Nope. If you've got the LE the balls "lock" in the hyperloop at the beginning of hyperspace multiball (you load balls into the hyperloop where they continue to circulate, and then trigger the start of the multiball, at which point they're all released -- this is based on me watching Dead Flip videos so I can't promise I'm 100% correct on how it works). But there's no physical ball lock within the Death Star.

Nope. Those were a rumored feature (maybe seen on early leaked schematics or something?) but there are no playfield magnets on either the Pro or the LE. Only magnets in the LE are for the hyperloop to make the ball circulate (they're part of the hyperloop mechanism, are located behind the backboard, and don't interact with the balls you're knocking around on the playfield).

Sorry man, hope it grows on you over time if you don't sell/trade it right away (though based on your stated expectations that may not be in the cards). FWIW, I was a little underwhelmed by the Pro my first time or two playing it but enjoy it much more now that I've got some ideas on how to attack it.

Regardless, thanks for sharing your impressions.

Yes, not worth rushing if you've got any doubts. These will be in production for years.

If you go this route, just be aware that there are apparently different fans in the Pro and LE/Premium (or were with prior games anyway) so make sure you're doing an LE-specific install.

I'm really liking my Premium thus-far, but the Death Star appears to have been shipped to me out of alignment. It looks like maybe the left half of the Death Star (from the player's perspective) is hitting the ramp, keeping it from closing entirely? I took a quick look but did not see an obvious, simple way to adjust how the Death Star sits on the ramp (or how it aligns when in closed position). Did anyone else have this issue, and if so how did you fix it?

(I already ran the Death Star in test mode, confirms that it's not just offset somehow, and I wasn't able to just move the halves around with my hands to get them to line up properly).

IMG_9234 (resized).JPG

IMG_9235 (resized).JPG

Ok, this seems to have been an easy fix. I took another look and at the back of the DS halves are some little thumb screws with rubber ends that seem to control where the halves stop. By adjusting those I was able to get the halves properly lined up when "at rest". I haven't tested extensively with the menus to see how it looks after the DS explodes, but hopefully that can also be addressed with the thumb screws if necessary.

Now I just need to blow up the DS in game!

[EDIT: Oh, and from some of the other photos I've seen it looks like it's "normal" for the left half of the DS shell to rest against the habitrail while the right side is set off a bit, that doesn't seem to be what was impeding the shell from fully closing in my case at any rate].

Welcome to the club!

My first-ever Stern upgrade was on SW. Not as bad as it seems (despite Stern's vague directions). There are good posts in this thread on upgrading, or just post with your questions and we'll be glad to help. The new code is pretty cool!

It sure seems like something happened. I didn't see any reports of bricked ramps prior to 0.92, and there are definitely a number of them here now. My ramp's still working, but I have noticed occasional new odd behavior since installing 0.92 -- ramp goes up or stays up about 1/4, which doesn't seem right.

Hopefully they'll get this straightened out quickly.

Sorry that happened to you, frustrating start but glad to hear Stern's trying to work with you to solve the problem(s). When you say they're sending you a new "game card", are they sending you a new USB flash drive with new code on it (i.e. so you can try updating from a different USB flash drive than the one you used to take that picture)? Or a new CPU or node board or something?

Also, did you get a sense of how hard the fork ramp mech will be to replace? Any soldering involved or is it a plug and play swap? I'm curious how this will play out if the end up needing to swap a bunch of ramps.

Have they officially advised Premium/LE owners to roll back to .89?

I emailed Stern to ask if I should downgrade the software in my Premium (my ramp's still working ATM but I haven't been playing for fear of messing something up). I'll report back if I hear anything.

Unlikely. Smart money says MB is next CPC remake. Cactus Canyon is widely considered to have subpar code, so they'll have to either reach a deal with the guy that did CCC (I understand Rick put a lot of time into poisoning that relationship, so seems unlikely) or redo it themselves. Not impossible, but probably makes it less attractive than some of the other remake candidates.

All good after ~30 games here. And I just doubled my former grand champion score, so the new code is clearly superior

Yeah, I don't know if your board is burned or not (if the ramps still moving at all, I'd guess not), but that "ramp stays up a bit" thing was definitely a .92 problem. Upgrading to .93 solved it for me. I would try updating first before you call Stern and ask for board replacement. If nothing else, they're going to tell you to upgrade first anyway before they send you a replacement board.

Gameplay and lighting are the same between LE and Premium. I'd only buy an LE if I absolutely loved the art package on it and didn't mind blowing an extra grand for that. Many of us actually like the Premium (Dark Side/ESB art vs. Millennium Falcon for the LE) art package better, in which case there'd be no reason to step up to the LE.

LE resale value often drops more than Premium (starting higher, further to fall before the Pro pricing catches it) in real dollar terms. Maybe the % decline is similar? Either way, if you're worried about resale value the Pro is your safest bet.

If you have your heart set on an LE, consider shopping around for a HUO. You should be able to save some coin that way, and be able to assess the playfield for ghosting at the same time.

There are some thumb-screws under there that adjust the Death Star halves. You've probably already tried, but maybe try tweaking them a bit to see if things improve?

Is that on 1.0.1 software?

Yep, whatever. I haven’t modified mine like that but don’t have a problem with people adjusting their games however they like so they can best enjoy the game (of course if they permanently alter the game they’ll probably pay for it when they try to sell).

If you step back for a moment, it’s not different than adjusting pitch, outhole gap, ball saver, or fifty other settings that change the difficulty and therefore affect the score. If you really want to compare scores you’ll have to do it on the exact same machine.

Here's some info re: the "extra post" by the drop targets:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/stern-star-wars-clubmay-the-force-be-with-you/page/80#post-4320514