Two balls in launcher

Carl Spiby · Oct 2, 2012

So I just started a new game and two balls were in the launcher thing.

Once one ball drained the flippers went dead and bonus totted up, I thought this was fixed globally in a previous update.

Korven · Oct 3, 2012

This seems to be an issue with several tables, had this happen to me on NGG, BH and just now FH, however on FH the flippers don't go dead.

Worf · Oct 4, 2012

I've seen it on CV - free multiball! Sometimes you can get through it quick enough that the spare ball doesn't drain before you can start the next ball.

Korven · Oct 4, 2012

Just noticed it on CV today too.

okurka · Oct 7, 2012

On NGG, if you finish a game with 1 or 2 balls locked, the next games starts with 2 or 3 balls in the plunger.
Happens on both iOS and Android.

starck · Oct 7, 2012

Does farsight know that? It seems like it could be really helpful info for fixing this !

David Smith · Oct 7, 2012

The workaround is to restart the game (pause and then quit).

David Greene · Oct 16, 2012

okurka said:
On NGG, if you finish a game with 1 or 2 balls locked, the next games starts with 2 or 3 balls in the plunger.
Happens on both iOS and Android.

I just verified this bug today (iOS 6). I suspect it is the same for other tables

Worf · Oct 17, 2012

I think it happens because games like CV and NGG don't "reset the table" after every game (where locked balls are spit out and drained at the end, while the table is reset by TPA under the ROM's back. (These tables have real locks, but they cleverly use them to allow locking of balls in them and ejecting them at the right times - which is why sometimes you lock a ball and it's spit out through the jets on NGG, and other times, it gives you a new one on the launcher).

Mike Reitmeyer · Oct 17, 2012

I found the issue, it'll be fixed in the next submissions.

Sinistar · Oct 17, 2012

Mike Reitmeyer said:
I found the issue, it'll be fixed in the next submissions.

thanks for the update as always Mike.

Kevlar · Oct 17, 2012

Great news.

Matt McIrvin · Oct 17, 2012

Mike Reitmeyer said:
I found the issue, it'll be fixed in the next submissions.

Awesome!

In general, dealing with the persistent table state on emulated tables seems like a real can of worms. I'd love it if there were some way to make the state persist through exiting to the main menu and re-entering the table... but, on the other hand, that'd eliminate an easy workaround for bugs of this type.

David Smith · Oct 17, 2012

Mike Reitmeyer said:
I found the issue, it'll be fixed in the next submissions.

That's great news. It's a pretty serious bug that affects most tables that causes weird behavior for the second and subsequent games until you quit the table. I expect it's the source of most of the "TPA is broken!!!1!!" complaints on the forums/Facebook.

jrolson · Oct 20, 2012

Just had 3 balls, cant wait for this to be fixed...

Fuseball · Oct 20, 2012

I would imagine that accurately maintaining the ball position between games will become even more important with both TZ (The ball sequence in the gumball machine is critical to Powerball release) and ST:TNG (holds balls in VUKs to speed up play). You wouldn't want the latter to be auto-loading up the VUKs from the ball trough every time you start a game.

Sean DonCarlos · Oct 20, 2012

Fuseball said:
I would imagine that accurately maintaining the ball position between games will become even more important with both TZ (The ball sequence in the gumball machine is critical to Powerball release)...

Not only that, but if the ROM gets confused and misidentifies the Powerball (because its position is not accurately maintained between games), then you get total weirdness like the Powerball making it onto the Powerfield, Powerball Mania starting when it's not supposed to, Powerball Mania not starting when it is supposed to, and doubled Multiball jackpots from a steel ball.

Hopefully whatever method FarSight uses to stop this from happening on TZ will be applicable to the rest of the tables as well and we can get the multiple-balls-in-plunger issues resolved once and for all.

EDIT: Just saw Mike's post that he's found the fix on NGG. So maybe we're already in the clear...?

Fuseball · Oct 21, 2012

I haven't owned a TZ for a few years but I recall it used eddy sensors near the ball launch trough and where the gumball machine releases. Steel balls trigger the eddy sensor switch but the powerball does not. The game uses that to determine whether the powerball is in play or not. I don't think that TZ keeps track of the ball positions any more than that.

TPA would need to track these things though. If you finish one game with the powerball at the top of the gumball machine then you would want the next game to start with it there.

Anyway, it sounds like it is sorted for NGG now, and the same process should hold true for any other tables.

Worf · Oct 23, 2012

jrolson said:
Just had 3 balls, cant wait for this to be fixed...

I've had 4 balls in the launcher.

Granted, it was partially something like 2 balls already there unlaunched, PLUS another two balls recovered via "Call attendant". Or maybe all 4 came via call attendant - it was a very sad game.

If you get to three ball "multiball" like this, it's possible to get a bunch of them stuck in the Buzz lock which makes for a sadder and sadder machine as every time a ball is locked or held, it walks through the ball search process 5 or 6 times before freeing a ball.

Sinistar · Nov 2, 2012

I can verify this bug on PS3 version, as well as reports of flippers going dead .

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