Someone asked me yesterday what my grail pin is, and it’s this game.

For me, the combination of layout, projector, uv kit, central bash toy with mouth skill shot, easy to shoot modes, music and theme, and general challenge all just click perfectly. Locking all 3 balls on the wall (super consistently now with the free ramp cover replacement I got from Stern) is the most satisfying ball lock mechanism in all of pinball.

I’ve done some mods myself, like drawing all new UV ink art on the art blades, flippers, and few other accessories. Super hard to get proper pictures of.

Also added a mirror above the pops, because I just love watching pops go off, haha. It’s one of the many simple joys in pinball.

02F7CEDF-5F44-4AFF-AD0D-135319D15FC3 (resized).jpeg

41234AE6-5251-4E87-BB24-B06160B66636 (resized).jpeg

8E28B503-5C90-4FF5-A9CA-0EF1CFEBF8E7 (resized).jpeg

C3258235-F09F-431F-8988-4620D1B8FFB2 (resized).jpeg

CAEE6E6B-C026-4890-88DB-F594C04A9328 (resized).jpeg

I also wanted to ask the experts here about a light that seems to be stuck ON but only very faintly.

The binocular light still works totally fine, but it would be nice if it shut off completely when it’s supposed to.

Thanks in advance for any help. I’ve been blown away by how helpful this community is! I’d love to contribute to that by answering any questions about my own mods.

D09D39D6-73C2-459C-8A8E-3DB3A977EBA9 (resized).jpeg

Thanks! It was a uv paint pen and a uv flashlight, because it’s impossible to see without uv light. The effect is seamless with the original table art.

I’m debating doing more uv art on some of the plastics, the main projector screen, and the inside/underside of the glass too, but it does show up a little on glass. I think if I’m strategic about placement, it could be really cool.

Hey, so has anyone noticed the the projector gets blurrier after it has warmed up ~30-60 minutes or so?

Like, every time I turn on my Stranger Things and I play I game, I'm like "Damn, I don't remember the images being this sharp"... to the point where I took some video.

Difference is pretty noticeable between the two imagines - 1st being fresh on, 2nd being on a few hours.

I'm guessing it has something to do with parts getting hot and expanding? I figured I'd post here and see if there were any ideas on a solution, but I'm guessing it's just one of those things. At first I thought maybe the lens is fogging, but I would assume that should dissipate after a few minutes.

20210923_104626 (resized).jpg20210923_144045 (resized).jpg

Damn... why didn't I think of that And that's why I love this community. Thanks!

My man. Thank you for all of the work you've put in towards this fine game. I've read through a lot of your tweaks and you are a benefit to this community. If you're ever in Michigan, and if we ever get through this plague, I'll buy you a beer. Well hey, if you're going to pinball expo next month, maybe I'll see ya there! Sneak in a bourbon for ya

Is there a way to edit the projector graphics? I feel like as awesome as it is, there are a bunch of missed opportunities. Here’s just a few I’ve thought of, but I know there could be a ton more.

1. Upside down modes. I wish the drop targets for the first upside down had something different on them, something more distinct to the upside down, like demo dog heads or something. Also, in upside down 2, I wish the ramps had something more unique on them, like maybe odd looking arrows or veins or something.

2. Monster hunting. The drop targets should be gas canisters, baseball bats, traps, etc.

3. Quarter Hunting. Instead of arrows on the ramps, quarters would be sick.

4. When telekinesis multiball is ready, there should be a distinct indicator on the ramp projector, like a lighting bolt, or vans driving up the ramp, or something.

5. When the stand ups are triggered, a new graphic on them would be cool, instead of just turning off. The inserts tend to color the blank stand ups a kind of teal color, so maybe lean into that color scheme with some kind of graphic that indicates the shot has been made.

6. Total isolation should also have some clear ramp projection indicators.

I know some of these might not be possible, because it would require adding an animation mode that simply isn’t there. However, I feel like some of these should absolutely be possible, since it’s just replacing something already in the game with a new image file.

If anyone has an idea of how I could get started on this project, I’d love to try my hand at it. I have a graphic design background, and my wife is good with code.

Okay, so I downloaded it and am currently browsing sounds to make sure I have a grasp on the way this thing works before purchasing the software. On the surface, it seems very straight-forward.

However, the biggest hurdle is going to be the mislabeled bookmarks. I've downloaded both the Stern and The Celand mod, as well as a Jurassic Park LE image, and none of the audio assets are labeled properly. I was going to do an audio mod for Jurassic Park first, replacing the original music with soundtrack score material from the first 3 movies, just as a test to see if I can get this thing to work properly, but the missing/mislabeled bookmarks make this task 10x as daunting

The user-populated bookmark feature is a huge time-saver.... if it would work.

Mine has a small line on it, I think that's probably normal. Can't really see it unless you get up close to it.

I’m trying to fathom someone worried about personal data accessible via a pinball machine vs. using a web browser to access Pinside.

Odd question.

When I updated my Stranger Things premium to the latest version, it seems my projector got blurrier.

At first, I assumed it was because I had bumped the apron / projector when I was connecting the rj45 cable for insider connected, but after futzing with the focus settings for a while, I don’t believe that’s the problem. I’ll get the focus dialed in perfectly in the service menu, yet it still appears less sharp than I recall.

Before I updated, I was using the celand mod. Does this mod add any artificial sharpening to the image? Recalling, it sure seemed that way. Most artificial video sharpening gives itself away by the white edge ghosting on high contrast areas, which I no longer see on this latest non-celand update.

I had a feeling you’d be the one to reply

Nah, I’ll have it on for hours, and it’s still slightly less clear. I’m going to try and find some old pictures of my projector and take new ones to compare.

Here’s an old photo. You can clearly see the artificial sharpening going on around the letters, ie, slightly white bordering effect.

Is there a way to get into the settings for the projector and tweak brightness, contrast, color, sharpe-ness (sorry), tint, etc.?

230E964D-0CE1-48B5-BF18-3F4F1E6EEB2E (resized).jpeg

Here’s a picture I just took. It very clearly looks like brightness, contrast, and sharpness got tweaked when I updated to the latest code.

EBF42F93-20DF-4ECC-8FD9-BA49C9E4094E (resized).jpeg

Now that I can see them side by side, I do prefer the image to be slightly smoother and less artificially sharpened… but how was this changed? It’s most definitely not simply a focus or projector warm-up issue. The real giveaway here is the white-ish borders around the black letters - that is textbook artificial sharpening, which there is none of on the second photo.

I’m wondering now. I’ll bet that Stern tweaks the projector on their end to suit the table. Did mine somehow get reset?

Okay, I just loaded the old software, before the latest code update. I can see the difference from across the room. It’s 100% a software thing.

196E0150-4C3D-4596-A58E-F802FA30CF36 (resized).jpeg

I think there are 2 key reasons Stern wanted it on the apron.

1. It’s in the players’ peripheral vision.
2. Putting on the coin door, where bill readers normally would be, seems to imply that the device is simply a payment reader.

Also, Godzilla and Rush are the best looking aprons in Stern’s collection. Never been a fan of all the triangles and lenticular cards - one cohesive piece of art looks much much better.

So am I the only one that noticed the projector internal settings got reset on the latest code update? Previous code has obvious sharpness and brightness tweaks, latest code does not. If you swap sd cards, you’ll see it immediately.

Yeah, rolling back code to a previous version fixes the sharpness/contrast/brightness settings, but the insider connected version, the latest code, is the one that makes the projector look worse.

I just find it odd that I’m the only one noticing it. It’s very obvious from across the room.

I got a hold of Pablo at Stern, and he said he was going to forward it to their engineering team. He said I was the first person who brought it up.

Any other premium / le owners care to swap back to previous versions to see what I mean?

Could be just a wacky issue with my projector, but I kinda doubt it, since it’s very much tied to the version of the code.

Ok great, glad to know I wasn’t going crazy or that something went weird with my specific projector.

I suspect it’s simply the brightness/contrast/sharpness settings of the projector didn’t get carried over to the latest code. I was hoping Pablo would give us the code to tweak those settings ourselves

It makes sense that the internal settings for the projector would be part of the code.

Let’s say they tweak the insert brightness - that will have a direct impact on the projector’s clarity and contrast, so you’d want to compensate for any table lighting tweaks on the projector as well.

I just wish these settings were accessible in the adjustments menu, that way, we could customize our projectors based on dark home environments or bright location play.

Does anyone know which exact projector Stern is using on this machine? I’d love to buy a backup, or experiment with getting into the firmware myself.

Replaced all the projector surfaces today with darkstar 9. Wow, what an amazing difference! Ended up getting a new GC because of it.

11624C9E-8275-4E72-BBEC-1F4D22376D1F (resized).jpeg

1546102E-EA26-4695-BE44-2C1C44CB16AE (resized).jpeg

CCF0F914-B998-4CD0-8C7D-FE960AB76AA3 (resized).jpeg

Nothing can touch season 1. I believe it’s 100% in the top 10 seasons of television of all time.

Season 2 came close because they introduced a nice batch of new compelling characters and dove into the lore more deeply.

Same reason all the matrix sequels aren’t good - the magic is being introduced to the premise. The key difference is that stranger things has likable and like-to-hate characters. The matrix has cardboard action figures.

The magic of introducing the characters and scenario are what make any movie or tv series great. Sequels are almost always “more of the same but…more!”, which almost never truly captures that establishment magic of a truly great premise and truly great characters. You simply throw them into more shit, and hopefully, interesting situations and watch them react.

Same reason the first Harry Potter movie is magic. It establishes the entire world and populates it will compelling characters. All the other movies are just “more of the same”, and when you have a really damn good premise to play off of, “more of the same” can be quite enjoyable, even if it doesn’t have that magic spark the original movie had.

I could rant on about this crap for hours

I hate to spoil it for ya, but literally every show, every movie, and every song you’ve ever heard is derivative from the perspective of those 20-30 years older than you.

First of all, just finished season 4. Damn good season.

Second, I think it would be awesome to do a seasons 3 and 4 mod. Left side season 3, right side season 4. Replace clips and music from the 2 later seasons.

I was really hoping Stern would do a DLC package that would do exactly this. Insider Connected seems like the perfect way to do it.

But anyhow, I might download pin browser and tinker myself!

Really glad I nabbed a premium when I did.

Yours was shaking the whole time? I think it’s now behaving normally

Typical for what I’ve seen them sell stuff at in the past. Absolute, peak market top dollar.

Does the m4 come with a remote, and does that remote have the ability to flip the screen’s orientation?

I bought a cheap $35 projector from Walmart that does exactly that. This would allow you to mount the m4 upside down and keep the lens position roughly the same.

Nah, it’s just a bulky budget one. Nothing that would suit this application, but I just figured if that cheap hunk of junk included an orientation option, surely these $200 ones have to as well. Kinda surprised they don’t.

Have any of you looked into this Kodak one? It seems to have button controls on top. I’m trying to get to find the manual to see if it has keystone correction (probably not too crucial for how head-on the projector is) or orientation adjustments. EDIT no orientation or keystone adjustments seem to be in the manual. Bummer. The control button on top is simply for playback of the sd card contents.

I have a stranger things premium and I’ve experimented with hooking up a simple lcd display to the output, and that seems to work just fine. It’s interesting how little of the actual projector’s resolution is used. I’m guessing the proximity of the projector to the screen just kinda limits what you’re physically able to do with how most projectors are designed. They do make cool use of this effect in the “where’s Barb” mode - the projector will project a ton of ??? question mark signs that go as high as the speakers on the back box.

https://www.amazon.com/KODAK-Luma-Pocket-Projector-Built/dp/B07RLXZ88F/ref=sr_1_1_sspa

54958A5A-C9F2-4808-9CF3-8336CF1DE5DD (resized).jpeg

So I’m a bit of videophile, and in the videophile world, OLED displays are considered the best quality on the market. However, it’s widely known that LG makes most of them. From cheap Vizios to high end Sony reference monitors that major film studios use to color correct their movies. From Samsung to Panasonic, they all use LG panels. They simply (not so simple) add their own processors, I/O array, housing, power supplies, calibration, operating systems, etc.

My assumption here is that micro projectors could be a similar business. One company is making almost all of them - the ones Stern got for stranger things, and the ones Kodak is selling on Amazon.

So that takes care of the actual display technology, but it doesn’t cover the housing and I/O problem, which seems to be our bottleneck here.

Each company who sells micro projectors would buy the core projector unit from one company, let’s just say LG for example. Then Kodak would decide how robust or simple they want their user interface and I/O options.

If we could get a hold of a burnt out stranger things projector and swap the core projector display with an M4 or Kodak, I’d be willing to bet it would be 100% compatible.

My premium looks identical to this too. Same insert, same dim, always-on binocular.

Maybe enough of us can bulk order some node boards and get a discount?