Just wanted to make note, I only open the stage up when someone reports and issue with the stage. Aside from opening a panel or two to add or remove tape to adjust the feel of stage, Abbye and I personally never really need to open the stage up to fix anything, we don't have many false triggering or any none-triggering issues when we play.

Only time we've had trouble was when the machine came back from Sakura-Con last year (before modding) and this year when the debouncing was extremely off-set after a crash. When the machine came back after the crash, Abbye and I initially thought it was due to the way we modded the stage so we opened it up several times to attempt to alleviate the problem, but it turned out to be a software issue and not the modding.

As far as opening the stage up multiple times, again, it is only when I get a message about false triggering, which often times is the players fault and not the stages, or when I get a message on the forums about the "stage being fucked." Often times, when I do go the day after I receive a message it is to me, completely fine.

For instance, I got a message about the stage miss triggering on Friday and when Abbye and I went to play on the following week, I did not notice any issues and did not have any miss triggers. Mind you, we are testing on multiple different difficulties ranging from slow 10's through hellishly fast 16's and scoring extremely well. When we aren't noticing any issues, it is hard for us to really know what the true problem may be.

If it was up to me, I wouldn't be opening the stage to "fix" it as often as I am. Maybe 2-3 times a month for upkeep and maintenance. Even though it is a public access cabinet, I don't think a couple people playing a few times will hinder the stage beyond repair when we aren't there. For Abbye and I, the stage is in great working order and doesn't need any attention at this point. We are the only 2 players in this state that go to ACME as often as we do, at least 4 to 5 times a week, and we will notice if something is wrong.

As stated before, the problem may lie beyond the modding.

Thanks

Fiesta 2 has been updated to v1.50.


Enjoy, peeps!

Guys! Hot Issue D26 was briefly available in Fiesta EX and is HILARIOUS. Here's a video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3UIjABz1KM

Hey you guys, I'm gonna be heading down here in an hour. Need some Fiesta 2 in my life, as well as ITG.

Hoo boy, can't wait to see what the Fiesta 2 version of VVV is like, might have to go back to the arcade tomorrow.

Edit:  Watched the videos; omg the ending.

Team! Tony ran into some problems while setting up the trac (the previous way of tracking changes to the ITG machine), so we've set up a simpler and hopefully more approachable solution.

Check out the new issue tacker here: https://trello.com/b/L59udgjj/acme-itg

I'll let Tony fill in the details since he's the primary point of contact, but here's what you need to know to get started: once you create an account (which is dead simple if you already have a gmail account), you can easily request new song packs by adding cards to the song pack list.

Just went in yesterday and Chris, michael, tuan, and joshua were also there The bottom arrow on left pad seems to stay stuck down sometimes, happened to me on summer [speedy mix] and chocolate disco [7] to test. It sort of felt like there may have been gum underneath the arrow? It felt funky, though I doubt it was gum lol. Other than that, machine is awesome as always

Hello!

For the last two days, Abbye and I have spent a considerable amount of time reworking the entire stage at ACME, about 6 hours total over 2 days.

We ripped everything out and re-modded the entire stage.

Here is what we did to both Player 1 and Player 2 sides...

First of all, we removed all the foam from the entire stage. We realized that the weather stripping (foam) gave the stage a bouncy/squishy quality that interfered with the arrow panel directly contacting the sensors and only triggering the arrow when pressure was liberally applied. Therefore, we strictly used masking tape, roughly 45-50 layers per sensor to give it a flushed and solid feel while playing. Now, the stage should give you a nice firm/resistant feel while stepping, instead of bouncy/squishy feeling.

Secondly, we removed all unnecessary sensors. What we deemed as unnecessary were the sensors we typically don't step, i.e.; the very top of the up arrow, very left of the left arrow, etc. What this did for the stage was eliminate any false triggers from the unnecessary sensors triggering due to vibrations, as we all know, the sensors at ACME can be triggered by an ant walking on them. The only sensors remaining are the inner most sensors, or what I like to call it... the stepping sensors. These sensors are sensitive enough to trigger when stepping on any part of the arrow panel, so doubles players have no fear.

Finally, all stepping sensors have been split open and had electrical tape added inside the sensor to reduce its sensitivity. Without this process, all panels were far to sensitive and were triggering excessively causing false triggers.

This is the extent of what was done to the ACME stage over the last 2 days.

If there are any issues that occur while you are playing, please feel free to post on the forums and I will deal with it ASAP.

I went to play on Saturday and the pads responded horribly - double play is all but impossible now and I got so many pad misses/stuck panels trying to play normally that it wasn't even worth my effort to try to play well. Those "unnecessary" sensors are important for anyone who doesn't bracket absolutely everything. I'd rather play on a CF than this thing in its current state...

Not trying to be harsh here, but it really is nasty to play on right now.

Also, there's a whole ton of stuff on this machine I'd really like to have here and convert for my PIU machine, is there a pack listing around (how much of this stuff is even possible to obtain)?

EDIT: Found pack listing on trac.

I had a similar experience last time I visited and tried to play Doubles. It's pretty much impossible to challenge myself with anything remotely difficult, since I'll fail from regular Misses.

The general focus for Acme ITG seems to be stamina singles, and that's about it, unfortunately.

Well, at least you'll be able to play doubles on mine if you come up for SPERGIN 4!

I'll be going in tomorrow for some light final pre-intel groove training if anyone would like to join around 8:30pm. I'll be able to test the pads out too.

Went in today and had issues with the left player right-arrow. Got either a pad miss/decent/way off on songs like Coming Out[9] and A Team [9] which thwarted my FEC and 99+ on 4-5 different test songs. The bar for left player also loudly snapped a few times, not sure what was going on there lol.

Thanks for the heads up Nim!

I'm going tomorrow afternoon so I can take another look at that arrow... It has been a struggle to fine tune everything. They have been such minor/minuscule changes, like adding or removing 1-2 pieces of tape, it is hard to exactly get them on point.

Anywho, I'm going tomorrow afternoon so I can rework that arrow a bit.

Just went to Acme Bowl for the first time today to check out the ITG machine. Oh. My. God. As a guy who normally only plays on his foam pad and crappy DDR Extreme pads, this machine felt like heaven. It was like the arrows knew where I was going to move my feet before I did. There were no missteps or false triggers. The song selection is amazing. My only gripe was that it costs a dollar per play which seems a bit much for such a heavily used machine. Also, the atmosphere was kind of pressuring and I only got to play 3 songs because there were some people tapping their feet waiting for me to get off. Despite this, I will definitely come back soon, hopefully on a less crowded day.

A few questions to the people that play here a lot: Are there any times when the machine is set on free play? And because I never play with mines or hands as a DDR player, is there anyway to set these off or is that not possible?

Hi Tmangamer, APHR and I are the ones who work on the pads. APHR does most of the work but I try to maintain the left side. We recently just reworked the stage. Which we have to do about once a month. Otherwise due to the heavy traffic they tend to fall apart. Thanks for recognizing the work done on the pads. We really appreciate it APHR takes the concerns from the player base around here and tries to accommodate.

There is no free play unless there is a tournament being held and if you are participating in that tournament. As for the mines you can turn it off in the modding screen/game options.    

Hey Tmangamer!

Thank you for complimenting our stage here at ACME, it means a lot to ROSE and myself. We've put a lot of work into the stage to make them the best we can. Unfortunately, receiving compliments are a rarity. I've tried to mod the stage so everyone can enjoy them, and being in a ITG community where a lot more players have experienced "recessed" pads, flushing them was a hard sell. But, eventually we flushed them to the state they are at now and most people enjoy them.

Once again, thanks for your pleasant words and I hope to beast with you one day at ACME!

Saw what I would presume to be APHR and Rose down at ACME today fixing the pads while I was bowling (I was that akward kid who said hi to you). Didn't have time to play though because of family. You guys are really good O.O

Hey Tmangamer come play with us next time

Did you see a tiny little kid too? Lol

LOL was that you? You don't look 17! I kinda assumed you were a regular though cause you just sat down right next to the machine. Hopefully I can introduce myself better next time. Also, what's the best way to ask if you can play when someone else is on a machine? I've seen people put quarters on the sides of the screen, but what exactly does that signify? I don't play on public machines very much so I usually just try to wait for others to leave.

The quarters are a 'line' to play.  If a quarter is placed on the machine while you're playing, you're expected to stop playing after your game is over and let the person who owns that quarter play next.

But of course, most of the time, we're generally friendly enough to say hi and not force you to wait.

Not to self-promote, but you can check out the DDR Ettiquette Guide I wrote a while back. It might help you know how and what to do or expect.

http://www.pnwbemani.net/articles/how-to/proper-arcade-ddr-etiquette/5

Thanks! I just read it and it cleared up some of my questions.