** SereneScreen Marine Aquarium 2.01 !! ** - Page 3

Jim Sachs · 03-05-2004, 11:17 AM

I'll leave all the dual-monitor questions to Prolific, since I don't have dual monitors and have no idea how the code works for that.

drfish · 03-05-2004, 11:22 AM

I just setup a 5 monitor system at work. It's only a PIII 650 and the three video cards are only Matrox G450s, but it should run ok... It'll look pretty funky, but I'll post picks of my results...

xrayspex · 03-05-2004, 11:34 AM

Originally posted by Marian Nichols
I love the wide screen version even on one monitor; it really adds depth and dimension. Look like I ought to be able to have at least two more fish in there. I want to buy the Time version, will it also have the new fish and the widescreen format?

Yes marian, i never saw the widescreen version either until this version..looks alot more "roomy" in there.

drfish · 03-05-2004, 12:03 PM

Attempts with the 5 screen setup failed completely. The old matrox cards and drivers simply cannot see the five monitors as having a combined resolution of 4000x600. So all I got was a very squished aquarium running on my primary screen. I'll try later on both a nVidia and ATI dual screen setups.

I still REALLY wish the aquarium[s] would run in preview mode... If it did, I could use ultramon to have display it on as many screens as I wanted (and run MA2, GA, Sharks, etc fullscreen at the same time). This is where open GL might be nice, almost all of the true multi-monitor screen savers I've seen are open GL. Does direct 3D not support preview mode for screensavers?

Tiny Turtle · 03-05-2004, 01:23 PM

DX8 does, not DX7.

drfish · 03-05-2004, 01:36 PM

Duh! I knew that...

Schnaaps · 03-05-2004, 02:15 PM

As Jim Sachs stated, with the second widescreen background we no longer fit on a floppy. However, at 1,614K still just about the best download on the net....

DRFISH: if you get in running on 5 screens, please post a photo. I have seen it running on 2 screens, and 5. WOW, well that is three more isn't it?

Edgar · 03-05-2004, 02:39 PM

DrFish and bugsymcd24,

Send us your system info so I can figure out what is going wrong.
CPU, video, OS and anything else that you think would help me. Also, are you using NView?

Also tell me from the Settings Tab, how many monitor is listed under Monitor Selection? For each monitor selected, is the "[ ] Black" checked?

drfish · 03-05-2004, 03:18 PM

Well, I'm home for the weekend now, so I can't look at it again until Monday. but the system is a PIII 650 with one AGP and 2 PCI Matrox G450s. All three video cards have dual monitor output. The AGP card controls only the middle monitor, while the PCI cards control the other 4 (two on each side, one card for the left and the other for the right). The computer is running XP Prof. and is using the latest drivers from Matrox's site.

The system as it is works just the way it's supposed to, you can run your cursor all the way from the right to the left across all five monitors. The built in windows screen savers use all five screens as well. The computer is also running Ultramon 2.4 but that shouldn't have any effect on the aquarium. I have not changed any of the video card settings except for enabling the secondary monitor on the PCI cards. The "black" box was not checked on any of the screens. I didnt have much time so basically all I did was change the animorphic factor to .2 and got the super squished image on the middle screen. All five monitors did however show up on the drop down menu.

Theoretically, what should the settings be to make this work??? I'll try them first thing Monday morning!

Edgar · 03-05-2004, 04:00 PM

We only support a clone of the screensaver running at the other monitors. Spanning the screensaver across multimonitor is not supported by this version.

If you want it to work for all 5 monitors, make sure the Black toggle is unchecked for each monitor. I think the default for them is checked.

I have to check on the other problem where the window mode freezes when dragged to secondary monitor.

bugsymcd24 · 03-05-2004, 04:09 PM

ok my system is a 2.6 ghz pentium 4
512k ram
60gb hard drive
nvidia quadra 4 128 mb ram (video)

and on both monitors in the MA 2.01 the (Black) is unchecked

I have played with all the settings and nothing

I do get cloned working aquariums on both screens in full screen in both wide and full, that works fine.

but go to windowed view and it only works in the main monitor, the extended desktop monitor it freezes or goes black

not running nview

bugsymcd24 · 03-05-2004, 04:10 PM

oh yeah...windows xp pro as well

Edgar · 03-05-2004, 07:09 PM

I think I know the problem with window mode not displaying on the secondary monitor. Thanks bugsymcd24.

I just need to find out now if the fullscreen mode will work on the 5 monitors that DrFish has.

feldon34 · 03-05-2004, 09:12 PM

Originally posted by drfish
Does direct 3D not support preview mode for screensavers?

DirectX 8-native screen savers support preview mode.

Jim Sachs · 03-05-2004, 10:20 PM

DrFish - What exactly do you mean regarding the Aquarium not running in Preview Mode? It runs fine in Preview Mode on all my computers.

fishbowl · 03-06-2004, 02:27 AM

Jim,
I think what doc is talkin about, is he wishes the screensavers (yours and Prolific's) ran in animated preview mode. Most of Windows default screensavers have a fully animated mini-window of the screensaver running when on the screensaver tab in diplay properties. From what I heard the 3 fish version of the aquarium in the Microsoft Plus! Pack for XP had this animated preview mode (not sure on what is the exact term this feature is called). I think this is what Dr. Fish is hoping for (hint, hint).

fishbowl · 03-06-2004, 02:45 AM

Screen savers
Most screen savers don't work with multiple monitors: they only run on the primary monitor, leaving the other monitors unprotected.

UltraMon solves this problem by blanking all secondary monitors while the screen saver runs on the primary monitor. The screen saver once again does its job, and your data is protected while you are away from your desk.

But UltraMon can do even more: you can have a different screen saver on each monitor! The following screenshot shows a 3-monitor system with a different screen saver on each monitor:

UltraMon, can run screensavers with this animated preview mode on differnent monitors. Multi-Monitor setups can have a different screensaver running on each monitor, when UltraMon is properly configured.

I think the good ol' doc is hoping for this feature to be implemented, so that he can have all of Jim's & Prolific's screensavers running at the same time on different monitors by using only one PC. Of course, he could just use more PC's, but then he would have none to crunch proteins!

cjmaddy · 03-06-2004, 04:56 AM

I think that a readme file should be included with the download, (it would add very little to the overall file size).
This could outline the new features/changes included in each new version, and explain their purpose.
Some of the problems we encountered during testing, are being repeated here since going public, I feel some of these could have been avoided by the use of a readme file along the lines I submitted to Morgan.
To introduce something new without explanation is inviting problems down the line! - IMHO!

A new 'Settings Information' tab when pressing [Space] could be an even better solution.

I will post my suggestions if given the OK.

pvernam · 03-06-2004, 09:41 AM

Great job! But I have a problem on my machine (Win XP Pro SP1 & DX9b on Athlon XP 1800+ with ATI AIW RADEON 8500DV): if I bring up the settings dialog (via the spacebar) in fullscreen mode and then click on OK (it doesn't seem to matter if I change any settings or not), then MA2.01 comes back up and crashes about 3 seconds later. It then crashes ~3 seconds after EVERY time it starts. I first did an uninstall and re-install to cure this, but then got into the same mode again. This time I found that if I started it and immediately pressed the F key to get into window mode before it crashed (I still get the "Send Error Report to MS" dialog, but the window mode MA stays alive), and then exit the window mode instance (via ESC or clicking on the X button), the problem is fixed and MA2.01 will now start up fine in fullscreen mode. I then found I could safely change settings when in fullscreen mode only if I first toggle to window mode, make my changes, and then toggle back to fullscreen mode. There's also a minor glitch in that, on the settings dialog window, the "OK" button overlaps the "Get updates and help at ..." button (I'm running at 1280x1024 with the large size (120 dpi) fonts).

My wife's machine (Win XP Pro SP1 & DX9b on Athlon XP 2600+ with nVidia GeForce4 Ti 4200) has NONE of these problems (she prefers 1152x864 with the Normal size (96 dpi) fonts), and MA2.01 works flawlessly on it.

I will be away for a week starting next Wed (3/10), so if anyone would like any further details (DxDiag report, etc.) please let me know before then.

cjmaddy · 03-06-2004, 10:01 AM

pvernam, - I would guess that part of your problem is almost certainly through choosing 'Large fonts'.

The button overlap that you so accurately describe has, in my experience, always been a problem with choosing anything other than 'Small fonts' - it may work fine with some programs on your computer, or whilst off line, but it can be a source of trouble with web site design!

I always stick with 'Small fonts' !

03-05-2004, 11:17 AM	#41
Jim Sachs Developer Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Southern Oregon Posts: 9,791	I'll leave all the dual-monitor questions to Prolific, since I don't have dual monitors and have no idea how the code works for that. Jim Sachs Creator of SereneScreen Aquarium

03-05-2004, 11:22 AM	#42
drfish the Doc Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Zeeland, MI Posts: 5,357	I just setup a 5 monitor system at work. It's only a PIII 650 and the three video cards are only Matrox G450s, but it should run ok... It'll look pretty funky, but I'll post picks of my results... I don't watch commercials.

03-05-2004, 12:03 PM	#44
drfish the Doc Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Zeeland, MI Posts: 5,357	Attempts with the 5 screen setup failed completely. The old matrox cards and drivers simply cannot see the five monitors as having a combined resolution of 4000x600. So all I got was a very squished aquarium running on my primary screen. I'll try later on both a nVidia and ATI dual screen setups. I still REALLY wish the aquarium[s] would run in preview mode... If it did, I could use ultramon to have display it on as many screens as I wanted (and run MA2, GA, Sharks, etc fullscreen at the same time). This is where open GL might be nice, almost all of the true multi-monitor screen savers I've seen are open GL. Does direct 3D not support preview mode for screensavers? I don't watch commercials.

03-05-2004, 01:23 PM	#45
Tiny Turtle is pleased Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Stockholm, Sweden Posts: 7,365	DX8 does, not DX7. 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.

03-05-2004, 01:36 PM	#46
drfish the Doc Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Zeeland, MI Posts: 5,357	Duh! I knew that... I don't watch commercials.

03-05-2004, 11:34 AM	#43
xrayspex Registered Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: New York City Posts: 74	Originally posted by Marian Nichols I love the wide screen version even on one monitor; it really adds depth and dimension. Look like I ought to be able to have at least two more fish in there. I want to buy the Time version, will it also have the new fish and the widescreen format? Yes marian, i never saw the widescreen version either until this version..looks alot more "roomy" in there.

03-05-2004, 02:15 PM	#47
Schnaaps prolificus penguinus Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Prolific Posts: 204	As Jim Sachs stated, with the second widescreen background we no longer fit on a floppy. However, at 1,614K still just about the best download on the net.... DRFISH: if you get in running on 5 screens, please post a photo. I have seen it running on 2 screens, and 5. WOW, well that is three more isn't it? "Jim, no not THAT Jim but another of the same name" JamesRathbun.com

03-05-2004, 02:39 PM	#48
Edgar Prolific/SereneScreen Developer Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Norwalk, CA Posts: 513	DrFish and bugsymcd24, Send us your system info so I can figure out what is going wrong. CPU, video, OS and anything else that you think would help me. Also, are you using NView? Also tell me from the Settings Tab, how many monitor is listed under Monitor Selection? For each monitor selected, is the "[ ] Black" checked? *Edgar Tolentino* Prolific Developer www.prolific.com www.LifeGlobe.com

03-05-2004, 03:18 PM	#49
drfish the Doc Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Zeeland, MI Posts: 5,357	Well, I'm home for the weekend now, so I can't look at it again until Monday. but the system is a PIII 650 with one AGP and 2 PCI Matrox G450s. All three video cards have dual monitor output. The AGP card controls only the middle monitor, while the PCI cards control the other 4 (two on each side, one card for the left and the other for the right). The computer is running XP Prof. and is using the latest drivers from Matrox's site. The system as it is works just the way it's supposed to, you can run your cursor all the way from the right to the left across all five monitors. The built in windows screen savers use all five screens as well. The computer is also running Ultramon 2.4 but that shouldn't have any effect on the aquarium. I have not changed any of the video card settings except for enabling the secondary monitor on the PCI cards. The "black" box was not checked on any of the screens. I didnt have much time so basically all I did was change the animorphic factor to .2 and got the super squished image on the middle screen. All five monitors did however show up on the drop down menu. Theoretically, what should the settings be to make this work??? I'll try them first thing Monday morning! I don't watch commercials.

03-05-2004, 04:00 PM	#50
Edgar Prolific/SereneScreen Developer Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Norwalk, CA Posts: 513	We only support a clone of the screensaver running at the other monitors. Spanning the screensaver across multimonitor is not supported by this version. If you want it to work for all 5 monitors, make sure the Black toggle is unchecked for each monitor. I think the default for them is checked. I have to check on the other problem where the window mode freezes when dragged to secondary monitor. *Edgar Tolentino* Prolific Developer www.prolific.com www.LifeGlobe.com

03-05-2004, 04:09 PM	#51
bugsymcd24 PC Professional Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: virginia beach, va Posts: 147	ok my system is a 2.6 ghz pentium 4 512k ram 60gb hard drive nvidia quadra 4 128 mb ram (video) and on both monitors in the MA 2.01 the (Black) is unchecked I have played with all the settings and nothing I do get cloned working aquariums on both screens in full screen in both wide and full, that works fine. but go to windowed view and it only works in the main monitor, the extended desktop monitor it freezes or goes black not running nview

03-05-2004, 04:10 PM	#52
bugsymcd24 PC Professional Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: virginia beach, va Posts: 147	oh yeah...windows xp pro as well

03-05-2004, 07:09 PM	#53
Edgar Prolific/SereneScreen Developer Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Norwalk, CA Posts: 513	I think I know the problem with window mode not displaying on the secondary monitor. Thanks bugsymcd24. I just need to find out now if the fullscreen mode will work on the 5 monitors that DrFish has. *Edgar Tolentino* Prolific Developer www.prolific.com www.LifeGlobe.com

03-05-2004, 09:12 PM	#54
feldon34 Forum Administrator Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Rock Hill, SC Posts: 10,939	Originally posted by drfish Does direct 3D not support preview mode for screensavers? DirectX 8-native screen savers support preview mode. "Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed. Everything else is public relations." - George Orwell "If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal." - Emma Goldman

03-05-2004, 10:20 PM	#55
Jim Sachs Developer Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Southern Oregon Posts: 9,791	DrFish - What exactly do you mean regarding the Aquarium not running in Preview Mode? It runs fine in Preview Mode on all my computers. Jim Sachs Creator of SereneScreen Aquarium

03-06-2004, 02:45 AM	#57
fishbowl Cramped Quarters Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: People's Republik of Kalifornia Posts: 223	Screen savers Most screen savers don't work with multiple monitors: they only run on the primary monitor, leaving the other monitors unprotected. UltraMon solves this problem by blanking all secondary monitors while the screen saver runs on the primary monitor. The screen saver once again does its job, and your data is protected while you are away from your desk. But UltraMon can do even more: you can have a different screen saver on each monitor! The following screenshot shows a 3-monitor system with a different screen saver on each monitor: UltraMon, can run screensavers with this animated preview mode on differnent monitors. Multi-Monitor setups can have a different screensaver running on each monitor, when UltraMon is properly configured. I think the good ol' doc is hoping for this feature to be implemented, so that he can have all of Jim's & Prolific's screensavers running at the same time on different monitors by using only one PC. Of course, he could just use more PC's, but then he would have none to crunch proteins!

03-06-2004, 04:56 AM	#58
cjmaddy Registered Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Lancashire, UK Posts: 7,854	I think that a readme file should be included with the download, (it would add very little to the overall file size). This could outline the new features/changes included in each new version, and explain their purpose. Some of the problems we encountered during testing, are being repeated here since going public, I feel some of these could have been avoided by the use of a readme file along the lines I submitted to Morgan. To introduce something new without explanation is inviting problems down the line! - IMHO! A new 'Settings Information' tab when pressing [Space] could be an even better solution. I will post my suggestions if given the OK.

03-06-2004, 09:41 AM	#59
pvernam wobbegong Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Nahant, MA Posts: 37	2.01 crashes! Great job! But I have a problem on my machine (Win XP Pro SP1 & DX9b on Athlon XP 1800+ with ATI AIW RADEON 8500DV): if I bring up the settings dialog (via the spacebar) in fullscreen mode and then click on OK (it doesn't seem to matter if I change any settings or not), then MA2.01 comes back up and crashes about 3 seconds later. It then crashes ~3 seconds after EVERY time it starts. I first did an uninstall and re-install to cure this, but then got into the same mode again. This time I found that if I started it and immediately pressed the F key to get into window mode before it crashed (I still get the "Send Error Report to MS" dialog, but the window mode MA stays alive), and then exit the window mode instance (via ESC or clicking on the X button), the problem is fixed and MA2.01 will now start up fine in fullscreen mode. I then found I could safely change settings when in fullscreen mode only if I first toggle to window mode, make my changes, and then toggle back to fullscreen mode. There's also a minor glitch in that, on the settings dialog window, the "OK" button overlaps the "Get updates and help at ..." button (I'm running at 1280x1024 with the large size (120 dpi) fonts). My wife's machine (Win XP Pro SP1 & DX9b on Athlon XP 2600+ with nVidia GeForce4 Ti 4200) has NONE of these problems (she prefers 1152x864 with the Normal size (96 dpi) fonts), and MA2.01 works flawlessly on it. I will be away for a week starting next Wed (3/10), so if anyone would like any further details (DxDiag report, etc.) please let me know before then.

03-06-2004, 10:01 AM	#60
cjmaddy Registered Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Lancashire, UK Posts: 7,854	pvernam, - I would guess that part of your problem is almost certainly through choosing 'Large fonts'. The button overlap that you so accurately describe has, in my experience, always been a problem with choosing anything other than 'Small fonts' - it may work fine with some programs on your computer, or whilst off line, but it can be a source of trouble with web site design! I always stick with 'Small fonts' !