OK. I'll clean those out tonight and report back. I don't think I blew anything, I hope not at least, because the rest of the game functions correctly. And what about the 9.2ROM? I had the 9.4CH ROM ordered (it's going on route) but based off of your comments about Ted, I called them and asked for the 9.2 ROM.

You're better off with 9.2 if it's going on route; 9.4 is for home use only, and def not for going on location.

That's what I thought! I know someone hacked 9.4H to make it pay-to-play, but that it was against Ted's wishes and may have introduced other bugs in doing so, so I thought to play it safe and use the latest official release.

Very cool of you. 9.4h has some really cool adjustments but you'd never really notice playing on location, so nothing lost IMO (except Coyote's bugfixes)

Oh! In that case, huge hat-tip to you! For not only putting it on route (that's effin' awesome!) but not using the 9.4CH. So, yes - in that case then 9.2's fine, and wht you would want to use.

Also check the opto wiring, see if the wires in the IDC connectors at the opto board are loose. That can cause these issues too.

It's my buddy's pin that I'm shopping for him (he's putting it on location), but yeah, I thought a stable official ROM would be more suited, especially after seeing Ted's post and your comments on the ROM and learning about the back story.

I'll try the easy (cleaning the optos) then look into the opto board. I went through and re-seated all the connectors on all the boards but didn't check for loose wires. The Prox Opto Sensor wouldn't cause any of these issues, right?

The 'prox' sensor isn't an opto - and no, it just tells the game what to do when a ball IS kicked out of the trough - not the autofire kicker.

In this case, what's happening is that the code is seeing the autofire kicker switch active, and the game's trying to 'clear' the kicker, by opening the diverter, and firing it. Anyone can reporoduce this action by sticking your finger down into the autofire kicker to break the opto beam. (Recommend not keeping the finger in there, as the kicker can hurt..!)

If any game has the second autokicker opto installed, the code will do the same thing if THAT one is blocked - even momentarily.

Ok. Hopefully cleaning the optos will resolve this issue. Then I can move on to other things. This game brought me into pinball just about a year ago, so I want to take care of it, and own one myself someday

One thing with 9.2 vs 9.4H is that 9.4H includes anti-ghosting code for LED's. If you will be running LED's in the game you still can but will want to buy one of the hardware fixes such as LED OCD.... otherwise they won't look very good.

I would recommend LED's for on location as well... they are brighter allowing the game to operate in a location with more light than might be normal, produce less heat in the game and reduce current draw.

Thinking about putting my TZ on location as well. Need to dust off my operator hat.... and convince my wife that it won't get hurt.

Uh, no it doesn't. Not the official version, anyways. And running 9.4H on mine, I get HORRIBLE ghosting.

That aside, YES. I can NOT recommend LedOCD enough. I can't stand the instant on/off of LED lights people put into their games - it hurts my eyes, *especially* when playing in a dark room. However, with LedOCD, they LOOK incandescent, and at least on my game, you'd never know LEDs were installed. For me, that's the biggest draw.

Huh... wonder how many variations are out there then. I can't remember exactly where I got mine but will look through email. It's labeled as simply 9.4H and is free only.

Ghosting almost completely went away with it, although doesn't have the awesome fade in/out that LED OCD provides.

Edit:
It was from eBay listed as official PPS authorized and had the holographic seal on the ROM... will have to look at it again when I get home.

It didn't totally cure ghosting but went from unbearable to not too bad.

you can come to my house and play TZ when you want....

The ROM uses a newer base OS than 9.2 does - that's likely the difference you're seeing. It doesn't have that 'wpc anti-ghost' patch that is floating out there applied to it. (LEDs in games didn't EXIST when Ted compiled 9.4H. )

So, yeah, it would probably help with ghosting, as the newer OS handles calls/interrupts better, that's true..!

I'm confused ... what's the deal with 9.4ch?

Go back two pages. Literally. Page #88.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/twilight-zone-owners-club/page/88#post-3830156

Ah ok... so no anti-ghost explicitly however because of base OS changes ghosting is not nearly the issue it is with prior versions. Makes sense.

I can personally live with LED's and 9.4H while earlier pretty much require LED OCD... and LED OCD can further help along any release.

Waitaminute. LedOCD eliminates the instant-on/off of LEDs? Gives them an incandescent-style ramp?

Yeaup. In fact, the latest firmware has better handling for actual incandescent bulbs as well, so they're not 'ramped up' and act more normally. (My request, since in my game, I leave the visible bulbs - pop bumpers, spiral/piano bulbs, etc. as incandescent.)

You can even define your own ramp!

I only use LEDs in a few spots currently because I LOVE the incandescent ramp and hate the LED ramp. I thought LedOCD just helped with fading effects on LEDs... My God, this changes everything.

I did purchase one game from another collector that was fully decked out in LEDs... while I am not a fan I am also not gonna rip them out, so they are still in there. Guess I know what pinball toy I am buying next.

There's a lot of litlle tricks and tips in the Club OCD thread. But off-hand, the ramp works a LOT better for ghosting bulbs (non-non-ghosting bulbs?), and each 'make' or 'manufacturer' of LED may need adjustment, since they may handle the ramps differently. However, out of the box, you should see a huge difference.

Edit to add - this goes same for the GI OCD. I have both in my game.

Oh my god, you just need to stop. Every time I read this thread there is more stuff I want to buy!! Lol

A little cleaning and adjusting of the optos took care of the problem (at least from the few games I played). Thanks for the help! I did put LEDs in it and does ghost but not bad enough where I think my buddy will want and OCD board. Can't wait to get the ROM installed.

You need to get caught up. On top of what Coyote wrote, note that LED OCD is programmable, so that you can customize exactly how the light fades in and fades out. You can also adjust the maximum brightness bulb by bulb, so that you could have a mishmash of different LED brands and still make them appear equal in brightness and equal in fade-in/out.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/led-ocd-for-wpc-new-design-and-price-drop

Ok, it's hacked... still don't understand what's wrong with it exactly

No, LEDs are good from a performance/maintenance perspective. LEDOCD perfects your game - the best mix of low maintenance and modern tech. Plus since you can program it to however you wait it gives you the best of all worlds. This plus Lyonsden's pinduino is like magic.

https://groups.google.com/d/msg/rec.games.pinball/5exaK_Q8-Pc/70Tl7ojZvBAJ

IMG_5690 (resized).JPG

I've read that thread 10 times before and I still find new points Ted makes in that first post. Did he ever reply to all the questions?

No, unfortunatley. He pretty much stopped replying to everyone/RGP after that, from what I see. I lost touch with him after he offered his prototype TZ up for sale to me and another beta tester. (My fault I lost touch, since I graduated and moved..) I'd like to get in touch with him still. To follow up and just shoot the breeze.

Yup! That's an official ROM. The Checksum though, means there's no WPC 'ghost-fix' patch in it.. so it's just natively differences in the OS and how it's pinging the driver board.

Finally FINALLY installed my Ingo clock.

I think I bought it a year or so ago when the credit dot started telling me the clock was broken. But then it magically started working again and laziness prevented me from doing the install.

Well, clock has been broken for the last two weeks so I finally popped it in. Super easy, took me maybe 15 mins.

I got it with a few different LED options (warm white, cold white, blue)

Starting out with blue, I like it alot so far.

Check out my old clock board, haha.

Also, has any one heard from Ingo? hope all is well over there. IMHO this is by far the best replacement clock board option.

20170630_202416 (resized).jpg
20170630_200127 (resized).jpg

Yes, i just put in an order with him a couple days ago. I bought a ToM trunk board from him and it's very well made. Can't wait to get the clock board.

Who is the preferred vendor for the 9.4h rom? I don't see a "buy" option on the planetary pinball site.

If you really want a licensed ROM, you may have to send them an email. However, IMHO, it's not necessary - save the money and get another needed part, and have someone here burn one for you. (On their EPROM library, they even give out instructions on how to burn your own. Granted, it's from 1996, but hey.)

It's very interesting how your brain is trained. (Or at least mine?)

One of the things I wanted to do before the York show was to flip the wiring to the Spira and Gumball lamps. Since my game has the original Spiral plastic where the Gumball sign is, I figured, hey, let's reverse the lamps!

So I made a custom harness to easily flip the lights, without making any major permanent changes to my game. (I would LOVE to be able to make a custom ROM to handle this, but.. not sure I could.)

Easily done!

Start up a game - and it's just really strange - the lamp's meanings are reversed. See the gumball sign lamp on, and thing - oh, need to get the powerball out! - but no.

Evil genius!

Working on some G.I. issues on TZ, the initial view was not horribly surprising...
Fried connectors anyone?

Tho perhaps a bit disturbing...
Nasty!

But then a closer look at the power/driver board...
That's not good

Obviously got a tad toasty!
Bad, bad

Could not imagine why the lights are not working...
They were soldered down, honest!

Pull connector, clean it up, test that the vias are intact
bit of cleaning yet

Solder wick is your friend!
solder wick is your friend!

A bit nicer looking afterwards...
much better

Next, replace the shells on the cables, new trifercon pins, should be much happier!

...until I find that the fried connectors also took out the driver triacs! Parts ordering time!
Does anyone know if the IDC type connectors are trifercon type connectors?

Just adds a bit more impetus to order some more LEDs to reduce the overall current draw.

Sigh... but it's all part of the fun, yes?

As far as I know, they are not.

Also keep in mind that the 'trifuricon' part name is discontinued. If ordering from mOuser/Digikey, you want the 'KK' style/model/whatever.

I will keep that in mind, thanks. Actually have a bag of the pins on hand, but am out of the shells. Hence the query before ordering.
Just looking to prevent this from occurring again. At least as much as that is possible.

Looking for help with my TZ ball trough powerball sensor...

My problem is this - my sensor absolutely senses the balls properly in general. When its sitting just right, the light comes on for the metal balls and stays off for the powerball. So its not like the boards are fried. But no matter how many times I try to adjust the location of the sensor, after a game or two it ends up out of wack again and will not sense the powerball properly.

The only mechanical thing I can see is that the circular plastic form that the metal detecting sensor's wire wraps around does have a crack in it. But since it does work properly, I don't think this is causing my trouble.

Are there any tricks to getting this adjusted properly and then to stay adjusted properly? I have always tried to keep the round sensor itself just far out enough so that a ball does not hit it and it does not sense the metal of the trough itself, but still close enough to sense the balls. But it just will not stay adjusted...

I've read that there can be loose connections between the main board and the sensor board, but mine seems to work consistently. I think its more that it just won't stay aligned.

I hate to have to buy a whole new assembly as it seems mine does work and that I just have an adjustment issue.

Any tips?

Thanks!

Definitely solder the connections instead of continuing to use the connector, this will provide pure consistent connection

Is anything physically getting loose? Tighten up stuff??

This is the correct location - balls should not be hitting it.
The crack in it won't harm it - mine is cracked and starting to unravel, and it's working fine.

By 'stay adjusted', do you mean the board is moving? Tighten screws more, or if the holes are stripped (screws still turn after as tight as you can get them) do the bamboo fix to hold them tighter. The sensor board should NOT move. Leaqve about a 1/8 gap between the ball and the sensor board, as the outhole kicker will hurl those balls to the wooden stop there, and could still be enough to hit it.

Like Chosen_S says - take the connectors off the wires and the two boards, and solder the sires directly on. Make sure you keep the red and black wires twisted (or, if they're not, twist them!) to avoid interference. While they 'may be good' now, it's a good step to minimize future issues.

Ok, I'll solder the connection and see if that helps.

Nothing seems to physically move or loosen, it's just that if I unscrew and adjust everything and tighten it up again, it works great for a few games and then flakes out again.

Hardwiring the connection is easy enough - hopefully that works.

Thanks,

- Gblaz

So my game has entered the Twilight Zone...

I've heard comments - hell, Ted mentioned it himself - about how there could possibly still be 'bugs', even if the source-code was released publicly. Here's an example, and possibly a new 'bug' I found in 9.4H..

If you play your game a lot, you'll notice how the knocker's actions are timed with the display. For example, when you get a reply, the knocker fires as the last reel falls into place. If you have replays give extra balls, it happens when the extra ball is awarded. (i.e. When the 'Shoot Again' lamp lights.)

So, some time between last month and now, I noticed that my game was not firing the knocker for the Match. And it was going off as soon as the reply score was reached - not waiting for the animation. Same with when an extra ball is awarded. (On my game, Specials and Replays give extra balls. Hey. I LIKE the knocker!)

The *only* setting in Adjustments I remember changing was the 'Ticket Exp Board' from YES to NO. (I had turned it to 'Yes' years ago when I was messing with the ticket board. I just never changed it back.) I may have changed another setting, but if I did, I can't remember what. But regardless, none of the adjustments should have modified the knocker code - yet it did.

Strange.

A friend 3-d printed one of these Spiral Arrows for me. After installing it I think that it's the best option for the "missing" spiral plastics. Yeah I know it's not the original design but it looks great! It slips over the Spiral bulb and lights it up perfectly. It really stands out when lit. It's not as bright as it seems in the picture though. I highly recommend this. Great job @hanst!

IMG_3218 (resized).JPG

IMG_3217 (resized).JPG

That's not bad! Wow. Cool idea. Somehow you've got to get 'Collect spiral w/ Lit' printed on it

I thought of that, but it's still much better than a bare light bulb, which is all you get from the factory.

Ordered it on ebay.

That is amazing.
Love it when a mod really enhances a game.
I think this is in the same catagory as the Addams Family bookcase book on the two LED's.
You (or someone) could sell a ton of those if you can mass produce them.
I know I want one.

Not me, but I looked on EBay to check AlexSMendes comment and found this:
ebay.com link: TWILIGHT ZONE PINBALL LEFT SPIRAL ARROW flipper pinball MOD