Not a Bug DA - MA3 Beta 7 - DirectX ... problem ? - Page 2

ESHIREY · 12-02-2008, 01:20 PM

I use spy bot and Ad-Aware and Stopzilla. And I have been using them for a few years now. I did have AVG but when I switched to comcast many years ago I started using McAfee since it's free with them. It found more stuff then AVG. But for me Stopzilla found more then the other ones. But it is a pay program. But it did fix a lot of stuff when I had all kinds of problems in the past.

Just my

Tiny Turtle · 12-02-2008, 04:13 PM

Not trying to make this an antivirus-program-thread, but NOD32 is substantially lighter on the system than any version of Kaspersky I've tried (though I haven't tried any the latest year).

Anyway, Cliff,
If you remove the DA beta and install the last official version – does the bug persist?

The privacy object are normally just "last used files" lists from various programs.

Jim Sachs · 12-02-2008, 05:26 PM

I just uploaded Beta 7h. I was hoping to include a fix for the stretched fish chart, but that may take a few more days. The only thing new in this version is Edgar's fix for the updating of non-primary screens. Maybe it will have some effect on Cliff's problem.

http://www.fish-byte.com/MA3Beta.zip

Regarding Cliff's problem, the only other thing I can think of is that possibly we are loading a dll or some other DirectX component, and it is remaining in memory after we exit. Windows does this a lot on purpose a lot these days, to speed up loading. I can visualize a case where MA loads a certain DirectX component, and DA might need a different version of that same file. But when DA loads, Windows sees what it thinks is the proper DirectX component already in memory, and uses that one. Rebooting flushes the RAM, and DA loads the proper file for its purposes. Just brainstorming...

cjmaddy · 12-03-2008, 06:25 AM

Jim, you may be glad to hear this. - Or you may be infuriated because it is what you're always going on about, - ie, trying to duplicate a problem on one of your machines, that is really a fault on a customer's machine!

Bottom line is... Things are now working as they should!

I was running out of things to check, and of programs that would scan my system for potential nasties. - I had spent the best part of two days trying to clean out every nook and cranny. - So I decided to roll-back to an even earlier 'Image' I made on the 20th of last month, - 11 days before this problem started.

At that time DA was at v1.181, and MA3 at Beta7c. and everything worked as expected. - I then updated to the current DA 1.186, and MA3 Beta7h, and everything still works as it should. - So I will probably never know why MA3 killed DA, and why MA2.6 brought it back to life!

Calle, - just for the record, (though it doesn't really matter now), - The Official versions of DA do not have the one-scene-across-two-monitors option. They are two separate 'aquaria'. (Posh word that! ) - And it was one image across two screens that was affected, not a 'single-screen' presentation.

Though I may never get to the bottom of that DirectX Error Message, - I felt sure that my system must be involved in some way. Why else would it suddenly start going wrong on that particular day? - But I'm convinced also that there's some connection between DA's recent betas, and MA3Beta7's, both having backgrounds across two screens! ... And why did MA2.6 correct the problem?
And why did a roll-back to an image made a few days earlier not solve the problem that only started that day! - But an even earlier image did?
DirectX is tied up somewhere in all this, I'm sure of that!

Ah well.... Water under the bridge I suppose!

As regards Beta7h.... I see no difference with the monitor refresh, but that wasn't really a problem for me. - What was more disappointing was I was hoping it might solve the DirectX Error Message problem. - But that, thankfully, is now moot!

Highlander · 12-03-2008, 09:02 AM

glad to hear it is solved

Jim Sachs · 12-03-2008, 11:56 AM

Cliff - thanks for following up and reporting on this.

Everyone - An hour after I sent 7h out, I had the breakthrough I'd been looking for regarding the DPI problem. The program is now able to sense the size of the FishPicker chart, and scale the picture accordingly. It just does a pixel-stretch, so the picture is a little rough, but at least the boxes line up with the proper fish now. Some day I'll re-write the whole interface using icons, but this will work until then. Can anyone think of any other additions I should put in before sending Beta7i? (Easy ones, please!)

Yodelking · 12-03-2008, 12:22 PM

Originally posted by Jim Sachs:

Can anyone think of any other additions I should put in before sending Beta7i? (Easy ones, please!)

You mean the Mandarin Goby is out of the question?

Jav400 · 12-03-2008, 12:26 PM

Jim,

1. I don't know if this is easy or not, but can you make a checkbox for turning off the bubble column? I would like to see what difference it makes in the fps.

2. Can you make it remember the sleep mode that is set so you don't have to change it again every time the saver starts?

Jim Sachs · 12-03-2008, 12:50 PM

Yodelking - I'm ignoring you.

Bubble column - OK.

Sleep setting - This will be replaced by a "Limit Frame Rate" system, so it's not worth taking time with right now.

cjmaddy · 12-03-2008, 12:50 PM

Yes! - can you please do No 2.?

Edit:

Jim Sachs · 12-03-2008, 12:53 PM

Oh, all right...

Ralph · 12-03-2008, 10:05 PM

Originally posted by Jim Sachs:

Can anyone think of any other additions I should put in before sending Beta7i? (Easy ones, please!)

How about adding a "nicer" icon than the generic one we have had to suffer through...

... One of those little finishing touches

Jim Sachs · 12-03-2008, 10:41 PM

That's right. Gotta do an icon.

pvernam · 12-04-2008, 07:41 AM

Originally posted by Ralph:

How about adding a "nicer" icon than the generic one we have had to suffer through...

For XP: right-click on the (generic) icon, select Properties, click on "Change Icon...", browse to the MA2.6 (or earlier) binary, select its icon. Done.

cjmaddy · 12-04-2008, 10:57 AM

Thanks for adding the, 'Remember sleep mode'. - It's nice to know the CPU is not running flat-out every time it starts.

Ralph · 12-04-2008, 10:02 PM

Originally posted by pvernam:

For XP: right-click on the (generic) icon, select Properties, click on "Change Icon...", browse to the MA2.6 (or earlier) binary, select its icon. Done.

I know... but Jim needs to make a "nice" new one.. when he gets a free moment

12-02-2008, 04:13 PM	#22
Tiny Turtle is pleased Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Stockholm, Sweden Posts: 7,365	Not trying to make this an antivirus-program-thread, but NOD32 is substantially lighter on the system than any version of Kaspersky I've tried (though I haven't tried any the latest year). Anyway, Cliff, If you remove the DA beta and install the last official version – does the bug persist? The privacy object are normally just "last used files" lists from various programs. Thanks to Morgan, Tiny Snapshots is up and running again with "Tiny Järvafält" as the latest addition – Go have a look and tell me what you think. "We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried, most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita. Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and to impress him takes on his multi-armed form and says, 'Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.' I suppose we all thought that, one way or another." /Robert Oppenheimer on witnessing the first thermonuclear detonation in history.

12-02-2008, 05:26 PM	#23
Jim Sachs Developer Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Southern Oregon Posts: 9,791	I just uploaded Beta 7h. I was hoping to include a fix for the stretched fish chart, but that may take a few more days. The only thing new in this version is Edgar's fix for the updating of non-primary screens. Maybe it will have some effect on Cliff's problem. http://www.fish-byte.com/MA3Beta.zip Regarding Cliff's problem, the only other thing I can think of is that possibly we are loading a dll or some other DirectX component, and it is remaining in memory after we exit. Windows does this a lot on purpose a lot these days, to speed up loading. I can visualize a case where MA loads a certain DirectX component, and DA might need a different version of that same file. But when DA loads, Windows sees what it thinks is the proper DirectX component already in memory, and uses that one. Rebooting flushes the RAM, and DA loads the proper file for its purposes. Just brainstorming... Jim Sachs Creator of SereneScreen Aquarium

12-03-2008, 09:02 AM	#25
Highlander Registered Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Antwerp - Belgium Posts: 87	glad to hear it is solved Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups !

12-03-2008, 11:56 AM	#26
Jim Sachs Developer Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Southern Oregon Posts: 9,791	Cliff - thanks for following up and reporting on this. Everyone - An hour after I sent 7h out, I had the breakthrough I'd been looking for regarding the DPI problem. The program is now able to sense the size of the FishPicker chart, and scale the picture accordingly. It just does a pixel-stretch, so the picture is a little rough, but at least the boxes line up with the proper fish now. Some day I'll re-write the whole interface using icons, but this will work until then. Can anyone think of any other additions I should put in before sending Beta7i? (Easy ones, please!) Jim Sachs Creator of SereneScreen Aquarium

12-03-2008, 12:22 PM	#27
Yodelking yodeler Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Staffanstorp, Sweden Posts: 294	Originally posted by Jim Sachs: Can anyone think of any other additions I should put in before sending Beta7i? (Easy ones, please!) You mean the Mandarin Goby is out of the question? Yodelking - För god att kolsyra!

12-02-2008, 01:20 PM	#21
ESHIREY Smilie Dragon Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Lebanon, PA Posts: 4,725	I use spy bot and Ad-Aware and Stopzilla. And I have been using them for a few years now. I did have AVG but when I switched to comcast many years ago I started using McAfee since it's free with them. It found more stuff then AVG. But for me Stopzilla found more then the other ones. But it is a pay program. But it did fix a lot of stuff when I had all kinds of problems in the past. Just my

12-03-2008, 06:25 AM	#24
cjmaddy Registered Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Lancashire, UK Posts: 7,854	Jim, you may be glad to hear this. - Or you may be infuriated because it is what you're always going on about, - ie, trying to duplicate a problem on one of your machines, that is really a fault on a customer's machine! Bottom line is... Things are now working as they should! I was running out of things to check, and of programs that would scan my system for potential nasties. - I had spent the best part of two days trying to clean out every nook and cranny. - So I decided to roll-back to an even earlier 'Image' I made on the 20th of last month, - 11 days before this problem started. At that time DA was at v1.181, and MA3 at Beta7c. and everything worked as expected. - I then updated to the current DA 1.186, and MA3 Beta7h, and everything still works as it should. - So I will probably never know why MA3 killed DA, and why MA2.6 brought it back to life! Calle, - just for the record, (though it doesn't really matter now), - The Official versions of DA do not have the one-scene-across-two-monitors option. They are two separate 'aquaria'. (Posh word that! ) - And it was one image across two screens that was affected, not a 'single-screen' presentation. Though I may never get to the bottom of that DirectX Error Message, - I felt sure that my system must be involved in some way. Why else would it suddenly start going wrong on that particular day? - But I'm convinced also that there's some connection between DA's recent betas, and MA3Beta7's, both having backgrounds across two screens! ... And why did MA2.6 correct the problem? And why did a roll-back to an image made a few days earlier not solve the problem that only started that day! - But an even earlier image did? DirectX is tied up somewhere in all this, I'm sure of that! Ah well.... Water under the bridge I suppose! As regards Beta7h.... I see no difference with the monitor refresh, but that wasn't really a problem for me. - What was more disappointing was I was hoping it might solve the DirectX Error Message problem. - But that, thankfully, is now moot!

12-03-2008, 12:26 PM	#28
Jav400 Administrator Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Tennessee Posts: 9,725	Jim, 1. I don't know if this is easy or not, but can you make a checkbox for turning off the bubble column? I would like to see what difference it makes in the fps. 2. Can you make it remember the sleep mode that is set so you don't have to change it again every time the saver starts? Michael Administrator of Inside:SereneScreen Aquarium Forum, Chatroom, Fan Site & *Gallery* DVD Collection

12-03-2008, 12:50 PM	#29
Jim Sachs Developer Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Southern Oregon Posts: 9,791	Yodelking - I'm ignoring you. Bubble column - OK. Sleep setting - This will be replaced by a "Limit Frame Rate" system, so it's not worth taking time with right now. Jim Sachs Creator of SereneScreen Aquarium

12-03-2008, 12:53 PM	#31
Jim Sachs Developer Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Southern Oregon Posts: 9,791	Oh, all right... Jim Sachs Creator of SereneScreen Aquarium

12-03-2008, 10:05 PM	#32
Ralph Retired Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Edmonton Alberta Ca Posts: 2,443	Originally posted by Jim Sachs: Can anyone think of any other additions I should put in before sending Beta7i? (Easy ones, please!) How about adding a "nicer" icon than the generic one we have had to suffer through...... One of those little finishing touches

12-03-2008, 10:41 PM	#33
Jim Sachs Developer Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Southern Oregon Posts: 9,791	That's right. Gotta do an icon. Jim Sachs Creator of SereneScreen Aquarium

12-04-2008, 07:41 AM	#34
pvernam wobbegong Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Nahant, MA Posts: 37	Originally posted by Ralph: How about adding a "nicer" icon than the generic one we have had to suffer through... For XP: right-click on the (generic) icon, select Properties, click on "Change Icon...", browse to the MA2.6 (or earlier) binary, select its icon. Done.

12-04-2008, 10:57 AM	#35
cjmaddy Registered Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Lancashire, UK Posts: 7,854	Thanks for adding the, 'Remember sleep mode'. - It's nice to know the CPU is not running flat-out every time it starts.

12-04-2008, 10:02 PM	#36
Ralph Retired Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Edmonton Alberta Ca Posts: 2,443	Originally posted by pvernam: For XP: right-click on the (generic) icon, select Properties, click on "Change Icon...", browse to the MA2.6 (or earlier) binary, select its icon. Done. I know... but Jim needs to make a "nice" new one.. when he gets a free moment