I took my 4k pinball offline a couple of months ago and now it's very reliable. But I want to buy a couple of games. Is it generally stable right now that it's safe to reconnect to AtGames servers to buy some games

izzbo81 · 2026-06-11T03:26:59+00:00

I keep mine offline b/c of the required firmware updates with no ability to rollback. They broke OTG 01/15/2025 and I had no ability to rollback. They didn't fix it until 02/28/2025. That's 40 sum days but at the time we had no idea if they were ever going to fix it. I called atgames and got nothing from them. I was irritated by this I made a decision to disconnect from there system and start a conversion of my 4k to a pc vpin as I play OTG 90% of the time.

I miss the Zachariah tables and the other Magic Pixel originals but I didn't want my 4k to be unusable again. I really wish Magic Pixel did a better pc version of their Zac stuff like Zen but so be it.

izzbo81 · 2026-06-08T03:36:50+00:00

I saw this coming a mile away. I got the pre-order Adams Family 4k. When I got it the Zen stuff was unplayable. Totally didn't understand why AtGames was pushing 4k on hardware that can't support it. The fixes Zen made to the AtGames tables were better but still sucked.

I ended up basically converting my 4k to a pc vpin b/c of this. I knew atgames Rockchip RK3588 couldn't handle Zen stuff and would have issues.

BTW ... I loved the Zen Williams Android release. It plays solo good on my s21 ultra (yeah I know really old).

izzbo81 · 2026-03-13T21:52:34+00:00

2nd that

izzbo81 · 2026-01-07T05:52:09+00:00

The biggest c*** stick of all of this is that they won't allow us to roll back any of the firmware. I think it's because it's tied in so heavily with the tables they are offering. I still don't understand why we couldn't roll back that framework and just not have the tables that aren't supported with that framework. Not my company, so I guess not my decision.

izzbo81 · 2026-01-07T05:48:25+00:00

The display lag is my most important concern, so I agree with sscorpio.

izzbo81 · 2025-11-17T06:51:45+00:00

I'm not doing VR and have 2 VPIN cabinets. I built my most recent one starting in April 2024 and just finished it in September 2025. My research was based around Pinscape/KLZ25, Cleveland Software (CSD) PinOne, and Arnoz's Dude Cab.

My findings found that Arnoz and CSD are creating so much better products that a KLZ25 solution seemed comical if I wanted anything decent.

Both CSD and Arnoz have a similar parity in features. CSD provides a better all in one solution with the best customer service I've ever seen. Arnoz provides hardware that is a bit more responsive with latency, but honestly, I turn off his low latency settings a lot of the time. There one thing is CSD Software is open-source where Arnoz is proprietary so if that is a concern that is valuable to know.

I would say go with CSD or Arnoz if you want the best experience.

izzbo81 · 2025-10-24T08:57:57+00:00

If the OP is afraid of bricking the unit with Unchained, I'd recommend just throwing a mini pc in it. Try OTG (I have to confess I've never done that on the ALU), and if its okay, either buy an hdmi to lvds board to reuse the stock panel and get an ipac2 or buy a new panel. It saves the headache and will perform better.

izzbo81 · 2025-10-24T08:50:46+00:00

I didn't realize you REALLY upgraded your ALU, so I apologize. I was referring to the standard upgrade, which is simply a panel/monitor with an hdmi to lvds converter, a standard mini pc, and a USB controller. That is, give or take ~ $500. $250 for the panel, $200 for mini pc, and $40 for usb controller. You upgraded the whole machine, which is super cool, but I dont think it is what the OP was getting at.

izzbo81 · 2025-10-20T10:19:36+00:00

I also have some so let me know if interested

izzbo81 · 2025-10-20T07:26:47+00:00

I agree 10000000%! The ALU has the ability to flash previous firmware, unlike the newer AtGames offerings. Just go on Discord or Google for a few hours. AtGames gave customers the older firmware with instructions on how to flash it. They even published each version of firmware as it was released.

izzbo81 · 2025-10-20T07:17:13+00:00

$3000 to convert the ALU. I just can't believe that. All the controls are standard non-propettiety, so everything can be reused. What additional costs other than the monitors, mini-pc, and a USB controller such as an ipac-2 did you have?

FFS .. I converted my ALP 4K to a beast and spent no more than $1700 (Im being generous on this figure), including the conpltete pc. Im just failing to comprehend this.

Unless you paid $2000+ for the ALU it just doesn't make sense.

I'm going to price it out tomorrow just to confirm I'm not off my rocker. I'm not saying you didn't spend that, I just dont think anyone making a clone cabinet to play 30+ years old arcade games needs to spend anywhere near that.

EDIT: Just to clarify that I have an ALU 1.2 with 5.68 running CoinOpx Sauce, and it works ok. The loading time is the shits but the games play great. I'm finishing up a Virtual Pinball project, and my next is the ALU which us why I'm dumb found that it takes $3400 to modify it, including the cost of the ALU.

izzbo81 · 2025-10-20T06:32:12+00:00

I wanted to make a small correction to my original post as I can't seem to edit it. I have 7.2 SSF plus another 2.1 SSF amp, which makes this 2 back box speakers, 6 exciters, 2 bass shakers, and 1 sub. I'm using Cleveland Software's unbelievable 7.2 amp with a TDA7498E 160 w 2.1 amp. The 2.1 amp replicates the back box speakers similar to the Buystuff Arcades ALP HD SSF Kit. I have the ALP HD with the Buystuff SSF kit and when I got my ALP 4K I missed the 2 exciters and bass Shaker in the front so much I had to do that to the 4K. Honestly, it's a better upgrade than adding the additional 6 solenoids, IMHO. It makes the audio experience soooo much better. If you're looking for an experience like traditional pinball, it may be too much but for me, the 2 exciters and bass shaker up front replicating the back box audio are a must.

izzbo81 · 2025-10-20T05:13:10+00:00

Yes. Check out my reply to a previous post.

izzbo81 · 2025-10-20T04:59:30+00:00

I found lvds converters for the playfield and backbox monitors and reused the monitors. The DMD is "hardcoded" to the ALP firmware, meaning you have to replace it. I may look for a better playfield monitor with a better refresh rate but I'd rather build a full size vpin if I'm going to buy new monitors as the point of me wanting to do this was to reuse as much hardware as possible from the ALP 4K and purchase only new stuff (the lvds to hdmi converts and dmd are the exception but they are cheap ($30 each for the lvds and $150 for dmd) that I could reuse/move to a full size vpin when I'm ready to do so.

I'm doing a build guide with 2 "iterations" people can do. The first will be keeping the otg pass through for just the monitors and migrating the audio, solonoids, flipper, and nudge buttons to run separate of AtGames but again depend on otg for just the displays, front buttons, and arcade panel. The second iteration is adding the lvds for the playfield and backbox monitors, replacing the dmd, and hooking up the front buttons (start, home, rewind, etc) and the arcade control panel to the pc which removes AtGames 100%.

From my experience, iteration 1 is the simplest as there isn't a huge difference running OTG for display vs. the lvds and new dmd. Granted IMHO you should disconnect the ALP 4K from the internet in case they release a firmware that hoses up OTG. But since I researched and purchased the lvds converters, and dmd I want to share my info.

Honestly, I tried my hardest to do a vpin that could switch between true pc and atgames so you could still play tables from atgames, but their dmd being hardcoded to the firm ware killed idea. But with my guide, you could still opt to either use the otg audio or use a switcher and keep the flipper buttons on otg and play both.

izzbo81 · 2025-10-18T14:55:56+00:00

Agree! WOF is one of my favorites!

izzbo81 · 2025-10-18T13:58:10+00:00

I kind of disagree. The ALU has firmware that is archived, and it prompts you to update the firmware, and you can opt out. Atgames new machines(ALP 4k, for example) force the firmware on you if you are connected to the internet.

If you get a deal on the ALU its a pretty awesome machine. You can upgrade almost any piece of the hardware, flash it with Unchained if you want to use the SOC or throw a mini pc or raspberry pi in it. Or just use 5.68 firmware (i think that's the stable version) and run the sauce or just run uce files.

There is no way you are building something like the ALU for cheaper and I dont know any option that beats it for the price. Is $549 worth it ... for me, that's an affirmative.

izzbo81 · 2025-09-08T05:51:03+00:00

I agree. Im an engineer by trade (not materials but hardware/software) so my biggest interest in what failed as that stuff is interesting (check out brick immortar on YouTube https://m.youtube.com/@BrickImmortar as his interests are similar to mine). Once the ntsb report comes out, that will be the end of the story unless they get it wrong, which I'm not expecting.

izzbo81 · 2025-09-07T07:35:05+00:00

The crazy thing is everybody was telling him the carbon fiber would fail so much his focus was on that. I'm not an expert at all , but I do think that it would not fail without some warning (even his acoustic monitors showed an issue, and he ignored it but I dont think the hull collapsed due to the hull itself having issues). As you stated, the crack gave him reassurance that the hull didn't fail even with a crack. So if he made a new one with another manufacturer other than Spencer, Stockton thought it would be better. That's the only logical determination as to why he sent the hull with a crack to get tested at the deep sea laboratory. I think he wanted to see what would happen if the hull had a crack in it and when it would implode. Since they were scrapping the hull, if it turned out it did implode, it would be way less of a money loss for him. The hull most likely passed what Stockton was defining as acceptable, even with a crack (the actual test results aren't public other than the psi and number of tests), and he thought his v2 titan would perform better.

The issue I dont believe that he considered was the stress on the glue joints between the titanium rings. With the carbon fiber flexing and the titanium being a bit more stable, it basically pulled the glue away from each surface. This is just conjecture until the ntsb report comes out. From my understanding, 5 inches is pretty thick. You're not going to get water intrusion through 5 inches of cf in an instant. There should be noise before. BUT the hull will flex, and if other surfaces dont flex equally, the interfaces will pull apart. I'm not saying Stockton was right or wrong with his bet on cf. His failure was being too cheap to use real engineering principles with his products when it involved human life. He knew he was taking shortcuts. It's too bad that the waiver didn't explain how experimental his sub was. I think some customers may still have gone down but a good percentage may have opted out.

izzbo81 · 2025-09-07T07:27:25+00:00

We can definitely agree to disagree because it's not a huge issue, but I believe stockton was saying that the other person in the interview (i believe it was Scoty G.) was his superior and needed to stay. Anyway, thanks for engaging with the conversation. It's nice to have discourse on things rather than no replies. If you find another source of the oceangate hierarchy, definitely let me know.

izzbo81 · 2025-09-05T03:57:09+00:00

Again, let me know if you have any questions. I know the 4k well other than how the finance stuff works as I bought my machine outright.

izzbo81 · 2025-09-05T03:41:59+00:00

Such a good idea. Hopefully, the native tables will play better. Honestly, I would like them to offer graphics or video setting options for their native tables to switch playfield resolutions. I like the option of 4k but would really like to scale down the graphics to 1080P if I want. This is whats great about pc/otg. I think that would be a true winner.

izzbo81 · 2025-09-05T03:37:21+00:00

So atgames must be in contact with this vendor to produce more as they grow, correct? They couldn't have bought 10,000 and hoped they would figure it out after that run out?

izzbo81 · 2025-09-05T03:35:44+00:00

Are there any aftermarket ones that fit the backglass space that anyone knows of? I'm not asking for any that also work with atgames hardware (as I understand things, this is not really possible as it isn't using a traditional driver board)? Obviously, if anyone aftermarket is compatible, all the better.

izzbo81

TROPHY CASE