Trouble with MPF 0.8 and GMC for carousels

[nick taseris]

I am trying to make a mode select carousel and can't get it to work properly. My event window in GMC shows that my scoop triggers the carousel as intended, that my flippers are changing the options, and the start button chooses the selected mode, but nothing changes on the display. It just continues to show my base mode slide.

I found this link but I am having some trouble following along. 

https://missionpinball.org/gmc/reference/mpf-carousel/

I anyone willing to help walk me through this?

[John Cross]

If your log file is showing that the correct mode is, in fact, starting when you press the start button, then what it *might* be is a feature where if your display has no slide, it will show the current/previous slide (I assume to avoid there ever being a "blank" display). This confused me as well--but once Anthony told me it was a feature, I get it now.

Or is something else happening? 

[nick taseris]

My log file is showing that the 'mode select' carousel mode started and my flippers cycle through options and start button chooses an option and ends the 'mode select' carousel mode. I don't have the modes actually built out yet so nothing really happens after that but I still don't understand whats goin on with the display.

I initially was trying to follow these directions until I saw the update in the link I provided in my last post for mpf 0.80

[John Cross]

I think you're fine--it's just that you started a mode and that mode has no slides (or your carousel mode has no slides)-and Godot's default behavior is to show you *something* instead of showing you nothing.

Build out your carousel slides and modes slides and I think the display will work correctly. 

Basically, if you're showing a slide from base.yaml, then you're doing it right, it's working, and you just need more slides.

[nick taseris]

Still having isues with this. With some config settings I get the event player to show the the "mission_select" mode started but it doesn't show anything on the display. Now currently it crashes anytime the "mission_select" mode starts with this error. 

mpf.core.events.EventHandlerException: Exception while processing RegisteredHandler(callback=<bound method Mode.start of <Mode.mission_select>>, priority=800, kwargs={}, key=UUID('7e74ac15-b482-4646-b7b3-12b652f62622'), condition=None, blocking_facility=None) for event s_left_spinner_active. Config File Error in variable_player: Section not valid outside of game modes. ConfigPlayer.variable_player/variables mission_select_beat_the_surfer_selected:{'selected_mission': {'string': <NativeTemplate beat_the_surfer>, 'priority': 0, 'int': None, 'float': None, 'block': False, 'action': 'add', 'player': None, 'condition': None}} Mode: <Mode.mission_select> Error Code: CFE-variable_player-1 (https://missionpinball.org/logs)

Will not report crash as "report_crashes" mode is "never"

MPF run loop ended.

Here is the config file I have that is just a cut and paste from the MPF site for carousels. 

start_events: s_left_spinner_active

stop_events: mode_mission_select_will_stop

game_mode: false

code: mpf.modes.carousel.code.carousel.Carousel

priority: 800

mode_settings:

selectable_items: beat_the_surfer, beer_can_named_desire

next_item_events: s_flipper_right_active

previous_item_events: s_flipper_left_active

slide_player:

mode_mission_select_started: mission_select

variable_player:

mission_select_beat_the_surfer_selected:

selected_mission:

string: "beat_the_surfer"

mission_select_beer_can_named_desire_selected:

selected_mission:

string: "beer_can_named_desire"

[Anthony van Winkle]

In this case the error logs are doing exactly what they're supposed to and calling out a configuration error. Your mode is set to game_mode: false but you also have a variable_player: section, which is not allowed because variables are stored per-player and outside of a game there are no players. You'll want to make this mode a game mode so a player exists and you can store the selected mission name as a variable on that player.

[nick taseris]

Thanks Anthony! That solved one problem but I still wasn't able to view the slide I made in Godot. Then I realized that when you use 'MPFCarousel' as a node type, the inspector panel on the right has a section for 'Carousel Name' and once I filled that in with the name of my game mode everything worked perfectly. I now have a functioning mode select carousel. 

Thank you!