[Wanderer189]

Why can I set a path to a single preset, turn off shuffle mode and after the set alotted time, say 50 seconds, it still tries to do something (I assume shuffle) and the screen messes up. Have to hit the back button to get it to start working correct again. Is there any way to actually turn off the shuffle completely, even by editing code somewhere?

[psyburr]

Why can I set a path to a single preset, turn off shuffle mode and after the set alotted time, say 50 seconds, it still tries to do something (I assume shuffle) and the screen messes up. Have to hit the back button to get it to start working correct again. Is there any way to actually turn off the shuffle completely, even by editing code somewhere?

I assume you're using a SHIELD TV as your sig suggests. In my experience, the SHIELD bugs out with certain presets (I assume it's something with OpenGL that's beyond my knowledge). What I did is went through each of them and found the ones that played nicely, and I personally liked, and put them in their own folder. That doesn't necessarily solve the problem though. What did solve it was being able to turn the smooth duration option completely off. Default settings prevent that from being turned off completely, but in the settings.xml file of the addon it is possible to extend the parameters of these settings (including the maximum duration for each as well). I've posted the settings.xml file I use for projectM to hastebin and included the link you can replace your own with, or just manipulate the settings to your liking. Line 68 and Line 79 are going to be the sections in question. I turn the smooth duration completely off, and I have zero issues whether on shuffle or if I point the preset path to a directory with a single preset in it. You'll find the settings.xml in question at ./Android/data/org.xbmc.kodi/files/.kodi/addons/visualization.projectm/resources/settings.xml.
https://hastebin.com/novarugaqi.xml

[Wanderer189]

Why can I set a path to a single preset, turn off shuffle mode and after the set alotted time, say 50 seconds, it still tries to do something (I assume shuffle) and the screen messes up. Have to hit the back button to get it to start working correct again. Is there any way to actually turn off the shuffle completely, even by editing code somewhere?

I assume you're using a SHIELD TV as your sig suggests. In my experience, the SHIELD bugs out with certain presets (I assume it's something with OpenGL that's beyond my knowledge). What I did is went through each of them and found the ones that played nicely, and I personally liked, and put them in their own folder. That doesn't necessarily solve the problem though. What did solve it was being able to turn the smooth duration option completely off. Default settings prevent that from being turned off completely, but in the settings.xml file of the addon it is possible to extend the parameters of these settings (including the maximum duration for each as well). I've posted the settings.xml file I use for projectM to hastebin and included the link you can replace your own with, or just manipulate the settings to your liking. Line 68 and Line 79 are going to be the sections in question. I turn the smooth duration completely off, and I have zero issues whether on shuffle or if I point the preset path to a directory with a single preset in it. You'll find the settings.xml in question at ./Android/data/org.xbmc.kodi/files/.kodi/addons/visualization.projectm/resources/settings.xml.
https://hastebin.com/novarugaqi.xml 

@psyburr Thanks for replying, I had all but given up on anyone replying. Again thank you. I edited the 2 lines you mentioned, and so far it is working very well... I have only played an album or 2 so far for testing, but I think you nailed it. I hope the dev of the add-on sees this post and maybe considers make similar changes in the add-on itself, if not, I suppose I will have to mod it every time they push an update. Again thank you

[psyburr]

@Wanderer189 I figure this is worth revisiting every months at this point (lol), mainly because the projectM addon itself doesn't see many updates, and I think for good reason. Besides this issue, that may very well be relegated exclusively to the Shield for all I know, the addon and the upstream project itself works just fine—in my anecdotal experiences. I haven't reported any issues, and if you haven't either, they may not be aware of any issues specific to our hardware and this addon. If you're familiar with a user on the forums that we could notify, who is a contributor or even maintains the Kodi addon of projectM, I'd love to be able to refer them to this thread.

 

The following is possibly only meta related and doesn't directly address the topic of the thread, but want to share how I personally wrangle Kodi and my configs/data folders/etc on Android.

I have created a ./Kodi/ directory in the user directory of the shield—/storage/emulated/0/—where I keep all my custom images, artistinformation, settings, etc. separated from the default kodi directory. I do this mainly for quicker, easier access than the userdata folder which is nested deep in the Android directory, but also to isolate that data to prevent modifications from addon updates. These are all configured with kodi and the addons respective settings options, so nothing new to learn how to do that there, I'm just sharing how I handle Kodi and my userdata customization. I'm including screenshots of the hierarchy I have in my ./Kodi/ folder, ultimately finishing up in my designated /.../projectM/ directory. The screencaps are a view of the MiXplorer apk, and the absolute best app for file management on the Shield. screencaps taken on my laptop using the "scrcpy" tool you can find in the AUR on archlinux and github, or you can try "guiscrcpy" which I believe is compatible across multiple platforms, allowing for a virtual desktop per se controlling any android device with mouse and keys via adb on the backend.
I treat this as a home location for all of my custom preset libraries, including the default ones. I used this as a way to sample presets to determine which worked, which didn't, or which ones I just absolutely hated, and then via the Kodi filemanager was able to copy the preset or delete it, switch back to the visualizer and preview the next and so on. That explains the various directories and their names, once I dialed in the presets I really like I haven't tinkered with it much and never bothered to clean it up because those .mlk files cost next to nothing to store (and that explains why there are far more than I ever use in there lol).

You'll notice that in the final screencap—featuring the contents of /.../projectM/—I have highlighted my settings.xml. If there's an update for projectM pushed, I just overwrite the newly created settings.xml from the update with my custom one. Not only are the parameters I have enabled allow for far longer duration of presets, but then I know I always have a fix for any blending issues I may have with the Shield and openGL (which I think is cause for some presets not even displaying when switching from certain other presets but working fine otherwise) whether the bug is patched or not. Anyway, I lost focus a little bit on the reply addressing your specific problem, but since we're using the same hardware, and there hasn't been any chatter here otherwise I thought I might share how my ShieldTV, Kodi, and the projectM addon exist in particular use case which might be beneficial to other Android->Kodi->projectM users.
https://imgur.com/MBXzI7S.png | https://imgur.com/PbCJhny.png | https://imgur.com/F6Oi7vi.png