*** Aquarium Ships! ***
 

Version 1.0 of the Aquarium has begun shipping from a warehouse at Prolific Publishing to retailers across the country. The Aquarium is also being made available in Japan for sale in their 7-11 stores (yes, they sell electronics in their 7-11 stores!).

You can see the box artwork and the pallets of boxes being unloaded at my website:

https://www.feldoncentral.com/Sachs/

when do we get our version 1.0
 

Hi when do we get our version nr 1.0 (not boxed) ???

From my website

https://www.feldoncentral.com/Sachs/

Version 1.0 of the Aquarium will be available from the website as soon as the installer has been completed. The installer used on the CD-ROM version is 5 megs! The main purpose of 1.0 is to switch to a new serial number system and to make password protection work perfectly on Windows 95, 98, and ME.

There are no new fish, creatures, backgrounds, or anything of that nature. Jim IS making the new background as I write this and maybe we'll see it in a month or two--no promises!

I bet Jim is excited! Conrgatulations and thanks for all the great work!

Version 1.o download
 

Why can't the CD version be made available for download? I would imagine most people would be happy to download 5meg. I find it a bit annoying that after paying for a beta version over a year ago that the version 1 download was not done at the same time (if not before) the cd version.

Sorry you're annoyed, but

#1 a 5 mb download is unacceptable to the author, Jim Sachs
#2 version 1.0 is the same as 99L except for a couple of bug fixes

I guess I'm trying to understand the anger and frustration Jim and I get by e-mail on a daily basis demanding 1.0, not realizing that the difference between what they have and 1.0 is minimal.

Can I ask why it is so important that you get version 1.0 of the Aquarium?

Unless you need bulletproof password protection, you won't even notice a difference between 99L and 1.0 except the longer serial number which is now encrypted. It is now impossible to break out of the screen saver on Windows 95, 98, ME, 2000, or XP without entering the screen saver or logged in user password. It's not even possible for a passerby to touch your Aquarium settings on Windows 95, 98, and ME.

Jim Sachs has very high standards and does not feel we should be subjected to a 5MB download for a 1.3mb program. Other developers don't care, but he does. And also, there is a lot of work behind the scenes to get everyone switched over to the new serial number system.

Remember, purchasers of 99L are still entitled to more goodies than the people who buy the boxed version or 1.0 from the website are.

I'm not really complaining, because I understand how these things work and know I purchased a beta (therefore delays and bugs).

But, from my perspective, I purchased a screen saver. In Windows, screen savers are supposed to be able to use a password. I need a bullet proof password from my ss, and the only one that I paid for above and beyond WinME doesn't do it. So for some people that could be awful frustrating since 1.0 is bullet poof and does exist right now. People want to use what they paid for and if they have the bandwidth 5 mb is hardly long enough to go get a soda while it's downloading.

Just a perspective, not a complaint. Please be kind.

How can i obtain the aquarium here in germany, if i don´t own a creditcard? Will the boxed version be available in other countries?

Prolific is gearing up to do the 1.0 rollout. I agree that there's no reason it shouldn't happen very soon.


Many people register the Aquarium by mail, sending a money order or even cash. The Aquarium is $20 USD. Please make sure the money order or cash is wrapped in a piece of paper with your name and e-mail address written on it. Obviously no guarantees can be made that cash will arrive safely.

Attn: SereneScreen
c/o Prolific Publishing
1400 W. Burbank Blvd.
Burbank, CA. 91506
USA

Prolific does not plan to ship the boxed version to other countries because of the enormous tariffs involved. In Australia, for example, a little $20 screensaver suddenly becomes a major $60 purchase. When combined with the poor exchange rate, it gets even worse. Prolific has been contacting companies in several countries to have versions made locally. This has already been done in Japan.

feldon23,

First of all, the aquarium is simply awesome - I've never seen anything like this before and I have a computer since the early 80's...

Here is why *I* would like to be able to download the retail version as soon as possible:

I am running a voodoo5 on winXP and as of now do I have two choices: I run the standard winxp drivers. The aquarium runs fine, but there is no opengl or glide support for other games/applications.

I run modified drivers. I do have opengl and glide support but all textures are white when I run the aquarium.

I would like to have both, opengl and glide support AND a aquarium screen saver that works.

I am aware of the already discussed directx8 issues with the aquarium and I have also read the tip to install the 3dfx drivers for win2k which does not solve the problem in my case.

You have mentioned a 'few bug fixes' in the new version, maybe
they will solve my problem.

Thanks to my cable connection does a download of 5 megs take
no longer than 10 seconds. I really don't understand the reason why we should not have the possibility to download the file.

The "white-texture" problem is in the DX8.1 drivers, not the Aquarium. MS is supposed to have fixed this, and posted new drivers on their Windows Update site. The v1.0 Aquarium is virtually identical to v.99L (except for a couple of password-protection fixes), so if the textures are white in v.99L, they will also be white in v1.0.

Regarding the 5-meg installer: We are already way over our bandwidth limit on the website. A 5 meg file being downloaded 20,000 times a day would break us.

ziggy,

Yes, switching drivers helps, but it's really a workaround for the white textures.

Please trigger Windows Update from your Start menu and install the DirectX 8.1 update.

Jim,

Bandwith limitation is indeed a very good reason, point well taken! Keep up your great work, your aquarium is AWESOME! :)

You are correct, MS has fixed the 'white texture problem' with their driver update but the official MS drivers *do not* offer glide/opengl support. (This is not the fault of MS - 3dfx is out of business, part of it was sold to nvidia, nvidia refused to provide the sourcecode to MS)

The white texture problem is unfortunately not limited to directx 8.1 - I've ran win ME until 6 weeks ago and had the same problem
with directx 8.0a when I started the aquarium demo (my current OS is win xp pro, clean NTFS install on a fresh formatted drive)

Feldon23,

What kind of update are you referring to? WinXP has directx 8.1 already integrated. Or did I miss something?

There should be an update available on Windows Update for DirectX 8.1, independant of the drivers.

The DX8.1 which shipped with WinXP causes the white-texture problem. As soon as they noticed it, MS put patched drivers on the Windows Update site. If they had ever sent me a copy of XP, I'm sure I would have noticed it earlier than they did.

Jim and feldon23,

Thanks for the quick response!

Yes, the patched graphics drivers work with the aquarium but they don't support glide/opengl

Feldon23,

If you don't take my word for it, then here is a quote from microsoft's website (www.microsoft.com/directx):

"...The latest version of DirectX offers updated graphics features, faster frame rates, and improved support for massively multi-player games. DirectX 8.1 is included in Windows XP, so Windows XP users do not need to download DirectX 8.1...."

I will be happy to keep you posted as soon as I have found a driver that solves the 'white texture' problem AND supports opengl/glide

The beauty of the aquarium will be well worth the effort.

They never sent you a copy of XP ?
How did they know that your screensaver would be 100% compatible with XP

A bit cheeky not sending you a copy, when your screensaver made the plus pack worth a little more than an extra value meal at McDonalds.

Annoyed was too strong a word, perhaps I should have said disappointed.

Password protection is important to me as the PC I run it on is in a public place (showing it off; if I had a pound for every person who asked where to get it ;-)

I am interested to know why the downloadable version was not done first, and why does the download version need an installer anyway?

The downloadable version needs an installer because about 50% of our customer service complaints are from people who can't figure out how to install it. The WinZip self-extractor that I have always used defaults to putting the file in C:\Windows\Desktop, which makes the file visible on the desktop in Win9x, but not in Win2000 or XP. So we get an email from every user of Win2000/XP asking where the file went.

Also, if the user wants to use the Aquarium as a screensaver, they must copy the file to their system directory and use Display Properties to set it as the current screensaver (or right-click the fish icon, and hit Install).

The installer does all these things automatically, and also provides an "uninstall" script.