That's all true, but best to check the simple stuff first. The easiest, and most likely, is a sensitive switch that will be a super easy fix. If that isn't it, then start looking for shorts along the row/column which the offending switch is on in the switch matrix, as well as diodes, wiring, connectors, etc. In the old days even as far as transistors, but I do not think that's relevant in the Spike system now....

Hopefully it's a simple fix for you...but if not Stern will definitely take care of you. Let us know what you find!

last night I lifted the playfield and went through it with a fine tooth nail. I adjust a few things I thought may need adjusted, however nothing popped out at me. Same with the Magnets as I made sure all the connections were snug and tight.

I updated the code to the latest and played for a few hours.....

Nothing It played without a hitch!! I believe you all were right about it being a sensitive switch

Now for my next question, if I am shooting for a 7.5 pitch do any of you mess with the left and right flipper coils? I tend to get a few bouncy balls that will sometimes jump from the playfield to the middle of the left ramp. If you have messed with coil settings what did you finally settle on?

Also if any of you installed pinball sound, did you make any adjustments to your sound settings and if so can you share them with me?

All in all I am just now starting to understand the flow of the game, still not sure I understand the multipliers however I plan to read up on them today while at work It is brutal if you miss a shot and I am not in the camp yet that this is an easy game...

Yeah, I hear ya there. Iron Maiden comes across as a great tournament / points based game but in my opinion it doesn't offer that deep story based objective ruleset that I prefer. Star Wars does that very well and I end up not even caring about my score but rather how far I got into the game.

You just nailed exactly what I am enjoying about it right now. I spend more time trying to figure out my next best path to take then I do on how to best maximize my points which is why I have yet to even mess with the multiplier! I also love when once in a blue moon I hit a few shots in a row and I love that it tracks best most combos

SW: where a three way combo is a crazy achievement!

Not sure what you are trying to get across here, all the winky faces make it hard to determine what you mean. Did resetting all the connections fix it, or do you believe the code update fixed it? I'd be surprised if it was the code update, I ran 1.03 and earlier with none of the symptoms you described. Maybe a node board had flaky programming and the update reprogrammed it. In any case, glad you are back up and going, enjoy the game it is a fun one.

You guys are killing me. All these new posts and I thought FOR SURE the topper was out.

Glad you were able to fix it! Sometimes the best fixes are the ones where you do not even know what you did...just roll with it, LOL! In truth it was probably one of the switches you adjusted, a slightly loose connector, or maybe a minor short that you moved, but whatever it was, I'm glad you solved it!

7.5 is really steep for this game. I was running mine at about 7.2 in an attempt to cut down on the side to side drains and make it easier to trap (not to mention I like speed). I was getting a lot of airballs and the shots just didn't feel quite right. I read/heard in a few different places where Steve Ritchie himself said the game was designed for 6.5 and that is where it will play best. So last week I followed his advice and sure enough...everything plays 100% better. It is still plenty fast, but my airballs have cut way down, backhand shots are easier, and everything in general just feels better. Give it a shot. As always, do not trust the bubble level in the game...use a real one. Even at 6.5, my bubble level is pegged at the top, LOL. Of all the things they have done to cost reduce, I do not know why they still haven't gotten rid of that useless thing.

I never felt the need to adjust the coil settings. Mine are plenty strong at the factory setting. I also haven't tweaked any sound settings other than volume, but I do have an external sub hooked up which adds a lot to the game.

The shot multipliers are way easier than they seem at first. Hit any of the targets under the small screen to add 1x. These will time out eventually if you do not hit them again within so many seconds. You will hear an urgent "time running out" sound when you are close to losing it, and if you do not hit them in time you will go back down to 1x. The time needed between hits decreases as the multipliers get bigger. The shots which are multiplied are indicated by the X inserts. You start with 3 adjacent shots, but as the multiplier gets bigger this goes down to 2 and then 1 shot being multiplied. You decide what shots you want multiplied by simply hitting the action button to turn the Xs red (unlocked), moving the shots around with the flipper buttons, and then hitting the action button again to lock them in and turn them green. You can build the shot multiplier up to 20x with repeated hits to the screen targets, and then that can be doubled as a reward for completing the third (I think?) set of FORCE targets to get up to 40x. Once you are maxed out, you will need to hit the screen targets relatively often to maintain that level. R2's special ability is he is good with multipliers, so you do not lose your multipliers as fast, and he keeps a wider spread of multiplied shots longer. If you do not want to think too much about moving them around, it is a pretty good idea to just lock them in at the three shots around the left ramp/inner loop and just leave them there. That covers most of the bigger value shots in the game. Once you are built high enough to be down to just one multiplied shot, I would leave it on the left inner loop to multiply Hyperspace hurry-ups and jackpots, and other big shots like blowing up the Death Star. The only exception to this is if video mode/Hoth 1 is lit, you definitely want to multiply that shot (right inner loop) to make it worthwhile. Of course the best is to keep moving the multipliers around to cover every lit shot you shoot for, but that's not an easy task and I have lost many balls while screwing around with that. Big risk reward...which this game LOVES to throw at you!

So the cliff notes version of that rambling: Red Xs to move them, Green Xs to lock them in. Targets under screen increase shot multiplier. Avoid timing them out by hitting them again when you hear the time running out sound. Inner loop/left ramp shots are a good place to park them if you do not want to try moving them around a lot.

My apologies for overdoing it on the faces! In the end I do not believe it was the software update, I believe it was more a factor of a switch being out of wack. Nothing jumped out at me however I just made sure that anythig that looked as if it needed a small adjustment received a small adjustment.

Unbelievably helpful thank you for taking the time to post this!

Stupid Question alert: If not using the included bubble what am I using to nail that exact pitch. I have a small level however how do I use it (here should the bubble be) to make sure I am at 6.5. As I mentioned I am shooting for 7.5 which meant I had the bubble on the pin pined up on the high side. What tools are you all using to nail a specific degree.

If you have an iPhone use the app "PinGuy" - Make sure you calibrate it first. Always measure on the playfield directly, not the glass.

Lol, don't worry it will be out very soon as it's in the final approval stage.

Agree with Kermit, PinGuy works pretty good. Or get a digital level that can show degrees. If the best you can do is the bubble level on the game, theoretically if the bubble is dead center you are at 6.5.

Ok thanks as I do not have a iPhone but can nab something from Home Depot!

I have a digital level which I really like, but a simple angle finder will work too. I haven't tried the app...not sure if I would trust that, but a lot of people use it and like it so I should really give it a shot someday. Like other said, measure on the playfield, not on the glass (same for left/right level).

It will be crazy fast at 7.5, but if any of the shots are giving you trouble or not flowing correctly, consider giving 6.5 a shot. It took me a little while to get used to the slightly slower speed when I decreased mine to 6.5, but it shoots so much better. Both ramps and both sides of the inner loop should be able to hit with a clean backhand shot (though Death Star is tough!). Even the left outer loop should be backhandable.

SOHCAHTOA: https://www.khanacademy.org/math/geometry/hs-geo-trig/hs-geo-trig-ratios-intro/v/basic-trigonometry-ii

The math is fairly straightforward as it's basic trig where the height of an object is the tangent of the angle multiplied by the distance. Example: If you use a 12 inch bubble level and want a 6.5 degree table angle, the end of the level needs to be 1.367" (roughly 1 3/8") off the table with a centered bubble. (TAN 6.5 degrees * 12" = 1.367")

LOL.... I have no idea why they call us nerds

Are these shipped with standard flipper angle? Mine seem a tad shallow, making that right ramp shot harder than I think it should be.

Of course.

There's dimples where they should be pointed.

What if the lack of a topper IS the topper? The topper is hope, disappointment, anticipation, frustration. The hope is good and evil. The hope is the force. Look at the top of your pinball machine. Can you see it? Have we been seeking what has been infront of us the whole time?

Only a Sith deals in absolutes.

I see a dark black, almost like the galaxy itself...

..and a plastic plug.

You guys can keep hallucinating about a topper all you want. I haven’t lost my mind quite yet. Or hope.

I'm being honest here when I say the other night I had a dream that the Star Wars topper was finally available for order but no pictures were available. I opened the box in the dream and the topper was a Coke can size R2D2 made out of plastic that didn't move at all, lol.

Incredible. How much did you pay for it?

$500 and I wasn't happy with what I got, lol.

I think this has been posted before but here's a shity bug. Playing as R2D2, if you tilt during Hoth 2, there will be nothing lit to do on your next ball and the mode music will still be playing. No choice but to drain out

R2D2 Topper

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Getting my Star Wars pro in the next couple of days. Looking forward to it. Pics when it arrives.

JRR
trk12fire
Pinside member

US Grass Valley, CA

3y 45,300 499 7 35 1

Hello,
I'm trying to do a repair. The complaint was the ball was getting trapped behind the fork ramp. When I go to test the ramp, seems like switch 55 is failing and I can't get the ramp to go up or down. Is there a high voltage button to get it to work or is a switch bad? Anyone know where switch #55 is located

No high voltage switch on newer Sterns

Anybody else have a problem with no power to the fork ramp

What software version is it? I remember the earlier code 0.92 would occasionally fry fork ramp motors. It was pulled and soon after replaced with a bugfix. Affected owners received replacement motors.

Looks like v 1.00

1.0 was my other SW, your right the broken one is only .89. I'll give Stern a call. Thx for the advise.

Weird it happened on that version. Check your 9D board to make sure it isn’t fried.

Stern told me to buy a new motor and board. So far they won't back it up or replace them. After looking at the date, he's owned the machine for slightly less than a year and it's been out of service for 3 months. He purchased 2 Premiums and a Ghost Busters. Maybe Stern will change their mind, I hope. At this point it's not about the money, but a known problem with bad code. You'd think Stern would spend the 50 dollars to solve the problem and make a customer happy. Not that it matters, but the machine didn't get that much play. Very disappointed.

Go through the distributor, if possible.

Do or do not, there is no try.... Yoda must have been a Sith.

Who is "he"? The original owner? Now you are the owner? That issue was fixed many months ago with a code update, so that sounds strange unless the game was running old code for a while.

Stern puts the code out and it is up to the owner/operator to update it. Also, the game is out of the warranty period, so one must expect to pay for parts at some point. Never hurts to check with your distributor you/previous owner bought the game from.

<RANT>
This is actually debatable. If a company releases a defective product, the legal obligation is for the company to correct the problem; some would argue that making a code update available does not fulfill the manufacturers responsibility to correct the defect. I personally would like to see Sterns feet held to the fire on this and make Stern either send a technician to rectify the issue, or replace the defective product...this would immediately end releasing unfinished products into the market.
</RANT>

Thanks guys, I appreciate your input. I've been going back and forth with Stern for a couple of days now. I believe since the code was defective, they should replace the broken pieces. Not everybody is on top of installing their new code upon arrival. Additionally my friend has owned the machine for less than a year, so the code isn't that old. I also have never seen burnt or fried electronics because of a bad code. Sterns guess is that the motor is burnt or the board is fried.

Update, I continued to disagree with Stern and told them that I didn't think it was right for them not to replace it. Then they sent me their warranty policy. I still disagreed due to a faulty machine. Anyway, I asked to speak with their higher up management and the next day they said they would send me the new parts. So, I'm very happy to see them change their mind. I really love Stern machines and didn't want that to change. Hopefully this fixes the problem and the ramp starts working again.

Didn't mean to make it confusing. He is the person that owns the machines at a pizza establishment. I am the person who helps fix them. I am 2 1/2 hours away and only help with the machines once a year.

Here she is! All snug and looking good in the lineup.

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Installed Kicker speakers in the backbox, Plye subwoofer and a shaker on my LE last week and all I can say is wow what a difference! The speaker upgrade was only $50, and I paid $90 for the shaker from Pinball Life ($10 discount as bought 2). For around $150 I think aftermarket speakers and a shaker motor are the two best upgrades for the game. The shaker affect with the speaker upgrade during the match sequence is really cool. Now if only the the topper can be released...

Nice sound upgrades. Be aware of your ohm settings in the software. You will have to change the rating of the back box speakers to 4 and, if you hooked the cabinet speaker up in 4 ohm mode, change that, too.

Someone on a Facebook group had suggested this Hallmark ornament. At first I cringed at adding a toy to the playfield. I looked around at ways to paint it to "weather" it similar to the look on the stock toys, and its actually really easy. Figured I can always just take it back out of the game, so I gave it a shot.
I really like it. Just made a little bracket to attach to an existing screw, and there is already a spot light right behind the mini LCD that barely lights up part of the deathstar, so I aimed it at the x wing. Doesn't block my view of anything, so I think it may stay.

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Looks very nice, well done. A lot of figure / ship mods look out of place but this one looks like it could have come from the factory.