Is there a manual specific to the LE or is there just one manual for both versions?

I got lucky yesterday and found a, supposed, HUO Lord of the Rings. It is in just about perfect shape and unmodded, except for a color DMD and some cliffy's. I don't want to use the term "minty," but it looks just about brand new. Supper pumped!

RingFace (resized).jpg

playfield (resized).jpg

shooterlane (resized).jpg

Does anyone besides Pinbits make a Gandalf mount for Shadowfax? I have the "surfing" Gandalf and would like to mount Shadowfax but I don't seem to be seeing anyone selling plastic for that..

Is anyone still making a left (legolas) ramp air ball protector? Not the one that comes from the factory, but near the path of the dead?

Like this guy:

air ball protector (resized).jpg

If it were me, I'd try "roughing up" the pins. Use some steel wool or some high grit sand paper (say 800+) to get rid of the corrosion. I'd also assume that the ribbon cable had some corrosion so I'd replace that.

Another option that may seem silly, but works surprisingly well is DeoxIT 5:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00006LVEU/

We've ben using it for arcade connectors and it is a miracle worker!

I think the LEDOCD default settings for LOTR were pretty good. If I remember it was a delay of 2 and that seemed to look pretty good to me.

I'm going to do a palantir mod for myself. So, I might be able to make some more for other LOTR owners. The thing I don't know about Jay's mod is about the fader module. Is that just a capacitor or something more complex?

I was goofing around the other day and made up some custom cards. Posting here incase anyone case use them (expand for full size image).

LOTR Freeplay (resized).jpg

LOTR Instruction (resized).jpg

I see the list has been posted, but if you wanted to see images of the figures and their placement, check page 90 of the manual.

It's all subjective. I don't like the LCD for any DMD game. Others feel the exact opposite. I only use the LED display coupled with the Comet "glare guard."

If you can view them in person at a (b)arcade or a friends house, that might help you decide what is right for you.

No it's a 44/47 socket. It's just a 12v bulb though, so they are harder to get in that size/voltage.

The socket part number is: 077-5003-00-80

Here is one bulb that fits the 44/47 and is 12 volts:
https://www.cometpinball.com/product-p/5smd12vba9s.htm

COINDOOR BALL SAVER: Set to YES or NO. Default is NO. When set to NO, this feature is not
available. When set to YES, this feature allows the Coin Door to be opened during game play; the ball
will drain but the game will be placed "on hold". When the Coin Door is closed, the pinball will return to
the Shooter Lane, and the game will resume.

CAVE TROLL SEQUENCE: Set to ON or OFF. Default is OFF. If set to ON, game adds the Cave Troll
sequence to the start of The Fellowship of the Rings Multiball. If set to OFF, it goes straight to Balrog intro.

CONSOLATION BALROG: Set to NONE, MYSTERY, CAVE or BOTH. Default is BOTH. Set to NONE to
disable this feature. Note: This controls whether a player hasn’t seen the Balrog, it allows it to come out
on the following awards. MYSTERY = can be randomly awarded, especially on Ball 3; CAVE = Will be
the first award given from Cave Shots; BOTH = can be awarded by either Mystery or Cave, but at any
rate there will only be one Consolation Balrog; NONE = no consolation Balrog will ever be awarded.

EXTENDED ATTRACT MODE: Can be set ON or OFF (default is OFF). When ON, the 4th then every 8th pass through attract
mode will show the One Ring poem and accompanying light show.

I'm not sure what you plan is, but I'd love to see what you come up with.

With todays adhesives, you'll probably be just fine attaching a glass sphere. However, you may want to think about an acrylic sphere as they are more impact resistant than glass.

Anyone installed gold pop bumper bodies in their LOTR? If so, did you leave the white skirts or did you do something else? I was thinking maybe clear shirts might go Ok with gold bodies...?

If anyone has any pics they can sure of installed gold pop bumper bodies, please do!

I'm not 100% sure what the part number is, but it's a little plastic spacer with a screw. I'm guessing it's one of the gray plastic spacers on page 71 of the manual.

BaradDurHole (resized).jpg

I have one on my Shadow and it is fine. It came with it when I bought it and it was first machine, so I left it on for extra protection. Now that I have other machines I don't see the need for a protector for home use. Heck a properly maintained machine shouldn't need on even if on location.

I get the desire to protect your playfield, but I really don't think they are needed.

Based on your description of the flipper fading, it sounds like your coil is getting hot. I'd verify that the EOS switch is working. Also, check for wear on the plunger and link. Verify that there isn't a lot of play in the flipper up and down (there should be a little so it doesn't bind/scrape on the playfield).

If you are still running stock coils, you may want to try out the medium power coils:
https://pinside.com/pinball/market/shops/1065-apb-enterprises/01414-new-stern-pinball-medium-power-coil-lord-of-the-rings-gnr

Yeah, you can use some Novus 2. I have some small (2") foam pads that I can attach to the end of my drill to help buff out stubborn ones.

As for the wax, some is better than none, but the blue lid P12S has bees wax in it and isn't as durable as the "pure" carnauba. So, if you can get the Silver lid, get that. Or any of the other Vid suggests.

As for what to wax; everything that the ball touches: Playfield, Ramps, targets, habitrails, etc.

The P21S brand.

Unfortunately I suck at taking pictures, but just posting incase anyone might be interested. I replaced the pop bumper body with the gold metallic ones from pinball-mods (aka Zitt's website) as well as red translucent skirts.

It's a subtle change, but I like it better than the white ones..

pops1 (resized).jpg

pops2 (resized).jpg

Not sure if you have seen these, but invaluable if you have mirror blades;
https://www.pinballlife.com/interior-cabinet-protector-blade-set.html

Yeah, they are slightly more powerful coil that doesn't get as hot and fade out like the stock ones during long games.
https://pinside.com/pinball/market/shops/1065-apb-enterprises/01414-new-stern-pinball-medium-power-coil-lord-of-the-rings-gnr

There are some stronger ones that are sold by the major pinball places, but they are too powerful in most peoples opinion. The ones I linked to above seem perfect!

On mine it's #12 - Not Used

Yeah, I put gold buttons on mine. The stock buttons should have a sprint in them.

The ones that came on mine, which I think were original, did have springs. But, it's possible they were not original.

I'm out of town for the week, so I can get a picture next weekend.

I think we might have the exact same setup!

I happen to be partial to mirror blades, so I went with the golden mirror blades.

Here is a pic:

Flipper Buttons (resized).JPG

Here is a pic of my mirror blades:

Mirror BLades (resized).JPG

It's an unfortunate game design, but hasn't damaged them yet.

Not sure if I should post here or in the LED OCD thread, but....

When you are in a mode and it says to shoot the flashing shots (Usually the Red Triangle inserts), the way they pulse/flash it's almost hard to tell they are flashing. I've watched some game videos and even with the incandescent bulbs it's not super obvious that they are "flashing."

Does anyone have any tips/settings for LED OCD to help see the flashing on the red triangle inserts?

Just for reference, there is no cover for that Ringwraith bulb.

The ramp? No. the Spinner? yes.

I can't help you with a figure, but are the finger prints something you can buff out with some novus or something?

When I was shopping mine I, accidently, put it inside and it didn't play right. But, I don't know what it was from the factory.

Crap, how do you do a line through text?

I messed up my post, I meant to say that I did on the inside, in error. And when I did that the ball would hit the end of the wire form and play not right. I moved it to the outside and it plays as I think it should, and which I believe to be the correct way to "mount" the wire form.

I'm pretty sure that's why that ball guide has a "wedge" cut out of it to help put the wire form on the outside of it.

As for the ball flying off the wire form, there are different fixes in this thread for that. Obviously, if your game is freshly waxed it'll happen more. But, there are, relatively, easy plastic pieces you can make to help prevent issues.

Here is a pic of one:

air ball protector (resized).jpg

You don't need to OCD GI.

I think the GI just turns on and off. No real effects that I know of. It's possible there might be a setting in the menu for disabling dimming during attract mode, but I don't remember off the top of my head.

Late to the party on this one. But, you NEED an LED OCD for this game.

Not sure which bulbs you are using, but comet 2-led smd frosted should work great. I used warm white for almost everything on LOTR.

For the green POTD and the red RING lights, I put color matching condoms over them to help tone them down a bit.

It's not the worst game and not the easiest. Just take your time and lots of pictures and you should be fine. If you are going to LED and LED OCD it, you might as well do it all at once, but you don't need to. I believe all the lights can be changed without disassembly. It's been a while since I LED/OCDed mine, but I don't recall having to pull anything major apart to change bulbs.

Does LOTR have "fading" GI?

I had mine for a month or so before I converted to LED and I never noticed the GI fading: it was either on or off.

I have an extra GI OCD, but I never saw the need to add it.

Any idea when that effect triggers?

If I know what/when to look for I can try with and without the GI OCD and see how it changes.

Ha.. Yeah it happens right when you start a game. That effect is part of the lamp matrix, not the GI.

(looks like DCFan beat me too it)

I don't know that I'd make that bulb "guide" a key post as there is a lot of color GI, which looks terrible IMHO. Also, no need to color match inserts. Meh..

The PBL coils are way too strong. If you can't get the APB coils, I'd suggest adding some fans to the stock coils to help dissipate the heat.

Is that a three figure or four figure mounting kit?

Hard to tell, is that plastic broken?

It kinda looks like part of a plastic near the right (Baradur?) tower, next to saucer kickout. Or possibly part of the one that is under Saruman?

There is a plastic list in the manual page 67. You might be able to look at that and tell.

You might try going into the switch test and verify that the shooter lane switch isn’t stuck on. Probably not magnetized balls, but something else to verify as they can cause some strange issues.

I don’t know for sure. Just some ideas to check..

1. Try the switches in the switch matrix to make sure one switch isn’t triggering another (bad diode)
2. Try wiggling/cleaning all the connectors on both the power and cpu/sound board. I’d also suggest reflowing solder on the cpu/sound board connectors, just to make sure.
3. Test the diode on the replaced switch.
4. Push/reseat the socketed chips on the CPU/sound board.

Good luck! Hope it is something simple.

PS - the first video is private.

I would stick with stock or the APB ones. The “high” power ones are too strong in my opinion.

If you are concerned with fading, check out some of the coil cooling fan threads or look the marketplace. Pretty simple solution if you want to prevent fade.

You might want to clean the leaf switch on the flipper button just to eliminate a possible cause.

Can you post a picture of where you put the spot lights? I’m guessing you added extra spots over the two stock ones…?

I see you already ordered a plastic glare guard. While they work, they look very ugly in my opinion. I don’t know if it’ll help, as I’ve never seen the lights from the play field reflecting off the dmd. But, Comet has a polarized film that helps with dmd reflections on the glass. It is otherwise invisible and won’t detract from the look of you game. But, it is designed for a different issue, so it may not work for you.

Also, comet offers a “dimmer” for their matrix products that you could dim down the trough light, maybe?

I'm not an expert. But, I was having a similar issue on a different Sam/Whitestar game it was a bad bridge rectifier.

Sounds like you have some skills, so you should look up how to test with a multi meter and check out rectifiers.

Also, double check the diode on the coil to verify that it is still good.