33 replies to this topic

[ta2686]

didnt notice any credits/replay value, is that something I need to set up?

I couldnt quite read the replay score values, but I did get up to around 800,000 and didn't notice a replay.

Yes, you do have to set the replay values for this game in the ROM. When these tables first came out in real life, replay values were not set up from the factory, rather the operator would set the levels on location or at the place where he had it stored before it was delivered to the location.

To find out the procedure on how to set the replay levels for this table, check out the link in my signature for setting replay levels for non-DMD tables, then click on the link there for Bally 17 and 35 MPU tables. This will bring up the procedure to set the levels for that table.

Hope this helps.

[rossicomputers]

JPS, another fantastic update...
I have no words to express myself about the incessant work you been doing for this community. The effort and dedication and above all, your patience and understanding, surpasses all our expectations and makes us more each day, more motivated to delight us with his beautiful work before this forum ...

Thank you for everything that JPS has done so far and certainly will in the coming years ...

Thank you from the bottom of my heart ...

Gustavo Rossi

PS: Glad to hear you are working on the table ... ARFM
Tireless JPS hugs ...

Edited by rossicomputers, 18 April 2010 - 03:57 PM.

[Pin-Pete]

Great work JP,
I gave it a vigorous workout, and it plays great, the slings have a tendency to double up into the outlanes, which is typical for alot of pins, back then. Will have to check the updates, as I too had the ball fly into the plunger lane, and didnt notice any credits/replay value, is that something I need to set up? The pop bumpers seem real close to the target banks, and the sound that they make, though it may be real sounding is quite annoying as compared to a bell/ringing sound. I will have to try to change that in sound manager? though I never mess with stuff that changes the original concept.
I couldnt quite read the replay score values, but I did get up to around 800,000 and didn't notice a replay.
Thanks, still all and all very fun to play!!

You must adjust replay tresholds by yourself.Press 7 & 8 four
times,when there's 00 on every score display.Then press 1
continuously and make treshold suitable for your skills or
check replay cards. After making 1.st treshold limit press
7 & 8 once again to make 2.nd treshold level.Then press F3
and your replay levels will be saved.Enjoy

Edited by Pin-Pete, 18 April 2010 - 04:58 PM.

[serpiko]

You must adjust replay tresholds by yourself.Press 7 & 8 four
times,when there's 00 on every score display.Then press 1
continuously and make treshold suitable for your skills or
check replay cards. After making 1.st treshold limit press
7 & 8 once again to make 2.nd treshold level.Then press F3
and your replay levels will be saved.Enjoy smile.gif

oh thank you Pin-Pete for this tip.
I did not know that we could put a score on a free game.
Is it valid for gottlieb and stern, too?

in any case thank you for your knowledge

[ta2686]

The early Sterns follow for the most part the same procedure.

Gottlieb tables do have a different procedure for each MPU, be it System 1, System 80, System 80A or System 80B.

For detailed information, please go to the post in the help section on how to set replay levels for non-DMD tables, and click on one of the links there for a particular MPU to get the full procedure on how to set the replay levels on those tables. (You can find a link in my signature also for that help section post)

[serpiko]

thank you very much for your help ta2686

I hope one day do the same in return ...

ps:ok for gottlieb, it was in little more complicated.

links to aid your settings are precious.
again thank you x 1000

Edited by serpiko, 18 April 2010 - 07:35 PM.

[RealApprentice]

easy looking but great fun to play table and it does play very well.

thx

[Pintrepid]

JP, thank you, kind sir, for another stupendous blast from the past!

I remember the summer of '78 very well when this table arrived in our local arcade. They put it right next to Eight Ball, which had already been there for some weeks. I had no idea at the time that these early SS Bally tables would be such a landmark event in pinball history!

But the most fun I had with Mata Hari was at UMass in Amherst, MA, at the Student Life Center. It seemed that there were these little arcades around every bend in the corridor, usually with 4 or 5 pinball tables and a few video games. This Mata Hari table was parked next to an Atari Middle Earth table on one side and a Gottlieb Royal Flush on the other side. It also seemed to play much faster than the Mata Hari at the arcade. I think the slope was steeper on this table than the other one. It was also much more responsive to subtle nudging. I got to the point where I could anticipate when the ball was making a run for the outlane, and if I hit the table with just the right push, I could bounce it off the rubber at the end of the outlane and knock it back into the playfield.

Your table here plays really, REALLY FAST! That is GOOOOOD!!! Speed GOOOD!!! The speed makes it feel so much like it did at UMass back in the day! It FEELS, it PLAYS like that table did right there in that little arcade area.

What IS it with that hyperdriven HYPERBALL of yours!? Is that thing enriched with plutonium or something?? It's almost like the ball GETS OFF the faster you play! DAMN!!! Another THROATKILL STRAIGHT BETWEEN THE FLIPPERS!!! But then I make a comeback by dropping both sets of cards in 5 or 6 moves! And the way those BUMPERS work!!?? *-PHEW!!!-* That only makes the game THAT much more INTENSE!!!

Ahyeahhp! Mata Hari was one of my all time classic arcade tables right from the moment it came out in '78 ... but this Mata Hari takes an Honourable Mention as a VP Classic that not only recreates the table, but takes it to another level by making it FUN to PLAY!!!


Mata Hari
Hyperdriven Hyperball Version
by JPSalas
Classic Arcade Table Classically Recreated
VP Honourable Mention

YYYEEEAAAHHH!!!

-PeterMac

[crazyflipperfingers]

This is a fantastic table. I've played it too many times to count (current high score is 456,400). JP has done an excellent job on this recreation and it is one of my all time favorites. That being said, I've found a few bugs. One is very minor and does not really detract from play, the other is why I'm posting.

It seems that when the outlanes are lit for 50,000, they do not score. I've encountered this many times (every time) during play but it's hard to reproduce by playing the table for debugging purposes, so I've attempted to come up with an example using the debugging tools. I'm very new to the debug window so I hope I haven't made any errors here (when you execute a command in the "immediate" debugger, you can hear triggered sounds, etc... but the score does not update until you close the debug window). Anyway, here is a way to reproduce the problem: Start a new game then enter debug and select the immediate window. Execute "sw32_hit" then close the debug window (sw32 is the kicker). Your score will advance 3000 points. Enter debug again and execute "sw32_hit" again then close the debug window. Your score will advance 3000 and the left outlane "50,000 when lit" will light. Finally, enter debug and execute "sw34_hit:sw34_unhit" (sw34 is the left outlane - you will know that both executed because you will hear both the "sensor" and "outlane" samples) then exit the debug window. At this point you will not collect the 50,000 points. If you repeat this process but at the final step you only execute "sw34_hit", you will collect the 50,000 points. Since sw34_hit triggers the controller switch for 34 to on, and sw34_unhit triggers it off, I'm guessing there is some sort of timing issue here that is causing it not to register.

The other bug I've encountered is very intermittent and I can't come up with a reliable way to recreate it. Sometimes the ball jumps over the righthand wall back into the plunger lane. I've also seen it jump up on top of the upper lefthand plastic and roll around a bit before falling back off. Like I said, this does not detract from play much, but I just wanted to put it out there in case there is a simple solution.

[Pintrepid]

This is a fantastic table. I've played it too many times to count (current high score is 456,400). JP has done an excellent job on this recreation and it is one of my all time favorites. That being said, I've found a few bugs. One is very minor and does not really detract from play, the other is why I'm posting.

It seems that when the outlanes are lit for 50,000, they do not score. I've encountered this many times (every time) during play but it's hard to reproduce by playing the table for debugging purposes, so I've attempted to come up with an example using the debugging tools. I'm very new to the debug window so I hope I haven't made any errors here (when you execute a command in the "immediate" debugger, you can hear triggered sounds, etc... but the score does not update until you close the debug window). Anyway, here is a way to reproduce the problem: Start a new game then enter debug and select the immediate window. Execute "sw32_hit" then close the debug window (sw32 is the kicker). Your score will advance 3000 points. Enter debug again and execute "sw32_hit" again then close the debug window. Your score will advance 3000 and the left outlane "50,000 when lit" will light. Finally, enter debug and execute "sw34_hit:sw34_unhit" (sw34 is the left outlane - you will know that both executed because you will hear both the "sensor" and "outlane" samples) then exit the debug window. At this point you will not collect the 50,000 points. If you repeat this process but at the final step you only execute "sw34_hit", you will collect the 50,000 points. Since sw34_hit triggers the controller switch for 34 to on, and sw34_unhit triggers it off, I'm guessing there is some sort of timing issue here that is causing it not to register.

The other bug I've encountered is very intermittent and I can't come up with a reliable way to recreate it. Sometimes the ball jumps over the righthand wall back into the plunger lane. I've also seen it jump up on top of the upper lefthand plastic and roll around a bit before falling back off. Like I said, this does not detract from play much, but I just wanted to put it out there in case there is a simple solution.

Strange ... I was going to say that I wasn't having that problem ... but I was able to repeat the error just as you described it ... and then during the gameplay the left outlane did not award the points though it was lit. Most of the time both outlanes do score when lit. But one time it didn't here.

I've noticed, on occasion, that a similar thing happens in the A & B lanes ... the ball goes up a lit A lane, but does not register; the A lane remains lit. I've also noticed that, after completing the A&B lanes enough times to where the extra ball and special is lit, there's no extra ball or special awarded after completing the lanes again. The same thing occurs with the drop targets. Completing the drop targets once lites the special, completing the targets the second time does NOT award the special.

-PeterMac

[crazyflipperfingers]

PeterMac - Now that you mention it, I've also frequently noticed balls going up the lanes and not triggering A or B. I've also had the problem of "extra ball" not triggering as well, although it was on Scapino's version which I don't really play any more. My current strategy is to keep hitting the kicker until I get 5X bonus lit so I rarely complete A & B enough to get to extra ball before I drain but I clearly remember it happening on Scapino's Mata Hari because it was so frustrating.

[crazyflipperfingers]

I may have found a solution to my problem of the 50,000 not scoring on the outlanes when lit. I recently upgraded my PinMame from 2.3 to 2.4 when I was troubleshooting why Night Rider wouldn't work. I've since played Mata Hari and I'm getting the 50,000 added to my score when lit now during gameplay. It still doesn't work using the debugger's immediate window using the steps I outlined above, but I'm not confident at all that I know the ins and outs of how that works yet.

[Pintrepid]

I may have found a solution to my problem of the 50,000 not scoring on the outlanes when lit. I recently upgraded my PinMame from 2.3 to 2.4 when I was troubleshooting why Night Rider wouldn't work. I've since played Mata Hari and I'm getting the 50,000 added to my score when lit now during gameplay. It still doesn't work using the debugger's immediate window using the steps I outlined above, but I'm not confident at all that I know the ins and outs of how that works yet.

As for knowing all the ins and outs, well, me neither!

But are the 50,000 outlane working ALL the time now? What about the A/B lanes?

I've had VP 9.1.2 and VPinMAME 2.4 installed before this thread started, and I was having the occasional, intermittent issues with the A/B lanes. Gotta LOVE these intermittent problems. Very hard to figure out what's going on.

S'pose it sometimes depends on the mood of your 'puter!

-PeterMac

Edited by Pintrepid, 01 May 2012 - 07:11 AM.

[crazyflipperfingers]

But are the 50,000 outlane working ALL the time now? What about the A/B lanes?

I've had VP 9.1.2 and VPinMAME 2.4 installed before this thread started, and I was having the occasional, intermittent issues with the A/B lanes. Gotta LOVE these intermittent problems. Very hard to figure out what's going on.

S'pose it sometimes depends on the mood of your 'puter!

-PeterMac

I played the table for over 45 minutes tonight to try to nail down the problems.

So far, the 50,000 outlane has been working all the time. Prior to upgrading PinMame to 2.4 it never worked for me. I am about ready to cross that problem off my list. PeterMac - Have you experienced the problem other than by using my (probably flawed) debug method?

The A/B lane issue is definitely real and still present. I experienced it tonight 6 times on the B lane and once on the A. The numbers are probably skewed towards B because I seem to be shooting the B more often for some reason (one reason is the kickout saucer always returns the ball to the left flipper - gotta look into randomizing that a bit). It always happens when shooting up through the A or B lane on the sides. I've never seen it in the lanes on either side of the saucer. I can't be 100% sure (hard to remember the exact circumstances while playing - I was just keeping a tally in my head) but I don't think it ever happened when I took a shot with a cradled ball. It seems to always be from a reaction shot when the ball is going faster. I don't see anything obvious in the code that could cause this. There is a "Jump" routine which, if I'm reading it right, looks like it raises the ball up off the table if it exceeds a certain speed threshold. I thought this might be the problem, but I took a look at the A and B switches and they go from 0 to 50 height, so I doubt it.

I'm thinking that a potential way to try and pin down this type of intermittent error is to record the gameplay so it's possible to go back and look for patterns. I'm running an older machine and video card with a TinyXP (Beast edition) OS, so I'm not sure if I'll be able to do this or not. I'm going to give FRAPS a try when I get a chance.