Current status
 

Please can we have a sticky & locked thread that tells us the current status of MA. SO I can quickly see if an update has been released, and also what is being worked on and an eta ;)

I hate to think how much time I have spent reading posts since the first beta !!

V2.6, which has 2 new fish, is in Beta Testing now.

I'm sorry you are unhappy with the time you have spent here. You can always subscribe to receive an e-mail when there is news about the Aquarium here:
http://www.serenescreen.com/support/maillist.php

Hello, i'm new here so please be patient. Does anyone know when there will be an option to let the various species act as they would in reality?
I put that big stunningly beautiful, Lion Fish in with just 2" long tiddlers and it made no attempt to scoff them. Obviously a Lion fish in its prime is going to eat little tiddlers like that, given half a chance, is'nt it. Whilst i understand why the default is "community tank" mode, it would be better if there was the challenge that exists in real world community set up's that require a bit of skill in understanding your fish and balancing the numbers and choice of species.
The modelling here is GREAT. The lighting controls have achieved top level minutial controlability and simplicity. The Reef island set up in the middle of MA2 is well concieved, well modelled and helps to add a static element which makes the fish movement more exiting and beautiful. It could do with some waving filtering polyps though. And maybe some brine shrimp and little food fish hiding and occasionally making a dash for food. I hope that this is on the agenda for future evolution.
Although i have a stack of physical ram and software ram, i found that only allowing 17 FPS improved both the realism of fish movement, AND the Lighting Realism. 17FPS seems to be a close approximation of the frequential rate of those "Original Tropical" flurescent lights. At17FPS i found that with the front light at about 1/5th of max and with the rear light on just enough glimmer to make the background slightly Bluer than Black, it had an astonishingly close resemblance to my own Actual Aquarium.
This is the best screen saver ever, it is so good that i feel a bit guilty calling it a screensaver, because it is better than that.

It could do with some inverts though. How about a choice of a few sponges,Branchs, Sea horses,Prawns,starfish,Coral Polyps,Anenomes & Variant Giant Algae (Sea Weeds).

I intend to stick with this project and the excellent bunch behind it. What a beutious thing, to have the most exotic Life stuffed environment on our life filled little world, right there in realistic technocolour on you'r desktop!
Fantastic.

May i also add that the modelling of the various species mode of movement is exquisite. I have spent long periods at my local zoo's Aquatics dept as i go there to visit my friend Freya who is a huge Astronotus Ocellatus (Oscar) .
When i saw the size of the environment available, i realised that i could'nt justify keeping her in a large Aquarium when she could live in a huge tank the size of my whole home and half the garden. She still remembers me some 3 years later, and comes to the glass to smile at me exitedly and wag her little tail.
Eventually, would you like to see virtual fish that eat each other, mate with each other, breed and eventually die? I would.
Thankyou all for a wonderfull and exciting thing.
Best wishes, alexxx.

Nooo, not unhappy.. I just pop on every now and again to get a quick update and end up reading 100s of posts to try and find out the current status/news

How long does beta testing take usually?

I think Prolific plans to announce the new fish by the end of the week.

:) Yay!

That's great news Jim! I wish you and your family a Happy Thanksgiving.

http://smilies.sofrayt.com/%5E/hol/thanks1.gif

The impending release of Marine Aquarium 2.6 coincides with a long overdue overhaul of the Inside: SereneScreen Fan Site. The new site is driven by Joomla CMS which allows much faster updates and a more standardized way of posting information. Every page of the site has gotten a facelift in one way or another.

The next step is to upgrade the forum to version 3.5.1 which provides dramatically improved posting and replying and many other extensions that Michael and I can use to improve the forum.

Do you have any picture of the new two fish? I have seen the new Lionfish before. It looks great! How about the other one? How does it look like?

There's a picture over in the "When the New Marine version will released?" thread.

Are these actual footage of the new fish?
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a2.../Clearfins.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a2...8/Achilles.jpg

Thats them.

Not really on-topic, but I've launched the updated Fan Site. Nothing exactly NEW. No new content. But quite a bit of sprucing up and CSS work and of course now it's all database driven so it can be very easily maintained.

Looks nice, Morg. Now we just need a steady stream of news... :)

/Tiny Dreaming of the 99F, 99G, 99H aso updates...

Everyone check it out and let us know what you think, or if you find anything we missed. And yes we know that the 2 new fish aren't on the printable guide yet, they will be. ;)

Looks nice. Really like the way the blue /green blend into one another. :TU:

-The updated fan site looks awesome,nice job on making it look better.

-Jim on the two fish,they look awesome.I was just wandering aren't clearfin lionfish suppose to have their quivers be very long and move all wavy in the water?

-And on the Achilles Tang,how come you didn't go with the red and green on the tail like on this picture?http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a2...hillesTang.jpg

Yes, the fins on the Clearfin do wave, just like the Volitans.

On the Achilles - that's the way that fish happened to look. Others look different.

I think the colors on the HELP page (yellow and blue) are too different from the rest of the site.

On news, there's no need to have both: Sharks: Terrors of the Deep 2 Beta and that it's released. Nobody is interested in that it has been in beta when it's been released...

Same goes for Goldfish.. no need for 2 messages saying it's on beta and coming soon....

/Peter

For some nice Photos of marine fish found around Hawaii check out:
http://www.coralreefnetwork.com/sten...hes/fishes.htm

Click on "Surgeonfishes" to see some shots of the Achilles tang.

aloha,
Neil

Wow, that's a super nice link. Those photos are so vivid. Thanks Neil. Aloha. :)

The background has to go. The black with some kind of blue at the bottom. I thought something was wrong with my monitor. Go with all black, or make the color more pronounced.

I guess you can never please all of the people all of the time. ;)

A very nice clean, clear, professional looking job, - I like it.

Wow! Those Lionfish looks great. They look like pufferfish! I realy look forward to seeing the creature pack, and the "real" pufferfish! But now, I'll just wait to see the new version, and watch those new fish swim!

Pat,

Actually I thought almost the same thing when I first saw it. I was working on the help page and adding text, the 3D drivers, and so on, while Morgan was working in another area. I had just uploaded some changes when I hit refresh and Morgan had changed the background on me. The first time I looked I thought, well *%#%^@# that wasn't supposed to happen how did I manage that. After he got done laughing at me and I got used to it I like it. Give it some time, it might grow on you. :)

The current design of the website is basically a straightjacket. I've tried to pitch some other ideas including a light blue background for the content with different fonts. The site just doesn't look professional to me anymore. Anyone can produce a white or color-on-black website.

Brought up the gradient a bit.

No, - that background is a step backwards. :TD: - It clashes!

with?

That's fine as long as you don't get commercial colored glasses. :D However, if you are designing a commercial website, put on your glasses. ;)

The text.

Also, (IMO), on the Help page I think there are too many fonts, different sizes, and too many colours. And this latest background doesn't help!. - It makes your eyes hurt. The other background was fine.

Now it's fairly close to my fishbyte.com background.

Jim don't keep us waiting, do we have an official release date yet for 2.6? Will this have a 3D background?

Version 2.6 is 2 new fish, the 3D background is still a long time away.

I think it looks great buddy. It was a nice surprise to come to the site and see the new page design. :TU:

Hello,
I don't want to rain on the love-fest, but can you please release a version of the screen saver that has a widescreen background?! I've had a 20" iMac for about a year now and can tell you that looking at the stretched, pixelated background ruins the whole thing.

Seriously, how about addressing something like this before you keep adding fish (it must be easier to render a background capable of 1680x1050 resolution, than it is to create all new fish models)?

I wrote in months back and the reason given was that the download file would be 7MB's (due to the artwork of the background). So? Who cares? Offer it as an alternative download for those who can make use of it.

Honestly; I love this app, but this update needs to be addressed. It's getting a bit old having to nudge politely for something that (as a firm selling a product) should have been addressed long ago.

Thanks.