Firmware Export not working as expected

[SteveIsHeer]

I was having strange issues with S3D where it was randomly applying previous settings, for example, I had cooling fans set to 0 for first layer and 70 for 2nd layer but it applied a previous setting of 30 for the second layer. Going back to check settings and they had the 70% for the second layer as intended.... I noticed this when it started printing the second layer and the fans were barely turning and the fan control slider was at 30%. Also noticed that sometimes changes in flow rate showed no noticeable difference.

I UN-installed S3D fully, deactivated and remove all settings so I could do a fresh install. Before the fresh install I manually removed all folders related to the program in program files and my appdata folder and all S3D settings from the registry to insure there was no leftovers (found the UN-install did not remove any registry settings at all). After removing the HKCU and HKLM software keys for S3D I searched for any other entries that stored settings and found none, just some MRU entries.

After rebooting and re-installing S3D, I chose the Kossel Mini as the starting point of the setup as I have an Openbeam Kossel Pro which is not on the list of select-able printers. I followed the youtube video on creating a new firmware profile for my printer and setting up the gcode tab to use it. I exported the default reprap firmware which does not include the X3G tab in the firmware config window but after giving the export a name and clicking ok, the X3G tab appeared which I don't believe it should have since it was a reprap export. It should NOT have added that X3G tab like it did.....

Initially, and for the first time in 2 years, the live preview actually updated every second when set to do so. I had printed a couple of callibration cubes to dial in the settings but then all of a sudden I noticed on the next cube print that only 66 layers of the 100 was listed in the preview so I went back into the FFF settings to check and found it reverted the layer height back to the default of .15mm all on it's own and it re-enabled the bed heater to the default of 60 even though I previously set it to zero. After this weird self changing setting thing happened, the live preview update was taking about 10 seconds to update no matter what setting I set it to.

After these anomolies happened I took a look at the registry settings and found my macro1 name changed back to default and so did the bed temps within the registry settings.

I can NOT get the firmware settings to save no matter what I do. I even tried the reset all settings and start over to no avail.

Anyone have any ideas why settings are behaving so strangely? I have no issues with settings with Repetier Host or Mattercontrol what so ever.. Kind of at a loss as why S3D is having the issue. I checked permissions on the registry keys and folder storage and all is correct....

[brian442]

Well it sounds like you have several things going on

Also noticed that sometimes changes in flow rate showed no noticeable difference

If you change the extrusion multiplier from 1.0 to 2.0, the software will most definitely tell the printer to extrude twice as much plastic (you can look at the E-values in your gcode file to confirm this). Of course, there could be extruder issues that are preventing the actual machine from actually extruding this much plastic (clogs, skipped steps, etc), so if the printer does not actually extrude more plastic, then you need to check these things instead. Again, you can look at the E-values in the gcode to confirm that it is not a problem with the software.

It should NOT have added that X3G tab like it did

I'm pretty sure any time you make a custom firmware configuration, it will include the X3G tab. Those settings don't get used unless you are making x3g files, so if you aren't, then it has no affect.

found it reverted the layer height back to the default of .15mm all on it's own

Are you sure you actually updated the profile after you made your previous change? You have to click "Update Profile" if you want to permanently save a change to the profile. They have a video explaining this stuff more too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZ7HFPY1wog

[wirlybird]

Just to confirm, Brain is correct on the X3G tab. It shows up no matter what but does not influence anything. It is only relevant when converting and exporting gcode to X3G.

[SteveIsHeer]

Well it sounds like you have several things going on

found it reverted the layer height back to the default of .15mm all on it's own

Are you sure you actually updated the profile after you made your previous change? You have to click "Update Profile" if you want to permanently save a change to the profile. They have a video explaining this stuff more too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZ7HFPY1wog

Thanks for replying Brian,

Absolutely updated the profile, had already been printing with it. The switch back from .1mm layer height to 1.5 happened right after printing a few calibration cubes. I had already printed 3 at .1mm and was only tweaking temps between each print. I rarely print at .15 and know for sure I never changed it. When it changed the layer height on its own, it also changed bed temp on layer 1 from 0 degrees to 60 degrees. I don't use a heated bed with PLA so I again know I never changed it. Plus it changed my layer 2 fan speed from well above 60% down to about 30%. (I can't remember exactly what speed I had them at but I posted the speed in the original post). This is also when the live preview stopped producing updates based on interval setting and only updates what appears to be about every 10 or seconds no matter what the setting.
Both the firmware menu and the firmware of the gcode tab show the custom profile I created following the video instructions.

Everything was fine for a short while after re-installing S3d but when it quirked out and made those changes, I was a little stunned as to why and how things are not working as they did right after the install. I'm currently printing ok and no more weird changes have happened but the live preview tracking still isn't working correctly and I notice the print time estimate is out even more than it used to be.. S3D estimated the last print I did at 7hr 12min but the print time reported in the communication window was 13hrs and 28min, which is how long it took. Prior I was only seeing a difference of 10-30% longer than the estimates.

The printer is heavily modified, Bontech QR, Azteeg X5mini v3, FSR bed probe kit, E3Dv6 Hotend. It has always worked very well and have no issues with the hardware whatsoever. I switch between S3D, Repetier Host, and MatterControl on a regular basis and the other 2 have never done anything like this and have always worked. I even tested them after the weirdness happened and there was no sign of any kind of issues using them. Also never had any issues with the previous version of S3D so I am leaning towards this latest version having some strange quirks which may only trigger under certain circumstances or configurations. I may try installing S3D on the laptop as a test but it is way too slow to use regularly for slicing.

[SteveIsHeer]

Well it did it again.... bed temp defaulted back to 60 degrees for PLA.

I have tracked down the problem to be the storage of settings in the registry. I use tight security on my pc as I do a lot of remote maintenance on client servers and do not wish to give them malware or for them to propagate malware to my pc. Host Intrusion Prevention will not allow programs to write to the registry unless you create exceptions which can be done but if the software stored the configs in xml files as files and not registry entries then I would not have to create exceptions. The more exceptions created means slower processing as the security software gets bloated with rules. Storing the settings in the registry also bloats the registry not to mention makes it much harder to troubleshoot issues if we have to scan the registry for settings to change, at the risk of making a mistake and messing up windows completely.

The software is called "Simplify3D" so lets make it simple(r) as the title advertises. The way S3D stores it's settings takes away from the meaning of the title to make it simple to configure and use the software. Tons of posts on the forum with complaints about settings storage.... hopefully this will be addressed in the next update, which is long overdue. Getting very frustrated with this software.

Also noted that the profileDatabaseContents in the FFFWindow (HKCU\software\Simplify3D\FFFWindow) registry key shows this in the very beginning of the contents:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <profile name="Default" version="2015-05-01 08:00:00" app="S3D-Software 3.0.0">

It actually appears like the default profile never got updated since 3.0.0. I completely wiped out these registry keys for S3D before I re-installed it so I know it's not leftovers from previous installs. Also, this one key is currently 54k worth of data that should NOT be store in the registry!