Get the non ghosting ROM. PM me if you need a contact.

Just get the non ghosting ROM and keep your led's. Or get fancy with an LED OCD board.

You can get a new set of the clear plastics from pinbits.
http://www.pinbits.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=13_36&products_id=259

Yeah but that's Marco not Pinbits. I got the Pinbits kit and it has everything.

Hakko FX888D

Lift the playfield, go into switch test, and jiggle wires and listen for switch test activations. I had wires come loose on the molex connector right at the trough opto board.

Re-seat the ribbon cables and molex connectors going to the Fliptronics board. Assume you checked those fuses as well, there's one for each flipper. UR is F901. Note that F902 is not used so is a spare. May have to take that board out and use a multi-meter in diode check and probe middle to outer pins on the transistors Q2 (big) and Q7 (small).

Exactly what I suggested earlier. The wires on the molex connector going to the trough board receiver is flaky. You can see all the opto switches cycling. You'll need to use your fancy schmancy new soldering iron to splice in some new wire segments, then connect them using this tool:

http://www.pinballlife.com/index.php?p=product&id=1590

You have to push pretty firmly for the wire to engage in the connector.

It's safer to not lock a ball into the Borg ship. It's fun, but it screws you up when you start multiball. Maybe you can live catch it if you're really focused but it's easier to keep balls continuously feeding to the left flipper.

For sure, I always do it too. I just hope I can recover in multiball but I usually don't.

Just to share, my best mb combo ever was having a ball trapped on both flippers with no shields. First hit the spinner to raise the shields, then hit the center scoop for a jackpot, then hit the Delta ramp for a 3x jp. I'll let you know in 15 years when I pull off that one again.

I use the AA Energizer Lithiums as well, STTNG and IJ. And 9V lithiums are also perfect for smoke detectors. I used to have those things go off at 3AM. No more. They cost about 6x as much as the alkaline but last 10x as long. But the biggest benefit is not changing them in you entire house every year.

Re-seat all the ribbon cables.

No, original boards did not have rubber grommets. That's an upgraded aftermarket feature to resist vibration that causes traces to break on the resistors.

Looks like it's the latest with the anti ghosting patch. So you're all good.

But only if you've been to warp factor 9 before in that game.

Also, you can start Warp 9 during a mode, including the Delta ramp. So if you think you just nailed that shot to collect an artifact for Worm Hole or Save the Galaxy, you didn't. The mode is put on hold until you finish Warp 9, then you will resume and still have to hit the Delts ramp. So be careful when starting either of those 2 modes.

Lesson learned. Never get rid of it. I'm working on 18 years. After all these years I just recently got GI OCD (got LED OCD several years ago). It's primarily used in Borg multiball but it's worth it for that alone.

There's some really satisfying shots on this game that newer games can't touch, like the Picard Maneuver. I've done it during Borg multiball and gotten "the Picard Maneuver, nicely done" stacked with the Borg explosion, and then the "super jackpot" callout.

Are the flippers always weak or do they get weak as the game goes on? Do the coils feel really hot when they’re weak? A common problem of weak flippers is the flipper opto boards. If they’re intermittent they cause they primary coil to fire when the flipper is up and the hold coil is supposed to be on. Primary coil gets hot and weak. The whole reason for having two coils is to not overheat the main coil.
Go into switch test and hold the flipper buttons in and see if you get flipper switches firing.

I see a ColorDMD in your future

Definitely agree on Pinsound+shaker. I took the Shark ultimate mix and replaced the main theme with the one from ST The motion(less) picture, since that was what the STTNG theme was derived from. I may post my version to the pinsound forum.
Also GI OCD is a must for great dimming effects in Borg multi ball.

Buy the Pinsound kit plus the shaker motor as they work together. They have installation instructions and it's very easy. And either get your own speaker upgrade or get theirs. If you buy your own speakers like an 8" sub, just pull out that fiberboard plate in the cab and use wood screws to attach it.

https://www.pinsound.org/

It creates a rumble effect of the game, much like a game controller would but on a larger scale. It's not really a super violent shake so I doubt it's going to work anything loose. In STTNG it fires on a Warp factor, or various other events in the game. I used to have the Pinbits shaker many years ago but it was too rough so I took it out. I like this one from Pinsound as it gives you some nice feedback without being over the top.

GI dimming is used at the beginning of Borg multiball when you're using the left cannon. Makes it even trickier to aim correctly! I never knew this until I finally broke down and bought GI OCD, many years after I had fully upgraded the GI to LED. Had GI dimming disabled for the longest time.

The GI is cycling bright to dark, similar to Seance mode in TAF, if you've ever seen it.

I never have flipper hop and I have black rubber. Maybe post a pic and I'll compare. It's possible you can loosen the lane guides, adjust them slightly and tighten them back.

I have originals you can have.
EDIT: I can send them to Cliff

image (resized).jpg

I wonder if the slight curve at the ends of mine are worn or by design.

I bought the original extended lane guides from the someone in the The Netherlands back in the rgp days.

They must have just raised prices because I bought direct for $369.95 on the 16th. Wouldn’t be surprised to see a price hike at Planetary soon.

No.
I made that mistake. Go all LEDs in your GI and get GI OCD. At the start of Borg MB, when you’re playing the left cannon, all the GI is oscillating and it’s sweet. I had GI dimming turned off for years.... so dumb.

We need to get that quote, plus a few of the "silly ROM" quotes, in to the mix with Pinsound. Every time Picard says "We will never surrender!" I will say back "unless you pay us enough!" in my bad Picard impersonator voice.

So does anybody know of a way to actually pull the audio clips from the STTNG "Special X7" ROMs? I supposed you could install the vpinmame emulator and play the game and get it to play all the sound bytes during a game, and record them. But, they might be mixed with other music. Still though, I'm tempted to try this unless there's an easier way that somebody knows of.

These are the sounds I want:

Maybe I can record the audio from YouTube.

I do see a mix here that might be it: STTNG_Music_Levelling_SFXMIX_Special_ROMS.zip
I'll give it a shot...

EDIT: Yep that's it! You can see all the new quotes in the "voice" folder. Now to add these in to the STTNG_Ultimate.

GI OCD. Then get a patched ROM that eliminates ghosting of the inserts.

Anybody install BriteCaps EVO? Thinking about getting them for IJ and STTNG. Obviously can only install 2 in STTNG.

https://www.pinballlife.com/britecaps-evo-pop-bumper-lighting.html?Category_Code=

That is the latest but if you have LEDs in the inserts and don't have LED OCD, then get a ROM with the non-ghosting patch. Otherwise you will see some inserts flicker when they should be off.

Pro tip: Only use 9V lithiums in smoke detectors. They are both good for about 10 years. No more low battery alarms at 3am.

Nice! Mine is similar, a little lighter.

3607ADC2-7F9D-4093-99BF-A8D2D7099F98 (resized).jpeg

Nice! But video mode artifacts make baby Jesus cry. House rules: skip the video mode
The game should really reset artifacts once you hit FF, otherwise scores get insane.

Op

I hear ya, I do love the huge bonus on round 2, but since you can time out modes, you can take advantage of that. If you could modernize the rules, the artifacts could reset but you earn 2 on the 2nd round until you match the round 1 artifact count (so if you had 4 in round 1, then the first 4 modes in round 2 that you earn artifacts on give you a bonus artifact).
I also wish after Warp 9.9 that the Delta ramp gave you something valuable like a lot of points, or maybe the Picard Maneuver was worth 100M.

Really looking forward to getting my EPROM updated!

It looks correct. It’s possible the switch has just gone bad and needs to be replaced.

I tried installing an EEPROM that didn't work, and when I put my LX7 back in, the game locks up after about 1 minute. I did take the CPU board completely out but I believe I put all the cables back in place. Any ideas?

I believe I found the problem. Years ago I did a poor repair job on one of the large capacitors on the power driver board and I must have bumped it when removing cables. I pushed it back in and then I was able to play for a while. I had pulled the through hole copper connector out removing the old cap and had put a piece of solder in there as a substitute. Still not sure how to really fix it better.

If you two bears don't stop fighting, I'm gonna get out the Panoplied stick! Don't say I didn't warn you. Now shut your corn hole and finish all kind of your homework.

We will NEVER surrender, unless you pay us enough.

When it gets soggy, is the coil super hot compared to the other flipper coil? If so it's a bad flipper opto. Replace the board or the optos on the board.

An artifact for Warp 9.9 and a big score would be great, but it already has a great animation sequence of the Enterprise so not sure how to put the two together.
Also “the Picard Maneuver” should be worth something decent.

Had a great stack last night, Q and Borg MB. Always great when lock 3 is lit at the orbit and you start Q's Mission. Crazy thing is, after I dropped out of MB, I got 2 locks, with the 2nd being in the Borg ship. Should've focused and done the unthinkable, a second Borg MB in Q. Now I have a goal. Anyway, finished with I believe 1.27B in Q. Need a dedicated high score table for it!

Takes some up close pics and post them! Congrats and welcome to the club.