Installation problems

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   The MSDXM usage was definitely a problem, but that was what my install defaulted to in Vista. My install was fresh, not an upgrade. If you can make it default to DirectShow for Vista users, it will help most people. Until I un-registered those two files, I couldn't see the menu screens to make the change to DirectShow. Kind of a Catch-22.

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JonB256 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Visit Members Homepage Add to Buddy List DMX Joined: 19 Dec 2007 Location: Granbury, TX Online Status: Offline Posts: 130	Quote Reply Posted: 27 Aug 2008 at 10:34pm
	The MSDXM usage was definitely a problem, but that was what my install defaulted to in Vista. My install was fresh, not an upgrade. If you can make it default to DirectShow for Vista users, it will help most people. Until I un-registered those two files, I couldn't see the menu screens to make the change to DirectShow. Kind of a Catch-22.
	JonB - D-Light user

LightChristmas Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Visit Members Homepage Add to Buddy List Beta Testers Joined: 15 Oct 2007 Location: Equality, IL Online Status: Offline Posts: 993	Quote Reply Posted: 28 Aug 2008 at 5:42am
	Had no luck with Vista Ultimate - my beta test key for it had already expired. While I'm committed (or should be committed! ) to beta testing Aurora, I really don't want to shuck out the bucks for Ultimate. I suspect the person(s) experiencing install issues can fix it the same way (unregistering Mscomm32). I'm certain that once the instuction manual is finished, there will be a troubleshooting guide somewhere in it to cover such things. Edited by LightChristmas - 28 Aug 2008 at 5:45am


Fred S Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Pre-Order User Joined: 11 Dec 2007 Online Status: Offline Posts: 9	Quote Reply Posted: 28 Aug 2008 at 11:58am
	After reading the posts this morning I unregestered mscomm32 and then tried to run Aurora 0.7.1. (I did not reregester or reboot computer before opening Aurora) The program opened up with the message about changine to directshow for Vista. I loaded a sequence and then changed the playback to Directshow. I then played the sequence and it seemed to work. I have not tried to edit sequence or control actual lights yet. Later on this evening (after work, or it may have to wait until this weekend) I will try to edit a sequence to make sure things are running correct. This may be a work around and hopefully the problem can be isolated and correted in the final release. Thanks for all the help and suggestions. Keep up the good work.

LightsOnLogan Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Admin Group Joined: 11 Oct 2007 Online Status: Offline Posts: 3187	Quote Reply Posted: 28 Aug 2008 at 12:45pm
	I need to run this through a Vista box in the lab to be sure, but I am suspicious that the above fix may cause some problems with unreliable output to the COM ports. I wonder if building an XML manifest for MSCOMM32 and attempting to run Aurora with that file from reg-free com would work? I wouldn't distribute the installer this way, but it might be a suitable support patch for those unusual machines with an incompatible MSCOMM32 installed. Regarding DS, I've added a support case to have Vista auto-configure to the proper playback engine.


LightChristmas Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Visit Members Homepage Add to Buddy List Beta Testers Joined: 15 Oct 2007 Location: Equality, IL Online Status: Offline Posts: 993	Quote Reply Posted: 28 Aug 2008 at 1:18pm
	Hadn't thought of that, although I should have! Had "tunnel vision" at the time. Will lug out the junker again, hook a controller to it and see what happens. Would be best if a few more folks (like those affected) would do the same so we can get a better sampling at getting it all nailed down.


LightChristmas Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Visit Members Homepage Add to Buddy List Beta Testers Joined: 15 Oct 2007 Location: Equality, IL Online Status: Offline Posts: 993	Quote Reply Posted: 28 Aug 2008 at 2:23pm
	A few things I've discovered: Unregistering Mscomm followed by an install of Aurora will work fine - no com errors to a controller. This is ONLY my experience - lets let a few other try before closing the case as it were. Having the D-Light hardware utility open will cause an installation crash (and vice-versa) as both use Mscomctl. May want to fool-proof the install in this regard. DirectShow and MSDXM will both run on an XP machine, so you may wish to have it default to Directshow with the option of using MSDXM. May save time with the code tweaking. Annnd I'm spent.....


LightsOnLogan Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Admin Group Joined: 11 Oct 2007 Online Status: Offline Posts: 3187	Quote Reply Posted: 28 Aug 2008 at 3:56pm
	Unregistering MSCOMM32 and then installing/repairing Aurora should be safe. I'm still going to look into a reg-free option as the official fix.


JonB256 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Visit Members Homepage Add to Buddy List DMX Joined: 19 Dec 2007 Location: Granbury, TX Online Status: Offline Posts: 130	Quote Reply Posted: 29 Aug 2008 at 10:18am
	Did some testing today on my XP machine (normal sequencing machine because it has dual monitors) and want to commend you guys on "code efficiency." Playing back a sequence with the visualizer on, I looked at CPU usage. Both cores of my Opteron were averaging 50%. Not too bad, but then I switched to Grid only mode and it runs at 3% to 5% max with just little spikes when it changes screens. That is very impressive. I'll try it on the "now working" Vista with Quad-Cores later. As far as the two files above being "unregistered" I just re-registered them once I got swapped to DirectShow in Vista. I have no more problems. Update - looked at CPU usage in Vista on my Quad-Core. With Visualizer ON, CPU was right at 38% on the total indicator. Not too bad and about where I expected. The odd thing is that CPU#4 was doing all the work, showing closer to 85% with just 5% to 10% on the other 3 cores. Edited by JonB256 - 30 Aug 2008 at 8:24am
	JonB - D-Light user

LightsOnLogan Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Admin Group Joined: 11 Oct 2007 Online Status: Offline Posts: 3187	Quote Reply Posted: 29 Aug 2008 at 12:02pm
	There is still some more work that can be done for code efficiency, but "if it isn't broken don't fix it" applies here when we are so close to release. For instance, right now Aurora is always looping until the next command when output to the lights is enabled. This shows up on the CPU. In a future version a prefetch queue will be applied so that the playback module knows the time index of the next command and can relinquish control of the CPU for a few dozen mS here and there as necessary. It really will not affect actual performance much but it will look nicer on the CPU monitor. Basically, Aurora is spending a lot of time asking over and over "are we there yet?" about the next event. This doesn't really hurt anything performance-wise but it is not the most polite thing for a piece of software to do. As already witnessed from the grid CPU usage, Aurora is gradually being taught some manners. At some point in the future the 2D visualizer will be also improved to better take advantage of modern video hardware to reduce the visualizer CPU.


kennyz06 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Visit Members Homepage Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 05 May 2008 Location: Texas Online Status: Offline Posts: 24	Quote Reply Posted: 01 Sep 2008 at 4:11pm
	FYI. I had this problem as well. Even with 7.1... I FIXED IT I installed SP1 on vista and the problem is solved.