To create and export a script for the Firelinx firing system, please follow these three steps:
- Design the show.
- Address the show (“Addressing > Address show”).
- Export the script (“File > Export > Export firing scripts“).
Step 3 creates the script file, which is a CSV file that you can import into your firing system.
Figure 1 – The Firelinx firing system
The CSV is a human-readable text file that contains the essential information for a firing system controller to fire the show, beginning with a section defining the format version number and defining the list of the user’s chosen hazard group names and the bit flags in the script format that correspond to the names, followed by the list of firing rows. The firing row fields are tab delimited; and therefore Excel-style double quote field wrapping is unnecessary. A field containing the caliber 3″ is just 3″, not “3””” .
Table 1 – File format and encoding
| File format | Extension | Text encoding | Field delimiter | End-of-line |
| Text | CSV | UTF-8, no BOM | Tab | CRLF |
The rows comprising the header section are all preceded with pound sign (#). The row immediately following the header section lists the column names for the remaining rows, which comprise the firing information. The special characteristics of the script are shown in the following table:
Table 2 – Special characteristics
| Special characteristics | Description |
| Sort order of rows | Rows are sorted by ignition time. |
| What rows represent | Each row identifies a unique firing pin ignition (i.e., unique rail address, pin address, ignition time). |
| Module types | The script implicitly supports both 24 and 64 pin module types, as chosen by the user when addressing the show. The module type is not explicitly included in the script. |
| Special characters | Fields include any Unicode characters except tab and newline and other control characters. |
| Hazard groups | The purpose of hazard groups is to enable the user to disable sections of the show in real time based on evolving conditions as the show progresses, such as wind direction or a detonation in a rack. In Finale 3D, a user can tag events in the script as members of hazard groups by adding one or more user-defined terms (i.e., words) to the Hazard column in the script window. Each unique term defines a hazard group. A script event that lists multiple terms in the Hazard field is therefore a member of multiple groups. |
| Tracks | The user can divide a script into separately triggered or stepped subsequences by tagging the script rows with the subsequence number in the Track field, beginning with 1. The user is expected to assign track numbers in increasing order, with no gaps, or optionally not to assign any track numbers for a show that has a single trigger. |
| Header section | The header section of the exported script consists of lines beginning with pound sign (#), such as:
#firelinxLt The “DisableNames” section maps the hazard group terms to big flags, 1, 2, 4, etc. The Hazard column of the exported script contains integers summing the bit flags of the groups of which the event is a member. |
Each script row has the fields shown in Table 3.
Table 3 – Specifications of script fields
| Field name | Description |
| Event Cue | The “Event Cue” column contains triggers for subsequences in the show, starting with 1 and counting up based on “track numbers” that the user optionally has assigned in the script. If the show has no track numbers specified and therefore requires only one trigger, the Event Cue is 1 for all rows. |
| Event Time | The exact time of the firing system’s “ignition event” (application of a voltage to a pin) that ignites e-matches or triggers a sequencer that ultimately leads to the ignition of effects. Format is HH:MM:SS.DDD. |
| Delay | The delay from the ignition time to the perceived visual effect. This delay typically includes the lift time (for shells) plus any fuse time between the ignition time and the first launch of the effect. Format is in seconds with two digits after the decimal point. |
| Effect Time | The time of the first visual effect triggered by the firing system’s ignition event, which is generally the break time for shells, and just a small delay or no delay after the event time for ground effects. Format is HH:MM:SS.DDD. |
| Duration | The duration represents the lifetime of the perceived visual effect, which is usually interpreted for shells as the time from break to dissipation of the stars. Format is in seconds with two digits after the decimal point. |
| Devices | The number of devices (shells) represented by the row. May be more than one in the case of chains or multiple e-matches connected to the same firing system pin. |
| Description | The name of the effect. |
| Size | The device caliber. Format is either a number followed by double-quote for inches or “mm” for millimeters, or the string “NA” or blank for effects for which the caliber term is not applicable. |
| Position | The name of the launch position. |
| Module Address | The module number in three digits, starting with 001. |
| Pin Address | The pin number, starting with 1. |
| Angle | An ASCII art representation of the angles of the devices on this shot, made with backslash, vertical line, and forward slash characters. |
| Hazard | The union of the bit flags corresponding to the hazard groups of which this row is a member. |
| Notes | Firing notes from the script pertaining to this row. |
| Part Number | A user-defined identifier for the effect. |
The example script below shows an exported script with three subsequences, and thus three Event Cue numbers 1-3 in the first column. The script contains two hazard groups, “all” and “wind”, which are assigned bit flags 1 and 2. The second row of the script is a member of both groups, so its hazard field contains the number 1 + 2 = 3.
#firelinxLt
#version 1.0
#beginDisableNames
#all 1
#wind 2
#endDisableNames
Event Cue Event Time Delay Effect Time Duration Devices Description Size Position Module Address Pin Address Angle Hazard Notes Part Number
1 00:00:00.000 3.02 00:00:03.020 1.53 1 Green Peony 3" Pos-01 001 1 | 1 10008
1 00:00:01.780 2.24 00:00:04.020 1.02 3 (3) Red Chrysanthemum ... 2" Pos-02 002 1 \|/ 3 G2SH1000
1 00:00:02.000 3.02 00:00:05.020 1.53 1 Green Peony 3" Pos-03 003 1 | 1 10008
2 00:00:00.000 3.02 00:00:03.020 1.53 1 Green Peony 3" Pos-04 004 1 | 1 10008
2 00:00:01.000 3.02 00:00:04.020 1.53 1 Green Peony 3" Pos-05 005 1 | 1 10008
2 00:00:02.000 3.02 00:00:05.020 1.53 1 Green Peony 3" Pos-06 006 1 | 1 10008
2 00:00:03.000 3.02 00:00:06.020 1.53 1 Green Peony 3" Pos-07 007 1 | 1 10008
3 00:00:00.000 3.02 00:00:03.020 1.53 1 Green Peony 3" Pos-08 008 1 | 1 10008
3 00:00:01.000 3.02 00:00:04.020 1.53 1 Green Peony 3" Pos-09 009 1 | 1 10008
Figure 2 – Example Firelinx firing system script with subsections and hazard groups.
Table 4 – Example files
| Download link | Explanation |
| test_firelinx.csv | Example exported file (CSV) |
| test_firelinx.fin | Example show file (FIN) |