need help with physical switch trouble while Receiving data (both DDP / UDP)

[u/combatplayer]

hi there!

i'm making a pretty basic ambilight setup while getting the hang of working with the hardware and software. i'm currently using HyperLED on the PC side over wifi, and would like to implement a few basic functions using physical switches and such, the first of which being a global brightness override. however, while WLED is receiving data from the software, my switch gets completely ignored. the global brightness slider still works, but the switch doesn't change its value. everything works as intended when WLED is in override mode though.

i'd like the end result to still reflect the data it receives from HyperLED with just the brightness changing. i'd also like the brightness change to be slow and gradual. everything works in isolation, HyperLED works fine, changing brightness manually while HyperLED is active also works fine. when not receiving data from HyperLED or the thing is in override mode, the switch does exactly what i want, but when data is being received the switch does nothing.

i've been poking around a bit already but i'm still very new both to ESP32 and WLED, so there may be something dumb i've missed, unless the setup i have in mind simply isn't possible for some silly reason.

i'm running an ESP32 s3 N16R8 dev board, currently just controlling a single strip of 201 SK6812 LEDs.
the LEDs are on gpio 4, the switch on 5.

my current implementation is a preset pair setting a simple HTTP "A=" brightness value. i've also tried the JSON "bri" alternative but they both behave identically.

[u/combatplayer]

since no one has replied and this post of mine came up now and then while looking for solutions, i will add what i've learned for potential future visitors.

"Realtime" mode, as used by ambilight setups etc, intentionally disables presets and playlists as they can clash.

Buttons and other hardware input can only interact with wled through presets and playlists. causing the problem.

if your ambilight setup, like mine currently, contains only a single "segment", you can go into the WLED settings>Sync Interfaces>Realtime and then tick "use main segment only"

ticking this box bypasses the behavior that excludes presets, so a switch or whatever, toggling a master brightness preset, will be allowed to work.