Tutorial 3: Get flipping!

This is part of our Getting Started guide.

The guide starts here.

It's been awhile since this tutorial has been updated. If you find anything that is no longer relevant, please let us know, or better yet, edit or update it yourself!

There's something exciting about seeing the first flips from your own code, so in this step we're going to focus on getting your flippers working.

To do that, you have to add some entries to your config file to tell MPF about some coils and switches, then you have to group them together to tell MPF that they should act like flipper devices. So go ahead and open that /config/config.yaml file that you created in the previous step.

1. Add your flipper switches

The switches: section of your machine config file is where you list all the switches in your machine and map physical switch numbers to more friendly switch names. (This is what makes it possible to interact with switch names like "left_flipper" and "right_inlane" versus "switch 27" or "switch 19".)

So on the line after the #config_version=6 entry from the previous tutorial step, write switches: (note the colon). Then on the next line, type four spaces (these must be spaces, not a tab), and write s_left_flipper:. Then on the next line, type eight spaces and add number:. Repeat that again for s_right_flipper:.

So now your config.yaml file should look like this:

#config_version=6

switches:
  s_left_flipper:
    number:
    tags: left_flipper
  s_right_flipper:
    number:
    tags: right_flipper

In case you're wondering why we preface each switch name with "s_", that's a little trick we learned that makes things easier as you get deeper into your configuration. We do this because most text editors and IDEs have "autocomplete" functions where it will pop up a list to autocomplete values as you type. So if you preface all your switches with "s_" (and your coils with "c_", your lights with "l_", etc.), then as soon as you type "s_" into your YAML file you should get a popup list with all your switches which you can use to select the right one. These saves lots of headaches later caused by not entering the name exactly right somewhere. :)

If you use Sublime as your editor, it just does this automatically. Other editors might require plugins. (For example, you can add this functionality to Atom with a free package called "autocomplete-plus".)

Notice that we added tags called left_flipper and right_flipper. These are optional, but recommended. The reason is that MPF includes a combo switch feature which posts events when player switches are held in combination. If you add these tags to your flipper switches, an event called flipper_cancel will be posted when the player hits both flipper buttons at the same time which you can use to cancel shows and other things you want the player to be able to skip.

When naming your switches (and most devices in MPF), your name can't start with a number and it should only be a combination of letters, numbers, and underscores.

Also, the names you enter here are the internal names that you'll use for these switches in your game code and configuration file. When it comes time to create "friendly" names for these switches which you'll expose via the service menu, you can create plain-English labels with spaces and capitalization everything. But that comes later.

In pre-0.50 versions, MPF was not case-sensitive and would internally convert most things to lowercase before comparison. This proved to be problematic, so MPF is now case-sensitive for all elements of your config files. Our configuration directives use only lowercase letters, underscores, and numbers. While you are free to format your tags as you wish, be aware that case-consistency is now required.

Speaking of formatting files, let's look at a few important things to know about YAML files (which is the format of the file we're creating here):

• You cannot use tabs to indent in YAML. (It is literally not allowed.) Most text editors can be configured to automatically insert spaces when you push the tab key, or you can just hit the space bar a bunch of times.
• The exact number of spaces you use for the indents doesn't matter (most people use groups of two or four), but what is absolutely important is that all items at the same "level" must be indented with the same number of spaces. In other words s_left_flipper: and s_right_flipper: need to have the same number of spaces in front of them. In a practical sense this shouldn't be a problem, because again most text editors let you use the tab key to automatically insert space characters.
• You cannot have a space between the setting name and the colon. GOOD: switches:. BAD: switches :
• You must must have a space after the colon and the setting value. GOOD: balls: 3. BAD: balls:3
• Anything on a line following a hash sign # is ignored, so you can use this to add comments and notes to yourself.

This all might seem kind of annoying, but that's just the way it is with YAML files. When we started building MPF, we weighed the pros and cons of lots of different config file formats (XML, INI, JSON, TOML, text, Python, etc.), and YAML was the best trade-off in terms of having the features we needed while being the easiest to use.

By the way, at some point we'll create GUI tools you can use to build your configs instead of having to hand-edit YAML files, but that's probably a few years away, so in the meantime, get used to YAML. :)

2. Enter the hardware numbers for your switches

The config.yaml file you have so far is completely valid. However, you'll notice that the number: setting for each switch is blank. If you are not using MPF with a physical pinball machine yet, you can keep these numbers blank. But if you want to control a real pinball machine, you need to enter values for each switch's number: setting.

The exact number you enter for each switch is dictated by which switch input on your pinball controller each switch is connected to. However, different controllers use different number formats.

The How to configure "number:" settings guide explains how hardware numbering works on each of the various hardware platforms MPF supports, so check that out now and enter your real numbers, not the made-up ones we use below.

switches:
  s_left_flipper:
    number: 0  # this can be blank if you don't have physical hw yet
  s_right_flipper:
    number: 1  # if you do have physical hw, most likely your number will be different

3. Add your flipper coils

Next you need to add entries for your flipper coils. These will be added to a section called coils:. If you're using dual-wound coils, you'll actually have four coil entries here----both the main and hold coils for each flipper. If you're using single-wound coils, then you'll only have one coil for each flipper (which we'll configure to pulse-width modulation for the holds).

If you have no idea what we're talking about, read our Flippers documentation for an introduction to flipper concepts, dual-wound versus single-wound, holding techniques, end-of-stroke switches, and a bunch of other stuff that's important that you probably never thought about.

Here's an example of how you'd enter your coils for a machine with two dual-wound coils. If you have single-wound coils, or you have more than two flippers, refer to the Flippers documentation for examples of how to configure them.

coils:
  c_flipper_left_main:
    number: 0  # again, these numbers will probably be different for you
  c_flipper_left_hold:
    number: 1  # check your platform-specific documentation for the actual numbers
    allow_enable: true
  c_flipper_right_main:
    number: 2
  c_flipper_right_hold:
    number: 3
    allow_enable: true

Again, note each coil name is indented four spaces, and each "number" listed under them is indented eight spaces, there's no space before the colons, and there is a space after the colons. Like the switch numbers, the number: entry under each coil is the number that the pinball hardware controller uses for this coil. The exact number will depend on what type of controller hardware and driver boards you're using.

Also note that the two hold coils have allow_enable: entries added, with values of "true". Anyway, the purpose of the allow_enable: setting is that as a safety precaution, MPF does not allow you to enable (that is, to hold a coil in its "on" position) unless you specifically add allow_enable: true to that coil's config. This will help to prevent some errant config from enabling a coil that you didn't mean to enable and burning it up or starting a fire.

So in the case of your flippers, the "hold" coil of a flipper needs to have allow_enable: true since in order for it to act as a flipper, that coil need to be allowed to be enabled (held on).

4. Add your flipper "devices"

Okay, you have your coils and switches defined, but you can't flip yet because you don't have any flippers defined. Now you might be thinking, "Wait, but didn't I just configure the coils and switches?" Yes, you did, but now you have to tell MPF that you want to create a flipper device which links together one switch and one (or two) coils to become a "flipper". MPF supports dozens of different types of Pinball Mechanisms, some of which (like flippers), are created by combining other devices.

You create your flipper devices by adding a flippers: section to your config file, and then specifying the switch and coil(s) for each flipper. Since the flippers belong to a playfield we also create this now. Here's what you would create based on the switches and coils we've defined so far:

#! switches:
#!   s_left_flipper:
#!     number: 0
#!   s_right_flipper:
#!     number: 1
#! coils:
#!   c_flipper_left_main:
#!     number: 0
#!   c_flipper_left_hold:
#!     number: 1
#!     allow_enable: true
#!   c_flipper_right_main:
#!     number: 2
#!   c_flipper_right_hold:
#!     number: 3
#!     allow_enable: true
playfields:
  playfield:
    tags: default
    default_source_device: None  # use None in steps before 8

flippers:
  left_flipper:
    main_coil: c_flipper_left_main
    hold_coil: c_flipper_left_hold
    activation_switch: s_left_flipper
  right_flipper:
    main_coil: c_flipper_right_main
    hold_coil: c_flipper_right_hold
    activation_switch: s_right_flipper

5. Try running MPF to make sure your config file is ok

At this point you should run your game to make sure it runs okay. Your flippers aren't going to work yet, but mainly we want to make sure MPF can read your config files and that there aren't any errors. Open a command prompt, switch to your machine folder, and run MPF again (like Step 2), also with the -b option. Additionally, we will add the -t option to disable the text UI and show the log on the console instead (you can also see it inside the logs folder inside your machine):

$ mpf -t -b

The console output will look similar to Step 2 as well, and it won't look like much is happening here. The main thing is to make sure that MPF starts and runs without giving you any errors--meaning that everything you setup in your config file is ok.

$ mpf -t -b
INFO : root : Loading config.
INFO : YamlMultifileConfigLoader : Machine config file #1: config.yaml
INFO : ConfigProcessor : Loading config from cache: /tmp/7146c817793475fbeb8d22f907d7bbbc.mpf_cache
INFO : ConfigProcessor : Loading config from cache: /tmp/49091ea856e626b51c4160f53a2ef744.mpf_cache
INFO : ConfigProcessor : Loading config from cache: /tmp/4cc7d3d11df84bb81fda7943558aba56.mpf_cache
INFO : Machine : Mission Pinball Framework Core Engine v0.54.0-dev.18
INFO : Machine : Command line arguments: {'no_load_cache': False, 'create_config_cache': True, 'bcp': False, 'configfile': ['config.yaml'], 'force_assets_load': False, 'jsonlogging': False, 'logfile': 'logs/2020-04-01-21-45-55-mpf.log', 'pause': False, 'production': False, 'text_ui': False, 'loglevel': 15, 'consoleloglevel': 20, 'force_platform': None, 'syslog_address': None, 'mc_file_name': None, 'no_sound': False}
INFO : Machine : MPF path: /pinball/src/mpf/mpf
INFO : Machine : Machine path: /mpf-examples/tutorial/step_3
INFO : Machine : Platform: linux
INFO : Machine : Python executable location: /usr/bin/python3
INFO : Machine : Python version: 3.6.9 (64-bit)
INFO : Machine : Initialize MPF.
INFO : EventManager : Event: ======'machine_var_credits_string'====== Args={'value': 'FREE PLAY', 'prev_value': None, 'change': True}
INFO : EventManager : Event: ======'machine_var_mpf_version'====== Args={'value': 'MPF v0.54.0-dev.18', 'prev_value': None, 'change': True}
INFO : EventManager : Event: ======'machine_var_mpf_extended_version'====== Args={'value': 'MPF v0.54.0-dev.18, Config version:5, Show version: 5, BCP version:1.1', 'prev_value': None, 'change': True}
INFO : EventManager : Event: ======'machine_var_python_version'====== Args={'value': '3.6.9', 'prev_value': None, 'change': True}
INFO : EventManager : Event: ======'machine_var_platform'====== Args={'value': 'Linux-4.15.0-72-generic-x86_64-with-Ubuntu-18.04-bionic', 'prev_value': None, 'change': True}
INFO : EventManager : Event: ======'machine_var_platform_system'====== Args={'value': 'Linux', 'prev_value': None, 'change': True}
INFO : EventManager : Event: ======'machine_var_platform_release'====== Args={'value': '4.15.0-72-generic', 'prev_value': None, 'change': True}
INFO : EventManager : Event: ======'machine_var_platform_version'====== Args={'value': '#81-Ubuntu SMP Tue Nov 26 12:20:02 UTC 2019', 'prev_value': None, 'change': True}
INFO : EventManager : Event: ======'machine_var_platform_machine'====== Args={'value': 'x86_64', 'prev_value': None, 'change': True}
INFO : EventManager : Event: ======'init_phase_1'====== Args={}
INFO : EventManager : Event: ======'init_phase_2'====== Args={}
INFO : EventManager : Event: ======'init_phase_3'====== Args={}
INFO : EventManager : Event: ======'init_phase_4'====== Args={}
INFO : EventManager : Event: ======'machine_var_audits_switches_s_left_flipper'====== Args={'value': 0, 'prev_value': None, 'change': True}
INFO : EventManager : Event: ======'machine_var_audits_switches_s_right_flipper'====== Args={'value': 0, 'prev_value': None, 'change': True}
INFO : EventManager : Event: ======'init_phase_5'====== Args={}
INFO : EventManager : Event: ======'init_done'====== Args={}
INFO : EventManager : Event: ======'machine_reset_phase_1'====== Args={}
INFO : EventManager : Event: ======'machine_reset_phase_2'====== Args={}
INFO : EventManager : Event: ======'machine_reset_phase_3'====== Args={}
INFO : EventManager : Event: ======'reset_complete'====== Args={}
INFO : EventManager : Event: ======'mode_attract_will_start'====== Args={}
INFO : EventManager : Event: ======'mode_attract_starting'====== Args={}
INFO : Mode.attract : Started. Priority: 10
INFO : EventManager : Event: ======'mode_attract_started'====== Args={}
INFO : EventManager : Event: ======'collecting_balls_complete'====== Args={}
INFO : Machine : Starting the main run loop.

At this point you can stop it by making sure your console window has focus and then hitting CTRL+C.

What if it didn't work?

If your game ran fine, then you can skip down to Step 6 below. If something didn't work or you got an error, then there are a few things to try depending on what your error was.

If the last line in your console output was something like this:

ValueError: Found a "switchs:" section in config file C:\your_machine\config\config, but that section is not valid in machine config files.

That means that it found a section in your config file that is not valid. Most likely this is due to a typo. For example, the above example has "switchs" instead of "switches".

Or maybe the error is more like this:

AssertionError: Config validation error: Entry flippers:left_flipper:main_coil:c_fliper_left_main is not valid.

This is showing that the flippers:left_flipper:main_coil:c_fliper_left_main entry is not valid. Again this is a typo--the coil name is spelled wrong (one "p" in flipper instead of two).

Or something like this:

AssertionError: Your config contains a value for the setting "flippers:left_flipper:holdcoil", but this is not a valid setting name.

Again pretty self-explanatory. The setting flippers:left_flipper:holdcoil is not valid. (It should actually be "hold_coil", not "holdcoil".)

So you can see that we've tried to be pretty helpful when it comes to typos and config file errors. The trick it just to read through the output in the logs and to trace down what they're complaining about.

You might also get errors saying there's some kind of YAML problem. For example, if you remove the colon after the coils: section and re-run MPF, you get the following error:

ValueError: YAML error found in file /Users/brian/git/mpf-examples/tutorial/config/config.yaml. Line 16, Position 24

Line 16, Position 24. Pretty straightforward, except the missing colon is actually on line 15. This is because removing the colon still produced valid YAML until it hit the next line. The point is that if you get a YAML error, look a few lines above and below the line number from the error.

Again, recapping the rules of YAML:

• Be sure to indent with spaces, not tabs.
• Make sure that all the "child" elements are indented the same. So your s_left_flipper and s_right_flipper both need to be indented the same number of spaces, etc.
• Make sure you do not have a space before each colon.
• Make sure you do have a space after each colon.
• Make sure you have the #config_version=6 as the first line in your file.

If you struggle to spot the problem read our Debugging YAML Parse Errors guide.

6. Enabling your flippers

Just running MPF with your game's config file isn't enough to get your flippers working. By default, they are only turned on when a ball starts, and they automatically turn off when a ball ends. But the simple config file we just created doesn't have a start button or your ball trough or plunger lane configured, so you can't actually start a game yet. So in order to get your flippers working, we need to add a configuration into each flipper's entry in your config file that tells MPF that we just want to enable your flippers right away, without an actual game. (This is just a temporary setting that we'll remove later.) To do this, add the following entry to each of your flippers in your config file:

enable_events: machine_reset_phase_3

We'll cover exactly what this means later on. (Basically it's telling each of your flippers that they should enable themselves when MPF is booting up, rather than them waiting for a ball to start.) So now the flippers: section of your config file should look like this: (If you have single-wound coils, then you won't have the hold_coil: entries here.)

#! switches:
#!   s_left_flipper:
#!     number: 0
#!   s_right_flipper:
#!     number: 1
#! coils:
#!   c_flipper_left_main:
#!     number: 0
#!   c_flipper_left_hold:
#!     number: 1
#!     allow_enable: true
#!   c_flipper_right_main:
#!     number: 2
#!   c_flipper_right_hold:
#!     number: 3
#!     allow_enable: true
#! playfields:
#!   playfield:
#!     tags: default
#!     default_source_device: None  # use None in steps before 8
flippers:
  left_flipper:
    main_coil: c_flipper_left_main
    hold_coil: c_flipper_left_hold
    activation_switch: s_left_flipper
    enable_events: machine_reset_phase_3
  right_flipper:
    main_coil: c_flipper_right_main
    hold_coil: c_flipper_right_hold
    activation_switch: s_right_flipper
    enable_events: machine_reset_phase_3

At this point the rest of the steps on this page are for getting your physical machine connected to your pinball controller. If you don't have a physical machine yet then you can skip directly to Tutorial step 4: Adjust your flipper power.

7. Configure MPF to use your physical pinball controller

If you have a physical pinball machine (or at least a something on your workbench) which is hooked up to a FAST, P-ROC, P3-ROC, OPP, or Stern SPIKE controller, then you need to add the hardware information to your config file so MPF knows which platform interface to use and how to talk to your hardware. To configure MPF to use a hardware pinball controller, you need to add a hardware: section to your config file, and then you add settings for platform: and driverboards:.

Don't worry if you do not have any hardware yet. You can run through the tutorial without hardware by using the virtual hardware platform.

Remember earlier in this step, we provided links to the documentation for each platform. Here is a list of supported hardware platforms and how to set them up.

You only need look at those docs for the specifics parts of the config that vary depending on your hardware. The good news is that 99.9% of the MPF config files are identical regardless of the hardware you're using.

Here are some various examples of different types of hardware configs. Please understand that these are just some examples! Do not copy them for your own use, rather, follow the instructions from the link to the list above.

FAST Pinball with FAST IO driver boards:

hardware:
  platform: fast
  driverboards: fast

fast:
  ports: com4, com5

switches:
  s_left_flipper:
    number: 00

P-ROC installed in an existing WPC machine:

hardware:
  platform: p_roc
  driverboards: wpc

switches:
  s_left_flipper:
    number: SF2

P3-ROC with P-ROC driver & switch boards:

hardware:
  platform: p3_roc
  driverboards: pdb

switches:
  s_left_flipper:
    number: 0-0

In case you are using the Virtual Pinball (VPX) Platform the config file will look like:

hardware:
  platform: virtual_pinball

switches:
  s_sling:
    number: 0
  s_flipper:
    number: 3

coils:
  c_sling:
    number: 0
  c_flipper:
    number: 1
    allow_enable: true

Video about developing your game without hardware:

See? They're all different.

7a. Understand the "virtual" hardware

If you just added a platform: setting to your config file which specifies a physical hardware platform, now every time you run MPF with that config, it will try to connect to the physical hardware. But what happens if you want to use MPF without your physical pinball hardware attached? In that case, you can run MPF with either the -x or -X command line options. (Lowercase "x" is the "virtual" platform, and uppercase "X" is the "smart virtual" platform.)

We'll talk more about those later. The point is that if you have configured your machine for physical hardware and then you want to run MPF without the physical hardware, you need to add either -x or -X to your mpf command when you run it.

8. One last check before powering up

Okay, now we're really close to flipping. Before you proceed take a look at your config file to make sure everything looks good. It should look something like this one, though of course that will depend on what platform you're using, whether you have dual-wound or single-wound flipper coils, and what type of driver boards you have (which will affect your coil and switch numbers). But here's the general idea. (This is the exact file we use with a FAST WPC controller plugged into an existing Demolition Man machine.)

#config_version=6

hardware:
  platform: fast
  driverboards: wpc

switches:
  s_left_flipper:
    number: SF4
  s_right_flipper:
    number: SF6

coils:
  c_flipper_left_main:
    number: FLLM
  c_flipper_left_hold:
    number: FLLH
    allow_enable: true
  c_flipper_right_main:
    number: FLRM
  c_flipper_right_hold:
    number: FLRH
    allow_enable: true

playfields:
  playfield:
    tags: default
    default_source_device: None  # use None in steps before 8

flippers:
  left_flipper:
    main_coil: c_flipper_left_main
    hold_coil: c_flipper_left_hold
    activation_switch: s_left_flipper
    enable_events: machine_reset_phase_3
  right_flipper:
    main_coil: c_flipper_right_main
    hold_coil: c_flipper_right_hold
    activation_switch: s_right_flipper
    enable_events: machine_reset_phase_3

Note that the individual sections of the config file can be in any order. We put the hardware: section at the top, but that's just our personal taste. It really makes no difference.

9. Running your game and flipping!

At this point you're ready to run your game, and you should be able to flip your flippers! Run your game with the following command:

C:\your_machine\mpf -t -b

Watch the console log for the entry about the attract mode starting. Once you see that then you should be able to hit your flipper buttons and they should flip as expected! You might notice that your flippers seem weak. That's okay. The default flipper power settings are weak just to be safe. We'll show you how to adjust your flipper power settings in the next step of this tutorial. You'll also notice that switch events are posted to the console. State:1 means the switch flipped from inactive to active, and State:0 means it flipped from active to inactive.

INFO : SwitchController : <<<<< switch: s_left_flipper, State:1 >>>>>
INFO : SwitchController : <<<<< switch: s_left_flipper, State:0 >>>>>
INFO : SwitchController : <<<<< switch: s_right_flipper, State:1 >>>>>
INFO : SwitchController : <<<<< switch: s_right_flipper, State:0 >>>>>

Here's a companion video which shows running your game at this point in the tutorial based on the config file above: (Note that this companion video is showing Judge Dredd, and it's based on an older version of MPF, but the basic concepts are the same.)

What if it doesn't work?

If your game doesn't flip while you're running this config, there are a few things it could be: If the game software runs but you don't have any flipping, check the following:

• Make sure you're not using the -x or -X command line options, since those tells MPF to run in with the "virtual" hardware (e.g. software-only) mode meaning it won't talk to your actual physical hardware.
• Verify that your switch and coil numbers are set properly. Remember the values of "0" and "1" and stuff that we used here are just for the sake of this tutorial. In real life your coil numbers are going to be something like A8 or FLLH or C15 or A1-B0-7, and your switches will be something more like E5 or 0/4 or SD12. Again look the how to guides for your specific platform for details on how their numbers should be set.
• Make sure you added enable_events: machine_reset_phase_3 to each of your flipper configurations.
• Make sure your coin door is closed! If you're running MPF on an existing Williams or Stern machine, remember that when the coin door is open, there's a switch that cuts off the power to the coils. (Ask us how we knew to add this to the list. :)
• It's possible that your flippers are working, but their power level is so low that they're not actually moving. (In this case you might hear them click when you hit the flipper button.) In this case you can move on to the next step in the tutorial where we adjust the flipper power.

If MPF crashes or gives an error:

• If you're using a P-ROC and you get a bunch of really fast messages about Error opening P-ROC device and Failed, trying again..., this is because (1) your pinball machine is not turned on, (2) your P-ROC is not connected to your computer (via USB), or (3) you have a problem with the P-ROC drivers. If you're running MPF in a virtual machine, make sure the USB connection is set to go to the VM.
• If you're using FAST or OPP hardware and you get an error about a port configuration, or not being able to open a port, then make sure your port numbers are correct. If you were previously connecting to one of those ports via a terminal emulator, make sure you've disconnected from the port in that software before running MPF.

If a flipper gets stuck on:

• Really this shouldn't happen. :) But it did on our machine just now and we really really confused. :) It turns out it was our flipper button which was stuck in the "on" position. The Judge Dredd machine we were using at the time had those aftermarket magnetic sensor buttons with the little magnets on the button flags, one of them came unglued and slipped out of alignment, making the switch stuck in the "on" position.

If you're still running into trouble, feel free to post to the mpf-users Google group. We'll incorporate your issues into this tutorial to make it easier for everyone in the future!

If you get YAML errors either copy the complete example below or read our Debugging YAML Parse Errors guide.

Check out the complete config.yaml file so far

If you want to see a complete config.yaml file up to this point, there's a "tutorial" machine in the mpf-examples repo that you downloaded in Step 1. (This is the same repo that contains the Demo Man game that you ran in Step 1.)

The complete machine config is in the mpf-examples/tutorial/step_3 folder.

C:\mpf-examples\tutorial>mpf -t

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You can navigate this site via the keyboard. There are two modes:

General navigation, when search is not focused:

• F , S , / : open search dialog
• P , , : go to previous page
• N , . : go to next page

While using the search function:

• Down , Up : select next / previous result
• Esc , Tab : close search
• Enter : go to highlighted page in the results