Sorry time progresses and backward compatibility isn't possible. Python has moved on and the Python developers have opted for new feature over compatiblity. The Poser developers had no option but to accept the only version currently supported. We have to live with choices made by others.

The problem isn't as big as it seems. Anything available in uncompiled format can be used (with some small modifications in a few cases). Most compiled scripts are now available in a new version and most are a free upgrade. Unsupported scripts probably require some rethinking as most things can be done in a better nowadays.

It's going to take at least 1 year for the important Python scrits to be updated or replaced. So you're going to need to hold on to Poser 11 for at least this long. But for all the new things and the big speed improvements in Poser 12 you'll want it anyway. Why not jump in now and enjoy the fun of finding all the new things people discover. Check whatever you find interesting and learn new things. Follow the discussions and experiment, learn by doing. In a few years you can become one of the experts. Right now is the time to learn together with all the other users.

Just installed 12.0.289.

I had high hopes as it is supposed to fix "Emissive materials now render in SuperFly correctly. They no longer render invisible" but this particular problem isn't fixed.

Still hoping for a fix someday.

Setting the Diffuse value to 0 doesn't make any difference.

I tried using different Firefly and Superfly materials and when setting the Emission value to any positive value the same problem occurred.

Keeping it very simple. So no envirosphere, just a single infinite light, the problematic object, and a character (to show the effect). Works in Poser 11 and in Firefly (both 11 and 12).

I'm not opposed to some material setting sucking in some light but having something sucking in all light regardless of the size and the value is a bit over the top. I did try this with a tiny value and it sucked in all light.

Building on this idea I tried using a negative value for Ambient. To my great surprise the preview showed all black for the impacted areas but the rendering worked perfectly.

Tried this in Poser 11 and setting a negative value on ambient had the same effect on the preview but did not suck out all the light (the ambient simply didn't work).

Again trying this out on a primitive (positive and negative value for ambient) showed the same result for Poser 11 and Poser 12.

Conclusion: Under some unknown conditions a negative value for ambient shows as expected in preview (all black) but works perfectly in a render while a positive value also works as expected in preview (brightly lit) but works as a light suck in a render. Something is wrong here.

Deleting the file does work.

I just hope they'll fix all these old problems one day (soon). If we don't mention them they won't be fixed.

Actually some Python scripts work without modification. Anything compiled will require a new compilation but the uncompiled scripts might work.

The V4 randomize scripts all work without any (new) problems. I did modify them in Poser 11 to get them to work to my liking and could use them in Poser 12 without any problems. So simple scripts might just work.

In my opinion Poser 12 is is a Work In Progress at the moment. It apperas to be pretty stable but lots of things don't work quite right at the moment. In general all Python scripts require an update and lots of materials need some reworking. Expect a lot of updates (of both Poser and a lot of content) in the next couple of weeks and months. Jumping on the bandwagon now means you can enjoy the fun of working through the problems and maybe have some influence on the solutions.

If you just want to create art (or other work) pay the money to get the upgrade (relatively) cheap but wait until early next year to install it. By then most issues should be fixed and using it will be less frustrating.

It's looking promising but too many issues at the moment. Fun to join the hunt for the issues but not really useable to do real work.

If you're new to Poser and can't afford to buy Poser 11 and the upgrade you could buy Poser 12 and start learning with that (it does work well enough for that purpose). Otherwise stick with Poser 11 and upgrade later.

Faster rendering and modern render nodes will always be better in the end. The new Python is a requirement for the future but a bitter pill to swallow at this moment. It is a big step but that happens after standing still for 5 years.

Virtual RAM needs to be written to and read from the hard disk. The hard disk is by far the slowest component in your computer. Avoiding access to the hard disk will speed up everything. Poser (as any other program) benefits from additional RAM. It can store everything it needs in memory and still has some memory over to use as a cache to temporarily store things. Nowadays textures are very large and having them in memory will speed up things.

With regards to an SSD I can only say it will bring an improvement in performance but not as much as sufficient RAM. When buying an SSD be sure to buy one big enough to contain the OS, all your executables, and all your temporary files. Personally I would advise buying at least 500 GB (more is better).

As usual, It depends on a lot of things. If you use large textures more RAM will be the best option (it should improve performance of everything you do on your computer). If you use Superfly you could use a better graphics card (so choose the power supply). If you use Firefly a faster processor with more cores would improve render times (but it could be hindered by a small amount of RAM). There isn't a single best answer. It all depends on your promblem. Do a render and check your system statistics. If you run 100% load on your processor with very little I/O the bottleneck is likely the processor. If you see a lot of I/O you are probably short on memory. Most likely you find 100% CPU load and a lot of I/O so again no easy answer. Do consider the generate heat. Extra RAM doesn't generate (a lot) more heat. A bigger power supply and video card could cause heat problems. A bigger CPU is very likely going to cause problems. All things considered I would suggest more RAM but don't expect wonders for rendering times (anything over 20% improvement is a unlikely).

I made a typo in the pathname for the avfix. Everything works as intended.

Thanks.

After a lot of testing I've found that strand based hair is causing my problems. In both FireFly and SuperFly depending on the quality level and the zoom level this type of hair causes a crash of the render when viewed directly or as a reflection. Of course this happens in a render that takes 8 hours to complete so it has taken me many nights to overcome my problem by replacing the hair of one character and changing the camera angle on another character. I now have the two renders I needed after 15 tries.

Just be warned that this can happen without warning and for no apparent reason. I make many low quality renders to check the lights and angles. They all have no problems and then with the high quality render suddenly everything fails. Check that you're not about to see some hair or a reflection of some hair.