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Author Topic: RICE not saving anything [SOLVED]  (Read 606 times)

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Offline VikingRS

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RICE not saving anything [SOLVED]
« on: January 01, 2021, 02:16:03 PM »
So we are trying to setup my Wife's saber using RICE.  We select the font profile we want to mess with.  Then click read setting and begin to adjust things.  We get the colors set up, and mess with the blade effects.  I click save all, then move on to the next one.  We mess with that one in that same manner.  Then we go back to check the previous one, or something happens and we have to reconnect, and everything except the first profile defaults back to orange.  Like it isn't retaining any of the settings whatsoever (beyond the very first one we did awhile ago).  Any ideas?
« Last Edit: January 08, 2021, 12:52:55 PM by VikingRS »

Offline erv

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Re: RICE not saving anything [SOLVED]
« Reply #1 on: January 02, 2021, 08:17:13 AM »
latest color used with a font (unless overridden by start_color in font_config) are saved in prefs.txt after selecting the new color AND executing a power off. You can also (very quickly) edit each color associated to each font by editing prefs.txt once you know the colors order from colors.txt

Offline VikingRS

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Re: RICE not saving anything [SOLVED]
« Reply #2 on: January 07, 2021, 11:16:47 AM »
So we finally had time to work on it again.  I copied all the base files (ie changelog, colors, config, prefs, specials) from my other saber and we started from scratch.  This included formatting the SD Card and doing a fresh install.

Got everything set up and re did all the colors.  After doing each profile, we would disconnect from RICE, and unplug the usb cable, reconnect and select "read settings".  Got to the end, and everything seemed fine.  Then decided offd needed to be set at 1000.  Connected the saber, set offd and saved all.  Then went to check the fonts....

A few of them were screwed up.  On the wrong color.  Over the next hour I went through, trying to fix things.  This one lost its color, this one is now unstable, etc.

Ended up getting out of RICE and trying to manually change the color profiles through Spectrum.  That seemed to help a bit, but it wasn't then being reflected in RICE.  Finally at some point the board locked up (happened a couple time during all this), so I disconnected the usb cable and unscrewed the battery connection (Vader's Vault setup where the base of the chassis screws in).  Somehow this seemed to fix things for the most part.  Just had to go in and change one font's color profile through Spectrum.

It does seem to possibly be something involving the Profile Selection area of the Remote tab (at least towards the end).  I was trying to change the color profile there and then save but it didn't want to keep the changes.

No idea what is causing all the problems.  The board is on v10.005c-30/10/2020 so it should be stable.

It seems like it was exactly like my other saber.  Set up each profile individually, to include color and blade effects, then don't xxx with it ever again (at least it feels that way, since I don't want to risk my settings by changing anything or adding more profiles).  Kind of defeats the point of having the ability to use RICE.  Granted, it is great to not have to pop out and SD card a hundred times during initial setup, but like I said, now I am afraid to mess with it because it becomes such a headache.

I don't know what I could be doing differently.  :cry:

Offline erv

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Re: RICE not saving anything [SOLVED]
« Reply #3 on: January 08, 2021, 01:07:55 AM »
A few of them were screwed up.  On the wrong color.  Over the next hour I went through, trying to fix things.  This one lost its color, this one is now unstable, etc.

as explained before, color profiles and blade profiles are bound together after selecting them, THEN executing a power off. You can always associate those manually by editing the latest combination of color and blade in prefs.txt


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It does seem to possibly be something involving the Profile Selection area of the Remote tab (at least towards the end).  I was trying to change the color profile there and then save but it didn't want to keep the changes.

you need to execute a power off to trigger the saving. Beside, the link between a profile and its color remains dynamic not bound permanently (since you can select them on the fly with spectrum or profile browsing). But I'll probably add the possibility to force storing that with a button even if you can remotely execute power off from RICE.

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It seems like it was exactly like my other saber.  Set up each profile individually, to include color and blade effects, then don't xxx with it ever again (at least it feels that way, since I don't want to risk my settings by changing anything or adding more profiles).  Kind of defeats the point of having the ability to use RICE.  Granted, it is great to not have to pop out and SD card a hundred times during initial setup, but like I said, now I am afraid to mess with it because it becomes such a headache.

That's what the start color and start profile are meant for, so that a permanent (start) bind exist between your font and your colors or profiles. That can also be set for your (currently loaded) font from RICE and be saved (in font_config).
I don't get the point about removing the SD card since you can also access it by mass storage over USB, if you'd want to edit a file manually, which in your case, you don't really need (personally, I edit the text files a lot for anything involving copy paste, but I do that over USB, I haven't taken my SD cards out for a long time, unless I have to copy 50 fonts, which would take longer via USB compared to the onboard card reader of my computer).

Offline VikingRS

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Re: RICE not saving anything [SOLVED]
« Reply #4 on: January 08, 2021, 09:53:37 AM »
The point about popping out the SD card was how I used to have to do it on my Crystal Shard Lightsabers.  They didn't have a USB connection.  So I would have to program the SD card, put it in, power up and check the saber.  Then if I wanted to make a change, I'd take the battery out to access the SD card and try again.  :embarrassed:

Offline VikingRS

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Re: RICE not saving anything [SOLVED]
« Reply #5 on: January 08, 2021, 09:58:54 AM »
as explained before, color profiles and blade profiles are bound together after selecting them, THEN executing a power off. You can always associate those manually by editing the latest combination of color and blade in prefs.txt


So what is considered a "power off"?  Is it literally just turning the blade off?  Or is it selecting Reset Board?  Because I was going so far as to disconnect the saber from the computer and RICE to try and unsure the saber would save.  If it is turning the blade off, should I not be bothering with the Save All button?

Offline erv

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Re: RICE not saving anything [SOLVED]
« Reply #6 on: January 08, 2021, 10:15:56 AM »
save => saves configuration files (colors, config, font config).
blade off (power off) => if current config has the dirty flag (ie, profile / colors changed) => writes prefs. You will see that in the logs (with RICE or a serial terminal app)

Offline VikingRS

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Re: RICE not saving anything [SOLVED]
« Reply #7 on: January 08, 2021, 10:45:04 AM »
save => saves configuration files (colors, config, font config).
blade off (power off) => if current config has the dirty flag (ie, profile / colors changed) => writes prefs. You will see that in the logs (with RICE or a serial terminal app)

Okay so, I think where things were messing up is:

1) We didn't know that about the blade off saving prefs.txt while in RICE.  Seems like what was happening is we would go back to check a previous font while leaving the blade on, thus changing the prefs.txt.

2) We should go in, mess with each color profile on it's own.  Then go in, mess with each blade profile on it's own.  Then because some blade profiles can look quite different depending on how the colors are arranged, if we want a specific blade profile on a specific color (ie say Red with Flame Blade) we should make a new color profile specifically for that.  What I mean is, if I have set the base Red (let's say that is Color Profile 0) and it doesn't mesh well with the Flame Blade (because FoC or Lockup is set in a way that makes it look wonky), then I should make a new Color Profile (let's say 22) that I tweak so it meshes better with the Flame Blade setting.

Does that sound like what I should be doing?  Because like I said before, as it stands I'm terrified if I add another sound font I'm going to screw up all my other settings.


I suppose the thing that gets most confusing is the difference of when I should be hitting the different save buttons (ie Save Config, Save Font Config, Save Colors, Save All).  I think I get it now (ex: Save Config is good when strictly messing with Blade Profile or Saber settings like offd, where you aren't trying to screw with any of the color profiles.)

Maybe update the tooltip that appears when hovering over those buttons so it isn't all the same text (ie: Send/Receive Sound Board Config/View Text Config).  Also, what does Reset Board even do?  Set it back to some sort of default setting?  Or cycle the power to the board?


Offline erv

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Re: RICE not saving anything [SOLVED]
« Reply #8 on: January 08, 2021, 11:30:42 AM »
1) We didn't know that about the blade off saving prefs.txt while in RICE.  Seems like what was happening is we would go back to check a previous font while leaving the blade on, thus changing the prefs.txt.

added more details about this in the newer manual

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2) We should go in, mess with each color profile on it's own.  Then go in, mess with each blade profile on it's own.  Then because some blade profiles can look quite different depending on how the colors are arranged, if we want a specific blade profile on a specific color (ie say Red with Flame Blade) we should make a new color profile specifically for that.

yes, that's why colors and blade profiles aren't part of the same structure. You can have a single set of fx parameter attached to certain colors. Some won't work that well (fire as an example). That's also why the font_font uses filters over the color and blade profiles thesaurus / set. So that when you browse with spectrum, you avoid what you don't want to see. Example, kylo font : keep only redish colors and unstable and fire profiles and skip the others.

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Does that sound like what I should be doing?  Because like I said before, as it stands I'm terrified if I add another sound font I'm going to screw up all my other settings.

your profiles are stored in the general configs, and the colors are stored in their own files, that's not dependent of the font. The only relationship between the 2 is realized by A) the retained last color / blade profile used for a particular font (manually set or via spectrum) in prefs.txt B) as start color and blade in the font, if you want to override the lastly used profiles and always start with a particular combo of color + blade when you boot up a particular font

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I think I get it now (ex: Save Config is good when strictly messing with Blade Profile or Saber settings like offd, where you aren't trying to screw with any of the color profiles.)

yes, different buttons for working saving separate files and informations

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Also, what does Reset Board even do?  Set it back to some sort of default setting?  Or cycle the power to the board?

it...resets (reboots) the board (it's microcontroller) without cycling power

 

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