Inside: SereneScreen Fan Forum - View Single Post

Coelacanth · 06-15-2001, 08:38 PM

Holy crap, my post sure generated a typing frenzy.

A few comments in response:

As always, I'm going for the widest compatibility, not cutting out a segment of the market.

My comment was directed at Microsoft rather than to you, Jim. I was saying that evidently Microsoft is forcing you to cut out a huge segment of the market, in the form of a Win9x-incompatible DX8 screensaver -- not that you yourself are cutting out this segment of the market by choice. No one would intentionally do that, of course.

DirectX 8 is not Windows 2000/XP-exclusive.

Yes, I know that, obviously. I'm running it on my Win9x system.

If Jim put out a DX8 version of the Aquarium right now, Windows 95/98/98SE/ME users would experience random lockups...

Well, I'm already experiencing screensaver lockups, at least on my GeForce system (though my TNT one runs it fine), so that wouldn't be a big change.....j/k

And BTW, I'm pretty sure it's not because I have "configuration problems somewhere," because as I've mentioned before, the aquarium is the ONLY screensaver -- hell, the only program -- that locks my system up cold. I have no problems whatsoever with anything else that I run. That would normally tell me that there is at least something "unique" about the aquarium screensaver, to choose an innocuous adjective. That, and the fact that I'm a pretty obsessive tweaker, keeping my system extremely clean with the minimum of background tasks running.

I also have a Win2000 system, but wouldn't change all of my systems to Win2000 simply because it still doesn't perform as well as Win9x in games and other apps that have to bypass the HAL.

Several people are running .99K on the betas of XP with no problems at all. So I'm not sure what your statement "I'll wait until SP3 of XP" is all about.

Evidently you've either been incredibly lucky with Microsoft OS products or you have never upgraded to a 1.0 or beta version of any of their previous operating systems. From much previous experience, my rule is to NEVER upgrade to any Microsoft OS in its initial release. I can say unequivocally that their first couple of "gold" releases of their OS's are pretty much betas themselves, as far as I'm concerned. By around SR-2, they finally have something that works well enough for my consideration. In the corporate environment especially, upgrading to an initial release would be insane -- and I carry that philosophy to the home, to some extent.

And, of course I don't purchase an OS just to run a screensaver. Being able to run a screensaver stably is about number 99,999,999,999,999 on my priority list of requirements for upgrading to a new OS.

Jim could make it so you can display all 22 fish at once...

I thought we went over all of this before. You are again taking our discussion of the possibility of more features for higher-end video cards and belittling it into a silly request for a ludicrous number of fish on the screen. One more time: Like Jim, I don't want 22 fish on my screen. What I do think would be neat is to have more animation effects available for higher-end cards: more waving anemones and coral, wavemaker options, more lighting options, slowly rotating feather duster worms that contract like lightning when disturbed, small hermits and snails, starfish that climb the walls, pulsing Xenia, sand-sifting, partially buried horseshoe crabs or jawfish, corals extending sweeper tentacles, more complex and realistic cleaner shrimp movement, cuttlefish that color-change on the fly...you get the idea. I'm sure others can think of even more and better options that would add much movement and diversity to the tank without making the tank look overcrowded. In short -- make it look more like a REAL tank, with all of its myriad activities and movements, large and small.

On a final note, if people think a DX8 version of the Aquarium won't get snagged on the same configuration problems that .99K is hitting, you're fooling yourself.

Nah, it wouldn't get snagged on the same configuration settings that are causing problems in .99K. It would probably get snagged on an entirely different set of configuration settings.

06-15-2001, 08:38 PM	#22
Coelacanth Thought to be Extinct Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: My Watery Abode Posts: 180	Re: GeForce3 Holy crap, my post sure generated a typing frenzy. A few comments in response: As always, I'm going for the widest compatibility, not cutting out a segment of the market. My comment was directed at Microsoft rather than to you, Jim. I was saying that evidently Microsoft is forcing you to cut out a huge segment of the market, in the form of a Win9x-incompatible DX8 screensaver -- not that you yourself are cutting out this segment of the market by choice. No one would intentionally do that, of course. DirectX 8 is not Windows 2000/XP-exclusive. Yes, I know that, obviously. I'm running it on my Win9x system. If Jim put out a DX8 version of the Aquarium right now, Windows 95/98/98SE/ME users would experience random lockups... Well, I'm already experiencing screensaver lockups, at least on my GeForce system (though my TNT one runs it fine), so that wouldn't be a big change.....j/k And BTW, I'm pretty sure it's not because I have "configuration problems somewhere," because as I've mentioned before, the aquarium is the ONLY screensaver -- hell, the only program -- that locks my system up cold. I have no problems whatsoever with anything else that I run. That would normally tell me that there is at least something "unique" about the aquarium screensaver, to choose an innocuous adjective. That, and the fact that I'm a pretty obsessive tweaker, keeping my system extremely clean with the minimum of background tasks running. I also have a Win2000 system, but wouldn't change all of my systems to Win2000 simply because it still doesn't perform as well as Win9x in games and other apps that have to bypass the HAL. Several people are running .99K on the betas of XP with no problems at all. So I'm not sure what your statement "I'll wait until SP3 of XP" is all about. Evidently you've either been incredibly lucky with Microsoft OS products or you have never upgraded to a 1.0 or beta version of any of their previous operating systems. From much previous experience, my rule is to NEVER upgrade to any Microsoft OS in its initial release. I can say unequivocally that their first couple of "gold" releases of their OS's are pretty much betas themselves, as far as I'm concerned. By around SR-2, they finally have something that works well enough for my consideration. In the corporate environment especially, upgrading to an initial release would be insane -- and I carry that philosophy to the home, to some extent. And, of course I don't purchase an OS just to run a screensaver. Being able to run a screensaver stably is about number 99,999,999,999,999 on my priority list of requirements for upgrading to a new OS. Jim could make it so you can display all 22 fish at once... I thought we went over all of this before. You are again taking our discussion of the possibility of more features for higher-end video cards and belittling it into a silly request for a ludicrous number of fish on the screen. One more time: Like Jim, I don't want 22 fish on my screen. What I do think would be neat is to have more animation effects available for higher-end cards: more waving anemones and coral, wavemaker options, more lighting options, slowly rotating feather duster worms that contract like lightning when disturbed, small hermits and snails, starfish that climb the walls, pulsing Xenia, sand-sifting, partially buried horseshoe crabs or jawfish, corals extending sweeper tentacles, more complex and realistic cleaner shrimp movement, cuttlefish that color-change on the fly...you get the idea. I'm sure others can think of even more and better options that would add much movement and diversity to the tank without making the tank look overcrowded. In short -- make it look more like a REAL tank, with all of its myriad activities and movements, large and small. On a final note, if people think a DX8 version of the Aquarium won't get snagged on the same configuration problems that .99K is hitting, you're fooling yourself. Nah, it wouldn't get snagged on the same configuration settings that are causing problems in .99K. It would probably get snagged on an entirely different set of configuration settings.