I had mentioned this issue earlier in Steve Gouveia's monkey mod thread and was hoping someone might know what the problem is. I've got two very weird scenarios occurring...

#1. This happens every time the monkey captures the ball. Whenever he picks it up successfully, he takes it up to the castle like he should. However, the door then opens to release it and registers a virtual lock. The switch behind the door works and the game does not go into search mode after the monkey drops the ball off up there. But the door always immediately opens now to release it - which unfairly gives me an opportunity to start bashing the castle door with the same ball. Not sure how to troubleshoot something like that since every switch and mechanism is working properly. (It's almost as if there's a problem in the software code!)

#2. Occasionally a different weird scenario occurs. Sometimes he flies down to pick up the ball and then just stays there. The ball eventually rolls away and he doesn't fly back up to the castle. Even if the ball drains, he just sits there at the magnet pickup spot. He's not stuck on anything; he moves fine in test mode. But I'll have to power off the machine and turn it back on for him to reset and work normal again.

Has anyone had either of these things happen to them? Any suggestions on how to fix them?

Appreciate everyone's help. I've confirmed that switch 80 for Monkey Away does indeed trigger when I manually move the monkey down to the spot where he grabs the ball. Also, virtual lock is already set to off. I'm running version 6.61 on a Ruby Red.

So I just updated to version 7.02. Started up a game. Watched the monkey grab my ball and take it up the castle. Held my breath as he dropped it. And... I'm sorry to report that damn door opened again and let it out.

I don't think magnetized balls in the trough are an issue either, as balls eject just fine from the trough all the time.

Yep, every single time. (Strangely enough right after I switched out my original monkey for Steve's monkey which moves and tests exactly like it should.) But could it be a problem with the monkey if the issue is the switch behind the door detects the ball landing on it and so the door opens? I mean - the game knows if the switch got triggered during the monkey capture it must've been because the monkey brought it up to the castle, right? So I don't get why the door always opens now instead of keeping the ball locked.

Checked each ball and none are magnetized.

The monkey was home in the castle when I took the picture below. Switch 72 (castle ball lock) tests fine when I press it by the way. And another weird thing - for kicks I picked the ball up off the playfield and placed it directly behind the castle door in the middle of a game. The door did NOT open (like it always does after the monkey captures it) and then the game went into search mode because it was as if the machine didn't know where the ball was.
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In test mode, that castle door always opens right after I push down on switch 72. Is that the correct behavior?

EDIT: Also - I need to correct an earlier post. I mentioned previously when I took the ball off the playfield and just put it behind the castle door the machine loses the ball and goes into search mode. That's not correct. (I must not have set it down on the switch correctly before.) I just tried the same trick 3 more times and each time the door opened immediately after.

I wonder - is it possible the machine doesn't think the monkey grabbed the ball in the first place? (So the door opens because it senses switch 72 is triggered, but it doesn't think a ball should be there.)

So just to be clear - when anyone else pushes down on switch 72 in test mode or in-game while a ball is in play, does the door immediately open right after that?

And I've been giving some thought to the monkey magnet sense. The detection comes on immediately after the magnet is energized rather than a second later after the ball is caught by the magnet. So it's not working exactly right, but I'm not sure if that would be the cause of this problem. (And I'm not looking forward to hours of moving the magnet sense around and testing in between cool-down periods after the magnet overheats.) The magnet sense essentially tells the monkey "Hey - come down here! We got a ball for you!" Right? So in that respect, that seems to be working. (I would think a worse scenario would be if the magnet sense detects nothing at all.) So magnet sense summons monkey, monkey flies down and grabs ball. I assume that's working as designed. (But of course, the freaking door then keeps letting the ball out to negate all the monkey's hard work.)

Sorry - it's not search mode.

Also - don't want to derail the thread, but something has been puzzling me after I updated 6.61 to the 7.02 code hoping that would fix this. The sound effect I used to hear when I launch the ball (the sound that plays after the shooter lane switch is triggered then released) isn't always playing anymore. Is that normal? I saw this as an update for version 7.00:

* Improve shooter launch sound logic.

At first I thought the shooter lane switch was sporadically not working, but that tests fine. Was removing the sound effect for some of the opening shots the "improvement"?

Happy New Year! Can anyone confirm for me that pressing down on switch 72 behind the monkey's door should always cause it to open during normal play and test mode? Thanks.

I don't see any loose wires. So your door doesn't open when you push down on switch 72? Nobody's door opens when they push down on that switch?

Thanks. So that must be a clue to my problem then. I just need to figure out why that door always opens when I press on the switch.

Partially out of desperation, I reverted my game back to an earlier version of 6.06 and then played it a bit to see what would happen. Interestingly, the monkey ball lock behavior is different on this version and it may point to some clues as to what is happening.

In this version, after the monkey captures the ball, the game loses sight of where the ball is and goes into search mode. Only then does the monkey door open in the back of the castle to release the ball.

This got me questioning whether the ball is even triggering switch 72. I experimented a bit with placing a ball behind the door and actually - it's not sitting on that switch when it sits behind the door. It might briefly activate the switch when the monkey drops the ball, but then it sits behind the door OFF the switch.

Also - I had mentioned earlier that this door always opened whenever I pressed switch 72 during a game or in test mode. But what I've come to realize is if I briefly tap it, it registers in the test but the door stays shut. I actually have to hold down on the switch for about a second to force open the door. When the monkey drops my ball at the castle, the switch would only activate very briefly so the switch itself must not have been causing the door to open in that scenario. So in the newer code releases it seems the game is just opening the door because the monkey made the complete round trip with the ball.

So in light of all this I have two questions:

1. When the ball is locked is it supposed to sit behind the door but NOT directly on the switch?
2. I was able to get confirmation from Manimal that his door doesn't open when he pushes this switch, but it would seem a quick tap actually doesn't open it. When others hold down on the switch for 1 second in test mode - what happens? Does your door stay closed?

"DOROTHY CAPTURED" Like Hogey said, I had to bend the switch a little so it would always register when the ball was sitting behind the door and now it finally locks properly. It's funny all this time I assumed the switch worked because the door kept opening, but once I tried it with older code and the game went into search mode I knew I was close to figuring it out.

Hopefully this little experience helps others.