2026.17 Released
- Home
- Release Notes
- 2026.17 Released
- On
- By
- Categories: Release Notes
2026.17 Released
2026.17 September 8, 2026
-change (dkulp) macOS: raised the minimum supported macOS version to 12.0
-change (dkulp) macOS: Apple Intelligence image generation now opens the system
Image Playground sheet, seeded with the prompt and style you
picked, and brings the image you accept back into the usual
crop/resize/save flow - Apple discontinued the API that generated
images directly
-change (derwin12) SubModel, Face and State definition names can once again contain
the '@' character - it is still stripped from top-level model
names, which use it as a start channel reference syntax
-change (dkulp) The startup check for a new release no longer pauses the interface
while it waits on the network; the update prompt appears when the
check finishes
-change (derwin12) The log is now flushed every 5 seconds instead of only on close, so
a crash or hard kill loses fewer recent log lines
-enh (dkulp) Renders on sequences with many models start sooner - preparing the
per model render buffers now runs across cores
-enh (dkulp) Setting up a render now happens off the UI thread, so starting one
on a large sequence no longer freezes the interface while it is
prepared
-enh (dkulp) Large shows start renders faster, most noticeably on slower
machines
-enh (dkulp) The render progress dialog opens faster on large sequences
-enh (dkulp) Large speedup rendering the Faces effect on big matrix models
-enh (bulldozer2003) Matrix faces now support movement, positioning, and scaling
controls matching the Pictures effect (direction, X/Y offset,
start/end scale, wrap, pixel offsets, vector mode)
-enh (derwin12) ML stem separation (Drums/Bass/Other/Vocals) now saves each stem as
an alternate audio track under Sequence Settings > Audio Tracks, so
they survive closing the sequence and don't need reprocessing
(#6856)
-enh (derwin12) Picking a video/picture/other media file outside the show or media
folders now also offers "Copy to sequence's imported media folder",
which files it under ImportedMedia/<sequence name>/ instead of the
show folder root (#7013)
-enh (scott) Custom Model Wiring view: added a text size slider and a "3D (drag
to rotate)" mode using each node's real depth - Cube models, which
now also support the Wiring view, use it by default
-enh (scott) The Custom Model Wiring dialog now remembers its size and position
-enh (derwin12) House Preview's "Keep on Top" setting is now remembered across
restarts and reapplied automatically when it's undocked again
-enh (derwin12) The Presets dialog now shows the count of blank rows alongside its
other row counts (#6975)
-enh (scott) Added an MCP (Model Context Protocol) server alongside the existing
REST Automation API, so MCP-aware AI tools can drive xLights over
the same xFade port (POST /mcp)
-enh (derwin12) Windows: added a TestHeadlessRenderOptions Lua script that renders
the sequence(s) several times with different GPU and hardware
decode options and recommends a setting (#7014)
-enh (dkulp) Windows: the preview graphics "Auto" setting now falls back to
Vulkan when the machine has no vendor display driver or is on
Remote Desktop, where OpenGL cannot be hardware accelerated
-enh (derwin12) Increased logging around FPP Connect errors, to help diagnose
upload and discovery failures (#7024)
-enh (dkulp) Windows: record the graphics adapters, the OpenGL renderer and the
Vulkan device in the log and in crash reports, so a machine running
the generic Microsoft display driver can be identified
-enh (dkulp) Linux: log the graphics adapters (name, PCI id and kernel driver),
which was previously reported on macOS and Windows only
-enh (dkulp) Log each display's refresh rate, the highest rate it offers at its
current resolution, and whether it is variable - a sequence asking
for more frames per second than the display can present cannot
preview at its own rate
-bug (dkulp) Playback no longer stalls on a render it triggered - a model that
needs re-rendering mid playback is picked up on a later frame
-bug (dkulp) Fix a crash rendering a model group while the layout was being
edited
-bug (dkulp) Fix a crash rendering a model group after models were replaced by a
base show folder sync
-bug (dkulp) Fix a deadlock renaming a model, or loading model groups, while a
render was in progress
-bug (dkulp) Fix a crash from two threads finishing renders at the same time
-bug (dkulp) The Batch Render dialog no longer flashes a progress window while
it scans for sequences unless the scan is actually slow
-bug (dkulp) Batch Render no longer crashes when one of the selected sequences
cannot be opened - it is skipped and the rest of the batch
continues
-bug (dkulp) The Render Progress window stays above xLights without stealing
keyboard focus every time the main window is clicked
-bug (AGFazio) Windows: fix xLights hanging when a sequence frame takes longer
than the frame interval - most easily hit by creating a 40fps
animation sequence and dropping an effect (#7002)
-bug (dkulp) Fix the Ripple effect drawing garbage, or spinning, when its timing
trigger Duration is no longer than one frame
-bug (derwin12) Fix the Bars effect wrapping the first row/column to the wrong
color when the buffer size didn't divide evenly by the color count
(#6988)
-bug (derwin12) Fix a possible crash in the Butterfly and Plasma effects when
handed a palette with more than eight colors (#6999)
-bug (derwin12) Fix Windows OS-font Text effects rendering corrupted or broken
glyphs on small buffers such as a 35x7 matrix (#6995)
-bug (derwin12) Fix the Text effect's Color Per Word setting not affecting the
render - toggling the checkbox kept serving a stale cached image
-bug (dkulp) A Pictures effect whose image file was missing is picked up again
on the next render once the file is put in place, instead of
staying red until the sequence is reopened
-bug (dkulp) Fix a crash rendering a Moving Head effect whose colour setting
held a partial colour, and no longer crash when a moving head group
contains a model that is not a moving head
-bug (derwin12) Fix an Off effect on a moving head/DMX fixture with a dimmer
resetting pan/tilt/color channels to black instead of just turning
off the dimmer, which snapped the head out of position (#6990)
-bug (derwin12) Fix the Moving Head effect's Dimmer/Pathing/Pattern tabs staying
disabled after dropping the effect on a fixture group or checking a
fixture, and staying enabled after unchecking all fixtures or
clicking None
-bug (derwin12) Fix the missing material on the 3D Moving Head model's head mesh
-bug (derwin12) Fix switching an effect's Render Style to "Per Preview" on a model
group no longer applying the group's configured Default Camera - it
was silently staying on 2D
-bug (dkulp) Fix a crash releasing the mouse in the Sketch effect assist panel
after the selected path changed mid-drag
-bug (dkulp) macOS: uncompressed (rawvideo) .mov files no longer stop rendering
after a few renders on macOS 26.7 ("no decodable frames" / blank
video)
-bug (dkulp) macOS: videos with B-frames (most H.264/HEVC .mp4) started two
frames late and re-decoded repeatedly for each frame requested past
the end of the file
-bug (dkulp) Windows: a hardware decoded video no longer silently drops to
software decode whenever the effect starts part way into the file
-bug (dkulp) Fixed a crash rendering a Video effect when the decoder switched
mid-file (hardware decode dropping back to software)
-bug (dkulp) Fix a crash generating the preview for a video effect
-bug (derwin12) Fix Export House Preview Video appearing to hang when the House
Preview is undocked with Keep on Top enabled - its window was
covering the export dialogs (#7003)
-bug (dkulp) Fixed a crash opening a show folder containing a Poly Line or Multi
Point model saved with fewer than two points
-bug (dkulp) A Multi Point model with a single light no longer loads as two
lights
-bug (derwin12) Fix the "model perhaps flipped" warning firing on nearly every two-
point model (Single Line, Matrix, Arches, Icicles, etc.) regardless
of its actual orientation (#6993)
-bug (derwin12) Fix deleting a model leaving its submodels behind in any model
group it belonged to, showing as invalid entries in the group's
model list (#7018)
-bug (derwin12) A group no longer shows the submodels of a model that has been set
to inactive (#7021)
-bug (derwin12) Face and State definition names can no longer contain commas or
other characters that submodel names already disallow, whether
typed in or brought in from an imported model file (#7026)
-bug (dkulp) Fix a crash opening the Faces editor on a custom model that has no
nodes defined
-bug (dkulp) Fix a crash choosing a background image in the custom model editor
when the model's grid is too large to rasterise the image behind it
-bug (dkulp) Fix a crash ticking "Output to lights" in the States or Faces tab
on a SuperString model with more than eight colours
-bug (scott) Fix Custom Model Wiring view zoom sometimes flying off-screen or
crashing when scrolled out fully, and drifting away from the mouse
pointer while zooming on displays with Windows scaling above 100%
-bug (derwin12) Fix the Layout tab's Background Properties pane getting dragged to
zero height and disappearing with no divider left to grab it back,
which persisted across restarts; also fix Reset to Defaults not
actually restoring it once collapsed (#7008)
-bug (derwin12) Fix the Layout tab model list losing its chosen column sort order
(reverting to name order) after editing various model properties
(#6981)
-bug (derwin12) Fix the Select Effects, Search Effects, and Effect Presets panels
having no way to scroll to their controls (and, for Effect Presets,
squishing buttons and text illegible) when docked or resized
smaller than their contents (#6979)
-bug (derwin12) Fix the "could not calculate start channels" warning growing tall
enough to scroll off screen (#6970)
-bug (dkulp) Fix a crash when toggling a docked pane, loading a perspective or
opening a sequence
-bug (derwin12) Fix the AC Toolbar: hiding it while AC mode is enabled now turns AC
mode off instead of leaving normal sequencing controls disabled
(#7034)
-bug (heffneil) Check "Set Default" animation duration for validity (#6972)
-bug (AGFazio) Fix importing a group from another show's rgbeffects skipping it
(or importing it with the wrong membership) when its models weren't
also selected for import (#7012)
-bug (derwin12) Fix Auto Map import not mapping node-level effects (Dimmer, Pan,
Tilt, etc.) on DMX moving-head strings when the model's strand also
had its own effects (#7000)
-bug (dkulp) Kulp K16A-B is now two variants, 1.x and 2.x/3.x, as the two board
revisions run different FPP string drivers and support different
pixel protocols and smart receivers. Existing shows resolve to 1.x;
discovery picks the right one from the cape. Uploads now take the
string driver from the cape itself, so a mismatched variant no
longer writes a config the controller cannot run (#6978)
-bug (dkulp) FPP Connect: fix a crash uploading controller config to a
controller with no known capabilities or a multicast-only address
-bug (derwin12) Fix the FPP Connect dialog hanging when canceling an in-progress
upload (#7004)
-bug (derwin12) Fix controller discovery adding a duplicate FPP entry with IP
127.0.0.1 when the FPP instance self-reports its own loopback
address
-bug (derwin12) Fix the show and media folders offered as htdemucs install
locations listing the same folder more than once when the show
folder was also a configured media folder (#6994)
-bug (derwin12) Fix images for the ChatGPT service (#6969)
-bug (dkulp) The deleteEffect automation command now re-renders the range,
clears the grid's selection and refuses locked effects;
setEffectSettings also re-renders after changing an effect
-bug (scott) Fix several automation commands (addEffect, setModelProperty,
saveSequence) mishandling JSON settings, dropdown properties, and
relative filenames
-bug (dkulp) Linux: the camera scan in Generate Custom Model now works whatever
FFmpeg version the distro ships, and explains what to install if no
FFmpeg runtime is present at all
-bug (dkulp) Fix a crash opening the File menu when the show folder is on a
drive that does not keep file versions, such as an external or
network disk
-bug (dkulp) Fix the application hanging after a crash report was sent instead
of exiting, and a crash on a render thread aborting the app while
the crash report dialog was still open
-bug (dkulp) Include the machine configuration in crash reports - it was only
ever attached to a manually packaged debug zip, never to an actual
crash
-bug (dkulp) iPad - Sequences opened from a writable location were all flagged
read-only, disabling Save
-bug (dkulp) iPad - Fix a crash closing or re-rendering a sequence while the
render progress sheet is open
-bug (dkulp) iPad - An effect edit made while the layout is being reloaded is
rendered once the reload finishes instead of being dropped
-bug (dkulp) iPad - Batch Render no longer writes an empty .fseq over the
previous one when the render could not start because the layout was
still being reloaded; it retries, then skips that sequence
-bug (dkulp) iPad - Changing the frame interval of a packaged (.xsqz) sequence
reopens it correctly
-bug (dkulp) iPad - A media file dropped onto the grid is copied into the show
folder so the effect still finds it after the drop's temporary copy
is removed
-bug (dkulp) iPad - Fix a crash undoing a lyric breakdown after one of its
phonemes had been broken down again or deleted
-bug (dkulp) iPad - A renamed or deleted preview no longer lingers in the
preview menus
-bug (dkulp) iPad - "Move All Models To Port" no longer chains a multi-string
model after itself, and rejects a port the controller does not have
-bug (dkulp) iPad - Restoring a show folder backup replaces each file only after
its copy succeeded, and stops if the safety backup fails
-bug (dkulp) iPad - "Cleanup File Locations" no longer blanks a face image,
image or mesh path when the copy into the show folder fails
-bug (dkulp) iPad - Tip of the Day was black text on the dark sheet background
in dark mode; the tips now follow the system appearancexLights User Manual
