Just caught up on the thread...just thinking out loud here, but what about game accessories or specific game settings; for instance shaker motors and it’s associated game option?

Tim, you have an LE with shaker right? I have a premium with shaker and I don’t have any problems. Does someone that has seen the reboot have a shaker installed? Just throwing that out there...

Yes, I had the Trex reset issue and I have a shaker motor installed on my premium. I did notice however that during that sequence somehow the video reduced into a window within a window on the display rather than filling the whole screen. Perhaps this combination of a graphic transition and the video are at fault

I have an LE with shaker and as stated above it did reboot once.

I have a Premium with shaker motor and it rebooted for me 3 times in around 20 games with this card:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07TCJRXQL/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00

I have since switched to the following SanDisk card and so far after about 20 games it hasn't rebooted at all:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0143RTB1E/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00

I'll admit that it doesn't make sense that the brand of card would make a difference. both cards are class 10 16GB cards and I used Win32diskImager to write both of them. I fully expect the SanDisk card to cause a freeze/reboot at some point but so far it has been solid.

Anything's possible in this mystery! Yes I have an LE with shaker set to default settings. I never get a reboot with this latest code.

The SD that isn't rebooting for you or me is the exact same one I use. Only caveat is I have some 32 GB ones of the same type and some 16 GB but never a reboot with my LE. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0143RTB1E/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00

Not to ignore hardware possibility entirely, the main thing that changes inside an brand of SDcard is the controller. The specific controller used defined the speed at which data can be accessed in a sustained fashion. There is a possibility that a card with slower read could cause some of the rest of Stern's real-time operating system code to timeout. This is a very long shot, because for slower reads, I would expect to see stuttering, not crashing. And I know that Stern uses the lower cost "MLC" type memory cards, which are slower in most cases.

But, anything is possible, so we need to keep looking for cases that CAUSE crashes. (Ironic, but keeping track of cases that DON'T CRASH is less helpful, because any sequence related issues simply may not have occured on those machines: e.g. Hitting Skill-shot, followed by a Trex multi-ball, and then a Jeep rotate.)

Still just looking to eliminate variables...

I think it also makes sense for someone with the freezing issue to send their SD card to someone who does not have the issue and have them try it out on their machine.

So yesterday I had a crash, typically my sd card works, I used win32 disk imager and the stern stock card and the audio hangs up a little on trex chase with the roar coming late, no big deal. However yesterday I started king of the island and trex chase at the same time, and that crashed the game. Just a heads up figure more info can't hurt.

We’re still looking into this but seriously, the stern card is garbage. To have a chance for it to work well, spend $7 and get the sandisk card that I recommended earlier which has been great. That’s not the definitive answer but what could be a PB issue, give yourself the best shot and get a good SD card for now

This is starting to feel again like a software only problem. If I am keeping score properly, the Stern software on the stern cards doesn’t crash. I don’t see a single report of a crash using unmodified 1.02 or 1.02 with audio only mods. It’s only when more complicated video clips are added that it seems to crash “some of the time” on a myriad of card types.

Feels like software to me. Either the video encoding or a bug in PB itself.

Yes you are correct in that nothing like this has happened for anyone with my audio only edits versions (after many versions at this point).
JP is not the only code suffering from this issue when it comes to video imports. Aerosmith is too as per this post: https://beta.pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/acdc-display-and-modify-dot-matrix-images/page/84#post-5859093
To your point, I'm also leaning toward a software / PB issue, not SD card type related.
I sent my simple test details over to the PB dev today (the ones I posted here: https://beta.pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/stern-jurassic-park-2-custom-code-project/page/15#post-5855669). Will let you know what he says.

Wait a min, did you just say that stock 1.02 code is giving you this issue?

No, the new 31TS code. The sd card i used was the one that came with the game but with your new assets. I dont get king of the island very often and thats the only time its crashed.

Question for those of you in the TMNT alternate code thread as well, are there similar bugs/crashes with the alternate audio/video code that was created for that machine? Same hardware, correct?

vicjw66 Why did you downvote this post? Markharris2000 has been helping troubleshoot all of the issues in an incredibly helpful and precise manner. If you're going to downvote someone, you must have something to say as to why. Was this by accident? I have not seen you post anything on this thread. Please spend your time on this thread helping not hurting the cause. Thanks.

Please follow the directions timlah and delt have laid out. Save your SD that came with the game and fork a couple bucks for a Sandisk.

I’m over a week and nearly 50 games w/no issues 1.02 code. The benefit to following steps is easier to trace issues. Lets try to help and be as consistent as possible.

I've played countless games with the new code on my LE and only had it reboot once when I initially installed the new code.
Is this a problem that is recurring for others?

Yes, there is something causing crashes in the 31TS audio+video build, whereas the Stern factory stock 1.02 and the audio-only 29TS do not. While we don’t know the cause just yet, appears that it could be a sequence of play that causes crashes when accessing a video clip. Still lots of unknowns and we’d love to hear about the specific brand/size SD card you were using when it crashed just to try and help track it down.

Mine has been the same. Im on 29TS I believe (could be mistaken) it was the code with the initial video mod. Had it reboot once within 2 or 3 games, and haven't had it happen since *knockonwood*

I cant remember if this was mentioned or not, but is there a version where "3, 2, 1" was kept and NOT replaced with "you didnt....say...the magic word."? Having a count down say 5....4....you didn't...say....the magic word." Is kind of awkward lol

In my last note #769 I made a statement that regardless of brand of SDcard, when running factory 1.02 or when running Tim’s 29TS audio mod code, we have NOT seen crashes on anyone’s machine. I WANTED TO CHECK THIS STATEMENT FOR ACCURACY to be thorough in the process to track this down. If you have an experience that conflicts, please let us know as much detail as possible. Card type, how you wrote the binary image to the card, which version of the software, how long you had been playing the machine since it was powered on, how many games since power on, how deep into the current game were you when in crashed, and what shot you were making when it crashed.

I think you were running 30TS the first video+audio mod

29TS is the latest audio edits only version. 30TS and 31TS are the only video edited versions.

Yes I know that's kind of awkward when fake Arnold does a countdown outside of smart missile. The same sound locations are used by the game for both a mode countdown and smart missile. It's on my list to revisit.

Slacker!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!....haha.

Which version is better 30TS or 31TS, i have no issues with 30TS and have 31TS on another SD card ready to go.

They're barely any different. IIRC 31TS was the one delt added the stock T-Rex roar animation to try to quell some of the restart issues so that's the one I've been sharing. Not sure if it has helped. If 30TS is working for you I'd stick with that for now.

As a follow up to this, I took it all back to the PBrowser dev and tried all of the above steps with a stock JP 1.02 download. Same results. I sent him the most meticulous of details and he has no advice other than that Balena Etcher is unreliable if you're trying to flash code that has video edits. You'll need to use either the PBrowser's flash tool or Win32DiskImager.

I even took it a step further today and experimented with importing videos from my working audio only edited version. I got some errors upon hitting save in PB during one import, but as long as I flashed the result using PB's feature or Win32DiskImager, the game loaded up just fine and no restarts have happened in game. Plus all like 6 of my custom videos are playing without issue.

What I did do is make sure each video I import is the exact same timing as the stock. The current 30TS and 31TS versions do still have videos that are longer than the stock ones which I feel is always going to pose a problem. I think it's best practice to only import videos OR sounds with durations in parity but at the same time who knows if that's even part of this issue. In no way am I saying that Delt's longer videos are the root issue here, it's just a hunch b/c I know from all the audio work I've done A) the duration limits the playback of a given sound and B) b/c of A I've been meticulous about adding sounds that are <= the stock's expectation and C) If you import a longer video, the firmware + game triggers don't limit its duration as it does with audio imports.

It's also important to note that other folks importing videos to other game firmwares are having the same issues (a recent pinsider has been struggling with the same with Aerosmith for example). So I'm just saying that this isn't JP specific. This still could be a PB bug OR just a standard Stern bug when it comes to all the variables involved in video files (frame rates, duration, size, aspect ratio) in general.

Moral of this story currently IMHO:
Don't use Balena Etcher if you can avoid it.
PC users need to use PB for flashing to SD or Win32DiskImager. Do not use Balena Etcher.
Mac users - we need to find a reliable flashing app for you. I really don't know what else is out there but a different app could be the end all resolution for you guys.

My advice to the Mac guys: (myself included). Use terminal to write the code, I’ve had no issues doing it this way.

I am aware of the terminal way of doing it but I've never tried. I also feel like it's super sketchy if you don't know what you're doing. Would you mind posting precise steps that we can share with Mac users?

Just followed this: https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/installation/installing-images/mac.md

Mac running Catalina

This might be the solution for Mac folks but we'll want to provide specific numbered steps to follow. Not too many pinball machine owners are "software" tech savvy. While I understand the steps, there's minutia in between in that article and no 1-2-3-4 etc. What I was looking for was for someone who has used this method to help other Mac owners by writing down exact numbered steps, A-Z for this JP code specifically. If you'd be willing to write those up that would be awesome. I'll include them in the responses I send out and mark your post as a key post to help Mac users.

Same here, once on initial startup, no crashes since

Same here, once on initial startup during trex multiball, no crashes since

I had now 1 crash during T-rex multibal and the first paddock was running. Played over 25 games. Will test this more.

Hey timlah79 - Question about the game code... I noticed (I believe) that the intro theme plays in the following three places:

-Start game
-During an active paddock session
-Immediately after a successful capture

Is that accurate? And if so, does the code use the same sound file for all three, or is there an opportunity to perhaps diversify them?

Scroll earlier in the thread. I used the dd method on my Mac successfully when etcher on the Mac or pc didn’t.

Im just now catching up on this project - I had been following an old thread apparently so I missed the announcement.

I am at work so I haven’t read every single comment but could I pay someone to load this to the “best” SD card for me and mail it? I’ve got an old hackintosh and I worry that I won’t be able to get all the steps right just because of that alone lol

I’d love to try the audio + video version but I think I’ve become so acclimated to the animations that audio only would probably be my ultimate preference.

I haven't touched the music in any of these areas.

-Start game
[Tim] Expected.

-During an active paddock session
[Tim] By during if you mean a loop of the intro them is playing that's definitely unexpected. If you mean you heard it at some point I'd say that's expected. The game chimes the intro music in in a few modes.

-Immediately after a successful capture
[Tim] Expected.

- And if so, does the code use the same sound file for all three, or is there an opportunity to perhaps diversify them?
[Tim] Likely yes but it's possible that they are triggered with their own sound scripts. I haven't looked into it.

I haven't changed the music additions since a few versions ago and I don't plan to. There are already 21 music replacements. It's the callouts that I plan to adjust / add in later versions as I feel there's still room for improvement there despite the hundred or more I've already replaced.

If you could take a video of what you're seeing + hearing that would help!

There's a lot of red tape here. Please PM me and I will help you get it installed.

I finally did the update to latest version while doing install of Pinwoofer system yesterday. I played probably about 10 games afterwards, everything working flawlessly. T-Rex video and sound syncs properly etc. Absolutely no faults to be had across many modes I checked out.

Started messing with end ball / bonus video options the other day. It's a commonly looked at sequence that I feel needs some love. Just when I told myself I'd stick to audio only.. Gah!
LMK what you guys think. This short end ball video consists of 3 in game videos that I had to meticulously time together with 5 movie clips.

I think it looks fantastic.

Looks excellent Tim!

Nicely done!!

Super fun and well done, as always, Tim!

I love what I have.........no moreeeeeeeeeeeeeee.....LOL.

I guess I will be a expert on flashing sd cards if you keep adding these goodies.

Just when I thought I was out , you pull me back in. Evil Genius.

Is another version coming soon? Just want to know if I should leave my backbox open... LOL

Looks incredible Tim! I can’t wait for the next update

Looks awesome Tim!

I think so.