New Life Games LLC
Homebrew Player Tracking and EFT Systems => NLG Homebrew Player Tracking and EFT Systems => Topic started by: peasoup49 on September 28, 2020, 03:15:22 PM
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Been looking around at the different setups that people have done for their home machines. I kinda liked the one, "Slots@Home" because it was a simple interface from the screenshots on the old website, but never got it to work because you can't download .NET Framework 4.0 from Microsoft anymore (or maybe it was SQL Server 3.5.1??). This is the point where the program crashes and points out what's missing and an unrecognized command. I don't believe the original author recompiled it for Windows 10.
Has anyone dabbled in the programming of a simple interface that you can bonus a machine, monitor, print tickets, etc. all based on an IP address for a network connection? It's been probably 20 years since I've programmed in C or I'd start slashing at it myself. Plus I've lost that programming software and books somewhere during my military moves. I've got one of the Bettor Slots Deluxe TITO's installed and just noticed the ethernet connection on the card after 4 years of owning it. I know, I know, don't say it 'cuz I've already called myself it probably starting with dumb@$$. :rotfl: I'm hoping that there's something out here that is more than an interface via a web browser and works with Windows 10. If need be, I could probably dust off my webpage programming skills to figure out something, but hoping there's someone who has programmed something already. SASTest just has too many buttons to get confused over.
If someone has done a web interface and is willing to share the index.htm file, I'd appreciate if I could get a screenshot to see if I like what it'll do for me.
Thanks
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Hey - I am in the process of building an Arduino-based player tracking display and reader. Replacing the lcd in the player tracking bracket and the guts of the card reader with an RFID board and RFID cards. Allows for programmable custom messages on the LCD, unique cards to track individual players and other functions. Communicates with the BettorSlots TITO Deluxe - reading stats from the machine to determine player wins/losses and allows for credits to be awarded as bonuses. Trying to work out a simple way to store the tracking data so multiple machines can access it - and not be a hassle for people to setup and maintain - IE: no SQL Server - lol.
I'll post some pics of the prototype shortly. Waiting on the WiFi board and a few other things. I will be offering the code to the community when done.
Marc
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So I was able to get the existing Vacuum Florescent Display (vfd) working with the arduino - looks much better than the LCD I was intending to use. Still waiting on the wifi module to continue development but most of the coding is done. Here is a pic of the prototype. I'll snap some pics of it mounted in the top box when done.
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I'm currently at the point of trying to send a command code to the machine. I think I'm screwing up at what point the CRC16 is being calculated and I'm sending the wrong thing so the machine just ignores what I'm sending.
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I'm going to 'cheat' that by talking to the BettorSlots Tito board instead of the slot machine directly; I can send it http get commands to add credits and read the counters to do the player tracking.
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Need a little clue.
I'm attempting to send a LP "21" to use as a wake up and to reset the seed value to 0 for further comms. I would like to verify I'm sending the correct HEX with the CRC. What I'm converting is "01 21 00 00" and get a HEX of "0xF979". Am I required to send all of that or truncate to "F979"? I've modified my library to accept 9N1 to Tx 9bit. The author claims it can be used for Rx, but I'm not trusting that until I get a valid response back from the machine. On Rx, I am setting UCSR1B on and off, before and after reading each byte. Is this correct? Should I be reading the complete string with 9th bit on, then turning off and then doing the CRC conversion?
Thanks
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Unfortunately I have not delved into the SAS protocol yet; my 'solution' is to talk to the BettorSlots TITO board via http to get the info I need; much easier for what I am looking to do.
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So a few more screenshots and what I have working so far...
- Config and data stored on SD Card
- VFD Player Tracking Display - can be configured to display any message you want; has a default message and a message that displays when a player card is inserted (can also use LCDs by changing library)
- Inserting previously unregistered card registers it and creates a file on the SD card; file can be edited later to customize player name and read stats
- 3 types of cards, Player cards, Admin cards (not sure what I will do with this yet), and System Bonus cards - which add a preset number of credits to the game
- App tracks player wins, losses, games played and $$ won
- Talks via wifi/http to BettorSlots TITO Deluxe to get counter data and to add credits
- Logging to serial monitor (for debugging)
Still to do:
- Option to switch from local SD storage to network storage for player data and configuration - so multiple machines can participate in player tracking
- Small http server for storing data - not sure if I can fit this on the arduino or if it will have enough power to run it plus everything else
- Ability to wire-in player tracking keyboard for some data entry and option setting at machine vs having to edit config files and such
Far off wish list
- Build/Modify SAS library for arduino so I can talk directly to the slot machine (basically a TITO+Player Tracking module)
Still considering how to offer this to the community - As there are so many machine types; different player tracking hardware (displays, keypads, etc). I can only test with what I have.
Marc
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OK - I have finished enough of the app to where I would like to share it with the community. I have placed the project, related files and hardware instructions on github. Feel free to take a look; I will be exploring improvements and updates as I use the app more myself. Enjoy!
https://github.com/marcrdavis/ArduinoPlayerTracking
Marc
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Thanks for sharing. :applause: :applause: :applause:
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OK - I have finished enough of the app to where I would like to share it with the community. I have placed the project, related files and hardware instructions on github. Feel free to take a look; I will be exploring improvements and updates as I use the app more myself. Enjoy!
https://github.com/marcrdavis/ArduinoPlayerTracking (https://github.com/marcrdavis/ArduinoPlayerTracking)
Marc
Nice job, Marc!!
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Hello Marc
Thanks for sharing - Nicely documented.
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Quick update - with a little help from forum member Ian Walker (thank you) I have implemented enough of the SAS protocol to add a full TITO and remote control experience to my Arduino Player Tracking and Display project. I am finishing testing and documentation now. Attached a screenshot of the web interface to give you an idea of the features available. The software is compatible with the BETTORSlots IOS/Android apps for remote control or you can use the web UI. The software can be configured for TITO/Display/Player Tracking or just TITO. It also can be configured in a client/server role to serve player card data to multiple machines or you can run the standalone web server EXE I will include in the package.
NOTE: I am not trying to displace the BETTORSlots TITO product. I built this for my own use but I also want to contribute to the community that has helped me greatly with this hobby. This is not a for-profit venture for me - I won't be selling this as a commercial product. As such I would appreciate the community respect my copyright on the app and not build commercial solutions that compete with Jim's product. Thank you.
Marc
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Very cool, Marc. I'm still hen-pecking at mine. So far I've got it to do the base stuff like lock/unlock, mute, etc. Working on my web interface now. Last count I'm looking at 80 buttons to do all the different features and hoping to be able to test it on an other-than-IGT machine when it's complete. All the HTML is code generated on the Mega2560 and sitting at 40k filled and over 1100 lines of code (hands are killing me). :Tongue_Out: My goal is to have it complete by Thanksgiving and then 'pretty up' the interface with graphics or whatever.
Got a couple pointers from Ian as well to get me past a roadblock I was at. :banghead: :cool_thumb_up:
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That's a lot of buttons! lol. I looked at the SAS protocol and determined what features would be of the most value (to me) and generally others. I thought of adding things like being able to randomly play music files from the game but would there be great value in that? :) I guess it depends...
I took the position of trying to compliment my existing Display and Player Tracking project; and just like you I'm rapidly running out of memory on the Mega - LOL! Only so much this little thing can do. Ran into all kinds of memory corruption issues related to chars and strings that exceeded their bounds. All fixed now but it drove me batty for several days. Best of luck on your dev project!
It has been an experience learning to program for the minimal...
MD
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That's a lot of buttons! lol. I looked at the SAS protocol and determined what features would be of the most value (to me) and generally others. I thought of adding things like being able to randomly play music files from the game but would there be great value in that? :) I guess it depends...
I took the position of trying to compliment my existing Display and Player Tracking project; and just like you I'm rapidly running out of memory on the Mega - LOL! Only so much this little thing can do. Ran into all kinds of memory corruption issues related to chars and strings that exceeded their bounds. All fixed now but it drove me batty for several days. Best of luck on your dev project!
It has been an experience learning to program for the minimal...
MD
No kidding on the learning process. I use to code in C about 25 years ago. It's been a painful learning curve to get back up to 2nd gear. I'm hoping to find a player tracking system for mine. I want to eventually setup the software to mock an AFT transfer and print a "credit card" receipt at the machine. LOL
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I thought about the AFT stuff too - then re-thought it. lol Too much to implement for the folks that would be enjoying my machines. I may develop a Windows console for my machine/player tracking code if interest develops.
MD
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OK! Version 2.0 of the Arduino TITO & Player Tracking/Display project has been released! You will find all of the code and documentation here: https://github.com/marcrdavis/ArduinoTITO-PlayerTracking
Enjoy. I would love feedback and pics of how you guys implemented the project.
Regards,
Marc
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Sounds pretty awesome Marc!
Is there a video link of your work in action using a card?
Maybe I'm overlooking it?
This sounds pretty cool to make! :cool_thumb_up:
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I'll post a video!
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Sounds pretty awesome Marc!
Is there a video link of your work in action using a card?
Maybe I'm overlooking it?
This sounds pretty cool to make! :cool_thumb_up:
Here you go! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNcSUyVznD4 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNcSUyVznD4)
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That is really quite fantastic Marc!
Boy, that is such a gift knowing how to mess around with arduino programming to make it do things you want it to. :yes:
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Can't figure out why when I put in 22 days for the ticket to expire, the machine says "206 Days". 206 is not even close to any HEX of 22. LOL At least I can customize from the browser. I've got bigger fish to attack and I'll come back to this minor issue.
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Never saw the need for my tix to expire - so I send 0x00 in the 0x7D long poll. Hex of 22 (0x16) should work according to the SAS specification.
Expiration 1 binary 00-FF Number of days before ticket expires (00 = never expires)
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That's the thing, I put 22 in the box for the days and it kicked out 206. Not really worried about it right now since the machine will take tickets printed in 2003. LOL More of an OCD thing I guess.
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I ordered the necessary parts today to give this a go on one of my machines. It should be interesting...
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I figured out the date problem. I was defining the value at the beginning of the function and then redefining it again later just before I sent the bytes to the machine. :banghead: Changes the date correctly now.
I ordered the necessary parts today to give this a go on one of my machines. It should be interesting...
I can help where I can if you get stuck. I've got the base program down that runs on it's own without a webserver. Currently have about a dozen buttons left to program in the web interface and a few more after that when I put a multi-game card in the machine. All my HTML is generated on the card. I'm running a atMega2560, Ethernet Shield, and RS232 Convertor. So far 3,500 lines of code @ 68k filled. Tomorrow I start with breaking down the binary codes and reading/writing them.
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Has anybody conquered the Enable/Disable Game (0x09) yet? I've triple checked my code and I can't seem to complete this function. The response from the machine is supposed to be ACK/NACK of it's address, but I'm getting a '0' back instead of '1'.
For a NACK, it's supposed to be the Machine Address ORed with 80 hex. I've yet to deal with this, is there a certain bit (maybe 7) that I need to pull out for the answer?
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Almost there!!! Finally got this page working after 2 days!!
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Losing your hair yet...what about the big sleep bags under your eyes? :arrowthruhead:
You're crazy! :rotfl:
That's a huge undertaking!
Good job peasoup!! :applause:
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Losing your hair yet...what about the big sleep bags under your eyes? :arrowthruhead:
You're crazy! :rotfl:
That's a huge undertaking!
Good job peasoup!! :applause:
Thank you, sir. I decided to go full tilt on this after I figured out the basics. I thought, hell, I might as well pull everything into this. I'm in the final touches of code cleanup. This will do every code possible except those requiring another machine/computer (i.e. AFTs and Tournaments). I haven't decided if I want to incorporate the Real Time Event Reporting, I probably won't. I am trying to fiddle with when a voucher is printed, it'll save the information to the onboard SD Card (like a history kinda thing). So far I'm at 6200 lines of code (about 130k) with all the HTML coming from the program as well.
p.s. Yes, I've been bald for years. HAHAHA
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This is a very cool project.
Can you give us a run down of whats required to make this work.
You obviously need the card reader - but how does it interface ?? your using an S2000, will this interface to an S+, AVP, Bally etc ? what about PE+, Game King, Game Maker ?
I saw the video and you have some ManCave branded player tracking cards. Where are you getting these ? how are you initializing them to work with the system etc ?
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Hey Jay – here are some answers for you…
First- a lot the requirements and details are on the project github page – link is in one of the replies above. That will give you the hardware requirements and how the parts connect.
For the card reader – all you need is the bezel and the inside plastic slot; I removed the existing circuit board from mine and attached the new RFID reader to the top of the plastic slot tray on the inside of the machine- so when I insert the card it passes under the rfid reader and the card gets read. This doesn’t interface with existing BallyComm type hardware. For the Display – I did reuse the existing VF Display in my player tracking bracket. There are many styles, sizes and types of displays in these tracking brackets – so unless you have the exact same display as I used – some wiring and code modifications may be required.
My Arduino board works fine in my 044 Game King and my S2000. On my S2000 I don’t have the player tracking hardware so I just use it for TITO and remote control.
In theory – this will work with most games that support the SAS 6 protocol. So GameKings, iGames, S2000, and newer IGT games, Bally games with support for SAS 6, etc. IGT S+ machines, PE, PE+ do not have the interface for this to work or do not have supported hardware – like printers for TITO. Can’t speak about Game Makers – never worked on one.
The Mancave Cards you saw in the video are just normal RFID cards – I printed the logo on a clear label that goes over the card. The labels don’t hold up well – need to find something better.
Hope that helps!
Marc
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Almost there!!! Finally got this page working after 2 days!!
Man... you're going to make me add all those buttons to mine aren't you??? :24:
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Almost there!!! Finally got this page working after 2 days!!
Man... you're going to make me add all those buttons to mine aren't you??? :24:
Just reached the limitations of the Arduino IDE. Even though I'm supposed to be able to use 257 cases PER switch, the IDE has me capped at some memory allocation size. I'm only using 149 cases throughout the WHOLE program. If I use 150, the program locks and nothing happens. I sat and reprogrammed everything to 'IF' statements and the same things happens. So frustrated right now. The boys in Italy don't come to work for 2 days. UGH. I still have 5k available of dynamic and 131k of program memory AFTER compiling.
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I ran into weird memory things too - It's not like writing in c# where you have protected memory - and lots of memory - to do basically whatever you want. It's been an adventure.
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I ran into weird memory things too - It's not like writing in c# where you have protected memory - and lots of memory - to do basically whatever you want. It's been an adventure.
No kidding. I'm trying to do a crash course and see if I can compile it with Visual Studio Code and end up with the same limitations. Everywhere I've read, if I can't use 257 cases, it's a limitation of the compiler. You'd think it would adjust automatically with whatever board is plugged in.
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Quick update! My Arduino TITO and Player Tracking project has had a number of updates recently - including adding support and pinouts for a number of different display types common in these gaming machines. I am also in the process of adding support for multiple keypad types and enabling admin functions which will use a card and the keypad; functions will be similar to the web interface. Look for this update very soon!
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That is so cool marc....you're making me want to learn ...why not make them and market slot homeowners?
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I did consider it - but there are so many different player tracking brackets and hardware out there that one plug-n-play solution would not really be viable. I am strongly considering getting a custom PCB made for the most common player tracking hardware (mostly that I have and can test) which would plug into the display and keypad directly and then the arduino on the other side. But that is something for later - I have never designed a PCB before - but always wanted to.
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There is a lot of player tracking hardware out there that is practically throwaway as it can't be used by the home slot person.
If you were to talk to any of the vendors on our home page they probably have boxes upon boxes of this stuff unless they have thrown it out.
You could easily say it works with models X Y & Z and the market would come to you.
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So a few pics; first two are of my testbench - this is what I develop on; has all the bits that would go into the game machine. I am in the process of testing 3 keypads (listed below) for the new admin functions. All of that code is done - just testing now in my machines. I am looking to add some player functions for use with the keypad - like accumulating 'comp credits' based on play - then using the keypad to redeem the comps on the game. The third pic is my S2000 - just installed the Wild Triple Strike chip/reels/glass tonight along with the new code and keypad. Will do a video shortly on the functionality.
Tested Keypads
Bally Systems Player Tracking 6x2 Keypad P/N 105123F
Bally Systems Player Tracking 3x4 Keypad
ACT 8x2 Keypad
More to come!
Marc
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Hi All - Some more exciting info to share! The next version of the Arduino TITO and Player Tracking software is almost ready; and it has a ton of updates and improvements. With the previous addition of keypad support I have added admin and player controls accessible from the keypad. What player controls? How about comps! The board will now track usage and calculate a comps payback based on a percentage you select. Players can then redeem comp credits right from the keypad onto the game. The code was significantly refactored and improved with new inline documentation for the many compatible hardware configurations. Oh - and did I mention the new Game Manager? (pic below) By popular request - you can now manage all of your games from one console - view game/player stats (not quite real time but good enough - performance reasons), control many game settings - and apply those settings to one, selected or ALL of your machines! Also experimenting with my own version of Tournament Mode.
Finishing up the coding on the Game Manager now - it will be released with the new ATPT version very soon.
Marc
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Marc, thank you for providing this. Crazy question, is the ATPT supposed to provide any GUI? Feedback? System process? When I run it there is no feedback.
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Marc, thank you for providing this. Crazy question, is the ATPT supposed to provide any GUI? Feedback? System process? When I run it there is no feedback.
Are you referring to the Windows Card Server APTS.EXE? It is a console app - so a console window will be open when it is running. You must run it as an Administrator or it will not work.
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Sorry, yes APTS (i thought i edited that).When running on Win 10 x64 as Admin it seems like the program abruptly aborts. Same as trying to run in compatibility mode.Unzipped all the files to one folder and ran within the folder.Also verified NET core framework was installed.
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Sorry, yes APTS (i thought i edited that).When running on Win 10 x64 as Admin it seems like the program abruptly aborts. Same as trying to run in compatibility mode.Unzipped all the files to one folder and ran within the folder.Also verified NET core framework was installed.
It will abort if not running as admin
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you need .NET Core Runtime 3.1 for it to run on windows 10
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New version of the Arduino TITO and Player Tracking Project is up: https://github.com/marcrdavis/ArduinoTITO-PlayerTracking
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Very cool project, I noticed the tickets still use the amount as code (like bettortito), are you planning to also make the game manager store the tickets in a db so once redeemed remains redeemed?
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...are you planning to also make the game manager store the tickets in a db so once redeemed remains redeemed?
If you do this, you waste paper. Save a tree! :rotfl:
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...are you planning to also make the game manager store the tickets in a db so once redeemed remains redeemed?
If you do this, you waste paper. Save a tree! :rotfl:
Realism has a price, yeah.
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Hey Alex - At the moment I don't have plans to change the TITO process. It works. There are other solutions that do the whole host-authentication piece; don't see the point for home systems really.
MD
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New video on Admin Keypad functionality in the latest release.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuB4maNNrRs (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuB4maNNrRs)
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Is anyone following along with this project (which I think is great that Marc is providing us) but have found that in the latest sketch the RFID reader doesnt seem to work anymore?Just to verify it wasnt equipment issue I reloaded the older sketch and it worked fine.Reloaded the newest and it wouldnt work.
Tried to do a side by side comparison and everything looks to be the same in the code but I am sure there is something somewhere I am overlooking.
Anyone else?
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Is anyone following along with this project (which I think is great that Marc is providing us) but have found that in the latest sketch the RFID reader doesnt seem to work anymore?Just to verify it wasnt equipment issue I reloaded the older sketch and it worked fine.Reloaded the newest and it wouldnt work.
Tried to do a side by side comparison and everything looks to be the same in the code but I am sure there is something somewhere I am overlooking.
Anyone else?
Hi Slotman - While the RFID code and pinouts did not change in this version there is a new check in the code which will block card access if the slot machine is not detected. This is to prevent issues with leaving a card in the machine when powering on. Once the machine is booted and the SAS heartbeat is detected the board will start allowing card detection.
Marc
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Is anyone following along with this project (which I think is great that Marc is providing us) but have found that in the latest sketch the RFID reader doesnt seem to work anymore?Just to verify it wasnt equipment issue I reloaded the older sketch and it worked fine.Reloaded the newest and it wouldnt work.
Tried to do a side by side comparison and everything looks to be the same in the code but I am sure there is something somewhere I am overlooking.
Anyone else?
Hi Slotman - While the RFID code and pinouts did not change in this version there is a new check in the code which will block card access if the slot machine is not detected. This is to prevent issues with leaving a card in the machine when powering on. Once the machine is booted and the SAS heartbeat is detected the board will start allowing card detection.
Marc
Great!!! Thank you very much for the quick reply. That makes sense.
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This card reader is whipping me.Got everything hooked up to a test machine after fabricating some readers and displays. The RFID pickup doesnt like to work near metal so I had so scavenge some plastic readers and make a homemade bezel for the display but got everything mounted and up and running.
Arduino gives its typical 80 81. Machine replies with 00. Seems to be good communication but the Card Reader is still not functioning.
Just to make sure its not operator error, I reloaded the older december script and card reader works fine.
Any ideas?
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This card reader is whipping me.Got everything hooked up to a test machine after fabricating some readers and displays. The RFID pickup doesnt like to work near metal so I had so scavenge some plastic readers and make a homemade bezel for the display but got everything mounted and up and running.
Arduino gives its typical 80 81. Machine replies with 00. Seems to be good communication but the Card Reader is still not functioning.
Just to make sure its not operator error, I reloaded the older december script and card reader works fine.
Any ideas?
I am so sorry! I just noticed a typo in the sasOnline check that is preventing this from working as I intended. Give me 10 min and I will upload a new sketch to github.
if you want to fix it now, look for:
if (sasOnline=false) sasOnline=true;
replace with:
if (sasOnline==false) sasOnline=true;
Double-equals was missing! I am surprised it compiled.
Again - sorry about that. I thought I fixed that in the build I uploaded.
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This card reader is whipping me.Got everything hooked up to a test machine after fabricating some readers and displays. The RFID pickup doesnt like to work near metal so I had so scavenge some plastic readers and make a homemade bezel for the display but got everything mounted and up and running.
Arduino gives its typical 80 81. Machine replies with 00. Seems to be good communication but the Card Reader is still not functioning.
Just to make sure its not operator error, I reloaded the older december script and card reader works fine.
Any ideas?
I am so sorry! I just noticed a typo in the sasOnline check that is preventing this from working as I intended. Give me 10 min and I will upload a new sketch to github.
if you want to fix it now, look for:
if (sasOnline=false) sasOnline=true;
replace with:
if (sasOnline==false) sasOnline=true;
Double-equals was missing! I am surprised it compiled.
Again - sorry about that. I thought I fixed that in the build I uploaded.
No problem. Im just looking at it as being a beta tester. Im under quarantine this week so its keeping my mind occupied.
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Marc, is this known to work on an AVP??Validation set to SYSTEM but when cashing out the ticket the prompt "requesting cashout validation" comes up.Seems to be very similar to this issue as mentioned here: http://newlifegames.com/nlg/index.php?topic=24163.0Running (http://newlifegames.com/nlg/index.php?topic=24163.0Running) A09 OS by the way.
I am also running a PC based system and never have any problems even running EFT or AFT.
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Marc, is this known to work on an AVP??Validation set to SYSTEM but when cashing out the ticket the prompt "requesting cashout validation" comes up.Seems to be very similar to this issue as mentioned here: [url]http://newlifegames.com/nlg/index.php?topic=24163.0Running[/url] ([url]http://newlifegames.com/nlg/index.php?topic=24163.0Running[/url]) A09 OS by the way.
I am also running a PC based system and never have any problems even running EFT or AFT.
UPDATE:: After sniffing the serial port and noticing a lot of jitter I replaced the cabling with a shielded Belden cable and bonded the shield to the frame of the machine.All is flawless now. No hiccups. Moral of the story, dealing with such a low level TTL to Serial signal it is susceptible to machine interference.
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Marc, is this known to work on an AVP??Validation set to SYSTEM but when cashing out the ticket the prompt "requesting cashout validation" comes up.Seems to be very similar to this issue as mentioned here: [url]http://newlifegames.com/nlg/index.php?topic=24163.0Running[/url] ([url]http://newlifegames.com/nlg/index.php?topic=24163.0Running[/url]) A09 OS by the way.
I am also running a PC based system and never have any problems even running EFT or AFT.
UPDATE:: After sniffing the serial port and noticing a lot of jitter I replaced the cabling with a shielded Belden cable and bonded the shield to the frame of the machine.All is flawless now. No hiccups. Moral of the story, dealing with such a low level TTL to Serial signal it is susceptible to machine interference.
Thanks for digging into that - I will add a note in the documentation regarding the cabling and grounding. thx!
MD
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Noticed on the previous release the display would read "YOU HAVE XXX COMP CREDITS" and it would give the amount available.Now it just says "YOU HAVE COMP CREDITS AVAILABLE" without showing the amount. It was nice to have the amount to see when you are on a machine that may not have a keypad.For instance, in the setting I am trying to create right now the AVP's dont have keypads but the GK's do so if someone wanted to redeem they would just go to a game king.
Just my 2 cents if you werent aware.
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Noticed on the previous release the display would read "YOU HAVE XXX COMP CREDITS" and it would give the amount available.Now it just says "YOU HAVE COMP CREDITS AVAILABLE" without showing the amount. It was nice to have the amount to see when you are on a machine that may not have a keypad.For instance, in the setting I am trying to create right now the AVP's dont have keypads but the GK's do so if someone wanted to redeem they would just go to a game king.
Just my 2 cents if you werent aware.
There is a reason I changed it :)
The scroll only gets updated on the insertion of the card - so the comp credits value may not represent the current value after playing the game. To avoid confusion I altered the message. I didn't want to be polling for the data constantly.
MD
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Noticed on the previous release the display would read "YOU HAVE XXX COMP CREDITS" and it would give the amount available.Now it just says "YOU HAVE COMP CREDITS AVAILABLE" without showing the amount. It was nice to have the amount to see when you are on a machine that may not have a keypad.For instance, in the setting I am trying to create right now the AVP's dont have keypads but the GK's do so if someone wanted to redeem they would just go to a game king.
Just my 2 cents if you werent aware.
There is a reason I changed it :)
The scroll only gets updated on the insertion of the card - so the comp credits value may not represent the current value after playing the game. To avoid confusion I altered the message. I didn't want to be polling for the data constantly.
MD
Ahhhh, makes sense. Thanks
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Hello, I set this up with a 1602 display and ACT keypad, I have everything working except communication with my Game King, I’m using the cable from an existing TITO and am getting timed out messages on the serial console. The slot machine is reporting a tilt with lost communication to host system. Any ideas on what’s going on? Are there debug options I’m not aware of?
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Hello, I set this up with a 1602 display and ACT keypad, I have everything working except communication with my Game King, I’m using the cable from an existing TITO and am getting timed out messages on the serial console. The slot machine is reporting a tilt with lost communication to host system. Any ideas on what’s going on? Are there debug options I’m not aware of?
Check your Communications setup on the game (Page 11 of guide); IGT SAS Primary Channel = 3; SAS Primary Channel Address = 1
Second, open the Comm Channel Analyzer on the GK Diagnostic Menu, select channel 3 and you should see activity, 80s and 81s followed by a response from the game when at idle.
Third, double check your wiring on the arduino to the db9 serial board; make sure you don't have the tx/rx pins crossed.
Marc
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Marc, BTW very nice job on this project. I believe I have the settings correct. I attached screenshots, I checked the pins between Arduino pins 18/19 and the MAX3232 and the DB9 to J82, they are correct, I also checked continuity and that tested good.
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Very odd; send me a pic of the serial cable you are using between the game and the arduino (want to be able to see what pins are used); also show me where you are connecting the serial cable to the game.
Are you using a DB9 M-F extension cable? If so - can you attach the game serial cable directly to the arduino db9 port to rule out a problem with the cable? I realize you may have to unplug most of the display/keypad/rfid cabling to do it but it may be the fastest way to see if the extension is bad (or incorrectly wired) or a shielding/interference problem.
Marc
marcdavis@comcast.net
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See pictures below. I’m using a shielded 22/3 cable soldered on a DB9 pins 2,3,5 and reusing old Tito cable and grounded to the chassis
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Hard to see in those pics - can you email me some higher-res pics?
marcdavis@comcast.net
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I tried to zoom in on that wiring and I can't understand what you are doing in that second pic. That cable should be straight thru from the arduino serial to the port on the game; it looks like you are taking the ground from the serial to the chassis... no need to do that. Check page 14 of my guide for an example of the serial cable and pinouts.
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I simplified the connection, I was using alligator clips so I could easily switch between this and the TITO @ Home. I sent a email with a high resolution photo.
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Marc, what are you doing for the RFID reader when trying to integrate with the metal readers of the IGT player tracking? I cant seem to get a reliable read. The metal is cancelling it out. I have some plastic panasonics and they work fine.
Anything in the works to read the tracks on magnetic strips? Using the magstripe library?
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Marc, what are you doing for the RFID reader when trying to integrate with the metal readers of the IGT player tracking? I cant seem to get a reliable read. The metal is cancelling it out. I have some plastic panasonics and they work fine.
Anything in the works to read the tracks on magnetic strips? Using the magstripe library?
So for my games I removed all of the metal shields and the boards/wiring from the card reader and just left the frame. I then just attached the rfid board with some tape; I may eventually create a plastic mount and use the screw holes in the board and the frame to mount it more securely. But yes - you need to get rid of the metal. Metal + RFID = Bad.
Rfid was much easier to implement than the Bally i2c protocol. I'm sure it is probably possible. Will I do it? Probably not as I don't have all the hardware for testing that at the moment.
MD
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So I have had a few requests on how to wire the LEDs on some of the card readers to the Arduino TITO project. Unfortunately after researching the LED board and determining the pinouts and the power requirements it won't work without additional hardware as the LEDs require 12V DC. Now - I was able to wire the LEDs up just power by pulling 12V from the power distribution board in my IGT's top box. You can wire the LEDs to be green or red depending on what pins you connect. I've attached some pics of it working and my wiring diagram.
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Rfid was much easier to implement than the Bally i2c protocol. I'm sure it is probably possible. Will I do it? Probably not as I don't have all the hardware for testing that at the moment.
MD
Marc, I was thinking more of just the 3 digital pins required and staying away from the I2C and using this library https://github.com/carlosefr/magstripelib
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Rfid was much easier to implement than the Bally i2c protocol. I'm sure it is probably possible. Will I do it? Probably not as I don't have all the hardware for testing that at the moment.
MD
Marc, I was thinking more of just the 3 digital pins required and staying away from the I2C and using this library https://github.com/carlosefr/magstripelib (https://github.com/carlosefr/magstripelib)
Send me some pics of the card reader/model # and pinouts; I'll see if I have the hardware to test
Marc
marcdavis@comcast.net
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Quick update - Thanks to some help from a fellow NLG member I have the Bally (and Neuron potentially) magnetic card readers working in the Arduino TITO and Player Tracking project. There will be two sketches included in the package - one for RFID and one for magnetic cards. Still testing this and working out the documentation. I hope to have it posted to github early next week.
You will need magnetic cards with data in Track 2; I have tested this with a variety of casino player tracking cards and other loyalty/membership cards. All of mine worked fine.
Marc
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Quick update - Thanks to some help from a fellow NLG member I have the Bally (and Neuron potentially) magnetic card readers working in the Arduino TITO and Player Tracking project. There will be two sketches included in the package - one for RFID and one for magnetic cards. Still testing this and working out the documentation. I hope to have it posted to github early next week.
You will need magnetic cards with data in Track 2; I have tested this with a variety of casino player tracking cards and other loyalty/membership cards. All of mine worked fine.
Marc
Although I have since purchased a card programmer I have found that hotel cards work as well (most but not all)
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So I've taken the plunge and started toying with Homebrew EFT. Many thanks to all for the efforts and spectacular results! I'm communicating, looks like all is good, catching what appears to be good SAS traffic while monitoring the serial, and printing tickets. I'm unable to credit up the machine with anything other than greenbacks. Tickets come up with a 2B Bill rejected error, nothing with the service button. This is an IGT AVP machine. Any tips from those that have gone before me?
Update: Found the issue, the problem was between the keyboard and the chair. Helps to enable changetoCredits. For the printer, this unit is a round top, DBV is upside down. Flipping the tickets allows for read/validate. Guessing that's something I can correct with the DBV.
Works like a champ.
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So I edited the sketch to use the noritake VFD and compiled to make sure I wasn't missing any libraries. I uploaded the sketch to the arduino, and enabled the serial monitor, but all I get is this? Instructions says to let it finish initializing, but it never does. I don't have anything connected to the arduino other than the ethernet shield and the Noritake VFD (which is not displaying anything). What am I missing?
Arduino TITO and Player Tracking - By Marc R. Davis - Version 2.0.20210325
Initializing...
Arduino TITO and Player Tracking - By Marc R. Davis - Version 2.0.20210325
Initializing...
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So, Using the arduino LCD 1602a, it works. So I'm having an issue with the noritake VFD, doesn't light up and I guess it is keeping the rest of the system from working.
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Also when attaching the system to the slot machine for the first time to create the first player cards, it says to watch the serial monitor for the card id, but if the PC is not connected to the arduino, how do I view the serial monitor? Does it show the card id on the display?
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Fixed with VFD. Had a bad wire! :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:
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I was going to suggest to check the wiring - if the display is not connected the noritake library hangs the arduino.
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Also when attaching the system to the slot machine for the first time to create the first player cards, it says to watch the serial monitor for the card id, but if the PC is not connected to the arduino, how do I view the serial monitor? Does it show the card id on the display?
I run the board from the my laptop's usb so I can get to the serial monitor.
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I noticed if there is no ethernet connection active, that the scroll speed seems sluggish?
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Might be due to the dhcp retries. If you are not going to use the network you can decrease the scrollDelay variable or comment out the checkEthernet(); function in the loop.
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I'm just going to wire ethernet to it. More functionality that way anyway. Thanks for all your efforts on this project. It is truly remarkable.
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If you don’t have a dhcp server would the issue not be the same.
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:Scratch-Head: since virtually every home network has a router acting as a DHCP server I think the majority of people are covered :cool_thumb_up:
Unless you're oldskool and like to statically assign addresses and log them in a spreadsheet - which is totally cool.
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Quit knocking my enterprise grade IPAM - lol.
I guess what I was dancing around - is the sluggish due to repeated DHCP requests ? if so you could perhaps do a couple of loops then fill the buffer with a self assigned 169 IP address and quell the performance issue or perhaps its something else related to the absence of layer 2 on the hardware.
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I actually disabled dhcp on the config.txt file and manually assigned an ip address, but it was still sluggish. I rebooted with the ethernet cable plugged and the scroll speed was back to normal. In any case, I have a router running ddrt and it is configured as a wireless bridge, so I can connect slots to it and they will get assigned ip's by my edgerouter.
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It is probably something in the Ethernet library rather than the ATPT code where it is sensing the connected network. I have tested it with and without the cable attached - didn't notice a significant speed difference in the scroll; but that is what the scrollDelay is for :cool_thumb_up:
Your mileage may vary.
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I finally got it all wired and connected to an S2000. Works like a champ. I used the magnetic reader version and got the 3 card types configured. Tested functionality that usually works with an S2000 and it all works. Keypad, display and card reader working as they should.
Thanks again Marc, it is really cool to have the player panel working.
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I finally got it all wired and connected to an S2000. Works like a champ. I used the magnetic reader version and got the 3 card types configured. Tested functionality that usually works with an S2000 and it all works. Keypad, display and card reader working as they should.
Thanks again Marc, it is really cool to have the player panel working.
Awesome! Glad you got it working. You're welcome.
MD
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Hey Marc,
Have you had anyone asking about TITO from Aristocrat MK7 widescreen? I've been working with some NLG members on helping them to figure this out. If there is already a working solution I'd like to take a look at it so I can document it for others to easily follow.
Thanks buddy,
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Hello Marc great build this system is great was working on it for hours but im stumped i have a bally/neuron 205250 holder and board how did you figure the pin out to hook it up to the
ArduinoTITO thank you sean
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The 205250 reader has the same pinouts as the reader in my documentation (figure 3); However - I have never been able to get it to work; The switches seem to be 'floating' and randomly trigger causing bad reads. I tried 2 separate readers - so I assume this is similar to all of them. I haven't researched it any further.
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I gave up trying to get those to work as well. I just gutted them out and left the frame and used the NFC reader.
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I gave up trying to get those to work as well. I just gutted them out and left the frame and used the NFC reader.
I feel like this is the easiest way of doing it, a little more universal lol
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Hey Marc,
Have you had anyone asking about TITO from Aristocrat MK7 widescreen? I've been working with some NLG members on helping them to figure this out. If there is already a working solution I'd like to take a look at it so I can document it for others to easily follow.
Thanks buddy,
Has anyone figured this out for Aristocrat MK7WS? I cant get the tito to work but works with all my other slots (Bally IGT and WMS)