After a couple of weeks playing my MMR I'm left in a quandary about the outlanes being too difficult at default. I have posted about this previously and a couple of others agreed, but I just want to know what the high scorers here think so I know whether to persist.

First few days of playing I left them set at default in the middle of the slide and I found that about 95% of the time when I lost a ball it was down the outlanes not SDTM. Most pinballs I find have a more even spread between flipper loss and outlane loss.

I classify myself as a fairly good player, I can nudge to control the outlanes successfully on most pinballs I play with a reasonable success rate.
But MMR at default it's often straight down the side a clean run with no bounce even if I nudge as the ball gets to the outlane the gap is large enough for my nudge to miss and the ball drains at full speed without bouncing.
At default my high score was about 50mill but many low scores in between.

So I got frustrated with the outlanes and changed them to fully down (closed) which still allows the ball to go through clean but allows my nudging to stop it if timed well.

Immediately my scores improved after about 50 games with the outlanes adjusted my high is 190mill and I often get 50mill or more.

Problem is now I feel like I'm cheating I have completed most modes except Barnyard multi and King of Payne and I'm feeling like I don't want to do those with this easier setting.

So I put them back to default and now it's draining flat out again and I'm scoring crap, as soon as the ball gets out of my control and hits the slings it's straight down the side about half the time. (slings set at default power) I know I'm supposed to keep ball control and mostly I do, I can live catch most of the time from the left orbit and sometimes from the right orbit but that one is harder so I usually go for a bounce from that one.

Does everyone else experience an outlane drain at high speed with no chance of a nudge save about every second time a ball hits the slings?

Is that how the original played, I've played a couple of originals and I don't remember the outlanes being so harsh?

Does anyone know how the outlanes are set for PAPA comps?

Arrrrggggg...I'm driving myself mad, I hate feeling like I'm cheating.

I just found the old thread about the outlanes here https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/mmr-did-you-tighten-up-out-lanes and after reading that I think I will persist with mine at default in the middle.

I'm going to reset my high scores and start again with default outlanes, I assume this just resets the scores and no other stats.

Been playing a couple of days now with the outlanes at default and have decided that it's going to stay that way, I'm happy with it and I don't feel like I am cheating anymore

Did a high score reset but it keeps the Grand Champion score which is 190mill that I put up with the outlanes closed up to easy. My high score at default is now 85mill so it might take me ages to to beat 190mill legitimately so how do I reset the GC score?

Does MMR have a battery in the backbox to remove like older games and will that do the trick for me? I don't want to loose other stats though such as total games played etc etc is that info saved on an EPROM? and if so what would be the need of having a battery at all?

Edit: Just thought will the software update with the bug fixes and color DMD wipe the Grand Champion score when installed? if so I might just wait until then.

For updates to the color DMD I think you should follow this thread http://www.planetarypinball.com/forum/index.php/topic,460.0.html but when it's released people will be talking about here on Pinside as well.

Some great scores there people I did a factory reset to clear my GC score and now I'm enjoying the work of trying to get over 100mill on default setting with default outlanes.

I have been one shot off starting BFTK and have not got the Banyard Multi yet, both those may take me awhile to complete, which is good.

Thanks....yeah it's getting much easier now, I'm learning how to nudge and control the outlanes and mostly to keep ball control to avoid them. I'm getting live catches from the left most times and bricking much less. Because its fun practicing and concentrating on my skills on MMR I'm finding that even transfers to my other pins

MMR isn't too hard....it's just right

Got my first COW video mode today and missed EB

Got 180mill without BFTK.....yet to get BFTK or Barnyard Multi.....but that's good. My flipper skills are progressing more after three weeks playing this game and concentrating than they have over a whole life of uncontrolled play

Yep....I feel my pin is still "running in" so some things will need tweaking but it is paying awesome

Generally.....Ball running down the right side from the Merlin hole will just touch the right sling not triggering it but making a live catch difficult.

On the left lane ejecting from the moat usually (80%) I can live catch but sometimes there is bounce from the eject that makes it touch the sling and bounce slightly without activating thus making catch harder, I assume this is authentic.

Oh dear.....I am a pin tragic....cheers mate

If you watch this video it shows him thumping the side of the cab in about the middle as the ball goes down the right-hand side loop this pushes the ball slightly out so that it clears the sling. It's a legitimate move, but I don't like to do it, I prefer to just nudge straight forward from the front as the ball is about to leave the right loop, which is less effective but still works a little bit.

It does sound like yours is hitting the sling slighter more than average from the left loop, perhaps you could lower your castle eject coil power through the menu and see if that helps?

Well done, but I'm glad I didn't complete BFTK the first time I started it, I have started BFTK three times now and still not completed it, I feel I'm ready for it next time

Today I got my second ever Save the Cows which was a surprise because I wasn't even trying for it, I have only got Barnyard Multi once also. This is due to the fact that I find the Catapult shot too risky and mostly rely on it just bouncing in there by chance.

Do you still have any other goals to try for? or is the next goal 2x BFTK in one game?