MA1.1 Aquarium Bugs - Page 5

patscarr · 11-23-2002, 04:42 PM

Anybody else running Seti@home?

I've recently noticed that if I have Seti running in the background (in the system tray), it will use 97- 99% of my CPU if no other programs are being used. When the SereneScreen Marine Aquarium Screen Saver kicks in, it hogs up those CPUs and Seti goes down to almost nothing.

Could someone explain that for me? I have an idea but I'm probably way off.

My guess is that it has something to do with both of these programs using idle CPU and the aquarium just happens to beat out Seti on the priority list. But to take all the CPU away seems odd.

Jim Sachs · 11-23-2002, 04:53 PM

I remember somebody mentioning this about a year ago. Seems that the Aquarium and Seti are duelling for lowest priority, and it seems that Seti is winning (losing?).

The Aquarium is set to use Idle Priority, which is supposed to be the lowest, but all priorities really just translate to numbers. Let's say that Normal is 10, and Idle is 5. Instead of using the word tags, a programmer can use actual numbers, so it is possible to use one which is lower than Idle. This may be what Seti is doing.

patscarr · 11-23-2002, 05:09 PM

Yes, I thought this was mentioned before but I couldn't find the thread.

The other screen savers, Space for example, don't take away CPU from Seti, so there must be a way for SereneScreen to use less.

ThunderPeel2001 · 11-26-2002, 12:51 AM

I also run SS @ 1280 x 1024 and have noticed that the background looks very blocky

Would it not be possible to have a seperate background for 1280 x 1024 users, as this seems to be a very common resolution for LCD monitors?

Feldon: Your 'fix' of running SS in 1024 x 768 makes the background look better on an LCD monitor but it makes the FISH look terrible!

Another bug, which I'm surprised no-one else has noticed (I wonder if it's idiosyncratic to me?) is this: Pressing 'About' or 'Help' on the 'Configuration' screen causing the program to exit without displaying either!

This also happened in version 1.0!

I'm running XP Home SP1 with a GF4 Ti200.

~ John

Jim Sachs · 11-26-2002, 01:16 AM

The current background is made of square 2D objects with textures projected on them. These textures are 256x256 pixels, and the 12 "billboards" are lined up 4 across and 3 high and set at a distance from the camera at which they exactly fill a 1024x768 screen. Painting every pixel of this background image every frame is the biggest perfomance hit that the Aquarium has. A 1280x1024 image would require 20 billboards instead of 12, so would cause a huge slowdown on older machines. It wouldn't look any different because the original artwork is in 1024x768 resolution.

All this is moot because the background image will eventually be replaced by 3D objects.

Regarding the requesters, that was not a bug, but a problem with windows having no parent if opened up in the "Configuration" mode. When the last window in the chain is closed, the program exits. Prolific has totally reworked the Settings system, and it will be included in the next release.

ThunderPeel2001 · 11-27-2002, 02:16 AM

Thanks! I eagerly await the new release! (Although I've THOROUGHLY enjoyed the versions so far!) One thing I've noticed with 1.1 is that my frame-rate seems to have gone down since version 1.1

It's only slight, but before the fish were SUPER-SMOOTH with 4x AA and now they're SLIGHTY jerky (not a major problem, I admit

). But anyways, I LOVE the changes (the fading going through blue now and the corruption on the edges of the screen removed) so please keep up the great work!

Also: I've noticed the 'crystal' version on your website, but have not been able to tell the difference (other than the screenshot) from the production information text...

~ John

Tiny Turtle · 11-27-2002, 08:22 AM

TP,
Take a look here and maybe here for some talk about the Crystal Version.

/Tiny Crystal

Jim Sachs · 11-27-2002, 09:47 AM

The Crystal version simply contains a chunk of quartz as part of the background which can display a company logo. Microsoft, Fry's, CompUSA, and many other companies use it to distinguish their version from everyone else's. It is not meant for the general public.

drfish · 12-02-2002, 08:00 AM

Here's the thread Patrick:
https://www.feldoncentral.com/forums...folding%40home

I ended up giving up folding because I couldn't bare turning off the aquarium.

lasermail · 12-19-2002, 04:13 PM

I notice that when I enable - "Exit on Mouse Move" this works fine for a while, then for some reason stops working, when I check my settings again I find the enable box has unchecked itself?.......any ideas? is this a known issue?

patscarr · 12-20-2002, 04:10 AM

I've recently noticed this also, laser.

Redav · 12-20-2002, 03:40 PM

Before I jump in, let me say "Hello" to all the members. I have been a SS user since the good ole days when the beta's had letters and I visited Jim's site once a month to check for his colored notes and updates...

My possible "bug" is that I've recently had trouble with the SS not exiting when I move my mouse. It simply minimizes and won't exit out unless I open it back up and repeat the mouse movement. Not a huge problewm, mind you, but I thought perhaps it was something I might bring up.

Tiny Turtle · 12-21-2002, 02:53 AM

Redav,
Nice to see a lurker step out into the light.

Could you tell us a bit about your system?

/Tiny System

Redav · 12-21-2002, 11:17 AM

Sadly, its specs are a bit dated:
PIII 600
384mb RAM
GeForce 2MX 64mb

Feldon actually told me about a newer version I wasn't aware of that seems to have solved the problem for now. I was running v1.1, but didn't know there was a 1.1.7. Too many numbers to keep up with I supose.

I haven't has the same problem occur since I upgraded... but last night the SS did cut off by itself and then return 10 minutes later as if nothing had happened. Perhaps that should be blamed on the gremlins in my pc, who knows?!

Quick Death · 03-11-2003, 10:27 PM

I have an AMD Athlon XP 1800+ with TnT2 Ultra and I am running MA at 100% CPU, even when I render at 30frames per second without fish/sound/bubbles!

Feldon -- you/Jim spoke about saving ctrl-S to the registry for NVidia card problems. I can turn show on/off the frame rate by pressing 's'. but what does ctrl-s do? when I press it nothing happens. Would should happen? what does it bring up? Can you explain more about this?

Also, ran MA2 with AIM in the background and MA2 minimizes itself to taskbar and the AIM comes in foreground until you click on MA2 on the taskbar to bring it back up. I know 1.1.x had the same problem. MA2 seems better with this but still problems.

Vish · 03-13-2003, 03:40 PM

To be honest I haven't read this thread and the bug that I have noticed might already be in here....

Picture this
-------------
You have a reminder set in outlook to go for a dentist appointment and you are out of office for a while and
SereneScreen kicks in. While the screen saver is running,
outlook decides to pop up the reminder, at that time SereneScreen keeps running in the "TaskBar" but sortta minimised...

I believe it could be any program that kicks in can cause this.
I just observed it with outlook. Not a biggie....but still there...

11-23-2002, 04:42 PM	#81
patscarr Pet Shark Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Back in Buffalo Posts: 5,460	CPU usage Anybody else running Seti@home? I've recently noticed that if I have Seti running in the background (in the system tray), it will use 97- 99% of my CPU if no other programs are being used. When the SereneScreen Marine Aquarium Screen Saver kicks in, it hogs up those CPUs and Seti goes down to almost nothing. Could someone explain that for me? I have an idea but I'm probably way off. My guess is that it has something to do with both of these programs using idle CPU and the aquarium just happens to beat out Seti on the priority list. But to take all the CPU away seems odd. Patrick

11-23-2002, 04:53 PM	#82
Jim Sachs Developer Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Southern Oregon Posts: 9,816	I remember somebody mentioning this about a year ago. Seems that the Aquarium and Seti are duelling for lowest priority, and it seems that Seti is winning (losing?). The Aquarium is set to use Idle Priority, which is supposed to be the lowest, but all priorities really just translate to numbers. Let's say that Normal is 10, and Idle is 5. Instead of using the word tags, a programmer can use actual numbers, so it is possible to use one which is lower than Idle. This may be what Seti is doing. Jim Sachs Creator of SereneScreen Aquarium

11-23-2002, 05:09 PM	#83
patscarr Pet Shark Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Back in Buffalo Posts: 5,460	Yes, I thought this was mentioned before but I couldn't find the thread. The other screen savers, Space for example, don't take away CPU from Seti, so there must be a way for SereneScreen to use less. Patrick

11-26-2002, 01:16 AM	#85
Jim Sachs Developer Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Southern Oregon Posts: 9,816	The current background is made of square 2D objects with textures projected on them. These textures are 256x256 pixels, and the 12 "billboards" are lined up 4 across and 3 high and set at a distance from the camera at which they exactly fill a 1024x768 screen. Painting every pixel of this background image every frame is the biggest perfomance hit that the Aquarium has. A 1280x1024 image would require 20 billboards instead of 12, so would cause a huge slowdown on older machines. It wouldn't look any different because the original artwork is in 1024x768 resolution. All this is moot because the background image will eventually be replaced by 3D objects. Regarding the requesters, that was not a bug, but a problem with windows having no parent if opened up in the "Configuration" mode. When the last window in the chain is closed, the program exits. Prolific has totally reworked the Settings system, and it will be included in the next release. Jim Sachs Creator of SereneScreen Aquarium

11-27-2002, 02:16 AM	#86
ThunderPeel2001 Registered Join Date: Nov 2002 Posts: 2	Thanks! I eagerly await the new release! (Although I've THOROUGHLY enjoyed the versions so far!) One thing I've noticed with 1.1 is that my frame-rate seems to have gone down since version 1.1 It's only slight, but before the fish were SUPER-SMOOTH with 4x AA and now they're SLIGHTY jerky (not a major problem, I admit ). But anyways, I LOVE the changes (the fading going through blue now and the corruption on the edges of the screen removed) so please keep up the great work! Also: I've noticed the 'crystal' version on your website, but have not been able to tell the difference (other than the screenshot) from the production information text... ~ John Last edited by ThunderPeel2001; 11-27-2002 at 02:25 AM.

11-26-2002, 12:51 AM	#84
ThunderPeel2001 Registered Join Date: Nov 2002 Posts: 2	I also run SS @ 1280 x 1024 and have noticed that the background looks very blocky Would it not be possible to have a seperate background for 1280 x 1024 users, as this seems to be a very common resolution for LCD monitors? Feldon: Your 'fix' of running SS in 1024 x 768 makes the background look better on an LCD monitor but it makes the FISH look terrible! Another bug, which I'm surprised no-one else has noticed (I wonder if it's idiosyncratic to me?) is this: Pressing 'About' or 'Help' on the 'Configuration' screen causing the program to exit without displaying either! This also happened in version 1.0! I'm running XP Home SP1 with a GF4 Ti200. ~ John

11-27-2002, 08:22 AM	#87
Tiny Turtle is pleased Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Stockholm, Sweden Posts: 7,365	TP, Take a look here and maybe here for some talk about the Crystal Version. /Tiny Crystal

11-27-2002, 09:47 AM	#88
Jim Sachs Developer Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Southern Oregon Posts: 9,816	The Crystal version simply contains a chunk of quartz as part of the background which can display a company logo. Microsoft, Fry's, CompUSA, and many other companies use it to distinguish their version from everyone else's. It is not meant for the general public. Jim Sachs Creator of SereneScreen Aquarium

12-02-2002, 08:00 AM	#89
drfish the Doc Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Zeeland, MI Posts: 5,374	Here's the thread Patrick: https://www.feldoncentral.com/forums...folding%40home I ended up giving up folding because I couldn't bare turning off the aquarium. I don't watch commercials.

12-19-2002, 04:13 PM	#90
lasermail Registered Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: UK Posts: 38	XP Pro I notice that when I enable - "Exit on Mouse Move" this works fine for a while, then for some reason stops working, when I check my settings again I find the enable box has unchecked itself?.......any ideas? is this a known issue?

12-20-2002, 04:10 AM	#91
patscarr Pet Shark Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Back in Buffalo Posts: 5,460	I've recently noticed this also, laser. Patrick

12-20-2002, 03:40 PM	#92
Redav Registered Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Metairie, LA Posts: 2	Before I jump in, let me say "Hello" to all the members. I have been a SS user since the good ole days when the beta's had letters and I visited Jim's site once a month to check for his colored notes and updates... My possible "bug" is that I've recently had trouble with the SS not exiting when I move my mouse. It simply minimizes and won't exit out unless I open it back up and repeat the mouse movement. Not a huge problewm, mind you, but I thought perhaps it was something I might bring up.

12-21-2002, 02:53 AM	#93
Tiny Turtle is pleased Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Stockholm, Sweden Posts: 7,365	Redav, Nice to see a lurker step out into the light. Could you tell us a bit about your system? /Tiny System 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.

12-21-2002, 11:17 AM	#94
Redav Registered Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Metairie, LA Posts: 2	Sadly, its specs are a bit dated: PIII 600 384mb RAM GeForce 2MX 64mb Feldon actually told me about a newer version I wasn't aware of that seems to have solved the problem for now. I was running v1.1, but didn't know there was a 1.1.7. Too many numbers to keep up with I supose. I haven't has the same problem occur since I upgraded... but last night the SS did cut off by itself and then return 10 minutes later as if nothing had happened. Perhaps that should be blamed on the gremlins in my pc, who knows?!

03-11-2003, 10:27 PM	#95
Quick Death Registered Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: New York Posts: 106	I have an AMD Athlon XP 1800+ with TnT2 Ultra and I am running MA at 100% CPU, even when I render at 30frames per second without fish/sound/bubbles! Feldon -- you/Jim spoke about saving ctrl-S to the registry for NVidia card problems. I can turn show on/off the frame rate by pressing 's'. but what does ctrl-s do? when I press it nothing happens. Would should happen? what does it bring up? Can you explain more about this? Also, ran MA2 with AIM in the background and MA2 minimizes itself to taskbar and the AIM comes in foreground until you click on MA2 on the taskbar to bring it back up. I know 1.1.x had the same problem. MA2 seems better with this but still problems. Last edited by Quick Death; 03-12-2003 at 10:09 PM.

03-13-2003, 03:40 PM	#96
Vish Registered Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: California Posts: 103	To be honest I haven't read this thread and the bug that I have noticed might already be in here.... Picture this ------------- You have a reminder set in outlook to go for a dentist appointment and you are out of office for a while and SereneScreen kicks in. While the screen saver is running, outlook decides to pop up the reminder, at that time SereneScreen keeps running in the "TaskBar" but sortta minimised... I believe it could be any program that kicks in can cause this. I just observed it with outlook. Not a biggie....but still there... --Vish