Change app settings
These settings apply to the whole application, whatever show is loaded.
- Open Configuration.
- Under Application, select General.
Crash reporting
The header of General shows the version of ArenaDirector, your operating system, and your graphics card (Windows) or processor (macOS).
Under Privacy and feedback, Send crash reports controls whether ArenaDirector sends anonymous crash reports and diagnostics after a failure.
The reports describe what the application was doing when it failed. They never include personal information, your audio or video files, or the contents of your configuration. To send nothing, turn the switch off.
The first-run setup shows the same option, and a change here replaces the choice you made there. When you turn the switch on, the change applies until the end of the current session.
Hardware profile
Send hardware profile sends a short description of your computer, so we can see the hardware ArenaDirector runs on and test on the hardware our users have. The switch is already on in the first-run setup. To send nothing, turn it off there or here.
This option only works when Send crash reports is also on. When crash reports are off, Send hardware profile is dimmed and shows Needs Send crash reports.
The profile contains:
- The processor model, its number of cores, and the amount of memory.
- The operating system and its version.
- The graphics cards, with the driver version and the video memory.
- The number of displays, with the resolution and refresh rate of each display.
- Whether the graphics card or the processor decodes the video.
It never includes your name, your computer's name, serial numbers, or anything else that identifies you or the computer. ArenaDirector sends it once per version, and again only if your hardware changes.
Video GPU (Windows)
The Video card appears only on Windows.
Video GPU selects the graphics card that decodes and renders video. Automatic uses the card Windows marks as high performance, and prefers a dedicated card over an integrated one even when the Windows Graphics settings show Power saving. To use a different card, select it by name. A Restart required dialog opens: select Restart now, or Later to restart yourself. Restarting stops everything on air.
GPU crash diagnostics (for support) records extra data when the graphics device
fails and sends it with the crash report. It slows video rendering slightly, so leave it
off unless support asks for it. The change takes effect after a restart, which the same
dialog asks for. To use it for one run without changing the setting, start
ArenaDirector with --gpu-diagnostics.
GPU status shows the card in use, its driver, and why the app chose it. It starts closed; select the arrow to open it. The badge shows how much more work the GPU can take:
| Badge | Meaning |
|---|---|
| OK | The GPU can do more work. |
| Tight | The GPU was at least 70% busy for some seconds, or video memory is at least 80% full. |
| Critical | The GPU is almost fully busy, or video memory is almost full. Frames can drop, and the graphics device can reset. |
When open, it also shows video memory use and the GPU time each canvas and window takes per frame.
When the GPU is Tight or Critical and a hot button starts a video, the app shows a warning at the top of the window, and the video still starts.
Use a separate data folder
To keep a second set of shows apart from your normal data, for example a demo or a
training show, start ArenaDirector with --data-dir and a folder:
open -a ArenaDirector --args --data-dir ~/ArenaDirector/demo
On Windows, add --data-dir C:\ArenaDirector\demo to the shortcut's target.
ArenaDirector creates the folder if it does not exist. The shows, the library, waveforms,
thumbnails and the logs are kept in that folder. The first-run setup, Send crash reports
and Send hardware profile are also kept per folder, so a new folder shows the first-run
setup again. Your sign-in and license apply to all folders. The window title shows the
folder name. Without --data-dir, ArenaDirector uses its normal data folder.