Paris
Quoted from cfh:So just to be clear, the version pictures posted above… are those the current version?
Last version is from 06/01.
So it’s not.
(Topic ID: 221957)
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Tales of the Arabian Nights
Williams, 1996
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Quoted from TheLaw:Well we found numerous errors/bugs and overall just a really 'early' feeling version. Version number unknown...786 or something?
This is my first time dealing with 2.0 so I haven't read anything or come in with any knowledge...so take it from that point of view. Like I see the point of "Bolero" now reading your post, but just playing it someone will have no idea.
Overall there's just a real lack of explanation of things happening. Some of this is obviously language based "Shoot balls on ballshooter" but the modes are confusing and in a few cases, pointless.
- Audio varies greatly during game play. Way too loud all of a sudden, cuts out constantly (lightening lamp), and also too quite at other times (Bolero).
- Waaaaaay to many ball saves. Don't know why I have them, but the ball is constantly being saved.
- inconsistent auto-plunges for ball saves. Half the time is auto plunges half the time it doesn't; is there a reason?
- Make a wish --> "shooting Phantom?" Is this a phantom flip? Picked it 5+ times never saw anything happen.
--> "Replay Tale" DMD shows you can pick a tale but the ball is instantly shot out you don't have time.
--> "30 second ball saver" ouch, way too long.
- Added modes are kind of bonkers and not well explained. Many modes are telling me to shot a yellow target when no yellow target is lit.
--> Escape from the Cave I think was the one I was playing that was almost endless. Keep hitting things and then a yellow target is lit that takes me to a new area? Very confusing. Again yellow targets aren't lit, butter explanation of what I should be hitting to light them
--> Bolero is the 2nd most insane thing I've ever seen in pinball. A basically endless mode awarding you very little points. Ball saver is on a lot of the time, I shot one shot and it adds 5 seconds to timer, hit another one takes me back to 69 seconds? Slings & Pops do not fire during this mode; is that supposed to happen?
--> Hydra fight confusing at first no real explaining of rules. There's a multiplier? Made more sense the 2nd time I played it.
--> LL Multiball...I don't even know.
- Scrolling animation on after defeating 1st genie is very slow & there's like a 8 second pause between scrolling text.
- Tilt issues
--> Tilt does not coil power to playfield
--> So got a high score and tilted out ball 3. While tilt animation is on screen I hear it go thru the 'enter initials' stage (but no high score is recorded) and it immediately starts a new game with some weirdo 3 bottle animations the entire game? That's the weirdest thing I've ever seen.
- General buggy issues
--> Forgot what mode it was but 1 mode or sequence of events scored 18 million (GC amount) in under a minute
--> after enter initials DMD shows version code/testing screen
--> Great Camel Race mode stopped awarding yellow shots and then crashed machine (only happened once)
- Animations in general need a lot of work. Text on top of text, very busy backgrounds & color choices (Bolero). Just very very messy.
I didn't noticed that many things, but your video point out an issue. Now I don't have the detail of how it came up, so it's always hard for a develpper to fix with few detail. It seems (I guess) it was linked to the tilt, we already discussed it so if this is this, I got the point. Please reread our previous exchanges.
I'll try to answer of some of the points, just to start:
-Bolero yeai has a sound which start low and finish loud. For some music, there are some maybe loudness difference. I'm aware of it and already made changes, I will recheck.
-Ball save default was a bit high. It was on purpose because the game is (trust me) much much harder. Fine by me, I reduced it a bit, it will be there on next update.
-plunge is done with mecanics: the pin switch change state and the the ball is autoplunge. Maybe, a quick check on the switch to start would be great.
-shooting phantom: yes it's phantom switch. I guess you didn't read the rule but the idea it the flipper flip the ball for you and if a target is reached, you get a special bonus. There is luck of course.
-escape from the cave: just follow what's blinking on the pf: lamp and standup. There are also reminders which pop up on the screen reminding what to shoot
-Bolero, just deactivate it in the setting.
-hydra fight: captive balls only (like the the first mode); Also, there are reminder on the screen which pop up if not target is reached.
-LL multiball: this one.... come on... just hit the lamp 
(this one is funny) there are special breath lamp effect on the lamp
-scroling animation is slow after defeating the genie because there you have unlimited multiball and this impossible in code to control what happen and what's still there, so there is time needed to recmpute everything. It was also there on the original software. Maybe I've added 2s to be safer.
-Tilt, we discussed about it already. I promoted a fix recently on it and you need to retest. I will recheck on my side too.
-regarding the mode you got 18 millions ,ok this is a pb but it would have been great to share what it was. TOTAN 2.0 is now running a lot of modes so not easy to know where to start, so please report issue as accurate as possible.
-I don't know why seeing the revision after entering the initials is a bug. In fact, the game reset and it's completly work as design. This software is not identical to the original and I didn't get this point to be honest.
-great camel race issue happen on first tale or second ? If this is the first, when you get the first place, it's compltly normal that you don't get award. The game is waiting for the ramp and the jewel. This is the original gameplay. For the crash, we can discuss extracting your log, there is an option for that. The game desn't really crash but reboot. I will retest this mode and see if I can reproduce anything.
-regarding animation, I'm open to suggestion. Text above text... not sure what you meant. If you could provide sample, print screen that it would start a discussion. When I read you, it's just a general comment but I don't know what to do with it nor agree.
Ann Arbor, MI
Quoted from noitbe1:-plunge is done with mecanics: the pin switch change state and the the ball is autoplunge. Maybe, a quick check on the switch to start would be great.
Will do.
Quoted from noitbe1:-shooting phantom: yes it's phantom switch. I guess you didn't read the rule but the idea it the flipper flip the ball for you and if a target is reached, you get a special bonus.
Will test again but which flipper? doesn't explain anywhere on the screen.
Quoted from noitbe1:-escape from the cave: just follow what's blinking on the pf: lamp and standup. There are also reminders which pop up on the screen reminding what to shoot
This seemed very unclear to me and nothing 'seemed' to be lit. For sure no Yellow targets. Will test again.
Quoted from noitbe1:-regarding the mode you got 18 millions ,ok this is a pb but it would have been great to share what it was.
I wish I could remeber what it was! the problem was I didn't notice till after it was over such a huge score had been added. We'll probably never see that one again
Quoted from noitbe1:-I don't know why seeing the revision after entering the initials is a bug.
Ok I'll test again
Quoted from noitbe1:-great camel race issue happen on first tale or second ? If this is the first, when you get the first place...
First tale, I didn't get first place, it stopped increasing position/targets not registering hits I believe at 5th place; then game crashed.
Quoted from TheLaw:Will do.
Will test again but which flipper? doesn't explain anywhere on the screen.
This seemed very unclear to me and nothing 'seemed' to be lit. For sure no Yellow targets. Will test again.
I wish I could remeber what it was! the problem was I didn't notice till after it was over such a huge score had been added. We'll probably never see that one again
Ok I'll test again
First tale, I didn't get first place, it stopped increasing position/targets not registering hits I believe at 5th place; then game crashed.
For the phantom switch, it works with one of the flipper.(left or right)
How it works is the ball is detected by the opto and there is a small delay and the flipper is hit.
During this small time, both flippers are deactivated. There is an animation on the screen showing left or right flipper animation and another jackpot animation if a target is hit. If the pinball fail, and the ball drain, there is a ball save to compensate but this one is fair.
It’s kind of fun to have his pinball hitting the ramp as a nice shot for instance IMO. Just let it shoot.
Regarding the camel race I remember to have pushed a fix recently for it. I will retest anyway to be sure.
Quoted from TheLaw:Ok thanks for Phantom Flipper update, I DO remember our flippers going dead for some reason, that must be it.
I'll pay more attention
Yeai the Totan was not broken.
There is also a mode where the flippers strength can get weaker. I prefer warning you. (Same feature as kingpin from Capcom)
This happen in the second wizard mode if you reach it.
Laval, QC
Quoted from noitbe1:no. I call a method implemented for all the sequence modes: "tilted" and it's called for all the running modes. It ends the mode by removing it from the queue and then clear the layers and delays.
Layers should be cleared in mode_stopped().
You can implement a remove_mode(self, mode) method in your game class. This method removes the mode and clears the delayed handlers with mode._Mode__delayed = []
If you call self.game.remove_mode() everywhere you remove a mode and you are careful to remove all children modes in mode_stopped(), you will likely find you no longer need your tilt event handlers in all running modes.
I forget to specify one thing regarding autoplunger: if you lock the ball (for instance) and the skill shot was called, then the autoplaunger will not launch the ball. The skill shot has to stay manual otherwise it has no more sense IMO.
I have changed tilt logic because I realized the reset was not done proprerly for some "tricky" ball spot.
Also the yellow font and ball save reduces and other improvements will come as well on the next update.
I need to make some more testing and see with Jab for the sharing.
Quoted from delt31:I’m enjoying all of this testing to get this to where it should be. Following for sure. Thanks TheLaw and others.
I like that phantom mode - very cool.
thanks Delt for the comment.
Regarding the big scoring mode, I think it could come from the new LL and/or Fireball multiball because you can raise the jackpot a lot in make a wish and the scoring might be a little bit too generous because the shots are "easy" so I'll reduce the scoring a bit.
I am an average player and a good /really good player can make big point in there so it might be a bit unbalanced.
If this is an option, make everything tunable. That way people that want longer ball savers or to change other behavior can do so from a menu. Leave a couple presets so people that want set and forget can do so.
Anything that is a parameter you're using in something involving timing or carry over is potentially something someone would like to tune to their liking/skill Level.
Quoted from cfh:is there a newer version of the software? i just see 0.5.1 dated June 1, 2022...
https://docs.the-forgotten-tales.com/software_versions/
A new one should be realeased really soon: maybe tonight or tomorrow with fix and improvements... so this will be the latest and greatest.
I have to say that I’ve spent a significant amount of time lately working more on the HD display. I did privided fix in may/june but I can and still will work on both project of course.
As soon as I know, I’ll share once the next image will be available for download.
Quoted from slochar:If this is an option, make everything tunable. That way people that want longer ball savers or to change other behavior can do so from a menu. Leave a couple presets so people that want set and forget can do so.
Anything that is a parameter you're using in something involving timing or carry over is potentially something someone would like to tune to their liking/skill Level.
The ball save was already tunable. I set the default too high and maybe the minimum too.
The default was set to 8s which is a bit high and the minimum to 5s.
I reduced those a bit.
Also, some ball saved are called by the game for instance with the shooting phantom, which is completly normal, and also the shooting star because, if the cage failed to save the ball... this is a quick ball save. It was also in the original software if I remember well.
Regarding the setting: there are a lot of options you can set:
I will not go into details but now you can change for instance...
Power on the coils
Power on the magnets
Activate/deactivate optinal modes
Activate 1.4 original software with original rules : this is NOT emulation, this is my code running all the old code with old rules
Ball saved, extra ball ...
Some font can be changed...
Some rules
Difficulty for some mode
Restart tale after drain
Star trek mode or super gouls and ghost mode or ...demo mode
...
That what come in my mind.
That’s the thing with a code which has been 100 % rewritten: i have control on everything.
I think it’s pretty thorough but if I got a new suggestions for the setting, always open to the discussion and improvments !
Started working with the latest software revision 0.5.2 and I have to say it is a big improvement. A lot of the rough edges have been smoothed out. Had a fairly moderate Pinball player today check it out and his comment was that the game is a lot more fun and more forgiving. Even though I turned all the ball save times way down he still felt a game was more fun for him. He felt Totan before was just brutal
The color is better but still needs more work though. There’s still too much use of white. I will add some pictures below and you can see what I mean. when you say “shoot yellow “, don’t you think that text should perhaps be yellow? That’s just one example…
EEE58E0C-3EC3-4DD7-90F4-5823DDC6A044 (resized).jpegEE45EE24-60CB-46A4-994C-CBCB84D84578 (resized).jpegE895E3D4-9C80-46F0-A562-8B9CC572DDAB (resized).jpegE32A03CE-29E3-4548-9CF7-8FD893229CF9 (resized).jpegD7364C5C-5830-4CA1-8274-330F38066A13 (resized).jpegC77F15F8-EF19-4F9D-BF76-26040A2BF880 (resized).jpegC2ADCDBA-8475-4139-A405-A247E583AD0C (resized).jpeg4F7E0295-9CF6-4092-97D2-539E8FA78539 (resized).jpeg
Quoted from cfh:Started working with the latest software revision 0.5.2 and I have to say it is a big improvement. A lot of the rough edges have been smoothed out. Had a fairly moderate Pinball player today check it out and his comment was that the game is a lot more fun and more forgiving. Even though I turned all the ball save times way down he still felt a game was more fun for him. He felt Totan before was just brutal
The color is better but still needs more work though. There’s still too much use of white. I will add some pictures below and you can see what I mean. when you say “shoot yellow “, don’t you think that text should perhaps be yellow? That’s just one example…
[quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image]
hi, thanks for your comment and glad the last update improved gameplay. I appreciate also to get comments which move this project forward.
regarding "shoot the yellow" in yellow: that's a good idea... it will be on the next update. (I can't beleive I didn't get this idea myself... lol )
regarding other pics: what happened whith RGB Led is also that if the brightness is a bit too high, it's more diffficult to deferenciate some of the colors like yellow and white. If you turn the brightness a bit down, I think the colors (and contrast) will be more visible.
Also... with shoot a ball, there are different predifined colors (used from a list) to be used for the font. What I can do is to remove the white/grey ones also and used only vivid colors.
Same goes for "make a wish" : I used different set of colors in order this change each time you launch the mode.
thanks also for the pictures, always nice to get samples.
Quoted from noitbe1:New rev 0.5.2 from 2022/07/18 is now available.
Notes from new testing.
#1 is the cage optos turn on the ball saver every single time they are activated. 
That's a bit of an issue.
- Options to turn off Bolero didn't work it was still an option thru Make a Wish
- Option to limit 1 EB didn't work; received 2 EBs and same ball.
- Option to NOT give EB for replay? Couldn't find it.
- Time/delay settings to dial in Phantom Flipper?
- EB kicks out all balls in the lock for some reason?
- Replay Tale still shoot ball out & flippers do not work.
- After that happens the replay tale screen carries over into next ball
- Multiple incorrect switch errors when entering test mode
Audio is of course still all over the place.
Quoted from TheLaw:Notes from new testing.
#1 is the cage optos turn on the ball saver every single time they are activated. That's a bit of an issue.
- Options to turn off Bolero didn't work it was still an option thru Make a Wish
- Option to limit 1 EB didn't work; received 2 EBs and same ball.
- Option to NOT give EB for replay? Couldn't find it.
- Time/delay settings to dial in Phantom Flipper?
- EB kicks out all balls in the lock for some reason?
- Replay Tale still shoot ball out & flippers do not work.
- After that happens the replay tale screen carries over into next ball
- Multiple incorrect switch errors when entering test mode
Audio is of course still all over the place.
All your videos are private so I can’t open them.
Disagree with the first comment: the save ball after the cage fail is NOT an issue but something wanted from me. We could disagree on that, fine. I can had a setting. The reason is that the player is (for me) not responsible of the pin was failing to catch the ball. I will see what to do on this one (setting or not..)
-I think the second EB came from the highscore. I think the best would be to limit to 0 and keep this one if it’s activated in the reward.
-Yes I could give a control on the delay for the phantom. It has been tested on several totan and was ok but maybe the angle of the playfield could change this so a adjustment would be a good thing.
-Replay tale: i need to check your video to see what happened.
Same for the rest.
Quoted from noitbe1:All your videos are private so I can’t open them.
Ha sorry, fixed
Quoted from noitbe1:Disagree with the first comment: the save ball after the cage fail is NOT an issue but something wanted from me. ..
Someone wanted you to turn on the ball saver every single time the ball passes the cage optos? Like 100 times a game?
You know this triggers the ball saver for 95% of outline drains?
Quoted from TheLaw:Ha sorry, fixed
Someone wanted you to turn on the ball saver every single time the ball passes the cage optos? Like 100 times a game?
You know this triggers the ball saver for 95% of outline drains?
Ok i just saw your video and I understand better. Actually when you test by hand it seems unlimited but it’s limited in time so during real gameplay it should happen once.
I could...
Reduce the time
Reduce to one ball
Create a setting for it
Remove it...
i’ll change this.
Regarding the « replay tale » : you’re not supposed to get the ball back from the bazaar. This is an issue i need to fix and understand how it could happened.
To select the tale to replay you press both flippers (as explained on the first frame).
I will correct this.
Swiths are not in errors: those messages state that some switches have not been on after a certain number of games which can be set in the setting. I thing you can reset all this too.
Quoted from noitbe1:Ok i just saw your video and I understand better. Actually when you test by hand it seems unlimited but it’s limited in time so during real gameplay it should happen once.
Let me break through you engineer speak; this has nothing to do with the cage. This happens at all times in the game, not just when the cage is lit; that's the problem
Quoted from noitbe1:-I think the second EB came from the highscore. I think the best would be to limit to 0 and keep this one if it’s activated in the reward.
Why would the game give me an EB for a high score? I've never set a game up like that.
You should be able to turn off EBs for high scores and specials.
Quoted from TheLaw:Let me break through you engineer speak; this has nothing to do with the cage. This happens at all times in the game, not just when the cage is lit; that's the problem
Why would the game give me an EB for a high score? I've never set a game up like that.
You should be able to turn off EBs for high scores and specials.
Regarding Save:
I understood the point: just pointing out the cause.
There is a setting and yes this is a default. I’m currently far away from my computer and project ... so it is the quick answer.
Quoted from clempo:I believe many games have a setting to choose between a free game or an extra ball for a special.
But no games have a setting for extra balls for hstd credits, because it makes no sense. Your game is over.... how would you play an extra ball?
Likely noitbe1 just needs to change the hstd credit award to not run through the list of what a replay awards and just have it always award credits (if the option is set that way).
My general opinion on extra balls is i want NONE. but i understand that some people do want it. So i set all my games to have ONE extra ball per game, no more! and it comes when you achieve something, not based on score. Replays are cool (based on score), extra balls are not.
The ball save this is CRAZY BAD. When the ball goes down *either* INLANE, the ball save comes on. THIS SHOULD NEVER HAPPEN. let me say that again.... NEVER SHOULD HAPPEN.
I have to agree with Clay on the ball save. I like the new software. I think it makes TOTAN a better game, BUT its has really long ball times. The ball save is unneccessary as there really isn't a SDTM shot on the TOTAN pf. And one extra ball is enough on this. There is always the balance to be had between making the game fun and rewarding vs. boring and repetitive. The danger for 2.0 is that I think it might get boring if it is too lenient.
Hi all,
Thanks for the feedbacks and suggestions.
Regarding the ball save: as stated I will change this on the next update along with other corrections (see previous posts). My previous point was just to say that if I will put a setting for it (or not) and set ball save as default (or not) for the outlanes when cage is failing and other possible events.
It would be better to set no ball save as default.
Quoted from robotron911:... The ball save is unneccessary as there really isn't a SDTM shot on the TOTAN pf...
I may be taking this out of context but there is a known SDTM 'issue' on TOTAN - the ball can come off the magnet and go SDTM. It appears there is a bug in that a ball save doesn't activate or activate consistently when this happens. I've had a TOTAN for a few years and I have only seen the ball save activate once with a SDTM off of the magnet (I was surprised when I saw it happen!). Again, pardon me if I'm off on this comment. Tks
The ball should not go SDTM from the magnet because there is a « shaking » effect at the end to pulse the ball elsewhere.
This effect was there on the original code and I reproduced it and make it even stronger.
This works with specific current variation pulse on the magnet.
Agreed that the Genie magnet is as far away from the trough as can be. Just wanted to point out that the machine has a SDTM compensation function (and as reported elsewhere – it really doesn’t work). Adjustment A.2 22 can be set on or off; i.e. ‘if the vanishing ball magnet throws the ball down between the flippers, the player will get their ball back.’ I double-checked and noticed that the factory setting is off – this is aligned to comments above from TheLaw and cfh.
Noitbe1 – sounds good that you have enhanced the “force” of the magnet and presumably dropped the ball save adjustment. SO – this means I will need to keep practicing and play better pinball!
- I confirm there is a setting (disabled by default) to set a ball save if the ball go STDM after genie hit.
- the setting to activate/deativate award is ""Replay Award"". I set to "disabled" by default to remove the EB.
pending changes to be available on next upgrade:
fix replay tale option in make a wish: the ball will be released after the choice is done.
change music sounds amplification on original musics
replay award is no more EB by default (credit is not implemented in the game, the game is in free play)
new colors for make a wish
new colors for lightning lamp anim
new color list for ball save
new color for shooting star activation
new colors for shoot reminder and match yellow for the golden shot
bolero will not be selectionable with setting off
activate the loop magnet only when there is no lock ball
correction of a bug to give another EB when tournament or max EB reached in bazaar mode and make a wish
multiball save bug fix
regarding long ball play:
-remove ball save in Maze mode
-no new ball save if one is running
-change ball save in make a wish bonus from 30 and 60 to 10 and 15s
-reduce default ball save timer for fireball multiball and LL multiball
-ball save removed for shooting star
-remove ball save at start at shooting phantom and reduce the ball save time during drain
-coordonate the MB ball save values in all settings
setting:
clean setting
add new setting for the Shooting phantom: use random delay and another one to set up the delay manually
add new setting for the special: points or extra ball. Default is points (one Million)
special has been fixed: special is available if player acheived all 7 first tales and wizard mode. Then it needs to be awarded in bazaar. If the special is awarded, then it's activated if the ball hit the oulanes.
new_settings1 (resized).png
So your color in 5.3 is much better but you still have a little ways to go. heres some pictures that use too much black white and gray. Again you have a color display you need to utilize it to its fullest.
A3111AC4-6945-4267-8A71-C69091813600 (resized).jpeg
95246BF1-9D06-4E2F-B4EB-A88A9246EE19 (resized).jpeg
48007CA8-3641-4B6E-8294-61EBFD66FE96 (resized).jpeg
3A4DD427-D1A7-497A-AFCD-7B541B55331A (resized).jpeg
20C725FF-E73D-4E6C-BE3C-9BE542F7905E (resized).jpeg
A3111AC4-6945-4267-8A71-C69091813600 (resized).jpegQuoted from cfh:So your color in 5.3 is much better but you still have a little ways to go. heres some pictures that use too much black white and gray. Again you have a color display you need to utilize it to its fullest.
[quoted image]
[quoted image]
[quoted image]
[quoted image]
[quoted image][quoted image]
hi cfh, thanks for your feedback and glad it works better.
regarding your point, the brightness of the RGB led and the fact that your picture is done in day time with a lot of light show hardly the real colors. So also one thing you could do is decrease a bit the brightness.
What I did is I used really vivid colors to make them more visible, regarding your pictures you shared, here what you should have: the font are in fact yellow and white.
I will rework some of them on the next update.
color1 (resized).png
Karlsruhe
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