Upload to SSA does not work, but the dmx encoder does

[marijnboeve]

Hello,

I have multiple SSA units, not 1 of them i get the stand alone to work. The encoder does work en the software sees the controller, when i make a simple step and place it on the timeline when selecting a button and zone it does upload, i dont get a windows but the lights flashes. but it will not work when i press te button. when i enable the dmx output in the standalone windows en press play in a button i see the lights change like it would need to be.

Im on Macos 26.5 ( but have tried it in the past on win 10 and 11 pc and it didnt work ether)
Software is on 9.2.23

See images and show file in link.
https://we.tl/t-YoF36EiCU5sxmnad

[support]

Hello,

Thank you for the detailed information.

The SSA is a very old interface (year 2003). While it is still supported by the current software for live control from a computer, the standalone programming features are no longer fully compatible with recent software versions.

From your description, the hardware communication appears to be working correctly, as the software detects the interface, the encoder responds, and DMX output can be triggered from the software. This suggests that the issue is related to the standalone programming compatibility rather than a hardware fault.

To use the standalone mode of the SSA interface, you will need to use an older version of the software from the period when the SSA was actively supported for standalone operation.
https://forum.thelightingcontroller.com ... php?t=4553
The version 8 should be ok.
If not, please try the version 7.

[marijnboeve]

Thanks for the reply.

I managed to get it working in the end by using an older version of the software. In my case, I used a Windows 11 laptop, installed SweetLight version 5, and also installed the old USB-DMX drivers.

During the driver installation, Windows blocked the driver because of driver signature enforcement. I solved this by opening Command Prompt as Administrator and running:

bcdedit -set loadoptions DDISABLE_INTEGRITY_CHECKS

After restarting the laptop, I installed the DMX-to-USB driver manually through Device Manager.

After that, I was able to program the standalone buttons on the SSA successfully.

Hope this helps anyone else with the same problem!

[support]

Thank you for sharing this information and for taking the time to explain the procedure.

You have indeed followed the correct process to get the SSA working with older hardware and software versions.

Unfortunately, this procedure requires modifying Windows security settings and manually installing legacy drivers, which makes it unsuitable for most users. For this reason, we cannot officially recommend or document it as a standard solution.

Nevertheless, your feedback may be very useful for experienced users who are trying to keep older SSA interfaces operational.

Thank you again for sharing your findings.

[Piobee]

Oh Hi!... I'm just a "normal" user, but I've been having this problem too with my many SSAs I own... after getting Claude AI to reverse engineering this,
(we now in Canada have the legal right to do so to prevent obsolescence!!!)

And good news, after weeks of searching, I was able to patch that DLL and v9.4.7 works flawlessly now with the standalone feature.

The problem is actually NOT the driver itself, but in a file called "efk_hardware.dll" If a dev reads this, it is juts a simple variable that's not declared correctly in V9.0 until current version (right now publishing this post v9.4.7)

Note: Further testing required to demonstrate full compatibility for the fix, as I'm not sure if this affects other models too, like Box or the new Xpress-Rack-1024. I will try to get in touch with the devs.


If you are into nitty gritty *geeky* delails... (or you are a dev reading this)

The confusing part is that there is more than one, separate issues.
There -IS- a usb problem with *some* newer laptops with usb3.x and + controllers.
If you can run V9.4.7 software fine on an older pc with native usb 2.0 ports but can even run a show from the software, the problem is material compatibility. Going to an older driver won't fix the problem. This *can* be fixed easily with a firmware patch however. (I also managed to fix this issue for my SSAs and BOXes, and same for the chauvet variants)

Hint: If you can't patch you firmware, using a virtual machine like Windows 10 in VMWare and USB 2.0 emulation will do the trick, even though less than ideal.

But even when you are able to make the software communicate with the newer driver (driver 2024), you still won't be able to upload because of a bug in the V9.x software, not the driver or the material and not because it's old stuff. Not even because V9 send files "differently".

It's a simple, simple code error that got lodged in the file efk_hardware.dll

More specifically, when you make your "Standalone Timeline" on each button, the software (I'll refer as TLC for thelightingcontroller) creates "button scene files" button1.sce, button2.sce, button3.sce, button4.sce etc...

Except now, when you click "upload" the software tries to read them back, but the variable that counts what file name it should be at is not declared correctly and the program just "forgets" where it's at. For THAT reason, and that reason ALONE; after programming an SSA with V9 software just writes garbage to SSA's memory instead.



I'll get in touch with devs soon

[support]

Please follow here: https://forum.thelightingcontroller.com ... 624#p34624