Bug Compilation

[Mike Reitmeyer]

To simplify the bugs listed, I combined them all into this post. This makes it easier for me to track and post which ones are fixed. I also put the link to the original post on each bug. If I missed anything feel free to comment so I can add them. I'll add the terms FIXED, CNR, Looking Into (CNR = Could Not Reproduce) in front of the ones when thier status changes. Some of these are older and may have been fixed since. I'll also put a date next to FIXED or CNR, which is the date in which I tested my current build. This isn't necessarily the current released build, or even the next build to release. The bug would be fixed in a build submitted after the date I marked it fixed. If you are no longer seeing any of these issues let me know and I'll mark it fixed.

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CNR
(360) starting the game with two balls + score for nothing
If you try to shoot the ball as soon as possible after starting the game, you will eventually get points for nothing + you will be able to play with two balls until the first ball drains. Very strange! Works on Black Hole too, just without the double ball.
http://digitalpinballfans.com/showthread.php/480-starting-the-game-with-two-balls-score-for-nothing

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Looking into
(PS3) Plunger
I played around a bit with the plunger last night. If you pull it only a tiny bit, the ball will be shot straight to the top. Doesn't make sense
http://digitalpinballfans.com/showthread.php/502-Plunger

Plunger strength inconsistent
This may be on other platforms as well, but I can't say for sure.
Trying to make the skill shot. Sometimes the same minimal amount of pullback on the plunger results in a full power launch. Other times, it is possible to have the expected result of not making it up the lane. My guess is that full power is much more than needed and that the range could be narrowed so that there is a more significant difference between the top and the bottom of the scale.
http://digitalpinballfans.com/showthread.php/58-Plunger-strength-inconsistent

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Not an easy fix.
Ball clips into shooting star
After activating multiball a ball clipped into a shooting star that was already occupied, it didn't end well. This is the Mac version of the game, but it wouldn't surprise me if it could happen on any platform. I was lucky enough to be recording the gameplay at the time
http://digitalpinballfans.com/showthread.php/534-Ball-clips-into-shooting-star

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CNR
Left Harem loop not registering at start
About 75% of the time, at the start of a ball, when I hit the left Harem loop before I do anything else, the game doesn't register it. The Harem light IS burning and sometimes the letter is awarded, but most of the time it isn't.
The loop is registering fine during the rest of the game, it's just after a plunger launch when it's iffy.
http://digitalpinballfans.com/showthread.php/570-Left-Harem-loop-not-registering-at-start
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FIXED (months ago) - right flipper autoplunges
Can't use Plunger during Defeat the Genie mode.
Tried out the game on iPhone, its a bit hard to aim the left and right loops but eventually I got to the Defeat the Genie mode.
The aim of this mode is you get unlimited balls, and keep hitting the yellow indicators. with one ball on the playing field, I could not find the option to put more balls in.
anyone else having this problem?
http://digitalpinballfans.com/showthread.php/567-Can-t-use-Plunger-during-Defeat-the-Genie-mode

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Looking into
Main music cutting out after you pause the game
Playing last night and I noticed that the main music from the game cut out after I paused the game (final genie battle) and started playing again. It was real strange because all of the voices were working, but there wasn't any music from the roms playing - Pinball Arcade Acappella anyone ?
http://digitalpinballfans.com/showthread.php/701-Main-music-cutting-out-after-you-pause-the-game

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Fixed 9/21/12
Spiral Ramp
On TOTAN when you shoot a weak shot up the spiral ramp that doesn't make it all the way around, the ball seems to rock back and forth three or four times before falling through the hole towards the bottom of the spiral ramp. After a weak shot, the ball should fall through the hole immediately or after one pass when the ball returns to it. This happens on both Android and Xbox 360, so I'm going to assume the bug is present on all platforms and devices.
http://digitalpinballfans.com/showthread.php/585-Spiral-Ramp

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FIXED - this appears fixed now
Artwork on the left side of the backbox is backwards
The Williams logo is backwards.
http://digitalpinballfans.com/showt...-on-the-left-side-of-the-backbox-is-backwards

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Looking into
(PS3) The pinball is going through the right flipper!
(As first posted to TPA Facebook Page):
In TOTAN I keep getting a bug where the ball slides through the right flipper and sinks my ball. It's usually moving fast when it happens.
When it first happened I figured it was a fluke, but it then happened again during the same game.
It's really annoying when you have a good score going to lose a ball to the game's fault!
http://digitalpinballfans.com/showt...he-pinball-is-going-through-the-right-flipper!

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Looking into
Camel Race Wizard Goal Not Awarded
Earned 1st place on the Great Camel Race, hit the ramp shot, waited for the "Goal 1 Complete" message and.......nothing. Pretty irritating since it's the last Wizard Goal I need on this table...
http://digitalpinballfans.com/showthread.php/1309-Camel-Race-Wizard-Goal-Not-Awarded
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Looking into
(Vita) Camera stuck on the "skill shot view" during rescue
So, I finally managed to get to the princess rescue mode on my Vita, and the camera ended up permanently stuck on the view of the skill shot.
http://digitalpinballfans.com/showt...n-the-quot-skill-shot-view-quot-during-rescue

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Looking into
Very Hard Shots Up Center Ramp Exit Back Wall of Playfield
Definitely a very minor issue, but I was in the Genie Battle portion of rescuing the princess and shot a ball at a moderate speed toward the ramp and hit it from below with a second faster ball from the other flipper, which caused the first ball to rocket up the ramp and out the back of the playfield where the ramp curves to the right. A new ball was put in the plunger. (I had to plunge it myself, but that is normal behavior for Genie Battle.)
http://digitalpinballfans.com/showt...ts-Up-Center-Ramp-Exit-Back-Wall-of-Playfield

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CNR - The lamp between the flippers ia flasher that fires during the final battle.
(IOS) Extra Ball bulb doesnt light!!
It is me or since the two last updates, the bulb between the flippers doesn't light when I have the extra ball!!!
http://digitalpinballfans.com/showthread.php/1652-Extra-Ball-bulb-doesnt-light!!

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Looking into
(PS3) TotAN - camera problem
This has happened the last 2 times I've reached the genie battle. As the unlimited multi-ball starts the camera zooms in and focuses on genie above right ramp. I can't see flippers, slingshots or in/out lanes. I've tried changing the camera angle (circle) & the camera lock (square) but both do nothing. As I say, this has only just started to happen, it was fine the first few times I battled the genie. As its unlimited balls, I keep flipping & plunging, which does work as I've freed the lovely princess, but it would be nice to think i did it through skill rather than finger flickin' quickness & luck. Thx for readin my moan
http://digitalpinballfans.com/showthread.php/1760-TotAN-camera-problem

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Looking into
After Rescue the princess ...the dmd says Player 1 standby...
so pissed with this, thats the second time this has happened to me. I just had over 90 million on my first ball and finished the rescue the princess for the second time in same game and this happens. After the battle was over the dmd states player 1 stand by , then after a few seconds the controller vibrates and all switches on the table move ( to try to loosen the ball ) but nothing happens. I called the attendent but it stats attendent cancelled because the ball is not stuck. It seems all the balls are gone, and cannot continue the game. They really need to get these bugs fixed before releasing more tables. This is frustrating.
http://digitalpinballfans.com/showt...ue-the-princess-the-dmd-says-Player-1-standby

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(XBLA) Misc

Looking into
Plunged a ball, let it drain straight down the middle, "ball locked" animation played on dot matrix display, accompanied by "ball locked" sound sample, before end of ball bonus was calculated.

Looking into
Magnet wobbling issue, expecially on multiball lock.

Looking into
There are also a lot of bugs around the ball lock itself. Namely you get a lot of different false positives on the DMD/sounds saying balls are locked when they aren't.

FIXED 9/18/12 - Fixed something similar in Gofers, I think it fixes it for every table.
You can also trick the DMD by hammering through the buttons to end the current game, immediately start a new one, and plunge the first ball. Sometimes it will keep playing the table attract/intro animation and sound even after you have begun to play the ball. At one point I was even able to get two balls into play. When the first one drained the flippers went dead and the second one made its way to the bottom as well.

Looking into
I had a couple of weird ones on TOTAN tonight, ball actually got stuck in 2 places by the genie, one ON the magnet and one just under the Genie, never saw that one happen before. I couldn't tilt it out of the ball drop magnet. It also doesn't register a skillshot if you launch it too quickly.

Looking into
and where's the sound when the ball falls out of the big genie earring before starting the fireball? It's gone!

Looking into
ball got stuck on the genie magnet a few times, so i had to call the attendant, which set the ball loose

Looking into
Spelling HAREM didn't start multiball for me. It gave me the standard goal I was shooting for, but multiball didn't start. I even shot an extra ball around the harem loop to make sure, it just started spelling at "H" again.

http://digitalpinballfans.com/showthread.php/240-TotAN-Bug-Round-up-XBLA-edition

 

[Sean DonCarlos]

Wow...this could be a massive undertaking if done for each table.

It's not much help, but in the interest of whittling down the list, I believe the "Extra ball bulb doesn't light" was a case of the user looking at the wrong insert and can be discarded. My own bug about very hard center ramp shots exiting the back of the machine probably can wait for a slow news day, as it's extremely rare, hard to reproduce, and easily recoverable when it does happen.

The only two issues on this list that I can confirm are that the ball rocks back and forth several times before falling through the hole in the ramp. The real table does not do this; at most the ball turns around once before falling in. But in TPA, it's a rare game where it doesn't happen at least once. The other issue is that the plunger strength is considerably nonlinear with respect to the distance pulled.

I have seen the "Player 1 Standby" display after completing a Genie Battle, but it was very brief and normal play resumed immediately thereafter.

 

[Mike Reitmeyer]

Going to try to do a list for each table to make it easier for me to find all the bugs. As I go through these I'm finding some of these may have already been fixed. Mostly this is for myself, but I figure I'll also update with stuff that gets fixed so you can all see what's fixed.

The ball rocking back and forth isn't an easy fix. It's really handled in a special case using the balls speed to drop the ball. When its less than a certain speed it drops. If we increase that value, it might drop when in reality it would have made it.

The center ramp shot I have a "ball cannon" that allows me to fire balls at stuff to see if there are collision issues, and so far I couldn't reproduce it. Its probably a combination of a specific angle and speed that does it.

 

[Sean DonCarlos]

The ball rocking back and forth isn't an easy fix. It's really handled in a special case using the balls speed to drop the ball. When its less than a certain speed it drops. If we increase that value, it might drop when in reality it would have made it.

Hmmm...just thinking out loud here, but since the only time the ball ever approaches the hole from the left is on a "failed" ramp shot, and since if the ramp shot fails we know the ball eventually will fall through the hole, and since you already have special-case code running...would it be possible to program it to do something like "if the ball approaches this hole from the right, check its speed and make it fall down the hole if its speed is below some threshold, but if the ball approaches this hole from the left, force it down the hole regardless of its speed"?

 

[Mike Reitmeyer]

Hmmm...just thinking out loud here, but since the only time the ball ever approaches the hole from the left is on a "failed" ramp shot, and since if the ramp shot fails we know the ball eventually will fall through the hole, and since you already have special-case code running...would it be possible to program it to do something like "if the ball approaches this hole from the right, check its speed and make it fall down the hole if its speed is below some threshold, but if the ball approaches this hole from the left, force it down the hole regardless of its speed"?

Thought about that. It may work.

Just tried it and it seems to work properly. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[laughing_lunatic]

Wow...this could be a massive undertaking if done for each table.

Indeed. Pin Wiz once said that the interaction here with the Devs was unprecedented.

Now I believe it.

TOP effort Mike, cheers !

 

[spoonman]

It's good to see these are being worked on, but does this mean you are only concentrating on one table at a time, starting with TOTAN and then moving to the other tables?
I actually believe TOTAN to have the least amount of bugs out of all of the current tables. (At least on the PS3).

Monster Bash ([1]Frankenstein Bash bug)
Gorgar ([1]missing voices, [2]all players share goals),
Medieval Madness ([1] Flipper gap geometry bug),
TOM/RBION ([1]Slowdown @ 1080p bug) should take precedent IMO.

Thanks

 

[PiN WiZ]

Mike, thanks for doing this. If you do this for each table, I'll make sure to post all bugs that I find in their respective table thread. This is actually motivating me to do even more indepth testing than I have been doing, which is quite a bit if you've seen my bugs list I've posted for Ryan in the Android forum. I want to do my part in helping to make The Pinball Arcade "the" definitive licensed pinball simulator.

 

[Gord Lacey]

I deleted a few off-topic posts. Please keep this to a discussion of the material in Mike's original post.

 

[Sean DonCarlos]

Just tried it and it seems to work properly. Thanks for the suggestion.

You're welcome! Glad I could be of service.

 

[Mike Reitmeyer]

I was compiling these lists when I have free time in between tasks. I'm not fixing them (or creating the lists) in any particular order. Usually I like to fix the issues that are easiest and least risky, then work on the ones that require more time when I have free time for it.

 

[Jeff Strong]

Hmmm...just thinking out loud here, but since the only time the ball ever approaches the hole from the left is on a "failed" ramp shot, and since if the ramp shot fails we know the ball eventually will fall through the hole, and since you already have special-case code running...would it be possible to program it to do something like "if the ball approaches this hole from the right, check its speed and make it fall down the hole if its speed is below some threshold, but if the ball approaches this hole from the left, force it down the hole regardless of its speed"?

Thought about that. It may work.

Just tried it and it seems to work properly. Thanks for the suggestion.

Just noticed this is now implemented on the latest PS3 version. Nice work.

Also, check out this new bug I found:
http://digitalpinballfans.com/showthread.php/2451-Center-Lock-not-working

 

[Decius]

iPad 2:
Twice now I've gotten a specific stuck ball. Both times it's been shooting the right loop with the extra ball and lock lit; I'm not sure if it was the first or second lock. Tiger loop may or may not have been lit, but I think it was both times. The ball enters the lock but does not come out; the machine enters ball search mode ineffectively and the call attendant action claims that it isn't stuck.

 

[ktronis]

iPad 2:
Twice now I've gotten a specific stuck ball. Both times it's been shooting the right loop with the extra ball and lock lit; I'm not sure if it was the first or second lock. Tiger loop may or may not have been lit, but I think it was both times. The ball enters the lock but does not come out; the machine enters ball search mode ineffectively and the call attendant action claims that it isn't stuck.

I am playing TOTAN and something similar has happened twice now. Multiball is ready, both balls locked but I haven't activated Multiball yet (hasn't hit the genie). Ball goes up right loop but not hard enough to go all the way around to make a tiger loop. Ball pauses at top and falls into the lock chamber. It gets stuck, call attendant says ball not stuck, and the machine's own attempts to free the ball don't do anything. I wind up having to end the game. Very frustrating.

Edit to add: playing on an iPad2

 

[DJI]

I'll help you.....I'm DJI....and currently TOTAN GRAND CHAMPION 21,898,280.....As well as holding all positions in Sultans Court........" I'LL HELP ANYONE, JUST ASK"

 

[DJI]

 

[Funkbox]

It's not *technically* a bug, but someone REALLY needs to adjust the plunger on this game. It's ridiculous. Compare it to any of the others. Just a fraction of a difference seems to make the ball launch exponentially harder.Pulling back just a tiny bit still shoots it to the last hole. Maddening!

 

[mpad]

Confirmed!

 

[netizen]

Any chance making the zoom at the launch of TOTAN disabled by event camera, so you do not have to stare at the skill shot every game? The same thing could be done to BOP, please.

Secondly, on plunge, the camera does a weird quick change to camera 1 then back to the view the player has selected. This causes a motion like a zoom in/out effect, or up/down motion. This same issue is also present on HRC, at the rollover/lock above the pop bumpers, and like TOTAN is not related to the event Camera setting, not the camera view being locked , or any other camera setting other than being not set to view 1.

 

[shaderbytes]

I just encountered a bug on the steam dx 11 version :

I had two balls locked already , when I plunged the woman said strike the genie for multiball but I shot the ball into the ball lock again and it just got stuck there. The table was in limbo .. camels running on the dmd , lights flashing and no amount of nudging moved the ball. I tried calling the attendant and it just reports that the ball is not stuck.

hth