Server Migration -- January 20, 2023

[feldon34]

So that was quite a bit bumpier than I was expecting, but we have successfully migrated the Inside: SereneScreen forum to new server hardware. There shouldn't be that daily downtime anymore and things should run faster.

In the next 18 months, I'm going to have to make a decision about what to do with this forum. We're on very old unsupported software that none of the new hardware supports. The options are to:

• close the forum
• switch to free software which would work about as well as this software
• switch to modern software which starts at $160

I hate to bring this up, but I figure it's better than pretending everything is OK and then a sudden shutdown.

[Ralph]

My two cents.. I would hate to see the forum close, its been part of my routine for a long time. BUT.. I see very little action on the forum, all the old timers are off doing other stuff and.. it is very unlikely that there will be new betas of SS to test and talk about.
All things must end.. unfortunately. Let it gracefully die in 18 months.

[drfish]

Thanks for the update Morgan. Definitely appreciate not just having it shut off as a surprise after all this time. Even if it doesn't have a lot of action, it's nice to see updates from folks even occasionally.

[Jim Sachs]

I don't think it serves much a purpose any more. There are only 3 or 4 of you guys still here, and you are all welcome to just email me directly (or come and visit the castle).

[feldon34]

Anyone here use Discord?

It's a free, VERY easy to use chat service.

[Jim Sachs]

I use it for Midjourney.

[drfish]

That's not a bad idea, I'd join a SS Discord server. The guys from the corpse of Tech Report all hang out in a Slack, but it's only Slack instead of Discord because us writers had a Slack before the site went belly up. It has served as a more than worthy forum substitute.

BTW, the TR crew also made a small new forum, it's https://anonymousgerbil.com/forums/, which could also be a life raft should we need it.

[sca]

Hi


Love MA - is there any chance of modernizing it... technology marches on - new drivers, more advanced monitors and gaming cards.... Win 11....


I now have 4 monitors and they are running at very high resolutions....


In order to get MA to run on 2 monitors, I have to click Preview mode - it won't launch by itself for some reason, but will launch if I click Preview.....


How many licensed copies have you sold?


Wondering what the revenue would be to justify the development time to modernize it?
=============================================



Would offer my services for free to help promote it - I can't think of ANYONE that ever walked in my office that wasn't BOWLED OVER when they saw this program running.... People LOVE IT - they simply have no idea it exists


I think you could sell a lot more licenses.....

[Jim Sachs]

Thanks for the kind words.

Sales of the program have been nearly non-existent for several years. I gave my share to Prolific Publishing, just to keep the SereneScreen.com website running.

My only income is from a license agreement with Roku to use a version of the Aquarium on their devices. They have been using the same version for about 7 years now, and it's conceivable that they might want to commission an update. If that should happen, I'd consider rewriting the program in Unreal. A lot would depend on whether or not my 74-year-old brain is capable of learning Unreal.

[hclarkjr]

i really hope you upgrade it, as i said earlier today i would be willing to donate to help you with the cost.

[philosopher]

Originally posted by Jim Sachs:

Thanks for the kind words.

Sales of the program have been nearly non-existent for several years. I gave my share to Prolific Publishing, just to keep the SereneScreen.com website running.

My only income is from a license agreement with Roku to use a version of the Aquarium on their devices. They have been using the same version for about 7 years now, and it's conceivable that they might want to commission an update. If that should happen, I'd consider rewriting the program in Unreal. A lot would depend on whether or not my 74-year-old brain is capable of learning Unreal.  

Originally posted by hclarkjr:

i really hope you upgrade it, as i said earlier today i would be willing to donate to help you with the cost.  

I would also donate!

And Jim, when it comes to learning Unreal, and seeing as how you are already messing around with Midjourney, I've had a lot of luck with asking Chat GPT programming questions. It doesn't produce full code that works all that often, but I've been able to learn new things pretty easily by asking it a series of questions and then asking for clarification.

I've never used Unreal or any kind of 3d graphics software, but I asked a test question and got a pretty detailed answer with code examples at the end:

Can you write me code for unreal 5 that makes a small fish swim around a piece of coral?

ChatGPT
Certainly! Creating a simple behavior for a fish to swim around a piece of coral in Unreal Engine 5 (UE5) involves a combination of Blueprint scripting and some basic assets. Here's a high-level breakdown:

Assets Required:
A fish mesh (static or skeletal)
A fish animation (swimming loop) (if using a skeletal mesh)
A piece of coral mesh
A simple water material
Steps to Set Up the Environment:
a. Create a new level or use an existing one.
b. Place the coral mesh in the level.
c. Apply the water material on a plane or any appropriate geometry to represent water.
Fish Blueprint:
Create a new Blueprint class based on Actor called BP_Fish.
Inside the BP_Fish:

a. Variables:
- TargetLocation: Vector, the point in the world the fish is currently swimming towards.

b. Components:
- Add the fish mesh or skeletal mesh.
- If using a skeletal mesh, play the swim animation loop.

c. Logic:
- On Begin Play:
1. Find a random location around the coral within a specific radius to swim towards. Set this as TargetLocation.
2. Rotate the fish to face the TargetLocation and begin moving towards it.
- On Tick:
1. Continue moving towards TargetLocation.
2. If the fish is close enough to TargetLocation, find a new random location around the coral and set it as the new TargetLocation. Repeat the process.

This is a very basic AI behavior. For more complex behaviors, you might consider using UE5's AI and navigation systems.

Here's a simplified BP_Fish Blueprint script:

blueprint
Copy code
Event BeginPlay:
Set TargetLocation to a random location around the coral within a specified radius
Rotate fish to face TargetLocation

Event Tick:
Move fish towards TargetLocation at a specified speed

If distance between fish and TargetLocation is less than a threshold:
Set TargetLocation to a new random location around the coral within the specified radius
Rotate fish to face TargetLocation
This is a high-level representation. Actual implementation would require you to use specific Blueprint nodes like "Find Random Point in Navigable Radius", "Set Actor Rotation", "VInterp To" for smooth movement, etc.

Lastly, ensure you have a nav mesh in the level to allow the fish to navigate, and the fish's movement bounds are confined to the water volume or area where you want it to swim.

[Ralph]

Can you write me code for unreal 5 that makes a small fish swim around a piece of coral?
Interesting code, this apple or microsoft? Saved it as fish.php but when I click on it, nothing happens.

[philosopher]

Originally posted by Ralph:

Can you write me code for unreal 5 that makes a small fish swim around a piece of coral?
Interesting code, this apple or microsoft? Saved it as fish.php but when I click on it, nothing happens.  

Ralph, it's for the "Unreal 5" 3d game engine, which is what Jim said he would learn and use if he ever writes a new Aquarium. I have no experience with it. And I don't think the code that Chat GPT wrote would work. It's just a small sample of the kinds of things it can do.

The Unreal 5 game engine website is here: https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/unreal-engine-5

[Jim Sachs]

That's really surprisingly detailed. My impression of ChatGPT is that it only knows how to write things that SOUND like what you are asking for, but have no real substance. This obviously goes a step farther.

[feldon34]

Moved discussion of Mac OS X for Sonoma to a new thread:
https://www.feldoncentral.com/forums...ad.php?t=26123

[neusys]

Why aren't there any messages, assurances, updates, or even simple acknowledgments for Aquarium regarding Mac OS Sonoma updates and the problems it created?

[Ralph]

I've been putting off upgrading to Sonoma, it seems every new version breaks lots of programs.

[feldon34]

Originally posted by neusys:

Why aren't there any messages, assurances, updates, or even simple acknowledgments for Aquarium regarding Mac OS Sonoma updates and the problems it created?  

The Aquarium has been out for 20 years. There's no annual subscription so the $20 people paid 5, 10 or more years ago is all there is to support continued development to keep up with Apple's flights of fancy.