Jim, you are at the top of the list of people worried about MA3 beta1 purchasers still running MA3 beta1 after 5 years. You know it's going to happen, we know it's going to happen, everyone knows it's going to happen. Get somebody from Prolific on top of this very important issue immediately. Your new radically redesigned website is going to be awesome, I'm sure, but the "website" button is not going to cut it. The word "update" has to be in there somewhere, somehow. You've trusted us forum members through Alpha and Beta testing. Now trust us on this one release issue.

For an example of my earlier idea. If the iste is written using some PHP then you could do something as simple as this:

$latest_version = '3.4';

if (isset($_GET['user_version'])) {
$user_version = $_GET['user_version'];
if ($user_version < $latest_version) {
echo 'You are running version '.$user_version.'. An update to version '.$latest_version.' is available. Click here to download it';
} else {
echo 'You are running version '.$user_version.'. This is already the latest version of MA3!';
}
} else {
echo 'An error has occured. Please try again';
}
?>


That code should work for an address such as http://www.marineaquarium3.co.uk/che...user_version=3

I hope that I have helped slightly

Thanks

Regards,
Neil

I think we agree that the Aquarium should check periodically to see if it is the latest version. I would just have the Aquarium do the "heavy lifting" of doing the version comparison rather than the website.

If the Aquarium just downloads http://www.serenescreen.com/VERSION then anyone can download it and confirm that there is no hinky business going on. The suspicious people can't really complain.

If on the other hand, the Aquarium is calling http://www.serenescreen.com/version.php?ver=30100 then the website could be tracking information about what versions people are running. I'm sure those folks who get suspicious will point to this as "bad behavior" by the Aquarium.

I admit it WOULD be nice to know what versions people are running though.

The aquarium does not call anything unless the user clciks the "Check for Updates" button. It only checks for updates if the user clicks the button. They will not be notified of any new versions unless they manually click the button so the aquarium won;t be attempting to access the net on it's own.

That's basically the way it will be.

Well, now that we got THAT out of the way.... what shall we talk about? :D

Well then I would suggest a generic message every month or so until we're at 3.1 or 3.2 or so saying "This version of the Aquarium is rather old. Would you like to check for an update?"

I realize I am probably beating a dead horse.

how about if you release it as a SS 2.6 new tank with more fish available, and charge a price for that tank?

It's really not the same program as 2.6 at all. Every line of code is different. The bedrock that it's built on, DirectX, is DX9 instead of DX6. The use of Shaders means it's a whole different philosophy of how to light up pixels on the screen.

The complete rewrite with a 3D environment opens up countless possibilities for creatures which will be able to interact with the background objects. They will be able to peck at the coral, live in the cave, bury themselves in the sand, etc.

Understood. It's a complete new program.

So, will it have a completely new name? Not "Marine Aquarium"? Probably not, because you want to preserve the excellent reputation and satisfaction of Marine Aquarium.

So, it'll be called MA. If so, the only question is the rest of the name. Pick a number. [Which is my way of saying, I can't see what would be wrong with "MA 2.6 with a new aquarium" or MA 2.6B or MA 2.7 or whatever.

First I created the original Aquarium, which took a year, and that was MA. Then I added some fish, and that was MA2. Then I added a few more fish and a better interface, and that was MA2.5. Then I added the crystal, and that was MA2.6. All of those were incremental updates, based on the same framework.

Now that I've thrown out everything from the original program and spent years starting from scratch, if the revision number were to remain proportional to the amount of work, this should be about MA9. But I'm happy calling it MA3.

So, what ever became of this? Did they decide to release, wait, or what?

Who is "they"?

Prolific, or, what's the other company that wants to release the disc? Them.

Hmmm

What's that saying.... "The Lord's millstone grinds slow, but exceedingly fine..."


Let's not hurry and end up with big chunks of grain in our bread!!!:D

you could release it as a special priced preview of ma3, with the whole updating thing. and then when ur finally done, you can sell that one more expensive, and buy a lot of peanut butter!

(i dont think i make sense)

We have split with Encore, so there may not be a hard-copy version of MA3.

Only Encore?

Encore. That's it. Them. Why did you split with them, Jim? Did they get tired of waiting?