Home Register Arcade Gallery Chatroom Members Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Log In
Go Back   Inside: SereneScreen Fan Forum > SereneScreen Products > Marine Aquarium 3 for Windows > Marine Aquarium 2 for Windows Archive
Notices

Reply
 
Thread Tools
Old 05-27-2003, 02:55 AM   #1
alindsay55661
Registered
 
alindsay55661's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2003

Location: Laie, Hawaii!
Posts: 10
Why no active desktop support?

I read in your FAQ that Jim discourages active desktop support. Why is that? I have been searching dilligently for a program to run this screen saver on my desktop (Windows XP) and finally found one but it only works with my other screen savers. I am dying to get these fish on my working desktop space because they calm me down so much.

I have used the other fish screensaver (AquaReal) found at http://www.digifish.us which offers an active desktop mode, but it just doesn't come close to Jim's awesomely realistic fish. (By the way I live in Hawaii and just went snorkeling today- saw a few of the fish up close and they look the same. Great job!)

Anyway, I was hoping that Marine Aquarium would offer the active desktop support. That seems to me like a reasonable feature. I am finally jealous of all my friends with Macs! Why is this idea discouraged for the PC? The AquaReal saver looks so trashy next to Jim's Marine Aquarium. It will never work for me. I need the Marine Aquarium on my desktop.
alindsay55661 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-27-2003, 03:26 AM   #2
Tiny Turtle
is pleased
 
Tiny Turtle's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2001
27 Highscores

Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Posts: 7,365
This topic has been previously debated heavily on the forum. Jim doesn't like the cluttered up look of a dektop with a whole bunch of icons on top of the fish he created and has been pretty adamant about not incorporating this feature.

The reason your other screen savers are working with the third party utility is that they use DirectX8 screen saver libraries which SSA doesn't due to the fact that Ms refused to support the Win9x systems on that one.

/Tiny Desktop
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.
Tiny Turtle is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-27-2003, 06:26 AM   #3
cjmaddy
Registered
 
cjmaddy's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2001

Location: Lancashire, UK
Posts: 7,854
alindsay55661,

Welcome to the forum! - A lot of people feel the same way as you do, but Jim has his principles, and as Tiny says, he has been adamant about it. so we have to respect that. - But I feel the same way as you, - however you could try Windowed Mode (F key), and uncheck the 'Always on top when in Windowed mode', - it's a sort of second best! .... (You can also resize the window if required!)

ps, - You say you are in Hawaii ...... why not say so in the 'Location:' ...... it's so much nicer to know where people are! ...... and whilst you're at it, how about a pic!, - then we arent talking to an anonymous being from nowhere!

pps, Tiny normally has a pic in his avatar, - but for reasons best known to him - he's gone into hiding!
cjmaddy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-27-2003, 07:07 AM   #4
Wizwad
Only me...
 
Wizwad's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2003

Location: Essex, England
Posts: 2,584
Tiny normally has a pic in his avatar, - but for reasons best known to him - he's gone into hiding!
Maybe he's developed spots!

Wouldn't creating an Active Desktop version of the aquarium mean mucking about with all sorts of DirectX stuff? Given the hassles Jim had doing the DirectX version of the XP-Plus demo, I'm not surprised he doesn't want to have anything more to do with it!
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
Wizwad is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-27-2003, 08:53 AM   #5
cjmaddy
Registered
 
cjmaddy's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2001

Location: Lancashire, UK
Posts: 7,854
Maybe he's developed spots!
Mark, - It looks much more serious than we thought!

The whole of Stockholm could be affected!
Attached Images
File Type: jpg chess2b.jpg (44.8 KB, 436 views)
cjmaddy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-27-2003, 09:06 AM   #6
Wizwad
Only me...
 
Wizwad's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2003

Location: Essex, England
Posts: 2,584
ROFL a lot! Hee! Good one Cliff.
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
Wizwad is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-27-2003, 12:02 PM   #7
alindsay55661
Registered
 
alindsay55661's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2003

Location: Laie, Hawaii!
Posts: 10
Windowed Mode

Well, windowed mode was a good idea, halfway there if you will. But I am a clean freak and my desktop only has a few icons on it anyway. Its the ideal environment for fish. It sounds like wanting to see the fish all the time without having to launch the program isn't in Jim's agenda (to my great dissapointment). But maybe someone else will develop a third party utility like they did for the Mac. Until then, I guess I'll just have to buy a Mac! No really, we all love the fish Jim, and there are some of us who have nice clean desktops with no icons. Could you make a private desktop verison for people like that- you wouldn't have to advertise it, just send me an email.
alindsay55661 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-27-2003, 12:22 PM   #8
Jav400
Administrator
 
Jav400's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2000
22 Highscores

Location: Tennessee
Posts: 9,725
LOL, that question has been asked 2342 times before. With Jim's current schedule and what he has going at this point, there just isn't time, even if he did agree with the application. Sorry
Jav400 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-27-2003, 12:30 PM   #9
alindsay55661
Registered
 
alindsay55661's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2003

Location: Laie, Hawaii!
Posts: 10
Where

Where are the other posts of this particular topic? I would like to see an explanation (even a previous explanation) since there seems to be a "good one".
alindsay55661 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-27-2003, 12:34 PM   #10
Socrates
Sage
 
Socrates's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2001

Location: West Hills, CA
Posts: 1,529
There was, in fact, a third party item that a poster developed to run MA as a desktop.

Unfortunately the programmer was a little over-sensitive to the distastes of others...
Bat rays? We don't need no stinking bat rays!
Socrates is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-27-2003, 01:05 PM   #11
alindsay55661
Registered
 
alindsay55661's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2003

Location: Laie, Hawaii!
Posts: 10
What happened?

And the story goes...?

Would he be willing to share? If there is anyone out there who might have the skills to create a plugin to make MA an active desktop object you might start by visiting http://www.vital-desktop.com which is a free, open source program that puts some screen savers on your desktop. So maybe half of the work is already finished.

Anyway, finish your story.
alindsay55661 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-27-2003, 01:17 PM   #12
feldon34
Forum Administrator
 
feldon34's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2000

Location: Rock Hill, SC
Posts: 10,937
We've been through this again and again. Trying to encourage people to program some kind of modification of the Aquarium will not accomplish anything except raising the hackles of Jim's devoted fans.

We have been asked by the developer of the Aquarium not to post programs that will do what you ask.

If you find a way (it's really not that difficult) and you get some use out of it, great!
"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
feldon34 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-27-2003, 01:26 PM   #13
alindsay55661
Registered
 
alindsay55661's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2003

Location: Laie, Hawaii!
Posts: 10
So let me get this straight

Sorry to beat a dead horse, I guess I came into the game late.

Basically, you are telling me that this type of thing can be done easily (for those who program) but that we want to keep it off this forum because Jim doesn't want his fish swimming with icons? Well, to each his own, but that is kind of a wierd thing to ask.

Now, without causing to much controversy, does Prolific plan on adding this feature or would they be willing to point in the right direction to implement this feature?
alindsay55661 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-27-2003, 01:26 PM   #14
feldon34
Forum Administrator
 
feldon34's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2000

Location: Rock Hill, SC
Posts: 10,937
https://www.feldoncentral.com/forums...=&threadid=540

which refers to a closed/moved 5 page topic about the program written by Darrell that made the Aquarium work as a backdrop.
"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
feldon34 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-27-2003, 01:39 PM   #15
Tiny Turtle
is pleased
 
Tiny Turtle's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2001
27 Highscores

Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Posts: 7,365
Cliff. That one made my day. Thank you so much and I officially love you.

/Tiny Box
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.
Tiny Turtle is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-27-2003, 02:07 PM   #16
alindsay55661
Registered
 
alindsay55661's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2003

Location: Laie, Hawaii!
Posts: 10
I read the posts--WOW, I really wasn't trying to dig up a fight from the past. I was just looking for a creative solution. Sorry to have brought back any hard feelings for anyone. But hey, this question is bound to come up again in the future. You should post an announcement at the top of the forum so unsuspecting people like me don't come along and keep asking why this feature isn't availible becuase they have no idea the issue was big deal and people were taking serious stands.

I am sorry to hear that icons are looked at as graffiti but as an artist myself I do respect Jim's work and his desire to preserve it. (For a public product however that is a little unrealistic, after all, MA is no Venus!) But then again, nothing comes quite close to it. Keep up the good work Jim. I'll go try to find some mods and be sure not tell anyone else.
alindsay55661 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-27-2003, 02:27 PM   #17
feldon34
Forum Administrator
 
feldon34's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2000

Location: Rock Hill, SC
Posts: 10,937
I need to update the FAQ. Actually, I have a topic going but didn't get much response of questions that should be answered.

https://www.feldoncentral.com/forums...&threadid=1468
"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
feldon34 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-27-2003, 03:32 PM   #18
Wizwad
Only me...
 
Wizwad's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2003

Location: Essex, England
Posts: 2,584
FAQ

Morgan, like Tiny I thought it looked really good as well. I have been planning on reading through the current FAQ to see what might be added, but just hadn't got round to it.

I'd suggest sticking in a bit about "Active Desktop and why it won't be included" in the miscellaneous part of the new FAQ.

Don't forget to include "CalcNormals explained" in the Aquarium Settings part, though!
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
Wizwad is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-28-2003, 10:01 AM   #19
Garmonbozia
Banned
 
Garmonbozia's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2003

Location: western hemisphere
Posts: 12
To me, we've had enough requests to warrent such an option. If you guys don't want to use the SSA in that way, don't. Some of us still do.
That's all I'll say.
Garmonbozia is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-28-2003, 10:53 AM   #20
feldon34
Forum Administrator
 
feldon34's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2000

Location: Rock Hill, SC
Posts: 10,937
Back to stir up trouble again, I see JSG.
"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
feldon34 is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply
Go Back   Inside: SereneScreen Fan Forum > SereneScreen Products > Marine Aquarium 3 for Windows > Marine Aquarium 2 for Windows Archive



Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 12:15 AM.


Powered by vBulletin®
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.