Theatre of magic rom 1.4h with the mutliball reset bug fixed

+1 for the TAF ball saver!

I think it depends on how much money you need. Kickstarter is one way, but if you are able to sell the upgrades directly for $7 - $12, when it's that cheap, it's not even worth the effort of finding someone to dump the code/download it, pull out the eeprom eraser, boot into windows xp, find the burner, you get the point.

If you need a few thousand bucks, then just selling cheap might not work. I have no idea.

Also, I don't think enough people actually care enough for a torrent

At the end of the day though, If you need the money guaranteed, you are going to have to collect what you need before you release the rom. There is nothing you can do to stop it from being dumped and burned.

You could determine the cost of the project then throw a kickstarter to fund it? Could give kickbacks for certain donation amounts - for example a small donation might get you a set of roms for one game etc.

I'm very interested in this topic and I will be watching this topic closly.

I'll suggest to focus on the very simple things that is more or less disqualifing games, otherwise having a great layout and design, from being used in competition. Sometimes it is as simple as adjusting scoring patterns or shots required to acheive a certain mode or objective. Things like this should be very simple to edit once you locate the information in the code.

Sometimes as little as a wider value interval for parameters which are already available in the adjustments menu will enable people to tweak the game for the better.

Example: It is not possible to setup Taxi for a fixed jackpot value. The highest jackpot start value possible to set is lower than the lowest max jackput value possible to set. Stupid.

Sometimes disabling carry over of jackpot, ball locks etc. will help a lot.

More examples of simpel things to do for specific games for better for competion usabillity:

Theatre of magic:

Trunk to realign on ball search.

Bonus x is 2,3,4,5 instead of 2,4,6,8.

Arabian nights:

When HAREM is spelt every left orbit shot is diverted to the lock magnet (for Harem MB start) regardless of modes.

Lightning lamp timer to not reset when the lamp is hit.

Harem jackpot value high cap. (Not quite so necessary)

By the way.

A lot of you might not know this for obvious reasons.

But when selecting dot thousands seperator (euro scoring format) it is common to experience DMD sequences that is actually not following this rule. And which seems to have the comma hardcoded. This is seen here and there on a lot of games. Theatre of magic bonus count is one that comes to mind, if I am not remembering this incorrectly.

It would be nice to make some of the games more tolerant. Examples:

Tom trunk. If a single trunk error is found , the whole trunk is disabled until the machine is power cycled. Then it works fine again. It should simply try again instead of shutting down.

The same holds true with shadow sanctum area.

Rom version G-5 fixed this.

Yeah what he said!

Version LH-6 offers this

I think it's already been mentioned a few times in this thread, but the "fix" that immediately came to my mind, the moment I saw this thread, is the timing fix to eliminate ghosting when LEDs are used in a WPC game. No brainer.

Yes but the home ROM cannot be used on location due to the brilliant idea to make it free play only.

I only mean massively gamebreaking in the sense that, if done by one player, it is impossible to beat through non-stack means by another player. It is ruinous for tournament play because it can result in tremendous game times (hour+) if properly executed, which is not good. It's pretty hard to do so it's not an issue for the average person, but it certainly eliminates any possibility that the game would be used in any major tournament.

Has anyone experienced any bugs with CV? If I remember correctly it can lose track of the number of locked balls and release the balls in the high wire lock unexpectedly.

Road show - great game but the Taxi Driver to start almost every game is annoying and causes the game to lose its lustre. I am ready to sell mine because of this.

Ahhhh... good point my friend

Agreed; this is the age old problem of how to continue making money from a digital work that can be easy copied once downloaded/cracked. The music and print industry are trying to make it cheap and convenient enough that it's easier to download it from their stores than search for the torrent and download it.

You could try this model, but I don't think that model is going to work in this case, as there just isn't going to be enough gained on any single title to make it worth it. In your case, you're marketing to a niche market (unlike a much larger market like music/print), and the network between the people is small and tech savy.

You could try the Radiohead model, where you post the new eprom data with a "donation" link.

You could try the upgrade model: "We have a fix/enhancement for game x, but need y dollars before we release it", but I'm not sure how well that would go over; if you never reach the goal, you're out the development dollars (and it seems like kind of a jerk move).

The Kickstarter model has a problem too; set the goal too low, and your development costs might run over. Set it too high, and the goal might not be met (and even if it is, you still might go over budget during development).

The one difference between the mp3/kindle model is that this is software that some people are already willing to contribute to, putting it more on par with an open source model. I understand that there isn't an interest to open source the code, but that doesn't mean people still aren't able to contribute fixes.

As a first step, use a bug reporting tool open to the public to catalog all the defects/enhancements and let people vote and/or contribute bug fixes (patches) to the software. Let contributors take care of the easy stuff. Then based on the votes you can determine which might be the most profitable to work on and which model you'll need to adopt (kickstarter, donations, etc)

I think you'll see, based on recorded votes, that there isn't much interest in any particular game fix/enhancement to pay a contractor to work on it.

I think your biggest profit could come from the reputation and culture of quality if you just started fixing bugs and releasing enhancements, and try to ignore the direct profit aspect. I mean, people on this forum are talking about never buying Stern again just because they don't release code updates/fixes or finish code. Set the bar for pinball software quality, having an open bug reporting and tracking system for openness and consumer feedback, and I think that would directly impact your future pinball sales.

I second this.

I would just get in contact with the experts in buggy software for tournament games. The PAPA staff. From talking with Mark, Doug, and Bowen the knowledge these guys have about pinball code is jaw dropping.

Seconded!

Also seems to lose track of balls in play during multi-ball which ends your ball when you haven't drained them all.

(Also, I can never seem to get to the Dracula's car wash video mode level!

What about finding a few select programers who are fans? I'll be you could find 3-5 people who would donate their programming skills, it might not cost you a cent. Then, you can just post the ROMS and take money out of the equation all together.

Really need to get this bug fixed badly...

Still have not gotten my black knight shirt but they did take all my money.

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I would be willing to pay an amount into kickstarter . However would need to know which games would be on the list, obviously the more money the bigger game list could be. If there was a fix to a game I owned or would like to own, I would be more willing to increase the amount. JD would be a good one for instance , fix the dead world and more for the crime scenes.

Known bugs are very different than added features.

Bugs should be fixed period. TOM with the trunk that goes dead from a ball hit during movement is a good example.
I can do without additional features but actual bug should be fixed. Paying to fix bugs is not very exciting . Adding new content or features is totally different.

$30 for a t-shirt? And ONLY $30?

Has anybody else called the number? They keep jerking me around.

I can't believe I forgot about this one.

In STTNG, after a ball ends, you can select your skill shot. I think most or at least a lot of players want to select "Start Mission" and it is also the first choice. There is a bug where by the time you are actually able to select "Start Mission" the selection box has moved onto the next thing.

"Start Mission" is the first choice and the player should have time to select it before the next option becomes selected.

Flipping 6 or 7 times between each ball gets old.

If you are choosing anything other than Light Lock or Holodeck you are doing it wrong

Maybe in a tourney, but when you are having a bad game especially, flipper skill shot tends to be an extra ball.

By the time the ball settles in the shooter lane, you are on the 2nd or 3rd selection.

You can get an extra ball in Shuttle Simulation video mode if you use the right pattern.

In Party Zone:

1 - Close the tilt timer exploit. During any timed mode nudge the machine to produce a tilt warning. This stops the timer allowing you to repeatedly hit the W-O-O-C payoff lane, bumpers, standups, etc. The timer only restarts once you make a major shot.

2 - Triggering Big Bang requires a prolonged closure of the ramp switch that detects the second ball. If this switch is out of adjustment a bit, it may not produce a switch closure long enough to return the balls into play.

viperrwk

Hey Rick in NGG it it shows a video mode as a choice for random modes but there isn't one and also in Champion Pub (1.6) if you don't get to the "Ultimate Challenge" after completing all the levels sometimes nothing happens the game goes on and on and all you can do is hit the punching bag and nothing happens and the only way to stop is to turn game off to reset it.

The NGG video mode thing was supposed to be a joke as there isn't one and there hasn't been any in a Pat Lawlor game. It isn't a bug.

I forgot about this one. I've had a few people say this is indeed a bug, a few say they can't recreate it. I don't know 100%, but my game messes this up at times. Anyway, the behavior is below:

I've had this happen on ROM versions LA-7 and LX-7.

-Battle Simulation is the next mission that will start. Select START MISSION when plunging to begin Battle Simulation.
-Miss your first shot and drain when Return to Duty is still lit.

*The drop target is now down to allow the ball into the subway on the autoplunge so that the cannon can be re-loaded to continue Battle Simulation. But that doesn't happen. Instead you get:

Autoplunge: Lock 1
Autoplunge: Lock 2
Autoplunge: Start multiball

I found another reference to this happening here:
https://groups.google.com/d/msg/rec....A/fV-v9WfD02sJ

It actually doesn't do that on every game there are 2 random paths to cross the USA sometimes it starts at Miami Sprimg break at least on my RS?

Not exactly a bug, more of a pet peeve, but if you have buy-in turned off in the settings, I wish it wouldn't display the buy-in high scores in attract mode.

This. I just ordered L-5 roms after having two multiball/free ride bugs occur within a month on my L-2 roms. It would be great to lay the Rom choice issue to rest with one awesome and updated rom option for Getaway.

So is this telltale for what the next PPS announcement is, or has that been made already?

If it hasn't been mentioned already, the TOTAN bug: Vanishing Magnet Is Broken.

And switch 68 error.

I go for Miami just to avoid being annoyed...it's not as bad as JP. GoGogogogogogogo!!

Not random...based on the last color of target or pop bumper hit.

If this hasn't already been mentioned, I think a good bug fix would be for congo only kicking out 1 ball on occasion for diamond hunt multiball, or Ghost Tribe. Every congo (which is 3 different congos) I have played does this. I am guessing its a programming bug.

Still, compiling CC code first, come on

Getaway for sure. Game needs help. Put all animations and everything back in and fix jackpot errors and endless multi-ball errors etc...

Also please update Judge dredd latest romset with the deadworld mod locking ring fix. Want that BADLY! Also enable a shaker for all games if possible..You will sell a truckload of them! I know there was some champ pub bugs too..I will go play and see what I can find. I will make a list of what I find in my games from now on.
Thanks for doing this!
Best regards

Agreed, a JD update for the Deadworld Mod would be cool, too.

The same with NF. Lots of flips and wear caused from just selecting plunger skill/choice. Maybe activate flippers after this is selected.

I have another really important one, if no one has mentioned it already - give some big points for completing the big 6 stack in MB. That has to be one of the hardest things to do, and you get virtually nothing for it. I still go for it, but it's only an accomplishment, would never think to even care during a competitive situation.

Same with Pinbot (if you are going back to system 11's), give the option to making it to the sun a point value instead of a reply. This is the first real wizard mode I can think of in pinball, and for home use, there is no reason to do it, other than to say you just did it.

Can we just disable the flippers when going making a selection? They shouldn't be active anyway.