update S4 to S5. now a white grid an white / no preview

[mike carlson]

I do have an open helpdesk ticket on this but thought I would throw it in here and see what comes back..

I have upgraded my S4 installation to the S5 suit and when I open the sequence editor, import an S4 visualizer file, then open an S4 sequence, all I get is a blank white preview and a blank white grid/timing marks area. I can play the sequence but unable to see the grid, the grid will move along with the timing marks as the song plays. Preview area remains blank. it looks like the screen is not refreshing as I sometimes get double images. Every thing was working great with the S4 suit. I was reading here that I needed to do clean install of S5,  so uninstalled S4 completely, did a regedit cleanup of all Light-o-rama entries. rebooted , did a clean fresh install of S5, rebooted and same situation. Very sure I have a graphics problem, but where to start. I found somewhere that mentions Advanced OpenGL settings for S4, is there something like that in S5??

From the Help about in S5:

Light-O-Rama S5 Sequencer (32-bit), Version 5.2.4
Pro Edition

Copyright 2016-2018 Light-O-Rama, Inc.
Registered to: Mike Carlson

Microsoft Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
Intel® Core™ i5-4460 CPU @ 3.20GHz
Mirage Driver
OpenGL version: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 391.35

Not sure how to proceed, other than blow out S5 and go back to S4???

Thanks

Mike.

 

[PhilMassey]

What is the Mirage driver and what is it for?

 It may be getting in the way as it seems to be some sort of graphics add on. Never heard of it before.

[mike carlson]

5 hours ago, mike carlson said:

I do have an open helpdesk ticket on this but thought I would throw it in here and see what comes back..

I have upgraded my S4 installation to the S5 suit and when I open the sequence editor, import an S4 visualizer file, then open an S4 sequence, all I get is a blank white preview and a blank white grid/timing marks area. I can play the sequence but unable to see the grid, the grid will move along with the timing marks as the song plays. Preview area remains blank. it looks like the screen is not refreshing as I sometimes get double images. Every thing was working great with the S4 suit. I was reading here that I needed to do clean install of S5,  so uninstalled S4 completely, did a regedit cleanup of all Light-o-rama entries. rebooted , did a clean fresh install of S5, rebooted and same situation. Very sure I have a graphics problem, but where to start. I found somewhere that mentions Advanced OpenGL settings for S4, is there something like that in S5??

From the Help about in S5:

Light-O-Rama S5 Sequencer (32-bit), Version 5.2.4
Pro Edition

Copyright 2016-2018 Light-O-Rama, Inc.
Registered to: Mike Carlson

Microsoft Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
Intel® Core™ i5-4460 CPU @ 3.20GHz
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570
OpenGL version: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 391.35

Not sure how to proceed, other than blow out S5 and go back to S4???

Thanks

Mike.

 

Thank you for your reply.. Mirage driver is used for remote connection / control of computer from internet. Never had an issues with it before, but just to be sure I removed it from the system and tried S5 again.. as I suspected no change. I did update the info from the help about to reflect this .. Might need to wait for a response from the helpdesk unless someone can clue me in on what I can try next..

Mike..

Edited March 21, 2019 by mike carlson
spelling correction.

[default]

Mike,

I have a couple of question, see the picture below.

Can you create an Animation Sequence? (no Music needed) Just creating the sequence will put all the info we need to see (if it is a Preview Issue) You can either post it here, or PM me for my email address.

Just because you converted a S4 Sequence into S5, it doesn't always understand your props and will Archive them, to alert you, they need to be fixed and thus will create a Preview that can be confusing.

Without going into a long explanation, S5 is different from S4. S5 needs to have a proper Preview in order for you to work with it. it may sound hard, but it is really not. By looking at a copy of an Animation you create it will tell us what controllers, channels, unit Id, networks you have set up. There is a lot of information available, but having the Anitmation Sequence (your current Preview is included with the sequence) it will help point you in the right directions with regards to tutorials,videos, documentation.

Alan...

 

 

[mike carlson]

Hi Alan.. Thanks for your reply.. to answer your questions.. I have created two more screen captures.  The first is a new S5 animation sequence with my imported S4 Visualizer file. The second is a new S5 animation sequence with a new S5 preview file that has a few test props.

Please let me know if you need any more info..

Thanks

Mike.

[default]

Wow, this is the first I have heard of this issue. The pictures are helpful in that they do indicate a graphics problem.

You said you have opened a ticket with the help disk. You could also try a pm (private message) to MattBrown here on the forums. Be sure to reference this post, he may want to see your screen captures. He is the person that has done most of the coding for S5. He is probably your best bet for getting this resolved.

There is a program called Light-O-Rama Registry Wiper tool. Here is the link to the Help page for it. Light-O-Rama Registry Wiper tool Help Page

Also, here is a link to a earlier Forum post that has a download link for Light-O-Rama Registry Wiper tool.

Just a long shot but does changing any of these settings help?

Hopefully, Matt will respond soon and help you out. When it gets resolved, please let us know. It will be helpful for others who may experience this issue.

*edit*

Matt will most likely want you to send him a copy of the LORSequencer-trace.txt file, it is located in your C:\Users\ Your PC name \Documents directory

Alan...

 

Edited March 22, 2019 by default

[mike carlson]

Ok here is an update.. Good news.. Finally got a working S5. Not sure if I like the new Layout, but at least I can see something and start learning this new system.. How did I fix my problem you ask??

I have been using LOR since 2008, not sure what version I started out with. Every update or new Version always gets dumped / installed in the same directory, up until a few days ago I have never actually done a "clean" install, nor have I done a "complete" registry clean out of any LOR software. This Morning I backed up only my stuff that I created. Uninstalled S5 and deleted any and all directories linked to LOR. then used the Light-O-Rama Registry Wiper tool, ( Thanks Alan for pointing me to this) Shut down the desktop, unplug the power for long time (  something I don't normally do) re-started the desktop and proceeded to do a fresh clean install of S5 to a new directory. Before I did anything else, opened up S5 Sequence editor and re-entered my registration number. Then proceeded to create a dummy preview and a dummy animation sequence. all appears to work. closed all files and imported my S4 visualizer file, then opened up an old S4 music sequence, software complained about items in the sequence that were not in the preview ( in the past I had different visualizers files for different section of my display, inside the house, right side of the yard outside, front of house outside, etc. etc.. ) started the play sequence all looks normal..

Many Thanks to Alan for his help.. I will close the helpdesk ticket..

[default]

Mike,

Glad it got sorted out. 😊

It is good you did a backup. In case you didn't know once you import a S4 sequence into S5 and save it in S5, it will not work again in S4. If for some reason you decide not to continue with S5, you will always have good working copies of your sequence for S4.

Having said that, once you strat working with S5 and learn the changes, I think you will like it, S5 offers more features and is easy to use once you get a handle on it. As I said before the key to success with S5 is good Preivews. Many of here have found it was easier to recreate props in Prop design, then export the props. This way you can create many different Previews and import the props used for a paticular show (Halloween, Christmas, Summer months shows)  These Previews can include all the props with a different layout, or a mix of props geared toward that paticular show.

16 hours ago, mike carlson said:

. Then proceeded to create a dummy preview and a dummy animation sequence. all appears to work. closed all files and imported my S4 visualizer file, then opened up an old S4 music sequence, software complained about items in the sequence that were not in the preview ( in the past I had different visualizers files for different section of my display, inside the house, right side of the yard outside, front of house outside, etc. etc.. ) started the play sequence all looks normal.. 

This can now be done within a S5 Sequence. In my case, I create a "Master Preview" with all my props in thier desired locations. Once a Sequence is created/opened using that "Master Preview" I created Views (not to be confused with a Preview) within that sequence. Once I get it setup with all the views I want to see, I export those views. Exporting the views allows me to import then into another sequence without having to recreate them each time. In the example below I created 4 additional views that I use the most. For most of my sequencing I find it easier to see everything at once, however in the case of singing faces, it is handy to see only the face(s) I am sequencing for. This might be handy for you, to see the different sections " inside the house, right side of the yard outside, front of house outside, etc", but all are still part of the Master Preivew. The gif belows shows this a little clearer.

There are many post here to help you get started, post any questions you have.

Alan...

Different views within a sequence, imported from saved views.

Short gif, showing the how the views can be handy.

edit for spelring 😬

Edited March 23, 2019 by default

[mike carlson]

Hi Alan.. Thank you very much for your help and valuable tips.. The problem I have and yet to figure out. My entire display will not fit in the current preview size, yes I do know that it can be made bigger, and can be viewed as a separate window. If I did manage to put "everything" in the "Mater preview" it would be so small that I would not be able to see what's happening, hence the reason I created separate S4 visualizer files for each section. But thinking outside the box, the master preview could be used for just a holding area for everything, a place where S5 has all the link data and network connections for the many different controllers and their channel.. Hmm,  as the light goes on...    I like the idea of "views" and will indeed investigate this.  In the past I would create small S4 visualizer files for each section, then sequence just that section, when done, save that sequence,   move on to another section with a different visualizer file and sequence file. when I have completed that song with all the sections, I take each sequence file for that song and copy / past into a master sequence file and that master is used on my separate player PC.  With this master loaded on my editing PC, I can bring up each visualizer file and see just that section, or I could wait for darkness and run out side and watch the actual show, this is way more satisfying anyway..

Wish their were more / better tutorials on S5, but half the fun of this hobby is play and discover..

Thank Alan..

Have a super great day..

Mikey..

[k6ccc]

Mikey, your concept of using the master preview as just a master and the creating sub previews for parts is quite sound.  I’m curious what you have that won’t fit?  For 2018, I had a little over 66,000 channels and it fit and displayed just fine.  Granted that I have two monitors so the preview occupied about half of the second monitor.

 

[k6ccc]

Here is he 2019 version...

Preview Name: 2019 Christmas

Number of Master Props: 142
Number of Sub-props: 13
Number of Hidden Props: 0
Number of Bulbs: 30,285
Number of Channels: 67,240
Number of Groups: 25

Number of Traditional Props: 67
Number of Traditional Bulbs: 4,391
Number of Traditional Channels: 67

Number of RGB Pixel Props: 22
Number of RGB Pixel Bulbs: 22,338
Number of RGB Pixel Channels: 67,014

Number of Dumb RGB Props: 53
Number of Dumb RGB Bulbs: 3,556
Number of Dumb RGB Channels: 159

 

Since you can't really tell, the white rectangular block near the lower left corner is my P10 matrix and the smaller white rectangular block near the low right corner is my P5 matrix.