Checking sequence and creating playback file

[JRB]

Last night was my first night for my halloween show and it did not start off smoothly at all! 

Here was my problem: 

I made a show using the show builder and loaded it into the sequence scheduler and that worked fine. When it came time for the show the first song said checking S5 sequence and all the specifics for this and it sat on that for 5 minutes for my first song and 10 minutes for my other 2 songs. After all that time went by it would tell me it created a playback file since it did not exist.. Is there a way i can create this playback file or can it only be created when it loads the show the first time? 

My shows are very large as my halloween display is 100% pixels and it does have some video files in them as well.

 Im currently running 65,985 RGB pixel channels.

I did have the use compressed sequence option turned on. 

I am wondering if I am pushing the limits if LOR???? 

[Mr. P]

I don't use S5 but from my understanding from other posts you should play your show through in advance to get all the files you need.

[PhilMassey]

The first time through will potentially take a long time. It has to create a LOT of playback files.

As Mr P said play the show in advance of showtime,  a show on demand will also work. You can also use the Sequence Compressor on the show file to do the same thing.

I also use compressed sequences, and IMO you should use the play as needed option, not load all before any are played 

Once that is done it should play with no delays.

Prior to 5.3, a year or so ago, there were some playback file issues but they were fixed and 5.5 is good.

 

Edited October 2, 2020 by PhilMassey

[JRB]

45 minutes ago, PhilMassey said:

The first time through will potentially take a long time. It has to create a LOT of playback files.

As Mr P said play the show in advance of showtime,  a show on demand will also work. You can also use the Sequence Compressor on the show file to do the same thing.

I also use compressed sequences, and IMO you should use the play as needed option, not load all before any are played 

Once that is done it should play with no delays.

Prior to 5.3, a year or so ago, there were some playback file issues but they were fixed and 5.5 is good.

 

Phil, 

So do I need to compress each sequence separately then put them into a show? or Do I just compress the whole show? I have never used the sequence compressor program before.. 

[k6ccc]

Either option should be fine.

 

[JRB]

What does the sequence compressor do? Should I do that after I am done with each sequence? I have the use compressed sequences turned on when you right click the light bulb. 

[k6ccc]

I'm going to give a little history and some technical as it makes it all make sense.

First of all, LOR .lms and .las and now .loredit files are human readable XML files.  That makes it nice if you are trying to read the data, but it is VERY inefficient.  It takes far more data storage space and much longer for a computer to parse and process those files.  As a result, years ago, LOR introduced compressed sequences.  These are compressed into a machine readable binary form that is FAR smaller and much fast for a computer to process.  There are two ways to produce a compressed file.  One is if in the show player settings it is set to use compressed files, the show player will compress the file when it is first loaded if there is not already a compressed version; and the second is a separate utility called the Sequence Compressor.  The result of either of these is the same.  In the Show Editor, you put the .lms or .las, but the show player will actually load the compressed file if it exists.

With S5, that changed.  S5 required manually creating the Play files - that would actually plan the show.  When creating a show in the Show Editor, you would include the play file - not the .loredit file.  With a revision somewhere around 5.3.0 (give or take a version or two), the process changed a bit.  It sort of makes go back to the early days where you go back to putting the .loredit (or .lms or .las) into the show and the show player will create the play files when the show is played for the first time.  This is what you experienced the first show last night.  For the rest of your Halloween season, you should not have that problem.

BTW, I have not experienced the current way of doing it because I was on 5.2.4 last Christmas which use the manual play files format.  So I may have gotten the current version wrong, but that is the way I understand it.

 

[PhilMassey]

Just use the compress entire show option in Sequence Compressor.

[Crimson Lane Lights Etown]

I just went through the upgrade from S4 to S5.5.6  & went through the compression steps and show runs  using "show on demand."  After all your sequences are completed (seems to never end) and you have loaded each sequence in an order you like in your "show", then I compress everything using the "Sequence Compressor"  Of course you can load and compress different options.  I've tried them all and my favorite was the "compress entire schedule"  It took 45 minutes, but got it done.  Now I don't have to compress again, but it's not going to hurt if you do.  Then I began running shows on demand to create that first run through file.  The next time the show was played, it loaded compressed sequences and played perfectly. 

 

[PhilMassey]

Remember if you make any changes to the sequence loredit file it will have to be "compressed" again.