I like the m4 as a possible worst case scenario back up, but I guess my question is will the image size line up correctly with the projection screens in the game? I see with most of these mini projectors the only way to increase or decrease screen size is by physically moving the unit closer or farther from the projection screen. Obviously we wouldn’t be able to do that with it mounted in the machine under the apron. Thoughts?

... And I'm in.

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Enjoy! Best game out there.

I absolutely agree. I have thought about selling because of the prices but, I just can't. Its such a great experience playing this game.

So I was just wondering…is there a Mod of Vecna’s house with a blueish light inside? I added a picture? Would be really cool.

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But why not just take the almost $10,000 in profit already on my waitlist just to find a plug and play replacement for those Premium/LEs? I would think this would be the logical first step because that one will be most likely to retrofit right into the pro

Give the Pinball Ninja some time... If a problem is gnawing at him, he will very likely come up with a solution.

Did you compared both cpus in the backbox? Would be intresting if there is any difference on the boards.

https://a.aliexpress.com/_mtYsLre
Kodak projector can be found on aliexpress. For a bit cheaper.
But it seems to have also a battery inside.

The Pro and Premium CPU boards are identical, at least visually. Part numbers are the same too. But i suspect the cpu board gets memory flashed at the factory for their intended application (be it Pro or Premium.) This may prove to be a problem, unless there is some way to re-flash the board with the appropriate code. i suspect neither you nor i will ever be able to do that. It kind of sucks because you are now married to Stern if there is ever a CPU board problem with any game. Right now that's probably not a huge issue. But older games (even older games with Node boards) are being sunset. For example you can't get earlier versions of Node board at this point. Stern has sunset those boards. Which means, at least in the short run, you could be screwed if you have a node board failure, as Stern won't sell you a replacement.

This whole thing goes against what Stern originally told us with node boards.... "it will be better, cheaper, with a failure, just buy a new and cheap Node board." With like 15 different Node boards, and the price of them $100 to $400, that really turned out to be a lie.

Here's a screenshot of the email conversation with Lonnie and another one with Chaz.
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Can someone please point me towards where to find the upgraded material to apply to the screens that will make the images brighter? Can't seem to track it down through search. Thanks in advance.

Here's the link for the material:

https://shop.elitescreens.com/store/p127/Sample_Screen_Material.html

It's called Starbright9 instead of Darkstar9.

And here's the thread:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/diy-stranger-things-prem-le-darkstar-9-screen-details

I wonder if the game code is signed...If not, perhaps a motivated person could use a hex editor to find the appropriate guard in game code and make it zig instead of zag.

Out of curiosity--if running Prem code on a pro CPU, what do you see on the lcd? Is it the same as on Prem, or is it showing what you would see on the pro?

If it's the same as Prem, maybe second HDMI port is disabled in bios/UEFI? If not, and it shows pro lcd, I could definitely see it being some check in game code.

The game runs and plays fine but the HDMI port for the projector is disabled.

I swapped in the working MPU my black knight during my troubleshooting and the HDMI port was disabled on that as well.

Once I received the new MPU from stern it fired right up no problem. Something is causing him the HDMI port to be disabled.

This would be an interesting thing to figure out because it's be cool if you could enable the port and then have projector mapping mods for other games triggered by the factory code.

That's cool. But asking more what's displayed on the main lcd for a pro running premium code as it may give a hint where the checks are in code. If the main lcd acts the same as a premium I suspect the check would be something lower level, like bios etc.

Could maybe try to cross check with games like star wars that also have a second display (assuming that's using the second HDMI out on the screen above the 3 bank).

Or see if a Star Wars will operate fine (with mini lcd) when swapping in a “regular” generic spike cpu. If it does, then ST might have a unique lock. Maybe someone in the Star Wars owners thread had to swap an cpu at some point.

That would be an interesting test as well.

I was thinking a test where you use eg a Star Wars cpu in in STh as a starting point. And then possibly some comparisons in game code, etc.

when running the Premium Stranger Things software on a Pro the HDMI port is not really disabled... You don't get a "no signal" message on the projector, which means it IS getting a signal... just it's a "blank" signal. The projector is displaying something, but it's merely a light blue blank screen, which really shows up as nearly nothing. I guess it's better than "no signal", which is indeed what the projector displays when there is no signal.

Cool. I wonder what would happen if you take, e.g., a Star Wars board and pop it in?

If somebody cracks this, the Pro will absolutely be the definitive Pro to own from Stern I think! This would be a revelation, fingers crossed!

or this :

acdc twd (resized).jpg

happends when i get a 2nd hand replacement CPU for my TWD, still with the ACDC code on it

HAHAHA

Looking to get back into the club. Started watchin the show again and am almost through season 3. What a great season. WIthout reading all the posts is there any way to add some of the newer monsters or has code updates totally stopped. Looking for a Pro as I think the premiums have shot past my budget .

I'm on 1.05, and there are clips from season 3 & 4 that play in attract mode, but I don't know if that's just because the code I'm using is custom...(?)

Yeah, that's not from Stern

Ah. Thanks, wasn't certain.

Are there any games that people would say are similar to Stranger Things in terms of simplicity of the code but a grind to get to the final wizard mode?

I’m really enjoying Stranger Things but thought casual pinball guests wouldn’t as it can be a bit brutal and fast but I had some guests round and they absolutely loved it. Some of the easier games that I know they’d like wouldn’t have enough to keep me interested, I have limited space so that matters too.

Stranger Things just seems to be a lovely balance of easy to explain but still plenty to do, so I’d love to know if there’s anything similar, something with modes too. Thanks!

Elvira HoH's pretty simple to grasp and not super-deep. There's also pretty frequent multiballs. The only question is if the humor hits. I liked the camp, my kids hated it and thought it was dumb.

One of my problems with Elvira is the final wizard mode is such a disappointment, I feel like Gappa Angry is the best mini wizard mode but the fact you can cheese getting to it by draining mbs during ball saves let’s it down imo. Agree that it’s great for guests and quick explanation though.

Yeah, that's a different criteria. For casual guests that you just want to understand the game quickly and get rewarded with cool things in the game who will have no chance of seeing the final wizard mode anyway, Elvira's a great choice.

I have LOTR in the house and I feel like it’s pretty guest-friendly (modes, fairly frequent multiball action) and yet challenging enough to get to Valinor.

GB and DP are probably in the list of games guests would like but I’m not sure would be deep enough for me to keep a long time at home. GotG similarly (I don’t have many plays on it / don’t know much about it)? Even if you have limited space you could just trade out sooner than later if a game doesn’t hold your attention for a long time.

Offering a very nice Wh20 in MD soon for anyone that is thinking of leaving the club

Loving the new backglass…makes it pop

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It’s funny because I thought it was going to be one that people played 1 game on and shake their head and move on to something else but it was the favorite by far. They didn’t even need to know the theme, one guest said she loved the ‘gorgon-flower’ lol

Thanks for the suggestions. GotG was one I wondered about, straight into a mode, obvious Groot target, 2 flipper games are good as some still don’t use additional flippers on other games. I’d love a LotR but not being able to bump up a ball save might make it too quick for guests, unless I’m wrong on that?

But simple fun in a way that Munsters (which was also supposedly supposed to be simple fun) totally failed. Where Stranger Things is fun, Munsters is quickly boring. Given how much I was looking forward to Munsters, it was a real disappointment in that regard.

SThings is simple but fun, while theme is of course very good & working well with the pin

still experiencing our (in location), and here're 2 more small points that may need attention from the code side

- (already said) get BONUS HELD in the game, not in the mystery, this is way too much important in the scoring
- 1 smart bomb per game only : add more ! thrue gameplay and/or mystery
- (linked to above) sometime, hasard is making things bad (i know you can roll the modes before starting them) : as you have started DEMOGORGON, the ramp is down (and you really dont want to shoot for it, level 1 & 3), than you start MONSTER HUNTING or ISOLATION (and oups, have to shoot for the drops or the center trap)... i know what 99% will think : in these cases, your fault/bad luck, than shoot for the DEMOGG first

Cant wait to get it I love the theme. Curious why casual players like it?? Is it the ramps? Shooting the flower? The pro seems kind of bare. Not much "kinetic satisfaction" as Elwin calls it.

well, may be not too much here (lol) as while its set up, its very hard to "get in"
in something like 100 games, i think i'm at... 3 shoots in the hole

i cant/will not tweak that, its a (home) location pin
same with the PP on the playfield, this is so bad, it makes ball jumping quite every time it in the inlanes, when falling from the ramps

Think it’s mostly the demogorgon. Shoot the ‘gorgon-flower’ is easy and satisfying, more so with a shaker motor too I think. The uv kit kicking in was popular too. There’s also not a feeling of not understanding what’s going on and you can shoot basically any shot to get something to light up on the playfield. You don’t have to look up at the screen to know what’s going on either.

I’d actually say people were making most ramps and shots in general on AIQ but then when they had to select a gem quest they got all flustered, selection would time out just as I had explained again what they had to do and it would start and then there was too much going on.

Even so, just from watching I thought people would say AIQ was their favorite because to me it looked like that was what most people were doing best on.

I think it’s easy to forget how early on in a game non-pinball players need something rewarding for it to be fun. Just making a few ramps isn’t fun enough for most. I should have known because JP has also been popular in the past with the ball eating trex, even though no one gets past the second paddock.

I think Stranger Things will be here quite a while!

Tweak it, it makes the game better and more fun and makes guests clap themselves lol

I can’t remember if there’s any adjustability in there re: ball save or target game time. I feel like Mrs. Blizz has maybe mentioned once or twice something about not getting a ball save & I’ve explained the difference between that and newer machines that are more giving…but in general I’d say some (a lot?) of casual’s games end pretty quickly ball save or not and it’s not too frustrating for them as they can just hit the start button again in a home environment.

People do love the demogorgon. Casual players also seem to magnet to center shots & on STh that means 1) demogorgon opportunities and 2) quick games

Question: during gameplay does the action button LED do anything other than occasionally flashing red? Does it flash different colors on different modes?