You can get the update here:
Vue 4.05 Beta 2 Update for Mac
Vue 4.05 Beta 2 Update for Windows

This update is still beta, so it may not perform as expected. It is incremental from 4.03, so you should make sure that you have 4.03 installed before running the update.

The bug fixes are:

• Transparent areas would sometimes appear white in volumetric lights.
• Windows: BUM file format not working on some systems (thanks Sacred Rose!)
• Mac: Drawing a selection box without background draw now works.
• Mac: Material and functions zoom previews were not always updated
• Saving an atmosphere without lens flare did not work, and sometimes made Vue crash when loading it.
• Vue crashed when setting lens flare intensity to zero.
• Space-dragging in the timeline wouldn't move the line representing current time.
• Jpeg quality slider is now limited to 0 through 100%.
• Mac: Vue crashed when rendering on disk very large pictures (>5000 pix wide)
• 16 bit RG encoded terrain data import fixed.
• Mac: 16 bit RG encoded terrain data export fixed for all formats.
• Pict export has been rewritten on both platforms.
• Glow not appearing around transparent objects.
• Spotlights not drawn correctly in Wireframe.
• Mac: Saving to a file at the root of a volume did not work
• Mac: Application not updated correctly when restored after being hidden (Cmd H)
• Changing the type of file in the file browser wouldn't change the extension
• Mac: render progress hidden behind render when rendering to screen.

And still:

• Objects disappear in locked layers.
• Views were not refreshed when dragging and dropping objects between layers with different status.
• Mac: now possible to add extra vegetation species.
• Mac: Nudge keys not working.
• Mac: problems with wireframe draw (OpenGL disabled).
• Mac: doesn't memorize the last selected item in the browsers.
• Only one try was accepted instead of five when adding extra vegetation species
• Now displays a warning when stopping a render and the render cannot be resumed later (Final or better modes only).
• The render mode would stay set to Preview when resuming render, resulting in the message "You are about to save a Preview picture..." when saving the picture (Final or better modes only).
• In Fractal Terrains Options dialog, pressing Cancel would not cancel the modifications made to the filters.
• Pasting or loading a material via the menu onto a group of objects made out of different materials would not apply the material.
• Materials mixed with other modes than "Full blend" would not exhibit bumps properly.
• Crash when removing all members of a Boolean Difference.
• Problems when rendering Boolean operations involving 3D Mesh objects.

A big THANKS to Sacred Rose for the terrific help in solving the BUM issue!

Steve.

HALLELUJAH! ALL PRAISE SACRED ROSE! So what was it? Thanks Steve! This is a terrific update! "Transparent areas would sometimes appear white in volumetric lights." - now we can do the February challenge the way it should be done...simply must have volumetric lighting when doing "Hudson River School" stuff! -SMT

Coolness! Well, the first thing I noticed is it didn't crash when I imported a Poser object. So that's good. ;) Nice touch on the new import screen too, Steve. But, it refused to load the .bum files I had on the figure, and I got the same error message as always. So next I tried the volume spot light on this character, which has trans maps for the eyelashes and hair, and there was NO white in it. THAT is excellent! I can do without the BUM files, but the volume spot/trans problem was really sterting to get to me, since I love using those volume lights. Those are just my first observations. I'll be trying out more....

When will the official update be available?

After we help them get it out of beta. ;)

Thanks Steve. I tried without the background draw thread on Mac and it works great. Also tested hiding the app. And my tree trunks or back, so it's all good. Full screen rendering is a bit better, but still a bit weird if you cancel it (and even if you don't). Because all the menus are disabled and without the save/close thingies it isn't obvious how to get back to the 3d view (pressing Escape several times does the trick). The other weird thing, in Shaded view everything looks B&W - trees aren't green like in Wireframe. - n8

Woo-hoo, BUM maps and no transparency in volume light, I'm a happy bunny... Best wishes Jody

Does it work Jody? The BUM thing? Not for me it doesn't...

Aaaaah, I haven't tried it yet :-) Heh-heh, I was just excited that perhaps it will. I am in approaching the end of a rather heroic render session, once it's finished anti-aliasing (wish you could get an ETA on how long it's gonna take) I'll install the patch and give it a whirl. Best wishes Jody

That's assuming I don't fall asleep first, getting late here in the UK.

BUM doesn't work for me either, coin a phrase, bugger.

Ok, sorry to hear that of course, but I had envisioned this scenario where all of a sudden evrybody's BUM's worked but mine. ;)

The other weird thing, in Shaded view everything looks B&W - trees aren't green like in Wireframe. Nate, the shaded view will be all in grays until you select different colors for each item. Select an object and on the Material display, there's a drop-down next to a color-bar. Open the drop-down and pick a color. This is how it's set up on the PC version, but I believe E-on is keeping much of it cross-platform, so it should be the same or similar for the Mac version. Let us know! :)

Having used both versions, the interfaces are pretty much identical. And yah I know about that color thing - and it defaults to green for plants anyway. It's not that the trees are actually black - just very dark green. Fiddling around with the color thing does change the objects color in shaded, but they are always pretty dark. Turning off light from scene, shadows, etc. doesn't solve this. I don't know if this is an issue on the PC side - a minor one at any rate (I think I know what a tree looks like:). - n8

You're right, there is auto-green for the plants. It's the dark green (of the light green or dark green choices), but it doesn't seem too dark to me. Still, that might be an issue due to the beta, so you're posting in the right place about it. :)

I think it was too dark in 4.04 mac too - not 100% sure. Even the light green is pretty dark.

Looks like it's going to be a super update even if the bum's don't work... umm that didn't sound right. ya know what I mean ~L~ The transparancy thing is a biggy. As soon as my new vid card gets here (next week) I'll be able to use open gl again. It's just too weird without that. I'll give it a shot.

MikeJ and Jarm: Okay... we checked and the BUM module that was linked in the beta 2 update was not the right one. Don't laugh, it's not funny. It's fixed now, so if you get the update again, it'll hopefully work. Nathany: what do you mean by "all the menus are disabled"? Also, you say everything looks B&W in the shaded previews; wouldn't that be caused by the fog and haze settings? Try disabling fog in the view (View options, turn off "show fog in view"). Also, the lighting of the previews depends on the position of the lights in the scene. You might like to disable the "lighting from scene" option to see if it helps. Guitta: check that the 05_Cactus.veg file is not write-protected. Thanks for your help. Steve.

Steve, my 05_Cactus.veg was not write protected, it was checked "archive" like the other *.veg files. I have deleted the cactus files, then I could install. Now the volumetric spotlight problem is resolved. But I cannot use any of my plants having leaves or grass. For all the others, I get the message "cannot read *.prv". This means I get black trees. I have deleted the "vegetation.prv", but this did not help. No plants, no Vue. Can I do something else ? Thanks, Guitta

Steve, BTW, mapping "all in one" for grouped or grouped boolean objects works fine. When I go to OBJECTS--->IMPORT OBJECT, nothing happens at all. No window opens, nothing! When I do OBJECTS--->LOAD OBJECT and then, when the object window opens, I choose FILE, strictly nothing happens either. Guitta

Steve, before I installed beta 05/2, I had made a copy of my whole Vue 4.03 to another HD and installed the beta 2 there. Now, I cannot use any more my original Vue 4.03, because I get the message ASIPZR13.DLL cannot be found ??? But this file is perfectly in my original Vue 4.03 folder. Guitta

Guitta, I recommend that you scan your computer for any viruses, then run a checkdisk and reboot your computer. This sounds very much like a default on your HD. Do you turn off your computer before Windows has finished closing?

Try running the update again after that.

Steve.

Steve, over last night, I have done a complete scan disk and a defrag. My anti-virus program is updated every day and my computer scanned with it every day also. And I turn off my computer correctly (as much as I can, except when Vue or something else freezes it and I have to use the reset button on the machine). I just had tried, after rebooting, to install the Beta 05.2 update again. Same results with the plants (all black, cannot read *.prv.) But now I can call import object and load object from file without problem. (A new outfit ?) I also have tried to import a Poser figure with hair and lots of bum files. Beta 05/2 accepted them without problem. Happy I could make work again Vue 4.03, because I had a backup of all the original root files and have put them back. But the plants in beta 05.2 ??? I have tried to put my original plant folder in the beta 05.2 directory, this did not change any thing. Thanks, Guitta

Well, I just re-downloaded. Still, the BUM files do not work, with the same error messages. And none of my plants will load, either.

Can anyone else confirm this? 1. Two or more objects have the same material. 2. One object is selected from the world browser. 3. The material editor is accessed from the top of the world browser...NOT from the material summary page! 4. The object's material is edited. result? Instead of just the selected object's material being edited, ALL objects having the same material receive the edits! -SMT

smallspace, I don't have this problem (Windows 98 first edition) Guitta

Doesn't happen for me, Steve. I just tried it, exactly as you described here, and only the selected object showed the change in material.

Hmm...I'll have to take another look at it tonight. By the way Guitta, I had the same, "couldn't overwrite plants file" problem you had. I did a fresh install of Vue from the origianl disk, ran the 4.03 updater, then ran 4.05 beta updater and it installed just fine. -SMT

That's ok now, Steven, as I already told Steve in a previous message hre (the plant overwrite). Thanks; Guitta

"software update failed because it couldn't overwrite ...."
I get this error messages with every update : vue 4.01, VUE 4.03, VUE 4.05 (beta or final).
There is now at least 3 users with this problem (on WIN 98 and WIN 2000), it's time to seriously consider it !

Eric

Eric, did you also have a look, if the files what cannot be overwritten are write-protected (read only)? Guitta

I'm not having any problems with it at all except for it not reading the BUM files or the plant .prv files. Everything else seems to be OK, as far as I can tell, and the problem with boolean operations on imported meshes is working too.

Guitta : the files causing problems are not write-protected (attribute : "normal").
I could test this again, but I won't. It's worthless :there are still too many problems with this update.
I hope that with the final 4.05 the update will run without any troubles...

Eric