I have converted my lovely FAT32 drive to NTFS under XP to try to re-create problems one of my beta-testers is having with PBooost (previously called PoserBooost). The problem is this... Often when Poser has loaded a character, the whole library folder structure is "Locked" by windows. It is not possible to re-name or move any folders within the libraries in a file manager OR with PBooost. The actual files are not affected... just the folders. This, of course, renders PBooost useless until Poser is shut down... at which time all the folders are freed up again. This problem is extremely unpredictable so it must be Windows related and I know it has nothing to do with PBooost code as I have the same problem using an ordinary file manager! I heard on a Delphi forum about a "Windows Folder Cache". Does anyone know anything about the folder cache in XP(with an NTFS drive)? and how to disable it? PBooost is now working very well with Win98 (FAT32) and XP (FAT32) And I am preparing to release. But if NTFS users have problems I am not pleased!!!!! Any ideas on this "cache" or could it be something else????? Thanks, Howard:)

I could be wrong about this. But I wonder if this is something that isn't an issue with the ProPack? It's been a long time since I've used Poser without the Propack. So I can't remember. But I do remember that I couldn't edit and and save .obj and .cr2 files if Poser was open..things like that. Now I can edit and save virtually everything. Even if Poser is running and the item is loaded into the Poser scene. Could it be Poser's relationship to the old .rsr file structure? Poser uses an .rsr for the program operation itself. And they seem to have bypassed it somehow with the propack. ScottA

I don't think that is the problem Scott. I had XP with NTFS partition without ProPack and could save .cr2 and .obj files fine. Hogwarden -- Does this affect just one tester, or multiple testers? If it's just one, then maybe it is something on his/her machine. I have not run into this problem on my PC with any file manager. I would be willing to test it on mine if you need someone else who has XP with a NTFS partition. Actually, I have two PCs that I can try it on to see if it occurs. One is an Athlon system, and the other is a Pentium III. Send me an email at jmcleaver@attbi.com if you need any assistance with this. I do plan on buying it when you release it; I am not expecting anything. I just want to help you to get it released so I can buy it!

You might want to check the Windows Indexing Service. In XP, Right-click on "My Computer", and select Manage. That will open a screen, and at the bottom you will see Services and Applications. Open that to get to Indexing Services and choose system, and then Directories. I would at this point click the help button and read what it is, and how to prevent NTFS Directories from being indexed. I don't know if this would be the fix, but it might be worth checking.

JCleaver... I've tried that.... Doesn't make any difference! In fact I've tried just about everything in the "advanced" and "security" sections of all the file and folder properties! It's a problem Ron has, and now I've converted to NTFS my problems are even worse than his so it's not just him! Ron has found a fairly obscure way of stopping the problem but it doesn't work for me. SCOTT..."Now I can edit and save virtually everything. Even if Poser is running and the item is loaded into the Poser scene." What did you do to allow this? Did you change some folder security settings? Ron's using Propack and I'm using P4.03 and my problems seem worse. Scott..."Could it be Poser's relationship to the old .rsr file structure?" Probably... 'Cos they're possibly opened in a different way by Poser than the PNG's... I'm opening a new thread on the POSER_TMP.rsr file which Poser keeps on creating in the POSE folder..... This is not going to delay (any more) the release of PBooost... but I have to add a rider to the app saying that NTFS drives may cause problems. Hrumph. Not what I would have liked. Any more suggestions? Ta! Howard:)

I don't do anything special with my files other than make the extensions visible (inluding Hidden File types). I'm not using XP I'm using Win 98 In Poser4 .Rsr files are used in at least three places: 1.)the programs executable routine 2.)the Geometry folders 3.)the walk designer (An rsr type code structure allows it to open faster after it's already been opened once) I don't know if you are hitting one of those roadblocks. Or if you have an actual OS problem here. Only an SDK would let you know for sure what's going on. And CL ain't gonna part with one of those babies. :-) ScottA

Attached Link: http://www.blkviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm

Regarding the XP problem - O/S refusing user access to files &/or folders; I had an extremely similar problem in XP when it was first installed. This is going to sound screwey, but what is the specific phrasing of the error message? If it's the incredibly lame and infuriating "....may be in use by another user.." message I was getting, there's probably a background indexing process or non-XP compliant antiviral program bolluxing thing up. In my case, there was an obscure, intrusive, and aparently useless utility, an unused element of the Corel WordPerfect Office Suite called Corel Versions that for some reason felt it had first call on any files ever opened, and refused to allow them ever released back to the OS - It was in a wrestling contest with Symantec's Antivirus 2001 (pre-XP), which also demanded priority access to any files opened. To fix, 1) I went through XP's system services, and turned off all but 7 of the eighty-odd services MS felt were indispensible to any user not smart enough to know better. **See link for more info** 2) I obliterated Corel Versions and any reference to it from my hard drives and the registry. 3) I upgraded Nortons AV to 2002. I later, for other reasons translated my NTFS drives back to FAT32, so if you decide to do that, it's a viable alternative as well. Let me know if any of this helps?

Not a poser problem. You're using NT now. You will need to log on as administrator to access these files and copy them to a new directory. make sure all files are copied and that they have the same sizes. move the files in the old directory to still another directory. copy the files from the first new directory to the original directory. log back in as owner or whatever and check that the files you copied into the original directory can now be accessed. (delete redundancys at your leasure.) if it doesn't work you still have your orig in new2. there should also ba a utility called intellimover(sp.) if you can network the older computer to the new one.

the partial line "...they have the same sizes." should read "...they have the same sizes as they did before."

BikerMouse... It's OK... as I said I can access everything (my login is admin) but "something" is deciding the folders are in use at in-opportune moments. Sounds like "services" to me!!! Leather-Guy... This definately sounds like it... The lame crappy error "in use by another person or program..." is the one. I'm on XP Pro and Ron is using Home... his problem is less severe than mine... so his machine will probably be using fewer of the unneccesary services. Thanks for the link... MOST helpful. "I later, for other reasons translated my NTFS drives back to FAT32, so if you decide to do that, it's a viable alternative as well."... Like... HOW??? Is it possible to convert back to FAT32 without pruning everything back to the bud (wipe disk, FDisk, DOS format) and re-installing Win98? Howard:)

I have Windows XP Home Edition, with NTFS. I'm the only user, and listed as Administrator. I eliminated the password at logon, just in case that might have something to do with the problem. (grasping at straws). The fact that I have XP Home, and not Pro is relevant, I think. XP Home defaults to Simplified File sharing. If I understand correctly that means everyone can access or change files. XP Home can't be changed to have greater security. That's only available in XP Pro. Am I correct here? Does that even apply to this situation? I have Norton Systemworks 2002 and Norton Internet Security 2002. I have all the latest updates on everything. I have elements of Corel Draw 8. I mostly use Corel Capture for my screenshots. I don't have Corel Indexing listed, but Corel Versions is there. I can dump that very easily, once I'm done with this post. The pattern of the problem is strange. I can load one figure, the skin MATS, clothes, hair, pose the character. I can load a second character, and sometimes finish that setup. Or sometimes it freezes when I try to switch banks to apply the hair. One way I've coped with this is to put Vicky in the default banks wherever it applies. She's my default character bank, Pose bank, hair, etc. I use her the most anyway, grin. I'm using both Poser 4.03 and Poser Pro pack, for testing purposes. My results seem pretty much the same on either version of Poser. I am careful to tell PBooost which Poser version I'm using whenever I change. It's easily done. Should I get rid of any unneeded rsrs from the PPP installation? bikermouse, I wonder if your instructions apply to XP Home Edition? I'm the only user, and administrator. leather-guy, I've bookmarked that site. It appears to be geared to XP Pro, and not to XP Home. But I'll see if anything applies. I've already written this message once and lost it to some Renderosity Hiccup. So I'll end it now. I really appreciate your help here. I'm just a beta tester who got really excited about PBooost. Howard is the creator and programmer with the brains. (As opposed to me, grin.) Ron

Here's a graphic example of how the lockup works sometimes. Vicky made into the picture, with her clothes, hair, pose, etc. Mike did ok till I tried to add his hair. PBooost or Poser locked me out. I had saved them as a pz3. I quit both programs, loaded the pz3 and then added Mike's hair. I tried to add another character, and was locked out. Geesh. Ron

I must point out that the error message in Rons post above is not generated by Windows or Poser, but is coded into PBooost. It is equivalent, however, to the windows error "another person or program is using the file..." and occurs when Windows won't allow PBooost to re-name a folder. Howard:)

XP is built on a windows NT core, a network OS, it this a basic security/sharing measure built into the os. Poser has files open in the folder and thats why it won't rename most likely. Try a simple experiment 1.copy a picture into a newfolder on your desktop, then open the photo 2. while the photo is open in photoshop or whatever, try to rename the folder it is in, and it won't let you. This is a basic function of the network OS to keep 2 seperate users on a network with acess to the share from updating the same file at the same time, one can read the file while one works on it. It also is part of what gives NT based OS's more stability than 95/98/ME. I don't believe there is or should be a way to circumvent it, as it would undermine the stability of the OS itself. Just my two cents, I'm not a programmer or anything, just a network admin.
Zerowolf

PBooost does its job most of the time. Folders are renamed, etc. It's just that sometimes things lock up. I followed many recommendations here. I uninstalled the Corel stuff I wasn't using, including Corel versions. I went to that XP site, and disabled many needless items. Geesh, some of that stuff is strange and even scarey. Lots of those features aren't needed by regular folks like me with a home network that exists purely for sharing the printer, the internet, and moving a few files around. I just rebooted the computer after changes to be safe. I don't see any drastic problems. Maybe the computer is just a bit zippier now that it has less overhead?! Ron

zerowolf... Point taken... but I don't think that Poser is leaving files open... load one cr2 and all carries on as normal... load a different one and the folders are locked. Poser is far too well written to do anything so silly as leaving files open.....? Howard:)

I'm on the verge of a totally new PPP install. I had the bright idea of doing a search and destroy of rsr files in the Library folders. Of course there were many png files to replace the rsrs.. They were just waiting to go. But many pngs were not there. All the stuff I had installed into PPP was copied over from the Poser installation. And all that stuff was copied from CD's where it was stored. So who knows, maybe that copy from CD caused something wacky on the read-only attribute stuff? I repeatedly removed the read-only attribute, only to find everything marked read-only the next time I check. Whoopie.

Hogwarden XP supports FAT32, but MS in their arrogance decided NTFS is superior so they crippled the format utility in XP to only format FAT32 in pathetically small volumes. I've gotten arround it by using Partition Magic (converts volumes up to 70 Gig from NTFS to FAT32, as I recall), and for my 120Gig drive, I just patched the Drive cables over to a spare WIN98 Computer I had laying around and formatted it back to FAT32 from there. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE XP's stability, and many of it's features, but MS in their ongoing drive to eliminate those pesky annoying choices that make for unnecissary Support calls crippled or eliminated most of the customization options I wanted/needed/was used to, or just made access to them so hard to find they might as well be gone. So I invested considerable time researching what options were available and where/how to access. Some require external utilities to reach, others (like obliterating the MS Messenger nags and de-installing it entirely) required obscure command-line options. I'm really happy with XP and how I've got it set up right now, but it took some work before I was comfortable with it, and confident it was fully on my team. Some of the sites I found usefull; http://www.tweaktown.com/document.php?dType=guide&dId=120&dPage=1 http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/home/using/tips/default.asp http://www.tweakxp.com/tweakxp/default.asp http://members.aol.com/axcel216/ http://support.microsoft.com/newsgroups/default.aspx?ICP=GSS3&NewsGroup=microsoft.public.windowsxp.general&SLCID=US&scrollnews=m10s2s5 http://www.annoyances.org/ http://www.tipsdr.com/ Utilities I found invaluable; TweakXP Xteq's Xsetup CustomizerXP (I also bought 6 books on XP, but I can't really recommend any, as I found the authors all had basic confusions as to what was XP Home and what was XP PRo, and appeared to have used the Beta versions instead of the finals.) I hope some of this is helpfull.

Hogwarden, what I meant is that when a file is physically opened, it (NT,2000,XP)won't normally let you modify the file in another program. So while a Mike CR2 is open then the OS will not allow you to rename the folder it resides in, this shouldn't affect other folders though only the folder that the CR2 is in. I didn't mean that poser leaves a file open after its closed, just while the file is in use i.e. loaded into memory. zerowolf

Now the question in my befuddled mind is: "Is it possible just to wipe the hard drives and install FAT32, rather than NTFS?!" I have a 20GB hard drive C for programs and XP. The 30GB is for Poser stuff. What would I really lose if I dumped NTFS? I have a little home network going, but that's just for convenience sharing the internet and printer. I don't need a bunch of security stuff that will bite me in the ass. I could use some real insight here. Ron

Hi again!! Zero... I'm coming from a software development viewpoint... The actual code which will read from a file goes something like this... 1:openFile(filename) 2:read data... read more data... 3:closeFile(filename) While no2 is working and the software is actually reading from the file, I can accept that the file may not be accessable to other applications, it should be unable to write to it or change anything to do with the path the file is in... but that has been the case since I think Win95. But after no3... the file should be closed and available again! I'd be the proverbial monkey's uncle if Poser didn't do no3. The data may have been read from the file and exist in a different form in the memory allocated to Poser, but the file itself is no longer in use. It is unacceptable practise to leave a file open after the reading action has taken place... In fact, If I did this in Delphi the compiler would not allow it. There is no way that windows actually knows whether an application is still using data it has read from a file... It seems that NT is making some serious assumptions! Mind you... have you met my Niece??? She likes bananas! Leather-Guy... I agree!!! I think I need to get another drive, format it at work on Win98, and stuck my art stuff on it. I am continuing to develop PBooost on the sensible assumption that it will not be 100% effective with Poser installed on an NTFS drive. This is the best I can do, I'm afraid! Hell... I wish I wasn't just one guy with a full-time job and two kids trying to develop an application to run 100% effectively on an NT server!! All you guys and gals are why I do it and your support has been absolutely invaluable. Thanks to all of you... Oh... and thanks especially to Ron and the other testers! Talk about above and beyond the call of duty! Looking forward to releasing the Beast! Howard:)

Hogwarden, I understand what you are saying, but it isn't an assumption on NT's part. It is to keep 2 users from updating the same exact file and then overwriting with 2 different versions. Same thing used to happen on my net at work with AutoCAD maps. One person would query a map into the map they were working on, and leave it open in the background, another drafter would need to make changes, ignore a this file can only be opened as read only. It is pretty much an industry standard, if you were to work on the copy in memory, but the actual file on the HDD was available for change then someone else could make changes and save it, then when user 1 saves, the changes made by User 2 would be lost! It doesn't matter, I was just trying to point out a different avenue of thought from personal experience. But anyway good luck with your proggie sounds useful. Zerowolf

I've really apperciated the chance to become involved with PBooost, and Howard. I always want to encourage anyone who is trying to make a go of it with their talents. It's easy to think that one day I might do the same. Unfortunately, I'm not too sure what positive accomplishment I've made here. I convinced Howard to get Windows XP and to install NTFS. In doing so I created a problem. And now I've decided to get rid of NTFS for that reason. It's not too hard for me. I have my Poser stuff on its own drive. I can easily backup all the data, wipe the hard drive, and reformat with FAT32. I suppose the C drive can be left as NTFS until I decide to fiddle with that. NTFS is good for some uses. But I just don't need the hassles, and neither does Howard. Like many others, I want control over my computer, and I want the ability to organize my Poser installations my way. PBooost offers that chance, and I plan to take advantage of it. Ron

"Alas we have come not to praise Caesar but to bury him"

I wiped both of my hard drives in order to exterminate NTFS. This is one of the longest ordeals I've faced to date, and I've been using computers since 1983. I tried using PartitionMagic 7.X to get rid of the NTFS partition on the D drive. PM kept complaining it couldn't do anything. I thought I'd succeeded in removing the D partition all together. No, instead, PM for some reason took great delight in deleting my C drive and Windows XP installation. I kept reinstalling, and carefully trying to get PM to behave. I thought I was sure to select the D drive and work on it. Next thing I knew the C drive and XP install were wiped. I was hampered by a faulty floppy drive, or I would have resorted to the tried and true Fdisk. I gave up after the 3rd or 4th reinstall of XP, and went to bed at about 4 am. I got up, took apart the computer, and swapped out the floppy drive. Luckilly the other floppy worked. I used Maxblaster software to exterminate NTFS, and finally reclaim my computer. Since then it's been Murphy's Law with a vengeance. I'm slowly making headway. It'll likely be a day or so before I can even install Poser. I've learned something here: I will never touch NTFS or recommend it to anyone in the future. Save NTFS for those who run commercial-grade networks and might need it. I don't. NTFS is a pain in the ass. To hell with it. I've had different versions of PartitionMagic since the 1990's. I've never totally understood PM, and it's never seemed to do the job for me. To hell with PM. You can't tell I'm mad, can you?! Ron

holy swampy alligators,Ron!! don't forget about the hidden folder with the NTFS backup . . . My computer came with xp installed and after the first week I haven't had any problems with it - infact I like it better than dos. maybe it's your computer. sorry about that Ron. We've all been through incompatibility problems at one time or another. stiff upper lip and all that. -o.k.BYE

"Hidden Folders"?! I haven't heard of such a thing, or seen them. Let me put it this way: 1.) I wiped the C drive so there was no operating system, and the computer wouldn't boot up. 2.) I did the same with my D drive (data) 3.) I reinstalled Windows XP, and clearly chose FAT32. 4.) I've been reinstalling all my software. Here's a composite screenshot from My Computer, which shows both my hard drives as FAT32. Ron

Can you select/de-select "security features" in the "which windows components would you like to install" screen? It seems that certain secutiry features are applicable to FAT32 drives...

I reinstalled Windows XP maybe a dozen times last week, due to certain mistakes on my part. The last time I installed, I went in the following order: 1.) Windows 98 "Full Edition" 2.) Windows ME (I had to go this route because Windows 98 couldn't find many of my builtin hardware items. I even used the motherboard CD, and that didn't help. That sucked. Windows ME found all my hardware devices.) 3.) Windows XP as an upgrade. The only choice I saw was whether to install Windows XP as an upgrade. After that I sat and watched Windows XP install for about an hour. I never saw any other options. It's possible the security feature options were on the same screen where I was asked if I wanted to install as an upgrade. I was a bit distracted at that time, and took a quick glance at the screen. I noticed "upgrade" was selected by default, and marked recommended. I clicked a button and moved on. Now if that security option was on the first and only option screen, maybe someone should have mentioned it? Of course, who remembers every little detail? I spent several days last week, trying to find a combination of Windows XP installation that would help PBooost work. I found none. I can't do any more reinstalls, etc. I need to get my computer in working order, with all my software installed. It would help to have more details about the computer configurations of other XP beta testers, and to know the exact procedures etc that they followed for testing. Frankly, I know nothing is wrong with my computer, my configuration, or myself. Believe me, I want PBooost to work. I want Howard to "make a million bucks" on the product. But I can't use the program under current circumstances. And I think many Windows XP users won't be able to use PBooost either. Especially if that means wiping their hard drives to get rid of NTFS, then going to FAT32. (That's a lot of work, and didn't work for me.) Ron