That's awesome! Feels good to get far

I got to destroy the ring last night with all the league guys watching and then brick and drained hard :/

I can't get enough of the game. The lights sound and animations are so awesome. Can't wait to get to vainor at some point years from now lol

I thought I read something about the mounting of the PinSound board conflicting with the mounting of the OCD-LED board. Can anyone on here confirm that they have both and have not had an issue with placement?

I have an LED OCD installed and a pinsound board on the way. It seems they go in the same place. Will let you know how it goes whenever it comes in. And in the meantime, if anybody has any creative mounting solutions I'm all ears

Please let us know, I was the one who originally asked the question in PinSound Whitestar thread where someone had installed Pinsound and was customizing the sound. I have LED OCD on the shelf waiting to be installed in a couple of weeks, and after seeing the Pinsound LOTR youtube videos it has moved onto my soon to be purchased list as well.....

To the fantastic LOTR fixit team,

I have an issue that I can't seem to fix. Machine works well but upon shooting the ring during normal play, the ball gets stuck in the Ring well and does not drop out onto the playfield or go through the ring and get onto the habitrail.

I think that I have worked it out and it's mechanical. The spinner switch is working well and the Optos are fine as I checked this in the switch matrix. The ball comes in during a mode and just sits there. No movement after the magnet turns off. Checked this with a paper clip and I see that the magnet turns off. Doesn't seem to be a problem electrically.

If I push the ball through with my finger, it goes to the back and everything is fine. Ball returns to the habitrail and play proceeds. Also after the mode is started, the ball goes through the ring and through to the back normally.

Do I need to rebuild the ring assembly? A shim to give it more angle to drop backwards?

Just asking the collective...

Thanks!

Could it be magnetized balls? I mean the ball should fall forward by gravity or get sucked to the back by a pulse of the magnet. Take two balls and put them on a flat surface like a table and see if there is any attraction.

Nope. Just changed them. New Carbon Steel ones.

I did forget to mention that.

could the clear funnel in ring be broken or have a piece of debris in it? have you felt the inside of the funnel to see if it is smooth? if not maybe the magnet is not turning off....

Thank you both for the suggestions.

The magnet is turning off. I was afraid of that before and suspended a paper clip when the mode is triggered. Clip is captured as well then releases when the mode starts. I don't think it's the magnet now.

The clear plastic funnel seems to be smooth and unbroken. Nothing in there to "catch" onto the ball. Sticking a finger in there I don't find any rough spots.

Has any one had to adjust their funnel/ring to overcome this? My guess is that somehow it needs to me tightened up, but I can't see where to tighten anything.

Works fine! Just install the Pinsound board higher up on the metal back plate. There's room for the LEDOCD at the bottom. Here's a pic of mine I installed today...

lotrpsocd (resized).JPG

Thanks. That solves one puzzle.

I have heard other sound packages on other games that were ok, but yours really enhances the game. After owning my game for 5 years, I would love to install your sound package, great job.

I'm thinking of re-rubbering my LOTR. Anyone have recommendations on a kit or colors you've used that look good?

I used clear or translucent rings and bumpers. But I did use various colored post rubbers to set off the playfield.

I only use perfect play rubbers from Pinball Life if I'm not using traditional rubbers. IMHO they are the only thing that plays close enough to traditional rubber to satisfy my rubber snobbishness

I like the black rubber look. So I'll order a black kit. Not sure clear would be bad but maybe not good?

I also like black on LOTR. It is an intentionally dark game and I think black rubber suits the playfield just fine.

Just don't forget about:
"There and Back Again"
"Valinor"

Can somebody post a pic of their right ramp switch i just noticed mine wasn't working and found this i just bought this lotr

IMG_7644 (resized).JPG

Your just missing the small nut there. (regular nut with nylon insert)

IMG_4396 (resized).JPG

Probably slipped off during transport and sitting in the bottom of the cabinet somewhere

Perfect thanks

You likely broke off the threaded shaft part from the ramp. I was able to fix mine when that happened.
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/lotr-sword-ramp-switch-thread-shaft-broken-off

It appears your lower threaded shaft part is broken off as well.

Good catch! Will keep an eye out for a small screw to use there.

Thanks for all the input....my auto plunger works, but sometimes it takes several tries to get the balls out of the shooter lane during a multi ball. When I inspected the plunger there seems to a lot of side to side play....I suspect this might be the problem? Has anyone seen this before?

The forks that auto plunge can become bent and yeah not launch the ball right. You want to visually and physically verify both are in contact with the ball at rest and fire so they hit at the same time, or it will go sideways/wonky out the shooter lane.

Completely agree. Also, the Stern auto-launchers have two white plastic bushings that wear out and sometimes need to be replaced. Check those while you're in there...

I have an odd issue:
Running the flasher and coil diagnostics doesn't do anything. When I got the game, the diagnostic buttons on the coin door weren't working. I've since replaced them, and and can now navigate the menu system. The switch test matrix works too, but I get nada when I kick off the flasher diagnostic and the coil diagnostic.

Any ideas? The fuses look fine, but I haven't actually tested them yet.

Thanks in advance!

Ohhh didn't know about the bushing,, nice to know!

The high power gets disabled when the door is open, did you pull the white plunger thing so it enables? Otherwise when the coin door is shut does the flasher(s) work in normal game?

Yes--I meant to mention that the coils and flashers work during the game, which is why I've been so perplexed. I'll look into the white plunger thing--thank you!

there are usually 2 white switch thingers. I circled one I think pulls out. One of them does!

28a (resized).jpg

Yep, that was it. Thanks again, I appreciate it!

And now that you mention it, I remember reading about that somewhere, but had completely forgotten about it until now. Oh, well--I doubt I'll forget again!

Awesome...I think the bushings are the issue....mine are completely worn, which is allowing the auto launcher to move side ways too much....now the search to find new one's

http://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/545-5050-00

I'm thinking about springing for a ColorDMD. Everything I've seen has suggested strongly that LED vs LCD ColorDMD comes down to personal preference. Has anyone seen both on LotR, and do you have a preference?

I personally love dots, both can do dots but the led looks more retro dmd. The LCD can do that smooth version and I'm meh about it.

LCD and DotXL is my personal preference for LOTR.

I have LCD color dmd with scan line mode setting (I think that is what it is called). My son was the one who picked that mode. At first I thought why? But I really think it is the happy spot between LCD dots and that ultra smoothed out mode (that just looks "too polished" for a DMD game IMHO. I've yet to see the LED color dmd in person, so can't comment except that it locks you into just dots. Color dmd is a must have mod for this game, again...just my opinion.

LCD. I've installed a few LED ones and a bunch of LCD. To my eyes the LCD kicks it hands down. There is something about the LED that makes it look out of focus to me. Like each color shifts inside each pixel of the display.

LCD all the way. And it happens to look fantastic in LOTR.

Which setting do you run?

What he said

I've had both in mine and prefer the LED although admittedly it's a close call. Pretty sure I've posted more detailed reasons and favorite settings somewhere in either this or the "led vs lcd" thread if you're curious.

Summary: much better color saturation on the LED.

In LOTR I run scan. It definitely takes a little while to adjust to, but after you overlook the odd text and faces, it's awesome.

1) Stern Whitestar pins flipper linkages and coilstops can cause a lot of buzzing when worn. Replace both, i.e. rebuild the flippers. Several threads on here about this.

2) Unfortunately perfectly normal for a stock LOTR. Good news that PinSound now supports Whitestar pins and that some LOTR fans are already working on PinSound files for LOTR, both stock and custom. Several threads on here about this.

I haven't listened to the video, but assuming it is the normal hum/buzz, check out this thread:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/tspp-speaker-humbuzz-fixed

The fix works on TSPP and LOTR. Cheap way to improve the sound quality, makes a big difference!

I am a big LCD / dots fan. LED is a little bright for me and I am not a big fan of the smoothing.

I personally like the LCD but as far as what type of display settings.....it really depends. On the games that have detailed graphics for the display I prefer the Hi Resolution, however, some of the other games looks better with the XL dots.