Whole-frame output vs the patch — why nothing is lighting up

If you have an output enabled, the effect is running, the preview looks right — and the rig is dark — this is almost always the reason.

The rule

As soon as your patch has any rows at all, the patch decides what every output sends.

There is no partial mode. LMS does not send the whole frame to protocols you haven't patched and the patch to the ones you have. It is one or the other:

- Patch is completely empty → every enabled output gets the whole frame.
- Patch has one or more rows → only what the patch describes is sent, on
every protocol.

So a single leftover patch row — even one for a different protocol, even one you added while testing and forgot — silently switches the whole system into patch mode. Any protocol without rows then sends nothing at all.

How to tell which mode you are in

Open the patch. If the list is empty, you are in whole-frame mode. If there is even one row, you are in patch mode and every output needs its own rows.

The fix

Either:

1. Delete every patch row to go back to whole-frame output, or
2. Add rows for the protocol that is dark so it has something to send.

Why it works this way

Earlier versions decided per protocol, which sounds friendlier but produced a worse failure: two outputs behaving differently with no visible reason, and no way to tell from the UI which mode each one was in. One global rule is easier to reason about, even though it can bite once.

Worth checking this before you start swapping cables or reflashing a
controller. It costs ten seconds and it is the answer more often than anything
else.