PixelNet and Renard together in xLights

[akonkman]

PixelNet support in xLights is much appreciated!  I'm struggling a bit, however, trying to get PixelNet and Renard working together.  I am using LSP to create my sequences, but want to use xLights to run the show (the LSP Scheduler is running very sluggishly for me).  So, my plan is to export from LSP into LOR format, and then use xLights to run these.

My setup is 64 channels of Renard on COM3, and 3360 channels of PixelNet on COM5. 

I am able to setup the Network config in xLights and use the Test feature to manually control lights on both Renard and PixelNet.  But, whenever I run a sequence, only the network at the top of the Network list is outputing data (apparently)

I think I'm not understanding how the mapping between LOR sequences and networks in xLights works.  I was assuming that if I have 3424 (3360+64) channels in my LOR sequence (all on "unit 1"), then the Network config would determine that the first 64 channels are mapped to Renard on COM3, and the next 3360 channels are mapped to PixelNet on COM5, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

Any ideas?

[akonkman]

I figured it out.... although it's going to require that I manually edit the XML files that come out of the LOR export process from LSP.  After checking out a sample LOR sequence that contained multiple networks (which I stumbled upon here:  You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login... thanks dowdybrown!), I figured out what the extra stuff is that I needed to add to the LOR sequence to tell xLights which network a particular channel is using. 

Basically, if the <channel> node doesn't contain a "network" attribute, then it assumes the "default" network, which corresponds to the first network in the network list in xLights.  To get a channel to get mapped to the second network in the network list, the <channel> node needs a network="1" attribute in it. 

I can't find a way in LSP to get it to set this "network" attribute, so I'll just plan on manually adding it. Not ideal, but at least my fancy sequence plays smoothly now!

Hope this information helps someone else in the process. 

[akonkman]

Haha... I just noticed that in the thread that I downloaded the sample LOR sequence from that uses multiple networks, it actually discusses the exact topic of networks in LOR mapping to networks in xLights.  But, since I don't have LOR software, I wasn't able to see what that actually means from an XML file standpoint.  From the sample LOR sequence, I was able to figure that out. 

Hopefully LSP will add a feature to allow setting the network for controllers when exporting to LOR, to make this a bit easier.

[dowdybrown]

Glad you figured it out. I may add an option in a future version of xLights to make this easier.

Matt

[csf]

Looks great matt! Awesome Job!

[dandyman]

So it seems like if you have lots of pixelnet channels (I currently only have 2016), that it would make sense to make pixelnet the first network, and any other (LOR, Renard, etc) controllers on the later networks... so that you only manually need to add 'network="1" ' to fewer lines?