Beta 5 Major Issues
 

Hello,
Picture below shows beta 5 running on my system:

http://www.neiltonge.co.uk/external/ma3/beta5issues.jpg

It seems to me like it does not really know which screeen is which correctly.

My screen setup is as follows:

Monitor 1 | Monitor 2


My PC specs are below:

Specs:

Operating System:
-----------------
- Microsoft Windows Vista - Ultimate 64bit Retail DVD

Hardware:
---------
- Intel Core 2 Q6600 Quad G0 Stepping - stock speed
- Asus P5W DH Deluxe - Bios: 2206
- OCZ 4GB Kit (2x2048) Reaper HPC Edition DDR2 PC2 6400 800MHz CL4 Dual Channel Patent-Pending Reaper HPC Heatsink - (OCZ2RPR800C44GK)
- Asus ATI Radeon AX700 Pro 256Mb - Catalyst 8.10 Final Drivers
- Western Digital Raptor X WD1500AHFD 150GB SATA 10KRPM 16MB Cache - OEM
- Western Digital Caviar WD5000AAKS 500GB SATA II 7200RPM 16MB Cache - OEM
- 530W Hiper Type R Modular PSU
- Mountain Mods U2-UFO case - Black with Original Top
- Asus DRW-1814BLT Lightscribe DVD-RW
- NEC DVD RW Drive External
- Panasonic Internal Floppy Drive with Lian Li Mounting Adaptor
- 2 x Samsung SM2032BW 20" LCD Monitors
- 24 in 1 Standard Internal Card Reader USB with Lian Li Mounting Adaptor
- 300Gb Maxtor One Touch 3
- Logitech DiNovo Edge Bluetooth Keyboard
- Logitech MX Revolution Mouse
- AC Ryan dual Blue Cathodes
- AC Ryan dual UV Cathodes
- Packard Bell NXT Flat 2.1 Speaker System

Custom Watercooling:
--------------------
- Thermochill PA120.3 Radiator
- Swiftech Apogeee GTX - CPU Block
- XSPC Clear 5.25" Bay Reservoir
- Laing DDC 12V Ultra Pump with Alphacool Plexitop
- Danger Den Maze 4 Acetal top GPU Block
- Masterkleer 1/2 Tubing
- Fesser 1 - UV Green Coolant
- Primochill Clear Coils

Previous Updates:
-----------------

3/09/08 - Removed Seagate 400Gb Sata2 HDD due to failure. Replace with Western Digital Caviar 500Gb.
26/07/8 - Replaced Yusmart and Edge10 monitors with 2 Samsung SM2032BW's


Previous Items:
---------------
- Swiftech MCRes Micro 1/2 Barbs
- Intel E6600 - at stock 2.40Ghz
- 2 x A-DATA Value Series 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) - Model: VDQVE1A16
- Yusmart 198YP 19" Monitor
- Edge10 F197 17" Monitor
- Seagate 400Gb Sata2 HDD - ST3400620AS
- Logitech MX 1000 Mouse

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Specifications Updated: 13/10/2008 - 14:41PM
------------------



Thanks

Regards,
Neil

I had the same problem with dual monitors, but was able to (temporarily) fix the screen order problem by swapping the screens around in the display driver settings (Dell WinXP, Intel 82945G Express chipset). However this is unworkable, as desktop windows now think the monitors meet at their outer edges (weird).

Also, in this beta there are holes, artefacts, and chunks of rock/coral missing all over.

I probably shouldn't program while I'm falling asleep.

Just a quick update to say that the aquarium in windowed mode is perfect at any size and also it's fine at fullscreen if one screen is set to be blank. The situation in the screenshot above happens when trying to run multi monitor for me!

Yes, I had only tried it in Windowed mode, and shouldn't have bowed to pressure to get something out while imaginary spiders were crawling all over my desk.

The beta 5 download link is broken. Only 5a works for some reason.

Hmm, the site still shows it being at http://www.fish-byte.com/MA3Beta.zip

All links work.

Jim,

I took your versions as you released them and uploaded them to our forum here for people to get. Links are in the main locked MA3 thread. It makes it easier if everyone can always count on looking in the same place for the latest release, and it makes sure that we always have every version in case something like today happens and we need to revert to an earlier one while you fix something.

Jim, it was just a LITTLE pressure... LOL... and I THANK YOU again! Gawd I love this program... love watching it develope.

I don't understand - how would we "revert"?
By the time a new Beta is coming out, the old one has expired.
I doubt that most people roll back their PC clocks... messes with e-mail timestamps and other stuff that isn't well accepted in polite society. :D

Hopefully things like that won't happen again like the last beta which caused so many problems. But I keep every version available for those that make the choice to revert for a short time if problems arise unexpectedly.

Stealing focus still
 

This might not belong under "major issues" since MA3 is apparently designed to act this way, but it does make it almost unusable for me.

When running in windowed mode MA3 still steals focus when the cursor hovers over the MA3 window. This makes it almost impossible to keep a MA3 window open and still get other work done because it is too easy for the cursor to wander over the MA3 window.

Also the title bar comes and goes as the cursor passes over and away from the MA3 window making the window jump.

Hopefully these behaviours could become optional through the settings menu.

This is so beautiful that I hate not being able to use it in window mode while working on other things.

Thanks Jim.

Bob

How about if the Aquarium did not steal focus when it is in Widowed and AlwaysOnTop mode?

Probably no better. I only run one monitor, space is limited. With more than one window open there will be one or more windows that might overlap the Aquarium. So "always on top" is just short of an Aquarium setting to "always maintain focus."

Why does the Aquarium ever need to steal focus? I would think it would only need focus to access the settings. That should happen fairly rarely I would think.

Thanks,
Bob

I don't see the need for the MA3 window to steal focus either. No other app I've seen does this.

I'll try setting to to never steal focus and play around with it for a while. My initial thought was that if someone wanted to do something with the Aquarium (turn off the music, for instance) they might forget that the program did not have focus, and end up with an extra "m" in the middle of the MSWord document they are working on.

Nah, that's the same for all Windows programs. Thanks!

Thanks Jim for considering this change. As Tiny Turtle suggested this would make the Aquarium work like other Windows programs.

Bob

It's more than just considered - it's in!

That's great Jim. I just tried it and am very happy with the change.

I do still get the title bar appearing and accompanying screen jump when the cursor moves over the Aquarium. That's a little annoying, but it doesn't make the Aquarium unusable for me.

Many thanks, again.

Bob