Many thanks Scandell and Cabal!
I was going to revert to the old boring April until you guys were able to update but looks like I don't have to now. Thanks for updating so quick!
Losing the high scores and having to go through my game options again sucks, but it's still worth it.
...
So I was having an impossible time re-formatting my sd card in windows. Because of all the partitions it wouldn't burn and there was seemingly no easy way clear them. If anyone else is having this problem I stumbled onto a nifty hack: Put the SD Card into a camera (mine is an old Nikon SLR but I'm sure any camera that uses an sd card would work) and format it for the camera. I put it back into windows and is was back to one drive partition; did a quick format and I was able to burn the new .raw file.

you can save your settings and highscores like this (with an usb-stick):
stick a usb-stick into the mainbaord
you can save your highscore on a usb stick.
stick a usb-stick into the mainbaord
open coin door -> utilities -> save
change sd-card or overwrite the image on the old one
open coin door -> utilities -> load

if you route a 9feet usb cable from the mainboard up to the front the coin door you can do a save and restore of highscore and settings through the coindoor.

i have do admit i do never reformat the sd-card in windows. I just overwrite it with an new image and balena etcher.
overwriteing is almost the same as reformating. It's more a reformating with data included. But what i learned is that every sd-card seems to be working so diffrent for diffrent people. But reformatting with a camera is a nice trick

Thanks Cabal,
I wasn't worried about my high scores but I totally forgot how many changes I had in the settings. Next update I'll totally backup my settings. Thanks for the instructions.
It's strange how the game has some memory for total gameplays but doesn't for settings. I guess that $3 Ram would've broke the bank for stern.
As for the over-writing the SD I thought I read that win32...(whatever) was the best and that balena etcher had problems. I'll give it a try next time. Do you have to select the drive, and if so, which one? I think the image breaks the card into like 5 partitions. Would it just be whatever the first partition is?
I tried a ton of things in windows including formating each partition and then even trying to clear the partitions in the command prompt. Had no luck. But like I said, I'll try balena etcher next time. Although once I figured out the formatting through the camera it really wasn't a big deal.
Anyways, thanks again for the quick mod update.

Did you notice they use April's voice for a couple more things in this update? There's at least one for when an extra ball is available (seems to alternate with a spliter call out) and she also now calls the extra ball when you get it.

yes you are right i think with win32 it's best to format them before overwriting.
Balena etcher works for some, for others it does not work. but it's worth a try, just plain simple.
i regognized shredder for a extra ball, something like you gonna need it.

I’m looking at picking up a tmnt le and trying out this mod. Looks amazing and makes me want to buy the game. Kind of like the movie code in JP did. Great job. Will message you if I pick one up.

It's even better in person. It adds so much character to April's voice psychological from association with the better animation. It's a lesson in how important animation is in pinball. I didn't think it would make that big of a difference since *I though* I didn't look at the lcd that much. But turns out I do and again, the best thing about this mod is it somehow enhances April's voice with just having better animation.
Funny thing is if it was stock I would've thought too much about it. Hopefully stern takes note (and hires Scandell!). My wish is that stern buys this mod from them and adds it to the next update. But considering that they've already made the bulk (if not all) their money on this title, I doubt they would. (Although, I'm sure it's more complicated than that with licensing issues). If they're thinking of doing another run though, this might be worth it for them.

I first played TMNT when it came out. Played a few games on it. I liked it, loved the artwork/theme. It just wasnt in my budget to get one. That being said, being new to the game I was soaking it all in as i was playing, trying to understand the shot/rules. I was really impressed with the game as a whole. But one thing that stood out to me was the April animation. It seemed as if it was just a place holder while they were designing the game and they forgot to go back and change her out. Fast forward almost 2 years later, I was able to buy a low plays premium. I made the deal a day before I was to pick it up. So I started doing research on the game on Pinside. I came across this thread and I remember how I had felt about April the first time I played it. Wasnt a deal breaker. Contacted Scandell and got the link. Got the game, it had stock 1.40 code on it...Played it, saw April and thought, "For sure im changing the code to Scandell's code. This animation totally fits with this game. Such a huge improvement. For me, the game is complete. Love it.

Anybody up for burning me an SD card of the latest build and dropping it in the mail? Willing to compensate.

pm directly scandell, i think he said he will provide you with code in this way.

Big thanks to you and Scandell for 1.51 code update. Now can’t wait for whatever Scandell is doing for the update this summer. This mod really improves the game imo.

So this mod looks fantastic. Got the files, now how does one set this up? Been using the 1987 mod this whole time on my le. Is there anyway to retain my high scores on the machine or does moving to this and higher code make me lose high scores. If I can retain my high scores, how do I go about it

I’m fixing to try one of these. What all does the 1987 mod include compared to to April mod

Ive tried both...The 1987 is completely different than the April mod. The 1987 mod replaced all Stern animation with the original cartoon footage. The April mod keeps all of Sterns animation but replaces All April footage and adds April to the match at the end of a game. Someone else can chime in as I'm sure I'm missing something.

Pretty sure you can put a USB drive in your game and back them up in the system menu.

As Bicyclenut descriped the intentions are different. On the April Mod it's more concentraded to keep as much original Stern Animations as possbile, but on certain points just replace boring and let's so not so good April animations. The whole image trys to enhance the look and feel and will complete the player experience.
April hurry up was one of my worst hated mode before, now i love it. The videos are now rewarding the work you put in

The 1987 code will as the name says take you back to 1987. It concentrates more to get you the feeling of the original series at that time. For this it needs to replace much more videos and animations to complete this feeling.
For me it's timetravelling me back in the days when i watched the series on TV on a crappy no flat screen TV. It even animated me to watch it again nowadays

Both Images are just incredible and in whole complete each in it's own way the gameplay.

Personally i do like the animations of Stern (except April) thats why most of the time i play the April mod. But when i do get nostalgic and think of the past. It's time to -> back up highscore on usb stick -> switch sd card -> load the highscore again -> travel back in time
just a thing of minutes.

after the flash just go back

Now we just gotta replace the Baxter Stockman animations!

I flashed with balena since couldn't get win32 to work. The file inside the flashcard is stern-spike2.dtb and also has a zimage. Is this correct? Get my game this week. The image is 6mb and the dtb file is only 48kb so I think this is correct.

sometimes you will see several new drive letters when the writing is finished. One should be called "Boot Stern" with the files you said.
an then there may be up to 4 drives shown that you can not access. In windows you are asked to format then, but don't just leave them alone.

What you descripe is sounds to be correct.

The other partitions hold that data, that you can not see, as they are linux paratitions and windows can not open them with the default tools.

Hey I would love to to get the link for your mod I pm u but I’m not sure if I done it right great job what u did. Thanks

Need to do this swap out and save hi scores. Sounds easy, may want to look into that a bit more to ensure I don’t screw things up.

Oh the animation of Baxter, I’ve not even seen that mode yet but I bet the guy could do amazing things. Stern has a hard time with 3d animations, this guy could get em up to par or exceed it very quickly. Man the community is awesome. Very much appreciate it

This is so metal.

That moment when Baxter Stockman wants someone to photoshop his appearance :p

pasted_image (resized).png

How do we go about getting this awesome
mod?

Edit: Nevermind. Found the answer.

Awesome work by some awesome folks!! Thanks for doing this and sharing with us all!!

Thank you so much for making this!!! This is awesome! I am getting my TMNT Stern Pro in a few moments and will be installing this code today!

Curious question say I’m using a windows 10, Win32DiskImager and I format the sd card, I assume I need to format this in fat32 format? Then I can just unzip the files onto the card and that’s it?

I need to find out how to save and transfer high scores as well.

No, you dont just extract the .zip to the SD card, you need to mount the files to the card. Here is an example

Let us know when he's in stock, man!

Thanks for all you do!

Just as I suspected. Thank you! Now if I wanted to retain the high scores you think they are on the sd card already and I could copy the files then transfer them to the new Sd add after the flash?

With the current SD card in the game, put a USB flash drive formatted in Fat32 into the the USB port on the board. Open Service menu and scroll over to Utilities, then scroll over to save. Save to USB. Then put the new Scandell SD card in the game. Go back to utilities and scroll over to load. This will load the game saves over...

I am so freakin excited!!

I think you need to plug your tip jar donation link again Scandell . This mod adds far more value than a $1000 Plexiglas topper.

Need a some help on this mod. I downloaded it to computer n it was like 5 files that I would have to click on. Do you put them all together some how n then installed them on sd card or do one at a time. One said Simpsons n the others said turtle 1.5 that threw me a little if someone could help me out would be great like baby terms I did my guardians galaxy n no problem but I’m not getting this one for some reason lol.

You only want to burn one file. Either the Pro or Prem/LE turtles file. You can’t just drag and drop the file. You need a utility to write the unzipped raw file to the SD card. The Simpsons file is for a different mod.

I assume any 16 gb sd card will do 10 speed ya? Any suggestions otherwise? Sd card purchase inbound

Yes. Class 10 16 gig is all you need.

thanks

Thanks that’s what was thrown in me off Cause when I downloaded the link it showed one Simpson n 4 turtles 1.51 I didn’t understand it. Now I know just do one makes whole lot more sense lol

Make sure you unzip the file. It should say “.raw” once it’s unzipped. If you can’t figure it out, I’m happy to jump on a video call to sort you out. Just DM me and let me know.

Hey thanks so much I will do that. My son is a lot better with the computer on this kinda stuff he said he believes he can do it but if he can’t I sure will contact u thanks again.

Found an sd card link, good price, 16gb and 10 speed https://www.newegg.com/sandisk-16gb-secure-digital-high-capacity/p/N82E16820173124?item=9SIAHRZ8617075&nm_mc=knc-googleadwords&cm_mmc=knc-googleadwords-_-memory%20(flash%20memory)-_-sandisk-_-9SIAHRZ8617075&source=region

I know you don’t use the Simpson file but there’s 4 turtle files 2 that have a l after it n 2 that have a p so which one do I click on for the pro version. Thanks

You want the last one in the attached image. I think your browser is cutting off the file name. Should be the last one on the list. Switch to list view using that icon that looks like a list to see the full file names.

E307EE3B-E81E-48D8-8B3B-74330EFF7BC6 (resized).png