Troubleshooting OPP
If you got problems with your hardware platform we first recommend to read our troubleshooting guide. Here are some hardware platform specific steps:
Run Hardware Scan
Using mpf hardware scan
you can find out if your OPP boards are
talking properly to MPF using USB:
$ mpf hardware scan
Connected CPUs:
- Port: com1 at 115200 baud
-> Board: 0x20 Firmware: 0x10100
-> Board: 0x21 Firmware: 0x10100
Incand cards:
- CPU: com1 Board: 0x20 Card: 0 Numbers: [16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31]
Input cards:
- CPU: com1 Board: 0x20 Card: 0 Numbers: [0, 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15]
- CPU: com1 Board: 0x21 Card: 1 Numbers: [0, 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27]
Solenoid cards:
- CPU: com1 Board: 0x20 Card: 0 Numbers: [0, 1, 2, 3]
- CPU: com1 Board: 0x21 Card: 1 Numbers: [12, 13, 14, 15]
LEDs:
- CPU: com1 Board: 0x21 Card: 1
See mpf hardware (command-line utility) for details.
Enable Debugging
If you got problems with your platform try to enable debug
first. As
described in the
general debugging section of our
troubleshooting guide this is done by adding debug: true
to your opp
config
section:
opp:
debug: true
This will add a lot more debugging and might slow down MPF a bit. We recommend to disable/remove it after finishing debugging.
Reducing the polling rate
If you encounter issues with the polling rate (in other words: Your OPP
processor boards can't answer MPF's polls fast enough) you may want to
change it. This can be done by simply adding the poll_hz:
line to the
opp:
section:
opp:
ports: COM7
poll_hz: 50 # defaults to 100
Note
You only want to do this if you encounter issues. This will increase the time between two switches beeing read. If you set this too log you could miss hits if multiple hits happened between two polls.
Coils Are Not Firing
What to do if your coils are not working?
title: Coils Are Not Firing
Coils Are Not Firing
What to do if your coils are not working?
Check if Your Hardware is Working at all
Sounds stupid but this is a good start: Is the hardware working at all?
Do you see switch hits in the logs? If not, check our section
Your hardware is not working at all
.
Check the Watchdog
If switches (or other features of the platform) are working but coils
are not we have to dig deeper. Most hardware platforms have some kind of
watchdog. Often there is some LED which indicates if the watchdog is
received. The MPF log might also contain clues (especially if you have
enabled debug
and run MPF with verbose flags -v -V
). If the watchdog
is not received by your platform it will not enable coils.
In most cases watchdog related problems indicate wiring problems. Check if your boards are properly wired.
Test Your Coil Numbers using MPF Service CLI
Hardware is connected and generally working, watchdog is good but still your coils are not working? Maybe something with the numbering is odd. Lets tests that using the MPF Service CLI. Alternatively, you can also use service mode if you have already configured it. Both ways work similarly.
To use service cli:
- Open two consoles
- Start your game (e.g. using
mpf both
) - Start the service cli from within your game folder using
mpf service
. - Type
list_coils
and pressENTER
to see a list of coils. - Type
coil_pulse your_coil
and pressENTER
to pulse it.
Does it work? If not check the log and try verify the coil number. If
you do not specify default_pulse_ms
MPF will use 10ms
which might
not be enough for some mechs. Try to increase that gently (maybe 20ms
or 30ms
).
Reducing light update rate
If you got a lot of lights you might run into bus contention issues. You can reduce the light update rate in MPF:
mpf:
default_light_hw_update_hz: 30 # defaults to 50
If you set this too low fades will be less smooth but otherwise it should not affect your game.
Your hardware is not working at all
If your hardware is not working at all make sure that you removed the
options -X
, -x
and --vpx
from your mpf both
or mpf game
command line. Those options will overwrite the settings in your
hardware
section and MPF will not even try to connect to your
hardware. If you got config errors we suggest you add -X
to figure
things out without interfacing real hardware all the time. Just keep
that option in mind.
Another stupid thing to check: Is your hardware connected to your PC? We know it is stupid but a loose USB connector has happened to most of us.
On Linux you might want to run the command lsusb
which should show
both of your micro controllers connected. You should see two lines
similar to
Bus 002 Device 014: ID 0483:5740 STMicroelectronics Virtual COM Port
Bus 002 Device 015: ID 0483:5740 STMicroelectronics Virtual COM Port
If you are unsure about the output, run the command once with your controllers connected and once without. If there is no difference, then for sure the USB device is not properly connected.
Add debugging to related devices
If you got problems with some switches also add debug: true
to those
as it will give to more insights into the intentions of those devices.
Same will work for flippers, coils, lights, servos, steppers and more.
See
general debugging section for details.
Run MPF with verbose flag
See
general debugging section for details. TLDR: run mpf both -t -v -V
.
Report Your Issue and Ask For Help
If you cannot find the issue yourself please prepare some information about your issue according to our troubleshooting guide and ask in our forum.
Consider Improving the Documentation
Did you solve your issue but found that some relevant information in the documentation is missing or should be linked/located elsewhere? Either tell us in the forum or consider improving the documentation yourself to save future users some troubles the same way others saved you some troubles by writing this documentation.
Something missing or wrong? You can fix it!
This website is edited by people like you! Is something wrong or missing? Is something out of date, or can you explain it better?
Please help us! You can fix it yourself and be an official "open source" contributor!
It's easy! See our Beginner's guide to editing the docs.
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