Another DMX Newbie has hit a wall

Firstly: Holy crap DMX is a bizarre combination of arcane and opaque systems.

Anyway, sorry to dig this up again, but I've read Kyle's thread from 2 years ago, el.tito's thread from 2 years before that and the wiki pages and I've still not managed to get EE to talk to my DMX light and was hoping for a little advice as to what to try next.

I've got a usb to DMX512 interface adapter that uses uDMX. This one if it matters: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01HLRIUN8

I've installed the illutzmination udmxdriver from here: https://www.illutzmination.de/udmxdriver.html?&L=1 and managed to get it controlled by the FreeStyler application so that I can turn it on using channel 1 + 2 set to 0 and 255 respectively:

So I've made a little test hardware.ini with the following contents:

[hardware]
device = uDMXDevice

[channels]
# 2 Channel UV
2ChannelUV  = 1, 2

[state]
condition = Always
target = 2ChannelUV
value = [0], [255]

Which I think should just turn the light on when EE starts? But it doesn't.

The relevant bit of EmptyEpsilon.log seems to be:

[ERROR] uDMX.dll reported device is not connected.
[ERROR] But resuming to use it anyhow.
[INFO] New hardware device: uDMXDevice with: 512 channels
[INFO] Channel #1, 2: 1
[INFO] Channel #1, 2: 2
[INFO] Hardware subsystem initialized with: 512 channels

Kyle's thread mentioned that he "needed to use the Entec protocol instead of DMX512" but I don't know where to do that. I tried changing the device to EnttecDMXProDevice but that gave a "failed to configure device error" so I think I was closer with the uDMXDevice.

I tried swithing to the VirtualOutputDevice and that gave me a white box, so I think the config ini formatting is OK, but I don't know what to try next.

Thanks for any assistance.

Comments

  • Quick search shows this USB to DMX converter is sold under many different names. But information beyond that is limited to "works with supplied Freestyler software"

    The uDMX driver in EE isn't the most used variation (most hardware is compatible with the "DMX512SerialDevice") however, it's implementation is very simple.


    With the uDMX drivers comes a "uDMXConfigure.bat", does that show a configuration dialog?

    Also, you could try running EE as administrator to see if that makes a difference.

  • Thanks for the suggestions Daid. I'll try them tonight.

    It did occur to me that it might be a "only works with freestyler" situation, but I installed Q Light Controller+ (https://www.qlcplus.org/) as well just to check and it worked with that too.

  • edited January 2020

    And it uses the uDMX adapter in QLightController+? I see that that code does not use the uDMX.dll as my code does, but goes through libusb. I could replicate that implementation, with as bonus that it works for Linux as well in that case.

    And the illutzmination udmxdriver has 3 versions, which version did you try?

    Also, in the windows device manager, can you see what this device reports as "Hardware Ids"? Will look like this, somewhere hidden deep inside the properties of the device. (This example is not a DMX device)


  • Yes, the uDMX adapter in QLC+. I think. If that's what this means in the mappings tab:

    I used the "libusbK: all tested programs worked fine. Try this driver first." illutzmination driver. Was that the wrong one should I try one of the others?

    The hardware IDs are reporting as follows:

    USB\VID_16C0&PID_05DC&REV_0102

    USB\VID_16C0&PID_05DC



  • With the uDMX drivers comes a "uDMXConfigure.bat", does that show a configuration dialog?

    It does not. It throws an error "missing entry: ConfigureModal", which doesn't look like a good sign.

    Also, you could try running EE as administrator to see if that makes a difference.

    Tried that, it did not.

  • I used the "libusbK: all tested programs worked fine. Try this driver first." illutzmination driver. Was that the wrong one should I try one of the others?

    I recommend trying the others as well.

  • edited January 2020

    Tried the other two drivers (WinUSB and libusb) now, in both cases EE still doesn't control the light and both QLightController and Freestyler stop working too.

    Reinstalling libusbK allows QLightController and Freestyler to work again but EE still doesn't.

    Is there a better USB to DMX adapter I should be using? Is this one just a bad type?

  • edited February 2020

    Could also be my udmx code. I'll see if i can replace it with the implementation from QLightController and send you an test version.

    Problem is there are a few different cheap hardware options. And you managed to pick one that body else tried yet.

    (Some controllers are crazy expensive. If you know that the DMX connector is the most expensive part of the whole controller)

  • Thanks Daid.

    If it turns out that you can't replace it, I'd love a recommendation for a controller that has been proven to work. I'd love to get the light gear working with EE - I think it'll really enhance the immersion.

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