Yes not sure where to look as pooped out from going over the game, reading relevant larts of Hobbit manual and reading Pinside repair threads and feeling quite discouraged.

I'll give it a try in a bit a d report back.

Tried that just now and saw no change, unfortunately

Sorry.

LTG : (

Certainly no apology needed, but thanks! You do so much for pinball!

Happy to announce I’m now officially in the club with a Smaug edition!

I’ve been reading through this thread in anticipation and am glad to have read the evolution from code 2.0 to the current one. That said, is this the correct setting to disable Beast multiball from concurrently running with Smaug multiball (the one I set to the red ON?)

If so, is there also a recommendation to set the one underneath it to ON as well so that the beasts don’t interfere with modes?

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No that's not it. It's an option that says something like prevent Smaug / Beast MB stacking.

Did this on my Hobbit, too. A bit of a pain to get the board out with all those wires and connections, but after that no issues. Used some 3d printer stand-offs from monkfe worked perfectly.

Hmm, ok thanks. So it seems from what I read in the thread is that the option to disable or stop the beast MB while Smaug MB is running is by pressing the ring action button when available (after a jackpot I think).

Switching topics, does the Smaug or BA attract videos have sound? Or are they just video clips? I saw the Smaug covered in gold clip and it didn’t have sound so I went into the settings and turned on the attract music and sound options on but when the video came up again there wasn’t any audio associated with it.

Note my machine came with a coin mech volume mod where I can press the coin mechs to increase or decrease the volume which may be helpful during gameplay. When there’s no game playing there’s no sound coming out but if press a coin mech the sound plays for a bit, which I suspect is normal.

I also plugged in headphones in the jack (and pressed pretty firmly in where it wouldn’t go in any further) but when I played I faintly heard sound through the headphones but the speakers had sound too. Are the headphone jacks known for having issues or did I not press in hard enough?

Ugh. So I was only playing like my 4th game when the ball would go into the Radafast hole and then it would pop out, only until after the ball search. Then I hit a ball behind Smaug and same thing…would only pop out after a ball search from the Radagast hole.

I turned it off, then back on and get this message. Any thoughts on how to proceed? I literally just got the machine this week and have just tried to play it…

Added info: when I turn off the machine and then it back on the errors are still there but the Radagast VUK is triggered and keeps going up and down

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Stuck open means switch hasn't been hit or isn't working.

Tests - Switches - Matrixed, do they work/register on the screen when triggered ?

Could need cleaning or one side popped out of there it's stuck into. You can switch the plugs around on the opto driver board under the playfield to see if the opto failed, trying that if they work they will register as a different switch on the screen.

LTG : )

Anyone killed Smaug first multi ball? I've tried for years, on average it takes me ~4 minutes and 3rd or 4th multi ball. Last night I did it on 2nd multi ball @ 2:40. That's bad ass.
I've made it to BOTFA a handful of times, only ever getting to what I assume is the last shot (captive ball?) twice and losing it. BOTFA feels so unfinished where there isn't much lights and the music dies down to almost nothing. Not sure if captive ball is the last shot maybe someone can confirm.

Thanks LTG. I just watched a YouTube video of what the switch errors meant…unless I’m mistaken it seems that I should have that matrix screen open with the red boxes and try the ramps and subway to see if they clear. Big not then check under the playfield.

Tests - Switches - Matrixed

Hit some switches, see how they change on the screen. Then start on the reported ones.

LTG : )

I didn’t see anything in the I/O board but went to the test matrix screen and was able to trigger and change the red boxes to yellow. I then kicked off a quick game and everything seems to work now. Fingers crossed it stays this way. Thanks LTG!

Yes a few times I killed Smaug on the first MB. My strategy is -> only 2 ball left, cradle 1 ball on the right flipper, shoot the windlance with the other ball and kill smaug with right craddled ball.

Arkenstone Modes and TABA
It would love to see that JJP add the same feature as Stern on game start to choose the wizard modes.

So I have a situation. I purchased one of the new IO boards prior to all of you figuring out the capacitors help the flipper situation a ton. I have two contender machines, GnR and TH. I also have picked up four Capacitors at the same time.

Option 1) Put the IO board in one of the two machines. If so, which one would be the best choice? Then put the capacitors on the remaining machine and extra IO board and sell it to someone else.
Option 2) Sell the IO board and put the capacitors I have in both machines

I still don't have a good read on what else may be different with the IO board than the capacitors.

Thoughts?

Posted this on the GnR thread as well in case there might be someone in there that has an opinion on the subject.

Yes, these are first world problems folks!

Gotta love this hobby!

I’m pretty sure I know the answer but just wanted confirmation. I read through this thread and the rule sheet and know the criteria to qualify for the mini wizards.

Say I qualify for Into the Fire but am a lousy shot. Before activating the mode by hitting into the Radagast hole let’s say I complete another mode. That mode credit doesn’t carry over and count towards my progress toward Barrel Escape, correct? Meaning only after I play Into the Fire will I then need to earn all the arkenstone again to qualify for the Barrel Escape wizard, right?

I actually just did something similar where I initiated and played through another Smaug multi ball before I started Into the Fire but the arkenstone isn’t lit so it doesn’t seem to carry over. However, my path towards reaching Erebore didn’t reset after Into the Fire so it looks like after I qualify but before I initiate Into the Fire I can progress the spinners, maybe lock 2 balls or capture 2-3 beasts, then play Into the Fire and then would only need a couple more spinners, 1 mode maybe a beast or two and 1 lock ball to qualify Barrel Escape.

The answer to the 2nd paragraph is yes. Once you play the wizard mode you need to get all 5 new stones for the next.

Also if you have all stones and wizard holes are flashing if you start another multi ball or mode the wizard mode is off until completing. So once completed or timed out the wizard mode holes are lit. There are two holes to activate the 3 wizard modes.

Thanks. I found out the hard way that the wizard qualifier was paused when I started another mode…

Loving this game. I try to lock two balls to hear more of the Smaug callouts while trying to finish the rest.

For selfishness and research purposes I’d like to see Option 1 where you put the board on TH. That way you can tell how much of a difference it actually makes instead of the capacitors as I wouldn’t mind knowing how much of a difference the new board makes to this game.

Hobbit playfield lights finally working.

Pop ups still going up and down ridicously fast. Have tried making sure all the connectors were reconnected properly even switched them to make sure.

Slings not working. Tried tapping on playfield in test mode but no switches activating. No fuses out and I see left and right sling are on different connectors and reseating them didn't help.

Video ultra slow even in test mode and after I change settings game shuts down while I'm still adjusting things. Different RAMs and CPU chips had no effect.

At this point, if it were me I'd just order a new updated I/O board from pinballlife and start enjoying playing the game.

If a new I/O board would fix these problems I would. But board in it is a new one for my WOZ.
Bought and ended up installing in Hobbit first as issues with Hobbit started. And testing to see if new board would fix it. Has not.
Isn't the newly Populated I/O as didn't know about that when ordering.

The ultra slow speed of the video and machine crashing in test mode is weird to me. Have tried different Rams, reseating video and power cable/connectors. New MPU is HM81 used before and has been fine. Have latest software downloaded and then redownloaded using 2 different USB sticks in case first was corrupted. Tried 2 different chips in motherboard and same issue.

I don't know what else to try.

Slings all I know today is to put DMM and test the two transistors to them.

Thought for sure weird pop up mechs behavior had to be wrong connectors placed together. No other ideas.

Lights alone spent hours going over Ethernet cables and connectors. Only real thing fixed.

I toyed with this option. One thought was to pull both IO boards and install the new capacitors. Then install the new board in TH and see how it plays. Then right after install one of the modified boards. I am also going to take some high rez pix of the two of them to see if anyone on this board can pick up on differences from a trained eye perspective (mine is far from trained in electronics). Ultimately I will probably keep the new board in TH as I have always thought that title could use a little more responsiveness. Then put one of the modified boards in GnR. Lastly keep the last IO board as a backup.

WoZ uses a different IO board...

Has a couple of connectors more on it. Been told should work fine in TH but suppose maybe it doesn't.

Can you test the beast function and get them to stay up? Have you checked that there aren't any severed wires on the beast switches?

They do same craziness in test mode. When need to recheck wires. One looked slightly worn but none were severed when I looked.

Just purchased, received & placed the Hobbit dust cover on my LE Hobbit. I purchased it off of eBay from luckeypinball. His Pinside shop is Dukepinball.

DSCN1599 (resized).JPG

Where can you get that dragon head topper? Expensive?

I purchased it from Bigbadtoystore.com 10+ years ago. It was $249. Of course, they're out of stock. See Hobbit Post 12501.

way overpriced, no thanks

I agree but you get what you pay for. See post 12501.

https://toywiz.com/mcfarlane-toys-dragons-the-hobbit-smaug-action-figure/?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAibeuBhAAEiwAiXBoJL7WpKgJXqzZkS1JT_lHAFxiw2UHoxMD28vMduintJjqZfSToqXovhoCKBMQAvD_BwE

https://www.amazon.com/Weta-Hobbit-Smaug-Vinyl-Figure/dp/B094Q8N8KD/ref=sr_1_22

Thanks for sharing

Probably going to call in tech as thoroughly discouraged after trying a different CPU, power supply, I/O-testing it with DMM, reconnecting about every connector in game etc. Lights on but still no slings, beasts popping up like coils when they gun sling and afraid this will wear mechs and coils. Took many hours to just get it to this point. Have had time in this process wouldn't boot even jump starting wouldn't help. Video running ultra slow and game reboots after trying to test mechs in test mode. Very frustrated but thankful for all the suggestions and encouragement offered!

I can’t wait to find out what the heck is going on with your game. You’ve spent an awful amount of time testing everything. I had some similar problems (not all) as you and it turned out to be the power supply. I really wish you luck in getting TH up and running.

If you still have the WOZ I/O board in there, it has two USB ports, be sure it works in Hobbit, and if so you have used the correct USB port.

LTG : )

Thank you I'll try that.

The $15 USB 80mm 5v fans I ordered came in. Plugged into USB service port.
Turned on max speed setting, set on top of the coin box and closed door. I had to listen super hard to even barely hear them so they are very quiet.
Played 1 game for 1hr+. (Past BOTFA)
I was able to run it through the paces as hard as possible. Absolutely no flipper fade was ever present.

Conclusion.
A person could move them closer to the flipper coils and likely reduce fan speed to 2 and eliminate fan noise. But why bother?
The fans have rubber grommet feet on all 4 corners on both sides. Double sided tape them to the coin box and be done with it or create a bracket with 1/8" x 1/2 flat aluminum at homedepot.

These fans are fantastic and have less draw on the system (especially connectors on the board)

Link to fans:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0928KWHZF

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This is a first for me, never got a ball wedged between the glass and apron before. It then fell down into the cabinet abyss so will be spending some time there.

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A Ball actually fits between glass and apron?
Interesting, B/W had that solved in the 90's.

Here’s what mine looks like. Is that apron too low compared to others?

Yeah, my Sterns don’t seem to have that much of a gap but I never really gave it much thought until now. This being my first JJP I’m not sure if it’s normal or not.

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Looks normal height to me. IIRC, JJP raised the channel height at some point to eliminate the hold down bar button assembly from scratching the bottom side of the glass and I'm wondering if your unit was part of the later machines? It's a theory anyway.

Does anyone have and recommend the Lior beasts? They seem pretty expensive for what they are as they just end up getting beat up and aren’t visible the entire times.

My pin does have the Lior book cover and barrel legs so I’m thinking about purchasing but would hold off if people who have it say they’re not worth it.

I never bought the Lior faces. They look great!
But do you really get to enjoy the detail during game play?
I stocked up on the stock faces. Reasonably priced.
https://www.pinballlife.com/hobbit-pop-up-warg-head-sculpture.html
https://www.pinballlife.com/hobbit-pop-up-goblin-head-sculpture.html
https://www.pinballlife.com/hobbit-pop-up-orc-head-sculpture.html
https://www.pinballlife.com/hobbit-pop-up-spider-head-sculpture.html

Thanks for the links.

Yeah, probably not worth it at current pricing. Maybe if/when they go on sale I’ll reconsider.

I recently added Lior's beasts. Yes they are expensive but I decided to treat myself to getting them. I also bought a full set from JJP when they were available. Only one broke so that was replaced.

I knew my tech was coming out to work on some pins especially Hobbit so I bought them. Tech installed them , added sub woofer, fixed a beast that wouldn't pop up and installed the new JJP I/O board. I feel like I have a new game. I've owned Hobbit since new and it's the most consistly played and most played game that I own.

Cheers.

Is there a particular subwoofer you recommend?