Bally Star Trek Software Rewrite - The Journey

[myPinballs]

I'm starting work on a new software rewrite using the boardset that i developed for early Bally & Stern games (https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/mypinballs-custom-pinball-controller-for-ballystern-games). I will be posting my progress on the rewrite here and on the pinside thread (https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/bally-star-trek-software-rewrite-the-journey) as i build up the new game rules, new sounds/speech etc for my Bally Star Trek.

The idea is to recreate the original rules with new sounds, speech and music and then add some more features such as multiball, jackpots, combos, hurry ups, modes etc I'll be using some re-created sound effects from the squawk & talk sound board era as well as some movie stuff.

First things first is to find a game to use as the basis for the development. Here is the game i've located:



Next up is to get a new brain for it, and i'm in the process of making the first boards for batch 2 of my controller so i'll be using one of those for this to.

First job when the game arrives is to fit a new power cable, line filter and varistor, plus an overhaul of the power transformer assembly and some filtering for the power creation

 

[stoptap]

Add a spinner to the game Jim.

 

[J.C.Rox]

 

[myPinballs]

What is that?

 

[Courtney Blush]

Oh wow it was a cheesy 80's song that we loved at school

 

[stoptap]

Oh wow it was a cheesy 80's song that we loved at school

Bill Drummond who later had major success as the much cooler KLF.

 

[stevebm1]

im looking forward to this,and I agree a spinner could easily be added at the entrance to the skill shot which brings the ball back into the shooter lane

 

[myPinballs]

im looking forward to this,and I agree a spinner could easily be added at the entrance to the skill shot which brings the ball back into the shooter lane

I will look at this, pretty easy to add i think

Also looking at having memory drop targets on the left hand side as well as moving drop target sequences (like on hobbit) perhaps

 

[kevlar]

Great...now that freakin tune is stuck in my head...thanks JC . Have you really never heard that Jim?

 

[myPinballs]

Great...now that freakin tune is stuck in my head...thanks JC . Have you really never heard that Jim?

Yes of course I have heard of it, I was making a comment meaning 'why are we bringing that up?' Guess that got lost in translation

And no that won't be being used for music in this rewrite

 

[J.C.Rox]

Sorry Jim I was a bit pisched!!

 

[myPinballs]

OK, so the donor game arrived last night around 6pm

Pics of me unpacking it. Typical that it starts raining as soon as a pin gets delivered on a pallet! Quickly moved in side and all fine

 

[myPinballs]

Today, i've fitted a new line filter, varistor and power cable & plug. Just not worth messing about with these old parts. Replace and upgrade the 240vac stuff for peace of mind. All parts used are the ones i sell and supply to everyone. They are universal line filters. Interestingly they aligned with the cabinet holes from the original even though the new part was originally chosen for WPC/Stern games.

 

[myPinballs]

And i replaced the Ground braid strap that runs from the cabinet to the backbox

Old



New

 

[myPinballs]

And i cleaned out the backbox, cabinet and fitted all new pcb stand offs and screws

 

[Deleted member 181]

So awesome Jim..
Dude you should offer commissions
I for one would sell a ball bag to have a custom made pin on this kind of level based on a dream theme " the blues brothers " in my case.
Good luck with the project sounds epic

 

[stevebm1]

coming along nicely,and it's only been a day hasn't it?

 

[BigIan]

You have done more to it in the 1 day you have had it than I did in the 5 or 6 years I had it.

Well it got a quick clean, new bumper tops and some drop targets if I remember correctly.
Keen to see how this turns out..

 

[myPinballs]

Cleaned the insert panel today along with the display loom and fitted new 7 segments displays for scoring

Before



After

 

[myPinballs]

Taking a look a the transformer and rectifier assembly. I have a few units spare and decided to use this one from my old HV game.


I wanted to upgrade the power outputs on it and may possibly use a 48vdc switched supply for coils later, but am starting with this to see how good i can get it.

I found a new rectifier board i got from some where awhile back and had a look at it. Seems pretty good with Leds for voltages but whoever made it didn't upgrade the rectifiers, so its still as original. First job is to remove those pidly ones and get some big 35A 200v era in there. I could have bought a board from great plains with this already done but i do like the leds for voltages on it.



Also bought some new connectors to re-pin all the plugs

 

[myPinballs]

Rectifier and transformer update. I completed the upgrades i was on about before, double checked my working and powered on



All good. Nice to see those test leds light up. I also have an idea to add a filter cap to the coil voltage for smoothing, like on WPC and Stern Sam games. New Williams spec flipper mechs should be here soon to.

 

[myPinballs]

Re-pinned the cabinet power connector and also the playfield power connector.



No control board in yet, but i wanted to test the playfield and cabinet GI power anyway. Funny how nice it is to see the GI spring to life even without anything else

 

[myPinballs]

Busy couple of days moving the project forward

Serviced and fitted a power driver board (for +5v and +190v use only) and installed the backbox GI





Fitted my new controller board and driver board set. New rev3 sound controller still to fit on controller board



First power on and test of displays along with lamp tests (after changing to led bulbs)



Replacements of all old standup targets with New WMS spec ones. Also fixed some more playfield GI issues



Replacement of the old flipper assemblies with WPC spec one and Stern PWM coils



How its looking now:

View this content on Instagram

View this content on Instagram

Now to write some new code and get a basic game going Star Trek style. Also need to test out my new PWM flipper code and order some more high brightness leds

 

[stoptap]

Are you going to sort the cupped inserts out Jim ?
It's one of the things that does my noggin in with older games. I simply have to flatten them. Saying that one of those new fangled playfield protectors would do the job without all the PITA of removing the inserts.

 

[Davey D]

Looks good Jim

I can see where all this is going.... first start off with software rewrites.... then hardware swaps/ mods.... finally leading to full original design Mypinballs branded games

 

[stevebm1]

I see someone has just listed a star trek on ebay for a grand this afternoon,perhaps they are aware of your software rewrite

 

[Biff]

looking good, wish i had the know how to do this.

 

[myPinballs]

Couple of days spent hashing out some game code based on the original rules. Have something that compiles now, so can start to test it out. Also waiting for some more LEDs to arrive along with some lamp holder faults to sort out and need to get some new stern low power flipper switches installed to

 

[myPinballs]

I see someone has just listed a star trek on ebay for a grand this afternoon,perhaps they are aware of your software rewrite

Interesting looking playfield here as the playfield insert colours are different to the one i have (and others that i've seen inc the repro playfields)

Notice the white inserts for the ship's BALLY letters and 3X. Mine are all yellow like the 10K, 25K and 50K above

 

[stevebm1]

Interesting looking playfield here as the playfield insert colours are different to the one i have (and others that i've seen inc the repro playfields)

Notice the white inserts for the ship's BALLY letters and 3X. Mine are all yellow like the 10K, 25K and 50K above

View attachment 39510

the ones on mine are white,although I think mine is one of the later ones serial number 13,000 and something