New Code Updates For Transformers and X-Men Now Available!

[mwong168]

http://sternpinball.com/Community/Blogs ... lable.aspx

The links for the new code are:

Xmen Pro and LE
http://www.sternpinball.com/downloads/X ... nglish.zip
http://www.sternpinball.com/downloads/X ... nglish.zip

Transformers Pro and LE
http://www.sternpinball.com/downloads/TFenglish.zip
http://www.sternpinball.com/downloads/TF_LE_english.zip

Enjoy and hope the code updates were worth the wait!

 

[Vengeance]

Re: New Code Updates For Transformers and X-Men Now Availabl

The one thing I find most interesting is they didn't even update the release notes.

Just a simple note:


V1.24 - March 14, 2013
=======================
- Release notes to follow in a few days. We wanted to get this update out as soon as possible.

So they are obviously aware of how this short fall has affected their image to a degree when it comes to this software.

I plan to dump these in both my machines tonight and we'll see

I'm not holding my breath through, I've had my hopes and dreams crushed to frequently by Stern at this point.

 

[yellowmustard]

Re: New Code Updates For Transformers and X-Men Now Availabl

let us know, for me , about X-men...

 

[smokedog]

Re: New Code Updates For Transformers and X-Men Now Availabl

Let me know if the code is finally worth me picking up a Pro for my route.

 

[Chris Bardon]

Re: New Code Updates For Transformers and X-Men Now Availabl

No release notes, but I did get a couple of games in on my LE last night. I was playing pretty badly, so I can't confirm anything about danger room etc, but I did notice a bunch of changes:

-Stacking: These changes mean that no two X-Men games will play alike. There are settings to allow hero + hero stacks (off by default), hero + villain (ON), and villain + hero (ON). I left factory on, so basically you can start a hero and a villain in any order (but only one of each). The exceptions seem to be the multiballs, which you can start after the other modes, but not before (e.g. you can start Sabretooth and then Wolverine). I didn't get a chance to try stacking hellfire or brotherhood with anything, but I can confirm that you can't start a new hero while those are running.
-Sound: I didn't notice wolverine voice calls everywhere, so that's an improvement.
-Hero Modes: Default is now 2 shots to start again.
-Iceman ramp: appears to be fixed
-Nightcrawler: Pops during Rogue (like before). I've heard it starts after the third completed hero, but didn't manage to get there. There's a setting that defaults to off that says something about "Mystery NC progression", but I have no idea what it does. We'll see about release notes.
-Progression: Apparently villain progress is saved, but again, I didn't see it firsthand, so I can't say for sure.

Overall, it seems like a good update that again, changes the character of the game completely. It went from "get magneto multiball right away" to "finish heroes and ignore villains" to "insane hero stacks to multiball" and now to "stack heroes with villains". It's much harder on the default settings to get all the X-Men (as it was in 1.22 I suppose), except now the villain modes are worth playing (which is a great change). Had this been the 1.0 version of the game, I'd say they were off to a good start, and that there was room to polish even more.

The other thing I noticed is that there don't appear to be any "special" combinations of hero/villain that I've found. I'd kind of hoped that they'd do something like the VS modes in avengers, where if you had certain combinations (e.g. Wolverine and Sabretooth) going at once it'd do something different (double scoring, unique voice etc).

So, I suppose the question is, would I be happy if this were the last version of X-Men ever, and I suppose it's too early to say. They did manage to make playing Villains worthwhile, but there are also no combos, and I'm not sure about the promised Deadpool mode. There's also nothing implemented in the Status Report, which is annoying since there are so many things to keep track of that I'd like to know how many shots to start a mode are left (and this is kind of a standard thing on other games).

 

[mwong168]

Re: New Code Updates For Transformers and X-Men Now Availabl

V1.24 - March 14, 2013
=======================
- First pass of the redemption system.
see http://www.sternpinball.com/downloads/S ... Manual.pdf
for details.
- Danger Room rules, sounds and graphics greatly enhanced.
*New ruleset to battle the Danger Room programs and Danger herself;
*Added new animations unique to each segment of the battle;
*Added new sound effects and Danger speech to make the battle more viseral;
- Added Villain Modes shot progression rules.
- Added new adjustables to allow for various iterations of mode stacking:
*X-Men Modes stack with each other (default off);
*Villain Modes stack with active X-Men Modes (default on);
*X-Men Stack with active Villain Modes (default on);
- Added new adjustable to force Nightcrawler to start on the third mystery award.
- Added Extra Ball to completion of Nightcrawler mode.
- Added Gambit light to flash during Gambit hurry-up.
- Modified Nightcrawler to be available even with other modes running.
- Modified Nightcrawler mode to be initiated after 3 and 6 X-Men completions, one of which allows for an extra ball (first completion).
- Modified Mystery to decrease the likelihood of Nightcrawler mode starting there.
- Modified Iceman mode to allow completion after 2 ramp hits and an extra bonus award if completed on the cross ramp.
- Fixed an issue where Iceman mode would time out if ball entered the blackbird scoop.
- Fixed an issue where the Iceman ramp was moving before the ball cleared the end of the ramp during Sabretooth.
- Fixed an issue where Nightcrawler mechs were not moving properly during multiball presentations.
- Fixed some issues with balls not being held by devices for the entirity of presentations.
*Rogue start choreography to Magneto lock;
*Juggernaut final shot in Xavier;
- Removed left lock target as a shot for Cyclops award.
- Fixed an issue in Villain selection where the chosen mode would hesitate before starting.

 

[Chris Bardon]

Re: New Code Updates For Transformers and X-Men Now Availabl

- Added new adjustable to force Nightcrawler to start on the third mystery award.

OK, so that's what that setting was (defaulted to off). I knew about the NC at 3 completed hero modes, but this is just another way to force the mode out I suppose. Good idea.

Has anyone else still found the NC mechs to be flaky though? It doesn't happen all the time, but it seems that they detect phantom hits way too easily, and that they'll pop up and immediately back down in Rogue mode (not always, but maybe 50% of the time). Could just be a switch adjustment, but in test mode, it doesn't seem to be overly sensitive.

 

[mwong168]

Re: New Code Updates For Transformers and X-Men Now Availabl

I haven't been reading through the long thread on pinside but has the Iceman ramp been corrected or you still getting drains as it is moving left to right?

 

[Vengeance]

Re: New Code Updates For Transformers and X-Men Now Availabl

Iceman ramp works fine now in all modes.

NC is stupid and does nothing but get in the way. I swear these guys must never play the games they code, just randomly;y throwing NC in whenever doesn't make it a good use of the toy. I can hear the discussion now:

"People are bitching they don't see nightcrawler enough"

"Lets just force the mode to start whenever and throw an extra ball as an award for finishing"

"What an excellent idea!!" (said no one ever)

 

[DRANO]

Re: New Code Updates For Transformers and X-Men Now Availabl

NC doesn't bother me at all.
The fact was that the toy WAS extremely under-used in previous versions of the code. As an LE owner, I was very upset to have this awesome toy MIA for so many games.

Since extra balls used to be awarded just for playing a certain amount of hero/villain modes (5 I think?), having to catch NC after 3 completed modes is a little trickier and more fun way of getting that reward... and it's not guaranteed.

I also like that its use in Rogue has gotten harder. Before the NC by the Rogue shot would pop up for maybe 10 seconds and all you'd have to do is knock him down (almost like removing her gloves I guess?) and then a hero shot to complete Rogue. Now you have to chace him as he is only up for a second or two. Again; more challenging.

Overall NC is one of my favorite modes and the dots and sounds on it are excellent. The jittering pop-up targets are great and very much like the MM trolls. Glad to see it used a bit more.

The amount of user controlled options should also make almost all players happy.

I think this code is a huge step in the right direction.
Can't wait to see even more polish as we get combo scoring and other features ironed out.
Still praying for some new voice work for Beast. One can dream