Marine Aquarium 3 Beta INSTALLER test

[Jim Sachs]

Rick - could you try the version without the installer at http://www.fish-byte.com/MA3Beta.zip?

The version with the installer is Edgar's version of the code, while the one without the installer is my version. They SHOULD be the same, but I put in very specific code to make sure the gorgonia movement got translated to all render units, and I want to make sure those changes didn't get lost in transit between me and Edgar.

By the way, these are both marked Beta8k, but you can tell the difference by the fact that mine comes up with the Statistics text showing, while Edgar's does not.

[patscarr]

You know, there is one flaw in this latest "testfish" version. It's too good! There are so many fish swimming around, panning back and forth, music, a starfish, etc... that typing testfish once in awhile doesn't seem such a bad idea to save $20 bucks. I really think you have to trim it down a little more before release. Perhaps just 3 fish. 3 fish in that huge tank would make people want to add some more, and for just $20 bucks, that's reasonable.

[Jim Sachs]

At first, I tried limiting the number of fish, but it introduced so many crashing bugs that I gave up on it. There were many instances where the program expected a certain portion of memory to be allocated for fish objects, but in the non-registered version it wouldn't be because of limiting the number of fish.

I guarantee that we will get email from people who still don't feel like they are getting enough in the free version. "I have to type in "testfish" every time I want to change the settings? Outrageous!"

[Rick Simon]

Originally posted by Jim Sachs:

Rick - could you try the version without the installer  

I tried it and got the same results. While testing it though, I found that it's not just the gorgonia on that screen now. It appears to have also lost the fans motion on that particular screen when I have it set to "render the same on all screens". Since it's the far right screen, I normally never see the fans on it and may not have noticed it before (though I could have sworn the fans worked on it before). As before, as soon as I turn off the display on the NVidia card driving the leftmost monitor, the motion on the rightmost monitor (ATI 9550 secondary) works perfectly. Or if I switch to windowed mode it works perfectly. Or if I turn off the 9550 primary (center) monitor it works perfectly. Its just when I have all 3 turned on that the problem arises.

My current setup:


NVidia FX5200........ATI 9550 Primary.......ATI 9550 Secondary
..1280x1024...............1280x1024............... ..1680x1050
.......#2..........................#0............. ...............#1

[Jim Sachs]

OK, at least it makes a little more sense that the Sea Fan motion reacts the same as the Gorgonia. It's still a mystery why there would be no movement on that render unit, but at least it's not a case right out of the Twilight Zone.

I appreciate your efforts on this, Rick.

[Dale]

Originally posted by feldon32:

You should not expect ANY logos or settings to come over.

MA3:

1. uses a totally new registry branch
2. uses a different folder for data/logos/playlist
3. handles lighting differently
4. adds tank scrolling
5. will eventually allow the bubble column to be moved
6. does not currently support more than 1 logo (and must have a certain filename)
7. will probably handle clock/calendar differently
8. uses a different keycode than 2.6

Thus there is really no point for the MA3 installer to try to "import" settings from MA2.6.

MA2.6 has 1 tank setup with 7 fish, no music playlist, and none of the features above, so really it takes less than 30 seconds to setup MA3 to have the same settings as MA2.6.

P.S. Since using PNG logos was an undocumented feature of MA2.6, I do not expect those logos to be moved automatically to the new folder, but maybe that will be something that the installer does?  

I'm a bit confused by your answer. First you say not to expect anything, and then you ask if logos will be moved. I think that's one of the things I asked, hoping for an authoritative answer.

One quote from another thread (which may or may not be current thinking):
"The final version will have a playlist of logos, with full paths. " (Jim)

There was some discussion of registry keys, etc., too.

I suspect that anybody who buys an "upgrade" from MA2.6 to MA3, will have an expectation that applicable "stuff" from MA2.6 would be applied to MA3. As you point out, that's not necessarily simple. In fact, it might be necessary to just do a "New Install", and tell people that no settings (or logos) are going to be moved. That's one alternative - sure to mildly annoy some folks.

Anyhow, that's why I asked - to get an authoritative answer (when available) as to ALL OF WHAT the installer is supposed to do (and not do). With that, it's possible to test whether it does what it's supposed to do.

Without that information, all anybody can say is "it worked for me right now". That's valuable information, of course.

Which brings up one other question: What happens when those folks who have used the Beta8k installer version, try to run the NEXT installer?

Finally (and pardon the long post) - somebody should, of course, test the uninstaller that comes with Beta8k Installer (I presume) to make sure that it does what it is supposed to do. Whatever that is.

[Jim Sachs]

Regarding Logos, MA3 does not check for, import, or know about the existance of MA2.6 logos. MA2.6 had a way of creating fairly rough-looking 2-color logos. MA3 only uses full-color PNG graphics. The relative sizes are also different.

[Edgar]

Originally posted by Rick Simon:

NVidia FX5200........ATI 9550 Primary.......ATI 9550 Secondary
..1280x1024...............1280x1024............... ..1680x1050
.......#2..........................#0............. ...............#1  

I think the NVidia and ATI mixed is causing the problem
I don't have a mixed system here to test to see how best to fix it.

Jim, do we want try to fix this?
The only fix for this is to create all the resource individually without copying. Make one common calculation and apply the calculation to each display.
The copying assumes compatible cards and drivers.

I think it will be slower and more complicated to do.

[Jim Sachs]

For now, no.

[weese237]

Works fine for me! Windows XP SP2.

Looks great too!
Louise

[henemly]

Works great on Win XP SP2

Edit: "weese237" beat me to the post by seconds

[feldon34]

Originally posted by Jim Sachs:

Regarding Logos, MA3 does not check for, import, or know about the existance of MA2.6 logos. MA2.6 had a way of creating fairly rough-looking 2-color logos. MA3 only uses full-color PNG graphics. The relative sizes are also different.  

Officially.

But unofficially, as I'm sure you know, I have been promoting and encouraging people to create full-color PNG logos for years now. Ever since I discovered the hidden functionality. And these PNG logos created for 2.6 work perfectly in MA3.

There are logos at my website, and a How To Guide to create them.

Again, I'll see exactly how the Logo Picker interface is implemented in MA3 and decide how to update the website to deal with that.

[Jim Sachs]

The old logos will probably be slightly too large for MA3, spilling off the edge of the crystal if they get too close to the edge. The interface will contain resizing and positioning tools.

[Dale]

Originally posted by Jim Sachs:

Regarding Logos, MA3 does not check for, import, or know about the existance of MA2.6 logos. MA2.6 had a way of creating fairly rough-looking 2-color logos. MA3 only uses full-color PNG graphics. The relative sizes are also different.  

OK, that answers one of the 7-or-so questions that I asked. The installer won't "import" logos from 2.6 into 3.0.

Now, given the location of the MA2.6 logos - what happens to them when MA3 is installed? [The answer is obvious if the MA3 installer doesn't "deinstall" or "upgrade" MA2.6, === otherwise, this is the "leftover files not being removed" issue]

[feldon34]

Originally posted by Jim Sachs:

The old logos will probably be slightly too large for MA3, spilling off the edge of the crystal if they get too close to the edge.  

I tested out all 21 logos I offer for download here. Only 4 of them need some slight adjustment to fit. The other 17 logos look fantastic as-is with no modifications necessary for MA3. I have always designed logos with a safe border on all 4 sides of about 10% width and my tutorial contains the same suggestion.

[Jim Sachs]

Dale - I'm not avoiding installer questions. I've never dealt with one, so I simply don't know. Someone at Prolific is doing the installer.

Morgan - It's good that you suggested the border. The reason that I mentioned it was that some of the logos posted by Forum member looked like they were dangerously close to the edge of the texture. I can see how they'd want to use every available pixel, but MA3 is much less forgiving about that than MA2.6 was (until the resizing interface is in place).

[Cougfan]

No problems with the installer on my Vista Ultimate 64-bit machine or my laptop with Windows 7 Beta installed. I did have to delete the previous beta from Windows 7 before the installer version would work.

[Xylem]

Jim:
MA3 works fine on my Vista 64, Asus P5E3 Premium, Radeon 4870 system. Both corals move, S, M and all F keys work. The L key which used to change the logo lighting does not work.

After using the installer I had to right click the desktop icon and choose 'install' to get it to appear in the screensaver list and be self launching. The desktop icon however launched it without problem.

Oddly the new Settings included my old playlists; a surprise. (I have to say though, that I cannot find better music than what you have provided).

I notice that MA3 resides in C:\Windows\SysWOW64 whereas DA is installed merely in C:\Windows. Of no consequence to me if not to you

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Feldon; thanks for info on logos. I notice that one of your groups is mostly religous in nature. What's the possiblity that you could add one like those attached to your list? Just wondering. btw, do I just insert the pic in the MA3 folder, or is there some other method of install? Thanks....

[fozzy]

Installer works and looks fine on both systems. The only "problem" is for beta testers, the beta file should be removed before installing. i needed to uninstall remove beta files and reinstall (without problems).

[dwax]

Worked fine on my 3 machines. WinXP SP3 WinME and WIn98SE. Runs great with the Voodoo 5 5500AGP.