SC Vista opens the newest Tiverton Lighting through its autoload preference

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

README.md

@@ -277,6 +277,15 @@ a hold on any key fixes it at any time, on that location's own deck or from NA's
 what is found now, keeping its name, PIN and pages. `python3 -m settings.location upgrade-companion` brings an older
 Companion to 5.0.7 from NA's copy (settings come along; the old version stays installed).
 
+## Southcoast's Vista show
+
+SC's Lighting PC (SC Lighting PC, 10.5.1.168) keeps several copies of `Tiverton Lighting.v3s`; Vista opens the
+**newest** (the user's choice, 2026-10-21), never an autosave from `_Backups`. Its `\StatusPanel\Start Vista` task runs
+`C:\ProgramData\StatusPanel\start-vista.ps1` (`remote-access/start-vista-newest.ps1`), which sets Vista's
+`<autoloadpath>` in `Documents\Vista 3\.preferences` to that copy (the old file kept as `.preferences.before-status-panel`)
+and starts Vista; a running Vista is left alone. `-WhatIf` shows the pick without changing anything. Running the PC join
+line again resets the task to plain `Vista.exe`: point it back at the script afterwards.
+
 ## A location on its own (Apollo Beach)
 
 Apollo Beach runs its panel itself: not on NA's deck, not in NA's backups, no NA key on its Macs.

remote-access/start-vista-newest.ps1

@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+# start-vista-newest.ps1 - the status panel's "Start Vista" task on a Lighting PC: Vista opens the
+# newest copy of the location's show, through Vista's own autoload preference (as North Attleboro's
+# Vista opens Prop Takeover). Southcoast keeps several copies of "Tiverton Lighting.v3s"; the user
+# chose "whichever is newest" (2026-10-21). Autosave backups (_Backups) are never picked.
+#
+# Installed at C:\ProgramData\StatusPanel\start-vista.ps1; the task runs
+#   powershell.exe -NoProfile -WindowStyle Hidden -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File C:\ProgramData\StatusPanel\start-vista.ps1 -Show "Tiverton Lighting.v3s"
+# A running Vista is left alone: its show is never changed under it.
+param(
+    [string]$Show = "Tiverton Lighting.v3s",
+    [string]$Vista = "C:\Program Files (x86)\Chroma-Q\Vista3\Vista.exe",
+    [switch]$WhatIf
+)
+if ((Get-Process -Name Vista -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue) -and -not $WhatIf) { "Vista is running: left alone"; exit 0 }
+$roots = @("$env:USERPROFILE\Desktop", "$env:USERPROFILE\Documents") | Where-Object { Test-Path $_ }
+$newest = Get-ChildItem -Path $roots -Recurse -Filter $Show -File -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue |
+    Where-Object { $_.FullName -notmatch '\\_Backups\\' } | Sort-Object LastWriteTime -Descending | Select-Object -First 1
+$prefs = "$env:USERPROFILE\Documents\Vista 3\.preferences"
+if ($newest -and (Test-Path $prefs)) {
+    $text = [IO.File]::ReadAllText($prefs)
+    $line = '<autoloadpath>' + [Security.SecurityElement]::Escape($newest.FullName) + '</autoloadpath>'
+    $new = [regex]::Replace($text, '<autoloadpath>.*?</autoloadpath>', [Text.RegularExpressions.MatchEvaluator]{ param($m) $line })
+    "newest: $($newest.FullName) ($($newest.LastWriteTime))"
+    if ($new -ne $text -and -not $WhatIf) {
+        Copy-Item $prefs "$prefs.before-status-panel" -Force
+        [IO.File]::WriteAllText($prefs, $new)
+        "autoload set"
+    }
+} else {
+    "no $Show found, or no Vista preferences: Vista starts with its own choice"
+}
+if (-not $WhatIf) { Start-Process -FilePath $Vista -WorkingDirectory (Split-Path $Vista) }