Compressed sequences are intended for use during shows, as they can be loaded much faster than their associated sequences, yet contain all information necessary to play the sequence. The Show Player will try to create compressed versions of the scheduled sequences (.PLAY.LMS files) when each sequence is first played, but this can delay the start of the sequence by more than a minute for large sequences (this delay only occurs the first time the sequence is played). To avoid this delay, you can compress your sequences ahead of time using the Sequence Compressor program.
It can be used to compress all sequences in the entire schedule, or all sequences in a specified show, or a single specified sequence. Simply choose which of those you want to do (and, if appropriate, choose the show or sequence), and click the "Compress" button. The "Output Log" tab will show what the Sequence Compressor is doing, as it does it. When the Sequence Compressor finishes, it will open a message box saying so, and the "Results" tab will contain a summary of what has been done. The summary will say, for example, how many (and which) sequences were compressed, and give details about any errors or warnings that happened. If desired, the "Save" button can be used to save both the results summary and the output log to a file.
If some particular sequence already has an up-to-date compressed sequence available, the Sequence Compressor will simply skip that sequence, unless the "Force compression even for sequences that are already compressed" box is checked.
Please note that not all sequences can be compressed. In particular, any sequence that contains a loop cannot be compressed, nor can any S4 sequence that contains two or more tracks with different time lengths. If such a sequence is encountered, the Sequence Compressor will issue a "warning" about it.
Compressed sequences have a .LCS file extension.
The Light-O-Rama Sequence Compressor