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Sequences stuttering and sticking.


CindyEMoore

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I am getting my show ready for Christmas and I connected a few controllers to run and check.  When I connect my usb 485 to my computer the show starts sticking.  When I remove the usb 485 it stops sticking and stuttering.  I have upgraded to the new S-4 program.  I didn't have this problem last year with these same sequences.  Could someone please tell me what could be causing this program.

Thank You

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What do you mean by "sticking"?  If you remove you USB to RS-485 adapter, the show can't run, so I'm confused by what you are describing?

 

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Cindy,

I'm a little confused also. Just to clarify, are you saying that when you run the sequences with the USB485 attached to the PC, that the display shown on the PC "sticks and stutters" or is it the actual props hooked to your controllers that "sticks and stutters"?

If it is the PC screen that "sticks and stutters", what happens on the props when this is happening?

Is this a HiSpeed USB485 (Red) or Black?

When you say upgraded to new S4, is it 4.3.24?

It would also be helpful to know what controllers you have. Sorry for al the questions, but in this case more info is needed for us to be helpful.

Alan...

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Are you trying to run sequences from the Sequence Editor, Pixel Editor, or the show player?  I'm gathering it's one of the first two (most likely SE).  Don't even bother trying to run a show from the Sequence Editor.  That adds a lot of CPU horsepower requirements.  The only thing that matters is how it controls the lights.  Create a show and play it with the show player and watch the lights.

If you really insist on playing sequences to the lights from the Sequence Editor, there are several steps that can be taken in SE to reduce the CPU load.

Answer all of Alan's questions too.

 

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it is when I play the lights hooked up to sequence editor. I'm also using the black USB 485. I upgraded to the 4.3.24 software. I'm watching the show on the boxes when it is running in sequence editor. I have one new sequence I just did this year that sticks halfway through and won't run at all. I have 5 lor controllers run off of USB. One 16 pix e1.31 controller running off of ethernet port I have 4 pixel arches with 2 pix 2 controller and I'm adding a another pixel tree soon. 

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6 hours ago, CindyEMoore said:

 I have 5 lor controllers run off of USB. One 16 pix e1.31 controller running off of ethernet port I have 4 pixel arches with 2 pix 2 controller and I'm adding a another pixel tree soon. 

I'm really trying to understand this but it's not sinking for me.

You say you have One 16 pix e1.31 controller running off of ethernet port.

You also say you have 5 lor controllers running off of a Black USB-R485 with 2 pix controllers? What are the other 3 controllers?  Please  explain "pix 2 controller" I don't know what a "pix 2 controller" is. How many channels does it run?

The point of asking you these question is to determine how many channels you are running on a regular LOR network? (thru the USB485 adapter)

It may be time to upgrade to an additional network (not a big deal) with a USB-RS485-HS High Speed USB to RS485 Adapter. If you go this route you will also need an Advanced License or higher.

k6ccc had a very good suggestion to Create a show and run the sequences from there. Did you try this? The reason it is helpful is because Sequence Editor (by default) saves a .lcs (a compressed) copy of your sequences when it saves. Show Creator also creates a .lcs (compressed) copy of your files when it's processes it for the first time. Running a compressed sequence is much less taxing on your PC, than running them straight thru Sequence Editor.

One more thing to look at would your settings in LORNetworkConfiguration, maybe during your upgrade your channel speed got changed?

Trying to help

Alan...

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15 hours ago, CindyEMoore said:

One 16 pix e1.31 controller running off of ethernet port I have 4 pixel arches with 2 pix 2 controller and I'm adding a another pixel tree soon. 

Cindy,  we're not trying to be difficult here, but you're not telling us what you are running.  Part of it is that you are abbreviating so much that we can't figure it out.  For example, when you said "16 pix e1.31 controller", do you mean a PixCon16 in E1.31 mode, an AlphaPix 16 controller, a Sandevices E682, A Falcon controller, etc.

Please tell us EXACTLY what you are running for controllers, and how EVERYTHING is connected.  A sketch may help if it's complicated.  You said you are running version 4.3 24, but what license level do you have?

We really are trying to help you, but we're not mind readers.  You've got to give us enough information to help.

 

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I'm running the pix con e1.31. And I have the pro version of 4.3.24. My e1.31 is run on ethernet and my other controllers are straight of USB with the black USB-485 adapter. 

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Cindy,

You still are not really answering our questions.  For example, what is a pix 2 controller?

Using the drawing below as an example, we really are looking for this level of detail (not really a quote, but it made it easy to separate):

Quote

On my regular network, there is a USB485 adapter (black) that connects only to an InputPup with a unit ID of 02.  This network runs at 56K speed and is non-enhanced.

On my AuxA network there is a USB485 adapter (black) that connects to a CTB08 with Unit ID 15, then a CTB16 with Unit ID 11, and lastly three CMB16Ds with Unit IDs 12, 13, & 14.  This network runs at 115K speed and is enhanced.

On my AuxB network, there is a USB485-HS adapter (red) that connects to a CMB24D with a Unit ID of 27 and three CCP controllers with Unit IDs 21/22, 23/24, & 25/26.  This network runs at 500K speed and is enhanced.  Unlike the Regular and AuxA networks which are used year round, this network is only used for Christmas.

The show computer is a HP desktop running Windows XP with LOR 4.3.24 with a Pro level license.  BTW the show computer has been replaced with a new windows 7 based Dell desktop that ran the landscaping show for the first time last night.

Not shown on the drawing below is my E1.31 network which has two SanDevices E6804s and three SanDevices E682s.  The E1.31 traffic is on a separate LAN from my normal home LAN, however the show computer uses the normal home LAN to communicate with the file server where all the LOR files are stored (and the drawing below).  Note that the drawing was created for other purposes which is why it does not include the E1.31 equipment.

 

Obviously I don't need things like the location of conduit boxes which are included in the drawing below.

 

LOR_Network_2016-07-19.jpg

If you want our help, please answer our questions.  Either Alan or I (and many others here) really will help you if we can, but you need to supply enough information that we can.  As soon as we have to make assumptions, the possibility of errors goes way up.  No, I don't expect you to make a drawing as detailed as I have above just to answer this question.  But more than one line of text IS required.

 

 

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19 hours ago, CindyEMoore said:

When you watch my computer screen it runs smooth and doesn't stick

485 adapter has nothing to do with watching your computer screen vis or SE animation.

JR

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On 10/16/2017 at 10:55 AM, dibblejr said:

485 adapter has nothing to do with watching your computer screen vis or SE animation.

It sort of does.  With a large amount of DMX channels, the computer has to dedicate a lot of CPU horsepower to calculating the levels of each DMX channel many times per second.  This happens regardless of the USB adapter, any time that "Control Lights" is selected.  This can cause the screen to hang.  This is particularly true when running Sequence Editor which is a CPU hog unless certain measures are taken during playback.

Both Alan and I are trying to get Cindy to give us details, which she seems not to want to do.  Of the many different questions asked, some may be more relevant than others depending on the circumstances.  For example, network congestion will happen regardless of there being actual controllers attached.  Not likely the issue here, but it's all part of the details - some of which will help.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I don't understand "sticking".  Does the sequence just stop?   

I would look at things like how the sequence play button is set up....is it set to full sequence...screen...beginning to here....here to end.....etc.   I have a lot of channels and controllers connected to an old pentium computer using xp and 4gig memory and the visualizer has no issues playing any of my sequences.  So I doubt it is the computer or USB device.  It is setup.

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9 minutes ago, sax said:

I don't understand "sticking".  Does the sequence just stop?   

I would look at things like how the sequence play button is set up....is it set to full sequence...screen...beginning to here....here to end.....etc.   I have a lot of channels and controllers connected to an old pentium computer using xp and 4gig memory and the visualizer has no issues playing any of my sequences.  So I doubt it is the computer or USB device.  It is setup.

Sax ~ It happens quite often and the most common occurrence is when sequencing singing faces to "remastered/ digitized" older music and some of the new techno stuff. I have many videos of it. Its just something that makes me save every second of my sequence. In most cases the only way to fix is to shut down SE and there are no options to save your work. Happens on old and new computers, I have 4. Normally the first sign that something bad is about to happen is a "time warp" curser. Very soon after the crash comes.

I have had a few sequences that the only way I could sequence the faces to a particular song was to back the starting point up 5 or more seconds to preview my work or find the different start points. It is a real pain but I have become accustomed to it.

I feel the posters pain because unless you've seen it its hard to explain. Just erratic behavior and I believe when he says "sticking" the curser will free and all buttons greyed out. No options available.

JR

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Are you using a plugin?

I saw this once when I tried to use xlights.  Haven't used it since. 

I have had to fix my audio files before.  But never had this in all my face sequencing. That is the only time I use SE is sequencing my faces....

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No plugins. No rhyme or reason. Just happens. The first time I learned a lesson, always save! 

I brought this up and others have it as well. 

I couldn’t get past the xlights setup screen in 2015 so I uninstalled and never looked back

JR

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Sax, if you want to see a video pm me a cell. I have a 30 second video from back in June. It will show you the “warp affect”

JR

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