Jim_Allen

I have been having a problem with 9.5 crashing. I have a current 9.5 plot open. I go and open an older version plot. I get the dialogue box that says "the files is being converted and a new file will be opened with a new name".All I am doing is looking at the older plo,t not making any changes. When I go to switch to the other plot or close the older plot VW crashes ???

I have been having my instrument info change when I refresh my plot using 9.5. After I export to LW, work the data, import back into SL, and refresh, instruments on my plot will suddenly change to the channel numbers, colors, and the purposes of my R40 cyc units. Any ideas??

To Kevin, Kacey, and all - Thank you for 9.5 and your hard work. I have been putting 9.5 through a bunch of tests(before I started using it on production plots) now that the patches are in, and it it MUCH better, so far I haven't found any problems.What I have done is run a performance test on the program using a performance monitor, that monitors the % of usage of the chip. It comes with Windows XP. Here is what I am getting.My platform is a PC with Windows XP Home, AMD Thunderbird 1.33G chip, 258 mg Ram, 40 gig HD I also ran LW to get a comparison of numbers.Percentage of chip usage:LWOpen program 100import into LW 20Export out of LW 20 VW Spotlight 9.5 open program 100open file fron zip disk 75 save file to zip 40import data into VW from LW 100*** this process is much faster nowexport date to LW 90***again a faster process with 9.5Zoom plot 20find and modify 60scroll 100 but fastermove and modify instrument 45renumber a position 60 AND finally the remaining problem child: Refresh instruments 100this still is no faster and my computer was grinding away If anyone else is running XP (I REALLY like XP) check out your numbers. The Ap is in the control panel, performance & maintance,Ad Min tools. I would like to know what the numbers are for people running P-IIIs or lower. My laptop is a PII 200, but I haven't had time to try it yet. My wish is to see if the refresh could be faster.

I have gone back to using 9.0. Seem like there are too many problems with 9.5 right now.

I also had the same problem. Also the ETC units changing to squares has not been fixed. Kevin said he is working on a fix.

PS The reason they changed when you imported from LW is that they redrew and the insturments that were not updated to the new named instrument went to squares. It happens to me all the time, as I don't seem to be able to update every instrument.

Once you change the names in the resources you have to go and replace all the instruments with the new named instruments, to keep them from changing to squares. If you miss some and they change to squares you can right click them to check what they were and then replace them. Hopefully 9.5 will be out soon and all this will be moot!!!

I was wondering when 9.5 would be available. Also how is it working for people using it. I am finding ti faster in scrolling and when working on a plot. But still slow on refreshing. I haven't experienced any other problems. Has anyone?

What symbol are you looking for? I thought all the SL 8.5s were in 9. try this If you are talking about SpotLight 8.5 and you still have 8.5 on your computer(you installed 9.0 in a different folder) you should be able to navigate through your resources menu to the SL 8.5 symbols folder that the old symbol was in and place it from that folder.

Sorry I didn't understand it correctly. I thought if I assigned an instrument to the legend it would not be purged. I got it figured out now Thanks.

I have done a couple more plots. All of my label legends are gone after the purge, even if I assign them to the instruments I place before the purge??? I am having to go back and re-create the legend over again and re-assign them to the instruments - any thoughts?

Kevin, Thanks. I tried it on aplot and reduced it to 2.98mgs, about 1/2 the prginal. I also went into the record file for the plot and deleted floders of instruments not being used, as you said to do. Everything seems to be ok. One thing I tried was to go back to the VW spotlight record and wanted to add an instrument that was not on the plot orginally, a Varilits VL7B. when i went to insert it onto the plot I get - Arecord format named"Light info Record" already exsists in current document. Do you want to replace it, rename the one being imported, or use the exsisting one? I tried replace and it seemd to work but I was wondering what this was all about. Jim

Is there anyway to set the preferences so all constraints are shut off, or set which ones you want active when a plot is opened? Everytime I open a plot I have to go and unselect at least three constraints.

I got Windows XP installed an so far I like XP. It seems programs are opening faster and SP seems to run a bit faster(maybe my wishful thinking!!) Scrolling does appear to be quicker, but not refresh.

Just got XP and am going to install it but wanted to wait to know if anyone else has run SP on it yet and know if there are any problems.

Kacey, I don't understand what you are saying. I follow the manual instructions on replacing instruments exactly and it doesn't work. I still get ETC instruments with no instrument type in the record. I just updated another plot from 8.5 to 9.0 and everytime I do an instrument replacement NONE of the units have the correct instrument type. ETC units are blank and the rest have the same unit type of the unit before I replced it. IE change a 6x9 to 6x12 and the record still says 6x9 even though the icon is now a 6x12 All the symbols I am using are SP symbols that came with the program. Can you spell out what exactly I should be doing to solve this problem. Thanks Jim

Kevin, Thanks for the help. I did run the convert from 8.5 so I guess there is a bug in the convert. It is really a hassle to start new, as I re-use old plots when I am going back into a space, or one that is close to a space I have been in before - instrument wise. I will start creating new plots, but I hope future upgrades( 9.5 ) won't create this problem. I have plots for 50 theatres (30 in 8.5) and I won't want to start from scratch everytime SP upgrades. Also how did you purge the old instruments, as I have a bunch of converted plots that sit around 5 Mgs and would love to downsize them!!

I just downloaed 9.5 and have been trying a couple of exsiting plots and when I move ETC units they change to squares ohter don't. When I try to create a new plot and insert instruments the resource pallet, I select the plot I am working on and it comes up with no instrument choice- just Default hatch, Ledgends Rec,ZsysRec.

I select the instruments to be replaced. Go to "replace instruments" menu. Select ETC in the Symbol Folder window - select a S4-36 unit in the symbol window and click OK. I get units with all the info in the Object Properties window - position, color, channel, etc, except the instrument type which is blank. Again this only occurs with ETC units.

It also happens when I insert new intruments on the plot.

It seems that whenever I replace units, on a plot that has been converted from 8.5, with ETC units they come in with nothing in the "Instrument type" field. Any thoughts?

Whatever I do on the plot to an instrument it seems to cause a bunch of instruments to disapear and reapear on the screen. I changed the channel number on an instrument, then next I just moved it - same results- a bunch of instruments appeared to redraw or regenerate on the screen. I tried several different plots and it is consistant.

Changing the label names is a much faster way of working around the problem. I use LW to edit instrument info. It seems to me that the problem is that when you change an instrument the regeneration happens on a bunch of instruments instead of just the one you worked on. I move an instrument and watch a bunch of others regenerate for no apparent reason - IE same type of instrument, same pipe, color, channel, ETC. Isn't there a way to isolate the regeneration to the single instrument or instruments you are working on and leave the others alone??

I went ahead and tried the suggestion and it is the only thing that has made any difference to the speed that I have tried - until I went to re-assign the labels back. With 6 different label legends on the plot the time it took to re-assign the labels was about a much time as I saved working without them!!

Not a really good solution, as that means you don't have any way of keeping track of what your insturments are being used for. With a plot of 300 units and no labels you are going to have a hard time. What I have started doing is not refreshing as often and drinking a lot of coffee when saving and refreshing.