But the disadvantage of always being in the way when you need to lift the playfield. For me, I'm in the playfield so much that'd be a dealbreaker.

Love the expression lights! What do they add to the game? Vibe! To me it takes the playfield light show and turns it to 11. The playfield can get extra bright, which makes it seem super dark when things like the Overlord abduction happen, etc. Color overtones that change and are choreographed by song and mode.

I've only played one machine with Pinstadiums and it was a very different experience.

When it comes to working on the machine, the fact that they're sunken into the walls means there's no hassle whatsoever.

I look forward to seeing what else is coming relative to the expression lights. They're already awesome, I would not at all be surprised to see further enhancements coming in future code releases with new modes, etc.

Love the expression lights. PLayed them on LZ and Rush and they made a BIG difference to LZ! Possibly because the playfield is so open they react well and affect more... Rush, yeah they helped and I would totally get them but didnt feel as essential.

My foo is a pro when it arrives (budget before anyone asks!) so it wont have them Maybe next time... I'm gonna add Mirror blades for sure. Might even do the "fake" expression lights

Let's just call them what they are, fake hotrails. They most resemble JJP hotrails but fake because just not code integrated rather they are music/sound activated.
Not knocking them at all. They are cool. If I had a foo pro and someone made these into a kit I'd buy them.

Agree. Hot rails are awesome.

Are you sure about this ?

They look to be coded to me ?

Where is the audio pick up ( Mic ) located for Stern Expression Lights ?

Thanks

If you are talking about the Stern Expression they are most definitely coded. They are not sound activated or anything else.

No I'm talking about the fake hot rails everyone else is talking about.

Oh, My misunderstanding, sorry

Stern has expression
JJP has hotrails
Then there's a diy hotrails that is sounds activated as an option for anyone.. there's a thread somewhere on it. It's a good option for FF pro owners
People are using the term expression loosely.
Here is post
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/the-foo-fighters-there-goes-my-hero-hype-thread-/page/96#post-7561472

Sound activated is kind of annoying because it picks up everything. All of the callouts, all of the clicks and flips and bangs, and even shit outside of the game. When the music is playing it is largely on point with just the slightest delay, but otherwise they are kind of a mess. I’d much prefer expression lights that are coded to the music.

Yeah, I'll stick with my coded factory expression lights on my pro Foo cab. Save a ton of money over a premium while I'm at it.

Has it been verified that the expression lights are coded in the Pro ROMs? I haven't seen that verified anywhere...

Mine was shipped and is in town, Baltimore, should be at the pickup warehouse monday

Got to play an LE today, and it's an amazing package. Just beautiful colors and artwork - top notch all around.

That said, I think I am OK with the Pro I have on order. Granted this is only after a few plays, and some of this might be convincing myself so I can save money, but the dead post didn't quite wow me like I expected it would - I think some code magic to make the moment more special could help. Upper playfield is alright but I didn't spend much time up there exploring. I actually think I'll miss the Overlord magnet the most, just because chaos is fun.

Luckily for me this LE is close by if I ever get the itch to play it, but for home use/budget purposes I am quite happy the Pro is on the way. The shots are still just bonkers - can't wait.

I spoke with sterns tech support. Theres a work around we found that they agreed with.

So is the expression lighting code in the Pro rom or not? It's not a hard question.

It is, but requires "tweaking" as they said. Will be awesome to give fellow pro owners expression lighting!

So Jack Danger and the rest of the Stern guys who live streamed the game said it's not coded into pro, but someone working Stern tech support told you it's possible?

Yes if you are on a premium/pro and have upgraded your speakers to the larger 5.25" ones over the factory 4"... No if on an LE and just want to light up the cones

So you have some information from Stern but are not sharing, is this correct?

Maybe it would at least help my score

I agree that some type of callout or soundbyte (guitar riff kicking the overdrive pedal on) would be a very cool way to tell the player that the ball has started down the outlane and the deadpost is deploying. Would be especially helpful in multiball since the game is so frenetic in general. I love the dead post!

Lots of vagueness from those posts from Nethawk and probably purposely so, don't want to get into the back and forth because he has his mind set to modify his pro to a "premium" of sorts which is his right... But there is no way Stern will support or allow mass dissemination or distribution of said "tweaking"... Which I assume could mean either hacking the pro code, or premium code installed on a pro and shutting off features in the system menu... Either way, most are not going to have the tools or talent to pull off this "hack".. precise routing of the cabinet to exact specs isn't as easy as it sounds to get the exact depth and position correct without some type of template, not to mention the routing tools and equipment needed... When it's all said and done, I don't see many besides Nethawk willing and able to try to pull this off successfully.. once you add up the separate costs involved to Frankenstein the machine, and get it perfect on the first try, let alone face the fact that it may all become obsolete with a simple code change will most likely dissuade most people on risk factor alone... I could also see Stern limiting sales of expression light kit node boards for the Foo line specifically, since the pro is not included in the equation from a model standpoint this time unlike Rush and LZ.. unless disseminated through a distributor, who may require serial numbers and such. I know if I owned a company with a premium product, I sure wouldn't provide an easy way for end users to modify the base models to a better model especially if the supply chain is in short supply, speaking of the required extra cabinet node boards for expression lights specifically .

Made myself some hinge plates for my FF LE a while back while I was waiting. Finally got them on today, came out nice.
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Hey Dantesmark !

If you ordered a light kit that requires the 5.25in upgraded plates, then you'll need to order a set. Doug (from speakerlightkits.com can tell you), or else you can post what you ordered, and the community is helpful to clarify.

What we supply you is guaranteed to work for the factory speaker plates you have now, so you have nothing to worry about.

If the speaker light kit you ordered comes with new, illuminated mounts, then you discard the mounts we provided. If light kit does not require new mounts, you'll continue to use the mounts we supplied.

We're setup to work by default and while it may seem confusing now, it should be obvious when you get your light kit and have your PinWoofer kit in play.

A final consideration: if there is any delay in receiving your light kit, you'll be glad we do things like I described above because you can install your PinWoofer kit when you receive it. Also, always keep the mounts we supplied in case you de-install the light kit and / or upgraded plates in the future.

Here is some additional information from our blog:

https://pinwoofer.com/blog/pinwoofer-spike2-backbox-speaker-light-kit-compatability/

Hope that helps - give a shout if you need more assistance.

Thanks,

Dan
https://PinWoofer.com
[email protected]
+1 208-855-0346, 9am - 5pm MT, Mon - Fri

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To the newbies out there who think they are going to pull one over on Stern by Premiuming your pro just a word of caution. They will nerf your mods if they are too close to premium features. Please see disco ball mod for Deadpool for an example.

What does this mean?

Or the Pinball Browser edits...that software is pretty useless now on modern Sterns with the latest code as Stern changed the code with every new release of the Browser software

noice,sorry got Deadpool in my Head

Nerf is video game slang for when a feature is made weaker with a code update. In this case I’m using it to refer to how stern can make your mods work less well or not at all with code updates if they want to. The disco ball mod on Deadpool got nerfed with code and made it not work as it should. It was lame enough that I just took it out of my game (I didn’t add the mod. Was the second owner of the game).

What I’m really trying to say here is, if you want premium features, buy a premium model.

Sure....let me spell out the whole thing and do a write up before it's even been tested officially and then have it end up bricking people's machines...sounds good, glad you thought it through and thr rest of the premium people as well over getting upset on pro owners in their club lounge lol.

Not sure if this has been mentioned, but does anyone else notice the Area 51 upper playfield red flasher at the top doesn’t flash at all during the or in attract mode? Works fine in the flasher tests so it does have the capabilities to work.

It would be logical for it to flash during Area 51 Multiball or when qualifying it, but I haven't noticed. There's no callout that I can remember so I'm never sure what multiball I'm in as I can't take the time to look at the screen during play. Will have to watch for this.

Supply of expression lights is a big problem. Rush prem/pro buyers have waited a year+ and are still waiting. FF prem buyers have been waiting a month so far. Stern has yet to produce a sufficient quantity of expression lights and their supply has been inconsistent at best. Nobody wants to buy expression lights or a topper and wait 9-24 months. Why put them in the game design if they aren’t going to be available when the games ship? It is no fun separating the bling from the game, nor knowing when/if the shiny will come.

Many people sell games within the first 12 months of owning. Many of them might not get to play their game with expression lights. So far, Stern has included expression lights on their LE builds. So the lights are reveled to those buyers at the same time they receive their game. That is the right way to do it. Having them available in stores at the same time games ships is the right way too. In hindsight, any FFLE buyers have their games bumped for more FF premium builds? Must have been the lights holding up the production line, so they build more premiums until they can build expressions. So if Stern can’t build enough expression lights for their LE’s so as to build them together in one build, can buyers expect to see them any year soon? And if not then why advertise the games can be upgraded and get those people excited and hopeful?

At this point, Stern offering to sell you expression lights for their games is detrimental to their own good will. One buys FF expecting to get lights. It takes 6 months before the game arrives. Then one plays their game for 12 months, the whole time waiting for their lights. One sells their game 18 months after ordering and then Stern releases expression lights for it. All that time one hates Stern. Hates them for selling false hope, hates them for shipping lights after their game has sold and hates them for making such beautiful blinkie lights. In the mean time, the game was great. Playing the game without expressions was still great. Everything is great except for a nagging feeling that their game is supposed to have expressions. And knowing one day it will have them.

I have noticed that I don’t recall seeing it lit yet.

The Area 51 flasher isn't coded in the game yet. Area 51 MB in general is not complete. No callouts, little super JP fanfare, etc.

This has already been mentioned several times but here it is again. Stern would love to sell you expression lights and all their accessories right when the game is brand new. However, many of these accessories use the same parts that the pins themselves use and they are still in short supply right now, so Stern is prioritizing building games over supplying accessories. Yes, I'm sure its somewhat annoying but things are getting better and I think we all agree we'd rather have games hitting the streets than accessories.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/argue-here-ff-pro-vs-prem#post-7569646

Go vote and discuss your preference here. Play nice lol.

Yes, this back and forth here is ruining this page.

Agree that may be happening. But that doesn’t make it right. You asked wouldn’t I rather Stern do it this way? No, it doesn’t suit me at all. Also I am a hostage to this situation now awaiting my topper for FF pro. Plus I am not going to order a FF premium until expression lights are available. Stern could take a hard stance about being held hostage to certain parts availability and design no topper that uses them. That’s right, starting with FF, no toppers will use rare parts and it will be built at time games are running. Get your Topper Engineers to solve and everyone’s happy.

I’m on the fence on expression lights as they probably can’t be redesigned and work as needed. So my solution would be to buy chips for it at inflated prices (assume this adds $200 per topper) and then produce 5k expression kits to surplus the market. Cover increase by setting price for expressions at $1k per set. Then sell side surround graphics separately by title for $200. The idea is to go right thru the shortage to accumulate enough to build kits 5k or more. But the problem would be permanently resolved.

Sounds like LE's are finishing up now and then back to premiums. My distributor is expecting my premium to ship next week. Woot!

Buy what chips at inflated prices? They already are, and are buying as many as they can. This might be one of the saddest posts I've ever seen and I don't even know where to start with it.

PREMIUM landed in Phoenix area today!! And thanks to ABF shipping they added an extra hole at NO CHARGE!! Seems to have missed the backbox by 1 inch. No damage to report.
Thanks to SDAMUSEMENTS (San Diego) for being the best distro to work with. GZ premium and Foo premium in less than 1 month from order. Aaron is amazing!

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The thing is the arguments are going to continue in the two threads we're already using for Foo, so now we'll have them in three threads.

BONUS HOLE, aka the "right scoop"