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Day 5.........in 2019.

159 days!

Will guess when there are 86 days to go! Thursday 19th Oct.

Since I don't think it's going to be this year I'll guess -136...but I'm still playing mine and loving it!

yo... 21 days

Glad to see we are still bumping this thread.....I had to chuckle at a comment on the BM66 code thread that it has been 6 weeks for a code update....would hate to see the meltdown if they had to wait over a year for an update

158 days!

BM'66 is almost 9 weeks, actually. Tomorrow is 63 days since the last code update and still less finished than Star Wars (or KISS) launched with.

Wow....from all the hype of BM66 you would think they would be working quickly to get code complete but it's the same old Stern. Updates will come but it seems to take 2-3 years to get close to completion on code after release.

It's especially galling since B'66 is nowhere close to done with whole sections of the game (you can completely see everything in 15 minutes) missing, and Gomez saying there would be updates every two weeks when he was in salesman mode at launch. That lasted 2 months, and it was never 2 weeks, but was more like 3 weeks, then 4 weeks, then almost 5 weeks, and now 9 weeks. Looking at the timeline, it's pretty clear Lyman was taken off B'66 code "full time" in February, despite Stern comments to the contrary.

Rumor is he is working on Elvira 3 and BM66.

Just wish Stern would have some communication around updating code. I don't mind waiting as long as I know it's coming. It's all the, will there, won't there , that is just nuts really, given how easy it is to communicate on their FB page.

I'm sure the time split is more like 70/30 or 80/20 Elvira. It's definitely not 50/50. And, like I said, it's clear it happened sometime around February.

Don't tease like this!

I think he even confirmed it at some point? It's happening.

157 Days!

Ok Stern, if anyone ever checks in on these threads, now would be a good time for some code communication Everyone has been pretty patient really.

But, having just seen the Total Nuclear Annihilation package, the time has come that people are going to go elsewhere as it looks pretty damn awesome!

Now is not the time for complacency....

Sure it is! My Little Pony will make everything all right...

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TNA looks freaking awesome. What a great price too. Damn, this could elevate Spooky to a much more mainstream manufacturer.

It is because they are too busy inserting statements like this into all their new pinball manuals.
"Stern Pinball machines are assembled in Elk Grove Village, Illinois, USA. Stern Pinball has inspected each game element to ensure it meets our quality standards.Each pinball machine has unique characteristics that make it a one-of-a-kind American made product. Each will have variations in appearance resulting from differences in the machine’s particular wood parts, individual printed art and mechanical assemblies. No playfield is perfectly flat and varies depending on the season. Game play will result in playfield dimpling as the harder steel ball contacts the wood and coating; over time multiple dimples will blend to make them less noticeable. Normal..........ghosting (small cloudy areas around insert edges) are often seen in pinball machines, due to a combination of plastic mold stress, pushing of inserts into purposely undersized holes, and heating and breaking of inserts’ plastic “skin” when the play field is sanded."
Right on the first page of the manual It is now "NORMAL" for ghosting....... I do not see how anyone can defend Stern at this point. With that said, any mention of code update from them will be taken with a grain of salt. For anyone else who wants to believe Santa Clause is real, you go right on ahead, there aint no shame in believing a white lie that doesn't hurt anyone.

Added over 7 years ago: Thread of new disclaimer if anyone wants to read. I am sure a new clause about code will soon be in there.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/stern-new-policy-ghosting-is-normalor-is-it

We have been looking for Gary all week at Replayfx....sadly he was a no show

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155 days!

Nice T-shirts!

That's the spirit of the Kiss Army!!!

Im hoping we see a lot more animations with an update (if it happens, but Im optimistic)

The code is pretty solid now with the rules. I would be really frustrated if i was BM66 owner right now.

154 Days!

I'm curious, if there's no code update how many of you will keep your pin and how many will sell? Right now I plan on keeping my LE cause it's still fun to play and also cause it's a work of art!

I'll keep mine for a bit longer. If there isn't a meaningful update by this fall its gone.

Done with Stern. Likely grab a Spooky or JJP.

That's an understatement!

I love the look of it...and it's fun as is. I have no intentions of selling mine......

If Stern don't come through with the long promised update, I would probably sell and take the money and buy a 90's game.

Same boat as you Tempest.

I restored my original and this was a must have for me too. Fun as hell....not going anywhere.

But there are bugs and would be nice to clean up the animations so we can get color DMD sooner.

I have played SW and not impressed at all. Another overpriced cookie cutter stripped down game....maybe the Prem/LE will be a little better. But not interested in any NIB Stern, overpriced with quality issues and who knows how complete code will ever be at any point. Stern better wake up as there are new people entering the hobby but not as many as you think....and just as many exit the hobby as well.

Anybody here have a ghosting KISS LE? Just curious

Both my KISS LE and my Mustang LE play fields look great, no ghosting. My Metallica LED Pro, which was made last year, has some minor ghosting on a few inserts.

Not sure if KISS will stay forever but it's not going anywhere soon. I'm not close to mastering this game yet. Plus it's turning into a project as I'm recoding it from the ground up.

Including dots? Do tell...

I used to own a KISS Premium, but sold it last year. I'm a huge KISS fan (one of my 2 favorite bands along with Iron Maiden) and this table is what really got me into finally owning a pinball machine.

After owning it for about a year and getting more into pinball again, I realized 2 things (that pertain to me) - 1) Theme isn't everything and 2) There were better tables out there for a home environment, IMO. I'm not saying I didn't like KISS, because I did (and so did my friends - we had a blast with it), but after starting to play more pinball in the wild and going to conventions, there was just so much more out there. And I would be lying if I said the lack of code progress and lackluster DMD animations weren't a big factor in parting with the pin.

I ended up selling my KISS for a Metallica (then, in turn, sold that for a Walking Dead).

Also, does anyone have a Run-DMD? I own one and there seem to be A TON more animations for KISS on there than I ever saw in the game.

153 days!

467 days since last update.

I am going to keep this going everyday now also.

Any single pin is going to get boring after awhile, but both MET and TWD are better for a single game collection. You're right that theme isn't everything, I'm wondering how long it's going to take the Star Wars fanatics to figure that one out.

I'm using the Mission Pinball Framework. My laptop is interfacing with the Spike board. I sometimes take the laptop and slide it into the backbox so the screen is essentially the LCD in the backbox with the translite off. So far the basic table is up and running. You can complete the grid. The instruments and pop bumper cap insert collections are essentially the same rules. Since this is complete new code, the attract mode is new and some of the rules work a little differently (improvements I think). There are a handful of songs, videos and callouts in the game. I'm not using any of the assets from KISS because if I want to share this code someday, I can't use Stern's assets.

I'm using videos for the animations which are HD quality. I have a new song selection mechanism that select from 4 mode ladders. So far only the first mode in each ladder is working and they are very basic modes. I'm finding out that the basic code is 10% of the work and the callouts, animations, tweaking, etc. are 90% of the work. Mission Pinball Framework is amazing complete. There is no doubt that you can build a complete commercial game using the framework.

I'm not sure how I'm going forward with the project. I really did this as a proof of concept. So the answer is YES. It can be done. It's a lot of fun to work on but so many problems yet to solve potential ways to go with the display and audio.

I'm tempted to replace the DMD with an LCD. Currently, switching back to Stern code takes 2 minutes. Mission Pinball Framework doesn't yet support the Stern DMD. I think it is planned. If I go forward with replacing the LCD, that's a big commitment in a new set of display hardware. That's why I asked the question about what interest would there be in a new code solution if it meant replacing some hardware a couple weeks ago. I said it was hypothetical, but I was lying a bit since I already have my KISS Pro running new code. By new hardware I mean a completed solution would be something like:

* Raspberry Pi running Linux $60 or a Windows solution like an Intel Nuk $250-$500
* 15" LCD and mounting bracket $125
* Amp and speakers ?? $100
* Cable and SD Card $50

So $350 plus. But it would be one hell of an upgrade if we could pull it off! Maybe we could crowd source it and get it done before the next Stern code release. Mission Pinball is free and my code on top of MPF would also be freely available.

Tim

When it comes to new KISS code......this song pretty much sums it up.

Not just Stern assets, but KISS stuff either, which makes this really hard unless you can get a license.

UNLESS you could read the KISS firmware in game, then "colorize" it like colordmd does and use the assets that way, overlaying your rules on top. I think that would work as fair use since each machine has one license to KISS assets included with it.

Yes, the KiSS content gets tricky which is why I'm loading my own songs and callouts. This only becomes an issue if I want to share. I'm not using any existing content from the software. I've spent a lot of time thinking about this aspect.

I guess we could read the game assets from the firmware using the spk util. Would require some tooling but should be possible.

I can give this a try soon.

Jan

I am all down for some home brew updates...but it needs to include the Prem/Le and especially it it's reversible.

One way to get around any license issue is to simply include in the "Kit" is a copy of the Kiss CD and pick a DVD or 2 that contains the video clips you want to use. If you include the actual licensed copies that must be purchased with the kit then there is no issue loading those into your personal game in this scenario.....now if you provide support or instructions for modifying/editing clips and people have their own source material to insert then that's on the end user.

Now I truly think that only a handful of people would really want to go this far on modding the game....so I think privately between a few people each buying the stuff for the mod would be fine if it stayed private and not "for sale" and you could do pretty much what you want. That's probably the best way to go.

I am very interested and full of suggestions on things that could be added or should have been in the game to begin with.

Kick ass!!

Very nice progress! Two comments:
1) I'd love to see pics of the WIP!
2) I don't know why your even consider using the Stern DMD since the assets would have to be dumbed down to 128x32 whereas your LCD could support whatever resolution in color.

Terrific project!