BI Tools Help

[Overcon]

Hi, I am trying to get BI Tools working with BI4 and I have a question on the Overlay Macros. I setup the %1 macro to do everything and it is using everything.txt, but when I modify the overlay and I put the %1 in the Add Text selection is simple displays a text overlay that reads Macro1.

Any ideas? Since I was running BI Tools with BI 3 an then I upgraded to BI 4 (which installed in the Blue Iris 4 folder), the BI Tools folder is located at C:\Program Files (x86)\Blue Iris Tools\ I left it there.

Should I remove and reinstall the BI Tools? I didn't think i would need to, but not being able to get the Weather Overlay working makes me wonder.

Here is the setup for that:

Setup for BI Overlay:

Overlay Result:

Any ideas on what I am doing wrong?

 

[Mike]

It sounds like you didn't properly assign the 'everything' file to the macro. Check out the instructions here - http://www.ipcamtalk.com/showthread.php?184-Blue-Iris-Tools-Help-File#macros on how to properly configure and assign macros and let me know how it goes.

 

[Overcon]

I followed them step by step. I had them working in BI 3, I just can't figure out what I am missing for BI 4.

Well i tried to uninstall BI Tools and reinstall and now I am getting this error that keeps popping up and I can't get it to stop unless I close Bi Tools:

Any ideas on what this error is from and how to fix?

I just noticed that before the Error 13 message pops up, there is an Error 0 message before, but the 13 replaces it in a second:

 

[Overcon]

I turned off the Watchdog settings and that stopped the Errors. If I enable the Watchdog for the Web Server Monitor, the errors start back up. I noticed that the IP for the Web Server Monitor isn't populated, but it will not let me type in the IP address of the server, which is the same PC.

I turned off the auto IP/PORT feature and entered the IP manually. That seems to have resolved those error.

 

[Overcon]

It seems to be updating the text files, just not accepting the macro I am telling it to use.

And here is the output that creating the Macro puts into the field:

 

[Overcon]

And lastly, the default overlays do work. But as soon as I type %1, %2 et cetera, it just names them Macro1, Macro2. I even tried to move the text files to a folder without spaces to make sure that wasn't an issue.

 

[jetjock]

I'm having the exact same issues with the macros overlay after upgrading to BI4.

I've gone through many of the same troubleshooting steps (including changing file locations) with no avail.

The text file updates properly, BI4 is apparently unable to link %(macro#) to the text file.

Hopefully this is a simple fix as it is a very helpful tool. Thanks for the work!

 

[Mike]

Have you both tried assigning the weather data to other macros?

 

[jetjock]

Thanks for the prompt reply.

No matter what selection is made for any of the macro slots, the result is simply display of "Macro(x)" onto the video overlay.

Whatever the mechanism is for linking the actual data associated with Macro(x) appears to be broken since that display should only appear if there is no text data associated with the Macro. I'm wondering if this is a BI issue and not a BI Tools problem.

I can confirm that BI Tools is correctly updating the text files according to settings as I can open each update and see the proper information.

I hope this is helpful in troubleshooting. I'm happy to provide any additional info.

 

[sprucecams]

FWIW, I finally got the Watchdog to connect, but I still cannot get the macros text to appear in the video feeds. If I enter "%1" (without the quotes) nothing appears in the video. If I enter "%12" (without the quotes) then "2" (without the quotes) appears in the video.

 

[Mike]

If BIT is updating the text file properly then it seems as though the issue may be with Blue Iris itself.

Have you tried assigning the macro to the text file manually in Blue Iris as opposed to in BIT?

 

[sprucecams]

How is that done? This worked fine with BIv3, so something has changed as between BIv4 and BIT since. Thanks.

 

[jetjock]

Mike,

Didn't know enough about all the BI features to realize that capability exist, I thought your tool was doing it all!

Despite assigning macros in BI Tools, none showed up in the BI macro settings.

I manually set one to the everything.txt file that is created/updated by BI Tools and it worked perfectly.

Perhaps your process of assigning the macros was broken in the BI4 update.

I have my issued solved manually now, thank you.

I'll continue to monitor this thread to see what the final solution is.

BTW I did notice that BI updated just now to 4.0.0.23, but I saw no change in behavior regarding my issue.

Many thanks!



@sprucecams

I used the in app help to find the macro settings under general programs options. I used the select file option to point directly to the text file that BI Tools creates.

 

[sprucecams]

I think I have it, using the "manual" method you described, jetjock. Many thanks!

 

[Catskill]

I had the same problem. Go to the main options menu in Blue Iris and you will see Macros. Select the macro from the weather text file you saved to and insert it in macro 1, 2 , etc.

Next go to the camera setting and enter the % (number) in the macro# and then you should see the data.

 

[Overcon]

I am traveling now and don't have access to my network, but when I get back I will enter the manual method. i also tried a bunch of different macros and different settings and all I could ever get it to say Macro1, 2, 3 et cetera. I will do the manual method of assigning the complete text file and see. I also had it working no prob in BI 3 and I know it was working in BI 4, but maybe the issue I had with BI 4 and Tools crashing and loading multiple instances due to the Watchdog was also related to these macros, though I cannot see how. But Thanks for the updates and how to do it manually.

 

[Overcon]

I had the same problem. Go to the main options menu in Blue Iris and you will see Macros. Select the macro from the weather text file you saved to and insert it in macro 1, 2 , etc.

Next go to the camera setting and enter the % (number) in the macro# and then you should see the data.

This worked perfect, thanks for the heads up!

 

[Redeye]

I had the same problem, your solution worked perfectly. Thanks!

 

[Debbie]

I apologize up front if this question has been previously posted because I have been unable to find anything related. I absolutely love BIT! I was able to get the weather overlays on one of my cameras (Temp, Wind Direction, Pressure and Rain). I would like for my pressure to display without the (mb) but I haven't been able to figure out how to do this. Can someone give me instructions to change this display? Thank you so much!!