Blitz3D has suddenly stopped working under Vista
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| This is very frustrating :( Blitz3D has been working fine for many months on my new Vista64 machine. Sunday all was well, then Monday it suddenly wasn't. No new software was installed in the interim, although maybe windows updated itself. Looking at the update files, they seem innoccous enough. I really can't see what the problem might be. The IDE works fine, but when I try to run any program, from the most complex to even the simplest: Print "Hello" WaitKey() End the initial blitz window opens and then immediately closes, with no output and no error. Just nothing. This is with no extra userlibs, in the default IDE. I've uninstalled it, and installed my original 1.64 version. It actually works fine, but if I try and install any of the updates from this site then its back to the same problem. Using v1.64 is not an option for me. If anyone has got the same problem, or has any idea what it might be, please help! I'm at the end of my tether! thanks |
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| ok I've been playing around the last few hours and I thought I'd share what I've learnt, in the hope that other users are spared this... Bottom line: I've got Blitz working again! And I figured out what seems to be the root cause: Windows Journal. If you want to break Blitz3D, go into Windows Journal and use a wacom pen if you have it, scribble something rude and then use the character recognition. Blitz will no longer work. I didn't test it on non-rude words, but I assume they'll have the same effect :) To fix it I used the very scientific method of randomly turning off some or all of the following processes using the task manager: wisptis.exe - Microsoft Tablet PC Input Component Pen_Tablet.exe - Tablet user module for consumer driver InputPersonalization.exe - Input Personalization Server Many of these processes seem to be instantly restarted by the underlying service, but after a lot of process killing, eventually Blitz will work again. And even better, once its working you can restart the PC and it will continue to work from then on. Just don't go anywhere near Windows Journal. I hope this information is useful to someone. Perhaps someone even knows what on earth is going on here? |
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| Thanks for sharing this RiskJockey.. I'm just about to test my program on Vista in a few weeks, and things like this scare the living daylights out of me. So it's good to hear about people's experiences, like yours. I'm not familiar with Windows 'journal' (yet) but I am working on an application that's supposed to work with (wacom) tablets for paint-functionality.. What system do you have RiskJockey? A standard workstation or is it a tablet-pc? Are you saying that any tablet-related process needs killing in task manager before Blitz will work? Can anyone else confirm this?? D. |
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| Its a desktop PC with a wacom tablet, a Graphire I think. Follow this link : http://www.wacom-europe.com/uk/index.asp to the wacom site, and there is a blue button in the middle of the webpage that says Windows Vista and Wacom Pen Tablets. Then click on "The Windows Vista Pen Experience" to watch a little flash movie showing some of the pen features in windows vista. It also demonstrates what Windows Journal is. To clarify, using my pen normally (as just a mouse replacement) in Vista causes no problems at all. Blitz will work fine. However when I ran windows Journal and attempted to recognise some text, I consistently managed to break Blitz3D, and only by following the fairly ill-defined steps above did I succeed in getting it to work again. I did this several times in order to try to understand the process. This is just a guess, but its possible the problem isn't limited to Windows Journal. It could be any of the more advanced tablet-pc features that once activated in Vista, cause a severe conflict with Blitz3D. I'd be interested in the results of your Vista tests. If we can help to clarify the problem, then maybe Blitz3D could be patched in order to resolve this. |
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| okay, I see what you mean.. [un]fortunately I'm not installing Vista yet until a (very few) weeks from now, so i can't give you any usefull feedback - yet. So, sorry I can't help at this stage, but I'll defenitely keep watching this topic closely.. Danny |
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| Im not sure if the SC command exists in Vista like it does in xp... And vista has some issues with security and the whole cancel/allow thing.. BUT, You may be able to shell out and SC STOP "Service Name" or NET STOP "Service name" At the start of your application.then after then program has ended restart the service. Since its stopping right away you may need to run the game from a .bat file and kill the service before executing the main game exe. Just my two cents, as I fear updates for blitz to help with vista are not going to happen, and Microsoft officially stopped selling xp so, we're in for some pain as blitz users in the near future. |
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| I just got vista, and Blitz3D will start, but when I try to create or open a file, it freezes. I exited Windows SideBar, (my computer doesn't have any of the processes that RiskJockey listed) but that didn't help at all. ? |
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| As for the wacom thing: Open application properties - compatibility and disabled advanced text services (they are related to the tablet services of Windows). This will make it work. Blitz3D and BlitzPlus never liked the tablet components and just insta-crash when you start them without doing above steps. Thats the reason behind the myth that blitz3d / plus do not work on tablet Windows for example. |
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| Thanks, Dreamora, but as it turns out i might never have to do that. For some reason, Blitz3d started working! With all the same settings, to. But if it decides to misbehave again, i'll do that. Thanks again :) |
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| Dreamora, I assume you are using XP? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe there is such an option under Vista. |
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| Sorry to necro this thread, but I'm talking with a Tank Universal user who's experiencing something similar. TU was working fine for him recently, but now crashes immediately on start-up. He hasn't installed any new software and the same crash occurs on other (non-steam) blitz progs (so it's not Steam related or specific to TU). Turns out he does have a tablet. I have asked him to RMB the exe and turn off advanced text services for this program - hopefully this will resolve the issue. If so, it's something I'll need to add to the TU readme... (edit) The above hasn't resolved the issue for him ;-( |
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