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ISSUE — Running Flair Without Hardware (Offline / Dummy Mode)

CONFIRMED RESOLVED BOTH ALL RIGS

Summary

Flair can be run offline for move programming or testing without a robot connected by editing Flair.ini to disable hardware connections (*RemoteRobot, *RIC, *InTime, *NetworkDirect, and related lines). Lens and track axes should be set to Dummy in Network Properties. Alternatively, starting Flair twice may automatically prompt a "run without hardware" option.

Symptoms

  • Need to run Flair on a laptop or second PC without a robot connected
  • Need to program or review moves offline between shoots
  • Flair stalls on startup trying to find robot hardware
  • Axes trip or fail immediately when attempting to engage in offline mode

Systems Affected

  • All MRMC rigs (Bolt, Bolt X, Bolt Jr, Milo, Cinebot Mini, etc.)
  • Flair Classic and Flair 7 on any Flair-licensed PC

Software Environment

BOTH

Solutions

Solution A — Edit Flair.ini to disable hardware connections

CONFIRMED BOTH

Contributor(s): ~ Jeremy Andrews, ~ Niko, Timothy Heys Cerchio, Gordon Eschke — 2022–2025

Steps

  1. Make a copy of your Flair install folder — never edit the live working version.
  2. Open Flair.ini inside the copy.
  3. In a Flair 7 install: Flair7\FlairClassic\Flair.ini
  4. Comment out these lines by adding # at the start: 
    #*RemoteRobot
#*RIC
#*LinkProgram
#*LinkBoards
#*LoadLinkBoards
  5. Set these to False: 
    *InTime:        False
*NetworkDirect: False
  6. In Flair, set lens axes (Zoom, Focus, Iris) to Dummy in each axis's Network Properties.
  7. Launch Flair from the modified copy folder.

Navigate to FlairClassic\Flair.ini. Edit directly in Notepad. Setting axes to Dummy: Axis Setup → Network → Set to Dummy.

Navigate to Flair7\FlairClassic\Flair.ini (Flair 7 uses the Classic engine inside). Confirm you are editing the correct folder — multiple copies after upgrades can cause confusion.

Notes

"Network direct set to false will make 'dummy' Flair start faster." — Niko, 2024-11-02

"Make sure you are modifying the Flair.ini file in the correct folder." — Timothy Heys Cerchio, 2025-02-12

Solution B — Double-boot to trigger "run without hardware" prompt

CONFIRMED BOTH

Contributor(s): ~ Jeremy Andrews — 2022-03-09

Steps

  1. Start Flair normally (no ini edits).
  2. First boot will fail with a hardware error — this is expected.
  3. Restart Flair a second time — the "run without hardware" prompt may now appear.
  4. Click Yes.

Notes

"Sometimes you need to boot Flair twice to get the 'run without hardware' option — the first time it will just fail to locate the hardware and report an error." — Jeremy Andrews, 2022-03-09

For a Milo, Flair typically offers this prompt automatically on first boot.

Solution C — Set individual axes to Dummy

CONFIRMED BOTH

Contributor(s): ~ Josh Ellis-Tufts, Ben Myers, ~ Colin Michael Quinn — 2023-10-20

Steps

  1. After starting Flair offline, open Network Properties for each lens and track axis.
  2. Set Zoom, Focus, Iris, and Track to Dummy.
  3. These axes still function in the Rig Model view.

Notes

"They still work in the rig model." — Colin Michael Quinn

If axes trip on engagement even after ini edits, commenting out *NetworkDirect separately prevents Flair from trying to communicate with the Ultibox.

Timeline

Event Date Contributor
First discussed 2022-03-09 ~ Jeremy Andrews
Confirmed independently 2023-10-20 ~ Josh Ellis-Tufts
Confirmed independently 2024-11-02 ~ Niko, ~ Mohammad Alsaleh
Confirmed independently 2025-02-12 ~ Chavez.Camera, Timothy Heys Cerchio

Official Documentation

Document Section Notes
Flair.ini Documentation *InTime, *NetworkDirect, *RemoteRobot, *RIC, *LinkProgram, *LinkBoards, *LoadLinkBoards Configuration reference

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

[9/3/2022, 9:12:25 am] ~ Jeremy Andrews: Sometimes you need to boot Flair twice to get the 'run without hardware' option - the first time it will just fail to locate the hardware and report an error. Also, you can hash out (#) any references in the .ini file to Intime or network direct. You can also hash out RIC, LinkProgram, LinkBoards and LoadLinkBoards and Flair will still behave as though the hardware is connected.

[2/11/2024, 9:30:12 pm] ~ Niko: Then you must edit the flair.ini file and set to "False" intime, network direct and remoterobot. Ini file of the new folder, of course. Some axes like zoom or focus need to be set to dummie on the network properties of each axis.

[12/2/2025, 3:46:50 am] ~ Niko: Network direct set to false will make "dummy" flair start faster

[12/2/2025, 3:43:21 am] Timothy Heys Cerchio: # in front of RemoteRobot [12/2/2025, 3:44:18 am] Gordon Eschke: if you're not on your flair pc, you could also set intime to false [12/2/2025, 4:32:29 am] Timothy Heys Cerchio: Yes, if you have only one Flair7 folder, and not different copies after upgrades

Revision History

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