Don't get excited straight away but hear me out...

Ive owned an LE for a week but have struggled with the constant hammer coffin lock issues. These being the main ones in order of frequency.

Phantom Hammer Locks (Hammer and magnet dropping when ball is no where near magnet)
Magnet Drop Fail (Magnet grabs ball... doesn't drop)
Weak Magnet (Magnet tries to grab fast ball. Fails.)

Its gotten to the point where basically Coffin Multiball is pretty much unachievable. Getting the hammer lock to work as it should seems to be best achieved by hitting the newton/captive ball straight on and softly after "LOCK IS LIT" is activated.

Now while studying this behavior while playing what I think is the best freaking pinball I've played I have come to the conclusion a simple line of code could fix this "worldwide but seemingly worse in export machines" issue.

Forget the magnet and/or the magnet board and think of the newton/captive ball instead. Surely this simple line of code or option in the software could fix this.

Instead of the magnet and sensor being active when "LOCK IS LIT" how about putting a simple line of code never activating the magnet unless the captive ball is hit. Something like..

{If Newton/Captive ball is not hit do not activate magnet/hammer lock} or

{If lock lit. Activate magnet on newton/captive ball hit}

Now forgive me I am no coder but this would immediately cut out any hammer locks when the ball is no where near the magnet. The ball will be close. It will be reasonably slow. Magnet will grab and coffin lock.

Is it that simple? I think it might be. The magnet and board are proven to work. Behavior is to different across to many machines. I don't think its hardware.

What do you think? If it IS the hardware, this line of code and a slight change of rules could fix this problem worldwide. A "band-aid" fix as it might be.

Thoughts?

Dave Hashman

There should be no phantom hammers. Regardless of rules. Especially when the ball is nowhere near the magnet. Seems a simple fix. Don't activate magnet unless captive ball hit first. Easy.

I really think a simple option like the one I've mentioned needs to be implemented immediately even if its an interim fix. My machine is nearly unplayable. Every game I have a massive amount of phantom locks. I've even accidentally bashed the hammer with the ball because it is in down position when it shouldn't be.

Magnet / Hammer activated by cap ball hit. ON / OFF.

C'Mon Stern!

I emailed Patrick at Stern this...

Hi Patrick.

I have an idea to fix the PHANTOM LOCK on the LE. Even if it is only an interim fix I think this option in the software could fix the issue for those of us experiencing constant phantom hammers. My machine can hammer lock when the ball is nowhere near the magnet. As far away as the left ramp. If you implement this option..

Coffin Magnet Active Only After Captive Ball Hit ON/OFF

This would mean the magnet would only come on after hitting the captive ball. The ball will be near the magnet and travelling slowly and will always lock. People will no issues could leave this option off but for the rest of us it would be a simple life saver. My machine has become nearly unplayable due to the amount of phantom locks and this would be a great interim fix.

Let me know what you think.

Regards,

Mine got delivered with 1.18 and it did it a few times. Seems even worse since 1.2

Needs to be fixed asap. A lot of money for a faulty machine. At least implement the captive ball hit option until its fixed properly.