Bug High-score doesn't display correctly on HSTD when rolled over

When you roll the score on the LCD over it will only display 9,999,999 on the local HSTD display but will display the actual score when showing the hof award, or equivalent in Pro mode, screen before exiting to start menu.

local HSTD with rolled over hi score showing in LCD display

final hof, equivalent, screen showing correct score

That is an issue carried over from the real Pin•Bot. For whatever reason, the table's high score lists stop at 10 million, despite the fact the table itself can track scores up to 100 million.

I understand if the actual pinbot ROM would limit the number of digits, but shouldn't TPAs local hi-score lists track the actual score correctly?

If TPA can show the real score in one place, why not list it on the local hi-score list to date. The machine doesn't show 9,999,999 for first place. it simply shows a dropped digit.

You'd have to PM Mike then, he's the one who gave us the above explanation when this issue was pointed out in the beta.

netizen said:

I understand if the actual pinbot ROM would limit the number of digits, but shouldn't TPAs local hi-score lists track the actual score correctly?

If TPA can show the real score in one place, why not list it on the local hi-score list to date. The machine doesn't show 9,999,999 for first place. it simply shows a dropped digit.

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When you go into a table, the high scores are copied from the save file into the emulator. Some tables if you hold down the flippers it'll show the status of different game aspects. Most tables will show the high scores. We do this method so the correct scores show in the high scores in the dmd/plasma display.

If you try to put a score over 10 million into the emulator it would fail. We trigger high score entry off the actual tables end of game sequence. We could possibly work around that by just doing high scores ourselves and ignoring whats in the rom, but then there would be complaints that we're not being true to the table.

So how is this handled on the real machine?

I honestly can't see the ROM cutting scores for the HSTD off at 9,999,999 simply because the score display rolled over. When I was playing, the ROM memory kept the 10M + score live and in 1st place with the proper score, minus the 10 millions digit, showing in the tables attract mode cycle, in the proper high score position; it didn't lose HSTD position due to losing the 10 Millions digit. Not until I exited and the game was loaded with the saved data instead of the volatile ROM memory, of the running state, did the HSTD list get populated with the reduced score value.

It seems that it is in the translation to the local HSTD that it is restricted in specific digits, as the leaderboards are not populated with scores of 9,999,999.

netizen said:

So how is this handled on the real machine?

I honestly can't see the ROM cutting scores for the HSTD off at 9,999,999 simply because the score display rolled over. When I was playing, the ROM memory kept the 10M + score live and in 1st place with the proper score, minus the 10 millions digit, showing in the tables attract mode cycle, in the proper high score position; it didn't lose HSTD position due to losing the 10 Millions digit. Not until I exited and the game was loaded with the saved data instead of the volatile ROM memory, of the running state, did the HSTD list get populated with the reduced score value.

It seems that it is in the translation to the local HSTD that it is restricted in specific digits, as the leaderboards are not populated with scores of 9,999,999.

Click to expand...

I'll talk to our Steve (emulation programmer) but we extract the high scores directly from the ROM memory the high score data. The value that returns to use is 9,999,999

on my 7 digit displays once you rollover the score when it shows high scores 9,999,999 is what you see.

Maybe this is one of those changes that Bobby King mentioned in the Kickstarter video?

Yeah on all machines of that era the game simply cannot track that 8th digit. it only tracks that you were able to roll it, and gives you the flashing 7'th digit. and when you enter the high score it's 9,999,999 in game.

TPA checks for the rollover itself, so it know how much you really got.

If Williams properly play tested Pin Bot before it was finalized we would not be in this predicament today with the local leader boards for TPA. It's also hard to believe anyone would release a Pinball Machine that was capable of using up half the maximum score that could be displayed in just 2 shots!

The Sun Rollover can be built up to a maximum of 4 million and collected in a single shot.
The Skill Shot can also be built up to deliver a maximum 1 million point Skill Shot, it resets back to 25k if the 1 million Skill Shot is collected.

That's 5,000,000 points out of a possible 9,999,999 that can be displayed in just 2 shots.

But yeah for those of you that don't know and who are thinking long term, such as the online features being taken down many years from now...
Williams Pinball Classics (PAL) aka Pinball Hall of Fame The Williams Collection (NTSC) for XBOX360 contains a version of Pin Bot where the local leader boards do record scores over 9,999,999. As luck would have it I can show you.

Williams Pinball Classics XBOX360:


PS. This game is also available for PS3 but unknown to me if that version of Pin Bot displays scores over 9,999,999 locally.

EDIT:
At the time of posting Williams Pinball Classics is available to buy in the UK on XBOX360 Marketplace.
Link: http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-GB/Product/Williams-Pinball-Classics/66acd000-77fe-1000-9115-d802534a07d1

Must have been the same on the PS3. I am almost certain that all scores were displayed correctly.

However, I really can't recommend the old Williams collection to anyone. TPA is so much better! Unless you want to play Sorcerer or Jive Time there is no reason to turn back.

MIK said:

If Williams properly play tested Pin Bot before it was finalized we would not be in this predicament today with the local leader boards for TPA. It's also hard to believe anyone would release a Pinball Machine that was capable of using up half the maximum score that could be displayed in just 2 shots!

The Sun Rollover can be built up to a maximum of 4 million and collected in a single shot.
The Skill Shot can also be built up to deliver a maximum 1 million point Skill Shot, it resets back to 25k if the 1 million Skill Shot is collected.

That's 5,000,000 points out of a possible 9,999,999 that can be displayed in just 2 shots.

Click to expand...

Wouldn't you need to perform more than just two shots to get to that point to take those two shots?

yespage said:

Wouldn't you need to perform more than just two shots to get to that point to take those two shots?

Click to expand...

The amount of crap people have to endure just to sign-up to join here and we get posts like this...

The discussion in this topic is about clocking the maximum score for Pin Bot. However many shots it might take to do just that, two shots with-in that process can wipe out half the scoreboard if the conditions are right and the player has the skill to collect them.

And if your worried about the lack of play testing by Williams...
Williams could argue that Pin Bot was aimed at passing casual players. On free play though or someone willing to put enough money into the machine and are capable of clocking Pin Bot, the scoring system was not really fit for purpose. We will have to resort to using pen and paper to keep tabs of our over clocked scores if playing offline with TPA in the future.