Thread

Virtualight 1.4 renders solid black only

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Virtualight 1.4 renders solid black only // Bugs

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Post by ProfessorKhaos // Jan 30, 2006, 6:55pm

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Bulk of problem described here:


http://forums1.caligari.com/truespace/showthread.php?t=46


Judging from a thread I saw on the old forums, this may be the same issue


http://forums.caligari.com/discus/messages/1580/20171.html?1134580223


It's a bit frustrating trying to track this one down when all but a few are having success. BTW, it's not just a rtfm issue. Same scene works when rendered with virtualout in ts 6.6


Prof K.

Post by ProfessorKhaos // Jan 31, 2006, 4:25am

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Check the top thread. This problem has to do with the person's username and the path that trueSpace/VirtuaLight is using for the render files.


If you have a period in your user name, that causes Virtualight to fail.


Could Caligari consider changing the temporary virtualight file path to something like


C:\trueSpace7\tS\VirtuaLight\Temp or equivalent?


I think this would stand a better chance for success with regard to VirtuaLight working for everyone.


Oh if only I knew that middle initial and period would cause so much trouble I'd have never used it in my username.


By the way, changing your username via the control panel isn't going to fix the problem since it will still be tied to your original username's temporary folder. Reinstalling trueSpace after a username change doesn't fix it either.

Post by daybe // Jan 31, 2006, 4:30am

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Well how about that, good find. Glad you figured this one out.

Post by Alien // Jan 31, 2006, 4:42am

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Try this (http://forums1.caligari.com/truespace/showpost.php?p=522&postcount=21). See if that makes a difference.

Post by ProfessorKhaos // Jan 31, 2006, 4:54am

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That would likely work but I would still prefer a fix to a workaround (which I now have). Also, it appears that I have other apps that use the preestablished temp directory and I'm not sure what this would do to them.


Still, perhaps useful to those who don't want to create an extra account.


Thanks Alien :)

Post by Alien // Jan 31, 2006, 5:02am

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Unless the other apps in question are very badly written they don't work the way you think with regard to the temp folder, they just reference the variable stored by windows, eg %TEMP%\virtualight or whatever. As long as the apps aren't running at the time it shouldn't be an issue, I've been keeping my Temp, My Documents, Internet Temporary Files, My Pictures, etc in non-default places for years & not had any probs.

Even if the software was written by an idiot, in most cases there's usually an option in them that says where it puts its temp files, so just check to make sure that it's made the adjustment automatically, & if not change it manually.

<edit>
BTW, if you want to change the others to places that are easier to use & make more sense, eg C:\My Documents [you can even put it on a different drive or partition, as I do] instead of C:\Documents and Settings\Username\etc... you'll need to download TweakUI from Microsoft, & look under My Computer->Special Folders for the part to change the other folders.
</edit>

Post by ProfessorKhaos // Jan 31, 2006, 5:22am

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Thanks Alien. Guess I get a bit leery any time I have to deviate away from the windows baseline though. Been burned before by those badly written apps. :) Useful shareware and freeware especially suffers from poor style and I have alot of that for creating/tweaking Microsoft flight simulator scenery.


Guess I worry a bit when workarounds come up because the companies then dismiss the idea that a fix would be good for the community and put their resources elsewhere. No offense Caligari! :) I just think it would be better for folks who aren't as computer savvy to be able to use the product directly.

Post by Alien // Jan 31, 2006, 5:40am

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Thanks Alien. Guess I get a bit leery any time I have to deviate away from the windows baseline though. Been burned before by those badly written apps. :) Useful shareware and freeware especially suffers from poor style and I have alot of that for creating/tweaking Microsoft flight simulator scenery.

It depends on the nature of the tweak, but with stuff like this it shouldn't break anything, & if it does I'll do my best to help. :)


Guess I worry a bit when workarounds come up because the companies then dismiss the idea that a fix would be good for the community and put their resources elsewhere. No offense Caligari! :) I just think it would be better for folks who aren't as computer savvy to be able to use the product directly.I see your point, & if possible I do think Caligari should make a fix for usernames that have a . in them, but the stuff I've listed should really be done anyway, as it'll help you to have a better idea of where everything is & make finding stuff simpler when you need to.


Oh, 1 other thing - MS introduced something, errr.... sometime around SP1 I think, to do similar as I've descibed above [but directly into windows, rather than as an extra prog], eg change where My Documents folder is, etc by right clicking on it. I tried it once, never again. Admittedly it was ages ago, & I don't remember the exact details, but using TweakUI for the folders it can change is definitely the option I'd recommend.


Basically, create empty folders for the ones you want to change locations of, change the settings for them as described above with TweakUI, reboot, move the files from the old folder[s] to the new 1s.

Post by ProfessorKhaos // Jan 31, 2006, 9:21am

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Thanks Alien. I didn't mean to sound unappreciative as your workaround is actually better than mine with the user account issue. :) Guess I've been thinking about this a bit and most of my apprehension doesn't necessarily come from understanding the constraints so much as "fear and superstition".

Post by Alien // Jan 31, 2006, 9:49am

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Thanks Alien. I didn't mean to sound unappreciative as your workaround is actually better than mine with the user account issue. :)Not a problem. :)
Guess I've been thinking about this a bit and most of my apprehension doesn't necessarily come from understanding the constraints so much as "fear and superstition".Believe it or not, there are times when I'm like that with stuff too. ;) Though normally it's fear of failure with me [I'm rather reluctant to do something unless I'm fairly certain I'll be pleased with the result].

I'm wondering if I ought to start a Windows advice thread in the Tech section? :)

Post by ed_baker // Feb 1, 2006, 5:23am

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I've been having the same problem. Didn't have it in Beta. Only with the TS 7 install am I seeing this. I went into the system variables and noticed that there was no value in the PATH variable that pointed to the Virtualight's BIN folder (as per the install instructions for VirtuaLight itself):


Which for TS7 is:


Variable: PATH

Values: ……;C:\trueSpace7\tS\VirtuaLight\Bin


That seems to have fixed the problem:
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