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How to configure Ball Search

To enable ball search set enable_ball_search to True for your playfield(s). In most cases, this is as simple as this:

#! switches:
#!   s_flipper_left:
#!     number:
#! coils:
#!   c_flipper_left:
#!     number:
#!     allow_enable: true
#! flippers:
#!   f_upper_flipper_left:
#!     ball_search_order: 15
#!     include_in_ball_search: true
#!     main_coil: c_flipper_left
#!     activation_switch: s_flipper_left
playfields:
  playfield:
    enable_ball_search: true

Ball search will run in multiple phases with increasing intensity (phase 1 to 3) and give up afterwards. To change the timeout before ball search starts when no ball was seen by MPF, change ball-search-timeout. Similarly, ball-search-interval determines the delay between coil fires during search. You can further configure ball search per playfield.

Coils are included indirectly using their devices. Most devices allow you to configure their order in ball search using the ball_search_order attribute (see the example ball_search). By default flippers are not included in ball search. However, you might want to enable it for upper playfield flippers:

#! switches:
#!   s_flipper_left:
#!     number:
#! coils:
#!   c_flipper_left:
#!     number:
#!     allow_enable: true
flippers:
  f_upper_flipper_left:
    ball_search_order: 15
    include_in_ball_search: true
    main_coil: c_flipper_left
    activation_switch: s_flipper_left

Make sure to include the tag playfield_active in all playfield switches which are not bound to devices. For instance do not put that tag into your plunger switch but put it to target, inlane and outlane switches.

If you want to pulse a standalone coil which is not bound to any device, you can use pulse_events on ball_search_phase_x_searches (replace x with phase 1 to 3).

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