[Vista] Skype 4.0 Conflicts with MA 3

[robnich]

Well, I am sorry to report that the same conflict between Skype 4.0 and Marine Aquarium 2.6 that I reported in that forum a couple of days ago, also exists between Marine Aquarium 3 and Skype 4.0. Unless this is unique to my system, I think this could be a major problem, because Skype 4.0, which was only released on February 3rd, will eventually be downloaded by millions of users.

My system is a Dell XPS Studio 435MT running Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit, with an ATI 4850 graphics processor, 6GB of RAM and very few 3rd party applications, as I have only had the computer for two weeks or so.

The problem is that when Skype 4.0 is open, neither the screensaver or the application will run. One cannot even preview the screensaver in the Personalization control panel. As soon as Skype is closed, the problem disappears, only to return as soon as it is opened. I have had one brief exception, when I restarted and Skype automatically opened. I closed it and it remained in its standby mode (in the taskbar) with myself "online". MA 2.6 ran normally, but as soon as my Skype staus changed from "online" to "away" (or vice-versa), the conflict reapppeared. Only when I quit the taskbar status icon and closed Skype, did the conflict resolve.

I am ready to provide any further information you might wish. Perhaps Jim or other member of the development team should download Skype 4.0 and give it a try.

By the way, MA3 looks absolutely gorgeous on my 23" wide-screen monitor!

Bob N.

EDIT: I may have jumped the gun here, and I think my testing with MA3 was not as rigorous as it was with MA2.6. After I uninstalled MA2.6 and restarted the computer, the conflict appears to be gone. There is no doubt it was there, just as I reported, but perhaps it was some residual of the MA2.6 conflict. At any rate, MA3 now runs like a champ, even with Skype 4.0 open, and independent of my online status.

Bob N.

[Edgar]

Since Skype 4.0 is still experimental, I wonder if Skype 4.0 is the one that needs to have the bug report.
Have you also reported to Skype 4.0 about this bug?

Edit: It sounds like Skype 4.0 has Video enabled and possibly using DirectX to handle it. However, I can't be sure about it. Try disabling your video on Skype 4.0 to see if I was right.

More edit: Since I did not download, I don't really know if Skype 4.0 is experimental. Just wondering if the Video feature is the cause.

[Edgar]

I decided to go ahead and dw****** Skype 4.0.
I disabled the Video since I don't have a video cam.
MA3 works just fine.

[robnich]

Please see the edit of my original post on this topic. Right now, the problem appears resolved. Sorry for any alarm I caused, but the MA2.6 conflict is very real and prevents its use with Skype 4.0, and at first the same was happening with MA3. An uninstall of MA2.6 and restart appears to have cured the problem

Bob N.

[robnich]

Well, I'm beginning to make a pest of myself, because I seem to have jumped the gun again. There is at least some intermittent or transient conflict betweenMA3 and Skype 4.0. I just made a Skype call to my wife (from La Jolla, CA to Bangkok!) and after the call MA3 again did not work, either as screensaver or application. The splash screen appeared but that's all. I then changed by Skype status to "away" from "online" and MA3 worked normally again. After switching back to "online" status, MA3 continued to work normally and continues to do so now.

This is way beyond my poor powers to understand, but perhaps someone will eventually figure it out. There is always the possibility that it is something unique to my personal setup.

Bob N.

[feldon34]

The problem is, Marine Aquarium 2.6 and Marine Aquarium 3.0 barely share 1 line of code between them.

Marine Aquarium 2.6 was largely developed with Prolific coding on top of the platform that Jim Sachs created. They "rewrote" his program into a toolkit so they could make Goldfish, Sharks, Flags, etc. run on top of it. MA2.6 was written using DirectX 6 code and development kit.

Marine Aquarium 3 was written from scratch by Jim Sachs using DirectX 9 code and development kit.

So really the two have almost nothing in common other than the artwork.


I hate to point blame, but it just seems to me that this is a Skype issue and would guess that other screen savers are also affected.

[Jim Sachs]

Bob - If you plan on testing other screensavers with Skype, make sure they are DirectX programs. I have a feeling that Skype might be hogging some DirectX resources.

[robnich]

The conflict is real (at least on my computer) but variable in appearance in a way I haven't been able to track down. Right now MA3 will not run as long as Skype is open, although it did so earlier in the morning. I have opened no applications other than Skype, Firefox and Windows Mail today, and they were all open when MA3 worked, and when it didn't. I don't get it (but then again there's a lot I don't get.)

The only other screensavers I have tried are the ones built into Vista. They all work without a problem.

Bob

[dom5885]

I am having the same 'Skype 4 problem' as Bob with both Marine Aquarium 3 (Beta9b) and Dream Aquarium 1.207.

I have a Dell Precision Workstation 380 running Vista Business SP1 32-bit with 4Gb Ram and an nVidia Quadro FX 3500 graphics card.

Almost always, neither screensaver will run while Skype 4 is running. However, once I quit Skype 4, both can be started consistently.

Uninstalling Skype 4 and replacing it with Skype 3.8.0.188 'solves' the problem.

[Jim Sachs]

Well, it sounds like Skype 4 doesn't play nice with any Direct3D program. Somebody needs to report it to them.

[Edgar]

If you disable the Video feature, it should start to work correctly.

Skype 4.0 appears to be using DirectX also to display Video so it conflicts with 3D screensavers. You will probably have problem running 3D games also.

Edit: Of course this is just a guess. I have Skype 4.0 and MA3 works fine.

[robnich]

Well, the latest is that I did contact the developers of Skype. I received a reply asking me to uninstall every trace of Skype, including a zillion registry entries and then re-download and install it, all of which I did today. For now, the conflict seems to be gone, but it has come and gone in the past so I am not totally optimistic yet.

BTW, turning off video in Skype is not a good solution, because the chief use is free video calls around the country and around the world. As I mentioned earlier. I have been video chatting with my wife, who is in Thailand, every day recently.

Bob N.

[joltdude]

Im guessing skype might be leaving some directx hooks open ..Does the problem go away if you shutdown Skype completely?

Dunno why but im thinking of something similar to a file lock issue but with directx hooks... you know IE actually is notorious for leaving a file locked if it *touches* it (upload in IE, etc)

If it doesnt go away with Skype shutdown, Skypes gotta clean up their code and release the calls to Direct X... Sloppy programming

[dom5885]

Bob N

I assume the conflict issue has been solved for you. Would you care to share the advice given you by Skype? (or did they just tell you to remove any and every Skype reference in the Registry?).

I have returned to Skype 3.8 to relieve the problem, but that goes against the grain.

David

[robnich]

David -

No, the problem was not completely solved by uninstalling and reinstalling Skype 4.0. It reappears in odd and unpredictable ways. The most consistent pattern is that when I am "online" and Skype is open, if I then close Skype (it remains in the system tray, however), MA3 will not run. If I then re-open Skype and leave it open, MA3 will run. Go figure. At other times, like right now, Skype is closed (but still in the system tray), and yet the MA3 application will run when I click on it.

I have settled on a compromise which allows me to avoid software conflicts which might lock up my computer and to be be sure a screen saver will run (I know that they are not really necessary, but I am old-fashioned) and yet lets me see MA3 when I need to relax watching something beautiful: I have selected another screen saver, but I periodically click on MA3 and run it as an application, letting it run as long as I feel like seeing it.

Bob N.

[dom5885]

Bob N.

Thanks for the response. Like you, I am old-fashioned when it comes to screensavers. Currently, I use Dream Aquarium 1.207 as the screensaver and Marine Aquarium 3 as an application. Skype 4.0 conflicts with both of these aquariums - so, I am running Skype 3.8 and the three co-exist happily. I will just have to be patient....

David

[feldon34]

The fact that we're able to run the Aquarium in multiple instances, or run Marine Aquarium and Dream Aquarium side-by-side proves that DirectX and Direct3D applications CAN run side-by-side if properly written.

It is clear that Skype's new video feature was sloppily written and completely ties up all DirectX/Direct3D resources in such a way that no other 3D apps can run. This is a huge bug that they need to fix.

[Jim Sachs]

That's my take on the situation, too. There's really nothing that can be done on our end - the ball is in their court.

[patscarr]

Kind of similar to the NetMeeting fiasco we had a while back. I wonder if it will mess with MA3? I'm not going to be the one to try it though.

[feldon34]

THAT is the program. I'd been trying to remember the name of that darn thing. It was depreciated in XP and not available in Vista, the functionality being folded into Windows Live Messenger.