I installed the newest version of DS and I've had nothing but problems with it. I uninstalled and reinstalled it three times and nothing helps. No icon shows up in my Program menu, I had to hunt for the .exe icon in Program Files, which somehow wound up in the Program Files root directory, rather than in the DS folder, then finally, nothing, I mean NOTHING happens in the program once it launches. I can't bring in any characters, I can't import any PZ3 files, NOTHING!!! Did I get a bad download, or what? I can't play with it because it's completely useless. And to top it off, it still has those annoying unreadable blue buttons. Anyone else having these problems? Melanie

The same has happened to me....it doesn't even say the right number of the release....don't know what is going on...Sharen

Same problem here studio loads but then nothing, cannot load anything into main window.Bummer or what..

I had that happen to me, I ended up deleting the D/S folder in windows and then re-installing, and having it do the content search again. I can import and open Poser files now, but the program still acts up. It crashes during rendering a lot of the clothes dont conform right, and a lot of the hair dosent stay put when I apply a pose. Better luck with the next version I hope.

Well, I'm glad to see that I'm not all alone here. Mine shows the right version number, but it's just a dead program. Also, when it loads, there's nothing in the working window. There used to be an Egyptian scene, but now it's just a blank ground plane. I can't even import a PZ3. It's nothing more than a dummy interface with no functioning parts. My .exe file isn't even in the DS folder, it's floating out in the Program Files directory, not even in a subfolder at all. I think there's a "glitch in its git-along." Seems I wasted two hours downloading it. Hopefully, there's a fix for it soon, I want to play. Melanie

Sekhet, your post came in while I was writing mine. I hadn't thought of deleting the folder. Maybe I'll try that. Melanie

The button problem has been the same since the first version. I've sent several messages to DAZ and bug reports about it only to find they haven't fixed it. This seems to be a problem for Win98SE users and even tho DAZ has said the program will work under Win98, it seems they aren't going to fix this or don't know how. I sent them the above image so they would know exactly what I was talking about. I've also told them they are neglecting the thousands of Win98 users by not correcting this. I've seen several people with this problem say that when they upgraded to WinXP, the user interface was correct. I guess DAZ does't realize that EVERYONE can't or won't upgrade to WinXP. If this problem continues for us Win98 users, DAZ Studio is totally useless. People have said it's a video card driver problem and to upgrade the drivers. That doesn't fix the problem.

The button problem Ive never had, but the original D/S content isnt compatible with the new version.

Isn't Windows 98 limited to 128MB RAM or something? My job shifted to Windows 2K and everything got tons better.

Win98 is limited to 512MB.

The release notes for the most recent but one version do acknowledge the Windows 98 interface issue. Melanie, have you tried copying the free-floating EXE into the D|S folder? Win 98 is limited to 1.5GB, but you need to adjust your VCache settings if you go over 512MB. Do I hear any advance on 1.5? Going once, going twice....

I have 384 RAM, which is all my old HP Pavillion will allow, but RAM has never been a problem for me. I've run lots of things people can't with less than 512 RAM, even back when I only had 128. But yes, I'm on WIN 98 and I just can't upgrade right now. A couple of friends of mine upgraded to XP and ended up going back to 98 when they decided they hated XP. I know the button problem has been a topic of discussion in the past, but I was hoping that it might have been fixed. Maybe just a simple flat graphic button is all that's necessary, sort of like the Post Reply and Preview Post butons at the bottom of this reply box. DAZ is usually really good at listening to their customers, so maybe they'll reconsider the design of the buttons. Melanie

RHaseltine, yes, I tried moving it, but it still made no difference. I think it's just a flaky one this time. I'm sure DAZ has heard about it and is probably working on it. Melanie

"Win 98 is limited to 1.5GB, but you need to adjust your VCache settings if you go over 512MB. Do I hear any advance on 1.5? Going once, going twice...." Richard, I've installed 1GB RAM of memory on my machine before and it really screwed with the windows display (and that was using 2 identicial 512MB memory sticks)...everything was huge and only 256 colors. As soon as I took one stick out and back to 512MB RAM, everything was back to normal.

Windows 98 imposes a limit on how much memory each program can use (someting like 128Mb IIRC), which means that anything memory hungry will run in to trouble.

Sounds odd - I ran 768MB with no more trouble than usual

I am having the same problems, but the serial number after upgrade 12345-67890-ABCDE and that is what it was before, I am running Windows XP...512 ram etc. Sharen

Well, I finally got it to work. I uninstalled it for about the fifth time and deleted everything I could find associated to it, then I created a new folder called DAZ in my Program Files directory and installed the whole shebang into that DAZ folder. Now it works. shrug But it's really slow. I tried to render something and it crashed, but I think I had been running some other programs like Photoshop among others, so I had probably spent my resources before I opened DS. Anyway, I'm finally up and running. Melanie

The serial number hasn't changed in any of the versions Sharon as it's coded into the release so downloaders don't have to bother entering one every time. That may change with the release version though they've not said whether there will be a registration process. The version number does change, and you can find that in the top left of the Studio screen. For some reason I'm not having any trouble with this release (0-8-22-6) although the one before was rather dramatically non-functional

So Richard, how are you running more than 512MB RAM on Win98...inquiring minds want to know.

I just put the RAM in the machine :). After seeing that the directory cache (I think that's the one) could grow uncontrollably I went to MS KnowledgeBase and found out about specifying a value for VCache to stop it, and that slightly improved recovery time after Poser had gone on a texture hunt, but it was OK for several weeks before I did that just as it was with 256MB. I used it that way for about six months before rebuilding with a new motherboard and switching to XP and it was much more stable than many 98 systems are reported to be. Maybe something in the driver of your video card was trying to store memory size in a buffer that held only 29 bits (I think thats 512MB is 2^29) and the extra bit for 1GB was overflowing and confusing some other parameter?

Attached Link: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;EN-US;q253912&

There isn't an "official" limit on the amount of RAM addressed by Win98. However, in tests, a program that tries to use any more than about 192MB for itself MAY cause problems, although a program that does it's own memory management should be okay (such as Photoshop). Microsoft admits there is a problem (see link). I used to run 98SE with 512MB RAM and was mostly okay but occasionally had weird memory problems, depending on what programs I was running and/or had been running.

Also, if DAZ had used a standard interface (ahem! My soapbox issue...) there would have been no hassle with those odd graphic effects seen under Win98 ;)

Standard interface for who though... the application is for the Mac as well, and the interface is a bit different from Windows. ;) Hey this way no one has a standard interface. It's only fair? :D

I assume by "standard" he means OS-normal windows, menus, button bars and dialogues - palette tabs don't have a standard, and palette contents would still be unique as there is clearly no standard for camera controls, say. When illustrating manuals it is then usual to either crop out the window furniture or alternate between Mac and Windows versions, either shot-by-shot or chapter-by-chapter.

Yep, I do mean OS-normal.