I do too, but what I typically end up doing is find a ramp shape that works smoothly, then change the other profiles to match that shape, only dimmer. I then play the game over time and pick out which inserts need to be dimmed and work my way toward a nice, even lighting. It's highly dependent on what types and colors of bulbs are used. That's the #1 reason I decided to make it as flexible as possible. Everyone has their own preferences.
Quoted from Shaneus:I think the B1 out of those few groups that need to be the same can be a little flexible, as the fading would really only be controlled once the light it is on, wouldn't it?
This might get a bit complicated, but let's try anyway. The game is controlling the lamps by turning them on or off within a rigid set of timeslots. In order to interpret that as a brightness level, I'm using a sliding window average. For the sake of simplicity, let's just say it's over 8 timeslots, since that makes the math easier to understand. Also, keep in mind, this is just the part where I'm figuring out what the game is trying to do. It doesn't take your brightness percentages or delay into account, and that is applied as a separate algorithm later.
Now, an example output from the machine. In the first row, 1's are timeslots where the lamp is on, 0's are timeslots where the lamp is off. In the second row, I'm showing the interpreted brightness level.
This example is a relatively fast blink.
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 8 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 0 0
The example is a 50% brightness (as attempted by most games). Notice the steady 4's in the output.
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 3 3 2 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
Now, a 66% pattern from the game. This is where B5 and B6 end up alternating.
0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 2 3 4 4 5 6 5 5 6 5 5 6 5 5 6 5 4 4 3 2 2 1 0 0
33% from the game. It results in the alternating B2 and B3.
0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 2 3 3 2 3 3 2 3 3 2 2 2 1 1 1 0 0 0
And finally, 20%. Here's where B1 and B2 can come in.
0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 1 1 2 2 2 1 1 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0
Really, what matters, however, is how it looks when you're done. There are no strict rules on how you set it up.
Quoted from Shaneus:Is there much difference in software revisions other than updated table profiles?
Recently, most of the updates are to add data files for additional games. There have been a few updates to fix bugs. The most recent one, for example, displays a warning if a data file does not include the correct number of inserts. A customer ran into a problem where a customer provided data file for TSPP only had 72 inserts defined in it, the software misinterpreted it, and communications with the OCD board were incorrect as a result.