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Complete Revenge from Mars - The Shop Log

I've just picked my bits up from the powder coated this morning so will set to putting it together this weekend. Can't wait!

I fitted all the T-molding last night and by the end I had 990mm remaining.
If you wanted to save a few quid you could always buy it in feet instead of metres

Whilst I was fitting t moulding I replaced the short strip of black t moulding that the glass slides over on the front top edge. I had a metre or so left over from when I did one of my arcade cabs
 
Whilst waiting for the bits to come back from the powder coaters i removed the old leg mounting plates as the threads were knackered. No doubt from all the years of undoing them with all that weight pressing down on to them.

I went for the Heavy Duty type which are much better. There are around 5 full threads on the HD racket vs 2 full threads on the normal version

i.imgur.com_cZGphoF.jpg


There was loads of dust, and debris in the bottom so whilst i was in there i removed the driver board, and then vacuumed the cabinet out. I gave the driverboard a cleanup with an old toothbrush, and air duster

i.imgur.com_ORVBksv.jpg_c4ca4238a0b923820dcc509a6f75849b.jpg

Once i got a moment i was straight in to putting the machine back together again. The new red detailing really gives it a fresh new look

i.imgur.com_8fxrHr7.jpg_c4ca4238a0b923820dcc509a6f75849b.jpg


i.imgur.com_p7ZoxtG.jpg

Pleased with progress so far a had an hour or so playing on it.

Next job is to sort out the play field, plastics, and electronics

For those that havent seen a pinball2000 machine there is a swish self diagnostics system on it which informs you of any problems.

i.imgur.com_Wnqd04G.jpg


The Fuse F103 error im presuming is a poor contact as that fault is intermittent. A few of the bulbs are LED as fitted by the previous owner, and they also flag up errors even when working
 
Davey D said:
i.imgur.com_jG65pkd.jpg
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Nice work, very interesting reading this shop log as the P2K system is something else.

And thanks for reminding me it's been more than 15 years since I worked in Maplins and I still haven't got a case for my PG012 multimeter (they were sold separately back then). I had a look on maplin.co.uk today and discovered that the WG020 with more functions (10A current, impedance, duty cycle, etc) is on special for £20 with free delivery and it comes with the rubber case!
 
They seem to have that one on offer from time to time as it's the same one I grabbed a few months back.

Nice work so far Dave. Getting the side rails off can be a real pain. In the end I removed mine by using a few paint scrapers and slowly working them between the cabinet and the rail. Thankfully they came off straight.
 
My main worry was that i didnt want to gouge the side of the cabinet at all whilst trying to remove the side rails. Are they all generally stuck on like this? Ive seen a few other models that have a few coach bolts along them, so presumed they were just bolted on
 
Mine were held on with some kind of double sided tape too. Not as thin as regular sticking tape and seemed to be made from some kind of foam. It was a real pain to get off and I ended up sanding a fair bit of it off when I was sanding the cabinet back. So far as i'm aware they are all fitted that way. The bolts are only there to offer further support.
 
The coach-bolts are used to connect the side rails to the ground braid inside the cabinet. When I used to unpack new Williams/Bally games, I'd loosen the bolts so that the protective white plastic coating on the rails (left on at the factory) would pull off around the bolt head rather than leaving a tiny scrap behind under the head.

Thinking now, I suppose the factory really should've removed the coating - left on, it probably insulated the side rails, so that they weren't grounded.

Older games, with the larger rails surrounding the flipper buttons, had them secured with small nails.
 
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Older Bally rails are bolted and nailed. I recently PAT tested my VECTOR and started by clipping the ground test cable to a side-rail, but it failed on the ground tests. The resistance was 1.1 Ohms with a fail maximum of 1 Ohm. I repositioned the test cable onto the earth braid inside the cabinet and it then passed the tests. Although the earthing to the side rail would still save your life this shows you need to really make sure all those interconnects between bolts, jumpers, braid and hardware and clean and sound.

(I discovered my Dad actually bought his own PAT tester - I know he's qualified to use one as he volunteers for Oxfam to test electricals before they're sold in the shops, but didn't know he got his own off eBay!)
 
Last night i finally got round to updating the firmware from 1.1 up to version 1.5 which is the last version to change any game rules, and it is easier to find than 1.6

Just needs a computer with a serial port, and a Null modem cable ( thanks for the loan @Wiredworm ) simple as powering on the Pin, connect the cable, and run the software. 20mins later, and its all done :clap:

i.imgur.com_0s7c3BW.jpg

Next up its all about the playfield. I need to get it pulled out, make a list of parts, and get them ordered
 
Davey D said:
Just needs a computer with a serial port
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Getting harder to find these days! My sons new PC has 4 x USB 2.0 and 4 x USB 3.0 on the back but long gone are the serial, printer, keyboard and mouse ports. Inside there's no PATA/IDE any more, just SATA for the disk drives.

Is 1.6 the last version for RFM, and why is it hard to find?

Enjoying this thread; looking forward to the playfield overhaul. Keep up the great work!
 
From what i've read it seems that 1.6 was only officially available on a "Pub Card" which was a pci card that you fit in the computer, power it on, and then it updates the prism card in your computer automatically. Once done you power it off, and remove the Pub card.

Ive seen them come up for sale a few time around the £50 mark, but once youve used it, it becomes redundant unless you can sell it to someone out there wants to update their RFM.

For 1.6 to be out there on the internet someone must have ripped tha data from somewhere. I followed a few links on the internet, but most were old outdated links to sites that dont exist any more.

1.5 was the last update available intended to be updated via serial cable, and computer.
 
I never got 1.6 to work... I had the files that supposedly allowed me to update them via the PC, cant remember why, however failed every time....

I have noticed some people mention 1.8 and indeed it's mentioned over on pinside...

"These files are in the nucore2.0 update"

Anyone had them and extracted them at all???
 
Yeah ive read about a version 1.8... but strangely never a 1.7... i always just presumed it was just a Nucore thing. Although i had read about 1.8 having extra network tournament features?
 
Reading the revision notes it looks to me as though 1.5 and 1.6 don't contain anything that directly improves gameplay in RFM. Last fix for gameplay related items was 1.4:

Revenge From Mars - Revision History

Version: 1.60 - SEP 22 2003
(Changes From 1.50)
Incorporate the final version of XINA (1.19) which fixes the problem
where booting the system with the power driver board disconnected
can cause factory reset to occur due to the mismatch of the last
country dipswitch setting in CMOS vs. the country setting for
an open power driver board cable.

Version 1.50 - July 31, 2000
(Changes From 1.40)

Updated to latest operating system.
Enhanced coin/bill handling and credit system.

Version 1.40 - January 31, 2000
(Changes From V1.30)

Fixed a bug in Martian Bowling that sometimes caused the game to reset.
The Bonus Wave total page now always runs, even if the Jet Exit Post is disabled.
Fixed a bug in Martian Happy Hour which caused some of the Martian animations not to appear.​

It seems to me that as long as you don't switch on with the power driver board disconnected then you don't need 1.6. And if you don't use the coin mechs then you don't need 1.5. And if you don't have any issues with 1.4 then no need to "update to latest operating system" in 1.5 either.

Or does the fact that I don't own a RFM mean I should just shut the **** up? ;)
 
Mine was as version 1.2, so i just went with the latest i could easily find.

Ive had a read up on here: http://mypinballs.com and im quite interested in trying to connect to their server if i can pick up the right network card for peanuts. I dont understand why they say you need a certain router running a certain firmware? Surely if i just get my RFM on my home network, enter the correct external IP for the tournament server, then put my RFM IP address in my routers DMZ then it should be able to connect through no problem? At most it would need a few port forwarding rules
 
I think I have a copy of some nucore stuff which surfaced on t'internet a year or so ago.

No clue what it is but I grabbed it as it looked like it might be hard to get hold of. On closer inspection it's an installation ISO file. I'll get VirtualBox fired up and have a look what it is and report back later.
 
Davey D said:
Mine was as version 1.2, so i just went with the latest i could easily find.

Ive had a read up on here: http://mypinballs.com and im quite interested in trying to connect to their server if i can pick up the right network card for peanuts. I dont understand why they say you need a certain router running a certain firmware? Surely if i just get my RFM on my home network, enter the correct external IP for the tournament server, then put my RFM IP address in my routers DMZ then it should be able to connect through no problem? At most it would need a few port forwarding rules
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The service was shut down a few years ago.
 
It looks like the files i've got are for Pinbox which is a hacked/modified version of Nucore.

This guy demonstrates it running in VirtualBox.

 
Davey D said:
Yeah ive read about a version 1.8... but strangely never a 1.7... i always just presumed it was just a Nucore thing. Although i had read about 1.8 having extra network tournament features?
Click to expand...

NO, it most definitely was NOT a nucore thing..................

see here - http://mypinballs.com/tournament
 
Davey D said:
Mine was as version 1.2, so i just went with the latest i could easily find.

Ive had a read up on here: http://mypinballs.com and im quite interested in trying to connect to their server if i can pick up the right network card for peanuts. I dont understand why they say you need a certain router running a certain firmware? Surely if i just get my RFM on my home network, enter the correct external IP for the tournament server, then put my RFM IP address in my routers DMZ then it should be able to connect through no problem? At most it would need a few port forwarding rules
Click to expand...

Because the original tournament software present in pin2k was not designed for the internet so the ttl was not set correctly. The custom router i offered fixed that and also allowed you to connect to your existing broadband setup easily - 5 minute job instead of messing with dmz's, firewalls, port forwarding etc (remember most people are not that tech savvy and don't want to change settings in their internet configs). Also i offered a solution that would work for all people, not just one particular broadband supplier or config.
 
kevlar said:
Well done Jim, would have been great to be part of that.
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I have thought about resurrecting the service for people, but it would depend on interest. the original service cost me to keep it going, so it would be a subscription type deal for a low monthly amount. Most likely around a few pounds. If there is a lot of interest then i will create a new thread to discuss it on.
 
kevlar said:
I thought 1.8 and its online tournament system was developed by @myPinballs http://mypinballs.com/tournament/ . Not sure if a nucore was needed?
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Some info:

Rfm game code v1.8 added scrolling tournament scoring that is all. It was written by an ex williams employee

the tournament system i wrote was designed to work with the original software already inside the pin2k system, not nucore and is 100% original work

the nucore team approached me to help them 'get' nucore to work with a tournament system, after my system was already running and linking original games.
 
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myPinballs said:
but it would depend on interest.
Click to expand...

It's a no brainer!

myPinballs said:
the original service cost me to keep it going, so it would be a subscription type deal for a low monthly amount. Most likely around a few pounds. If there is a lot of interest then i will create a new thread to discuss it on.
Click to expand...

Surely the only cost would be the server? I have a server which I'd be prepared to donate resources to P2K Tournament to keep it free to use. Perhaps any other costs incurred to you could be made up from a P2K "upgrade kit" for people to put in their games?
 
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