Digital Workshop

I have just run a published trial on a heavyweight programme which I have moved to Opus version 6.4 under XP. Everything works fine in the editor. However, when the .exe file loads it displays the splash screen and then a few minutes later a warning window from the programme. The loaded programme displays on the task bar but it is not possible to close it. I tested a previous version and it works fine.

As I have only made cosmetic changes I am a bit mystified here but I did break the golden rule - when things are going well, look over your shoulder!

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated as I have some 1000 hours invested in this one.......

Did you run the Resource Manager when you first opened the v5.5 pub in Opus v64? Make sure all your resources can be found and try publish/test again.

What Opus related directories do you have under "Program Files". What are they (if you have more than one version of Opus installed.)?

Do you mean you Opened the .imp and responded 'yes' to "convert to later Opus program version"?

Saying what?

Funny how that happens. Well, not funny but we would think that small changes don't affect a situation.
You might try opening a backup of that older v5.5 pub, and converting/publishing it without the 'minor changes'.

You didn't say much about any publication-process options you used, so hard to tell if it is something there.

You could try Resetting Opus program, or uninstall and reinstall.

Are you doing anything exotic in the pub?

Thanks for the response on this one. I have tried several thing but with no success!

I published an older version but came up with the same results. I did also review all the resources and there is one "wild" sound file mentioned which must have got into the system at the prototype stage. It is not used in the programme, but I cannot remove the reference to it and in previous publications this caused no problem.

I am using a database extensively and I put back a working one, as when publication takes place it empties the existing database in the publish directory. Previous versions did this too!

I also removed and re-installed version 6.4. No change here. The programme is running according to Task Manager but seems to be taking up all the processor capacity. It is obviously running somewhere as alert boxes from the programme timeline have appeared. It can only be shut down via Task Manager.

I did successfully publish another programme that forms part of of the suite but is much smaller, so I am still baffled but I don't particularly want to revert to version 5.5!

Hi Jeremy,

I would sort the wild sound file out. I've seen several publications crash simply because of conflicts with sounds files.

Mack

Jer,

Try this. Open the v5.5 Pub. In the Organizer, Click (or Dbl Click) on the very first Master Page to select it. Then do the same for the next Page/MP. Pause several seconds each time. Do the same thru the whole list of Pages. Then 'Save As' and try working with that pub. See below, may point to a problem.

I had had problems where the Opus Editor would 'hang' on a particular Pub unless I did that stepping through. My guess is that I had some dependencies with Scripts and objects that Opus could not initialize or resolve?, possibly due to my pub having a few nested Master Pages... among other complexities. I have since revised/reorganized pub structure.

I also had problems recently when I put Opus app in 'Opus Pro v64' directory instead of the default Install directory 'Opus Pro 6' which still existed. Opus v6 was uninstalled. Even had problems after I manually deleted default Dir. (related: Vista's Virtual Store?). Opus was looking for Textures and Borders in old/default Path. I cleaned up registry and re-installed Opus using default Dir. Better. That's why I asked about Program Files path.

Do clean up the sound file. If nothing else, locate the file and copy it to 'path' where Opus wants to see it. Then run your Consolidate Resources... Save the Pub, etc. Clean-up/Delete that interim 'path'.

Thanks folks! I checked out the odd sound file issue and Opus thinks it is still there even when it is not needed or referenced in the programme. One weird thing was that the resource manager did not show this file but it showed in the directory when I looked with Explorer.

However I did start to experiment with display options and I can get the prog working if I use a Window. It is designed to display in three panels at 1024 x768 overall size with the resize box checked if displays do not fit this.

However, while it is possible to do this I am not keen as it makes the programme look less formal. Is it possible that v6.4 has different video driver references? Of course, all the other programmes I have recently produced use Windows so I can't make any comparisons!

My update on this is that I experimented with a new 3 frame programme and tried to publish it with the same result. The prog runs but does not disply! I am awaiting response from DW here.

Can you post an example?

Mack

Thanks,

Here is a very simple example. Let me know if it publishes OK! Note that I am using V6.4.

Hi Jeremy,

I published the IMP and it worked fine from both Opus and as an EXE. I've uploaded it to some of our temp web space for you to try published.

http://www.interaktiv.co.uk/temp/fstest.zip

If it runs, then I'm guessing the issue is with your version of Opus, or the install, if it doesn't run then it might be an other hardware / software issue.

Mack

Hi Mack,

Many thanks for your time here. Due to my brain being hit by recent bout of illness, I posted up the window version of this. I have now changed this to a full screen version which is what I really wanted.

However the fall back option is a window version without title bar etc. It is not seemly to have users just exiting when they feel like it, as the programme runninng time is 2 hours!

I have checked the video drivers on my system and they seem to be up to date.

This full screen version froze my dual monitors, reset resolutions to 800 x 600 and scrambled my desktop icons, all 30 of them
It doesn't freeze every time -- but resolutions are not returning to normal as they should do when the pub closes.

Paul

Hi Jeremy,

Just a quick update.

Have tried your example and it causes the problems described. Also created various other examples and they too have the same problem. Repeated this with Opus 6.0 and it still happen.

It wasn't until I loaded them into 5.5 and published that anything worked. It does seem that the panels do not work in v6.

I'll try a few more things, but I think this is a DW issue.

Mack

I piloted a 4-panel Pub a few weeks ago.

It works. I only tested a few actions.... as I did not like the scrollbars. I tried other 'settings' for Absolute and Percentage. But just too tricky for me to maintain. However no problems with visibility.

Mine is Opus Pro v64 approx. 12 Nov 2008 build. Pub and Panels built from scratch here.

Settings:
Pub "Display in Window"
Layout.
Main = width Relative 1, height Relative 1
1 = W Percent 68, H Percent 11
2 = W Relative 1, H Percent 11
3 = W Percent 68, H Relative 1

I was very meticulous to set the Chapter Page-size properties to 'fit-in' or match the Panel sizes I generated.

Cheers Lar,

Could you please post the example as it will help us see what's different.

Mack