Troubleshooting

 

Engine is a complex system, and a number of steps have to be correct for it to function correctly.

 

License Problems

Our products use a software licence scheme. The installer places a blank ‘ticket’ into a folder inside C: \Users\Public\EmotionData\Ticket\Engine (Windows) or /Users/Shared/EmotionData/Ticket/Engine (Apple Mac). The activation process writes some data into this ticket file.

If the software reports that it cannot find this ticket, then it could have been inadvertently removed, or a permissions issue could have meant that the installer was unable to place it into the correct location. If the software reports that it does not have read/write access to the ticket, this is probably a user permissions issue, which can generally be fixed by adding RW access to all classes of users to the Ticket folder and to all items within that folder.

Evaluation software is fully featured, but the licence expires. An expired licence will be reported when you attempt to open the software.

The licence is tied to the hardware. Changing some aspects of the hardware will void the licence.

It may be that you will need to reset the licence. Possibly a ‘Reset’ dialog is displayed, and if so, take a screenshot of the dialog and send it to Emotion Systems with an explanation of what was happening.

If the licence is simply failing, but the Reset dialog is not appearing automatically, then the dialog can be opened as follows

In a command prompt or shell, navigate to the folder containing the Engine-Configurator exeucatable or app, and type – engine-configurator LICENSE_RESET

Note the command is case sensitive. The Reset dialog should appear and a screenshot sent to Emotion Systems.

If a licence is reported as Blocked, this is because someone has used the block function to disable the software on this computer, as a precursor for moving the software to another computer. Contact for help with any licensing issues.

Eclient may be, depending on purchased licence, installed on multiple computers throughout a facility, providing the convenience of easy manual control, for example as with Loudness Compliance processing, and provides global monitoring of the Engine server.

One Eclient licence is automatically installed with the Engine server and is part of the basic Engine licence.

 

FIles do not process in Engine-Configurator 

This is the simplest starting point. If files do not process here, then check that the workflow you are using is configured for the same number of audio tracks as your media file.

If there is a problem accessing, or creating workflow profiles, this is likely to be a permissions problem. The database is a file called emotion_profiles_eight.db and is stored in C:\Users\Public\EmotionData\Database (Windows). Check that the user that is logged in is able to read and write to this file.

 

Files process in Engine- Configurator but not in Eclient

Firstly, ensure that you have ESP’s active and licensed. Look at the ‘ESP options’ in the Licence menu in Engine-Configurator. You need to have at least one ESP enabled/ticked, AND also showing Active. The number available depends on your licence, but they may need enabling in this dialog.

Ensure that the Eflow (Windows) service is running. Look at the properties of the Eflow service, and review the Log On tab.

Ensure that the user credentials entered there are for a user able to access the required locations on your network. Don’t use mapped folder locations, as the mapping will be valid for the logged in user, but not for the user that Try creating some temporary folders for the source, destination and reports, all on a local folder, such as inside C:\temp as getting the Eflow service to access local folders is usually simple compared with getting Eflow able to access network folders. If files process with Eclient when they are local, but not on the network, then the problem will be user permissions for the Eflow user.

If this fails to help, contact , and email the log files that are available from the Engine-Configurator “Configure” menu.

 

Files process in Eclient, but not from a watch folder.

Firstly, ensure that you have Folder Watchers active and licensed. Look at the ‘Watcher Options’ in the Licence menu in Engine-Configurator.

Ensure that the Eflow (Windows) service is running. Look at the properties of the Eflow service, and review the Log On tab.

Ensure that the user credentials entered there are for a user able to access the required locations on your network. Ensure that the required watch folder configuration is valid and that the input, output and report folders all exist.

Ensure that watch folder locations are specified WITHOUT using mapped folders.

Ensure that the chosen watch folder is active – i.e. that the check box is enabled (ticked) in the main Watch Folder settings next to the individual drop down. Also check that the global “Enable Watch folders” right at the very top of the watch folder settings is enabled.

If you drop a sample file in to the watch folder and it does not process, try processing that file from the same folder, using Engine-Configurator, and check that it is able to process the file correctly. If so, review file and folder permissions. Use the watch folder Test button, also shown in the screenshot, to ensure that the Eflow user can correctly access the watched folder.

If this fails to help, contact for further assistance

 

Files Process, but very slowly

In most circumstances, files will process faster than realtime, although there is a considerable variation depending on file type, complexity of workflow profile, speed of access of files across your network, and so on. If processing is unexpectedly slow, try repeating the process with source and destination on local folders. If this shows that the problem is related to network access, look at the Settings menu within Engine- Configurator, and try configuring local caching. We strongly recommend having a minimum of two hard drives inside your server, with the extra hard drive being a fast disk, and use this for the local cache and temporary file storage. With this in place, speed issues are normally resolved.

Another possible problem is that your computer has insufficient memory to allow efficient operation, and file system paging is taking place. A computer for Engine with one or two ESPs should have 16 GB of RAM fitted. Larger systems should have 32 GB RAM. If you are using the LRA correction feature, then memory requirements will increase substantially, and we would recommend a minimum of 32 GB of RAM, rising to 64 GB for three or more ESPs.

Note that some workflows are inherently slow. For example, when processing UHD media you are more likely Page 138 to be seeing processing times around 0.3 times real time – so a one hour program might take three hours to process. This is due to the very large amount of video data that has to be copied from the source to the destination file.

Multiple audio channels are always slower than a single stereo pair. If your file contains, for example 16 stereo pairs, it will take perhaps twice as long to process as a file containing a single stereo pair.

 

 For a full list of the recommended Hardware Specifications please click here.