Updates to custom printer, print and filament profiles
When Prusa pushes a configuration update, what happens to my custom profiles? I noticed that some of the custom profiles in
~/Library/Application Support/PrusaSlicer/print
are quite old. I'm especially concerned about my XL 5T profile. I recently changed some of the nozzles so for the first time I've got a custom printer profile. Will that start to drift from the baseline during future updates?
RE: Updates to custom printer, print and filament profiles
Unless you detached your custom profile when you saved it then it can still be updated by the prusa pushed changes without you being aware.
The profiles currently use a hierarchical tree.
So for example, say you have a petg filament profile that you based on one of the prusa ones. That Prusa profile might be based on the generic PETG profile. So you would have Generic PETG>Prusament PETG. If you created a custom on based on the Prusament PETG and changed nozzle temperature to 255 for Other Layers and just saved it. Say as My PETG. Your profile would then be based Generic PETG>Prusament PETG>My PETG.
Only settings that you have different are part of your custom Profile.
If Prusa were to update the Generic PETG or Prusament PETG other layers temperatures to a different value it wouldn't effect your custom profile as you have set a specific temperature. Changing the Generic PETG wouldn't effect the Prusament PETG profile either as that is one of the different edited values.
However if they were to change the extrusion multiplier for some reason (not likely but as an example) in the generic PETG then that change would also apply to the Prusament PETG (as its the same) and ALSO to your custom My PETG profile as that value is unchanged.
That would be pretty inconvenient and would mess up your carefully tuned profile wouldn't it.
If you want Prusa Changes to still effect your profiles then you are set though as their changes will apply UNLESS you have specifically set a specific value.
If you don't like the idea of changes trickling down without you even knowing about it then helpfully Prusa have allowed that. There is a button in the profiles Dependencies section called "Detach from System Preset". If you click that and then save the profile then EVERY setting is stored in your custom Profile. From that point on NONE of Prusa's changes will effect your profile. It is yours.
This is the method I use on ALL my profiles as I don't want anyone messing them up.
Besides I can always use Prusa Slicers built in Compare tool to do a compare on the current state of Prusa's profile and my own. That way I can port over any changes IF I think they are worthwhile, usually after testing them before incorporating them into my own profiles.
RE: Updates to custom printer, print and filament profiles
I spot checked the dependency section of a few of my profiles, none of them were detached. That was useful, it showed the parent system preset used for my custom profiles.
As a side note, the reason I'm poking at this: I've been using 3 different printers (CoreOne, XL 5T, and MK3S+), with two different laptops (one co-located, one remote via PrusaConnect). I'd like to share my little farm with another person, and the profiles are getting out of control. I'm playing with a bit of scripting to manage things. I'll start a different thread on that if it goes anywhere.
What you're saying is the way I thought it was. But I've noticed a few things that I can't explain. These are my observations which may or may not be correct:
- My custom .ini files appear to be full configurations, not differences
- Their last modified dates go back a few years (as far back as April 2021, using "ls -l" on a Mac). Which implies the files aren't being merged with configuration updates. Unless PrusaSlicer is touching the file back to its original mtime?
- I just made a single change to "Original Prusa XL - 5T 0.6 nozzle", making the nozzle on the first extruder 0.4mm. The resulting custom .ini file contains 91 parameters. I rechecked with the diff tool and the first extruder nozzle size is the only difference.
- My script used the command line interface to list all the printer, print and filament configs. The response was preceded by about 20 error messages concerning bad parameters in custom config files.
RE: Updates to custom printer, print and filament profiles
Dont have an XL but when you run the wizard all the current XL profiles have Input Shaper in their name. The non input shaping ones are listed at the bottom as legacy. From your names I would guess you are using the non input shaping ones and with those being legacy I'm not sure Prusa is updating those any more.
Might explain why those have older dates.
The whole profile schema is very opaque and does not lend itself well to others using it. My opinion only 🙂