** SereneScreen Marine Aquarium 2.01 !! **

[Jim Sachs]

fishbowl - Ah, I thought he was talking about the Preview button.

Yes, the mini-window mode is a DX8/DX9 function. The Aquarium is still a DX6 application. The version I did for Microsoft was in DX8, so it had this feature, but was lacking many others.

[Jim Sachs]

Cliff - that's a good idea regarding explanation text in the About screen.

[Jim Sachs]

pvernam - The point when the crash takes place seems like it is when the program is either trying to read or write to the Registry. It's possible that entries from an old installation might be interfering. Have you tried deleting the Aquarium's Entire Registry Key, then running the program? If you didn't want to lose your Key Code, you could delete all the entries except that one.

[pvernam]

Originally posted by Jim Sachs
pvernam - The point when the crash takes place seems like it is when the program is either trying to read or write to the Registry. It's possible that entries from an old installation might be interfering. Have you tried deleting the Aquarium's Entire Registry Key, then running the program? If you didn't want to lose your Key Code, you could delete all the entries except that one.

Nope. I did have MA 1.1, 1.1W, 2.0, and 2.01 on my machine, so I uninstalled all of them and re-installed only 2.01. (The uninstalls appear to have removed all Registry data, since I could no longer find any and I had to re-enter my Key Code (and insert my original V1.0 CD) to save any settings in 2.01.) But now the same (bad) things still happen, exactly as I described earlier. Any other ideas? (This isn't an emergency for me since I do have a work-around.)

[Jim Sachs]

This is really Edgar's area, so I'll let him try to troubleshoot it.

[cjmaddy]

pvernam, - Have you changed your 'Fonts' to cure your "OK" button overlap problem? - It's worth checking out that that isn't causing any of your other problems. (If only to eliminate the possibility!)

Why Microsoft gives us the option to use other size fonts when sooner or later, anything other than 'Small fonts' will cause problems, seems totally illogical to me! - There may well be a work-around with modern web page programing, but whilst there are still many examples of this problem in existence, I consider it better to avoid using any other size of fonts in 'Display Properties/Settings/Advanced/General', than Small fonts!

[Edgar]

pvernam,

A DxDiag sent to my Email address would definitely help.
Also post your version of the video driver in the forum.
I would like to know if anyone with the same version has the same problem.

edit: I don't think the large fonts is the cause of it. The larger button should be fixable. I will need to look at that too.

[pvernam]

Originally posted by cjmaddy
pvernam, - Have you changed your 'Fonts' to cure your "OK" button overlap problem? - It's worth checking out that that isn't causing any of your other problems. (If only to eliminate the possibility!)

Why Microsoft gives us the option to use other size fonts when sooner or later, anything other than 'Small fonts' will cause problems, seems totally illogical to me! - There may well be a work-around with modern web page programing, but whilst there are still many examples of this problem in existence, I consider it better to avoid using any other size of fonts in 'Display Properties/Settings/Advanced/General', than Small fonts!

The problem with the normal fonts is that they're too small for me to read (hey, I'm 56). Anyway, I set my system back to 96 dpi fonts (temporarily), and that did fix the button overlap problem, but not the crashing problem. I can live with the button overlap -- I just figured the programmers would want make it work properly despite the large fonts.

[Edgar]

Wow, crosspost.

[cjmaddy]

Originally posted by pvernam
The problem with the normal fonts is that they're too small for me to read (hey, I'm 56). Anyway, I set my system back to 96 dpi fonts (temporarily), and that did fix the button overlap problem, but not the crashing problem.

Sorry to hear it didn't fix the crashing problem, (but one out of two isn't bad! ) - I was confident it would fix the overlap, and it's always worth a try, if only to eliminate something. ..... Oh, and by the way, ..... hey, I'm 69.


Edit!
For the record, I still have v1.1, 1.1wide. and MAT, - all working satisfactorily on the same computer, - but I have removed all older versions of MA2.

[Jim Sachs]

Cliff - just out of curiosity, why are you keeping the old 1.1 versions?

[cjmaddy]

Need you ask Jim? ...... out of sentiment for the old Queen of course! - that, and the fact that 1.1wide was the best version ever, - but mainly, just because I'm a hoarder!

[Jim Sachs]

What is it about 1.1wide that makes it the best version ever? In other words, what could we do to 2.01 to make it just as good, or better?

[cjmaddy]

To begin with, I use the word 'was' in italics!
Though 1.1wide is still better in some ways, IMO, because it runs at a higher FPS rate, as I have reported before on other threads, also no one has yet said why MA2 is the only one that defaults to vSync 'On'.
..... But MA2 MD, (with the new fish! ) now has the potential to be the greatest!

[Jim Sachs]

I'm sure that Edgar will continue to look into why 2.01 runs slower on your machine (it appears to run slightly faster on most).

"On" is the proper setting for VSync to default to. The user should be required to make a conscious effort to turn it off, if they are willing to put up with some visual glitches for the extra fps.

[Jav400]

I think on is the best default setting for the reason Jim mentioned. As far as the old version, knowing Cliff I would say its nostalgia and the first one he had and has used the longest. But, he will come around.

[cjmaddy]

Originally posted by Jim Sachs
"On" is the proper setting for VSync to default to. The user should be required to make a conscious effort to turn it off, if they are willing to put up with some visual glitches for the extra fps.

In that case I must have changed the others, but I don't remember changing ALL of them! - no matter, it only makes a very small difference, and if I detect any glitches, I shall turn it back on!

I have just done another fps check! - Still similar to the last time:-
1.1wide = 32/33
2.01(wide) = 24/25
(All other things being equal - and same everything.)

[Jim Sachs]

Which fish do you have in the tank, Cliff? I'd like to do some tests with exactly the same setup you are using.

In fact, could you list what the whole setup is? I know you have stated it before, but it would be handy for me to have it all here in one post. (OS, processor, resolution, 16/32-bit, CalcNormals On/off, and anything else you can think of.)

[cjmaddy]

Originally posted by Jim Sachs
Which fish do you have in the tank, Cliff? I'd like to do some tests with exactly the same setup you are using.

Wow! .......

I would normally have some of the 'New' fish selected in 2.01, but when making accurate comparisons with 1.1wide, the 8 chosen fish are:-

1 Powder Blue Tang
2 French Angelfish
2 Longfin Bannerfish/Wimplefish
1 Forceps Butterflyfish
1 Percula Clownfish
1 LionFish

Use WideScreen = On
Anamorphic factor = 0.815
Default System Resolution (1024x768x16)
Limit frame rate = 50
Bubbles = On
Sound = On
CalcNormals = On
V-Sync = Off

The video card settings:-

Image setting = Quality
Antialiasing = Off
Anisotropic = 8x
Direct3D Mipmap = Best image quality
Direct3D Vertical sync (coolbits) = Auto-select

AMD K6-II 500MHz / Windows 2000 Pro / GeForce FX 5200 Ultra (nVidia 52.16) / DirectX 9.0b / Sony flat screen CRT

The above settings have just produced 23/24 fps (in Wide mode) and 26/27 (Fullscreen mode) in MA2 MD (2.01)

(With the same fish and equivalent settings in 1.1wide ...... 31/33 fps)

[Jim Sachs]

Thanks, Cliff -

I'll try to find a copy of 1.1 wide to test.

Does your monitor "click" when starting either of these versions?