(Topic ID: 258046)
Linked Games
Stranger Things (LE)
Stern, 2019-
Stranger Things (Premium)
Stern, 2019
-
Stranger Things (Pro)
Stern, 2019
Topic Gallery
Woodbury, CT
There’s only two treaded posts on the ass end of the demo that go through the playfield. Put them on those.
Quoted from chuckwurt:There’s only two treaded posts on the ass end of the demo that go through the playfield. Put them on those.
Ok thx Chuck! 41 combos today for me but I had to to stop playing out of Demo frustration! 
This game is so addictive it’s crazy
Quoted from iceman44:Ok thx Chuck! 41 combos today for me but I had to to stop playing out of Demo frustration!
This game is so addictive it’s crazy
Yeah man. this is going to be a very difficult game to beat with EBs turned off. Can't wait until it is all coded.
Burleigh Waters
Quoted from iceman44:Hey Chuck, my Demo shot is less reliable the longer I’m playing.
It’s def rocking too far back. Where exactly did you place those washers under the PF to force it forward? Thx
The other adjustment I found was the adjustable "coil stop" post underneath the "shaker DG coil". My DG was easy to his, became progressively harder, then impossible. Noticed it shook less too. That long adjustment screw had somehow gone fully "out" and when I put it half way back in everything settled back to normal - vibrates more and can hit is 80% of the time.
32B4E8E5-CCA2-4911-8719-F582F1B47FAF (resized).jpeg
Quoted from HighTower:Just finished roughly 4 hours of tweaking trying lots of things to improve Demo...oh man, finally hit the sweet spot. Not easy, but conversion is now 100 times better.
I need a beer now, will post what I did shortly
Very interested. Planning on spending some time on the demo today.
Okay so here's a brief explanation of my 4-5 hour journey to improve my Demo. Firstly, what I've discovered is almost every machine is going to be subtly different, so what works on one machine may not completely solve it on another. And by no means am I suggesting what others have written is incorrect, this is just what I did and it seemed to make a massive improvement to mine (so far!).
I got my LE last week, and had been playing a Pro at the distributor for a few weeks. The Demo at the distributor just seems a LOT easier to shoot, if the shot was remotely on-target, somehow it would go in. Yet when my LE arrived I was lucky to land one shot in 10 games, if that!
Yesterday I was back at the distributor and paid particular attention to how it was setup out of the box and how it differed to mine. Today I set about trying all the suggested mods in this thread and the other couple floating around the web. Here's what I found...
1. Size of the Demo Mouth Opening : I found at the Distributor that the Demo in the Pro there was obviously the same, but the mouth seemed a lot more open. When I came home to compare, my Demo had a slightly different shaped mouth - it was easily 5mm narrower on both sides and the overall diameter of the "hole" seemed significantly lot less. Later in my journey today when I had the Demo apart, I noticed the plastic molded Demo body can be slightly manipulated. Ever so carefully, you can increase the size of the mouth...but I stress, do this very carefully! I recommend if you do this, you do so with the Demo disassembled, remember there are delicate optos in there (do not damage them!). I manipulated it to look "more round" and slightly larger opening, much the same as the Pro model at the distributor. Just looking at it I could see the massive difference from what my Demo in the LE shipped as.
2. Height of the Demo : I also investigated and experimented changing the black spacers under the demo (above the rubber grommets), this effectively raises or lowers the Demo on the vertical axis. However if you reduce the height it couldn't shake or the ball would get caught. Obviously raising it up, made the shots almost impossible. The key lay in trying to open up the angle of attack (next point).
3. Angle of the Demo : Think of it like basketball hoop, if you angle the front of the hoop down more it'll be easier to hit the shot. Apply this to the Demo as others have suggested and it "should" make the shot easier. Now I tried a number of different ways to open up the angle more and angle the Demo down more towards the front of the machine. Putting washers under the plastic demo seemed to work temporarily, but the grey plastic of the demo does bend...so what I found was putting washers on the back to raise the rear of the demo up on an angle eventually ended up after a few games raising the front too...the Demo wants to be flat and will naturally try to bend back to it's natural molded shape, so raising the back ended up raising the front after a few hits...then the Demo sat higher, which is what we don't want. I then tried to put washers under the rear plate of the demo between the demo bracket and playfield...at this point let me say, this is a perfectly workable solution, however the Demo has a lot of moving parts and force being applied to it from both the horizontal and vertical axis, so I wanted to find something more solid let say, I'd just personally rather the bracket remain flush with the playfield if possible.
How I angled the Demo down without using washes: Let me say, if you don't feel confident doing this, then use the washer method. I disassembled the Demo and ever so slightly added some angle to the front of the bracket very carefully in a bench vice (dipped the front), now we are only talking a very slight angle, a few millimeters. Now what this achieved was 2 things effectively....angling the Demo face slightly more down and towards the front, and in turn also reduced the front travel of demo when it vibrates. In other words, when you tilt the Demo head forward, it has less room to travel forward, but still enough to shake noticeably. Now I found that changing the angle down isn't enough by itself, because after 20 games or so the Demo can still rock backwards a lot and after lots of hits, will tilt backwards still, but just not as badly as before - still not enough to make regular and reliable Demo shots. So I needed to adjust the rear travel (how far the Demo can rock backwards)
4. Rear Travel Distance : The demo "floats" on some rubber grommets and it seemed to have a lot of travel front to back - the front we've reduced (see point 3). Sure it needs to shake about but it just seemed to be moving back and fourth A LOT. When I inspected it I found that due to the wires coming out the back of the Demo, the more hits the Demo absorbed or the more it shaked, it would gradually angle more to the back. I'd lean it forward more, then after a few hits it would start leaning back more, also I found most of the demo weight is distributed towards the rear because of the internal bracket that guides the ball and holds the optos. So to get around this I needed also reduced the rear travel distance (how far it rocks back).
How to reduce rear travel distance -> To do this you simple move the rubber coil stop further towards the coil that bumps the Demo from underneath the playfield. Now the only problem here is the screw that holds the rubber stop for the post isn't long enough, so I changed the nut from the outside to the inside of the coil bracket and this game me about another 10mm of reduced travel on the rear, but changing the nut to the inside of the bracket still effectively "locks it off" so it can't unwind or loosen during play - longer term solution I'll source a longer 8-32 screw. So pushing the post that shakes the Demo from the rear higher by about 10mm reduces the amount of travel to rear and means the Demo cannot violently rock backwards and over time make your shots harder.
Now my Demo was still able to rock and shake and take hits, but the travel now front and back was significantly reduced, and when I tucked the wires down the side and tested it, the difference was huge. It would no longer slowly lean back towards the rear after a few hits, and nor would it move so much when taking hits from a pinball.
WINS:
- Larger Demo mouth opening (like what I had played at the distributor and landing regular shots)
- Demo face angled more towards the front and down
- Reduced travel front and back (more stable Demo, no more tilting back after a few games)
- Demo still maintains all it's characteristics - shakes and moves about with good effect
Okay I hope this helps guys, I literally spent hours trying a variety of different things to see what the results would give me. Again, I'm not suggesting this will work on every machine, but it has made my Demo play amazingly well on my machine now - every Demo scene I'm able to land shots with a reasonable effort to aim. It's taken my Demo shots from impossible and frustrating, to satisfying and enjoyable.
I apologise for the long post, but I've tried to explain as much of the logic as possible. It's quite late her now, so perhaps tomorrow I'll try and post some pictures and maybe cleanup my explanation better. I know it's morning in the US so just wanted to give you guys a heads up on what I worked through today.
All right.. stuck at home.. now I'm back in club.
Premium is on the way..
On what page or does someone have a break down of basic rules.. multi balls?
Thanks ahead...
Every major shot starts a mode. Shoot one three times to start a mode.
Every 4 modes played lights total isolation at the left ramp
Hit the green lock targets on the front of the left ramp to light locks. Lock three balls for MB. Shoot 5 JPs to light SJP at the left saucer kick out. Shoot the ramp while SJP is lit to get balls locked again for 2x and 3x playfield.
Shoot center drops to light demo modes at the center shot. Shoot demo mouth for most points. Demo modes 1 and 3 are single ball. The rest are multiball.
The inner orbit to the right of the drops lights left outlane save and 2x playfield.
Stand ups around the playfield light demo dog modes at the mystery lane to the right of the left ramp.
Light mystery by completing the bottom rollovers by the flippers. Every other completion is mystery. The other completions are bonus x.
That’s it! Good luck.
Quoted from mzhulk:During multi ball I got a triple jackpot, don't know how I got it. Has anyone else got a triple jackpot?
Yeah it’s from hitting the left ramp twice after lighting the SJP.
Doing a stream for the first time ever tonight 8pm PST. Stranger Things LE. Praise and flames at https://twitch.tv/dri374
Quoted from dendoc:The other adjustment I found was the adjustable "coil stop" post underneath the "shaker DG coil". My DG was easy to his, became progressively harder, then impossible. Noticed it shook less too. That long adjustment screw had somehow gone fully "out" and when I put it half way back in everything settled back to normal - vibrates more and can hit is 80% of the time.[quoted image]
Thanks for that tip!!
Just watched an LE stream. Some randomness as the ball travels down the ball guide on the right side off that rubber post and into the left sling but many of the balls returned straight to that left flipper
It’s not bouncing off the rubber post. Looks like
It’s coming off the shooter lane gate?
Did I go the wrong direction on adjusting the ball guide outward?
Quoted from iceman44:It’s not bouncing off the rubber post. Looks like
It’s coming off the shooter lane gate?
Yes. Clean feeds should graze the shooter lane gate and clean live catch on right flipper. Sloppy feeds should hit the post and feed the left flipper.
But anyway you slice it, as long as the feeds go to the flipper, you’re good.
Quoted from iceman44:Just watched an LE stream. Some randomness as the ball travels down the ball guide on the right side off that rubber post and into the left sling but many of the balls returned straight to that left flipper
It’s not bouncing off the rubber post. Looks like
It’s coming off the shooter lane gate?
Did I go the wrong direction on adjusting the ball guide outward?
Adjustment should allow it to go directly to R flipper
Quoted from dendoc:Adjustment should allow it to go directly to R flipper
Thx guys. It smacks that post rubber every time. Less so when I moved ball guide outward
I will move it out a bit further until it cleanly rolls to right flipper hopefully 
Quoted from Yesh23:Does anyone make a decal to go on the playfield where the ramp comes down? Preferably with UV ink since I have the light kit
Should have Mylar there stock. Double check. If not there see if stern will send you it.
Quoted from dmieczko:Getting better.[quoted image]
No you're not. You'll be stone dead in a moment.
Just figured this out. Someone asked about burn it back loops not registering and i figured it out.
If you have 2x playfield running, burn it back loops do not do anything aside from mode shots/jackpots, etc. You cannot get more loops until the 2x playfield expires. Not sure if this was intended or not, but I asked Brian to be sure in case it was a bug.
Also, if you have 2x playfield running, shooting the saucer will refresh the timer. So theoretically, you can have 2x playfield running forever.
interesting, that could be exactly what I was seeing. Would explain why draining would bring it back. I had noticed that hitting the saucer was refreshing the timer as well. Kinda like munsters where you can keep hitting the kitty even if it is not lit to keep your playfield x going.
Quoted from Makarov:Are you all cranking down the flipper power? I do get airballs now and then that smack the glass, but I'm thinking it needs the power to make it onto the tk lock. So far my high is only 100 million but getting better
My right flipper it full power and left is 240ish. I can’t remember the last time I heard the ball hit the glass.
Quoted from Ilushka85:Just turned on my new le and projector says no signal... if I disconnect hdmi in backbox projector shows its ui... I plug connector back in and no signal.
Any ideas?
Power cycle the game and see if that changes anything.
Quoted from iceman44:Thx guys. It smacks that post rubber every time. Less so when I moved ball guide outward
I will move it out a bit further until it cleanly rolls to right flipper hopefully
Update, wrong move on my part, had to move rail back in, no way the ball can roll cleanly to the right flipper off of that right rail, its going to the left flipper or left sling now which is better than it was. Thx guys.
On the Demo shot, i hit it consistently from the cradle position, not so much on the fly
From a cradle is crucial. No way you’ll be able to blow up the later demo modes unless you can be consistent from a cradle.
What would be badass is to combo into a mouth shot during a big Run Will hurry up SJP. That would be over 100mm without pf multiplier. Whoa baby.
Is there anyway to stop multiple modes running at the same time . When u have a mini mode and the demogorgan at the same time you lose the footage of the mini Mode
Quoted from Georgeh:Sorry another question are the rings on the speakers suppose to light like Batman
The stock speakers don't light up on NST LE. On BM66 they only lit up on the SLE version or if a mod was added to the base model. I think the only other Stern LE that has this stock is Deadpool.
Quoted from Georgeh:Is there anyway to stop multiple modes running at the same time . When u have a mini mode and the demogorgan at the same time you lose the footage of the mini Mode
No.
Quoted from twenty84:The stock speakers don't light up on NST LE. On BM66 they only lit up on the LE and SLE version or if a mod was added to the base model. I think the only other Stern LE that has this stock is Deadpool.
It was actually only the Batman 66 SLE that had the light up rings (not the premium of LE models) and as you mentioned Deadpool LE also had the light up rings.
Having said that....there are better options available than what those games offered from the factory.
351 different color / light transition patterns, DIY favorites list, adjustable speed and brightness. $75. Different color speaker surrounds are available for $22.50. Purple seems to be a popular color with the Stranger Things LE trim. I am out of stock on the purple surrounds currently, but I will have them back in stock soon.
Doug (SpeakerLightKits.com)
It’s nuts how many light patterns there are with your kits. Took me like an hour to cycle through them all. Haha
I have found myself turning the game volume down and playing an 80's mix on my Alexa while playing. This is the only game where I think I enjoy it more without the original sounds. I'm hoping that will change when they add more callouts to the code.
Quoted from HighTower:Okay so here's a brief explanation of my 4-5 hour journey to improve my Demo. Firstly, what I've discovered is almost every machine is going to be subtly different, so what works on one machine may not completely solve it on another. And by no means am I suggesting what others have written is incorrect, this is just what I did and it seemed to make a massive improvement to mine (so far!).
I got my LE last week, and had been playing a Pro at the distributor for a few weeks. The Demo at the distributor just seems a LOT easier to shoot, if the shot was remotely on-target, somehow it would go in. Yet when my LE arrived I was lucky to land one shot in 10 games, if that!
Yesterday I was back at the distributor and paid particular attention to how it was setup out of the box and how it differed to mine. Today I set about trying all the suggested mods in this thread and the other couple floating around the web. Here's what I found...
1. Size of the Demo Mouth Opening : I found at the Distributor that the Demo in the Pro there was obviously the same, but the mouth seemed a lot more open. When I came home to compare, my Demo had a slightly different shaped mouth - it was easily 5mm narrower on both sides and the overall diameter of the "hole" seemed significantly lot less. Later in my journey today when I had the Demo apart, I noticed the plastic molded Demo body can be slightly manipulated. Ever so carefully, you can increase the size of the mouth...but I stress, do this very carefully! I recommend if you do this, you do so with the Demo disassembled, remember there are delicate optos in there (do not damage them!). I manipulated it to look "more round" and slightly larger opening, much the same as the Pro model at the distributor. Just looking at it I could see the massive difference from what my Demo in the LE shipped as.
2. Height of the Demo : I also investigated and experimented changing the black spacers under the demo (above the rubber grommets), this effectively raises or lowers the Demo on the vertical axis. However if you reduce the height it couldn't shake or the ball would get caught. Obviously raising it up, made the shots almost impossible. The key lay in trying to open up the angle of attack (next point).
3. Angle of the Demo : Think of it like basketball hoop, if you angle the front of the hoop down more it'll be easier to hit the shot. Apply this to the Demo as others have suggested and it "should" make the shot easier. Now I tried a number of different ways to open up the angle more and angle the Demo down more towards the front of the machine. Putting washers under the plastic demo seemed to work temporarily, but the grey plastic of the demo does bend...so what I found was putting washers on the back to raise the rear of the demo up on an angle eventually ended up after a few games raising the front too...the Demo wants to be flat and will naturally try to bend back to it's natural molded shape, so raising the back ended up raising the front after a few hits...then the Demo sat higher, which is what we don't want. I then tried to put washers under the rear plate of the demo between the demo bracket and playfield...at this point let me say, this is a perfectly workable solution, however the Demo has a lot of moving parts and force being applied to it from both the horizontal and vertical axis, so I wanted to find something more solid let say, I'd just personally rather the bracket remain flush with the playfield if possible.
How I angled the Demo down without using washes: Let me say, if you don't feel confident doing this, then use the washer method. I disassembled the Demo and ever so slightly added some angle to the front of the bracket very carefully in a bench vice (dipped the front), now we are only talking a very slight angle, a few millimeters. Now what this achieved was 2 things effectively....angling the Demo face slightly more down and towards the front, and in turn also reduced the front travel of demo when it vibrates. In other words, when you tilt the Demo head forward, it has less room to travel forward, but still enough to shake noticeably. Now I found that changing the angle down isn't enough by itself, because after 20 games or so the Demo can still rock backwards a lot and after lots of hits, will tilt backwards still, but just not as badly as before - still not enough to make regular and reliable Demo shots. So I needed to adjust the rear travel (how far the Demo can rock backwards)
4. Rear Travel Distance : The demo "floats" on some rubber grommets and it seemed to have a lot of travel front to back - the front we've reduced (see point 3). Sure it needs to shake about but it just seemed to be moving back and fourth A LOT. When I inspected it I found that due to the wires coming out the back of the Demo, the more hits the Demo absorbed or the more it shaked, it would gradually angle more to the back. I'd lean it forward more, then after a few hits it would start leaning back more, also I found most of the demo weight is distributed towards the rear because of the internal bracket that guides the ball and holds the optos. So to get around this I needed also reduced the rear travel distance (how far it rocks back).
How to reduce rear travel distance -> To do this you simple move the rubber coil stop further towards the coil that bumps the Demo from underneath the playfield. Now the only problem here is the screw that holds the rubber stop for the post isn't long enough, so I changed the nut from the outside to the inside of the coil bracket and this game me about another 10mm of reduced travel on the rear, but changing the nut to the inside of the bracket still effectively "locks it off" so it can't unwind or loosen during play - longer term solution I'll source a longer 8-32 screw. So pushing the post that shakes the Demo from the rear higher by about 10mm reduces the amount of travel to rear and means the Demo cannot violently rock backwards and over time make your shots harder.
Now my Demo was still able to rock and shake and take hits, but the travel now front and back was significantly reduced, and when I tucked the wires down the side and tested it, the difference was huge. It would no longer slowly lean back towards the rear after a few hits, and nor would it move so much when taking hits from a pinball.
WINS:
- Larger Demo mouth opening (like what I had played at the distributor and landing regular shots)
- Demo face angled more towards the front and down
- Reduced travel front and back (more stable Demo, no more tilting back after a few games)
- Demo still maintains all it's characteristics - shakes and moves about with good effect
Okay I hope this helps guys, I literally spent hours trying a variety of different things to see what the results would give me. Again, I'm not suggesting this will work on every machine, but it has made my Demo play amazingly well on my machine now - every Demo scene I'm able to land shots with a reasonable effort to aim. It's taken my Demo shots from impossible and frustrating, to satisfying and enjoyable.
I apologise for the long post, but I've tried to explain as much of the logic as possible. It's quite late her now, so perhaps tomorrow I'll try and post some pictures and maybe cleanup my explanation better. I know it's morning in the US so just wanted to give you guys a heads up on what I worked through today.
Just wanted to report back for those who were curious. It's been a few days and put lots of games through the machine including some longer sessions. The tweaks I did are still holding up strong, my Demo is playing like a dream.
The Demo shot is oh so satisfying now 
Here’s my latest attempt to try and improve the consistency of my flipper power.
I had a Marco flipper rebuild kit and I noticed the extension spring they included wasn’t nearly as tight as the stern one. The spring and mostly gravity are allowing the flipper to return to rest. This may help my situation as the flipper now doesn’t have to work as hard to flip the flipper.
We shall see. Right flipper power down to 240 to start out and it’s been money so far (previously I had to keep it at full 255 power)
Promoted items from Pinside Marketplace and Pinside Shops!
Vaughan, ON
Reply
Wanna join the discussion? Please sign in to reply to this topic.
Hey there! Welcome to Pinside!
Donate to PinsideGreat to see you're enjoying Pinside! Did you know Pinside is able to run without any 3rd-party banners or ads, thanks to the support from our visitors? Please consider a donation to Pinside and get anext to your username to show for it! Or better yet, subscribe to Pinside+!
