Wide Version update?
 

I expected version 1.1 is coming out with wide version. Will it be soon?????

Jim and Morgan mentioned that the widescreen version will be online next week when the site will be less crowded.

When the 3D backgroung will be available the two modes will be included in the same version.

Jim is working on the widescreen version, but a glitch has been found and for now it is back in the shop for repairs.

Let's not promise next week. I'll say that the widescreen version 1.1 is coming very soon.

https://www.feldoncentral.com/hdtv/Aquarium11thumb.jpg
(click to enlarge)

What would happen if I ran the widescreen version on my regualr screen?

This:

Patscarr.

With a calculator and a ruler, you can easily adjust your monitor to show the wide Aquarium perfectly on a regular monitor. All you have to do is make some adjustments and accept that there will be black bars like in a letterbox film on your TV.

Newer monitors should either have autofit or should have some "resolution memory" so that you can have more than one resolution adjusted to fit perfectly on the screen.

Plus it runs perfectly in a window at the exact right aspect ratio.

Before the Starfish I used the widescreen version exclusively on my normal shaped 19" monitor.

I should have said that the widescreen edition IS good in a window and actually cooler cause you have 8 fish and a little cluster of blue coral, and because it's a thinner longer ribbon, you can make it bigger without affecting your total real estate so much.

I can't wait for 1.1 wide, even though I don't have a 16:9 monitor.

Me too! It's better than the normal version in windowed mode.

Will this wide version display well with a setup using Geforce 2 card's "Twinview" Sometimes I run dual monitors in a Horizontal Span. Its neat....the regular version looked bad on that for sure heh.

thanks

The Aquarium does not support multiple monitors.

And the wide version is only 25% wider than the regular version.

Successfully running wide version dual-headed
 

While I'm sure you're right about multi-monitor
configurations not being technically supported,
I've been successfully running it on a dual-
headed Matrox G450 (horizontal orientation)
configuration at work for some time. It's true
that it is a bit stretched (too bad "wide" isn't
wider), it doesn't look too bad. It's neat to
have it across both monitors like that.

I'm definately hoping that the new wide version
works in the same way.

[To programs it appears that I have a single
monitor of resolution 2048x768.]

Joe

Dual Head (Matrox) always was better than TwinView (nVidia) and as far as I know also better than Hydravision (ATi). Too bad they (Matrox) haven't produced a new 3D chip in like three years or so...

re: wide screen and new background
 

Today is 3-11-02: do we have any updates on when the 3d background and wide screen might be ready?????? just wondering. thank you

Sorry, Albrt -- With The Great Key Code Switchover taking place, I haven't had time to repair the widescreen version. Hoping to get to it today.

Shall we have it on next week??????
I like the sweet old time that updating every 1 & half month. I know it will not be again. Anyway I will accept to wait for all new.

It's in final Beta testing now.

Question about widescreen version
 

Can have both the widescreen and regular versions installed on the same PC? I'd like to have the regular version used as my default screensaver, and also be able to occasionally run the widescreen version in windowed mode. Is that possible?

SunKing,

Yes, but they share the same settings.

So any fish and settings you pick in one will appear in the other.

And you have to manually add both icons to the Quicklaunch bar and your desktop since the Installer for one version replaces the other version everywhere except where you have installed them.

I think it would be pretty nice to see a dual monitor version of Aquarium (by far the best screen saver ever written).

It seems like more and more people are setting up dual monitors these days.

I recently purchased a GF4 which has built in dual monitor support and I am currently looking at a second monitor to add to it after successfully setting up a dual display at work (using 2 vid cards). I've found that once you have tried dual monitors for work or play, you will not want to go back to a boring, less productive single display setup.

As for Aquarium having to be written for dual monitors, I don't quite understand why that is needed. With every program I have tried at work, just stretching an application to the second window seems to work just fine.

Here is a link to the best multi-monitor resource site on the web:

http://www.realtimesoft.com/multimon/

Oh, and here are my dream monitors:

http://www.massmultiples.com/
http://www.9xmedia.com/
http://www.panoramtech.com/products/pv230.html

I wish someone could buy one for me at xmas but I doubt anyone will.

Anyway, keep up the great work on Aquarium!

I also wanted to mention that there is a directX 8 SDK for dual monitor screen savers located at the realtimesoft site as well. It's under the month of January news, here's a clip:

Microsoft has included an amazing 3D screen saver in the DirectX SDK for developers, with full multi-monitor support and hardware acceleration on each monitor. Download: Moire.scr (336 KB), requires DirectX 8 or later. If you are developing DirectX applications: the sample is in \direct3d\screensavers\moire, looks like they have an excellent screen saver framework.

The UltraMon SDK and UltraMon Developer Edition have now been updated to Beta 6, the new versions can be downloaded here. If you are a C/C++ developer, you can already use the new monitor control (IUltraMonMonCtl interface), this is the same control used by UltraMon for the wallpaper and mirroring dialogs. Check out the MonCtl sample to get started.

Can't use any 3rd party dev kits or libraries. The licensing problems can be a nightmare, and it's often hard to determine who's code is responsible when software breaks. We licensed the Installer which the Aquarium uses now, and without the source code we had no idea it was changing the Desktop settings on WinXP. Always better to keep everything in-house.

Now THAT would be nice!

Snaps

Will the widescreen version be announced here? I think originally it wasn't going to be announced, but that was when it was planned for release within a week of 1.1's launch. Now that the download frenzy has (probably) subsided, it should be safe to announce new version, right? :)

Ricordia

Ricordia,

Check your e-mail.

Uhm you talked about widescreen in 2001, is it dead now?

The widescreen version is in it's final stages of beta testing. I have no 'inside knowledge', but I'd guess that the widescreen version will be widely (pun intended) available within a month or two.

Hopefully, quicker than that. Once thats done, and the email nightmares are taken care of Jim can get back to work on the 3D background. :):):)

If you are only getting 30 frames per second with the regular 1.1, you will get unsatisfactory results with the widescreen version.

MAN I JUST ASK :(

About 60 people are beta-testing 1.1 Widescreen.

If you have a widescreen display, please e-mail me.

Any news yet on the latest wide screen version availability?

patscarr,

Check your e-mail.

Also too care of IXNAY last week.

Requesting Wide Version update
 

Feldon When will it be available for download I would sure like to try it out

Wide Version
 

Hey Jim,with the 3D background in the wide version will the mouths and gills move like the Lion fish?

Reef Shark,

The Wide version is just like the regular 1.1 version, except 8 fish and a little more coral in the middle to make it look right on 16:9.

So you get the Lionfish and anything else added in 1.1.

The 3D background, which is off in the distance (October but I won't say which year!) is totally different, with new coral.

If you have a widescreen display and want to beta-test 1.1 widescreen, e-mail me.

Hey Feldon , I was just wondering . When you posted on here that the tank was going to be going to DX7 , Will the release of the wide screen be DX7 ? I'm just asking buddy . An if not do you have any idea when something like that will be done ? I know we can't set time frames but just ball park .

Also , do you know if Jim (The Professor) started on the fresh water tank yet ? I know he's taking a break but I was just asking .:D

Is it possible to add the normal resolutions to the WSSS? (Wide Screen screen saver)

I only have options in it for wide screens, but would like to use other settings like 1280x1024 and then adjust the screen size.

Sounds counter-productive.

The only reason for the widescreen is if you have a widescreen display or if you are going to use widescreen resolutions.

In order to beta test the widescreen, I set it to 1280x720 and then adjusted my monitor so the picture was the correct shape.

any news on how close the widescreen version is for release? will it be done before the freshwater aquarium?


thanks