Thanks all to your support and Gerry. If i can find a solution for the lightshow it’s great. There seems to be some good leads. I look forward to know more.

1st test on the RGB led displayed installed. The image quality is amazing. On the video, there is some scanline but it's a video effect. Seems hard to make a perfect video with it because of its frequency and brighness and maybe it was a bit dark too.
The performance with this display is perfect with windows 10 but I need to check with UBUNTU my current test kit to get the same result.
This display really looked like the old one in color and really faithful of it. It takes less than 3 minutes to install: plugged to the WPC board... I mean this is great.

regarding the other display:
The LCD display I'm using, is the same used on other projects and for sale on Pinball life, has some brighness when we look on the side and else. I need to see if I can find another one even better. The image looks great too but due too its size, I need a brackets to install it and set up the screen position perfectly in the settings.

my first RGB led test in video installed:

Here are pictures of the RGB led. It fits exactly like the original and plugged on the J138 plugged on the WPC driver board.

188102BF-AADD-49C0-8E45-ED25F3DCA9BC (resized).jpeg

1AAE732C-729F-4594-9BD5-FAAAC34E2649 (resized).jpeg

7E306528-26A5-4B5A-B7AF-03BBAAD36A43 (resized).jpeg

Thanks Gerry. I do have an opening with an alternate control of the board where I can monitor the lamp the way I want (frequencywise). There is some work and tests to be done but it’s a good news.

I've found a way to send highres infos directly to the WPC board -> very fast data PWS (deal with the triac and send bytes directly to the board) and create 4 levels of shading.
It's hard to tell on the video but it's there.
Big thanks to Mark (snux) and Gerry for their help.

I've still hard some works to do to implement it with my current project.

Both. I have none flicker led. The result is pretty good and nothing to compare with before. I can ajust a bit more but the parameters at high speed (microsecond) is really tight so I try to get the best result I can which require a lot of testing with the delay to have the flattest solenoid possible. This new feature requires me to be really careful since this is like a parallel program to my current one where both can run altogether but this can now be like the good old WPC for real. I m already thinking of the best way to use it inside the sequences. Since the dim is hard to catch in video, it’s really noticeable and create a darker atmosphere. I need this for my project and a feature I m really happy using.

Finally I got 6 levels of shading exactly like the good old WPC.
I’ve tried another video (a bit darker) goes from darker to brighter.

Yes. The darkest was really hard to get. I’ve found also a new « fire like » effect with smooth transition.
I had to go to 500 microseconds for one of them which is really fast. To compare with before, it was 0.031s the switch, this is another world.

here is a comparison from low RES and HI res GI. The "blink" effect has been reduced a lot:

low res (before)

hi res

Welcome back. With the Covid thing, I’ve put my work on this on hold and just go back on track. I’ve started reworking all my lightshows effects and started real testing today. I’ve still some flaws which make me not want to share it at the time: multiple ball launch with the auto launcher, testing messages not finished and so on. I’m currently testing a kit running with Ubuntu but I have to say I was disappointed by the performance with the RGB led so I m working on that as well. I was surprised but Windows 10 has much better USB performance than UBUNTU... when I know more, I’ll share it.

I've corrected a ton of problems recently. I've found the time to finally move forward on this: I can now play a while without major flaws at least for the 1st quest (the good old 1.4 updated version), but I've still a lot of things to test. I think of adding a setting to change the patter value within a define range tested on mine for the magnet to prevent STDM to control the strength. It doesn't do STDM on my TOTAN, but it could be a problem if it does.

Here is a good first default patter for the magnet once caught: the ball will then be moved on the PF.

I’ve made good progress on debugging lately.
I realized that the fireball and lightning lamp come way too often... so I think adding 5
Loops after the first LL to launch till it goes to 30 and then keep 30 loops and for fireball, increased the hit till 5 hits for fireball ....
The first quest start being really stable and I was quiet satisfied with the result and with the new mode integration.

I’ve spent days trying to control and manage the trough and balls correctly during the final mode (Wizard mode with genie). Having multiple balls to launch and drain at the same time was kind of a nightmare to deal inside the software and control the launch events. I have finally something which seems the most solid I could get and stable. I had also to test with and without the autolauncher.

I realized that using the autolauncher during final mode make it much more easy ... so I need to change the rules a bit accordingly to make the mode harder. The fact to launch the balls manually is another story since you lose time, focus and don’t flip at the same time.
The first quest start being stable but time to time I have strange behavior with the trought and I need to figure those out because the way to get those issues is really hard to reproduce.
To sum up: making good progress. My goal is to get something stable which is hard in the long run. When I’ll be able to play without errors for few hours I’ll be happy but I’m not done yet.

not an easy task but I’ve just taken a quick video (one hand with the ball and one with the phone ) to show again the shooting phantom mode : I'm curently testing it again.
This mode is really cool and the pinball takes control of the flippers thanks to timing of the cage optos.

The pinball could even shoot the ramp itself! anyway, if you get this mode the pinball takes control and you can no longer flip, then depending of luck and target, you get a bonus.

the difference with the monster bash it can stay activated for both flippers for a limited amount of time. If the pinball fail and the ball drains, you get a ball save. (the drain is not on you... )

here is a new video of this: again the flipper shoot is controlled by software:

I’m done implementing the shooting phantom with tests: added animations, customs sounds... I Think it fit well and happy with the result . This mode will however needs to be won by tiger loops or get in make a wish. If lucky, there is a good bonus given by the pinball shot with a ball save protection wish will have no time limitation till the SP is activated.

Also:
Tested the video mode lately. I realized that the speed with the pinball connected was completely different than in simulation mode so I had to rework all the timing to make it right.
At the end there are 3 levels of difficulty.
This mode will be hard/rare to get and it’s chosen in “make a wish”.

Thanks

testing is still ongoing. This is a looooooooog process but things are moving forward. I think that this testing phase may last much longer that the coding itself (just to give an idea) and sometimes, you could get some really tricky bugs.

Lastly I've corrected the collect bonus award win still in make a wish. Also, I have improved a lot my GI effects and I've planned to do the same for the flashers.
New GI effects such as dim light, pulse... will be implemented in several modes.

here is a sample of a new GI effect:

I've started to rework, improve and create new GI effects today for the whole project.

Also, I've migrate with high res. effect for flasher as well. The improvment is pretty noticeable, here is a comparison before and after for the "start tale flasher"

before:

new effect:

thanks. Some of the features, possibilities of this pin has never been used: I already shared a bit about it. This is unfortunate: I don't know if it was a will or a timing issue or else.
For instance, the lock 3 is not used, at all... Also, there are 2 different switchs for the lamp. Yes, there is, as strange as it sounds: there is one for one way a clock rotation and another for the other way.

So I've used those 2 switchs and the new lightning lamp modes now will know what lamp rotation is happening; so it will be harder and require more skills to progress in this mode.

I've shared a demo on post 193 and 194.

Lately I’ve done some new work:
Quotes during sequences.
GI new effects during sequences.
A second kit was tested with windows 10. As I said, I was disappointed by the performance of the first UBUNTU kit for different things so I needed to test another one with windows 10. This is much better. Only downsize for now is the boot time. The RGB led USB connection needs a good USB3 transfer so I’m working to see how to maximize it. The LCD display perfo is great on this second kit.

after testing the new cyclop TM mode, here is some new rule about it to make it more interesting:

I want to reintroduce the good old "combo". This new mode is hard to achieved (for me at least), because you have to hit the orb several times to kill the munsters...
Obviously it requires skill to do that knowing there is also a timer to prevent the mode to last too long: the cyclop or dragon "kills" you with flames.

but... if you have another option to make the progress faster: I've introduced a timer with each orb. Here is how it works:
If you hit the "left orb" for instance, a "combo" timer will be generated. Before it ends, if you hit the right orb, it will increase the combo to another level and so on with each time the timer restarted... till the timer ends. You can then have a number of hits much more important like this:

with 3 combo : 1 + 2 + 3 = 6 hits
4 combo ... 10 hits and so on.

right and left: same idea

punchout (resized).png

it will add some startegy tho this mode.

quik update with the 2 kits I've tested, one with UBUNTU and one with Windows 10.
On both, the boot time till the software activation is quiet long at around 2 minutes. I need to investige ways on how to improve that.

I have an issue with the RGB led display: it seems it requires a good congiration processor, USB 3 and else... I'm currently coding on a powerful desktop where I have no issue and everything runs perfectly and didn't saw that issue till before testing on those kits. The RGB led runs better on Windows 10, but lags if we compare with LCD leds and lags a lot with UBUNTU... because the USB transfer speed is better on windows...

Both kits are running well with LCD or dot matrix.
To sum up, for now, I haven't found a good config to reproduce the good performance I have with my desktop so I will continue testing when I can.

also, I've worked on the current status during play:

hi, thanks for your message. To sum up for you:
The software is pretty advanced, I'm in testing phase for the software and a kit and it's not shared yet.

This needs to require a PC with a not too bad configuration (power).
also...
an auto_laucher (same as CV, SS) can be installed. It needs to solder the switch (we can't avoid that so no plug and play....) and a long cable manually built to plug the knocker coil to it.
Then, instead of a knocker, you have a sound same as CC but you have an auto launcher.

The auto lauch experience is amazing.

Around 150/200 MHz with 4 Gb RAM minimum.
I think.

I have to say that the project is a bit on hold. I’ve been working really slowly on it recently. The test phase is quiet demanding and my motivation on this project fluctuate on it.

Update:
I’ve finally implemented the « start with second quest » completely so on the paper, the extension is operational. I still need to balance and test the modes left and find a solution for the RGB which I don’t have for now.
I might do a color video if I find the time to share more on the real playing experience.
The modes I’ve tested so far are fun to play so happy so far.
I have to say that testing the kit was a pain and I’m still investigating options for this...

ok I think it's time to share a bit more.

here is a video of the 1st quest with the RGB led display. The screen response is a bit slower than the LCD, but I'm working on a way to improve it.

hey, thanks. The color on video is a bit hard to see but yes, it looks great in real for sure! The RGB led display is great, it's the best choice for me.
I still have some small lags noticeable with it in the video (not present with LCD) but we are getting really close.
All the small bugs on the video has been corrected: the GI, one in the bazaar (the quote) and another one harder to see with the bazaar eject.

I will try to make new videos for sure on quest 1 and with other modes and Quest 2. I just wanted to share more on this to show a demo of the good old software rewritten in Python and to show that its quiet stable now. I've been more focused on Quest 2 since the beginning and this is the interest of this project. However, the original software, without its flaws :fireball too frequent, tales selections and so on.. is great.

Last thing, maybe the TOTAN from factory is easy but it seems it was work as designed. I made the 1st quest (1.4 rev) more challenging but most of all, the 2nd quest is hard (really) and for good players. Finishing both quest will not be done easily and it will be quiet a challenge... You will not "kiss" the princess at every game...This is my will for this project.
There is an option to start the 2nd quest first so it will be possible to train on the other tales even if the real challenge is to not activate it.

The extra 2 modes : Bolero and Palace are really hard, at least for me. Big reward at the end. The idea is to give a sense of accomplishment: this wasn't there on the original software.
I think it's really fun. Everyone has it's own idea of fun. Having our own project let you make something not marketing oriented but really something you wanted at the first place.

more to come...

new gameplay video:

i’ve planned a new lightning show as well for the fireball. I need to check the scoring for this one: it was supposed to be 1000000.
Yes there a lot of new optionsand options are changing with ruby: the win is more interesting.
I ll share a new video soon when I got time. Thanks for your comments.

September.
On the way an improvement of the kit performance: start and general and new test with another RGB display.
Jimmy and Applejuice help me on that I am thanksfull for that.

A little break yes but back on track in september.

It would be great yes once I’ll have a playable version.

back on the project, at last ! after a long summer and COVID time.

I have 3 main objectives:
- finishing the tests
- find a way to get a fast boot kit
- improve the RGB led display. The LCD is perfect but the RGB has some lags.

I will need some help to test at some point on another TOTAN. The only thing is: if one want to test the autolauncher, there is a soldering which needs to be done. Sorry not plug and play.

update soon.