Feature Request: Ability to control the AniMe Matrix

[ReK42]

As bad as Armoury Crate is, one of the features it has that no other program does is the ability to control the AniMe Matrix. If ROG Manager is to fully replace Armoury Crate for people with versions of the laptop that have the matrix, this feature will be important.

[zllovesuki]

There is actually an open source implementation to control different vendors' RGB: https://gitlab.com/CalcProgrammer1/OpenRGB. Although, I'm not sure if AniMe Matrix uses the same interface as AURA.

Since I do not have an G14 with AniMe Matrix on hand, development may be an issue. At the time of writing it doesn't seem like United States (where I'm located) is selling the version with AniMe Matrix. This may change at a later date.

[ReK42]

I have a model with the matrix. I don't have the spare time to invest in development but I'd be willing to test.

[zllovesuki]

Although, would you be interested in trying out setting the keyboard brightness? One use case would be turning the keyboard back light on when it's sunset, and turning it off when it's sunrise.

[ReK42]

That's not a feature I'd be interested in. Setting brightness based on a schedule is very unreliable. You really need an ambient light sensor to make dynamic brightness useful. Without one it becomes an annoyance for the user, in my experience.

[zllovesuki]

That is a valid point. We can workaround the issue of G14 not having an ALS later.

However, I mainly want to test out my theory that the keyboard brightness control interface is the same on all G14s. If you are comfortable, would you mind running this binary in the Powershell and post the output here? You can run it with regular user privilege (no need for administrator).

[v1b1]

Ran on Powershell 7.0.3 on a G14 with AniMe Matrix:

{Path:\\?\hid#vid_0b05&pid_1866&mi_02&col02#8&3397f86&0&0001#{4d1e55b2-f16f-11cf-88cb-001111000030} VendorID:2821 ProductID:6246 Release:2 Serial: Manufacturer:ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Product:ASUSTeK Computer Inc. UsagePage:12 Usage:1 Interface:2}
{Path:\\?\hid#vid_0b05&pid_1866&mi_02&col03#8&3397f86&0&0002#{4d1e55b2-f16f-11cf-88cb-001111000030} VendorID:2821 ProductID:6246 Release:2 Serial: Manufacturer:ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Product:ASUSTeK Computer Inc. UsagePage:65329 Usage:121 Interface:2}
{Path:\\?\hid#vid_0b05&pid_1866&mi_02&col04#8&3397f86&0&0003#{4d1e55b2-f16f-11cf-88cb-001111000030} VendorID:2821 ProductID:6246 Release:2 Serial: Manufacturer:ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Product:ASUSTeK Computer Inc. UsagePage:65329 Usage:128 Interface:2}
{Path:\\?\hid#vid_0b05&pid_1866&mi_00#8&247a6e1&0&0000#{4d1e55b2-f16f-11cf-88cb-001111000030}\kbd VendorID:2821 ProductID:6246 Release:2 Serial: Manufacturer:ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Product: UsagePage:1 Usage:6 Interface:0}
{Path:\\?\hid#vid_0b05&pid_1866&mi_01#8&261ee4a3&0&0000#{4d1e55b2-f16f-11cf-88cb-001111000030}\kbd VendorID:2821 ProductID:6246 Release:2 Serial: Manufacturer:ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Product:ASUSTeK Computer Inc. UsagePage:1 Usage:6 Interface:1}
{Path:\\?\hid#vid_0b05&pid_1866&mi_02&col01#8&3397f86&0&0000#{4d1e55b2-f16f-11cf-88cb-001111000030} VendorID:2821 ProductID:6246 Release:2 Serial: Manufacturer:ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Product:ASUSTeK Computer Inc. UsagePage:65329 Usage:118 Interface:2}

[zllovesuki]

Yep, just as I suspected, they are the same on all G14s. The only difference is the serial number.

Thanks for helping 🙂

[zllovesuki]

Question: If you disable the "Armoury Crate Control Interface" in Device Manager under System Devices, are you able to still interface with AniMe Matrix?

[erikjoya]

Anime Matrix current settings still work when disabling "Armoury crate control interface". It will stop working when I stop the armory crate service. It seems there's a persistent lightingservice.exe that's running to maintain the anime matrix which is under the aura service. Uninstalling the aura service while still having the armory crate will stop the anime matrix to work.

[zllovesuki]

@erikjoya would you mind posting the lightingservice.exe binary (and its associated DLL/.sys drivers) so I can take a look?

[erikjoya]

Here's my copy.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/pw90gxn2wrgbpzv/LightingService.zip?dl=0

Just an update. I disabled armory crate service in the services and my lights still work. The only thing that stops working is it will not automatically turn off anymore when I unplug my power.

[zllovesuki]

Interesting. Looks like the interface is written in C#, but it is then wrapped so LighteningService.exe (c++) can call it?

[zllovesuki]

Could potentially adapt the control in Linux to be used on Windows: https://github.com/flukejones/rog-core/blob/master/rog-core/src/animatrix_control.rs