A few questions about Vista behaviour to you

[PeterSt]

All,

Background : In the development environment I have a setup which is not equal to yours. Therefore a few of the below things I cannot test (that is, not all the time, and it would be very time consuming), but when I want to test an older XX version I most probably bump into the same anomalies ... as you might have always at installing a new version. However, I never heard anyone complain, so now I wonder ... do you have similar and must I try to do something about that, or are the below things unique to my environment anyway ?

Vista SP0 (which *will* matter) and UAC is off, all as advised by myself hehe (Vista Users ... prepare yourselves ...).

1. Can you ever Restore to you Old Settings ?

Yesterday I installed 0.9-v6a in a new folder, and received the message (at first startup) that not all setting could be restored;
The message says "no problem" but the only way to avoid the message the next times at startup (and loose the settings AGAIN) is to answer the question with "No, I don't want to Restore the Old Settings".
For a new XX folder this seems logic to me. However :
Today I downloaded 0.9v-7 over the files in the 0.9v-6a folder (but I renamed the folder to 0.9v-7 !) and the sequence was the same.

This is obviously not the intention of the Restore function, and now at each new version you have to set the settings all over.

Is this common behaviour for you to ? (hence the most inconvenient)

2. Things can get stuck within ChangeWP (the Wallpaper feature) ?

I changed OS disks; this should go unnoticed (by the OS itself) because it is a literal copy, and only the disks are different.
However, together with the procedure described under 1 above, today I noticed that the Wallpaper wouldn't change, *and* by kind of accidence I noticed that ChangeWP.exe kept on running with XX and everything closed (no XXEngine3 running either).

I got smart and thought it would be rights related. Started XX as administrator (but all of which is arranged for already), and after that it appeared that ChangeWP was waiting for the confirmation to "Run this (unsigned) program", hence now the message appeared which apparently was there under the hood before, just the same.
One time starting XX as Administrator was enough to solve the problem for the next times.
But yes, since I applied a new icon to the new XX folder, most probably this is logic. But again the most inconvenient.

Do you experience similar ?

3. Again in the context of the above, I suddenly may receive a message from ChangeWP that a .cue file does not exist

The .cue file sure does exist, and I am 100% sure this is somehow related to files coming over (via Ethernet) from another PC in the network.
When renaming the .cue file to some other name, and rename it back, the problem has gone.
I never noticed something like this before, so I am fairly sure it is related to the install in the new folder.
Also, I think it is related to the necessity of starting XX once as administrator, although I can't be sure.
Note that I don't see the relation to which .cue files do, and which don't "exist" as it is reported.


All 'n all I am afraid that nobody tells about these quite annoying "features" while everybody is confronted with them all the time.
Are you ?

Peter

[SeVeReD]

My Vista prem. 64 bit comes as SP1 .... sigh :/ anyway
I always choose "No, I don't want to Restore the Old Settings" anyway; it's no big deal for me to set settings again and I guess I never trust auto stuff...cantankerous aren't I.  Now let me finish reading your post.
Related to above, you can guess that I did a completely new install of windows when trying the HDD vs SSD comparison instead of trying to use a program to copy windows from SSD to HDD.

[Calibrator]

hey there Pierre,

in my case I now always chose "NO" to the question about restoring old settings. I recall having a few problems a while ago with some not sticking ( can't remember exactly which version but it was a good half dozen or so back ) so I now simply set things up afresh with each new version. I find this process also reinforces what settings I have made and helps awareness of how XXHE is set up. Simply copying the settings across led to me forgetting some of the settings I had been experimenting with between versions ( more the priority settings ). There aren't many settings really I need to change from default anyway and it's only a 30 second exercise to re-establish everything.

The ChangeWP ( for me ) has been very stable in the 'W' series and I can't recall a problem. Interestingly enough, I re-established a 0.9v-7 folder today ( to re-evaluate its SQ ), and ChangeWP for that version malfunctioned consistently. At the start of playing a list nothing would appear on the desktop, but the second track would generate the folder art, and, all desktop icons still showed. Closing 0.9v-7 down shut off the wallpaper as expected. I tried this several times and each time it took until the second played track to bring up the wallpaper, and again, all icons showed. A look at Task Manager showed multiple entries for ChangeWP, even after XXHE had been shut down. I think it may be a quirk of 0.9v-7 that this is occurring for, as 0.9v-6a behaves itself, as do any of the 'W' series. It might be something to do with access rights though, as a system message appeared once initially complaining about something and I absent mindedly unticked the box to "do this" each time and and I told it to go away and just do its thing. Sorry I can't recall the exact message context but i think it was about legitimacy to run or something along those lines. I should add that I've disabled UAC from the control panel options.

I should also add that the way I set up each new version is to create a new folder under c:\ and dump the contents from the zip into that. I then copy the activation code across from one of the other predefined folders. I create a shortcut to XXHighEnd.exe onto my desktop and copy that into my Quick Launch bar. I normally start XXHE from the Quick Launch bar.

I don't use .cue files so I cant help with the third question.

Cheers,

Russ

[SeVeReD]

read calibrator's post above...I have no changewp problems and I am using V7.  In fact, I have not seen any problems at all.

 I have a copy of my first activated XXHE V-d that I make another copy of on the SSD/C: ; change the name to latest version (ie. XXHighEndV-07); copy the zip of the newest version into that and overwrite; pull the .exe to desktop making a shortcut; right click to tell it to run as administrator; pull a copy of the shortcut to my toolbar too.  Hope things work out Russ.

[Calibrator]

OK ... I fixed the issue with the folder art not appearing until just before the second track started. The clue was the icons appearing on the desktop also.

When I clicked on the 'hide icon' button in XXHE I was presented with a system alert message titled 'Open File - Security Warning', that stated 'The publisher could not be verified. Are you sure you want to run this software?'. It was for HDI.exe. I unticked the 'Always ask before opening this file' and clicked the 'Run' button. ( I'm pretty sure this alert was similar to what I alluded to in my earlier post today for ChangeWP ).

The icons disappeared as expected and I then stopped and shutdown XXHE. Subsequent restarts of XXHE saw the folder art appearing as expected , and NO icons this time. Seems it just needed the icons toggling manually for things to fall into line .. go figure ! The automatic toggling ( from within XXHE ) didn't bring up the alert message and hense CHangeWP got itself in a tizzy.

Yet another annoyance of Vista and it's Orwellian way of doing things!

Cheers,

Russ

[LydMekk]

Have stopped answering yes to move settings from earlier/newer versions as this is not 100%. Prefer to set them again manually myself.

Don't experience much problems running XX here. Using v6a version. Only hicckups I've had lately is "Host services has stopped" but that was cured running the player prio up to Realtime and Thread to High.

Using SP1 Vista Ultimate. IMO a whole fleet of quirks and probs where annihilated when moving to SP1 from SP0. Recommend doing so for all Vista users out there. Working with IT as a profession and HAS NOT seen any downsides to upgrading to SP1 for all my customers, only positive benefits. Recommended.

Not using .cue files. Can't help there.

Btw. XX has become so "heavy" IMO that prosessor schema is better left at "No appointment" for C2D prosessors to better distribute the load over both cores instead of figgling with some on one core only etc. Have not tried quad cores in this application but should behave in the same fashion, e.g. better to distribute load over all available cores.

This doubles in necessity with high res material like 24/96 instead of normal 16/44.


And, using a dedicated PC for video/audio up to my livingroom. This machine doesn't run any AV, Mail, Office etc. Only Vista SP1, XX, ffdshow, TheaterTek etc.

[pedal]

Seems I have a similar problem:

Previously I used the w-1a, and it behaved normal. Now I have started to use v-6a because of better SQ. But every time I start up v-6a, it doesn't remember yesterdays settings. Every time I have to change from Engine1 to Engine3, set Playerprio, etc.

What to do?

[PeterSt]

Answer No to that question, set one or two of your settings, quit and restart and see if the question comes up again.
If not, you're good, although you have to set all of your settings as how you are used to.

It looks like reverting back to an old version just confuses B. Gates beautiful thoughts.
And mine ...

Anyway, does that solve the issue ?

Peter

[pedal]

Yes it did!

Thanks again.

[PeterSt]

Btw. XX has become so "heavy" IMO that prosessor schema is better left at "No appointment" for C2D prosessors to better distribute the load over both cores instead of figgling with some on one core only etc. Have not tried quad cores in this application but should behave in the same fashion, e.g. better to distribute load over all available cores.

This doubles in necessity with high res material like 24/96 instead of normal 16/44.

Hmm ... Although the latter makes some sense to me, it is not true that XX has become "heavy" or havier lately. That is, not with Unattended Playback (otherwise you would be right).

Also note, as far as I can determine, there is no golden rule for the schemes for everybody at the same time. This will vary per configuration and works at the micro detail ... (not thinking about "music" as such, but about the distribution).
Most probably it will even vary per XXEngine3 version, but I cannot point it out (nothing about not wanting, I just can't ).

Peter

[LydMekk]

Using only attended playback. Prefer to have the user interface up before me for fastforwarding etc.