LISY pinball service tool on an ESP32-C3
Firmware version 1.25
user manual
v1.25 25.10.2026
German version: FA_Control_Bedienungsanleitung.html. French version: FA_Control_manuel_utilisateur.html. The chapter numbering is the same in all three.
For operating the device on the pinball machine. This manual deliberately contains no technical detail — if you want to know how it works inside, see the Technical Reference.
Contents
FA_Control is a service tool for troubleshooting. It stays permanently inside the pinball machine and serves a web page over Wi-Fi. From that page you can switch individual lamps, fire individual coils, watch the switches, play sounds and write to the displays — no meter, no disassembly, just a phone in your hand.
The important part: as long as you do not explicitly connect, the machine keeps playing normally. FA_Control never interferes on its own and does not announce itself to the machine at power-up. Only when you press CONNECT on the home screen and the game hands over control does FA_Control take over. Until then it is merely a device showing a web page. Monitor mode (chapter 8) watches a running game without taking anything over.
The ESP32-C3 Super Mini module FA_Control runs on. It plugs into the ESP32 socket of the FA board; the board powers it.
DIP switch 1 on the small four-way switch bank is the power switch.
| DIP 1 | |
|---|---|
| ON | switched on: Wi-Fi, web page, control. The blue LED blinks. |
| OFF | switched off: the device sleeps and draws practically no power. |
To switch it back on, flip the same switch to ON — that is all it takes, the device wakes up from it.
Because FA_Control stays inside the machine permanently, off is the normal state. You switch it on for troubleshooting and off again afterwards.
If you flip DIP 1 to OFF while it is running, FA_Control first hands control back to the game and only then goes to sleep. The machine resumes immediately — you can flip the switch at any time without risk, even in the middle of a measurement.
DIP 3 and DIP 4 currently have no function. DIP 2 only affects the blue LED (see the next section) and normally stays OFF.
The blink pattern tells you what is going on from two metres away, without opening the web page:
| Pattern | Meaning |
|---|---|
| slow, once per second | switched on, but not (yet) connected to the machine |
| fast, five times per second | connected — FA_Control is controlling the machine right now |
| very fast, ten times per second | just after power-up, the device is about to fall asleep (DIP 1 is OFF) |
| dark | switched off |
If the LED stays dark although DIP 1 is ON, check DIP 2: when that one is ON, the blink indicator is switched off on purpose. The device still works normally.
At first power-up FA_Control does not know any network yet, so it opens one of its own.
FA-Control. There is no
password.http://192.168.4.1 in your browser.The FA-Control network is gone afterwards — reconnect
your phone or laptop to your usual home network.
If the
FA-Controlnetwork reappears later, FA_Control could not log in: usually a typo in the password, a renamed network, or poor reception. You can re-enter the credentials the same way.
Once FA_Control has joined your home network, you can reach it at
http://fa-control.local
If your device cannot resolve that name (this happens on some Android devices and in some corporate networks), use the IP address instead. It is shown in the header of the page once you have had it open — and you will find it in your router's device list.
The top right of the page also shows the installed version, the mode
(STA = on your home network, AP = its own
network) and the IP address.
The home screen is the connection procedure. It shows a bar with the connection state, three buttons, and the tile menu below.
Tiles 01 to 05 are greyed out and cannot be clicked while there is no connection. That is intentional: FA_Control only learns after connecting how many lamps, coils, switches, sounds and displays your machine actually has. Before that there would be nothing to control.
Home screen before connecting: NOT CONNECTED, tiles 01 to 05 greyed out.
How to connect:
After CONNECT: CONTROL GRANTED, the device line and the REPORTED HARDWARE of an AtariFA running Middle Earth.
If it does not work, the reason is stated in plain text in the bar:
| Message | What to do |
|---|---|
| CONTROL DENIED - SET OPTION DIP 4 TO ON | The machine is there but will not release control. On AtariFA the enable switch is option DIP 4 on the FPGA board — set it to ON and press CONNECT again. |
| CONTROL DENIED - REQUEST LINE (GPIO10) NOT SEEN | The machine answers but did not notice the takeover request. Check that the connector between FA_Control and the board is seated properly. |
| NO ANSWER - CHECK WIRING AND POWER | Nobody is answering. Is the machine powered on? Is the cable seated? Is matching firmware actually running on the other side? |
| CONTROL DENIED | The machine refuses for some other reason. Restarting the machine usually helps. |
The home screen keeps re-checking the state. If the machine takes control back on its own, you see it there immediately and the tiles grey out again.
The RE-INITIALIZE (0x64) button re-establishes the connection while running. You only need it when something appears to have gone out of step — for example when the lamp display and reality disagree.
All control menus are reached through the tile menu on the home screen. ◀ MENU at the top left takes you back.
A grid with one tile per lamp, numbered from 0 up. One click switches the lamp on, the next one switches it off again. Lamps that are on are filled copper in the grid.
This is how you find a dead lamp without playing through the game: click through them and watch which one stays dark in the cabinet.
The LAMPS menu, here with a naming file in use (menu 07 · NAMES below).
A grid with one tile per coil, numbered from 1 up — unlike lamps, switches and sounds, which start at 0. That is how the LISY protocol counts coils and how the schematic names them: tile 1 is driver Q1, tile 20 is driver Q20. What comes after that depends on the machine; on AtariFA it is the coin counter and the coin door lockout coil.
One click fires a single pulse — the tile flashes briefly. Coils are only ever pulsed and never energized continuously; that protects them from burning out.
Coils start at 1 only from FA_Control 1.16 together with AtariFA 0.2.0. If either side is older, the coil one position off will fire — update both together.
Below, PULSE TIME holds the pulse duration in MILLISECONDS. It applies to all coils together. Change the value and press APPLY — it is stored and survives the next power cycle.
This pulse duration is the only setting FA_Control stores itself. Everything else comes from the machine.
A grid with one tile per switch. The display refreshes once per second; an actuated switch is filled green — the same way an active lamp is filled copper.
This page is display only. Switches cannot be set — the protocol between FA_Control and the machine has no command for it, because a switch reports something rather than doing something. To test one, actuate it by hand on the machine and watch whether the tile reacts.
The SWITCHES menu with names from a naming file.
A grid with one tile per sound. One click plays it, another click stops it. Only one sound plays at a time; a new one replaces the previous.
If your machine reports no sounds, this grid stays empty — it cannot produce audio.
One row per display, each with a mock seven-segment readout, an input field and a SEND button. The label states how many digits that display has.
Enter digits and press SEND (or the Enter key). The text appears right-aligned on the real display of the machine. Digits and spaces are allowed; a space leaves that position dark.
Optional. Tiles are numbered — this menu lets you give them speaking names as well, so coil 7 reads Knocker instead of just 7.
A naming file is a small text file, one per machine.
Once one is in use, the name appears under the number on every tile in
LAMPS, COILS, SWITCHES and
SOUND, and hovering a tile shows the full name. The
number always stays the leading label — it is the number that
actually goes to the machine.
At the top of the menu, THIS MACHINE shows the
DEVICE and the GAME of the machine you
are connected to — for example AtariFA and 002
— and whether the matching file is present. Together they say where the
file belongs: in the folder AtariFA, under the name
002.cfg. Read it there rather than working
it out — connect first, then look.
FILES ON THIS DEVICE lists what is stored, as
DEVICE/FILE. USE activates a file (the
active one is marked ●), DELETE removes it. The
selection survives a restart.
There are two ways to add a file:
.cfg file from your phone or computer and press
UPLOAD. When you are connected, the device box is
already filled in for you. This works in the machine's own
FA-Control network too, so it is the way that always works,
even in a cellar without reception.How the two parts are built: the folder is the
hardware name the board reports, the file is the
game number, three digits with leading zeros —
AtariFA and game 2 give AtariFA/002.cfg. On
AtariFA the game number is the position of the game select DIP bank:
| Folder and file | Machine |
|---|---|
AtariFA/000.cfg |
The Atarians |
AtariFA/001.cfg |
Time 2000 |
AtariFA/002.cfg |
Airborne Avenger |
AtariFA/003.cfg |
Middle Earth |
AtariFA/004.cfg |
Space Riders |
The device folder is what keeps them apart, because the game numbers
start over on every board — on a GottFA1 for Gottlieb System 1 the files
are GottFA1/000.cfg and so on.
Upper and lower case do not matter, in the folder or
in the file name. atarifa/002.cfg works just as well; if
you upload a file that already exists under a different spelling, it
replaces that one instead of sitting next to it.
Coming from a version before 1.19? Back then both parts formed a single file name,
AtariFA_002.cfg. Such files still on the device are shown struck through and can only be deleted — pick one for UPLOAD and FA_Control will split the name for you, then delete the old entry to free the space.
Neither part carries a readable name — that is what the
[game] name= line inside the file is for. FA_Control shows
it in brackets on the home screen:
GAME 2 (AIRBORNE AVENGER).
Automatic selection on CONNECT: the matching file is activated. If there is no matching file, the selection is cleared and the tiles go back to plain numbers. That is deliberate — otherwise, after switching the machine to a different game, you would keep seeing the previous game's names without noticing. A file picked by hand with USE stays active until the next CONNECT.
CONNECT only looks at files already on the device — it never fetches anything from lisy.dev by itself, so connecting stays as quick as it is. What it does instead: open menu 07 · NAMES and, if the expected file is missing but published on lisy.dev, THIS MACHINE says so and offers GET FROM LISY.DEV. One click downloads it and puts it straight to use.
The FILE FORMAT box at the bottom of the menu shows
the layout. It is plain text, one number=name line per
entry, grouped in sections:
AtariFA/002.cfg
[game]
name=Airborne Avenger
[coils]
1=Left Flipper
7=Knocker
[switches]
12=Left SlingshotSections are [game], [lamps],
[coils], [switches], [sounds] and
[displays]. Coil numbers start at 1, lamps,
switches and sounds start at 0 — the same numbering the tiles
use. Lines starting with # are comments. You only need the
entries you care about; everything else stays numeric. Maximum 32 kB per
file.
If tile 07 is missing entirely, your device has no storage for naming files. That happens when it was only ever updated over the air: the storage area has to be set up once by flashing over USB — see the USB installation guide, which does that from a browser without any development tools. Everything else works exactly the same without it.
For FA boards with an ESP32 socket that support it -
SternFA (PCB v2.00) from software 5.0.6 on. Right after
reading its DIP switches the board asks this device for its game. If a
rom for it is stored here, the board boots from it and needs no SD card
(SternFA shows status digit 3 on its boot display).
Otherwise it reads its SD card as always. This works without CONNECT and
without the takeover permission - but the device has to be
awake (DIP 1 ON) when the machine is switched on.
Roms are kept per device, just like the naming files:
DEVICE/NNN, where DEVICE is the name the board reports
(SternFA) and NNN the game number shown on its boot
display, three digits.
The file is the game slot exactly as written to the SD card: a
multiple of 512 bytes, at most 65,536. A full 65,536-byte slot carries
its checksum at the end and is rejected if it does not match. On
lisy.dev the files are in roms/<device>/ and named
012.bin or 012_Title.bin - only the number
counts. About 60 SternFA games fit.
Tile 08 needs its own storage area, which - like the one for tile 07 - only a full installation over USB sets up (from firmware 1.21 on). The naming files survive that installation.
Only on the FPGA board v7 (EP4CE6 dev board v7), where the module sits directly on the FPGA board, from firmware 1.24 on. On every other board this tile is not shown.
Here FA_Control writes the configuration flash (EPCS) of the FPGA over Wi-Fi — no USB-Blaster, no Quartus. Every action in this menu holds the FPGA in reset: the game restarts, and a connection or monitor mode that is running ends. The page asks before it starts. CONNECT is not needed.
.rbf
file of the FPGA firmware and press WRITE. Leave
REVERSE BITS (.RBF) ticked for .rbf files.
It takes a few seconds; the image is read back and compared, then the
FPGA restarts with it. Only the first 512 kB are written, the game ROMs
stored behind them stay as they are.gottfa1_roms.bin) and keep the address
0x080000. The FPGA image is never touched.If writing breaks off — Wi-Fi gone, page closed — the FPGA does not start until a complete image is in the flash. Nothing is broken: write the image again. FA_Control itself keeps running and stays reachable.
On the v7 board there is no DIP switch bank: FA_Control is on whenever the machine is. Mind the mounting height: the module needs about 15 mm distance to the FPGA board. Plugged in flat, its antenna is detuned and Wi-Fi drops out after a few minutes.
From firmware 1.25 on, with a board that supports it — so far GottFA1_PLuS on the FPGA board v7.
Control mode takes the machine over. Monitor mode only watches. The game keeps running normally, and you can play while the page shows what the lamps, coils, sound, switches and displays are doing. That is the tool for faults that only show up during a game: a lamp that never lights, a coil that is never fired, a switch that does not register.
The switch at the top of the page, CONTROL MODE | MONITOR MODE, selects the mode.
How to use it:
Names from a naming file (07 · NAMES) appear on the tiles here too. Nothing can be switched in monitor mode — FA_Control refuses every control command until you connect in control mode.
If it does not start, the reason is in the bar. START MONITOR tries again.
| Message | What to do |
|---|---|
| THIS FPGA FIRMWARE HAS NO MONITOR MODE | The board answers, but its firmware has no monitor mode. Update the FPGA. |
| MONITOR DATA DO NOT MATCH THE REPORTED HARDWARE | FA_Control and the board firmware do not fit together. Update both. |
| NO ANSWER - CHECK WIRING AND POWER | As in chapter 6: nobody is answering. |
When you are done, hand the machine back. There are two equivalent ways:
In both cases the game takes over immediately.
If you ever do neither — because the phone died or the Wi-Fi dropped out: the machine notices by itself that FA_Control has stopped reporting in and takes control back after roughly two seconds. The machine never stalls.
FA_Control fetches new versions from the internet itself. For that
the device must be joined to your home network — its own
FA-Control network has no internet connection, and the
button is disabled there.
Do not switch the device off or flip DIP 1 during the update. An interrupted update is not dangerous — the old version is kept and boots again — but the procedure then starts over.
An over-the-air update replaces the firmware and nothing else. Sometimes that is not enough: a brand-new board has no firmware to start from, a device that has only ever been updated over the air is missing the storage for naming files, and a device that no longer boots cannot fetch anything for itself.
For those cases there is a web installer that writes the complete image over a USB cable, straight from Chrome or Edge, with nothing to install on your computer: https://lisy.dev/swrep/misc/FA_Control/flasher/FA_Control_flasher.html
Your Wi-Fi settings and uploaded naming files survive it — with one exception: if the device is still older than version 1.18, that release moves the naming storage and it starts out empty, so you upload the files once more. The full procedure, including what to do when the device does not appear in the browser dialog, is in the USB installation guide.
Do not connect during a game. As soon as FA_Control takes control, the game program gives it up: a game in progress ends, and lamps, coils and displays sit wherever FA_Control puts them. Connect while the machine is idle. Monitor mode is the exception: it only watches and can run during a game.
Fire coils deliberately. FA_Control only pulses coils briefly and never energizes them continuously. A coil is still a powerful electromagnet: keep your hands off the playfield while firing, and do not fire the same coil repeatedly in quick succession — it gets warm.
Be careful with long pulse times. The PULSE TIME value applies to every coil. Too high a value stresses the coil beyond what normal play intends. Raise it only if you know why, and set it back afterwards.
The machine runs on mains voltage. This manual describes operating FA_Control only. Working inside an opened machine requires the usual precautions.