Lights shut off when supposed to be on, just started tonight

[need lights]

I need some help, yesterday I added a commercial from the Demented Elf (Great Service by the way) and simply turned controller one on with a few slow fades every five seconds on some channels, controllers two and three run small animation on tree and arches, and controller four only used one channel to turn on a flood light. It worked fine yesterday. I also yesterday just realized I had controllers two and three reversed out in the display(one for the mega tree is assigned to arches and vice versa). rather than swapping out the controllers, I simply re-assigned controller 2 channels to be controller 3 and controller 3 channels to be controller 2(used channel configuration option in SE to see the list of all channels to be sure I didn't miss any or make an error). I did this in each sequence I am running in the show. I reloaded the show last night and it seemed to run fine with the modifications.

Tonight the show started as scheduled and most sequences are okay, at least for most of the song. The commercial now turns the lights on for only a second or two and shuts down controllers one and four completely for about five seconds, then turns the lights on for a second and shuts all channels off again. This continues throughout the whole commercial sequence. It does something similar at one part of another sequence. On one other sequence the strobes are programmed to come on at the end of the song, using controller 4, but do not.

What do I do now? how do I troubleshoot it? Anyone have a similar problem before?

64 channels, four controllers

[k6ccc]

I'd put money on it that you missed moving something. I think it would have been FAR easier to change the controller IDs for the two controllers to match the configuration. That would have taken less than 5 minutes.

[Jim Hans]

Run your new show through the verifier program and look at the errors.

[need lights]

So, I think I solved the problem (hopefully not temporarily). I noticed some odd looking characters/symbols in the status window(when it tells you what song/sequence is playing in the show, the characters and symbols looked strange and there were missing letters in the file names). I ended the show gracefully(because there were a good number of viewers outside) and re-enabled the schedule. After it re-loaded the show and loaded each compressed sequence before starting the musical, there were no more issues. I have no idea what would cause that though. The first time it plays a sequence in a show, it says "loading compressed sequence" followed by the file name. Each time it plays that sequence after the initial loading it no longer loads the compressed sequence. It seems to me that something caused the problem during the loading of compressed sequence at the beginning of the show. While the problem existed I even noticed random(but always the same during a particular sequence) channels briefly turn on and then off at the end of the sequence, lights turn off early, channels not turning on when supposed to, etc. Something different in each sequence, but the problem was consistent and identical each time a particular sequence would play. Do you think this was a one time thing or should I be concerned that this will happen again the next show? Should I just reboot the laptop?

[need lights]

I ran the show through verifier, it came back fine except for "old MC-P compatibility enabled" . it recommended I disable that in Network Configuration under options tab since my oldest controller is from 2011. It said that it could create a lag in the show. however, I did not have a lag as one of the symptoms. I did disable that anyway. Should I de-select the "use compressed sequences" option?

[Jim Hans]

Personally I don't think you need to use the compressed sequences as with your setup the sequence files can't be that big. I run 10 controllers and don't use the compressed.

[need lights]

Update, I believe it had to do with the Chinese text that appeared in the status log last year. I thought it went away, but this year it has returned. Once the Chinese text appears, the events prior to that line are wiped from the status log and all future text contains slightly different font. If you try to copy the log and paste it anywhere, it appears as bunches of question marks. The only way I can fix it is by unloading LOR and re-opening it. It is now happening every night during a show, usually 6 hours after the first show begins. I have found at least two other people through these forums that are having the same symptoms/issue.

This year I have to run compressed sequences and use the load sequences before they are needed option as we have added RGB and Pixels. I have also downloaded the newest software this year from LOR, 4.2.10Pro.

I hope we figure out the Chinese text issue soon

[wmilkie]

might want to report this to lor; seems these Chinese character issue's keep showing up; just a suggestion