first impressions on ga beta 0.9 - Page 7

Marian Nichols · 05-15-2003, 04:48 PM

Did I see a tongue in the mouth of the new fish Monstro? And isn't the blue gone from that plant?

Wizwad · 05-15-2003, 04:53 PM

Yep, blue's gone from the plant, and the bubble volume has been fixed, too! Hurrah!

Jav400 · 05-15-2003, 06:59 PM

Well thats nice, I don't have to pop anyones bubble ( hehe ) on this one. The sound adjustment works on mine now also.

feldon34 · 05-15-2003, 09:55 PM

Originally posted by raven
Same here, it's very nice to start up the different versions and see what has changed.

Except that the betas seem to expire on my system with an incredibly detailed message "Phase of Moon error."

Rolling back the clock to the end of April got these versions to run again.

Wizwad · 05-16-2003, 03:36 AM

LOL! That's such a COOL error message. I wish I could get that from time to time.

That picture you posted of your study a while back, Morgan - those candles looked pretty occultish to me. Does your PC use elektrickery? That might explain the error!

feldon34 · 05-16-2003, 01:09 PM

There was 1 candle, not lit.

JimO'Connor · 05-17-2003, 08:24 PM

I'm glad you all like Monstro. He is my wife's fish.

We set up a goldfish aquarium for my wife because of this product. I think that the artist did a wonderful job on him. Monstro is flattered. He spends lots of time at the glass of the aquarium (which faces my wife's computer monitor) saying "WOW -- I'm famous." We usually name our pets in a theme, and the goldfish are following Pinocchio. We started with Cleo and Figaro (the goldfish and cat), but Cleo didn't survive the makeshift accomodations whie we got a tank put together. Monstro is named for the whale -- he was sick at the pet store and we had to medicate him, but he is doing very well now -- because he is the biggest so far. His dorsal fin is SOOO long it is up only when he is almost perfectly still. We added a new very small calico named "Cricket". We are looking for Cleo II, but are very particular about what she has to look like.

More detail than I'm sure you all wanted, but we are pretty thrilled to have Monstro immortalized in bits, and he has been INSUFFERABLE. :^)

feldon34 · 05-17-2003, 08:50 PM

I'm just wondering if Monstro and the other fish are supposed to be reflective at all, or if the lighting, etc. is accurate in GA?

Marian Nichols · 05-18-2003, 04:37 AM

Another goldfish lover

Yes Monstro is easily the most georgous to me. The fins is what does it. I've name my fish also.
There's Fineous, Freckles, Dottie, Phantom, a black moor, and Bulter, suckermouth catfish.

roseangel · 05-19-2003, 05:07 PM

I have looked at the test beta N514.0.9.1576. There is improvement in most areas previously commented on, however I noticed a few small things. The picture attached shows the first two items.

When Monstro is facing the screen with his head down, the dorsal fin is transparent to the background, instead of showing the body through the fin.

When the foreground lights are at the minimum setting, there is a couple of small patches where the grey base colour shows through at the edge of the stones. This is very obvious on the screen if the plants are removed totally, however it is faded in the screendump.

Also I saw Cali swim straight through the body of Oreo near the top of the screen (both fish survived the experience).

These items don't worry me, I just mentioned them as feedback to the programmers.

GA Version N514.0.9.1576
CPU ........ P4 2.0GHz 256M RAM
Windows .... XP Sp1
Motherboard ... MSI 648-L Max
Video card ... GeForce4 MX440SE 8xAGP 64mb Driver 4.14.01.4345
Sound card ... RealTek onboard 'AC97
DirectX .... Version 9.0a (4.09.0000.0901)

roseangel · 05-19-2003, 05:09 PM

I forgot to attach before, here it is:

feldon34 · 05-19-2003, 05:18 PM

I've also seen those white spots. I've even seen them flicker like crazy sometimes when toggling between the Wireframe modes.

Mountainmaster · 05-19-2003, 06:20 PM

When the foreground lights are at the minimum setting, there is a couple of small patches where the grey base colour shows through at the edge of the stones. This is very obvious on the screen if the plants are removed totally, however it is faded in the screendump.

Try setting the resolution to 1280 x 1024. That is my default for GA and it even increases the problem area (see image). However in N518.0.9.1618 Prolific fixed it by lowering that grey area far beneath the gravel.

KMan · 05-27-2003, 06:37 PM

Nice start! I've been a long-time user of the serenescreen salt water aquarium, since the beta days, and love it dearly! So I was quite happy to have a new toy to play with.

Clearly it's still in the testing phase, but it's a great beginning! I haven't checked it at home yet, where I have more powerful hardware, but I can report that on my laptop (WinXPPro, XGA, S3 chipset w/ 8mb, PIII-650, 384mb), I BSOD'd after installing and trying to manually start the saver. It let me plug in the tester code and then killed the system instantly. After a reboot, the program started up normally and I was able to see it run. :-) I played with the wireframe mode, and then tried to bring up the menu with space, only to go black. Escape brought the fish back. Another space, and I BSOD'd again.

After two BSODs, I won't try running it again on my laptop until some newer releases come out! I look forward to trying it out at home, however, as I realize the laptop is pretty low end on the graphics side (and only 8mb on the S3 chipset!). Also, there was some strobing in the bottom 25% of the screen, diagonally in both bottom corners. Dunno if that helps y'all or not. If there's a new version I should try, I'll be happy to, however. :-)

-Kalani

Jav400 · 05-27-2003, 06:54 PM

I would say you have several problems, low memory and probably drivers to start. I doubt you will have much luck on the laptop, or at least much good luck anyway.

KMan · 05-27-2003, 07:01 PM

Low memory on the video card, I agree. No problems with the drivers that I know of. This laptop has been very stable for some time, and I run the MA for hours at a stretch with no problem... this also makes me suspect either the GA has higher video memory requirements than the MA, or there is an issue with it. Considering it's beta status, I'm inclined to suspect the latter.

Frankly, I'm not bothered by it not running on the laptop if higher requirements are the issue... I plan to stick with MA as my primary screensaver, and only run GA from time to time for fun. I just hope it's more stable on my beefier systems at home.

-Kalani

Jav400 · 05-27-2003, 07:03 PM

It should be fine there. It does have higher requirements than MA does at this point. When MA gets the things like the new background and so on, it will probably graduate to the same status.

KMan · 05-27-2003, 07:04 PM

...and in reviewing the system requirements listed, my laptop passes with flying colors. It's not the best or the fastest video chipset there is, but again, unless GA (with one fish in test mode!) has a lot more going on than MA (with 7 fish in reg mode!), I'm still going to suspect the beta software over my system.

-K

KMan · 05-27-2003, 07:12 PM

Good to know, re MA. Perhaps I'll stick to 1.1 on the laptop and only move up to 2.x on the desktop systems (once they send me my upgrade code *sigh*). Guess I'll give up on GA on this laptop until there's a final version... and if that doesn't fly well out of the box, nix it altogether.

Under the circumstances, however, if GA is going to have higher requirements, they may want to update those system requirements on the FAQ page.

-Kalani

JimO'Connor · 05-27-2003, 11:19 PM

You need to use the web site keycode update feature if you don't have your keycode yet. MA2's requirements aren't significantly different from MA1, so it SHOULD be fine on your laptop (keep a copy of MA1 handy in case I'm wrong).

I've left GA running for weeks continuously in a window but I don't adjust the settings.

05-15-2003, 04:48 PM	#121
Marian Nichols ~Author~ Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Rocky Mount, NC Posts: 7,429	Did I see a tongue in the mouth of the new fish Monstro? And isn't the blue gone from that plant? Write paranormal mysteries. Six books so far.

05-15-2003, 04:53 PM	#122
Wizwad Only me... Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Essex, England Posts: 2,584	Yep, blue's gone from the plant, and the bubble volume has been fixed, too! Hurrah! Mark ----------- Intel i7 12700K \| Aorus Z690 Pro \| Corsair DDR5 5600 32GB \| Asus Dual RTX3060ti 6GB v2 Mini OC \| Corsair RM850 Gold PSU \| 1TB NVMe M.2 WD Black SN850 \| 4TB Seagate BarraCuda HDD \| Corsair Airflow 5000D Case \| HP 32QHD 4K Monitor \| Windows 11 x64 Professional

05-15-2003, 06:59 PM	#123
Jav400 Administrator Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Tennessee Posts: 9,725	Well thats nice, I don't have to pop anyones bubble ( hehe ) on this one. The sound adjustment works on mine now also. Michael Administrator of Inside:SereneScreen Aquarium Forum, Chatroom, Fan Site & *Gallery* DVD Collection

05-15-2003, 09:55 PM	#124
feldon34 Forum Administrator Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Rock Hill, SC Posts: 10,939	Originally posted by raven Same here, it's very nice to start up the different versions and see what has changed. Except that the betas seem to expire on my system with an incredibly detailed message "Phase of Moon error." Rolling back the clock to the end of April got these versions to run again. "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

05-16-2003, 03:36 AM	#125
Wizwad Only me... Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Essex, England Posts: 2,584	Phase of Moon Error LOL! That's such a COOL error message. I wish I could get that from time to time. That picture you posted of your study a while back, Morgan - those candles looked pretty occultish to me. Does your PC use elektrickery? That might explain the error! Mark ----------- Intel i7 12700K \| Aorus Z690 Pro \| Corsair DDR5 5600 32GB \| Asus Dual RTX3060ti 6GB v2 Mini OC \| Corsair RM850 Gold PSU \| 1TB NVMe M.2 WD Black SN850 \| 4TB Seagate BarraCuda HDD \| Corsair Airflow 5000D Case \| HP 32QHD 4K Monitor \| Windows 11 x64 Professional

05-16-2003, 01:09 PM	#126
feldon34 Forum Administrator Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Rock Hill, SC Posts: 10,939	There was 1 candle, not lit. "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

05-17-2003, 08:24 PM	#127
JimO'Connor Mac Development Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Kenai, Alaska Posts: 678	I'm glad you all like Monstro. He is my wife's fish. We set up a goldfish aquarium for my wife because of this product. I think that the artist did a wonderful job on him. Monstro is flattered. He spends lots of time at the glass of the aquarium (which faces my wife's computer monitor) saying "WOW -- I'm famous." We usually name our pets in a theme, and the goldfish are following Pinocchio. We started with Cleo and Figaro (the goldfish and cat), but Cleo didn't survive the makeshift accomodations whie we got a tank put together. Monstro is named for the whale -- he was sick at the pet store and we had to medicate him, but he is doing very well now -- because he is the biggest so far. His dorsal fin is SOOO long it is up only when he is almost perfectly still. We added a new very small calico named "Cricket". We are looking for Cleo II, but are very particular about what she has to look like. More detail than I'm sure you all wanted, but we are pretty thrilled to have Monstro immortalized in bits, and he has been INSUFFERABLE. :^) Jim O'Connor Order N Development

05-17-2003, 08:50 PM	#128
feldon34 Forum Administrator Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Rock Hill, SC Posts: 10,939	I'm just wondering if Monstro and the other fish are supposed to be reflective at all, or if the lighting, etc. is accurate in GA? "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

05-18-2003, 04:37 AM	#129
Marian Nichols ~Author~ Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Rocky Mount, NC Posts: 7,429	Another goldfish lover Yes Monstro is easily the most georgous to me. The fins is what does it. I've name my fish also. There's Fineous, Freckles, Dottie, Phantom, a black moor, and Bulter, suckermouth catfish. Write paranormal mysteries. Six books so far.

05-19-2003, 05:07 PM	#130
roseangel Registered Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 46	I have looked at the test beta N514.0.9.1576. There is improvement in most areas previously commented on, however I noticed a few small things. The picture attached shows the first two items. When Monstro is facing the screen with his head down, the dorsal fin is transparent to the background, instead of showing the body through the fin. When the foreground lights are at the minimum setting, there is a couple of small patches where the grey base colour shows through at the edge of the stones. This is very obvious on the screen if the plants are removed totally, however it is faded in the screendump. Also I saw Cali swim straight through the body of Oreo near the top of the screen (both fish survived the experience). These items don't worry me, I just mentioned them as feedback to the programmers. GA Version N514.0.9.1576 CPU ........ P4 2.0GHz 256M RAM Windows .... XP Sp1 Motherboard ... MSI 648-L Max Video card ... GeForce4 MX440SE 8xAGP 64mb Driver 4.14.01.4345 Sound card ... RealTek onboard 'AC97 DirectX .... Version 9.0a (4.09.0000.0901)

05-19-2003, 05:18 PM	#132
feldon34 Forum Administrator Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Rock Hill, SC Posts: 10,939	I've also seen those white spots. I've even seen them flicker like crazy sometimes when toggling between the Wireframe modes. "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

05-27-2003, 06:37 PM	#134
KMan Registered Join Date: May 2003 Location: Studio City, CA Posts: 15	Nice start! I've been a long-time user of the serenescreen salt water aquarium, since the beta days, and love it dearly! So I was quite happy to have a new toy to play with. Clearly it's still in the testing phase, but it's a great beginning! I haven't checked it at home yet, where I have more powerful hardware, but I can report that on my laptop (WinXPPro, XGA, S3 chipset w/ 8mb, PIII-650, 384mb), I BSOD'd after installing and trying to manually start the saver. It let me plug in the tester code and then killed the system instantly. After a reboot, the program started up normally and I was able to see it run. :-) I played with the wireframe mode, and then tried to bring up the menu with space, only to go black. Escape brought the fish back. Another space, and I BSOD'd again. After two BSODs, I won't try running it again on my laptop until some newer releases come out! I look forward to trying it out at home, however, as I realize the laptop is pretty low end on the graphics side (and only 8mb on the S3 chipset!). Also, there was some strobing in the bottom 25% of the screen, diagonally in both bottom corners. Dunno if that helps y'all or not. If there's a new version I should try, I'll be happy to, however. :-) -Kalani

05-27-2003, 06:54 PM	#135
Jav400 Administrator Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Tennessee Posts: 9,725	I would say you have several problems, low memory and probably drivers to start. I doubt you will have much luck on the laptop, or at least much good luck anyway. Michael Administrator of Inside:SereneScreen Aquarium Forum, Chatroom, Fan Site & *Gallery* DVD Collection

05-27-2003, 07:01 PM	#136
KMan Registered Join Date: May 2003 Location: Studio City, CA Posts: 15	Low memory on the video card, I agree. No problems with the drivers that I know of. This laptop has been very stable for some time, and I run the MA for hours at a stretch with no problem... this also makes me suspect either the GA has higher video memory requirements than the MA, or there is an issue with it. Considering it's beta status, I'm inclined to suspect the latter. Frankly, I'm not bothered by it not running on the laptop if higher requirements are the issue... I plan to stick with MA as my primary screensaver, and only run GA from time to time for fun. I just hope it's more stable on my beefier systems at home. -Kalani

05-27-2003, 07:03 PM	#137
Jav400 Administrator Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Tennessee Posts: 9,725	It should be fine there. It does have higher requirements than MA does at this point. When MA gets the things like the new background and so on, it will probably graduate to the same status. Michael Administrator of Inside:SereneScreen Aquarium Forum, Chatroom, Fan Site & *Gallery* DVD Collection

05-27-2003, 07:04 PM	#138
KMan Registered Join Date: May 2003 Location: Studio City, CA Posts: 15	...and in reviewing the system requirements listed, my laptop passes with flying colors. It's not the best or the fastest video chipset there is, but again, unless GA (with one fish in test mode!) has a lot more going on than MA (with 7 fish in reg mode!), I'm still going to suspect the beta software over my system. -K

05-27-2003, 07:12 PM	#139
KMan Registered Join Date: May 2003 Location: Studio City, CA Posts: 15	Good to know, re MA. Perhaps I'll stick to 1.1 on the laptop and only move up to 2.x on the desktop systems (once they send me my upgrade code sigh). Guess I'll give up on GA on this laptop until there's a final version... and if that doesn't fly well out of the box, nix it altogether. Under the circumstances, however, if GA is going to have higher requirements, they may want to update those system requirements on the FAQ page. -Kalani

05-27-2003, 11:19 PM	#140
JimO'Connor Mac Development Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Kenai, Alaska Posts: 678	You need to use the web site keycode update feature if you don't have your keycode yet. MA2's requirements aren't significantly different from MA1, so it SHOULD be fine on your laptop (keep a copy of MA1 handy in case I'm wrong). I've left GA running for weeks continuously in a window but I don't adjust the settings. Jim O'Connor Order N Development