Six-minute sequence crashed my show last night - any way to reduce file size?

[Wonko]

Hi all,

First show last night, and it didn't go well. Had a crowd of about 25 people, and the second sequence crashed my show PC (running MiiP). 

The second sequence is a little over 6 minutes with a ton of motion effects.

LOR tried to analyze the song before playing it for the first time, and I got the error "Not responding".

I waited about 10 minutes, but eventually had to reset. (it was painful in front of a crowd)

Is there any way to reduce the file size so that LOR can process the sequence more quickly?

It ran ok after the first time, but I was using MIIP as a trigger (songs in a show as Vote In Only, then choose the first song from my phone in the yard), so I couldn't have the sequences run before the show.

Thanks for your help!

Wonko

[Jimehc]

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Light-O-Rama\LORSequenceCompressor.exe"

[PhilMassey]

S5 and S6 needs to generate playback files for the show. It only has to do this once, or after you make changes to the sequence or preview. You should either use the Sequence Compressor (in S5) or play a show of all your sequences before showtime. 

In S6 the sequence compressor is gone and the show player does the playback file creation. Playback file creation can take several minutes per sequence so you should always do the file creation prior to showtime.

[Wonko]

Understood - I usually let the show play once through, and I don’t mind the few minutes between songs as there’s rarely anyone watching that early in the evening.

I’m using MIIP this year, and I was using it as a trigger last night. I couldn’t play the songs through before, because I needed the sequences to be “Vote In Only” to use Miip as the trigger. 
 

Will sequence compressor actually compress the sequence like a zip? Does it need to unpack before it gets played?

thanks again!

Edited November 26, 2022 by Wonko

[PhilMassey]

 The following comments do not apply to S6. In order to use compressed sequences you must have it turned on in the right click menu of control panel and in the show player.

I also strongly recommend  unchecking "Load all Before Play in the show player. IMO it just mucks things up.

Sequence Compressor creates ALL the playback files including the LCS compressed sequence in a hidden folder in LorInternal. It is completely transparent and the only delays you should have are when the sequence needs to recreate the playback files after a change to the Sequence or Preview,

I use MIIP and have 60 sequences, some of which are GB's in size and never have more than a fraction of a second delay, unless I have changed something.

The file handling in S6 is much more streamlined, but of course we are stuck with S5 until Bob can sort out the changes to S6

[Wonko]

Thanks, Phil and Jimehc!

That worked great. Loading really quick now.

[k6ccc]

I  HIGHLY recommend that you let your show run at least one full cycle at least a day or two before opening night just to make sure everything runs.  This is not a test of the props lighting up (that should already have happened), it is a test of the show playing process - my startup is a little odd, so that gets tested twice.  There it can be done during the day.  I did that Thursday while I was doing some last minute repair on my pixel tree.  Had the yard speakers on so I could hear it, and since I was mostly on a ladder right in front of the tree, I could sort see that the lights were coming on.

I also use MIIP (so I'm using 5.6.10 this year) for everything except opening night.  For that, I want the songs to play in a specific order (mainly that means the new song or songs go first).  So in the current year directory, I have three show files:  MiipShow.lss (which MIIP writes), and Opening night show, and one called "Everything for compressor.lss".  That last one has every song, and announcement sequence that appears anywhere in the season.  Then I run the Sequence compressor using that show file as the source for the files to compress.  Takes it a couple hours and it's all done.  Obviously when I tweek some sequence during the season, I compress that one sequence as soon as I'm done with modifying it.

 

[Wonko]

Thanks, K6ccc. That’s helpful. I’ve read about your inputpup with Alexa setup for a trigger, and I think that’s my next big attempt. For now, I was trying to use Miip as a trigger. Is there a way to test run a show that’s all songs as Vote In only on Miip?

[k6ccc]

Set up a MIIP show and then vote via MIIP each of your songs.  I have been doing that for days.  Every morning before  leave for work I set up a scheduled show of MIIPshow.lss.  Then go out to my truck and drive across the street and start voting songs.  Play a couple every day.

 

[Wonko]

Ok thanks - and that will write the playback file for those sequences? Even if I play the show again on a different day?

[PhilMassey]

The playback files will ONLY need refreshing after a sequence update or preview change. Not everytime a show starts, Miip or otherwise.