Models not displaying in preview

[nayrma]

First year on Xlights and have been sequencing a new show for 2020.  While playing the sequence and watching the display, I am getting models that do not light up in the preview.  My first suspicion is that I had a problem with universes or ports but that *appears* to be okay.  I say appears because I do not know 100% what I am doing yet since this is the first year using it.  I have noticed that the model that isn't played seems to move around.  What causes models not to play in the preview?  I highly suspect I have something wrong in the layout but I don't know where to start.  To make things harder, I have a non-typical layout for some of the models.  Based on a video I watched on AusChristmas, this shouldn't cause a problem as long as I specify the ports at the controller but I wonder if this is part of the problem.  I also wonder if OneDrive doing constant syncing of the files was the problem.  I moved my show to a local file and it hasn't gotten any better.  I am worried that what I see in the preview will be what actually happens and if that is the case, my show will be very broken.

Setup:
F16V3 with 3 Smart Remotes

2 900 pixel matrices (4 strands total) used on controller A
1200 pixel tree split across 3 ports on controller B and it is not an even 400 for each string
2 arches on 13c
2 arches on 15b
Candy canes on 15c
Minitrees on 14c

This may or may not be relevant but if this is configuration problem, I am hoping this will help.  Thankfully it is only August and I have time to figure this out because right now I feel like I am hitting my head up against a brick wall

As always, thanks to anyone in advance that can help solve my problem

[poporacer]

That gives us some information to work on, but not much. you should package the sequence you are having problems with and describe the problem that you are seeing, something like, "at 00:23.050 the spiral effect is not showing on Mini Tree1"
When you say Preview, you are talking about the Whole House preview in xLights?

[nayrma]

Correct the entire house profile.  This is clearly user error in my part.  I changed something somewhere that broke everything.  I was able to fix this by restoring a previous version of the xlights_rgbeffects.  I would still like to understand how I broke it but I also don't want to waste anyone's time. 

The immediate plan is to compare the XML of a xlights_rgbeffects that works compared to the one that broke.  If I can understand what I did to break it, I won't do that again.  For now I'm not touching any of the models

I have 1 closing question:  I had been messing with the controller connection settings for each model. If I have no plans to use the upload feature in Xlights do these settings even matter or as long as I have the universes defined and ensure the controller is configured correctly by universe?



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[poporacer]

I would still like to understand how I broke it but I also don't want to waste anyone's time.

If you attach the broken file, we might be able to tell you what the problem is, if it was a waste of time, this forum wouldn't be here! LOL

I have 1 closing question:  I had been messing with the controller connection settings for each model. If I have no plans to use the upload feature in Xlights do these settings even matter or as long as I have the universes defined and ensure the controller is configured correctly by universe?

If you are not going to use the controller upload feature, then you do not need to configure any of that information, but the bigger question is WHY? The controller upload is a great feature and essentially eliminates several problems people have had when configuring both xLights and their controllers. Manually configuring your controllers can be very time consuming and usually it takes a few tries to get it right. And if you add/delete/change any aspect of your show, then you have to do it all over again which could take several hours each time, where the upload feature is only seconds. But use whatever method works best for you.

[nayrma]

I'm all about making things easier but I am not sure my setup allows me to use the controller upload.  My understanding is if I don't have a typical setup for some of the models, it becomes difficult to use the upload.  For example I have a 1200 pixel tree but it is not split into even strands.  1 strand is 600, the 2nd strand is 400 and the last strand is 200.  I did it this way to maximize the 1024 pixel limit of the smart receivers being daisy chained together.  After last year's box getting wet incident, I'm a little gun shy about putting the expensive controller outside and would be a little less sad if I only lost $20 instead of $200 

If the info I saw online is outdated and this configuration can be supported by Xlights, I' all in.

I'll post a version of the file along with a time point where the problem happens. 

[nayrma]

That gives us some information to work on, but not much. you should package the sequence you are having problems with and describe the problem that you are seeing, something like, "at 00:23.050 the spiral effect is not showing on Mini Tree1"
When you say Preview, you are talking about the Whole House preview in xLights?

So I lied when I said it fixed the problem later.  It kinda fixed the problem.  The show plays as is but if I move an effect it breaks everything.  For example, around the 3 minute I went to move the Single Strand effect from the Windows group to see what it looks like on a Matrix instead.  When I moved (or copy/pasted) the effect to to a new model and then hit play, everything that previously played fine may stop working.  For example I noticed when I moved it, nothing light up.  If I exit (without saving) and then play the sequence from that same point, everything is fine.  Thank goodness this is August I am trying to figure this out and not November

Attaching packaged show...hopefully this will help

[Ebuechner]

A couple of things to check, first off did you do a render all?
The other thing I noticed that can cause problems as you have the allow blending between models turned on under sequence settings.
On my computer when I moved that single line from the windows to the Matrix everything else kept working.

[nayrma]

At the risk of sounding dumb, how do you "render all"?  Are there any other tweaks recommended to configure out of the box? I basically did an install and just went but it already sounds like there's opportunity to make things better

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[Ebuechner]

When all else fails do a render all it's just to the right of the save buttons.
By pushing that button it forces all of your effects to be rendered by the computer.

[poporacer]

Here:

[nayrma]

Just to think... The lack of clicking a single button had me going almost insane.  I did some testing this evening and clicking that render all button seems to have fixed the problem. 

I'm giving the two of you a virtual high-five for the help

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