[Confirmed:Beta 7] Custom Logo Does Not Work in Preview

[Dale]

Beta 7j, MA3Beta.scr in \windows\System32, installed. Custom logo file named properly and located in \windows\System32.

Selected as default screensaver.

If MA3 starts "normally" (per time setting), pressing "L" shows my custom logo.

If I go to \windows\System32 and click on MA3Beta.scr, MA3 starts and pressing "L" shows my custom logo.

If I right-click on the desktop, go to Properties, go to Screen Saver, it shows the thumbnail in motion as expected. Click on Preview and 7j starts. Pressing "L" does not change to my custom logo.

I know that the custom logo is not "expected" to show in the Display Properties Screen Saver animated thumbnail. So, perhaps it is not expected to work in "Preview" mode. But I thought I would ask.

[feldon34]

The custom logo does not work at all in Screen Saver mode.

This is a known issue.

[Jim Sachs]

Various versions of Windows behave differently regarding paths. Yours is probably adding the wrong default path to the filename when the program is brought up in Preview Mode. This should all get sorted out when we get a Playlist-type interface in place for the Logos.

[Dale]

Originally posted by feldon32:

The custom logo does not work at all in Screen Saver mode.  

Huh?

I understood Jim's answer, though.

[Dale]

OK, I see the moderator has changed the title that I entered. The title now says:

"Cannot Use Custom Logo in Screen Saver Mode".

What the heck is "Screen Saver Mode"? I thought this whole thing was a "Screen Saver". So how could it run at all, in anything except "Screen Saver Mode"?

[And the behavior in "Windowed Mode" is identical to what I described earlier, depending on how it's started]

[Jim Sachs]

It's a marine aquarium simulation. It can be used as a screensaver by putting it in the Windows/System32 folder and using the Windows Display Properties dialog to set it as the screensaver (or alternately, right-click the MA3 icon or filename and choose "Install").

Most people here just start it like any other program by double-clicking the icon.

The discussion in this thread has been centering on the fact that when the program is started normally, it will recognize the AltLogo.png file if it's in the same folder, but when started automatically by Windows as a screensaver, it doesn't.

[feldon34]

Originally posted by Dale:

OK, I see the moderator has changed the title that I entered. The title now says:

"Cannot Use Custom Logo in Screen Saver Mode".

What the heck is "Screen Saver Mode"? I thought this whole thing was a "Screen Saver". So how could it run at all, in anything except "Screen Saver Mode"?

[And the behavior in "Windowed Mode" is identical to what I described earlier, depending on how it's started]  

I'm sorry if you are not familiar with this, but the Aquarium was, and always has been built as an application. Back when the Aquarium was first built, the screen saver functionality was something that was added at the last minute.

If you double-click the Aquarium, there are no problems with custom logos. If you run it as a screen saver, the paths are different, and there are issues with getting the custom logo to load.

As Jim said, this will be resolved when the Aquarium has a custom logo "playlist".

[Dale]

Originally posted by Jim Sachs:

Most people here just start it like any other program by double-clicking the icon.  

As you may recall, I've been using MA since version 1.1. And I have never known that I was "supposed to" start it that way (although it's clear that I could, and sometimes did). And as I recall, the default installation procedure asks if I want to make it my Default Screen Saver. I guess I just assumed that most people use it primarily as a screensaver.

I guess I'm not "most people here". And yeah, I realize that MA is just a simulation - just as the flying toasters were, and the starfield, and....

Originally posted by Jim Sachs:

It's a marine aquarium simulation. It can be used as a screensaver by putting it in the Windows/System32 folder and using the Windows Display Properties dialog to set it as the screensaver (or alternately, right-click the MA3 icon or filename and choose "Install").

Most people here just start it like any other program by double-clicking the icon.

The discussion in this thread has been centering on the fact that when the program is started normally, it will recognize the AltLogo.png file if it's in the same folder, but when started automatically by Windows as a screensaver, it doesn't.  

Please read my initial post.

Originally posted by Jim Sachs:

... but when started automatically by Windows as a screensaver, it doesn't.  

When started automatically by Windows as a screensaver, it does recognize the AltLogo.png file in the \windows\system32\ folder.

Obviously, if "whatever" is going to be fixed, so that the .scr application works like a screensaver even if it isn't ....

And what are the modes other than "Screen Saver Mode"?

It's probably not important, but I'm obviously missing something here.

[Jim Sachs]

It seems to act differently on different operating systems, with different users, profiles, and all the other mysterious Windows stuff that I'll never understand. On my development machine, it will always find the AltLogo file if it's in the same folder. But other people have been reporting that when it comes up automatically as a screesaver (screensaver mode), it couldn't find the alternate logo file. They reported that when they double-clicked the icon (application mode), then the program could find the Logo file. I'm only passing along all this as second-hand info, as I've not experienced it myself.

Morgan's right, I added the ability to use it as a screensaver on the day before I initially introduced the program (by changing the file extension from .exe to .scr). I always intended it as a realistic simulation of a real marine aquarium; hence the real species, no talking fish or other nonsense (like flying toasters). It's meant to be a calming and relaxing influence, the first of several "desktop life" simulations that I have planned for the SereneScreen label.

I've always considered the word "screensaver" to be demeaning, and you will not find the word on my website or any of the packaging I've designed. The fact is, screensaving is no longer necessary with modern monitors (though screen BLANKING is still often needed to keep prying eyes away from sensitve data).

[Dale]

Originally posted by Jim Sachs:

... I always intended it as a realistic simulation of a real marine aquarium; hence the real species..... It's meant to be a calming and relaxing influence, the first of several "desktop life" simulations that I have planned for the SereneScreen label.

I've always considered the word "screensaver" to be demeaning, and you will not find the word on my website or any of the packaging I've designed. The fact is, screensaving is no longer necessary with modern monitors (though screen BLANKING is still often needed to keep prying eyes away from sensitve data).  

Sorry I touched a nerve. MA has been and is a marvelous simulation. And I very much appreciate it's calming and relaxing influence.

It happens that I want MA's relaxing effect to start automatically, if I'm not doing anything with my keyboard/mouse for a few minutes (on the phone, reading the newspaper, munching, talking to somebody, etc. etc.). Thanks for providing that capability, without my having to remember to click on something.

Perhaps we need a new word for that capability?

[Jim Sachs]

You may use it in that manner with my blessing

[feldon34]

Originally posted by Dale:

And as I recall, the default installation procedure asks if I want to make it my Default Screen Saver. I guess I just assumed that most people use it primarily as a screensaver.  

The Aquarium has no installer. It is Windows that offers you the "install" option and that is only because it has a SCR extension.

Take any EXE file on your computer and change the extension to SCR. You'll see 3 options: Test, Install, Configure magically appear. This is not the work of the Aquarium but Windows making decisions based on the extension.

Originally posted by Dale:

I guess I'm not "most people here". And yeah, I realize that MA is just a simulation - just as the flying toasters were, and the starfield, and....  

Flying Toasters, Starfield, and the other parts of Berkeley System's After Dark were developed as screen savers. The Aquarium was developed as an application and then morphed into a screen saver. The only reason we keep bringing up this issue is: Don't be surprised if in the Beta test, you find that things work as an Application that don't work as a Screen Saver. Bugs in how the Screen Saver work sometimes require different fixes than bugs that come up as an application. Windows treats screen savers differently than applications, which creates additional work for Jim.

Originally posted by Dale:

When started automatically by Windows as a screensaver, it does recognize the AltLogo.png file in the \windows\system32\ folder.  

Some folks have not been so lucky. It's a PATH environmental variable issue.

Originally posted by Dale:

And what are the modes other than "Screen Saver Mode"?

It's probably not important, but I'm obviously missing something here.  

There are at least 4 modes that I'm aware of that Jim has to spend time fixing/programming:

• Application (just double-click)
• Screen Saver (started by Windows) -- other applications get precedence so you'll sometimes see lag/shuddering
• Windowed (by pressing F) -- runs in a Windows
• Preview -- this is supposed to work exactly the same as screen saver, but in Preview window of the Screen Saver tab, however Jim has already had to fix a few bugs. Remember Preview was not even an option until MA3 because MA3 was rewritten in DirectX 9. MA .99, 1.0, 1.1, 2.0, and 2.6 did not support Preview.

I have changed the thread title to "Custom Logo Does Not Work in Preview" to hopefully better reflect the issue we're talking about.

[Dale]

Thanks for the very complete explanation. I appreciate it very much. It's extremely helpful if we (Beta testers and developers) are mostly singing from the same sheet of music, and using the same dictionary. Just one "quibble" about terminology:

Originally posted by feldon32:

Originally posted by Dale:

... And yeah, I realize that MA is just a simulation - just as the flying toasters were, and the starfield, and....  

Flying Toasters, Starfield, and the other parts of Berkeley System's After Dark were developed as screen savers. The Aquarium was developed as an application and then morphed into a screen saver.  

I don't think how they were "developed as" was my point. They are "simulations", along with the current XP "Starfield", "3D Flying Objects", and the Vista DreamScene backgrounds - as well as Marine Aquarium. The original intended purpose doesn't alter the fact that they are simulations (although the original purpose may indeed limit the number of potential uses).

Of course, that's immaterial to this thread. But the point is - why/how something was "developed" has very little influence on how people will USE it. People will find their own uses for things, and those uses are often "strange and curious" (and sometimes "unnatural") in the opinion of those who developed the thing. [That goes for stuff beyond software, by the way]

Of more applicability (now that I've mentioned it) -- it would be really really fun and useful and restful to have MA3 run like a Vista DreamScene background. [Yeah, I know that's not at all like making a .exe into a .scr].

Hmmmmm. [Yeah, just what Jim needed - another wild-hair suggestion]

[feldon34]

Running the Aquarium as a desktop background is a horrifying thought to Jim.

Mostly because of all the icons people have, but now with Vista you've got the sidebar.