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Stern Indiana Jones Code Rewrite & Port Over Progress

Update on my hardware controller board for my indy rewrite. Now testing in game :) and the next prototype pcb version is on the way. This next version will have on board audio hopefully so this board will be a 1 fit all for my upgrade. Time to do away with the p-roc and external amps and extra power supplies. Cleaner solution.

Also it looks like there may be a few stern indys popping up soon so they willl make good upgrade candidates. People have said before its hard to find stern indys so this may be your chance!

IMG_5543.JPGScreenshot 2019-11-10 15.49.55.png
 
New proto board assembled and ready for testing. This is now an all in 1 cpu with onboard audio and computer, so

No more expensive PROC board
No more seperate computer panels
No more separate amps
No more separate power supplies

Just take out your old cpu board and plug this one in.

Played my fist 1 billion game the other day to on this hardware, so testing is going well. Still a few bugs and niggles to solve but this is huge progress on my goal. Aiming for a £300 price point to, with led displays at £100.

IMG_5694.JPGIMG_5696.JPG
 
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myPinballs said:
Concentrating on the switch to new hardware but yes there will be some game play updates to

Interested to switch over to LED display?
Click to expand...

For the moment I find having an LCD monitor in there really handy for when I'm having a tinker ;-)
 
Update on my indy project new controller boards. First a small recap, these new controller boards are a single board with everything that's needed to run my updated code including audio. The audio side of things was previously controlled by seperate audio amps, as seen in many 'boutique' pinball games like spooky games and highway games etc. Although this is a solution i never liked it and wanted something more contained and neat. Also the advance of rPi computer technology has meant on board computers can be added in place of seperate boxes. The 3rd thing was to re-engineer my own iso controller device to do away with the expensive and black box proc board. So, i/o and computer side of things had previously been cracked which left the audio side.

Today i have cracked that to. I have been over the past few months (since christmas) working on a design using audio amp ics which are popular with arcade games. I have also been learning about audio ground and digital ground! The main issue i was having previously was audio noise generated from the rPi being picked dup by the amplifier. Jeeping the 2 ground plans seperate until the external connector has now solved this.

So some pics and vids.

Latest board assembled being assembled before the ics, i/o and rPi controllers go in

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Board being tested

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Testing video


I'm testing it on bench using a crappy atx power supply so this is the worst i think it will sound in terms of any noise. Next is to swap out the earlier test board in my game and use this one to see what its like.

I am also working on some i/o updates to hopefully allow reading of some special switch info. Something that the proc board was unable to do. The sam system has some special switches that are read via the data bus not the usual switch matrix. These are things like the coin door voltage disable switch, the zero cross circuit and the lamp status etc. The most useful here is the coin door switch so you know when the hv is off and the door is open.
 
Some pics of the new rgb display installed. (The rgb screen could also be used with ccc kits)

Also played for a good hour the other night and any lag on video modes is gone now with the latest design, the rpi4 and the off loading of the dmd processing to a slave controller. Mine cart is my go to test video mode, and its now silky smooth!!

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This looks great! Any ideas on approximate release dates? As I’d love to own one
 
Tony said:
This looks great! Any ideas on approximate release dates? As I’d love to own one
Click to expand...

Hoping for within 1 month ish. I have to get the next revision of pcb blanks ordered with the final changes on. I am also hoping to offer the full kit for £400 inc vat plus shipping for early adopters on this new kit. Thats as close to a single colour dmd as i can get i think. Regular price after that will be £450 plus shipping after that.
 
A working coin door open message. Something thats been missing from my rewrite for a number of years until now. Stern sam hardware does not use a regular coin door closed switch like other game hardware and uses instead data from the driver board sent back on the data bus as a read. More complex to sort out, but its solved now. p-roc board could never access this info.

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Pick Holder said:
Jim. Why are you not making your own version of a proc board ?!?!?
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I'm not that interested in making boards for people to make games with as i dont have time to support people and explain what to do/hand hold etc. You can already do that with a proc board if you want to and empty your bank account with the dollar exchange rate!!. I just want to make boards that i can use for my own projects so i have full control. It also helps to keep the costs down. I tried to use the proc board for years (around 8-9) but i just ended up thinking i need to make my own stuff.

Making complete kits that people can plug into existing games and play the game with the minimal amount of changes and hassle is what i want to provide. Using other solutions just means you end up with loads of external crap and it looks a mess.
 
First generation new hardware kits are now available and taking orders. :) I fixed the final firmware issue today that i've been working on, so now offering the new board and rgb led display as a full drop in kit to folks. Price is £450 plus shipping to begin with. That includes everything you need i.e a new hardware board that is a direct replacement for you old cpu board (keep it somewhere safe) and a new full colour rgb led display to replace your old orange dmd. (keep it safe somewhere to ). I think its a pretty good price for a completely new game and colour display included.

Cheers :)
 
wow! Its nearly £400 to buy a proper colour dmd alone!

Jim can you explain a bit about how the modes from IJ Williams appear on this port over and what have you done for the 4th film modes that were never completed by Stern (asshats)?

Sorry if already covered but I have a feeling at that price every Stern IJ will get converted!!
 
Pick Holder said:
What an upgrade for £400-450.
Can see people wanting to buy one of these games now.....
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No No No.....Know one should buy a stern IJ . Because I can’t bloody find one 😂😂😂
Driving me mad was mocked years ago for loving it now look ,I have missed so many since then as well it’s doing my head in .
So everyone just step the f@ck back and leave IJ alone 🤣
Epic work by the way Jim 👌
 
Will said:
No No No.....Know one should buy a stern IJ . Because I can’t bloody find one [emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]
Driving me mad was mocked years ago for loving it now look ,I have missed so many since then as well it’s doing my head in .
So everyone just step the f@ck back and leave IJ alone [emoji1787]
Epic work by the way Jim [emoji108]
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Offered you the lovely one I was selling multiple times last year....and it was back on eBay a few months ago, I pointed it out to you. I don't think you are trying very hard [emoji39]

Sent from my D5833 using Tapatalk
 
Sgt GrizZ said:
Offered you the lovely one I was selling multiple times last year....and it was back on eBay a few months ago, I pointed it out to you. I don't think you are trying very hard [emoji39]

Sent from my D5833 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
What the one you stole from under me ? Wasn’t buying that out of principle 🤣🤣🤣
 
J.C.Rox said:
wow! Its nearly £400 to buy a proper colour dmd alone!

Jim can you explain a bit about how the modes from IJ Williams appear on this port over and what have you done for the 4th film modes that were never completed by Stern (asshats)?

Sorry if already covered but I have a feeling at that price every Stern IJ will get converted!!
Click to expand...


If you have a read of this rule sheet doc then it should answer your questions. I've talked about he 4th film modes i created a few times on here but its all covered in the rulsheet doc :)

https://www.mypinballs.com/files/indy-rules_v103.pdf
 
Shortish Game Play video (around 15 mins). Gives a flavour of what this is all about :) Running the latest code and from the new hardware etc. Wish I was a better player when videoing as I missed loads of shots ha ha ha, but should give an idea of what its like anyway. Will shoot more vids to and add to my youtube channel as I get time.

 
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