Advanced Machine Settings

Colloquially known as option switches, Advanced machine settings allow you to alter the default state of a project and enable behaviour not available in the core product.

Option switches can be enabled on a per machine or per project basis.

Advanced machine settings take precedence over project settings.

Advanced machine settings are roughly the same as setting a machine.ini text file containing option preferences prior to r15.

Setting project options is roughly the same as editing the options.ini file in a project folder prior to r15.

Accessing Advanced project settings

1. In Manager, right-click on a project folder.
2. Select Advanced project settings from the list.

Note

It is important to right-click the project folder as options are set per folder, not per .d3 file.

Applying Advanced project settings

1. Access the advanced project settings dialogue.
2. Select tick boxes to enable Boolean options, or double-click on Integer value options to set them to the desired value.
3. Click Save to close and save the desired settings. Or click Close to close the window without saving.

Accessing Advanced machine settings

1. In Manager, expand the Machine Settings menu.
2. Left-click Advanced machine settings to open the editor.

Applying Advanced machine settings

1. Open the Advanced machine settings editor.
2. Double-click on a name cell.
3. Enter the value from the defined list of settings.
4. Click save to save settings, or close to exit without saving settings

Application mode

Under the Machine Settings menu, there is an Enable Application Mode button from r17.2 onwards. This is simply a shortcut to pre-set the following options:

• isMouseUnrestricted
• isWindowed
• maxHeads
• useApplicationWindow

Application mode allows Designer to run in a windowed mode with access to minimise, maximise and close buttons, as well as keeping the windows taskbar visible. This is default on Designer machines, but not rackmount machines.

Warning

Windowed mode should not be used during a running production; doing so can negatively impact your system’s performance.

Option Switches

Name	Type	Category	Description
disableOverlayMessages	Boolean	Debug	Suppress pop-up overlay messages on startup
disableConfirmationDialog	Boolean	Debug	Suppress confirmation dialogue on mass actions
enableSLC	Boolean	Preview	Enable support for larger than 16k canvases
enableProjectorDeviceRetries	Integer	Debug	Enable support for retrying projector device commands. Enter number of retries (excludes the first call to device). -1 to disable.
enableProjectorDeviceLogging	Integer	Debug	Enable logging level for projector device commands. 0 = disable, 1 = enable
enableSeparateRotationAndSpatialDelays	Boolean	Settings	Add a field to the Camera that allows you to set a separate delay for position and rotation data
projectorDeviceThreadPoolSize	Integer	Debug	Override the number of worker threads for servicing projector device comms.
projectorDeviceMaxActiveTasks	Integer	Debug	Override the max number of tasks which task manager should run on each process call for servicing projector device comms. Set to 0 to use system default. System default = 100.
enableVicon	Boolean	Preview	Enable Vicon Datastream position driver
allowOpenEditorsWhilePlaying	Boolean	Settings	Allow layer editors to be opened while playing, even if a non-dedicated director or solo. Off by default to prevent frame drops that can happen when the editor is opened
allowPersistentMute	Boolean	Settings	Save layer mute state between restarts and track jumps
audioLinePcmSize	Integer	Experimental	Increase size of window for FFT in the audio analyser
audioStreamBufferSize	Integer	Experimental	Set the audio file buffer size in bytes
audioMinFadeRamp	Integer	Settings	Minimum audio volume fade ramp in milliseconds. Default is 50
debugMediaManager	Boolean	Debug	Enable detailed console logging about video file loading.
defaultDetachedBankEditorResources	Boolean	Experimental	Open the bank editor with the objectView detached by default
disableUnsupportedEmbeddedAudioNotification	Boolean	Settings	Disable notification for unsupported audio format in video files
disableAltTab	Boolean	Settings	Disable switching applications via Alt+Tab and other Windows shortcuts
disableActiveLatencyPhaseAdjustment	Boolean	Graphics	Do not adjust active latency of render streams to the closest frame time
disableOutputModeHotkeys	Boolean	Settings	Disable keyboard shortcuts that toggle the global output mode (Fade, Hold)
disableAudioInput	Boolean	Settings	Disable audio input in case it conflicts with other applications
audioInputDriver	Integer	Debug	Sets the audio input driver. 0 = WASAPI, 1 = Legacy DirectSound, 2 = Both
disableAudioASIODriver	Boolean	Settings	Disable ASIO support in case it conflicts with other applications
disableDllVersionCheck	Boolean	Debug	If dll exports have not changed, allow dlls to load with mismatching version numbers. DANGEROUS.
disableFullscreenCheck	Boolean	Graphics	Disable the attempt to maintain fullscreen mode
disableInputInCameraEditor	Boolean	Settings	The small preview in the camera editor ignores all input if this is set
disableProxyMaker	Boolean	Deprecated	Disable the proxy maker
disableRefWarnings	Boolean	Settings	Disable ‘ref already added’ messages, due to 2 references across machines to the same on-disk resource
enableShadowResourceDomain	Boolean	Debug	To use the resources API endpoint. Warning may have performance side-effects in complex projects.
disableTelnetNotification	Boolean	Debug	Disable the notification for timed out telnet connections
disableTrackSanityChecks	Boolean	Debug	Disable the track sequencing sanity checks
disableVideoclipThumbnailVersions	Boolean	Settings	Hide version numbers underneath video clip thumbnails
disableVFCConfigOnStartup	Boolean	Experimental	Prevent reconfiguration of VFC outputs when d3 starts
disableDmxPacketSendWait	Boolean	Debug	Disable waiting for DMX packets to be sent and instead dropped. Can improve performance when remote node does not exist on network.
disableVR	Boolean	Settings	DebugOptionsDescription
enableGuiFeed	Boolean	Settings	Enable selecting the local GUI as a Display for arranging on the feed outputs
enableIPSDIExperimentalModes	Boolean	Experimental	Allow the use of Quad modes and 720p resolutions in SDI mode on an IP VFC
enableMultiview	Boolean	Preview	Enable a multi-view style video input. Subdivides a single video input into multiple inputs. Useful for pure director or editor scenarios
enableNotchNDI	Boolean	Settings	Set to allow blocks to use their own internal NDI stream. May cause NDI instability if used alongside d3 NDI streams.
enableProofOfPlay	Boolean	Settings	Enable writing proof of play data
enableRenderStreamNDI	Boolean	Settings	Set to allow RenderStream to use the NDI transport. Does not work with image parameters.
enableTimelineZoomOnScroll	Boolean	Settings	Enable timeline zoom on scroll. Zoom in on layers with scroll wheel, scroll through timeline layers with alt + scroll wheel
enableUnusedMediaManagement	Boolean	Settings	Enable Unused Media Management part of Media Distribution widget
etwLevel	Integer	Debug	ETW log level. 0 = default value(= 4); 1=Critical, 2=Error, 3=Warning, 4=Informational, 5=Verbose
forcePIDTimecodeChase	Boolean	Experimental	Force timecode chase to always use PID correction instead of BangBang
forceOutputBitDepth	Integer	Debug	Force output window bit-depth (0 = auto, 8 or 10 for bit depth)
forceVsyncOnPrimary	Integer	Graphics	Force vsync behaviour for primary desktop. 0 = Auto, -1 = Force Off, 1 = Force On
enableCrashReporting	Boolean	Settings	Enable crash dump capture on unhandled exception by default
GPUFanSpeedPercentOverride	Integer	Debug	Override the fan speed setting for rackmount machines. 1-100%
isMouseUnrestricted	Boolean	Settings	Don’t restrict mouse to GUI desktop. Useful for multi-monitor designer machines
isQuietFeedMapEdit	Boolean	Settings	Remove the red border around geometric projections
isSingleKeyGlobalJumpEnabled	Boolean	Settings	Allow next-section key to jump across tracks. Ordinarily this is done with shift-key combination
isWindowed	Boolean	Settings	Run in windowed mode instead of fullscreen. Useful for designer machines
maxHeads	Integer	Settings	Limit the number of outputs. Useful for designer machines with multiple monitors. Remove option or set 0 to restore all outputs
mouseOrbitInvertY	Boolean	Settings	Invert Y mouse movement when orbiting the Camera.
multicastSACNTTL	Integer	Settings	Set the TTL for multicast sacn packets. Default=1 Max=255
noSplashScreen	Boolean	Settings	Force the software to start with a black screen, in case the UI output is visible to the audience
noStartupStatus	Boolean	Settings	Force the software to start with a black screen, in case the UI output is visible to the audience
notchCameraSwitchingResetInstances	Boolean	Settings	Reset the notch scene during camera switching
notchDisableLiveLoading	Boolean	Debug	Disable live reloading of Notch blocks
notchLazyLoading	Boolean	Debug	Disable preloading of Notch blocks on startup
notchMaxFramerateFraction	Integer	Graphics	Useful for setting on machines which are unable to keep up with their Notch workload, while keeping output machines controlled via the timeline. Recommended to be set in machine-wide, rather than project-specific options. Set to 2 for all Layers to run at at most 1/2 rate, for example.
notchLCKeepAlive	Integer	Debug	Keep NotchLC decoders alive for N frames (0 for default of 30)
notchLCMinBuffers	Integer	Debug	Minimum no. CPU decompress buffers to keep around at all times (default 0)
notchUseDisguiseClippingPlanes	Boolean	Settings	Use the clipping planes defined in disguise, not the notch scene. Useful in AR/XR effects to split the scene in depth.
notchAutoPurgeVram	Boolean	Debug	Purge block VRAM pool after module is not in use is deactivated. May save memory but also causes stutters
omniCalBackupCapturesEnabled	Boolean	Debug	Backup capture folder each time a capture completes. Helpful in order to send OmniCal debug info back to HQ.
omniCalEnableBlobDetectionMasks	Boolean	Experimental	Enables hidden feature to load per-camera mask images that are applied during Blob Detection. Mask images need to be placed in the plan folder, named ‘_mask.png’.
omniCalEnableResumeCaptures	Boolean	Experimental	Enables ability to resume from partial captures which failed due to device timeout errors or user cancellation. Should be used with caution as it assumes capture settings and physical cameras and projectors have not changed since last capture.
omniCalEnableProjectorCalibrationRetry	Boolean	Experimental	Enables OmniCal initial projector calibration to retry with different algorithms to select best result.
omniCalIgnoreMeasuredCameraIntrinsics	Boolean	Experimental	If pre-measured camera intrinsic parameters are ignored in OmniCal initial calibration steps.
omniCalCameraDistance	Integer	Experimental	Camera distance in [m] used when choosing from pre-measured initial intrinsic parameters. Possible values: 3, 8 (default), 130.
omniCalCameraTimeout	Integer	Settings	Timeout in seconds for OmniCal camera commands and heartbeat. For values <= 0 a default of 10s is used.
omniCalMaxThreadsPng	Integer	Settings	Maximum number of CPU threads to use for encoding PNG images in the machine vision capture process. Default is 25% of CPU hardware threads (e.g. 4 on a VX 4 server), and maximum is 50%.
omniCalMaxBlobDetectionConcurrency	Integer	Settings	Maximum number of CPU threads to use for blob detection. For debugging CPU starvation issues. Default is 50% of CPU hardware threads (e.g. 8 on a VX 4 server).
omniCalUseProjectorDevicesInSimulation	Boolean	Debug	Send shutter and warp commands to projectors during simulated captures. Helpful in order to test projector devices in stacking simulations.
overrideUnpatchedMediaFields	Boolean	Settings	When fields pertaining to media in the SockpuppetVideoModule are un-patched, use clip field values instead of sequences ones. Effected Fields: Frame index, Trim frames, Loop Inframe, Loop Outframe
pythonApiExecutionTimeout	Integer	Experimental	Any python script received on the python execute api endpoint is interrupted if its execution time exceeds this amount in ms. Set negative to disable.
pythonApiOutputRequestsToProject	Boolean	Experimental	Save python api execution requests to project.
reportMainThreadHangMsec	Integer	Experimental	Interval [ms] for timeout to watch for hanging main thread
renderstreamOutputSyncDelay	Integer	Settings	Number of frames to wait after all actors are ready to start presenting a workload. This additional delay is used to compensate for network communication latency. Set to -1 to disable RenderStream output sync (each fragment of a workload starts presenting as soon as possible). Default is 5.
rmaxReceiverPool	Boolean	Settings	Used if uncompressed streams are started and stopped mid-show.
useLegacySLCRegionTag	Boolean	Settings	Use legacy video tag for identifying SLC region slices.
sessionStartNodeDiscoveryDelay	Integer	Debug	Time to wait [seconds] for discovering sessions on the network
sessionSyncTimeout	Integer	Debug	Time to wait [seconds] for actors and understudies to sync from the director before the director carries on without them. -1 to wait forever, 0 is a default of 5 minutes.
smoothVideoInputFramesDelay	Integer	Experimental	Video input in video layers is forced to be delayed by this many frames to maintain smooth playback. Default 0. Off -1
suppressActorsAtStartup	Boolean	Debug	Don’t start actors when starting director
useApplicationWindow	Boolean	Settings	Use standard application style window instead of borderless, requires isWindowed to be set
useApproximateGamma	Boolean	Graphics	Use faster approximate (less accurate) gamma curve formulas
useAutomaticProfiling	Integer	Experimental	Use automatic detection FPS drop to generate d3 performance profiles. Value is the percentage threshold of dropped frames that should trigger a profile. Default is 0.
lockMouseWhileOrbiting	Boolean	Settings	Lock mouse to point you’re orbiting around the stage
enableChromaKeyModule	Boolean	Experimental	Enable basic Chroma Key module for testing purposes. Not intended for production use.
commsProcessingTime	Integer	Debug	Time in ms to process comms messages
enableHighDynamicRange	Boolean	Settings	Enable High Dynamic Range imagery
maxMasteringLuminance	Integer	Experimental	The maximum number of nits of the display used to master the content. Values are in whole nits.
minMasteringLuminance	Integer	Experimental	The minimum number of nits of the display used to master the content. Values are 1/10000th of a nit (0.0001 nit).
maxContentLightLevel	Integer	Experimental	The maximum content light level (MaxCLL). This is the nit value corresponding to the brightest pixel used anywhere in the content.
maxFrameAverageLightLevel	Integer	Experimental	The maximum frame average light level (MaxFALL). This is the nit value corresponding to the average luminance of the frame which has the brightest average luminance anywhere in the content.
outputColorSpace	Integer	Experimental	0 = Auto, 1 = Rec.709, 2 = Rec.2020, 3 = DCI-P3
disableHdrOnPrimary	Boolean	Settings	Disable HDR support for primary display (GUI)
forceDXGIColorSpace	Integer	Experimental	Debug HDR colour spaces. See console for supported colour space list
forceDXGISwapEffect	Integer	Experimental	Debug swap effect. 0 = Auto, 1 = Flip Discard, 2 = Flip Sequential, 3 = No Flip
useSwapGroup	Boolean	Experimental	Use nvidia swap group for output synchronisation
deferActorStartup	Boolean	Debug Defer actor startup until director has fully started
generateWorkloadHTTPCommands	Boolean	Experimental	Generates HTTP commands for RenderStream workloads on project start
profileGPUPoolFromLaunch	Boolean	Debug	Start profiling GPU pool allocations from launch (default: false)
blackMagicMatrixSendDelay	Integer	Settings	For BlackMagic matrix devices: delay in milliseconds between establishing Telnet connection and sending command. Set to 10ms for 12G matrix devices. Default is 0ms.
additionalCommandLatency	Integer	Debug	Additional latency (in frames) to wait for synchronisation before issuing transport commands. (default: 0)
forcePrimaryOutputTo8Bit	Boolean	Settings	Force gui to 8-bit colour even if outputs are 10-bit