Now 6 online at Keg & Coin in Jacksonville FL

https://insider.sternpinball.com/kiosk/mhYZJ-FJMq-Nujq?portrait

Love to see locations with leaderboards!!

I cant figure out how to register my Godzilla premium to enable updates through wifi. Please advise. Edit, figured it out. I’m in!

Just added 2 games to KEG & COIN for a total of 6.
I'm running this leaderboard until year end and then monthly.

anyone solve the game won't connect ?

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Failure to connect is a symptom, not a problem diagnosis. There are lots of reasons it could happen: Stern's servers could be down, you might have a temporary Internet issue, your wifi might be misbehaving, the machine might not be able to get a good wifi connection, and of course last but not least your wifi dongle might have failed completely.

What steps have you taken so far to diagnose the problem?

Is this one you had connected before a software update Neil?
Tried swapping wi-fi dongles around?

Tried having some locals burn down your closest cell tower? Won’t help but I hear it’s fun to watch…

It looks like you have 0 signal strength to your Wifi adapter from that photo.

Couple of questions:
* Does it report any signal strength earlier in setup? If so does it flip flop on and off?
* Are any of your other Spike 2 pins connected to the same network via wifi no problem?

I had an issue with my home network to get IC to work on the 2.4Ghz band where it would flip flop from 0 to about 60% signal but never complete the connection. Turns out it was some "steering" that needed to be adjusted on the router. If other Spike 2's are connecting no problem then this may not be the case unless the wireless adapter is different in your Elvira than the others.

Looks like you do not have an IP address (that would be in the upper left corner of the display).

Post a photo of Service Menu->Net->About->Network

PSA when diagnosing issues, have a photo of Net->About->Info and Net->About->Network handy.

Just because I didn't see it mentioned...

The Insider Connected seminar at Expo

Note that Gomez says IC will interact with every part of their business.

They highlight the topper achievements in Mando, and elude to that being a thing going forward (including Rush)

yeah thats exactly it.

So the machine sees the network - connects, the "RSSI" goes up to about 60 and then down to 0 a few times - the AP sees the Mac of the machine but the machine never gets a IP then it gives up. Interestingly this happened after both games auto updated through wifi!

It could be some reaction to having had scorbit on both these games in the past so I'm going to try a new formatted SD card.

Cheers,
Neil.

so fresh install SD Card fixed it but see below for what I found out later...

One thing though:

Stern Supplier USB Adaptor:

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Amazon adaptor with antenna.

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Regards,
Neil.

One thing I ran into on non pinball stuff- my router uses both 2.4 and 5GHz at the same time (802.11ac). One of my devices only uses 2.4GHz and I was unable to configure it until I told the router to only use 2.4. After I got it configured I told the router go back to normal and the device in question works fine.

turns out it was something weird with the wifi SSID and password. I saw with an WIFI analyser that the password was being rejected.

I downgraded the game to a previous version of code where it exposes the password and I could see that the password it was using was a password for an SSID that I had setup for the UK Open and not the SSID I'd used to config with the QR code for my home pinball room. so SSID for UKOpen - was UKOpen with password blah1234 - the new SSID DOMINOSFBB was there but it still had the password blah1234 instead of the password for DOMINOSFBB

I can only assume that the game didn't save the new password correctly. anyway glad it was something simple.

I think if you are using the QR codes to config the game, which historically for me has worked really well with 40+ games in three locations then try putting in the password manually. thanks to folks at Stern for helping me debug this.

Cheers,
Neil.

yeah I've seen that with IOT stuff mostly, but that isn't the case here.

New updates for IC were announced this morning:
* Pro Accounts can remotely view Tech Alerts
* Pro Accounts can promote Launch Parties in their venue that will show up for nearby IC users on their profile

There were some videos included in the email but they have been taken down or marked private on YouTube. Perhaps this was sent a touch early.

Press release is here:
https://sternpinball.com/2022/10/26/stern-pinball-launches-new-insider-connected-features-2/

I need a broken Star Wars topper circuit board Achievement!

Operator alert history goes back before the launch too… so they have been collecting the data for awhile. Could have been local storage that is now synced… but more likely it’s just cloud data that has not been exposed until now.

Will have to test more this week to see how near real time it is.

It refreshes every 5 minutes to stern to you.

Apparently there are also special modes in 007 that can only be played if you are logged in with IC.

What is the trick here? I've got a Stern Insider account, but every time I scan the QR code on the machine, it just takes me to the Insider Connected page with no option to register. If I scan my code on the Stern page, it just generates random characters. How the hell do I register this thing? It won't let me update until I register as well. Arrgg...

Did you log into your account on the Stern page?

I figured it out - that wasn't intuitive at all to me. Feeling stupid now. Thanks.

you were scanning the code on the game, not your personal QR code INTO the game, right?

Don't worry, the codes on the game have confused many... along with the second step to 'confirm' the game in Insider.

No, special exclusive achievements yes. If Stern attempt to create IC exclusive modes, they will enter a world of hurt.

Like topper exclusive modes? Some of which become less exclusive if you use IC?

Speaking of which, that JP mode that was topper exclusive, do you need IC to access it or just the latest code?

I mean, all achievements require IC, so I'm not sure what you are getting at. And exclusive gameplay modes that require a login are pretty standard in the arcade business and have been for decades. Stern would just be catching up to the industry by implementing them. It has gotten to the point where if you play a modern arcade machine without logging in, you're basically getting a demo version of the game. Ask anyone who plays a Bemani game.

just along as that needs an free account and will work with an midgame network drop out.

And an easy way for tournament mode to make it fair for all players in the game.

Yeah, that’s definitely something Stern will need to implement if they introduce IC exclusive modes.

this is coming - no doubt about it - it will be like Season pass on Fortnite- question is will it be worth the lolly?

I saw a page or so back that stern is thinking of adding IC to home games. On one hand this is great, as I think I'd like to pick up Jurassic Park home pin next year, maybe. But, my completest attitude with IC isn't happy as I know I'm likely to never see some of these home pins in the wild ever. So no chance at getting any achievements. Just played GOTG the other day. And with that, I have at least one achievement on every possible IC game.

On that note, it would be cool to have badges associated with the number of different games you have gotten achievements on (1, 5,10 etc..)

That's pretty sad, since leaderboards aren't even a big deal. Just further enforces that they are out to lunch and tone deaf on this whole thing. Imagine if an actual GOOD home feature was considered, if they are willing to nix features that are sub par to appease operators then forget it, this will never be good.

An at home leader board is just the high score board on the game. The point of the feature is for locations to do promotions. I don’t understand why you’d want it in the home environment.

If you're having friends over for a party, it'd be nice to have leaderboards for your games for the night so everyone can see their scores automatically.

Also, anyone else seeing an outage with Insider Connected tonight?

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What? I have multiple Stern IC games and a smart TV...having people over to play pinball and having a leaderboard displayed on the TV for all the games would be fun. Players would be fighting to see their name on a TV displayed leaderboard, more so than the high scores on each machine, which isnt always in their face.

I have no clue how having that feature in personal gamerooms somehow hurts location play.

My point isn't that leaderboards are a good feature, in fact I stated otherwise. (Though there's more to leaderboards than just local high scores)

It's the general idea that operators are worried that someone might play the $10,000 machine they bought at home rather than at their establishment so let's let that fear drive the home features of Insider Connected. There's no sense to that logic.

I bought a bunch of Scorbit devices for my Sterns and other games mainly for the leader boards. I have a home league with folks that also play at the local arcades (as I do). Scorbit is constantly playing wack-a-mole with Stern Spike 2 games trying to update Scorbit software to work with Stern IC which only works on 18 games. Scorbit potentially works on hundreds of games.

Stern IC is very slick and their integration into their games is really good. I have almost all of the spike 2 games and all have IC. According to Gary Stern, the home market is 70% of their business. Is there really an issue of operators feeling left out by the home market? Or is Stern trying to pressure operators to get on board? I think the latter is more likely, but that is total conjecture on my part.

Stern has survived some very trying times in the pinball world. I really enjoy pinball and am happy with all of the progression in this hobby the past few years (ok, not pinflation). However, as a soon to be Medicare recipient, I don’t have too many years left to patiently wait for these very important issues to shake out.

Cheers!

I respect your post and can see your view if you had a single game. I’m also an owner of multiple game and have been asking for home leaderboards. For me it give high score insight to not just the top 5 scores on each game but 10+. Also my friend group that comes over to play can all see the score away from my house which would push the “ I’m going to beat you this week”. As an example there is a public arcade that I watch the leaderboards remotely all the time and see how I’m doing. Back to home games if others could follow my home location and I theirs it would generate more interest in home pins in general. So for me it would be a huge win. Respectfully.

I’m also trying to get a badge on every game. I’m missing Batman 66 which in Colorado on IC is just not around. Might have to fly to another city and play one.

I just received a Godzilla premium that has Insider Connect.

Do I have to use Insider Connect in order to update code? What if I don't want to use Insider Connect? Is there an insert for the apron reader so I can cover it up?

You do not need to use IC to update code. You can still download it and load it via USB the way you always have.

As for the insert, talk to your dealer. Stern originally indicated they would be providing options to dealers for those that did not want to display the reader but I don't know if that ever came to fruition.

Why wouldn't you want to use it? So easy to update code. You don't need to login if you don't want to, but at least update code.

So far code updates on location have been smooooooth for me.

Code updates at home too. Get email from Stern about new code. Go into game room, turn on machine, select update from the menu, go back upstairs to work. Go back to game room when I have time for a break and play new code.

https://www.pinballlife.com/mechagodzilla-chillin-in-the-apron-window.html

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Something that seems odd for my location games... Stern will put out an update at say around noon. When they turn my games on a 4pm they don't update when the code is out there, but they do on boot up the next day. Anybody else seen that?

the games are off?
they may background download and the updates are big / stern does not have really have the best wifi hardware.

That's probably because they need to be on to download the code and then need to be rebooted after that, which doesn't happen until the machine is turned on again the next day.

Do you have the Software Update option set to "Download" or "Download and Install"? Also, have to set an update time window that is preventing the installation?

Download and install. They should check for the available update when powered on at 4pm and immediately download / install / reboot themselves. I think they don't start the download until next power on based on what I've been told by customers seeing them get started the day after the last push for Godzilla.