Installation problems

Table of Content

set.a.light 3D is a small program plus one large content package that holds the library: models, lights, light shapers, props and materials. The program comes from the installer; the package is fetched on the first start. This page is for the moments when one of those steps fails, or when a later patch does not go through.

Applies to BASIC, STUDIO, CINEMA · Windows and macOS · You need: an internet connection for the first start, and permission to install software. The normal walk-through of a first installation is Install set.a.light 3D and start it the first time; update offers and their states are in Update set.a.light 3D.

What gets installed where

What Windows macOS
The program Install set.a.light 3D.exe into …\Program Files\set.a.light 3D V3 Install set.a.light 3D.pkg into /Applications
Settings, presets, own resources %LOCALAPPDATA%\elixxier\set.a.light 3D V3 ~/Library/Application Support/elixxier/set.a.light 3D V3
Content package (default) C:\ProgramData\elixxier\set.a.light\packages /Library/Application Support/elixxier/set.a.light/packages

Projects (.set) live wherever you save them. Rescue and crash files go into the elixxier folder in your documents folder — see Recover a project after a crash. The Windows installer also offers a desktop icon and the .set file association, both optional.

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The macOS installer refuses to run

Cause. 3.1.14 needs macOS 12 Monterey or newer, and the installer checks that before it copies anything.

What to do. Update macOS, or stay on the version you have — the program is built for macOS 12 and would not start on 11. See System requirements.

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The content package will not download

On the first start — and after an update that needs a newer library — the splash screen turns into a package manager: a Packages row with a status, the download size and one button. It is English in every interface language.

Status Meaning Button
Download required The content package is not installed yet Download
Update required The installed package belongs to an older program version Update
In Progress… Download running, with size, speed and remaining time Cancel
Installed, progress line Up to date Nothing to do Continue

When only parts of the package changed, those patches are downloaded; without a usable patch chain the whole package is fetched. It is stored as AssetLibrary.pak.

Errors appear in the same row. The button reads Retry while the package information could not be retrieved at all; after a failed download or an unusable package it still reads Download or Update.

Message Cause What to do
No internet connection! The package information could not be retrieved Check connection, proxy and firewall. The import row opens by itself so you can install the package by hand
Missing Package Info! The server answered but did not list the package your version needs Report it with your version number
Installation failed! Download or installation broke off Retry, then check free disk space and whether the package folder is writable
Invalid Package! A hand-imported package does not match this program version Fetch the package that belongs to your version
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Install the package by hand

If the download cannot run at all — a firewall, a proxy, a machine with no internet — fetch the package on another computer and import it.

  1. Click the gear at the right of the Packages row. → Import Package and Package Path appear.
  2. Use the folder button in Import Package and pick the .pak file. It has to belong to exactly the version you installed, or you get Invalid Package!.
  3. If the system drive is short of space, move the location first with the folder button in Package Path.

The program looks for AssetLibrary.pak next to itself first, then in the shared folder above, and falls back to your personal application-data folder when it may not write there.

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A patch will not install

The two failures the update dialog reports itself are Download Failed and Could not start the updater.

  • Download Failed: the patch did not arrive. Check the connection and the distribution host below, then press Start Update again.
  • Could not start the updater: the program could not copy or launch the separate updater. Check the reported error, whether you confirmed the elevation prompt, and whether a security product intervened, then start set.a.light 3D again.

What a working patch looks like from the outside: the program asks about unsaved changes, downloads the patch, copies its updater aside, asks for elevated rights (the Windows prompt, or an administrator password on macOS), and quits itself. The updater then applies the patch and starts the new version — a program that closes on its own at that point is behaving correctly.

If you were handed an installer link instead of a patch, install over the top with the full installer. Your projects, presets and settings live outside the program folder (see the table above), so reinstalling into the same place leaves them alone — but export your configuration first if you have customised much: File → Export User Data.

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Hosts that have to be reachable

Host Used for
distribution.elixxier.com Package information, package downloads, update information and patches
the licensing service Activation, deactivation, the trial check and the update entitlement

On a company network those two are the ones to have unblocked. A locally valid licence tolerates most server failures, but a trial check and the first start after an update can need a successful connection — see License and activation problems.

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After an update you are asked to activate again

This is expected on some updates: an activation can be bound to the version, so the first start of the new one checks with the server. Your stored licence data is kept. If you are asked for your key, enter it again; if the server cannot be reached you get The licensing server could not be reached. Your license is safe – we’ll keep trying. and can carry on. Details: License and activation problems.

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Coming from version 2

On the very first start — recognised by the V3 application-data folder not existing yet — the program looks for a version 2 installation of the same user and takes over its program settings, own light sources, picture-wall images, projector images, gobo masks, LUTs and imported 3D objects. Nothing is removed on the V2 side, and V2 projects open directly in V3.

This happens once. Do not delete your V3 application-data folder to repeat it — you would lose everything you have set up in V3 since. If a V2 resource is missing, import it by hand.

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Tips & limits

  • The update check sends your platform, your version, your interface language and, if one is activated, your licence serial.
  • After the first successful activation the program sends one encrypted report about your graphics hardware and then remembers that in your settings.
  • A reinstallation keeps the folders in the table above, but a customised install location or package path is yours to remember. Export your user data before a large change.
  • A start that ends in Unsupported Hardware is covered in Graphics problems.
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Troubleshooting

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Related

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