How to map and configure Novastar (or generic) receiving cards

Receiving cards live in the cabinets. They take the Ethernet or fiber stream from the sending card / processor and drive the modules. Mapping is the act of telling the control software which card is which physical rectangle on the wall. If the map is wrong, the wall is a puzzle: faces split across seams, a column shows the wrong slice of the lyric, or a “dead” section is simply unmapped.

This tutorial covers the workflow shared by NovaLCT-style tools and other families (Colorlight, Brompton, Megapixel, and generic sending-card software). Menu labels change. The sequence does not.

Safety and access before you click Send

• Confirm the wall is stable — ground-stacked bases locked or flown points confirmed — so you are not mapping from a ladder on a live motor.
• Know whether modules are front or rear service. You will pull at least one module.
• Use the official USB/Ethernet link the manufacturer supports. Random USB hubs and cheap Ethernet-to-USB adapters drop the connection mid-send and leave cards half-programmed.
• Save the current project before you discover last month’s file is the only copy.

If the wall already shows a picture, take a phone photo of the image and of the software map. You may need to undo.

Load the cabinet file, not a guess

A cabinet file (.rcfgx, .rcfg, or a vendor-specific module library) describes pixel width/height, scan type, chip type, and how modules are wired inside the cabinet. The wrong file can light the wall with swapped colors, a 180° image inside each cabinet, or a brightness that cooks LEDs.

Steps:

1. Identify the exact cabinet SKU from the label inside the cabinet or the receiving-card sticker — not from memory.
2. Load the matching cabinet file from the manufacturer or from the USB stick that shipped with the job.
3. If you maintain a house library, version it: P26_500_indoor_v3. Do not overwrite; add.
4. Send the cabinet file to one test cabinet first. Check color order (R, G, B), orientation, and that the pixel size matches the datasheet.
5. Only then send to the whole wall.

If no file exists, do not invent scan parameters from a forum post. Get the file from the supplier or read the receiving card after a known-good cabinet is detected.

Draw the map to match the physical grid

In software, create a display whose width and height equal the wall in cabinets, using the cabinet pixel size you just verified.

Place cabinets in the same order a person in the seats would describe: column 1 is house left or house right — write it down. Churches argue about “stage left” versus “house left.” Pick house left/right from the audience and put it on the plot.

Set the first cabinet in each data chain to match the physical RJ45 that leaves the sending card. Then set connection direction:

• Top to bottom down a column, then the next column.
• Left to right along a row, then the next row.
• Serpentine (down one column, up the next) if that is how the shop loomed the jumpers.

The software’s arrow overlay must match the jumpers you can see. If the overlay says the signal exits the bottom of cabinet A3 and the jumper is clearly on the top port, the map is fiction.

For irregular walls (arches, crosses, cut corners), still place every physical cabinet on the canvas, then disable or mask the empty slots. Do not leave ghost cabinets enabled; they steal pixels from the processor canvas.

Send, read back, and prove it with patterns

1. Send mapping / connection to the cards.
2. Read back the configuration. If read-back does not match, you did not save.
3. Enable a cabinet-ID or location test pattern. Each cabinet should show a unique number or color in the physical position you expect.
4. Enable a moving block or “one cabinet flash.” Walk the wall.
5. Switch to a 1-pixel grid or checkerboard to find rotated modules and swapped data cables inside a cabinet.

If two cabinets show the same ID, you duplicated a receiving-card address or mapped two physical cabinets to one slot. Fix that before you chase “ghosting.”

Save the project. Export a backup. Put a copy on the house computer and a USB in the rack.

Configure the details that show up as “bad product”

Brightness groups. Some walls need the top rows dimmer under downlights. Use calibration groups, not a piece of gel.

Receiving-card backup. If you have redundant Ethernet (primary and backup ports), enable redundancy and test by pulling the primary cable. The wall should hold picture. If it blanks, redundancy was only plugged in.

Network parameters. Keep sending-card IPs documented. Two techs running two laptops with the same control software can fight over a wall.

Firmware. Mixed receiving-card firmware on one wall causes random cabinets to ignore a send. Batch-update in a maintenance window, not 20 minutes before doors. Update a spare first.

Lock / password. A volunteer with the installer password will “fix” mapping. Use a read-only show computer if the software allows it.

Data topology that matches the map

A sending card output can only feed so many pixels. The limit depends on bit depth, frame rate, and the card. If you exceed it, the last cabinets flicker or drop off — which looks like a power problem.

Split the wall into ports on purpose:

• One port per two columns is a common rental pattern.
• Keep chain lengths similar so boot time is even.
• Do not snake a single chain through 40 cabinets of P2.6 at 60 Hz unless the datasheet says you can.

Fiber between processor and first cabinet is normal on long throws. Convert to copper at the wall with the manufacturer’s converter, then stay copper for the short cabinet hops.

Label every cable: P1-C1 (port 1, first cabinet). Future you will not remember the pretty drawing.

When the picture is “almost right”

Work from the sending port toward the last cabinet. A failed jumper kills everything downstream. That is a feature: it tells you where to look.

Common mistakes

Mapping from a photo of last year’s wall. Cabinets get rotated in the cases. Read the current jumpers.

Sending a cabinet file to the whole wall after testing one cabinet that was a different SKU. Rental shops mix “almost the same” P2.6. Almost is not a file.

Ignoring read-back. The software said “success” while the USB blinked out.

Fixing a content problem in the map. If lyrics are off-center on every cabinet equally, that is the processor canvas, not receiving cards.

No spare receiving card. Cards fail. A preloaded spare is a five-minute fix. A card with factory defaults is a 45-minute mapping session.

Shop-to-site workflow that scales

1. Pre-map in the shop on a 2×2 if the job is a known grid.
2. On site, hang or stack, then re-verify jumpers against the drawing.
3. Send map, walk IDs, then hand the wall to the processor tech for canvas alignment.
4. Print a one-page map (cabinet IDs, ports, house left) and tape it inside the rack lid.

Receiving cards are not mysterious. They are a spreadsheet that happens to emit light. Keep the spreadsheet true and the wall will tell you the truth.