For those who are wanting to revert back to their previous versions of patch installations..... take note of the following: The reversal does work.... BUT, any scenes created or modified in more recent patches than the version u revert to will be unable to be read by vue. eg. I created several scenes in version 4.01 & 4.02...and modified them in 4.03b1 and b2 and now none of these scenes can be opened. For those already aware of this my apologies in advance. I ended up reinstalling vue after a complete reg edit fun in w2k and still cannot use these scenes at all. Im now running back on the 4.02b patch....in the hope that we will get a fix soon. Findings on 4.03beta 2 render to screen option...sure it rendered to screen...but it would not save the image at all under any circumstances...it claimed it did..but there was nothing at all. So all I can say is that this patch gets a BIG thumbs down for my situation. I wish everyone who tried it luck!

One thing I would add to this: If you have decided ot "go back" from the 4.03 beta or 4.03 beta 2 patch, you can, of course, find the "Back" folder and copy the contents of it (not the folder itself), and then paste that into the Vue 4 main directory. But, chances are good that after you do that, Vue might not open. The next thing to do to solve that, would be to find the Vue4.env file in the Environments folder on the application CD, and paste it into the Vue 4 main directory. However, it appears that that file on the CD is a "Read Only", and you will most likely not be able to save new library additions after exiting Vue. I don't know if changing it to "Archive" will help or not, but reinstalling Vue 4 over the existing copy will fix that problem, and won't mess with anything you have saved.

{{{However, it appears that that file on the CD is a "Read Only", and you will most likely not be able to save new library additions after exiting Vue))) Yep thats why I re-installed vue DOH I didnt even think of re-installing over itself - someone shoot me now! btw...aghhhhhhhhhhhhhh Im having a rotten time trying to post and get pages up at rosity at the moment. it took 32 minutes and 6 retries to get this original thread up! Even then I have two of the same threads?...I guess two is better than 6 tho :/

Dang! What gives? This last beta seems buggier than rotten meat..........sigh Laurie

Take heart. When the 4.03 is finalized (working correctly), chances are good that whatever scenes you worked on with the beta will again be able to be opened. So don't delete those VUEs yet. The 4.03 is definitely being worked on. :)

"seems buggier than rotten meat..........sigh"...make that "Fermented Rotten Stinking Meat". I really don't understand how e-on o can give out such beta for the 'brave'...sorry to say, but e-on is a laughing stock with such a "stance". Wonder if it works well all for them. Nothing can bring back some of the files I have lost. A few scene manage to open but they lost their path to the obj and otehr things the scene needed to be open. My GL driver is screwed too! How can I trust the next beta!? " {{{However, it appears that that file on the CD is a "Read Only", and you will most likely not be able to save new library additions after exiting Vue)))" You guys can copy the file with a right click from Window Explorer and paste it to any drive.

Sacred Rose: did you update from version 4.02b? This is required.
"it would not save the image at all under any circumstances...it claimed it did..but there was nothing at all": Did you run a search on your HD just in case the file was not placed where you expected it to be? What location where you trying to save to?

Tesign: is that the second beta? Why do you say you lost some files? Do you mean that you saved them under v4.03 and they cannot be opened in v4.02?
What do you mean by "lost their path to the obj"? Once an OBJ object is imported, the data becomes part of the scene, and no reference is kept to the original OBJ file. Only references to image maps are kept. Is that what you mean?
"My GL driver is screwed too" do you mean OpenGL worked with v4.02 and no longer works with 4.03?
BTW, yes, the beta works fine on all our computers.

Thanks for helping us get the beta to work everywhere as expected.

Steve.

Hi Steve...thanks for writing in :) "Why do you say you lost some files?"...yes they were three of my actual work which two were in progress. I may some silly using them but I never expect them not to be open again. "..saved them under v4.03 and they cannot be opened in v4.02?"...yes and after reinstallation, I still can't. It may be the problem that when I install Vue 4.02b back over 4.03 in Win XP which is on a second drive. Running up Vue 4.02b did not work as I thought this may, because in earlier version of 4.01, this was possible. Anyway, I uninstall Vue thru "Add/Remove" from Control Panel, delete all files and clear registry and reinstall Vue 4....all works well, but the scene files that I was using for 4.03 could not be loaded. I did upgrade to 4.02b again but nothing works for those files. Even the same scene file from my main drive which also has Vue 4.02b installed did not work when I loaded them from Vue 4.02 on my XP installation. I then went over to Win98 (Main drive with Vue 4.02 installed) to run up Vue to check on these scene files, but to my surprise, Vue cannot even run and reported a missing "msvcp60.dll" or "Msc42.dll" can't quite remember. I reinstall Vue 4 on Win 98 after having backup all plants and scene folders. Update all the way to 4.02b. This time I was fortunate that two scene file of those three works but one can't find the obj ("..mean by "lost their path to the obj"?) I use in it and the other has the object loaded but could not track the texture bitmap. Also these two files that work in Win98 still cannot be loaded into Vue 4.02 in XP anymore. "..do you mean OpenGL worked with v4.02 and no longer works with 4.03?" Yes the Oxygen 3d lab VX1 4X AGP original driver all works ok with Vue 4.02 and 4.02b on both Win 98 and Win 2K (which I upgrade to XP). After the 4.03 beta installation...my cursor was acting funny. It has cycling colours (aquad blue greenish) when the cursor arrow head moves. Things were still the same with the cursor after reinstallation of Vue 4.02b till I reinstalled the latest driver from 3DLAB web site. Now as it is, I am using Win 98 and XP with Vue 4.02b working fine after reinstallation except for those scene files. Vue 3.1 works with XP too. "...the beta works fine on all our computers"...no comment Steve....mileage varies may be on individual system config and software set up. Perhaps, I have too many things going like "Memory Turbo, Norton Anti Virus, Zone Alarm, WinBoost" and last but not least, "RICOH INCD" running on the background.

Hi Tesign,

Thanks for your prompt response!
Do you think you could create a new installation of Vue 4 in a different folder, and apply the beta update to that? You should be able to re-open your files that way. But if you decide you'd rather stick to v4.02b, then you still have it there for you.
Important: make sure you run the v4.02b update before running the v4.03 beta. Also, if you have two installations of Vue 4 on your system, the updates will be applied to the one that you used last. So you should start and close the new install at least once before running the updates.

Thanks a lot for helping us out on these issues. You have an impressive list of add-ons that could well be conflicting with Vue. I think that when we get it running on your computer, it'll work fine on everybody else's - LOL!

Thanks again - Steve.

Err...Steve..thanks. I think I'll call this one "passed"...LOL! The last time I unistalled Vue 4.xx on XP (second drive), it also affected my other installation of Vue 4.xx on my main drive. I'm not sure how this multi boot setup thingy works but one uninstallation sometime affect the others. Happened to other program too, not only Vue. You can run any program that is compatible with Win2K or XP by accessing them thru Window Explorer, that is the program need not to be installed with Win2K or XP in its own drive, but not vice versa. So, doing installation of similiar program, though in another Folder by different name may not guarantee anything especially if share file or library is involve....they may just be unistalled when you do uninstallation on Win2K or XP side. Sorry Steve and thanks for your suggestion...I just got too many important stuff in all my drives at the moment. I hate "sweating cold"...LOL! I stay safe for a while :)

Cool! if you have two installations of Vue 4 on your system, the updates will be applied to the one that you used last. This bit of info answers a question that came up for at least one person last week. Good to know! And Steve, one thing I gotta add. I know the info on the E-on site says differently, but the 4.01 patch really does need to be installed before applying the 4.02b. I don't know what all is effected, but we've heard about too many problems when the 4.01 is skipped. So in addition to the directions you gave, I'd also say install the 4.01 first. :)

Tesign: Okay, I understand. I was just suggesting that in case you were in a strong need of the files that can't be opened in 4.02b.
BTW, the registry is not affected if you make a copy of your current Vue 4 folder, run the copy once, run the updater to update it, then delete it when you don't need it anymore - which is also quite a bit simpler than going through a complete install in the first place! The registry is only affected when you install or uninstall Vue 4.

Varian: I checked again, and the 4.01 update is completely included in the 4.02b - all files modified in 4.01 are overwritten by 4.02b. I really can't understand why you would need to run them both...
We'll be running "complete" and "incremental" updates from now on, though.

Steve.

Sacred Rose: did you update from version 4.02b? This is required. "it would not save the image at all under any circumstances...it claimed it did..but there was nothing at all": Did you run a search on your HD just in case the file was not placed where you expected it to be? What location where you trying to save to? Yes I did have the 4/02b update. Yes I did do a search on the hdd and the image/s were nowhere to be found. Location of saving is standard Pictures folder in the vue directory. All scenes created in any version (4.00, 4.01, 4.0b) but updated in either of the 4.03patches cannot be read in the new 4.02b install.

To make things a little clearer from the same thing I experience from what Sacred Rose said, when you save the rendered image thru "Export Picture", normally there would be a dialogue asking what picture format you would like to save...it did not do that in 4.03....but just 'save' after you gave a file name. I did not realize that the rendered image was not actually being saved in the picture folder as it appered to be.

Sacred Rose: I'm puzzled because this is typically a beta 1 behavior. This problem should have been fixed in beta 2. Can you tell me what you did to save the picture? Did you use the Export picture menu option, the Save last render icon or the tiny icon in the main camera view's title bar? Did you browse to a new location, or use the default file name? What file format did you use? Did you see the file format options dialog (the one that asks if you want to save in 16 million colors, etc)?

Tesign: thanks for the details. This problem existed in the 4.03 beta 1 update, but was normally fixed in the beta 2 update, which is why I don't understand Sacred Rose's problem.

Anybody else tried the beta 2 update?

Steve.

Steve,,,,To save the picture i simply exported and accepted the default type and location. It didnt ask me if i wanted 16 million colours though. I even tried renaming the scene & render under a different name...and still nothing..even though it went through the location etc.

Sacred Rose, as I said, this was typically a behavior of beta 1, which makes me wonder if Beta 2 was properly installed when you did the test. Are you willing to try again (we can do it together so you don't have to uninstall/reinstall)?

ok.... but remember this.. on the second beta , I couldnt do any amendments to anything and have the changes show in the scene. That is to say that the changes when re rendered, wouldnt show up...and it would not save any scene render..even tho it went through the motions, saying it was saving it etc. But hey, Im game if you are. :)

Okay! Let's do it, then!
Do you have a copy of Vue 4 updated to 4.02b running on your computer? If so, copy the entire Vue folder to another location (e.g. Temp/Vue 4 Test).
When the copy is done, remove the "Back" folder if it is there. Launch "Vue 4 Test/Vue4.exe". Create an empty scene and check that it renders, and that you can save the picture. It should go in "Vue 4 Test/Pictures/" by default. Close Vue4. Run the 4.03Beta2 updater. No need to run the beta 1 updater first.
Relaunch Vue 4 Test/Vue4 and check the Help|About menu option to see what version is running. You should have a "Vue 4 Test/Back" folder. Check what's in there. There should be a Modules folder with 14 .eon files in it, plus other stuff.

Now launch Vue 4 Test/Vue4.exe and try to save a picture. Let me know what happens.

I'd like to try that too, Steve. Are you sure it won't affect the primary Vue 4 installation, because I just got all my libraries back in order, and actually, now I have the best library setup I ever had. :) BTW, would it be a difficult thing for a future Vue release to have an option for the library entries to be automatically placed in alphabetical order? -Mike PS, I will reply to your email, but I'm having a major time vs. work problem these days, and time for all this has been sorely lacking lately, except for a couple hours in the morning and a few in the evening.

MikeJ, all the settings for the libraries are stored in the Environment/Vue4.env file. If you make a copy of that, you can restore your libraries should anything go wrong. You could also zip your entire Vue folder for even greater certainty. But quite honestly, if you do exactly as I told Sacred Rose, I can't see what could go wrong...

OK Steve, I'll try it again, later. I'm starting to wonder about that weird thing that happened where my Render Options screen would simply vanish, but that could have been a Windows thing. This time I will try a reboot before and after. Thanks for the info on the .env file. -Mike

Sure MikeJ, no problem. Could be a Windows thing, yes. Or it could also be that the update was badly installed for some strange reason.

ok..ill have to boot up into w2k to do this..but will do it asap..and post results. One question tho.... this is not going to affect the vue 4 in my temp folder is it?

On the contrary, this will only affect the Vue 4 in your Temp folder. Don't hesitate to ask if everything is not clear.

Thanks for running the test, Sacred Rose. There is definitely something wrong going on, though, because after running the v4.03Beta 2 update, you should have a Modules subfolder in the Back folder, with 14 .eon files.
To me, it looks like you are running the Beta 1 update instead of Beta 2. Can you please confirm that the updater you are running is called Vue4.03Beta2Update.exe and is roughly 3.2 MB in size?

Steve.

Image number two shows which beta patch it is.... and yes I confirm that the 2nd beta patch is 3,142kb. The first 4.03 patch was 2,870kb Is it possible that windows 2000 is hiding some of the system files or modules? just a thought.

No, image number 2 only tells us that you are running v4.03. The "-02" does not refer to the beta, but to some internals.
I don't see how Win 2000 could be hiding the modules, because they are not identified as being system files. However, should that be happening, you'd at least be seing the Modules folder - even if it were empty. That's not the case in your screen shot.

Can you try running the Beta 2 update again and checking the contents of the Back folder this time? (make sure you run the Vue 4 Test/Vue4.exe first).

ok..... I'll run it again. ill post soon.

Well, I just went and tried it again.... I first made a backup of the Back folder and all it's contents, and then made a backup of the Environments folder and all it's contents. Both of these were from my Vue 4.02-02 installation. Then I applied the patch 4.03 Beta2 Update to it. Opened Vue, and it confirmed in Help>About that I did have version 4.03-02 running. Plopped a sphere in there and added a material to it. Clicked on Render Options, and the Render Options window opened. Tried to adjust the picture size from Full Screen to something else, and the second I click on anything in the render options window, it vanishes...again. And then Vue behaves exactly like a program which has an open window somewhere: Everything I click on does not respond, and Windows gives me the sound indicating something else is on top, and I can do nothing. The only way to close Vue is with ctrl+alt+del. The Ctrl+alt+del window, by the way, doesn't show Vue as "not responding". I also rebooted before and after this whole process. Then I copied and pasted my Back and Environments folders back into the directory, and STILL I am being told that I have Vue 4.03-02 running! And still I can't control the Render Options screen at all.... Will try a few experiments now before reinstalling. I may not be able to control my picture size right now, but everything else seems to be working, though I haven't tried to save a render yet....

Well, I'm happy to say that althopugh I wasn't able to control my picture size at all, or anything in the Render Options window for that matter, I was in fact able to render it and save it. However, the default in the Save box is All Picture Files, and you have to open the drop-down and manually select .bmp or whatever. This is annoying, sinc3e I'm used to .bmp being the default. Does the "All Picture Files" selection really have to be there? Seems kinda useless, actually... If you don't select a format for the picture, it seem sthat QT VR is automatically selected. Then Zone Alarm informs me, for no apparent reason, that Vue is trying to connect to the internet. I assume it's searching a LAN for something, and not actually trying to connect to the internet, per se.....

ok...Ran the update again...... I see the modules folder in the back folder....there are 13 eon files Did the tests again..... still no dice. The amended (time)image is nowhere to be found.

OK, this is it for me for today until this evening... I tried to reinstall Vue 4 over the 4.03-02 install, and it didn't work. That is, it only installed what it needed to install, so i still had Vue 4.03-02 when I opened it after the reinstall. So, I deleted the Modules and Environments folders and reinstalled again, and now once again, all is well. Copying my backup vue4.env file back into the Environments folder restored all my library settings, so I'm happy that that at least worked. Knowing that I can do that will keep me from worrying about testing this patch more, but I have run out of time for now. I also think I know why pasting my backup of the Back folder didn't work: I copied it before applying the 4.03 Beta2 patch, so perhaps the patch creates something in the Back folder which isn't there to begin with before applying it? Will try some more later... I still haven't tried the other things this patch was supposed to fix. Hey, do we get an extended warranty on our CD's to go along with all this reinstalling? ;)

LOL on the extended warranties Mike ;] I'd settle for a fully working model myself grin

ACK! I made a booboo... Earlier this morning when I tried to apply the Back folder and revert, I realize now that I pasted the folder itself into the main directory, and not the individual files... DOH! Serves me right for trying this stuff first thing in the morning...... So that explains why it didn't work! OK... I did manage to make some more time, andnow that i have the "revert" proces down well, I've tried a couple more times to apply the patch and use it. EVERY time, I am unable to set options in the Render Options window, and EVERY time, it simply vanishes when I try to click on it. Steve, do you have any suggestions of what I could try to prevent this? I've tried rebooting over and over again, still to no avail.

Sacred Rose: Thanks for trying again. Why would you only have 13 .eon files rather than 14 in the Back/Modules folder is beyond my understanding... Do you have a BMP.eon file at least? Did you try saving as another format than BMP?

MikeJ: thanks for diving in again... Zone Alarm reports that Vue is accessing your Network?!!! =:o
Any chance you entered a picture name for saving that starts by "//" (network resource)? What file path did you enter for the picture? Was that a Render to disk? Does that happen while Vue is saving the file, or before rendering?
Re the "All picture files": the default file extension should still be .bmp, but all picture files should be appearing in the file browser.

Steve.

Hi Steve, Well, first, the good news: I discovered that the new patch has in fact helped with complex Poser scenes. For example, the "Dina" character which is enormous, mesh-wise, would never import the head mesh as a .PZ3, and I've been having to export the head separately as a .OBj to get it into Vue. Well, the 4.03-Beta 2 patch has seemingly solved that problem, and I assume it would work on other models that I had the same problem with. So that's a GREAT thing there! Also, I discovered that I can in fact change all the settings in the Render Options window without it vanishing except the picture aspect ratio. The second I click that little arrow, the window vanishes for good... Now, to answer your question, I didn't type any slashes or other symbols in, just the name "test". The selection was automatically on "all picture files". Vue seemed to think I was selecting QT VR for my image, andd a whole slew of error messages followed, probably because I don't have Quick Time installed again since my last reformatting. I will give you a screen shot in a minute of what Zone Alarm shows.... Cheers, Mike

I guess I'm kind of assuming that since I don't have QT installed, Vue somehow is hoping that it can be found somewhere? I think I recognize that IP as belonging to my ISP. I know it seems strange, but this is what Zone Alarm says.

In the Back folder are : Modules folder Biosphere4.dll Engine.dll EonGui.dll Poser.dll Vue4.erd Vue4.em Vue4.ers Vue4.exe In the modules folder the files are : Avi.eon Bmp.eon Bum.eon Dem.eon Gif.eon Jpeg.eon Mpeg1.eon Mpeg2.eon Pict.eon Qt.eon Targa.ron Tiff.eon Vr.eon No I didn't try and save it in another format. No I didn't try rendering to disk.

Yes I was trying to save it in BMP. I did tell it to overwrite the original render...but the original was the only one there. It went through the process of saving it etc..but ..... the new time stamped render wasnt there.

Well, I'm able to render pictures OK , and I can even get around not being able to set an aspect ratio, because between the panoramic settings, camera focal length, camera distance and the "Select Render Area", pretty much any aspect ratio can be gotten manually. However..... Vue crashes when: clicking on the object/world space buttons. Clicking on the little arrow after selecting Edit Function for either the bump editor or the color production. Clicking on the types of effects in the Terrain Editor. Also, sometimes it crashes for no apparent reason, but I've come to know and love that feature. :) Have fun, Steve. ;) -Mike

You are gamer than I am Mike...I haven't tried to do anything but re render the image as Steve said. I just hope that my real install is still ok and all of these changes (4.03 patches) have only affected my test version.

Attached Link: http://www.e-onsoftware.com/Download/Updates/Vue4.03Beta3Update.exe

Sacred Rose: provided that you make sure the test version of Vue 4 is the last one that was run before running the update, your initial version shouldn't be affected. Are you sure that the picture you are overwriting is not write protected? What about writing a new file - does that work? Would you care to try Beta 3?

Many thanks to both of you for your help in resolving these issues.

Steve.

Write protected? how? I tried renaming the image after the patch was applied, but still nothing. Starting a new scene works ok. Sure, Im game :)

I'm downloading the new beta right now, Steve. I'm not afraid of them anymore now that I have the undo process down. Hey, if it means anything, I took the day off yeterday and played with Vue 4 WITH this last patch, all day. Once I learned what not to touch, all went well, and Vue ran for hours without crashing. I was saving often, though. For that matter, my most recent gallery image was done with the 4.03beta2 patch installed. It's actually a good thing--- I learned more yesterday about how to get the camera to do what I want, than I have in a whole year and 1/2 of using the preset aspect ratios. :) I'll always be willing to try out whatever it is that you have new for us, and I'm glad to be of help. Cheers, and thanks Mike