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ISSUE — Network Direct INI File Corrupt / Wrong Path After Upgrade

LIKELY ONGOING FLAIR 7 ALL RIGS

Summary

After a Flair upgrade or fresh install, networkdirect.ini may point to the wrong folder path (Classic instead of Flair 7), causing network boards to fail to load and axis positions to update very slowly. Deleting the file so Flair regenerates it on next launch, or briefly toggling "Run Classic in Background" to clear cached state, resolves the issue.

Symptoms

  • After editing Flair.ini to comment out NetworkDirect / RemoteRobot then restoring them, network boards fail to load on startup
  • "Can't load network board 1" — loads fine in earlier Flair versions
  • Axis position numbers updating very slowly
  • Issue resolves when reverting to an earlier Flair version

Systems Affected

  • All rigs running Flair 7 with dual-install (Classic + Flair 7)
  • Confirmed on Milo; likely universal

Software Environment

FLAIR 7

Possible Causes

  • Network Direct config file pointing to wrong folder (e.g., Classic path instead of Flair 7 path)
  • Config file corrupted during upgrade (not regenerated when upgrading vs. fresh install)
  • State cached from Classic's network config that Flair 7 uses

Solutions

Solution A — Delete and regenerate the Network Direct config

LIKELY FLAIR 7

Contributor(s): ~ Colin Michael Quinn — 2025-09-02

Steps

  1. Locate networkdirect.ini (typically Flair7\FlairClassic\configs\networkdirect.ini).
  2. Delete it.
  3. Relaunch Flair — it will regenerate a fresh config from the current network setup.

Notes

"Is your network direct ini file pointing to classic? Maybe try deleting the network direct config so that it can be regenerated by the network setup?" — Colin Michael Quinn

Solution B — Toggle "Run Classic in Background" to clear cached state

LIKELY FLAIR 7

Contributor(s): ~ Marcin Biegunajtys — 2025-09-02

Steps

  1. In Flair 7 startup / preferences controls, enable Run Classic in Background.
  2. Close and reopen Flair — network boards should reload correctly.
  3. Turn Run Classic in Background off again.
  4. Relaunch — system should operate normally.

Notes

"I ended up checking on 'run classic' in the background and that seemed to fix everything right away. Maybe something got stuck in cache?" — Marcin Biegunajtys

This is a workaround — the underlying cause is likely a stale/corrupt network config file.

Solution C — Config migration on fresh install (prevention)

CONFIRMED BOTH

Contributor(s): ~ Josh M, Timothy Heys Cerchio, Gordon Eschke — 2022-11-03

Steps

When doing a fresh Flair Classic install, copy these from the old installation:

  1. The Configs folder (under Flair Classic — confirmed by Gordon Eschke)
  2. Flair.ini
  3. network direct.ini

Notes

"Usually just the Configs Folder and the Flair.ini file should do the trick." — Timothy Heys Cerchio

Solution D — Check the path to btls

LIKELY

Contributor(s): ~ MRMC Support — 2025-09-02

Steps

  1. Check the path to btls (board link tables) in the Flair config.
  2. Ensure paths are not pointing to stale or old folder locations after an upgrade.

Timeline

Event Date Contributor
First reported 2022-11-03 ~ Josh M
Independent report 2025-09-02 ~ Marcin Biegunajtys
MRMC Support response 2025-09-02 ~ MRMC Support

Official Documentation

Document Section Notes
Flair.ini Documentation *NetworkDirect, path configuration

Flair Classic Manual — Ch.4 Flair Systems: Network Direct — p.30

Flair Classic Manual — Ch.22 Network Direct — p.313

Flair 7 Manual — Ch.4 Flair Systems: Network Direct — p.16

Flair 7 Manual — Ch.19 Network Direct — p.263

WhatsApp Excerpts

[3/11/2022, 12:58:41 am] ~ Josh M: Got it. That's what I did. Seems to be happier now. Configs, flair.ini and network direct.ini. opened and it seems to be talking.

[2/9/2025, 4:05:30 am] ~ Colin Michael Quinn: Is your network direct ini file pointing to classic? Maybe try deleting the network direct config so that it can be regenerated by the network setup?

[2/9/2025, 11:30:53 am] ~ Marcin Biegunajtys: I ended up checking on "run classic" in the background and that seemed to fix everything right away. Nothing changed other than allowing classic to be run in the background. Then I turned classic off again and all is well again and running as usual. Maybe something got stuck in cache?

[2/9/2025, 6:01:40 am] ~ MRMC Support: If you turn off classic does it solve it? [2/9/2025, 6:01:55 am] ~ MRMC Support: Check the path to btls

Revision History

Date Change Editor
2026-05-24 Initial extraction Tom D / Claude Code
2026-05-24 Reformatted to CSS-tag template Tom D / Claude Code