Trident
Stern Electronics, 1979Quoted from crlush:How much work was it to add the new sounds with the wav trigger? Do you have to add leaf switches or does it plug into the existing wire harness?
If you update the rules with an Arduino, the Wav Trigger is controlled by the Arduino. Just three wires connect the Arduino to the Wav Trigger (power, ground, and a serial line).
Quoted from DickHamill:If you update the rules with an Arduino, the Wav Trigger is controlled by the Arduino. Just three wires connect the Arduino to the Wav Trigger (power, ground, and a serial line).
Thats excellent, Thank you!
I'm currently working on a restoration of another classic Stern, this time a Trident. I'm wondering if the second version of the RoyGBev card works with the Trident, or is it only really intended for SB-300 games (like Meteor)
I'm also curious if there is a way that I could add a second toggle switch, that would allow transitioning between the SB-100 (or sb-300 on a Meteor) sounds in the new code and the wave trigger sounds. Is there a pin available to use to set a variable in the code to allow for this?
Quoted from bigguybbr:I'm currently working on a restoration of another classic Stern, this time a Trident. I'm wondering if the second version of the RoyGBev card works with the Trident, or is it only really intended for SB-300 games (like Meteor)
I'm also curious if there is a way that I could add a second toggle switch, that would allow transitioning between the SB-100 (or sb-300 on a Meteor) sounds in the new code and the wave trigger sounds. Is there a pin available to use to set a variable in the code to allow for this?
The second version does work with Trident, but it's not necessary. Rev 2 is backwards compatible with all the game code released so far, but the only new functionality it exposes is to talk to the SB300.
Yes, on Rev 2 of the hardware, there's an unused pin (D13) that's exposed on J2. You can attach U2:pin17 directly to GND and then use D13 for a second switch input.
However, I don't believe there is enough code space on the Nano to support both SB100 sounds and Wav Trigger sounds in the same compile. If there was enough code space, I would make the sounds configurable through a coin-door option setting. I did that with Stars (you can switch between Chimes and Wav Trigger through a coin-door option).
A better solution for this would be to switch to the MEGA 2560 board. I'm working on a Bally/Stern interface for the Mega 2560 now. Should be made public in a couple of months (at the latest). The Mega 2560 has 8x the code space available.
Quoted from DickHamill:The second version does work with Trident, but it's not necessary. Rev 2 is backwards compatible with all the game code released so far, but the only new functionality it exposes is to talk to the SB300.
Yes, on Rev 2 of the hardware, there's an unused pin (D13) that's exposed on J2. You can attach U2:pin17 directly to GND and then use D13 for a second switch input.
However, I don't believe there is enough code space on the Nano to support both SB100 sounds and Wav Trigger sounds in the same compile. If there was enough code space, I would make the sounds configurable through a coin-door option setting. I did that with Stars (you can switch between Chimes and Wav Trigger through a coin-door option).
A better solution for this would be to switch to the MEGA 2560 board. I'm working on a Bally/Stern interface for the Mega 2560 now. Should be made public in a couple of months (at the latest). The Mega 2560 has 8x the code space available.
More code space and more available pins so it might simplify things a little. Let me know when you get there, I’d be happy to do some testing.
As promised, video of mine now up and flipping. Thanks again!
*Note any cat sounds aren't part of the game. My cat likes to yell at me during pinball*
First pin I ever played, and the only pinball machine in town back then. Drop hundreds or quarters into it. I wish I could find a decent one!
Thanks for video!! 
Great work. It looks amazing. We are working on mine now, having issues getting the new arduino board to work hopefully we can figure it out. I love the new sounds the updated code has.
Quoted from bigguybbr:As promised, video of mine now up and flipping. Thanks again!
*Note any cat sounds aren't part of the game. My cat likes to yell at me during pinball*
That looks phenomenal! Great work on the restoration.
FYI - did you re-pin your lamp board connector J1?
I'm guessing that pins 4 & 5 of your lamp board's J1 are swapped?
If you hit the self-test button (behind the coin door) once and then step through the lights with the credit/reset button,
Quadruple bonus should be lit when it says 33, and Match should be lit on the head when it says 41. If it doesn't, then check J1!
Thanks so much for posting the video. Love it.
Quoted from DickHamill:FYI - did you re-pin your lamp board connector J1?
I'm guessing that pins 4 & 5 of your lamp board's J1 are swapped?
I sure did. Thanks for catching it! It is all fixed now.
I’ve found 2 small bug report items for the next release.
First is that when you tilt all the coils are disabled. The problem is with the saucer coil being disabled. If you happen to tilt and roll it in there, it’s stuck.
Second is the coin lockout relay logic seems to be backwards. It should be disabled in free play, and enabled for coin use. When the coil has no power, coins just drop into the coin return.
I don't know a lot about Arduino code but this snippet looks relevant:
case SW_TILT:
// This should be debounced
if ((CurrentTime - LastTiltWarningTime) > TILT_WARNING_DEBOUNCE_TIME) {
LastTiltWarningTime = CurrentTime;
NumTiltWarnings += 1;
if (NumTiltWarnings > MaxTiltWarnings) {
BSOS_DisableSolenoidStack();
BSOS_SetDisableFlippers(true);
BSOS_TurnOffAllLamps();
BSOS_SetLampState(TILT, 1);
Seems like the saucer switch should temporarily enable the solenoid stack (I'd assume BSOS_EnableSolenoidStack() would turn that back on.)
Did you tilt before the ball went into the saucer? IIRC on the stock Trident software it doesn't handle the saucer correctly during tilts/game over, either (one or both - its been 12 years since I did my in-situ mod on Trident....)
I looked at the SW_SAUCER as well:
if (GameMode==GAME_MODE_MINI_GAME_QUALIFIED) {
GameMode = GAME_MODE_MINI_GAME_ENGAGED | GameModeFlagsQualified;
GameModeFlagsQualified = 0;
GameModeStartTime = 0;
BSOS_PushToTimedSolenoidStack(SOL_SAUCER, 5, CurrentTime + MODE_START_DISPLAY_DURATION);
} else {
BSOS_PushToTimedSolenoidStack(SOL_SAUCER, 5, CurrentTime + SAUCER_DISPLAY_DURATION);
}
Probably needs to be a "game_mod_tilt" to handle situations like this in the core BSOS. Comment indicated that the saucer won't reactive the routine if it's within 500 MS - does it reactivate if it misses the eject for some reason?
I think the auto-react solenoids (presumably the slings and pops) should be the only ones turned off in tilt mode, and the tilt mode should prevent adding score. At least that's the way Bally/Stern originally did it, so that switch routines that would get the ball stuck would still run and unstick the ball.... just without scoring anything. All the score routines check for tilt and skip the rest of the score if tilted.
Quoted from bigguybbr:I’ve found 2 small bug report items for the next release.
First is that when you tilt all the coils are disabled. The problem is with the saucer coil being disabled. If you happen to tilt and roll it in there, it’s stuck.
Second is the coin lockout relay logic seems to be backwards. It should be disabled in free play, and enabled for coin use. When the coil has no power, coins just drop into the coin return.
Thanks for the reports (and thanks for the notes, @slochar)! I fixed the tilt issue and pushed new code to GitHub. There are a couple of other changes in the new code. Here's a summary of changes:
1) When tilted, the game already halted scoring, pops, and slings. Now it also watches the saucer and immediately kicks out if the switch is hit.
2) There was a scoring bug when in the mini games (the score multiplier wasn't working right). This has been fixed.
3) Qualifying a second/third mini-game now resets the timer on the saucer, making a double/triple stack slightly easier to achieve.
4) I moved the code over to updated switch timing to make it compatible with a wider variety of boards.
5) Defaulted sound to the SB100 - before compiling please check the beginning of BSOS_Config.h to adjust sound preferences and hardware rev
6) Fixed a jackpot bug where jackpots could bleed over after "Deep Blue Sea" was finished
I haven't touched the coin lockout issue yet - I need more time to evaluate it.
Quoted from DickHamill:Thanks for the reports (and thanks for the notes, slochar)! I fixed the tilt issue and pushed new code to GitHub. There are a couple of other changes in the new code. Here's a summary of changes:
1) When tilted, the game already halted scoring, pops, and slings. Now it also watches the saucer and immediately kicks out if the switch is hit.
2) There was a scoring bug when in the mini games (the score multiplier wasn't working right). This has been fixed.
3) Qualifying a second/third mini-game now resets the timer on the saucer, making a double/triple stack slightly easier to achieve.
4) I moved the code over to updated switch timing to make it compatible with a wider variety of boards.
5) Defaulted sound to the SB100 - before compiling please check the beginning of BSOS_Config.h to adjust sound preferences and hardware rev
6) Fixed a jackpot bug where jackpots could bleed over after "Deep Blue Sea" was finished
I haven't touched the coin lockout issue yet - I need more time to evaluate it.
Fantastic. I'm going to throw it on my machine tonight and try it out. 
Just found out about this and I have a Trident awaiting restoration. Jumping on the thread so I'll remember to come back to this when I get to that machine. Watched the YT video and this looks outstanding!
Quoted from BertoDRINK1:Trident went to the Atlanta SFGE show this past weekend. It got a lot of plays and a great response to the updated code, sounds and speech. I put in a power ball to speed it up also. It Won best modded game of the show whoo hoo.
[quoted image]
Congrats! This is great to hear.
Quoted from BertoDRINK1:Trident went to the Atlanta SFGE show this past weekend. It got a lot of plays and a great response to the updated code, sounds and speech. I put in a power ball to speed it up also. It Won best modded game of the show whoo hoo.
[quoted image]
DickHamill is going to have to update his LinkedIn profile to include award winning game designer
Quoted from bigguybbr:DickHamill is going to have to update his LinkedIn profile to include award winning game designer
I totally agree with this. I've said it before, but I am truly amazed by the work Dick and others have done on this project.
Quoted from BertoDRINK1:Trident went to the Atlanta SFGE show this past weekend. It got a lot of plays and a great response to the updated code, sounds and speech. I put in a power ball to speed it up also. It Won best modded game of the show whoo hoo.
[quoted image]
That’s amazing!
sound bar for this project sounds like a great idea. any recommendations on a sound bar? would sound bar with subwoofer be overkill?
Quoted from ozoneaction:sound bar for this project sounds like a great idea. any recommendations on a sound bar? would sound bar with subwoofer be overkill?
Any sound bar that you can connect to the 3.5mm headphone jack out of the wave card will work. I added a cheap 2.1 amp in both my Trident and Meteor and connected to the cabinet speaker.
Trident: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/trident-2020-restoration-/page/2#post-6401701
Meteor: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/meteor-2021-new-code-for-stern-meteor-1979/page/4#post-6290060
Quoted from bigguybbr:Any sound bar that you can connect to the 3.5mm headphone jack out of the wave card will work. I added a cheap 2.1 amp in both my Trident and Meteor and connected to the cabinet speaker.
Trident: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/trident-2020-restoration-/page/2#post-6401701
Meteor: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/meteor-2021-new-code-for-stern-meteor-1979/page/4#post-6290060
Thanks! I enjoyed your restoration posts.
Do we know if this will work on this board?
https://nvram.weebly.com/mpu.html
This board has 32 J5 pins
How would the IRQ jumper work?
Thanks!!
Quoted from ozoneaction:Do we know if this will work on this board?
https://nvram.weebly.com/mpu.html
This board has 32 J5 pins
How would the IRQ jumper work?
Thanks!!
As of right now, no it won't work (it got discussed in the Meteor forum. Links below)
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/meteor-club-we-will-let-you-know-when-the-danger-is-past/page/46#post-6477803
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/meteor-club-we-will-let-you-know-when-the-danger-is-past/page/46#post-6478384
Quoted from bigguybbr:As of right now, no it won't work (it got discussed in the Meteor forum. Links below)
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/meteor-club-we-will-let-you-know-when-the-danger-is-past/page/46#post-6477803
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/meteor-club-we-will-let-you-know-when-the-danger-is-past/page/46#post-6478384
Thanks for the info!
Quoted from Pinslot:Wow! Very impressive. Does the original Trident have individually controlled drop targets?
Yeah. You can check it out here.
Quoted from crlush:Has anyone tried running the wav trigger off the speaker in the cabinet? Was wondering if it sounded any good?
I think the line out on the wav trigger is pretty low power. Likely too low to drive the cabinet speaker
Quoted from Pinash:Has anyone with graphic skills made a scorecard for the rules?
I'm not sure. It would be great though.
Quoted from bigguybbr:I think the line out on the wav trigger is pretty low power. Likely too low to drive the cabinet speaker
This. I tried. No dice.
Quoted from crlush:Has anyone tried running the wav trigger off the speaker in the cabinet? Was wondering if it sounded any good?
I think that keith20mm is running his Meteor through the cabinet speaker. He pipes the WAV Trigger output through the amp on his SB-300 card, using a circuit suggested by @geeteoh. Here's a post about it:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/replacing-the-m6800-in-a-stern-mpu100-with-an-arduino/page/4#post-6268714
Thanks, geeteoh, for the lead on "poor man's mixer". I clipped the male stereo plug off a dollar store set of headphones, where they split into left and right leads, stripped that out, commoned the shield (copper), and then applied 1k 1/4w to each signal lead, then conjoined those, and applied a 10uf electrolytic, and then a 2.2k limiter. Then I murdered a microclip, attaching one end to the signal common, and one to the shield.
These I simply clipped across the R23 on the sound board, as one end of R23 is ground, one is signal.
This works great, the 3.5mm end plugs into the WAV Trigger 3.5mm barrel jack.
The SB-100 has pretty much the same amp on the card, but you would need to compare the circuit diagrams to figure out where to inject the signal. I had it hooked up that way on my Trident for a bit but I wasn't thrilled with the frequency response of that amp/speaker, and I like the stereo speakers mounted to the top of the head (plus sub inside). Lately, I've been buying old computer speakers at Goodwill and mounting them in the cab/head. The Silverball Mania I did had a nice set of Sony speakers (with sub) in it and it sounds amazing.
I was surprised to see that Trident has been rated so few times on here. This really might be a hidden gem.
Quoted from bigguybbr:I was surprised to see that Trident has been rated so few times on here. This really might be a hidden gem.
So far, of the machines I've reprogrammed it's the only one I've kept.
Quoted from DickHamill:So far, of the machines I've reprogrammed it's the only one I've kept.
Same here. It’s a favorite of everyone who comes over.
It is a stupidly simple game to understand and more addictive than heroin.
Game play keeps you coming back over and over thinking " I know I can beat this thing"
I had mine for almost 10 years and sold it about 5 years ago.
Still one of my all time favorites and i will own another one.
It is great that it is so under appreciated so i can buy another one for reasonable money.
Quoted from Pinash:Has anyone with graphic skills made a scorecard for the rules?
Well I am not an artist, but I know how to MS paint! Can you guys help me with the "cliff notes" score card version of the rules. Here's what I threw together, comments appreciated.
Skill Shot – There are five, try to find them all!
Starting Modes – Modes must be qualified. Once qualified, shoot the saucer to start a Mode.
Qualifying Modes
Feeding Frenzy – Hit alternating spinners 4 times.
Sharp Shooter – Clear the drop targets 3 times.
Explore the Depths – Hit all the stand up targets once.
Wizard Mode - If goals are scored in all three modes, at the end of the timer the “Deep Blue Sea” will begin. All mode shots are lit for triple scoring and the saucer will be lit for a jackpot
Quoted from michiganpinball:Finished installing this a few days and here are some pics for reference. I used the kit from Troxel Repair which is plug and play!
Also wired the amp into the power switch so it goes on and off with the game.
[quoted image][quoted image][quoted image]
You're running LEDs? How do they look with the new code? I do some fast on/off stuff for dimming that can look a little flickery with LEDs.
Quoted from PinballAir:It is a stupidly simple game to understand and more addictive than heroin.
Game play keeps you coming back over and over thinking " I know I can beat this thing"
I had mine for almost 10 years and sold it about 5 years ago.
Still one of my all time favorites and i will own another one.
It is great that it is so under appreciated so i can buy another one for reasonable money.
Trident is literally the only game I had available to play in my teen age years. Put a ton of quarters into it! And it is the game that made me a pinhead!
Quoted from DickHamill:You're running LEDs? How do they look with the new code? I do some fast on/off stuff for dimming that can look a little flickery with LEDs.
LEDs look great. Using the Siegecraft LED adapters with cointaker LEDs (the cheaper cool white bulbs).
Hi,
I am having a little issue running this code on a Altek mpu Trident.
I have a rev 1 board and have loaded the code which works fine but only if I press the reset button on the Arduino. It will not boot until I do this.
I have tried 2 boards and 2 nano with the same result.
I have a switch wire running to the base of the cab to switch between old and new code, but even jumpering it at the rev 1board doesnt make a difference.
Any thoughts?
i
Quoted from raysco:Hi,
I am having a little issue running this code on a Altek mpu Trident.
I have a rev 1 board and have loaded the code which works fine but only if I press the reset button on the Arduino. It will not boot until I do this.
I have tried 2 boards and 2 nano with the same result.
I have a switch wire running to the base of the cab to switch between old and new code, but even jumpering it at the rev 1board doesnt make a difference.
Any thoughts?
i
What does it say on the BSOS_Config.h tab? There is a line near the top that say this:
#define BALLY_STERN_OS_HARDWARE_REV 3
3 is for the Mega, it should be a 1 for the Nano.
Quoted from raysco:Hi,
I am having a little issue running this code on a Altek mpu Trident.
I have a rev 1 board and have loaded the code which works fine but only if I press the reset button on the Arduino. It will not boot until I do this.
I have tried 2 boards and 2 nano with the same result.
I have a switch wire running to the base of the cab to switch between old and new code, but even jumpering it at the rev 1board doesnt make a difference.
Any thoughts?
i
It has been a while since the Rev 1 board, but we should be able to figure this out. I designed/tested that board on a stock MPU100, but since then plenty of people have used it on an Alltek, myself included. But, there is variation in MPUs... Anyway!
On the Rev 1, the Arduino doesn't have knowledge of the old-code/new-code switch position (I ran out of pins). Instead, the 74125 pulls the halt low to stop the 6800 from running. Then, the Arduino waits for a second, monitors the VMA line and only runs if the VMA line shows no activity. So, the switch halts the 6800, so it has no VMA activity, and then the Arduino sees no bus activity and runs.
My guess is that the Arduino is seeing spurious VMA activity and refusing to boot. By the time you hit the reset button, the activity is gone on the VMA line and it starts up. Here's how I would test this theory:
In BallySternOS.cpp, look for these lines:
void BSOS_InitializeMPU() {
// Wait for board to boot
delayMicroseconds(50000);
delayMicroseconds(50000);
Those delays are supposed to delay bootup for 100ms total, to allow the board to boot & settle. I used that function (delayMicroseconds) elsewhere in the code, so I used it here instead of delay(), which takes a value in ms. Long story short, only using one function saves code space, but this might be an issue. I just read that:
"Currently, the largest value that will produce an accurate delay is 16383; larger values can produce an extremely short delay. This could change in future Arduino releases. For delays longer than a few thousand microseconds, you should use delay() instead."
If that's still true, you could try replacing the two "delayMicroseconds(50000);" lines with seven lines of 16383, like this:
void BSOS_InitializeMPU() {
// Wait for board to boot
delayMicroseconds(16383);
delayMicroseconds(16383);
delayMicroseconds(16383);
delayMicroseconds(16383);
delayMicroseconds(16383);
delayMicroseconds(16383);
delayMicroseconds(16383);
If that still doesn't work, try 20 of those lines--put a nice long delay in there to allow things to settle before the Arduino makes its decision.
Or, if there's enough compile space in that code base (I can't currently check), try this:
void BSOS_InitializeMPU() {
// Wait for board to boot
delay(500);
If none of those things work, keep cranking the delay until it does? Either way, please keep me informed of your results!
Thanks for the reply Dick.
I was reading up yesterday and found some info regarding the startup delay.
I cant test this for a week or so as I am heading out for a week long Cruise in a couple of hours and need to organise the use of a Trident 
I will test as soon as I can and confirm results.
Just thought I would post an update. I was planning on borrowing a Trident (and Altek board) last weekend. Now all 6 in my family have COVID so it will be another week or so. Apologies to anyone waiting on my input. I want to get the rev1 board working although I have a rev3 board that I know should work, but where is the fun in that
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