While the default firmware that your Ender 3 V2 or S1 ships with can lead you to believe that there isn’t a whole lot you can do to configure your 3D printer through the LCD controller, this is actually due to the firmware that Creality ships their printers with being quite limited, which you can easily replace with a better one to make more features accessible.
In this guide, we will take you through the installation process for the MRiscoC Professional Firmware for the Ender 3 V2 & S1, which is practically the go-to firmware option for these 3D printers, explain how this firmware differs from the stock Creality firmware, and discuss the many advantages it can bring to your 3D printing experience in comparison.
MRiscoC Professional Firmware Installation Guide for Ender 3 V2 & S1
In essence, installing the MRiscoC Professional Firmware on your Ender 3 V2 or S1 is a pretty straightforward process, as the whole installation process practically comes down to retrieving the correct firmware file for your setup, copying it to an SD card, and inserting the SD card into your 3D printer at its core.
That being said, as there are a few nuances to be aware of to ensure that you don’t face any issues or end up spending more time than necessary to get things working, we will also be sharing our own experiences regarding the installation process (as we also use Professional Firmware on our Ender 3 V2 Neo), and hopefully make your transition to the new firmware as convenient as possible.
Starting out, the first thing you will need to do is to find the correct firmware file for your 3D printer’s hardware, as there are a few different releases you can find at the bottom of the Professional Firmware releases page on GitHub.
Below, you can find a list of the words used in the firmware files and what they mean, which will allow you to easily spot the file that will work with your 3D printer:
- Ender3V2 – Firmware file compatible with Ender 3 V2.
- Ender3S1 – Firmware file compatible with Ender 3 S1.
- BLTUBL – BLTouch enabled with Unified Bed Leveling.
- MM – Manual Mesh enabled for creating bed leveling mesh without a probe.
- UBL – Unified Bed Leveling
- 422 / 427 – Compatible with Creality v4.2.2 (422) / v4.2.7 (427) mainboard version.
- F1 / F4 – Compatible with the STM32F103 (F1) / STM32F401 (F4) microcontroller.
- SKRME3V3 – Compatible with the SKR Mini E3 V3 mainboard.
- MPC – Model Predictive Control (alternative to PID, used for all versions of Professional Firmware now)
So, as an example, if you have an Ender 3 V2 with a Creality v4.2.2 mainboard and a BLTouch attached to it, you will want to go for the firmware file that has Ender3V2, 422, and BLTUBL in it, which would point you toward the Ender3V2-422-BLTUBL-MPC-YYYYMMDD.bin (YYYYMMDD is the firmware release date) firmware file.
If you don’t know how to access the mainboard of your Ender 3 V2 to learn its model, you can follow the first part of the video below (until 0:25), which will take you through removing the mainboard cover in a quick and easy way.
Once you have the firmware file at hand, the next step is to copy it into a blank SD card that has been correctly formatted for usage with an Ender 3 (FAT32 filesystem & MBR partition table), meaning that you can empty the SD card you usually utilize to transfer G-code files to your Ender 3 V2 and use it for this process.
Afterward, you will need to rename the firmware file on the SD card to something that doesn’t exceed a few characters and doesn’t contain any special characters, as longer filenames (and special characters) can create issues at times.
For instance, a name such as YYYYMMDD.bin would be quite suitable for a firmware file, where YYYYMMDD is the current date, such as 20230617.bin for 17 June 2023, as this will also ensure that you don’t use the same firmware name again when updating the firmware on your Ender 3 V2 / S1, which is also known to create issues in some cases.
Please ensure that a USB cable isn’t connected to your Ender 3 V2 / S1 before proceeding with the rest of the steps.
Now that you have the firmware file ready to go, it’s time to take the SD card out of your computer, insert it into your Ender 3 V2 / S1, and turn your Ender 3 V2 / S1 on, which will automatically initiate the firmware flashing process, indicated by the screen being blank for a few seconds.
Once the flashing process is done, your Ender 3 V2 / S1 will boot up as usual, but this time with Professional Firmware installed.
If you have an Ender 3 S1 with an STM32F401 microcontroller, and the flashing process doesn’t start for you, try copying the firmware file to a folder named STM32F4_UPDATE instead.
While the installation process is technically over at this point, there are a few more things you will need to do to get things working, which starts with resetting the EEPROM.
For this process, all you will need to do is to navigate to the Control menu and click the Restore Defaults option, followed by the Store Settings option, which will remove the old firmware configuration from the EEPROM and replace it with the default values of Professional Firmware.
Once that’s done, you will need to adjust the travel limits and the bed size accordingly by following the steps on the Calibration Guides page of the Professional Firmware GitHub repository, which will make your Ender 3 V2 / S1 technically ready to print.
That being said, the calibration process doesn’t completely end here in reality, as building a bed leveling mesh, MPC tuning the hotend & bed, and correcting the acceleration, jerk, and step values (if you’ve been using different values with your old firmware) will also be necessary for optimal results, which are mostly automatic processes that you will only need to initiate through the menus.
Finally, if you would like to install the screen firmware, which comes with benefits such as cooler-looking icons and G-code preview (depending on the model of the screen installed on your 3D printer), but is purely optional (unless you have modified the stock screen firmware before), you can refer to this page on the Professional Firmware GitHub repository.
What Is MRiscoC Professional Firmware?
Technically speaking, both the Professional Firmware and the stock Creality firmware you’re using on your Ender 3 V2 or S1 are forks of the same base firmware, known as Marlin Firmware.
That being said, the highly customizable nature of Marlin Firmware, with many features that can be activated or deactivated to change the feature set and the behavior of the firmware, along with it being possible to make changes to the user interface side of things (the menus you see on your LCD controller), practically makes it possible to create a whole new firmware by using the Marlin Firmware core, which is what Professional Firmware essentially is.
As an example of a feature that Professional Firmware offers but many other Marlin Firmware forks don’t, even though it’s technically built-in into the firmware, we can look at firmware retraction, which we can summarize as a feature that transfers retraction parameters from being controlled by the G-code file to being controlled by the firmware.
On the other hand, as a feature that’s unique to Professional Firmware, we can give the example of the Physical Settings menu that makes it possible to adjust the travel limits and the bed size without having to re-compile and re-flash the firmware, which isn’t a feature that you can activate by modifying the Marlin Firmware configuration.
With these things in consideration, we can describe Professional Firmware as firmware that’s not only a well-tuned version of Marlin Firmware, which has the optimal configuration to enable the correct features and behaviors for an Ender 3 V2 / S1 but also an improvement on the user experience front with the unique features that it offers.
What Are the Advantages of Using MRiscoC Professional Firmware?
Earlier, we mentioned that even though both the stock Creality firmware and the Professional Firmware are built on top of Marlin firmware, there are staggering differences between the two firmware options that make Professional Firmware a whole lot better in comparison.
Below, we have listed some of our favorite features that Professional Firmware brings, which we believe are the most noticeable advantages of using it over the stock Creality firmware.
Bed Tramming Wizard
The bed tramming wizard is, without a doubt, our favorite feature of Professional Firmware, as it makes the process of bed tramming much more convenient and reliable than the manual method, which usually requires a decent amount of effort to obtain results that are acceptable.
Unlike the standard way of tramming the bed, where it becomes necessary to manually move the nozzle to each corner and adjust the bed leveling knobs with the paper (or feeler gauge) method that we’re all familiar with, the bed tramming wizard automates the tramming process by using the automatic bed leveling probe of your Ender 3 V2 / S1 to take readings from each of the corners and telling you the exact height differences between the corners of the print bed.
On top of the height difference information, which allows you to approximate how much you will need to turn the bed leveling knob, you can also see the firmware’s suggestion for the corner you should be making the adjustment for, along with the direction (lower or higher), which allows you to correct your bed tramming in less than a minute.
Probe Z Offset Wizard
Another feature we frequently use in Professional Firmware is the probe Z offset wizard, which makes calibrating the probe Z offset value a breeze compared to doing it manually, and even though it isn’t a challenging thing to do by any means, the manual method does get a bit tedious over time.
When you adjust the probe Z offset through the probe Z offset wizard, the printhead automatically moves to its new location according to the updated probe Z offset value in real-time, which allows you to find and save the correct configuration quickly and conveniently with the standard paper method.
This way, you don’t end up having to manually move the Z-axis position first to find the correct probe Z offset value first (which can get even more tedious if your firmware doesn’t support live Z-axis movement), and then also set the probe Z offset value accordingly afterward, which isn’t exactly the best user experience for a process that you may need to go through rather frequently.
Editable Bed Size & Travel Limits
One of the more unique features of Professional Firmware that you won’t find in many other Marlin forks is the adjustable bed size and travel limits, which, compared to the standard way of doing it that requires modifying the configuration file, re-compiling the firmware and re-flashing it to your Ender 3 V2 / S1, is a huge time saver.
While editing these variables (X_MIN_POS, Y_MIN_POS, X_BED_SIZE, Y_BED_SIZE, X_MAX_POS, Y_MAX_POS) is something you will most likely only need to do once when you’re setting your Ender 3 V2 / S1 up for the first time, as their values will never require change unless you make modifications to the related parts of the hardware, being able to configure them directly through the LCD controller (or G-code commands) is still extremely practical.
Additionally, as it’s also possible to come across a scenario where you eventually find out that some of these variables are misconfigured after you’ve used your Ender 3 V2 / S1 for some time, as they may be configured in a way that only makes it possible to see the problem once you attempt to use the entirety of the bed for a print, being able to correct things on the fly is always a great option to have available.
Filament Change During the Print
Being able to change the filament spool mid-print in a convenient way is something that we definitely appreciate a lot, whether it’s to switch between different colors for the model we’re printing or to quickly replace a spool of filament that’s about to run out without having to cancel the print and start over.
Once you initiate the filament change procedure (M600 – Filament Change), your Ender 3 V2 / S1 automatically moves the printhead away from the print, pulls the filament back to make it easier to remove, waits for you to confirm that you have inserted a new spool of filament, and once confirmed, loads the filament and automatically continues with the print once the filament is ready.
Compared to the manual method of performing a filament change mid-print with a standard pause, this feature improves user experience considerably by automating the unloading and the loading of the filament while also protecting the print from the oozing that can occur during the filament change process by parking the printhead far away.
Finally, alongside the ability to initiate a filament change during the print, you’ll also find shortcuts for loading (M701) and unloading (M702) filament in the Filament Management menu, which are handy to have in cases where you would like to perform these actions without having to do things manually.
Firmware Retraction
Last but not least, firmware retraction, which is something we have started using recently, definitely deserves to be mentioned on our list of favorite Professional Firmware features with how convenient it makes to both calibrate retraction settings to be as optimal as possible and also quickly adjust retraction settings across different filament types.
When firmware retraction is active in the firmware, and the slicer you’re using is configured to produce G-code files that leverage this feature by replacing the usual retraction and priming commands with G10 (Retract) and G11 (Recover) instead, retraction parameters become available for configuration on the firmware, whether with G-code commands or with the LCD controller, as opposed to being baked-in into the G-code file you’re printing.
The primary advantage of this change is that it makes it possible to adjust retraction parameters as your Ender 3 V2 / S1 is actively printing, which, considering that retraction can be pretty tricky to configure with a lot of experimentation required to find the optimal values, is practically a gamechanger that takes convenience to the next level when adjusting retraction.
Additionally, the fact that the retraction parameters are stored on the 3D printer rather than the G-code file saves you from having to re-slice models with the new retraction settings you would like to use whenever you discover values that work better, which is another quality-of-life improvement we appreciate.
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Please note that this isn’t an exhaustive list of features but a list of the ones we enjoy the most, and to learn more, you can feel free to refer to the Firmware Features section of the official Professional Firmware GitHub page, where you will find a complete list of the features.
Conclusion
Putting into consideration the many benefits it brings to user experience, whether it’s the interactive bed tramming tool or the firmware retraction functionality, Professional Firmware is a considerable upgrade on the stock Creality firmware that ships by default with the Ender 3 V2 and the Ender 3 S1, and combined with how easy it is to install, we believe that there’s absolutely no reason to stay on the stock firmware.
While it’s completely normal to be hesitant about changing your 3D printers firmware, which admittedly is a big step if you haven’t done it before (and an even bigger one if you don’t consider yourself to have a lot of technical expertise), we can promise that you will wish you have upgraded sooner as soon as you start using Professional Firmware for the first time.
As a software developer by profession, David has been particularly interested in how 3D printing works even before he picked up his first 3D printer, and completely fell in love with the hobby once he got his hands on a Prusa i3 MK2 for the first time back in 2017. Due to him enjoying both the functional and the non-functional sides of 3D printing equally, you’ll rarely see David’s 3D printer in an idle state.