When anyone picks TWD in league you can hear the wind get sucked out of the room. I personally love it and pick it frequently in a league setting but I’ve heard “awww shit really?!…here we go” nearly every time ive chose it. The worst is when you pick it and it just mercilessly kicks your f’n ass and you lose bad haha

Woo-hoo, I made it to LMS for the first time! I was also one mode away from Terminus, a mode I've never made. And I needed to shoot Woodbury to start Horde, but I was too amped up after LMS so bricked it. But still, LMS (900M) and 1.3 billion total for me, beating my old high score by 1B!

Woohoo!!!!!

(Fwiw, I did lower the kills down from 115 to like 80 or 90 but it's still the first time I've reached it so I'm not ashamed!)

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Ok. I misinterpreted tournament players fear of the game for dislike. I love the game but am not a tournament player.

Tournament players love control. It extends their ball time and they have more opportunities to score.
#the_walking_dead forces you to put the ball out of control if you want the points because the biggest points are in the modes and you can't start them without hitting the drop targets.

So a few bad bounces on #the_walking_dead_le and you're done and you'll probably get bit on your way out too.

Not only that, you also have to play different modes and all the modes use different shots. Even if you're the worlds greatest left loop shooter after you play Barn mode that left loop won't do much for you. Pick something else. Players can't just master one shot and win consistently on #the_walking_dead

Thanks for the explanation. Makes sense.

TWD separates the causal players from the real competitors. If you don’t know how to nudge aggressively, this game will be finished with you in a few minutes. Meanwhile I see the better players enjoying the hell out of the game. People also complained when I made IM part of a tournament. If people aren’t bitching about games being too hard, they’ll bitch about rounds taking forever. Our job as TDs is to walk that fine line.

Best way to make the game more fun for casual players is to set the ball save longer, set the tilt looser, and maybe even set the outlanes tighter. But then you’re flirting with long ball times.

I'm no tournament veteran here, but it was my understanding and expectations that tournament games are set to play as difficult as possible, outlanes wide open or removed altogether, no rubber on inlane posts, ball save timers removed, extra balls turns off... the one tournament I did play in with a TWD was setup like this and it was just punishing... and that was fine, it's tournament conditions and everyone plays the same machine.

There is no universe where I would setup a TWD like this for home use however... TWD is hard enough as it is with everything set to default, no need to make it harder... for my skill level at least.

It depends on the size and format of the tournament. We used my TWD Pro for the SFGE tournament and I left everything factory, including the Ball Save. We never had an issue with long games on TWD. But for games like Tron and Star Trek, yeah I would do all of the things you mentioned.

That is not typical. Maybe only at Group A finals at Pinburgh for example where a handful of top 100 world ranked players are left standing.

At all the local/regional tourneys I travel to, the pins are left on standard settings with extra balls off. We are there to have fun after all.

looking to buy a TWD pro in NY area. Cash in hand. Will be there in +- 10 days

folks,
anyone know what's the part number for these posts on the LE please? I the post above it that has the ball save some how sheered and I can't get what's left of the upper part out.

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Thanks,
Neil.

NeilMcRae Looking on page P13 only 3 posts are tapped for screws on top and have a hex fastener at the bottom.
If it's an 8-32 screw on top it's 16, if it's 6-32 then 13 or 17. Unlikely to be 17 with just a sleeve on it.

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People helping people. That’s what makes this website so good.

That info is totally missing from the Pro manual which is only 48 pages total.

The Premium and LE manuals are each 157 pages. GOOD TO KNOW!

They are the same manual, at least on Stern's website. I've never seen a paper copy.

yeah thanks YeOldPinPlayer I had narrowed it down to those also but I've found some 530-5332-01 and I've ordered a couple from pinballife. if that isn't the right one I'll order the other one

I blew one of my audio op amps, and I had to use my Pirates of the Caribbean manual to find a legible image of the audio circuit. The CPU schematics in the post-2010 Stern manuals are useless because the print is too small (even under a microscope!). Fortunately, I think the audio amp circuit didn’t change from POTC to TWD. Here’s a link to the replacement part for anyone who has this problem:

https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/TDA2030A

And here’s the POTC backbox speaker audio section schematic (cab speaker section is the same):

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I had a similar issue, not sure where the one pinsider got the clear diagram from, he is into audio, but glad you got it fixed. Here is a link to my problem and repair Incase anyone needs this type of help, since the audio boards are like $600 verses a $2 fix if you can solder.
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/bottom-cabinet-speaker-hum-#post-5943590

I’ve been down this road before with Iron Man. My friend came over and installed a Pinnovators headphone jack without turning the game off first (oof), and it blew U50 or U51. Fortunately those ICs are thru-hole, so they’re easy to replace if you have a good soldering iron.

Can someone explain how to start SIEGE. I read the tilt forums rules just now. Seems like it just starts siege by hitting the prison.

Yesterday i had the glass off of my premium and was doing a light cleaning and replaceing balls (they were magnetized). Ive never been that great at prison MB. And didnt know how to even get to siege…. So i played around a bit

After copious ammounts of alternating hitting blue arrow shots and then the prison got the riot shot to light for super jp. (I have never seen this with glass on). Then continued hitting ramps and prison back and forth eventuall it said siege is lit on the dmd…. But the insert wasnt lit…. Or flashing or anything.

Pretty sure i hit the prison at least once and i didnt see a seige mode start.

What am i missing?

12 jackpots get you there. After you get 6 of them only the ramps light and must hit a ramp then prison to get more jackpots. After 6 more, siege should start the moment MB is over if I remember correctly.

Oh that explains it. I had two balls in hand and couldnt get siege to start. So just put them both in the trough at same time and the endnof ball sequence played out.

Sounds like i should have let one drain to end prison mb and then it would have lit/started.

Thanks so much. Ill work on making that happen with glass on and in a year i might get there. Haha.

You can reduce the number of jackpots needed in the settings. I'd probably never get Siege on default. I think I lowered it to 7 or 8 and I occasionally get there now.

For shipping is there any special prep needed for the well walker? I just stuffed some paper towels behind the guy and against the plastics behind so it seems like he won’t flop around too much.

Are there any other suggestions?

Machine will be on its back end for transport.

Just posted my new 3D The Walking Dead flipper toppers for sale: https://pinside.com/pinball/market/classifieds/ad/124419

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I just picked up a Premium. The playfield is surprisingly dark!

What’s the recommended fix? Spotlights or pinstadiums? I’d like to maintain the Premium GI ambience for certain game modes (if possible).

I'm also seeing a lot of talk about the Gnassel BG Light Mod. Can anyone share a link for purchase?

The reason the playfield looks dark is that the inserts LEDs are way too bright. I fixed that by switching them all over to warm white LEDs. This lets your pupils open up more to let in more light, so the playfield looks brighter. Try it, it works!

I kind of assumed it was supposed to be dark to fit the theme.

Yeppers. I lit Deadpool up, but have done nothing to TWD as i think it's fine and the playfield light show is fantastic in the modes.

You can’t do that on the Premium though, aren’t the LED’s on boards?

I like my brand new WD backglass, so I'm sharing it.

My iPhone 6 camera doesn’t do it justice and washes out the picture. However, it's hand-drawn With great detail.

IMO It gives a great Game, a Great new look!

P.S. I just put up a forum topic regarding the “The Fishtank” topper; please check it out and provide your opinion on the subject.

Thanks guys

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Most of the Premium LED inserts are on PCBs.

I legitimately can't see the ball in some scenarios. Adding the gameplay speed to the mix makes it tough. I play in a dark room, and even the tranlite glare on the glass becomes overwhelming. Previous owner painted the florescent tube black to help, but the glare is still significant.

In attract mode, the lighting looks fine, but after starting a game most of the GI dims making it difficult for me to see.

Okay any modern stern in a dark room and it’s hard to see. Add all the flashing effects and good luck.

Get some HD glass - I was on the fence but decided to try it - it's amazing, well worth the upgrade. Gets rid of the glare. I usually play in a dim room.

I added two spotlights on top slingshots which are connected to the GI. So if GI Finn’s or switches off the follow.

Think pinstadium would ruin the atmosphere of TWD.

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I took this photo with the HD glass on. The glass did help out big time. You can't see the reflection of the words while playing, but you can see the words standing from a distance.

The HD glass is worth it, though.

I'm going to try some spotlights to brighten up the playfield a bit.

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The HD glass is totally worth it. I took this photo with the HD glass on. While standing directly in front of the game, you really can't see the glare of the words; you only notice it from a distance.

I do like the idea of adding a few spotlights, though.

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Okay, so it sounds like only the Pro uses 555 sockets for insert lighting. I was helping a friend with his AC/DC Premium, and it has a similar problem. The inserts are so bright and flash so much, it makes the game unplayable for half the people in our league. I went to switch out some of the insert lamps, and discovered that it used the LED boards. There’s no setting to reduce the flashing or the brightness of the inserts. So the only “fix” is to use a lot of ambient (overhead) lighting. It’s disappointing that Stern doesn’t even have a setting to reduce their brightness.

I’m not sure why more modern Sterns don’t seem to have this problem. It might just be that the GI in later games is bright enough to overcome the insert brightness.

Maybe you could put something physically over the board LED’s to dim them down?

I'd try these to tone it down.

https://www.amazon.com/ALZO-Temperature-Orange-Warming-Selection/dp/B07VPWSJ2Y/ref=asc_df_B07VPWSJ2Y/

Yeah, I was thinking that if I can bake on parchment paper, it should be safe to use it to dim the inserts.

I used that behind red/blue lighting gel on my Robocop backglass as it was missing the fresnels and worked really well at hiding the lamps as you could see them through the gels.

They use coloured gel stuff on deadpool inserts to mod it to look all pretty. Info in the owners thread a couple pages back.

Link
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/fish-tank-topper-could-we-make-this-happen

I found a couple spotlights left over from a previous project that I will try out.

On the Premium, it looks like all the GI goes dim during the majority of gameplay. I assume they're all on the same circuit. Is there a solid 6.3V that I can tap into under the playfield?

If you wanna keep the atmosphere of twd I would not reccomend tapping it to a fixed 6.3V. I feel that it’s good that the spotlight follow the GI. Try it out I would say

So, here's another idea regarding the dark GI. Has anyone tried to replace the GI on the Premium with generally brighter LEDs?

My problem isn't when the GI is fully on, it's when it's dimmed. I just can't see. If the LED is naturally brighter, I'm thinking the low brightness setting should be brighter too?

Does anyone know where I can get the bicycle girl mod? I contacted the guy who originally made it, but it doesnt look like he's making anymore....be a nice add on

I mailed Gnassel several times but never got a response. Was lucky enough to obtain one via a friendly pinsider who didn’t use it.