Stardock Problems!
Monday, April 5, 2004 by Maggot | Discussion: Stardock Software
There appear to be several problems I need to address. First, there must be a problem with Stardock's servers. I cannot get discussion updates! Second, connecting to Wincustomize is taking forever (I'm a paid subscriber!). Third, believe the last iteration of Skin Studio is not coded correctly. Twice now I have used it to edit some Window Blinds. When I tell it to apply the changes, I lose my WB skin but, when I mouse over parts of the skin, they come back. Not only that but, when I reboot my system now, it will fail to load Windows after using SkinStudio!! The second attempt at reboot has been working though. This has only occured after the update to the latest SkinStudio. So, I believe the culprit is SkinStudio, not Window Blinds.. Any other ideas??? 
Koasati
Reply #2 Tuesday, April 6, 2004 5:06 PM
Reply #2 Tuesday, April 6, 2004 5:06 PM
| by Mr Maggot - 4/6/2004 3:59:11 PM In ref to my last post (Stardock Problems), I believe the problem lies with Window Blinds, not Skin Studio. I just changed a WB skin and it did not redraw all elements however, mousing over areas brings the skin back! I did not reboot yet but, feel that upon doing so, the BSOD following bootskin WILL probably reappear. I have the most recent iteration of WB4 (4.29f[rc]002) and it appears to be problematic. The previous release caused ZERO problems but, now problems are back. Will be emailing Stardock on this as well...... |
Please don't start a new thread in reference to another..... keep it all
together. A lot less confusing for everyone. 
I'm using 4.29f[rc].002 also, and it has acted flaky a few times, but nothing major. I don't think a reboot will hurt you.
Maggot
Reply #3 Tuesday, April 6, 2004 5:43 PM
Reply #3 Tuesday, April 6, 2004 5:43 PM
Koasati, thanks for ur input but, there IS a problem with Window Blinds latest release. System halts after bootskin runs. Second restart and all's well! I didn't have this problem with the WB iteration prior to this latest release, so.......I figure if I'm paying for software, then it better work properly, EVERY TIME. Seems like with the last updates of Object Desktop programs, there have been more problems than additional capabilities. This is fine with freeware but, I think it's pretty sloppy for payware!! A little bit more attention to detail on the programming side of the show would benefit us paying customers!!! 
Sput
Reply #4 Tuesday, April 6, 2004 7:02 PM
Reply #4 Tuesday, April 6, 2004 7:02 PM
Maggot - as I said on the other thread, if you want something to work, stick to the released versions. If you want the joys of beta software, be prepared for the trials too. You ought to be prepared for it to completely hose your machine even...it's a "use at your own risk" situation.
*sigh*
Sput wonders what people think "show pre-release versions" means!
*sigh*
Sput wonders what people think "show pre-release versions" means!
Koasati
Reply #5 Tuesday, April 6, 2004 7:28 PM
Reply #5 Tuesday, April 6, 2004 7:28 PM
Listen to Sput..... you install betas at your own risk. If you insist that payware be flawless, then turn off "Show pre-release (alpha/beta) versions in SDC settings. 
Maggot
Reply #6 Wednesday, April 7, 2004 2:23 AM
Reply #6 Wednesday, April 7, 2004 2:23 AM
Sput and Koasati, thanks for commenting. I know what you're saying but, in this particular case, doesn't the [rc] mean "release candidate"?? If so, my feeling is that it ought to work correctly and should be checked out BEFORE releasing it to folks to "experiment" with. It just seems like changes are rapidly occuring and not being qc'd too well before releasing. Anyways, I hope this gets some attention and is rectified as quickly as the problems with DX and WB not too long ago! I've been a WB user since version 1.2 and it's come an awfully long, gloriously useable way in the past couple of years and I truly appreciate the hard work. It's just kind of frustrating when one upgrade works just fine, a change is made, and the whole program kills my 'puter! oh well, enough ranting already......
MarkMcQ
Reply #7 Wednesday, April 7, 2004 7:43 AM
Reply #7 Wednesday, April 7, 2004 7:43 AM
The latest Bootskin is the cause of the system halt. A few people have reported it and I think it's being looked into. QUick fix for now is to stop using it.
As for the WB skin not applying, Skinstudio just sends the message to WB to tell it to apply the skin, it has no effect or control over the displaying of the gfx, so it's not repsonsible for that problem I would say.
And Sks doesn't load anything at startup so it can't be the cause of any system lock ups upon boting either.
And as for "I figure if I'm paying for software, then it better work properly, EVERY TIME"
No software is without problems. PC hardware changes so much these days that progs need to keep up with it. WB in particular, as and example, is constantly being recoded to work on newer gfx cards with better features, etc.
Sput
Reply #8 Wednesday, April 7, 2004 8:22 AM
Reply #8 Wednesday, April 7, 2004 8:22 AM
Maggot - in software development, release candidate usually means something like:
"we think this version is feature complete and almost ready to release but it just needs some last quality checking and bug fixing before we do so"
it doesn't mean "this is it, we're done"
...and as Hippy points out, anyone who expects any software to be perfect on every machine is in for disapointment - no matter how much you pay for it. What's great about Stardock products is that they are very active in development, and always improving the features as well as (usually) quickly fixing bugs.
BUT, to fix issues, they'll need to know about them in detail - that means specific details of hardware, and all software involved, plus detauls of steps needed to reproduce the issue if possible.
If you send a really good bug report like that to the developers, then it makes it much easier for them to find out what the issue is, and hence more likely to have it fixed.
"we think this version is feature complete and almost ready to release but it just needs some last quality checking and bug fixing before we do so"
it doesn't mean "this is it, we're done"
...and as Hippy points out, anyone who expects any software to be perfect on every machine is in for disapointment - no matter how much you pay for it. What's great about Stardock products is that they are very active in development, and always improving the features as well as (usually) quickly fixing bugs.
BUT, to fix issues, they'll need to know about them in detail - that means specific details of hardware, and all software involved, plus detauls of steps needed to reproduce the issue if possible.
If you send a really good bug report like that to the developers, then it makes it much easier for them to find out what the issue is, and hence more likely to have it fixed.
Maggot
Reply #9 Wednesday, April 7, 2004 3:14 PM
Reply #9 Wednesday, April 7, 2004 3:14 PM
Hippy and Sput, thanks again for the input. Hippy, I didn't know about the bootskin problem (I have version 1.03 I think, anyway, latest iteration of it). Will revert to the default WinXP boot and see what happens. Additionally, I emailed Stardock and got a response from JAKE and sent a follow-up to him with my system specifics. Waitin on an answer. I can understand the bootskin thingie but, it doesn't explain why WB is not repainting changed skins, either seperately or during use with Skin Studio. That is the primary problem I'm having. Secondly, if Bootskin is buggy, why is my system starting normally on the second reboot/restart attempt? Is that a software glitch/bug too? And lastly, guys, I DON'T expect software to be perfect but, I DO expect program changes to be a little more qc'd BEFORE releasing and it just SEEMS like in the past month, lots of quick changes have been made by Stardock to WB, DX, SkinStudio, SDC controller, etc and for the most part, have worked. If this iteration is a "release candidate" and they need input, that is basically what I'm trying to provide. It doesn't work and specifics have been provided and hopefully they'll fix it as quickly as they did the 4.29b version. Again, thanks very much for your input and especially for the news on the BOOTSKIN problem Hippy! Really appreciate it and just trying to get a problem solved for the betterment of the great programs Stardock produces. IMHO, they're working terrifically hard on stuff and I am just trying to give them some feedback on a problem.....Standing by to standby.
Maggot
Reply #10 Wednesday, April 7, 2004 5:51 PM
Reply #10 Wednesday, April 7, 2004 5:51 PM
Hippy, Sput, Koasati.....Have a bit more info on this. I just changed a WB skin but this time I used the WB config window vice the display properties/appearance method which I usually use. The skin changed with no draw problems! Yay! I did notice that my cursorxp cursor did not change. Also, I went back to the default bootskin, rebooted the computer and DID NOT get a Black Screen of Death/system halt! So, looks like WB problem only occurs when using the display properties/appearance tab and the system lock up was, as indicated by Hippy, the Bootskin 1.03 problem. I thank you for your assistance and hope this info can be of use in the WB area. Thanks again and cheers from overcast/rainy Colorado!!!
Sput
Reply #11 Wednesday, April 7, 2004 7:57 PM
Reply #11 Wednesday, April 7, 2004 7:57 PM
Maggot - well done at sticking at it. Hope you don't think we were getting at you as it was only the point about "paying for things and expect them to work 100% of the time" which I thought needed clarification....other than that, it's excellent that you've helped them improve their products through the beta process for the good of everyone
Hopefully you can feed back results of the experiments you've made to them too...it's a pity bootskin is having such problems as it got off to such a good start, but hopefully 1.04 will get back on track. And the skin changing issues - I've yet to see this fancy morphing on skin change, but I suspect that the code for that (which was only introduced a couple of revisions back) is the cause of a lot of the glitches like this that people are reporting. Whenever a new feature is introduced, then there's likely to be a period of glitches till all the different configs come to light. I had my own problems with the revision before the current one and had to roll back a version so I appreciate how difficult it can be
Hopefully you can feed back results of the experiments you've made to them too...it's a pity bootskin is having such problems as it got off to such a good start, but hopefully 1.04 will get back on track. And the skin changing issues - I've yet to see this fancy morphing on skin change, but I suspect that the code for that (which was only introduced a couple of revisions back) is the cause of a lot of the glitches like this that people are reporting. Whenever a new feature is introduced, then there's likely to be a period of glitches till all the different configs come to light. I had my own problems with the revision before the current one and had to roll back a version so I appreciate how difficult it can be
Maggot
Reply #12 Thursday, April 8, 2004 4:21 AM
Reply #12 Thursday, April 8, 2004 4:21 AM
Sput, thanks and I take no exception to the "paying for things....". I guess I didn't state it the best way but, frustration will do that to ya. As for the "morphing" effect, I'm not real sure I even understand what that means but, when I changed the skin using the WB config, I did notice that the newly assigned skin just kind of all changed at once, unlike previously when you could tell it was re-painting the parts, so I guess maybe that's the "morphing" effect. If so, I can understand why it is problematic with the Windows Display Properties/Appearances tab way of doing it-Microsoft's products DON'T LIKE CHANGES! At least that's been my experience since starting with Windows 1.2 and into XP! Oh well, Bill's happy with his billions so I guess it doesn't matter that his products generally are buggy as hell, not to mention porous to hacks.......Anywho, waitin for revisions to WB now I guess....
Sput
Reply #13 Thursday, April 8, 2004 8:14 AM
Reply #13 Thursday, April 8, 2004 8:14 AM
Maggot - apparently (and I have to rely on other people for this), Stardock have introduced a "cool morphing effect" from one skin to the next so that it sort of fades smoothly from one skin to the next. I@ve not seem it as there is apparently an issue with dual monitor set ups, and also with old video cards (which I have both), so like you, all I see is a (long) pause and then a quick flicker and it's all changed.
Opinions vary on if the morph effect is great or anoying, but the vast majority seem to like it....seems that me and thee are missing out on something, but never mind. If I hadn't heard about it here, I wouldn't be missing it 
Opinions vary on if the morph effect is great or anoying, but the vast majority seem to like it....seems that me and thee are missing out on something, but never mind.
If I hadn't heard about it here, I wouldn't be missing it 
Maggot
Reply #14 Thursday, April 8, 2004 4:46 PM
Reply #14 Thursday, April 8, 2004 4:46 PM
Sput, thanks for the info and I DO get the morphing effect. Like it better than redrawing all the portions of a skin. It DOES NOT work when I try to change a skin using Windows/Display Properties/Appearance tab though! Oh well, like I said b 4, Microsoft stuff always reluctant to change.......
Koasati
Reply #15 Thursday, April 8, 2004 6:31 PM
Reply #15 Thursday, April 8, 2004 6:31 PM
| #11 by Neil Banfield - 3/30/2004 3:16:24 PM It will only 'morph' if you change skins from wbconfig and if you are not using a multiple monitor system (works on some, not others). You also require a high end graphics card (ATI, Nvidia, Matrox) |
Maggot
Reply #16 Friday, April 9, 2004 7:01 PM
Reply #16 Friday, April 9, 2004 7:01 PM
Koasati, thanks for the info, that clarifies it a lot....
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Reply #1 Tuesday, April 6, 2004 1:33 PM