OK, this is going to sound like a very naive post to many in the newsgroups, but
here goes:

I'd very much like to install the latest 3.7RC6 version of POV-Ray on my
single-core Windows XP machine. But the one thing keeping me from doing it is
*fear*: fear that it might overwrite or erase some of my important v3.6.2 files
(like scene files, insert menu files, etc.) This isn't an unfounded fear: I had
a whopping problem when I upgraded from 3.6.1 to 3.6.2--some of my scene files
just vanished into thin air, as well as others. Luckily I had backups for *some*
of them. I never could figure out if I had done anything wrong during the
upgrade.

Anyway, here are my questions:
1) Does 3.7RC6 get installed in it's *own* completely separate set of folders,
or will it be intermingled with my current 3.6.2 stuff?

2) Will I be able to run both 3.7RC6 AND 3.6.2 if I choose to? (Not
simultaneously, of course.)

3) Are there *any* possible problems I should look out for, or is there anything
I need to do beforehand, like hiding all my 3.6.2 files in a 'dummy' folder?

I would certainly appreciate a range of opinions about this; I want the
installation to go *s*m*o*o*t*h*l*y.  Any help would be useful.

Ken

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Kenneth wrote:

> I hada whopping problem when I upgraded from 3.6.1 to 3.6.2--some of
> my scene files just vanished into thin air, as well as others.
> Luckily I had backups for *some* of them.

Of course, you then learned to have backups for *all* of them so it is
not possible for this scenario to occur again ;) Seriously, if you have
important scene files on your hard disk for which no other copy exists
that is simply insane.

> Anyway, here are my questions: 1) Does 3.7RC6 get installed in it's
> *own* completely separate set of folders, or will it be intermingled
> with my current 3.6.2 stuff?

It is completely separate (well if you change the default installation
directory of v3.7 manually to v3.6 you can probably enforce some kind of
disaster but otherwise not). You might also get asked if you wish to
uninstall the old version (do not remember) so always read carefully
before clicking ;)

> 2) Will I be able to run both 3.7RC6 AND 3.6.2 if I choose to? (Not 
> simultaneously, of course.)

Yes, even simultaneously although preferable not with the same scene
file. Of course there are minor restrictions such as only one program
can be associated with *.pov files, and Windows sometimes likes to get
confused even if you try to explicitely set the default program.

> 3) Are there *any* possible problems I should look out for, or is
> there anything I need to do beforehand, like hiding all my 3.6.2
> files in a 'dummy' folder?

With 3.6.2 files do you mean files of 3.6.2 or your own files that
you stored in folders of 3.6.2? The latter is a really bad idea in any 
case. You should keep your data separate from program data.

%programfiles%\someprog is NOT a place to store your data, and
personally I would also refrain from using installer-generated
directories like POV-Ray\v3.6 under "My Documents", because you
never know of they might get touched by uninstallers and how
well-behaved they are.

If you have this situation you might wish to clean this up before
installing 3.7. It is also more logical because if you have a scene
file you can render it with 3.6 or 3.7 so it does not belong to
either of the programs. Also, having them separate makes it easy
for you to backup all your important scene files.

Of course, there is no need to protect the program files of 3.6.2,
you can always restore them from the 3.6.2. installer. An exception
are modified INI files, these reside by necessity under an installer-
generated directory and you might wish to keep a copy of them
around before playing with the installations.

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On 4-12-2012 19:28, Kenneth wrote:
> OK, this is going to sound like a very naive post to many in the newsgroups, but
> here goes:
>
> I'd very much like to install the latest 3.7RC6 version of POV-Ray on my
> single-core Windows XP machine. But the one thing keeping me from doing it is
> *fear*: fear that it might overwrite or erase some of my important v3.6.2 files
> (like scene files, insert menu files, etc.) This isn't an unfounded fear: I had
> a whopping problem when I upgraded from 3.6.1 to 3.6.2--some of my scene files
> just vanished into thin air, as well as others. Luckily I had backups for *some*
> of them. I never could figure out if I had done anything wrong during the
> upgrade.

Like Christian said: backup, backup, and then backup again :-) 
Personally, I have a couple of external HDs and make a synchronized 
backup of my files twice a week. Takes a couple of minutes only as only 
changed files are copied. It saved me a couple of times from losing my work.

Now, concerning v3.7, Christian said it all. What I also do before 
upgrades is make a copy of my own POVRAY.INI and QUICKRES.INI as they 
contain personal settings, and they are exchangeable between 3.6 and 
3.7. Also, it might be worthwhile to make a copy of the InsertMenus, 
especially if you have personal settings and includes there.

When using 3.7, read the change log in order to discover *all* the good 
things you are going to discover ;-)

Thomas

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On 12/05/2012 03:05 AM, Thomas de Groot wrote:
> On 4-12-2012 19:28, Kenneth wrote:
>> OK, this is going to sound like a very naive post to many in the
>> newsgroups, but
>> here goes:
>>
>> I'd very much like to install the latest 3.7RC6 version of POV-Ray on my
>> single-core Windows XP machine. But the one thing keeping me from
>> doing it is
>> *fear*: fear that it might overwrite or erase some of my important
>> v3.6.2 files
>> (like scene files, insert menu files, etc.) This isn't an unfounded
>> fear: I had
>> a whopping problem when I upgraded from 3.6.1 to 3.6.2--some of my
>> scene files
>> just vanished into thin air, as well as others. Luckily I had backups
>> for *some*
>> of them. I never could figure out if I had done anything wrong during the
>> upgrade.
>
> Like Christian said: backup, backup, and then backup again :-)
> Personally, I have a couple of external HDs and make a synchronized
> backup of my files twice a week. Takes a couple of minutes only as only
> changed files are copied. It saved me a couple of times from losing my
> work.
>
> Now, concerning v3.7, Christian said it all. What I also do before
> upgrades is make a copy of my own POVRAY.INI and QUICKRES.INI as they
> contain personal settings, and they are exchangeable between 3.6 and
> 3.7. Also, it might be worthwhile to make a copy of the InsertMenus,
> especially if you have personal settings and includes there.
>
> When using 3.7, read the change log in order to discover *all* the good
> things you are going to discover ;-)
>
> Thomas
>
just wanted to add that in the docs (wiki) it's summarized here:
http://wiki.povray.org/content/Documentation:Tutorial_Section_1#Changes_and_New_Features_Summary

and in the distribution docs it's 2.1.4.1 ... also a link to the section 
on the opening page ... "Changes and New Features Summary"

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Thanks to everyone for the useful comments and recommendations.

Yes, right now my overall 3.6.2 folder (which includes almost everything)
resides in its original Windows installation location, the "My Documents"
folder.

I have to admit that I didn't think about moving my main "scene files" folder to
a different/safer place, until now. I just assumed that *all* POV-Ray-associated
files had to reside in POV's main folder. Duh.

I'll move my main "scenes" folder to a completely different location, for safety
and convenience. Plus, I'll make copies of any .ini files, insert menu files,
etc. that I've modified over the years.

I'm assuming that 3.6.2 and 3.7RC6 have their *own separate* "POVRAY.INI" and
"PVENGINE" files (in the latter case, both an editable .ini file and the main
application). Please correct me if I'm wrong. Hopefully, installing 3.7RC6 will
not wipe out any of that! (Sorry, my paranoia is showing.) Since 3.7RC6 is
installed into its own separate folder, I suppose I don't need to worry. I'll
make a copy of my "POVRAY.INI" file anyway--and "quickres.ini", of course.

So in order to run my scene files with either version of POV-Ray at will, I
guess the only thing I need to do is add the (new) library path of that folder
to the "POVRAY.INI" files of BOTH versions.

To sum up: I want to make sure that 3.6.2 and 3.7RC6 work as their own
*completely separate* applications, just like other apps (except for sharing my
single "scenes" folder.)

If I've said anything really dumb, let me know ;-)

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On 7-12-2012 2:38, Kenneth wrote:
> If I've said anything really dumb, let me know ;-)

Never fear to be dumb. No harm in that ;-)

I think this covers everything. Note that in version 3.7, the number of 
paths you can define in povray.ini is not restricted to 20 anymore! I 
don't remember if there is an upper limit, but you have now more than 
enough room to define as many paths as you may need.

Thomas

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Thomas de Groot <tho### [at] degrootorg> wrote:
> On 7-12-2012 2:38, Kenneth wrote:
> > If I've said anything really dumb, let me know ;-)
>
> Never fear to be dumb. No harm in that ;-)
>
> I think this covers everything. Note that in version 3.7, the number of
> paths you can define in povray.ini is not restricted to 20 anymore! I
> don't remember if there is an upper limit, but you have now more than
> enough room to define as many paths as you may need.
>
> Thomas

Thanks, Thomas! I didn't know about the new 3.7 povray.ini info.

I'm now ready to 'jump off the cliff' and install 3.7RC6!  I'll alert the
world's news media with my results :-P

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