Reading outputs from the original code

[Paulo Felipe]

Hello everybody,

I've spent a few hours reading through MPF documentation, but unfortunately, I'm still not sure if what I want can be done.

I'm working on a project where I need to read players' scores from a pinball machine (Stern SAM). I don't need to build anything new.

Does MPF allow me to just plug my PC to the machine and read variables from its existing code?

Thanks in advance!

Paulo

[Anthony van Winkle]

Hello Paulo-

Unfortunately for your needs, MPF does not interact with production pinball machines' software or game logic. It's a framework for writing your own games and running them on physical machines, including production machines, so it knows how to communicate with name-brand hardware (reading switch states, firing coils, playing lights) but has no access to the code running or game data. Basically, your physical machine can either be running its factory software or MPF software, but those two softwares have no way of communicating with each other.

Also to note, while MPF does support a wide range of homebrew and name-brand platforms (including Stern Spike), SAM is not among them.

Sorry we can't be of any help,

-Anthony vW

[jabdoa]

Hi Paulo,

I always wanted to create a Stern SAM mpf bridge similar to the spike bridge but never came around to do it. That is for two main reasons. First I do not have a SAM board or machine and second nobody really asked for SAM support yet. In addition you can use a P-Roc to achieve the same which is what most people actually do. If somebody wants to bring the a SAM MPF bridge to live let me know and I will help.

Jan

[Paulo Felipe]

Many thanks for your replies.

That was quite frustrating for my aspirations, so I've spent some time doing research and trying to find options for what I want to achieve.

I know that it might be out of the subject in this forum, but I would like to know if anyone would have any idea of what my options would be.

I don't have any knowledge of the hardware side of things (boards, circuits and all that stuff), but all I need now is to have a way to capture the player score when a game ends. My way of thinking might be too simplistic - and please let me know if that's the case - but when I see the score being displayed on the panel, I really feel that there would be a way to capture it on its way.

Please let me know if I'm tripping too much on something impossible, or if even this is not the best place for that type of question.

I appreciate your support!

Cheers,

Paulo