(Topic ID: 231973)

WoZ Gameplay Questions

By harryhoudini

5 years ago


Topic Heartbeat

Topic Stats

  • 17 posts
  • 7 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 5 years ago by LTG
  • No one calls this topic a favorite

You

Linked Games

#1 5 years ago

Picked up a used SE recently and I've only had a dozen or so plays on any WoZ before this one so some nuances of the game aren't 100% clear. If someone who knows more what a new machine plays like could answer these questions that would help me tune and fix.

1. Skill shot - Should the little pop bumper below the two lanes be very "active"? (There's only one, right?) Meaning pop more than one or two times when the ball comes out of the lanes? Can't tell if mine is weak or just how it should be. Also, how hard should the shot to the lanes be? My shooter rod slides easily but it seems like the knack to get just the right touch on it so it doesn't orbit but has enough momentum to make it to the lanes is pretty tight.

2. Ball launch bypass - If you launch the ball too hard and it goes around the orbit should it hit a pop bumper first? Mine seems to bypass them all and drain down the right outlane most of the time.

3. Autolaunch - Should the ball travel the orbit on autolaunch or drop back down the right side of the playfield?

4. Toto, No Place & Rescue modes - Occasionally during gameplay I'll get the video and audio (as well as LED color changes) for one of these modes when it isn't happening. I tried to see if, for example, a hard hitting pop bumper might be false triggering a NPLH switch, but I don't see any correlation between what the ball is doing and one of these modes triggering. Just out of nowhere I'll get the all blue LEDs, RESCUE on the display and the audio for the RESCUE mode. Once I hit another switch the mode stops but I wasn't sure if this was supposed to happen through some other combination of switches or just when I'm on the upper playfield (or when I am triggering NPLH switches, etc).

5. NPLH audio - Should it be pretty clear to hear the "There's no place like home" audio in proper order when the ball is hitting the pop & switches? Or is the muddled, words going over each other, out of order sometimes, audio is all there is?

6. Side notes... some things don't make a ton of sense yet but I still need to read the full gameplay part of the manual. One thing I don't understand, if the coils are so well controlled on JJP machines why not turn off the NPLH coil when in the NPLH or TOTO modes? Seems weird that others are turned off (at least if I recall correctly). Am I correct in thinking the NPLH mode is REALLY hard? Like even just to get RAINBOW is hard, I've never even passed stage two.

7. Throne Room VUK - Should this hit the left or right flipper? I had to turn it up to keep it from draining, so it mostly hits the left flipper now but sometimes still doesn't (so I turned it up more). Should I be trying for the right?

8. Extra Ball - What lights up the extra ball (aside from the Throne Room) and what do I need to do to get it? (Yeah, I know, RTFM)

9. Support - Does JJP respond to the online form? I submitted it twice so far (in the span of a year) and never have gotten a reply. When I call they answer, so I'll do that next, just wondering if this is common. I was under the impression that there was a playfield overlay for the NPLH area where it gets worn by the pop bumper. I already ordered some generic mylar from marco because I have other wear spots (near the top left two pop bumpers and where the ramp dumps the ball in the left inlane) that I want to at least cover. I saw on their website that JJP might have pre-cut mylar already for some areas so I'll ask about that too.

10. Power cycling - Since this is a PC based game system I am wondering if is one that would be better left on for several hours than power cycling it two or three times in a day. It boots pretty quick, but it's the new baby and I don't want to give it more wear than it needs.

11. Ball lock - I've had a few occasions where the ball lock doesn't contain the ball well enough and I end up with two on the playfield when I should not have two. The game seems smart about this (if one drains it doesn't kill the other one and if one gets locked again it stays there) and I turned up the "power" on the lock bar a bit but maybe it needs more?

Props to anyone who takes the time to reply, just put in a 256k score which is good enough for #4 on my virgin high score list, a great one for me so far

#2 5 years ago
Quoted from harryhoudini:

4. Toto, No Place & Rescue modes -

Tests - Switches - Matrixed - bang on playfield and adjust switches too sensitive.

Settings - Coils - try adjusting timing for ball lock 1, ball lock 2, ball lock 3.

LTG : )

#3 5 years ago

Dang you're quick!

Quoted from LTG:

Settings - Coils - try adjusting timing for ball lock 1, ball lock 2, ball lock 3.

Do I want this shorter or longer?

#4 5 years ago
Quoted from harryhoudini:

Do I want this shorter or longer?

Play with it and see what works best for you.

I'd start shorter on ball lock 1.

LTG : )

#5 5 years ago

I'll respond to your list in order:
1- Lanes skill shot is the least valuable anyways. The slingshot (not a pop bumper) up there is meant to be pretty weak, so that it can go back up the lanes a couple times. However, it is intentionally turned off in software after a couple hits, so it doesn't stay up there forever. For skill shot, you should go for a short plunge to your upper right flipper to try for one of the other 3 skill shots (Witch, Haunted, or crystal BALL)
2 -Should hit the pops. Check the wall up there and give it a slight tweak outward so that the ball will hit the pop instead of blow past it.
3-Autolaunch should feed orbit most of the time, but I wouldn't get too hung up if it doesn't
4 - If you're seeing rescue letters, I would be willing to bet that your Castle Door switches need adjusting. If you're seeing Toto or TNPLH, you likely have a flaky switch in one of those areas. Go into switch test, and pound on the playfield a bit to see if anything is too sensitive.
5 - It's not intended to be clear. You get a audio trigger each time a switch down there is hit. So if your pop bumper is going crazy and hitting a bunch of switches, you get a bunch of audio calls going off.
6 - They're not intended to be easy. But certainly doable. The TNPLH pop can kick the ball back out onto the playfield either up through the outlane, or power slam it off the center post (tip - always hold up your left flipper if the ball is in TNPLH, so you create a clear path if it does happen to catch the center post on a power-shot off that pop bumper). TOTO turns off the pops, because that mode is all about the 1 or two shots, and creating randomness from the pops insn't conducive to that. With TNPLH, the trees can help feed your rainbow letters quite nicely, so they're enabled on purpose.
7 - Throne room should hit your left flipper
8 - There are a bunch of extra balls in the game. Read the rules in the manual and it will help you find them all. Couple off the top of my head: Yellow Brick Road 10 times, and then again at 50 times. Horse of a Different Color completed correctly with 5 horses, 10 Fireball Frenzy Jackpots, and some more...
9 - Calling is best
10 - As long as you don't insta-cycle the game (on off within a second), you're fine. Absolutely no issues with turning the game off, turning it back on a minute later, then turning it off again.
11 - What LLoyd said. Set it lower for lock 1, and fiddle with it from there.

Congrats on your new game. We put a lot of time and effort into making it. Still putting in tweaks to code.

PS - I put up 3 million in my game at home on Sunday, with a Toddler handicap (my one-year old likes to stand on a chair infront of the game and slap around on the glass and lockdown bar and hang on my arms). It was my best game ever played.

Cheers,

Eric (EE for WoZ, Hobbit, DI, and something different for POTC)

#7 5 years ago
Quoted from Hogbog:

I'll respond to your list in order:
1- Lanes skill shot is the least valuable anyways. The slingshot (not a pop bumper) up there is meant to be pretty weak, so that it can go back up the lanes a couple times. However, it is intentionally turned off in software after a couple hits, so it doesn't stay up there forever. For skill shot, you should go for a short plunge to your upper right flipper to try for one of the other 3 skill shots (Witch, Haunted, or crystal BALL)
2 -Should hit the pops. Check the wall up there and give it a slight tweak outward so that the ball will hit the pop instead of blow past it.
3-Autolaunch should feed orbit most of the time, but I wouldn't get too hung up if it doesn't
4 - If you're seeing rescue letters, I would be willing to bet that your Castle Door switches need adjusting. If you're seeing Toto or TNPLH, you likely have a flaky switch in one of those areas. Go into switch test, and pound on the playfield a bit to see if anything is too sensitive.
5 - It's not intended to be clear. You get a audio trigger each time a switch down there is hit. So if your pop bumper is going crazy and hitting a bunch of switches, you get a bunch of audio calls going off.
6 - They're not intended to be easy. But certainly doable. The TNPLH pop can kick the ball back out onto the playfield either up through the outlane, or power slam it off the center post (tip - always hold up your left flipper if the ball is in TNPLH, so you create a clear path if it does happen to catch the center post on a power-shot off that pop bumper). TOTO turns off the pops, because that mode is all about the 1 or two shots, and creating randomness from the pops insn't conducive to that. With TNPLH, the trees can help feed your rainbow letters quite nicely, so they're enabled on purpose.
7 - Throne room should hit your left flipper
8 - There are a bunch of extra balls in the game. Read the rules in the manual and it will help you find them all. Couple off the top of my head: Yellow Brick Road 10 times, and then again at 50 times. Horse of a Different Color completed correctly with 5 horses, 10 Fireball Frenzy Jackpots, and some more...
9 - Calling is best
10 - As long as you don't insta-cycle the game (on off within a second), you're fine. Absolutely no issues with turning the game off, turning it back on a minute later, then turning it off again.
11 - What LLoyd said. Set it lower for lock 1, and fiddle with it from there.
Congrats on your new game. We put a lot of time and effort into making it. Still putting in tweaks to code.
PS - I put up 3 million in my game at home on Sunday, with a Toddler handicap (my one-year old likes to stand on a chair infront of the game and slap around on the glass and lockdown bar and hang on my arms). It was my best game ever played.
Cheers,
Eric (EE for WoZ, Hobbit, DI, and something different for POTC)

Yea he is EMM when he streams or just ERIC if you own the latest JJP machine.

#8 5 years ago
Quoted from Beyndtstng:

Yea he is EMM when he streams or just ERIC if you own the latest JJP machine.

I'm guessing there is some tie-in for local high scores to some central database? Seems like that is what is being implied here?

#9 5 years ago

Eric answered it all, I'll add a few things from my personal love story with WOZ (now 6 months and counting) :

3. I'm 50/50 on autolaunch which is fine, it adds some variety to hitting TOTO.
6. NPLH is really hard, I completed it 5 times on around 500 games. To hit R and A, I usually hit the witch and get the ball to divert there, then get the other letters in direct hit. I've been training a lot more lately to hit the Throne Room, it's a shot that is useful to complete a bunch of modes.
7. Mine always hit to the left flipper, it's constant

Hogbog I read that in your answer " Still putting in tweaks to code.". That's an exciting news. Since you are there could I suggest to change one rule on the monkey magnet. Mine is set to "On" so the ball stops there to go down the lanes and get a witch shot, but it stops there even when the witch isn't out which is annoying when I'm trying to complete an orbit and get to the crystal ball VUK. Would it make sense to only block the ball when the witch is out ?

Any idea on a release date for a new version ?

ps : I'm sure you've heard it a lot, but WOZ really is a fantastic game, credits to you and the team !

#10 5 years ago

Thanks for the thoughts!

Quoted from adol75:

ps : I'm sure you've heard it a lot, but WOZ really is a fantastic game, credits to you and the team !

Agreed!

#11 5 years ago
Quoted from Hogbog:

4 - If you're seeing rescue letters, I would be willing to bet that your Castle Door switches need adjusting. If you're seeing Toto or TNPLH, you likely have a flaky switch in one of those areas. Go into switch test, and pound on the playfield a bit to see if anything is too sensitive.

Is the only way to adjust that switch by removing the mini playfield? I looked down in there and can sort of see them but not sure I could reliably get my tool in there to adjust it.

Looks like the NPLH switches were all pretty indented in the foam which was making them trigger real easy so that's better!

#12 5 years ago
Quoted from harryhoudini:

Is the only way to adjust that switch by removing the mini playfield?

Yes. Directions in the manual.

LTG : )

#13 5 years ago
Quoted from LTG:

Yes. Directions in the manual.
LTG : )

Thanks, I flipped through and didn't see it but have some time now to read the whole thing.

#14 5 years ago
Quoted from LTG:

Yes. Directions in the manual.
LTG : )

Speaking of removing the castle playfield, I forgot to tell you that levelling my WOZ properly solved the issue I had with the castle flipper staying stuck up. No playfield removal for me !

#15 5 years ago
Quoted from Hogbog:

Congrats on your new game. We put a lot of time and effort into making it. Still putting in tweaks to code.
PS - I put up 3 million in my game at home on Sunday, with a Toddler handicap (my one-year old likes to stand on a chair infront of the game and slap around on the glass and lockdown bar and hang on my arms). It was my best game ever played.
Cheers,
Eric (EE for WoZ, Hobbit, DI, and something different for POTC)

Hogbog

Should probably do a WOZ JJPLive stream when you put out a substantive new code update.

Want to see you, Keefer or Joe get Somewhere Over The Raindbow.

#16 5 years ago

Hello together,

I have an issue with my WoZ75.

Sometimes the game „thinks“ that the ball is on the upper left playfield.

After hitting the right flipper button it counts a door hit on the upper playfield.

I have checked the door switch and even the standup rescue targets.

No problems are in the test.

Any ideas where i can take one more look?

#17 5 years ago
Quoted from Hasi:

Any ideas where i can take one more look?

Please start with going into Tests - Switches - Matrixed and bang on the playfield. See if vibration sets anything off.

LTG : )

Promoted items from the Pinside Marketplace
From: $ 49.99
Flipper Parts
FlipMods
Flipper parts
$ 95.00
Cabinet - Sound/Speakers
Pinball Mod Co.
Sound/Speakers

Reply

Wanna join the discussion? Please sign in to reply to this topic.

Hey there! Welcome to Pinside!

Donate to Pinside

Great to see you're enjoying Pinside! Did you know Pinside is able to run without any 3rd-party banners or ads, thanks to the support from our visitors? Please consider a donation to Pinside and get anext to your username to show for it! Or better yet, subscribe to Pinside+!


This page was printed from https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/woz-gameplay-questions?hl=adol75 and we tried optimising it for printing. Some page elements may have been deliberately hidden.

Scan the QR code on the left to jump to the URL this document was printed from.