Digital Workshop

Hi.
I just installed a second flatscreen monitor, which comes in handy in a lot of programs, so I was kind of happy with it. And yes!! there is a but coming on..If I now open a pub in Opus, the cursor disappeares. Those pubs ran fine on one monitor.
My graphic drivers are the latest non-beta-drivers (Nvidia 8500 GT). Testing a pub within Opus (F5) causes no problems at all. It's just the stand-alone.

Am I doing something stupid or is it the Vista-thing again?

regards,

Ad

Hi AD,

Several things:

1. Have you got the latest Vista updates? This solve the problem for VU on one machine using an ATI X700.

2. What is control the dual screen - Vista / Nvida or some third part application. I've been using untra-mon which well sometimes but has a habit of crashing Opus. Using VU built in MM works OK but with less functions.

3. If it is a Vista thing turn the UI to Aero basic should solve the problem as the UI will be handled the same as XP.

Mack

Hi,

I have my colors down to 16-bits and no aero, otherwise Opus won't run properly (alot of artefacts and strange videobehavior) I have automatic update turned on, so I guess I have the latest version.
The Nvidia-software controls the screens. I use dualscreens in XP (AtI-control) without a problem.
I'll try a change to Vista-control and see what happens then. Third party-software I have not tried yet, but that could of course offer me a solution.

Thanks for you suggestions.

Ad

it's interesting that you have to drop to 16bit, as most recent video cards prefer 24 or 32bit.
Normally I find that Opus standalones run better than they do in the IDE because of lower memory loading.
How much video memory have you got, and what screen resolutions are being used?

Paul

Hi Paul,

I have a Nvidia-board with 512 Mb of memory, which should suffice I think. If I work in 32-bit mode strange things happen to Opus. My audio- and videofiles won't show correctly and the user interface will do all kind of strange things. That's annoying as I use a lot of these files (about 140 video-files in my last pub).

A pub made in 16bit-mode, however will act perfectly normal in a 32-bit environment. Except, as I just discovered, in dual-screenmode, then the cursor disappeares. I tried switching to Vista-dualscreen control, but that didn't work. I think it's a Nvidia-Vista-thing. They really had a troubled relationship from the beginning.

It seems only to be a glitch with Opus, however, which is a pity as I use it a lot and think it's a great program. Other software (CS3, Aftereffects, Premiere, Cinema4d) all work fine.
I even considered downgrading to XP-pro because of the Opus-problems, but that is not very realistic looking at the clients who are going to use these pubs.

Thanks for your interest,

Ad

Hi after a couple of weeks reviewing other software I decided on Opus for our companys software simulation/training solution.

Unfortunately I have discovered the dissapearing cursor problem under dual screens in Vista (ATI X300). Having searched all morning on these forums for a fix, all I could find were suggestions on turning Aero off or altering the mouse schemes, our end products are distributed to customers with a variety of different spec machines.
It's unrealistic to expect our customers to alter their systems, when they may not have the knowledge to do so or the user permissions.

Could I ask if there is any nod from the DW team of a solution, I understand Vista is new, but as my chief director (who is leaning on me to get it fixed) says its not going to go away.

Regards, Kurt

PS I have tried 32 and 16 bit depths, windowed and fullscreen.

----------

Opus Pro 6.01
XP SP2
1GB
Pent 4
Mobility Radeon 7500

Hi, a followup, I don't know if this is suitable for everyone, perhaps someone can explain the deeper effects, but I managed to get a publication working in Vista with dual screen, and keep the mouse cursor, all with no tweaking of the themes or Aero.

I have used the option 'Never use DirectX' under the DirectX tab of the publications properties. This enables the mouse to be seen, so far I have tested the publication on 2000,XP and Vista platforms.

I only use a basic transition (fade in and out) and these work fine.

Hope this helps someone in the meantime.

Regards,Kurt

----------

Opus Pro 6.01
XP SP2
1GB
Pent 4
Mobility Radeon 7500

Thanks Kurt,
your fix of checking 'Never use DirectX' in publishing properties solved my disappearing cursor problem with one pub on Vista dual monitor computers.

cheers
Paul

Is there any progress on this? I have dual monitor on XP and works fine, I am interested to know if a projector hooked up to a Vista laptop have the same problem?

I have sinced noticed though, that disabling Direct X causes the publication to run extremely slow on a Celeron based XP machine, after re-enabling Direct X it was super smooth again.

I may have to offer two publications per project, one Vista friendly (no Direct X) and one not (Direct X).

Regards, Kurt

Hi, just a followup, I'm close to pushing a big CBT project out to our customers, did anyone have any luck with using the 'Never Use Direct X' fudge?

Cheers, Buns
----------

Opus Pro 6.01
XP SP2
1GB
Dual Xeon 2GHz
Radeon 7000

It appears to be inconsistent -- worked on some PC's but not on others.
Pubs became slightly less responsive, but that is to be expected.

Paul

I have been using Opus with dual screens for some time now without a hitch. However, I mainly use XP and not Vista to develop Opus products. I have used two different set-ups to drive the dual monitors. One using a Matrox DualHead2Go which works very well on my desktop. I have also used this with my Vista laptop - again without any problems (slight degradation in display quality, but very slight).

The best solution I have found is just to install another graphics card. I picked up a cheapish ATI card which does the job just fine.

Having now (by necessity) changed one of my systems to Vista - I have also fallen foul of the disappearing cursor issue.
Am I correct in assuming that this is ONLY a problem when using dual screens?

Are there any other solutions available?

For now - I am building with "never use direct x" but then switching it back on prior to publishing a project that I want to give to clients.

Appreciate any input

Warm regards

Pete

Hi Pete,

If so I haven’t found it yet. The ‘no directX’-solution seems to work for some, but has awkward consequences in some of my pubs. Some buttons refused to response after switching to another page in the published program for example. If you use this I advise you to thoroughly test the result .

Regards,

Ad