Learning Proffie Board

[steady patio]

Hi! i just bought my first neopixel saber, i am looking for some thurough help in terms of adding and customizing fonts and/or effects. I already downloaded 1 or 2 premade ones that i'd like to install to my saber, however i have 0 clue how- i do have to purchase a data transfer cable, as i only own charging cables that fit the plug, and i dont want ta damage it- so if someone can reply here, and possibly find time within DM's to assist me that'd be great! im open to VC if i need to, weather it be to talk, share screen, or both. I am in EST Timezone, its about half past 10 as of sending this, anyone in a similar timezone would work best for me, im usually available around noon- i have about a week of spare time right now.

Thank You!!

(ps, i have the "Judger" from Theory Saber w/ Profile 2.2 board installed, brand new out of box today, i already backed up the original files on my computer)

[mossy raft]

Which font package did you choose for the saber? And was that one 1 button or 2 button?

btw, there are some resources (including a tutorial for some all in one software) pinned in #electronics-and-sound.

[steady patio]

i believe button 2 since button 1 said it was the basic less customizable one

[steady patio]

i watcehd a few videos but i cant seem to grasp it

[mossy raft]

check mine pinned in that channel for proffieconfig.

[steady patio]

i also dont have a data cable yet so i have no way of actually testing it

[mossy raft]

right, but still good idea to absorb all you can before it does.

[steady patio]

are you familliar with grayscale fonts? i wanted to get a few of those but idk how to add the "saber style" or whatever

and when i treid doing it via SD card it worked all other than sound "i think"

[mossy raft]

oh I'm very familiar, but you will need the base config that is currently flashed to the board as a base to work from first. Why I asked which font package you chose from Theory.

Ah, ok, so that is 2 button. (I don't have the model names memorized, just the hilt designs).

[steady patio]

oh well when i looked at the SD card out of box it was simply 24 fonts

so that also confused me

[mossy raft]

sounds like the MK1 package then.

[steady patio]

i think it was one of the free ones

it had like, pod racer anikin, and darth vader, and ashoka tahno

[mossy raft]

was it these fonts?

[steady patio]

yes

[mossy raft]

yep, Mk1. ok hang on here.

[steady patio]

how can i tell diference between a data cable and charging one? is there a distinction?

i only have 1 of the correct cable and i just "know" its a charging cacble

[mossy raft]

usually will tell you on the package that it's data capable, otherwise you can usually guess by origin. Like if it's a cable that came with a console controller.

btw, here is your base config that is compatible with OS7 (current proffie OS version).

[steady patio]

i have a cable from a corded XBOX controller?

found it a few min ago

[mossy raft]

if it's a microUSB plug, it should work.

[steady patio]

it is

let me grab it

[mossy raft]

#electronics-and-sound message

[steady patio]

btw on my chassis, do lights turn off when cahrging is done or is it a timed thing bc the lights turned off

[mossy raft]

they should turn off when charging is complete.

[steady patio]

ok

[steady patio]

where do i put this

just like, base folder?

or in each profile

[mossy raft]

it doesn't go on the SD card if that is what you are asking.

[steady patio]

k

uh just to be safe imma ask, am i doing this with or without the battery in

[mossy raft]

you'll need it as the base for adding, watch that video I linked. It's up to date with that all in one software.

[steady patio]

i alr pinned the video to my google btw

[mossy raft]

you'll want to remove the battery when removing the SD card and putting it back in, but the flashing process you can do with or without the battery, though without you will likely notice garbled audio since the amp isn't fully powered.

[steady patio]

so remove is only needed for any sort of movement of the SD, otherwise its more handy with it in

[mossy raft]

indeed.

[steady patio]

okie dokei

let me take a glance at this video rq

[mossy raft]

oh, with the OS7 version of that config, you will need to add a common folder voice pack onto the SD card. EAsy enough, there is a database of various ones pinned in the electronics and sound channel.

[steady patio]

so when i add a config, its the one u sent me?

😭 its downloading aufly slow

[mossy raft]

the one I sent is the base you will need, you will add the presets for a new font to that, then upload the updated config to the board.

[steady patio]

and this is universal between fonts?

also how does it work if/when theres an update for the board?

[mossy raft]

yep. Well the font is techically the folder with the audio files on the SD card. The presets are the blocks of code in the config that tell the board the font is there and what behaviour the blade should have.

[steady patio]

do i do profile board v2?

[mossy raft]

yes, v2 since you have a v2.2 board.

[steady patio]

k

[mossy raft]

I'd also recommend going through the POD, most up to date information you can get: https://pod.hubbe.net/

[steady patio]

so in the editor thing

what do i do for the 2 directory things

font directory and track file

[mossy raft]

well all you should need to do is import that config to the software and work from that. As for the track file, that is whatever music track you will want to play with the preset. As for the directory, that is the name of the folders on the SD card you want to use for the preset.

[steady patio]

so leave track blank

and the directory is file location for the font

[mossy raft]

yeah, you can look at the other presets to see an example. it's usually the 'font-folder-name-on-SD' then folowed by ;common (the common folder that has all the vocal menu files in it.)

[steady patio]

uh

so

the directory to

just like, all of these?

[mossy raft]

no, at the root of the SD card.

[steady patio]

huh

[mossy raft]

these are your font folders, the name goes in the directory. Again, import the config I provided into ProffieConfig software and look at the other presets in the list and compare it to your SD card contents, should understand it by comparing it:

[steady patio]

does it matter that they are like, double foldered

idk why they are, but the custom ones are double folfer'd

like

[mossy raft]

don't worry about the structure inside the folders, just worry about the names at the root folders.

[steady patio]

ok

so essentially

write down folderner and ;common

im frikkin slow 😭

folder name*

[mossy raft]

the way greyscale has them, I think he has the root folder labeled as 'proffie', this is the folder you copy to the SD card then rename it to something that makes sense for the font.

[steady patio]

i renamed it to the fonts name

but like, its a font folder, inside of a font folder now

bc they are both the saem

so i just need to take out the "inner" one

and delete the outer folder

its like if i had a trading card in a sofft sleeve and a toploader at the same time rn

i need to remove the toploader

but keep the sleeve

right?

[mossy raft]

so this would be what the contend of the named folder look like:

[steady patio]

yes

ok i got it

[mossy raft]

then at the root of the drive:

[steady patio]

all fixed

k so i added these 2

now imma continue 🫡

[mossy raft]

keep in mind, you will need to redo all the settings and get new styles if you are making a new config from scratch.

[steady patio]

im doing the config u sent

[mossy raft]

no, it didn't import if that's the case, should be seeing a lot more in that preset list.

[steady patio]

i removed them

:)

bc i dont have the filed fore all of em so why would i keep em yk

ill add moer when i want more but for now im jsut experimenting

👍

[mossy raft]

... no, you do have them tho, they came on the SD card.

[steady patio]

well like what i mean is like

id rather add them all over myself when i realize i want them

bc

i can learn by repeating

quick question tho

[mossy raft]

ok. you have a base to work from in any event.

[steady patio]

what does it mean if i add another blade

like, color optinos that are hot swappable mid use of saber?

or like interchangable styles for 1 font

rather

?

[mossy raft]

accent lights would count as another blade, but with TXQ sabers, there is only ever 1 so you shouldn't need to worry about it.

[steady patio]

aight

i hate that its marked as blad 0 tho

😭

[mossy raft]

it's a binary count, so it starts at 0.

[steady patio]

yea

ok so, i added teh 2 things and verfied it

[mossy raft]

I mean, techincally you could sub-blade and split the data line into 2 blades (like if you for some reason wanted your blade half flame and half rotoscope effect) but that would be an advance thing.

[steady patio]

so i can just upload it and it SHOULD work?

do i have to manuallt remove the old config or will this like, override it or something btw

[mossy raft]

yes, it should. I should mention i'm like 5 minutes away from calling it a night so you might need to wait around for more help if something is amiss.

[mossy raft]

the uploading process automatically wipes out the previous config.

[steady patio]

ok, im gonna pray- and if all goes well great i have 1 single question remaining

[mossy raft]

why you need the base config to start with otherwise you are rebuilding it from scratch.

Lucky for you I do the repairs for TXQ and by extention Theory Sabers.

[steady patio]

oh shit thats cool

ig i am pretty lucky lol

uh 1 last quetion tho

where do you reccomend for premade fonts, bc i only know of grayscale and would love to check out more than just 1 or 2 websites

[mossy raft]

Kshith has his own site and has good ones, otherwise there is saberfont.com (still looks like it's from the early 2000's) and on there I would recommend Juansith.

[steady patio]

okie dokie tysm, this was sooo much easier than the videos i had seen- lets just pray it works, if i need any more help ill wait till tmr to message here 🙏

thank you much

[mossy raft]

I'll ping @tame berry who made the software in case he can be around to assist as well, but yeah I'll be around tomorrow as well.

[steady patio]

😭 divicce not recognised

ffs

i cant even connect thsi bih

ryryog do u know how to fix this?

also sory if i spelt that wrong my galsses are dirty and my laptop is small lol

[tame berry]

Do you have a screenshot for the specific error?

Also can you send me the log file?

[steady patio]

apologies i was restarting my pc

[tame berry]

Oh that's a Windows thing, you can ignore it.

Windows is dumb

[steady patio]

yea but it like

isnt detecting it

[tame berry]

Are you connecting via the microB port on the board?

It's possible your USB cable isn't data-capable also.

[steady patio]

it should be

raven told me it should be

it came with a wired game controller

[tame berry]

Ok, and you are using the on-board port?

[steady patio]

yes

[tame berry]

And you hit the refresh button?

[steady patio]

refresh button?

[tame berry]

"Refresh Boards" iirc

[steady patio]

i mean i can try 1 more time

[tame berry]

If you already did once the board is plugged in that should be fine.

[steady patio]

okie

[tame berry]

If it's not showing up (no "COM" entry), then you should try putting the board into bootloader mode and uploading use BOOTLOADER RECOVERY.

Beyond that, we'd need to check out Device Manager and make sure Windows even sees the board.

[steady patio]

how do u put it in bootloader mode

[steady patio]

its in device manager, just has the error on it

ive already tried to uninslall and re plug in

[tame berry]

It'll be under "COM & LPT ports"

Not USB

[steady patio]

oh 1 sec

uhh where is that?

[tame berry]

I think it's closer to the bottom of the device manager page

I dunno if it shows up if there's no devices.

[tame berry]

Hmm... if it's not there at all that's a problem.

I would question the cable foremost.

Even if that did come w/ a controller, it could be damaged or just be a cheaper cable that doesn't actually support data?

[steady patio]

idk if i even own another one

[tame berry]

https://pod.hubbe.net/howto/how-to-recover-from-a-bad-programming.html

Ignore the title name, steps 1-5 are the important ones.

[steady patio]

so like

where are those 2 buttons 😭

[steady patio]

ok

they are yellow got it

got it

that worked

[tame berry]

Neat, so then upload/apply w/ BOOTLOADER RECOVERY selected should work.

[steady patio]

now what just add via bootloader

okie

allat for 2 fonts 😭

should i like, buy a new cable or 2 to be safe

[tame berry]

If the one you have works, it works.

A cable is a cable./

[steady patio]

ig

but its also my only one

and i have 2 dogs

and 1 is turning liek 2 or 3 in a month

lol

[tame berry]

Hopefully once you've got this down once it should be more straightforward. ProffieConfig tries to make things easier but unfortunately there is still a bit of a learning curve.

[steady patio]

holy mother of noises this board jsut made

[tame berry]

Need a cable lockbox 😛

[steady patio]

so and so not sound

so and so not found

SD card not found

almost like the card isnt in it rn 😭

[tame berry]

Yeah, and w/ only USB power the audio will sound garbled.

The built-in error messges are not great quality though even w/ battery.

[steady patio]

lol

god this battery SUCKS to get out

[tame berry]

Shouldn't need to remove it for most things.

[steady patio]

raven said to remove it to take SD card in and out ;-;

[tame berry]

Oh... yeah if you don't have a kill switch

[steady patio]

kill switch?

[tame berry]

just a switch that kills power

[steady patio]

uh

idk

its theory saber w/ 2 buttons

[tame berry]

Yeah probably not

[steady patio]

the damned glue makes it a pain to remove

theres like

a jelly kinda goopy not fully cured adhesive

[steady patio]

does it like, fry the card or sum?

[tame berry]

No, when I say "kill" i just mean disconnect. It's like taking out the battery but without taking it out.

[steady patio]

no i mean if i dont remove the battery

ik what a kill switch is- i ride motorcycles lol

[tame berry]

Oh. If you insert it at a weird angle it could, but the bigger concern is connection/disconnection rapidly which could cause data corruption.

Or pulses that could cause damage.

[steady patio]

i got SOOO mf scared, it wouldnt turn on and i had no clue why for a second

ig the battery died idk

i was told that the lights turn off when its fully charged

but like

they turned off so it shouldnt be dead?

like

before starting all this

ig ill just leave it for a while

lights just tunred off again- i think its just a timed thing when u plug it in

on a scale of 1-10 how F'd am i if i charge it overnight

also the sound fonts worked btw

ty both sm

🙏

that was my last question btw lol

[steady patio]

i forgot 🤦‍♂️ how do i add a track, and is it all background?

like a passive bg music

theres a font i wanna seet up but idk how tracks work

[tame berry]

There’s a couple different ways.

ProffieOS has built in track stuff, which is where you enter in the file name in the preset’s Track File box, and then there’s a button control to play it.

Fett263’s prop has a track player that lets you play multiple and cycle through them and it doesn’t care what’s in the preset entry, but I don’t recall how it works off the top of my head

[steady patio]

I kinda just messed with it, if it works than great, otherwise oh well

I can’t rlly test it bc it’s 2:00 AM

[tame berry]

Fair enough lol.

[steady patio]

Heheh but I could go outside

But it’s cold and I don’t wanna put on my Jedi robes

[steady patio]

My cable worked and connected propporly the second time around 💀 I added a few more fonts, I’m gonna test them in the morning

[tame berry]

Yeah the software originally on the board was probably just being fiddly. An apply will clear that up, so that’s good it did, means there’s no real issue

[steady patio]

Typ shit

[steady patio]

raven

how do i fix this

it keeps saying "font directory not fount" but it literally works

[mossy raft]

did you add the common folder?

to the SD card.

[steady patio]

wdym

a folder called "common" and put all fonts inside of it?

[mossy raft]

I mentioned it yesterday, the common folder with the voice pack files.

[mossy raft]

no, stand by.

From here: #electronics-and-sound message Pick your voice pack then put the common folder from the zip file to the root of the SD card. Should resolve that error.

Fett's prop for OS7 requires the folder since that's where the vocal menu files are located.

for context, sabers from TXQ ship with OS5.9 on the board, so there have been some changes since then.

[steady patio]

its for the sound when you select font right?

[mossy raft]

no, hang on.

The common folder holds the voice files for this kind of functionality.

[steady patio]

so like

the narroting voice

?

[mossy raft]

more like vocal menu's. Volume, settings, etc. Or in the case of mine battery voltage (the config I provided you gives a percentage).

[steady patio]

oh

ok

where do i put it once its downloaded

and do i have to rename it

[mossy raft]

no, should be good to go, just open up the zip, look for the proffie folder, open it up you should see a folder called 'common'. Just drop that on the SD card and good to go.

[steady patio]

cool its fixed

ty

[steady patio]

raven

i never figured out but how do i config having like- bgm

theres 2 or 3 fonts i want that have idle bgm while im not swinging or flourishing

[mossy raft]

that's where the track comes in and the track player. Though I don't really use it myself so not gonna be too much help there.

[steady patio]

do u know is ry knows

oh btw what is "in" and "out" for sound files

just curious

[mossy raft]

he might. The button controls are listed when you look at he 'prop' dropdown, so that should tell you how to start and stop the track player. Then the track file itself you just define in the correct box in the preset screen.

[steady patio]

oki

[mossy raft]

the sound that plays for the blade extending and retracting.

[steady patio]

the track file just needs to be labled track right

[mossy raft]

the file itself can be named anything so long as it's defined in the preset correctly.

[steady patio]

oki ill see if i got it right

[steady patio]

do i need to make a designated "track" folder in the root

or do they like, go in the root by themselves? or in the font folder?

[mossy raft]

the track folder on OS7 should be in the common folder but can be at the root as well still (which is where it should still be from the factory).

[steady patio]

how do i set it on proffie config

do i just type the name of the .wav file?

[mossy raft]

in the box that says track, you would put track/name-o-file.wav (then of course make sure the track is actually in the folder).

[steady patio]

so if it was called V1, i'd type
track/V1.wav
and put it in the common folder for my font

or do i make a "track" folder in the common folder

[mossy raft]

it would go in the track folder, then that folder would go into common. Or you can keep it at the root where it is currently.

[steady patio]

so either location works

ill prob do them in the individual common folders for the sake of short names and organization

[mossy raft]

in Fetts common folder video he puts it in the common folder, but I've never done that since I don't use the track player in my personal setups. So not sure if there are extra steps involved with putting the folder in there.

[steady patio]

ok so if its in root, its just a loose file?

[mossy raft]

no, it would still be in the track folder, just the track folder would be in common rather than the root.

[steady patio]

mm

[steady patio]

it wont work 😭

[tame berry]

Where is the track file and what have you entered in?

[steady patio]

uh

i tried with it in a "track" folder in the font itself

and i think i also tried in a "track" folder in the root

it was just named track1

i put it as track/track1.wav

bc raven said type track/(track name).wav

[mossy raft]

I mean, that is how I understand it. As I said, I don't usually use the track player so I don't have much experinece with it.

[tame berry]

If it's in the root you need a / at the beginning of the name, so /track/track1.wav.

If it's in the font folder or the common folder, it should just be track1.wav. If it's inside a track folder inside the font or common folder, it should be track/track1.wav.

You should double check the file extension and format though.

[steady patio]

like this?

[tame berry]

Yes

If that doesn’t work I would suspect the file format might be wonky or something like that.

[steady patio]

it says (long click power) pointing up

when i do it doenst say or do anything

[tame berry]

Are you able to have the Serial Monitor open while you do that?

(with the board plugged in?)

[steady patio]

huh