I thought I would introduce myself as I just acquired a STTNG. I had to replace the notorious 8 driver board, all 4 coils 37-40 and completely redo the tie back wire plus a few other minor things but I finally got the game running 100%. The machine has been in storage from the previous owner for 7 years so it needed some love.

I also installed LEDs and made a few changes. For the return lanes (and under the slings) I changed the color to purple. I order to keep the return lanes and the flipper area from being to dark I put one purple frosted LED and one white frosted LED in each return lane with the white ones being closet to the flippers. Makes for a cool effect while still being able to see the balls well at the flippers. I also ordered the parts to convert the upper lanes and pop bumpers to purple from the stock red.

I am going to have to save up some dollars to buy a color DMD for this game. I think STTNG is begging for a color DMD.

I don't think this game is as fast as my other games (BL2K, Spider-man and Terminator 3) but the rules set is so deep and being a wide body there are so many things to shoot for and play with like the canons.

Now that the game is 100% working let the upgrading begin.

I learned first hand how important that stupid little tie back wire is to this game. I highly recommend doing the Tie Back Wire Mod.

I had to replace the 8 power driver board also due to the tie back wire. Definitely perform the tie back wire mod/upgrade before replacing the driver board.

Regarding the sound for STTNG, I removed the smaller and cheap right backbox speaker. I replaced it with a matching speaker comparable to the larger left speaker. Plus I enlarged the speaker hole for the right one and then installed some LED strip lighting since both speakers are now the same size. I felt the original sound was noticeably weighted to the left side. Now it is much more balanced. Plus this only cost me $15 for the speaker. I would do this before trying pinsound if that is your thing.

Its pretty simple to cut a larger speaker hole. Just make sure to mask the front side of the speaker panel to protect it when cutting. Also be sure to remove the capacitor from the circuit of the right speaker before installing the new larger speaker. These are used as a frequency filters for the smaller speaker which isnt needed for the larger speaker.