Unfortunately TS4 is another crappy post-Butch-firing JJP manual. The flipper assembly parts diagrams are COMPLETELY MISSING. Also, a bunch of the pages have what look like DOS screen caps with nasty text. Despite assurances JJP's TS4 manual would be an uptick towards Butch quality again, it's nowhere close. Actually much worse than the GnR one.

Really depends on the distributor, but many are already getting their customer orders for it shipped now. I'll have mine Thursday. If you call around, you might be able to snag one for immediate shipping.

Karl has fixed his coil-sleeve-less right flipper and wired up all three flippers for real-time temps and will be streaming Toy Story 4 tonight starting at 7pm PDT on his iepinball twitch channel, a little less than an hour from now:
https://www.twitch.tv/iepinball

He said he missed a multi-mode-to-qualify multiball on the first stream Monday and will be going for that tonight as well as completely finishing the game (both sides of Meet me at the Carousel).

EDIT: Live now, with the new 1.06 code...
karl_ts4_1.06 code_2022-06-22-sml (resized).jpg

Phantom Action Button reflex:
https://clips.twitch.tv/LuckyCrispyFoxStoneLightning-JRw_PgNOdH8gwNUE

The ones that are finishing both sides (woody and buzz endings) and actually completing the game are very good players. But finishing one side is apparently do-able for a merely good player. But that's not finishing the game.

Multipliers seem to be the answer here. Karl had two balls where he had 78x multiplier (one ball he had it held).

Also, Karl just pointed out that Fireworks is broken. 500k shots forever if you cradle the balls on the right and shoot on the left. He did it for a long time before just quitting to continue playing the game.

Did you try bending it a little on the side that isn't straight to give it a little more clearance on the inside between the wire and the bracket? Karl also lubricates his spinners a smidge.

Mine's still enroute, so I can't offer any firsthand advice, just stuff based on what I've seen on streams.

Get the spinner working right first (may have to bend/tweak both sides to get it setting right and with enough clearance inside the bracket), then use super lube to reduce friction so it spins well. Apparently Karl's woody spinner was a mess out of the box, too.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000BXOGHY

The posts that pop up are the dummies. It's printed on the playfield in front of them.

Direct link to download 1.06 for USB full install (if that's what you're looking for):

https://marketing.jerseyjackpinball.com/ts/ToyStory4-v01.06.iso

As with all usb installs, you need ubootnetin to turn this iso into a bootable USB that you can use to install 1.06 in the game.

Full install usb instructions:
https://marketing.jerseyjackpinball.com/general/install-full

I know there were scorebit issues. Karl couldn't even get it to work with 1.06 on the stream, so that may not be in the cards yet, unless it was something specific to his setup.

Maybe it isnt seeing your wifi dongle on the machine? Try reseating or try another usb port?

Ah, I was scanning on mobile and missed the part of his post where he mentioned the terms and conditions. Glad you're all set now!

Karl's streaming to finish both sides of TS4 (completely finish) now. He's almost there:

https://www.twitch.tv/iepinball
Karl 2022-06-26 Toy Story4-sml (resized).jpg

EDIT: Finished the game completely (Completed both Woody and Buzz sides of Meet me at the Carousel) with 173 Million, then the game wrapped around and started over.

Huge 43 Million bonus and he has another ball left with the bonus x held:
karl_2022-06-26_big_bonus (resized).jpg

Playing the woody wizard mode version for the second time (3rd time through overall) 259 Million to start and he has a huge held bonus multiplier. He's actually well over 300 million once the bonus is added:
Karl_2022_06_26_2022 third time to wizard - second woody (resized).jpg

Almost 100 million bonus and the 267x multiplier held. He's almost 500mil now and just got an extra ball:
Karl_2022_06_26_100mil bonus (resized).jpg

Finished with 522million:

Karl_2022_06_22_Final_score (resized).jpg

5. Check flipper coil sleeves. Are they all there? Are they the right length? I think this only affected the very earliest shipments, but definitely a thing to check.

He had a ton of extra balls (almost to the 4th time at the wizard mode, which would be the 2nd complete beating the game in a single playthrough), and it would have been longer but he essentially was tired and just lapping the game, so he quit. Basically limit the extra balls, which the game seems to give out like candy, and your games will be much shorter simply by virtue of the fact that you're not Karl.

On the J-601 connector on the driver board, are the return wires on the right pins? Can you take a picture of that?

You needed a newer version for wifi updates to work, is what he was saying. Now that you have it, future updates should be fine over wifi.

Sometimes adjusting the playfield hangers fixes this. I know hobbit was such a heavy playfield the hangers would sag over time and then the auto-launch would come close enough to nick the shooter rod, robbing it of power.

Coil power won't magically raise the auto-launch out of the way so it's not contacting the shooter plunger. That's a physical problem to solve.

Or...am I misunderstanding what you're recommending?

Haha, sorry. I scanned that and was thinking it was the autolaunch. My bad. Sorry.

So get an LE for the 3 month wait and sell it once you have the CE. I had a day one Rush Pro on order for mods and when it was clear it would be a wait before they ran more, I bit the bullet and bought a Rush LE. Did what I needed to do for 6 weeks and sold the LE. My Pro was finally ready in late April, which would have been a disaster had I waited. Sold that one and had it direct shipped to the buyer NIB. So in the end I got both sold and came up maybe $500 short, but it was worth it for the earlier access.

Not EXACTLY the same, but you could be enjoying the same game (less topper) right now instead of waiting 3 months and being aggravated on location.

Problem solved, then! Let the LE game enjoyment commence in T-minus 5 days.

Only if he did it direct through JJP. In my experience most dists would happily shift your deposit to an LE you're going to buy now, freeing up a normally more in-demand CE.

Here's a panel from one of my fan kit instructions that shows the monitor pull-out for newer JJP games...

monitor_removal_sml (resized).jpg

Late Sept is so far away...

Not uncommon for one or more those screws to arrive in the bottom of the cabinet - from all manufacturers.

Yeah, if you want a torque test signoff on coin door thumb screws, your expectations of pinball are WAY too high. JJP gets those pre-assembled and just slaps them in the machine, anyway. They're not actually putting the coin door stuff together at the JJP factory.

They're just about there.

No PF problems on the one I have, but lots of niggly issues that needed adjustment to get it playing well out of the box. Nothing hard, just annoying.

If you tighten the bracket or the coil in the bracket, it can help with the buzzing. It's normally not that loud.

Bump the sling power up a little, BUT offset the power so one is slightly stronger than the other, which will prevent ping-pong sessions.

One magnet. In the Fennel Cake shack diverter.

I don't think it interacts with the ball, it's just to move the diverter, in the same way the ball lock works on WoZ.

You can bend the playfield hooks that go into the receiver under the lockdown bar so the playfield rests slightly higher. Hobbit also had this problem on the one we had because the immense weight of the playfield gradually bent the hooks and the autolaunch eventually interfered with the manual shooter rod.

Alternately you can build up the part where the playfield hooks attach to the playfield with a washer or washers to raise the playfield a smidge.

Which wouldn't be terrible IF that was really the halfway point and the "other" path to truly complete the game wasn't the exact same process, only a little harder with ZERO new content to reward you.

I feel like JJP will HAVE to dress it a bit more with additional side modes to break things up a bit, like they had to do with Dialed In to break up the cell phone mode death march. We'll see.

No surprise it wasn't in the terrible manual for Toy Story 4. They don't even have the FLIPPER MECHS in there. Completely left them out. Inexcusable sloppy work for a supposed top-tier manufacturer. How the mighty have fallen. JJP was the undisputed BEST manuals in pinball, and now are moshing at the bottom of the list for the WORST manual spot in pinball. The manual with parts callouts on a PREMIUM machine isn't the place to cut corners.

What am I looking at? Try backing away a bit and if you're using an iphone hold your finger on the focal point until it puts a box around it and focus locks it then send that pic.

Not on the website yet, but here's a direct link for manual download:

https://marketing.jerseyjackpinball.com/ts/ToyStory4-v01.08.iso

Did you get a 1.08 changelog with the wifi version? Because the website hasn't updated the changelog, so no way to tell what's different.

The code's already there just without a link (I posted the direct link), they just didn't update the changelog.

Such an ongoing half-assed, amateur-hour effort.

The pages with the terrible screen-cap-looking menu trees are still there
The flipper mechs completely missing in the last one were thrown in at the END of the section instead of near the beginning where they customarily go.
The wheel mech is STILL completely missing.
The above playfield mech section is an inscrutable photo instead of an illustration.
The schematics are jpgs instead of scalable EPS vector graphics so when they're ganged up and you zoom in to get labels they are an illegible mess instead of scaling up smoothly like the PotC one and other JJP manuals from before do. Forget about doing diagnostics with the TS4 ones. They might as well leave them out rather than what they did. They're LITERALLY useless for diagnostic work.

toy-story-4-zoomed-in (resized).jpg
POTC-zoomed-in (resized).jpg

The menu trees are the worst because it's LITERALLY a 10-15 minute fix. The example below is how they look and the fix that took me literally 15 minutes - and that's for the first one. The others on the other pages that have them are similar, so they could be just modified versions of this page's tree, which would take even less time to fix. So maybe 30 minutes to fix all the menu tree pages so they don't look pathetic. If this is being done in Illustrator (where it should be), the person doing it has no idea how to do it because ALL these charts should be scalable with no loss of resolution no matter how large you make them.

Current sad manual page
Page 8 example.jpg
Fixed
Page 8 example-fixed.jpg

Key mech still missing from the new attempt at a manual:
spinning wheel mech.pdf

I mean, I think it's terrible what JJP management did to Butch. It was also bad for JJP - an unforced error. But it's not like ANY proficient technical writer couldn't lay this manual out in their sleep. They have clearly inexperienced (probably cheaper) people doing this now, and it shows. The schematics section, especially, is unusable due to the way this was done that doesn't allow scaling at full res. The blobby mess you get makes it next to impossible to follow the schematics.

If JJP didn't have a record of the crème de la crème of pinball manuals due to Butch's talent before they unceremoniously canned him, it wouldn't be so GLARING how awful the JJP manuals are now.

It's because it was created incorrectly. The person doing it doesn't know what they are doing. JJP needs to fork over a few more bucks to get an actual technical writer with layout experience to fix it. Will they? Probably not.

Lloyd is ready whenever they are, he's made that clear.
Butch is happily (it seems) over at CGC and unlikely to come back where he's not wanted.
I *sincerely hope* JJP has hooked up with David Thiel again after Deeproot imploded. His prior work for them was without peer.

That's a $12k LE no one would complain about.

NASCAR (205), but it deserves it.

Yeah, you have to get through both characters on meet me at the Carousel to truly "complete" the game. But boo on Katz/Lawlor for just making it the same journey but harder to to the second character. There should be some new content on the other character so there's some incentive to DO it. Harder for the sake of harder alone is lame. Hoping they fix that like they eventually fixed the boring cell phone progression on Dialed In.

It CERTAINLY needs some kind of differentiation between the two character completions of Meet Me at the Carousel so you're not doing the same things, only more annoyingly hard. It also needs some other objectives to break up the pervasive carnival-itis. There's a lot going on at the Antique store in the movie, and the game has those two controllable benson posts. Seems like they could make something cool with that.

But the only major complaint I have with the game isn't the code or depth but the sound package. It is really annoying, IMO. Not enough variety in themes, and the sound effects and callouts don't work well together, but seem to just jump into the echo chamber and make an unpleasant cacophony way too often. The comparison between what the mobile game developer who did the sound for TS4 turned in and what David Thiel did for JJP is STARK. I don't expect it to be fixed because it's a pervasive issue that would require a complete overhaul of TS4's system, and that's not happening. I just turned it way down, which is a bummer. PotC, Hobbit and GnR were never turned down.

Anyway, that's my perspective on it. Yeah, the code and depth could use a little work, but the sound package and integration is the real issue, IMO. For operators, though, it's a beautiful game that will attract casual players all day long, and since the volume is usually low on location, the sound isn't a big issue for them.

Ramps to collect tickets (skill shot and mystery also award them).

They mean Lawlor was the designer. He has a ticket fixation.

Airpods do not seem to work with JJPs setup. SOMETIMES you can see them, but they never seem to connect.

Seems to be another major oversight in the poor Toy Story 4 "my first pinball manual," EVEN AFTER the kludge Aug revision that added in the main flippers, but still left out the entire wheel mech.

Really, JJP. Hire a professional with EXPERIENCE working with vector art and diagrams to fix this mess and do your next ones. The fall from #1 in pinball manuals where you were to whatever basement you're currently in is painful when your customers are just trying to work on their $12k machines.

It's the playfield hooks. If you grab them with robogrip pliers or large vise grips and bend the hook down just a little, it raises the playfield a smidge so the shooter doesn't drag on the autolaunch. We had to do this on The Hobbit on route because the packed playfield would bend the hooks from the weight.

Just be VERY careful with the 242 or 243 (blue loctite) around plastic. It weakens or melts plastic over time.

Bending the PF hangers down about 1/4" (which raises the PF and in turn the autolaunch bracket that much) will fix it if adjusting the shooter can't.

Raising the L bracket below so it comes up with a spacer would be cleaner/easier if you can't adjust the monitor.

Still hoping Godfather is codename for The Matrix. I just don't get the appeal of Godfather as a pin, while Matrix has almost unlimited potential.

Upload the video to youtube, then post the link here and it will auto-insert the youtube video here.

Your autolaunch mech is likely dragging on the plunger spring and vice versa. If you bend the playfield hooks down a tiny bit (like 2mm) it will raise the playfield and stop the dragging. If you look in the window where the spring is visible when launching, you'll probably see the autolaunch move when the ball is manually plunged, which verifies this.

It doesn't look like the plunger is dragging on the auto-launch bracket.

The shooter tip is off-center, though. Loosen the bracket on the inside of the cabinet and move it to the left so the shooter tip is centered left to right on the ball (it only needs to go over about 3mm to get to center) and see if that helps.

Given that these have recently gone for ~$11k NIB with dist "deals" on the down low, and used on the LE for new out of box is already as low as $10k (I sold mine for $10,995 a month ago with 10 plays on it), this is likely a walk-away deposit situation. Real talk.

crickets.gif

Did I?

I don't remember Stranger Things getting blowout NIB pricing. I remember demand being soft, but they all sold. And I've had both. I would have Stranger Things Pro or Prem back in a heartbeat. Not so, TS4.

Just sharing my experience as a recent, former NIB owner. Mod-making has nothing to do with it. I mean, the fact that I DO that gives me access to every pin release, which is great, but that's it. End of connection. All opinions and experiences are my own. I don't recall telling you that you or anyone else can't enjoy the machine. People like what they like, and that's great.

And actually, you could flip your perspective and see it as me making prospective buyers aware they can get a NIB machine for much less than retail, so shop around. Saving people money, one post at a time.

BTW, thank you for your post! When I gave you a thumbs up (I only give thumbs-up), it triggered the Sore Thumbs 3 pinside achievement:

"Sore Thumbs 3 (Give 5,000 thumbs of which at least 65% positive)"

Um, that's why I was scanning the thread. Looking for people needing assistance. I do it even though I don't have the machine anymore, it's my normal routine for machines I've had. Like the other times I've helped TS4 owners with machine questions/issues...

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/we-are-all-toys-the-jjp-toy-story-4-owners-club/page/4#post-6995687

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/we-are-all-toys-the-jjp-toy-story-4-owners-club/page/5#post-6999895

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/we-are-all-toys-the-jjp-toy-story-4-owners-club/page/6#post-7002252

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/we-are-all-toys-the-jjp-toy-story-4-owners-club/page/7#post-7006426

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/we-are-all-toys-the-jjp-toy-story-4-owners-club/page/7#post-7006427

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/we-are-all-toys-the-jjp-toy-story-4-owners-club/page/8#post-7015314

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/we-are-all-toys-the-jjp-toy-story-4-owners-club/page/12#post-7053990

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/we-are-all-toys-the-jjp-toy-story-4-owners-club/page/12#post-7056863

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/we-are-all-toys-the-jjp-toy-story-4-owners-club/page/20#post-7139374

Sorry I slipped and offered some current market pricing info into a post about a deposit.

Check your USB connections at that board on the inside left of the cabinet and also in the backbox at the computer behind the LCD monitor.

Glad it worked out for you!

I really wish JJP would use locking USB connectors. As they use more and more usb connections, this becomes a bigger hassle because of the machine vibration shaking one or more loose somewhere after a while.

That can provide a little more opposing force to keep them in, but isn't a guarantee they'll stay put with shaker motor action over time, and on the other end the connections are often mini-usb and singles, so nothing convenient to zip tie to. A smidge more BoM and JJP could solve this common problem. The cables and connectors already exist.

Huh. First I've heard of this. I assumed all their stuff was their original creation.

That's why it was surprising to read. All their stuff seemed to be pretty custom-designed (at least the stuff I bought).

It's a standoff on the left side of the left ramp, basically right at the entrance as an airball protector(?).
plastic-piece-TS4.jpg

The plate numbers don't mean anything. The serial numbers are the manufacture order.

I don't remember if it's different than GnR, but if not, there's a wifi dongle on the board in the cabinet just to the left of the coin door inside. Maybe try reseating it?

You could also try swapping the dongle from your working Wonka to see if your Toy Story 4 just has a bad dongle.

Also, I don't remember for sure, but you may have two dongles, one for bluetooth and one for wifi. It seems I remember two in there. So make sure you're looking at the correct dongle.

Try adjusting the switch wire for the shooter lane so it's lower and doesn't activate as soon. Sounds like the wire is just too high so it's activating at the whiff of an incoming ball.

Trying to rush some early builds of their next pin on the line? One of the live walkthroughs of expo 2022 said the next JJP is rumored to be announced at Expo. Todd Tuckey says Godfather (I hope this is code for Matrix) and someone else said Pee Wee's Playhouse (which would be great, but this is out of left field, first I've heard of it).

I'm surprised this is even a rumor as it seems too soon, but we'll see before long, I guess.

Does your Duke Kaboom "jump" on the topper occasionally like it's supposed to?

Butch ain't coming back, that train has left the station and he's being awesome for another company now. JJP REALLY screwed up when they canned him. The whole Pat Lawlor "pins don't need manuals" ethos at work here. What a joke. JJP needs to hire a REAL technical writer again to get something in the ballpark of a usable and complete parts, assembly AND repair reference manual for their $15,000 pins. Essentially what Butch provided for them before they canned him.

Sounds to me like it may be a software error due to CE topper functionality tested much less since it's not an LE. PotC had one where it would put up an error if you didn't shoot and make the cannon shot in a very short period of time. It was a mistake of overly-aggressive diagnostics that was fixed by loosening up the criteria in later software releases. If your duke is working, this sounds like the same thing. I'd report the potential software error to JJP or pinball_keefer and hope they fix it in the next revision.

BUT, if you want to check, you can go into switch test mode, get on a ladder with a strip of paper about 1" wide and 6" long and climb up so you can manually interrupt the optos and see if they register in the switch test. I'm betting they do and it's a software diagnostics mistake.

If it's like the PotC diagnostic issue, it depends on their play style and how often they get that Duke jump animation to happen on the topper. So it is possible that some never or almost never see it.

They're 20v, so not a lot to work with. Having the power offset (one more than the other) is the best way to minimize the ping-ponging, but it takes some trial and error to find the right combo for yours. I'd start with them only a couple apart and test, repeat from there until you find the best choice.

I don't know why JJP doesn't adjust the slings at offset power from the factory to prevent this. Also, it probably wasn't at the right pitch. This condition can be adjusted out.

All that said, 20V slings SUCK. JJP really needs to give them full power.

You just need to adjust (likely bend the arm slightly) the switch on the right orbit entrance. It's probably just stuck down because the arm needs to be adjusted to give it room to extend fully. Go to switch test mode and the graphic on the right will have a red dot on the location of the switch that needs adjustment.

The switch base is under the playfield. The arm extends out to a wire that bends as it pokes through a hole in the playfield. When the ball rolls over the exposed wire it pushes it down, pushing the arm down that's below the playfield and triggering the switch.

My *guess* is the arm is bent too high so the switch actuator button is constantly pressed and when the ball rolls over it just presses an already pressed button which doesn't DO anything. You just need to bend the arm down (from under the PF) a little so it's not activating the switch until the wire is depressed by the ball rolling over it above the playfield.

This is a video on adjusting a switch on Ultraman (with the opposite problem - their switch ISN'T triggering well, whereas yours is ALWAYS ON), but the same principles apply and it should give you an idea about what to do on Toy Story 4:

Great news! Now tackle those mods and save the tech money for a multimeter!

Sounds like your power cord is loose in back and intermittently losing connection from the shaking/movement. Take off the cover and check that it's securely plugged into the back of the machine.

(This is not an uncommon problem on JJP machines, btw. JJP really should use power cord clips or a locking power cord to stop this)

Are all the lights on at the left side of the board below the metal computer box in the backbox (with the coin door closed)?

It's only cheating if you're competing (posting scores, etc).

If this is what it takes for you to make Toy Story 4 fun, more power to you. It's your pin, do what you like.

Page 25 of the TS4 manual is where you want to look.

The manual can be downloaded here if you don't have it:
https://marketing.jerseyjackpinball.com/ts/Toy_Story_4_Manual_1_2_September_2022.pdf

Do the tests on page 25 and see what they say...