Sold my LOTR once, won't make that mistake again. Just about everything else will have to move out first.

Questions for you folks who might have installed a Pinsound into LOTR.

1- I know you can load custom sounds and packages, but if you left the original sounds does the Pinsound board make any sound quality difference with the original sounds.

2- What ohm speakers can we use the Pinsound board amps, will it handle 4 & 8 ohms? Not mixing the two, just capable wise for 4ohm or 8ohm speakers.

Thinking of purchasing the Pinsound Plus for the machine, thanks for your input.

Thanks

Remember if you are updating from that old of a version, you most likely will need to and should upgrade the whitestar boot OS to ver 8. I'm guessing you are most likely at 4. You can check by opening the back glass, find LED 1 on the cpu board, turn the machine on and count the number of blinks until boot. If you are at ver 8, it will blink 8 times.

Your right, I just read that again and thought it was cpu, display and sound upgrading. So yes then he shouldn't have the random sound issues if he is only doing the cpu and display update.

I agree on the music, plus I love some of the added callouts especially for path of the dead with the dead king and his taunt laugh. Yeah I think I'm going to take the leap and get the newer Pinsound Plus board. Now just to learn my way around and make my own customized package.

Thanks for your informative reply and you had answered one which I was thinking about already lol, which is how do you switch between packages. So just curious if I don't get the headphone package, is there no other way of switching them on boot up or on the fly? Another thing I was thinking of can we use a 10ft extended usb 3.0 cable in the pinsound board like we do on the spike systems for updating code so we don't have to constantly be going in to the backbox.

As far as it goes for speakers, I already have several NIB sets here that's why I was curious what Ohms will the board handle safely without over working the amp. I did write their tech support on that and hopefully they'll clue me in.

I was listening to several of the mixes and I'm really liking the Wool Remix v1. Yeah I'm going to breakdown and order it and hopefully don't have to wait forever for it to arrive from over seas lol. Thanks for your input.

I'm really looking forward to it as there are some great original soundtrack scores for this movie which would be excellent in the game. Now that they released their shaker motor mod, one must wonder do you still need the v10.02 cpu and pal chip to use the shaker or do you now do it with their shaker and customize it through their software. Hmmm

I made that mistake once, and took me a good while to find another in fantastic condition. This one isn't leaving lol

This may sound stupid but have you looked at the orientation of yours now and compared it to other under the PF shots at that insert to see if the wires are in the same spot? Just a thought that someone might have removed it once for cleaning etc, and put it back in a different rotation then it was originally if that's possibly. I do believe that LED board is a square mount so anything is possible.

I was actually quoting and replying to Goddog about the orientation of his rings led insert being slightly out of alignment

If you are ordering the chips, why not just go to 10.02. At some point if you want to add the shaker motor you'll already be at 10.02, you'll just need the order the PAL chip at that point. Shakers are awesome in LOTR.

It has to be close to 7 years now since I came up with the lighted staff mod, back then I used a little larger led and now I went with a much smaller one but dam 7 years later smaller leds and older eyes really makes thing um interesting to say the least when making this stuff. Okay now that this is done I just have to go pick up my new lotr machine now lol.

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LOl, yep Air Jordans white combat boot high tops. Thanks on the staff, this time around I didn't want it over powering so dropped to the smaller led warm white so the effects of Mount Doom eruptions and such don't get washed out from it.

I can make it for you, do you have him on shadowfoxg already? If not buy one on ebay usually around 20.00, and I'll make it for you for the additional costs for the led, led board and plugs.

Here is a few shots of it off, I make the top of the staff to have what appears to be a hazy crystal on top.
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Amen, I just got back home from picking one up again after years of me stupidly selling off my first one. Soon as I fired up it at the sellers place (social distancing of course ) and hitting those shots we smooth as ice, even the seller who isn't a lotr fan said he just loved the flow on the game. Hitting that start button once again after all this time, do I dare say it was better then sex. (before you flame remember some of us are married 30+ years here lol)

Holy shit, boy did I fuck that one up yes I meant Shadowfax lmao... I'll shoot you back my number for there are options you can have if you like.

I'm good with either way, I don't mind doing another one or if you wish to have the enjoyment of doing it I can tell what you'll need, where to get it and the process of what I did.

PM me tomorrow and I'll shoot you my number can talk from there.

Great price for someone looking to make the POTD mod.

ebay.com link: The Lord Of The Rings Armies Of Middle Earth Soldiers And Scenes Playalong Toys

I have been searching but only coming up with the Palantir Mod, but has anyone figured out a way to stop the Palantir Target from moving side to side?

Thanks

Awesome thank you. So I'm assuming the single one piece splint, not the larger two piece.

This is what he stated:

UPDATE on this show after it went up as I got more details on the new LOTR offering.

1. Will be new LOTR art kit available vs entirely new game (not a vault)
2. Will be new cabinet art, PF art, backbox and translite art
3. Will need a LOTR to swap this kit in
4. New sculpt for game
5. PF swap will be required (ugh)
6. Kits will be limited and $$$

Goal is for Stern to see this and make this the vault.

Now IMHO ( not Kaneda ) in all actuality LOTR Vault or LOTR-R probably will not happen.

No clue, but his cabinet decals are amazing and would love to grab a set of those.

Question, I’m running version 10.02 cpu and would like to know in there anyway of putting attract music on like we can do in other titles?

I have only seen one for the outer ring of the circle.

ebay.com link: Pinball Lord of The Rings Outside Ring Insert Decal

Holy Shit... Pinsound in LOTR is killer!!! Love the dam near movie theater sound experience now lol.

Yeah some of those sound packages are awesome, but the real fun is making your own files from captures that you do yourself. It's great to start off with sound compilations then build and replace friles from those as you see fit. I already changed about 65% on one of the sound packages with files I captured from the movies and edited them to drop in. It does take a bit of work and playing with the gains to get them normalized with the other callouts and music but it's cool as hell.

Not too sure about all the difference from Pinsound 1 to Pinsound Plus but I went with the plus so I can add the shaker aspect to the game too without having to search for pal chip, v10.02 cpu swap etc.. Which I already did before the buying the pinsound lol, but however now I can add shaker to what ever callout or action target I like, in any one of 9 preset patterns or custom configuration for time length, starting power and ending power.

If you buy their pinsound plus board and their shaker motor kit with the motion board, you don't need to update anything past V10.00. So basically the 10.02 cpu and the pal chip is not needed now.

In addition with their pinsound studio software you can configure when and where you want to shaker motor to kick in, for how long and for how much strength. Ok I admit it was a bit hazy for the first few minutes of me reading for I'm a person who likes to tinker and want to configure it my way with my sound files but after a few minutes it was a piece of cake and setting up the shaker command are just a push of the button super simple.

The install is very straight forward and easy to do, just follow the step by step instructions. The one thing I can tell you that they didn't state is when its all connected it tell you the look at the motion board for the three led lights to be ready to show it was done properly. Well if you leave the coin door open as I did when booting up, the third light on the motion board doesn't light up. I was like WTF, I re-read those instructions 4x time re-checked all my connections and was stumped. Closed my coin door and poof the light came on, then I was like duh the high voltage cutoff lol.

I purchased the whole package deal with their speakers and headset station and all, overall I"m very impressed, the sounds are amazing, their speakers sound great, the head set station raises and lowers volumes of the machine and or headset when one is connected plus you can change through kits on the fly with it. I do not regret buying it one bit.

BTW pinsider: Mr.Tantrum has an awesome write up /guide on these and its a good read and what programs are suggested to use that are free use a well. I happen to speak with him recently via phone and we had a great conversation and discussed the possibilities and future expansion on the Pinsound board and features.

I bought set from you on eBay , still waiting for them to arrive but they are no longer needed now that I switched up the shaker motor situation lol.

Already have a mod in mind and ordered the parts just waiting on delivery. Can’t wait to see how it will interact with the game play

Yes, In the software you can call at what point you want the ext relay to kick on, for how long you want it to stay on and for how many times you want to loop on and off as if you were connecting external leds to flash or smoke machine to blast etc... and duration of each cycle.

Is anyone else making a target splint for the Palantir taget other then Mezel Mods? Their material is way too soft with flexing so the target is back to moving again.

Thanks

I found this, think I'm going to give it a shot.

https://www.pinballlife.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=BK3

Awesome, thanks for the product update. I have found that those 3d printed ones starting moving just after 4 games with way too much flex and give to them.

With Gimli all the way....

Two flat pieces of wood and a long neck clamp. One piece above the PF one below both at the insert and tighten the clamp slowly until it presses the insert back to its level position, then glue the insert to hold it in place.

BTW where did you grab that plexi deflector base from, I’d like to purchase one myself. Looks great just wish their heads were facing inward rather then outward.

That's a hard one to found now, the protector. The plastic itself is near impossible unless you order a repro from overseas if they still have it.

Those figures are from this set.

ebay.com link: The Lord of the Rings AOME Fellowship Collection Set Of 9 Figs Play Along Toys

Be sure to check if there are washers under the left orbit ball guide studs, if not I recommend doing that now before the guide starts to dig into the PF just behind the blue rubber bumper.

#8 washers work the best that are hardly even seen.

Yep common issue there because they were too cheap to add washers lol. I just added washers and then used a thin 1/4"W x 1"L piece of mylar under the bumper from stud to rubber face just for some added protection.

I put a washer on all the stud posts with the exception of the first post in which I put two washers, then a small mylar strip as I stated. I'll post a pix.
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Yeah I was lucky enough to scoop up a HUO with 541 plays, not even the ring ramp was damaged. So I took all emergency precautions as soon as it hit the house lol. Took about two hours but well worth it.

Cliffy's for sure all the way around.

Lollipops nope, I went with the clear Mylar protectors that go around the flipper buttons so the full artwork is still exposed but the lollipops are good as well.

Arwen plastic protector I just ordered international so waiting on that to arrive.

Leg cabinet protectors

Small Mylar patches cut and placed under the flaps of each ramp and including in front of the Palantir target and Balrog. Some folks hate mylar it don't personally bother me if done nicely, so I also make a custom mylar cut and covered the LED ring insert along with the three multi-ball inserts just in front of the flippers in between the slings. Basically protecting a high traction areas. In addition any ball drop area from the trails gets a piece of mylar on the bullseye spot.

Center ramp unbend-able post, the stock one is shit. Speaking of shit so is Sterns stock back sleeves post rubbers (hard as hell) changed them all to softer black post sleeves.

Pretty much that's it for protectors now mods lol that's a different story..........

Not sure if it was purposely intended to be two exits but what you get for the shire bounce is a extra 250 souls, not worth the loss of an Arwen plastic IMHO.

The number 8 washers fit perfectly in the black ring around the stud they also have a smooth side and a flat side I put them with the smooth side down to the PF. The wear is caused from the corner edge or low spot of the metal guide getting pounded into the wood from the ball hits, with two washers on the first stud that corner will not hit the wood again, nor does it rub against the mylar. The mylar is basically for the quick direction change of the ball going and coming right off that bumper not to wear in that spot plus I send it back to the stud as well. If it lasts it lasts, if it only last 400 games that is still 400 games more of protection versus having nothing but even on my old LOTR when I did this the mylar and PF has not had any damage from those steps I listed above.

Actually even Cliffy has suggested to install those washers there too come to think of it now

Originally just the Arwen plastic.

Yeah I'm not sure how it's held on, maybe some double sided tape along with the first stud drops through it "shrug".

I see what you mean about the two screw vs the one but even if the blue rubber moves a bit that's not going to wear the PF it's the guide digging down, Stern was too cheap to add washers to the posts as where Williams Bally always had on their posts. I see the Cliffy's fix but wonder with the over lap the extends outward into the lanes does it interfere with the ball travels? Maybe someone who has one can chime in on the install and if it affects the balls path of motion.

Holy crap, I have never seen mine move like that at all. Make me wonder should we sink another screw in there.

Thought I'd take a break from working on the LOTR sound package converting every call out from mono track to stereo tracks then applying stereo effect, finally amplifying every track to a normalized setting without clipping ...my eyes and ears are killing me lol.

I like the idea of flipping the blue nub upside on the ball guide, can you post a picture of it? Do you have the blue rubber resting on the PF or just hovering above it.

Have it in my LOTR and absolutely love it, it's a must if you are going to LED the machine and get the GI Gizmo as well for the LED GI's.

Finally straightened out that leaning heroine addict Saruman, he is upright on his feet once again and added a mini map of Middle Earth which isn’t quite finished yet.

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Looks great, did you goto GI's, Insert or 12v steady source? Enjoy!!!

Yep, tossed one of the those metal ones in my LOTR two days ago and the target hasn't budged since.

Beautiful it’s exactly like mine with 541 plays. Is it a 2004 run machine? The PF colors look identical to mine and did it come with ver 8 roms?

My Gandalf was the same too, that had to go lol.

Nice score on this one

I know on Monster Bash Drac would start to slow up and make noise, so we took the gear box apart and re greased it up. Wonder if anyone has done this with Balrog

Yep, try carbon steel balls they don't magnetize as quickly. They also sell a piece of plastic insulator for the ramp lock area as well to help alleviate this.

https://www.pinbits.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=13_48&products_id=463&zenid=a1fbadb52611b95977439d62959889ea

and they say dwarfs have no sense of humor.

I'm glad they left it in the directors cut, then again for any fan that should be the only versions to watch. So here I sit skimming thru the trilogy for additional sounds to import into pinsound

Hopefully yours arrived already

If anyone is on the fence whether to order Franck's LOTR Mods or not, I say hell yes!! This three mods are awesome, here is a quick video showing two of them. The ring of fire is not shown cause I cant video and play at the same time lol.

Yep, re captured a lot of the sounds again for it there were many I didn’t care for

Video doesn't really do these mods any justice, they are excellent. The PowerBlades are pretty sweet too, especially on the blackout sequences.

I'm surprised Elrond wasn't there and it was great to see Theoden at the end funny as hell, speaking of which I see that John "Gimili" never lost his sense of humor. What a great and magical cast.

Check fuse

RIP Bilbo Baggins

RIP Bilbo (resized).png

Sword ramp insulator no problems again, for 4.00 its worth it.

http://pinbits2.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=13_48&products_id=463

They are overseas I have dealt with them in the past without any issues.

https://www.pinball.center/en/shop/pinball-parts/playfield-parts/plastics/7205/arwen-plastic-for-the-lord-of-the-rings

LOTR stock power cord wire is 18AWG 3 wire.....

Pending on the stripper, they should be slightly loose and bladed at a slight angle when you pull to strip the wire, if they are too snug then it will chew through and cut strains away or break the wire.

When they are lit solid you have played each of those multi-balls.

Audio shouldn't be needed, just the CPU and display ROMS. If you want to add a shaker then you'll need CPU ROM 10.02 and the PAL chip. The display ROM still stays the same at 10.0.

So if you're upgrading be sure to get the 10.2 CPU and 10.0 Display ROMS, getting the 10.0 CPU just wouldn't make sense at this point. You can always add the PAL chip and shaker motor later on.

No issues on the LE upgrade and we don't have to look at the golden prick on the backglass as well, win win for standard editions

Yes, your missing a lot. Upgrade to CPU 10.02, Display 10.0.

I did and love it, however if you do LED OCD board is a must and get the GI Gizmo from him as well for your GI lights.

To add to that if you do go LED with the OCD boards, don't waste money on non ghosting leds just buy the regular leds as the OCD board take care of that.

If you are in the U.S. look up Chris Hibler here on the forums and shoot him a PM. He does excellent work.

Goes into the shooter lane. Unscrew the wood rail on the right side of the shooter lane, place the cliffy down that the screw goes through the hole and it looks like the other end has a piece that digs into the wood as you tighten down the rail. Tighten down slowly keep a little pressure on the edge of the protector in the shooter lane so it don't move after you positioned it in place. Don't forget to peel the clear protecting off first.

You might have to remove a few screws to lift the wood rail enough to position the protector.
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yep, a drop of clear silicone will do the trick. Let it setup a good hour or two before playing.

Hot Glue breaks loose eventually with all the vibrations. Silicone or Goop glue dries a little flexible and you can always peel up later on with nothing left behind if you want to remove them.

Get version 10.02. That will work just fine in addition if you ever wanted to add a shaker you'll already have the needed CPU version, you'll just need to get the PAL chip at that point.

10.0 & 10.02 are the same code with the exception of the programed shaker routines in 10.02

ebay.com link: Plastic Protectors Set for STERN Lord Of The Rings Pinball Machine

When it's doing that is the magnet still active holding the ball or can you easily push it through?

After the first few secs of the hold of course.

Also some modes hold the ball then drop it out, others hold the ball then pull it through. Did you try other modes to catch the ball and see what happens?

What version CPU?

Glad to hear it but really consider upgrading to CPU 10.02 and display 10.0. There is a lot more code that you are missing out on.

from 9 to 10 it was mostly display, from 8 to 10 there are quite a bit of adds and fixes to a lot of coding. You can get the pair set for like $30.00. Get version 10.02 on the cpu for if you ever want to add a shaker you already have the correct version, the display remains the same at 10.0 then all you'll need to do is get the PAL chip which is like $15.00 or some folks offer it with the whole upgrade set for the shaker to run.

Ok just to make sure you are clear lol

LOTR Ver 10 and 10.02 is the same CPU code with the exception of the shaker motor routines. So yes get the CPU ver 10.02

Display is version 10.0 for either of the two CPU versions mentioned above.

PAL chip is required for the shaker motor to work, this is the chip at U213 if I recall correctly. However CPU version 10.02 will run just fine in the game without changing the PAL chip, just that a shaker if installed won't activate it's routines until the PAL chip is replaced.

lotr chip (resized).jpg

I'm not 1000% sure but I believe the language is in the Display ROM not the CPU Rom. Display ROM 10.0 is required for CPU ROM 10.02 and Display ROM 10.0 comes in all languages so by this logic I would think yes the 10.02 CPU should work in Italian with the 10.0 Display Rom for Italian.

If you are doing the flasher test with the coin door open, be sure to pull out the high power cutoff switch that the door normally meets when its closed otherwise power to those flashers and coils are cut off.

He has Pinstadiums installed with UV lighting.

Piecemeal the parts. The POTD plexi glass can still be purchased, go to your favorite pinball supplier and buy the posts (green looks cool) with screws and rubbers, finally there a million options for the LEDs all over ebay. You can connect them to the POTD insert lights on the back panel or the GI lights which ever you like. IMHO for my liking I went to the GI's.

dup

Agree, actually for several games it is really good in. Doing a CFTBL package now that I finished my LOTR package.

Definitely, probably the best mod you can do this machine. In addition to all the other great mods of course

If you have a pinsound already, no question that is the best approach. I love making custom shaker routines in this machine.

LOTR never came as a pro offer, they did offer the LE model years later with a mirrored backglass and lack of playfield figures. The only other difference was the shaker motor and version 10.02 cpu (shaker routines).

True HUO or excellent condition LOTR's do carry a nice price tag. I purchased mine for 6200 HUO with only 448 plays on it, cpu & display ver 8 which is the version that was current when my machine was made.

Since then I upgraded it to 10.02 and added a shitload of mods.

Pinsound Plus Ultimate kit with speaker kit and pinsound motion shaker kit.
Fully LEDs
POTD Mod and figures lighted
Gandlaf Staff mod, *easy one as I designed that years ago *
Lighted Power Pinblades
additional figures throughout the playfield
mount doom mod
Barad Dur sauron eye, Palantir interactive orb, Lighted ring mod.
Cliffys protectors
Shire decals
Arwen plastic protector

and I'm sure I'm forgetting a bunch of other things here and there but I can tell you I have almost 8k invested into it. To me it's well worth it as this machine still as of today 17 years later still holds its own against newer titles of today. The coding is fantastic and playing it does become a journey, it's great when you're in the mood for an adventure but if you want a quick play then just move onto something else in your collection that night.

I did while I was ordering the OCD board, it was cheap enough just to order both at the same time so I was like why the hell not.

Actually if you are already running v10 you'll need to just replace the CPU ROM to V 10.02 and pal chip as Lermods said, the display remains the same at V10 so it's not needed.

Now you have to add some tasteful LOTR figures to the playfield.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/lotr-resurrection-of-the-improved-arwen-plastic-protector/page/2#post-3255353

reach out to him here on pinside.

I do but on my Elvira HOH not on my LOTR, and they do look awesome together.