pin is designed for a shaker motor. Stern sells them for about 100 bucks. There was an issue in some cases and Stern addressed this with a capacitor plug in. I am running a shaker in mine and have zero problems. It makes the machine a lot more fun.
The vibration from the shaker should not hurt the boards. I rubber mounted my 8 and 9 boards to isolate them from the playfield shocks.

So long as the magnets are working (as dnapac said, check the service menu) the only things I can think of are:
Is it possible the balls have magnetized over time?
Maybe the rail has a physical issue, you might want to check the Hyperloop rail with the glass off (and the machine off), grab a ball and see if a it can easily travel around the rail without any tight spots causing it to slow.

I hope you work out what's causing the problem. Keep us updated.

How does the accelerator test go? Does it make it all the way around then? Do all the sensor lights work? Turn off the accelerator off if you have to and roll the ball backwards to see the test results. If they work you likely need to adjust the loop a little.

I had a sensor go bad. I also had a poorly shaped loop. Both are fixed for me now. Stern gave great and fast support for both problems.

Thanks for all the thoughts and help on the hyperloop speed issues. I jiggled and pushed all the connections and ran through the test menus a couple times. It is now back at 100%. Not sure what did it or what the issue was but I am glad it is back to normal. Thanks again for the help.

Had a four player game going, on player one ball three, leaned over to explain a shot and hit the start button. Game instantly started a one player game. Anyone else see this?

STD adjustment #45 - game restart. Set it to no and you won’t have this problem.