Run Your Baldrick Show Every Night with FPP
Your lights work from xLights. Now give the show a dependable nightly routine. In this setup, an external Falcon Player device stores and plays the sequences, and your Baldrick receives the lighting data over Ethernet. The playlist and clock live on that player.
Reviewed October 29, 2026. The menu references and linked screenshots follow the FPP 10 manual. If your player runs another version, use its matching manual and read the labels on your screen. Begin with our Baldrick guides and FPP first-connection walkthrough if either device is not reachable yet.
1. Make the whole playback path work first
Confirm this FPP device is in Player mode. It owns this playlist and schedule; a device in Remote mode follows another player. FPP's Scheduler requires Player mode.
Use one short, already-tested sequence. Render it in the xLights show folder that contains your current models and controller assignments. In Tools → FPP Connect, select the intended FPP device and upload the rendered sequence. Upload its matching audio too if it is a musical sequence. An animation test needs no audio file.
For the simple arrangement in this guide, the FPP player sends network output to the Baldrick. Select the appropriate UDP output upload option for that job, then inspect the result on the player. The All choice copies the configured network outputs; it is appropriate only when that player should send every copied output. Check the destination addresses and remove or deactivate output rows this player should not send.
Open Input/Output Setup → Channel Outputs. Check that network output is enabled and the intended Baldrick row is active. Its destination IP, channel range and protocol must agree with the working xLights/controller plan. Ethernet output to a Baldrick is different from configuring pixels attached directly to an FPP cape.
Turn off xLights output before testing FPP playback. Also stop controller test patterns and standalone effects. Keep one intended source in charge while proving this connection. Start the short sequence manually and check the actual strand. If it fails here, finish the output or wiring diagnosis before adding a schedule.
References: FPP Connect and network channel outputs.
2. Set and verify the player's clock
On the FPP player, open Status/Control → FPP Settings → Localization. Check the displayed date, local time and time zone against a clock you trust. A correct hour with the wrong date can still prevent a seasonal schedule from matching.
If you use a sun-based start time, enter and verify the installation's location too. For a first test, a fixed local time is easier to check. A player isolated from internet time and without a working real-time clock can lose the correct time after a restart. Establish how that particular player will keep time before leaving it unattended.
3. Build one small playlist
- Open Content Setup → Playlists and create a playlist named something recognizable, such as Mattos Bench Test.
- Add the short test to the main section. Choose the entry type for an animation without media, or the sequence-and-media type for a musical item. Verify the actual filenames.
- Save. Resolve any missing-file warning and play the playlist manually from the Status page.
The opening section runs before the main section. The closing section runs when the playlist ends. Begin with just the main test item; add announcements or other actions after the simple playlist works. Keep the order fixed during diagnosis so the next result is predictable.
When you later add several songs, check every sequence/audio pairing and the order. Repeatedly selecting a playlist during FPP Connect uploads can append duplicate entries. Review the final list instead of assuming another upload replaced an earlier entry.
4. Create a short schedule you can watch
In Content Setup → Scheduler, add an active entry for today's date and day. Select your test playlist, with a start a few minutes ahead and an end soon afterward. Save the entry. Stop any manually started playback before waiting for this test.
Choose the repeat behavior deliberately: None runs once; Immediate repeats the main section during the scheduled window; Timed starts iterations at a chosen interval. Decide whether the end should finish the current item, finish the loop or stop immediately. A graceful ending can continue beyond the nominal end time while the current item finishes.
Inspect the saved weekly preview or calendar for overlaps and the correct dates. Higher rows have priority when entries compete. Use one test entry first so the observed result has one clear cause.
5. Watch both the start and the finish
On the Status page, confirm the next scheduled item and its start time before the test begins. When it starts, check the reported playlist and the lights outside. If audio is part of the show, listen through the actual audience audio system.
At the end, observe the selected stop behavior and confirm that the display reaches the intended dark or post-show state. Check the complete system: a scheduled player stopping does not prove that another controller effect, player or testing window has stopped too.
If nothing starts, inspect the clock, date/day match, active entry, saved playlist and missing files. Under Status/Control → FPP Settings → Playback, confirm Disable Scheduler is off. If FPP reports playback but the lights stay dark, return to the network-output path in step 1. The Status page reference explains how to distinguish manual playback, scheduled playback and the next event.
6. Rehearse a restart, then save the working show
Before the season, test a controlled restart during a supervised rehearsal using the player's normal restart controls. Verify the clock again, check its scheduled state, and observe the real output. A manually started playlist and a scheduled playlist can resume differently; test the same scheduled method you will use each evening.
Once the rehearsal passes, replace the short test window with your intended dates and hours and inspect the calendar again. Keep an offline record of the playlist, schedule, controller addresses and the tested software versions.
Use Status/Control → FPP Backup to download the configuration, then separately protect your sequences and media or include them in a file-copy backup. Configuration-only backups do not contain the music and sequence files. Keep configuration backups private because they can contain network credentials. See the official backup instructions.
For the final rehearsal, use the Mattos preflight checklist and show-audio guide. Record what passed so next season starts from a known working arrangement.
