Code can’t fix a bad layout, but that’s not what we are facing. We are facing is needing to let Spooky do their thing and that takes time. Too bad we don’t have any time, oh wait, the run won’t be complete for ever a year. Guess there is time.

I watched the H rules video Bug did and I really like what I saw. Really looking forward to Spooky being able to use the year they have to keep adding and refining things. I get to wait, but will enjoy reading the updates as they come. #406

Who is this referring to?

Who is this referring to?

Who is this referring to?

Spooky has lost 2 team members that we know of. Who are all these others?

Scott and Eric were both contract employees. Scott works for Pinball Life for his real job and Eric was doing R&M after his day job too. I wouldn’t say either are lost, and they could be on any future titles they feel like, as I’m sure Spooky would contract with them again without a doubt.

Plenty of personality on display in the owner number thread.

Happened to see this for sale and got one. No real reason, didn’t even know it was a thing.

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You dry your hockey gear away from the pins (and family) right?

That’s quite an impressive sight, and really good that you have the space to queue up a ton of games while (presumably) waiting for a mystery widget.

Are you able to say what you were waiting for to be able to button up the games and box them? Some of the supply chain hiccups I have seen are almost amusing. I had to change a drawing recently at work because we couldn’t get a certain type of marking ink so had to get an alternative sourced and approved so we didn’t have a line stop. The fab guys were freaking out, but I found it interesting and mildly amusing.

Stern doesn’t do a wiring diagram type of schematic on new games. Instead they have a table for switches, coils, lights, and then what board/connector they go to. Probably lists the driver for each as needed, but I don’t have that in front of me. Manuals are online and might be a good starting point reference.

There are zero games listed there.

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Spooky has not put out any electrical information for R&M and there is also none for UM/H. I was showing how they don’t need a schematic drawing, and gave an example that could be done in a spreadsheet instead of an engineering drawing. At least for the switches/coils/lights/wiring. The board itself might be a different task.

That’s a whole different level because I suspect it stems back to the Pinheck board build files being available online. Homepin took them and cloned the board and used it in Thunderbirds. The schematic for the new board can be available while being legally protected (against Homepin part 2).

There are lock bars that use the coin door carriage bolts instead of needing to drill into the cab. Any op that is drilling into a modern cab for lock bars is doing it wrong for sure.

I might have to do a little research into the CE numbers for H when this happens. I’m a BSE UM, so will be in for a wait, which is fine. GZ premium expected in august, so will give me time to reload the war chest a little before UM time.

This is the breakdown the date estimate spreadsheet has. Seems oddly specific with numbers ending in either 0 or 5, but are probably estimates as the spreadsheet was made long before the owner list threads were very well populated. If you want exact numbers you’d have to go to those threads and see where the CE ends and BSE starts and do the same for standards.

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That is my understanding. My UM BSE spot moved into 2023 early on in 2022, again all according to the estimates based on delivery dates of games. I’m fine with that. Have to pay for a GZ premium soon and don’t mind a little recovery time til UM.

Did the scoop flasher get removed from the sequence when it comes from the upper playfield? That’s the only thing that people might find confusing after you explain it will always come out at the flipper. We are conditioned that a scoop can kick a ball out, and a flashing light above a scoop means it’s coming. If it’s still in there, take it out and use the light only for when you need to hit it.

I’d guess that all games will be made if they have the parts for them. Why sit on a bunch of unmade or empty cabs when you can make them, box them, and hold them or get them to distributors. If it was 50 games (UM and H combined) or less that end up like this I think that would be fine.

There is there is a post somewhere in the pinned posts showing how to confirm your diverter for that ramp is aligned correctly. I’d start with that and compare yours with the desired alignment.

I would rather Spooky confirm this. Their original goal was to have all games made by the end of 2022 and that was before a few production delays that was out of their control. Now a distro is saying they are almost done with the largest % model and moving the BSE with 5 months left in the year. I’m not so sure about that.

What’s the ratio? 2.5 H built per 1 UM? So with 100ish UM left there is still 350ish total CEs to build. Anyone remember the latest number of games they are able to make a week? 15? 20? 30? Even at 30 a week that’s 12 weeks. Lots of fuzzy math, but just showing my thought process on the timing.

Thanks for pointing to the post. That’s quite the turnaround. Good for them.

Hey SpookyBug i have a pinball recording tip and trick. On your mic, put a piece of soft open cell foam under your mic. It will cut down a little on the clickity clacks of the game, but still pick up you and the game audio just fine. This piece is 8” square and about 1” thick, but was super easy to poke a hole in the center and sandwich between the stand and mic.

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Where does the Jirahs battle music come from? It doesn’t feel proper and I watched the battle scene on YT. It’s mostly spurts of marching band drums. The full orchestra score seems odd to me.

I think they said UM’s health lowers by 3% per second. If they did an easy setting that was 2% per second and a hard setting that was 4% per second that would seem like a pretty good spread of options.

Pull it back and touch the metal. If it’s got a little tacky feel to it you can clean it off with IPA and replace the sleeve if you want to. I doubt your spring is getting weaker, likely just more resistance between the rod and sleeve.

Got my email for BSE 406 today.

This was posted by somebody as an option for a cover. It’s a lot more than a single game needs, but it’s also not crazy expensive either.

Muzata 33FT/10M Continuous Milky White LED Cover Lens Frosted Tape Light Seamless Plastic for U1SW U Shape Aluminum Led Channel LC03 WW (ONLY Cover No Aluminum LED Channel Included) https://a.co/d/cQrjz69

BSE 406. Paid almost 2 weeks ago so I’d guess mine is in the works pretty soon if not already.

I’m 406 so maybe I’ll get that same email this week.

Overseas games getting made this week? 403 or 404 went out recently and I’m 406 and paid up almost a month ago. Looking forward to the call.

BSE 406. Paid 8/23 but no info since then.

UM 406 paid for a few weeks ago and it shipped out today.

That would just be the code version. That shows quickly when the game is first powered up.

406 arrived today. Box looks good but won’t be able to set it up until after hockey tonight.

Got everything opened and set up nicely. With everyone sleeping it’s a little hard to have fun, but I did do a power up and I get this screen after it does the spooky-o-vision (close?) screen. Is this a loose cable that is causing this screen to stick on the display?

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Thanks, I will check it out.

I have less than 50 plays so far and am picking up on things a little more each time I play. When I finish the shots of a mode it seems that there is a final shot to finish the mode but the few times I’ve been in that situation with nothing else running I don’t remember an audio indicator or anything in the display saying so. When there is a pre-multiball mode going on as well that seems to dominate the display so I don’t ever really know the status of the normal mode if one is in progress.

When you do in fact finish a mode I don’t feel like there is much “you did it” fanfare. I don’t need the pat on the back, but it would be nice to have that information that I’m done and can go onto the next thing, whatever that may be. If there is that indicator in there already, it isn’t something I have picked up on yet, so might need to be a little more amped up.
Been really enjoying the game so far. Starting to find the shots on the first attempt way more than when I first got the game. Working through the harder modes is enjoyable as long as the Jirahs pre-multiball going as well as that dominates the display.

lpeters82 would you consider another run at the rule sheet on tilt forums? A few things have changed considerably, but I think you did a good job with the first version.

I got to Pigmon for the first time tonight and it was after completing 2 modes and failing one. I thought it was only available after completing 3 modes. Either way, it was fun and a nice reward for a few completions.

Do the inserts in the Pigmon art on the playfield mean anything? I haven’t figured that out yet.

Can Pestar’s first shot start on the left orbit instead of the right? It’s feeding to the right so the beginning of the mode seems broken up by shooting the left ramp and then an actual shot for the mode. The fact that the shots move and alternate sides after a completion seems “hard” enough.

I’d be down for saving progress on the modes/multiballs as well, hopefully that will become a thing.

What are the two purple balls/balloons for on the Pigmon mode in the selection menu? I thought there were 2 modes for it but after I finished it just passed over it as if it was totally complete.

Really liking this game. I test streamed it tonight and the first 60 of 90 minutes was good enough but I started dropping frames like crazy at some point and Twitch cut me off. I’ll try to figure out what happened and give it another go.

Boat
Pipe smoker
HQ chica
Step on a nail
Lock

This is what I remember from trying to practice that shot recently. I don’t know anyone’s name yet. But I’m bad with names anyway. Faces and voices are what I remember easily.

How do you light extra ball normally? The scoop was blinking green and gave me a WTF moment. Collected it and was happy, but have no idea how it came up in the first place.

Also, is there any idea if mode and multiball progress memory in the plan? Would be really nice if you didn’t have to start from scratch on everything but Baltan for modes and multiballs.

Also, part 2. Poor Pigmon. I haven’t watched the episode yet but I can’t help but laughing every (rare) time I get to start his mode. It’s funny, but sad, I think.

When you are in a mode and then start a multiball pre-mode (anyone have a good name for this?) I am often very confused. The display is taken over by the multiball instructions which I guess is good for the health bars to be there, but I have no idea what I’m doing in the mode at that point.

Ragon mode shots are pink (they call it purple, but I’m not buying that) so maybe keep the mode shots pink. There are some modes that want you to hit other shots, but not others (no idea what the penalty is, so text for that info would be nice in an update) and currently there is a mixture of red and green. I get that from a real world perspective, but green is “lock” in pinball.

I’ve seen red and orange used for playfield multiplier and yellow, I think, on Walking dead for the inlane shot multiplier. I don’t think we need to be 100% sticking to normal colors, but a little more consistency would be less confusing.

Spacium, the right side drop target lock progress, and the center drop target playfield multiplier all being blue are a little confusing, but I like that the drop target changes to green when your lock is ready.

Right on Rotordave! It’s really not that far off from where I think they might be going as far as gameplay. Glad to hear feedback is being taken.

This is a very, very good list. Just please don’t take away my HQ credit from dropping in from the upper playfield. I do that on purpose quite often.

To me, this seems like the biggest issue of moving from boardset to boardset. The format for the programming might be different at least at some point, and you have to start all over.

As a (distracted) homebrewer, I’m using FAST boards and MPF as the “code”. If I move to another board MPF might not be an option (but it might be because Jan at MPF is great) and so any stuff that is common game to game (basic menus, ball save, all examples of how to do stuff in modes and with mechs that you already figured out once) all of that is scrapped and slows you down when you create it all over again.

Hopefully with this current board, Spooky is using a code format that they have already used and have a library of examples to draw from.

My biggest concern for Spooky is that their manufacturing capability/pace is going to outpace their game development pace. When that spreadsheet for ETA of delivery of H/UM was posted I saw my delivery date get pushed back as far as March 2023. Then word came out that they expected to have the run done in late fall. That pushed things up 6 months. They went from 15 to 25 to 40 games a week. 40 games a week is a run of 2000 games for a title in a year. At that pace dev time doesn’t have a whole lot of room for delays. I’m not saying Spooky is in trouble, just that it is a balance and I’d rather have a little bit of a queue for games ready to go than the line working faster than the design teams can reasonably get a game to the line.

I'm not sure Gomora should use the center ramp. You start the mode, shoot the drops down, and then it says get to HQ, but what it then wants you to do is hit the drop and then the crossover ramp. First, that's not what I would categorize as "easy". Next, anything that involves the center ramp adds to Jirahs progress and if you start that and are at the spinner stage, the drop target won't stay down even if it isn't red. I just did it and it was purple and kept resetting with every hit. Wasn't hurting me, but also was locking out of Gamora progress.

I'd suggest using the left ramp for Gomora. Drops>left ramp>standups around left ramp>left ramp>done. That's 7 switches/shots total and Ragon is 5 lit shots and you only need to hit 4.

I have an idea on another way to use the far right drop/standup shot. Use it as an add-a-ball in multiball. One hit traps a ball, game kicks out another into the multiball. Hit the drop and the ball is released into the multiball and a ball save kicks on.

You will need to replace the strip.

I got this from Amazon to try. It was suggested at some point in this thread. If you have the app you can scan the barcode.

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The +3 and -5 or -10 are very hard to notice.

Very cool, thanks for sharing.

Really like the additions of the easy/medium/hard settings for the multiballs, along with the additions there. The Science Patrol features are nice as well to make that feel fuller. Is that a word? They made Fuller House, so I’m going with yes.

When Matt has run out of things to do (take it easy, that’s a joke) can easy/hard settings be considered for modes? Progress memory (normal setting, but you have to relight modes via drops after a drain), continuing a mode after a drain and when you start your next ball (maybe that’s the easy setting), and current method of zero memory for hard settings. That’s literally the last thing on my wish list.

Does the 5 shots to the right side target stack over the course of a game? Might be cool to say if you did 5 hits in a single ball, when you release the ball it pops out 2 more balls, but if you did it over the course of a game it only pops out 1. It’s a tough shot, and can be so enticing. Might be some way to up the payoff for doing all 5 hits in one ball, like Iron Man does if you start all modes in a single ball versus over the course of the game.

Do you have to start, or finish 3 modes to qualify Pigmon? That mode is probably my favorite thing in the game but I’ve only got there a few times.

Sound like this might need a max value, or maybe after a hit and it goes to the next value it takes 2 hits and then goes to the next value, then 3. You collect each time but it’s 1,2,2,3,3,3,4,4,4,… instead of 1,2,3,4,5…

I played a few games tonight and got into Science Patrol MB once and it was very cool. Nice addition for sure.

I don’t think the ball save is working during the Science Patrol MB. Had it happen twice today where I drained with it blinking and it never kicked a ball out. One time I had just started a mode, the other time nothing else was going on.

Lyman is the gold standard.

I was having balls bounce back into the trough quite often on previous code versions. Pretty happy that there is a little bit of adjustment I can do now. I never had a double feed situation, but the bounce back was almost every other ball.

You don’t have to FULL full plunge to get it to feed the left orbit. You can ease up a little and it will still come out the left orbit. Spooky games are the hardest for me to live catch out of all the eras of manufacturers but I can still do it well enough to get things to a trap and then go for the skill shot. Play around with plunge strength and try dead bouncing before trapping up and see if a combo becomes comfortable.

Out of town until tomorrow. Looking forward to doing the update and playing when I get back.

Is there a part number for these from Marco or Pinball Life? Any other hardware needed?

Wow, for being an “a” update, there is a ton of stuff on that list.

The one on Tiltforums will need to be updated eventually, but some of the basic stuff has been changed so drastically I wouldn’t think it’s reasonably close to accurate. It’s going to be a big effort with how much stuff Spooky has updated and added, but that’s a great problem to have.

Looks like a few signature plates on the speaker/display panel. Was there info on how to request that?

The game is a lot of fun, at least to me it is. My mom, bother, and sister-in-law came over and we played a 4 player game. I’ve never finished the game, but know enough and can show enough to overload new players quickly. I have them a very small amount of goals and was also instructing in the fly. Everyone enjoyed playing the game.

Everyone was less enthused about draining after doing a few shots of Ragon and then having to start all over on the next ball. Mode progress has been my biggest wishlist option since getting the game. I don’t even remember if you need to start or complete modes to unlock the higher level stuff, but I think being able to go in and finish off a failed mode would be a nice option for the player.

I’m willing to bet the licensors know and have approved that capability on a limited amount of development games.

With a tiny little drop of loctite on the treads under each nut right? Right? I just imagine that little thing falling off eventually and hiding somewhere very inconvenient.

What’s a normal gap between when beta testers get code to when it is approved and released to the public? Assuming nothing crazy is found that needs to be fixed.

Appreciate it.

On the how-to side of things, Stern has a really nice way of doing mini tutorials during attract mode. I’m pretty sure that is inspired by how Pinball Arcade did things. I would get the demo versions of games just to scroll through the tutorial slides to learn how to play the game or answer minor questions I had that I couldn’t figure out while playing. I know it’s not a zero effort project, but as a player I really appreciate those.

Just put the new code on and played a game. Will play more to get a feel but I had one thing happen that I don’t understand. When in Jirahs multiball the drop target on the middle playfield was blinking white. Does this signify something? I put a ball in it once and hit the drop with another almost right away and it popped it out. Not sure if that’s a temporary hold but it was blinking white and not used to the new colors yet.

Other than that I liked the presentation quite nicely. Screen tearing on Baltan, which is the one that I noticed the most, is gone. Really appreciate the effort on that and the other refinements.

I’ve been asking for a mode progress memory, but with the factory setting being to just start instead of finish 9 modes I think that is very nicely balanced. Now to see if I can have a game last that long.

I powered up today and have a little bit on an issue going on. The game was booting fine and then I could smell smoke. Turned it off and lifted the playfield and the coil that drops the bridge was pretty hot. I let it cool down a bit and turned it on again to observe and that coil will fire early in the boot process. It lets go, not locked on.

After something like 10-15 seconds it fires again, but lets go every time. I don’t think the coil is heating back up and it measures 4.9 ohms, just like the two slingshots which are the same coils. So I don’t think the coil is hosed or anything. I have a few reds on the boards and if the coil fuses have green lights under them they are out, so maybe all blown? If the fuses are blown then why does this coil fire? Any other things I should look at?

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I had the “go to HQ, lifter gives you the ball back right away and you drain” issue just now. I haven’t played UM for a few weeks now because I needed to finish up the scoop deflector install and just haven’t been able to.

I had it all back together and played a game and the HQ opto wasn’t working, so I couldn’t start a mode. I did have a massive game though, just one super away from getting them in all 3 multiballs, and ended up with 65m on zero extra balls because the scoop wasn’t registering.

Pop the hood and see that the HQ opto was off by one pin. Whoops. Fix that, and just played another game. Started the first mode just fine, went to the spacium store once, and also several trips to the scoop while other stuff was going, and the ball was returned just fine.

Light a second mode and as it says “Gamora” I hear the lifter (it might have flashed as well, I was looking at the screen) and my brain just goes “nooooooooo”. Dead flippers, ball rolls down the drain. That was ball 3, so game over.

m4tt I can send an email if needed. I have an in-work streaming rig so maybe I can get it on video, but it didn’t seem to be have out of the ordinary.

I’m now running late to set up my pinball league today, but wanted to do one quick test game before I left. Ended up not being so quick, but zero mode start drains and there were several. Probably missed the wizard mode for the first time because I restarted a mode a few times instead of moving to the next. Live and learn.

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https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/ultraman-kaiju-rumble-owners/page/59#post-7112194

This little guy.

A lack of mode progress is a little tough, but, for wizard mode progress the default is to start (not complete) 6 modes, I think. So if you drain during a mode, don’t pick it next time you go to mode select.

There is a rule sheet on Tilt Forums, but it’s super out of date. I don’t know all the ins and outs of UM, but once we are pretty much code complete I wouldn’t mind helping update the rule wiki.

http://tiltforums.com/t/ultraman-wiki-rulesheet/7456