Long delay for sequence to load in show

[Grady29]

My sequences are taking about 5-7 minutes to load when I am running a show.  The way I have my show setup is:  I run a startup show(animation) which I call intermission(a few props/lights on). Then on the half hour, I have my main show (musical) start and once that is done, I run my intermission sequence until the next half hour comes around.  When the main show starts up, it takes 5-7 minutes to load the sequences and everything shuts down(all lights/props off) while the sequences are loading.  Once loaded, they play with no problems.  I tried selecting " Sequences are loaded before any are played" in the show editor but that doesn't help.  Last year my shows started almost instantly.  I did add more props to the sequences this year, so I would assume this will add some extra time to load the sequences, but not take 5-7 minutes.

On a side note: When I was programming the sequences, the little green check mark at the left of the screen would spin while the sequence editor was doing its calculating.  This made programming the sequence very difficult/time consuming.  I found that I can "pause" the calculation while I was programming, which helped tremendously.  All my programming was done on my desktop but I run my shows from a laptop.  Though, my laptop is not a powerful as my desktop, last year this did not pose a problem.  I am baffled how to solve this problem.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Don]

When you are setting up groups, the "Use Preview" option (bottom right) is the worst option to choose; it will dramatically increase the processing time. Look into the other options given to you and see if that helps.

Side note: S6 seems to have quite a few enhancements to the show loading process. You might consider taking a look at it.

[Mr. P]

It has been a while so someone correct me if I don't remember this correctly but LOR uses a compressed file, .LLC, to run the sequence in the show so the long delay is your compressed file being created. There are some settings you can change to create the compressed files all at once before the show or on demand as the show is playing, what yours seems to be doing. Personally what I do is run the complete show through during the day so all sequences are compressed then the show will run fine. You only need to do this once to create the compressed files.

Edited October 2, 2023 by Mr. P

[dibblejr]

7 hours ago, Mr. P said:

It has been a while so someone correct me if I don't remember this correctly but LOR uses a compressed file, .LLC, to run the sequence in the show so the long delay is your compressed file being created. There are some settings you can change to create the compressed files all at once before the show or on demand as the show is playing, what yours seems to be doing. Personally what I do is run the complete show through during the day so all sequences are compressed then the show will run fine. You only need to do this once to create the compressed files.

You summarized it well "its been a while", what?

Like you I always run the show during the day and once its run one time, no problems.

J.R.

[PhilMassey]

I would also add to what Don said about S6.2.14 being faster to process files than even earlier S6 versions. The new control panel greatly simplifies show prep and does away with the multitude of playback files. There is now a single playback file for each sequence and the control panel show editor will prepare the show with just one click. It will take a few minutes.

We normally caution folks against upgrading this close to the season, but in this case there would be major performance benefits plus the ability to use the phone app for show control. The sequence file formats are unchanged, but, of course, make sure you are backed up, just in case.

[Orville]

1 hour ago, dibblejr said:

You summarized it well "its been a while", what?

Like you I always run the show during the day and once its run one time, no problems.

J.R.

Well, I guess I sort of give a free preview of what my show is going to be, I run my initial test shows (minus the outdoor speakers) after dark and listen to it on a portable radio with earphones, so as not to give everything away early.😉

I use a Director, so I compress everything before written to the SD Card, since the Director isn't capable (I don't think it is) of compressing the sequences.

So everything at initial showtime runs as it should without any delays.

When I did use a computer to run shows, I always compressed my sequences before creating ny show, never had any loading delays or issues.

Only time I had delay issues running my shows from a computer, was if I let the show compress and load the sequences, something I won't ever use again, not if I have to use my computer to run my shows for some reason(like a Director failure).

Edited October 2, 2023 by Orville

[Don]

1 hour ago, Orville said:

I use a Director, so I compress everything before written to the SD Card, since the Director isn't capable (I don't think it is) of compressing the sequences.

No need to compress when using a director. The software is going to covert it to the format used by the Director. It'd be the same size file(s) regardless of compressed or not.

[Grady29]

Thank you everyone for the suggestions. 

I did check my groups, and there was only one group that had "use preview" checked.  As I was learning to sequence, I somehow managed to create two different preview designs for Halloween.  The sequence that had one group checked with  "use preview", actually loaded faster than my other sequence, which I used no groups.

All my sequence have a .loredit extension and my shows have a .lss extension.  I assume they are not compressed? I actually was not aware of the compression feature and I tried finding the feature in LOR using the help menu, but I can't seem to find it, so I can't experiment with compressing.

I considered upgrading prior to this issue coming up but being I am into the holiday season, I am a little nervous switching over at the moment. 

It sounds like running the show ahead of time might be a possible solution for me.  If I could get a little more information about that.  I have three shows:

7pm-startup show- runs my intermission sequence (a few lights/props). repeats until main show starts

7:30pm- main show- runs 2 main sequences and follows with my intermission sequence until next show starts. This repeats every 30 minutes until final show runs

9:30pm- final show runs 2 main sequences and follows with my intermission sequence until 10pm and then shuts down

My scheduler is setup: (see attached)

7pm- startup show

7:30pm, 8pm, 8:30pm, 9pm, 9:30pm- main show

9:30pm- final show

 

With this schedule, if I were to run my show around 5 or 6 pm, will this solve my problem?

[PhilMassey]

You only have to build the show files one time. This is what causes the delays. Once built any show containing those sequences should start immediately. Compression is turned on in the right click menu of the lortray icon if I recall correctly. It's been a while since I used S5. Unless you change a sequence there is no need to rebuild. 

Again, show file prep is a one time deal until a sequence changes.

From memory. The show files will be an lss, and lpe and if compression is enabled, which I recommend, an lcs.

Most of this is history in S6.

[Grady29]

So if I understand correctly.  Once the show/sequence is built (i.e. if I start the schedule today), as long as I don't change the sequence, despite how I program my scheduler, the show should start immediately every day moving forward?

I wonder if it would be worth me upgrading?  What potential issues might I have by upgrading now?  Would it be almost plug and play?  Install the software and open my S5 sequences in S6 and re save in S6 version?  Or is there more to it?

[Don]

S5 to S6 is nothing more than installing S6.

Keep in mind that S6 has some powerful new scheduling abilities, so be prepared to spend a little bit learning about it.

[PhilMassey]

The file prep is independent of the schedule. Once a sequence has its files prepped, it doesn't matter which show it is in.

IIRC, there is a Sequence Compressor option in the lortray right click menu which prepares all the files without running a show.

Don beat me to it......again, 

The changes are almost all related to the control panel, the show player and the scheduler but it's pretty intuitive. Your sequences and preview should work fine and there is the benefit of the phone app for show control. There are also a lot of new motion effects.

I personally would open each sequence and check its preview for saftys sake but it's probably not necessary.

[Don]

6 minutes ago, PhilMassey said:

Don beat me to it......again, 

Doesn't happen that often... 

 

[Orville]

21 hours ago, Don said:

No need to compress when using a director. The software is going to covert it to the format used by the Director. It'd be the same size file(s) regardless of compressed or not.

Thanks Don, I never realized that.  I thought the compressed sequence would be converted and load quicker in the Director too.

But, in case my Director would fail, I have the sequencer set to save my sequences using compression, if I'd have to use my computer for backup in running my shows.

I always have a backup show saved on my computer for this purpose, you never know when something might fail, so my computer is always ready to take over the task if needed.

Learned that lesson years ago when the original Gen 1 Director I was using went belly up an hour before showtime.

Edited October 3, 2023 by Orville