View Single Post
Old 04-22-2010, 06:30 PM   #64
Jim Sachs
Developer
 
Jim Sachs's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2000

Location: Southern Oregon
Posts: 9,768
I'll take another run at clearing this up.

The Windows "Install" feature which comes up when you right-click any .scr file does 3 things (on XP, anyway):

1. It copies the filename and path to the list of screensavers.
2. It makes it the current screensaver choice.
3. It brings up the Display Properties box.
4. I runs the screensaver in -p mode (tiny preview window).

I think the confusion is caused by what this feature does NOT do:
1. It does NOT permanently add the filename and path to any saved list of screensavers, even if one existed.
2. It does NOT copy the file anywhere. It simply runs it from wherever it happens to be.

So, what does this mean when testing MA3?
1. If you right-click-Install the file, that copy will become your current screensaver.
2. If you bring up the Display Properties again, Windows will build a list of available screensavers from those residing in your sys32 drawer. If you see MA3 on the list, it will be an earlier version that you put in that directory, UNLESS you copied the new version into sys32.
3. When in doubt as to which version is running, just hit "s". The version number will be displayed.

Ralph - the fix to the playlist had to do with the fact that some ways of bringing up the program bypassed a lot of initialization. The DirectMusic interface and DLLs have to be running in order to access the Playlist, so now I fire up the whole engine even if just using Settings.
Jim Sachs
Creator of SereneScreen Aquarium
Jim Sachs is offline   Reply With Quote