Marine Aquarium 3.2 in Beta
Please download at http://www.orderndev.com/downloads/M...quarium3-2.dmg
This is a beta build with a drop dead date of 1/31/2012. This build will automatically pull your MA 3 keycode for its own use, but it will keep its own preferences separate from MA 3 (unlike the prior build), so you should be able to use both at the same time. Features: eel background control manual panning Feedback is appreciated. Please include what OS and what machine you have. Thanks, Jim |
design credits
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Not sure if I should be asking this, but having been a fan of Jim Sachs ever since I first heard Richard Wagner's Overture to The flying Dutchman from a SID 6581 in the summer of 1987 at a friend's home, I wonder if the credits for MA3's design still apply as stated in the (PowerPC) Mac version, especially as they differ from those given in the Windows (XP) version.
I hope this is not felt too impertinent a question to be posed by a lurker. |
Which of those credits do you think is no longer correct?
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I assume the Windows version is maintained by Jim, so if I had to decide which version I deem more trustworthy, that would be the obvious choice.
But as they do not strictly contradict, just differ, all I actually do is wonder why. |
I wrote the Windows version. Jim O'Connor and Michael Babin did the Mac conversion. They are entirely trustworthy :)
The Mac conversion was not a trivial job, since the entire program had to be converted from DirectX to OpenGL. There are things which DirectX can do which require some pretty clever work-arounds in OpenGL (which is why I didn't write it in OpenGL to begin with). |
Now I know for sure that I should not have asked.
I am probably attaching too much importance to the term design in those credits. (And I didn't make clear enough in my first post above that I do.) I appreciate very much the work that Jim O'Connor and Michael Babin did. I am really sorry that I inadvertently made it appear as if I didn't. |
TCP -- don't know why you think you shouldn't have asked. I appreciate the attention to detail!
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Feedback
Hi Jim,
So far, so good. Love how the eel tracks the fish in front of it. Have not noticed any issues so far with fish swimming through objects, or really anything else out of the norm thus far. Running this on a Macbook pro with OS 10.6.8. Will also be installing on my home Mac mini with 10.6.4 & will let you know what I find. Appreciate the chance to provide feedback & keep up the great work! |
Thanks for the feedback, cohiba420.
I think recent changes made pass throughs more noticeable (they should happen less, but when they do they really POP), so I'm going to work on that before we release. There is a spelling error in the Background tab (missing the 'R'). I should have a build with some fixes in the next week, well in advance of the drop dead date. |
Very happy to see this happen. I can't begin to imagine how intricate the conversion process can is.
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Beta-build is Intel-only. I hope the final 3.2 release (or a new beta) will support Tiger/PPC as well, since the Readme says it does. MA3 runs pretty good on my 'old' dual 1,25 G4 MDD, and i can't wait to see the eel in and the bugs out...
Andreas. |
New MA3.2 beta up. Same URL.
This should support PPC. The changing between background colors should be smoother. The problem only showed up if you used the keys to change preferences. I didn't get the feature done to the point I want to show it, so this isn't a huge difference. Feedback is appreciated. |
installed. (thank you!!) looks nice, but I noticed one of the clown fish blinked out of existence (it was near the pink blob (between the coral and the cave, on top) and then popped back. was gone for about 5 seconds.
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Yes, the fish popping through the reef is a problem. That and my new feature are what is keeping me from calling this done.
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New version for PPC - Thanks! Installed it on my old G4. Eel looks great so far (imho a bit too bright compared to the PC version that fits more the ambience of the dark cave). It seems that the eel on the PC version gets darker the more it stucks deeper in the cave. Is that because of my old Radeon 9000 Pro in my G4 (missing shader or something...)?
Besides a few german translation bugs and UI glitches relating to it, the fish section in the preference pane of the screensaver version is a whole mess (missing fish, doubled fish, missing random button,...) In the program version everything looks and works fine. I've attached the screenshots of the preference pane to see the difference. |
We really need shaders now for a lot of things.
Thanks for pointing out the problems in the UI for German. I haven't looked at German in some time. |
Marine aquarium 3.2 Beta
This is, without question, the best screen saver rendering of the marine environment that I have seen on any platform. Congratulations.
The 3.2 beta has some nice enhancements. Any reason that you removed the triggerfish from this rev? Suggestion for future releases: Think I read that you were going to have fish pecking at the coral. How about having the clown fish live in the anemone on the right side of the panorama? Would also like to see more invertabrates. |
The clown and picasso triggers should both be in there.
Thanks for the feedback. |
Missing Fish
Jim:
Just noticed the post from 2/2/12 from Endie. He exactly describes the problem. The fish selection in the Application works fine. The fish selection screen embedded in the screen saver preferences is messed up. Some fish repeat, others, like the trigger fish, are missing. BTW, I am running on a 2011 MacBook Pro. Feashman |
Thanks, I'll fix it this weekend, and should have a new build.
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Mac OS X Lion Support
Hi all,
Excellent work on this update! I've installed on my iMac with Mac OS X Lion and haven't seen any major issues. Really like the addition of the eel and background screen options. Was wondering: ever since I upgraded to Mac OS X Lion the FPS rate for Marine Aquarium never gets any higher than about 30 FPS, most times down to 20 or so. I had much higher FPS rates before the update and I know that Apple changed up the way screen savers worked in this version (many of my screen savers had to be updated or abandoned). Any ideas why I can't get faster FPS rates? Processor 2.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Memory 4 GB 800 MHz DDR2 SDRAM Graphics ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro 256 MB Software Mac OS X Lion 10.7.3 (11D50b) Thanks! Darren |
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3.2 beta expired today!
:sad: |
dsanfil,
The beta should have expired Jan 31 and again at the end of Feb. It is running for me. Could you please check that you have the most recent build? |
Endie and Feashman,
I'm not able to reproduce the problem you're describing. What OS are you using? |
Derwinator,
I'll look at the fps issue you're seeing after I get the lighting changes done. Thanks for letting me know about it. |
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I'll try reinstalling and see what happens. |
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My 3.2 beta has also expired. Will try and re-download and install. |
I still am getting the beta expired message. So, I deleted 3.2 from the screen savers folder, rebooted and re-installed the screen saver. Still get beta expired message.
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Here's what I tried, Jim. I deleted both the app and the screen saver and all pref files. Downloaded a fresh copy (build 720). Reinstalled and reentered my license key.
Still getting the beta expired message. I'm glad to see, however, that I'm not the only one. |
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BTW, my beta copy has expired same as everyone else. Hoping to see new beta posted soon so I can continue testing. Thanks, Darren |
When you post a problem please post the OS you're using -- each time. The hardware is less important unless it is a performance issue.
Thanks. I'll get a new build out and let you guys know here. |
Hi Jim. Im on 10.6.8 (mac OS). Same 'expired' message. ;)
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The beta date will be fixed tonight. No need for more detail there. Thanks. :)
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A new build has been posted which may solve the problem showing up with the fish panel mangled in German. If you have seen a problem and you STILL see a problem, please post a picture. The fish names are all English, as I don't have the German translations, but the panel should work properly and display all fish if I guessed right.
Date extended to the end of the month. Thanks for feedback! http://orderndev.com/downloads/MarineAquarium3.2.dmg |
New build date extension now works.
Fish selection screen still does not work properly. No trigger fish, but multiple lion fish. It does display properly in version 3.0. Is it OK to have both 3.0 and 3.2 in the screen savers folder at the same time? Fish selection does display properly in the 3.2 application. |
Feashman,
Please try without the MA 3 screen saver. It should work that way, but that could be the problem. |
so far, so good! :)
And... THANK YOU!!!! :D |
Testing the new build today, I've noticed that key commands (W, B, C, etc) in screen saver mode now exit the saver. Works fine in MA 3. Pressing C turns bubble column on/off (albeit exits when pressed) but pressing B doesn't toggle sound on/off. Apparently, the option for sound effects must be chosen in the Prefs in order to make the toggle work? FPS rate still around 30 in screen saver mode, strangely I can get about 60 FPS when running the application in full screen mode.
Mac OS X Lion 10.7.3 (11D50b) Thanks for the update. Darren |
Testing new Build Tiger/Leo (PPC) German
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Jim: Thanks for new build, but I don't have good news:
I've tested both versions (program & screensaver) on 10.4.11 and 10.5.8 on my PPC Mac (G4 MDD Dual 1,25). 10.5.8: The fish selection is still chaos in screensaver mode (see pic), but changing system language to english fixes the problem. UPDATE: Removing MA3 from Screensaver folder fixes the problem, too! Program mode is still fine (ok, that's good news of course ;) ). 10.4.11: The options dialog doesn't show up at all neither in screensaver mode nor in program mode. Changing system language to english here doesn't do the trick as it does with Leopard. Andreas (Endie). |
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