Jackal2001, did the mode lock up and the Nightcrawler never release the ball? I've had balls get stuck behind Nightcrawler, but the mode always ended, Nightcrawler went down and then the game went on. In his video...the Rogue time is stuck at 20. I've never had that before.

The business of left Nightcrawler popping up and staying up in Xavier mode when he is not the mutant, needs to be changed. He is blocking the Xavier shot which is needed to get the clue to where the mutant is. I do like the Nightcrawlers sometimes being used in Xavier mode and sometimes they are not. I also like them occasionally being used and him NOT being the mutant, but which Nightcrawler is up should always switch in any mode (Xavier, Rogue and Nightcrawler). I also believe that if Nightcrawler is used in Xavier mode and he IS the mutant....it shouldn't matter which one you hit (left or right...whichever one is up at the time). I also think that if he is used and NOT the mutant.....he should stop (both stay down) during the mode as soon as either Nightcrawler is hit. He is one character and both Nightcrawler switches should be considered one hit to Nightcrawler. They could have wired both switches together and saved $.03 worth of wire on that as far as I'm concerned.

To address any stuck balls behind the Nightcrawlers....if they are popping up and down in each mode as I have suggested this wouldn't be an issue. If a switch hasn't been hit in awhile and the game is thinking it's ball search time....the first thing it needs to do is lower any raised Nightcrawers (or even switch which one is raised would work) before it goes into a full blown ball search. There is no reason to lose the locked balls without checking behind the raised Nightcrawlers first.

On a general Nightcrawler note....It would be nice to change the timing on their switching. Not from mode to mode, but anytime they are used. Have it cycle between a couple of quick switches to some longer "I'm gonna jiggle before I jump" type switches. I know they can do it so why not? I also don't understand why lefty seems to always be used first (in Rogue and Xavier mode anyway...I don't think I have seen Nightcrawler mode since 1.23 rolled into town).

There is a thing that can happen with Nightcrawler and the ball getting trapped there.

If you get a ball lock, or a drain with ball save when your in or start a mode where Nightcrawler will pop up. And you do a soft launch to upper right flipper, things can time out right where the ball can get stuck behind Nightcrawler when he pops up. Now, if you're in that situation, than you haven't actually hit any switches since the last ball launch, so the game doesn't think there is a ball in play yet. Timer's won't even count down, and a ball search won't ever start.

It seems like an odd bunch of coincidences, but I've had it happen more than once so it's not all that extraordinary. If you're in the habit of getting a soft launch off before the game auto launches the ball for you you can end up there. If you let auto launch go through you should hit a least a few pop bumpers and get the game moving so it won't ever happen.

_{Post edited by muttonboy : somehow mispelled should as shit...}

I just noticed some strangeness, but can't give many details. I started an Iceman mode. The ramp went right and stayed. I started another mode (I can't remember which) then I hit the Iceman ramp again. I was expecting it to go right and start going back and forth and the left inlane insert to start flashing. Instead the Iceman ramp stayed left and the left inlane insert didn't start flashing. After the other mode was finished (I can't remember if I beat it or it timed out) the ramp went right and the inlane started flashing. It was as if the Iceman mode had paused while the other mode was running, but it remembered the ramp hit that I had made.

I'm sure there are a lot more of these types of bugs that aren't even as noticeable because so many modes are running at once.

That is the kind of circumstance that I never would have figured out. Even in this case, without a switch being hit you would think the game would eventually do a ball search. I mean it can see the ball isn't in the shooter lane, in the trough or in the lock...plus the flipper isn't being held (to cradle the ball) or any switches being triggered. It should know to drop the Nightcrawler and then do a full ball search.

On the plus side...it's nice to hear a modes counter is paused until the first switch hit after an "auto plunge".

This code man...this code. It's driving me bonkers.

Shortly after loading 1.23, realizing it was crap and complaining about it being crap..I noticed something strange with my Nightcrawlers. Keep in mind my Nightcrawlers both work fine in game and in test. Here is the scenario:

If I would power the game down while the Nightcrawlers were down. When I would power the game on next...the left Nightcrawler would pop up. Not the right one...just the left one. This struck me as strange. I know different updates have had changes in the Nightcrawler behavior at start up. I know at least one code revision even had a setting to adjust how the Nightcrawlers behaved at start up. Examples: Always pop up or attempt to pop them up, Only pop them up if they are showing as being down...setting like that.

As I said, it struck me as being very strange that lefty popped up and righty didn't. I asked about this in a thread and a couple of replays come back that said "If my Nightcrawlers are down when I power the game on...they stay down". At that point I had no clue as to why my game was behaving differently. Anyway...I went back to version 1.22 of the software to check a couple of things and then when I went back to 1.23....my Nightcrawlers were behaving like everyone else was reporting (if they were down..they stayed down at power up).

That is how things were until tonight....my Nightcrawlers were up and the game was powered off, but when I powered it on I heard the Nightcrawler coils make the noise of popping them up even if they are already up. So I started a game and they dropped as they should...I plunged the ball and I powered down. So now they are both down. I power the game back on and they both pop up???

What would make useless game behavior change like that. I haven't been in the setting or under the glass. The game just changed how it dealt with the Nightcrawlers at power on all by itself and for no reason.

My game has NCs in the up position when power is on and/or after a game. Never seen it different.

One thing is for certain, the code is an absolute mess. Will stern make it right and focus their attention on it? Or have they already moved forward with ACDC (just got another update), avengers, Metallica, and their new platform (star trek?). Oh what about TF. Way I see it, the POWERpack announcement was aimed at one thing and one thing only, sell the rest of their TFs. They got em sold, no need to work on the code. Xmen? They're all sold, no need to work on its code. Lets move forward to the next released.

Signed,
Frustrated xmen owner.

PS-
If they are working on xmen; here's how I envision the meeting:
Lyman: alright waison, lets have a look at this code, pull it up on the computer
Waison: *pulls up code on pc - shows Lyman and software development team an absolute spaghetti of coding inside a tangled web of data.
Lyman: ....ummm, alright team, lets get back to work on Metallica. Waison....go back to your cubicle in the basement. We'll look at this later....Much much later.

So if you start a game and then turn the power off while the Nightcrawlers are down and with the ball is in the shooter lane...and then plunge the ball. You wait for it to drain and settle in the trough....then you power the game on....your Nightcrawlers pop up?

I don't know what to expect they are supposed to do. Mine have done about everything on this 1.23 code. As I said...mine were staying down until last night....and then they started popping up in that scenario. Others have reported as them staying down also.

Who knows what is right...I just know it has changed for me for seemingly no reason.

I'll have to check when I get home. Good question though since they seem to always be up in between games so now you got me second guessing myself heh. Now that I think about it, I believe there was a time that they were down on power up and stayed down and when I hit start they popped up then back down.

That is what mine were doing on 1.23 code (for the majority of time) until last night.

Yes the XMEN code is a mess and it's getting worked on now. Don't you believe Rarehero?

Working on code and making progress on code are two seperate things. They've been working on the code since release. And besides scoring and stronger magnets, they haven't made much progress. So the question to be answers is; are they focusing the right deserved attention towards the code? Or are they gonna wipe it under the rug and hope it goes away?

This sounds about right to me. Very frusterating.