Rick:
Thanks a bunch, I tried 6 fish and it went all last night without locking up. I don't know why I didn't think of doing that before!
Bummer I can't get all seven fish, but settling for six isn't all that bad. I figure I'll get a GeForce 3 card sometime this summer anyway
, so that will probably take care of the problem.
And, hey Jim: For owners of new cards like the GeForce 3, how about at least providing the option to keep adding more animals, as long as the video card and CPU can handle them? I figure a GeForce 3 should be able to handle WAY more than seven fish, assuming it's paired with a relatively modern CPU.
OK, I know that with that feature you might get into the relatively "unrealistic" realm of depicting an overcrowded tank. Three points about that:
1. If you want to talk about what's realistic in reference to what most hobbyists actually do, overcrowded tanks are probably the MOST realistic.
(Unfortunately.)
2. The tank is designed like a reef tank. But if you're trying to depict a "realistic" reef tank, you already have fish in there that don't fit into a reef tank at all. Regal angel, french angel, triggerfish, forceps fish, and some would argue even blue damselfish don't play well in a reef tank. Most of these fish would decimate the corals depicted in the background, and the blue damsel is just too ornery and territorial to be a good neighbor in such a tank.
3. If you're still opposed to providing the option of adding more fish, then how about using the extra power of the GeForce 3 to depict pulsing Xenia, grazing nudibranchs, bristleworms that come out when the lights go dim, and so on. That would be really cool.
Anyway, I'm getting off track here. Thanks for the replies and I'm glad my problem is now fixed!