Safe Mode (WatchDog)

Motioncube provides advanced stability techniques implemented via the WatchDog mechanism. WatchDog monitors the Motioncube Player process and, in case of a failure, automatically restarts it to minimize downtime.

These techniques also handle startup failures of Motioncube Player, offering additional actions such as checking and applying updates and launching a remote assistance tool (if previously configured).

You start WatchDog mode using PlayerLauncher.

Launch

Start Motioncube in "Safe mode" (WatchDog enabled).

Shortcuts are located in: %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\MotionCube

Shortcut command structure examples:

# Example for Beam version
"C:\Program Files\MotionCube-v1-beam\app\PlayerLauncher.exe" -style Default --use-watchdog

# Example for Full version
"C:\Program Files\MotionCube-v1-full\app\PlayerLauncher.exe" -style Default --use-watchdog

General options & tools

In the system tray locate the "Motioncube" icon and click Watchdog.

• UI Visibility
  Enable this if you do NOT want the end user to see the Windows desktop during a crash/restart. A plain backdrop (Player theme color) is shown so service work is minimally noticeable.

• Advanced
  Opens the detailed monitoring options (see next section).

• Restart without WatchDog
  Restarts Motioncube Player in a non‑supervised (normal) mode.

• Reset settings
  Restores WatchDog settings to their initial (post‑installation) defaults.

Advanced monitoring options

Open: Watchdog > Advanced

• TeamViewer path
  Set the path to a remote desktop support tool (e.g. TeamViewer) for assisted servicing.

• Information
  Message displayed on the error screen. You can include e.g. a service phone number.

• AppStart Timeout [ms]
  Delay after launcher start before WatchDog verifies Player startup. Example: 10000 means 10 seconds grace period during which Player is not yet monitored (time needed to register itself with WatchDog).

• First Check Delay [ms]
  Time after which the first cyclic activity check occurs to confirm stable operation.

• Timeout [ms]
  Interval between subsequent cyclic activity checks (maximum reaction time to a failure).

Possible scenarios

Motioncube Player startup failure

After PlayerLauncher starts, the system waits for the duration defined in AppStart Timeout. If Player startup is not detected within that period, a service menu is displayed allowing (among others) checking for software updates or initiating a remote support session.

Screens below illustrate this situation:

Full event flow is shown in the video:

(Watch in full screen at Full HD resolution for best clarity)

Error inside a single application

WatchDog also monitors applications launched within Motioncube Player. If an app becomes unresponsive or crashes, Player is restarted. Reaction time is governed by Timeout described above. The video below shows handling of an intentional error in a test application.

(Watch in full screen at Full HD resolution for best clarity)

Advanced

WatchDog configuration files can be edited manually in these locations:

1. Windows

   %LOCALAPPDATA%\PlayerLauncher\MotionCube\WatchDog\config.ini
   

2. Linux

   ~/.config/MotionCube/WatchDog/config.ini